Mr Narayana Bhat was a Production Supervisor with us and retired from service on 31 August 2023. This is an event worth writing about as it evokes mixed emotions, including pride and voidness.
He joined Cocoguru almost 10 years ago, in February 2014. He was referred by Keshava Ram’s classmate Shivashankar Shastry, his brother-in-law. He travels 40 km every day from Kanyana to work. He worked in various departments like Stores, Logistics, Purchase, Oil Extraction, Canteen, Campus, etc. His notable contributions have been

• Developing and maintaining a beautiful green campus by planting 150 trees and conserving water
• Significant changes in company logistics, selling old vehicles
• Implementing commission/piece work-based payments to labourers
• Getting work done efficiently by people yet having fun doing them
• Organising events like Independence Day, birthday celebrations, Ayudha Pooja and Deepavali
• Maintaining cordial relations with land neighbours and Karpadi temple management
• He helped maintain a very jovial and productive work environment throughout.

He will be 57 years old in about 15 days. His son completed Mechanical Engineering at Nitte and was placed at a private firm in Bengaluru. He announced his decision to retire during his last birthday celebration on 23 September 2022, and he was waiting for his son Ashlesha to start working. He would like to improve and expand his present agricultural farm and build his dream house, as the old house is not in good condition. He ultimately leads a happy and peaceful life in the village with his dear wife, Mrs Uma, and pet animals.

The company is proud to have an employee who has worked with them for almost 10 years and leaves only for an unavoidable reason like retirement. Many people leave for better prospects or when they are not happy working there. But it is difficult to replace him with someone who can do all the jobs with a can-do attitude. It is an aspect of nature, and we need to move on.

We organised a small event on the closing hours of 31st August to honour him and celebrate his contributions to us. Many employees who worked closely with him spoke eulogies of him. Murali (Operations Head) is his direct boss, Keshava Ram (Managing Director), Naresh Kumar (Sales Manager), Shiva Kumar (Finance Manager), Suprabha (Brand Manager), Karthik Rai (Financial Accountant), Shreekrishna Shastry (Public Relations Officer), Jagganath (Expeller Operator) and Shivashankar Bhat (Chairman) all spoke for a couple of minutes with their heartfelt messages and wished well for his retired life. Narayana Bhat likes to be jovial with ladies, and they were all emotional when they realised that he would not be working with them the next day. Shivashankar Bhat honoured him with his wife, Mrs. Uma. He spoke briefly with usual humour and ended with a small Kannada poem. A cupboard was given to him as a compliment as he built a new house. The event ended with dinner supplied by Cocoguru Adigemane. People he was leading were looking up to him to guide him for work even after working hours.

We all at Cocoguru would like to thank him for his contributions to us and wish him a happy retirement with his family.