Dear everyone,
It’s been a hard few days. As most of you already know, our colleague Gopal Deb passed away late on Wednesday night, after a horrific accident. Gopal had been a member of the school sales team for the last two years or so, and was a popular member of the team. His parents flew in from Siliguri last evening, and the cremation took place late last night by the banks of the Yamuna. Let us pray for him, and for the strength that his parents and family will need to cope with this loss.
Condolence messages for Gopal have been received from senior management across the Pearson world, including Tim Bozik, Rona Fairhead and David Bell.
Mumbai has been under siege for the last two days. Fortunately all our colleagues are safe. However many of you will have friends or associates who were killed or injured or traumatised by the events, and many of our associates are still trapped inside the buildings. Again, I think the most we can do at this stage is pray for them, and that this crisis passes swiftly.
And in the meantime, a cyclone has been pounding Chennai for the last two days, and our staff there have been braving flood waters to come to the office. Today the office has been declared shut. However, our first major sales training initiative is taking place in Chennai, starting tomorrow. Despite everything else that happens, life must go on. Ranjani, Srini, Naval, JS and I will be in Chennai tomorrow, to kick off this major initiative.
Regards,
Vivek
