These could hardly be the choices of a modern-day banker, you would think. In that case, think again. We are talking about Annapoorna ‘Anna’ Venkataramanan, the managing director and head of financial markets, corporate sales, India and Nepal. Anna works for the high-profile London-headquartered Standard Chartered Bank. Mark it; Standard Chartered is a leading international banking group. In India, key business segments include corporate, commercial and institutional banking, private banking as well as retail banking. Those who know Annapoorna from her school days will scarcely believe that the fragile bookworm would turn out to love sales, leave alone marketing. Brilliant in her studies, there was no denying her talent relentlessness. But ‘going-this-distance,’ only she must have bargained for.

Bravo Anna.

The 14th of June is celebrated as World Blood Donor Day. That day, in 1979, was important in the house of the Venkataramanans. Anna was born in the land of Marina Beach, Chennai.

Her father, T R Venkataramanan, a finance professional, who retired as Vice President and Company Secretary of Ponds India, was a devout person and passed this characteristic to his children. “We enjoyed reading his letters and the richness in their drafting.” This was not surprising, considering he was a company secretary! “He surrounded himself with books, and it developed the reading habit in us.”

Mom Kousalya, an economics graduate who worked in the Madras High Court, gave up her job, like women of that generation, to provide quality time to her children.

As a kid, Anna was timid. Can you believe that she was even scared to ride cycles? For a long time, her brother’s friends were her friends. Unlike brother Ramanathan, she would finish her homework before going out to play. He, a later-day engineer and Head of specialized T&D wing in an MNC, however, had to be forced to do the study! The one thing that connects them is that both love Malayalam movies!

Anna has a trailblazing academic record. Ninety-eight percent in her CBSE exam meant she finished second in her school. She tells us a fascinating tale. “My dad taught me mathematics, trigonometry, and calculus. While I regularly topped the class, including math, my teacher’s usual remark was ‘improvement required.’ My dad was peeved, as he felt it was inappropriate for a top ranker!”

For the next two years, Anna moved to a matriculation school, and in the Grade 12 public exam, bagged the State third rank. Ha, I forgot. She took the commerce group.

One day, driving a two-wheeler, she jumped the traffic signal even as a cop flagged her to stop. Minutes after she reached home, a group of people turned up with a cop. She hid in an inner room, worried he had come to penalize her. Her mother had to tell her that they were from the media, accompanied by a cop, to interview her because she had finished state third. Yes, that day, the class XII results were announced.