The multifaceted Ms. Suchitra Naidu

I met Ms. Suchitra Naidu in 2011 when we invited  her to address the then batch of The Park Management Trainees undergoing off the job training at the Apeejay Institute of Hospitality, the learning centre of The Park hotels. She was to speak on design innovations. She was then the Director Housekeeping at The Park Hyderabad and was involved in the design as well as opening  of the architectural marvel that the hotel is. She worked closely with many renowned designers who were involved in designing this boutique hotel.

A part of the email that I wrote to her on 28th August 2011: “I must also take this opportunity to thank you for an extremely interesting and enlightening session. It was a pleasure to meet you and see the passion that you have for your profession. All of us enjoyed every moment of the interaction that we had with you. We commend your knowledge and the inputs that you shared from your rich experience in the industry. Thank you ma’am and we look forward to more such opportunities in future too.” Future did bring opportunities galore and I work with her on many projects. She is a university in herself and every meeting with her is filled with immense learning and personal takeaways.

Ms. Naidu has mentored generations of hospitality professionals in her long and rewarding career, she has been a personal friend, philosopher and guide to many.

Ms. Suchitra Naidu, Director (Housekeeping & Group Co-ordination  & Planning, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd) is truly a powerhouse, whatever years she may be writing based on her date of birth doesn’t matter as she thinks in today’s time. She is far advanced in her approach, thinking and innovation. She works closely with the Chairperson Ms. Priya Paul, the lady who is the pioneer in boutique hotels in India and who has been felicitated several times for her contribution to design. One of them being conferring of the prestigious Insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) an Order of State, granted by the President of the French Republic in 2014. Ms. Paul is also the recipient of the prestigious Padmashri.

When it comes to Ms. Naidu’s knowledge of housekeeping, pre-opening as well as opening of new properties to design innovations; I am yet to meet another person like her. She believes in developing people and has done a lot in this direction be it working with the differently -abled and employing them in her hotel to working for NGOs, supporting the local governments with her expertise, taking up various projects that have great significance such has training the local police personnel. These can be considered as some of her personal CSRs. She has risen herself and now its all about giving back professionally and personally. Salute her for all that she does with elan!

The Early Life

Ms. Naidu comes from the Defence background, her father was an Army officer. She has grown up in Hyderabad and did most of her schooling there. She was brought up as one of the boys, she came from a very disciplined family and sports was a way of life. She excelled in Sports and represented her state at the national level. She enjoyed independent and progressive thinking. She always dreamt big and worked hard towards achieving them.

After her graduation, she embarked on a career in the Hospitality Industry in the Year 1987. Her Hotel career began as  a Management Trainee with the Oberoi School of Hotel Management now known as the OCLD. After successfully completing the program, she was posted at the Krishna Oberoi, in Hyderabad as Asst Housekeeper. In 1993 she became the Executive Housekeeper at the  Quality Inn Green Park, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. In 1995, she joined the Welcome Group, Windsor Manor Sheraton Hotels & Tower-Bangalore and later Chola Sheraton, Chennai as the Executive Housekeeper.

She then moved to the Taj Group in 2000, joined Taj Krishna, Hyderabad as Executive Housekeeper & Mentor Housekeeper for the Region. She came onboard the Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels in 2002.

She says that she’s a  proud worker with one of the finest companies like The Park and strongly believes in  ‘The Park’ way  of being “Anything but Ordinary “,which is in her DNA  that helps her create service designs and deliver unique customer experiences. Constantly out doing herself by doing  things differently.

She has been a trusted business partner with all the organisations that she has worked with, also created high value on human capital through peers and associates alike.

Ms. Naidu has been a consistent high performer in each of her job profiles over the years. She has been addressed as a hard task master, yet she managed to build strong teams across the hotels that she has worked in the last three decades. The Teams that she built have been efficient, knowledgeable and purposeful in their approach and they became assets for the organizations. The people who worked with her have reached high positions in other organisations too. She takes pride in their achievements like a true leader. I too have met a few of the professionals who worked with her and all of them talk so fondly of her. She has earned respect from all.

She believes in constant learning and upgrading her  capabilities.  Over the years she has done just that by focused study as well as attending courses which have enhanced her skills, knowledge and abilities.Some of the  noteworthy courses that she has completed are:

• Worked extensively with  Mr Sakul Intakul an internationally renowned floral designer.
• Performance Management System TATA Business Excellence Module(Conducted for TATA group of companies)
• Accommodation Management Course (Conducted by ITC Welcome Group Management Institute, Delhi)
• Corporate Safety, Health and Environment Course (Conducted by ITC at Welcome Group Management Institute, Delhi).
• Member of Moving Images in Hyderabad that archive show case movies and documentaries Indian and International.
• In planning stages of opening a Senior Citizen activity centre with purpose of making elders age meaningfully.

In her career spanning over 32 years, she has been recognised and rewarded as a high energy employee who has made substantial contribution in the following five areas

• Quality assurance and audit.
• Opening and setting up of new properties is my forte,Green field or Brown field .
• Business Process and Change Management in housekeeping and Customer Interface
• Anything but Ordinary customer experience thru service and innovative themes
• Successful Personality and Career development of many who have worked under her.
• She has won critical acclaim for her abilities in ‘Creativity & Innovation –Trendy, Contemporary ‘. Differentiation in Presentation, Placement and Personalization. 

Career Highlights:

• Launched two boutique concept hotels, Both member of Design Hotels.
• The Park Hyderabad – 270 rooms
• The Park Chennai- 216 rooms
• 9 Zone by the Park hotels
• Worked with ITC luxury collection for 6 years.
• eHRACC- of Welcome Group Chola Sheraton. Upgradation from 5 star to 5 star deluxe hotels.
• “5GK” award-for achieving highest standards of hygiene, cleanliness and environment for WG Chola Sheraton, Chennai.

Awards and Accolades: 

• As a senior member of the team and in-charge of house-keeping, she has launched two boutique hotels in the 5-Star and 5-Star Deluxe category from the green field stage. And has set up and launched 14 new hotels from projects stage.
• Some of the top-notch designers she has worked with are  Cheda Simbda, Rajiv Saini,   Tarun Tahailiani, Jean Francois Lesarge, Manish Arora, renowned florist Mr. Sakul Intakul from Thailand and  Eating designer Ms. Marije Vogelzang.
• Has assisted Mr. Sharam Vazari of Hersh Bedner Association-Los Angeles, Mr. Freibrich of Wilson Associates, Singapore and Ms. Basu of Richmond International London.
• External faculty for catering colleges in Chennai, Coimbatore and Hyderabad.
• Ex Vice President of Chennai Chapter of Executive Housekeepers.
• Attended workshops of  renowned Eating designer Ms. Marije Vogelzang for The Park group.
• Assisted Mr. Sharam Vazari Interior Designer of Hersh Bedner Associates-Los Angeles while setting up The Park in Chennai.
• Member and Committee member of the esteemed ‘The Secunderabad Club’. A 150 years old heritage building and club.
• Actively involved with ‘SMILES’ a senior citizen home, Home for the orphanages, Rural Education & Skill development , ACE foundation for the disabled and other NGOs.
• Zonal Head for the south Professional Housekeepers Association .
•  Work closely with the Police department in adopting Government schools for Tree plantation , Swatch Bharat at heritage sites in collaboration with all brands and stand alone hotels in the city and Hotel Management colleges.
• 5 ‘S’ training of the north Zone Police stations. Setting up of model police station and on going training
• Promoting local artisans and giving them a platform to exhibit their talent and skills with the help of the local police and hotels.

 Her Motto: “One Life….Live It”

‘This Life is what I know of; so do all that it requires to stay happy and meaningful’

Read More: http://www.theiwh.com/ms-suchitra-naidu/

Website: http://www.theiwh.com

Predictably Unpredictable - Ms. Avril Sule

Learning is so much easier nowadays, with the internet and information at the snap of a finger, but inspiration really comes from few. She has been one inspirational teacher to generations of hospitality professionals.

She has had a reckless abandonment for process and hard-wired rules. Her goal has remained to always break the mould. No definitions can put her in a straight-jacket. There is always room to breakout; be exceptional, be unique, even to be contrary- defines her to some extent. And all of her best students were the ones who didn’t fit in, but everything they eventually did, after crossing paths with her was exceptional! She fuelled their passion and eccentricity; bringing out the best in them.  When it came to their unusual choices she would ask them to pursue it because no one else had done it and she’d urge them to do it better than anyone else.

My association with Ms. Avril Sule goes back to 24 years, where she was my professor. She had a massive fan following (her students)  not just at IHM Mumbai then but the world over…. why do I say the world over?  Because her ex students were working all over the world and most of them were in touch with her. They visited her when they came to Mumbai. As young students we could see the adulation and respect she had earned from her students. We were no different we adored her and waited for her classes. She was completely unpredictable – she would bring in many surprises and fun elements in her class. The learning was there but there was humour and certain madness that we all loved. She used to teach us a subject that not many would find interesting. She made it look ‘Wow’ and many of her students inspired by her took up careers in housekeeping. They are all doing extremely well in their careers and they are all over the world – you name a country and you’d find one of her ‘progenies’- the students she mentored there.

I was her student, then we have worked together as colleagues – we worked on things that we were passionate about; the flower arrangements, training and teaching. She has  played a great role in my own career, I would seek her advice; I do it even now. I tried to do things that she’d and I considered it to be an absolute honour. Be it hosting events together, creating decorative pieces for events at the college, training assignments and many more. She has had a great influence in my life just like many of her students.  It didn’t matter which area the students specialised it they’d all have a connection with her which they maintained over the years. When I meet any of her ex students they speak so fondly of her, her classes and her sense of humour.

‘Don’t let the norm define you, respect it but rework it. Let your discipline help you achieve but let your creativity help you excel’ has been her motto. Her mantra for teachers or trainers conducting a session is to be predictably unpredictable!

The Early Life

She is a Mumbai girl, grew up in an Anglo Indian family. Education was always valued; her mother was an accomplished educator.  After her school, she completed a one-year craft course in Bakery and Confectionery prior to joining the Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology. Right from the start, she knew that she wanted to join the Housekeeping Department. Despite the fact that the course syllabus involved many daunting menial tasks, she doggedly pursued this department as her career choice.  Despite the strict discipline of the revered Ms. Thangam Philip, she says that the college days were fun with many co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. According to her it was an unusual choice of career at the time when a chef was called a cook; it was the Hotel Industry not the Hospitality Industry and there were hardly any women taking up jobs in hotels.

Her first job as a Management Trainee at The Ambassador Hotel in Mumbai placed her in the Front Office, then Room Service and eventually Housekeeping. Working in the hotel was not easy for her as there were only three women in hotel operations. They were surrounded by a bunch of protective male staff members. After completing two and a half years working in the hotel, she was invited by Ms. Thangam Philip to join the teaching faculty at her alma mater the Dadar Catering College (now IHM Mumbai). She came from a family of teachers and vowed never to be one! This put her in a tricky situation.

Thus began her journey in Hospitality Education. She joined as Housekeeping Faculty and worked closely with her teachers and began to enjoy  the role of being one herself. She strived to make each session as interesting as possible. Ms. Sule pioneered the use of audio visual aids at the institute and dabbled with the use of games in the classrooms. At the National Seminar – DISHA (Development of Innovative Strategies in Higher Academics) 2006, She presented a paper dealing with the effective use of games in classroom teaching. She enjoyed a good student-teacher relationship and this helped her in getting accurate feedback on the sessions she conducted. Her anthem at the time was

Being a teaching faculty at IHM, Ms. Sule had the opportunity to closely interact with Ms. Thangam Philip.  As a student and then staff, the fear that she instilled in all laid the foundation for the exemplary discipline of the Institute.  Ms. Philip brought out the best in her with her ‘open sandwich’ criticism; she would rarely praise and when she did there was always a ‘but’ attached. The two ladies shared a great bond.

During her tenure as faculty in the Catering College, one of Ms. Sule’s greatest inspirations was Mr. Ismay Gomes , whom she describes as,” my teacher, colleague and now, forever friend”. Mr. Gomes encouraged her to attend the Certified Hospitality Educator programme and complete her graduation. She picked up the finer nuances of teaching and gained expertise in it ; from the HOD of Teacher Training, Dr. Shanta Devi who mentored her and encouraged her to score high marks and top the batch.

Ms. Sule felt that the metamorphosis of the Catering College into the IHM was a great change process in many ways. She started writing articles for leading hospitality publications, joined a trainer’s forum, became a member of the HCIMA, was invited as guest speaker, hosted events and interacted with a world outside her workplace.

Mr. K.V. Simon then took over as the Principal of the Catering College. He was full of praise for her and she ended up taking on responsibilities that she wouldn’t have thought she was capable of.  Many years later she facilitated the CHE program and her passion transferred from teaching students to training hospitality educators and trainers. She has conducted training programmes for tourism departments in India and also for other countries.

She was invited by The Galaxy Education System, Gujarat to train school teachers. She moved to Gujarat and while there she enrolled for the Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers. She believes in the fact that one who dares to teach must never cease to learn. She has continued to do so.

After a brief sabbatical of training school teachers of The Galaxy Education System in Gujarat, She returned to Mumbai to be part of the start-up team for the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management.  She took it up at the time when she was walking with the help of a walker following a major accident. Undoubtedly, the enthusiasm of taking on the new assignment must have put her back on her feet (literally)! She worked at SRIHM for 4 years before her retirement. She is now enjoying a relaxed life with her ever loving and supporting husband Mr. Prashant Sule and daughter Priyadarshini, who is based in Goa.  She takes up assignments that she loves and she is following her passion. People like her actually never retire they keep creating interesting avenues- one after the other.

Awards and Accolades:

Ms. Avril Sule was awarded the Thangam Philip Foundation Scholarship in 1989 and she travelled to the UK and parts of Europe visiting Institutes and Hotels.

In September 2004, she was invited to participate in the first WHATT (World Hospitality and Tourism Trends) roundtable discussion held in South-East Asia.

She has been the facilitator for the prestigious CHE, (Certified Hospitality Educator) program conducted by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute.  She has conducted the CHE  programme in India , Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

In 2016, at the International Housekeeper’s Summit, she was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Education in the Hospitality Sector.

She has organised and moderated panel discussions and forums at the annual Clean India Pulire  – Asia’s Largest International Cleaning Trade Show.

She is the project consultant for the International Housekeepers Summit. At IHS 2017 she even hosted the show.

“Over the years, I have met many students across the globe. It is such a joy to see what they have achieved and know that they are happy to meet you. I disagree with the notion that students can be ‘moulded’. Rather they be nurtured to grow in their own individual way.”~ Ms. Avril Sule.

Read More at : http://www.theiwh.com/ms-avril-bayros-sule/

Website: http://www.theiwh.com

Culinary journey of Chef Monisha

A lady who has shattered the glass ceiling and is ‘fabulous’ in the true sense is Chef Monisha Bharadwaj, who dons many hats. She is an award winning author,a food historian and owns a successful Indian cookery school in London - Cooking with Monisha (www.cookingwithmonisha.com) in London, UK

She is a trained chef from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai and has been a food consultant to the Times of India (India’s largest media group) creating menus for celebrities such as the deputy Prime Minister of India as well as several top film stars.

After her short professional stint in Mumbai, she moved to England and worked at the Bombay Brasserie(a Taj Group restaurant) in London.Soon, she met her literary agent, and through her, her publisher, Kyle books, one of the UK’s leading publishing houses. They commissioned her first book, ‘The Indian Kitchen’, which went on to win several awards. She was then commissioned to write her second book. From the books, there came TV and her cookery school. Since she has studied history, she also gives lectures on food history. The success of one book led to the other and she has written 15 books.

The Early life

Chef Monisha was born in Mumbai and attended the Bombay International School and then St Columba School. Her junior college was HR College of commerce after which she joined the Institute of Hotel Management, Dadar in Mumbai, India.

She started her training in Bharatanatyam at the age of 4 and has studied this classical dance form for 30 years. She has performed all over the world professionally, and was invited to perform at the opening of the Nehru gallery, Victoria and Albert museum, in the presence of HM the queen.

She has created and taught her courses at other cookery schools such as Divertimenti, The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath, The Ashburton School in Devon, seasoned in south Derbyshire and The Bristol School of Food and Wine. She teaches several classes a week, from training chefs from all around the world to teaching people with special needs. Her specialty being the Indian Cuisine, she feels that India and Indian food is so diverse, it has got its roots in many different aspects in different regions. One should understand that Indian cooking is easy to do and focuses on good health. One can keep it simple by using locally sourced ingredients, which are in season. She believes that turmeric is the ‘super spice’ since it has antioxidants, is anti- inflammatory; making it a wonder spice. She herself loves turmeric tea and has been having it for many years; she believes that it has kept her immunity high. She was invited to be a part of the BBC radio 4’s programme, ‘The food programme’ on turmeric last year.

She feels that physical stamina is extremely important for chefs as they have to spend a lot of time workingand standingin hot kitchens and small spaces. The physical demands of the job are many.Her success mantra for a professional chef: “Be good at teamwork, have appropriate knowledge and skill sets with a wish to keep learning and innovating”.

Shehas been a guest chef at Benaras, a Michelin star restaurant in London and at the Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane.She is often invited to judge food events and has been a regular judge at the Guild of Fine Food’s ‘Great Taste Awards’ for the past few years.

In 2013, she was invited to be Guest Lecturer at SOAS, University of London, to give a series of talks on ‘The History and Culture of India through its Food’. She was invited to be guest speaker at Kew Gardens for the Indian Orchid Festival 2017 where she talked about healing plants used in Indian cookery. In 2017, Chef Bharadwaj developed and gave a lecture on ‘How the British Fell in Love with Curry’ at The British Council. More recently, in 2018, she was invited to bethe brand ambassador ofVeetee Basmati rice in the UK and Europe.

Her Take on the famous ‘curry’

She says, “Today, everyone considers curry a national dish in the UK. It started with the East India Company as returning officers and wives took back recipes from India. However, the right ingredients and tools were not available, and so the British used substitutes and British cooking techniques to cook Indian dishes. For example, they used apples instead of raw mangoes.As time went on, more Indians came to the UK, started their own restaurants. Bengali boatmen, who were taken back by the British, started working in the fish and chip shops. This is where they started cooking curry, which white men discovered, was a good meal to have after a few beers, given that curry was spicy!”.

Awards and accolades

She was awarded ‘Cookery Writer of the Year’ in 2003 and her books have been shortlisted for awards such as the Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards, the Andre Simon Award and the Jacob’s Creek World Food Media Awards. She has also won the prestigious food award from the Deutschland Akademie Ausgezeichnet in Germany. Her books have sold almost a million copies in 8 languages.

She contributes to several magazines and newspapers such as Elle, Delicious, The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph and has cooked on TV for Great Food Live and Bites on UK Food and for the South African Broadcasting Channel. She has been a judge on Iron Chef America (The Food Network, USA) and cooked for ‘Chef on a Shoestring’ (CBS Network, USA). She has also done BBC’s ‘Food and Drink’ show and ‘Inside the Factory’, ITV1’s ‘The World’s Best Diet’ and Sky One’s ‘Fat Families’.

She has also been nominated ‘celebrity chef of the year 2018’ by the London curry awards.

Read more at : http://www.theiwh.com/chef-monisha-bharadwaj/

Website: http://www.theiwh.com

Ms. Thangam Philip

Ms. Thangam Elizabeth Philip is regarded as the pioneer of hospitality education in India. Known as the diva of hospitality industry, she was an epitome of discipline; agreat teacher who knew every student of hers by name. Even after her retirement,whenever an ex student met her she could quote his or her year of graduation from the institute, such was her memory.She was empathetic, upheld great moral values and good judgment. Outwardly she acted tough but there wasalways a genuine concern for improving one’s attitude towards teaching and learning.

On the three occasions that I met her and had the fortune of serving her, she exuberated an auraof authority and grace. Wherever I went, when I spoke of my alma mater, people asked me about Ms. Philip -that’s the respect she commanded. To write about her I contacted people who had worked with her and knew her well, they were professors who taught me and many others graduating from the portals of a great educational institution, IHM Mumbai.  Chef Vernon Coelho, Mrs. Mercy Mathew, Mrs. Avril Sule, Chef VK Iyerand Mrs. Aileen Sequeirashared some great insights about her personality. Of all the people I have written about, this one is aninspiration to me; anode toa lady who was in a league of her own.

She never settled for jobs not done to perfection.  She took rounds of the Institute while the classes were going on and would enter the kitchens to check on staff as well as the students. She insisted on food from the Quantity Food Kitchen be sent to her so that she could find out what the majority of the students were being served. She would dine once or twice a week at the restaurant to taste the food prepared by the Third-Year students and also to experience and asses the serving skills of the students. She would randomly check the journals of students and would insist on the staff showing her the answer papers of failed students as well as the top fivewho scored the highest in the respective subject.

She took special interest in celebrating Christmas and Onam at the institute. She promoted theweekend trade fairs, which were annual events held in December. People loved coming to theseandthey became great social eventsin Mumbai. Students loved working in the stalls and selling the products that they made and there was great showmanship and pride. She was very particular about the dinners and events that were held. It was an era whenthe industry as well as the profession was being built, one step at a time. Nutrition was very close to her heart - every week the second year students along with the staff in charge used to visit the slums of Mumbai and conduct demonstrations on how to cook economical and nutritional meals. A van was dedicated to this cause, that was so very apt and the need of the hour.

She never gave into political pressures as the head of the institution. One political leader came on an Onam celebration day to stop the function saying that there was shortage of rice at that time and it was acourt order not to serve it. However, prior to the event, she had already secured a permission from the court to allow the program to happen. She cited the reason to be a requirement for the students who graduated to have knowledge of regional cuisine. She had excellent foresight and vision; she planned well in advance. Padma ShriThangam Philip was also a Ceres awardee, putting her in the league ofIndira Gandhi and Mother Teresa.

The Early Life

Ms. ThangamE Philip was born on 12 May 1921 at Kozhikode in Kerala.  After graduating from the Women's Christian College, Chennai, she completed her post graduate diploma from the Lady Irwin College, Delhi. She secured herMS degree from USA.  She was a well known nutritionist; she started her career by joining the faculty of Home Science at St Thomas School Kolkata, where she worked for a short time. She moved to Sri Lanka in 1949 to work at Southland Methodist College where she establishedthe Home Economic department.

Ms.Philip returned to India in 1950 and accepted the invitation of the Ministry of Agriculture to manage one of the cafeterias under the brand name, Annapurna that servedsubsidised food to the middle class. In 1954, she shifted to Mumbai and joined the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition when the college was established in that year.  She did many radio and television programmes and visited USA where her programmes were telecasted. In 1961, after her return from the US, she was appointed as the principal of IHM Mumbaipopularly known as the Dadar Catering College. She also started writing articles in the periodicals and opened a cookery programme at the All India Radio. When the Food and Agricultural Organization launched the Freedom from Hunger campaign in 1963, Ms. Philip joined the campaign and contributed greatly. Shealso participated in the inaugural program of the Young World Assembly held in Athens in 1965.

Ms. Philip has authored several books on the hospitality industry and culinary. Her two volume works, Modern Cookery, Book for Teaching and the Trade, is a prescribed textbook in IHM curriculum. One of her books, Thangam Philip's Book of Baking is a work written for the Ministry of Tourism. She was involved as a consultant with several projects of UNDP, Food and Agricultural Organization, International Labour Organization and the Government of Kuwait. She served on the boards of many hospitality enterprises and organisations such as Air India, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Sterling Holiday Resorts (India) Limited and Kamat Hotels.

After retirement in 1986, she returned to her native place Pallom, at Kottayam district in Kerala. She continued with her research from her home there.Ms. Philip died on 28thJanuary 2009, at the age of 87.

Awards and Honours

Ms. Philip was a fellow of the Hotel Catering and Institutional Management Association, HCIMA UK, Cookery and Food Association, CFA UK and served as a member of the Royal Society for Public Health, UK.

The Food and Agricultural Organization honouredher with the portrayal on the FAO Ceres Medal; a commemorative coin was also issued with her image in 1975.

She received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India in 1976.

The Government of France awarded her the Knighthood of the Order of Cordon Bleu Du Sant Esprit in 1982.

She retired from IHMCTAN in 1986, after which she was made the Principal Emeritus of the institute.

She was also a recipient of the Firestone Award from the Indian Association of Occupational Health.

Reference: http://www.theiwh.com/ms-thangam-e-philip/