If his stock, currently held by several thousand farmers, was traded, it would be a strong buy on any fund managers portfolio. In fact if he did go public, several farmers might find themselves millionaires, virtually overnight.

As he sits in his office at the Institute of Rural Management, barely weeks after relinquishing his chairmanship of NDDB, Kurien is quite pleased that he leaves behind a rich institution, getting richer by the day. He has demonstrated that a successful experiment in povertyallievation can actually be a financial powerhouse.

But that is hardly what Kurien sees as his biggest achievement. Keeping NDDB free from political interference and IAS bureaucrats is. For him, the appointment of his chosen successor Amrita Patel as the chairman, despite government attempts to the contrary is an important victory. For him, it means the organisation will survive and carry on the work in the manner it always has.

But Kurien has not hung up his boots. Closely involved with helping the Sri Lankan government replicate Anand, he has promised them self sufficiency in milk in the next decade. And he is doing it in his inimitable, undemocratic style - he has sacked the old board, instituted a new one with professionals, taken over the accounts and put an end to corruption. Now he is ready to start building the co-operatives. The NDDB has put in Rs 60 crore and refused all government patronage.

Even as the Sri Lankan assignment takes up all his attention, he is looking at all the other countriesthat have called on him for help. And he is having his fun. Brushing aside all obstacles, government or otherwise, he is working out ways to replicate Anand. While NDDB's management will do it in India - he will do it globally. Kurien may have retired from the NDDB, but remains the titular head of the GCMMF. Leaving the day to day management in their hands, he continues with his pet projects. The latest one is trying to develop a brand of chikki. "Chocolates are not for the Indian climate. They become gooey," he says. Does that mean Amul will exit chocolates, since that is one area that Nestle and Cadbury have beaten them at it. "No, I like irritating the multinationals," he says. This is one man age has not mellowed.