The Monkey's Paw

“Your father is in the hospital”. He was playing caroms with his friends. Bappa was trying hard to put the “queen” into the pocket. His fingers became numb. He eased the fingers. The striker ricocheted at the corner rather directionless. He rushed to the hospital. He was late. He is only twenty years. He saw his mother sobbing. His sister was still in her school uniform.

 

Bappa got twenty lakhs rupees as life insurance coverage of his father. How to run the family? He sat at the locality roadside tea shop --- wandering what to do. Some construction workers asked him the way to a particular construction site. Bappa murmured something incoherent. They laughed. One of his friends joined. “I won’t stay in the house.  My mother has made my life miserable. Is it my fault if I do not get a decent job?’

 

Bappa and four of his friends pooled in all their resources. They decided to become builders. They started looking for joint families who on  the verge of breaking; dilapidated old buildings – crumbling due to lack of maintenance; land owners – tenants ever sour relationship; Novo rich trying to sell off their ancestral property and settling at a “posh” locality. Bappa had his hands full. He found a lot of people wanting to sell of their property. In other words handing over the old building and building a new one for them with some extra flats.

 

“Paramount Constructions” in which Bappa is one of the partners has constructed ten projects so far. Bappa has earned an epithet for him--- “building shark”. He has amassed a lot of money but still he buys his jeans from pavement shopkeepers at Esplanade. He does not own a car and prefers the public transport. His wife feels like a piece of furniture in the home. Bappa comes late. Eats quietly and retires to bed. Sometimes wakes up, scribbles something in the pad and goes off to sleep. Wakes up early before other members get up, rushes to the construction site to oversee the work. 

 

Those who had purchased flats from Paramount Constructions have a lot of complaints. Bappa has promised the moon to the prospective flat owners but did not keep his ever flowing promises. Bappa intentionally forgets simple things like fixing a letter box, an extra circuit breaker, installing outside lights; gates in the entrance of the building. These small things irritate the flat owners. Many a time people are seen quarreling with him. No one recommends his name. Once bitten “thrice” shy.

 

Bappa works on a ‘forward integration plan’. He had teamed up with a furniture making shop, an electrician, a painter and an interior decorator. People buying flats often look for these things to complete their “decoration “of the flat. He supplies the men and materials on an agreed commission from them. Bappa is quite popular among his peers. He gives business to them and they are happy.

 

Bappa’s excellence in work has diminished over the projects. The materials, workmanship, architectural style has all nose dived but still his flats are being sold. Other builders are more than willing to create a market for themselves in the upcoming middle class locality but couldn’t find success. The recession did not have an impact on Paramount Construction. They trudged on. It is a riddle which remained unsolved.

 

Note:

This is really an intriguing case so wonderfully told by Mr. Sitendu De. Thanks, Sitendu, for your your contribution of this lovely story. Hugs!

CL -- The Sage Entrepreneurs - Part 2

Now we shift focus to another pioneering, self sacrificing Entrepreneur Son of Mother India – Shri Ghanshyamdasji Birla (G.D.Birla).  He was born in Pilani and at the tender age of five he witnessed severe famine and whole families starving and bones of animals being picked clean in the desert.  His grandfather had started the family business of broking and trading in the then Bombay (now called Mumbai).  Sri Shivnarain Birla has also built a temple, a well for the use of all the villages and family Haveli at Pilani.

G.D.Birla’s early schooling was at Pilani and later he went to a city school in Calcutta.  The city slickers made fun of a rustic “bumpkin” for the village and the young boy preferred to roam the city streets to being teased and tormented at school.  The streets obviously were an educational forum of practical action for him for he developed into a keen sharp broker with strong nerves and skillful foresight.

He came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi at the age of 19.  G.D.Birla’s life went forward on may traders – 1) Family life 2) Industrial 3) Political-Emotional-Spiritual 4) Philanthropic and Charitable.

1)     Family life at the age of 14 he married Smt. Durga Devi she bore him a son Laxminiwas (L.N.Birla) and died when he was 19.  He again married at the age of 19 to Smt. Maha Devi.  But after a number of children she too contracted tuberculosis and expired so he was a widower at 32.  His political mentor Mahatma Gandhi advised him to remain celibate and devote the rest of his life to the country and he followed the advice.

2)     INDUSTRIAL CAREER : Ghanshyamdasji had inherited the sharp business acumen of his grandfather.  He purchased a lot of jute in his younger days and held to make a huge profit by dint of economic foresight.  During the First World War his father and he made around Rs. 80 lakhs a princely sum in those days (if you adjust for inflation).  He advised his father to set up a jute mill.  But the venerable old trader cautious and conservative by nature refused to embark on a journey into uncharted territory.  But G.D. was determined.  His determination was sharpened by insults and jibes to Indians by the European Businessmen !  Once he was not allowed to board a life because he was a non European !  Also the officer who used to sell him jute called him a “black native.”  His ears burned with outraged nationalistic pride and shame.  He secretly bought a small piece of land from a zamindar and appointed a trusted aide J.P. Mandelia to look after operations.  The British Imperial Bank refused G.D. any loan so he issued public shares and his shares were oversubscribed.  The Scottish supervisor of the Mill refused to teach Mandelia the intricacies of jute processing so G.D. and Mandelia would watch him secretly and observe his action.  They also scoured the bookshops of Kolkata and Mumbai.  Mandelia found one second-hand book on jute Technology which they pored over and made themselves knowledgeable regarding the technology.  The British controlled Jute Mill Owners association refused G.D. entry.  This made G.D. sure that the British were scared of Indians and they knew if Indians broke free of their Economic Domination their Political Domination too would be strangled and eliminated so he fought them tooth and nail and set up more industries.  By the time G.D. died he had set up Hindalco, Gwalior Rayon, Kesoram, United Commercial Bank and many other Industries.  India too won freedom on 15^th August, 1947.

3)     Political – Emotional – Spiritual views Politically before coming under the spell of the Mahatma, G.D. was a friend of the revolutionaries and even hid some guns in his office, was raided and went underground.  But from the age of 19 onwards he was a devotee of Mohandas Gandhi.  When the boys of Kolkata opened the horses from the carriage and pulled Mahatma’s carriage themselves G.D. was one of them.  He may not have agreed with the theory of cottage industry but in obedience to Gandhian philosophy he practiced the Charkha daily.  Mahatma Gandhi pressed upon his consciousness the concept of trusteeship and the disciple responded sincerely.  Under the urging of Gandhiji G.D. became the President of the Harijan Upliftment Committee.  When C.V.Raman needed some money for experiments G.D. immediately sent him the required funds.  When he came to know that the Poet Rabindranath Tagore required around Rs.60,000/- for Shantiniketan, Vishwa Bharati University he anonymously sent a draft for the amount.  G.D. Birla’s philanthropic projects are numerous – Birla’s Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, BITS Mesra, the Laxmi Narayan Temple, New Delhi, Birla Science Museum-Kolkata, Birla Planetorium-Kolkata, B.M.Birla Hospital, Bombay Hospital – the list is too numerous to quote !  He also donated money to the Aligarh Muslim University.  There is a special Saraswati Temple in Pilani covered with statuettes of famous scholars and scientists.  At his mentor’s behest he started “The Hindustan Times” and English daily newspaper to counter the vicious, malicious propaganda that was put out by the British owned English Anti-Indian Independence newspapers – that paper is still flourishing today !

4)     A little known incident in G.D.Birla’s life is that the British Bulldog Sir Winston Churchill, at that time out of Political Power, invited G.D.Birla to his country home in England.  Filled with trepidation G.D. agreed to visit.  To his utter surprise, the staunch opponent of Indian Independence was a most hospitable host to the staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi !  Needless to say both men probed each other’s minds to gather vital intelligence helpful to their opposing causes ! Mahatma Gandhi tragically was shot dead at Birla House while leading a prayer meeting.  He used to say at Birla House whenever in Delhi.

5)     If anybody is interested in reading about there 2 stalwarts I would recommend Amar Chitra Katha’s “Jamshedji Tata” and “Ghanshyamdas Birla”.  I have relied totally on there 2 publications for my factoids and pictures.  Thank you ACK, thank you Uncle Pai for such depth of research and infotainment !!

6)     In my analysis and study of these pioneering, entrepreneurial souls.  I stumbled upon one bright shining jewel of a fact – these two patriots had an overwhelming burning desire to serve the Motherland and that desire sharpened their Entrepreneurial skills to Excellence in the World of Business, Industry and Commerce ! Nisarga datta Maharaj has said “if you have a vast, deep and noble ambition to serve the world, the people, the country the Universe itself will help you – It will go out of its way to help you !” But the ambition should be noble and vast !

No IPO, NO Angel Investors, No Entrepreneurship Incubator can substitute for Vast and Noble Ambition.  Spectacular short-term burn outs like Enron or Satyam can never challenge an Arvind Eye Hospital, a Bharat Sevashram, a Wipro or an Infosys because when a mere Entrepreneur becomes an Ardha Sanyassin (sage) Entrepreneur like Jamshedji or G.D.Birla he or she becomes Unstoppable, Towering Dynamos for the Power of Good in the World !!! Here I would like to caution that smart Buzzwords may sound phonetically attractive but are actually useless in the Real World.  For instance in the environs of 5-Star Air Conditioned” comfort, a Seminar Speaker may very cleverly say “Bill Gates entered the Gates of the World Economy by selling Electronic Windows !”

But by repeating the saying a 1000 times one will not create even a mini-Microsoft !

Cleverness and Smartness can never substitute Hard Work, Self Sacrifice and a Vast, Noble Ambition !

I would like to close with a saying by Swami Vivekananda, “No Noble and Great Activity was ever accomplished by mere Cleverness !”

Jamshedji and Ghanshyamji would have heartily agreed on this.

 

This is the concluding portion of the two part series. Part 1 was published on 15th August on this blog site.

Ashesh Ghosh, FCA, CEO of RollPack Pvt. Ltd. is the author of this story. He lives in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, with his wife and their son and daughter.

CL - stands for Creative Leadership

CL -- The Sage Entrepreneurs - Part 1

A ship “The Empress of India” set sail from the then Yokohama harbour to Vancouver, Canada in 1893.

On the upper deck two Indian met during their morning and evening walks and became fast friends.  One was a young unknown monk and the other was a rich Parsi trader from Bombay.  The monk and the Parsi businessman agreed starting some industry, not in mere cotton or textile but in the core sector e.g. Cement or Steel or Chemicals would help India progress from the coils of Foreign Domination !

The monk told the would-be industrialist there were 2 aspects to industry- the manufacturing aspect and the knowledge science and to run the Steel furnaces, plant and mill.  An institute had to be built for imparting knowledge in Science and Technology to Indians as the British were eager to teach Literature and Arts but not science to Indians !  Both also felt if a country has to progress the poor people can only be uplifted vide indigenous Industry and not Foreign Charity or the imaginary Benevolence of Colonial Masters !!!

The two men were Jamshedji Tata and Swami Vivekananda !!! Jamshedji was visiting the Chicago World Fair and Swamiji continued onwards to his historic address at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago but the burning words of the visionary monk left an indelible impression on his listener’s mind !

Jamshedji Tata set up India’s first Steel Plant in Jamshedpur, a hydro electric power plant at Khandala near Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science of Bangalore.  In 1898 five years later Jamshedji requested Swamiji to head his dream “Monastery of science where in a spirit of asceticism students would worship Science !”

Reluctalantly Swami Vivekanand had to turn down the offer as he was then pre-occupied with the Ramakrishna Mission and Math Organisation.  The first Indian Director of the Indian Institute of Science was the Nobel Laureate Dr. C.V. Raman !

“Imbued with an intensely patriotic and enlightened spirit, Jamshedji started India’s first Provident Fund Scheme, 8 hours working day, planned township for workmen including hospitals and schools !!

When Jamshedji was refused entry to a hotel in Bombay as he was a non European, he built the Taj Hotel in Apollo Bunder opposite the Gateway of India.  His sense of patriotic Indian ness had been outraged at the incident but  in his magnanimity he allowed Europeans entry to his Hotel ! When it opened it was the best in Asia ! In his search for excellence Jamshedji imported pipelines from Germany, water wheels from Switzerland, Generators from America, Electrical machinery from Dusseldorf, Chandeliers from Berlin, cast iron pillars from Paris etc.

When he wanted to start the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the British Viceroy Curzon opposed it tooth and nail saying “How can Indians learn Science and Technology and where will you find students ?”

Contrast Curzon’s sayings with US President Obama’s constant exhortations to American Children “Indian students are very good in Maths and Science – Americans should study hard and catch up with the Indians !”

Curzon’s racial arrogance and White European supremacism only spurred Jamshedji onto greater determination !”

Jamshedji duputed Prof. Burjor Padishah to tour all the great Universities of Europe and USA and suggest a model for the Indian Institute of Science.  Prof. Burjor recommended the John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

Nobel Laureate Sir William Ramsay, the inventor of neon, visited India at Mr. Tata’s invitation and recommended Bangalore as our ideal location vis-à-vis Mysore and Mumbai.  Mr. Tata said this will be a national monument & never tried to glorify his own name !

When the British Chairman of Indian Railways heard about Tata Steel he said “If Mr. Tata produces steel, I will eat up every pound of it !”

Despite such condescending attitudes and even Vice regal opposition Jamshedji’s dream projects – Tata Steel, Taj Hotel, Tata Power and Indian Institute of Science stand as magnificent monuments to his sagacity, planning, execution and team-building.

 This excellent Zoarastrian son of Mother India really lived up to the tenets of Humata, Hubhakta and H’varsta – Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Action !!!

 

Part 2 would be published on 22nd August on this blog site.

Ashesh Ghosh, FCA, CEO of RollPack Pvt. Ltd. is the author of this story. The next part would be published on 22nd August 2011. He lives in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, with his wife and their son and daughter.

CL - stands for Creative Leadership

 

CL - Act Local: Feel Global!

Times have significantly changed.

A time has come when 'All thinking worthy of the name must now be ecological." -- Lewis Mumford.

We are now clear that the ecological balance of our planet is at peril and our modern way of living is no longer sustainable.

What might we do then?

a) Do something on the political front. Any positive result is very unlikely.

b) Do something to lift financially poor nations and societies out of poverty. Again positive results are very unlikely.

c) Stop wars. Not a likely thing to happen in near future.

d) Bring Nations under environmental agreement. Looks gloomy at its best!

e) Stop manufacturing plants coming up in China and India. Downright foolish idea

f) Use renewable energy. Not viable till date. As of now the cost is prohibitive.

g) Use public transport and cut down on car production. Good idea but can't be implemented. But this might hurt public and social vanity. And it might hurt companies too.

h) Change currency into something intangible. This idea is doing its rounds for quite sometime. But can envision how this is possible.

i) Reduce or check population growth. Not possible unless poverty is eradicated like small pox.

j) Do something at an individual or family level -- use less water to flush and bathe, recycle garbage, buy cars with better mileage, etc... Good idea to initiate some movement in this direction.

k) Campaign against anything obnoxious -- cutting of trees, toxic wastes in agricultural fields, killing of animals, growing crops not native to a particular place. Good idea again. But it needs a lot of leadership skills for people to voluntarily participate. Most of such campaigns have fizzled out unless backed by strong politicians (usually fighting for their personal causes) or backed by large and big corporations having vested interests who are sometimes economically more powerful than many nations. Hence unlikely! Or a Vinoba Bhave type of campaign that happens once in a century. Not very useful either. Or keep blaming others. That is a waste of time and effort since none would listen.

l) Feel what each of us can contribute from our own specific role in society constantly reminding ourselves of the question, "Within the given situation what may I do better to address the ecological issues of our times?"

This to me appears plausible under the given circumstances. It is simple indeed to ask, 'What can I do to promote both ecological balance and live in a better way as a businessman, architect, teacher, professor, engineer, worker, taxi-driver, bus-driver, designer, doctor, nurse, lawyer, prostitute, musician, student, husband, housewife, traffic policeman, employee, manager, politician or a farmer or an economist?

As soon as we ask this question or remind ourselves of it a whole new world opens up with zillion possibilities. That for me is creative leadership.

Let us take an example to examine how this might work.

I love this DIY site: Dornob. Let's see how they are answering the great question.

1. They use container pallets to design their furniture. It is basically a waste product after materials arrive at users' doors. Idea - recycling materials!

2. The pallets are then configured in various ways to create different types of furniture (modular in concept). That is you can take them off and choose to build something else or simply stack them away for some future use. Reusable!

3. The end products are not the most minimalist or fashionable works, but they show the marks of their origins and are certainly eye-catching in a raw and honest way. A good design approach without using additional materials!

4. The tables, chairs and lamps themselves are both playful and pragmatic. They use existing colors as accents rather than relying on additional paints or stains. Some use blocks while other employ slats, depending on the need. Straight lines and right angles make them look minimalist at a glance, but really just functional and easy to build on closer inspection.

5. The best part, though, is that you cannot buy their designs – these are not for sale. What is for sale, instead, are a series of instruction manuals, photo books and other related merchandise. This is not only a clever way to tap into a market of do-it-yourself customers who would rather be giving plans than a finished product, but also more sustainable (and perhaps less ironic) than simply boxing and shipping reconstituted containers that you could just as easily get locally. I love this idea!! It benefits ecology. It benefits business. It benefits local factories & warehouses. It benefits users who gets more for less.

What can I do to promote both ecological balance and live in a better way? This is the lead question one might embrace to restore  ecological balance in someway thereby prolong our existence on planet Earth and also live in a better way.

What a powerful story that would prove to be? Feel from the heart to reach and connect 6.4 millon hearts!

It is time for this Creative Leadership to take shape and form starting with every individual as a leader operating in his/her own sphere of activity/work --  Act Local. Feel Global -- What might I do to ... ?

 

CL stands for Creative Leadership.

Medical Tourism Industry in India -- A Systems Problem

Alamgir Pasha looks on as his fourteen children play cricket in the sprawling lawns of his mansion which more or less resembles a medieval fort. Alamgir is happy with his two wives, fourteen children and one daughter-in-law. He lives in Mirpur near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Alamgir owns a rice mill and exports rice to different countries. He is 53 years old.

Alamgir wanted to celebrate Edd with all his family members. This year he had been successful in bringing all his sons together. Some of them had been studying in England for higher studies. Tears rolled down. It was tears of joy. As every member came to Alamgir for their “Eddi”, he was filled with pride. As he was doling out gifts and presents he felt a sharp pain on the back of his shoulder. Next Alamgir was in ICU at a local hospital. It was diagnosed as a cardiac arrest. He was unable to move his feet and arms. He was paralyzed. The local doctors suggested an operation. Alamgir’s family did not want to take the risk. They applied for a medical visa to India. As medical visas is open to residents of countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China with a validity of one year they had no problems. Why the Alamgir family opted to treat him in India? India offers medical treatment at between half and one third of the cost of similar treatments in neighboring medical tourism countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Alamgir family calculated only the cost and the language factor. Why? Singapore is two to three times more expensive than India. Thailand is eighty percent more expensive while Malaysia has just started from the running blocks. They had felt comfortable in India in their last trip as they spoke their own language and not English or Mandarin to express them but what lay for them is another story. The Alamgirs did not have the considerable amount of time researching the destination and its facilities on their own and had not shown a degree of initiative. They were left totally at the mercy of the hospitals and their touts. In countries like Thailand and Singapore the governments goes out of their way to attract medical travelers as it has now become a lucrative revenue earner.

India never thought medical tourism as an industry which can give you high revenue and a number of employment opportunities for a host of people connected peripherally with this business. Putting advertisements like “incredible India” and touts and law enforcers running after one’s wallet, with no proper place to relieve yourself, getting beaten up by a taxi driver in the mid way of your journey, rouges throwing you out from your legitimized train berths and on checking up with the flight schedules in the internet you end up sitting like a frog in the airport as your flight was long away reschedule --- the tourist in you pops out “incredibly”. So India was never serious in her attempts to recognize any unorganized sector as “industry”. Medical tourism is also suffering from the same official apathy, and continues to do so.

Medical tourism is related to three ministries--- Tourism Ministry; Foreign Ministry and the Health Ministry. The Tourism Ministry has no plans for its “Incredible India” market leave alone formulating any plans for this niche market. The Foreign Ministry after issuing visas to medical travelers is oblivious to other sectors. Though they are very particular that medical travelers cannot re-enter the country sixty days after one exit post operative or cure. This hinders any post operative care. But they sometimes issue visas to black listed dreaded international criminals. They have no time to think about themselves what to think about a person on a wheel chair. The Health Ministry has enough complexities to sort out like curbing the polio, H1N1 virus, distributing condoms, ORS packets, iodized salt packets, AIDS control, sterilization and also other medieval aged diseases like malaria, diphtheria, small pox which comes to India at regular intervals. Getting into the intricacies of attracting medical tourists doesn’t suit them.  The credit for getting six lakhs patients to India and spending more than Rs.4,500/- cores in getting treated in India is purely because of private enterprise with a few corporate hospitals, pharmaceuticals companies, freelance agents all working in tandem to build a thriving ecosystem that educates, facilitates and ferries medical tourists from Africa, Europe and neighboring countries.

Alamgir Pasha got treated from Christian Medical College, Vellore (Tamil Nadu) and is now able to move around and carry on his business. Before leaving India he went to Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan) to pray for his wellbeing and his family at the “Dargarh” of Kwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

 

Sitendu De is the author of this post.