Category Archives: Biography

I Almost Gave Up My Childhood Dream, But ……

Posted on by
15

My target was trekking to the Mt Everest base camp.  It was the sixth day of an 18-day expedition. I was on my way to Dabuche.   Instead of the norm of going with a group of 8-10 people, I decided to experience the journey by myself, with a sherpa to help and guide me.

I had already had enough of the bitter cold. I was weak from a day’s worth of upset stomach to go with the steep climbs.  I had seen injured people being carried back and heard of quite a few who were being flown back due to severe altitude sickness. Along the way. I had seen too many bodies of trekkers who died in their attempt to complete the trek.

I almost gave up.

Usually, trekkers from both directions assemble in the evening at the dining area of tea shops at their night halt points.  Most people prefer to hang around closer to kitchen ovens because it is slightly warmer compared to the sleeping cabins.

Keep Climbing

Keep Climbing

At the end of that day, I was too tired and feeling depressed.  That evening, I heard terrible stories about the trekkers who had gone ahead. I was scared, worried and tense.  For the first time in the trip, I wondered seriously why I had left the comforts of home food, bathing and toilet luxuries, my own bedroom with controlled temperature and the great evening walks with my wife. Doubts started creeping in.

Things were likely to be tougher since the path ahead was more isolated.  Maybe, it was wrong to have come for such a tough trek.  I thought it wasn’t too late to go back home instead of facing the risk ahead. I considered telling the sherpa that we ought to return.  But I could wait till the morning.

I wasn’t hungry, I just had a bowl of soup with bread and stretched for a while on the bed.  It was already dark.  I felt slightly relaxed and positive.  I picked up the torch which was always handy.  I looked for the folder with the travel documents.  In the folder, I found two sheets of printed stuff.  I had carried with me some of the interesting and encouraging messages sent by friends and family, before I left.  I put on my glasses, held the torch in one hand and started reading them.  Each of the messages made my nerves tingle with positivity.

  • “you are an inspiration”,
  • “you are different”,
  • “with your energy, you can give people half of your age a run for their money”,
  • “nothing is impossible for you”,
  • “you convert ideas into realities”,
  • “you convert hopes into accomplishments”,
  • “You overcome fear into self confidence”,
  • “You are definitely one of those handful few”,
  • “You are equipped with spiritual health and strong will power”,
  • “Not many can visualize a dream and achieve it also”,
  • “I would have the privilege to tell to my friends, that a personal friend of mine has done this”,
  • “We are proud of you”,
  • “it is tough, but cake walk for you”,
  • “Fantastic, what a way to do the things man”,
  • “It is honour to know someone like you to look upto” etc.
  • One also read: “Height may make you feel a bit shaky at times, but I know you can reach the top!  With your courage and determination, you can go past all obstacles coming your way, you can do it, you can do it!”

  • Another:

    “Follow your dream…..

    Take one step at a time and don’t settle for less…

    Just continue to climb….

    If you stumble, don’t stop, don’t lose sight of your goal…

    Press to the top, as at the top, we can have a vision to see something new….

    Press on, follow your dream, follow your dream”

These really boosted my spirits, when I needed them the most.  I regained my confidence.  It reminded me of my philosophy which, for a short while I had forgotten, ‘If others can do it, why can’t I”.  These well wishers saved my day and enabled me to move forward with full vigour to make my 50 years old childhood dream come true!

Therefore, let us put in inspiring words wherever possible. Let us not under-estimate the power of our positive words.   They work wonders!!

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

God, The Jugaad Master !

Posted on by
17

I was stuck at an altitude of about 11,000 ft above sea level with my imported Honda Civic. The car had stalled.

 It was 1988, a time when a Maruti 800 was considered a novelty on the roads. We were on a road trip from Bombay – my wife, the three kids (ages 9-14). We were headed to Badrinath Temple, abode of Lord Vishnu in the Himalayas.

The nearest city which could service imported cars, was Delhi, over 550 kms away, passing through dangerous single lane ghats full of sharp turns and twists.

The traditional route to Badrinath was via Rishikesh. I was told that drivers needed special hill-driving endorsement on their licence to drive after Rishikesh.  I did not have the endorsement and hence was not eligible to drive to that part of the Himalayas. But I still wanted to pursue my crazy idea of driving from sea level all the way to the top of Badrinath and to the base of Kedarnath at 12,000 ft above sea level.

If I drove through the traditional route, I had to pass through many check posts. Without a hill-driving endorsement I would have been forced to engage a professional certified driver.  But, I wanted to experience the thrill of making those sharp and dangerous turns myself.

I changed the route.  Instead of going through the traditional route via Rishikesh, I deviated from Gwalior to drive through Nainital and Almora and joined the traditional route at Karna Prayag.

There were no check posts on this road. Understandable because there were not many vehicles who’d dare to use this route. Over a length of 300 kms after Nainital, the alternative route was steep, full of sharp turns, single, 4ft wide and had a deep valley on one side. A stretch of about 200 kms to Karna Prayag, was completely isolated.  I saw only 3-4 trucks in a drive of about 8 hours.

I did not know that roads could be so dangerous!  We prayed for our lives. We made a promise to God that once we reached Badrinath we’d visit the temple in the evening and again the next day morning, irrespective of how crowded it would be.

We reached Badrinath late in the afternoon, checked-in to whatever accommodation we got, dipped in the holy hot water spring and paid our respects to the Lord. We then decided that we could move on to the next destination immediately, instead of staying till the next morning, which would save us a day.

We checked out of the rooms, packed our baggage back into the car and settled in the car to leave.  When I tried to ignite the engine, the car refused to start!  It was in perfect working condition when I had switched it off last.  Try as I might, the engine cranked but refused to start.

Of course, there was no garage around and the one for this type of a car was far away in Delhi.  The other option was to tow the car.  But towing through a ghat stretch of sharp turns was not safe at all.  We were stuck.

The car was in an open parking ground.  There were quite a few cars and trucks around.  I checked under the hood and apparently nothing was wrong.  The battery was going weak due to repeated attempts to start the car.

A truck driver was watching me struggle. He said, screwdriver in hand, that he knew the mechanism of the car and could help.  Another guy got interested too.  As I was talking to him, the driver with the screwdriver suddenly unscrewed the screw of the carburetor top, breaking the original seal exposing the inside throttle valve.  This valve is a vital part controlling the fuel and air supply to the engine and needs absolute accurate adjustment to run the car.

He proudly claimed that he broke open the seal. He did not realise the complication he had created! He tried to adjust the valve and screw it back but just couldn’t do it. The engine was now completely dead, no more cranking sounds either.

It was a much bigger problem now! The options we had were either to call a known mechanic from Bombay, a distance of 2000 km or an unknown mechanic from Delhi.  This also meant we were stuck in Badrinath, at sub-zero temperature for a few days.  Else we could tow the car through the sharp ghat curves at very high risk.

We were completely upset and worried. We just looked at each other and had no clue what to do. This is when we realised that we were in trouble because we tried to cheat the Almighty – you can call it belief or call it what you like.

Earlier while driving through the dangerous ghats, we prayed to stay at Badrinath atleast for a night and be in his audience the next day before we left.  Now just because we were in a hurry to reach the next destination, we conveniently forgot our promise to stay overnight.  We of course, decided to stay overnight.

We tried to forget the problem at hand and left it to the Lord to solve the problem.  Even so, it was an uncomfortable night.

Next morning, we offered our prayers to Lord Badrinath, apologized for our attempt to leave earlier than promised and slipped in a special request to solve our car problem.

I went to the car, right from the temple.  Yeah!  It cranked, at the very least.  The fuel though, was over-flowing heavily from the carburetor.  The leakage was heavy enough to empty a full tank in 5kms. Only a trained mechanic with garage facilities could fix it.

We gave up all hopes. I considered staying back with the car and send my wife and kids to Delhi in a cab.  I was leaning towards calling my trusted mechanic from Bombay. Heavy expenses aside, our vacation more or less ruined.

Just then, a guy approached me. He looked like he was about 30-35 years old.

He: I drive a private taxi for tourists. I think I can fix your car.

Me: Are you qualified and trained to repair imported cars?

He: No.  I am not a qualified mechanic. I am uneducated. But I worked at Gwalior palace for a couple of years, where the king of Gwalior owned a few imported cars.

Me: Look, yesterday, one guy with great confidence damaged the seal of the carburetor and created more problems. I don’t want another problem.

He: You have no options, Sir. In any case, you will have to leave the car here and go.  So there’s really no harm if I try, right?  Believe in Lord Badrinath.  Nothing worse can happen.

Me: Well. Ok, what will you do?

He: I will set the carburetor suspension mechanism right and start the car. I just need quick-stick-fast paste. I am here only for a couple more hours.

There were hardly any shops there, let alone one where I could get the required paste.  I started asking the drivers and travellers around.  One of the car drivers had one.  The Gwalior guy adjusted the valve, sealed it with the paste.  After 5 minutes, the engine cranked and started, but the fuel was overflowing, though in a manageable quantity. Some hopes from this Gwalior Prince!  He wanted another attempt and I agreed immediately.

He: I want a 25p coin!

Just 25p?  I managed to find one though 25p coins were rare during that time.  He adjusted the float once again, sealed the screw and fixed the coin on top of it with the glue.  After 10 minutes of waiting for the paste to dry, we tried the engine again.

Click started the car, but the fuel was still leaking.  Still, not good enough to drive in the steep valley.  Then our potential savior asked for a 10p coin and a metal wire.

Sure, why not?  He opened the carburetor screw, adjusted the floating valve once again, fixed the screw, fixed the 25p coin, then stuck the wider 10p coin over the 25p coin and tied the coins tightly over the top of the carburetor with the metal wire.  He ensured that the coins did not slip.

He confidently said,  “Relax, pack your bags in the car and be ready to leave in half an hour.  I will also be driving down the hill by that time and will follow your car, just in case there is more trouble.”  We went to the Temple once again, loaded our baggage in the car and were ready to leave.  We were not sure if it was just a dream!

Those 30 minutes were like 30 hours.  We started the car after 30-40 minutes.  The car at once started and no leakage!

There was nothing wrong with the car.  The misfunctioning carburetor was created by our screwdriver friend.  Why the car did not start on the previous day? God knows!

The Gwalior prince did not take a single paisa and said “Lord Badrinath who inspired me to help out.  Thank Him for that.  I assure you, you will have no problem till you reach a reliable garage in Delhi.  You can then, remove all my decorations to your carburetor and get it tuned.”  He was following us till we were through the most dangerous bits of our drive and then disappeared. His decorations of  25p, 10p and the wire remained on the carburetor for years and I had no ignition problems till I sold the car about 4-5 years after this  incident.

For us this gentleman from Gwalior was no less than a God-sent emissary.

What does it prove? Honour your commitment, even if it is to the unseen Almighty?  Or is it a marvel of the Indian Jugaad ?   🙂

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

Difficult Challenges? Grab Them!

Posted on by
5

“Release these payments for the purchases from Australia,” said my boss, Mr. AA (renamed to hide identity) one of the three directors, who was respected in social and business circles in the Middle East.  It was a transaction of a few hundred thousand US Dollars.

I did not release the payment.  It wasn’t that the funds weren’t available. We were purchasing a quantity way out of proportion to actual requirement. I was not convinced, especially since these were food products that bore expiry dates.

I was the purchases and finance manager. We had set-up a system for placing orders.  Normally, the quantities for a re-order were based on a review of movement of product for the last four months, stock in hand, orders in transit and the seasonal demand.  That’s how a healthy inventory was maintained without a strain on cash flow.

Each of the other directors had their own individual group of companies, other than this company. I had to be loyal to the interest of the company and not to individuals. I insisted on approval of all the directors.

The above order was large and hadn’t gone through the laid down procedure. Most importantly, it was abnormally excessive.  The goods had arrived at the port and the payments had to be made immediately. Fortunately, the order was not in our company’s name.  The other directors considered all aspects and did not approve this purchase.

Mr. AA was upset and had to make alternate emergency arrangements.  On his return to the office, I was called in. I carried my resignation letter with me!  I was expecting to be relieved of my job.

He said, “Will you join me as Chief Purchase Manager and Financial Controller of my Group of companies”.  I realised discipline pays!  I said I needed a week’s time to think it over.  This was in 1981.

Within the week, I got all possible information about Mr. AA’s group.  The information I collected revealed that every day when they closed stores for the day, it wasn’t sure whether they would open the shutters of the business next day morning. Even the staff salary was in arrears for a few months. The financial position was absolutely critical.

After a week, I went to him:

Me: AA, I accept your proposal, if other partners have no objection to it.

AA: I will convince the other partners. Have you given this a good thought?

Me: Yes, I have.

AA: What would be your terms and salary expectations?

Me: It is not relevant.  If I perform, remuneration will follow by itself.

AA: Do you know the financial status of my group?

Me: Yes.  I Know.  Business may close down any day.

AA: You are in such a healthy company. Here, in my group, you are not sure if you’ll get a salary.

Me: Yes.  I considered that.  We have to create a position where everyone gets paid.

AA: I am surprised.  Why?  What makes you join my group?.

Me: Challenge!  It is the challenge which is tempting me to accept this responsibility.  The present company is healthy and wealthy and has systems which will not allow it to collapse.  This can be managed by anyone. But to revive a group like yours would be a real challenge to my abilities.

AA: You are risking your career.

Me: Yes, but I am confident of reviving the company.

I joined the group.  I had the support of a very capable CEO and jointly we resolved the problems.  After a year or so of revival, there were a few from known business circle to seek advise to revive their sick businesses!    I was with them for 5 years till the day I decided to return to India, to start my own business! I thank AA for giving me an opportunity to resolve very complicated problems and learn many lessons which otherwise, I would have missed!  It was a rewarding experience.

If you see a difficult challenge, grab it. It gives opportunities to learn.

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

 

In 1940s, Why Many Were Born Before 10 June !

Posted on by
5

“What is your son’s birth date?” the clerk at the primary school asked my uncle who took me there for admissions in 1950. My uncle was caught unaware.  He never expected to face this question for getting me admitted to school!

I was born at home with the help of Akkamma, an experienced daima (mid-wife) who was devoted to our family for pre and post natal needs. There was no system of celebrating ‘Happy Birthdays’ during those days!  So, parents never bothered to remember the actual birth date of their child!

If I had to check with my Mother for anyone’s birthday in the family, she would quote an incident which happened a few days prior or after the specific birth.  I really appreciate their memories. The deliveries very rarely  in hospitals.  They were mostly at home with the help of daima.   Hence there were no official records. Only a lucky few could afford to wear a wristwatch at that time.  Therefore even the accuracy of the exact time was questionable.

Then how come we all have birth dates? Oh, and even the exact time of birth! In this entire loop, at least in my case, there was one individual who played an important role in determining my actual birth date.

In business communities, the 6 feet long red colour cloth bound bahi-khaatas (books of accounts) were maintained by the family muneems (accountants).  Whenever there was a new arrival in the family, he made a note at the top of that day’s journal “wife of Mr. so-and-so delivered a baby boy/girl at such-and-such time.”

The time noted was as given by the family members.  That became the basis for preparing janam and lagna kundalis (birth and marriage horoscopes) by the Pandits (priests). These were usually prepared years later, as and when the necessity arose.  Else there was no need to remember the birth date.

Therefore, when most unexpectedly the guardian of a child is asked for a birth date, one does not expect to get an answer on the spot.  Even if the guardian knew, there are some other internal and external limitations which needed to be considered.

There were no pre-KG or KG classes then.  For admission to the 1st standard in a primary school, the student had to complete 5 years of age as on 10th June of the year of admission.  If someone was born on 11th June or later, he would lose one year in school as that year was not counted for admission age of 5 years.

And there were other factors too!  An auspicious day was selected for getting admission to school. There was a belief that once you go for a good cause, it was inauspicious to return without having completed the job.  Hence, once you were at the school for admission, there was reluctance to go back home to find the actual birth date.

Even if he wanted to, he would have to trace the books of accounts of five years back, look through each and every day’s notes around the approximate date of birth. A tedious task indeed.

Further, parents considered it an honour to have their child admitted to a school.  It didn’t matter if the age was a couple of months short; the repercussions in the future were not considered seriously in those days.

The school authorities were interested in as many admissions as possible, so that they coult earn enough.   A date which proves completion of 5 years would do.  The parents were conveniently advised to give a date between 1st and 9th of June (of 5 years back) so that the child could be considered as having completed 5 years of age!

Not surprisingly, a good part of the population at that time was born just before 10th June!

Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

For my other Blogs please click on www.smritiweb.com/badri/

 

Business With Strangers:

Posted on by
7

“We are large importers in Sultanate of Oman and have an procurement office in Mumbai. We know you export spices to the Middle East. We have substantial orders on hand. If you pay a 10% commission to our Mumbai indenting office, we can place these orders with you.” A welcome call from a unknown prospective customer Harish Gupta on a Thursday morning!

Me: “It is too high a commission”
He: “You can cover the cost in your product rates and we will still get you the order.”
Me: “Who will guarantee payments?”
He: “This is for supplies to the Oman palace. You will be covered with a confirmed L/C (an export document that carries guarantee). If you are interested, please send us a Proforma Invoice for all the products you have, for the trial order.”

I was certainly interested. I sent the Proforma on Thursday evening and got a call from one Mr. Harish Gupta on Friday morning stating that it is their normal practice to visit the supplier’s office before placing the order. Mr. Gupta, visited us the same day. Since, he came in hurry, he said he forgot to get his visiting card.

Friday evening kept me happy as I received an order for US$ 85,000 from a new customer. Gupta called me on Friday evening to say: “Even though your prices are high, we will confirm the order to test your services. Before we establish L/C on Monday, Sethji, our boss, would like you to meet him.”

Saturday morning, I was at their office in a building opposite Jaslok Hospital, Peddar Road, Bombay. The front room was a large, dim and dark hall of almost 20 feet by 30 feet. It had a well-used sofa in one corner and a table and chair for the receptionist, at the other end. Nothing else. Dirty walls and confusing, uncleaned balconies. The moment I entered, the main entrance door was closed and quietly locked. I handed over my business card to the receptionist and asked for a card of the boss. I was told that the cards are with the boss himself. I was told that the name of their boss is Mr. Rajesh Agarwal. Until then, it was a secret.

After about 10 minutes, Mr. Gupta took me to Mr. Agarwal’s room which was a decent executive office. The room also had a relaxing chair for boss to stretch and relax. Mr. Gupta mentioned that Mr. Agarwal is delayed at the Mahalaxmi Race course and would be at the office in a few minutes. He also mentioned that the boss was crazy about horse-race betting. Anyway, delays have to be tolerated when one approaches customers!

While I was waiting, a dhoti cladded decent middle-aged gentleman came in to offer daily prayers with agarbattis (essence sticks) to the deity photo in the office. After his prayers, he introduced himself as Abhishek Pandit, sat next to me, and started gossiping. Within minutes he got pretty friendly and gave me a lot of information about the boss. Boss had a lot of investments in real estate and luxury farm houses and he shuttled between the properties in his own chopper. He was cash rich by hundreds of crores. Most of this he had accumulated from betting in horse races and Mr. Abhishek was the retainer for the boss and helped him win.

He said he was not referring to the horse races which are played in the racecourses but which could be played in any room. He took out 6 symbolic horses in the form of conches and 52 sea-shells. He kept the horses in one line and told me to select any one. He played a few games and challenged me that the way he played the game, the horse that he desired, won, not even 1% chance of failure. He went on to explain how he played this game. Mathematically, I was convinced, that there were no chance of going wrong.

Then came the secret of secrets from Abhishek Pandit, “In fact, boss doesn’t even know how this game is played. He makes a lot of money because of me and I just get a token monthly retainership fee. I don’t know why, I feel you can be trusted. I suggest you play against boss, the Sethji. Of course, I will play on Boss’ behalf, I’ll allow you to win and we can share the amount you win. Even if he loses a Crore, It wouldn’t bother the boss, it is insignificant for him. You contribute Rs.10 lakhs which I guarantee, you will not lose and we can earn about a Crore and share the loot.”

I teased myself. “Look at my good luck, I came to get an export contract and I am being lead to gain Crores effortlessly!”

The moment I entered the office, it all sounded fishy. I could have tried to return, but I smelt it might not be a safe move.   The door was closed and any attempt to get out may invite huge risk.  They might hold me back as hostage for ransom. If they were convinced that I knew it was a trap, they might want to get rid of me forever instead of allowing me to leave and complain to the intelligence authorities. Yet, I felt this could be my negative way of thinking and they could as well be genuine businessmen. But one thing was sure, I had to be careful.

I realised the safest thing for me was to stay calm and try to be deceptively genuine in my moves. I told Abhishek, “Look, we are strangers to each other. I cannot take full risk. Though I have no problem in putting in full stake, it is fair that if you share profits, you should also share investment. You bring in 5 and I’ll put in 5. I assure you I will never disclose this deal to the boss.” He hesitatingly agreed.

Abhishek explained, “I have never done this type of cheating with my boss earlier. To get his confidence, we should initially lose a couple of games with small stakes. Once he wins a couple of times, he will go for bigger stakes and then we can have our kill.”

Just then, the boss arrived, holding a mini suitcase like briefcase. My friend Abhishek whispered to me, “we will speak about this later” and walked out.   In fact he said he was waiting for Sethji and when the Sethji arrived, he walked out!

Mr. Gupta, the guy who visited our place came in and introduced me to the Boss. While making himself comfortable to sit, boss told me “I am not feeling well. I have that damn BP problem. I have already called the doctor and he should be reaching any moment. Give me 5 minutes till the doctor is done.”

The boss pressed the call bell and asked the guy “call Vermaji” (guess, their accountant). Just then, the doctor entered, Boss lied down on the relaxing chair and started checking his blood pressure. Just then the accountant came in. Boss says, “the bag has 12 ‘peti’ (12 lacs). Keep it in the safe.” Verma asks what he should do with the 30 ‘peti’ he has received from the other guy. Sethji told him to keep that amount also in the safe and that a payment of 1 ‘khoka’ (1 crore) had to be made on Monday towards some real estate he had purchased.

At this stage, Verma picked up the briefcase and put it on the table very close to me. He opened it in such a way that I could see the currency and then took it away.

I wondered, “Would I expose cash in the presence of strangers?” No. I got the answer for my doubts. A reel of observations flowed. No visiting card so far, deserted office, intentional showing of cash, sequence of entry and exits of people and above all, this bait of 100% win to a stranger by cheating one’s own Boss. I was now convinced, that it was a trap. Export business was just an excuse to get me in to that place.

If I try to walk out or protest, they would not allow me to go out and would most likely harm me. I had to be extremely careful in my moves. Now, surely, my primary aim had to be to get out of that place convincingly.

Since the Boss was not well, he had to leave. He ordered tea for me and requested that I have the tea. By then, Abhishek, the retainer for playing games, entered. He said, “We are lucky, inspite of his not keeping well, Boss has agreed to play the horse race game. Before boss changes his mind, we should play with him, preferably today itself.”

My strategy was to get out of the place convincingly. I replied, “why not, let us play today itself. Such opportunities are rare. I wish I had known this earlier, I could have brought cash with me.” He proposed that let us make a start with whatever money I had with me at that time. I said it is my nature that I don’t I carry money with me except where necessary.

He said, “I can send someone to your place to get the money for you while you can relax here.”

I told him that I don’t keep 5 lakhs at home. I would have to withdraw from the bank. In the meanwhile, I proposed to him to contribute on my behalf and deduct it from my share of the win.

He said in a filmy style “I am a man of principles. In betting partnerships, it does not work that way. Everyone has to put in his stake. It’s okay, if you don’t have 5 lakhs, we can start with 2 lakhs each.”

I said, “I don’t have even 2 lakhs at home. I have no problems getting even 5 lakhs, but I have to withdraw from the bank. Unfortunately, today is Saturday, the Banks are already closed. Why don’t you fix Monday morning for a game.”

He: “okay, 11 in the morning?”

Me: “No. No. Why not earlier, at 10? Banks in suburbs open at 8.30 and I can reach here by 10. I am quite excited. I don’t want to delay any more than necessary.”

He: “Fine. We will play a major game on Monday. But why not start today evening with one lakh?”

Me: “That is possible. I may not have one lakh ready, but I can accumulate from my wife and friends. It is a good idea to play today; else I may not be able to control my excitement during the weekend. I will revert by 5 in the evening and you get this confirmed with your boss.”

He spoke to the boss in my presence over phone and meeting at 5pm was fixed.

As I was leaving, I asked him to check with Guptaji, when I was to expect the L/C, so that I could start working on the order. He said, “Don’t worry, Guptaji already told me. We will get that formality done next week. For you, earning from that order is negligible compared to what we are planning together.”

On my way out of the premises, I was nervous about what might happen till I reach home. For the time being, it looked like I had a temporary lease of life. They looked really dangerous. Every well-built person passing by was looking like a spy following me!

I was pale when I reached home. I narrated the entire episode to my wife. She was worried too. Right at 5 pm, I got a call from Abhishek that they were waiting for me. I said, unfortunately, I could not accumulate 1 lakh. He asked if I had at least accumulated 50,000. I hadn’t. But I promised we could certainly meet on Monday with full 5 lakhs as my stake.

My biggest worry was that they had already marked my home. On Monday, I got the dreaded call. I said, “Look, I was feeling humiliated and that’s why I told you that I have adequate funds. In fact, I am starving for funds. I do not have any balance in the bank to withdraw cash. I was expecting the bank to sanction me a temporary loan on Monday. But they did not oblige.”

I answered their calls for next 5-6 days, each time giving them similar story – that the bank would probably approve the loan the next day. I even told them that, it would be easier for me to get a loan if I had the L/C for their order!

After a week, I told them that my loan application was rejected and hence have no funds. I did not go there. Right or wrong, I did not lodge an official complaint about them.

I have been waiting for almost 3 decades and the L/C for that order is yet to come!

I did mention this incident to people I knew, so that they wouldn’t fall prey to such calls. When I narrated this incident to one of my close friends at Napean Sea Road. He said “You are saved. Once they mark you and your place, be careful. One of my other friends had the same experience with similar guys, but at a different location, a month ago. They snatched his money. My friend complained to the relevant authorities. He was asked to lodge an official complaint the next day and was kidnapped the same night. I have not heard from him since.”

I decided, I would be more careful before I do business with strangers and extra careful, if I had to visit them.

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

Will Power Assures Success

Posted on by
4

Lower Spondylitis, three cervical slips and dislocation of a toe-joint were the health related issues I faced in 2008. Alongside I had syncope and chronic high blood pressure.  In normal course, with these issues, one might vehemently oppose the idea of even going for a simple walk.

I, however, wanted to trek to Mt. Everest base camp.  Age 64 years.  My spine questioned its importance, “how can you ignore me and put me under such strain?” The toe protested “after all it is me who’ll ensure you to do the trek. If I am not well, how will you trek?”  To me they sounded like kids making excuses to escape from home work.

But I was very clear.  Come what may, I have to go. I wasn’t convinced that these were adequate reasons to not to go or to postpone the Everest Trek, even by a day.  I had to convince my so-called problems.  To my cervical spine, I said “I will not strain you. I won’t carry baggage on my shoulders; I’ll have a porter to carry the weight”.  To the lower spine, I extended a carrot stick, “Don’t you worry.  I have a nice, imported waist-belt to support you; you would love its company”.

For the toe I had, “I will take you to an orthopedic doctor, feed you with appropriate energy so that you won’t feel the pain, atleast for a few weeks.”

The Doctor advised me to postpone the trek by a fortnight to give some provisional treatment.  When I refused and asked for a better option, he came up with a solution. He’d inject a medicine and within a week the toe would be good for the next 8 weeks at least.

Looking at my firm attitude, my good-old companions from birth, neck, spine and toe were convinced and happily made my trek to Everest possible.

We are faced with similar problems in other fields too, in day-to-day life.  If we permit them to dominate, they restrict our success.  If we have the will power to dominate these problems, success is assured.

Written: Badri Baldawa

Edited: Meeta Kabra

Support, But Do Not Spoil

Posted on by
3

Just like I was  looking for moral and financial support when I started my career, many youngsters need support from people who are established. I have been an active participant in trying to provide similar assistance and support, to the best of my means and limitations, for the last 20 years.  It is a pleasure to share a couple of experiences I learnt out of my experiences on matters of financial assistance.

Majority of the people who seek help come with genuine repayment plans and fulfill their commitments on time.  It is always a pleasure extending support to persons with such an attitude. If the loan is for commercial purposes, there is nothing wrong for the lender to have a fair return, as the objective of the loan was to earn money.

If the loan is for an essential nature, I consider providing assistance ‘free of interest’ as getting them out of the financial strain is an adequate satisfaction.  But the borrower should realise that the lender has given the help depriving himself of the earnings that he otherwise would earn on that amount.

However, I have experienced that this ‘interest free’ tag has a  negative effect.   In such cases, the borrower instead of being grateful for receiving concessions, unfortunately, feels that it was his ‘right’ to have received that assistance.  In certain cases it was taken for granted as a gift.  Besides the borrower conveniently takes the repayment of interest-free loan as a last priority, as it doesn’t cost him to delay the repayments.  In most of the cases, the borrower avoids talking to lender as he considers it is the duty of the lender to ask for money.  In some cases, because of the relationship in question, the lender does not talk about it, converting “good money” to “bad money”.

Who is responsible for this?  The borrower?  No. My experience says, it is the me the lender’s fault, for very many reasons.

  • First of all, the loan given was emotion-based and not merit based
  • Secondly,  I mis-judged the borrower, in his attitude
  • Thirdly, I reduced the value of money, by giving the loan interest free
  • Fourthly, if the loan was given for non-essential purposes, I helped the borrower in  investing the funds for non-productive purposes.

Thus I was the one who spoiled them.  I could have been wiser in taking the borrower in confidence by explaining that I value my relationship with him and wish to avoid misunderstandings in future citing Shakespeare, “neither a lender nor a borrower be.”

Had I said a firm “No” and avoided getting emotional, I could have saved them and their deterioration in quality of attitude.  Above all I could have retained my relations with them!

Written: Badri Baldawa

Edited: Meeta Kabra

Who Was She?

Posted on by
9

I was driving alone from Abu Dhabi to Dubai on a Friday night in 1983-84.  It is a distance of 130 kms and a 1.5 hour drive.  At that time, the stretch of about 100 km from the outskirts of Abudhabi to Dubai World Trade Centre, was an isolated route.  The roads hardly had anything other than speeding cars plying at over 140km/hr.  It is a right-side-drive system in that part of the world.  That Friday night, I had a peculiar experience.

After about 20 kms from Abudhabi, I saw a lady standing on the roadside with her right thumb pointing up for a lift to Dubai.  She was wearing bangles made of white gold with shining studded diamonds.  Light from the headlights of the car reflected the brightness of the diamonds when she held her hand up for a lift.

She was wearing a white chudidar-kurta.  White – as white as you can imagine.  Shiny silk fabric. Silky white – neck to toe.  No part of the body were exposed except her hands.  I could not trace the face. I don’t remember it it was hollow at that time!

Normally, I would not give a lift to any one on that isolated route. But I don’t know why, I stopped the car to my right.  Though my car doors were auto-locked, she opened the door. It opened absolutely softly.  She sat in.  I continued driving.

She sat quietly. After a while I asked some question. She did not answer.  While I was still driving, I glanced towards her seat. She was wearing white socks, snow white, shiny sandles.

Funnily because I saw her legs resting on the neck support at the top of the seat next to me.  I quickly realised, it might not be really funny.  Where had her head gone?  It was at the bottom of the seat, with top of her bald head covered with a white scarf resting on the foot-carpet.

I glanced again, this time top to bottom of the seat.  It was clear to me she was sitting upside down.  Bald head, a long, long nose, eyes deep inside and chin projecting out!  There was certainly something seriously wrong!

I had the same thoughts you are having now.  I need to protect myself!

I had to take a pre-emptive step!  Who else could be better than Lord Hanuman in such situations?  In my mind, I started chanting Hanuman Chalisa. “Bhoot Pisacha nikata nahi ave, Mahavir jab naam sunave etc.”.  (If you chant Lord Hanuman’s name, ghosts will stay away.)

After a while, I glanced at her seat, though not at her.  She was still there.  I already had her company for about 50km.   No communication and it looked as if she was waiting for an opportunity to do something harmful.

I collected all my strength and started chanting again Hanuman Chalisa, this time loudly.  I kept repeating the loud chant.  After a while, the car stopped on the road side!  Waah Hanumanji!  I don’t remember having turned the steering nor did I remember applying the brakes.  But the car stopped decently, on the side of the road. She opened the door, got down, slowly walked away and after a couple of steps she disappeared.

Can someone tell me – Who Was She?

Written: Badri Baldawa
Edited: Meeta Kabra

 

 

Admirable PM – What A Vision !

Posted on by
2

In a TV presentation, I learnt that our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi had his Master’s degree in Political Science. Though I couldn’t confirm it from elsewhere, it was mentioned that Mr. Modi wanted to go to the US for further studies.  He had his passport ready.  But then changed his decision and finally did not go. The reason given was stunning.  It wasn’t visa or finance related. Then what was it?  Give me a minute; I will get back to it.

As the younger members in my family were growing older, obviously  their education and other requirements increased. To cope with the increased need for income, I decided take up a job overseas in 1977, till a majority of my responsibilities were fulfilled.

I was out of India for 9 years.  This gave me many advantages.  Besides the financial earnings, I got exposure to the world, gained confidence in negotiating international deals and made good friends.  This helped me a lot when I started my business later.

As my responsibilities reduced and my wife and I wanted our children to be brought up in the Indian culture, we decided to return to India.  As pointed out by our friends there, it was a challenge to come back and settle in India.

While staying abroad, I was completely disconnected and lost touch with my social circles and our community in India.  For my fellow Chartered Accountants and professional friends I became an outsider and on my return, I realised I was unaware of the latest changes and developments in India in professional matters.  Internet and websites did not exist then.

Given the choices between business, employment and professional practice as a Chartered Accountant, business was my first choice without doubt. I always had a burning desire to run my own business, experiment with business and watch the outcome.

My overseas exposure, no doubt, helped me gain a lot in business.  But then I had to pay a price.  I lost something important in life; to remain connected with my people.

Who knows, had Mr. Modi gone to the US, he would have lost touch with his people, with us.  The reasons Mr. Modi gave for canceling his plans to go overseas was along the following thought, “I decided not to go out as I wanted to be in contact and in touch with my people!”

He had his full attention right from the beginning for His People.  That has added to his energy now.  We are sure to grow.  Admirable foresightedness!  What a devotion to His People!

Author: Badri Baldawa

Edited: Meeta Kabra

 

Expanding Business? Take care !

Posted on by
6

Expanding Business?  Take care

Expanding a medium size business needs to take care of certain tricky problems like expanding business vs infra-structure for increased activities and safety of capital already earned.    .

Any business is run to make money, of course, in a fair way.  Once a business starts earning money, the owner wants to make more money!  He realises soon that expansion or diversification of activities are the solutions. This invariably needs infrastructure which in turn needs further investment.

Expansion of activities also means a bigger uncertainty in revenues. Any unnecessary investments in infrastructure might eat up on the profits and liquidity, including that of the current business.  While, without taking business risks, it is close to impossible to expand business, an expansion without proper infrastructure is suicidal.  Therefore the owners have to adequately balance strategy between expansion of business and additional costs of larger infrastructure.

4-5 decades ago, our family business went through a similar balancing act or lack thereof.  The reasons stand good even today.  My dad owned iron ore and manganese mines.  He was as good at looking for and selecting remunerative mines as he was at obtaining Government permissions to operate those mines.  He started with a small mine of a few acres and expanded to 9 mining leases. From the records, I found out after his death that just two of them were as big as 1064 acres!  These could have been sources of unimaginable and unlimited revenues.

He was the lone manager of this enterprise.  Infrastructure for expansion was not planned.  We, all his sons, were still students.  Management was not adequate and therefore the controls on the resources were inadequate.  If controls are missing, the funds would go missing too!  The entire business turned out to be unremunerative whereas it should have earned multi-millions.  It was all due to inadequate infra-structure.

My son Anand, who earlier was in UK, took over operations of my business over a year ago. He wanted to expand and diversify the business.  His first thought was about infrastructure.  He spent almost a year in planning and building additional infrastructure for future activities and wisely limited it within affordable means.  We occasionally felt that the business could be managed without additional infrastructure, but learning from my dad’s experience, I was very happy to support him.

I have seen some not-very-large businesses that they were very successful when they were small, but failed miserably when they expanded.  On analysis, it was clear that the main reason for their failure was that only the value of fixed assets was taken as investments and funds for expansion were arranged accordingly. The need for working capital for day-to-day activities and transition costs were ignored.  This is extremely important and is a significant amount in most businesses.

A businessman I know, failed to notice another significant problem. “When one heads towards the top at top speed, he had to ensure that he doesn’t drop down”. At whatever height one is, it is a human tendency to assume that the peak is yet to come.  But one cannot judge when one is at his peak. Therefore, to be safe, at every stage of climbing, one should secure themselves from a fall.

How do we secure that?  Simple, set aside a good percentage of earnings for a rainy day, a saving for safety from failures.  Do not put entire capital at risk. For any reason, if expansion investment is lost, at least you are left with a base capital to survive for future.

These are some of the lessons learnt while analysing the reasons for failures of some of the prosperous businesses while undertaking expanded activities.

Take care!

Written: Badri Baldawa

Edited: Meeta Kabra