Category Archives: Morals

Swami becomes Sadhu

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A chillum pipe in hand, wrapped in a red cloth, Swaminathan, 51, was relaxing on a plastic sheet.  River Ganges flowed just a few feet away, with all its calmness in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.  As I observed him, I was keen to know why he had become a sadhu. And, I found out.

Swaminathan was from a well-respected family in Rameswaram.  They were a wealthy family too.  The family business was that of supplying ganja (marijuana) to the spiritual visitors, mainly Sadhus.  Thus even at the age of 10, Swaminathan had easy access to ganja and his friends tempted him to steal some and smoke with them.

One night he slept longer than usual under the influence of ganja.  He rushed to the school as soon as he got up in the morning.  He was caned hard by the teacher because he had not completed his homework.  He felt insulted in the class and felt that he did not deserve to be punished so badly.  He waited outside the school during the lunch break, and when his teacher walked out, he struck the teacher hard with a stone. 

The teacher, of course, complained to the parents. The parents, in turn, felt insulted and were angry. Swaminathan ran to a ground close by, instead of returning home, to avoid the wrath of his parents.   Indeed, his parents found him and dragged him home. They beat him too.  He was tied upside down with a little support of the wall.  After over 12 hours, he was given temporary relief from the punishment to freshen up in the morning.  That was enough of an opportunity for him to run away from home.  Without stopping, he jogged as far away from the city as he could.  Only in the evening, did he realise that he has walked away from home, not knowing how far. 

But he never felt like going back home.  He continued to walk the next day and the day after.  He begged for food and ate whatever he got.  After a couple of months, he stopped and stayed at a temple, which needed a helper for its daily chores.  After the journey all alone, he was a transformed boy now.  He enjoyed the job and sincerely devoted himself to the deity and the temple. Over a period of a few months, he became the first assistant to the temple priest. 

The priest collected all the offerings from the donation box and reported the donations to the temple’s trustees. These funds were used to maintain the temple.  On one such occasion, Swaminathan saw the process of the donation box being opened.  The priest told the boy to hand over half the money to the trustees and keep the rest aside.  To keep his dishonesty as a secret, the priest offered Rs. 10 to Swaminathan. 

This greed shocked Swaminathan, that too from a temple priest!  His conscience could not accept it and he left for an unknown destiny.

Once again, he started walking. He chanced upon the preaching of a spiritual leader.  Swaminathan was impressed with his discourse and sought to offer his services and accept him as his Guru.  He stayed with the Guru.  One late evening, he found the Guru in a compromising position with a lady devotee.  That was the last time he saw his Guru.  He left the temple.

After that, he didn’t stay at any one place for too long. Right now, he was in Rishikesh.  By June that year, he wanted to reach Badrinath on foot. 

Two orange sheets of cloth are good enough for him to cover himself.  A plastic sheet converted from woven cement bags serves as his bed.  His long, braided bushy hair form his pillow.  Someone or the other offers him food on the roadsides of holy towns.  Cash alms from the visitors to the town is good enough for him to buy his daily intake of ganja, a habit which he never disowned.

Once he reaches Rishikesh anyway, he doesn’t need cash for ganja.  Ganja plants are found in abundance in the forests right up to Badrinath.  It would not only be enough for his day-to-day consumption right now, but could also be stored for future use after drying.

Swaminathan has been roaming around the country for over forty years now. He has never considered going back home. He is happy and has no regrets in life!

“What keeps you happy?” was my question.  “No material wants,” was the reply. 

Road to London # 12 – “Soham”, the Companion

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # 11 – Driving Duration a Day…..

On such a strenuous driving expedition, our physical and mental fitness aside, it is equally important to have a right and reliable vehicle. A comfortable car surely enhances the level of satisfaction of driving. Very affectionately I named our car, “Soham”. “Soham” is a chant popularised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, of The Art of Living foundation. It means, “I am He”. I acknowledge the presence of the Almighty in the vehicle that takes me around.

The varied terrain requires a safer 4-wheel drive car with ground clearance of at least 190mm, if not more.

Anand’s “consent” to the trip was on the condition that I should take the vehicle of his choice!   Smart on his part to have discovered what I was trying to hide.  Both our current cars are fairly new with about 25K and 15K km on them. “Pappa, you certainly should not undertake this journey in your favourite Skoda Superb. Yes, the  BMW-X1 SUV is better.  But still not good enough.  After all, you would be driving through some of the places where roads hardly exist.”

Anand was right.   Under such situations, my Skoda Superb, with a ground clearance of only 164 mm, is far below the minimum safety need of 190 mm.   Further, Chinese authorities do not give road entry permit for sedans.  They demand the pictures from all sides of the car.  For them, the vehicle should have SUV looks.  They consider SUV more reliable.  They don’t want me to have a vehicle breakdown and get stuck in their country for any reason!  Fair enough.

I had the option of taking the BMW-X1, compact SUV.  It has a better ground clearance of 179mm.  Though not good enough. I checked with some of my contacts who have driven on the worst of the stretches we would be passing through. I was told X-1 would be just about ok.     Arguably, it is just good enough for two of us.

Neither Pushpa nor I understand much of car mechanism.  A few years earlier, I was capable of attending to any minor car-related problems. But now I have become lethargic and have developed the habit to look for assistance even to change a flat tyre.  Habits hardly die!  I decided that  at least for the first 3 weeks of my journey, till the time I drive within India, I can have an assistant with us.  So I decided to have our household assistant, Shiva with us.  He is like a younger brother or son to me.  Once we reach Manipur, the border city of India, he can fly back home!  Our count of passengers in the car increased to three.

And then, my 9 year old granddaughter Nishi decided to join us for the entire tour. We would now be four for the Indian part of journey and three for the overseas drive.

We need to carry baggage to last us three months.  We would be crossing through all types of climatic conditions – normal, cold, very cold, wet, warm, hot and very hot.  Therefore we need  to carry all types of garments.   That aside, extras like food and water, a jerrycan for spare fuel, etc were also essential for such long journeys. Anand wanted me to play safe.  He proposed that I take a bigger, better and safer vehicle than BMW X1.

Anand has reasonably good knowledge about vehicles.  He shortlisted a vehicle each from Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Land Rover and Toyota.  Land rover is expensive and  even its 3-year used model without warranty was almost same cost as a new vehicle of other brands with warranty.  Also, Land Rover has a more sophisticated mechanism.  In case of a breakdown, we might not find knowledgeable mechanics or spare parts. Hence we gave up the idea of second-hand Rover.  We further narrowed the selection down to either Toyota Land Cruiser or BMW X-5.  We had a series of meetings with the marketing executives of these brands.  Dealers of BMW offered to provide certain facilities.  Trusting them, we selected to go ahead with X-5. The trailer however

Badri Pushpa with Soham

Badri Pushpa with Soham

was slightly different than the movie we saw / are seeing … the post-sales service was drastically different to earlier promises, up to a point where, in one case, it had put our entire expedition at risk of cancellation. Without dwelling into the details, we decided to continue with BMW.

By coincidence, this is the type of car Anand wanted to buy for two years now. But since our current cars were not even a year old then, the decision was deferred.

One by one, items got checked on the to-do list: Itinerary, timings, hotel bookings, vehicle.  Years ago when I dreamt of such an expedition, I wondered “How To Do It?”.  Now, I have removed the “How To” and “?” and am left with “Do It!”

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

To be continued………………

Road to London # 11 – Driving Duration a Day

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # …………………………

Having decided to make this trip, I had to plan my itinerary.  Once a date is frozen, planning various aspects of the travel becomes even more energised.  It inspires you to study and enjoy planning.  We would cross the Indian border from Manipur to Myanmar  on 16 April 2017.  Keeping a buffer for unexpected events, we plan to reach there a day in advance.  I back-calculated to fix a departure date from home.  I laid down some basic principles:

  • No night-driving.   Of course, we drive carefully.  But we cannot control how others on the road drive. It is said that the highest number of drunk drivers are on road between midnight and 3AM. Supposedly, fatal crashes are four times higher at night than during the day. Right from the time I started driving in 1973, I have preferred to drive only in daylight.   On rare occasions,  I drive at night, that too only on well lit roads that have dividers.  For long drives, I make it a point to start early in the morning and break for the day by 3 or 4PM. So, you safely reach the destination by sunset, even if there is any delay due to congestion.
  • Comfortable number of hours per day. I initially considered driving 8 hours a day.     Normally, for a full day’s drive you need an extra 30-35% of drive time for rest and food breaks.

    Pushpa Getting Ready to Drive to London

    That would mean a total travelling time of 10 to 11 hours a day.   A 6AM start gets you to the destination by 4 or 5 pm.  This is not difficult.  Especially, with Pushpa taking up a couple of hours of driving, it seemed quite comfortable.

Once Nishi confirmed to join us, I revised the drive time.  8 hours in the car for two and a half months is a bit much. To maintain excitement till the end, I had to make it interesting and not tiring for the child. Till we reach the Indian border, I revised the drive time to an average of about 6 hours per day. Including breaks, it would still add up to 8 hours a day.  A little delayed start every morning, say at 7 or even 8AM would take us to the revised destination by 3AM. That gives us enough time for a comfortable breakfast, have lunch on the way and reach the destination by the time we are ready for a mid-afternoon snack.  It also left scope to spend about 2-3 hours to visit interesting places around the destination or on the way.  Or just relax.

  • Break from driving. After every 3-4 days, I scheduled a day’s rest. At most, we could go for nominal sight-seeing.  I’ve made a list of interesting sites on the route.
  • Booking accommodation – tricky business. Our dates of travel coincide with peak holiday season: March-June.  Choice hotels during this period are booked well in advance particularly at tourist cities, forest resorts and sanctuaries.  It is important to have right spots to stay in places like Darjeeling, Gangtok, Cherrapunjee, Kaziranga etc.  The earlier one books, the better the options.
    • Selecting accommodation for the 24 nights in India was a little tricky.  It was necessary to consider certain important factors.   I prefer hotels on the highway rather than those in the city. That would save time of negotiating downtown streets.
    • If we find out about spots worth visiting but unknown to me as of now, we should have the flexibility to change the itinerary.  That would mean changing hotel bookings. Therefore, even if it meant paying a little more, I opted for bookings that allowed cancellation or changes free of cost.
    • We need a decent hotel each day. If we are tempted by a good hotel, and cut our journey short on a particular day, it will be difficult to cover the extra distance, the next day.  At the same time stretching longer on a particular day to get to an attractive hotel can make the journey tiring.
    • We know many people who live in towns that are on our route. They have graciously asked us to stay with them. It is always a pleasure to stay with relatives and friends.  Staying with them give us time to interact on the local conditions, activities and culture.  But many a time, a lot of time is lost in formalities.   Excessive insistence in eating is a problem that disrupts the digestion system – which we cannot afford.  Hence, we have chosen to decline some of these offers.

After considering these parameters, I booked accommodation.  I had a real tough time to fix locations on certain stretches like Mumbai to Ayodhya and Varnasi to Darjeeling.

Of course, there have been many revisions in the itinerary.    And every change in itinerary, even it is of a single day resulted in a series of changes in accommodation.  With every change, I changed hotel bookings.  I don’t want to miss out on any sites, just because I had to put in some extra effort. I did not lose my patience. Though confusing and complicated, I started enjoying and learning out of it. It is good I had ‘free cancellation’  terms in my bookings!

I have revised my itinerary almost 10 times and I had to change hotel bookings on all 10 revisions!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

To be continued……………..

Thoughts At The Most Peaceful Place

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I had a crazy idea – to look for the most peaceful place on the earth!

In 1983, when I visited North Pole, Narvik was the northern most place, I could access. My first experience there in the midst of midnight sun left me with a great feeling.  In 2006, when I went to Antarctica in the South Pole region, the large icebergs floating in the ocean itself had an amazing and surprising soothing effect on the nerves.  On my expedition to Mt Everest, Base camp in 2008, trekking the mountain snow peaks by myself, probably calmed down my temperament by leaps.

North Pole Location

North Pole Location

In 2009 I planned my second trip to North Pole, this time to reach exact 90° N.   I did reach.   The place is aligned with the northern most tip of the earth’s axis of rotation. This place is just a large sheet of ice and has no inhabitants. I realised it was the most peaceful place I had been to till then.  I closed my eyes to experience the vibrations.  Soon enough my thoughts took me to a star shining absolutely bright, right above me.  This was of course, the Dhruv Tara, the North Pole Star, also called Polaris.

Wow! While the thought process started, I realised there were many lessons the Pole Star has, to make life meaningful, if only we could follow.

  • Pole Star is committed to stay firm for sure. Why can’t I be in my commitments?
  • A person, trillions of miles away on earth, confidently depends on the Pole Star to assess directions. Can I make myself dependable in such a way at least to those who are known and close by?
  • Pole Star acts as a guide to those who lose their path. If one gets lost on the earth’s northern hemisphere, one can make out the directions by looking at Polaris.  This guidance is unselfish, unconditional and unbiased. Can I be such a guide?

I wish we have the ability to follow what the Pole Star has been practicing flawlessly for ages –  Dependable, Unbiased, Firm and Guide to those who need!  All these, without any self-interest.

The Rich Indian Culture

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I was outside Athens Railway Station, Greece.  My wife and I were  waiting for our one of our family friends, to pick us up. This was in 1983.

Just then, a 25-30 year old youngster from Netherlands approached us to check whether we need a hotel room.  I said ‘no’.  But, he prolonged the chat.

He: Why sir? Won’t you need a room to stay?

Me: We will be staying with a friend and are waiting for him to pick us up.  Where are you from?

He:  I am from Netherlands.  I just completed my studies.  I have been wandering the world for the last 3-4 years to experience and understand people and places. I earn money by providing services to tourists in the cities I visit. As soon as I earn adequate money, I visit my next  destination.

He continued:  Are you from India?

Me: Yes.  What do you know about India?  (At that time, India was not very well known  to people in Europe)

He: I love Indians more than any one else in the world. I take two vacations every year.  Out of the two, I ensure that I visit India at least once.

He then named about 20-25 small towns from all over India, particularly from Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal that he had visited. He then told us in detail how well the Indians treated him in the small villages and farms on his visit.

Me:  What do you think is the difference between the culture in India and Europe?

He: Pardon Sir ……. , probably I heard you wrong?

Me: In your opinion what is the difference in the culture between India and your country?

He then said: I heard that Sir, but your question is wrong, Sir.   You have an unbelievable rich culture.   When I went to any of the places including towns and villages, even the poorest of poor, whether farmers or petty shop owner, ensured that the food and shelter requirements of the visitors are taken care before they care for their own.  Here, even if a daughter takes a rose flower to her mother’s birthday, she collects the dollar, the cost of the flower.

There is nothing of such culture that exists in Europe.   Comparison can be only if it exists at both the places.  In this case, culture does not exist at all in our region.  Hence there cannot be any comparison.”

Every courtesy we extent to our guests makes our country and culture, more respectable and memorable.  Let us keep it up!
Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa
Edited By : Meeta Kabra

It’s All About The Attitude

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“The one who does not make a mistake is God. The one who makes mistakes and realises the mistake, is human God” meant the shop keeper Kewalbhai, when he said in Hindi “Jo bhool nahin karta wah Bhagawan hai.  Jo Bhool karke maan leta hai bhagwan jaisa insaan hai”.

I was with my best friend Kishore Bhatia and his wife Neelu in Rishikesh on 27 March 2015, a place I love to visit for a peaceful and pollution free break.  We observed that the shop owners in the area around Geeta Bhavan lacked courtesy.

In one of the shops, Kishore asked for a blue shirt.  He did not like the shade that was shown to him and Neelu requested if she could see some other colours.  This supposedly was reason enough for the shopkeeper to be upset.

He argued that he did not show other colours because he was asked for blue. He spoke in a manner that made it seem like Kishore had committed a crime by asking for a colour of his liking.  He then went on to practically throw a few shirts before Neelu whereas he could have politely shown the other shades.  I did not like the shop keeper’s attitude.  I got into an argument with the shop keeper for his behavior, making me lose my peace of mind.

That evening, as we calmed down like the surface of the river in front of us, we analysed the incident. We realised that though the shopkeeper’s attitude was not right, we weren’t right either. By getting into an argument for someone else’s mistake and improper attitude, I created an adverse impact on me.

Next day, I went to the shop-keeper and said “I feel bad that I had an argument with you yesterday.  Let us not discuss who was at fault. Let us forget that incident as I have realised that the arguments could have been easily avoided.”

He got up from his chair as if an electric shock passed through his chair.  He held my hand and apologized for his attitude the previous day.

“Jo bhool nahin karta wah Bhagawan hai.  Jo Bhool karke maan leta hai bhagwan jaisa insaan hai” said the shop keeper Kewalbhai.  (The one who does not commit mistakes is God.  The one who does a mistake and realises it, is a human God).  He started praising me as he held my hands firmly for quite a few minutes.

He further said, “You are a good human being. I want to give you something”. I was relieved and happy.  I wondered whether he would extend a gift from his shop!    Instead, he gave me a gift of his sincerity.  He gave me a printed card and said “if you ever have a problem with your teeth, touch the problematic tooth with your finger and chant the mantra written on the card just once.  You will be relieved immediately.  He similarly gave tips for other problems.

He asked me to join my palms together so that he could read my hands.  Two corresponding lines, one  one each palm, formed a curve like a half moon.  Next, he checked the levels two prominent lines on my two little fingers.

The levels didn’t match; there was a difference of about 1 to 2mm.  The shop keeper said, “ just now, you have an upset stomach.  You don’t have proper appetite either.”  Sure enough, he was right. I had a mild stomach ache.

He took out a black cotton thread, chanted a mantra mentally and tied five knots.  He looked at my face and added another two.   This time when I held my palms next to each other, all three lines matched perfectly.  The difference had gone!   Suddenly my stomach ache disappeared too and I felt normal.

I wondered why I argued with such a helpful and talented gentleman.  Had I controlled myself for a minute, I would not have harmed my peace of mind.

This incident taught me once again: “I have a particular attitude towards life, others have their own.  If I understand this, I can protect my peace of mind.”

Author: Badri Baldawa

Editor  : Meeta Kabra

Be Careful Of Ravans In Ram’s Land

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“Why do people carry gold jewelry when they travel?”  I remember asking my dad as a child.  Around 1960s, it was fashionable for people to wear gold ornaments while traveling, especially women.  Dad’s reply was interesting.

“It is better to have a gold ring or a small chain when you travel. For any reason, if one dies while traveling alone, he carries something which can be used to, at the very least perform the last rites. That way the body is not at the mercy of others’ charity.”

Those were the times when fast communication was almost non-existent, travel facilities were minimal, visiting cards were not prevalent and neither were ID cards.  If one died and was not identified, a group of people strangers would perform cremation formalities.

Then dad added, “But while traveling never carry jewelry more than the basic minimum.  Never carry it to show off”.

A few years later, I was at the bank of River Ganges in Benaras (Kashi/Varnasi).  I was on an audit at Fertilizer Corp of India, Sindri near Dhanbad.  This is another popular, important pious place for Hindus. For the weekend, I decided to visit Benaras and bathe in the River Ganges.

It was January and the water was extremely cold.  It was impossible for me to swim in the strong current of the River.  The alternative was to go some steps into the river and take a few quick dips. It needed courage to dip in the ice-cold water, so early in the morning.

As I approached the river, there were two guys sitting with a reasonably sized metal safe and a receipt book. They had a signboard saying:

 “Beware of Thieves.

Government appointed custodian for valuables.

Free Service.

Please collect receipt for your deposits.”

I had left my money at the hotel and carried only a few rupees with me.  However, I forgot to take my wrist watch and gold chain off.  The chain was a little long, so it was possible for it slip out when I took a dip in the water. I thought it a better idea to leave it with these official custodians.

While I was considering, a South Indian couple with two children, aged approximately 8-10 were with the custodians.  They probably read the board.  They deposited all their jewelry and valuables including the cash they had and collected the receipt.

One of those two guys at the locker came running to me to scare me. He told me that there were a lot of thefts at the riverbank while tourists bathed in the river. He said it was for my good that he was suggesting that I deposit all my valuables with them.  I began to wonder why a Government official would invite and insist.

I took an intuitive decision not to leave anything with them. I told them I had nothing much to deposit and carried on to the river.

Somehow, after seeing the custodian, I was suspicious about the entire place.  I suspected someone would take my clothes too, which carried some cash, watch and my gold chain.  In case it did happen, what would I have on me when I went back to the hotel?  I had to be careful.

I left my shirt and pant on one of the steps close to the bank of the river. I took only a few steps till I was about 3-4ft in the water. I could keep an eye on my clothes. I chose to take a few dips rather than a small swim. That way I could see my belongings after every dip, every few seconds.

The water was freezing cold and so was the winter weather. I took my first dip and in almost unconsciously looked at my clothes to make sure that they were still there. I did this after every one of the 7 dips I took.

Normally, when we dip in the river, we are supposed to sync our thoughts with the Almighty, the river Goddess and pray.  Unfortunately, I was just thinking about my clothes. Not good! I decided to be better prepared when I visited again in the evening.

On my way back, I saw a family of four crying and beating their chest.  I walked to them and asked them why they were upset. Did something drastic and wrong happen while they bathed? When I approached them, I recognized that this was the same family I had seen near the custodians before I left for my bath.

Holding the receipt, they, including the 2 kids, were crying and told me in Telugu (which I knew well), “Oh, we lost everything. We are doomed.  We deposited all our ornaments and cash with the depositors.  They just disappeared with their vault.  We don’t have money even to feed our children nor to buy tickets to get back home!”  A respectable family was left to beg for charity from other visitors there.  A pitiful scene.

I was happy that I did not bank my valuables with them.  Since multiple IDs are now available, I make it a point not to carry unnecessary valuables while traveling and check the genuineness of operators with the hotel authorities or local permanent shop keepers.

We have to be careful of devils who play on sentiments of innocent even in most pious places.  Let us remember, even in mythology, devils are Gods’ neighbours!  After all, Ravan co-existed with Ram and Shiva.

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

Can We All Be Aarya?

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cropped-2013-06-09-11.13.422.jpg

As I was lying down in Natarajasan as a part of my morning Yogasana around 6.15 in the morning, Pushpa got our 10-month old granddaughter Aarya to greet me.  A lovely, fresh Aarya-style broad smile.  The little one came to say hello before she was to leave for a picnic with other family members.

I let my yoga routine be.  As I was getting up, Aarya jumped on me.  She pointed her finger towards my bedroom window and said “yei, yei”, translating to “entertain me near the window”.

My bedroom is on the first floor of our home and looks down on our lush green, house garden.  Shorter plants under tall ashoka trees.  Mornings usually have a continuous flow of flying and chirping birds just 5-10ft away. Occasional, multi-coloured butterflies can be seen enjoying their flights around the greenery.

Aarya had to be taken back quickly as others were almost ready to leave for the picnic.  But to her call of  “yei, yei” and pointed finger at the window, I had to carry her to the window just for a minute or two.  She was happy and I was more than happy; just not for those few moments, but for the next few hours.

It is about 6 hours since she left, and I still have a smile on, as if I am continuing to respond to her lively smile.  She has been on my mind all this time and whatever I did since this morning went well, full of positive results.  I wish everyone is lucky to receive that smile in the morning so that their entire day is peaceful and positive.

As she grows, as she starts to speak, learn, debate and take responsibilities, I wish she continues to speak with me in “yei, yei” language.  I wish she does not get or accept the coating of the layers of ego, pride, complications that we add to our natural and pure soul.

I realise now why a child is considered as a form of God. A child arrives into this world with the purest of pure thoughts, with no bias towards wealth, caste or creed, like God. Only thing they know is “Love Every One”.  I wish Aarya, the noble, remains the same by soul, though would grow in body and mind.

I wish we all could be the same – smile to say “I Love Every One”!

Written: Badri Baldawa on 24.11.2014

Edited : Meeta Kabra

Himalayan Positive Attitude

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I was on my Mansarovar-Kailash yatra for the second time. I had arranged to take a group of about 100 persons for pilgrimage.   On 21 July 2010, we started driving from an altitude of 4,300 ft in Nepal to Nyalam located at 12,400 ft in Tibet, China. It was too big a climb for one day.   To ensure that everyone is healthy and fit to travel to higher altitudes in next few days, we had to take a day’s rest for acclimatisation at a village called Nyalam.

During acclimatisation, rest is defined as climbing a couple of mountains and return to the base!  In the evening, when the sun was about to set off, I noticed that a little far away, in one of the mountain kasba, about 30-35 persons were sitting together, in a big circle. Though it was far off, I could here them talking loud and laughing and enjoying their time.   It was like a celebration.

One of the Nepalese Sherpa was with me. I checked with him was it a special occasion or festival that people are enjoying so merrily, as if it was some sort of celebration.   The reply was very interesting.

He said: “This particular tribe in Tibet have their dinner early, at sunset and enjoy talking and laughing all the time during dinner. However, they have another very special tradition. During the time of dinner, even if oneperson speak negative about any one in the village or criticise, they just stop eating and quietly disperse away on that day! Probably that tradition keep them laughing all the time. Everyone in their tribe have developed the sanskar (habit) of talking positive about every other person all the time.“

What a rich tradition! We wish we all could do the same!!

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra

Trust or Written Agreements ?

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There were many suppliers of stainless steel glasses from India. In my first deal, since I had taken the samples from Mr. Vishnu Goyal, it was ethical on my part, to buy the products from him.

After executing  my first order of $84,000, I felt that I had scope to expand in this business of stainless steel housewares and was worth a try in this range of product whole-heartedly.   If I made sure of maintaining quality and price, it wouldn’t be difficult to take a lead in the Middle East in this trade.

In my initial deals, I found Vishnuji very trust worthy, honest and sweetly cooperative. When I brought up the idea of making stainless steel housewares products as a regular export range, he consented to be associated with me.

Normally the next step would be to sign a partnership agreement defining the business relationship between us.  But I wanted to try non-conventional method.   In many cases, misunderstandings come up because of interpretation of what was written in documents. These disputes start, extends to legal battles and aggravate to a level where the business cripples down to closure.  But if nothing is written, both the parties had to be reasonable and not greedy. Knowing that nothing has been written down, they figure out a practical solution together.

Yes, doing business without written agreements is dangerous.  The written agreements could be restricted to where there is slightest doubt on trust or if the Law  needs it.

This was one of the experiments I wanted to try in my business. We trusted each other and hence suggested Vishnuji that we would have an understanding and avoid a written agreement.  Both of us agreed willingly. We mutually understood our roles, financial arrangements and the nature of decisions each of us would take independently and those which needed joint decisions.

We were ambitious but not greedy.  Both of us believed “if I am destined to get something, it is bound to come? If it is not destined for me, how will I get at all?”.  It is now over 25 years since that arrangement. There isn’t a single word in writing till today. We have executed many multi crore value orders over the years. Touch wood, there have been no disputes. Of course, there have been differences of opinions very few and far between, for the good health of the organisation. When such differences come up, we have a lot of respect for each other’s opinion.

When friends in business ask me  what is your relation with Vishnuji in business,  I start thinking and I don’t get an answer even to myself.

We were able to maintain peaceful atmosphere between us. If Trust works, Peace prevails. And Peace brings better Prosperity.

Written Agreements can go wrong, but Trust always Cherish!

Experienced and Written: Badri Baldawa

Edited By : Meeta Kabra