WILL IT RUN?
"It is looting," Nikhil screamed, showing to me the 'vadapav' he had just bought from a vendor outside my office. "Sir, look at the 'vada' -- it's smaller than a 'rosgula', and see inside this ... there is hardly any 'batata' there; eight rupees they charged for this ... It's looting."
"Why did you buy from them? There are so many vendors around," I consoled Nikhil.
"Sir, I was so hungry; and, I did not know all this," he said, "Any way, this is my first and last visit to that goddamn joint."
No doubt about it. Why Nikhil, nobody would pay a second visit there.
Who are they?
Jitesh, 30, is a graduate but unemployed for quite some time. Lata, his elder sister,35, is a divorcee having a 12-year-old son. Some time back, both approached me and said, "Sir, we have this shop here; we have not been using it. For so many years, we have been paying the Society maintenance and minimum electricity charges ... We feel the pinch now."
"Why can't you give it on rent to some one," I asked.
They narrated me some stories to convince me as to how many tenants cheated their landlords. "We don't want to lose this hard-earned property," I was told.
"Fair enough. Why can't you start something here on your own," I asked.
"That's exactly the reason why we have come to see you," they said in a chorus.
"We are planning to start an eatery here. We want to know - will it run?"
An eatery... where you sell some simple snacks -- such as 'Vadapavs', 'Paticepavs', 'Bajias' and 'Samosas' along with tea, and may be cool drinks. Add to them some biscuits and chocolates, even cigarettes and pan parag ... Why can't this eatery run? After all, the place is yours; even otherwise, you have to spend on the Society and electricity charges. All that is required: a few well-prepared snacks, reasonably priced, and, above all, a 'sweet tongue' to woo and keep your customers. What else is required? ... This is what I thought, instantly, as they asked me "Will it run?". Still, I took a long pause and answered them, this way:
"As long as you love people, and love what you do, not an eatery alone but any business will run. You need to do it for the right reasons, with far sight."
I doubt, they understood that language!
On this 'Dassera' day, they did the 'pooja'. From the next day, the eatery began to run. On the first day itself, I sensed that they wouldn't survive for more than a month!
Tea was served in the tiniest of the tiniest disposable glasses - at Rs.6. Just outside the gate, half-a-dozen 'chaivalas' sell their 'cutting chai' just at Rs. 2.50. A 'vadapav' - much bigger and much, much superior in quality - is sold all around us just at Rs. 5 or Rs.6. My student Nikhil has, already, told you why he was screaming: "It is looting."
On the first day, I patronised them only on sympathy. By the evening, I knew I wouldn't do that from the next day. Still, on the second day, Jetesh came to take my 'order'. I was busy, and I wasn't feeling the need ...Yet, I asked for a 'samosa' and a tea. In the evening, Jetesh came to me and said, "Sir, do you have a hundred-rupees change."
I remembered that I had to pay for the morning 'samosa' and tea. He collected the 'change', and left my office, quite satisfied. The hundred-rupees change, was blissfully forgotten!
That was my last order.
It's only about a week. I have given them a month. But, nobody, believes me that they can last that long!
Hey, meet Asrani 'chacha'. He is 78. He comes to you on his bicycle to supply you 'phenol'. He can speak fluent English, of course, flavoured with authentic Sindhi!
"I am in this business for the last fifty years. Mind you Sir, same business, same phenol, and I have not lost my customers," he tells you proudly, before pushing off the peddle.
When you tell him, that you don't need the supply today, because the old stock is still there, 'chacha' wouldn't buy that. "So what? It will be over in a few days; I am keeping these two cans here." And, he is gone.
"Chacha, money."
"You think, I will die so soon?"
He has to keep all the maid servants happy. Sometimes, he argues with them, when they complain about the quality, quantity or the price. Finally, he will find some new strategies to 'disarm' those ladies.
"I have sold my phenol to your grand father and your father, young man," he would lovingly and confidently remind a teenager, dare he challenge 'chacha's' credibility.
Time to time, 'Chacha' leaves behind a compliment: a toilet freshener, or a small soap to keep near your wash basin. He doesn't talk about it. He simply disappears. If you offer him money, "That's my compliment 'only for you'," off he peddles.
But, the next time 'Chacha' appears, you are bound to 'buy' from him some fresheners and soaps.
And, he will bill you for them, sweetly!
Nikhil is doing his first year B.M.S. Bachelor Of Business Studies. I told him about Asrani 'chacha', and teased him, "Look, you guys go to far away places on Industrial Visits, and you have a hundred Projects, Case studies and Presentations ... Why can't you make your next presentation on this 'Industrial Visit' which is there right under your nose?
"I swear, Sir," Nikhil agreed.
And, we agreed to title this Presentation - our Joint Venture - as:
"WILL IT RUN?"
GERALD D'CUNHA
"Why did you buy from them? There are so many vendors around," I consoled Nikhil.
"Sir, I was so hungry; and, I did not know all this," he said, "Any way, this is my first and last visit to that goddamn joint."
No doubt about it. Why Nikhil, nobody would pay a second visit there.
Who are they?
Jitesh, 30, is a graduate but unemployed for quite some time. Lata, his elder sister,35, is a divorcee having a 12-year-old son. Some time back, both approached me and said, "Sir, we have this shop here; we have not been using it. For so many years, we have been paying the Society maintenance and minimum electricity charges ... We feel the pinch now."
"Why can't you give it on rent to some one," I asked.
They narrated me some stories to convince me as to how many tenants cheated their landlords. "We don't want to lose this hard-earned property," I was told.
"Fair enough. Why can't you start something here on your own," I asked.
"That's exactly the reason why we have come to see you," they said in a chorus.
"We are planning to start an eatery here. We want to know - will it run?"
An eatery... where you sell some simple snacks -- such as 'Vadapavs', 'Paticepavs', 'Bajias' and 'Samosas' along with tea, and may be cool drinks. Add to them some biscuits and chocolates, even cigarettes and pan parag ... Why can't this eatery run? After all, the place is yours; even otherwise, you have to spend on the Society and electricity charges. All that is required: a few well-prepared snacks, reasonably priced, and, above all, a 'sweet tongue' to woo and keep your customers. What else is required? ... This is what I thought, instantly, as they asked me "Will it run?". Still, I took a long pause and answered them, this way:
"As long as you love people, and love what you do, not an eatery alone but any business will run. You need to do it for the right reasons, with far sight."
I doubt, they understood that language!
On this 'Dassera' day, they did the 'pooja'. From the next day, the eatery began to run. On the first day itself, I sensed that they wouldn't survive for more than a month!
Tea was served in the tiniest of the tiniest disposable glasses - at Rs.6. Just outside the gate, half-a-dozen 'chaivalas' sell their 'cutting chai' just at Rs. 2.50. A 'vadapav' - much bigger and much, much superior in quality - is sold all around us just at Rs. 5 or Rs.6. My student Nikhil has, already, told you why he was screaming: "It is looting."
On the first day, I patronised them only on sympathy. By the evening, I knew I wouldn't do that from the next day. Still, on the second day, Jetesh came to take my 'order'. I was busy, and I wasn't feeling the need ...Yet, I asked for a 'samosa' and a tea. In the evening, Jetesh came to me and said, "Sir, do you have a hundred-rupees change."
I remembered that I had to pay for the morning 'samosa' and tea. He collected the 'change', and left my office, quite satisfied. The hundred-rupees change, was blissfully forgotten!
That was my last order.
It's only about a week. I have given them a month. But, nobody, believes me that they can last that long!
Hey, meet Asrani 'chacha'. He is 78. He comes to you on his bicycle to supply you 'phenol'. He can speak fluent English, of course, flavoured with authentic Sindhi!
"I am in this business for the last fifty years. Mind you Sir, same business, same phenol, and I have not lost my customers," he tells you proudly, before pushing off the peddle.
When you tell him, that you don't need the supply today, because the old stock is still there, 'chacha' wouldn't buy that. "So what? It will be over in a few days; I am keeping these two cans here." And, he is gone.
"Chacha, money."
"You think, I will die so soon?"
He has to keep all the maid servants happy. Sometimes, he argues with them, when they complain about the quality, quantity or the price. Finally, he will find some new strategies to 'disarm' those ladies.
"I have sold my phenol to your grand father and your father, young man," he would lovingly and confidently remind a teenager, dare he challenge 'chacha's' credibility.
Time to time, 'Chacha' leaves behind a compliment: a toilet freshener, or a small soap to keep near your wash basin. He doesn't talk about it. He simply disappears. If you offer him money, "That's my compliment 'only for you'," off he peddles.
But, the next time 'Chacha' appears, you are bound to 'buy' from him some fresheners and soaps.
And, he will bill you for them, sweetly!
Nikhil is doing his first year B.M.S. Bachelor Of Business Studies. I told him about Asrani 'chacha', and teased him, "Look, you guys go to far away places on Industrial Visits, and you have a hundred Projects, Case studies and Presentations ... Why can't you make your next presentation on this 'Industrial Visit' which is there right under your nose?
"I swear, Sir," Nikhil agreed.
And, we agreed to title this Presentation - our Joint Venture - as:
"WILL IT RUN?"
GERALD D'CUNHA
Comments
Good to read ur article. TWo local example, Vadapav shop but not business acumen WHERE chacha At is best by giving free gift and assuring the future business or in other words is sowing a seed and getting a fruit. I remember Ramakrishna Sirs word that a good sales man will always sell himself first, then his product and then his company. Chacha is somewhat following the same thing.
Yes these example in our everday life are the best lesson then what we hunt in the mgmt book. Thks and love to take such more lesson from our "D'cunha Guruji"