PART 2: THE RENAISSANCE -----> Chapter 3

Just as I walked into the living room thinking about the next day, I heard a whistle. I looked towards the direction of the sound to find a girl seated on the sofa. It was Padma.

“Hi Padma! When did you arrive? You didn’t even say you were coming,” I said, in surprise.

“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t seek your permission before coming here,” she teased me. I made a face.

Trying to pacify me, she said, “You know how I like surprising everyone. Amma told me that the Central Para Military Force is camping in our home. Started using your AK-47 on our workers?”

“Central Para Military Force? AK-47?” I asked, pretending that I didn’t get the joke. “Say, are you on leave?”

“I got a gap after we finished a project,” she answered. “I’ll be here for a week. Go, get refreshed and come back.”

Padma was a lively girl. At times, she could also get bossy. I used to get annoyed at some of her sarcastic jokes. There was another thing I knew about her—if she cracked too many jokes, that’s a danger sign and it means she’s up to something.

After dinner, I went to Padma’s room. The door was left open and she was sitting on a chair in front of a table. She didn’t seem to be reading or writing anything. Maybe she was thinking of doing something. I knocked on the door.

“Come sir! Come on in…and be seated,” she invited me.

I went in and sat on her bed.

“I was waiting for you, Anna,” she said.

“Is it? Tell me Padma, what’s new? I feel you’ve something up your sleeve,” I said, looking suspiciously at her.

She became silent for a while. And then, she spoke, “Anna, I’m going to drop a bombshell on my parents tomorrow.”

Bombshell? On Lok uncle and Nandi aunty? Hearing this itself was a thunderbolt. A loss-making business was bad enough for them.

“Bombshell?” I grimaced. ”What are you talking about?”

“I have a bf in Chennai. We want to get married. I came down to convince Achan and Amma,” she replied.

I was appalled. Misfortunes never came singly. Padma could also be foxed easily by some deceptive guys. I paused to take stock of the situation. Hmm…a worst-case scenario would be: she’s already married to a loser and we can’t do anything about it. But she’s probably not married yet. And we don’t yet know whether the guy’s a loser or not.

She said that he was her friend’s cousin and that they had met at a party.

“Party? Didn’t uncle ban you from going to parties?” I asked, annoyed at her explanation. Lok uncle was quite conservative.

“Well, it was my best friend’s birthday party. How could I miss it?” she tried to justify her stand. She went on, “Want to know his positives?”

“Tell me, I’m eager to know,” I said, with contempt.

“Jagan is handsome, empathic and caring. These days, you won’t find a guy with these qualities,” she said excitedly.

“Oh! Really? What about his negatives?” I asked.

“Okay, I concede that he’s jobless right now,” she replied as if this was a debate. “He’s the only son of divorced parents. But he grew up in a boarding school, so he’s much disciplined. He has excellent business acumen. He had approached many venture capitalists but was unable to convince them. Maybe he can join Achan’s business after our marriage.”

She had already made wonderful plans to accommodate her boyfriend into the family. But I wondered whether her father’s business would even exist then, to have it run by this guy.

Lok uncle and Nandi aunty hadn’t told Padma that the business problems were serious and that uncle was even in danger of going bankrupt. Padma’s behavior was in fact, disappointing. Her parents were struggling out here and they didn’t want her to get worried about it. They wanted her to be happy. Yes, she was happy now, but her happiness was going to hurt everybody else. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to put a spoke in her wheel.

“Padma, I wouldn’t always approve of your parents’ way of doing things. I think children must be informed about crises taking place in the family. This is an absolute must for them to become more responsible, and so that they value relationships.” She looked at me indifferently. She had probably expected me to disapprove of her plans. I continued, “Your father’s business is in the red and if things don’t improve soon, it will have to be closed down. And that’s why I’m here—to make a last ditch effort.”

That caught her attention. She looked at me quite seriously. I appealed to her not to give them a shock tomorrow. “Your parents will not be able to bear it. We need to talk about a few things. I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Good night,” I said.

Before she could reply, I got up and left her room, closing the door behind me.

***

The next morning, I saw Nandi aunty looking quite moody, at the breakfast table. Did Padma tell her anything about her plan? I decided not to ask aunty anything. After breakfast, I took my lunch box and got out of the house to catch an auto. I had to go to the factory early. Radha would meet me at 10 am. I had to make some arrangements before that.

Thinking about punctuality, I remembered my friend Prashanth, who worked in an investment bank in New York. He had once told me about the differences between Americans and Indians in the context of work.

“Americans always do their homework. Like…they are well prepared for a conference, for instance. But we guys never do our homework. We always make some shabby preparation at the last minute. Likewise, they are quite systematic and are also assertive. They know how to have their way. And they are punctual.

“But apart from these qualities, I think we are as good as them, or even better than them. If we can correct these weaknesses of ours, we can improve by leaps and bounds. Our country itself will make deep inroads into becoming the biggest economy in the world.”

Could the Indian economy become the biggest in the world, as Prasanth had anticipated? Time would tell.

On reaching Lakshmi, I got the men ready to answer any questions which Radha would ask. I also arranged to have detailed process charts that she might want. “A consultant is coming to help us out,” I told them. They enthusiastically followed my instructions.

Radha arrived ten minutes early and began to look around the place. Anxious about her observations, I almost failed to notice her beautiful dark green salwar-kameez and light green dupatta. She had tied up her long black hair which was as beautiful as her face. A red rose in that hair would have been fabulous.

Standing inside the factory, her black eyes caught each and every motion involved in the manual work. She didn’t care to wipe off the beads of sweat which formed on her forehead. With eyebrows raised, she was observation personified.

Watching the workers toil it out in the heat, she became sweaty. We walked away from the noise. She then looked at me, smiled, and said, “Abhinav, have you noticed how Sachin Tendulkar plays the cover drive?”

Sachin? Cricket? What’s that go to do with this, I wondered.

Without waiting for my response, she continued, “He makes the shot look so easy to play. Have you seen Lata Mangeshkar sing? She makes it look so easy.

“My point is that these workers don’t look like experts on their jobs. They are straining themselves needlessly. The result is slow production and fatigue, which means low productivity. I think many of their motions can either be eliminated or simplified. Do you get me?”

“Hmm…yes I do,” I answered.

I began to think about this aspect. And then, I asked her, “So what do you think we should do? Carry out a Work Study and train these guys?”

“Bingo!”

After looking around the factory once more, she found something wrong with the layout. “Some of the movements must be done away with, in order to reduce congestion,” Radha added.

We finally decided to carry out a work study and make some adjustments in the layout of the factory. A few thoughts then began to cloud my mind. It was real hot in the factory. Her parents had plans to get her married. What if a prospective groom came in the next few days to see her? What if she looked all tiresome and dehydrated because of the heat over here? I began to feel guilty for bringing her into this.

“Radha, you’ve been facing the heat out there and you are tired. If you participate in the Work Study tomorrow, what’ll happen to your health?” I expressed my concern to her.

She looked at me as if she knew I would say something like that. But I felt that these concerns of mine were quite genuine. I continued, “I mean, seriously, if a groom comes to see you and you look all tired and worn out…just imagine…”

“Don’t bother about all that, Abhinav. Look, I am an ‘engineer’ by profession. This is part of my job. Besides, you know me. Once I undertake to finish a piece of work, I will make sure I complete it. So, don’t worry!” she said to me, emphasizing the word ‘will’. She hardly looked concerned. Her response made me feel less guilty.

***

During the lunch break, Radha asked me, “Abhinav, what do you think is India’s greatest problem today?”

“Um…poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, low per capita income, low national income, corruption…actually, it’s a vicious circle. One thing leads to another,” I replied.

“No. The answer is lack of active patriotism among the people,” she corrected.

“Active…patriotism? What’s that?” I asked.

“Well, different people may have different ideas about active patriotism. Here is my take on that. I mean to say that there are two kinds of patriotism in a citizen. One is passive patriotism. That’s what many of us have today. Our patriotism becomes active only during any major cricket match involving India; or when there is a threat to the security of our country; or in the event of a calamity.

“Remember the nuclear tests which had been conducted by India? It was followed by the economic sanctions imposed by other nations on us in 1998. Our government issued the ‘Resurgent India Bonds’ to raise money from loyal NRIs from all over the world. The issue was a huge success. Remember the Kargil War in 1999? The amount of donations received by the Government during that time was enormous. The same was the case when the Tsunami struck in 2004.”

“Yes, that’s true,” I agreed.

“By active patriotism,” Radha continued, “I mean each and every moment, we are thinking of giving our best to the nation. We are always aware that we have a contribution to make to our mother for the love and care she is giving to us. It does not mean that we should become jingoists or extreme nationalists. But it does mean that an Indian flag is always hoisted up in our hearts, in our souls and we must constantly be aware of our responsibility to our country, even in our sleep.

“Active patriotism makes us work harder, not for money, but for our country. The motive power has to be love for the nation. We know in our hearts, that if we go the extra mile, our people will benefit from it. That phenomenon, that emotion, amongst the masses, will sky rocket the nation’s productivity like anything. And that emotion is what we are lacking in.”

Contrarian thinking, I thought about Radha. But this was something to chew over.

“Are you ready to die for your country?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Think about it. And I’ll ask you again later,” she said to me.

After lunch, she gave us detailed instructions to arrange for conducting the Work Study. She assured me of her presence to overlook the study to be conducted the following day. She then left the place.

We didn’t have the time to carry out a detailed study. We had to act fast. We were running out of time and money. We all hoped for a breakthrough soon.

I was constantly updating Lok uncle on our present status. “We’ll pay attention to the ergonomics. This will minimize the fatigue of the workers and improve their productivity,” I assured him. “Increased productivity would address the problem of high costs of operation.”

Lok uncle was satisfied with the direction of our efforts. He seemed to believe in me. But like every owner, he would be happy only if we posted something green on the board.

***