PART 2: THE RENAISSANCE -----> Chapter 9

The next morning, Anto made the formal announcement of the Training and Development Programme and gave its details. Lok uncle announced the commencement of the Spiritual Development Programme. The workers seemed to be pleasantly surprised when they were informed of an extra forty-minute break. The canteen would also function in the mornings for providing them breakfast after their meditation. Both programmes were slated to commence the following day.

Suddenly, I realized it was my turn to address them. I had butterflies in my stomach when I started to walk to the spot from where I had to speak. But by the time I reached there, my nervousness had vanished.

I began: “My dear friends, ours is a land where unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and other problems thrive. In spite of having nearly 60 years to solve these problems, our leaders have been unable to eradicate them. Our people come from diverse cultures, but we all face the same problems.

“More than 60 years ago, Indians had faced a common problem: the lack of freedom from British rule. Back then, our great leaders and freedom fighters had united all Indians in the great freedom struggle. It ultimately led to the achievement of freedom for us.

“Now, more than 60 years later, we find ourselves living on the products of foreign multinational corporations. We have become dependent on these foreign goods. Some people say: ‘Be Swadeshi, buy Swadeshi’. But I don’t agree with this idea. If foreign goods are of higher quality why should we boycott them? After all, we all work towards a higher standard of living.

“Friends, the solution to this problem is this: we Indians must improve the quality of our products. Then it will make sense to use desi products. We will also be able to achieve a higher standard of living for ourselves and our children. We need to work harder. That’s because our products have to become more competitive price-wise and quality-wise, in the international market.

“Indeed the time has come to have a movement similar to the freedom movement—a movement which will result in the creation of a developed India. I call upon each and every one of you to initiate a revolution—an Indian revolution which will take place in the minds of the masses. We must inspire people all over India to work towards the creation of a new India: an India which is a superpower in the world.

“This is a possible task. On our part, as employees of Lakshmi, each one of us must continuously strive to create better products for our people at a lower cost. Today, at this very moment, we must set a higher goal to achieve—to make our contribution to the best of our ability towards a developed India. Setting such a high goal will make all personal problems seem miniscule.

“God will always help us when we strive to achieve higher goals. We must also take active part in community development. It is our duty to give back to the society what we have taken from it.

“Our freedom fighters’ goal of self-realization was achieved on the day India became independent. We must achieve our goal of self-realization—to make India a developed country.

“To work towards this end, ours must become a prosperous organization consisting of prosperous people. The twin programmes of Training and Spiritual Development have been created to improve our lives, and create prosperity for the whole organization. Over the past few weeks, our production efficiencies have improved by leaps and bounds. We are quite confident of improving further. We have received a basket of orders and ultimately we will all benefit from this. All of us will grow together.

“We must also spread our sunshine to other parts of the country. We ought to exercise our rights, but more importantly, we have to make sure that we carry out our duties towards our country. Every minute, even in a state of unconsciousness, our souls must be aware of our highest goal.

“I remind you once again of the contribution you must make towards a developed India: sweat it out, and always keep in mind that you are working for India and ultimately for the good of mankind. Jai Hind!”

The words had come straight from my soul. During the speech, I had concentrated on my gestures, body language and voice modulation. The result was the varying emotions I saw in the eyes of the audience. It seemed very auspicious to me. Maybe my words did create an impact.

I thought I succeeded in creating the spark to ignite the fire. But the fire should never be put out. So, the real challenge was to sustain this inspiration amongst the workers. Towards this end, the value of active patriotism would have to be articulated everyday by the management. The most powerful of emotions had to continue to live in the hearts of the workers, every moment.

Thus, I began to use a new concept—a concept never tried before on a mass scale in our nation—utilizing the emotion of ‘active patriotism’ as an engine of limitless development of our nation. I realized what my goal was: to spread this emotion and inspire the masses to work towards the common goal of a developed India.

***

Lok uncle had been quite impressed with my speech on active patriotism. He gave me full support to implement my ideas on creating a suitable organization culture. We hanged boards in the tri-color in places visible to workers, employees and others who visited our organization. The boards had several messages inscribed on them. Some of the messages were: ‘I PUT MY COUNTRY ABOVE MYSELF’; ‘MY GOAL IS TO PRODUCE GOODS OF THE BEST QUALITY FOR OUR PEOPLE’; ‘I AM SHAPING A DEVELOPED INDIA’; and ‘I NEVER GIVE UP’.

During the Training and Development Programme, each worker came to understand the importance of his role in the organization and also the role of others. They were taught the importance of team spirit, empathy and communication. We decided to do away with the terms ‘workers’ and ‘employees’. These people would, henceforth, be known as ‘team members’.

On the finance front, we planned to introduce a more efficient internal audit system to evaluate and keep track of efficiencies in operations. But I also believed that the feeling of patriotic fervor would limit the fraudulent tendencies of team members.

We contrived to make regular contributions to the orphanage where Radha had taken me. We planned to attach more importance to corporate social responsibility. The public would trust only a firm which was ever conscious of its contribution to the society. Our community development initiatives would also enhance the image of the firm. We could organize drives to spread awareness about health and safety by tying up with educational institutions. Such campaigns would provide so many benefits to the society without having to spend much.

I had also learnt an important lesson on humility from Lok uncle. Lok uncle was not a showy person. He was always modest and humble. This was very important from the perspective of leadership. Actually, leadership was all about influencing people in a positive manner. I had read about a businessman who had several fancy cars and drove each of them to work, for all his employees to see. A showy and arrogant entrepreneur would only breed envy amongst team members and reduce their enthusiasm in work. It would create a divide between the entrepreneur and team members and interfere in the development of team spirit in an organization. Our present leaders in the field of business, like Ratan Tata and Azim Premji, are role models for entrepreneurs in this aspect.

Collective bargaining always used to create a lot of friction between the management and the labor force. Most of this friction was actually unnecessary. With the implementation of our plans, the need for collective bargaining would be reduced.

However, we had to encounter some problems from the Union Leaders for going ahead with our programmes without taking them into confidence. But once they saw that workers’ wages and benefits would not be adversely affected as a result of these programmes, the problems were solved.

I advised Lok uncle to hire the services of a Management Consultant well versed in the techniques of modern management to assist him. The services of such a person were quite indispensable in the present dynamic environment. He would be able to guide us in the implementation of our proposals. He would also have expert knowledge regarding operations and cost reduction techniques like quality control and contribution analysis, amongst others.

Thus, I came to the end of my mission at Lakshmi. The guest at ‘Vishnu Nivas’ would no longer reside there. It was time for me to move on. My engagement with ‘Lakshmi Industries’ provided a glimpse of the future that lay ahead. The plans were vague, but now I had a sense of direction.

I still had one person to meet before I headed back home: Radha. What should I do for her? Everything that had happened to me was indeed, a series of coincidences. Our visit to the orphanage transformed my way of thinking. I realized that the responsibilities I had towards my country were heavier than I had ever imagined.

I had to buy her something. On such occasions, I was the last innovative thinker on the planet. All that I could ever think of was a gold coin. This was the ‘safest’, yet the most meaningful gift, I could give her. I decided to stick to this idea. Besides, I could buy her anything else in future if I had wanted to. Or could I?

***

“Our family astrologer says that I might have to wait for a couple of years more, before I find a suitable bridegroom,” Radha said to me, as we met once again at my favourite place, along the banks of a canal. She was moody this time. “My parents are a bit upset. But they’ll eventually be happy if they get a suitable son-in-law, even if we have to wait for a while.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll surely get a good suitor,” I said. She smiled. “And Radha, here’s something I got for you,” I said, taking out a small gift-wrapped box out of my pocket. I gave it to her and said, “Open it when you get home.”

She smiled while receiving it. She then gave me a suspicious look, before putting the box in her purse. Maybe she was trying to guess what was in the box. “Thank you,” she said. Then, her mood suddenly changed. She looked glum. “Abhinav, I’m off to Bangalore in a couple of days’ time. I’ve…started sending resumes for my next job. I’ll update you with my new phone number, as soon as I get there.”

I had to leave Alappuzha, anyway. It would make no real difference to me if she was at Bangalore or here. Either case, she would be away from me.

“This time, we’ll keep in touch. Okay?” I joked.

Radha’s face showed no emotion now. She just gave a blank stare. “Okay. So shall I leave?” she asked me.

I was a bit taken aback at her response. But there really was nothing else to say. “Fine. See you,” I said.

She then turned around and started to quickly walk towards her scooter, taking long strides. She didn’t even look back. On reaching her scooter, she removed the side stand, sat on the scooter, started it and rode off. To me, that seemed to be an odd way to sign off. While ending the conversation, she hadn’t even delivered her trademark dialogue: “Chalo. Perfect.”

In any case, the Rule of Reversal which I had taught Padma, was applicable to me too. To be honest, I didn’t know much about Radha. I didn’t know her in and out. I didn’t know how she would respond in a particular situation. I didn’t know whether our family values would match. But I did know one thing—Radha was now out of my radar. I decided to go back to Cochin the next day itself.

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