For once i understood how pained Ratan Tata must have been over his Nano venture in Singur West bengal .For there is a lil bit of Singur in everyones life here .
I had my share of utter hopelessness when i searched for a photostat shop one afternoon in the famous Lake market area of kolkata. It was urgent and i had to have that done. I wandered from one to the other to many others , in all nine to ten , a formidable number in an area of one kilometer ,but all in vain. Seven machines were not working , for others it was post lunch time and hence rest time , some simply didnt want to, for they were taking a lie back and didnt look interested. It is not to say that I was the only customer, but there were many more, who looked resigned to fate and some guilty for having come at a wrong time.
There is business, there is work, people are waiting , documents in hand for their photostat jobs, but no sparks of interest ever got ignited ..Wake up and make the best of it, man ! I was in an instant drawn close to Ratan Tata .Poor chap, he must have felt so similar , helpless and angry .In an instant, I empathised with him for his misadventure in this land of lotus eaters .Within a flash i also imagined what is modus operandi would have been in such a situation .For a man ,so much used to corporate glitches and company warfares, he should be resorting to effecient man managment as a ready reckoner,a time tested mantra , and he would think of approaching conflicts from the perspective of cooperative negotiation, rather than adversarial conflict.
Could I do that ?It was very difficult , especially when the man was yawning in my face suggesting that i was out of my mind trying to get work dome after lunch, when it is time for all to rest. I shouted back, for that is one strategy , so spontaneous and satisfying.And when this happens one gets hung up on irrelevant details. Surprised i was ,for i heard myself tell the man in charge that he should take pride in his work , get his machines working, stop being lazy , work during day time and thus increase his chances for success.It was not confidence in myself not even in what i was saying but sheer bravado,.
Your best advice comes from within, and that which makes the most sense, and this is what happened The inner voice directed me to move on to other places for the time for endless analysis of work ethics in this state was getting lost.The shop in front was partially shut now and the man had curled up for his afternoon siesta
This is what the handsome , ever composed, sombre looking Ratan Tata must have felt, dejected yet surprised! For him Nano business deal must have been like consummating a romantic relationship ; eandearing in its uncertanities, full of sweet nothings and many slips between the lip and the lip .Dear Ratan dont scatter your energy and look for beter pastures. I have no Singur and no Nano to handle, yet I feel defeated, lost and devoid of hope. I could not get the photostat done, the documents returned home with me , on a normal ,non-bandh day , at three in the afternoon, a time when elswhere is a peak time for business.
Here my timing was wrong . It was post lunch in Bengal on a hot sultry afternoon.
Think and muse!! i shall leave you here !
