LEKHANAGALLU

Tidbits of Damu and Bhagiyam - 1

Bhagiyam broke the silence and spoke to Damu, “Now a days everyone has become a businessman, entrepreneur or a professional. Business is no longer restricted to any class or part in the society. However, I feel people are under lot of pressures and are working on goals which are unclear and changing every day, either by them or by others. In spite the fact, I am unable to understand why they are not making much use of the wisdom which is already there in our country?”

Damu said, “You are right Bhagiyam, we have been traders for countless generations. God will only know when we started doing business! None of our ancestors have any clue. What we thought was that all transactions should be based on right price, right quantity, and integrity. We must always maintain Dharma. We need to stand in the same manner for all our customers. Those days, we made several adjustments in order to fulfill the requirements of our customers. Business was like how there was Sunset and rainfall, but our measures were in a small way to act as an umbrella or shield or a bouquet to the customers.”

Bhagiyam intruded and said “And also while the general rules are applied, our small adjustments with each customer based on their requirements made our business more special, and custom-made. However, in today’s world, though they are making use of information enormously, it is machine driven. Our business was from our heart and touched the heart of the customer directly not through schemes or through prices but through direct contact. While these schemes and prices are important, personal touch, and contact played an enormous role for us. That is why despite so many businesses being there, we continued to exist in some form or other. This is the message that the businessmen of today should take from people like us.”

“You are right, Bhagiyam! Business is there for eternity. While profits are everyday important, the continuity and long-term nature of business must be consistent. If the short-term and average-term goal do not come into the way of long-term existence, then everything will be fine.”