A minor disagreement in the office resulted in the author discovering new opportunities. The 17th part of a series describing the unknown triumphs and travails of doing international business
AK Ramdas
Our trip to the UK was useful in meeting one of the most reputed and strongest of the competitors in the field of manholes, but we could never compare apples to oranges, considering ours was grey iron castings, while they specialized in ductile products. These were more expensive too, but, all these depended upon usage and the costs for the user.
Their directors’ visit to Agra did help them to realize that there was always more scope for collaborations, in one form or another; maybe not be feasible between two organizations, but nothing really prevented our agents to co-operate with each other. In the end, of course, was always the question of completing projects on time, so that public could benefit. This has always been our moto.
The construction activity had not slowed down as such, but it was not at the great speed at which work progressed at various places, a few months earlier. There were a number of importers who had secured poor quality materials, which were at so called “floor price”, but, in fact, inferior all because they were ‘underweight’ and not to specifications. The contractor, for example, just wanted, say, an ‘elbow’ or a ‘P-trap’, and it did not matter much if they did not conform to standards; as long as they passed the visual tests, but enabled handing over the ‘completed’ job. This sort of sloppy work brought bad names to all concerned, but, only at a later date!
One of the things that we did, just to beat these bad quality material suppliers was to simply list out the most essential items (representative products) that are required at any given site, and gave a fixed cash price for sale, on a first come first served basis, and had the advertisement appear in the newspapers. Both Khaleej Times and Gulf News, if I remember correctly, carried the ads on the same day, and the phones never stopped ringing. By the evening, our warehouses had no stocks left. In fact, this ‘stunt’, as I would call it, brought into the picture many actual consumers into the forefront; they not only picked up their requirements, but were able to see for themselves the range of other building materials that we carried, and had in stock! The impact of this move was reverberating in the market for months to come.
Meantime, all was not well in our relations, and we felt the undercurrent in one form or another. I think, what broke the camel’s back was the owner’s attitude to a public holiday that I had announced, due to incessant request by the staff that there should be a holiday on the New Year’s day.
This was overruled by Ajay, much to my displeasure, and I must confess, that I walked out of the office in anger. I had never enjoyed even the weekly holidays, nor took vacation of any kind, as such. Nor did I ever crib about the working hours; most of the time, I was the first to come and last to go, and yet, on a very simple issue of a public holiday, the rigid attitude was unacceptable, and that too, in full view of the staff.
I was very angry, upset and brooding over the issue, on the following day also. But, the angel that Sheikh Rashid was, he simply announced that henceforth, there will be a New Year holiday for one and all!!
The New Year eve was celebrated in Prem Dayal Sinha’s house, and most members of the staff attended, and enjoyed the evening. But for the next two days, I simply absented myself and did not attend the office. Moves were made by some interested family members, but I decided that perhaps the time has come for me to move on. I did not go back to office at all, not even to collect my dues.
I did not have to get up early in the morning to rush through the rituals to reach office by 0745 hrs; nor go round the bend looking for a suitable parking space. I did not have to move at snail’s speed on my return for lunch, or take a quick nap before pushing off at 3 45pm to be in office at 4pm. There were no late hours either. Leisurely, at 5 pm, I would simply go to the club, which was not far from home and enjoy the evening.
Before she returned from the office, sometimes by 4pm, my wife would phone to ask if I wanted anything; invariably, I would ask if she could pick up a pack of cigarettes (only on some days); she did, though, smoke was not conducive to her health. On one such occasion, when I was returning from Sharjah, after discussing with a prospective employer, I stopped over the St Mary’s church, which was across the Indian High School. In my sincere and silent prayer, I asked Mother Mary to give me the strength to give up this bad habit. “Please give me the strength to give up this nasty habit from tonight”.
I smoked the last cigarette before midnight, crushed the rest of the pack and threw it down in the garbage chute in our building. Well, that was in 1984. I have not touched the cigarette again! So, this only means that if anyone of us make up our mind, and of course get the divine blessings, we can achieve anything in life!
As I sat relaxing, I received an unexpected call from Bharatkumar J Shah, an old, highly respected friend from Yemen, whom I had met several times earlier in Beirut as well as in Jeddah, confirming his final plans to settle down in Dubai.
We met immediately thereafter, as he was setting up an office, he needed some assistance; I gladly agreed, and, I should imagine that within a month or so, he became associated with the Reliance Debenture Issue (F Series). This was not a permanent feature and would only last for a couple of months or so and I was glad to assist in the whole issue. This also gave me time to sort out my outstanding matters with my former employer.
This was the time, when almost every week, we had couple of IPOs coming into the market, specifically offering NRI quota for allotment, and every such investors’ meet was met with tremendous enthusiasm and public support. Every issue was oversubscribed several times over; it took months for certificates to arrive and the refunds to be effected. The outstanding issue was from ITC, which began the NRI allotments as the pioneer.
Both Khaleej Times and Gulf News had a field day in covering these events, and we had brilliant writers like Kumar Raj (Gulf News) and Raman Kapoor (Khaleej Times) who took care of the investors' needs. I must say, that the credit for championing the cause of permitting direct import of gold should go to Kumar Raj, as he extensively covered this issue, which was first proposed by him. It was his idea and credit must go to him.
Reliance F series was oversubscribed beyond belief. Everyone, who subscribed, by whatever means adopted, was confident that these non-convertible debentures would be converted by Dhirubhai in due course. It is sad story that, due to the animosity that VP Singh had developed for Dhirubhai, architect of India’s stock market popularity, this did not happen a year later....
It was at this point of time, I had the opportunity to meet Rupak, who wanted to investigate the possibilities for my working in his organization; for I had met him many times earlier, and had known his father well.
This was an unexpected development, about which I shall write later.
(AK Ramdas has worked with the Engineering Export Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce and was associated with various committees of the Council. His international career took him to places like Beirut, Kuwait and Dubai at a time when these were small trading outposts. From being the advisor to exporters, he took over the mantle of a trader, travelled far and wide, and switched over to setting up garment factories and then worked in the US. He can be contacted at [email protected].)
.jpg "MoneyLife")
