Entrepreneurship - Success beyond Struggle

This starts with a story of a man who hailed from a small village of Lower Assam, graduated from B. Baruah College, Guwahati during the early 80’s decade. He had lucrative options of numerous Government jobs that would have earned him a stable salary and reputation. Instead of enjoying about his success of graduation with flying colours he was in deep thoughts. He thought a lot, whether he should walk the same path that everyone did choose or he should try the road that was less chosen by. Finally his far sightedness showed him success in the second path and he chose the road not taken by all. Instead of knocking doors for jobs he chose to open the door for few jobs. He opened registered Rice & Wheat milling machine and named it after his grandmother whom he lost at a very tender age (M/s Pateshwari Rice Mills), the first of its kind in the entire are

a. His education helped him to gather information about the latest equipment’s then and he got them from Ambala. He created daily waged and monthly salaried jobs for many of the local youths as labours. They also gathered skills working with the milling instruments. While his friends were enjoying bank jobs and other government jobs, he also had to spend nights waking up monitoring the productivity during seasonal months. He thought of diversification. He wanted to open more doors for employment. He approached a local financer and got into the transport business. The first few initial months wasn’t any bed of roses for him, he had to work day and night wondering about consignments of loading and unloading. His hard work soon got paid and he got a few trucks. He could find happiness in his effort when he saw so many youths happily employed under his dream. Slowly he surrendered from the transport business and started as a small railway contractor in Guwahati. Today he controls business at two places – the rice mill at his native and small & medium level contracts at Guwahati. The man is Mr. Pradip Kumar Talukdar. I am lucky enough to be born to him as his only child.

My dad has been the biggest inspiration of entrepreneurship for me. His farsightedness has let him earn a livelihood for him as well as his employees and reputation. He has also been honoured with many social responsibilities and awards. He has been the President of his village school committee for nearly two decades and the secretary of Rangia Commercial Transport Committee for a decade.

Entrepreneurship is indeed a good step for today’s youth. Instead of running behind jobs it is better to create a few jobs. Even the new Government has declared huge money for entrepreneurship development. Being an entrepreneur is a matter of self-esteem and pride. All it needs is a dare factor. It needs the guts to look beyond the going trend. Even public and private banks today have made loan schemes easy for entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur needs some basic traits within himself. Those include the ability to think beyond obvious, farsightedness, the guts to withstand a loss, the plan for a better tomorrow, the stamina to work day and night, managerial skills, the mind-set to think big, the capacity for right investment and finally basic mathematics to count the money that he has earned. Entrepreneurship is a better option that inactivity.

The Story behind DOLLAR-RUPEE RATE

‘Indian Rupee falls’ or ‘Indian Rupee gets slightly high’ – these kind of headlines aren't new to anyone who reads news. Although it sounds complex, it isn’t really so. The basis of dollar-rupee exchange rates is quite simple. It is similar to the demand and supply of a simple commodity, say wheat. When there is more supply in the market, the price is low and when the demand is high the price increases.

The supply of dollars to Indian market can be categorized basically into three types – first, the Indian exporters who sell their products and services at International markets in lieu of dollars, second, the Indian immigrant workers abroad who repatriate money to their family back home and third, the foreign investors who invest in Indian institutions. Foreign tourists who visit India also contribute a small part of the huge dollar inflow. The factors that demand for dollars are just the mirror images vice-versa of the factors that contribute for its supply. The factors that stand for the demand of dollars are importers who spend dollars, individuals or companies repatriating home countries their earnings and Indian individuals investing in foreign stocks.

There are many reasons for the deficit in Indian rupees value as compared to dollar. There has been a huge trade deficit gap between our imports and exports. Our exporters are able to earn only a minute part of the dollar that importers need. The foreign investors who were flooding the stock exchange with billions of dollars have now started to divest their money because of financial crisis in their home market.

There are also numerous historic reasons for the depreciation of the rupee value as compared to dollar. Although unbelievable it’s a fact that during independence Indian rupee was at par to US Dollar. India had no foreign borrowings then. Indian Government’s decision to introduce finance welfare and development issues through the five years plans in 1951 led to the first borrowing. 1948-1966 faced fixed rate currency stage at 4.79 against a dollar. Two consecutive wars in 1962 and 1965 led India to a financial deficit and rupee value was marked at 7.57 against a dollar.  By 1985 the value dropped to 12 rupees against a dollar. In 1991 India faced payment crisis, high inflation and low growth. The rupee value against dollar was devalued to 17.9. In 1993, the rupee dollar rate determination was made free and left at market conditions. The exchange rate was left to be determined by the market but would be interfered by Reserve bank of India under extreme volatile cases.

Today rupee value has degraded even further. Indian currency has been gradually depreciating after 2008 economic crisis.

10 things to do before I die

•  Have some children – I don’t have any plans to get married but I would obviously like to be a father. I would like to be the father to those children who roam around the nooks and corners of the city searching for hope & bread, having the ill-fate of not receiving the parental love and care. I wouldn’t die before adopting a few children.

• Padhega India tabhi to Badhega India – I would also strive to work for the motto of Vajpayee Ji and that was enforced by Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur on 25^th Dec 2013. I appreciate the motto of imparting education to the buds of the weaker section of the society and the objective of teaching them how to earn their own bread with dignity.

• To spend all the money that I have earned – I see a lot of disappointed faces around me. Their disappointment makes my happiness disappear. If somewhere I could buy them some happiness, I would seriously do so.

• To meet all the brothers of Indian Army and thank them – I always wanted to stand bold and guard the frontiers. I couldn’t because my physique didn’t permit me to do so. Before I die I would like to meet and thank every brother who has stood awake on dark winter nights on the frontiers guarding our territory and assuring us all a sound sleep.

• Donate blood once again – Even before attending the proper age I donated blood. I was too crazy to work for humanity and even today I do so. Before I die I would like to donate blood one last time.

• Design a better death – Before dying I would also seek the chance to design a better death for myself. I don’t want to die sick and complaining. I want a martyr’s death for myself.

• Favourite cuisines – Before I die I would like to taste all my favourite cuisines for one last time. Those cuisines would include ample non-veg dishes, barbecue’s, Muglai in particular and a lot of sweets.

• To meet Salman Khan once – I have always had one idol in my life - Mr. Salman Khan. His place for being my ideal isn’t because of his super hit movies but because of his act of philanthropy towards the weaker sections of the society. Before I die I just wish to meet him once.

• 
  

 Submitted for Indispire

His Love for his Mother

Away from him, they carry her,

They believe that behind this journey lies peace,

Shouting and hailing the name of Deity,

And few sobbing in grief.

There he sits holding himself stiff,

Recalling days of childhood and youth,

And also a few moments back when she was alive,

His mother’s dead and he finds it hard to believe.

“Oh young boy, get up and come along”,

As all men yell and groan at him,

He wakes up, and gets back from flashbacks,

He hops and jumps up, run towards her,

Lends his soldier to his mother,

Abiding to social norms, proving to be her heir,

He picks up and carries her towards the pyre,

Helping her pass by through the last walk of life.

He walks too far, yet feels no pain,

His head aches of some mental strain,

They place his mother next to the pyre,

She’ll vanish in the wind in a short while,

He’ll have to burn her, bring her to ash,

Fulfil the norm of being the only child,

That strange fact he fails to acquaint,

Yet he does, as he was taught to be a social child.

The priest chant prayers, he lights up the pyre,

The winds blow up, spreads the fire,

The pain of seeing his mother burn

Which he can’t hold on, better he finds to sit alone,

The fire of the pyre which was about to disappear,

He stands up, walks steadily to the pyre,

Burns up a cigarette from the fire burning his mother,

He felt he could see the last sight of her for another while.

Traffic Inhumanity

Accidents obviously are unexpected and uncalled for. But who should be blamed for them?? Can’t there be a minor mistake on the driver’s part? Or even if he is driving carefully can’t there be a malfunction of any of the mechanical parts in the assemblage of so many rods and bearings?

Mostly it is seen that commercial vehicle drivers are being treated mercilessly by public because his vehicle had done something unusual while he was on the driver’s seat. Abusing and assaulting them has turned out to be a habit and also a matter of pride. The common person without judging anything by his conscience breaks out on the driver and the helper. This sort of passive hooliganism is present in every street of the country.

Is it right to assault the driver and the helper? There are traffic rules that states to investigate whose mistake it was and on conviction has appropriate punishments. If hitting the driver and the helper is booked under law then a criminal offence can also be registered against those chocolate heroes who hit them.

It was once when I was in a Guwahati city bus, where I got up at Adabari and was heading towards Panbazar. A lady tried to get up on the bus even after the bus left the bus stop. The bus was at around 15 Kmph. The lady couldn’t maintain her balance on the running bus and she fell down. The driver didn’t accelerate and decently stopped the bus. The bus passengers got furious at this and ran to grab held of the driver. He got a slap instantly by a well-dressed gentleman. I couldn’t understand why the passengers got so furious. I grab hold of the second person who was about to punch him on the face. The driver tried to hide behind me. While I tried to stand there and advocate for the driver, the lady suddenly arrived and made it clear that it was her mistake. The so looking gentleman who hit the driver felt ashamed and realized his mistake. There was no one who went to pick up the lady who fell down from the bus. The driver realized something wrong and instead of accelerating his vehicle and running away he showed his decency and stopped immediately. While the well-dressed gentle that should have run to help the lady get up, showed his indecency by hitting a poorly paid, over time working labour.

We should try to place ourselves at their position and imagine life for a minute. How would we feel if we have to get up early morning and hurry to work? How would we feel if we are asked to drive from 6 AM to 9:30 PM? While driving is a passion for many rich brats, there is this community of drivers who is actually fed up of pushing clutches and brakes after every hundred metres in a traffic jam and they are doing this just to earn two square meals a day for their family. There is nothing called human resource management or any organizational behaviour to monitor their livelihood and health. After working so hard, they have to face a bunch of idiots who are all into assaulting and abusing. Even if they commit mistakes and admit it, they are sure to get beaten black and blue. The best irony is that there is nobody to stand up for their human rights.

The public agitation in accidents is obvious. Rather than out bursting and handling the driver physically, the agitated public if calls an ambulance and helps clearing the passage to enable smooth fly of other vehicles shall exhibit a sense of responsibility and maturity.

 

I feel that the public is not at all bothered about accidents and causalities. It is just that they are trying to express their frustration upon this class of poor and helpless citizens. They are fed up of their household troubles or India losing the cricket match or their boss’s scolding in office and they have none upon whom they can really outburst their frustration. By abusing and assaulting these helpless people they are trying just to minimize their frustration.

I doubt if the world we live in is really civilized or it’s all namesake. Carrying smartphones and wearing formals doesn’t really mark our progress. Our progress is hidden in a change in mentality. When we will learn the basics of humanity, only then we can approach towards modernisation.

N.B- This piece of my writing was initially published for Guwahatian - An E-Magazine from Guwahati.

About An Incredible Teacher

Last year I read about this great person about whom I am writing now.

Abdul Mallick, hailing from Malappuram, India is one of the greatest examples on the list of the dedicated teachers. For him teaching is not at all a profession but a passion; and which is perfectly reflected in his effort to reach school wading the neck high waters everyday. His action says about his dedication towards teaching. He is not one among those who takes up teaching as an alternative or with the charm of a lucrative salary.

It takes him three hours to cover the 12 Kilometer journey to cover by road. He swims across the river to maintain the punctuality. He tries his best never to miss his school. Once he crosses the river he changes the wet pair of clothes and proceeds to his school to teach.

His action reflects about a person's dedication to enlighten the society. Hats off to such a great personality.