With all the drilling and filing required to fit these locks, it was definitely a call for a carpenter. However, given the frivolous nature of the job from a carpenters viewpoint, I felt it was best to get a run-of-the-mill guy. Now, it is not difficult to find such guys given, Mumbai being termed as the 'Land of Opportunities'. Every year there are hordes of people migrating from various parts of India in the hope of finding work and making a living. A lot of such guys who haven't been fortunate enough to undergo formal education happen to pick up the occupation by learning from others in bits and pieces. I found one such person for my work.
As I got him home, he got rite onto the job, finished it in a few hours and asked me to inspect. While I checked, though the functioning looked good, the alignment seemed a bit distorted. When I brought this to his notice, he started arguing with me (indirectly saying, that as long as it is working, gimme the money.)
At that very moment, my thoughts went back into the past.... the setting was that of our B School case-room, students seated rite till the back, many more standing on the sides, eagerly waiting for a very prominent figure to arrive... Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor, Narayan Murthy, also one on our School's Board of Governors. The setting was that of a 'Q and A' where we could learn from his experiences over the years. His response to one such question still remains vibrant in my mind and something that I can never forget.
He said that he instructs the Sales people of his company to sell their products to the Client for 105 when the competition is selling it for 100. Astounding silence!!! for a moment everyone was left wondering until he followed it by saying, 'And give them value worth 110.'
I narrated these exact same words to this carpenter. Pin-drop silence. No more dialogues exchanged.. followed by the sound of the drilling machine. He dismantled the whole thing, refitted it a couple more times until he got it perfectly aligned.
He had gotten the message... not just for the job but for his life. Thank you Mr Narayan Murthy!!!
