We have two brains and four hands
But not collateral enough for a bank loan
A young couple with dreams wanted a loan to start an enterprise. They had no car, no house, no money. So they went to a Bank for a loan. The Bank Manager gave them an appointment at 10.30 a.m. They went to the Bank promptly at 10.30 with the lady carrying their one year old child on her shoulder. They could get to meet the manager at 1.30 p.m. The manager asked them if they had anything to mortgage for the loan. The husband said they had nothing. Then the Bank manager said, “Why did you come here? I cannot give you a loan without mortgage”. As the dejected and impatient husband rose to live, his more livid wife told the manager, “We have two brains and four hands” The Bank manager was not impressed and he did not give them the loan.
Years later this lady became very rich. One day she came across a boy selling those yellow cleaning cloth at a traffic junction. She talked to him and came to know that this boy was studying in the Eighth class and to earn a little, he was selling this cloth at traffic junctions. She asked him how much he made and was told that he made a profit of Rs 70/- per month. She told him to stop this trade and study well and promised to give this boy Rs 100/- per month. He could collect Rs. 100/- from her office after showing his progress report. This went on for about two years and then the boy wanted to meet her to which she readily agreed. Now this boy wanted Rs 120/- per month. She thought the boy is in the X standard; may be he has to buy more books or maybe he wants some tuition. However she was curious to know the reason and asked the boy why he wanted the hike. He said that the cleaning cloth has now become costlier and had he continued selling them, he would have made Rs. 120/- per month.
Any idea who the lady is? She’s worth around 4000 Crores of Rupees.
It was great to get a call from Dr Rama Devi, former Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, whom we interviewed for TIOL last year. “Come for lunch tomorrow, I have Sudha Narayana Murthy with me”, was her cryptic invitation. Meeting Mrs Sudha Narayana Murthy, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation was a once – in - a life time experience. Here’s a woman who is more ordinary than the most ordinary of us. You would almost feel embarrassed that one of the richest women in India is so ordinarily dressed and behaved. It was so nice to see her eating rice mixed with curds with her hand while others were struggling to mix the thick curds and rice with their spoons. She asked me what the Telugu word was for curd and told me it was almost the same in Kannada.
She will be lost in a crowd but she works for the lost.
She says, anyone who says,
1. I have had no problems
2. I never fought with my spouse
3. I have a kind boss
is a big liar.
She says that everyone who tries may not succeed but what is important is not the success or money but that we must try.