EXCELLENCE

 

Uttam was a very sharp child and he was a quick learner too. He always accompanied his father in his work. Uttam’s father was a carpenter and he use to do all his things under a big banyan tree near to his house. After finishing his school Uttam use to come and watch his father creating various things out of a normal wood and he was very much fantasized by his father’s wooden artwork.

Days passed by and Uttam became a grown up lad, and now he was taking care of the wooden artwork business and his old father started spending most of his time taking rest at home.

The passion for learning things made Uttam an excellent carpenter and he became very famous across the town in a short period of time because of his fine craftsmanship. His fascination towards the wooden artwork business got himself to new heights. The work place shifted from the sheds of banyan tree to a proper shop in the central market of the town.

Uttam use to mix the newness of his generation with the sharp craftsmanship of his father’s generation to create a new wonder which people would admire a lot. The quality of the product created an increase in the demand of his products and eventually it also increased the work burden of Uttam. As he was managing the entire things all alone so he started facing difficulty in handling it. He started looking forward for a help who could assist him his day to day work.

One afternoon when Uttam was busy in his work he found someone on the door of his shop. “Hello, how may I help you?” Uttam asked the stranger.

“Hello, I’m Ramesh and I was looking for some work. Do you have anything to offer?” stranger replied him back.

“Please come, it is good that you came as I was in fact looking for someone as a helping hand.” Uttam greeted the stranger and offered him a chair to sit.

Ramesh and Uttam started their conversation, they both talked about the wooden artwork craftsmanship skills and Uttam got impressed with the skills and knowledge of Ramesh but he also observed that lot of improvement is required.

Ramesh showed few of his work but since Uttam did not wanted to compromise with the quality of the product so he decided to handle the production part and allowed Ramesh to handle the clients and other department like accounts.

The duo started working together, Uttam would take care of the production part and he would infuse new skills to develop and produce amazing wooden products. Ramesh would take care of client handling, order taking, and payment receiving etc. all the major front end work.

Every evening Uttam use to share his daily work with his father and one evening he was sitting with his father and conversing.

“Thank you papa for guiding me so far and because of your guidance and support I was able to create the change, indeed I would be requiring your guidance in the future as well.” Uttam expressed his feeling to his father.

“Son, you don’t need to thank me for anything as it has been your passion towards your work and your ability to learn things which got you from nowhere to everywhere.”

“Excellence comes when passion is mixed generously in to the work and then result of success arrives at your doorstep, remember one thing my son there is no short cut for that.” His father added after a small pause.

Days passed by, the business expanded and now the business started demanding a bigger space. The duo Uttam and Ramesh started searching for a bigger space but bigger space means bigger investment. Uttam had to bow down in front of the hour’s need and he finally finalized a showroom.

Uttam invested all of his savings in the business and the business started growing. The showroom gained a lot of popularity in very less time and now the traders from other cities and town also started visiting for checking the product quality and placing orders.

The duo were working hard to maintain the required pace of the business but at the end of the day Uttam was the owner of the business and Ramesh was an employee. The work pressure increased and it also increased the number of arguments between both. Ramesh would suggest in compromising the quality of the work as it consumed more time but on the contrary Uttam always denied the logic of Ramesh for compromising the quality of the product, and since Uttam was the owner of the business so he had the final verdict on everything.

The difference of employee and employer created a feeling of jealousy and hate. Ramesh always treated himself as the face of the business since he dealt with the customers but after the end of every argument on the quality part his realisation as a face of the business use to take a back seat.

Time passed and the slowly the feeling of hate turned into the feeling of jealousy, Ramesh was not at all happy with the growth of Uttam, he always thought that he is the one who is taking care of the clients, he is the one who is taking care of all the accounts and he is just being paid a salary at the end of the month which he did not found justifying enough. He decided that he would demand an increase in his salary from Uttam who just works on the production part and takes the entire profit.

One day when there were no clients in the showroom, Ramesh found it appropriate time to discuss with Uttam for the increase in the salary.

“We need to talk, it is a bit urgent.” Ramesh stood right in front of the desk of Uttam.

“Ok, what it is about?”Uttam asked Ramesh.

“I think you should increase my salary and you will have to consider it.” Ramesh was straight

“It will be done but not at this moment as you know I’ve invested all my savings into this showroom and I really cannot afford an increase in any overhead expenses right now.”Uttam realized the unhappiness of Ramesh but he was also helpless as he was barely left with money to face any new expense for his business though Uttam was considering increasing the salary of Ramesh in the near future.

“That is not my problem if you do not have money, I’m concerned about my growth which is not happening and I barely find it happening it in the future as well. In these past times I’ve invested my time and effort completely but only two things grew one is you and other one is your business and if I talk about myself I’m still standing the same starting point.” Ramesh expressed his anger

“I’m sorry as I’m helpless now but if you contain patience we all three will grow one day so you need to wait for that moment. Now please go back to your work” Uttam replied him back.

Ramesh left, though he got back to his work but the feeling of jealousy became more intense. Days passed by and the feeling of jealousy now turned into the feeling of betrayal. Ramesh quietly started collecting all the data of sales, clients, business secrets and he partnered with the Uttam’s business rival to ruin Uttam’s business.

One day Uttam found Ramesh’s absence in the showroom, he was worried a bit as he was not being informed for the same and normally Ramesh informs prior to Uttam if he marks his absence. The same thing got repeated the next day and when Ramesh did not came for work on third day as well Uttam decided to visit Ramesh’s house.

Uttam reached the house of Ramesh to know the whereabouts of Ramesh, Uttam found Ramesh leaving for somewhere. Uttam thought Ramesh might be leaving for the showroom.

“C’mon partner lets go to work together.” Uttam asked Ramesh cheerfully.

“Excuse me, I’m no more working with you as I’ve joined another showroom which is next to the temple of the city.” Ramesh replied Uttam straight.

The showroom which Ramesh shared about is the biggest business rival of Uttam and many a times the owner of that showroom have tried damaging the business of Uttam through his cheap tricks. The move of Ramesh came as a matter of surprise for Uttam as he was clueless about it.

“I don’t have any problem in you moving ahead but at least you could have informed me earlier so that I could make some alternate arrangements.”Uttam asked his ex-employee.

“Was I being informed when you decided that my salary would not get any increment?” Ramesh questioned Uttam.

Uttam understood the purpose of Ramesh’s movement so he decided to leave rather than arguing and resulting nothing, the entire incident was to cause an unfortunate consequence for Uttam which he was barely aware of.

It had been long since Uttam had an interface with the front end of his business, like interacting with clients and developing a sales order with a proper execution. On the other hand Ramesh shared all of Uttam’s business secrets to the business rival.

This entire process took some time in creating results but slowly Uttam started losing its client and his business also started facing a decline. The showroom investment itself created a financial hollowness for Uttam and the decline in business was making things worst. The majority of Uttam’s business was being acquired by his business rival. Uttam started finding it hard even to pay the rent of his showroom and due to which he was being asked to evacuate the showroom.

It was a usual evening where Uttam was sitting with his father, he was worried a bit as he was barely left with any money in his pocket and he was having entire family to take care of.

“Things will be fine my son, don’t worry at all.” Uttam’s father tried to console him

“It was you only who took the business to new heights so what if situation is adverse currently, I’ve full confidence that you will succeed once again.” Uttam was silently listening to his father’s advice.

“Adding up to your memory if you remember one day I shared you that excellence philosophy where in excellence comes when passion is mixed generously in to the work and then result of success arrives at your doorstep and remember there is no short cut for that. Your name is Uttam which itself means excellent so do not worry about your rivals as I’ve seen their products and they are way inferior then yours so one day the clients which he has snatched from you will come automatically knocking your door. Son, start afresh and this time do not leave everything the way you did. It is your business and you should be aware about the happenings in your business, be it be the front end or the back end”

The advice was meaningful and Uttam understood the crux of it, he started things afresh and left the showroom. He took up a small shop where in his skills and craftsmanship was infused with the passion to develop something wonderful. The hard work paid off and gradually the clients who left Uttam midway returned as they understood the difference in the quality of the product which was incomparable.

One fine morning when Uttam was opening his shop he found someone calling from back “Can I join you partner?” It was Ramesh his ex-employee. Ramesh moved towards Uttam and asked for his forgiveness he shared that he realised that “Excellence is attained only by doing common things in an uncommon way.” Both of them joined in to create an excellent piece of wooden craft infused with passion and incomparable quality.

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