mbajunction is back!

mbajunction....quite decently read blog on campus 5 years back...used to get quite a few comments and feedback on what is written...good bad and ugly(rarely has it happened!! though) iS finaly back this time after an effort to revive sometime back...

I have finally found the time to revive the blog, after a gap of almost 3 years now inspite of an attempt in between!! I probably got lost in the speed that life takes you!!

Coming back to Swamy the young mba from a b-school somewhere in pune, life had made him travel across the length and breadth of the country and settle down finally in the Southern city of bangalore, untill life promises him something different, exciting this time but, there is a pause....

A Quick recap of where I left you all with this character 3 years back,

Lost between Delhi Stations, but discovered himself in Kanpur During the Sales Stint, interesting opportunities to visit rural towns and finally had his last stint in Vizag. This was not before he got a chance to work and stay in Bihar as well. Swamy was asking himself, whether he was destined to cover the BIMARU States?

Swamy had landed in Vizag for his last stint before he hope to become an Area Sales Manager onces the bosses in Confetti deem him fit to  be one...probably in some god foresaken place of the country!(Atleast thats what he thought Confetti might end up doing to him!).

Vizag located along the bay of Bengal was scenic with its breezy and pleasant weather in end September while Swamy reached there for the first time. The prospect of living on better allowances of a Manager made him stay at a 3 star hotel, which had better comforts compared to many other hotels he had ever stayed in!

The Challenges in Vizag were interesting, no local sales person to assist(the person had just left before Swamy came in), sales only going one way, which was downward, distributors mostly knowing only 1 Language well, which was Telugu and Swamy had hardly any clue in Telugu. It was as good as Greek for him!

Swamy quickly understood his most basic problem of communication since actions, expressions, gestures, having a facilitator in between, to make up for lack of language only worked in person, while all telephone communications atleast required him to have an idea of basic telugu. Hence he invested in Learn telugu in 20 Days!

But how did he realise this? day1, at work he gets a call from his Area Manager that a Cheque had bounced in Vizag,by one of the Distributors of Vizag.

Swamy had to meet the distributor to resolve the problem! He instantly reached the spot after a few hicups to find the place! Mind you..at this stage Swamy is a Management Trainee in the company, and Swamy being Swamy doesnt want to leave any stone unturned to do his best!

He reached the Dealer point only to find the person hardly understands anything but telugu!

Swamy tried explaining the seriousness of the Cheque Bounce of the said invoice to the dealer from the company. He uses actions, gestures, drawings but all in vain. The dealer is too dumb to understand why Swamy is struggling so much when one can explain whatever he is trying to in Telugu. This really frustrates Swamy as the dealer seems to be a person who fails to understand that there are people in this world who dont know Telugu!!

But there is hope in this despair and frustration!! he finds a young kid in the house reading an english text book. He seemed to be sgtudying in an English Medium school and this got a relief on Swamys eyes.

Swamy catches hold of the approximately 8 years old kid and explains him the situation in English. The young kid is taken aback by details like Cheque Bouncing! (He till now thought only Sporting fixtures use this terminology).

He thankfully in turn translates whatever sawmy says to the dealer who in turn is quite calm post the kid finishes the topic! This stuns Swamy. Did the kid actually say what was meant to be explained? Has he totally miscommunicated whatever had to be communicated?

The kid again translated back what the distributor had to say, which shocked Swamy! The distributor said he was aware that he might face this situation since he had no money in the bank and he could not help it.

Swamy explained through the kid, on how this might end his distribution agreement with the company and that he might land up in a legal case. After enough explanations, the distributor finally was driven sense by Swamy.

The Distributor agreed to pay up the money in a couple of days. Swamy thanked the Kid for its help and resolved to learn basic Telugu to deal with the locales since communication seemed to be a big bottleneck for him in the times to come here..