The rules:

1. Translating from source - the original is in Hindi- I will use text in colour brown


2. Rest of the text, by me, little as it will likely be, in colour black :)

Baloo, a trader, lived in Gujarat. So stingy was he with money that he didn't like spending money even upon himself, leave alone others. Coming back from work one day, he spotted a Date tree with rich fruits hanging near the top...he was tempted.

The question now was, how to reach the top? Paying an expert tree-climber would cost money, and he didn't know how to do it himself. Preferring to save money, he decided to climb the tree himself, and somehow managed to reach the top.

Just as he was reaching out to finally pluck the fruit, he looked down, and nearly fell - land seemed far away, he hadn't noticed how far he had come, and now he had no idea how to get back down.

He looked around for help, finding none, he started to pray to God. He promised that if he reached to safety, he'd feed a thousand brahmins.

The prayer seemed to have bolstered his strength and somehow slipped down a bit, land seemed closer by...and "feeding a thousand brahmins for 'just this much' does seem a bit steep, five hundred should suffice," he thought.

Five hundred became two hundred, and then even less. Finally when his feet touched the ground, he heaved a sigh of relief and promised to God that he will feed ONE brahmin, for sure.

On the way back home he kept thinking about ways to keep the cost of feeding the brahmin as low as possible and decided that the trick would in finding someone who ate really little.

He reached his village and after some asking around, was told that Janki Das, a brahmin, ate very little. What he did not know was that Janki Das was also a very sharp and wicked creature. When Baloo extended the lunch invitation to Janki Das, he promptly accepted.

Baloo reached home and told his wife Shyamali about the promise and about Janki Das coming for lunch the next day. He also advised her to keep the cost as low as possible.

Next day, which was the weekly bazaar day, Baloo thought he would be better off doing business to make up for the loss incurred on feeding Janki Das, and decided to let his wife fulfill the lunch commitment.

When Janki Das, the brahmin, saw Baloo leave for work and landed at his place early, smelling an opportunity. Shyamali was surprised to see the guest come so early. Janki Das told her "I thought let me see if you need any advice on how to prepare for the feast, so enroute to the temple, I decided to stop at your place."

Shyamli listed all items on the menu; Janki Das appeared pleased but cautioned her that while he is coming for lunch alone, quantities for about 10-12 people needed to be prepared. He also advised Shyamali to prepare 3 different sweets to please Lord Ganesha, the remover of hurdles.

Later when Janki Das returned for lunch, he advised Shyamali to offer 2 gold coins as to please the Gods. "Baloo didn't mentioned anything about the coins," thought Shyamali, but not wanting to displease the Gods, she got the coins and offered them to Janki Das.

Janki Das ate his fill, and packed the rest for his family. On the way out, he demanded 10 more gold coins as his dakshina (traditional gift given to a priest as part of a religious ceremony). Shyamali was baffled and knew that her husband wouldn't like this, but, again, didn't want to displease a brahmin either.

Janki Das, satiated, reached home and warned his wife that an angry Baloo would likely come home and explained a few things to her...

Baloo reached home late evening and heard the episode from Shyamali. Livid, he rushed to Janki Das' place, armed with a thick stick.

As soon as Janki Das' wife saw an enraged Baloo coming at them, she started to cry out loudly, beating her chest "You poisoned my husband, what did you feed him? If anything happens to him, you won't be spared by the police, I promise you that..."she cursed.

Taken aback, Baloo was now terrified. "Please don't speak so loudly," he pleaded and continued "Why don't you call a doctor?"

"Call a doctor? Where do I have the money for that. Give me 10 gold coins so I can call for a doctor," said the wife.

"If he dies, you will be dead too."

Baloo asked for the priest's son to accompany him back home, and , trembling, handed over 10 gold coins to the boy.

"God, save me please - I will feed a 1000 brahmins." he promised.

So what are the learning?

1. Some clients are penny wise, pound foolish
2. They'd rather get conned by a dis-honest party than pay an honest expert, their honest fee
3. Some clients have short memories - amnesia hits as the crisis passes, until it hits again

Encountered a Baloo, a Janki Das yourself? :)

Keep writing.

I have been itching to write for the last few days but have just been overwhelmed with things, professional and personal. Whenever I finally sat down to write something or the other has come up to pull me away. I intend to write a post tonight and put it up by the morning. In the interim a few thoughts I wanted to share straightaway:

1. There are no coincidences like I have always believed and life came a full circle today as I met Devdutt Pattanaik over breakfast - we then chatted in the car up to NOIDA, from where both of us parted ways for our respective meetings.

   
   Turns out we were born the same year; share half a dozen common friends; both love simplicity concepts and more. I was reminded of the day when my friend Arshiya Sethi first gifted me one of his books, that was 5-6 years ago. I have read several of his books and his writings since...a new chapter of friendship started today.

2. How much service is too much service? Too much attention to the customer can sometimes be bad for your business, I think.

   
   My car dealership has called me seven times, in as many days, to ask if my car is doing fine, reminding me that the service is overdue. I want to tear my hair out... within actually these same days the car has actually been in and out of their own workshop for ANOTHER replacement that my new car needs - 4th in 10 months. Nice!

   I had to call the restaurant manager right at the beginning of our meal this evening, asking him to instruct his staff to leave us alone and let us eat our dinner in peace instead of hovering around and rushing us through the meal. There were 5 of his staff looking at us, even as we had this conversation. Thankfully we were left with our conversation and food after this.

   Too much service is not necessarily good!

3. I finally cracked it.

   
   I have forever wondered why the staff at a traditional Indian restaurant (we were having a Gujarati Thali this evening) would not get a simple rule of serving a lady first. Tonight too I had to check literally each of staff that came to serve us.

   The answer I realized, perhaps, lay in the patriarchal rules of the traditional family, which would follow the silent rule that the man be served first. Even if the restaurant wanted to serve the lady/ ladies first, the man/ men would perhaps take offense? What say?

4. Am I still writing my piece...? I think I should! :)

But first, the rules:

1. Quoting from Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, I will use text in colour brown


2. Quoting from any other source, I will use text in colour green


3. Rest of the text, by me, little as it will likely be, in colour black :)

Religious or secular, all myths make profound sense to one group of people. Not to everyone. They cannot be rationalized beyond a point. In the final analysis you either accept them or you don't.

I am not a mythologist or an expert - the series is about my interpretations of text I read and my learnings from it, for MYSELF, and that's all that I am sharing.

David Ogilvy once said The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. In the following stories, the consumer (customer/ reader) is the the wife, God and God of gods - Mahadev even.

Narada's Doubt

Narada had heard that Krishna had married 16,108 women. 'How can he keep everyone happy?' he wondered. Curious, he decided to visit Krishna's island-city Dwarka. There he found 16,108 palaces. In each palace, he found a Krishna with a queen. There were 16,108 Krishna's for 16,108 queens. Krishna had defied the laws of space and time and had multiplied himself to satisfy everyone. Narada realised that Krishna was no ordinary human. He was God himself. (Bhagavata Purana)

Krishna was God, so he could do this quite easily! But even the conversational marketing environment of today demands exactly this of the marketer, where sales spiels get replaced with transparent conversations. How do we ensure that the reader(customer/ consumer) feels that we were speaking directly with her/ him?

I was first exposed to Dr.Devdutt Pattanaik's writings through his book Goddess in India that my friend Arshiya Sethi gifted me a few years ago. Then last month I picked up his book myth = mithya - a handbook of Indian Mythology. As I read the book, written in a style that's engaging by its absolute simplicity, my fascination with Indian mythology only grew deeper...

One of the stories spoke about how Krishna, said to be associated with 16108 women, managed to keep all of them in love with him! I have been using Krishna's reference as part of my presentations and writings, drawing similarities between needs of the new marketing environment and how Krishna engaged the Gopis - in a manner each felt like he was giving them individual attention and none felt ignored. How did he do that? I read further and an idea was born: Can I dare to quote episodes from Indian Mythology (more specifically from 'myth = mithya') and draw learnings that could be be applied in context of Social Media and Conversational Marketing.

The author in his introduction to the book, says:

"Mythology tends to be hyperbolic and fantastic to drive home a myth. It is modern arrogance to presume that in ancient times people actually believed in the objective existence of virgin births, flying horses, parting seas, talking serpents, gods with six heads and demons with eight arms. The sacredness of such obviously irrational plots and characters ensures their flawless transmission over generations. Any attempt to challenge their validity is met with outrage. Any attempt to edit them is frowned upon. The unrealistic content draws attention to the idea behind the communication. Behind virgin births and parting seas is an entity who is greater than all forces of nature put together. A god with six heads and a demon with eight arms project a universe where there are infinite possibilities, for the better and for the worse."

So, there are learnings to be taken...

I had been thinking about writing to Dr. Pattanaik for a week or so and then his email id just presented itself to me day before, along with his article Doorkeepers of Vaikuntha that appeared in Corporate Dossier, The Economic Times. He was prompt in his reply, and generous in allowing me to quote freely and invited me to meet him over tea, whenever we are in the same city - he is located in Mumbai. I am looking forward to hearing more stories, first-hand, from one of India's most popular mythologists! :)

I already have one piece in mind, connected with the Krishna story. Will there be more? I too will let all the "Gods, Goddesses, gods and goddesses, demons and angels" decide.

Coming soon, the series that I am thinking of calling "MythoLOGIC" - or do you have a suggestion on what the series could be called? Do share...