I Bought The Monk's Ferrari (5 page)

The world has come a long way from what it was some two decades back. Needs have grown, so have expenses. People have graduated to more flashy and materialistic lifestyles. An iPod, a new Nokia mobile every year, an LCD TV, a flashy car to drive to work, a weekend movie, a designer outfit, a microwave for the kitchen, diamonds for every anniversary and birthday ... all cost money ... And wait, I have not even mentioned the kiddie stuff. Where will all this come from, if you are not successful?

In the book
It Happened in India,
Kishore Biyani, the head honcho at Pantaloons (now rechristened, Future Group) says, that if expenses grow, income is bound to grow. And, it will grow because you will work towards earning more, so that those expenses are sustained. The fact is that everyone spends more today than what he used to spend earlier or even what his parents had spent in real terms.

I do not know as to how many of you have realised the relevance, but in a nutshell, the Ferrari is more critical now than it ever was. Later in the book, I will spell out what exactly the Ferrari signifies, but very briefly, it signifies success, achievement, growth, wealth and well-being.

As you read through the next few chapters you will realise that this book is about success, about achieving success at your own terms, about achieving success and staying successful, about beginning to enjoy your success in life. This book is all about making that elusive Ferrari yours. How do you go about systematically making it your prized possession?

I presume that if you have reached this far, you are desirous of acquiring the Ferrari for yourself, one that you can proudly whizz away with, as the envious onlookers gather around you.

Now that I have your attention, it is time to move on to make the dream to acquire the Ferrari come true....

I
t was the end of November
 
2006, I was planning out a
 
birthday party for my daughter, which fell in December. I called
 
in a few party planners, hoping
 
to give her a birthday she would never forget.
 

You can fly
With all the colours in the sky.

You can soar.

Don't think about your troubles
anymore!

You can glide,
and forget about why
you can't do this or that.

You can dream!
Though life may seem
So hard sometimes,

Get on with your life
And just fly!

A
NONYMOUS

I was quite surprised that birthday parties for children are no longer cheap these days. People make a living of them
 
and, take my word, once you start talking to them, you realise that there is no end to the Anonymous amount you can spend on activities which comprise a party. Theme parties, princess parties, club parties, chat parties ... there are endless number of things these party planners tempt you with. So much for a simple birthday celebration.

I fondly remembered the days when my mother arranged joint parties for my brother and me. Our birthdays were a month apart and mom would have a party around the end of January—this made up for both my brother's birthday in January and mine in February. Birthday parties, those days, involved inviting a few neighbourhood children, and cutting a homemade cake—which would be a conventional circle, triangle, or square in shape. We were served with Campa-Cola or some similar drink, if we were lucky. We would play games such as passing the parcel, musical chairs, etc. That would be it.

But things are different now. The first day the organiser met me, she handed me a long list of things she could possibly do for a party on my terrace. I selected some of them. Then she gave me a list of decors for the party. I selected some.

'Sir, would you like us to organise the food as well?'

I knew a decent south Indian caterer, so I said, 'I will take care of it.'

'And music?'

'What for?' I asked.

The games that we'll play with the children need to be accompanied by music. And after that, won't they want to dance?'

I did not want to look like some Marwari businessman negotiating with her. Though not convinced I replied, 'Fine!'

'Sir, the music system and the DJ will cost you three thousand rupees for the two-hour party.'

I nodded. My daughter was all of six years. With an additional three thousand rupees I would have been able to buy a new 75W music system. However, I let that thought pass.

'You'll also need Power Cams.' This was the first time I had heard that word. What the hell were Power Cams?

As if reading my mind, she said, 'Power Cams are coloured lightings which give a chic look to the venue.'

'Okay.'

'For the Power Cams, you will need a 5KVA wiring and you need to provide us with a point for it.'

'God ... will it ever end?' I was cursing the day I got into this. Finally, after fifteen minutes, the discussion ended. The party planner got up and thrust a paper into my hands. When I glanced through it, I felt as if a thousand-volt current had passed through my body. I nearly fell off the chair. The paper had the charges for the event; 1,24,000 rupees for the birthday party and she had the audacity to mention that the cake would be charged extra.

After politely saying that I would get back to her, I quietly went into the bedroom and showed the paper to Dharini. Though rattled initially, she regained her composure and said, 'Why don't we do it at McDonalds or Pizza Corner, or in some small party hall?' I had aspired for a grand birthday party for my daughter and all of it was about to come to dust ... well, just about to.

At last, we decided to ask Anusha. She should also have a say in selecting the venue of her birthday party. We had not told her about our plan to have it on the terrace. In fact, I was glad that I hadn't mentioned it.

'Anusha, what do you want for your birthday?'

' Appa,
it's supposed to be a surprise. Don't ask me.' So far, so good.

'Okay. Where should we have your birthday party?' I expected a meek McDonalds, Pizza Corner, Inorbit Mall Game area, or at worst, Taj Lands End, as an answer. But what came was totally unexpected.

'Appa,
last year we had it on the terrace. Can we have it somewhere else?'

'Like ... where?'

'Goa!'

'What? Where did you say?' I helplessly hoped that I had heard it wrong.

'Goa!'

'Goooaaa?' I was shocked. Where the hell did she get the idea of going to Goa for a birthday party!

'That's not possible.'

'Why?'

'I said NO!' I did not even want to argue on this.

'But why not, Appa?'

'Because
Appa
can't get leave to come to Goa and be with you on your birthday. If we have the party in Mumbai, he can be with you for most of the day.' This logic from Dharini worked. The issue was suspended for the time being.

But this got me thinking. It should get you readers thinking, too. The message is that if you wish to aim for the Ferrari, develop AUDACIOUS GOALS.

Once, I came across a small but very thoughtful quotation, embossed on a silver plaque. It read:

Some
men see things around them and wonder why?

I dream of things that aren't, and
say
why not?

—G
EORGE
B
ERNARD
S
HAW

To elaborate this further, let me tell you the story of a young starry-eyed girl, who once went to her father's office. Her father, the CEO of a reputed insurance company (India Trade and General Insurance Company Limited), left her alone in his room and went out for a meeting. Those days there were no computers and the little girl did not have anything to do. So, she climbed into her father's chair with great difficulty and sat down. The leather felt soft and luxurious. With her arms on the two arm-rests, feet propped up on the table—she was close to heaven.

She looked around the room, there was a nice lampshade placed in a corner, and a portrait of Jawahar Lai Nehru, on one of the walls. Thick green curtains covered the window which opened out to the busy M.G. Road, in the Fort area of Mumbai. She loved the setting, but she needed more excitement than this. And, it came in the form of one kick of the leg, and the chair went swivelling. 'Yippee!!!' she screamed happily. It was fun. Another lunge she gave, this time the left leg pushed the table and the chair swivelled in the opposite direction.

'What's going on?' Her CEO father had just returned and was standing at the door. He was clearly not amused at his room being turned into a playground.

'Nice chair, dad.'

'Hmmm ...'

'Dad, can I take it home?'

'No! Now come on, get off the chair.'

'Dad, why not?'

'I said, get off the chair. Come and sit on this sofa,' he said pointing to an exquisite leather sofa, set gallantly at one corner of the room.

'Okay. Dad, can I come to your office every day and sit on this chair. I just love it.'

'No,
beta.
That's not possible. Now, come on. I'll have to finish some work and we'll get back home. Mummy will be waiting.'

That day an aspiration was born—an aspiration to own an office, like the one her father had, an aspiration to head a large company, probably larger than that of her father's. The year was 1966. Over four decades later, everything that the little girl aspired for came true. When her father told her that she could not have the swivel chair that she wanted so much, she did not aspire just to get the chair all for herself. She aspired for much more. She dreamed of his office, his job and wanted to be the CEO of a large organisation, some day. She wanted to make a difference—she wanted to prove to the world that as a woman she was as competent as the men around her. Today, she has shown the world that an aspiration backed by self-will and belief can do wonders.

I chanced to meet this lady one day in her office, two years back. It was there that I saw G.B. Shaw's quotation, prominently displayed on her desk.

Naina Lai Kidwai, has earned her Ferrari ... the model she wanted, the colour she wanted and at the time when she wanted it. Today, she is the group general manager and the CEO of HSBC, in India. She followed her dreams and aspirations with such a passion that today she, as the CEO of one of the largest banks in India, sits in a large cabin, from where if she looks out, she would be staring at the same room where her father once sat, as the CEO of the insurance company, on the other side of the street—the room where her aspirations took birth. However, this is not her only achievement—she has been voted as one of the most powerful women in the corporate world by international magazines and newspapers like
Fortune, Time
and
Wall Street Journal.
Her moment of glory came in early 2007, when she was awarded the Padmashri, one of the highest civilian honours bestowed by the Government of India.

Naina aspired big. She was only sixteen when she dreamt of being a successful businesswoman, which in those days was considered to be a man's domain. She graduated from Delhi University, where she had her first serious brush with leadership—earlier she had been elected the school captain at Loreto Convent, Shimla. She was voted the president of the Lady Shri Ram College Students' Union.

While doing her articles for Chartered Accountancy at Price Waterhouse Coopers, she realised that the only way to get ahead of men in this country was to be more qualified than them. So she set out on her journey. And, when she did set out, she aspired for the best. Despite resistance from her parents she went ahead and did her MBA from Harvard University. She was the first Indian woman to do so.