Super Jaat

He joined Mumbai Office, as the Head for Agency Sales, a couple of days after I took charge of the overall business of the city. He was crude, rude and brash…being from Delhi I knew this kind…the typical latth maar Jaat who terrorized all in the capital city. My first interaction with him reconfirmed my doubts whether this man would fit into the so called MNC Insurance company we were in…what’s wrong with HR…how can they select this person who couldn’t speak one line of correct English and here I was writing and speaking prim and proppa Queen’s English taught by the best catholic missionaries in the elitist environs of Lutyens’ Delhi. This was ten and two years ago. Since then much has changed. Today, let me share with you three episodes from the life of this man Ranveer…My Super Jaat.

Chapter One: The Brute

As part of sales training, we used to have a couple of trainers in the team. One of the earlier ones had resigned and we recruited one young lady from a competitor who we all feared and knew had the best sales practices. She was Shahana Ghosh, a petite Bengali ….pretty, friendly and chirpy. On her first day of work at Mumbai Office, she was introduced to me and I did some pep talk and some words in Bangla…we just can’t resist speaking in our mother tongue whenever we see another of our breed. During the day I saw Shahana meeting a host of people, including those from Sales, and all seemed pretty enamored by this lady who would smile and laugh in bursts quite often. These are good traits for a trainer to become friendly with the people. A good hire by Ranveer, I had to admit. If morning shows the day then I was convinced Shahana would be able to settle down well and help us build the best agency force on land.

While driving back home in the evening, my phone rang. It was from an unknown number but despite having promised my family not to take calls while driving, I picked up the call and put the phone on speaker mode. I had barely said hello when I realized that the person on the other side was sobbing profusely as she said, “Sir, this is Shahana…kotha boltey paari (Can I speak?). “ I knew talking to a crying person while driving would mean I would have some people crying back home or in some other homes, so I said, “I will call you back soon.” I pressed on the accelerator and reached home, parked my car and picked up the phone to call back. “Ki hoyeche (What happened)?” I asked. “Sir, Ranveer has asked me to put in my resignation papers immediately.” “But why, what happened?” “Ranveer asked me to conduct training on Saturdays and I told him that in this organization we have a five day week and I needed to give time to my family in the weekends so I cannot come on Saturdays. He was furious and spoke badly to me in front of the other team members. He has asked me to put in my papers today.” I have been known to be a soft boss and listening to a lady cry and that too from a bhadramahila ought to be, in normal circumstances enough excuse for me to comfort the employee and put the errant employee in place. But for once I told her to give me time to speak to Ranveer and come back to her….of course consoled her and told her that she was in good hands and that we were an employee friendly company.

No sooner had I kept the phone down than I got a call from the Head of HR who sounded furious, “You need to reign in Ranveer. He cannot speak badly to employees and this is not the first complaint. This time we have been told he used foul language to a lady who is upset and crying.” My next call, in all calmness, was to Ranveer whom I asked to meet me first thing next morning. Ranveer came in and explained, “Boss, this lady had the audacity to tell me that she will not work on Saturdays. Only because her previous organization had a six day weekly schedule that she quit and came over. She thinks our company is where she can party on Fridays and rest on weekends. My entire sales team works six days even though all others in the company work for just five days. Saturdays are usually kept for training. Tell me what message would have gone down to the team if a subordinate refused to work like all others?” Ranveer had me stumped and I couldn’t question his decision. Ms Ghosh put in her papers and exited within a week of joining.  Never saw any one shown the door faster in all my thirty years f work experience! 

My Super Jaat was not all ‘Fire & Fury’ always. We had two young lady management trainees from the country’s premier insurance training institute in Pune. As luck would have it, I knew their fathers well enough so wanted to ensure they were well taken care of and given cushy roles as Underwriters. But my Super Jaat had other ideas. “Sir all new MTs should be made to work in sales for the first few years just as they do in FMCGs like HUL.” He was always so convincing that I didn’t feel like arguing beyond a point and so these two sophisticated and elegant girls started their insurance careers in agency sales. Ranveer got me to agree to transfer the girls to Liability Underwriting after two years in agency sales as that was what they aspired for. The girls turned out to be the best sales employees in the company under guidance of the Jaat King and exactly when they completed two years, they moved into their new roles as underwriters where they excelled even more.

Ranveer and I worked together for about four long years and heard numerous complaints of employees in his team and HR about his brashness and use of language unheard of in the company elsewhere but by now I knew his worth and gave him a free hand, as he worked with innovation, creativity and passion beyond words, to do wonders with business.

Chapter Two: The Businessman

One fine day, Ranveer declared he was quitting his job and becoming an entrepreneur. Never did I doubt his abilities but leaving a well-paid job for an uncertain business was beyond the imagination of any Bengali and I was no exception. When asked what was he getting into he told me his engineer wife Komal, who had been doing well in a financial services company, had quit earlier and had been working on a software. They would now be starting an e-Commerce venture called Green eKart which would provide fresh vegetables and fruits to people around Kandivali, Malad and Goregaon. He invited us for the opening of his office at Kandivali where he treated us to some hot samosa, chai and jalebi. There were a couple of people working for him but he said he had a couple of angel investors and a very good person who would ensure the fresh produce to be arranged, packed and delivered just in time.

I was more of a good Bangali who would take two big jhola bags to the market every Saturday- one for vegetables and the other for fruits. But as luck would have it I suffered a repeat of a terrible slip-disc attacks which forced me to forget carring the weekly bags. Necessity is the mother of invention and the mother of my daughter went on to try Green eKart. She was terribly circumspect and was almost sure that the stuff delivered would be bad. What happened thereafter was history. She got hooked on to Green eKart and even though there were bigger e-Commerce sites for fresh stuff, she promoted Green eKart to all her known people. The vegetables and fruits were always so fresh and prices so reasonable. More than that, what impressed us were the well groomed and trained boys who would come to deliver. The technology was simple and the website easy to manage.

Business took off well and Green eKart started spreading beyond the suburbs to deliver to all parts of Mumbai. While Ranveer was the heart that kept the supplies going and planned for new locations and logistics, Komal was the brain who managed the entire backend of technology and finance. When it was mango season, the Alfonso delivered by Ranveer’s boys was the best in taste and price. How many people I would have gifted the small boxes of half dozen Alfonso! Soon many of them started becoming Green eKarters too. The website was full of happy customers who wrote in praise of the fresh deliveries and among them were many a celebrity. Often Ranveer and Green eKart were in the news.

Ranveer and Komal had a lovely daughter and the family would come to our place once a year- Diwali. It was such a pleasure to meet them. During one such visit Ranveer told me of his plans to raise money and that he was meeting a lot of large VCs. He said the beauty of e-Commerce was in size and unless you grow fast and big, you cannot make money and survive. Then one day he told me that they were winding up Green eKart as they could not muster up enough funds for expansion. Some businessman was buying them out.  Ranveer and Komal had put in their money into this venture of theirs so surely they would have lost heavily but they made sure every employee of theirs was absorbed by someone, every penny of theirs was paid in time and when all this was going on the couple never ever complained or sounded bitter. They took it in their stride. Ranveer became a speaker at various forums to lecture people on e-Commerce and how not to fail in business. Sometime later, he joined a multinational company involved in agriculture as COO.  Recently he shared his picture at Rashtrapati Bhawan where he had been invited by the President of India as a dignitary who had made a difference to the lives of farmers.

We’ve since tried many other e-Commerce sites for fresh food but none so far has come close to Green eKart.

Chapter Three: Baap re Baap

Ranveer comes from the state of Haryana where the gender ratio is disproportionately adverse for girls. It is a state still very feudal where women are second class citizens, where only men matter and people pray for boys. Female foeticide is very common. Ranveer and Komal were happy with their cute little girl who loved Harry Potter like any other child. They had age on their side and could have had another child but one day Ranveer declared that he wanted to adopt a child. I thought he was joking and doing some big talk. Later, I realized he was serious. Adoption in India is not easy. Komal and Ranveer went through the entire process for over six months and a week ago he told me that Khushi, a seven year old girl had come to be a part of their lives, and how she had brightened up their home. Normally people want to adopt boys and then the next in line of demand are baby girls. There were not many takers for a seven year old girl. Today Khushi is khush and I know she will always be in the wide warm arms of my Super Jaat.

'Normal is Boring' said Fido Dido the cartoon character in 7 UP advertisements and it is so much applicable to Ranveer as well. Deep in my heart my love and respect for him grows with time. There are so many qualities of Ranveer that I wish I had to be a better man. But know that is not possible for there can be One and Only One Super Jaat.

SS