Tit-Bits: The highs, the lows and some lighter moments!

C. R. Bondre 

Mr. C. R. Bondre, my revered grandfather, led a rich life in terms of good experiences, adventures, trials and tribulations, successes and failures, on his journey to pioneer the cause of Indian engineering exports. In all the previous articles in this blog, I have translated and shared the accounts of his expeditions, his unending efforts and hardwork in quest of foreign markets and distributors for the Kirloskar engines. In this article, I share some tit-bits from his vast sea of experiences, penned by him in his much celebrated article series 'Kelyane Hoat Ahe Re' (Only when we do, we achieve!) published in MCCIA's Sampada way back in 1991. Detailed chronicles of his struggles to penetrate foreign markets at a time when India was grappling to find her feet just after independence, his endeavours to find foreign distributors for Indian made machinery at a time when Indian exports were restricted to agricultural goods, textiles, and raw materials, and his wonderful and lasting association with the legendary Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, have been already shared in the previous posts on this blog: C. R. Bondre: Memoirs. This articles shares simple tales of struggle, vigour, success and failure as well as some lighter moments!

So here we go...

The bold decision of engaging two jobless youths in Cyprus

"My search for distributors overseas, once took me to Nicosia, Cyprus. I walked through the machinery market there for two whole days, trying to locate suitable persons or firms, which could be potential distributors of our Kirloskar engines', describes Mr. C. R. Bondre or Bapusaheb, as he was popularly known, "but no one there was willing to take up our distributorship, and this was very disappointing for me. On the third day, I was scheduled to fly to Cairo in the evening. Meanwhile, I had happened to get a new reference of a company, and so that day, in the morning, asking for directions, I entered an electrician's shop. The shop was big, and the owner elderly. I told him about myself, about the Kirloskar company, our engines, and the fact that I was in their country in search of distributors for our engines. 'That company's reputation is not good', the man told me, 'instead, I have a suggestion. I have two sons-in-law, who are young, fit and goodlooking! But both of them do nothing and simply while away their time. Why don't you appoint them as your distributors?' For a moment, I thought whether it would be wise to appoint two jobless and inexperienced youths! 'Where are they? Call them here!', I said to the old man, my mind having several different thoughts at the same time. Immediately, two young, fit, and sharp looking youths came and stood before me, one was called Andrew, the other, Kiray Cross. One glance at them, and I was convinced they would do a good job, although I had no logical evidence to support this claim. 'Okay', I said to the old man, 'I will appoint them as distributors, but you will take the responsibility of the business for some days.' After that, the necessary paperwork was done and then Kiray Cross came to India for training in our factory for six months. We also sent him to our distributors in Solapur, for further training. When he returned to Cyprus after six months, a board of 'A. P. Loizu and Company: Kirloskar Distributors' adorned the small electrician's shop in Cyprus. In spite of being very near Europe geographically, A. P. Loizu and Company did a great job of selling Kirloskar engines, while facing tough competition from British and German made engines", concludes Bapusaheb with a feeling of great contentment.

Fortune, as they say, surely favours the brave; and wherever there is a will there is always a way!

***

In the Land of the Yankees

"It was in 1960", writes Mr. Bondre nostalgically, "that I was travelling to the U.S. for the first time. I had read a lot about this great country and was looking forward to visiting it. The plane landed at the LaGuardia Airport in New York, from where I had to take a connecting flight to Washington D. C. My work was mainly in these two cities, Washington and Columbus. I had meetings in the office of the American Aid Foundation, where I had to discuss the proposal of including Indian engineering goods in the 'Aid' project for supporting the less developed countries. I had a meeting with the officers of the American Aid Authority. We had made two demands, that engineering goods manufactured in developing countries for use in agriculture, should get a special status; and that there should be restraints on the developed nations for exporting such goods under the 'Aid' programme to the developing nations. Both these demands were accepted, and soon 19 developed countries officially restricted exports of primary engineering goods to the developing countries, and Kirloskar and other Indian manufacturers had surging sales in countries like South Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia."

"On finishing my work at Washington D. C., I went to Indiana, and from there, to Columbus, which hosts the Cummins Engineering Company. Since it is very close by,  a private jet of the Cummins Company had come to pick me up there. When I landed at Columbus, two employees of Cummins received me at the airport. 'I presume, you must be Mr. C. R. Bondre. Welcome to Columbus!', one of them said, shaking hands with me. 'You are very lucky!', he said as I looked at him curiously, 'Just a few minutes back, one of our planes crashed! We thought it was your plane! Thank God you are safe!' After this unusual welcome, I told them that I wanted to meet Mr. Bob Huthsteiner, President of the company. Mr. Huthsteiner was Shantanurao's contemporary from his Massachusetts Institute of Technology days, and Shantanurao had written to him about my visit to Cummins. Here another blow awaited me, the second in quick succession on my arrival: 'Oh, you are late! The President no longer works with us! He left the organisation just yesterday, but the rest of your programme stands.' He told me nonchalantly!"

C. R. Bondre (centre) with extended family and colleagues
just before leaving for the U.S. A. in 1960

"Cummins used to manufacture extremely high quality diesel engines of high horsepower. It had high sales and an equally high reputation in the diesel engines market in America and many other countries. However, Cummins did not manufacture engines under 100 horsepower. On getting this information, I suggested to Shantanurao that if the Cummins dealers could sell our low horsepower Kirloskar engines, it would not compete with their own engines, neither would the dealers have to incur any extra expenses on selling our engines; on the contrary, they would get another good source of income from our engines. Mr. Bob Huthsteiner was Shantanurao's friend and since 1957 they were into talks of starting a company in Pune in collaboration with Cummins. So I requested Shantanurao to write to him and ask him about dealership of our engines; and then it was decided that I would discuss this proposal with the Marketing officials of Cummins", explains Bapusaheb of this trip.

"I was at first introduced to Mr Irwin Miller, Chairman, Cummins and other senior executives. I then had a meeting with the Heads of Marketing, Research Statistics, Distributors' Holding, Advertising and Promotion, Credit Control, and so on. All of them appeared to have studied my proposal quite in detail. I put before them my viewpoint, and explained to them the benefits that would accrue to Cummins and to its dealers by distributing our Kirloskar engines. We discussed this proposal and several issues which emerged out of it, every aspect of it, very much in detail over two days. Finally, they concluded that our proposal was worth considering and that they would begin with a market survey and prepare a sales possibility and feasibility report for the Kirloskar engine, within two months, and then take it forward from there. The Vice President also complimented me on the way I presented the whole proposal and gave satisfactory answers to all their queries," writes Bapusaheb with a feeling of fulfilment.

"Soon afterwards, a copy of their feasibility report came in, which said that there was sufficient scope for the sale of Kirloskar engines by the Cummins dealers in America. This would be a complementary and supplementary business for the dealers, and in a short span itself, the sale of Kirloskar engines would become profitable. On reading this report, I was very happy that my efforts had borne fruit."

However, sometime later, Shantanurao received a letter from the President of Cummins, which read: 'Although the possibility to market Kirloskar engines in the U.S.A. is good and the venture is likely to be profitable, the Cummins Engineering Company Ltd., as a matter of policy, would not allow the dealers to divert their attention, energy, time and finance, to any product other than the Cummins engine. We regret our inability to be of any assistance to you in your efforts to market the Kirloskar engines in the U.S.A.'

Bapusaheb has left this article 'In the Land of the Yankees' on this note, writing nothing further of the disappointment that followed the sudden turn around of events; but while reading (and translating) it, I had the feeling of reading an O. Henry short story, with its trademark surprise ending!

***

When Thieves Take Over: An Episode in Nairobi

A press release from 1958 reporting

 about C. R. Bondre's travel to 

West Africa

"When I first travelled to Nairobi, East Africa in 1956," writes Mr. C. R. Bondre, "I had to stay at a lodge-style hotel. There was British rule there at that time and only whites were allowed at hotels and clubs. Asians had to put up with smaller lodges run by local people or Asians. I checked in at one such lodge owned by a Gujarati gentleman. It was among the better ones at that time. The next day, I traversed the city in search of distributors and carrying out meetings, and returned to my room in the lodge around 2 o' clock in the afternoon. I entered the room and was shocked to see that my suitcase, all my belongings, money, everything was lost! Absolutely anxious, I went and asked the owner and he took no time to shrug off his responsibility saying, 'Thefts are extremely common here! You should have taken care of your belongings.' I knew there was no point arguing with him. Luckily, my passport was with me, but all the travellers' cheques had gone. I was thinking what to do, when I suddenly remembered having learnt that there was a Maharashtrian person in the Bank of India branch in Nairobi. I immediately went to the bank and met this young Marathi gentleman who had newly been posted in Nairobi. I related the entire saga to him, and he immediately called up the American Express Office. Luckily, I had numbers of the travellers' cheques I had lost. In just ten minutes, he got new cheques issued for me, and I breathed a sigh of relief! This young Maharashtrian was Mr. B. V. Sonalkar, who later went on the become the Chairman of the Central Bank", reveals Bapusaheb.

***

Hotel Des Indes in Indonesia and the Night that Passed!

Bapusaheb writes, and I translate, about that night in Indonesia during the imposition of martial law during the 1950s:

'Welcome to Des Indes', the man at the reception said with a wide smile on his face!"
'I have a reservation here', I said.
'You had!', he said with the same cheerful grin on his face.
'What do you mean I had?' I said, starting! It was already close to midnight, and this strange humour perturbed me a little.
'Your booking got cancelled', he replied with the same tranquil smile on his face! 'The military has taken over this hotel, and all bookings have been cancelled.'

C. R. Bondre (extreme left) with his colleagues   

"I did not know what to do and where to go!" recounts Bapusaheb. "Just then, I recalled that Mr. Ram Daryanani, our dealer in Indonesia, had given me the address of a friend of his. With no other recourse in sight, I decided to go there. The night was dark and there was a striking silence on the streets, not a soul in sight. Quite scary, I must say! When I reached the address in the Indonesian cycle-rickshaw, the house seemed uninhabited with no person, no light to be seen anywhere. I rang the doorbell, knocked on the door, called out his name, but all in vain! Finally, a light appeared on the terrace and a stout looking Sindhi gentleman manifested from the darkness and spoke to me from the terrace.

'Kaun hai?' (Who is it?) he said with an air of suspicion.

'I'm Ram Daryanani's friend', I explained, 'He gave me your address.'

On hearing this, he came down and opened the door, which led me into his shop. Pointing at a bench there he said to me, 'Aaj ki raat aap ko yahi sona padega'. (You will have to sleep here tonight.) I walked inside and spent that night on that bench in the silent darkness of the room', reminisces Bapusaheb.

"At dawn, when it was brighter outside, the Sindhi gentleman entered the shop, and said apologetically with folded hands, 'Bondre sahab, aap ko kal raat bahot takleef hui, mafi chahta hu.' (Sir, I'm sorry last night you had to face a lot of inconvenience.) 'Never mind', I said. He then explained to me that he called Ram Daryanani in Singapore the previous night and confirmed that I was indeed C. R. Bondre. 'Abhi please upar chaliye. Kal raat mai majboor tha. Yahan ke halaat aise hai ki kisi par bhi bharosa rakhna mushkil ho gaya hai', (Now please come upstairs. Last night I had no other go. The situation here is so tense that it has become extremely difficult to trust anyone', he said honestly."

***

Our Iranian Distributor and his Constant Scepticism

"Ayub Yusuf Jade, our distributor in Iran, used to be forever suspicious of me. Once I asked him, 'Ayub, now it is 5 years, that we have been doing business with each other. Why do you still show so much mistrust in me?' His answer to this was quite intriguing. He said, 'I'll tell you an episode which dates back to the time I was 4 years old. Once I wanted to jump off the window, just as a thrill, but was feeling scared to do so. My father assured me that if I fell, he would catch me and asked me to jump without any fear at all. So, I jumped and fell down with a thud, and weeping went to my father, asking him why he had let me down. My father said calmly, 'Don't cry! This is the first lesson of business! Never trust anyone, not even your own father!' "

***

Tit for Tat!

"I had sent an engineer from India to our German Schule company in Hamburg. We used to send many engineers, mechanics, etc. to Germany for training in the 1950s. I had gone to Hamburg for some work, and flew to London the next day. While I was in London, this engineer called me. 'From where are you speaking?', I asked him, to which he gleefully replied, 'Sir, from the lobby of your own hotel!' Surprised, I asked him, 'But how did you get a visa? Had you already got one issued?' 'No, Sir, I got it on landing at the Heathrow Airport!' 'How come?', I asked him even more surprised, 'as it is difficult to get a visa like this on arrival!' To this he said, 'Yes Sir, the immigration officer simply refused to give me the visa, no matter how much I requested him. Finally, I quipped, 'You stayed in our country for more than 150 years, can you not let me stay in your country for just a weekend?' He got my point and gave me a visa for 6 months!' I was amused at this engineer's wit!"

***