The Journey Within

Englishman, Thomas Austin, showed up in Australia in 1831 and introduced 24 breeding rabbits to the great continent. He had 11 children and his rabbits felt obliged to take a cue from dad at an amplified scale. They bred. And they bred.

By 1887 the government had started to offer GBP 25,000 to anyone who could design a device to exterminate the vermin. By the 1930s they were back in favor as they were a source of food to an impoverished suffrage reeling from the Great Depression of Australia.

At around the same time, Tev Avery’s cartoon division created a chap called Bugs Bunny, a toon all baby boomers grew up with and loved. From vermin to cute.

By 2004, Motofumi Kobayashi, wrote a manga comic story called Apocalypse Meow, later called Cat Shit One. It featured 3 American soldiers, Botasky, Rats and Perky, who were anthropomorphic rabbits. From fun filled frolicking rabbits in the Outback to battle soldiers.

Which of course, brings me to the more serious topic of war. It is customary to introduce such a morose topic with a somber story. So let us go to a battlefield somewhere ….

Major Somnath Sharma, died when he was just 24 years old. He was the first recipient of India’s highest military honor, the Param Vir Chakra (PVC). His last message to his bosses was simple, “We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to the last man and the last round.” And he did.

The 14th recipient Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, is probably the most famous, albeit only in certain circles. He won this at the age of 21, posthumously.

During the Indo Pak war of 1971, in a tank battle with the enemy, he stood his ground even though his tank was damaged by a fire. It was 14 tanks to 4. Arun refused to withdraw in spite of being told to do so. He had basically said, NO, to his boss, even if respectfully.

He created havoc that day, destroying the savage, oncoming attack.

The enemy was to say later that his courage was extraordinary – “He .. stood like an unsurmountable rock, between the victory and failure…”.

Several years later his dad visited his birthplace, Sargodha, a city now part of Pakistan. At Lahore, he was met by Khawja Mohammad Naser who offered to be his guide and host. At the very end of his trip Naser revealed that he was the young army officer who faced off with Arun in the final battle – it was his tank versus Arun’s. It was do or die for both.

He said, “We both fired simultaneously. It was destined that I was to live and he was to die.” Arun’s dad had just met the officer who had killed his son. Oddly, Naser had the utmost respect for the very person he had slain. It is a great story that is now legend in Indo-Pak army history.

Sometimes in life and work, an act of courage is so pure that it transcends parochial boundaries. Like saying no to a deal because you know both sides will lose. Or saying no to an offer that sounds pyrrhic. In business, companies sometimes negotiate the [lowest] price for success with vendors and forget to put a value to the enormous cost of failure, caused when contracts are overdone by onerous clauses, lopsided risks and underpayment for value delivered.

When Hurricane Harvey hit a few days back, one store sold bottled water for $99 a case – pure extortion during a human crisis. In this case the price of economic success ($99 a case) is really the cost of abject, prospective failure. Because people have memories.

From rabbits through martyrdom to a bottle of water. Quo vadis?

Say no at times. It’s tough but necessary.

We have now said, “no”, to so many bad deals, and our business has boomed. So perhaps “no” is the secret to “yes” as in Yup, I am better for it.

What a ramble! I am getting better at this….

Onwards. Upwards.

Your Fearless Follower.