Business, Government & Lockdown!

-

“Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition”... Bernard Beckett

Bernard Beckett is a New Zealand writer of fiction for young adults. His work includes novels and plays. Beckett has taught Drama, Mathematics and English at a number of educational institutes. I recently came across a pop-up on my Insta account & then it’s coming regularly, it’s a promo by some Business School & about post Lockdown boom. I am deliberately using post Lockdown term than post Pandemic or post Corona as whatever I have read or came across from various experts (few genuine & most self proclaimed) about this virus then it’s going to stay for a while but what can go away (hopefully) is lockdown which is man-controlled, so let’s focus on that aspect is what I thought! Well, slowly the majority of people are digesting the existence (threat) of the virus & it’s like living in a forest where a tiger or leopard roams along, making you nervous by its existence. Though you can’t see the tiger every now & then as well you know, unless you don’t bump on it or cross his path or disturb it, the tiger won’t harm you & eventually you learn to live pushing that fear aside with life becoming normal & that’s what we call co-existence in wildlife, right?  At the same time the humans learned to use the existence of the tiger or the leopard for better living by themselves by using these species for commercial purposes like tourism. Here, the scene is the same, as you can’t see the virus, yet you can feel its presence & how many days, weeks, months, years you will hide yourself with your homes from it, is the question I will ask, to all of us!

Here the example used by the said B-School promo was of World War 2 instead of forest to make people understand to live with the virus as in WW2 the scene is same all around Europe or Far East where everybody used to live under the threat of a bomb exploding in your neighbourhood anytime & the life went on for years in such situation. In both cases may it be a tiger’s neighbourhood in a forest or World War 2, one thing is common, once you accept that fear & learn to live with it then only you can think of a better life & use the situation for making life better! And then after every war there is prosperity, provided you survive the war in the first place. In today’s case the war may be going on for a while but so will the life & business is life itself in a way as when you (read as people) are alive you are going to need commodities for living, not just “roti, kapada aur makan” but a lot more things & that’s what we call demand, right?  At present for most of the businesses, it’s not just the second wave of some virus we are dealing with but it’s actually the first wave of fear & panic which is more important to deal with! As in the first wave of the virus we were more cautious, excited also as we didn’t know the real face of the enemy & thought we could wrap up this war in a few days. Eventually the reality sunk in & like in any prolonged war where the enemy forces keep attacking your fortresses of defence wall repeatedly making not just you tire physically but morally, then the fear of losing the war creeps in; that’s what is happening to the entire society right now.

And the businessmen (and women) have to face two way fears, one is of virus & another is of losses (present & future) alongwith regaining confidence of the business’s working. Here is where we need a General in place or say Captain which was & is supposedly played by the govt & that’s exactly is missing with due respect to all the so called CM, PM & whomsoever there may be in place! But then that’s why the business people are supposedly different from the normal ones i.e. salaried or professionals or bureaucrats & please, no hard feeling for any of these categories as I respect every single living human for what he or she is even the housewives which considered themselves as worthless which actually are doing most important job in the society i.e. to grow a strong & cultured family! What I meant business people are different, is like in Army there are layers & units & just the way there are task force or Special Ops’ commandos which has to take lead & break the enemy lines so that the rest of the army can charge in, it’s time for business people to lead the path to bring back moral of the society on course! By the way, then I came across another headline in the newspapers & there are about business fraternities of different fields demanding support from the govt to make the business able to stand firm! Here again the war time tactics are to be referred as if the govt is Supreme Commander then it should (read as must) identify its task force which is business people & brace them with enough fire power so that they can attack enemy lines with full strength & then the rest of the society can march on the line of stability!

But alas, here is where the similarity between the forest living or World War 2 ends as unfortunately the govt is like a Supreme Commander with no clue about handling neither the enemy nor its own army & that’s what is frustrating! I am a businessman (even if a builder) & right now if I need to focus on my business or product then I need working environment as well my fire power which is bit of finance, ease of doing business (sorry, I know it’s a joke, yet) i.e. right policies related to my business & moral support from the authorities which I have to deal with as a businessman, that’s all, I am all set to go without fear of future! Like myself, every businessman (or woman) needs just a small support, dear Mai Bapp govt, please understand this simple thing, we respect need of lockdown, we understand there is a mess on supply system of vaccine which is only sure weapon on the virus but all we need is little bit trust in our capacities to do the business in right way & that’s not happening!  We need to open up the way people around forests have learned to live with a tiger; we need fire power in the form of policies the way a task force gets its guns & see we can beat the fear in the mind of the society, which is the biggest enemy right now! Dear Mai Baap govt please know that at present the entire life cycle is stuck as except for buying grocery & medicines people are not able to buy anything & if this continues then we won’t need a virus to finish us but we ourselves will achieve it! And this doesn’t mean be careless & do whatever we want but this means believe in people, put trust in them as alone govt (politicians & sarkari babus) won’t be able to make life normal ever; it’s the trade which will make it happen.

Identify individual sectors such as Real Estate, Auto industry, Hotels/Restaurants, Small Scale Industries, Single Window Trade (such as laundries, tailors, beauty parlours etc), Tourism, Media, Fitness & many such. Make once & clear guidelines for these all businesses for their operations. Open up your bank reserves for the real needy ones instead of giving millions of rupees to the so called businessmen who ran out of the country duping innocents & manage them properly! And after making the right rules to do the business, then ask your enforcement teams (police, who else) instead of punishing morning walkers to focus on real trouble makers & rule breaking businesses, that’s what will make the situation normal faster! At the same time, not just for real estate but for all businesses , let's learn to live along with the enemy, is what I will appeal as if we won’t do right, nobody else will be coming to make our lives right, is a fact! Real estate in Pune has a silver lined future as demand is bound to be there but for that we need to put every step at the right spot i.e. avoiding land mines. Try to give what the client wants instead of going for what you want to sell as hereafter every rupee will be spent more cautiously & value for the money will be the Mantra! And the same logic is applicable for every other business around as that way we Indians are very special consumers, we bounce back fast & our memory is very short, which is a curse but a boon for businesses! We spend unnecessarily more on unwanted things just to show off to others (read as society) but for real need based commodities (like a home)  we try to bargain compromising with the basic purpose!

Lastly, on behalf of all the business fraternity, keeping due respect I want to tell to the govt, that indeed you have your own issues to deal with but it’s high time for the govt to know that let’s not forget the very basic definition of the govt, it is, “of the people, by the people & for the people”; so if the people won’t survive then so won’t be any govt, mind it!

--

Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way(Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com