How Buddha saved me!

I was heading the delivery unit of an IT company a few years ago. There is never a dull moment in IT companies – customer escalations, appraisals and wage revisions, resignations, client visits, P&L pressure et al – you are always on tenterhooks. You get so much used to these situations that anything less feels like boredom! As I was meandering through my daily chores, I received a call from my Country Manager in Singapore stating that I need to urgently travel to Singapore to meet a disgruntled client. Further enquiry revealed that the client wanted to sue us for a few million dollars, as contracted, due to a failed delivery. Now, that was not only disturbing but also something grave. We had implemented a e-procurement product for this client in their factory in Indonesia and as all start-up products are wont to, it failed to meet their overrated expectations. But my million-dollar question to the country manager was “Why me?” as I was a banker and had nothing to do with e-procurement! His response was a classic one which I had never heard before – he said “if you plead sincerely with the client, he would not proceed suing us!” I didn’t know that I was such a great ‘pleader.’

Not one to shirk responsibility, I took upon this onerous task of meeting the client in Singapore. I browsed through the manuals to get a hang of the product and spent a couple of days with the development team to know about the nuances of the product. My background in such processes in my earlier avatar in the US helped me ease my tension a bit. I reached Singapore and met the client manager Mr. Chang – an Indonesian Chinese. He briefly met me, was curt, unfriendly and dropped a bombshell that we were travelling to the factory in Indonesia the next day! I did not have an Indonesian visa and he promised that he would take me there without a visa in a steamer! I was dumbstruck and refused to budge as the prison cells of Indonesia danced before my eyes. Much to my surprise, he arranged for a visa in Singapore which was a feat in itself. Later, the following day, I, Mr. Chang and two of his colleagues embarked on our journey to Indonesia.

It was nothing short of an adventurous trip. First, we took a steamer and landed on the Indonesian soil after about 30 minutes. We then took a jeep ride for about 2 hours to another city. Mr. Chang, obviously upset with our company, was very aloof and detached – quite understandable. However unfriendly a group may be, when all are thrown in a group in a jeep with nothing else to do, you tend to start a conversation. By some quirk of fate, the conversation veered towards religion and I came to know that all the three of them were Buddhists. I casually asked them about the significance of the 4 noble truths propounded by Buddha. Surprisingly, they were not very well informed. Then I talked very eloquently about Buddha and how his principal teaching was in the 4 noble truths. They listened with rapt attention. They were under the impression that the 4 noble truths were very basic. I dispelled their notion with extensive quotes from the books / articles that I had read. They were quite surprised, to say the least. I talked to them about the American Buddhist Monk Ajahn Sumedho and his brilliant book as also about his master’s book ‘A Tree in a Forest’ by Ajahn Chah, a Buddhist Monk from Thailand.  Knowing that I was a practicing Hindu, they were astounded. I promised to send them links to these books. Their entire demenaour changed after this conversation.

On reaching our destination, we boarded a plane, travelled for another hour or so and then had a jeep ride for about 30 minutes and reached the factory in the middle of a forest. The team there was waiting for our arrival. We right away entered the meeting and the factory head, a lady Ms. Chin, was waiting anxiously and after a brief introduction shot a question at me in an exasperated voice, ‘You are the expert. Please tell us how to solve all our problems?  ‘Expert – me’ was the incredulous feeling that crossed my mind and as I was marshalling my thoughts how to respond, Mr. Chang jumped from his chair and said that as an expert I cannot answer all trivial things and that I would sit with the team, study all the problems and come up with a recommendation. What a relief – I did not see Mr. Chang, but I saw Buddha himself standing there! That gave me the necessary breathing space. Later on, I also came to know that Mr. Chang and Ms. Chin were at loggerheads. 

   

To cut the story short, I managed to gather all the issues, offered a few work arounds and generally managed to wriggle out of the situation. On return to Singapore, my good friend Ram prepared a brilliant presentation based on my inputs giving not one, but 4 different options to proceed. I went ahead and made this presentation to Mr. Chang and his team. He appeared reasonably convinced. Once I was done and about to leave, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Chang’s assistant, shook hands with me and told me in a whisper, “Mr. Ganesh, when Mr. Chang takes up an issue, he doesn’t rest till he sees blood. You are the first man to go scot free like this!” Mentally I profusely thanked Lord Buddha for his compassion and mercy on me!

Finally, the client made a settlement with us after we agreed for a small compensation and closed the project. How did the cantankerous Mr. Chang agree to this proposal – only Lord Buddha knows! And the moral of the story is, any knowledge, however trivial it may seem, will come in handy at some time one way or the other!