Dear Sudarshan - you have summed up my life 200% correctly. I am going through everything that you have written above. When visitors come to my house, they see 4 Fiat tyres lying below the table on which the TV is kept. There was a gearbox lying in my hall, just recently I have shifted it to an inner room. Many people think that all the car parts lying in my house need to be donated to the friendly local scrap merchant. See my 4 fiats. All of them are fitted with "engineered solution" degassing tanks. Hell, even my 1987 Maruti 800 had a fiat S1 degassing tank in it. Every part, including hose clips is thought of, purchased and then the build takes place, so I finish such jobs within a working day and then they work for ever.
Let me share a hilarious episode with you. During the year 2000, I was doing the development of the M&M 3 wheeler which was called "Mahindra Champion". I was deputed to Zaheerabad which is between Sholapur and Hyderabad. I was working on the prototypes in the factory and staying in the guest house a stone's throw away (Zaheerabad is actually in the middle of nowhere). I completely spoilt 3 white work suits in 3 days. Even after washing, the stains would not come out, so I started washing and wearing them only to work instead of wasting them at the rate of 1 per day. One day, a vendor had come to meet me for some work on the prototype. I told the security to send him to the workshop. He saw me below the vehicle in the workshop and started speaking to me in Hindi. I replied in Hindi, told him to wait for 10 minutes, then came out and explained everything that was required to be corrected on the prototype. Then he said, still in Hindi, "OK, I have understood, but I want to meet the engineer concerned and also the project Dy.GM Mr.Behram Dhabhar. Can you tell me which office to go to"? When I introduced myself, he was like -
. Well, the work got done very fast after that incident because he understood that besides being the project engineer, I was working category also.
Same was true when I started as a trainee in 1980 and same is true today also. You can call it core competence, unique ability, creativity, product clarity or anything, fact remains that I know that I can do things and I have no hesitany in saying so. Therefore, before the June end EXAMM / AKC, some things on the Thar we did ourselves. Only spike and I know what we did. We got the desired result which helped the project to progress. Period.
As far as Sharath's vehicle is concerned, I have guided him every step of the way, cylinder head, gearbox, spring shackles, now body, what not he has corrected. The very fact that he had to correct it means that it was incorrect in the first place. He started off with a lemon, now its a priceless piece of "engineered art". Previously he was disgusted, now he is delighted to drive it. I am happy that I am able to help him. I enjoy doing so. People wil listen if you explain properly but for doing that, your own fundas must be clear, isn't it? In my area (vehicle development), for your own fundas to be clear, it is necessary to work with vehicles. It is there in the words of the late Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw - "Professional Knowledge and Professional Competence is a cine-que-non of leadership and it must be acquired the hard way". That's where the differentiation lies.
I had never planned to write all this, it just poured out. By writing this, I do not intend to undermine anybody else's capability. Thank you for reading.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar