R.B.Sreekanth
1996-99 -B Com batch

It was One of those exciting bus journeys to Parthy from Brindavan. That day I was lucky to be seated just next to Ruchir Sir. During our Tax classes, Sir used to narrate to us his trials and tribulations during the visits of tax officials to the General stores. He used to narrate how he managed never to pay a single bribe to any official. I was always in awe of this fact. Now sitting in the bus, was my chance outside the classroom to clear some of my doubts.

I said “Sir can we practice total honesty while doing business in India?. Is it really possible not to pay any bribes and carry on with our business?” I was planning to join my family business after my studies. Hence my question. Sir spent the next half hour of the journey explaining to me beautifully about how we can avoid paying any bribe, by being honest ourselves. He said that if we do not do anything wrong we do not have anything to hide. He also told me how in this country we had several democratic options like the judiciary to uphold the truth. We need to persist and persevere. We should not be tempted to take a shortcut by paying a bribe. It was a question answer session where I kept debating with him about how it is so difficult to do business honestly. He was so patient. I still remember his smiling face while he patiently explained and counteracted each and every argument that I placed. Later, after my post-graduation I did join my family business and have been running it for the last 20 years. Throughout the years, I have been following the words Sir said to me during those 30 minutes in the bus. It has not only kept us away from harm, but also helped us to grow and prosper.

Sir was also the one, who taught me the importance of punctuality the hard way. During my B.Com I used to work in the sick ward pantry and used to have my lunch late. I used to have to run back to the college to be on time for the first period after lunch. That, on three days of the week, used to be Ruchir Sir’s class. Even if I was late by two seconds after the bell, he used to not allow me to enter the class. Once I explained to him that I was late because I had to prepare and serve lunch to the sick boys before I could have my lunch. His reply was stern and simple “this is not an excuse“. Though he never said it, he demonstrated this by his own example. He had a ton of work in the general stores. So he used to skip his lunch and work there during the lunch break. After that he used to be back to the college, and ready to enter our class just after the bell. Every student of Brindavan will know, no excuses are allowed for being late for anything let alone skip any activity. This value is very much required in our country. To quote Ruchir Sir’s illustrious colleague Sri Sanjay Sahani Sir,“ In our country if you decide to be punctual, you will not have much competition. It will give you a head start”.

Thank you Swami for giving us one of your best instruments to guide us during the most impressionable periods of our lives.