It is very true that hope and
optimism can inspire us in the most unexpected moments. This incident dates
back to the year 2008 when a recession hit the world markets mainly because of
the sub-prime crisis in the United States of America. It created far flung
effects and lead to millions of people being handed pink slips esp those who
worked in IT sector. One of my acquaintances unfortunately belonged to this category
and lost his well paying job at a very crucial point. His wife had given birth
to twins a few months back and of course, the expenses were high. His wife, who
was a homemaker, was extremely worried with the tension gripping her nerves and
the stress showing up in her day to day life. Since we are quite close to that
family, I knew how difficult that phase had been for them. However, her
husband, whom I fondly call Bhaiyya, (brother) was not that nervous,
rather he was looking more at solutions than whining over the problems like others
in his family.
One fine evening, some two weeks
after losing his IT job, when we all were having evening tea, he came and put
forward his idea of starting a business of his own, something that would get
him through similar times of recession even in future without any worries of pink
slips again. At first, just like people react on every new idea, we rejected it
out rightly but he was adamant and again, patiently put forward the same. He
said he wanted to open a stationary and shop that would also stock common items
like men’s lingerie and other things of day to day use. Since these things are
often insulated from recession, he thought it would work well. His wife had no other
option or idea left and decided to help him. They, with some initial capital,
started a small shop and for a few months, nothing much came however, the sales
slowly picked up pace. Later they added a photocopy, scan and print facility to
it and then, after a few months, it started giving good profits. Bhaiyya
was able to cover his initial investments and then, most of what they earned each
day was pure profit!
This inspired me in more than one
ways. Firstly, he made a pearl out of the dirt and beautifully, rather
profitably, turned a loss into a solid opportunity. Secondly, he was
unperturbed and did not lose his cool; rather he focused on the possible solutions
when most of his colleagues were busy searching for new jobs (or perhaps, visiting
shrinks!). Also, this incident gave me a hope that setbacks can be gotten over
by persistent efforts and a hopeful attitude. If you are suffering a stroke of
bad luck now, that does not mean it will continue later too. Who knows, you
might become successful in something else, just like he did in setting up his
own venture! Now his wife too runs a boutique of her own and it is doing well.
Their twins are studying in one of the leading schools of the city. Hence, we
do not need to look up and hunt far
for little moments of inspiration that can fill us with hope; they are often
right around us!
Visit housing.com/lookup for some dash of
optimism!
Twitter handle- twitter.com/housing
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