39. An ill-fated Experiment!

Somasundaram had been running his automobile spare parts retail business for the past several years. He had a reputation for selling only genuine spare parts and a stream of customers regularly buying the spare parts from him.

Somasundaram was running his business with a small investment and operating on a small profit margin. So, his earnings from the business were modest, just adequate for making a living. 

He was honest in reporting his income in his income tax returns and paying the taxes, unlike several others in that trade, who were understating their turnover and income and evading taxes. This resulted in his after-tax income remaining small.

However, Somasundaram was happy about his business. He was proud of his reputation in the market and of the fact that he was known among even leading manufacturers and distributors of automobile spare parts.

One day, Veeramuthu, an old friend of Somasundaram visited him at his shop. Meeting after a long gap, the friends talked about their old days.

The conversation turned to Somasundaram's business. On hearing the details of Somasundaram's business, Veeramuthu said, "What Soma! You seem to be running your business on a low key. Being in business for such a long time, you should have bought a building and running your business there. But you are still running your business in a rented building. Even pavement hackers come up in life in a few years' time. But even after being in business for several years, you are running it like a petty shop!"

"What can I do? My investment is small. My earnings are hardly sufficient to run my family. I am not left with any surplus to make further investments in the business. However, I am happy about my business and my life. I have a good name in the market. The income I am getting from my business is adequate to meet my needs" replied Somasundaram.

"I will give you a suggestion to boost your earnings" said Veeramuthu. He then outlined his plan.

After hearing Veeramuthu's plan, Somasundaram shook his head expressing strong disagreement. "I don't want to do this. I have been selling genuine spare parts. I am aware of counterfeit products in the market fraudulently marked as branded parts and sold at cheaper prices. If I start selling them, I will lose my reputation, which has remained my most valuable asset all these years" he said.

"You are dealing in a variety of spare parts. I am talking about one particular part, one kind of bearing, You will be selling several hundred units of this item every month. I know a supplier who supplies perfect counterfeits of the bearings, marking them as the original brand. The counterfeit matches well with the original in terms of performance and durability. You will get this at a very low price, but you can sell it at a high price. You can sell these counterfeit bearings along with the originals ensuring that the counterfeits form just ten percent of your sales. No one will be able to make out the difference between the genuine and counterfeit bearings. Bearings getting broken occasionally is normal. So, if any of these bearings gets broken, it won't look abnormal. Bearings break down due to various reasons like irregular lubrication, unskilled operation of the vehicle by incompetent drivers etc. So, in the event of the bearing breaking down, the quality of the bearing is not likely to be flagged. I will get these bearings supplied to you without an invoice. You can also sell them without making a bill. Most of the customers won't insist on a bill. If someone complaints to you about a bearing bought from you having broken down and questions its genuineness, assert that it was not sold by you. If they persist, tell them that you would replace the bearing, if they produce the bill. Small customers are not in the habit of preserving the bills. If a customer does produce a bill, you can replace the broken down bearing with a genuine bearing. But this will be a rare happening and this small loss will be absorbed by the huge profit you will be making. It will also improve your reputation!"

After such an elaborate explanation by Veeramuthu, Somamsundaram yielded to his friend's suggestion.

'Let me try this experiment for a few days. If I encounter any problem, I will stop; otherwise I will continue. After all, I am not binding myself' through an agreement. I can choose to discontinue this any time I wish!' Somasundaram thought to himself.

Two months passed since Somasundaram had begun to sell counterfeit spare parts. As envisaged by Veeramuthu, Somasundaram's earnings went up. He didn't encounter any problem.

One day, a person came to Somasundaram's shop. He handed a broken bearing to Somasundaram and said, "I bought this at your shop. It has broken within a week. The mechanic says this is a counterfeit part" he said.

Controlling his tenseness, Somamsundaram held the bearing in his hand, made a gesture of examining it closely, and then said. "This is counterfeit, alright.  But you couldn't have bought this at our shop. We sell only genuine spare parts."

"No, sir. I bought this at your shop" asserted the person.

"If that were the case, show me the bill. I will replace the bearing" said Somasundaram, being aware that he wouldn't have given any bill for the counterfeit bearings.

"You didn't give me any bill!"

"Excuse me, but we don't sell goods without giving a bill" said Smasundaram politely, but firmly.

The complainant left.

After this incident, Somasundaram discontinued selling counterfeit spare parts for some time. Since there was no further development or other complaints, he resumed the sale of counterfeit bearings after a couple of weeks. 

After about a month, Somasundaram received a phone call from the company that was supplying the bearings to him. The call came from the head office of the company at Mumbai. The executive who used to interact with him was on the line. He would normally exchange pleasantries with Somasundaram before talking about the subject of his call. But this time, there were no pleasantries. His tone was blunt and businesslike.

"Mr. Somasundaram, you have been a dealer of our products for about twenty years. All these years, there have been no issues in our business dealings. But recently, we received a complaint that you have been selling counterfeit products. When a person to whom you had sold a counterfeit bearing complained to you that it was a counterfeit product, you denied that it was sold by you. When he complained to us about this, at first we didn't believe that the complaint could be true since we thought that a person of your reputation won't resort to such a practice. However, we decided to investigate the complaint. We sent some anonymous persons to your shop for buying bearings. You sold counterfeit bearings to two of them."

"Sir! There has been some mistake. One of my employees might have done this without my knowledge. I will investigate this, dismiss the culprit and ensure that such things won't happen again. Please condone this, considering it an aberration" pleaded Somasundaram, in an attempt to salvage the situation.

"No need, Mr. Somasundram. We have conducted a thorough investigation. We know who supplies the counterfeit bearings to you and at what price. We also know how many of these bearings you buy per month. From today, you cease to be our dealer. We are sending you a communication terminating your dealership. We will refund your deposit after deducting the amount due from you for the goods supplied by us already."

"Sir, I admit that there has been some indiscretion on my part. I committed this mistake by listening to some wrong advice. Please forgive me this time. I promise you that this will never happen again. I have been honest in my dealings for the past twenty years. Please consider this fact and have me!" begged Somasundaram.

"That is what I find regretul. You had cultivated your integrity over a period of twenty years but broke it in a period of two months. As someone who has been interacting with you for a long time, I express my sympathies. Wish you good luck."

The conversation come to an end. Was it only the conversation that came to an end?

Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 4
Stressing the Power of Virtue

Verse 39 (In Tamil)

aRaththAn varuvathE inbam maRRellAm
puRaththa pugazhum ila.

Meaning:

Good can result only from righteous deeds. Non-righteous deeds will only cause unhappiness and disrepute.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'pOligaL jAkkiradhai' by the same author)

Verse 40

Verse 38