172. Invest Five Hundred, Harvest Two Lakh!

Venkatachalam would often talk to his friend Balu, about new business opportunities spotted by him from time to time. But, he didn't pursue any of them, since he didn't have the money to invest. 

"If only I had one lakh rupees with me to invest, I would earn one lakh per month" Venkatachalam would often claim. 
 

Sometimes, he had asked Balu to invest money in one of the business plans touted by him. But, Balu didn't have money to invest. He was not enthusiastic about starting a business, either.

But, the business plan mentioned by Venkatachalam this time appeared to Balu to be distinct, feasible and attractive. 

"You just need to invest five hundred rupees. You can earn thousands of rupees, sitting at home" said Venkatachalam.

"How?" asked Balu, his interest kindled by the idea that he could do a business with an investment of just five hundred rupees.

"Do you have five hundred rupees with you?" asked Venkatachalam. 

"I don't have, but I can mobilize."

"That will be good enough. You just need to buy a book costing five hundred rupees from me."

"What is the title of the book?"

"Invest Five Hundred and Harvest Two Lakh!"

"Oh!" said Balu, his interest put out by the hype of the book title.

"What you are buying is not a book. It is a currency printing machine" said Venkatachalam, with excitement. 

"What do you mean?"

"I will explain. Look at this form."

Venkatachalam showed Mani a printed sheet of paper.

It carried the names and addresses of four people. Venkatachalam's name was third on the list. 

"I told you that you need to buy a book for five hundred rupees. This sum of five hundred rupees has to be split into four parts and sent to these four people. You will send 200 rupees to the person first on the list, 120 rupees to the one second on the list, 100 rupees to the one third on the list, that is me and the remaining sum of 80 rupees to the company running this scheme, whose name and address is printed at the fourth place in this form. The company will send you the book and a form like this. In that form, you will be listed in the third place. I will move to the second place and the person in the second place to the first place. The person who is at number 1 in this form will have his name removed. Of course, he will continue to earn money from other lists, where his name is listed in one of the three places. He would have learned a lot of money by that time, anyway. Take xerox copies of that form, and get people enrolled, by making them buy the book, the way you did. You will then keep receiving money."

"You said I could earn two lakh rupees. How?" asked Balu.

"You could earn even more than that. It depends on how many people you enroll. If you enroll 10 people, if each of them enroll 10 people and if those 10 people, in turn, enroll 10 people each, your name will be on top in one thousand forms. So, you will get 1000 x 200, that is two lakh rupees. I am not even considering the sum you will get from the forms in which you will be in the second or third position!"

"This looks like money circulation. Is this legal?"

"If it is not legal, how can the company operate the scheme? Of the sale price of each book, the company keeps 80 rupees and distributes the remaining sum of 420 rupees to three people. This is profit sharing, not money circulation."

"This won't work for me. I can't enroll anyone" said Balu.

"You don't have to enroll anyone. You just need to explain this scheme to some people the way I explained it to you. A few people are sure to enroll themselves, even without your asking them to. This scheme has been explained on the back side of this form. You may even send this form to your contacts, by post. Some of them, convinced on reading the details, will enroll themselves. Even if only four people get enrolled, you will get four hundred rupees, If one person out of those four is able to enroll one person, you will get one hundred and twenty rupees. At that stage, you would have recovered your investment. Whatever sum you get subsequently will be your profit" said Venkatachalam. 

After listening to Venkatachalam's explanation, Balu thought, 'I am going to risk only five hundred rupees. Let me venture into this' and enrolled himself in the scheme. 

After two days, Balu received, by registered post, the book 'Invest Five Hundred and Harvest Two Lakh' and a printed form, with his name added in the third position. 

On seeing his name on the form, Balu felt excited, buoyed by the prospect of receiving money from several people. But, when he browsed through the book, he was disappointed. 

It was a thin book of twenty pages, the content consisting only of the details of the scheme and tips for explaining the scheme to people and convincing them. The price was printed on the cover of the book as Rs.500.

Balu remembered Venkatachalam's suggestion. 'Prepare a list of people to whom you will send your wedding invitation.'

Balu began to prepare the list. He started with his close relatives and then added distant relatives, friends, acquaintances, casual contacts etc. He was able to add only 50 people in the list.

'Let me try with these 50 people first. Even if 5 of them enroll, my investment can be recovered, going by Venkatachalam's workings. 

He started thinking about how to approach each person and how to talk to each of them, tailoring his conversation to how close the person was to him.

As Balu was planning his strategy, he sensed a disturbed feeling in his mind. Initially, he thought that it was due to his reluctance to approach people and talk to them about the scheme. But, subsequently, he realized that in addition to reluctance, there was some other factor that caused him the disturbed feeling. 

He recalled Venkatacalam's advice that while explaining the scheme to a prospect, he shouldn't sound as if he was seeking any favour from the prospect. He should sound as if he was bringing a golden opportunity to the prospect and that it was up to that person, to make use of the golden opportunity or not. 

He should tell the prospects, 'There is a golden opportunity for you to earn two lakh rupees, by investing just five hundred rupees. If you miss this, you will be the loser!'

Balu posed a question to himself. 'Is it my real intention to help others earn money?'

'Not at all' came the answer immediately, from another part of his mind.  

At that moment, Balu was able to identify the factor that made him feel disturbed.

'What am I trying to do? I am trying to enrich myself, by collecting small sums of money from various people. If some people accept my suggestion and invest in the scheme, what will they do? Like me, they will also try to collect money from other people, by selling the scheme to them. And I will also get a share as a result of their efforts. How immoral is this! I don't want to enrich myself this way.

'Enticed by Venkatachalam's words, I invested five hundred rupees, . Let me accept this as loss and end this venture at this stage. I don't want to make other people lose money, for the sake of recovering my investment.'

Balu tore off the book and the printed form into pieces.

In spite of feeling bad about losing the sum of five hundred rupees invested by him, Balu felt a sense of relief.

   

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 16
Bearing No Envy

Verse 172 (In Tamil)

padu payan vehkip pazhip paduva seyyAr
nadu vanmai nAdubavar.

Meaning:

Those, who feel ashamed of indulging in dishonest acts, will not commit questionable things, for the sake of coveting others' wealth

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'selavu ainURu varavu iraNdu latcham' by the same author)

Verse 172 (Soon)
Verse 171