sonu kumar
Posted On: 09-04-2019
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Three mistakes of my life

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Two

The Team India Cricket Shop opened with the smashing of a coconut on the
morning of 29 April 2000. All our immediate families had come. My mother and
Omi's family were visibly happy while Ish's parents were silent. They still
visualised Ish as an army officer, not a shopkeeper in Belrampur.
'May Laxmi shower all blessings on you hardworking boys,' Omi's mother said
before she left.
Soon, it was just us in our twenty-feet-by-ten-feet shop. 'Move the counter in,
the shutter won't close,' Ish screamed at Omi. Omi's forehead broke into sweat as
he lifted the bulky counter-top yet again to move it back an inch.
I stepped out of the shop and crossed the road for the tenth time to look at the
board. It was six feet wide and two feet tall. We had painted it blue - the colour of
the Indian team. In the centre, we had the letters 'Team India Cricket Shop' in the
colours of the Indian flag. The excited painter from Shahpur had thrown in the
faces of Tendulkar and Ganguly for free. Ganguly had a squint and Tendulkar's
lips looked bee-stung, but it all added to the charm.
'It's beautiful,' Omi said as he joined me in looking at the board.
Our first customer came at 12 noon. An under-ten boy strolled to the front of
our store as his mother bought puja flowers. The three of us sprung into action.
'Should I ask him what he wants?' Omi whispered to me.
I shook my head. Pushy meant desperate.
The boy looked at tennis balls and bounced a few of them. While no one played
tennis in Belrampur, kids played cricket with them.
'How much for the balls?' The boy moved to local balls. Clearly this was a price-
sensitive customer. He bounced five different ones on the ground.
'Eight bucks. You want one?' I said.
He nodded.
'You have money?'
'Mummy has,' he said.
'Where is mummy?'
'There,' he pointed in the general direction of the other temple shops. I picked
up the balls he had bounced and placed them in the basket.
His mother came running into our shop.
'There you are Sonu, stupid boy,' she pulled his elbow and took him out.
'Mummy, ball' was all he could say about his potential purchase.
'Don't worry, we will sell,' I told my business partners.
We made our first sale soon after. Two young brothers wearing branded clothes
came to the shop.
'How much for tennis balls?' one boy said.
'Eight bucks for Arrow, six bucks for the local basket there,' Ish said.
The boys moved to the local basket. They, started the ball-bouncing routine
again as my heart wept.
'So where do you play cricket?' Ish asked them. 'Satellite,' the elder boy said.
Satellite was an upmarket neighbourhood on the other side of the Sabarmati
river.
'What are you doing in the old city?' Ish said.'We came to the temple. It is Harsh bhaiya's birthday,' the younger boy said.
I realised we had struck real-estate gold. The temple was ancient and drew in
people from the new city, too. And it was a birthday, every chance of pockets
being loaded.
'You want to see bats?' I asked from the cash counter.
The boys shook their heads.
Ish turned to me and signalled silence.
'Happy birthday, Harsh. You bowler or batsman?' Ish said.
Harsh looked up at Ishaan. A grown-up man asking an eleven-year-old if he
was a bowler or batsman was a huge honour. It meant he was now old enough to
be specialised, even though he may not have thought about it.
'Er, I am more of a batsman,' Harsh said.
'Defensive or attack?' Ish asked as if he was interviewing Tendulkar on ESPN.
'Huh?' Harsh said.
'You like shots?' Ish asked. Which kid didn't? Harsh nodded.
'Show me your stance,' Ish said. He turned to nie and asked for a bat, I went to
the stack of willow bats. I had bought them directly from a Kashmiri supplier in
Law Garden. I picked the right size for the boy. Size six and two hundred bucks.
Not top of the line, of course, but the best we could hope to sell here.
Harsh took a stance on the empty space in front of the shop. Like every kid, he
leaned his entire weight on the bat while standing. Ish moved over and gently
straightened Harsh's back. He moved his wrist upwards, and told him to balance
the weight evenly on the legs.
'And now, whenever you attack, use the front leg to move forward but do not
forget the back leg. That is your support, your anchor. Notice Tendulkar, he
keeps one leg fixed.'
An awestruck Harsh air-struck a few strokes.
'Give me some tips, too,' the younger one whined.
'First me, Chinu,' Harsh said.
Ish turned to Chinu. 'What are you, Chinu?'
'All-rounder,' Chinu said promptly.
'Great. Show me your bowling grip.'
Their parents finally found our shop. It was time to go to the temple.
'Mummy, I want the ball,' Chinu said. 'How much?' his mother said. 'Six
rupees,' Ish said.
She took out a twenty-rupee note and asked me to give two. 'I want the bat,
mummy,' Harsh said. 'You already have a bat.'
'This one is better for my stance, mummy. Please.' Harsh took a stance again.
He had improved with the lesson but his mother ignored him.
'How much is this?' she said.
'Two hundred rupees,' I said.
'Too expensive. No Harsh, we are not getting a bat.'
'My birthday present, mummy, please.' Harsh cajoled.
'Yes but beta, why buy something from this temple shop. Old city doesn't have
good quality. We will go to the Navrangpura market.'
'It is excellent quality, aunty. We source from Kashmiri suppliers. Take my
word,' Ish said.
'Aunty' eyed us with suspicion.'I was the team captain for all municipal schools in the area, aunty. I have
personally chosen the bats,' Ish said with as much heart as Omi's dad said his
prayers.
'Please, mummy,' Harsh said and tugged at her saree. The tug connected to
aunty's purse, which opened and brought out two hundred-rupee notes.
Done. We had closed the deal of the day. The bat cost us a hundred and sixty,
so forty bucks profit, I exclaimed mentally.
'Goodbye, champ.' Ish waved to Harsh.
'I'll come to your shop on my happy birthday,' Chinu said.
'Yes! You are amazing, Ish,' I said and hi-fived everyone.
'The kid is a quick learner. If he practices, he will be good. Of course, his
mother will stuff him with studies the moment he reaches Class X. The only
stance he will take is to sit on a desk with his books,' Ish said.
'Don't be depressing, man,' I said. 'We made forty bucks on the bat and four on
the two balls. We are forty-four bucks in profit, sir.'
We sold some candy and two more balls in the next two hours. Our total profit
for the day was fifty bucks. We moved the bats and the ball baskets inside and
closed shop at 7.00 p.m., after the puja. To celebrate our opening we chose the
chana-bhatura stall. At four bucks a plate, I could expense it to the business.
'Do I get to take some money home? I really want to give mom my first salary,'
Omi said as he tucked in half a chili with his hot bhatura.
"Wait, this isn't real profit. This is contribution. We earn th< rent first and then
we will see.' I placed my empty plate back a the stall. 'Congrats guys, we are in
business.'
Three Months Later
'Eight thousand three, four and five hundred,' I said as I emptied the cashier's
box. 'This is our profit for the first three months after paying rent. Not bad, not
bad at all.'
I was super-pleased. Our shop had opened at an opportune< time. The
summer vacations had started and India had won the one-day series with South
Africa. Kids with lots of time and patriotism flocked to Team India Cricket Shop
the day they received their pocket money.
Some came even without money, if only to meet Ish and ge tips on cricket. I
didn't mind as it helped us pass the time. The dull aspect of opening a shop is
boredom. We opened from nine to seven, and even with twenty customers a day it
meant only around two customers an hour.
'So we get our share now?' Omi said excitedly.
I divided the money into four stacks. The first three stacks were fifteen
hundred rupees each - the money each of us could take home. The remaining
four thousand was to be retained in the business.
'What do you mean retained? What do we need to retain it for?' Ish questioned
even as Omi happily counted his notes.
'Ish, we need to keep a war chest in case we want to renovate the store. Don't
you want a better glass countertop? Or nice lighting?'
Ish shook his head.
'Sure we do. And ... I have expansion plans,' I said. 'What?''There is a new shopping mall under construction at Navrangpura char rasta. If
you book early, you can get a discount on renting a shop.'
'Renting? But we already have a shop,' Ish said, puzzled and irritated at the
same time.
I knew why Ish grumbled. He wanted to buy a TV for the shop, listening to
matches on radio during shop hours was no fun.
'No Ish, a proper shop. Young people like to shop in swanky malls. That is the
future. Our shop has been doing good business, hut we can't grow unless we
move to a new city location.'
'I like it here,' Omi said. 'This is our neighbourhood. What we sell is being used
by kids in Nana Park.'
'I don't want this short-sighted mentality. I will open a store in a mall, and by
next year have one more store. If you don't grow in business, you stagnate.'
'Another shop? What? We will not be working together?' Omi said.
'It is Govind's bullshit. We have only started and he already aspires to be
Ambani. Can't we just buy a TV?' Ish said, 'Shah Electronics will give us on
instalment if we pay a down-payment of four thousand.'
'No way. We keep the four thousand for business.'
'Well, the TV belongs to the business, no?' Ish said.
'Yes, but it is a dead asset. It doesn't earn. We have a long way to go. Three
thousand a month is nothing. And Ish doesn't let me keep notebooks and
pencils...'
'I said this is a sports store. I don't want kids to think about studies when they
come here.'
Ish and I had argued about this before. I saw an easy opportunity, but Ish
protested every time.
'Ok, here is a deal,' Ish said, 'I agree to the notebooks, not textbooks mind you,
only notebooks. But we buy a TV. I have to watch matches. I don't care, here take
my fifteen hundred.'
He threw his share of cash at me.
Omi tossed in his money as well. As usual, I had to surrender to fools.
'Ok, but we need to increase the revenue. Target for next quarter is twenty
thousand bucks.'
They ignored me as they discussed TV brands. I shook my head and outlined
my strategy for increasing revenues.
'Will you do coaching classes?' I asked Ish.
'What?'
'Kids love your cricket tips. Why not do cricket coaching for a fee?'
'Me? I am not that good man. And where? In the temple?' 'No, we will do it in
the abandoned SBI compound.' 'Why? Aren't we making enough?' Omi said. 'We
can never make enough. I want to get to fifty thousand a quarter. Omi, you can
give fitness training to the students.' 'So more work for us. What about you?' Ish
said. 'I am going to start offering maths tuitions again.' 'Here?'
'Yes, a couple here, or in the SBI compound itself while you guys give cricket
coaching.'
Omi and Ish looked at me like I was the hungriest shark in the world.
'C'mon guys. I am making sure we have a solid healthy business.'
'It is ok. Just the shop is so boring, Ish,' Omi said. He was excited about
making kids do push-ups.'Yeah, at least I will get to hit the pitch,' Ish said.
I tossed in my fifteen hundred, too, and we bought a TV the same day. We set it
permanently at the sports channel. Omi brought mats and cushions and spread
them in front of the TV. On match days, we would all sit there until a customer
arrived. I had to admit, it made the day go by much quicker.
I changed the board on the shop. Under the 'Team India Cricket Shop', it also
said 'Stationery, Cricket Coaching and Maths Tuitions available'. I may not have
diversified geographically, but I had diversified my product offering.

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