THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.(R)

SOURCE:

https://youtu.be/qFvdK3YigsA?t=407

         THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME

Story telling - What the Ad world can learn  from the Army" 

                                    By 

      Capt Raghu Raman @ Goafest 2016

 

                    [ https://youtu.be/qFvdK3YigsA?t=407 ]

            

                                                        

             Leopard Who Died of Shame 

                                   By 

               Captain Raghu Raman

                                   [  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwK0aFlpnr8 ]

          THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.

If you visit the Officer's Mess Bar of a certain  KHALSA Battalion, you are likely to stop and look at a leopard skin strung over the bar and read these words underneath,

     THE LEOPARD WHO DIED OF SHAME.

A veteran who had very successfully worked for a Japanese Heavy Engineering firm told me that the following story has great management value.

An Indian army battalion was in tents on the East Pakistan border just before the 1971 war.The young officers piled up in the mess tent every night and got drunk. 

 Good soldiers are good tipplers, unsaid rule of Ind Army.

"Tomorrow be damned, here is to life.No better place to be in mate."

"Rum or whisky pal?"

"I am an occasional drinker."

"What, sacrilege,you won't drink. You want to stop a bullet without ever touching alcohol to your lips. You will die of chastity and virginity pal."

"I never said so. I am an occasional drinker but the occasion comes regularly. Hi hi ."

"Waiter garam paani lao."

It was a chilly evening and the battalion was spread out in tents along the East Pakistan border.The young lieutenants were at it again after the days reconnaissances and briefings of their platoons.

At 9:30 pm, the mess havildar came, saluted and announced,

"Bhojan prastoot hai sahab bahadur."

The seniormost captain present said,

"What Sanghara Singh, abhi to peena chaalu kiya hai. Come after a while please."

The night wore on and the cicadas and crickets became louder and louder.The young men sat round a fire and someone started singing,

"Angoor ki beti...jhoom nashe me, jhoom bara bar jhoom sharabi.."

                           

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The mess havildar came again after an hour and announced that the dinner was ready.The food had been reheated and laid on the camp tables.

"Abhi thoddi der ruko, baad me aana."

The mess havildar went away. The mess waiter kept bringing hot water and bottles of brandy and rum in the cold winter night of India.

Finally, past midnight the merry band of revellers went to eat food that had been reheated four times. But they were past the state of registering flavour and taste.They ate and were soon seen stumbling to their tents.

The Mess Havildar who was waiting for the officers to push off went to the utensil cleaner and said,

"I want all utensils and saucepans cleaned up for the morning."

The Mess Havildar extinguished all the hurricane lamps and pushed off.The harrased dishwasher piled all the utensils near the mess water trailer and sat washing the bartans in the weak light of the lantern. He would be the last one to sleep. He sat rubbing the utensils in cold water and ash when he heard a dog eating out of a big deghchi. He picked up a pebble and threw it towards the dog who was nearly invisible in the dark night.

"Shooh shooh,bhaag jaa saale.Shhoh."

The dog withdrew and the masalchi resumed his washing, cursing everyone of the officers who kept drinking so late. Good that he had had a nip of rum too. One works without tiring out with rum inside one's bones. He had a bottle hidden in his blanket. He looked forward to finishing the job quickly, smoke a furtive beedi, take a nip of rum and sleep.The mess havildar objected to the masalchi's smoking beedies. It was a  KHALSA battalion.

He heard a scratch and the dog was again muzzling the meat saucepan, licking the meat grease and gravy dregs.

"Shooh,shooh,be off with you.Accursed animal."

The dog retreated again and the masalchi    Sepoy Ram Phal,  HARYANVI,  who was nearly at the end of his patience got up and started rinsing the utensils in the tin water tub.The dog was again making sounds behind him licking the utensils.

"Yeh saala yoon nahi maaneygaa.." 

A heavy stirring ladle was in his hands. In the dead puce pale light of the smoking lantern, he swung it with both hands over his head and brought it down on the head of the unsuspecting dog.The dog leapt away and the masalchi resumed his washing.Then he put the utensils in the kitchen tent, went to his blanket, smoked a beedi, took a few neat swigs from his botttle and slept the sleep of the dead.

Since he slept late,the Mess Havildar usually woke him up late. He awoke when he found he was being shaken by the Mess Havildar.

"Utth jaa,tujhey CO saab ne jaad kiya hai."

"Ustaad why will the CO call for me."

The poor man was frightened stiff. He washed all utensils to best of his ability. Could the CO sahib have found his plate dirty.

He hastily put on his hob nailed boots, tucked in his shirt in his trousers, wetted his hair, shaved in cold water quickly and followed the mess havildar to the CO sahib's tent. Many officers of the battalion were standing next to the CO and staring hard at him. He was terrified at the sight. What could he have done wrong? Who had complained against him. Although he cursed officers a lot, but he did so only, Mann hi Mann. He never spoke an ill word about any body. He stood in attention in front of the CO. The CO spoke.

"Ram Phal what were you doing last night.?"

Did his ears hear right.What can a masalchi do? Wash utensils . What did the CO sahib mean? 

"Hazur, when the sahib log  went after dinner last night, I washed utensils, put them in the pantry and went and slept."

"Is that all, you did nothing else ?"

"Ji hazur, nothing else. If you can count it not as part of duty, there was a dog who was heckling me when I was washing utensils. I shooed him off a couple of times and he kept returning and muzzling the utensils. I hit him with a Kaddchi  sahib. He pushed off after that. I came and slept."

"Are you sure?"

"Bass saheb,after finishing my work I smoked a beedi also. Its a bad habit sahib. I want to be rid of it." He was scared that he would be punished for smoking.

"Come with me?"

The CO walked and the Adjutant walked behind him, followed by the Subedar Major and the officers.

In a thicket, near the mess tent lay a leopard, quite dead.

"Did you kill this leopard?" asked the CO.

"Kyaa bataun sahib, It was dark and I couldn't see properly in the night. I have never seen a leopard in my life. I thought that dogs of this side are different from dogs of Haryana."

The leopard hangs till this day in the unit mess bar. Its the leopard who died of shame and young officers raise a toast to it to this day.

But for the life of me, I have been wondering all along, what are the management lessons from this story.

                               THE LEGEND GREW 

"DON'T TAKE A  PANGA  WITH THE BATTALION  WHERE 

  EVEN  A    MASALCHI  KILLS A LEOPARD WITH BARE HANDS "              

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