Sava Ser Gehu by Munshi Premchand is an intriguing story of a farmer, Shankar, who is a clear hearted and well spirited human being. He believes in god and is a religious person. For those who have read the story, know that Shankar gets cheated at the hands of the village priest. For those who haven't read the story, this is a true story of its times, which not only happens with people in the villages but also happens with anyone of us in our daily life.
This story often reminds me of the hard reality of life that one must be clear in their transactions when dealing with people. Humans can be very cunning. If not dealt with properly, you will end up loosing a great deal in life - only because of the fact that you didn't care to clarify your transactions. This happened to me once.
My friend runs a designing agency. It was then that i used to blindly trust people and friends. I had a small task of designing my Logo and visiting card for my startup. When you have a friend who is a designer, you wouldn't think of going out in the market to enquire what work they do and how much they charge for it. I did the same. i asked her the charges for it to which she replied, I am not going to charge you 10 thousand for it. I was happy and shared with her that I am still in my initial phases of business and cannot afford an expensive design.
This gave me peace and i was relaxed that my work will happen well within 5 thousand, maybe in 2-3 thousand. I didnt clarify. I happily shared my thoughts with her and since she was not going to charge me much, i kept the idea of my logo extremely simple. Didn't make too much of a - to and fro and accepted a simple design offered by her. She sent me an invoice of Rs. 6 thousand for the same. I enquired in the market and got to know that people charge anywhere between Rs. 500 to One thousand for a job like this. I was slightly flabbergasted at the approach but the fact that i got my work done was more important to me than anything else. So I decided to move on.
I shared my logo with the lawyer to get it registered for trademark. To which he came back and wanted a little change in the design due to some legal requirements. And I went back to my friend asking for relevant changes. She complied and finished the task and sent the design to me on priority. And business carried on as usual.
A few days later i received an invoice of 12 thousand from my friend for 2 logo designs. One which she sent to me originally and the other which she modified for me. This was it. It was like Brutus stabbing Caesar in the back. But the point of significance here is not Brutus. The very fact that this situation arose, does not mean that someone cheated someone. It's about clarity of transactions. It's about managing expectations well. It is also about preventing yourself from being cheated.
Self Pity creates havoc on your mind and you enter into guilt conscious. Being so well read and informed, how could I let this happen to me. The thought that this would never happen to you was itself a piece of fiction created by your mind. It can happen to anyone. Just as it happened to Shankar. He was a genuine kind hearted soul, who not only got robbed of his entire belongings but was forced to enter into slavery to get repay his interest, leave alone the principal. What was worse was that his future generations also were forced to carry on the burden of his deceivable, immature and naive disposition.
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