ANDHERI WORKSHOP

The workshop was situated at Andheri, a suburb of Bombay doing miscellaneous repair work. Mr. Ismail was the
proprietor and Mr. Becharbhai, the master mechanic, had worked with him from the very beginning, ever since
Mr. Ismail came from Hyderabad after taking his diploma in engineering. There were two fitters, a turner, and
two coolies in the workshop. One day, Mr. Modi, an old friend of Mr. Ismail happened to visit the workshop.
They were close friends and had studied at college together. They started talking of old times:

Ismail : When did you arrive in Bombay ?

Modi : Only yesterday. I had some urgent work here and I also wanted to meet you. Where is our
Becharbhai?

Ismail : I regret to say he is no longer with us. Both of us worked hard to bring this workshop up to this stage,
but he did not stay to see the fruits of his labour. He left the place about three months back.

Modi: Why, was he not satisfied with his emoluments.?

Ismail : No, I don‟t think it was that. He left me, because I think, he could not adjust himself to new ideas. For
a year and a half we worked together in harmony. As the work expanded, and as I also wanted to manufacture
steel cots and cupboards, we needed more hands to cope with the increasing volume of work. Becharbhai himself
asked me several times to increase the number of men in our workshop. As you know, I am a believer in modern
methods, I wanted a good selection program to pick up educated boys. So I interviewed them myself. Out of the
five boys selected, four are still with me, though the best one, Pathan, left me to join the Railway Loco-Workshop
six months ago. I think the trouble started with the recruitment of these young men. Perhaps Becharbhai did not
like to have educated boys. You know, he himself had no formal education. He had learnt the trade. In a way,
that should have helped him to appreciate the problem of these young boys better.

Modi : I see. It is surprising that he should have parted with you over such a small thing.

Ismail : Yes, that surprises me as well. Ever since he came to work with me, I always treated him as my brother,
never as an employee. As work expanded, I remained outside the shop for a considerable part of the day and
Becharbhai was in charge here. I don‟t remember to have interfered with any of his arrangements. As I wanted to
train these boys myself, I managed to spare some time for them. You know, I have always complained that they
lacked a sense of responsibility. Several times he reported to me that they brought their own soap to wash up
before leaving for him. I know this may have looked like strange behavior to him, but don‟t you think such
things may be excused as long as our work goes on satisfactorily? Of course, if there were anything serious, I
would take necessary action. For example, when he complained that the boys didn‟t clean their work-benches
properly I called the boys and told them that this was not proper and must not be repeated. I also advised
Becharbhai to mould them by persuasion rather than by complaining.

Modi : What was his reaction?

Ismail: You know open disagreement was not in his nature. He was so loyal and sincere. That is why I feel
his loss all the more.

Modi: Yes, I know.

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Ismail: I shall tell you of another incident. One day, Becharbhai reported to me that Pathan and Mclean
had refused to dismantle a few ball bearings the previous evening, even though it was an urgent job. According
to Becharbhai, Pathan was the main instigator. When I called Pathan and enquired, I found that Becharbhai
himself had forgotten to assign the job in time. He asked them to do the job just about the closing time, when
they had booked seats for a film show in advance. In fact, Pathan‟s version was that he had promised to come
early next day, but as he put it, „Becharbhai did the job himself only to complain against me‟.

Modi: I see how the rift was widening.

Ismail: Yes, I could guess that. But you know I was so busy those days contacting customers for our new
product. I hardly had time to settle such small things every day. Once when Pathan had taken leave from me for
some ceremony in his house, he was rebuked by Becharbhai for not informing him in advance, but it was not
proper to reprimand Pathan when he did take leave from one of us.

Once when I sensed that Pathan might be trying to create differences between me and Becharbhai, I told him
firmly, “If you attempt that game further you will be inviting trouble”, but I still fail to understand why
Becharbhai was losing interest in his job. I know he had some family worries. I tried to help him, as I was close to
his family. But his attitude didn‟t change and matters worsened suddenly. One day Becharbhai, almost in tears,
came to me and wanted to be relieved. You can imagine my shock and surprise. My oldest colleague and close
friend is wanting to leave, particularly now when we are going to expand our activities and see more prosperous
times. On my asking the reason, he told me almost in a trembling voice, “For quite some time, I have been fee ling
that there is no place for me in this new set-up. But now that even these apprentices have no regard for me and
openly insult me, I don‟t see any purpose in continuing here. I am extremely grateful to you for the good
treatment you gave me, and I bear no ill-will against you”.

Mr. Ismail stopped at this but Mr. Modi enquired, “But what do you think might have made him feel this way?
One thing I know about Becharbhai is that he was rather sensitive by nature”.

To this, Mr. Ismail replied, “Truly, I am myself puzzled. Just the thing that I tried hard to avoid, happened. I have
lost both Pathan and Becharbhai. I know he was sensitive, but here was nothing in this particular instance. The
real incident was that in the forenoon a lorry with spare parts came to be unloaded. It seems Becharbhai had
asked the apprentices to go and unload the lorry. As our workshop is in a narrow lane, the load had to be carried
some distance, about 100 yards or so. To this perhaps the boys objected saying that the distance was too great
and the load was too heavy. Moreover, they said they had other work allotted to them which had to be
completed, they suggested hiring labour for the job. Personally, true to his nature, with the help of two coolies he
got the lorry unloaded.”

“Now tell me,” said Ismail, “How far am I to blame for this?”

Question :

Why did Becharbhai feel demotivated ? What seems to be his motivation profile ?