Every Republic Day is special, but this year it was very special for us ! We got to re-meet with that special person who taught us one of the most important lesson of our life – “Cut Your Losses”.
Some of you may have read my post – Bankruptcy to ShikshaDaan !! and how we left Chennai as a bankrupt couple in 1996.
What I didn’t mention in that blog but have mentioned in several other blogs is about, Mr. Ramakrishnan, better known as the founder editor of Anna Nagar Times, the first ever neighbourhood newspaper.
Mr. Ramakrishnan was a regular customer at the bookshop that we owned. One day he asked Krishnan why he seemed a little less enthusiastic. Krishnan told him about our challenges – the high cost loans and the mounting debts. Mr. Ramakrishnan asked if we could go to his house and share the exact situation with him.
Cut Your Losses !
When we met with Mr. Ramakrishnan at his house, and explained our situation, he spoke three words that have been a great lesson to us in this lifetime. “Cut Your Losses”. Sir’s point was that we were in a debt spiral and before sinking in too deep, we had to simply stop. Extremely valuable advice. We were quite frantic at that time and with both of us being the kind who don’t give up easily, we could have easily slipped into an irretrievable situation.
Mr. Ramakrishnan’s timely advice saved us. The second piece of advise he gave us was to leave Chennai as we needed to start afresh and some of the creditors may just make things difficult for us. Sir said that since my in-laws were very much in Chennai, the creditors could stay in touch with them.
We instantly accepted both the pieces of advice and acted on them. The rest as they say is history.
Finding Mr. Ramakrishnan again is an interesting story too … We were narrating our bankruptcy story to Shanthi, one of our earliest advisory council member at ShikshaDaan and mentioned about Anna Nagar Times. She immediately said, Mr. Ramakrishnan was related to her sister. We couldn’t reach out to him as the pandemic hit and we wanted to meet him in person rather than just over a call.
When Krishnan called him to say hello and to enquire if we could come over and meet him … he instantly recognised him the minute Krishnan said “Avoda”. Great people have sharp memories 🙂
Sir wanted to know how we had fared and he was thrilled that we setup ShikshaDaan. He spent some time asking us about how we select beneficiaries and how we get funding for them. Mami came by wanting to know how exactly Sir had helped us and we shared a quick recap of 1996.
Revisiting Canara Bank
The Canara Bank at the Anna Nagar Roundtana was where we had our bookshop and computer centre’s accounts. Just to complete the story, Krishnan withdrew some money from the Canara Bank ATM. We also bought some snacks at the nearby McRennett just for old times sake !!
Every time we give a scholarship through ShikshaDaan, it’s our way of saying thanks to so many people like you who helped us get here. Thank You once again Mr. Ramakrishnan 🙏🏿. Your timely advice helped us tremendously and we are truly grateful.