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Think Positive Achieve Impossible

by Vaman Acharya
(Bengaluru, Karnataka, India)

It was a torrential rain from 6 A.M. to 10 A.M. in Gurudhama Nagara a small village on the banks of Karuna river. Not even a single customer was coming to the branch of the bank operating in the village due to full of mud and water flowing continuously on the road. Nobody wishes to take risk of walking over on such a dangerous road. Staff members of the bank had no other choice except to attend duty. With great difficulty all the staff attended office. The branch office was away from the main road in the old and dilapidated building.


Vasu took over charge as a Manager of the branch on that horrible day. From the day one of his assuming charge as a Manager, Vasu was seriously thinking to move to a new building suitable for the bank. It was not an easy task due to the situations prevailing at that time. He always believes in positive thinking. In spite of difficulties in getting the suitable land and the landlord ready for construction, he had a ray of hope.

One day in the evening he was moving around the village and reached the bus stand. He had already informed one customer to meet him. His attention was diverted towards one open land very close to the main road. He thought this piece of land would be most suitable for the bank building. By then the customer with whom he wanted to meet arrived. The customer was a local agriculturist and a political leader. He knew everything about the village. They sat for a while on the bench provided in the open one man road side hotel. They were enjoying the taste of special tea sip by sip.

“Sorry sir, I am late. I was held up in home for sometime to settle the problems of our farmers.” Said Venugopal

“I know you are a prominent person of the village and too busy in your activities. I am happy that you have come here. Venugopal, if you don’t mind let us discuss your problem after sometime. Now my mind is working on one important issue. I am treating it as a top priority issue. On my right side there is an open land measuring approximately 40x60 sq ft. Can you tell me who the owner of this land is?”

“Okay Sir. This land belongs to the temple. May I ask why do you want details of the land?”

“I will tell you later on. Please arrange meeting with the owner right now.”

Both went to the temple, where the brindavana of Vaishnava saint existed. They had darshan of saint and stayed there for few minutes till the mangalaruti was over. Thereafter Venugopal took Vasu to the priest and Secretary of the temple committee. He was also one of the trustees of the temple.

“Murali sir, bank manager Vasu wants help from you.”

“Tell me sir, how I can help you?” asked Murali

“I would like to know details of the open land just adjacent to the bus stand which belongs to the temple.”

“Sir, this property belongs to our temple trust.”

“I am thinking to propose to our head office for construction of new building on your land for our branch. I presume your trust land is vacant and not getting revenue since a long time.”

“Sir, you are correct. But the problem is our trustees are not interested either to construct a building or use it for any other purpose. Anyway, being one of the trustees, I will talk to our chief trustee who is staying in Bengaluru.”

“Okay, if you accept my proposal, both of us would be benefitted.” said Vasu

“May I know how it would be beneficial to both the parties?”

“If the building is constructed, your trust will get income by way of rent every month. The bank will function in a specious new building. The villagers need not to go nearby town for any banking needs. When the bank increases the business, naturally its profitability would be increased.”

“Sir, Your idea is fine. Please allow me a week’s time to convey our consent or otherwise.”

Vasu and Venugopal bid farewell to Murali and left the place. After one week, Murali conveyed to Vasu that the all the trustees unanimously agreed for the proposal with one condition to sanction required loan to the trust for construction. Without wasting time, Vasu put up the preliminary proposal to the head office with the building plan and loan to be sanctioned to the trust. The proposal was rejected on the plea that it was not viable and against the policy of the bank. Head office was not in favor of financing a private party to construct a building in a rural place.

At that moment, Vasu had two choices before him. Drop the idea of new building or persuade the sanctioning authority to accept the proposal. Vasu decided to go ahead come what may. So, he adopted later choice. He met the sanctioning authority personally with a request to consider the proposal favorably. Instead of giving the reason for rejection, the sanctioning authority instructed the manager not to bring such proposals hereafter and waste their valuable time.

In the beginning the efforts taken by Vasu in this direction did not yield response. He continued his efforts to convince the officials of the head office. One officer in the head office close to the sanctioning authority took interest and succeeded in convincing the boss by interpreting the bank’s guidelines in respect of loan. Thereafter his boss agreed in principle. The proposal submitted by the branch was processed thoroughly. For completion of all the formalities, it took more than one month. Head office conveyed sanction of loan after one month. The trust entrusted construction work to a reputed builder. The building was ready after one year.

On one auspicious day the bank’s branch was shifted to a newly constructed building on the main road adjacent to bus stand. With the help of local people the opening ceremony was conducted successfully. The attraction of the opening ceremony was the active participation of good number of villagers. Puja was performed by a local priest. Prasad in the form of sweet was distributed to all. Tea, coffee and snacks also arranged for customers. Oldest person of the village was asked to cut the ribbon. Local people belonging to all ages were most cooperative for moving heavy things from old premises to new building.

The village, Gurudhama Nagar, is well connected to other important places of the state. Buses for other towns are plying through this village. The passengers coming from other places and going outside have a look at the bank’s new building. The big board prominently displayed bank’s name in bold letters in Kannada, Hindi and English on the top of the new building attracted the people.

Gurudhama Nagara is a pilgrim centre. Daily large number of people from all parts of the state visits the sacred place to have darshan of famous saint of Vaishnava sect. In the sanctum sanctorum of the temple there is a brindavana of saint. Probably the village got the name ‘Gurudhama Nagara’ due to the presence of saint and guru. This temple is situated on the bank of Karuna river.

The villagers wanted a new building for the bank. Vasu realized the necessity and moved fast till he reached the goal. His sincere efforts certainly paved the way for a new building and fulfilled the long cherished ambition of the villagers.

A positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.


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