the tale of Delotgarh Consulting

Once upon a time there was a jungle. It was called Delotgarh. All kind of species lived there, except human beings. The jungle was famous for business and the services that it used to provide to other jungles. The consulting business which the Delotgarh had recently started was growing well and the animals which were taking care of it, were quite satisfied with the way things were going.

The jungle was huge;  the lions which were managing all the other species decided to make the consulting practice a bit more organized. Lions were quite smart, good strategy maker but at the same time very lazy. They called all the foxes and  jackals and put them in Hell Resource team, or the HR team which would make other animals realize that they were being taken care of. These two animals were chosen because they were the most clever and at the same time they talked politely which was an important skill. They presented a nice smile at the end of every sentence and therefore, were able to please the lions most of the time.

The monkeys were confined to a dungeon, which they called bunker. They were supposed to build the tools which other animals used for hunting. The lions had kept the monkeys under a false impression that their work was very crucial and was really changing other animals lives. Because of this, the monkeys worked all day and night to keep delivering the hunting tools on time. The snakes were appointed as managers. They did not appear powerful but were poisonous enough to eradicate even the most powerful animals. The elephants and the tigers were there in the security team as they often underestimated their power. They thought that only lions could rule the jungle. The fish used to clean the pond where the animals used to attend nature’s call. Similarly the other animals were also put in particular function according to their qualities. Those who were left were put randomly in different functions. Those animals which were hated most by the community were sent to the client’s site. It was just a tactic to keep them away, which they never understood.

 Every year Delotgarh imported hundreds of donkeys from the top engineering wildlife parks. They were supposed to do the data analysis work. Donkeys were good at mathematics and therefore initially they were excited about the work. However, it did not take much time for them to realize that the job was not meant for them. They were frustrated by the way lions used to treat them. They felt as if they were slaves there. They were questioned at each point and were scolded on every single mistake they made. Therefore most of them ran away within one year. Those which didn’t left, died after some time. The lions thought it to be a good idea to keep importing donkeys every year and letting them go thereafter.

One day a meeting was called to discuss the goals and activities of the consulting function. All the lions were there, accompanied by the senior members of HR community. The senior most lion started first- “First of all i appreciate all the fake work that you showed. In consulting  business it is said that- if you can’t make it, then fake it. That’s why we are really good at this business and growing so fast.”

“Is that all he going to do in a meeting?”, one fox whispered in to the ears of other.

“Who cares. Why do you even bother about it? I just came here for the meat that the lions distribute after the meeting” the other fox replied.

The two foxes gazed at each other and smiled.

“Well the best part about our business is…” the senior lion paused and continued, “that we are in a service industry and we are not required to make any investment. Therefore we can face only two consequences- good profit or less/no profit. There is no loss at all. We are shining like the stars.”

Everyone clapped. The senior lion went further- “We do not have to worry about the donkeys increased death rate. We will get a number of them next year as well.”

“Excuse me Sir”- there was a loud voice from the crowd. It was an old jackal which was trying to make its way to reach the senior lion. It approached the lion and said- “Sir, I don’t think our business is even going to survive, looking at the way things are going.” There was a sudden silence.

“That is absurd. Has your age taken away your sanity” said the senior lion.

“Sir if you are going to fake it every time, one day or the other you will get caught. It’s important how we take care of other animals. They are not in a very good condition. Some are burdened with work while the others remain idle. You should look more closely how things are going inside. Some are dying from hunger in Delotgarh. The reason is that once you get some food, you do not share enough of it with the animals who work day and night to earn it. The major portion of it goes to you. That will kill the business in the long run. If you are not bothered about donkeys deaths, then you are in a deep trouble. Donkeys come from a different society and even though they are not as skilled as most of the other animals here, they can present some really good ideas if you let them do so. If they get angry and deny to do your work, who will carry the loads for you and …”

“This is business.” the lion interrupted.  “I do not need any saint’s advice in this. I have been doing the business for years.”

The jackal did not reply and left the place shortly. The lions, the other jackals and the foxes had party that evening. No one remembered what old jackal had said.

Few months passed and this time there was a drought in the country. The lions called a meeting. This time only lions were called for the meeting. There were four of them.

The old lion started the meeting, – “Well, you must be aware that the weather has not been kind to us. It is a crisis situation. The crisis occurred couple of years back as well and we faced some serious trouble. That time the reason was that most of the animals could not afford shelter. This time things have changed and shelter is no more a problem. It is the drought which caused the problem but it should not bother us much. We have huge inventory of food and i am very optimistic that the crisis won’t last for long. We have already seen a serious crisis two years back. It just cannot come back in two years.”

“As if the crisis is an olympic game which will come only after four years”, a lion muttered.

“What did you just say?” old lion roared. “Say it clearly.”

“Nothing” the other lion replied. He knew there was no point in giving the advice. The old lion would not listen anyway.

The old lion continued again in a firm voice, “We will use the food which is there in inventory. Our donkeys will bring that for us. At the same time we will try to find new clients. I know that most of our clients are shifting to other jungles because our cost is too high, but i do not care about that. We will not lower our costs and will move on to the next clients.”

“Wait” one lion interrupted. “You mean we should lose our clients. We can’t afford that and we shouldn’t depend on our donkeys. What if they decide not to come here this year?”

“That won’t happen.” the old lion replied “We pay them enough to keep them here for at least one year. We show them a lot of dreams. It’s not a big deal to convince them”

There was a silence now. The meeting got over without any further discussion.

With each passing day, crisis became more and more serious. There was a clear indication that soon there would be a famine if no measures were taken. Already there were very few plants and trees left in the jungle. Some animals were forced to eat meat as they did not have much choice. But even the meat was also not easily available. In the end, lions had to throw some of the animals out of the jungle which they thought were consuming more food resources. Thus the productivity of the Delotgarh Consulting went down further.

The other animals also started leaving the jungle in search of a new place. The ones which decided to stay there, died soon. The situation got worse and worse every day. Only the four lions were left in the jungle.

At this point of time, the senior lions decided to bring donkeys to the jungle. They planned that they would kill the donkeys one by one. In this way they could survive for years as there were enough donkeys in the country.

The four lions left for the engineering wildlife park. They put the fake smiles and pretended as if nothing had happened in the jungle but it did not work. As soon as they entered the park they were surrounded by the young donkeys.

“Where are our senior donkeys?” one of them asked.

“What did you do to them? My friend went last year and he had not come back.” the other one shouted.

Before the lions could say anything, the crowd turned aggressive and started pushing the lions. The lions which had not had any food for the last couple of days were terrified. The donkeys were huge in number. There were at least 200 of them. Soon the crowd became violent and attacked the lions. The lions rushed backwards. They did not want to fight. The donkeys attack was fierce and the tired lions could not handle it. They all were killed.

That day, all the donkeys had a meeting and it was decided that in the future none of them would join the consulting business. They would be self dependent and would work for themselves. That day, they invented a term for this, which they thought would solve their problems. It was – Entrepreneurship.