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Designers think they are professionals; often without thinking what professionalism really means. Ask any student or even a professional, and you get conflicting answers. I narrate an experience here which I feel explains professionalism very eloquently.
One Dusty morning while I was at NID as Chairman PEP(“Professional” Education Programme) the security at the main gate called me to let me know that a cobbler wanted to meet me on some personal matter. I was puzzled. It couldn’t be that he wanted to put his daughter in NID! Or was I biased against poor people? Soon, a man was brought to my office whose expression was like a child entering a lavish Bhansali film set. How foolish it was of me to think that design schools did not have glamour? After his “Ram Ram Saab” with a grin, I recognized him. I did not know his name but he was the same guy who used to sit under a small neem tree opposite Delight Bakery, close to NID. But he and his little wooden box had been missing from that spot for one month. I daily cycled that way, to and from NID and noticed it. He took out from his pocket some money, counted carefully and placed 15 rupees on my table. He explained, noticing my questioning looks. ‘Saab, a month ago your chappal broke and you came to me for mending it. I did so and my charge was five rupees. But you had only a twenty rupee note and other higher value notes. I did not have the change either and you left in a hurry on your cycle saying you were from NID nearby and you would collect the change the next day. But that very evening I received a message that my mother had passed away. I had to rush to my native village in Rajasthan. I came to return your change.’ I was astonished. My pragmatic instinct (call it Gujarati instinct if you like) told him, ‘Come on Bhai. This trip must have cost you more than the amount you owed me. After all, it is just 15 rupees. I almost forgot about it.’ ‘No, saab,’ he explained to me in a serious tone. ‘It is not the amount or trouble involved. Nor is it about your affordability. It is about professionalism. If I do not return the balance I owe you, you would certainly think that all the cobblers sitting under a tree, working like me, are cheats who run away. Removing that kind of impression is very important for the good of the whole community. And that is worth any amount of trouble to an individual. Once a reputation is doubted, the profession is gone.' That day I learnt a big lesson in professionalism from a poor, illiterate guy who had never stepped into or even heard of a management school.
To buy a copy of Prof. Balaram's new book "Design Values", you can email him at s.balaram43@gmail.com
-Vedant Sharma
