STFU #98 - When Kallu lost due to one carving (Unakoti, Tripura) and Balaram almost destroyed Hastinapur - Founder approach defining team culture

— Unakoti Statues by Kallu for Shiva —?

In the middle of Tripura is a place called Unakoti, a little further from Agartala, the state’s capital.? Literally,?Unakoti means ‘one less than a crore’ in Bengali.

Legend has it that there was a sculptor named Kallu Kumar.?He was a devotee of Parvati and wanted to accompany Shiva and Parvati to their place on Kailash Parbat.

But Shiva wasn’t keen to take him.?On Parvati’s persuasion, Shiva agreed to take Kallu to Kailash - but only if he would carve a crore (ten million)?statues of gods?in a single night! (Shiva was almost convinced that it wasn’t possible - so he gave a super tough target to Kallu)

But Kallu did not give up. He worked through the night tirelessly.?He made Ganesha, Durga, Nandi Bull, Giant Shiva’s head, and many other sculptures all night.

But by the time the dawn broke, he had carved 99,99,999 sculptures!?

By no means was it a small feat to make so many carvings in a single night??

But..it was still one short of his goal of a crore.?

The next morning, when Shiva saw and counted, he noticed that Kallu had missed one statue.

Rules are rules. “You have failed to complete the task” - and Shiva decided to leave him behind.?

Kallu, being the devotee, agreed. In spite of making 99,99,999 sculptures, Kallu missed his trip!

The place got its name, Unakoti, as it was one less than a crore, and became a site of these magnificent rock carvings and a tourist spot for generations to come!

As for Kallu, some say he stayed behind, mourned his failure, and continued carving on his own.?

Others say he became his own statue and completed the ‘Crore’ statues!

Balaram, the elder brother of?Krishna, is one of the most underrated characters in Indian mythology.?

While Krishna used diplomacy, Balaram was?blunt, straightforward, and unafraid to call out unfairness.

His weapons were the plow (Hal) and a mace (Gada), not regular bows or swords.

This is a story when Balaram had to use anger to fight his way out.

— When Balaram almost dragged Hastinapur into the Ganga —?

Samba, one of Krishna’s sons, went to attend the swayamvar of Lakshmana, Duryodhan’s daughter.?

However, Lakshmana was not interested in Samba, so Samba kidnapped her and took her away from the Swayamvar.

This obviously enraged the Kauravas. They found Samba, seized him, tied him up, and threw him in the prison in Hastinapur.

This angered Samba’s family, the Yadavs, but Balaram pacified them and said he would talk to the Kauravas and get Samba back.

When Balaram met Duryodhan’s team in a garden outside the city and told them to return to Samba, the Kauravas got offended and insulted the Yadavs.?

“It is amazing that?the Yadavs are trying to give orders to the Kauravas. This is like a shoe trying to climb atop one’s head. We elevated you, and now you presume you are equal! We are still superior to you!”

This sense of entitlement by the Kauravas angered Balaram, and he decided to punish them.?

He took his ‘hal’ (plow) and began dragging the entire city of Hastinapur towards Ganga.?

Seeing the risk of falling into the river, the terrified Kauravas quickly brought Samba and Lakshmana to Balaram and asked for forgiveness.?

Duryodhana got Lakshmana married to Samba and sent them along with Balaram back to Dwarka.

Even today the city of Hastinapur is visibly elevated on its southern side along the Ganga, thus showing the signs of Lord Balaram’s strength!

— Mournful Kallu or Angry Balaram - Founder Approach? —?

On one hand, Kallu lost his chance to go to Kailash Parbat because of just one carving. He could have fought back with Shiva but he respected the rules Lord Shiva had laid out. He mourned his failure and probably became a statue himself.

On the other hand, Balaram, in his quest of being simple and straightforward, was taken for granted. He had to fight back and show his strength to get the ‘entitled’ Kauravas to respect him.

As Founders, some of us are ‘Kallu’ - we will strive hard and pull all-nighters, just to realize that we missed by a whisker. But we let go and come back mourning our failures. We should be ready to become our own statues then!

But some?of us are ‘Balaram’ - blunt, not manipulative, calling a spade a spade. And then we get taken for granted.?

That’s when we fight back and have to get up and show our real strength.?

Respect the rules but don’t be taken for a ride. Believe that “You can move anything if you wish”

Incidentally, your team learns from you - how you approach challenges. Either you leave them mourning for missing one carving. Or you enable them to fight for their rights with their ‘hals’ (Maybe “Hal” as a homonym for solutions is more relevant to a startup!).?

-- #storyoftrue --

At True Elements , as we chase bigger and more audacious milestones, we fight for every single sculpture. We might fall short and Shiva might still not take us to Kailash Parbat, but we know the Balaram in us will still fight, till it is worth it.

As the story goes,

Two brothers watched their father drink. One never touched alcohol and the other became a drunkard.?

When asked both said 'I watched my father’

Harinder Singh Pelia had a quick but more relevant analogy -?

You end up becoming a sum total of ALL your bosses.?Both the great and not-so-great ones

You start exhibiting behaviors that you either saw in them or saw lacking in them.

You lead through the good ones that you liked in your bosses and want to pass on.

And the things you disliked in some bosses, so you intentionally do the opposite to avoid being “that” person.

In the long run, who you work with > what you work on > where you work

So as you behave like 'Kallu' or 'Balaram', remember you are 'carving' out your and your team’s future.?

To Summarize, You get what you fight for, not what you wish for.

For the ones with the ‘skill’ of Kallu and ‘bluntness’ of Balaram, who have a ‘hal’ for everything,?

STFU!

References: General stories, Market visit chats, Google images