How Beena bought the land........ And how I wrote an article in “investment India” on how to buy farm land (series 2)   

http://dsampath.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/01/how-beena-bought-the-land-and-how-i-wrote.htm

The writer at the lawyer’s place was filling up the sale deed.

“Full name sir”

 “D.Sampath”

“No! No! We need the full name... Middle name  ...”

“I don’t have a middle name...”

“Sir, it is better to give a full name.”

I was tense.  All this land registration is a tense business for me.

I glared at him

With a vengeance I let him have it

“Write down: Kshetrapalapuram Vaidyanatha Duragdasa Panchanadeeswara Sampath Kumara Sharma”

His mouth went up and down like that of a startled Nunal (frog startled by the snake of the last blog fame)

“I will just put D. Sampath sir.”

“No make the deed in the name of Beena Sampath”

 I moved away. My mind went a few steps back to the day when the deal was made.......

Beena was driving at 100 kmph on the highway. I was very alert when she drives fast. She would have been driving faster but the old ambassador car was not like me... She was a good driver, of all beings which were mobile... So   she does not appreciate my becoming a driving consultant while she drives a car .What was my strength in the corporate world was a weakness here.

But still you cannot kill the self respecting spirit of a man, especially a capable and competent person like me... So I kept doing my job rigorously.  After all I am the head of the family and I need to take charge. We men need to keep our dignity and respect alive (at least in our own eyes....)

I kept saying....

“Go slow!”

“Watch out for the cyclist...”

“Paththu Paththu bumps ahead...” (Careful ..!Careful..!  There is a bump)

 All these silently under my breath of course

Much earlier I had realised that all that I think and feel cannot   be verbalised especially when she is driving a car* (or for that matter afterwards).  Since I came from a strong Vedic and Mantric tradition I believe that just by giving mental commands I could control others mind. So for many years I have been practising this art (Many of us Tambrams believe in this). With Beena I had to take on this unilateral responsibility because all said and done I was the head of the family...

She just would not understand the contortions I would go through expressing the unexpressed through mild body movements ending up sometimes like an epileptic patient holding on desperately to a key bunch.  Later she came to the conclusion that it was because of my piles problem and once she came to that conclusion... It did not affect her...she just dismissed my gesticulations as signs of discomfiture...

 We were driving on Sarjapur road.  While myself and Beena were paying full attention to the road the back of the car was packed with four people.

  Nagappa, the land broker from Sarjapur was coming to take us to show some plots. Early morning I opened the door to find four people standing...

“Namaskara”-from Karnataka

“Memu Anjanaeyulu” one with Coloured teeth volunteered

Why is he coming with us?

“Valu local broker”  -from Andhra definitely....

The other one....  Munuswamy, the man with the mundas (cloth turban)

“Avanga land owner friend” -- from Tamilnadu

The third one??

“Talapalli VAO-Averoda Machanunga”   (brother in law of Thalapalli VAO ----the Village Agricultural Officer...). the most important guy...

I did not understand the logic why this multinational crowd was required to locate a land. The divine reason would dawn on me later when we actually reached Talapalli. We reached Bagalur and then    near Premier Mills we took a turn... from there it was a mud road....

I looked at Nagappa and asked him where and how far is the land we are seeing. The mud road was not very comfortable..He looked at Anjaneyulu.  Anjaneyulu looked blank...With my broken Telugu I repeated the question...

Anjaneyulu looked at Nagappa and gave a big smile

Nagappa looked at Anjanaeyulu and gave a bigger smile

Machan also started smiling

The relay race of smiles was going on... Nagappa nodding his head vigorously, said “Talapali Talapalli...”everybody in the relay race   seem to be very much satisfied with the answer...

I realised that whatever be my question the answer would be Talapalli (they probably never understood my Telugu  ...Probably it was too chaste...)

Meanwhile Beena was driving the car and listening to music and oblivious to all this. That way I appreciate her, when I am doing my work she does not interfere...

I realised that in this MNC (multi national company) cosmopolitan atmosphere with multi lingual approach and three layers of brokers, I will have to take charge. So I looked at the speedometer and mentally noted the reading. We came across a village.

I looked at the local broker and asked in Hindi where we are.

 I realised that the common language policy would be the safe under the circumstances. We had come near Thalapalli and scene shifts from Andhra to Tamil nadu. So I looked at Munuswamy and said ...being a Tamilian I was on surer grounds now and asked “Nilam engeppa?”(Where is the land?)

“Itho ingathan Sami” (it is here only) he just pointed ahead

“Evlo thooram” (how far?)

“Koopppidu dooram Sami” (shouting distance)

“Moonu kilometre irukkuma?”(Will it be three kilometres?)

“Anda thoppukku andanthandenga” (it is on the other side of the estate)

“Thop pu engeppa” (where is the estate?)

“Varikku inthandaenga” (it is on this side of canal)

 Good small talk... but does not help in understanding the details of the land... I gave up gaining control over the situation.  

While I was collecting all this useful information to help us in decision making Beena was missing.    The reader may also wonder at this stage how come there is hardly any mention so far of the heroine of this story. The reason is that I was playing a key role in this selection business with the decision making model and all that...so naturally I figure in more prominently...

Where is Beena in all this....She was looking for a lake...?

Yes a lake.. She wanted the farm to be near a lake... (Not the other way round)

That was the reason in the last six months I had shortlisted all the lakes and did Pradakshanam(going round the god in a circle or circles) of these lakes...

We were past the village and proceeding towards the lake...

Munuswamy cried suddenly

 “SAR sar niruththu sir” (please stop the vehicle). He need not have said this.  We were already inside a pit...The poor Amby (Ambassador) could not take us up.

  We all trouped out...I was thinking of getting a tractor to pull it out of the ditch. Nagappa was suggesting bullocks.  Anjaneyulu the local broker was thinking of getting from Ooru (town) a crane.    Machan who had a great faith in VAO was thinking of calling him on his mobile.

As we were having serious discussions. Beena suddenly came to life

She looked at Nagappa...

“Onn Peru Nagappa thane!!  Nagappa... illi illi banni “(your name is Nagappa no...; come here {a combination of Tamil and Kannada})                   

“Tha Inge pidi “(catch hold here)... She pointed to the side-bottom of the car

“Munsamy munuswamy nee ange “(go there other side)

“Raju come to the front and hold the bumper.”... Myself

Machan was despatched to the rear

She just looked at the villagers and said in Sophia college English” excuse me... help venum” (need help ,combination of English and Tamil)

Five youngsters with beaming faces joined  the lifting operation and within minutes the car was out...(Of course I had to give the beats required for the co-ordination -saying   “yehlehlo  ailasa” without which the operation would have been unsuccessful) Now I realised the divine purpose in sending four people for showing me the land

Beena smiled at the villagers and said “the...nk you.” in that semi convent ethnic accent...

She said these people are nice .she liked the village. I heaved a sigh of relief.  After endless toil of six months at least she likes this place...On this count she is not going to reject the land...

  Kandathililan land she rejected because she did not like the shape of the land.  
  Kagganur land she did not like because the lake was dirty. 
  Narasapalli land she did not like because she did not like the village people... 
  Manganapalli land she did not like because she thought that the lake was small and would    
  dry up in the summer...  
  Pannurutti land she did not like because she did not get the right vibes....

 I realised that she gets vibes first and she gives/finds reasons later. So I realised that I have to play a major role in joining her vibes with reason, act as an escort, interpreter and at times front bumper holder when the car breaks down...some times may be as a sounding board (which is supposed not to make any sound).any way on to the task...

 I looked at Munuswamy “let us go and see the land”...He looked at Machan

The Machan... Macchan said... I will bring the VAO in ten minutes...

Munuswamy said” sir, the VAO has got hold over the land...Let us meet him first”   In half an hour Jagdisan, The VAO had come...meanwhile Beena was missing... when all this important things are happening... I was a little irritated why can’t she take responsibility for all this...

Saw her at a distance signalling for us to come... She was very excited. 

“Raju I know the land I want...” I had a premonition that something was coming...

I said “relax (more to myself than to her) we have not yet seen the land...”

“No! No! No! I have seen a land by the lake side. I want that land...””

“What! What! Waht! Waht... One kilo-what would have come of my mouth but she intervened

“Don’t worry I will handle it” she said

“Beena I don’t understand...we don’t know whether they are selling or not. Even if they are then they will jack up the rates unnecessarily...”

She looked at me and said “ok! Then we drop the project...”

 The Brahmastra...! (They say you can use this weapon of Brahma only once, but I think Brahma should change his definition about single usage of this weapon ...)

“Do what you want” --might as well give her the permission...

“Enakku antha nilam than venum” (I want only that land...)

“Amma athu virpannaikku varalai” (amma it is not for sale) remonstrated the VAO

“You talk to the owner... oonly you can do it for me...” VAO who was 5ft two inches, grew taller by a few inches

“Amma na vera nilam...” (Amma I will get you some other land...)

 “No no no ...can’t you get me this land .....Nothing is impossible for you...” a pleading gesture ...almost in tears... VAO melted....After all the VAO was not made of the stronger stuff like we Tambram, IIT, IIM guys... ...

I left them there and went away to have a calm smoke...she will now get her land

Within next few weeks we finalised the land...  

I published the article on how to buy land incorporating the model (referred earlier, without the vibes of course) It was published in the leading fortnightly “investment today”. I received raving reviews on the same; it looks many people have benefited from the article. After the entire entire model is based on personal experience...

How we located water in the land and put a bore-well is another story...

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