1. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Before
Earning It)
(Brijraj Desai)
(MBA I Marketing A)
(SIBM Pune)
The story begins in a small town called Navsari in Gujarat. I was visiting my maternal
grandmother who I fondly called ‘Mamma’ during my school vacations in the 90s. It was always
something I looked forward to through the schooling years. The differences between my life
through the academic year in metros and urban cities like Ahmedabad, Mysore, Bhopal and
Aurangabad and then the slow and fun paced life in Navsari during vacations were stark. But
the part I looked forward to the most was when sometimes we would visit our ancestral property
in Songadh Taluka, Tapi District, Gujarat State. The area was in the Dang forests region in
South Gujarat close to the Maharashtra border.

2. All our domestic help there were tribal people. I distinctly remember our watchman-cum-
property caretaker ‘Mangda Kaka’. He was a sprightly ‘young’ man, aged around 75 years. He
would take me around; show me birds, animals and local plants. Once during bamboo flowering
season, he showed me a wild flower blooming and said that it would rain heavily in the evening
and continue raining for 3 days. And, lo behold! It did happen. You can imagine my excitement
and the sense of awe as a kid. Such instances based on traditional wisdom also happened
when my cook, ‘Parvati ben’ took me to a tribal doctor. I saw myriad problems ranging from
common cold to spondylitis (I did not know it was spondylitis then) coming there for treatment.
All through the year my social studies text books taught me that the tribal people were backward
and needed emancipation. And when I was there I saw that I needed their guidance and so did
my parents and my uncles. It was we who needed to be released from our myopic ‘scientific’
logic and trust their traditional wisdom to experience life there. The natural connect of their
lifestyles, language and culture was such an extension of their life in those green surroundings.
It seemed what we kept preaching about sustainability and they had assimilated it seamlessly in
their way of life. Further we were creating silos and identifying social, economic and
environmental boundaries to slot our activities for further study. Whereas, all their activities were
naturally in sync not just socially, economically and environmentally; but rather driven by a
larger spiritual guiding force. They lived by simple rules in a complex ecosystem very
harmoniously. They epitomized an ‘order in chaos’. My grandmother would narrate stories of
how their life had stood the test of time through social changes like the Indian Independence in
1947.

3. Now, these were my memories from the 1990s. Then came my visit to Songadh in 2009. The
scene was transforming very quickly with the new era of economic development that India had
seen. Their dressing had changed, food habits became more like the mainland and technology
had entered their homes and lives. The new generation tribals were increasingly migrating to
urban areas like Surat, Bharuch etc.
This is where my dream comes in. I wanted to find out more about the Dangi way of life before it
gets extinct. Also, to try and understand the viewpoints of the generation that is soon to pass
away in the environs that they were born in versus those of the current aspirational generation. I
have always believed that India is a country driven by a stronger sense of sub-conscious factors
like spiritual, cultural and social aspects which have manifestations in the material world in the
form of consumption and economic activity. Can this thesis be explored in one of the oldest
people of India; ‘the tribal Dangis’?
How does Godrej LOUD help me with this?
Firstly and most importantly, it’s about giving me a chance to spare time and single-mindedly
explore the Dangi people, places and culture. It’s a race against time where the chance to
discover the flux between their traditional wisdom and impact of our modern knowledge is
quickly running out.
Consequently, the findings would be shared to widen perspectives and offer an alternative
thought that is quickly losing its voice and character. This would be executed in the form of an
exhibition at SIBM and Godrej (and based on the response to a larger audience). I am sure
there are lessons here that we all know but have put them in the back-seat in our ultra-fast and
well-connected lives.
Secondly, the monetary budget is mostly driven by the travel costs incurred in that region. Living
costs will be minor due to my ancestral home already being there. A rough estimate indicates
that under given living standards, the overall working budget would be around Rs. 50,000/-.
And, that’s how I want to be the monk who sold my Ferrari before earning it and go LOUD!!!