Hemantha Kalam
Kalam - 10
'Where are they?'
The other day I was at this Medical shop / Pharmacy in
Chennai. There were a couple of guys who were dressed shabbily and waiting outside the
shop for their turn to speak to the Pharmacy management. Being friendly with
the management I casually asked who they were and I was told that they were
Medical Representatives and I was in for a rude shock.
My third maternal uncle Late J.S. R. Krishna was a
Medical Representative. He represented Albert David Pharmaceuticals, a
Multinational Pharmaceutical company, in India, for a long time.
Though just an ‘intermediate’ (less than a graduate)
he could speak English quite well and always rode a motorcycle, initially a
‘Matchless’ and later a ‘Royal Enfield’. He was always dressed like a dude and
being a good looking person he was the local idol to many and many pushed his
bike when it did not start and pushed him to teach them bike riding when he did
not start. It was not only my uncle but in those days almost all representatives were chosen
to be like that, handsome, well dressed, well spoken and riding either the ‘Royal Enfield’ or ‘Jawa’ later ‘Yezdi’
motorcycles.
As long as he was a Medical Representative, I rarely
saw him ill dressed and certainly never without his coat, ties and shoes, shined well. He was quite an emotional man and vacillated between being ‘unnecessarily kind’ and ‘unnecessarily cross’ with people.
The point I was trying to make was that we young guys
just loved him for his attire and demeanour. Probably unknowingly that seed
germinated in me and I always pitched in to be a marketing guy myself. Well, the long
and short of it is that I like to dress well (I still do) and felt what other job could give
me that luxury.
During the 1960s and the 1970s the job market in India was more for
Bank Clerical positions and Sales Representative positions, especially
for students, who were of economically in the middle and lower middle classes
of families. They used to equip themselves with the stock needed for these jobs
like a minimum graduate degree-B.Sc., Physics / Chemistry for Medical
Representative positions and B. Com / B.A for Bank Clerical positions fortified by Typewriting and Shorthand.
Well I never really was good at anything and certainly
not at Maths at all. So somehow, with my father’s support and the kindness of
University of Madras, I managed to get a B. Com degree. But the hitch now is
that guys who did B.com were not eligible to be medical representatives. So my
desires and dreams of becoming a medical representative were dashed.
I enrolled myself as a Ledger keeper, then a Depot
Clerk and later just a Clerk though I was assisting in Marketing and Sales
Administration positions with Godrej Soaps Limited. We did have many exceptionally
well dressed and handsome guys who were representatives with Godrej Soaps Limited.
During this time, I realised my folly and enrolled for
Evening Courses of Management from University of Madras and this time I
excelled. When my guide Mr. James, Madura Coats Limited and the internal guide
called over phone to congratulate me for my dissertation I was ecstatical – at
last I qualified to be in Marketing.
But the damage has been irreparably done. Like the
Tamil Movie comedian Vadivelu says ‘my body was strong but the foundation
remained to be weak’. It was only later that I could really become a Sales
Manager, a Marketing Manager and finally a Managing Director.
Yes, I also realised my love for dressing well but
again I used to vacillate between ‘dressing well’ and ‘dressing outlandishly’
depending on my moods and enjoyed both equally. In several organisations I have
also been recognised as a ‘Well Dressed Male’ ‘Well Dressed Employee’ etc.
But coming back to the point, what happened to all
those disciplined, well articulating, well dressed and handsome guys?
Today, the demand for software jobs is taking its toll
and it is apparently becoming increasingly difficult to find ‘well qualified,
well dressed, well articulating’ representatives-Medical or otherwise.
Without malice to anybody, I do have to observe that
the present day’s representatives-especially the Medical Representatives cannot
hold a candle to their predecessors.
I see people wearing, ill matching shirts and trousers,
sandals in place of shoes, displaying unkempt / outlandish beards and stubbles,
ties being tied without knowing how to knot. The personality is simply not there at all. Worst is that most of them do
not know how to speak to Physicians, explain combinations, detail the medicines
and potions even with the help of literature and detailing folders. I understand that pathetic though many 'graduates' cannot even read, write, speak English properly and more that they cannot even do simple arithmatic.
The whole profession has apparently degenerated to
just calculating on quantum than quality.
Today the ‘representatives’ use tiny mouse-like
vehicles and get lost in the crowd. No comparison to the distinct
representatives of yore who could be seen from afar and who always used to create an awe making their opening gambits easier.
Where are those well dressed men? Where are those
bikes? And where is that elegance?
You tell me! :-)
Till then,
Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu
(Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Thanks (English), Dhonyabaad
(Bangla), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci
(French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic), Shukriya (Urdu), Aw-koon
(Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai) and Asante (Kiswahili).
Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy
Chennai, India
