Being frugal.

“Without Frugality no one can be rich, and with it very few would be poor”, said Samuel Johnson. Though he would have been a great poet of his generation but still his words hold true for every business of the current age and the future.

I’ll try to quickly explain the lexicographic meaning of term Frugality, according to Wikipedia “Frugality is the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services”.

So, why am I talking about frugality now? I have a reason too. This post will tell you how frugality can help you become rich, richer and richest!

In the Constituency of Madurai East there is a big pond called “Naganakulam” and it lies in one of the arterial roads of Madurai. The pond maintains the groundwater table level in its close circles and it has also served as the lifeline for the residents and villages close by for centuries. Thanks to the people for their continuous efforts over the last 10 years for converting the big pond into a “Small” pond by the continuous encroachment of land and planting of saplings “in” the pond. And in the recent times people have also started using it as their park in the evening and cricket ground in the morning. Yeah, right…Multipurpose pond it was…

After continuous efforts from the local leaders, the government of Tamilnadu agreed to revive the water resource in the pond by embarking to rid the tank of sewage, piggery, encroachment and garbage. The task was handed over to the local Member of Legislative Assembly, P.Moorthy a 10th standard pass who is also from the same place. Government of Tamilnadu in order to woo the local voters also announced other projects and one of which was reconstruction of Madurai – Natham road which passes through our constituency. (I’m not sure how much Government was able to woo its voters but I’m sure it was a high value project).

After days of planning and tender, the renovating of pond began. Encroachments were cleared and then deepening of pond started. Meanwhile the work of laying roads also commenced simultaneously, roads which are laid needed a layer of sand. (You should have known this previously) If it was a usual person who manages these projects then he would have asked the contractor to unload Lorries of sands from dealer. But our beloved MLA, Mr.P.Moorthy who knew frugality said, why we don’t we use the sand that were obtained the after deepening pond for laying road! All they had to do was move the sand from pond to Road using bulldozer. They deepened the pond and they also laid road simultaneously. “Deeping of pond” was done for more than 12 feet; (usually they just deepen it for say 5 or 6 feet). The contractor still bought sand but not from the dealer but from the MLA… MLA sold the sand from his own pocket but then if it was another MLA he would have thrown the sand into another “Poromboke”land.

Yes, this is frugality… Yes, this is optimization… Unlike others who manage projects he didn’t waste a bit of his resource but rather he was able to make money from every single nano particle that came out of the project. He was just an 10th standard pass but he was able to make crores of money out of the small thing. He dint require a MBA from an ISB to learn this or an MS in lean manufacturing to educate him but rather it came” just like that” from his mind. That is the business that we are speaking about.
You can be a politician, you can be an entrepreneur. But think about being an entrepreneurial politician, you can make billions and also be a successful leader in the society, but the ulta pulta is FAIL. (Political entrepreneur)

To all the aspiring politicians and entrepreneurs.

Understanding frugality,

Alagiri Samy.S

Post Script: If Mr. P. Moorthy sees this post in facebook or in my blog you are always welcome to knock my door to get the appreciations directly.