Adventures of a Salesman in Art World – Part 9

Through this series ‘Adventures of a salesman in art world’, Mr Chandrashekhar Ojha, former DGM Marketing of Camlin continues to share his insightful memories. Throughout his career spread across four decades, he gathered a wealth of insights about the art world through his interactions with artists and art lovers. In this ninth part, he shares his experiences of dealing with the network of distributors, dealers and retailers who together served as business enablers.

Part 9 – ‘The Market Masters’

We discussed about art material users of various kinds in the articles so far, but serving them would be impossible without trade in those days and is still very difficult. Camlin had a vast network of distributors, dealers and retailers, including school suppliers, who provide the last mile connectivity. I came across a large number of them during my initial years and some of them were very interesting characters and also played important role in shaping my career. I don’t think we can wrap-up these memoirs without including these enablers.

My main distributors in Jodhpur had two firms distributing many FMCG and stationery brands and were managed by Mr Agarwal and his three sons. I had worked as a distributor’s salesman for Philips lighting with one of their firms and the other used to distribute Camlin, Colgate and Everest spices. In Jodhpur we had couple of dealers as well, one of them Chopra Brothers is worth talking about. Mr Mahendra, a good but eccentric person, used to run the affairs solely and was fairly notorious in trade. On the day I joined at the HQ, my boss, Mr Khilnani invited some important dealers including Mr Chopra for dinner. When I tried to settle the bill, he created fuss that how I dare to flaunt money in front of the distributor and insult Mr Agarwal, instigated he had to make the payment and kept on cursing Chopra forever. Mahendra used to provoke boisterous people to commit something beyond them and then hold them from the tongue hence I used to warn visiting officials to restrain but many would end-up in the trap.

I used to like bearded look but couldn’t grow while working hence grow one when on long vacations and flaunt it for days after joining duties. Once when Mahendra commented that it doesn’t look nice and I should get it shaved off, I casually said that I don’t have money for it. He offered me Rs. 20/- and asked me to not visit him again in that look. I pocketed the money and forgot about it. When I visited him a little later and was talking to some other shopkeeper, Mr Chopda ask me to give him Rs 40. Since it was quite normal practice, I handed over. He pocketed it and said that he had recovered double from me as I have not kept my word. Surprised the other shopkeeper enquired about the story and amused with the story offered me Rs 80. I straightaway rushed to the barber shop.

Another dealer in Jodhpur M/s Ashok Stationers was a fashionable stationery retailer and school supplier. During my first school season I requested him for cooperation, but he declined. With my relentless campaign I could convince all the important schools for Camel colours and he came running for material and started cooperating. Since he was habitual of ordering only one carton of each item, while booking order we would estimate the required quantity and that would be the quantity for a carton, anything from 100 to 1000. Since the estimate would be close, he would never notice that he was tricked into ordering. Just to win his confidence, I would refuse to book order for some items, which they would have in reasonable quantity, and for the rest he would blindly follow my suggestions. I would also manage his payment by getting cheque from accountant, getting it signed, get the DD made and sending it to company, which help the firm earn discounts, strengthening their confidence in our services.

Bhatia Stationers, Jaisalmer was also a wonderful dealer. I would call him from the railway station after arrival and he will soon pick me up on his bike. He would take me around the schools, shops and other customers throughout the day, feed at his home and drop back at the railways station, after getting the birth reserved for the return journey. Similarly, our distributor in Bikaner was also a wonderful guy, helping us in visiting schools, other consumers and trade etc. In Bikaner we had a retailer named Makkhanlal Damani, who used to work as a General Manager in a Jute mill in Kolkata earlier. He had returned to manage the shop to satisfy his father’s wish. He was a great guy and we used to have long conversations.

One such dealer was in Hanumangarh Town. Whenever I would visit the Aanand Pustak Bhandar, Ved ji would not order anything saying our prices were higher, and he would be right at that. Being friendly he would offer a cup of tea and get into a discussion. It will go on till it is time to leave the town, and when I would complaint that the day had ended without any order, he would give a huge order casually, fulfilling my day’s objective.

However, my favourite markets were Mt. Abu, Pali and Nagore. These towns had good sales, good payment performance, and the retailers were very friendly too. In 2018 I visited Mt. Abu after a gap of around 15 years or more, and the dealers not only recognised me but were very warm and friendly. For a booklover like me the stationers selling library books used to offer a greater excitement in terms of good literature at discounted prices. One such shop keeper in Pali introduced me to collected works volumes of noted Hindi writers at great prices. Since they were brought out by a Varanasi publisher, I visited it on my first visit to the city after moving to Delhi and purchased all their publications.

There were some special ones with whom I could create lifelong bond, like Mr Mukesh Bhandari of Weltrade or Mr Dinesh Awasthi of Kitab Mahal. Fine art dealers like Shanti Bhandar, Jaipur, Kapoor Traders, Udaipur and Mahavir Stationers, Ajmer were also very supportive. Mass Retail Drives, which exposed me to large number of grocery and general stores and helped me understand their concerns and expectations, were also great experiences.

Chandrashekhar Ojha