MD's Message
My tryst with The Metal was a defining moment in my life. I had to make a choice, a difficult choice of throwing overboard a secure public sector job and take a plunge into uncertain waters. Though the project we debuted with, the chassis import and bus/ truck body manufacturing plant, collapsed soon after takeoff, we set ourselves to rethink our strategies. Our next business enterprise was more of a dream than a project that would roll out profits. That was dealing in a dream of mechanized agriculture, of seeing our farmers at the driving seat of tractors in place of walking behind a wooden plough drawn by bullocks. And it was not an easy dream to sell. We stuck out with patience, iron resolve and determination. We succeeded in motivating rural farmers, the in-between stakeholders and later financial institutions to come in our boat and work for an agrarian economy that would change the life and living of the majority of the country’s population. Our first year’s sale of TAFE tractors was only five. Today that figure stands at 50,000.
The Metal and other Metal subsidiaries today stand on a firm footing which many would call entrepreneurial success. But Metal family must carefully remember that all success embodies in its core the seed of dissolution. That is the universal way of growth and decay. So we must not look at ourselves with any degree of complacence. We must set a far broader goal for ourselves and work hard to fulfill that target. That will keep us and our institutions alive till the next generation takes over.
Life is a wonderful gift of God, a gift you can enjoy just once in a life time. This gift is intended for us to engage ourselves in a ceaseless quest for knowing the Creator. This quest means to make the best of what we do for ourselves, and more importantly for our fellow beings. An individual, who fritters away his potentialities in fruitless search for selfish ends, belies God’s purpose of creation and brings upon himself nothing but damnation. We must look at ourselves in a positive way to make life meaningful for ourselves and our fellow beings.
Excellence is an idea which is never static. Excellence is always beating itself in an endless search for an elusive perfection. Even when you put all the ingredients together, the end result is never the same. This x factor is always true in all our endeavors. So we must put in our best and wait for the desired results which are not quite within our grasp.
Bringing an aesthetic taste to bear on our activities makes life more enjoyable, more graceful. It could be the table you sit at your office, or the flower pots in your verandah, but if they are arranged in terms of proportion and balance, they would please the eyes of the onlooker. And you would be adding salt to an otherwise mundane experience.
I wish the Metal family peace and happiness in life. Stay safe, stay alive.