Today in the last post on THE THINKING CAP-Inspiring Women series we meet a realtor who ditched her corporate lifestyle to succesfully run an Automobile Garage.
This post is by freelance writer Mira Pawar. Mira who previously worked for Gulf News has also written for the Khaleej Times, Trinod.com, Wikinut.com and also for the Chicken Soup for the soul series. She also does re-writes for a company called Bannus.
A New Avenue for Women to Trudge Upon
Although in the past it was difficult for women to survive in a man’s world on the professional front, today women have been progressively surprising everyone with their presence in every male dominated bastion. Vidya Nambirajan from Mathuranagar, Sainikpuri area of Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh has done women proud through her endeavour of taking over the task of running an Automobile Garage thus adding another avenue for women to tread upon.
Vidya’s career went through a transition in the year 2002 when her father N.R.Nambirajan, the owner of Paramount Automobile Garage fell seriously ill leaving the Garage in the care of the workers. Business hampered considerably during the period of his illness. Nambirajan’s two sons were involved in their individual enterprise and were not able to provide any support. His only daughter was also away from home working in Chennai as a realtor. When there seemed no help coming from any where, Nambirajan requested his daughter for help until he recovered. Under the circumstances, Vidya offered to look after the garage for a specified period. As luck would have, even after recovery Nambirajan was not in a state to resume work as usual so after giving the situation a lot of thought Vidya decided to continue her stint at the garage for good and gave up her profession as a realtor.
Her career transition from a realtor to a garage owner was not at all easy. It was like stepping into a boxing arena where she stood in the centre and everyone kept knocking her from all angles. As a realtor in Chennai, she was accustomed to working out of a posh air conditioned office, immaculately dressed in perfect corporate apparel, to attend meetings with the CEOs and MDs of various companies. But, in her father’s garage, the workers put on overhauls to go under the cars to inspect and work on the defects located. Vidya would have to get used to working in a similar condition. Now, this seemed like a real tough situation to encounter, but Vidya didn’t think twice, she offered to join the bandwagon. In order to maintain the discipline and harmony at workplace, she decided on being treated in par with the workers to gain their confidence which seemed very important at that point of time.
Vidya was taking a very serious plunge and if she made any blunders, it could mean the end of her father’s garage. The garage meant a lot to her father and therefore, she wanted to keep it going. The question was how? To a certain extent, her father imparted his expertise as best as he could, but from a male point of view. Vidya quickly formed a strategy in compliance with the existing one so she could fit into the environment without the workers feeling conscious about the situation. She would join them during the tea break, order tea and spend few relaxing moments with them talking about the families etc. A lady boss is not so easily acceptable especially if it happens to be in a hard core male bastion. Initially, she felt humiliated and demoralised by the worker’s attitude towards her, but she was sure time will come when she would get her due respect. It took quite a while for the worker’s mind-set to change but today they look upon her for advice in every decision they make and respect her for her industriousness. They have been provided mobiles, given yearly increments, each one’s birthday celebrated in style and yes! Vidya does not forget to give them pep-talk from time to time to boost their morale and confidence at work. Another important practice she has imbibed in the workers is abstain tips from the customers which is much appreciated by her clients.
While working upon the task of changing the mind-set of the workers, Vidya simultaneously had an even more challenging work on hand, and that was to learn the technical aspect linked with the automobile business. With the help of the workers in the garage, she got herself to acquaint with the basic knowledge including the practical task of going under the car to identify the problems. Every day was a new challenge for her and she would look forward to it with great eagerness.
Although Vidya did not have any formal training, her enthusiasm at work place caught the attention of various leading car dealers who would provide assistance to her from time to time. Very soon she tied up with MY TVS who were into quality used cars. They offered her to be their authorised service point. This was a great turning point in the business at Paramount Garage and things started looking up. MY TVS gave her an opportunity to work on multi-branded cars. They also provided Vidya and her staff training at various outlets like the Tata Motors, Volkswagen, and Nissan etc. Whenever, a new model of car was launched, the dealers would conduct training and invite Vidya and her staff to be part of the seminar to enhance their knowledge on the subject. Manuals were provided at the seminars which Vidya used when required while servicing multi branded cars. She also negotiated with Europ and availed assistance for their 24X7 breakdown services.
Vidya was now fully charged and in control to make decisions to develop the garage into an ultramodern outlet where the customers would feel their cars being pampered and not just serviced. She availed loan from the bank and bought state-of-the-art equipments. She introduced the latest mode of checking through an electronic control module (ECM) which was performed through software loaded for various functions in the car. A diagnostic engine scanner, injectors, decarbonising machine, pneumatic tools and some other relevant machinery was an answer to this. She also put up a hydraulic ramp for servicing the cars. This initiative was a big step towards upgrading the garage. The scanner was a great boon as it could read all parameters/functions of a car and this helped Vidya to learn further and correlate with various other aspects. Technology changes every other day and to stay updated one has to continue the process of learning and this practice is very earnestly followed by Vidya.
Eight years of hard work and her belief in ‘never say die’ attitude multiplied the business at Paramount Garage ten folds. Today, her father has recovered completely but refuses to take over the garage because he thinks no one can do more justice towards running the garage than Vidya.
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Team First Feather :
Vidya’s story is one of grit and determination and the drive to turn an existing idea around to reach new heights.
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