Fixing the Russian army ship

 All of us in our childhood came across a lot of stories that were told to us back then by our parents to help us understand the difference between right and wrong, ethical and unethical. I’d like to mention one such story which made a life-altering impact on me. So as told by my father there was a battleship that was purchased by the Russian army. This battleship was procured in an open auction and as this was an old one so it had to be repaired and restored. After completion of the restoration work, the person-in-charge for the restoration was asked to switch on the engine and henceforth put the battleship into the ignition. But even after pressing the button to switch on the engine, the ship did not start. The person-in-charge decided on taking external help, thus called in several professionals to diagnose the problem and further come up with the solution. A lot of professionals were hired to provide their services but none of them were able to repair it. Then one fine day the Russian army was told about a famous mechanic from India who was known to repair wrecked ships too. The last ray of hope of the Russian army was being called upon to provide his services.. After a detailed inspection of the ship the Indian mechanic came to the conclusion that he’d be able to help the Russian army in solving the concerned problem. He then had a word with them regarding his compensation and after agreeing with his terms and conditions the mechanic started his work. The compensation was decided to be 50 lakhs.  He fixed the ship in 10 minutes merely used 4 nails and few hammer shots. After performing this exercise he asked the Russian army to check if the engine had started working or not. When the person-in-charge pressed the button, the battleship’s engine was on and the problem had been therefore resolved. The person-in-charge was very relieved and happy to see the ship in the working condition but at the same time, a thought crossed his mind that, the mechanic from India didn’t do much and he should not be paid 5o lakhs for a 10-minute job. To make fun of him or amuse him the in-charge asked the mechanic for an itemized invoice. The mechanic from India generated one which said that the nails were 10 bucks each thus costed 40 bucks, the hammer shots were 100 per shot so 8 hammer shots summed up to 800 bucks but the last subhead said viz knowing the place to hit the nails costed the balance amount!

Having the best of the tools and spending a truckload of money for a task does not solves the problem. One should diagnose the problem and should know the exact spot to hit the hammer. Putting in a lot of effort at the wrong place won’t yield any benefit. To eradicate a problem completely it is very important to understand the root cause of the problem. Putting in even little efforts in the right place can solve even the biggest problems instantly. If we diagnose the problem correctly things as big as a ship could be easily restored with just a few hammer shots, one should just know the correct spot to hit the hammer.