Chapter 60 Observance, Inquisitiveness and Enterprise.
In the 1880s John Pemberton, a man of vigilance, curiosity and insight foresaw a fortune in some kind of a stimulating, non-alcohol drink for America. He persistently studied and tested the recipe for an ideal beverage, which contained extracts of coca leaves and cola nuts. Later, satisfied with his final product, he sold it as a patent medicine. Can you guess its name? Pemberton died soon after; the syrup business was bought over by an equally enterprising man Asa Candler (who in his childhood had doctored his pets and pigeon with self-made medicine). Candler promoted the new drink, which spread like wildfire throughout the whole world, it is the Coca-Cola! This interesting story was imparted to us by Mark Pendergrast in 'For God, Country and Coca-Cola.
In the Feb. 1989 issue of the Reader’s Digest, John Culhane told us about a young cartoonist Walt Disney, who arrived one day in New York to negotiate business, only to find that he no longer owned his rabbit-cartoons. In his dismay and distress he recalled a field mouse he had seen near his drawing board months earlier. His observance paid off; he soon turned this mouse into a famous character - Mickey Mouse!
In the June 1994 issue of the ' Success’ magazine, I read about an alert youngster Steve Geppi, who was vacationing at a beach near Baltimore, USA in 1974. His nephew was reading a comic and he quickly grappled it from him! He was constantly on the look-out for comics, buying them and exchanging them with other readers. His industrious nature and love for comics outgrew his job as a mail delivery man, and in 1974, while his post-office colleagues laughed, he started his own comic book store; which soon flourished. Eventually, the mailman turned into a tycoon. His company did US$140 million in sales in 1992, and US$222 million in 1993!
Many of the worlds great inventions were the product of observance and inquisitiveness. In a biography Robert Lacey wrote about a little boy in Michigan in 1870, who marvelled at the inside of a time-piece and later became an ardent watch repairer. He often took mechanical toys apart. One day, he watched from his horse-drawn wagon in wonder, at the first non-horse-drawn vehicle he had ever seen. He jumped off his wagon to talk to the engineer of the steam engine. That encounter, he admitted later, was his handshake with destiny. His love for the mechanical led him to jobs in a machine shop, a shipyard, and in farm machinery. This man went on to build one of the biggest and most pioneering car-makers in the world. Do you know his name? He was the great Henry Ford, and Robert Laceys book is 'Ford: The men and the Machine.
Judith Stone wrote in ' Discover’ about an inquisitive Swiss engineer De Mestral, who years ago, found bits of plants clinging to his trousers after a walk in the woods. He quickly examined them under the microscope and found that these burs had tiny hooks that clung firmly to tiny loops in clothing. He then invented a wonderful fabric called Velcro, comprising velours and crochets. Velcro is now widely used to stick flaps on wallets, shoes and bags. Great observance and enterprise indeed!
Can you recall the little toy called the Slinky? It is a coil of spring that collects itself as it trips down the stairs. The invention was again the product of alertness and observation. As told in 'The Philadelphia Enquirer’ by Jeanne M. Laskas, the inventor Richard James was a shipyard engineer, who had earlier noticed a coil of spring falling off his desk and rolling over itself in a marvellous way. He made a toy and gave it the name - Slinky. Now they send away 35,000 pieces daily!
Some years ago, an American scuba diver plunged into a pond on the golf course and saw thousands of golf balls that had fallen and remained submerged for years. He came up with thousands of balls on the first day. As narrated by Bill Geist in 'Monster Trucks and Hair-in-aCan’, the business escalated into a large scale business throughout the US, reaching a gross revenue of US$5 million in 1993!
John Rockefeller said, 'If you want to suc ceed, you have to forge new paths and avoid borrowed ones that promise success. I could go on and tell you a score of real life incidents, but all the stories have the same message, store them in your memory, and let them be your guiding light and propellant towards great discoveries, creations and enterprises. Thereafter, may your rich and fulfilling life spill over, and enrich others too.