My money, my money and the insurance agent Mr. Mani.

“Text message for you” my wife said showing the mobile . I was driving the car and she was sitting to my left.

“Read it out” I said.

“Many happy returns of the day madam”she read and continued “I am surprised.  Someone has sent birthday wishes for me on your mobile”.

“Am not surprised. It should be from Mani” I said keeping my eyes on the road.

“Very true and you know this guy well”she replied looking at the text message.

“How can I not know him well? He is the only person in the world who sends wishes for my wife to my mobile. You know how it happens? This  insurance guy believes in good customer relationship and he has a record of birthdays of all his clients. He has my mobile number and you have not shared your number. So he keeps sending wished for you on my mobile”I said.

We had a hearty laugh and continued driving to the restaurant.

 It was my wife’s birthday and we were dining out as a family unit.

We entered the restaurant and were led to the reserved table by the steward. We sat down on the chairs and ordered the food.

“Did you pay your term insurance premium?” my wife asked me.

“Made online payment last week. With Mr. Mani around I will not forget. He sent a text message followed by a request call on the mobile”

“Nice guy ”She said. I nodded.

Few weeks passed and I became busy with my sales closing activity as my principle company from US closes its year by December. Started staying late hours in the office , was talking to customers and trying my best to get higher figures in order booking.

It was Saturday evening and I was tired after a long day of speaking to customers , principle company executives and Supply chain management executives of Original Equipment Manufacturers. I got a call on my  mobile. Reluctantly I reached to it and without looking at the mobile said  “Hello”.

“Hello sir, you did not recognise me ?” a familiar voice was heard

Looking at the mobile I replied “Mr. Mani how are you?”

“So nice of you sir that you recognized me. By God’s grace and encouragement from customers like you I am hale and healthy” he replied.

I continued “Tell me why did you call me now?”

“Sir I want to meet you and discuss about a very good insurance money back plan. Shall we meet tomorrow?”

I was not in a mood to discuss but for me investment was of high priority. I told him to come to my office at 10 AM and though it was Sunday I would meet him.

“Thank you sir and so kind of you. How did you celebrate Madam’s birthday?”he continued.

I closed the discussion by saying “ We shall discuss it tomorrow when we meet”.

The next day I went to my office by 10 AM and as expected Mani was waiting for me. I always admired this guy for his punctuality.

“Good morning sir” he said with a huge smile.

“Good morning Mr. Mani. Nice to see you on time” I replied and walked into the office after unlocking the door.

“Sir, if I am not on time someone else will be on time and the customer will have no time for me”

“very well said and this applies to me also” I added.

I went into the pantry and made two cups of green tea  and asked Mani to take one cup.

“Thank you sir. You are becoming very health conscious . Please do not add sugar to my tea”.

“You are diabetic?” I asked.

“By the grace of God and blessings of customers like you I am healthy and do not have diabetes”he replied.

“Come on Mani what control I have on your Diabetes?”I said.

 I was  unable to figure out why this guy was so humble each and every time.

“Please tell me about the scheme you are talking about” I asked him.

Mani opened his laptop and started showing a small presentation about an insurance plan where in investment was to be made for 10 years. I was going through the presentation and he interrupted me.

“Sir the beauty of this plan is that you pay premium for 10 years annually and from 11^th year onwards baby will get a fixed amount annually for life. This would be the best gift from your side to her”

“Who is baby” I questioned him

“Your daughter sir” he replied

“She is in her teens and you still call her baby?” I replied.

I was irritated to some extent and continued “ I am not  the father who would like to keep giving money to his daughter for life. I would like my daughter to have the best education and stand on her feet as early as possible. Why should she receive money from me for life? She should be in a position to lend me money if needed. This logic of yours is outdated and am not interested in this scheme”.

His face turned pale.  To cheer him up I changed the subject and asked “ You were telling me that you had attended the Million Dollar Round Table conference. Where was it held?”

He looked pleased and answered “ Sir I spent lot of money for that conference and only few go from India. It was held in the Canada”.

I corrected him “ It is not the Canada , it is Canada”

He did not agree and said “ Sir if it is the USA why not the Canada?”

I said “ Now do not become Sridevi of ‘English Vinglish’ movie. you cannot say the Canada,period”

He did not give up “ English is a funny language sir”

“Is it ?” I questioned

He continued “ The spelling of Q is queue, spelling of I is eye and of C is see. Some where something is wrong”

 I laughed out loudly and patting him said “ You are an amazing man. Even the Englishmen cannot answer this”.

I discussed with him about the other insurance plans as I needed some more premium  for 80C tax deductions. Finally we arrived at a plan where in I was supposed to pay an annual premium of Rs. 30000. I filled the form, signed it and gave him the first premium payment.

After few days I was driving with my wife and kids. We were going to another restaurant that evening as it was our marriage day. Kids had insisted on having Italian food and we were heading to a newly opened  Italian restaurant. On reaching the place I parked the car . two text alerts came to my mobile. I looked at it and asked my wife “ I have a quiz for you. I have received two wedding anniversary wishes . I will give you a clue. Same person has sent it . Who is it ? “

My wife replied “Mr.Mani , of course”

“You are right but why two?” I asked

She said “ He has sent two wedding anniversary wishes to his two customers. The first one is for you and the second one is for me”.