Definition of Success

What is success? How do we define it? This story of two friends will give us the answers to these questions. I believe success means different things to different people.

In a village close to Coimbatore, there were two friends, Raghu and Venkat, who were also neighbors. Now the village is part of Coimbatore's outskirts as the town expanded. Theirs’ was well-to-do families living on agriculture from their own lands. Over time, as the families were big, the agricultural land diminished and wealth also was slowly disappearing.

Both families had knowledge about making Tanjore paintings, a traditional art form and very popular. Some of them used to make paintings just as a hobby. Both the friends also were good at it. As the property and wealth were slowly going out of hand and as these two men were just setting up their own families after marriage, they wanted to have control of their finances and future. They both thought about it and Raghu said, "Venkat we both are not highly educated and the only thing we are good at is in making the Tanjore paintings. Why don’t we put to use our skill and knowledge about the Tanjore paintings and make a business and living out of it? we need to wake up to the reality and be responsible towards our families” Venkat also found it to be a good idea, and both started the business independently.

The paintings are made out of fine gold foil and some colored stones. Both of them had knowledge about the raw materials used and could source them. Raghu was skilled in the art but for him, it was a business. From the start, his aim was to succeed in the business and earn a lot of money and keep his family well-provided and financially safe. With that objective, he worked very hard and used all his tactics to earn big money, no doubt in an ethical way. Soon he was successful in his achieving his objective and was selling his painting all over Tamil Nādu.

For Venkat, making Tanjore paintings was a passion. Usually, the paintings are of Hindu deities. He put his heart and soul into it while making them and with that, the result was very unique. His patrons said,” these are not just paintings, but the deities look exquisite and extrude benevolence and seem to be divine.” Venkat was very happy that his paintings were liked by everyone. He was always trying to improve and improvise his work and developed a small team of a like-minded, loyal and dedicated team of workers, and used his home as a workshop. He was not afraid that his knowledge would be stolen. Though Raghu became well-noted very quickly, Venkat's growth was slow and steady. Slowly his paintings became very famous all over India with the lovers of this art. One of his Sons completed his studies and started to take part in the business. He was smart and used to organize exhibitions of these paintings in several places including Delhi. Venkat’s work caught the attention of big shots and eventually he received a national award for his work. They also started to export their work.

Venkat established a big art gallery in Coimbatore, which became the address for Tanjore paintings.

In reality, now, Venkat was very successful beyond anybody’s and his own imagination. However, this success has not spoiled him at all to the extent that, he does not consider himself successful. Does he think about how to make the next painting more attractive and appealing? If he can achieve that, he considers it a success.

For people like Venkat success is not the goal to be pursued. Success is only a measure of the progress he made in his journey toward achieving perfection in his art. With this definition, success is beyond quantification and a continuous process. People who believe in their competency and focus on their work, do not chase success, success follows.