Sitting pretty

Can’t partnerships actually work? Can’t two or more individuals, who may be poles apart personally, strike a winning balance professionally? Is it difficult to submerge the I in the larger interests of the We? Not really. Pune, in fact, is brimming over with instances of successful combinations. People who have formed long-lasting partnerships with the bond growing stronger with the passage of time. Each contributing to the other’s growth and sharing the tribulations that may have come their way with fortitude, faith, the will to stick together and a certain amount of commonsense.

“It’s been 14 years now since we have been working together,” smiles Prashant who alongwith partner Bunty is an apt example of a winning combination. Their firm, Clairvoyance, is a well-known name in the glamour world. “We’ve known each other through school and college in Nagpur and were in the same cricket team. We came together to do MBA in Pune. And we decided to go in for glamour photography. There were no actual demarcations of roles but when we started out Bunty would instinctively get behind the camera while I would visualise and direct the shoot. It just crystallised that way,” he says.

Later, the duo even ended up marrying sisters which brought them closer. Today, few know their surnames. To most, they are just Bunty-Prashant together and individually! “We have a common identity. I remember I called up some place once and said `Prashant speaking’. When the other guy asked from where, without thinking I said `From Bunty’,” grins Prashant.

Similarly, when one thinks of Entre Nous it is difficult to separate Shirley Sequiera’s name from Sucheta Kudale’s. The event management company brought to Pune the concept of supper theatre. “It was at chance meeting at one of the events I was managing for Shirley that we came together and by the time the show was through I knew she would make an ideal partner,” states Sucheta. The partnership is flourishing even over long-distance. Shirley has married and migrated to Australia recently. “Now, I organise things physically from Pune and she assists from Down Undar through E-mails,” says Sucheta.

So what is it that makes things work for them and doesn’t for others? A certain similarity of natures? “On the contrary, we are both the opposite,” replies Prashant. “He’s better with finances, technicalities and practical aspects while I am more into creative spheres. Neither clashes with the other’s work. We have differences of opinion all the time, but everything is sorted out there and then because we want it to. And despite being related, we have never let petty family issues cloud our partnership and friendship.”

Equality and friendship is also the foundation on which architects Ash Parekh and Arif F. Noorani have based their partnership, which is quite like East meeting West. Parekh practised abroad for 15 years before returning to his roots while Arif stayed on home turf. Though their partnership is just two years old (which nevertheless is still a better record than the last government’s) their friendship goes back to 25 years. “Both of us are flexible. That is the crux of any relationship-business or personal. We try and give each other enough room and space to do whatever one is good at. It’s not that we always agree. In fact, if two people agree chances are that neither of them is doing much thinking. But the secret is to accommodate both view points and strike a balance,” avers Parekh.

“What is really important actually is the level of understanding. When Shirley left for Australia, I was inundated with people who wanted to fill her slot but I knew it was not possible for me to have the tuning I have with her. At times, it was eerie — we would be sitting with a client and would have exactly the same ideas in our heads while the client talked. It was like being on one wavelength. And being different in nature helped. She would talk to clients she knew and got along with and I with the others. Similarly, without consciously trying to, we just gravitated towards handling aspects one is better at. I am better at organising and she handles the finances.”

Which brings one to the usually most sensitive area — money matters. While Sucheta and Shirley have amicably worked out an arrangement with one putting in more efforts getting a little extra, for Bunty and Prashant it’s a totally fifty-fifty partnership. “When we bought our first camera we both paid half the money. Expenses and profits are simply divided by two,” says Prashant.

And then is the aspect of basically liking one another on a personal level and getting along. Most of the partners are friends first and business partners later. Parekh and Arif play golf together, Sucheta and Shirley went on a European tour last year on their own and Bunty and Prashant and their wives are together most of the time.”

Arif puts it in a nutshell. “To be successful partners you have to have common good at heart.You have to have a healthy attitude and the ability to see things from the others’ point of view too. To take a little and give a lot.” No wonder coalitions in India have had such a dismal record.