Books

Chemmeen

T.S.Pillai

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To be returned in 6 days

The Match

Mark Frost

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To be returned in 2 weeks

Energy, Education & Employment - Lets change India

For a very long time I used to think that the issue of any country’s development is a matter of time and, like Adam Smith’s invisible hands of supply and demand, is driven by natural forces of societal evolution. An essential feature of this belief was that there is very little that the current generation can influence and all societies must endure their journey through poverty, poor medical facilities and illiteracy until somehow over a long period of time the societal forces would deliver us into a new era.

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to visit and live in different countries. This has exposed me to the ways of working of different societies. These countries essentially encompass the entire spectrum of economic development between them. There will be little argument about the benefits of visiting developed nations. A visit to these nations helps us in setting goals for our development. We can learn a lot about new technologies, social structures etc and try and replicate them in our own countries. The advantages of visits to poor countries and lesser developed societies are equally large. It makes you aware of the many mistakes that are being made unconsciously. It makes you aware of your strengths. For example in Nigeria I see that simple things such as immigration procedure are all messed up. Now in India I know this works fairly well, I try and compare the processes in two countries and in the end the only reason I can think of for the differences are those people on the ground.

The earnestness with which people on the ground do their job in the end makes all the difference. So that’s it. This is also my solution for the development of India.

It needs a bit of analysis though. Let’s revisit the statement. “The earnestness with which people on the ground do their job in the end makes all the difference”. The key elements here are “people” which we have in plenty, “earnestness” which has to do with character, “on the ground” which alludes to penetration across the whole value chain and “job” which is about opportunity. For a society to progress it all needs to come together.

The next challenge therefore, is to establish how this will come together. Those who believe in my previous theory would say that there is bare little that we can do proactively and therefore we must wait for the invisible hands of social change to do it for us. I, however, am of a different mind now. And this again in part is influenced by my stay in Nigeria. There is so much around here that I believe can be changed by little effort from the people. And extrapolating that thought to India I can think of so much that we can do in India to change it almost overnight. Ambitious – yes, impossible – certainly not.

So my solution is simple. Fix three things: energy supply, education and employment. In fact the three elements (I will refer to them as 3E’s from now on) are already dependent and therefore a little effort on one front will produce results on all 3.

Energy supply is critical. Whether we like it or not without energy we are paralysed. Yes the fossil fuels are running out, yes the CO2 levels are rising to alarming levels, yes the pollution caused by vehicles and industries is reaching fatal levels but still the harsh reality is that we need energy and we need more energy. Can we influence it? Well, yes, but compared to the other two E’s this one can be influenced a lot less by common man. But let’s just say that the government is thinking about it all the time and it is high on the agenda with the new nuclear power plants and distribution networks being set up. Energy will be needed to afford a respectable life to humans. It is that simple.

Education by far is the biggest E. It can make all the difference at all the levels. And it is the responsibility of each one of us. The fact that we are writing or reading on our computers qualifies us to be an agent of change. Education will not only qualify our work force for jobs but good education will address the issue of earnestness identified in my solution above. And that is key. Let us not forget that education in its narrow sense will only get us opportunities but what we make of those opportunities will depend on the education in its broad sense. Sceptics would now say but what about corruption and what about irresponsible civil behaviour. Education in my opinion will address a large part of that. But then there will always be the likes of Lehmann and Maddoff scams which were propounded by well educated people and which can only be managed by managing the consequence with a sound legal framework. Education will enable us to develop such framework. Petty bribes and thefts will see a significant reduction if people are educated and are grounded on strong moral principles.

Even for prestigious higher institutions like IITs and IIMs the advise holds. Most students entering these institutions might have a lot of raw intellect but there is still a long way to go before each one of them can boast of being world class. Access to education has to be a right. And recently government of India has made it one of the fundamental rights.

The last E is employment. In part it is a consequence of the previous two. In part it will have to be consciously cultivated. Government needs to put in frameworks which empowers entrepreneurs and Indian business houses to create more jobs. Mass herd jobs which downgrade individual’s capability by offering mere money should be condemned. Writer’s, authors and public speakers have a role to play. The education system itself should make students aware of the nature of the industry out there and the key elements of the business value chain. Employment by itself is not enough, it should be of the right kind for the right person. On the one hand one should not be ashamed of doing lesser skilled jobs in order to learn and progress but on the other as a country we should be concerned about creating a lost generation.

It is a good time now for the government of India to start regulating our corporate sector. Given our demographics we are certainly in the driving seat and we must take advantage of this situation to clean up the corporate systems in India. Minimum wage for different skill levels should be enforced. Quality of work environment and other work conditions should be effectively monitored.

So thats my simple solution. And as citizens what we can influence is education.

MAGIITIANS can be an important tool for ideas exchange. Some might say we have Facebook etc so why do we need MAGIITIANS. Simply because it is focussed. Simply because here we will not just discuss but also action our ideas.

I am up for an Education Revolution. I am happy to tie up with anyone who has an idea or is already a member of a group.

Lets change India.

Returning from abroad

Thanks to the over 8 % GDP growth rate of India, many of us are finding jobs in multinational companies. On many occasions these jobs take us abroad. Assignments in US, Europe, Malaysia, Singapore etc are no longer once in a lifetime phenomenon rather they are very much a routine affair.

I am on an assignment in Nigeria these days. Just this morning I met a Nigerian person who has recently come back from an assignment in far east. While talking to this person I could sense a sort of an unusual behavior. It was not rude or impolite but just purely synthetic.

And as usual this led me to think of many similar incidents in the past and ultimately to this blog.

So this blog is about how some of us might be prone to getting contaminated when we return from our foreign trips.

I remember an incident from my college days. Many students in those days were fortunate to find internships abroad (I was not – so this could be inspired by envy)). One such student while making a presentation on his internship project (after his return to India) seemed to magically have adopted a different accent. He just couldn’t speak straight. Annoyed by this the professor asked him why he was talking like that and in the same accent he replied that he has just returned from Germany and cannot help it. The professor asked how many months he was in Germany and he said 3 to which the professor replied - and in India? He of course did not answer as the whole class broke into peels of laughter. The answer of course was 21 years.

The Nigerian person was behaving somewhat in a similar manner. Speaking with an accent, being overtly polite, behaving at least two job levels higher than their current position. We were all trying to be friendly to this person offering our services to make them settle down easily but apparently the self assured individual did not care for any of it or were we no longer in the same league?

This happens a lot and the sad part is that we might indulge in similar behavior without ever realizing it.

Another incident I remember from my college days relates to me. I was short listed for interview by a foreign multinational. The interview lasted for couple of days with more than 5 sittings. And at the end of it when I returned to normal coffee corner chit chats with my colleagues I seemed to have developed an accent. Irritated by this one of my close friends pointed this to me. It was awkward but indeed I realized I was talking like a buffoon.

There are plenty of other examples in my own life. For instance when I returned from Netherlands to take up a position in Bangalore, I have a feeling, I must have behaved like a snob. Trying to be too gentle and polished. Treating everyone around me in a condescending manner.
Accent is not the only outward manifestation of such disorder. Dressing up is another. Suddenly changing food habits is yet another indicator. And obviously there is this whole other category of indicators that have to do with display of money. That one doesn’t necessarily need a trip abroad though.

Not everyone behaves like this. I have seen people who can seamlessly move between their stay in India and abroad. External influences don’t seem to do much damage to them. A part of this could be character but for us the lesser mortals a bit of awareness should be useful.

In my opinion to be on the safer side it is advisable to tone down a wee-bit extra than usual just in case there is a natural (undetectable) instinct trying to contaminate us and pull us in the other direction. Observing one’s behavior and seeking constant feedback could be a good idea. Another good idea could be to dress up in some of your old clothes. An extra effort to fit in may not hurt.

And for god’s sake stop believing that a trip abroad is anymore a status symbol.

Down the memory lane - Tendulkar & Murali

The biggest attraction of Saturday for me will be the meeting of two greatest players of Cricket. Murali and Tendulkar. I am just wondering how would they approach each other in this Match. Unlike what the media would like us to believe, I don't think they would face each other like arch rivals. There would be no rivalry. No duel to be fought no point to be proven. It will be a meeting like that of two old friends who set out in life almost together and then now meet under the shade of a tree to reflect on the times gone by. Two individuals who have always seen each other in the background not really very friendly or close to each other but sharing a common link of being from the same era. It is a bit like two people in their 90's who feel deeply connected to each other solely because there are not many of their age alive anymore. Only they can understand each others feelings and emotions. 

Murali and Tendulkar were around when cricket was just a game. There stardom came fairly early in their cricketing careers and has never really deserted them since. Both have remain grounded, focussed and have shared a deep passion for the game and a desire to excel. Men of few words they both are. 

On 2nd of April they will meet each other for the last time. Backed by their countries and teams who are playing hard to give them the best farewell gift ever. But secretly I believe this will be a lose lose for both Sachin and Murali whichever way it goes. Sachin in his moment of jubilation will feel the pain of Murali's loss and likewise behind Murali's ecstacy would be a tinge of sadness for the greatest batsman that ever was or will be. Murali has a World Cup under his belt and therefore may be (just a small may be) Murali's pain of losing the cup would be healed by Sachin's ultimate triumph. But I don't think their professionalism would desert them even for a moment. Sachin will give Murali's every ball the treatment that it deserves and Murali's every ball would be hungry for Sachin's wicket. That is the greatness of these two men.

They both would need to awaken the Arjuna in them who is well guided by Lord Krishna in the battlefield (I hate to use such analogies but let me do it this one time). At the end of it all what would they think of saying to each other. May be Murali would finally hug Sachin out there in the open and say a big thank you for being such a great player and human being who inspired Murali for all these decades. May be Sachin would want to finally give up his stoical demeanour for once and walk up to Murali and say a big thank you for reinforcing his belief in the pursuit of excellence and nothing else while playing cricket.

Or it could be that Sachin would just say "Murali, you have grown a bit fat" or Murali would just say "Hey Sachin your son looks just like you". We wouldn't know. We would never know. What is most likely to happen is that they would just as quietly walk away from the field stealing a glance at each other  as they had walked into the field on their maiden encounter.

No matter what happens their presence would comfort each other. They would rest reassured by the fact that there is at least one more person on the field who shares same principles and belief when it comes to cricket. Even in their silence would be a comfort of familiarity. In the middle of all those youngsters they would meet like two old grandpas who can still remember the day Gandhiji called out for the Quit India movement. 

For me it will be a great loss. It was a great loss when Ganguly left the field forever but that one was not allowed to settle in because of the circumstances under which it happened. It was a great loss when Kumble bid farewell to the game but Tendulkar out there was a consolation. And now suddenly two of the best the very best would depart leaving a vaccum which the newer generation would never feel and mine would never forget. It is written in the Vedas - Whatever cannot be cured must be endured. Some might wonder if really the loss is so tragic as to warrant the invoking of Vedas. I don't know.

On the 2nd of April when Murali and Tendulkar will meet again nothing about them would be special and yet nothing would be ordinary just like it has never been.

   

Writer's block

What do you do when you cannot muster the discipline to align your thoughts and put them down on paper for almost 6 months? A phenomenon which can be described as a writer's block. You probably go looking for all the old stuff that you have ever written on the websites like Orkut and facebook including testimonials or some not so short posts and try to preserve them, hoping against hope that it might inspire you to believe in yourself once again and provide the much needed kick-start and momentum.

I did it this morning. Went scurrying on the orkut website to copy and save all testimonials I had written to my friends almost three years ago and hastily made a word document out of it.

It was a great feeling. Some of these friends I have not spoken to in a long time. And if I do a geographical analysis, between then I can cover almost all the continents. It feels nice sometimes to revisit the past. And the past now (as against in the past) can be revisited readily by clicking on those old photographs on your hard drive or by opening those first few emails which you sent to your friends almost 10 years ago. Most of it is lying there safely on the web world. Testimonials again I thought was the greatest invention of orkut and could have proved to be their USP if they would have played it right. Nothing ever provided such an expressive avenue to articulate one's feelings for friends. It used to be a wonderful feeling to open your orkut page to find that message "so and so has writtten you a testimonial" and in most cases tears almost always welled up in my eyes reading that stuff. May be not all of that was absolutely true but then it felt great. Sometimes it conjured apology towards that friend who I might not have seen in the same light in my life as he did me in his. For that one little invention Orkut spread more love on this planet.

Facebook horribly fails at it. It lets you say so much about yourself (What's on your mind?) but has no place to talk about your friends. You can like dislike etc but that too is a  more reactive than proactive expression. Facebook on the other hand seems to inspire more envy than love. There has been research which shows that on an average people feel bad after reading updates on their friend's facebook pages. It has almost become a medium of vindication. People engage in events with the thought of putting it up on facebook. Never thought that orkut ever instilled such emotions.

Anyways, if you have not tried visiting your old emails and orkut site in a long time do it now. Read those messages that you sent long ago and they would reveal a genuine you to yourself. In many cases I realised that I am now not even capable of writing those kind of messages. May be I am not as pure now as I used to be. May be I can still salvage myself may be not but then memories will persist. And certainly this exercise helped me revisit my writing style and how my thought process works, what am I passionate about and what my weaknesses are. All good starting points for waking up the sleeping (hopefully not dead by now) writer in me. A big reason behind this block is what can be called "Resistance". A powerful force that feeds itself on our fears and then works against us. The longer I don't write the more difficult it becomes for me to start again. This "Resistance" somehow makes us acutely aware of all the distractions around us and helps us push in that direction taking us further away from our goals - which for a writer is to write. In my case when I dont write enough my comprehension power of what I read declines too. This only aggravates the matter because the more my comprehension goes down the faster the number of ideas to write about decline. What's the way out? Don't know. May be as I wrote earlier revisiting what we have written before. Putting the ego aside and starting afresh with a willingness to make mistakes again.
There could be more ideas. Hope some of them will strike me. For now I am happy that that's about 600 words written now. Hope this will last and the writer's block will not come back to haunt me again.

Big thanks to Orkut and Yahoo mail too.

Who are we?

Who are we if not that symbol of excellence fallen from heights?

Who are we if not the seeker of greatness strayed from our paths?

Who are we if not the storm that can move mountains made weak by our own fears?

Who are we if not a noble soul blinded by our own ambition?

Who are we if not a brave warrior bridled by the thought of failure?

Who are we if not a farmer corrupted by the greed of harvest?

Who are we if not the master of our destiny fallen prey to our senses?

Who are we if not the reflection of God muddled by the haze of pleasure?

Are we not that who was destined to do great things?

Are we not that who was created to make the Creator proud?

Aren’t we the music that would flow like the carefree wind?

Are we not just who we were?

Nostalgia...

Nostalgia has been one of my favourite words of English language. Not just because it contains in itself a powerful emotion which seems to accord the "Past" its rightful importance over the  much hyped "Present" and the much feared "Future", but also because of the sheer formation of the word itself. The last syllable is open ended which continues into eternity and rightly so, as someday it would indeed engulf all that is present and will be future.
It did not break into my vocabulary until very recently (may be as recently as 8 years ago) and for some reason Nostalgia always sticks out in my mind with one other word- Nepotism. May be because they are usually in the same section of the vocabulary lists. Whereas Nepotism is overtly negative and may seem to be unrelated to Nostalgia I have always felt the two words to be very closely related. And together they remind me of human weaknesses. No matter how strong someone pretends to be, everyone at some point in time, in moments of great failure and great successes becomes nostalgic. Nostalgic for the past which was so simple, limited, predictable and familiar. Same goes for Nepotism. No matter how much we want to be fair and objective at some point in our life or other we do succumb to the temptation of helping and favouring our near and dear ones. May be one reason why Nostalgia and Nepotism seem related to me is that they both concern family and although they colour our emotions about family in completely contrast shades for me they are the truth of our existence, a reminder of our limitations, of our being human.