The Forgotten Promise

This is probably the tenth time that I crib about the end of my college life and beginning of my work life. But I have no option but to write what I feel. I used to play a role in the Social Responsibility Forum at my college, heading it in my second year. The purpose of this student’s cell is to work on social causes. We organized blood donation camps, workshops on RTI, Women Empowerment, AIDS and similar activities. On hindsight, I feel a lot more could have been done in the 9 odd months that we had in the second year. Academic rigor was anyways not there and there was no excuse to have conducted very little programmes. I deeply regret this part. I do not really cherish what little I did, as what I did not do still haunts me.

After writing the above paragraph, I wonder what I did on the subject after my college life ended. A big ZERO. At least in college, I managed to do a little, but after that, it was nothing. I kept on complaining about end of college life, the place I stay, the road I use, the food I eat and the work I do. Nothing else. I agree one could not have done a lot in just 2 months, but I could have at least started somewhere. I need not have done anything concrete, but could have thought about doing something. I need not have visited orphanages, but could have studied about them and afforded a simple thought on how I can contribute to them, given my constraints. I need not have sold the products of the NGOs on streets, but could have begun to study their problems and seen if I could help them offline.

There seems to be a big hiatus now. I have lost focus in the area that I thought was closer to my heart. I am worried I am losing direction. I need to introspect. Past is not the glory, it is just a beginning. I need to carry forward the little beginning I made. It is completely in my hands.

Our saviors

Really moved by the article.. Thanks to thousands of such bravehearts, I am able to sit in an AC office now without any fear of insecurity. Creating wealth is not a big job, what matters is ability to preserve it. These gentlemen are precisely doing it.

Hats off to you.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/25loc.htm

You

You have been the one encounter in my life that can never be repeated

'Mendels and Mandals'

May and June months are filled with reports of results of SSC and HSC examinations. Like a ritual, pass percentages, separately for boys and girls are published, toppers are eulogized and their interviews aired, their dreams get recorded in the editorials and then? - back to other recurring news articles on corruption, murder, rape and politics. I am not blaming the newspapers/media - after all they need to survive and have to publish what the junta likes. With an extremely short public memory, nothing much can be expected of the fourth estate too.

Oh god, I didn’t intend to discuss the drawbacks of the media here. As usual, got carried away by random thoughts. The topic here is education. The pass percentages are hovering around 80 and 90 depending upon the syllabus. Bud sadly, what is gone unreported is the fate of thousands of students, who despite scoring decent enough marks, are unable to proceed to higher education due to paucity of funds. And this is not seen just in this SSC and HSC. Dropout rates are much higher in the early school levels too. My sister is a teacher in a Govt. School in Tamilnadu. She says there are many brilliant children who have huge potential, but unable to continue their education due to financial constraints. And this phenomenon is not only prevalent in rural India, but also in many urban centers. And again, this is not specific to any particular community or religion. It is all pervasive.

There are various study reports by forums like CII, ASSOCHAM which talk of the depleting talent levels amongst the Indian youngsters. I am not fully sure whether this is right. What may be true is that the available manpower may not be fully sufficient to satisfy the fast growing needs of knowledge based organizations and manufacturing industry. But I feel there is sufficient talent pool still untapped amongst these young dropouts. It is these young minds which will fill the skill gap that is being portrayed by these institutions. Money need not be the only factor for dropouts. Students might genuinely not be able to do very well in their studies but might be good at other skills.

It is the duty of the Government to ensure that these talents are given due recognition. Reservation based on caste is not going to help in this area. In all of the above points, caste has never come into picture. It’s either economic backwardness or lack of proper guidance that is hindering the prospects of these thousands of young minds. Once economic backwardness is taken care of, irrespective of the caste, it will lead to much better results than what the Government expects through the current system of reservation. And the question arises what is the right criteria for determining economic backwardness. A difficult question indeed. But like any other complicated issue, if one has the will, this can also be tackled. Economic prosperity differs from region to region and from state to state. Government can set up an expert committee to give a detailed analysis of the same so that extra privileges can be given to the genuine needy.

Whatever step the Government is taking, the same needs to be expedited. The rural urban divide is increasing. If this continues and if talented youngsters are left out of the mainstream, it could only lead to disastrous results for the country. Already, many districts are affected by naxalism and the country cannot survive the onslaught of the restive youth. Government needs to wake up, concentrate at the primary education level rather than shedding crocodile tears for the downtrodden at the higher education level. What can be tackled at lower levels of education is unnecessarily being dumped at the higher levels in the form of reservation, resulting in low quality manpower for employment at one end and a dejected, rejected but talented lot on the other end. This can lead us nowhere. Govt. needs to come clear on its reservation policy. Populism, like gravity, is not allowing us to fly high.

I have read that Mendel’s experiments have resulted in a few important conclusions. One of them is that the inheritance of each trait is determined by factors that are passed on to descendents unchanged and that a trait may not show up in an individual but can still be passed on to the next generation. Mandal’s experiment with our reservation policy has also lead to similar results. The benefits of reservation are passed on from one generation to another without any change, irrespective of the concept of creamy layer. The trait of economic backwardness may not be seen in an individual, but reservation can still be passed on to the next generation.

Whatever it is, this is a serious cause of concern. I am fortunate enough to have had so many opportunities on my way, which has put me at a decent level now. But this is not the case with many other talented youngsters. They need direction; they need opportunities – but without any bias.

Way to go............

It’s been over a month now. I was always worried about leaving the college life and entering the torturous professional life. I did not want it. I wanted a merry-go life, where one enjoys it to the core without worrying about the consequences. All these are passé now. I have started working, getting scores of official mails everyday, getting calls from colleagues every now and then, and above all, attending meetings intended to provide solutions for the umpteen numbers of issues that are faced on a day to day basis. I am forgetting the college life. I am getting used to this corporate culture. I need to be careful with the words I use, the way I communicate with others, the way I write mails, the way I express my feelings, the way I point out other’s mistakes and above all, the way I think. A callous attitude is not going to help anymore.

Last 30 days have been an eye opener for me. The organization is like a machine with so many complicated devices attached to it. Every device needs to function in the most efficient manner for the machine to run without any breakdown. This can be equated with people in an organization. Irrespective of how well an organization is built, if its employees do not go in tandem with what the organization professes to achieve, things could just go out of hand. Wait, I am not giving any MBA gas. I am experiencing it everyday. I am seeing how a delay of a few minutes in production or dispatch is resulting in huge losses, how a lack of understanding of systems by people results in the whole process getting screwed beyond repair, how one ill-motivated employee can just ruin the whole department. Running an organization is not simple, it is an art. In fact, I feel it is much more than that. More than managing the machines, what one needs is the tact of managing people and keeping them motivated. Once this is done, other requirements will fall in line.

Organizations are comprised of a web of activities, most of them dependent upon one another. Before working on a task, it is important that one thinks of the repercussions that it will have on other activities. This requires one to have a global view of the whole set of activities. But sadly, this doesn’t happen in most of the cases. People just finish their part of the work somehow and give a damn to other activities. They just don’t think globally. Is it human nature?? Why are things so imperfect?? Won’t the cost of being imperfect be much more than the cost of being perfect?? Where does one draw a line?

I hear a lot about the Toyota way of working, where supposedly all systems are in place. Agreed it must have been achieved over decades, but still it will throw up some light on better work practices. I should take up books on such companies and start understanding them. One thing I clearly understand, there is nothing called free lunch. Every activity involves a cost and a strenuous hard work. World is getting interlinked and much more complicated. It is not the same world that was a decade back and is going to be much more demanding by the next decade. I am going to be competing with the next generation born and brought up in a much more competitive world than I was and thus, is going to be inherently more competitive. What I have learnt is hardly sufficient to survive this onslaught. I need to be on my toes all the time, be updated on the relevant developments, shed my inhibitions and be open minded towards others views. The second half of my life is not going to be as rosy as the first half. I am eagerly awaiting it. Its time I gear up to face a much more difficult and hostile environment. No, I am not sounding negative. I just talk about the impending future and getting myself prepared for it and the need to have a positive outlook.

Cause for worry

http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/06/stories/2007060604121100.htm

A compelling article I came across. A warning to us based on Philippines experience. We cannot afford to succumb to these tactics of giant multinationals at the cost of nutrition and health. I have already come across many such articles in the Indian context too. I only hope the health departments and NGOs active in this area are on top of the situation.

'Serial Maami'

This was the name given to my mother by my erstwhile house owner maami at Sriperumpudur when we used to live there. And reason: My mother comes there on Mondays and goes back to my brother’s place on Saturdays. These TV serials which are telecast on Mondays to Fridays have been behind my mom getting the nickname. And true to her name, she meticulously used to come on Mondays, spend time with me during the weekdays and go back on Saturdays. I used to join her in my brother’s place at weekends.

This was more or less a regular feature in my over 4 years of stay in this temple town. I used to live in an Agraharam (the streets near the temple). It was an awesome place, completely silent, where one can live unperturbed by the noises of the National Highway or the factories nearby. I used to visit the sprawling Lord Adikesava Perumal Temple which was another place where one can spend time peacefully undeterred by what is happening outside. The rituals at the temple, though new to me, were much interesting. The temple also had given shelter to a lot of monkeys (I am talking about the real ones), a beautiful elephant, a horse, a camel and many birds (and mosquitoes :().

The house owner Maama was a very orthodox man. An octogenarian, he always wants to talk to someone and invariably, I will be the prey. I will find it difficult to listen, not because of what he spoke, and not because of the absence of teeth in his mouth, but because of my poor concentration, which has been (and is) haunting me. He used to tell lots of stories, about his experiences and also used to give lots of advices. If I only I had listened to him even partly, my knowledge pool would have been much better now. Anyways, it is easy to complain once some opportunity has been missed.

Now, after 2 years, I am back to the same place for my job. I am staying just opposite to the place where I lived. Maama and Maami are still there, except that Maama has become too old to even talk properly. And worse, my concentration levels have gone from bad to worse now. Who said MBA will improve soft skills?? One thing I understand is unless one has serious interest in improvising himself, no amount of teaching/advising can help him. What one Dhirubhai did without a proper education cannot be attained through high flying qualifications. One is doomed to fail if he doesn’t improve these skills. I keep sitting in office meetings thinking about my college or an SMS or a mail from a friend. It is high time I grow up and be a professional.

Back to topic, it is a completely different feeling coming back to the same town after having lived in Bombay for 2 years. I actually do not like the place. My friend says I will get used to it over a period of time thanks to my newly inculcated internet addiction. Let me see how it goes. Whatever it is, I shouldn’t be cribbing so much especially because it is a known place to me, no language barriers and I do not find a hostile environment. This is not the same with many of my friends. They are employed at far off places, much different from their home town, both culturally and linguistically. If I think of them, I am much better off. Its time one concentrates in high pay-off activities.

I have only talked about a half of the main title. The article will be incomplete without a write up on TV serials. I really can’t understand how the TV producers are managing the shows for years with the same theme. It’s either a man or a woman getting married multiple times or getting divorced multiple times or having extra marital affairs or involving in crimes incompatible with their social stature and so on. Even children and elderly people are not spared. It is depicted as if all elderly people are left to the mercy of their children and that most of their wards throw them in old age homes. The relationship between a mother-in law and a daughter-in-law are always shown as that of Tom and Jerry.

What message are these serial makers wishing to convey to the society?? They depict a degrading culture which is definitely not in tune with the Indian ethos. We are being carried away by western culture which is a definite failure if one has a closer look at its society. We Indians are much better in our way of living and these serial mongers are hell bent on imposing the western culture on us. Sadly, most of us are carried away by this f**king shit that we start living with it. We feel this is the way of life. This is really a sad result of extra-globalization in this area I would say.

Will we regain the 'lost' glory??

Recently read an article on how a University in America has an over 100 year old programme on Sanskrit studies and how few of its professors are working on translating old Sanskrit writings. It is really sad that we in India are not giving much importance to Sanskrit that it deserves. Like yoga, one feels it will be foreigners who will be making use of this better than us.

One only hopes that other ancient Indian languages like Tamil, which though not in the immediate risk of extinction, do not get the same fate after a few centuries, given the globalized world and free movement of people across the globe. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the legacy is passed on to our future generations irrespective of which part of the world we live in.

The article can be read at http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/01arthur.htm