Grit for the Game and our team.......

During my time in Delhi I got a chance to play cricket once in a while. Cricket here was no less excruciating and exciting than what it was when I used to play it for my state side. Some of the players of my team were really good. We may not have been the best technique wise or talent wise, yet we shared one most important thing with all the greats, that was the grit for the game.

At first look our side looks an almost replica of Indian cricket team. We have all the ingredients it takes to make an exciting squad, a bullish Bengali, classy Hyderabadi, passionate Punjabi, belligerent boys from Bihar, Raipur and many other places. Not to forget a cool headed and sharp captain who led us to be a champion side last year, when we were thought of as an underdog.

There are many instances in the tournament which rush to my mind when I sat to pen down but one is of particular interest to me, and to most of my teammates as well. That was a quarter final match of the tournament, we were in first year then and the opponent team were our seniors. Fortunately or unfortunately the college system demands us to be excessively respectful towards our seniors, sometimes without a due reason. J However, matches were played on field and not in college building. We were brash, audacious, courageous and brutal too. We wanted to enjoy the game in its bare and pure form, without slightest dilution. We saw no seniors-juniors while in game. It was just we and them.

That particular match started almost an hour late than decided time as the opponent team arrived late to the field. Before beginning we told that match be played on some other day as only one innings could be played that day in whatever time was left. On the condition of having second innings on some other day match began. They won the toss and chose to bat. In stipulated 8 overs, they scored some 60 odd runs. We indeed bowled well, throughout the tournament and in that match particular.

The opponents then turned their colour, and coaxed us to play the match there and then. We argued that it was bad light and we could not play. They being the seniors coaxed us to start the game at least, and demanded that we see one over. We went down to bat; I opened and took the strike!! After five balls, I started walking off declaring that it was absolutely unplayable by then. We came home thinking that match will restart from that point and we will chase down the total easily. However at midnight our captain gets a call asking him to play the entire match again. Firm as he was, he said that we should play as decided on the field. Arguments reached a level of altercation; we decided that if we are forced to play the match again we will quit the tournament. This stance worked well. The opponents were forced to play the game from that point only.

However by this time, the news of this altercation had reached almost everyone in campus. This match was now not only a match, it somewhere got linked to the pride now…. !!!

However, by the time we reached the ground to finish that game again, we were clear that we will take it just as another game. We started well, reached halfway but then I got out on a lousy stroke. I realized my mistake. New batsmen came in, it was getting darker and darker. Our hopes were getting dim. Opponents were bowling slowly in order to make it more difficult for batsmen as lights were fading in setting sun. In a fit our captain even rushed into the ground asking them to hurry up the proceedings.

I was thinking that we just needed one good over to turn the match, and indeed we got one. The most successful batsman of our side hit two three consecutive boundaries and we won the match.

More than the victory of that game, I celebrate the spirit and grit we all showed for the game at that time. That was one of the few moments of life when we were really carelessly courageous. I crave more such moments for all of us, not only on the field but also off the field, in all areas of life. I hope wherever we go, whatever we be, we will keep alive within us, this GRIT for the GAME.

Antigone

Antigone is a tragedy written by Greek playwright Sophocles. This play portrays many conflicts that humans go through in their lives. The backdrop of the story is set in the competing motives of a teenager girl Antigone and her Uncle, the king Creon. Antigone had two brothers who killed each other in a battle to the throne. Upon their death, Creon declared that, since Eteocles was the one who was fighting to save the state and Polynices was trying to evade it only the former should be rewarded with the rites of death. And the body of Plynices should be left to the dogs and birds without burying.

Antigone considers it her duty to provide proper burial to her brother Polynices also. She out rightly disobeys the decree made by Creon which instructs people not to touch or bury the body of Polynices. Creon’s position is that since Polynices was an enemy of the state, society, no personal relations or duties to him should be observed. On the other hand Antigone thinks that whatever may be the stand of the society, personal duties to her brother must be observed.

This point brings about the oft felt dilemma between the society and the individual. It paints a picture where what an individual considers to be correct and essential is at complete contrast with what society holds true. Antigone believes that the laws made by humans are inferior to the laws made by god and therefore she can disobey them. Creon strictly maintains that laws of the state should be above everything and no personal ties of relationship should prevent one from following them.

Creon sends Antigone to the prison, with an intention to kill her. However he later realizes that due to this act Gods are angry at the state. However by the time he knows this he is far too committed to the decision of killing Antigone and hence can’t reverse it. Creon’s son Haemon was in love with Antigone. He kills himself when he finds that his father killed his fiancé only in order to set an example, win a debate or prove a point that his opinion was correct.

On hearing the news of Haemon’s death, Creon’s wife also commits suicide. Creon is the only character alive at the end of the play. The play leaves reader with several questions, who was more right between Creon and Antigone? Intuitively we may find Antigone to be right yet, Creon’s stand can also not be entirely wrong or rejected. Definition of what is just, is also something that becomes very crucial in the play.

But just as in the play, most of the times just can’t be defined, universally. And if it were left to the personal definitions, people will only use it to commit unjust acts all the time under the garb of personal definition of justice.

Tiya, A Parrot's journey home

This book is a wonderful account of experiences that one face during the course of life. Tiya, protagonist parrot listens to the voice of his invisible guide, Hans. Motivated by this he leaves the cosy comforts of his life at banyan and moves into the unexplored lands. Through his journey he encounters myriad types of people and creatures. Each encounter is a challenge of life, and it just keeps getting tougher as Tiya moves ahead in his journey.

Character of Tiya is an illustration of how an individual moves up from one stage to the other in life. Each stage is different and offers unique perspectives on the psyche and learning of an individual at that particular stage. This is described beautifully in an event where Tiya initially shows exuberance for being a teacher to all, soon discovers that it is impossible to teach anyone anything. In addition to this, one also sees that the progression from an insolent young parrot to a poised parrot was not an overnight transition; Tiya had undergone a lot in order to achieve that transition.

Another thing that the book very subtly describes was the importance of all the people that Tiya met in his journey for the attainment of his ultimate stage. This underscored the importance of all the experiences in one’s life.

Another thing which is worth thinking is perhaps, that there is no clear definition of what all we could achieve, what all we could be, the limit to the function of life is dependent totally on us. However one thing is sure, however and wherever you may take it, it will have to have some essentials like humility, simplicity and truthfulness in order for it to be called a true attainment.

This book will have to be re-read after some time to see which stage of journey am I now at?

I hope to return home soon, and successful.

Connection of Cricket, Honesty and Hardwork

Cricket is one of the most addictive things around. Only those who watch it know it. The excitement of each ball, each run, classic cover drives, unconventional cut over the keeper and all those things that happen in a day’s play are unparalleled and unmatched.

Besides this excitement of sports, cricket also represents the classic philosophical aspect of life. This is best reflected through the uncertainty and honesty of the game. In one of the recent test matches India won the game just by one wicket, Bangladesh defeated New Zealand very dominantly. In both these instances the hardwork met with honesty. When hours of perseverance, practice and patience meets with the random, uncertain and pure form of game, the resultant actions are such that leave all with their mouth wide open in awe and wonder.

Cricket is not great only because it provides lot of money and entertainment. What makes it great is that in that ground, most of the times, level playing field is ensured for all. On that ground, hard work meets with honesty and you see the results.

I wish everyone was a cricketer or a sportsman at least. But alas…….

LossoLogy…. Learning from losses……

The premise on which we live our life is fundamentally optimistic. We almost take it for granted that our life tomorrow will certainly be better than it is today. While this may be true for most of the economic and professional aspects but it is not entirely true for the many other personal aspects of life. Scary as it may sound, but at times life gives us jolts that break our entire intellectual, professional and ability related prowess and arrogance.

Fickle is the power that we draw from our advantageous background, schooling, upbringing and qualification when it comes to stand up to some of the unavoidable circumstances that life has to offer. Loss – of any type - is one such instance. Be is as basic as that of a child who just lost his ball, or of that mother who lost her newly born boy, loss always shakes us from within. It always leaves us brooding over questions starting from, why? How? What?

What comes to our rescue at this time is not the networking we did for climbing the career ladder, but the bonds we made through genuine care, love and kindness for others. Not the skills we developed like slaves but the strengths we developed as independent individuals. In no way the importance of skills and networking can be undermined, however we must remember the weapons in the real war called life are different. These things may be of little use when we confront life in its worst form.

Conscious effort to imbibe and inculcate, the ability to not only withstand the loss but also coming from it as a stronger individual, may help.

Once a senior mentor of mine had told me, “the strength emanates from moral values, knowing yourself, and sense of “NON Negotiable values in life.” This holds true in all times.

Ghare-Baire (The home and the world)

Ghare Baire – Rabindranath Tagore

Translator: Nivedita Sen

This is novel is a story of subtle transformation. It captures two way changes that emanate from an individual’s interaction with the society around oneself.

In the backdrop of Pre-independence era, this novel not only illustrates the story of its characters but also is a sound account of evolution that was in process during that time. Moreover, careful attention of the author to ever relevant issues of feminism, caste politics, lust for power and wealth, religious bigotry and societal pressures make this novel a wholesome reading experience.

Story begins with Bimala who is a simple lady in the starting. Like all, she too craves for beauty, envied and annoyed by sister in laws, worships her husband and idolizes her mother. However when her life comes out of the “Andarmahal” of the house to the drawing room, in garb of discussions with Sandip, it takes a U turn. Sandip is another significant character in the novel. His character perhaps reflects an extremist ideology initially and is later exposed as someone who channels the enthusiasm in the young and gullible to use it for personal goals. He inspires Bimala that she is the torch bearer of freedom for India. He constantly exalts her, adulates her as Queen. This constant adulation sways Bimala’s mind, she starts comparing Sandip with her husband. Her husband, Nikhilesh, is a complete contrast to Sandip, in manners and in thoughts. Sandip is expressive, whereas Nikhilesh reticent, sandip believes in Machiavellian means in service of nation’s good, Nikhilesh does not approve of application of unfair means, even for the national purpose. Sandip snatches whatever he wants, Nikhilesh believes in the power of will and wait.

There are times in novel when one sees Bimala tilted towards Sandip and completely neglecting Nikhilesh. However with the progress in story Sandip’s other colors are exposed; he takes lot of money from Bimala in the name of national struggle. Bimala comes out of his spell and realizes his weak side, dark side and loathes him for that. She also feels tremendous guilt for the misdeeds she undertook from his inspiration and instigation.

All this while, through Nikhilesh author conveys the difficulty of being good. He is always cheated, towards the end he realizes and expresses that “it is well and good if people are compatible with men of self-willed ideas like me, but those who are not, cheat us. We make even innocent people deceitful.” This expression, though submissive, shows the strength of his character and clarity of his thought. His character also seems to be conveying, indirectly the frailty of women’s character in some parts of he novel. Expressions like, “women were not created for sophisticated men who indulge themselves in ideas” are extreme, derogatory and shows that in mental tumult even men like Nikhilesh give in to the anger and cross the line of propriety. Even in such situations, he is very controlled and composed in outwardly behaviour. This leads to the deterioration of his health.

Nikhilesh’s character also relates to three other characters in brilliant ways and portrays significant aspects of our lives. Chandranath babu, his teacher, is someone who is just like his father. The old man shows great strength in countering the popular opinions. He is the only support of Nikhilesh when almost all around him, mock him, criticise him and hates him. Such support is necessary to nurture the truth and strength perhaps.

Ponchu is a miserable man who seeks help from Nikhilesh in several instances. His misery causes lot of discomfort to Nikhilesh. The best part unfolds in the last chapter wherein the reader sees the bond between Mejorani and Nikhilesh, as that of a mother and child. This revelation comes as a solace in overall chaotic situation, and is full of poignancy.

There is another bond that deserves mention, between Amulya and Bimala. Bimala considers him as his younger brother. Amulya too is initially follower of Sandip but in the end seeing his wickedness draws himself away from him. He symbolises both, deceived and disillusioned youth, who in the end meets poignant death.

All other characters, Mejorani, Barorani, Harish Kundu etc. reflect the societal characteristics vividly. Perhaps all Bengalis and Indians would identify and relate with them easily.

Just like all great creations, Ghare Baire, does not end, it simply blends into our minds and stirs it up with lot of questions. In the end Sandip returns all the money he had taken from Bimala, Bimala confesses her theft to Nikhilesh like a brave lady, Nikhilesh and Mejorani, Nikhilesh takes on to a violent religious mob in order to stop it spreading further violence and is severely injured in that course; Amulya is shot in his chest. Reader is left pondering over these instances and several others.

The answers may be found not outside not inside, only in the intersection of the two perhaps!!

Teaching- learning and the purpose of participation

Couple of years back when I was in the final year of my graduation, I got a call from the principal of the support school where I used to teach to the economically underprivileged kids, saying that there was a debate competition and he was thinking if the students can participate in it.

I told him instantly that of course students should participate, and also told him names of couple of students who were more articulate and talkative in class.

He paused a bit, and then continued, “The language allowed for debate is English.”

I went blank when I heard this. Since I was their English teacher, I knew that their comfort level with language was nowhere close to that of taking part in debate in English. However, I asked him what the topic was. “Corruption is for the rich, it does not affect the poor much” was the topic. “Students are supposed to participate in a team of two, one for the topic and another against it.

Without worrying of how students would react to it, I thought to take a chance. That evening when I went for my class I put forward this topic to them in Gujarati, asked them to think if they could take any side. Fortunately, they thought, not only did they think but they could also put the arguments in a decent manner. Next, I helped them with some words in English and asked them to speak in English. This was way too much to expect though!!

Since I also had my CAT exam that year, I used to meet them only once a week, so we hardly got a chance to practice twice before the final event, and in both the times they could speak in Gujarati but did poorly in English.

However, it was very clear to me and to them also that our purpose was not to win, we just wanted to see something new, calibrate ourselves, and experience something we never did before.

Some days later, I heard that out of two students who had participated in the event, both could put their point across – in half English half Gujarati- speech in front of a crowd of more than hundred people.

There was a temptation in my mind to prepare a whole speech for the students, and just asking them to mug it up and vomit it out at the competition; however it was only good not to surrender to that. That was the happiest day of my short teaching career as students had learned to think, and express on their own, their opinions were truly their own!!

Today when I look back at this event, I reconfirm the fact upon my mind that the sole purpose of participating in any event or competition is not to win it or see it as an opportunity to add a feather to your successes, but it is an opportunity to do, think, see, feel, something newer which one would have never had if one had not participated.

At times in this race, one tends to put away these important learnings, and focus more on immediate outcomes, however being reminded of the true purpose is always a great thing.

The Teacher - An Excerpt from a Book

A remarkable school teacher

Some times of an evening you might chance to see a frail-looking man, short and short sighted, in a black coat and with a prodigious head, walking along the oval pathway. He is a nation builder,- he has helped to educate two generations. He must still be coming back into the memories of thousands who have forgotten all that they set out to learn at school.

Life has not given Nusserwanji P. Pavri his meed of reward, but that has not dulled the edge of his cheerful debonair spirit. He evidently believes that Dante was right in condemning to Stygian marsh those who had been sad under the blessed sunlight. With all his sure and enormous erudition, he is Modesty in person. He has not produced any book. The result of his labour is not so many hundred pages but himself. The issue of his sustained mental effort is not a volume but a man; it could not be embodied in print, it consists in the living word.

Nusserwanji is a quiet man, not to be easily ruffled or rattled. Patience is an instinct with him. He has the simplicity of the man in Dostoevsky’s Brother’s Karamazov who used to ask the birds to forgive him.

He brought the human touch in the lessons; - it was always a lesson never a lecture. When Nusserwanji taught history facts were brought to life, the dry bones of history stirred, the ages began to masquerade. He conjured up before you the fog at Lutzen and the snow at Towton, the shower of rain that led to the American revolution, and the severe winter of 1788 that produced the famine of 1789 and thereby the French upheaval. You saw Brutus, the norm of republican virtue, extorting 48% interest from a wretched Cypriote community; you saw the lights burning low in the skies and the stage darkens in the middle ages; you heard the din of toppling thrones and the crashing of empires during the first world conflagration.

And never did his vision dim, his grasp weaken or his memory fail.

His learning does not consist merely in the stock of facts – the merit of a dictionary – but the discerning spirit, the power of appreciation and that of comparative criticism. Knowledge is to Nusserwanji the bread of life. He reads as if he were to live forever, even as if he were to die the next day. He inoculated his students with his own thirst for knowledge. He was a precision and a martinet in discipline. To him knowledge could no more be aquired without high seriousness than a symphony could be rendered upon the flute.

Punctuality was with him a passion. You could set your watch, correct to half a minute, by the time he came into the class. His private library was at the disposal of all his pupils, and so were his time and learning. There never was a man more generous in encouragement or gentler in reproach. By personal contact with him you not only learnt something, you became something. Contact with him moulded your character and taught you, in the most impressionable years of your life, to beware of ideas half-hatched and convictions reared by accidents. Only thoroughly good man could be so great a teacher as Nusserwanji indubitably was.

He was unerring in his acumen to scent the latent ability in a student. In that great tempest of terror which swept over France in 1973, a certain man who was every hour expecting to be led off to the guillotine, uttered this memorable sentiment:

“Even at this incomprehensible moment, when morality, enlightenment, love of country, all of them only make death at the prison door or on the scaffold more certain, - yes, on the fatal tumbril itself, with nothing free but my voice, I could still cry Take care to a child that should come too near to the wheel; perhaps I may save his life, perhaps he may one day save his country.” Nusserwanji had this large and inspiring belief in the potentialities of a Kid. He was personally and vitally interested in the progress and career of all his pupils.

Many other things could be related about Nusserwanji from the wide leaved book of memories. The associations of travel fade the incidents of life press so closely one upon another that each in turn is trampled under foot, but one’s associations with a teacher like Nusserwanji remain forever unchanged. He has now retired but the energy of his educational service remains. This soothing thought must have opened a larger meaning and a higher purpose to his daily work. His personal influence has not fallen silent. His pupils will long feel the presence of his character about them, making them ashamed of what is indolent or selfish and encouraging them to all disinterested labour both in trying to do good and in trying to find out what the good is.

Where to Go?

Days end…..

Changes have been so common that now eyes and mind have become too numb to notice them. Each day is very similar to the other day; at times it seems the whole day was just a Xerox copy of some previous day.

There is a discomforting feeling of end approaching, stealthily. However this feeling is also mixed with some sort of fear.

Fear of stagnating, not moving. At times mind thinks that given a chance it would run fast as it can, the only question stopping it from running is.

Where to go?

Two interpretations of a wonderful song.....

Thoda hai, thode ki zaroorat hai....

This post refers to the different interpretations of a song. The song in question is “Thoda hai, Thode ki zaroorat ha” Film Khatta-meetha.

The first line of the song leaves the listener with two possible interpretations.

It says “Thoda hai, thode ki zaroorat hai”

The immediate interpretation is that of all the necessities and requirements some are fulfilled and others are not fulfilled.

After a little while, I thought something different. Does it also not leave room for an interpretation like, “one has modest resources and the requirements are also modest in nature/amount/type.”?

Second line of the poem says “Zindagi phir bhi yahaan, khoobsurat hai”. After listening to this one is sure that the poet indicates the first interpretation, however I believe the second interpretation is also equally likely.

Don’t you think so?

And now Let Me Sleep – P K Balakrishnan

Single story, So many strands…

The epic of Mahabharata leaves so many questions unanswered. Therefore any work that puts the story of Mahabharata in perspective draws special attention. This type of literature plays significant role in the way we understand, interpret and appreciate the epic in better manner. The epic in its original form is so huge, wide and deep that it is often difficult to construe it in a single go.

The present book, “And now let me sleep” takes out the two most crucial and most emotive characters of the epic and puts their stories into a unique perspective. The story of the novel revolves around the anguish, confusions, dilemmas and evolution of the characters in the post war phase. The fact that story is based in the post war backdrop, makes it even more interesting and important.

The main strand of the story emanates from the agony of Draupadi for Karna. Yudhishthir, having known that Karna was his own brother, is in irrecoverable pain and guilt. He loathes himself for having killed his own elder brother. In this sorrow he decides to leave everything and go for penances. His detachment, over the sorrow for the death of Karna, is unthinkable for Draupadi. She is still seething in the rage over her insult by Karna when she was unrobed in front of the entire assembly. Through the counsels of various characters that Yudhishthir seeks, author sends out a profound message of insignificance of human existence. The Dialogues between Krishna and Draupadi are also very significant in shaping the understanding of the epic. Krishna tells her, “Draupadi, you have seen the face of karna in the assembly in the most cursed moment of deterioration. You have seen a wicked man laughing in intoxication at the sight of a renowned princess being unrobed in the assembly. What you saw that day was real, but you must understand that it was only a single drop in the entire ocean of a man’s existence.” This is the first time when conception of Karna starts changing in mind of Draupadi.

Slowly as the story moves Draupadi compares her grief to the grieves of other characters, Gandhari, Kunti, widowers of warriors and Karna. She realizes that her life closely resembles the life of Kunti. Another profound realization that occurs to Draupadi was that due to love for the Pandavas, various characters have often transgressed the moral limits in their conducts in Mahabharata. For example, Bhishma, Krishna and Kunti all asked Karna to fight from Pandavas’ side. She further resonates her mind that all of them were observing the duty of their love towards Pandavas, in dissuading Karna, however Karna did not have anyone to advocate his interests, he was not loved, and he was unfortunate. When she saw this in the light of the fact that the lives of his husbands is in fact the alms from Karna her view for Karna changes.

The most touching moment comes in the novel when in the end, Draupadi too, like Kunti craves that both Arjuna, and Karna remain alive, in her dream Draupadi when seeing Arjuna, shooting an arrow at Karna, she shouts, “Arjuna don’t do that, don’t do that.”

Last half an hour

Everything was set, completed, finished, closed, sealed and packed. All those things that cannot be ended and packed were left in their own states and stages.

Eyes were observing things as if it were gulping them inside. Without any work I had taken couple of rounds of the entire house, just to see things again and again. In undue worry of “lest her son would forget something important” my mother too did two rounds of checking the entire luggage and made me see what all I was taking with me. All this while, my eyes kept falling on things that I was not taking with me.

· The old bat which had turned red due to some long practice sessions and innings

· The cupboard which contained some of the most read books, old diaries and some brilliant films.

· The couch placed right in front of the television, where so many hours of all my vacations have been spent.

· The big mango tree which used to be a resting place while playing in the backyard.

· That corner where cat had kept her kittens

There was deluge of memories in mind. I was trying, in vain, to hold the clock still.

The most difficult thing about this half an hour is that you know that after so small a time you will be going away from so many beautiful and meaningful things. YET YOU CANNOT HOLD ON TO THEM!!

During my train journey I wondered if our lives are also like that, the only difference is that we do not know which half an hour will be our LAST HALF AN HOUR!!

What happens when a fish Falls in love….. ?

There was a beautiful river. Whenever it used to flow with its full force, it looked as if diamonds were flowing in a seamless flow!!!
However, beneath this beautiful surface, there was even more beautiful world. The world of fishes. They were all very beautiful too.
One of them was a little different. That fish was always out of the groups of other fishes, it was never found in any get-togethers of fishes. Others considered it to be snobbish.
It was not particularly snobbish fish, but it was little more reserved and introvert than others, hence it avoided going to various places. One day, when it was sitting on a stone, brooding over some philosophical thought. A crocodile came to eat it up!!!
It ran hard; crocodile ran harder; just as it was about to be eaten up the current of the river suddenly changed. River took charge of the young fish and took it way ahead of the crocodile.
From this day, fish became fan of the river. Both became close friends, they grew so fond of each other that they even forgot the basic and indelible differences that existed between them!!! They continued to cherish each other’s company for long.
One day, fish asked the river if she would marry him. River told that it was impossible, as her existence was to dissolve into the sea one day. River also told fish not to expect anything in this regard as it would be impossible for a river to marry a fish. Fish wanted to know the reasons why river considered it to be impossible. However river refused to give anymore reasons.
For days together the fish kept mulling over and over the refusal. It seemed that it could not accept it perhaps.
River occasionally spoke to fish but those conversations lacked the personal intimacy and warmth that once flourished between them. Fish tried to empty its mind, but unfortunately, its existence seemed to be the subset of the existence of the river.
Fish was in a bad condition, it could neither get out of the river, nor could it get the river out of it.!!!!!!
This happens when a fish falls in love......

Sack the CEO

A book review

Sack The CEO is a satirical book written by Jeetendra Jain. The book revolves around main characters of Smallfry, Fastrack and Takeiteasy who are co-workers in a multinational called Twist in the tail Limited! The company, justifying its name completely, offers them bucketful of surprises and shock every now and then.

The trio tries to fight their way out of corrupt environment that prevails in the (mis)leadership of Topgun, CEO of the company. In the process of fighting corruption Smallfry identifies several different patterns of behaviour of corrupt CEOs. Smallfry, elated with this discovery plans to put this on paper and he begins to write a book on these corrupt CEOs and the techniques to get them out of the organization!

The book is divided in three parts of which two are the parts of Smallfry’s book describing the corrupt CEOs as various malignant diseases and giving the doctrines for kicking them out. All the characters in the book are very vividly portrayed by the author. Author successfully generates humor from the art of giving very suggestive names to each of its characters! For example the secretary of Topgun is Miss Alarm Belle. The poor accountant who is always being transferred just because he does not fudge the figures is Onewayticket! Even the names of main characters (Smallfry, Fastrack and Takeiteasy) are chosen with dexterity.

The book presents the corruption prevailing in corporate world, the experience of author of having worked with various companies helps him lot in knitting the plots of stories. It is a strong satire on the red-tapism and corruption of Indian corporates. The story is so well-packaged that the reader can have the taste of both a fictional novel as well as of a reflection of REAL world. Never in his writing the author gets cynical, on the contrary the humor of the book has made it a humble description. Some of the dialogues are comic yet most philosophical, For example; when Takeiteasy tells Smallfry “ I have told you so many times that a company is vague and abstract concept, there is no such entity as a company; It is them.” The friendship between the three lead characters also forms an emotional bond in the mind of the reader. But above all it is the humor that Jeetendra Jain successfully brings out of situations that makes the book a good read.

The plot story and characters are such that we can relate ourselves with it. Who doesn’t feel the simple sooth of Smallfry and the dashing, vigorous and heroic machismo of Fastrack and lethargy and carelessness of Takeiteasy? It is our story in our style!

An enjoyable book which presents to you the corruption in comic way and in the end keeps a hopeful candle of honesty lit by showing a victory of the terrific trio over vicious corrupation.

The thing that is common in BEER and Education!!!!

Two years back there was a guest lecture by Dr. Tom, an international marketing expert, (an ex McKenzie employee) who worked for a famous beer manufacturing company. While mentioning about their operations in India he told that in India their biggest challenge was to ask people to drink but without getting drunk. Reflecting on this sentence one realizes that the challenge probably lies in customer education and in driving the customer demands properly. In short, in teaching the consumer what they should demand. Demand is inherently seen as a phenomenon largely decided and dominated by the consumers but here it seems that the product is such that consumers need to be taught as to how their demands should be.

In the same lecture we had also discussed that education sector in India is in abysmal state. Interestingly this follows a very close similarity with the problem in beer marketing discussed above. Not that as a product beer and education has any similarities, nor do students wish to have more and more of it!! (Education being no exception to the rule of Diminishing marginal utility for majority of the people!) Then what is the similarity? Smart readers will have definitely figured out, but let me help you in case you did not get it.

Education in our country is always considered as a mean to some attainments. For most of us the reason why we study something is attached to the fact that where would that education place us. (How much money is there in it?) This is a problem not only limited to the higher education, primary, secondary and higher secondary education’s situation is even worse. Parents while choosing school for their children look how much percentage the students of the particular school have got, while this is certainly something one should consider but there are lot many things that should be (must be) considered while selecting a school. Development of a child as a person being the most important of all is thoroughly neglected.

The problem does not stop here, it begins from here. Parents and students do not know exactly what should their demands be. A student can, no doubt, demand best pedagogic techniques however that may not at all correspond with his best result. Since there is ignorance among the consumers regarding their demands, they are buying everything and anything that is offered. Starting from K.G. Nursery or pre-schools which claim to turn one’s child into MSD or Sachin or Shahrukh (or Amir) or Sania Mirza to bogus personality development institute or training institute which offer 100% placement guarantee with a small, almost invisible asterisk of course!

All this needs to be thrown away! These businesses are perhaps good for making money right now but I am sure, as the market will become mature and more and more educated, learned as to what to demand; only those institutes will survive which offer actual benefits and not illusory promises.

It is a task ahead of us to come up with ways with which we can train customers so that they demand what they rightly need. Research in the area of teaching consumers may prove very useful in time to come.

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FOR what he is, and What he is not....

Conscience aches when one says, “I will”,

-Takes a stand, that one knows, is difficult to keep,

and one can’t.

Conscience aches, when one sees around

Just to find people flaunting away happily,

The rules that are to be followed with rigour.

Conscience aches when one speaks,

Unheard always……and hears all that

Oppose all that is taught to be true and good.

Conscience aches when one doubts,

The god whom one loves so dearly.

In a quandary, whether to curse or to laud, the god,

For what he is and what he is not.

SMSes of a SalesMan

“Call him now, how can’t the bloody connection work?” Came the roar from one of my roommates. He was a software engineer, usually a calm and composed fellow, but it is strange how being disconnected from internet for a few minutes can impact human beings these days!!!!

His anger was visible, even when he spoke with the agent from the service provider. The agent came at our flat at 10:30 PM. All of us, frustrated by loss of our net connection, shouted on him at once. Then began the long list of complaints that the speed is too slow, multiple connections are not working properly, router is not functioning well etc.

While we were venting our anger, he was quietly trying to assess the problem. The computer engineer friend told him that this was an error in technical part and that he (a salesman) was quite incapable of solving it. “You better send one of your technical support staff people, rather than you running around each time.” He was very rude, however all thought that such a treatment to the person, at 10:30 in night after a whole day’s work was acceptable, justified, natural and right!!!

At times our sense of right and wrong change at such rapid pace!!!!

The scene continued for a little while and that fellow was further humiliated by us.

Then, he asked me to note down one of the numbers of the technical support staff from his cell phone. “It must be in one of the messages, please note it down while I will give it a last chance.”

Meanwhile it dawned to us (so late) that we had not even offered water to the man, in such bad summer at so lat an hour. This fault was quickly corrected and chilled water was offered to him.

While searching for the number, I had to go through some of the SMSes in his phone. One that caught my eye first was this

“Finish the target today otherwise forget about the leave you applied for”

After some messages, another caught my eye,

“Do I need to remind you how slow we have been, come on, be fast or else everyone’s payment for the week will be stopped from above.” The tone of the message was threatening.

Fortunately I soon got the number I was looking for, then I put his phone down. Our problem could not be solved and he left our flat at around midnight.

But his exit left me with another problem, why do we see some tasks as inherently shameful, shabby, stigmatic and inferior than others.

To be honest, I perhaps do not have the courage to keep working under such threatening communications from the superior and such disrespectful treatments from customers, even out of sheer helplessness.

Are not all jobs same and all men equal?

Painter of signs - R.K. Narayan

Once a critic had commented “R.K. makes you feel, through his writings, what it is to be an Indian.” With lot of books springing from the soil of Malgudi, “The painter of Signs” is yet another book in which the author, in subtle, comic and poetic way, captures the picture of the Indian society and its interaction with social and global challenges and changes.

Raman is portrayed as a self-satisfied man in the beginning of the book who is happy living in his small, closed world. His life takes a huge toll when it intersects with Daisy’s completely different, outgoing world! Daisy is portrayed as young, bold, beautiful, passionate and hardworking woman, committed to the mission of controlling India’s unbridled population explosion.

To me the characters of Raman and Daisy, who eventually fall in love with each other and decide to get married, are suggestive of two different types of people existing in our society. With vivid description of central characters the author successfully transcends the message of present day social challenges and issues.

The best component or characteristic of R.K.Narayan’s writings is that he makes serious comments in comic manner! This serio-comic style makes reading of his books a hilarious experience! The characters like stern and superstitious lawyer, the lecher bangle-seller, ever irritating Gupta, mystic saint, cow like school teacher keep reader amused throughout the book.

R.K. Narayan is a kind of author who gives space to almost every flavor of thought prevalent in Indian society. The character of aunt represents the integral part of our society, family life.

Her character commands special mention as, though she is always shunned and overpowered by Raman, she is the one whom Raman badly craves for in the end of the story. Her selflessness in treating Raman is very touchy, even she has a story but that is hardly paid any attention…..her character brings somewhat poignancy to the plot of the story.

Daisy after being very close to Raman, leaves him. He feels she deserted him, she is concerned about the cause. The one who provides some stability to the story and also to the reader, aunt, has gone to pilgrimage!

Readers are as shaken as Raman might have been!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is our life worse than the life in our Dad's generation???

Quality of life does not depend on how much you can eat but on how much you can digest. And however comic it may sound, I mean it literally. Here are some of the reasons why I believe my life is not better than generation dad and generation grand dad. My dad use to cycle a distance of 18 kilometers everyday till he purchased his first vehicle at the age of 28. The idea of just commuting for 18 kilometers even on a bike makes me feel tired. I agree that the life expectancy and average life have gone up but the reasons behind this success remain largely medical advancements and not the growth of our health.

Taking a metaphorical meaning of digestion, I’d like to tell that the education has taken a very different role in our life; the motive of cognitive growth has given a way to narrow goals of using education just as a means to some ends. The problem arising out of this is summed up beautifully by T.S. Elliot when he says,

Where is the life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom, we have lost in knowledge;

Where is the knowledge- we have lost in information?

Another crucial thing that we have not been able to carry from our past generations is the simplicity in outlook of the life. There were far bigger problems than financial recessions to terrorism, - some people of generation grand dad came to India from Pakistan while trains were being burnt, they left everything they had, and yet started a new life as if nothing bad had ever happened. Then came generation dad, they too had their share of troubles starting from a sluggish economy to wars, and emergency of course. They were the people who restored and protected the democracy of our country in most critical times. They did all this without uttering a word. They could do this perhaps because they did not know the words like frustration, depression and that we know. They did this because they do not blow their problems out of proportion as we do.

Another reason why we have lost the simplicity is that we have become too obsessed with the narrow idea of success, there are so many among us who are caught in this vicious circle of illusory success. The means like money, machines and other life comforting instruments have become ends of our lives. The idea of simple living and high thinking is being forgotten fast. Repercussions of this are seen in growing number of students committing suicides each year.

It is easy to pass the buck of responsibility to the previous generations but let us take it, that ---

The time is out of joint, oh cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right.

I am sure that by moving closer to the roots we will surely set it right.

There is something more to life than, water bottles!!!!!

48 degree temperature, 2’o clock in the afternoon, the sun is scorching, blazing and the heat is anything but bearable.

There is a tall multi-storey building being built at one of the prime locations of Ahmedabad. In that locality there is an office where a friend goes to work.

On one afternoon when he was going to the office, he saw a boy. The boy was barely 6 to 7 years old. The boy was carrying water for her mother who was working as a labour in the building that was being constructed.

My friend thought that it was too much of a load for the kid to carry two big water bottles at a time, hence he tried to help him saying “let me take one for you” the boy started crying. It was only later that my friend realized that the boy was crying because usually people used to snatch away the water bottles brought by the kid.

He further noticed that people even did not allow that boy to use a lift. So much courteous behaviour towards a kid in a compound of such corporate area!!!!

He could not stand this; he took the boy assuring him that he would safely take him up to his mom. He went into the lift. Some people scorned at him for bringing in a dirty looking kid in their neat lift. Nobody spoke anything though, while getting out, my friend broke the silence “he should know that there is something more to life than just saving one’s water bottles from goons”!!!

[1] Based on a true story, shared by a friend working as a tax consultant at big firm

TOGETHERNESS

Togetherness

Alone I can't change the world
Alone I can't find my way
Alone I can't be remembered
Alone I can't build an empire
Alone I can't be admired
Alone I can't end hunger
Alone I can't be the best man I can be
But together we can.

-Kholekile Monakal

The present article borrows the last words of the poem, “together we can”; and explores the importance of togetherness in the various events and learning of our lives. We would also try and isolate a few important things that may help us fare well when we work together.

Presentations! This exercise of our college is the best way to learn the importance of togetherness. Some of the readers already know that, while what you do individually is important but it is also important that the whole group works well. Often it seems difficult to find right coordination in the beginning when so many strangers are put to work on a common goal. Gradually as the time passes those strangers become friends and that is the time when the goal of the exercise is nearly served! Someone does the editing of all the slides, some searches for matter, some formats the slides, some arranges for speakers, some keeps the time of the whole presentation and some tries to think of intelligent answers to possible questions, when all the things work in this synchronized manner the learning and the quality of the presentations are at their sublime. (Best)

Working together would be perhaps all the more important when we finish our education and enter a job or business or any other work for that matter. The very basis of modern day business lies in the division of labour. And ability to work in a team comprising different people is a precondition to the successful division of labour.

Tempted to take the idea of “togetherness” a step higher, I would like to ask you a question. Do you think that any large scale movement, such as our freedom struggle or end of Apartheid or movements to reduce carbon footprints can ever be a success if millions of people were not to be together?

Same way the problems of the present time like terrorism, global warming, economic recession and dire disparity in distribution of resources will also not end unless we all come together to address them.

In all of the above examples the common thing is that people have united or will hopefully unite to achieve an objective. Unity may not always be easy to attain, but I am sure that effort to attain some of the following things will help us stay together on many important missions in time to come.

o Courage and compassion to support others

o Ability to sacrifice personal interest toward the general interest

o Understanding of the bigger picture

o Tolerance towards different opinions

o Commitment to the objective

Just as there are many problems in the world, there are many possible solutions as well. However in all those possible solutions we need to put the integrated effort. Clearly, in future the ability to work together will determine the quality of our lives. I am committed take the quality of our lives on a higher plain. Are you?

And you thought it affects my life????

• · We think that losing one’s sight and hearing capacity makes one vulnerable but Helen Keller shows it is not like that.
• · We think that having pancreatic cancer was the worst blow of destiny to a man, but Steve Jobs shows it is not like that.
• · We think that it is that an athlete, who comes back after cancer, cannot perhaps play his sport anymore, well Lance Armstrong shows it is not like that.
• · Losing everything in a natural disaster means we have been hit hardest by god, but so many survivors of such brutal blows show us that it is not like that.
• · We thought that being removed disgracefully from captaincy and thrown out of team with reprimand meant an end of a sportsman’s career, but Sourav Ganguly shows us it is not like that.

So many examples are around us. It is easy to neglect them labelling them as an outlier case. What is difficult yet important for us to learn is that in all these conditions individuals faced situations which seemed, as bad as- if not worse than- death. Yet they continued, went on with force, fun and faith.

In the end, what seemed insurmountable once was only a small halt in a great journey.

Most of our problems that we face, do not really affect our life as significantly as we think they do. Think about it, believe it.

Foreign language Teacher

He was a passionate teacher; this could be proven from the fact that even though he was appointed on just temporary basis he used to stay back in the library to help children in their learning. He taught French to the students who were primarily supposed to learn law. To these legal eagles, this subject was merely peripheral.

At best students were insouciant to learning French and at worst; they were unwilling, at times even ridiculing him for his efforts. Yet he kept going on in his efforts to teach him this language he so much loved.

One day a little more sensitive student came to him and told, “Sir, your efforts are good but you know, this class is not made up of students willing to learn this language.” He paused to judge his reaction but got none, he continued “we just want to pass this subject and move on, as it is in a three months course one can’t learn a foreign language.” He paused again, and then continued, “I hope you understand that sir”.

“I am happy that you care for me kid,” He replied with a smile. “But let me assure you son, I know it from the day we began classes, I also know that you people know that I cannot fail you in this paper. However I appreciate your kindness, for reminding me not to expect anything but ignorance from this class. Thanks”

Their conversation ended there, both went on their own ways. It seemed that the student was feeling some sort of discomfort as he saw that the class was not even respecting the efforts that the foreign language teacher was putting in. He respected him, and wanted to express it in the behaviour towards him too, but was not being able to do so. Maybe because he was not courageous enough to stand out as odd in class.

Throughout the whole course he continued to feel that discomfort, part of that perhaps stem from the fact that his father was also a teacher, teaching a foreign language to students in some other town.

The course ended, even the year ended, but the boy could never convey the gratitude and respect, he had for that teacher. Neither did the teacher think it fit to revert to that one odd kid.

I at times wonder how inflexible and cruel can our systems be to the sensitivities of human emotions???

Pillars of professionalism

Power, position, pay package, profitability and of course profile………….

“You are what you do” is a famous statement in most widely (wrongly) quoted book, “the art of war”. I have heard this statement mostly from professors teaching competition and marketing strategies. Certainly B-Schools have their environment which compels you to believe and think only on the lines of position, profile, authority, business sense, profitability, pay package, brand name and of course power.

The question we often forget to ask all the while we are in school is that all there is to one’s existence?

Is there no other dimension to our identity? Why we always tend to classify everyone on only these lines, which we are taught to be the pillars of professionalism.

Even these pillars are very tenuous; they exclude some of the very basic and essential characteristics.

This process of commoditizing individuals, in certain set of characteristics, categories and classes is very dangerous. It prevents us from looking at those things which are beyond MBA. Things like basic goodness, honesty, ability to sacrifice, courage to blow a whistle etc.

There are so many day to day instances where we need not be super humans, but only simple individuals, but alas, simplicity is being fast rubbed off from our minds and hearts…..!!!

Turgid Truth

"The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another... some of these situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others, but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice, or to corrupt the future tranquillity of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice."

Adam Smith
"Turgid Truth", Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759

An afterthought on relationships...... some time back this was a note in my diary, I indeed was not wrong!!

On my recent trip I met a lot of my friends telling me that they were now “committed”. This made me feel odd at first. “I always thought you were focused more on career” was the reaction from me when one of my friends came to meet me with his (girl) friend. He gave me a stern look for this one!

Honestly speaking I was wonderstruck to find some of my friends all of a sudden declaring so big news that too with such high speed! At the same time I also felt a little ashamed at being agonizingly slow in that race to relationships!!!!

On my bus trip to my hometown Bhavnagar, from Ahmedabad, I brooded over this issue a little, just to ensure if I was the only one to be the last among all the runners. To my distress, I was certainly alone. Not only was I alone, people whom I wrote off as dumb and un-cool, also were ahead of me!!!! I felt a jolt. Little while later, a thought dawned onto me.

Why not being in a relationship is taken to be as a stigmatic or shameful thing? Like many other things, relationships are also possessions. Some have it, some may not have it. I felt the whole issue of being committed is slightly overrated.

While I agree that finding a match for oneself is certainly a sign of social guts and that an achievement of it is certainly something one would like to share with/ express to the entire world. However I believe that such a communication should never be a driving force of any relationship.

If it is, than that relationship is nothing more than a marketing gimmick, of a very cheap kind!!!!