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