Are we happy with mediocrity?

Since the time I found the patience to actually think and deliberate on matters whose realms go beyond my own self, I feel I have become more confused about the workings of the world. In fact as I was exposed to modern theories of Lean Management, Just-in- Time inventory and Process and System Re-engineering, I was forming a mind set that someone was trying to put the world together like a scientific law, where nothing was a waste.

But even if the world is governed by laws of physics and the forces of nature decide the fate of any planet, humans still have the undying love of mediocrity. This is even more painful when they dream big, but simply are not willing to put in efforts to achieve.

I have seen people who have big plans, who begin each new task with a boiler full of steam and making noise louder than a factory siren. The enthusiasm is at a peak higher than what a Richard Branson may have before his balloon adventures. But as days progress, the person loses steam and his journey ends in the middle of no where. Most of the time, it is a case where a person is not able to achieve the goals critical to his mission, and the vision goes away in vain. I have nothing against these people. They are mediocre by no means. Frankly because they have the zeal to achieve and lose their confidence when they witness failures far more than success too early in their quest.

I have a problem with those who have big dreams but not the desire to work hard to achieve them. They want money, success, fame and all the best the world can offer. But, they want it served on a platter with minimal effort. Its actually surprising that if there are people with this attitude for themselves, what can be their attitude for a group or a collective goal?

Let me be very open and accept that I have not been able to deliver the desired result many times. When it’s a group activity, I might expect a 100% from every member but end with only a combined 80% at the end of the day. But I have never left any stone unturned when it was for my own development. That’s how I approached an exam, that’s how I lead a team for the college fest. If I excel, the other person possibly out of envy might give more.

Let me discuss an example. I know this junior from my college, who I have still not been able to ascertain as to what might be her true character. She has this slight bit of arrogance for no reason and capability is overridden but snobbish attitude. I am always ready to help anyone who wants a hand with their career. If anyone asks me to help with a career decision, I usually do my bit to the maximum. This girl sure had big dreams, a desire for deep pockets and all earthly wealth. But the casual attitude in the most serious areas for success was shocking.

Where I lost my cool was when one morning I found a questionnaire for a survey from this same girl in my mail. I am not offended by the questionnaire, but the quality of it. This was not the first but the second time I saw bad quality of work in six months from the same girl. To identify the roots, I actually questioned the integrity of my professor and his duty. As I realised that it was nothing but the outcome of the bad attitude and lack of efforts from the students, I asked myself- who was gaining by not putting in the efforts? Why was the final output below the required standard? And why is this girl nagging me for a job which can pay her 4.5 lacs from Day 1, when she might be not even worth half of it?

Mediocrity breeds more of mediocre attitude. Are we here to just earn money or work in a manner and deliver quality work that stand the test of time? If money is all you need… even a prostitute earns money.

If a boss dreams of money, he will be happy with a subordinate who dreams on the same lines. Their work is always more focussed on how to make that half a percent of more profits today than do a good job that can help me get good work for rest of the year. So finally by the end of the year, he makes the numbers. Sure he did, but how? Wasn’t that important?

As I end this post, all I want to ask everyone out here is how well you sleep the day you have not given your best?

“Are u as a person happy with mediocrity?”

-Tushar

India, Bharat or just a Union of States???

Firstly, Thank to Subhojit, I can now post some issues and hope to make some noise...

India, Bharat or just a Union of States???

This month, Indian celebrated 61 years into being recognised as an Independent country. As per the constitution, we are a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic of India and a Union of States. Yes that’s the “Officially ” how India is expected to be known to the people around the World.

If we just take a ride back into the past, it was the grit of Sardar Patel to bind land once broken up into countless number of princely states, territorial rulers and European colonies into one single identity. The Government then came in though as many possible channels to encourage the feeling of being one nation that drove away the Colonial powers, the last being the Portuguese in 1961. We have been fine tuned to say that we are diverse in terms of culture, religions, languages and social stratifications; end of the day, its Unity in Diversity that is the essence of India.

But does that mean that regionalism is non existent in India?

For starters, regionalism is a political ideology that focuses on the interests of a particular region or group of regions. In India, we do claim of putting India first, region- may be some other place. But I some how managed to see how this ideology is seen differently under different situations.

Some recent events have made me question if we still believe that it is still sometimes regional pride that overruns National pride. This is with regards to RJ Dheena of the Chennai station of BIG 92.7 FM. More than 135 hours continuously on the radio and a new Guinness Record for India. I regard it as a superhuman feat because 5 days on radio can be chaotic and claustrophobic for any normal person. Plus on a media where the freshness of your voice can hold an audience, its an amazing feat.

But I was surprised when I saw the statement made by the Cluster Director for Tamil Nadu of BIG 92.7 FM, Mr. P B Ramaswamy come out saying, ‘It is certainly a proud moment for all the Tamilians across the globe.’

http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2008/newsfullstory.php?id=1219734955

http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/big-fm-rj-dheena-sets-world-record


I’m sorry, but did I read it right? “…proud moment for Tamilians … “

This is outrageous. I can understand the appreciation from all quarters, the channel using the feat it to boast about its people and culture. But where has the Tamilian angle come in? And since I can see this on two sites, this is more like a Press Release that went to all.

Even if I take no notice of why Hindi is not spoken in Southern India, or past discriminations against linguistic minorities in these states, this is a complete new angle. Does this also imply that you disown Abhinav Bindra, Vijay Kumar or Sushil Kumar as they non Tamilians?

My biggest question- how is this different from encouraging regionalism on the basis of language?

We have the legendary example that anyone from below the Vindhya’s is classified a Madrasi. Similarly UP-Bihar contribute to the Bhaiyya populations in the country. If that’s all about identity crisis, our Seven North Eastern Sisters just go down as Nepali’s or Chinkoo’s. Now isn’t that a great division on simple Geography as the base.

Now not in a mood of rebuttal, I saw another story which does evoke uproar. BMC or the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation gave a month for shop owners to host boards with Devnagri script- the same in which Hindi or Sanskrit or Marathi are written. Boards in Dual languages i.e. English and Devnagri are also welcome. The ruling Congress-NCP coalition has no objections, the Shiv Sena in the BMC imposes the proceedings and the MNS makes it fodder for propaganda. On legal terms, there is nothing wrong, except that the size of the letters is completely at the owner’s discretion. But the end result- people refuse to oblige making it appear more like an extension of MNS Anti-North Indian protest.

I won’t support the MNS in its ways. Its issues are real at times and actually valid in regional terms. After all, isn’t that a Regional Party, with a Region centric agenda? If a farmer in Maharashtra has given his land for economic development and now is rendered jobless after his place was given to an outsider ready to work at half the wages, he has a reason to feel deprived in his own house. Violence as a means of expressions is never justified. But then are strikes, road blocks a fair means?

Frankly, if the current issue with sign boards is a problem indeed, how can it be fair in Kolkata where they can be in Bengali and English, or if Amritsar can have them in Punjabi. This is after all Devnagri, the script for the national language? If all political parties in Mumbai are promoting regionalism, how come their rallies start with “Vande Mataram” and sign off with “Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra”?? (State followed by the Nation)

If regionalism is merely supporting your regional culture, language and its people, no one has taken its advantage more than Television channels. When SMS voting can be a factor to decide if Abhijeet Sawant is better than Amit Sana, one can say that Maharashtra had a deeper penetration of cell phones than Chattisghad. When Ishmit has the whole Punjab to support and Debojit is flying high on votes of Eastern India some how we forgot that we were voting for talents rather than regionalism.

I’m in no mood to draw any conclusions…rather this is not something I intend to do. What I’m out to seek is what exactly Regionalism is?

Is India or Bharat still one country or now just a Union of States?


- Tushar

THEY ARE US !

I offer sincere apologies for the delay in posting the new blog. I would begin this one by answering Aruna’s query. Her question was that- why should an urban, educated person waste a day for voting when he/she doesn’t have any expectation from the government? She also mentioned that the Government elected, would work only for the poor people in the villages, so why should the urban elite be bothered.

This is the kind of question which stems from the educated class’s indifference to the system of governance. We in our comfort zone of home, office, malls and pubs often tend to negate the role that government plays in our lives. But lurking in the backdrop of our existence is the mammoth organization, the administration controlled by the government. Since we are taking about urban India today lets take an example of any city, say Bangalore. Who looks after the roads in the city? Who controls the law and order here? If there is a problem of water, sanitation, traffic jam or security… in each of these cases it is the government we have to depend upon. If metro is being constructed in Bangalore then it is done by the government.

Not only this, if we develop such an indifference towards the political society and the system of adult franchise then we do not have the right to question the administration if they fail to deliver what is expected of them. Tomorrow if there is a bomb blast in MG road we will not have the moral right to question the intelligence failure of governmental machineries like the state police or the Intelligence Bureau. We have already forfeited this right when we refused to come out and vote, thinking it doesn’t affect our lives.

The city of hydrabad was gifted with 19 flyovers by Chandrababu Naidu when he was the Chief Minister of the state. But when the election came, his core constituency, the urban voters conveniently forgot to reach the polling booth on the day of the election. The post script of that election is that the new Chief Minister does not care what happens to the IT parks in Hydrabad, as long as his rural voters are happy with him. It would be worthy to mention that, I am not justifying Naidu’s neglect of the rural Andhra Pradesh, I am just citing the example of how the indifference of the voters can affect a city.

There is another attitude that we have to face. It is the individual mentality of – it is just a case of one vote, if I don’t vote…how does it matter? But think of what happens when a million people have a similar thought… a million vote lost.

There is yet another argument- the Government doesn’t work at all and why do we vote if we have to choose between the devil and the deep sea? Well, the government in any nation is only as good or bad as the people of that place. During the recent trust votes everybody was saying the MPs are on sale, what a sad state of the society! I agree the MPs are on sale, the police is available on rent and justice can be purchased…but tell me honestly how many of us don’t have a price tag on our head? Is there anybody amongst us who refused to bribe someone and take the harder way out? We may have haggled over the amount we pay but never on why we pay the bribe. When asked we just blame it on the system. But who are the constituents of the system? Aren’t you and I are the ones who make the system. Then why is this escapist attitude of blaming others for our miseries.

When we are left with only criminals to choose from, I guess that’s not the time to retire from voting. As a matter of fact that is the time to go to the root of things and establish a cleaner choice, the choice which I wrote about in the last entry.

And this brings me to the next query. Tushar had asked how a middle class person can take time out for politics and go about the process of cadre building. How can he manage home, office and build up a party as well. It is an interesting question and I don’t know if my take is the right take, if there is anything called the right take.

I feel we need to start getting a little more institutionalized in our approach towards forming a party. We all agree that without huge amount of money we cannot run a party. We can start taking a transparent way in doing that. Emulating the US way of fund raising dinner can be a good means to get the mullah. However this process would require deeper thought and a lot streamlining.

Once the cash issue is handled, then we can have a few party full timers. They will be paid salary by the party. This is the process used in the cadre based parties like the CPI(M). They have over 7000 cadres on their payroll. I guess that is how we can get manpower. But at the helm of it we would need someone who is wholly engrossed into the process of building up the party. A face which would appeal to a lot of people say a Shiv Khera or a Rajinder Singh can help. These are the people with proven credentials of public service.
Once this structure is ready, then the normal middle class comes into play. These are the people who would form the base of the party. They will not have much of the party work to handle but they will act as publicity agents. They would influence people around them about the new party in the block and do some positive word of mouth. This can be done in the offices, homes, clubs and in parties.

If this process happens successfully then we may have a new political party of reckoning in the near future. But again we would need a few politically motivated people to take it forward. The question remains that who would they be? I don’t know if I would quit everything to join the party as a whole timer. I might …again I might not. However this should not stop us from preparing the blueprint of this new ray of hope. I sincerely invite your suggestion to take this process forward. I do not think I have been able to answer Tushar’s question with crystal clarity. Anyone with a better idea…please pitch in.

MUSINGS OF CHANGE

Here comes the second post. But before that a few answers regarding the first one. The Dainik Bhaskar example expectedly drew a mixed reaction. As my friend Tushar pointed out, the advertisement was just to enhance the business interest of the Bhaskar group. But my senior Vikash said the advertisement made him think and he did give it more than a cosmetic glance. This can again be argued that it was just a good work of art and nothing else. An advertisement well made. But the fact remains, even if the motive is purely commercial, the incidental effect of giving the people a push towards doing that “Zid” , according to me, is worth an applause. Again the opinions can differ and hence is this space.

One of the comments that I received was from Soumallo. He asked for my opinion on the “apolitical parties”? These “apolitical parties” (as referred by him) are the smaller parties started out in an unconventional manner. There is one started out by Shiv Khera. He even contested the election from Pune. There are a several other smaller parties or groups stared out by the IT professionals, doctors, lawyers or students. They brand themselves differently from the conventional political parties.

They allow this tag of “apolitical” being attached to them because politics unfortunately has become a dirty word and the word “politicians” have become synonym for criminal. This mass stereotype has forced them into assuming this “apolitical role”. But parliament is not the only mark of politics. Politics is everywhere. According to its dictionary definition it may be defined as “Social relation involving authority or power”. There is nothing in this society that cannot be called apolitical. These small organizations too want to bring about change or at least claim to do so. If Shiv Khera is trying to be a part of the legislature then he has to be political in nature. Hence let us remove the notion that anything good is not political.

These parties however haven’t made their presence felt in the power structure of the country. One of the things they lack, is a mass base. One cannot bring about a change until and unless he has the numbers by his side. In politics, there is a wonderful art, called ‘cadre building’ and that has to be brought into play. Someone may have the noblest of the intention but if he cannot mobilize the mass to achieve it, he cannot be a great leader. These political parties lack the dedicated cadre building mechanism that is essential to develop a party.

Another aspect of these parties, is that they represent only one social spectrum, the urban middle class. Most of these parties are not connected with the grassroots. No party can come of age without seeking the support of the vast hinterland. Though they may be carefully tucked away from our TV screens, they too live in the same planet. And since election is about numbers, thankfully they at least have the majority there.

This middle class support base can also be seen as the hamartia of these political parties, at least for the time being. The great Indian middle class has a penchant dislike for voting. The IT crowd has achieved the greatest notoriety in this field. This is the group, which just doesn’t realize that to make an omelet, you will have to break the egg first.

But for that stronger heterogeneous India, we the middle class have to get out of our beauty nap and realize that the time has come when we can call for the change. And the quantum of change that is possible is really baffling. It is us who are the teachers, the lawyers, the civil servants and the police. It is also us who are in the business of media, medicine and the engineering. In short we build the nation. If we join hands and strengthen the arm of the democracy…may be through the parties, which Saumallo is taking about or may be form a new initiative. We can ensure that we change things for better. And for that we don’t really have to overthrow the system but have to just use it to the right effect.

Think just what all of us as individuals can do. All of us make a little difference at our work places and stick to our sense of right…voila we would feel the change in the air.

So as I end this blog… keep the comments going. Let’s evolve this revolution through the comments. We will have something concrete very soon.!

Cheers

Ladies & Gentlemen: Make Some Noise

I was really hooked to the Dainik Bhaskar advertisement “ Zid Karo” ( starring Dhoni). For the first few minutes I had a feeling that change is in the air. I really hope they do something more than just the advertisement. But the prior campaigns like the Lead India (TOI) or the “ Desh badalne ke lea Channel Badlo” ( India TV) has made me cynical about the intentions of this one as well. However whether they really change the world can be debated later; they have at least urged the people to dream for it.
But this made me think what is it that has happened to us? Why don’t we see any such advertisement or programmes or writings in the mainstream media? Is it a way to keep us in the trance of the lotus eaters ? So that we do not wake up to smell…(shall we say) the roses. Or is it that the angst is out of fashion? Are angry young men a passé? And the idea of a revolution is so 1970s. Only thing that has survived the test of time are the “fashionable” Che Guevara t-shirts. These t-shirts alone have been able to break the class barrier. From an auto-rikshaw driver in suburban Kolkata to the downtown fashion stylist in Mumbai, everybody have one.

Today the Indians famed for their argumentative nature is stifled by the absence of one. The public sphere of debate has now ceded to stance. Arguments hence have become one sided. And it is a win-win situation for everybody. The media can do a wafer thin research and the mass will not have to spend too many of those grey cells to think. And at the end of the day, all of us have a stance and none of us have to think.


Hence is this modest attempt to rekindle the fire that burns in our mind. This is just an attempt to shake the existing flimsy stances and create a broader and a stronger standpoint.

After all, there is some thing more to life than just living, nurturing and destroying. Had it not been so, the trinity would have been enough, the world wouldn’t have had human. Let us justify that we are that supreme race which with their innocuous impurity has in them what the Gods don’t possess…

We have that understanding, often flawed but never the less an understanding and an ability to probe, to feel, to sensitize and to excite. And most importantly to argue and to create the heterogeneity of views from where would arise that great idea.

And whenever the doubt of cacophony clouds our judgement, let us remember that even Cosmos was created out of the chaos .

Cheers!!!