NEO-PATRIOTISM

O brothers and sisters of my motherland

It's time to listen to our inner voice

Identify our duties and obligations

Respond to the call of the nation

O brothers and sisters of my motherland

Gone are the days of freedom struggle

When people laid down their lives

To free our mother from the shackles of the British

An objective, internalized in the hearts and minds

Of millions of Indians, drove them to extreme levels

Gone are the days of wars

When our unity and integrity was put to test

We roared like lions, put every threat to rest

Our enemies got a glimpse of our chivalry and valour

They never dared to repeat their fallacies

As their fate met with imminent failure

Now when India is a Republic for 67 years

In an era of alliance and alignment

When a war is highly unlikely

What will drive us now?

Today the society is filled with blasphemy

Corruption is rampant, disparity widens every day

The youth is disenchanted and confused;

They are victims of extremism and fundamentalism

Leaders want poverty to sustain

Or else they will lose issues to come to power

Our mother is crying

She is free but not free

She is asking us to come to her rescue

So shall we!!

It's time to rise, above all communal and religious lines

Work for the change that we want to see

Fight for the rights of people

For the upliftment of poor and downtrodden

Our blood should boil against corruption

Our valour should be displayed to help the poor

We should roar like lions on every field 

And bring laurels for the country

And that should drive us!!!!!

WHAT WE MUST READ: BOOK AS A METAPHOR

One should be very clear of what one studies and what one reads. Studying can sound like medicine while reading sounds like chocolate. I have always imagined paradise to be a library and vice versa. Coming from a family, which espoused education, I inculcated the reading habit precociously. I have always been an avid reader and my home library flaunts a diverse portfolio of books. I have read books of different genres which flagellate from fiction, non-fiction, biographies, etc. to academic books. With evolution of mind, my inclinations evolved too. The Marvel comic books were replaced by Jeffery Archer, J K Rowling, Dan Brown, etc.  Subsequently, the fictional stuff was replaced by the non-fictional ones of Ramachandra Guha, Paulo Coelho and the biographies.

Now I’ m at the cusp of embarking the corporate world. As the effervescent clichéd statement goes, there are things that you want to do and there are things that you have to do. Similarly my insatiable thirst for books has been strewn in the maze. I distinctly remember the initial phase of my MBA course. There were so many things happening around that we all got transformed into zombies. The deadlines, the assignments, the committee stuff, etc. not only kept our hands full but spit venom. It was a kind of derision to the comfortable, laid back stay at home, which precluded the MBA course. I was caught off guarded. I lost my peace of mind. I was a ‘fish out of water’ due to the paucity of ‘me’ time and my inability to manage my schedules.  I craved for emancipation (Yes, I’m using that term).

MBA requires you to do a lot of reading. Case studies, HBR articles, text books, research papers, and books of management-business continuum. I must admit that some of the cases are really intriguing while books like JACK WELSH: STRAIGHT FROM THE GUT and CONNECT THE DOTS by Rashmi Bansal have figured in my favourite list. Some of my friends enjoy reading marketing and business strategy books too. I’m not that sure whether it is their love for these books or they have ‘conditioned’ their preferences, but they don’t seem to be inconvenienced. Throughout these two years, we have been advised to read Forbes magazine, replace Times of India by Business Standard, entertainment news by business news,  Amish Tripathy by Philip Kotler, etc. As future managers, we need to be aware of ‘certain things’ which inostensibly become imperative.

The analogy that I’m trying to draw is the juxtaposition between work and play. Cricketers, musicians, etc. don’t work; they get to do what they love throughout their career and still get paid for it. Similarly reading as a tool can be used in many ways. People read vociferously about finance, marketing, strategy and become outliers in their respective professions (there are so many other factors too and reading alone doesn’t guarantee success). Or you may use it as an alibi to escape from the hustle bustle and find solace within. Believe me, good books have such mystical power of healing. So read that ‘you love to’ or that ‘you have to’; the common link being ‘read’. The more you read, the more confident you are. This New Year, prepare a list of books that you want to pursue. Challenge yourself by coming out of your comfort zone (Choose a book that confronts your taste). Read about politics, both national and international; read about the socio-economic issues that cripple our nation; read about religion; read about any regional cuisine.  “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. A man who doesn’t read lives only once.” 

PIKU: REFLECTION, INTROSPECTION AND REALIZATION

June 1 is celebrated as World Parents Day, a day dedicated to the two most important people of our lives.  Just finished reading a book on Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, where he has expressed the importance of the role played by his parents in moulding his personality.  Now I am almost done with the fictional ‘Game of Thrones’ book, which is a vicious attack to the whole concept of parent-children relationship. In the west, children once become 16, leave their parents’ house and are on their own. They have no obligations towards their parents while the parents don’t lose their sleep over their children’s education, tuition fees and job.  Now coming to the quintessential point of writing this article- I was completely assuaged and possessed by the recent movie ‘Piku’, which is an honest reflection of the prevalent societal nexus in our country.  It might pertain to villages and towns, but it has portrayed the modern urban city lifestyle. It was a pleasant, feel good movie, augmented by the angularities of the three protagonists. The movie should be watched by both the parents and their children together.

A country that is so obsessed by the so called ‘demographic dividend ’(youth centric),  Amitabh Bachchan’s portrayal of Bhaskor  Bhattacharya mirrors the elders’ deep seated fears and insecurities.  Mr. Bachchan’s superb acting, his candour depiction of the character’s preoccupation with his bowel movements is highly symbolic in nature.  Bhaskor is highly relatable to the elderly in more than one way.  Bhaskor refuses to become irrelevant and scuttled into oblivion. His recalcitrant insinuations to make himself as much impossible as possible, is a mere reflection of the various impediments faced by today’s elders.  So one must realise that the whole intractable and sclerotic behaviour, harbours from the insecurities that ‘they’ have in their minds. Age brings with it the licence or the immunity to liberate oneself from all kinds of inhibitions. ‘They’ become frank, which at times may appear unpalatable.

In our country, the elders have been subjected to the youth hegemony for quite some time now. There are umpteen number of TV channels that pivot around the youth, youth centric movies, a young Indian cricket team, ‘an aging China and a young India’, etc. which have occupied a space in our sub conscious mind.  For most of us living far away from our parents, seeing the movie, it brewed an unsettling concoction of sadness, guilt and regret. It made us introspect of what we have left behind in the pursuit of happiness. Unlike some, whose lives revolve around the imaginaries and eccentricities of their old parents, we flew the coop when ‘they’ needed us the most. For families settled in cities and metros like Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore, they can still live with their parents. But for most of us, who are from towns or small cities, where there is dearth of career growth and opportunities, it becomes inevitable to move into the big cities.

I would like to share my own experience here. I have resided in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, but I love Bhubaneswar a lot. As compared to these hustling- bustling metros, Bhubaneswar has a characteristic innate tranquillity. It boats an envious infrastructure- wide roads, less traffic, good educational institutes, a decent night life, etc. But once we finish our education, we are indelibly dragged into the corporate rat race. We espouse a life style that is goal oriented and career driven.   Our minds are marred by a myriad apprehensions- “ In order to climb the corporate ladder, I need to be present at the thick of the action (metros).  What if these comforts and opulence are ephemeral and that I would eventually get bored”. When your friends are all working outside, it becomes a matter of indignation staying in Bhubaneswar with your parents (albeit you stay in a bungalow and drive a big car, while ‘they’ travel in public transport and put up in a grumpy flat). But the question remains, weren’t we brought up by our parents to achieve every bit of this? We were sent to the best of schools and colleges so that we would reach a point where we are right now.  Success always comes with a price tag, and one cannot hanker for a bargain if one wants it desperately. The price is leaving behind people who once meant the world to us, and for whom our phone calls and occasional visits become the greatest pleasures.

The ‘empty nest syndrome’ which was once associated with the west, is a depressing reality in India today.  Parents have got used to it; they even bang their chests accentuating their children’s accomplishments in the corporate world. There is also the reality that parents stubbornly refuse to move in with their child in different city, in spite of knowing that living together would make life easy for all of them.

The ‘young India’ has little space for the elders. Well past their prime to contribute to the growth story, they guard the nests in the hope that someday the children would return.  There are no easy answers or quick fix solutions to this problem.  But ‘Piku’ might stir someone’s conscience; inspire a kindred soul, to come home before it’s too late.

NET NEUTRALITY: CONCERNS OF A COMMON MAN

The issue of ‘net neutrality ‘ created a lot of furore in the latest past and even our own Rahul Gandhi brought up the issue in the Parliament. The western world, the Bollywood industry joined the bandwagon to accentuate the magnitude of intricacy in the whole issue. In India, the issue got highlighted by the Flipkart-Airtel Zero deal.  But the common man needs to know what exactly it means, since he is a stake holder here. Net neutrality is akin to Land acquisition, where the big corporations, through the government, are encroaching the space of civil liberty of the common man.  It has ballooned into some kind of fight dreaded between the ordinary folks and the corporate honchos.

Net neutrality in simple terms means all websites should be equally accessible; at the same speed; and one should pay the same amount for the said data irrespective of the content. Why should we be bothered then? There are fast lanes (paid) and slow lanes (free) of internet traffic. Elucidating further, it implies that big companies such as YouTube and Skype can dig down their deep pockets and pay for higher speed internet access. Hence people would obviously prefer them over other companies. Smaller start-ups will inevitably be decimated and innovation will cease to exist. The choices before the consumers will get reduced. As proposed by the Father of Economics August Comte, the ‘invisible hand of market’ (that balances the implicit forces of market) gets amputated. This could eventually lead to Oligopoly or even Monopoly.

The second issue is that of ‘control’.  Information available at the disposal of public could be twisted, tweaked and manipulated. Suppose one is looking for the reviews of a movie that he plans to see, but finds only the positive reviews. This takes place because the producers and the distributors of the movie have paid the internet provider to block all the websites that have negative reviews of the concerned movie. Hence through this, the perception of the people can be moulded to benefit certain companies.

The third issue may be that the internet providers in the future may charge you for preferential access. It means that the heavy users of YouTube, Skype, etc. may be charged more to get access to the same data as before.

The Airtel Zero Issue

Now having seen one side of the coin (people’s perspective), it’s also important to know the other side too (companies’ perspective).  It is quintessential to admit the fact that every company enters the market to earn money. So certain companies have competitive advantage vis-a- vis  others due to their resources in terms of infrastructure and technological superiority. Now let me explain you what exactly happened. Airtel Zero is a platform for any website to join. What Bharti Airtel did was, it passed the cost of surfing from the subscriber to the website. Initially the subscriber would pay for the surfing certain websites, which now will be paid by the website itself. For Bharti Airtel, it is an accounting issue; money that used to come from the subscribers will now come from the websites. Hereby, the subscriber will get a lower bill, while the expenses incurred by the websites will be higher. But for the website, it’s not a cost, but an investment to create more traffic. It is akin the toll free number that we use to order a pizza, the cost of which is borne by the pizza company.  It’s like the discount offered by certain companies like e-commerce websites. These are normal business practices that companies use to attract more customers, and hence cannot be deemed as discriminatory or unethical. This would amount to ‘crony capitalism’ if this is used as a tool to control the market forces or if certain websites are blocked to enter the Airtel Zero platform.

People who speak about net neutrality advocate equal net access for everybody. This is a noble intention, but is plausible only in a utopian world. The net accessibility depends upon three things- the hand set, the data plan and the spectrum. To have equal net experience, all the Indians should have the same aforesaid trilogy.  But is it ever possible?

THE MALICE OF DRUNKEN DRIVING

The cynosure of the entire Salman Khan ‘hit and run’ case has been the vicissitudes of whether justice has been delivered or not. But in this sabre rattling, we have ignored the deep seated subaltern issue of ‘drunken driving’. Everybody maintains a silence on whether he or she has ever driven under the influence of alcohol. The Blood Alcohol content (BAC) legal limit in India is 0.03% alcohol in 100 ml of blood. Hence a couple of beers, a few shots of vodka or two solid pegs of whiskey and you simply cross the permissible limit. Almost everyone of us who indulges in the habit of drinking, gets behind the wheels. For guys, it’s a case of ‘chauvinism’ and chivalry, to demonstrate the control that one has over oneself in such ‘high’ circumstances. For the girls, it’s their ‘why should boys have all the fun?’ obsession. In India people drive heavy commercial vehicles after drinking copious amounts of alcohol. This is the very cause for the astonishing statistics when it comes to road accidents. 16 children die on Indian roads daily. There is one death every 4 mins. In which other country would you find alcohol outlets all along the highways? Trucks and cars are parked outside these shacks selling alcohol, without any confirmation of the legal age. In today’s scenario, it’s not the truck drivers but the middle income group as well as the upper class, who indulge in the “aaji raati re basiba”  culture. Men find it humiliating to allow their wives to drive even when they are aware that they are beyond the legal limit. Wives and partners dare not suggest that they would rather not risk their family’s lives by travelling in a car driven by a drunken driver.

An educated person realises the impairment caused to one’s senses due to drinking. The ability to make a judgement of stopping when seeing a moving object is seriously impaired after a few drinks. Reaction time, muscle co ordination decreases with every sip. Self control and reasoning ability is impaired with every peg. In India, where people don’t cross roads at zebra crossings, the repercussions of drinking and driving are far reaching. India is a young country, and specifically in a state like Odisha, people tend to become emotionally charged up at every possible opportunity. The propensity to ‘let your hair down’ by riding their bikes at a high speed and show stunts has taken a lot of young lives. Consumption of alcohol reduces inhibition and promotes aggressive behaviour. Jumping lights, making U-turns, turning right at only straight signs are some common enough violations. And these can lead to fatal eventualities if the person behind the wheel is not alert. Driving requires undivided attention; chatting, texting and alcohols are various deterrents to that. The spur of the moment or the thrill of the situation can often manoeuvre your decision making, but the implication of loss of a human life is far more seminal.

Hence it is high time that awareness programmes regarding the dangers of drunken driving are conducted in schools, colleges and even offices. Along with the parents, wives and children also have a bigger role to play in influencing the decision making process and sedating the egos of men.  Statistics show that in India, 70% of fatally injured drivers have excess alcohol in their blood. Hence ask your friend to drop you home or call a cab. Exercise any of these options, instead of driving under the influence of alcohol. Every life matters, if not to you but to a lot of others!!!