Temples of learning or cradles of treason?

 

My take on the JNU row in India

Patriotism has become a complicated word today. In much the same way as nationalism has become an outdated concept – neither intellectual nor glamorous enough to be espoused by a certain category of scholars and academia. Under the garb of high-flown statements and using the rhetoric of democracy, what is being challenged is our very nationhood and its sovereignty.

It’s a shame that some of our students and universities take pride in asserting a brand of freedom of expression that reeks of betrayal and sows seeds of discord. Shouting anti-national slogans and showing solidarity with those convicted of terrorism by the Supreme Court of the land is certainly not the way to conduct “debates” and hold “cultural” gatherings. Democracy gives you the right to speak against the government but not against the country. Voices raised in dissent can be tolerated but not voices that wish to destroy the very soil that nurtured them. And if this sounds like emotional drama – so be it. Sentimental patriots are far better for our country than ruthless “intellectuals” spewing hatred without a shred of remorse or sensitivity.

I do not see any two ways about this. All freedom comes with a sense of responsibility and is bound by ideological limitations that cannot be violated. Our constitution grants us the right to express and question but never to breach the threshold that can threaten the integrity of our nation. The constitution was formed not only to protect the rights of the individual but also to safeguard the honour of our country as a whole. Any infringement to that honour amounts to treason and I believe that measures to curb such activity are totally justified.

No university in the world would allow anti-national uprisings within its precincts – and that too in the name of democracy. And here we are, reluctant to hoist the tricolor at our temples of learning, as the flag would represent conflicting ideas to confused minds – while being a symbol of pride towards our motherland, it would also be a mute witness to the mindless agitations carried out to defile it.

Nothing can be simpler than this – no ideals, principles, doctrines or religions supersede the country and her integrity. Any individuals who want to challenge this cannot live on this soil. By all means go ahead and debate about the concept of capital punishment. But those insensitively supporting convicted terrorists and swearing to destroy the motherland do not deserve to be citizens of this country.

Honestly, I don’t understand what the argument is all about – am glad my simple definition works for me.

A pot-pourri of cultures

 

Being a foreigner in a country often makes you more receptive, heightening your sensitivity to your surroundings and the people you are amidst. The mind hungrily laps up everything it encounters only to chew upon it later and draw impressions that become foundations of your rapport with the new land. Separated from the motherland by thousands of miles, not only do we begin to view things with a new perspective and realise that there are two sides to every coin, but we also learn to value basic aspects about our own culture whose importance we had never quite understood all these years.

A casual conversation with an office colleague fuelled a volley of thoughts in my head, compelling me to ponder about human relationships and concepts like money and independence. While out on my fifteen-minute break from work, I took a seat on the bench outside the office and was soon joined by another member of our team, also out on his break. A young boy, who had just entered his twenties, this was his first real job, he said. He reached into his bag for a box of muffins and helped himself to one. His mother had made two tray full of muffins to take along to her workplace but he and his friends had unknowingly polished most of them off, much to her astonishment on seeing the empty molds. This is a common scenario in every household – especially ones with ever-hungry teenagers always on the hunt for finger foods to tuck into. I smiled as a myriad childhood memories flooded my mind, of times we had sneaked in to “steal” and devour delicious eats that my mother had painstakingly made… that were meant to be hidden from us until after the guests had left.

It was what he said then, that pulled me out of my reverie and set off a chain of thoughts that forced me to contemplate on life itself. “I paid my mom the exact price for the box of muffins – so it’s all fair and square now”, he said nodding with satisfaction, “I’m glad I could pay her with my own money!”

Now this was something we would never, in our wildest imaginations, have thought of doing – whether or not we were earning our “own” money. At most, we would have offered to do an errand to the shops and fetch a box of cupcakes for her to take to work, to save her the bother of stepping out, or promised to pitch in and help her make more muffins. But paying one’s mother for having dug into food seemed such a clinical response to me, a strange way to “compensate.” Did not such an act take away all the warmth from the relationship or was I reading too much into a simple incident?

In retrospect, this episode made me stumble upon the most basic difference between the east and west. It was all about being exacting, measured and individualistic as against the inclusive cultures that dominate the eastern school of thought. In the west, it is the individual that is the unit- which is why people learn to be financially independent at an early age and understand the wisdom in disconnecting finances from relationships.

I guess that is why the east and west are intrinsically different in their approach to life in general. Maybe there is no right or wrong, it’s just a matter of outlook.

Entity

 

One look at me is all they need
To assume and to believe
There’s not enough of me
The flaw is obvious, “you’re so short”, they all agree!

It’s such a glaring defect that little else counts.
The deception is unanimous; it’s the appearance that is paramount
It’s only the perfect body that can house a perfect mind
The lack of inches invariably mirror an intellect unrefined!

Strange are the ways of the world, its attitudes warped
For things beyond our control we are summed up and marked
We’re kinder to beauty nothing lesser stands a chance
We only see what the eyes behold; seldom do we cast another glance!

Conditioned by norms and fuelled by nonchalance
Sitting pretty in our perfections, ensconced in our arrogance
We speak our mind with blatant insensitivity
Blurring the line between assumption and clarity!

Who then is flawed – the beholder or the beheld?
One who only lacks the inches or the one who lacks the sense?
What’s more important – the perfection of the body or that of the mind?
The vision to transcend the shortcomings, or a stunted view that misses the essence?

Man-made yardsticks can never measure my worth
Nor can my shortcoming become my identity
I’m liberating myself from the shackles of underestimation
To soar above the world, delve deeper into my soul and fathom my true entity!

It’s all about the sales – or is it?

 

“Get those sales guys – we have to hit today’s target. Everybody pitch hard and bring me the numbers!”

Does that have a familiar ring to it? Am sure it does, especially to all those working in direct sales, marketing or customer service roles. We have all, at some point or the other had our supervisors and team leaders “encourage” us to push the limits of our horizons and chase targets with a determined frenzy. If by God’s grace you do achieve the coveted sales– they top it off with “I’m so proud of you!”

Quantity has become synonymous with quality, profits with caliber and money with success. More often than not, the ends justify the means, and as long as the cash is flowing in, it little matters how it comes in. And if your methods fail to yield immediate gains, your capabilities are undermined, your sincere intent, genuine commitment and complete integrity notwithstanding.

It’s this shortsightedness that, in my opinion, could well prove counter productive and reverse fortunes of flourishing businesses. For employees in sales and customer service roles, building a steady rapport with the client fosters brand loyalty and ensures their long-term association with the business. It reflects genuine concern for customers as against a typically “salesy” attitude that reduces the customer to merely being an object to be tapped into – a stepping-stone towards achieving the golden mark.

So single minded is our focus on short-term profits that we prefer turning a blind eye to the real values intrinsic to the job at hand. If there is nothing in the deal for us, customer queries and problems are simply shrugged off or pushed behind in our agenda, to attend to “later”. So obsessed are supervisors with attaining sales goals that they totally overlook employees who may not have made a sale that day but have gone out of their way to help a customer, solve his problem by clearing his doubts in an honest, unselfish manner and earned his trust in the bargain. It is this employee who deserves a pat on the back too – as he has paved the way for client retention and brand advocacy – the true barometers of lasting success for any business.

The corporate world urgently needs to come to grips with its priorities and stop being swayed by superficial victories, which though heady and intoxicating, will never be able to replace old fashioned principles. We cannot raise the bar for profits by forgetting the larger objectives. The hare may out pace the tortoise – but only in the beginning. In the end it’s the ideals like consistency, sincerity and commitment that will most certainly drive the way and emerge triumphant.

Related topic: The ROI of the intangibles

 

I hate writing about religion

 

I hate writing about religion. Yet today I am going to tread this dangerous path. It seems to have become a passionate cause for thousands across the world – a cause important enough to defend, fight for and even kill for.

 What is religion? A set of rules that its followers swear by? Beliefs that they want to thrust down unwilling throats using any means they can? Or does it stem from an insecurity deep inside them that makes them want to control and dominate? Or better still, is it a tit for tat game pitting one’s God against the other?

How can we deceive ourselves into thinking that God really cares about our dietary preferences? Or about what we wear and how and where we worship? But have these become the parameters that measure virtue today? Whatever happened to reason, common sense and most of all compassion? Have our respective Gods too decided to do away with these “frivolous” values in pursuit of the more “important causes” that our respective religions staunchly espouse?

The crossroads that my country stands at today frightens me. On the one hand we are the world’s fastest growing economy but we are also heading towards becoming the world’s most mislead minds by mimicking radical sects that spew intolerance and hatred. Why are we as a society seeking to safeguard our culture by trying to efface others? Whether it is dictating what foods our neighbours stock in their refrigerators, whether it is allowing the caste of a person to determine who can and cannot enter a temple or controlling personal choice in matters of love and marriage – are these today the causes that are driving us as a society? Is this truly the focus of our life and the reason for our existence?

It’s a pathetically pitiable condition to be in – an insult to human intelligence not to mention the wisdom of our ancient philosophy that we pretend to take so much pride in. If religion unleashes the beast in us it is best left alone. As long as we think of religion as an identity to cling on to rather than a way to live and let live, we will never rise above all that is base and lowly – a far cry from what religion actually meant us to be – humane and magnanimous.

 

Interviews or Superficial views? Woes of a foreign candidate in a foreign land

 

That eagerly awaited interview call comes like a gust of fresh air, sparking hope and optimism anew and sending your nerves into a tizzy. You go over the probable questions for the umpteenth time, rehearse responses that would flaunt your skills and project you in a favourable light.

The D-day finally arrives and you set off dressed in your most formal business attire, trying to appear calm and professional, ignoring the butterflies in your stomach and valiantly battling all the negativity and self doubt that may have inadvertently crept into your mind.

You wait for your turn to be called in, all charged up, enthusiastically braving the challenge that lies ahead, ready to rise to the occasion, praying for just that one opportunity to prove yourself. After what seems to have been an eternity, you hear your name being called and in you go with a spring in your step and a smile on your lips hoping to ace this one and moving a step closer to your goal.

What happens after that is just a blur. You are out in a few minutes – maybe 15 at most, feeling light headed and confused. Was that even an interview? Were you even heard with an open mind? Or was every word uttered by you conveniently interpreted to align with popular prejudices? If you said you enjoyed a democratic atmosphere at work where you were free to express your ideas, did you come across as someone who was not a team player or someone who wouldn’t “fit in” with the “culture” of the organization? If you said you were new to the country did it underline the fact that you do not possess local experience and so would not be an asset to the employers?

How did the interviewer learn so much about me in just 15 minutes? Or is this what he wants to believe about me, as it makes the elimination process that much simpler? What about the talents and skills that are my greatest assets – which would have more than countered my cultural “shortcomings”? What about the unique dimension that my background would have added to the diversity of the workplace? If they weren’t looking for foreign candidates, why was I even shortlisted for the interview?

My head is still spinning from the interview experiences. I wish there was a way to let my work do the talking instead of me. But that still requires me to clear the initial rounds unscathed. And that requires me to have local experience…for which I need to get hired…how can I escape this seemingly inescapable cycle?

Any ideas or advice by someone who’s been there, done that?

 

Can you leave behind a legacy at your workplace after you have quit?

 

Quitting a job is never easy. Especially when the decision is an outcome of circumstances beyond one’s control – for example – the relocation of the family to another city or some pressing requirements on the home front.

Whatever be the reason, leaving a job that you invested your energies in and devoted so much of yourself to, can be an extremely unsettling experience.

It’s mainly got to do with the comfort zone that you have established within the workplace, and the reputation of trust and sincerity that your colleagues have come to associate you with. Letting go of all your professional responsibilities and formally handing over your duties to your successor can make even the most hardened employees a tad wistful and uncertain about what the future has in store for them.

Myriad thoughts are bound to rush through your mind during the last few weeks preceding and following your resignation date. Will you be remembered with fondness and respect? Will your contributions and accomplishments still be valued long after you have gone or will they just fade away into oblivion much like old outdated files and dusty records of the yesteryears? Will your successors give you credit for past achievements or attribute all the present problems to your tenure?

Time and tide have indeed proven that no one is indispensable. Much as we would hate to admit it – the best employees are replaceable and the most stupendous successes can be repeated – with or without you at the helm. So what do you carry with you as you step out of the portals of the job you have loved and embark on a new professional quest all over again? And, what legacy do you leave behind at your erstwhile workplace that remains testimony to your whole-hearted efforts and talents?

These were among the toughest questions to delve into when I had found myself in a similar situation a couple of months ago. After much contemplation and introspection, I arrived at some very frank and honest conclusions.

What I carry with me are my moments of success – memories of delighting a client with a task well done, of the shared joy of great team spirit, of the happiness of an article well written, of the satisfaction of targets achieved and deadlines met, and most of all, of the wealth of goodwill earned. These are mine for keeps – a treasure that needs no validation from any quarters.

As for the legacy I leave at the workplace – it is a bit of me that still lingers within its walls, which breathes in the work I leave behind. Work that makes me proud of myself and infuses me with all the confidence I need to take on the future.       Again – a treasure that needs no validation!