ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

Dear Mr. AK,

Thanks for making tall promises to residents of city Delhi for transforming Delhi into a corruption free, more liveable city, electricity & water subsidised city, healthy, educated & developed city. But the million dollar question is that do you rally know "what Delhi needs"? Delhi does't needs freebies. The residents are capable of paying legitimate bill for the services they are using. Over the last six months the situation in Delhi has deteriorated on most of the front & you boat that that AAP govt has fulfilled most of the promises. Now it's time to see the real feelings of Delhi AAM ADMI (not the fake ones who put topi with "main aam admi hoon") inscription.

First three months of your rule witnessed the humiliation & expulsion of prominent & trusted leaders from your party (who were tall enough to pose a threat to you). During all this drama the only sufferer was Delhi. Nothing significant happened during this period. You claim that you came to politics for change, but where is the change. You have your own personal ambitions to become PM & no desire to serve the general public. India has witnessed that to fulfil this ambition you can go to any extent, that may be accepting the support of same congress which you declared to be the most corrupt party, sharing political space with Lalu, Mulayam, Nitish etc, killing the competition in your own party by using undemocratic means, being narcissist & behaving like a dictator. Please show some respect for the rule of law & Indian constitution, which you failed to do till now.

You think yourself to be the lone honest person on this planet & authority to give honesty certificate to others. Please introspect yourself that how honest you have been to yourself, forget about general public. You took "honesty" as positioning plank during election which is quite appealing concept in present scenario where corruption is rampant & widespread. You got a success also, but the dilemma is that this is a very risky positioning plank. The chances of being dubbed as a complete failure are even more if you fail even once. Irony is that you fails on many accounts. First you eat your own words for not taking congress support, then you failed to pass much touted lokpal bill (as per you you entered in the politics for this reason only), you unsuccessfully supported your tainted MLA's & ministers who were later proved guilty. What do you think that aam public of Delhi is fool who will not understand your designs. My dear corruption crusader people got impatient when you decided to support Lalu, Mulayam, Congress & Nitish in Bihar. People understand what you are doing when you often criticize Mr. Modi. You sole intention is to put in his league by adopting any path, correct or incorrect. For you the the means are not important but the ends. 

You studied well the Indian politicians and accordingly you carved out image for yourself. A good leader even with fitting shirt pant & shoes can offer a good governance. But I think every time you got to tailor you deliberately ask to increase the size few inches & don chappals to show yourself AAM ADMI. You adopted the path of putting blames on people without substantial proof, spreading anarchy, disobeying law & constitution to gain popularity. Every now & then you created a drama. You made the promises of freebies to general public & won the Delhi election. But do you really know what is real condition of free water in Delhi. People are getting free sewage water which is the root cause of many diseases. Mr AK we were happy with the previous state only. I request you to withdraw the subsidy & supply us clean water. Dengue cases in Delhi are much more than before, what about the basic sanitation. Oh I forgot you will say that MCD id not under you (you have excuse for not doing everything). But DJB is under you, many other departments are under you, why you don't improve that first & for the rest you can put blame on centre.

Sometimes I doubt do you really have any plan or vision for Delhi. I feel you don't know where you want to take Delhi? What is your agenda? What you really want to do? I am not taking of yourself as we know where you want to go, but please tell us where you want to take Delhi & what are your plans for nation building? 

To me it was a great surprise when you announced 526 crore annual budget for advertising AAP govt (self promotion). This is a crime in country like India where more than 30% of the public is below poverty line & have not access to roti kapda aur makaan. Had you spent this money to take care of Dengue epidemic, sanitation etc, there would have been no need to spend a single penny on advertisement. People would have acknowledged it gracefully. Mr. AK remember one thing, "ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS". Last advice for you, refrain from negative marketing. The zumla like "WO PARESHAN KARTE RAHE HUM KAAM KARTE RAHE". Remember on thing "a bad marketing decimates a bad product".

SITUATION & GREATNESS

Blessed are the people who get an opportunity to work for a great cause. True is the saying that some people are born great, some make themselves great and on some people greatness is imposed. Greatness can never be seen in isolation. It’s always with respect to the internal & external environment, occasions and timings. This is true in every walk of life. Many times we see that there are many talented players at single point of time. Only exceptional and fortunate ones get a chance to prove them & much of the talent is lost in obscurity at that timeframe while lesser talented ones make name for themselves in dearth of sufficient talent at particular point of time. Similar to this in politics, entertainment industry & many other fields, the history has seen many celebrated leaders who were low on competence but are worshipped today as great leaders & statesmen because of environmental & situational factors at that particular point of time.

At present India is going through tough times. The country desperately needs honest, able & committed leadership. On one hand we see majority of the conventional leaders who still profess the same fundamentals & ideologies which they have practiced since independence. We see corruption in every walk of life. Again on the horizon of Indian society, appeared a social activist, who may be low on competence but high on commitment to cause, led the agitation on corruption, backed with bunch of ex-bureaucrats & youths, fought against the rotten political & bureaucratic system. Recently our politicians were forced to pass the Lokpal bill (Ombudsman) in the parliament. The fallout of the agitation resulted into the birth of a political force, Aam Admi Party (Common Mans Party), which surprised everyone in the country by bagging considerable seats in recent Delhi elections. This shows that one need not to be extraordinarily competent & gifted in order to be a successful leader, but the commitment to the cause, ability to read public pulse & act proactively, can transform an average person into a great leader and bring a massive change in the society.

Sometimes the greatness & leadership is thrust on a person by virtue of his birth, lineage & circumstances. History has seen such kind of leaders in past & these people till today are remembered as great stalwarts & thinkers who changed the course of history. When India got independence, two people were selected to lead it. One got the De facto Head of State position of by virtue of his lineage (he was competent but other people more competent than him were equal contenders for the position, but ignored) & other got the position of De jure Head of the State (ceremonial position) by virtue of his competence  & extraordinary leadership capabilities. Today if we analyse their contribution & India’s development since independence, we can easily see the effects of the average leadership capabilities & low commitment in terms of India’s moderate growth & weak economic / foreign policy. This shows that thrust greatness most of the time does not have longevity & in long run ruins the society. On other hand leaders like Indira Gandhi & Rajeev Gandhi, who were also low on competence side, got important position to lead the country, they led from front & transformed the fortune of country. Ms Indira Gandhi strengthened the position of India in terms of potent foreign policy & Mr. Rajeev Gandhi started the process of economic liberalization & made India an IT power. This only shows that young political leaders in in India, who got their position by virtue of their lineage, can also become successful extraordinary leaders & transform the society if they are high on commitment to the cause. Again I would like to say these fortunate people that they are the blessed people who have got a chance to work for the greater cause of working for the welfare of society by virtue of lineage, need only to be high on commitment, in order to transform the society. But the irony is that the commitment is by product of struggle & the position obtained by virtue of lineage, lacks struggle & many times does not translate into commitment.

There are some extraordinary leaders who made themselves great. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Franklin, Roosevelt & Sardar Patel are some examples. Another category of people is who are born great. I would like to keep Swami Vivekanada, Jesus Christ & Gautam Buddha in this category. I would like to end the blog with the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda- “Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.”

 

 

 

         

An evening at Haridwar Railway Station

Last Thursday (7th March-13), I had gone on a sales trip to Haridwar to meet one of our business partner in UK for Uttaranchal territory sales planning. I reached the office of our partner in the afternoon & finished the job around 4 PM. Same day I had a return ticket to Delhi from Shatabdi Express & it was scheduled around 6.10 PM from Haridwar. I reached Haridwar railway station around 5.00 PM. There was good one hour to spend at the railway station. The station was crowded with people waiting for their respective trains. Since Haridwar is a holy city, people from all walks of life, from different regions in India & world were present. All the benches were occupied, so I started roaming on platform no. 1 & observing the people. Beside me two foreigners were standing & talking to a disabled person with polio in both legs. One of them was tall & thin & the other was a little bit healthy. The tall guy was who was talking to the person on skates felt that it inconvenient to talk to the person who was sitting on skates. He sat on the floor opened a packet of chips & a cold drink. Soon after this the other person also sat on the platform & joined the discussion. To my surprise all three were sharing the same packet of chips & cold drink bottle. They were talking in the manner as if they all were old friends. After 15 minutes the train announcement was made & the tall person asked for permission to leave from his friend & guy on skates. Both of them shook hands with him & said good bye.

Then the person on skates took the wrapper of Chips & cold drink bottle towards dustbin to dispose it. On the same platform there were other people also who were littering the station with the leftovers. These fifteen minutes really touched my heart & gave me the lesson of life-

1.       When we get a better social & economic position in society in society, we forget the basic tenets of humanity & start treating the unfortunate & unprivileged ones in inhuman way.

2.       We often try to follow the western culture, but we still don’t know our own culture which teaches us kindness, love, respect & humanity.

3.       Does education makes us civilized? The answer is no. An uneducated, physically disabled person knows that littering is bad, but on the same platform there were so many educated people doing it.

ARE WE SUFFERING FROM ALZHEIMER’S?

The last two weeks were really turbulent for the India. Not only Delhi, the rape capital of India, but the complete nation was shaken by the shameful incidence of gang rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus. We saw a detailed analysis of the incidence in media & socio-political circles. But sometimes I ask a question to myself- Is this the only case of its kind? How long the protest over this rape issue & the media created hype will last? What happened to Anna’s anti-corruption & Lokpal movement in past? How long Indian people remember these issues?

Yes we are suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t blame any single individual or a group but the complete Indian society. Today we talk of freedom at midnight & great Indian democracy. I have serious doubt that did we deserved the democratic governance in 1947? Was Indian society ready for a governance system which it didn’t have any understanding & experience in past. Historically India has been a feudal society & this feudal system is still prevalent if you see the socio-political system & political parties in India. We still see our future leaders in family lineage of the ruling class irrespective of the experience & competence in the heirs. To me democracy was the brain child of few political elites in then Indian politics during pre-independence era. It proved an excellent tool for the politicians at that point of time & still today to rule over the common people in the name of freedom & democracy. But the question is- who has to be blamed?

Alexander Pope has said- For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best. I don’t want to debate on whether democracy was the best option at time of independence, but still today I have doubt that neither common man knows the meaning of democracy nor they value it.  We have become so much selfish & self-occupied that we don’t see much beyond ourselves. Democratic system has given voting right as an excellent tool to select our leaders. Do we value it & exercise it correctly? I am pained to hear when people say that whole political system is corrupt. Now the question is that when we all know that the whole political system is corrupt- then we repeatedly vote these corrupt people & bring them in power. Now people say that they don’t have any option but to select few among these people, the less corrupt option. Again we only are to blame. I hardly see any intellectual winning any election (our PM who is considered to be one the most learned political personality has to adopt RS route). The moral of the story is you get the kind of governance that you deserve.

Coming again to the current wave of so called awakening of the common man, the mass protest against the Delhi gang rape incidence & the insensitive attitude of the national leadership towards it, we need to go in the root cause of the problem & possible solutions that can be brought to minimise & get rid of this cancerous problem in present Indian society. First thing that has to be accepted is that rape is a societal problem because of loss of social value system in the society. Female has always been worshipped in India in different forms like goddess Durga, Kaali & is considered to be source of power. Shockingly in present scenario she seems to be so weak that she can’t even protect herself. The moral values in people have degraded so much they forget before committing any such crime that they are also born of a mother who is also a female. They also have sisters & daughters. Since, Delhi/NCR has a dubious distinction of having the maximum number of rapes per years & it’s consistency in topping the list of such a heinous crime over past many years, we can analyse the social landscape of Delhi NCR. To me the first problem is the concentration of absolute power in a particular section of people. Also being political capital of India, every one boast of his/her connection with the people in power. They think that whatever they do, they can get away with the law because of their position, wealth & connection. Lord Action has said that Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is one famous term in Delhi CAROBAR meaning bar in car. People used to say that after 8.00 PM in Delhi, an appreciable percentage of the cars have carobar inside it. When these things happen on roads, the inappropriate action also takes place on the road towards a certain gender.

The loop holes in our legal system & delay in conviction & prosecution is encouraging the culprits to have of impression of getting away scot-free even after committing heinous crimes. Law is no more a deterrent to certain section of the society. We also have to look at the police infrastructure & adoption of the strict code of conduct for the police department in the country. The proper check & balances should be applied to this department.    

We have heard many times the spirit of Mumbai to bounce back after any calamity and about the culture of many other cities. Now the question is whether anyone has heard about spirit of Delhi or the culture of Delhi. People are so much self-centred that they hardly think about others. We all see these crimes being committed by people in in public, but how many of raise any alarm or come in front.  Few days back a self-proclaimed god said about the Delhi case that it’s impossible to clap with one hand. The girl is equally responsible as she did not plead culprits to leave her. This only shows the apathy of these kinds of people towards a certain gender (and this so called spiritual person himself has criminal charges against him). This does not show the attitude of that person but the society at large as he has millions of followers who virtually worship him & blindly accept all his deeds.

We saw a massive protest in Delhi & rest of the country for justice to the Delhi victim recently & also saw the attitude of the authorities towards protesters. If we see the demographics of this particular gender in the country, it’s almost 50% of the population. It’s pathetic to see this proportion of population begging for their independence, security & protection. We have a democratic governance system in our country and it can be used as a tool to get elected & come at the leadership position if they show unity. They will become the part of the system & create an environment of gender equality in the society.

MOVING THE AVERAGE ON RIGHT HAND SIDE

Moving the average on right hand side:

When we enrolled IIM Lucknow Noida campus in post graduate management course for working executives (approx. two year duration), most of us had one thing in mind. We expected to get a post-graduation degree from one of the premium institutes in India which would help us to get a good package white collar job. The two years we spent at IIML was really a testing period for all of us. Most of us were working with the MNC’s which were not ready to compromise on the job front & on other hand there was institute like IIML which was determined with the quality of the students passing out. Between these two ends, we students were shuttling from office to institute almost three to four days every week & were at the receiving end of both, trying to maintain the balance on both sides. Those who were married had to maintain this equilibrium at third front also i.e. with their wife & children. After completing the office hours at 5 PM, we all used to rush to the institute to attend the classes which was scheduled at 6.15 PM. I was working with a company that was in Gurgaon (approx. 45 Km from Institute). I had approx. 1 hour 15 min to cover this distance & was every day a challenge to reach the institute in time during the rush hours of Delhi/NCR. Though most of the professors used to tolerate 5-10 minutes delay, few were very strict in timings. Some of them allow sitting without attendance, few close the doors of class at 6.15 PM. This was not the end of our miseries as after the classes we used to get a lot of case studies, assignment & projects for next class.

These two years were really a testing period for all of us & today after passing out personally I can say that I enjoyed so called torture at all three fronts for two years & miss it now. I got what I expected from this course & had a wonderful experience. All the faculties from IIML were good, but I would like to mention few who left an everlasting impression on us. Prof. Rajeev Kumra was our Marketing / Sales & Distribution faculty. He started his career in sales & was very successful sales manager.  Later on he switched his career in teaching profession & joined IIM as Sales & Marketing professor. His approach was more practical rather than theoretical & he used to tell complex things in a very simple way with real life examples from his own experiences. It was a pleasure to sit in his class & learn.

One of my specializations elective subjects was Business Sustainability & Carbon Market. Again the thinking behind taking this subject was to learn the tricks of carbon trading & make money in future. Mr. Susheel Kumar was our professor for this elective. Susheel sir is an ex civil servant who left the coveted Government of India job to pursue his academic interest & went to Canada for higher studies. After returning to India, he started teaching management & subsequently joined IIML as professor. During the first lecture itself he left a profound impact on the students as an honest & dedicated person. In that lecture itself, our hope of getting 20 sessions training on understanding carbon trading tricks was dashed. He took a more holistic approach towards sustainable development & harmony between nature & environment. He started the lecture with corporate ethics, business ethics, personal ethics & sustainability. We argued the relevance of ethics under present social, political & business environment in India. At that point Professor drew one normal curve on the board & and asked us that if ethics/honesty is parameter of interest then at present whether the curve is left skewed or right skewed. The overwhelming response was that the curve is left skewed. Then he replied that during the upcoming 20 sessions, his effort would be to move this average in the right side by influencing the behaviour of the 30 students present in the class. Today I feel that he was correct when I see few people trying to change the complete political system by raising slogan against corruption. If we see the Indian society at large & if each one of us asks one question to self that am I honest? I am sure that we will find that the average will be tilted heavily on right hand side. The idea of incremental movement of average in the right hand side people like our professor & each of us would be a viable solution rather than a first approach.