The Goal...

When I was a child, I liked Sachin Tendulkar. I remember that I cut out and kept a photograph of him with Sir Don Bradman when the former went to meet the later on his 91^st birthday. I was a small kid then, incapable of achieving anything more than a first position in class, so I took a vicarious pleasure in the achievements of my heroes. As time passed and I grew up, a sense of tremendous self respect and independence began to take over. Now I wanted to achieve all such things myself and take pleasure in my own moments of glory. 

I don’t follow cricket now and I care least about celebrities. Today, Sachin achieved the milestone of being the highest run getter in international test cricket and at night I happened to switch to a channel that was airing a live interview with him on his new achievement. I suddenly remembered those old moments when I cut that photograph and when I read an article about his upcoming 24^th birthday in the local Hindi daily, multiple times and so lovingly. 

A sudden rush of emotions and a reminder of an old promise to the self – that is the league I have to belong to.

Hats Off Dad...

I take different things from different people. As such, I don’t have any single role model. I take independence and patience from my father and I take truthfulness and honesty from my mother.

The other day, I was very disturbed about something related to office and he was perturbed seeing me like this. I was touched with his gesture when he sat with me for half an hour at night and told me how a few recent incidents he handled well had been potentially devastating, how such things happen with everybody and how we should take them in stride. For those few moments, I felt something I can’t put in words. He is not a man of exceptional achievements but I realized that every now and then he has had his moments – moments that went unidentified in this governmental bureaucratic machinery –that tell the tale of his exceptional qualities. I learnt a few things from him that day.

He went to sleep but as I thought what he had tried to tell me, I remembered something I had learned sometime back – you have something to learn from everyone.

Change...

I don’t want to give MBA so much importance in my life as to write posts about every milestone in its way. This is just a course that gives one skills to succeed in business. I want to learn those skills. And yes, a few bits of personal growth that come with good diversity and competent faculty at a good B school. That’s all in it for me. I have brought myself out from the possibility of an unknown future into a phase where I see a glimmer of doing something in life. I need this education now to take myself to the level of a global leader.

I have never been inclined towards selling myself to people in interviews, neither for job nor for education. But in this fast paced, highly competitive world, all the selectors can know about a candidate is what he tells them about himself. I know this but I don’t practice this. I will have to accept it soon and behave accordingly. Though selling the self doesn’t seem fulfilling to me, for whatever end.

The recent interview that I had would be the last one where I didn’t even attempt to sell myself when I easily could. The selectors may easily have missed some aspects of my personality that could have defined my selection. Results would not be out for over a month and the likelihood is that of acceptance, despite an unsatisfactory interview performance from my side, but still, I feel that I need to change myself in this sense. And so I would. Today, my thoughts have both the sides. On one hand, one last satisfaction remains – that if I make it in this effort of mine then I will have been selected despite not having even shown the level of my true self. And then, on the other hand, I think that it would have been more satisfying if only I had shown my actual level of thoughts. The second thought predominates. That’s why I say that I would change myself now on in this sense.

All those clichés that I read in the books look so practical now. You never end learning throughout your life. And change is the way of life.

I am the common man and the news channels say this is what I need...

Tell me how many of us would be willing to sell our house in that posh area when we have heard something about an approval in the waiting for a huge shopping mall in the area. Obviously the prices would shoot up and we would want to wait until the mall materializes. And that you wouldn't want to see your house being seized from your hands before you are dead doesn't even deserve a mention.

Now tell me, how much unjustified the farmers in that troubled state are when they complain that their land was seized against their wished and that they were paid for their land at the paltry rates prevailing before the proposed small car project. The media has been giving extensive coverage to the travails of the industrial house and all sympathy has tilted in the favor of the industry. Statements pertaining to the Brand of that state being tarnished because of the unfortunate exit of the manufacturer are rife. The accusations are all on the protesters. There is no doubt that the political leader of the resistance movement is baking her own bread in all this heat and that the responsibility of fair land acquisition doesn't completely lie with the prospective manufacturer, likes of who are generally allotted the land by the state government. But who is talking about the culpability of the state government in its unjust land acquisition policy! Why can't we expect the bureaucrats to look into the social research papers that suggest innovative measures as giving out shares into the profits, etc?

I put it on record here to express my take on our 'responsible' media. The media represents one of the most educated sections of this 1.1 billion large country and so much for all their post graduate and doctorate degrees; we can't even expect an independent opinion from a single representative on the issue. Everybody is harping on the one point general opinion, in favor of the industry. That when they hold regular debates on an inclusive national development to become a super power by 2020. And when the public opinion is whipped by this media, the repercussions can only be imagined. An entire national opinion skewed by unsymmetrical information feeds. I feel miserable. 15-Aug will come again next year and I would see all those slogans written by the young educated representatives of the nation on my office notice board again, mentioning how India makes them proud. I shudder at the thought.

Another thought struck my mind though. Just after the auto expo in Delhi this year, I saw an interview of the chairman of some government organization (I forgot the name of the lady). She raised concerns on the repercussions on the much touted small car project. Of course, the interview was neither re-telecast nor the concerns highlighted in the media to the level of making a public opinion. 

For a moment let's forget our responsibility towards our environment and be selfish to only think about making human life more comfortable. You can count those on hands who expect any drastic improvement in the national infrastructure in the next 10 years. Please see the word drastic in proper light here. If the economy grows at 9 % then an infrastructure growth of 9 % would not be called drastic. It would just mean that the situation on road anytime in future would remain just as it is today. To make a noticeable difference, the actual growth in infrastructure would have to outpace that needed. And I don't see that happening anytime soon. In that light, imagine the current situation on roads worsened by those small cars replacing even a quarter scooters and bikes of today. Utter chaos. May be, until the infrastructure boom begins we can design cheaper and fuel efficient public transport. Affluence is not in every poor man owning a car, affluence is in every poor man earning enough to eat three-times-a-day meals, affluence is in him sending his child to school, affluence is in him being able to commute in the hassle free and faster public transport system, affluence is in him being assured of a quality health care, affluence is in him being assured of his human and civil rights, affluence is in him knowing that nobody can just seize his land below the marker price. Once we know this, we wouldn't give so much of airtime to something which doesn't even count in the priorities of social development.

And when you talk about the technical innovation, I don't see a substantial one here. The price tag is highly dependent on the ancillary units located around the plant. The only substantial achievement of this project seems to me in the area of logistics and supply chain management rather than in the area of technology. This is just a walmartization of the car manufacturing - concepts of retail supply chain optimization being applied to manufacturing.

But of course, we can't afford ignoring the environment today. The need of the hour is not to build an annual half a million more cars burning petrol at a much higher rate than that of two wheelers but to develop cars around a whole new concept involving solar energy, fuel cells, and what better than undrinkable water. Numerous other national and international players are expected to join the fray soon to cash in on the short term boom in the small car. I wish they would pool their resources to expedite the invention of such a concept car. That would be a technical feat, and a responsible one at that.

Otherwise how different this is from the short sighted phenomenon we saw on the Wall Street in the last few years that now led to the near demise of the international finance industry. The Americans went only after the short term profits and growth and here we see the same in automobile happening in India. Yes, there would be a big difference though. The short-sightedness there affected the artificial web of finance, woven by humans around the globe and the same here would affect the natural cover in multiple ways and irreversibly reduce the life span of the planet earth.

Thinking, anyone?

Kalyug..

Something came up in the discussions of two frustrated engineers last night. I thought why not to write this one here.

तो साहब, अर्ज किया है -

एक वक्त था जब दोस्त कहते थे कि दोस्ती के लिए तो जान भी हाजिर है,

आज देखिये बीवी को जान कहते हैं, और मांगो तो मना करते हैं ...

Ways of the world..

It does pinch a little. But anyways. This person was close to me. He was my project partner too in B.Tech. final year project. But apparantly, I was not that close to him. He is getting engaged on 6th and has called some other batchmates but didn't even inform me. I got the news from another common friend. Felt bad at the first moment. But when I thought for next few minutes about it, I really had no complaints with him. It's just one of those many equations at college when he was close to me but I wasn't to him. It's even right. I was a big stupid when at college.

Perhaps he would call me when he gets married soon. Perhaps. 

I am not one of those who are offended or hurt by this. It's just that it feels weird. I was waiting for some time when my batch would start seeing marriages every month. The time is almost there. Another is getting engaged on 5th and married on 8th.