Politics

Perceptions

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

We think. We perceive. And we form opinions. But are all of those valid?

This week, a couple of conversations, one with my daughter and another with a colleague, led me to this question.

Often times, we think and form perceptions about people / things based on our limited world view.

Like when I was in the Army, during our initial training days, most of us formed a perception about others. At a young age, without too much exposure, we perceived others through a limited prism of what we saw in front of our eyes. Without considering that people aren’t always how we see them. As time progressed, we saw them for who they were. Lesson learnt!

At other times, we perceive others based on our experiences and what we have learnt over the years.

Like when I joined my first job after my MBA, I utilised my experience over the last 10 years or so through work, college, etc. to form an opinion about others. I used my mental models to make sense of how things would turn out or how would people behave. As it turned out, I was right sometimes, but often wrong…

As we continue to build our lives, our ability to perceive improves. Grey hair of course comes with its own benefits! That helps us become more balanced in our approach.

Similar to how I dealt with people post my business failure, when I restarted my corporate innings. Because I had by then developed a better sense of the world, I could see beyond the obvious and perceive the other person or things for what they really were. Well, many a times.

However, there are times when our perceptions can still be wrong or premature. It often happens when we think only from one angle and negate others. Resulting in a loss of balance.

Like when we try and impose our world view on others. Or think our opinion is better than others. Or when a few occurrences make us believe it as a norm.

It’s only when we reflect on our perceptions, do we realise that this is an art that can never be perfected. Only improved upon. And the reason why we need to continue checking on if our perceptions are coming from a balanced view or are they swinging on either side…

For while the norm these days is either side, the middle is where everything rests!

Win or Lose – what after the Games?

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

What is important? Is it even important to fuss over the result or is it sufficient to have just played? What to make of those who won? And those who lost? And what does all of this hold for us?

As the Olympic Games gala got over today, some of these questions floated into my mind…

These Olympic Games saw the best run ever by India, finishing with 7 medals. All of us Indians are ecstatic right now. After all, we won a Gold in a track and field event for the first time. Going with 2 silvers and 3 bronze medals, including one for Hockey which is our national sport, a lot of our champs proved their mettle.

It’s been an interesting last few weeks as I observed the commentary on the games and also had multiple chats at home and with friends on what to expect, how India is faring, good bad and ugly of Indian sports, and so on. I’m sure, for most of us, these last 2 weeks would have been in a similar zone – with sports dominating the conversations. And that too, not cricket for a change!

Depending on who you talked to, there would be different views – some focused on the personal aspects like what went behind the training of the sportsmen / women, who were they competing against, etc. And some focused on the collective aspects like is India really doing it’s best to provide facilities and infrastructure for fostering world-class sports stars, how is it that Chinese have started winning so many medals and their training regime, and so on.

You get it – most of these conversations we had were merely that. Talk of the town to berate or praise different aspects of sports without actually knowing what goes behind the scenes or what to attribute the outcome to. In fact, most of the conversations start with sports and then deviate into politics.

As with other seasonal topics, these will die down after a few days or weeks and will be replaced by other topical issues.

What I do hope remains though are the dreams that these games have given to the young ones in the country and how some of those dreams metamorphose into effort and training, leading to more glory in the coming years across different sporting disciplines.

What I also hope remains is the interest that has been generated in the other sports apart from cricket, which encourages many more kids to pick them up and many more parents to allow their children to pursue them seriously.

And what I certainly hope for is that all of us Indians start laying much more emphasis on sports as a medium of all round development for ourselves and our kids. For what is important is not to win or lose but to play well and gain from either of the experiences. Something that our kids generation definitely needs to imbibe whole-heartedly…

Only then, will the promise that we saw in these games will be translated into action not only in the sporting field but also in all aspects of our lives as a nation!

Terrorism – Can the tide turn?

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As the world stands shocked by what’s happening in Paris at Charlie Hebdo’s offices and subsequent news updates and reactions and responses, I was stuck by this very starking response, which appeared in the Online and Print media! Kudos to the original creator and please pardon me if I have violated any copyrights, just couldn’t help sharing it!!!

v2-Banksie-main

As I grasped the full import of what this picture said, I was stuck by a rather bemusing thought. Isn’t terrorism almost like entrepreneurism?

The dictionary defines an Entrepreneur (word origin French: ‘entreprendre’ or to ‘undertake’) as a person who sets up a business taking a risk, in hope of profits. We could argue Terrorism is the same. It is a setup which takes a huge risk (of the terrorists lives) for a windfall profit – acceptance of the group’s ideology, and so on. Quite so…

Going deeper in my thoughts, I realised some of the essential traits for an entrepreneur are – a guy next door who has an idea (product\service), is willing to bet on it, takes a risk putting it out in the market, obtains financing from various sources for it, forgoes financial and material gains in the short term while focused on the long term, builds a team and a company that has to be constantly motivated to achieve the seemingly impossible, puts self in the line of fire at all times, fights all fears and uncertainties and emerges victorious at the other end, achieving a disproportionate success for self and society.

Compare it with terrorists – normal people who subscribe to an ideology (ok, it might be skewed by their view of things), who bet their very lives on it, take all risks during operations, get financed from secret sources, focus on the long term fulfilment of their ideals, operate with a team in a state of constant motivation to achieve their purpose(!), are literally in the line of fire, fight all fears to install fear, and emerge dead\captured\sheltered (the last one’s the favourite) to be called a martyr or hero in their circles!

So it shouldn’t be a surprise then – just like entrepreneurism is becoming a preferred choice for majority of today’s enterprising youth, so is terrorism fast becoming a successful way of leading life for some of the other enterprising ones. It has become a mainstream industry today for hundreds and thousands of youth who aren’t hesitating to be a part of it! Not to mention the headline grabbing notoriety and the free publicity that they and their causes get in the media, drawing people into debates of right and wrong, and pushing their viewpoints to influence more and more normal people.

The only difference is while entrepreneurs seek to create something which can endure, terrorists seek to destroy that which endures! And herein lies the key difference, which gives me hope. For those who seek to destroy are almost always destroyed from within! Time and history have been witnesses…

We may be seeing an unprecedented rise in terrorism in our times but I believe it will all come down just as swiftly it has risen and subsume itself in the flurry of time. The factors aiding its rise – lack of opportunities, resources, education, intolerance of others etc. are sooner or later going to go away. And in their place will rise an abundance of opportunities, resources, learning and a belief that we can all peacefully subsist on this planet! It all depends on we, the people within this society, to make it all happen.

And then perhaps those youth who turn towards the extremism of terror will instead utilise all their “enterprising” traits to start creating things that endure, which will not only change their lives but will be so much better for the society that they and their families and children want to live in – a society which respects their faith and ideals and let them be, in lieu of they respecting the society and letting it be… Imagine what a wonderful world full of possibilities it will be then.

Amen!

Football and the Indian Development Saga?

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I guess India is not absolutely the right place to write about the World Cup but then I am constrained for choices. As it happens, the on-going football World Cup, the 4-yearly pilgrimage for old-style fans of the beautiful game ( I say old style because these days most football followers stick to the various domestic leagues only, whereas I prefer the nation vs nation format) has again raised the question of where are we as a country in this game!

Well, Sunil Chhetri is definitely trying to do his best in the studio (a poorly conceived and executed pre and post match show by Sony). The social media is flush with tweets and shares and likes for all things football. The newspapers are giving prominent page-space to the event (even Hindi ones, which definitely means more people in the hinterland following the sport now). And the Janata can’t stop talking about the late night games and the sleepy eyes one encounters every day. And all of these are definitely encouraging signs for us all…

Yet, when we look at India’s standing in the world order of football it’s way dismal. Watching one of the matches my brother commented, when Nigeria which is such a woefully underdeveloped country can qualify and give some of the better ones a run for their money, what’s wrong with India. And my instant answer was – we don’t have grassroots development.

If we look at it objectively, as I did after making the comment (yes, like most of us, I was just trying to sound cool and authoritative at that time), this theory does ring a bell. Why?

To begin with, Indians are taught from their childhood that sports and games are bad. “Padhoge, likhoge, Banoge Nawab; Kheloge, Koodoge, Banoge Kharab”. This is such a deep psyche with us people that it takes a typical rebel to go against the grain of the society and emerge on a field to play sports professionally.

Yes, we are changing and it is becoming common now-a-days to find sportsmen everywhere in India but then most of them are cricketers, trying to make some quick bucks in the only sport that pays handsomely. People don’t want to look at sports as a serious profession because they are unsure about earning their livelihood from it. And this can only change when we develop…

Cutting it short, this bias is basically there because Indians haven’t seen the other side of the coin – people can follow whatever their passion or liking is and they will be able to make a living out of it. And it doesn’t matter if you are educated or not, the views are almost the same. So how do we change this?

My take is – if India develops fast and people start seeing opportunities everywhere, the propensity to get into alternative fields will be more. We will then not only have more sportsmen but more teachers, more scientists, more of all professions and people will be happy in their chosen line, something akin to the US or other highly developed countries!

Probity in News…

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Surfing through news today, I hit upon a report of Pranoy Roy seeking accountability and transparency from the Indian media and wanting a strong defamation law to handle spurious news and wrong accusations. Kudos to him to rake up this issue at a time when the current news channels create nuisance, unnecessarily at times!

I still remember how I started watching news early on in my life, specially ‘The World This Week’ and the DD National news in the evening. It gave me a strong footing to understand and appreciate world-wide happenings and improve my idea of the world. And all of it was cultured, sedate reporting and talks/debates to put forth the complete view-point, most of it thoroughly researched.

But today’s media in India has sadly been reduced to a caricature of its previous self of high standards and professional, authentic viewpoints. What we are witnessing these days are shenanigans of channels and anchors turning news into soap-operas to garner more eyeballs and prolong their life…

Talking about television media particularly, these intelligentsia claim that they are the true champions of democracy and are responsible for everything that’s right, bringing out everything’s that wrong! However, most of the news items seem biased and planted to favour one or the other party and the ensuing debate is cacophonous at best! And even God cannot help their ‘targets’, who is/are portrayed as a criminal or wrong-doer just by the way they are dealt with… 🙂

I am no judge of who is right or wrong but I do hope that television media becomes as sensitive to the veracity of what they are showing, and more importantly empathy towards their viewers (not repeating the same thing all day, multiple times) and participants (who look like sitting ducks most of the times)!

Otherwise they risk losing out on audience who are as such moving to the internet and other sources of getting their news rather than watching the news channels. And it’s happening not only because of changing tastes, but also because people like me value a fair and free opinion/reporting above everything else.

Hopefully that day comes soon!

Rajiv’s B’day and the Shameful Act

~ Rishi ~ 3 Comments

It was sad to see the innumerable ads given out on Rajiv Gandhi’s birthday by the various government ministries and departments in the newspapers. As counted, the Times of India, Delhi edition carried a total of 16 advertisements related to Rajiv Gandhi – 11 half-page, 4 full-page and 1 quarter-page. That’s “gyaaraah-char”, or in other terms “atyaachaar” over the Indian common man – precious public money is being wasted on such monickers without any accountability.

The usual political practice of keeping the inauguration of key projects on hold for such special occasions is also deplorable. Politicians play up this card time and again and use this ploy to get attention of the powers. And the common man suffers at the hands of these shenanigans…

It should be incumbent on the government to discourage such spending. Only if we could have had a single 1-page ad in the newspaper from the Government of India, it would have been sufficient to show the government’s respect towards the leader. But alas. Even newspapers like TOI don’t have a check on such wasteful expenditure by the government and discourage it. In fact they would love to profit from so many ads, which although is good from the business sense of it, can be highly questioned from the ethical point of view of the greater society which the newspaper serves.

Most of us indeed respect Rajiv Gandhi and what he did for India as a national leader. However, I deem true respect to him would be paid not by squandering public money in such useless ways but by ensuring that the intended recipients get not the proverbial 15 paise from a rupee but the full value. Then only would we be able to proclaim ourselves as having followed his espoused principles…

Our netas are us – apt view

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Perhaps this article written by Jug Suraiya in today’s TOI aptly reflects what we really need to think about –

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3785325.cms

We as the next flag-bearers of what India is or aspires to be, must take up responsibilities at whatever level possible to make OUR country what we want. We can’t expect these thugs, crooks etc. who have grown up in a vicious atmosphere to shed their skins.

You can’t change a man’s basic character. And sadly, today’s India’s basic character is full of hatred for others – be on the account of region, religion, caste, social status or whatever. People everywhere are corrupt. And the common man, full as is his plate is with everyday problems, only augments this. So, only when the common ‘stupid’ man decides that enough is enough and takes things into his own hands (I mean in a constructive manner), would India change.

So, my appeal to everyone here is to not just sit and lament about such things. We have at least some power in our hands to change things. Lets utilize it for the betterment of our country in our own personal/collective capacity. Unless we do it, the next generation would be blaming us and India would still remain a promising but faltering nation.

Time to wake up and soulder responsibility. Waise bhi, “Zindagi jeene ke do raaste hote hain – ek jo ho raha hai hone do, aur doosra ki uske khilaaf awaaz uthao aur phir zimmedaari bhi” (Couldn’t recollect the exact dialogue, but came into mind instantly)…

Subsequent mood in India after the terror mayhem

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All have been witness to the ghastardly act of terror on display in Mumbai, India. TV channels have relentlessly captured every bit of detail and relayed it to the public, which perhaps has had its first brush with a REAL terror strike. Now as the operation subsides and facts emerge, it brings a sense of dreaded calm after a big storm.

But all of this has had a drastic effect on the psyche of the common Indian. People are questioning the failure of intelligence, security, internal affairs etc. which is something that has become almost like a prime-time soap-opera playing with regular ease across India. They are no longer willing to accept the dramatic responses given by netas. Hyperbole is out, Plain action is in.

Also, quite surprisingly and to some extent relieving, is the observation of people regarding the playing up of trivial issues like religion, caste, region etc. by Indian politicians. People are now rightly consigning all such dramatised vote-mongering and media-posturing politics to where they belong – the dustbin.

This is the awakening of an entire generation, rather population, to what matters to them the most. Politics shouldn’t be about who the person is or where is he from. Politics should revolve around the core issues – what is being done about infrastructure, security, economic stability, jobs, electricity, water, basic sanitation, education. The list goes on and on.  All these years, Indian politics has only revolved around creating trivial issues and grand-posturing on real ones. Now Indian politics shall have to change – politicians and the government must accept the fact that they have been a total failure to securely govern the very nation which they are given a mandate to rule, and should act in concert to reverse the damage as soon as possible. Only then would some sense of confidence in the Indian politician return to the normal level. Otherwise, people shall become more and more jaded, and who knows what might happen then.

This is my appeal to all the people out there. Please continue to foster this rage inside you. Its only you who can make a difference to this country. Nobody will come from outside to do it for you. So better buckle up your belt and get going. The ride is tough and might have certain surprises in store, but would surely bore fruit if completed.

Salute to the never dying spirit of today’s India…