The last Resort of Indian Democracy!

 

Winston Churchill once said ' Never let  a good crisis go to waste'  I'll add my mean wisdom to it. 'Don't waste a crisis especially if its not yours'. And for five Star resorts, there could'nt be a better crisis than the Political ones . 

Lawmakers from across party lines being lugged in buses to the fancy resorts is becoming quite a frequent sight.  Grinning from ear to ear, splashing victory signs, they represent the enthusiasm of school children leaving for a picnic. And the excitement is well justified. Imagine an indefinite vacation, where one can summon everything on the left of Menu without even a side glance to the right, sans any work pressure. It is the most luxurious all expenses paid holiday that one can ask for.
Given how central the resorts are becoming to the politics, all political parties will have to seriously think about setting up a crack team of resort specialists. They will need to make sure that neither can anyone checkout anytime they like, nor they can leave. 

It’s also a huge business opportunity for the hotel and resort industry. After all, every non-BJP ruled state is a new sale waiting to happen. And elections are like the festive season.
I am listing out a few value-adds that can help a hospitality brand become a preferred choice of all the parties wanting to safeguard their flock from falling prey to the rival gangs of wolves

Live Tracking
Naïve MLAs must be kept safe from the evil eye of opponents.  Hence keeping an eye on them is of utmost importance. Hotel should offer high tech monitoring services to track every move of the sequestered MLAs.

Reconnaissance
It is also important to know your enemy’s moves. Hence, bugging the rival camp’s hotel can be the deal clincher.  Having expert detectives and reconnaissance expertise would also help.

Enhanced immunity
MLAs can also be influenced and brainwashed through families and friends. Hence jammers to block phone calls should be made available, should a political faction demand so.

Financial advisory

Since these lawmakers are being made to avoid the allure of Money from the rivals, training sessions on how to make up for that lost opportunity is critical.  Celebrated Ponzy scheme founders, Drug lords, Bitcoin traders, Nigerian mail racket operators could be invited to provide training.

Private screenings

Some of them might be missing the private screenings from assembly sessions. They could be offered Free Pornhub or any other ‘Mature’ content site subscription as a part of the package.

Career and life counselling
Keeping up with the speed of this age, our lawmakers are also flexible and nimble. Their loyalties and ideologies are always-on-the-move. They need to be conditioned to stick with the herd for personal and professional success. An expert panel of motivational, speakers, Psychologists, spiritual gurus or even hypnotists will go a long way in establishing an edge over rival hotels.

Debate sessions
Some hardworking lawmakers might miss the action of assembly debates. For them, a dummy session can be convened every week.  For close to natural experience, they should be allowed to hurl abuses, chappals, microphones at each other.

Customer Care

Last and the least. if any lawmaker wishes to connect with the Voters, try and arrange for a virtual conference. This is good to have. But not a deal breaker 

Is Work from Home Working?

An idea for the Time being or an Idea whose time has come?

Hardly a conversation these days goes by without referencing the 'new normal’ and some mandatory crystal ball gazing on the ‘post corona world’. Combined, these two terms had more than 3 million mentions on social media over last month of Lockdown.  Thomas Friedman has even given the new time acronyms AC for ‘After corona’ and BC ‘Before Corona’. Indeed, it is an epochal event that is expected to exponentially accelerate the changes that were already underway, and might even bring some more. Among the most talked about subject of change is the future of work. Ever since the offices were shut across the world, employee homes have doubled up as the bastions of the businesses, resolutely holding the fort laid besieged by a tiny organism.  Until now, remote working was always a half measure HR practice, largely followed by  IT & ITeS. Despite occasional affirmative nods from Senior Executives in PR articles, it was never committed to whole-heartedly.  Cut to the lockdown and it suddenly became the only possible way to work for a vast majority of global workforce, turning it into a global experiment of sorts on remote working. And the results so far are quite exciting. Buoyed by its success, organizations like TCS are planning mandatory Work from Home for 75% of workforce by 2024, whilst Twitter is planning to allow its employees to Work remotely forever.
Internet is inundated with WFH memes. It is the new proverbial Poster boy of Pop Culture and darling of tech fraternity.

An early infatuation or a long term alliance?

Yet to go through the test of time,  it would be too early to declare this sudden build –up of Romance with remote working as a sign of strong bond
The early signs are encouraging for codified Jobs, set upon the linear processes, with streamlined individual deliverables. But same may not be true of many other disciplines. For instance, advertising, It has its own distinct pace and process. Creative ideas are at the heart of our work. They feed on the unexpected, the unusual, everyday randomness of life.  Ideas may be discussed in the boardrooms but are more often than not conceived in a different place and time. Borne out of the experiences and emotions of the creative beings, creative ideas have a life that thrives on social experiences, exchanges and interactions. An idea grows through the Countless debates around the Coffee Machines (avoiding the mention of smoke breaks); leisurely Observations of a busy street, hushed conversations overheard on metro ride to office, Story of a cab driver on a ride to a meeting;  random anecdote from a colleague, a Joke; a gossip , a wink, and even an argument. Office is not just a physical workspace but along with the external world it provides a much needed stimulus for creative work. It lays the foundation of imagination

World is a canvas 
The word creative may conjure up the romantic image of  carelessly attired genius with long tresses perched on a quite corner of a dimly lit room with a ciggerrate in one hand a pen on another.  But in reality, the creative mind is constantly travelling outside for inspiration. This journey traverses through the labyrinth of own past experiences  Working from Home can deprive the Creative mind of that stimulus.  It may deprive the creative folks of those unexpected encounters, unusual observations, the extraordinariness of an ordinary day.  It may keep them from the variety and colour of everyday life. It may starve the fertile creative mind off the rich Fodder of ideas.
Work from Home may be the need of the time, but  should not be the new normal for the Future of creative industry. I hope its not an idea whose time has come!

'How will you manage' - An innocuous question that belies all the claims of equality at a workplace !

‘How will you manage?’ is a usual refrain in job interviews for a friend who has been looking for a job change for last few months. And the question isn’t official! 

With an impressive track record, she does get called for meetings with the decisions makers. And her conversations progress well too, but for the last casual lap that usually includes queries about family et al.
As soon as her 9 month old finds a mention, she senses a sudden change in equation, and an air of awkwardness. Despite the interviewer’s best attempts to remain indifferent to the revelation, the tone of voice betrays the sudden buildup of doubt.

She would give the benefit of doubt in the first couple of interviews, but the Penny dropped when this was consistent response in the next few meetings as well. Her follow up phone calls go unanswered or in some cases the role is temporarily ‘put on hold’ or the all-weather ‘we’ll get back’ card is shown. (What that speaks of the HR practices in our country is a different topic for some other day)
She feels that in one sweep, her experience and achievements are wiped off her CV and all that is left of her credentials or lack of it is a Mother of a young child

May be there are other reasons for her not making the cut. Probably be she didn’t genuinely fit the bill; But the prevalence of the stereotype that a woman’s professional commitments might clash with her parenting responsibilities, is laid bare, perhaps innocently, by the innocuous looking ‘How will you Manage?’  I wonder how many men have had doubt casted upon their ability to contribute productively after they became father.

This episode shows the tokenism of Female empowerment, in an era where every female CEO is celebrated as the ambassador of Women empowerment. Despite fashionable proclamations to be more inclusive and equal, just scratch the surface and one sees the same old gender stereotypes being played in the wider, real world

It is an indictment on our over enthusiasm about some sundry wins at the top and using those as case studies for the winds of change. In a true sense, road towards gender balance in organisations is not through making more room for women at the upper echelons, but by giving them enough and equal  space in the lower rung. Through a truly meritorious system they will find the power to break the glass ceiling and get their rightful place at the top.

At a deeper level, it is also a reflection of the strongly entrenched old values that are constantly at odds with the larger societal need to be progressive. I know of some genuine efforts being made towards a more equitable culture in many organizations at a Policy level. But it becomes difficult for the people at helm to completely break from the mould of their deeply ingrained belief systems. It creates instinctive resistance to accepting the shift in gender roles. After all, organizations are made of People, not Policies

A more lasting solution is aligned with the behavioural change towards parenting that can be encouraged by the right policy making. For example, 26 weeks paid maternity leave can be replaced with 36 weeks of paternity leave, with both Mother and father splitting 18 months among themselves.  It will help inculcate and incentivize the habit of the father taking up the responsibility in the initial stages itself.

And as more fathers take up equal responsibility of parenting, it won’t only be women to Answer
‘How will you Manage?’

Real Heroes from Real Life- And they are all around us

Speak to people, strike a conversation with strangers; you never know when a meaningful lesson will unfold, an inspiring life insight will emerge.  As is my habit, I always speak to my Uber, Ola drivers during my rides.  And many a times I come back richer with human stories, with a fresh perspective to life. They act as my window to the world beyond the Glass walls of Air cooled Corporate offices. A recent ride with Uber proved to be one such profound experience.  My conversation with the driver, segued into a sensitive arena of politics and elections. In a world where a balanced, well rounded perspective is on the verge of extinction, I was surprised by his mature, informed and nuanced point of view, presented with an articulation that many of us in white collar jobs are devoid of. Since he was effortlessly dropping in English words with almost impeccable pronunciation, I couldn’t resist asking him about his education. It turned out that he was Masters in Political Science. He used to work with a Pharma company in Vardha(Gujarat) until about last year before his life took an unfortunate turn; His wife was diagnosed with blood cancer. He had no choice but to leave the job and return to his village in UP. Financial and Physical burden of looking after his wife was too much for him to manage alone in a foreign land whilst also taking care of his two young daughters. After having begun her preliminary treatment, he began the next struggle; Finding a job for himself. An unsuccessful job hunt that lasted a few months, took him to Delhi for a living. When nothing else worked out, he decided to drive the cab for someone else as he did not have enough funds to invest in own vehicle. 

Barely had he started to cope up with the ailing wife and the new life, another unfortunate event befell him. His younger daughter, of about 3 years was diagnosed with a congenital heart problem which needed an immediate surgery.  He again had to rush back to his home town to get her operated.  

For a brief moment, all my problems seemed way too smaller, and so did my character that gets ruffled up by any deviation from my expectation of life

And here was this man, unfolding the layers of his life, revealing the battered side, with complete nonchalance. Composure on his face betrayed the strength inside. Not for a moment I sensed negativity in his demeanor. Not once did he sound bitter by the raw deal of life. There was more Hope than despair
He made me realize that Heroes do not only exist in TVs or Newspapers. And they are also not always changing the world. Many real heroes are just going about their everyday struggles with head held high. Despite battered by life, they are carrying a cross on shoulders for their loved ones. And Bajrang is definitely a Hero.

Balakot – A war that didn’t happen, but everybody won.

Now that battle lines in the aftermath of Pulwama have pretty much drawn to a close, both the sides are out with their version of the Scorecard, each claiming its Victory

And since the twitter army has also retreated with its WtsApp allies and Newsroom warriors have calmed down, one can afford the risk of an objective view of the outcome.

Anger among the common public had made it important, if not necessary for the Modi govt. to take some tangible action.  And many a times, being victim of his words, Modi had to flex his proverbial 56 inches chest, else his strong man image would have taken major beating.

Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed the responsibility of the attack and given that it operates out of safe havens in Pakistan, it was only natural for the blame to land squarely on its doorstep. And the talk from Imran Khan of punitive action against perpetrators if provided actionable evidence, despite all the sincerity it may have been appealed with, had a huge baggage of apathy from its previous governments on similar incidents. Tons of documents and dossiers were submitted by the earlier Indian govts that were best used as scrap for some petty change to help their ailing economy
It was tough, if not naive for Indian govt. to accept Imran Khan on face value.
One cannot deny that BJP sniffed an opportunity to drive Mileage and create a muscular narrative for election campaign that panders to its nationalist constituency. But it wasn’t not fraught with its risk. Things could have gone either way. But Risk taking has a certain currency in Politics and Modi is not averse to that.
But more importantly, India had to send out a strong message; that this proxy war comes at a cost; that the surgical strikes of 2016 were not a one- of act of retaliation but the beginning of a new approach. To paraphrase Stephen Cohen, Pakistan for long has held India and the world to ransom by putting the nuclear gun to its own head.  India needed to create a counter to Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent.
First round clearly belonged to India. Having crossed the Pakistan border, dodging the Radars and Air Defense systems and bombing the targets. All the major global powers rallied behind India. And enough dopamine of the victory had been released by media for common public.

Now it was Pakistan’s turn to respond. Imran Khan had already declared his stance should India choses to attack. At the same time, his army spokesperson had started de-escalation even before striking back when it played down the impact of Indian strikes. The narrative of forcing Indian aircrafts to retreat, preventing them from causing any casualties or material damage managed the Public sentiments well. But the fact that Indian jets flew all the way deep into Pakistan, even if was for dropping leaflets, as tweeted by a Pakistani Journalist, was in itself embarrassing enough for a nation whose military wear nuclear bombs on its sleeves. To be fair, they had retaliate in some form
And in what ensued as Pakistan’s response, one Indian Pilot evacuated in POK after a dogfight. Abhinandan’s exemplary valour and composure won hearts in India, and also dominated the popular narrative back home. An already high decibel paean of Patriotism in the media reached its crescendo, muffling the fact that with his capture the plot had started turning in Pakistan’s favor. In the brief contest, the only irrefutable proof of having caused a damage to the enemy rested with Pakistan.  

Here was Imran’s opportunity to score a point and he played well by announcing the release of Indian Pilot. For all the talk of his large-heartedness, the fact remains that Pakistan was not in a position to escalate. With less than 17 billion dollar in foreign reserves, it would have been foolhardy, if not suicidal to go to war. And guarantees from Chinese, their new imperial lords were not forthcoming either.
For those who see Imran Khan as a paragon of India-Pak peace,  over-enthusiastically nominating him for the Nobel, would serve the logic better by recalling that throughout his electioneering he took jibes at Nawaz Sharif by calling him ‘Modi Ka yaar’ , denouncing latter for his so called ‘Soft corner’ for India.

Bound by Vienna  convention or not, his decision was informed by pragmatism and realities, and definitely not Morality. Pakistan had evened the scores by winning the second round of Optics, at least in their country and Global Media. As much as we in India might not like it, by choosing to address the country himself, Imran Khan also stole the limelight from Modi. So Imran Khan had nothing further to gain politically.
From here, truce was predictable and easy. Tensions had hit that spot in the escalation axis from where both Imran Khan and Modi could claim political points; It was a unique contest that ended in a tie, where politicians from both sides of the border could claim victory.

 And media played its part by keeping the public intoxicated with uninterrupted supply of adrenaline and notional pride. Enough for them to forget the real problems of life. 

Imran Khan - A Life of many missions, and a lesson

To chronicle Imran Khan’s life in a movie would be a challenge and delight for a film-maker in equal measure. Its full of Highs and Lows; Plots and Sub-Plots; Unexpected Twists and Turns; and with triumphs for the protagonist. But there are too many of them to do justice to in 180 minutes. Probably, it’s far more befitting of a Netflix Series, with multiple seasons. And for students of life it makes for a compelling case study; Of a man having lived with a purpose; one at a time.
As much feared as revered by his teammates, he came back from retirement, with a single minded objective; To win the World Cup for his country. And he did so heroically, spearheading a team that not many placed their bets on.  
But more noteworthy is the fact that he could have, on the back of that phenomenal achievement, continued to play some more cricket. But he didn’t drag his feet, like some of his contemporaries and even from later generations did.
His task achieved, he walked out on a high. And moved on to another one. Building a Cancer Hospital in the memory of his deceased mother, who had passed away after a long battle with Cancer. Today, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is Pakistan’s biggest cancer hospital, and with international repute
Not long after setting up the hospital, he embarked on another journey tirelessly, and that too of treacherous nature, called Politics. With not so proud record, its Prime Ministers sentenced to death, incarcerated, and exiled ignominiously, Pakistan was never a safe pitch for a play of democracy.
Imran Khan was already a hero, perhaps the brightest star in the country with not many ideals in its young history; a global icon, arguably, the biggest contribution of Pakistan to the world, after terrorism. With this kind of fame and riches, not many would have been able to avoid succumbing to the temptation of an easy and glamourous life.
Instead, he plunged into the unpleasant and dangerous world of Pakistan’s Politics. Good governance for Pakistan was his next calling. And after 22 years of relentless pursuit, having faced humiliating defeats, he is at the helm of the Pakistan.
He may be criticized for kowtowing to the army and a soft corner for radical elements, but his journey from a cricketer to the Prime-Minister is hugely inspiring. It teaches us the importance of a Purpose in one’s life. Although some would say Journey is more important than the destination, it’s the latter that lends the journey its meaning and gives the driver the force to keep driving and the focus to stay at it despite the hurdles.
Imran Khan pretty much embodies that spirit. I hope he succeeds in transforming Pakistan into a prosperous and well governed nation, and the midgets like myself are able to find our purpose, the goal post that keeps us focused, engaged and gives us a more meaningful existence.  

A spoonful of glory to the original bhakts of Politics

A spoonful of glory to the original bhakts of Politics

During my recent weekly Sunday tryst with the TV , I stumbled upon a news channel playing  an old clip of Navjot Singh Sidhu, arguably the biggest Oratorical Discovery of the 21st century,   blaring hyperboles in a jam packed auditorium. Since the audience seemed quite in thrall of the rhetorical Extravaganza, I decided to watch the entire speech on YouTube.

As it turned out, he was speaking at the Congress party’s 84^th plenary session. A large part of his half an hour loud fest was dedicated to litany of praises for the Gandhi Family. Right from  the mention of ‘Sonia Ji’ as the most respected Lady of the country  to his Pledge-until-death for catapulting ‘Rahul Bhai’ to the Ramparts of Red Fort’ to his expression of gratitude for Priyanka Gandhi,  his words were laced with fawning veneration.

Whilst the supporters of BJP, for their zealous and uncritical following of Narendra Modi have been garnering all the attention,  ith Bhakt becoming  new buzzword, Navjot Singh Sidhu, with this speech has brought back the spotlight on the real champion of the Indian Political system;  the real force that has been moving the creaky wheels of Indian politics for ages.  And thy name is Chamcha.

Long before Bhakts bursted onto the scene, this species has dominated the Indian Polity. And every party has its own flock completely submitted to the pantheon of their political gods.  Sprawled over the floor genuflecting to their Behan jis, Cleaning shoes of their Neta jis and devoutly placing pictures of Ammas and Thalavars on their car dashboards, these Chamchas are the original Bhakts of Indian Politics. 

Unfortunately, they have been overshadowed by  the tech savvy, tweet happy army of trollers with nothing much but a few swear words in the lexicon,  disregard for contrarian point of View and lack of logic to their credit.

Chamchas on the other hand are hard-working, tireless servants of Indian Politics (Oops Politicians) . They celebrate the birthdays of their leaders with festive fervor and scale.  They offer them Laddoos as large as a proverbial dinosaur egg, skyscraping birthday cakes that pierce through the stratosphere, and Garlands that can encircle almost half the earth. 

They brave scorching sun, severe cold, Harsh rains for just a glimpse of their leader. And a handshake or even a glance of approval from the Supreme Being in their direction is enough of a reciprocation to make it all worth it.
 Bhakts display their valiance from comforts of an AC room in the safe battlefields of social media pages, with their venom spewing words.
But It’s the  chamchas that wield the real bravado. Willing to kill and be killed, cause notwithstanding.  

Its high time we get over bhakts and restore the glory of the real stars of Indian Political ecosystem. Its time we give the chamchas their pride a place in the table.  Long live the chamchagiri