Office Bullies and Angry Bosses!!

In most cases such unpalatable characters are emotionally weak individuals who lack courtesy. Office bullies or “tough” bosses who are given to chronic bouts of public display of anger are in fact cases of abnormal psychological orientation. This abnormality in most cases is a result of exposure to such similar emotional stimulus during the formative years of a human being.

In plain language; bullies and short tempered people are nut cases who lost it due to having had to be with some family member who was either very violent or exploitative.

 

The best way to handle them is to confront them and take them head on!!

 

Of course I am not asking you to “react”, I am asking you to “respond” in a calm, professional and confident manner. Never allow the designation or fear of losing a job or fear of reprisals stop you from standing up for yourself. You will be surprised to know that most such bullies bank on you not responding and hope that you will react in an in appropriate manner. But if your respond calmly and confront them with poise, they crumble fast!!

In the end remember, they are insecure, scared, weak people who are looking for support and unfortunately are looking to “command” help when they should have been asking for it. 

Pity Them.

Practicality & Meaningfulness of Life

The motivation for this outburst was a discussion with two dear colleagues of mine. The discussion was a wide ranging one that covered almost all aspects of life; career, money, life, philosophy, family etc…. There was a divergence of views on the question of practicality of ideas and what can be considered a philosophical approach to life and a practical one.

I personally consider all those people successful who spend more time happy than worried or scared. I consider a person successful if his or her work makes any difference to anybody, big or small. I consider that person successful who has the courage, conviction and the opportunity to follow his or her own heart.

If you are successful, then the debate on whether your ideas are practical or not will never even arise. Read on but be warned, it is more of an outburst than a literary piece.

·         Who am I?

·         What do I want?

·         Is there my meaning to my life?

·         Am I doing anything for anyone?

·         There is a lot of pain in this world. Am I doing anything to lessen that?

·         Every minute people are dying of hunger, disease, violence. What am I doing that will help them?

·         Am I creating something new?

Have you ever wondered on these lines??? Or are you “sensible and practical” therefore are busy working hard to become “successful”???

After all most of us are so busy in the day to day issues in real life, we rarely have the luxury of debating what we consider is “philosophy”. In a country like India, we actually train and prepare children to think in a “socially acceptable manner” and stay away from “impractical ideas”. Most children are brought up with a scarcity mentality and are discouraged from dreaming big. Even today parents will motivate children to go for safe government jobs and even if one wants to do something out the place and risky, he or she will be discouraged. The training to “fake it” is intense that you have a nation of people who are so comfortable with pretensions that it is unbelievable.

 

Add a good dose of judgmental attitude, tendency to stereotype and hypocritical out look, you have the perfect recipe for an average Indian.

 

Is it a mere coincidence then that most people are least aware of themselves? Most people have so easily accepted the widely held views on life that they do not have one of their own. On the surface everyone appears happy and “successful”. Scratch a little and out erupts a volcano of fear, regret, ego, insecurity and hurt. This is true irrespective of the person’s socioeconomic or educational standing. In fact I submit that the more educated and “successful” you are, you will be forced to live according what “others” will consider right.

To illustrate the point, I have worked in the glitzy world of media for sometime and I have seen and have worked many of the so called celebrities. Imagine a well known actress who was in Delhi for a shoot was craving to have her morning green tea sitting in the balcony but could not do so because her “brand managers” did not allow her to. Why? How can a girl who is supposed to be a diva appear on her balcony with hair undone and without that two mm thick layer of make up. So her day to day life is spent in maintenance of the “image” others have of her. In a way she has sold her life.

We are all like that. You wake up when you are feeling sleepy, you go to sleep when you want to do something else, you do not laugh loudly in public, why? Because it is not considered “good”……… Now imagine……. If after so much effort, I cannot even stand the way I want to, sit the way I want to, eat, drink, laugh the way I want to…… What is the point of such an effort? Then my lack of freedom in such simple things will pour into more important areas like not having the freedom to marry who you want to, not having the freedom to pick a career you want.

The self imposed sensible guardians of the society say that is the way “practical and real people” live and I beg to differ. I say that is how “sheep” live. In a herd, eat what is given and others are eating, go where others are going, do what others are doing, think the way others do.

Then what is my prescription for life? Ans: Follow your dreams and do what you really want to do. Have enough courage and conviction to live life the way “you” want to live not the way “others” wanted you to. Do not do anything only to earn money, look inside first, ask yourself, then decide. Yes, if your passion is earning money, go right ahead and do it. But if you passion is something else, find a way to that. Doing that you truly want and are passionate about will bring excellence in your work and money is always a by product of excellence.

 

Career is very important. After all without money you really cannot do much. But decide what cost are you willing to pay for it.

 

Practicality is very good but unfortunately life does not remain one. We are slaves to our thoughts and to our relationships and neither thoughts nor relationships are truly yours if you have owned them only because of practicality. Tell me what is the practicality in looking after your old financially unviable parents? Tell me what is the practicality in faith? After all god won’t appraise you, at least not this year!!

What matters most is whether you are at peace with yourself. Who matters most are the ones who live for you not the ones who live with you. Money and society are important but more important is “you”.

Until and unless you know yourself and are doing what you want you will never be able to achieve anything significant.

 

Look back in time…… All those who made a difference were all dreamers. Look back in time…….. Bhagat Singh, Gandhi, Nehru….. they had all one could ask for then left all that and the gave all that away. So according to the sensible people these people would be called foolish……… Right??? Were they?????

 

Look back in time……… Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ambani….. How dare they dream when they had nothing?

 

Look back in time…………… Ramanujam, Einstein, Galileo, Hawking………. Could they not just have concentrated on their careers rather than running after ideas which have not been proven till now………..

 

Now look at people around you…… What do those “sensible”, “practical” people do? Crib most of the times……. Against their job, the system, the economy and maybe their destiny………

 

Where do you want to see yourself? With the ones we discussed earlier or with the “sensible and practical” people around you??????

 

So to be successful go out and enjoy……….. go crazy, do something you always wanted to do………. Take a trip……….. Dance, hug someone you love…… Get a pet……….. Scream….. do anything that sets you free!!!!

Traffic Lights and Character

I never skip a red light, at least I try my level best not to. I never break lanes, never honk impatiently when the light turns green and am I am proud of myself for all these.

What you do at red lights is a good indicator of your character. I have observed the following distinct behaviour traits and I am going to bore you with my interpretations of them:

 

Stop When Light is Red, Look Around, if No Cop, Jump Light

These are people I call “Conditional Braves”. Their immature bravado is dependent on whether a cop on duty is standing anywhere near the lights or not. Such behaviour is often displayed by people who are the lucky minority in India who have had access to education, food and the comfort of family. In fact, I consider that this simple behaviour is an indicator of the kind of malaise that afflicts the Indian society. A total disregard for law and a cowardice one should be ashamed of. Of course, many of the people I talk of so disparagingly ma have had a very genuine and pressing appointment to justify such stupid behaviour, but I guess we know better!!

 

Don’t Stop, Even if Light is Red

Such behaviour may be because of simple uncomplicated stupidity, but sometimes there are individuals who assume the right to do so because their unfortunate parent holds some office of power or maybe has access to people holding such offices. Usually such vehicles are large, luxurious and the drivers behind the wheel are young and restless. We as a nation have no right to call ourselves civilized till such morons drive around.

 

Stop. But Make Your Way Forward and Stand in the Wrong Lane Obstructing the Coming Traffic

The most irritating kind of idiots seen on roads. My hypothesis is that such people are so brain-dead that they simply do not have the means to anticipate the problems they might be causing for others. There even are some who will maintain a stoic, self righteous expression and get enraged when some simpleton coming from the opposite side and finding himself stuck tries to communicate in a slightly miffed manner.

 

Stop. Only if Someone Already Has, The Look Around, If No Cop, Look Questioningly at Others and Speed Of

The questioning look in such cases usually asks, What is wrong dude??? See some cop somewhere??? NO??? Then Why The Hell Are You Obeying he Rules?? These are a variation of the spineless jerks I have detailed about earlier, but slightly more repulsive.

 

Stop. But the Moment Light Goes Green, Honk Like There is No Tomorrow

Even if you are standing way behind and even when you know that every one is going to move, when the can, some honk. My question to such idiots, do you think that the guy in front is planning to settle down, build a home, and raise a family here??? Is the honking making things go any better or faster??

 

I can go on and describe many more….. the point I am trying to make is pretty simple.......     

The respect for law, civil and civic sense, courtesy and considerate behaviour is what differentiates the human race from the wild and uncivilized.

If any of my students finds himself in any of the categories discussed above, please forgive my use of expletives but do consider the message carefully.

Why all Colleges and Universities Should Teach Entrepreneurship???

The moment the word entrepreneurship is mentioned, visions of start ups, venture capitalists, small businesses, Google, Yahoo etc. come to mind.

That then translates into a fear that if we teach entrepreneurship that would mean that we are “asking” you to forget jobs and take the huge risk of starting a business at the end of your degree. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Yes, it would be great if we start a course in entrepreneurship or expose you guys to activities designed to develop the entrepreneurial spirit and eventually some of you go on to start a business and succeed. It is however very important for students to realize that entrepreneurial spirit is equally appreciated in managers and executives in companies. In fact most of the great organizations promote “entrepreneurial” working style among its employees. They call it “intrepreneurship”.

The aim of teaching entrepreneurship is not only to create entrepreneurs, a greater aim is to develop the entrepreneurial skills and spirit among the youth. If such programs are implemented, you guys will come out more confident, with a more positive attitude and more skilled than a student who has been given a degree without such a program.

The best thing is that even if you choose a job, you will perform better at it and in case you do decide to do something on your own sometime in the future, you will be confident that it can be done!!

KASHMIR: The Inconsequential Views of an Indian Citizen

Such is the beauty of democracy that even though me being a citizen am supposed to be supreme, no one bothers to take cognizance of the opinions me or my fellow citizens might have regarding issues that affect our life profoundly. Case in point would be the almost bollywood inspired nuclear soap opera witnessed recently in the hallowed halls of the Parliament and the “effort” our elected representatives made to gauge public opinion and represent that instead of the deplorable show of shallow partisan politics they displayed. Once again we are mute spectators to blatant mismanagement by our legislators and its consequences. Kashmir is burning once again. Forest land being given to Amarnath shrine board was objected to on environmental grounds and two months later we have managed to convert a debate on conservation and ecology into a Jammu Vs Kashmir, Hindu Vs Muslims and India Vs Pakistan issue. One has to say quite commendable even by our standards.

A survey published by a national daily recently reported that 68% people in India did not want to “let Kashmir go”. The validity of such loaded surveys apart, it is almost as if we are “holding” Kashmiris against their free will and now we don’t want to let them go. That is in a way that if given a choice, Kashmir would go. And if that is true, it is unfortunate that educated people in a civilized society are voting in favour of holding people against their free will. But the question begs answering that do people in Kashmir really want to leave India? Or, is it because they are still nursing grudges of 1947. If yes, then why did the same people resist Pakistan when tribals from Pakistan along with regulars of the Pakistan army raided the state. After all it took five days to enter J&K when Maharaja Hari Sigh signed the instrument of accession. Who resisted the invaders for those five days? Did not the elevated state of unrest graduate into insurgency after the farcical elections of 1987 to bring NC into power?

I am a teacher by profession, and one of my students Rizwan asked me few questions regarding the ongoing drama in Jammu and Kashmir that has left me disturbed to my core. I had once berating him for not studying, asked him if he was ready to remain without a job and that whether he would join LeT for a living. An obviously insensitive and thoughtless remark. A couple of days ago, the same seemingly harmless remark came back to haunt me. Rizwan told me about an incident where the army entered a house in Handwara firing indiscriminately and killing the lady of the house. An obviously emotionally charged Rizwan wanted know what could stop people like him and his friend who see such excesses almost daily from joining LeT. Interestingly a debate on a social networking site had a serving captain in the Indian army justifying the incident as “collateral damage and acceptable”. The debate eventually degenerated into immature show of bravado and daring each other to battle. Rizwan’s messages left me wondering what I am supposed to respond with. My problem was that he had taken to heart and remembered a very casual remark made by me few years ago and I was sure that whatever I would say would remain with him for a long time and maybe even modify his behaviour in some way. Looking inside my mind for ideas, I realized to my shock that even though the mention of Kashmir would set my pulse racing, I practically knew nothing about the issue.

I like most middle class Indians are mentally geared not to take notice of issues that do not have clear and visible impact on the monthly income and savings. In a country of more than a billion, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that the number of people who “know” about the Kashmir issue, the dispute, its genesis, its timeline, roles played by India, Pakistan, the UN and USA, the wars, the agreements, the UN resolutions and recent happenings is very few. Of course, the very mention of Kashmir or Pakistan often initiates debates and discussions of high intensity, but the content is often factually wrong, partisan and most interestingly very short lived. We have been brought up on the staple diet that Pakistan is the enemy and Kashmir is to be “defended” at all costs. Even as grown ups, we are constantly exposed to visual and print content that somehow seems to be loaded against one particular religion. How many Hollywood movies do you recall where the villain was not a Muslim terrorist. Then I am forced to ask myself, what if they are right, can it be possible that the phenomenon of terrorism was spawned and sustained by one religious group exclusively? If true, would it not mean that almost everyone from that religion whom I have come to admire are terrorists? Would that not bring revered names in the world of poetry, art, science, business, government under a cloud? Another pertinent question that comes to mind is that, have other religious groups never displayed questionable behaviour? I am sure there are enough arguments to rationally explain events ranging from crusades long back in history to the modern day pogroms witnessed in our own cities. How can I forget what happened in New Delhi in 1984? How can I forget Gujarat? How can I forget my fellow Hindus “punishing” Graham Staines and his two little children? And how can I pretend not know any story of “alleged” excesses by Indian Armed Forces in Kashmir.

The answer I would get from the contemporary self appointed guardians of Hinduism and nationalist pride would be that I am not “strong” enough and that it is a war in Kashmir and sometimes “collateral damage” does take place. One of my own friends who went on to win the Ashok Chakra, told me that he felt the same way on many issues till he witnessed a burqa clad woman turn out to be a terrorist carrying an AK and the innocent school bag an IED. Yes, I am no liberal when it comes to the territorial integrity of my country and national pride. I am proud of my friends in the Indian army and am grateful for their commitment and sacrifices. But as I grow older I am developing a view that violence and fear have never proven to be worthwhile deterrents. Had fear been a deterrent enough we would not have had the heroic freedom struggle we had. Even at a personal level, I have felt that whenever I have tried to scare someone into doing something or not doing it, I have achieved very little success. But the fact that what could have been described as struggle has been hijacked by vested interests and till infiltration and violence levels ebb, even the government will find it difficult to reduce troop levels. And in such harsh working conditions, and under such stress levels, if men tend to overreact or go out of hand once in a while, even though unfortunate and unjustifiable, I think it is a universal phenomenon seen wherever you have armed individuals spending prolonged periods in conflict. That brings us back to square one. The Kashmir issue will need resolution in order to solve the problems that are a direct consequence of it. There cannot be any linear solution to the multidimensional problem of Kashmir. It is not a mere territorial dispute, human rights are involved, religious divide is involved, right to self determination is involved.

I believe that the people of Jammu and Kashmir should be accorded their right to self determination but am of the opinion that even though that is the right thing to do, it will initiate a domino effect and almost all states already have freedom monger political agencies.

The case for self determination in for the people in Kashmir is rock solid and the only reason we cannot let them have their right is our fear of collapse of the Indian nation. We wanted it from the British. We helped Bangladesh get it. We claim to sympathise with Palestine, then why are we being hypocritical in this case? The logic of self determination is based on the premise that every human being has the natural right to freedom. I accept that I am no expert on history and that I have no experience that can qualify my views, but I know that I can trust the Prime Ministers of my country and I know that Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was a Prime Minister of India and a person personally involved in the whole issue of Kashmir. I also know that in a radio broadcast on 2 November 1947, Pandit Nehru said that “We have declared that the fate of Kashmir is ultimately to be decided by the people. That pledge we have given not only to the people of Kashmir but the world. We will not, and cannot back out of it. We are prepared when peace and law and order have been established to have a referendum held under international auspices like the United Nations.” I am also a believer in law. I believe that it is adherence to law that differentiates human societies from wild animals. It is also widely accepted that we became “civilized” only after the chaos in human life was controlled through creation and enforcement of law. We take a high moral ground when USA invades Iraq with UN sanction but we quietly choose to ignore the fact that United Nations through Security Council resolution 122 (1957) of 24 January 1957 had reaffirmed the principle, stating that “the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite.” However what would happen in the event of a plebiscite is debatable. In my layman reading, Jammu would vote to stay and so would the predominantly Buddhist Ladakh. The valley will be split between a majority of Azaadi seekers and a minority in favour of joining Pakistan. Then I wonder what if the valley is made independent? What sort of government would they have? What would be their economic structure? Where will they procure power, commodities, commerce and industries from? What would be the modalities of travel between the valley and “neighbor” India? Where would they create an army from? A police, hospitals, schools, hospitals, media…… So many questions which sometimes make me doubt the very viability of an independent state of Kashmir. Maybe in the end, India would turn out to be the most optimum choice. But the key word is choice.

Till then we have no choice but to hop that the government policies and initiatives like the composite dialogue will keep inching forward. It is true that there has been a slck in the “either or” mentality of all three parties involved. In fact the mere attempts of government of India to engage APHC indicates acceptance that Kashmir is a tripartite issue rather than a bipartite one. Pakistan under General Musharraf had made progress on the dialogue front but progress seems dismal with the increasing number of reported LoC violations and cross border firing. The Indian government under Manmohan Singh had at least begun talking of “self rule” and “open borders” but here too the realities of coalition politics influences the speed at which political thought evolves and sometimes even the direction.
What is needed right now is decisive leadership, bold decisions and courage to forget historical differences. Confidence building measures and track II diplomacy should be encouraged. People to people contact should be maximised and attempts should be made to create as many common platforms as possible.

I am still confident that peace can return to J & K. My formula would be to somehow get prosperity in. We have to create schools, universities, jobs, industry. Even if the environment in Kashmir today does not allow that, get the youth out of there and get them in colleges and universities in other parts of India. Then create sustainable employment for all. I believe that if given respect and an opportunity, we will manage to erode the manpower base of separatists. No student in my MBA class hardly 400 Kms away from the epicenter of the issue has any clue about Kashmir and encouragingly, it seems to be a non issue for them. Maybe that is the only solution to this multidimensional problem.

I do not know what exactly transpired in 1947. I do not know if Patel and Menon did indulge in diplomatic arm twisting. I don’t know if the attack by tribals from across the border drove Hari Singh to sign the accession. But I know for sure that if we keep using Kashmir as an electoral plank, if we keep letting issues like the Amarnath land transfer issue get out of hand, if we keep reacting to separatists and proactively engaging the people of the state, if we keep up the rhetoric and senseless and immature bravado, we will be cursed by our own generations to come.

Happy Independence Day!

My Dear Students

I wish you all a very happy independence day and I wish you young boys and girls go on to achieve whatever you wish for in life.
But, on a slightly different note, I want you to ask yourself the following questions:

Apart from a day off, does this day signify anything more to our generation?
Why were people like Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Tilak, Azad (by the way do you know that the real name of Chandrashekhar Azad was Chandrashekhar Sita Ram Tiwari) common in India before 1947 and how did they get replaced by the corrupt people who represent you?
Are you truly independent?
You are all such big fans of Bhagat Singh!! What do you think he would feel like looking at you and what you are doing for your country, your society, your family?

This independence that we so enjoy and ultimately misuse was earned at a very heavy cost. there is perhaps nothing more valuable in life than independence. But what is independence? Is it a freedom to do anything you want? is it the freedom to get up and go to sleep at will? A freedom from duties and responsibilities?

No

Freedom is much more than all that. Freedom is the privilege to do what is right. Freedom is control over your own actions. Freedom is the lack of insecurities and complexes. That person is free who is clear about himself or herself and is comfortable with whoever he or she is.

I have often seen youngsters use the word “responsibilities” and “lack of independence” in the same vein. That is a mistake. Your duties are your life, the reason for your existence, your differentiation from a mere animal existence.

You loose independence when you loose the courage to do what you know is right. You loose independence when you become slaves to money and success. You loose independence when people tie you down with their agenda because you did not have any.

This year make the following resolution.

“I will always strive to make a true positive contribution to people around me. I will not talk about my own country in derogatory terms. I will not harbor extreme views towards any country or religion. I will respect people. I will respect knowledge. I will respect learning.”

The Doha Round Collapse: Was India the Culprit?

Did the collapse at the ministerial meet signify the end of hegemony of the big four or did it signify the rise of India, China and Brazil as nations with enough clout that they can make or break the deal? In my opinion, both hypotheses are correct. There were 20 items on the agenda this time and against hopes and expectations, we reached the 18th. India, China and the rest could not reach an agreement on the issue of what “Special Safeguard Mechanism”. Then the talks broke down.

What is the SSM?
The Special Safegaurds Mechanism intended to allow developing countries to protect farmers in the event of import surges or price declines has emerged as one of the most fought-over issues of the ongoing mini-ministerial. The special safeguard mechanism would allow developing countries to raise tariffs beyond bound levels, in principle to stall inflows of cheap imports that could displace farmers.

What Did India Want and How Did it All Collapse?
India wanted the mechanism to allow it to raise the tariff’s beyond the Doha agreed levels in case of an import surge that would threaten the livelihood of Indian farmers. US and EU stated that this was against the principal of free trade and a stalemate ensued.The Director General, Mr. Pascal Lamy proposed a compromise formula. Lamy’s own proposed compromise would have allowed SSM remedies to surpass pre-Doha tariff bindings by up to 15 percent if and when import volumes would rise by 40 percent over a three-year average. The freedom to exceed current bound levels would have been limited to 2.5 percent of tariff lines, with remedies unavailable if prices were not actually declining.
The Indian stand was that since US and EU were subsidising agriculture heavily, the spurts in import of food items from such “subsidised” production centres would hurt the Indian farmer and that the safety trigger to use tarrifs to protect them were set too “high” for comfort. India argued that at such high trigger levels, the SSM may remain a cosmetic law and might not get operationalised in case of import surges. India wanted the highest SSM remedies to be triggered by import volume increases of 10 percent and more, with safeguard duties capped at 30 percent above bound levels.
On the 28th, the US contingent rejected the use of “numerical triggers” and linked the SSM activation to “demonstrable harm” to the livelihood security and rural development needs by the affected governments. The claims they said should then be subjected to “expert review”. Quite unexpectedly to many, India accepted it.
G-7 ministers and officials on Tuesday looked for more acceptable numbers to plug into the model proposed by Lamy. Sources say that one option would have involved a ‘trigger’ import volume increase of 15 to 20 percent, with remedies equal to either 30 percent of current bound tariffs or 8 percentage points. A subsequent trigger of a 35 to 40 percent increase in import volumes would have been linked to remedies of either 50 percent of bound tariff levels or 12 percentage points. The difference between the percentage of bound tariffs and the number of percentage points would be particularly relevant for countries looking to export to China, which has low tariff levels because of its accession conditions (adding 8 percentage points to a tariff capped at 8 percent amounts to a 100 percent increase; adding 30 percentage points, to yield 38 percent, represents a far higher increase).
The US reportedly did not budge from its position that a 40 percent increase in import volume was the lowest possible trigger it could accept for SSM remedies that would go beyond current tariff ceilings.

In The End
USA is home to 1 million agriculturists enjoying the advantages of being in a developed economy and availing the benefits of massive subsidies. Of the 1.1 billion people in India, more than 65% (a very conservative estimate) are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. In the majority of cases, the land holdings are small, no automation is possible, and production is dependent on monsoon. The majority are subsistence producers. For USA if at all it is an issue, it is an issue which affects a very small percentage, unless of course you factor in the upcoming elections. For India, the issue is about protecting the livelihood of people more than the population of USA. And in India too, elections are looming.