The changing face of India

Republic Day

The other day I was delivering a talk at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and it was quite a revelation. When I asked the congregation of assembled students as to how many of them were carrying cell phones … virtually all hands went up. It might not be such a big deal for many of you guys reading this piece because you have taken them for granted … and to make something else very clear …. I am not an old hag lost in the warps of time … for god’s sake I am 29 … JUST 29 to be precise :) … I was in college not too long ago .. and in my "college going days" cell phones were a LUXURY which only a privileged few could afford flaunting … incoming calls were priced at 5 to 6 rupees/min not to mention outgoing calls … Within a span of 5-6 years the landscape has changed … and HOW!

While @ DCE, I came across eager Java developer-wannabes … who were as clued in to J2ME as designer brands … fake or authentic :) …

This is indeed the face of new India … I asked them next as to how many of them belonged to the “metros” and again surprisingly small town India was well represented. IT has thus been a great abridger of the class difference … IT is the Raja Ram Mohan Roy of this millennium … it is the harbinger of 'class' parity ....

The question is “What has IT got to do with the demographics of an engineering college?” … Nothing on the face of it … but it has fuelled dreams, it has fired aspirations, ambitions and desire … small town India wants its share in the "good life" pie ... (which has tranlated itself into the IT pie by and large) and is giving its “metro” cousins a run for their money …

The STKs (small town kids) might not have the snazzy “accents” ('outrageous' is the adj I can think of instead of 'snazzy' … but most kids find accents “snazzy”, “cool”, “with it”) and might have grown to appreciate low-rise jeans quite late in life unlike their “METRO” cousins … but boy! are they ramping up the numbers …

Is it a great wonder that “Kajrare…..” dominated the music charts everywhere … including the discs (thatz what the “with it” people call the discos) frequented by the “METRO” dudes and babes …

India is happening … and Tier-2 cities are tier-2 no more … The Pepsis/Cokes/Whirlpools/ITCs/HLLs of the world are sweating it out in the hinterland .. We are bridging the class/caste divide not by reservations or quota or anything else … we are bridging them by fuelling dreams … by propagating the belief that the goal is achievable.

On this Republic Day … I say to all Indians … We have come a long way … Feel proud ..

But hey! don’t jump red lights, spit on the streets, litter around or be a bum on the road … Vande Matram

ODE TO THE BARD !!!

Shakespeare – The Genius

COURAGE and CONVICTION ???

"To be or not to be, --that is the question:--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"

-- From Hamlet (III, i, 56-61)

-- Hamlet, the prince of Denmark at a critical juncture of his life … where his father the King has died, his mother has married the dead king’s brother, his uncle, within a month of the incident and the apparition of the old king informs Hamlet that the new king had a hand in his murder …

-- It is easy to suffer the slings of misfortune and give up … it is tough to take arms up against ill-fate and conquer it …

LOVE ???

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"Deny thy father and refuse thy name/

Or it thou wilt not be, be but sworn my love,/And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

-- Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet – the eternal lovers. Born on the wrong sides of “surnames” … the Capulet and Montague families being sworn enemies of each other … theirs is a saga as alive today as it was in its inception …

-- Do we control destiny .. or does destiny control us … if we are mere pawns … why should fear of the consequence stop us from action.

LIFE ???

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."

--From As You Like It (II, vii, 139-143)

-- Jacques’ oration in “As you like it” encapsulating what one of the Vedic epics, Manusmriti, also encapsulates as “ashrams” of life e.g. Brahmacharya ashram, Grishastha ashram, Vanaprastha ashram, and Sanyas ashram each of 25 years’ duration.

-- If we are but playing different roles in our times and have our own entrees and exits … awareness of the same and grace in executing each if what life is all about …

DUTY ???

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

--From Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

-- Brutus, The trusted lieutenant of Julius Ceasar being persuaded by Cassius to join the band of conspirators to overthrow Ceasar who has designs of doing away with the Senate and becoming an absolute monarch. Brutus, torn between duty and loyalty to his friend is in much the same predicament as Arjuna in Mahabharata, who has to take up arms but his arrows would be directed at his kin …

-- It is not easy to do one’s duty and follow the code of honour whilst the temptation to withdraw and blame it on the stars is so strong … It is easy to preach, it is difficult to practice … May each one of us have the strength.

FATE ???

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."

--From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

-- Romeo Montague would still be the man for Juliet Capulet …. With or without the “Montague” name ….

-- Each one of us has it in himself or herself to make something out of ourselves …. whether born with or without a silver spoon in the mouth … with or without godfathers … it needs conviction in oneself, faith in one's mission and confidence that one can make a difference ..

An ode to Jamshedpur – The city of my birth
Reproducing an article by L.N Mittal on Jamshedpur

I visited Jamshedpur over the weekend to see for myself an India that is fast disappearing despite all the wolf-cries of people like Narayanamurthy and his ilk. It is one thing to talk and quite another to do and I am delighted to tell you that Ratan Tata has akept alive the legacy of perhaps Indias finest industrialist J.N. Tata. Something that some people doubted when Ratan took over the House of the Tatas but in hindsight, the best thing to have happened to the Tatas is unquestionably Ratan. I was amazed to see the extent of corporate philanthropy and this is no exaggeration.

For the breed that talks about corporate social responsibility and talks about the role of corporate India, a visit to Jamshedpur is a must. Go there and see the amount of money they pump into keeping the town going; see the smiling faces of workers in a region known for industrial unrest; see the standard of living in a city that is almost isolated from the mess in the rest of the country.

This is not meant to be a puff piece. I have nothing to do with Tata
Steel,but I strongly believe the message of hope and the message of goodness that they are spreading is worth sharing. The fact that you do have companies in India which look at workers as human beings and who do not blow their software trumpet of having changed lives. In fact, I asked Mr Muthurman, the managing director, as to why he was so quiet about all they had done and all he could offer in return was a smile wrapped in humility, which said it all. They have done so much more since I last visited Jamshedpur, which was in 1992. The town has obviously got busier but the values thankfully haven't changed. The food is still as amazing as it always was and I gorged, as I would normally do. I visited the plant and the last time I did that was with Russi Mody.

But the plant this time was gleaming and far from what it used to be. Greener and cleaner and a tribute to environment management. You could have been in the mountains. Such was the quality of air I inhaled! There was no belching smoke; no tired faces and so many more women workers, even on the shop floor. This is true gender equality and not the kind that is often espoused at seminars organised by angry activists. I met so many old friends. Most of them have aged but not grown old. There was a spring in the air which came from a certain calmness which has always been the hallmark of Jamshedpur and somethingI savoured for a full two days in between receiving messagesof how boring and decrepit the Lacklustre Fashion Weak was.

It is at times such as this that our city lives seem so meaningless. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had created an edifice that is today a robust company and it is not about profits and about valuation. It is not about who becomes a millionaire and who doesnt'. It is about getting the job done with dignity and respect keeping the age-old values intact and this is what I learnt.

I jokingly asked someone as to whether they ever thought of joining an Infosys or a Wipro and pat came the reply: "We are not interested in becoming crorepatis but in making others crorepatis."

Which is exactly what the Tatas have done for years in and around Jamshedpur. Very few people know that Jamshedpur has been selected as a UN Global Compact City, edging out the other nominee from India, Bangalore. Selected because of the quality of life, because of the conditions of sanitation and roads and welfare. If this is not a tribute to industrial India , then what is? Today, Indian needs several Jamshedpurs but it also needs this Jamshedpur to be given its fair due, its recognition. I am tired of campus visits being publicised to the Infosys and the Wipros of the world. Modern India is being built in Jamshedpur as we speak. An India built on the strength of coreconvictions and nothing was more apparent about that than the experiment with truth and reality that Tata Steel is conducting at Pipla.

Forty-eight tribal girls (yes, tribal girls who these corrupt and evil politicians only talk about but do nothing for) are being educated through a residential program over nine months. I went to visit them and I spoke to them in a language that they have just learnt: Bengali. Eight weeks ago, they could only speak in Sainthali, their local dialect. But today, they are brimming with a confidence that will bring tears to your eyes. It did to mine.

One of them has just been selected to represent Jharkand in the state archery competition. They have their own womens football team and whats more they are now fond of education. It is a passion and not a burden. This was possible because I guess people like Ratan Tata and Muthurman havent sold their souls to some business management drivel, which tells us that we must only do business and nothing else. The fact that not one Tata executive has been touched by the Naxalites in that area talks about the social respect that the Tatas have earned.

The Tatas do not need this piece to be praised and lauded. My intent is to share the larger picture that we so often miss in the haze of the slime and sleaze that politics imparts. My submission to those who use phrases such as "feel-good" and "India Shining" is first visit Jamshedpur to understand what it all means. See Tata Steel in action to know what companies can do if they wish to. And what corporate India needs to do. Murli Manohar Joshi would be better off seeing what Tata Steel has done by creating the Xavier Institute of Tribal Education
rather than by proffering excuses for the imbroglio in the IIMs. This is where the Advanis and Vajpayees need to pay homage. Not to all the Sai Babas and the Hugging saints that they are so busy with. India is changing inspite of them and they need to realise that.

I couldn't have spent a more humane and wonderful weekend. Jamshedpur is an eye-opener and a role model, which should be made mandatory for replication. I saw corporate India actually participate in basic nation-building, for when these tribal girls go back to their villages, they will return with knowledge that will truly be life-altering.

Corporate India can do it but most of the time is willing to shy away. For those corporate leaders who are happier winning awards and being interviewed on their choice of clothes, my advise is visit Tata Steel, spend some days at Jamshedpur and see a nation's transformation. That is true service and true nationalism.

Tata Steel will celebrate 100 years of existence in 2007. It won't be just a milestone in this company's history. It will be a milestone, to my mind of corporate transparency and generosity in this country. It is indeed fitting that Ratan Tata today heads a group which has people who are committed to nation-building than just building inflluence and power. JRD must be smiling wherever he is. And so must Jamsetji Nusserwanji. These people today, have literally climbed every last blue mountain. And continue to do so with vigour and passion. Thank god for
the Tatas!