For his daughter

Once in a while, one comes across words - written by someone else - which express things much better than one could have done oneself....

Shekhar Kapur wrote this for his daughter:

My wealth lies more in the faliures of my life than my succeses. My wealth lies in people I have known and lost. My wealth lies in the pain and the heartache of living.

My wealth lies in the memories of those moments of love that were given to me. And given by me. But my wealth also lies in letting those joyous moments and people go.

My wealth lies in all those unfullfilled dreams. In all those longings that aroused my passions. My wealth lies in all the passions I have ever felt and expressed. And those not expressed.

My wealth lies in every moment of guilt that I carry for actions done or imagined. That burden too is my wealth.

My wealth lies in every breath that I have ever breathed. Each imbued with doubts and questions and hopes and dreams. And fears.

All this wealth I bequeath to you. For you to squander to the winds..

On Being/ Becoming a Teacher...

Today being “the first day of the rest of my life”, allow me these musings…

….somewhere as I grew up, I became a “teacher” (a term that makes more personal sense to me than being a “professor”)….

[Why? How?... well, such conclusions are always post-hoc, but perhaps I became one, because I had hoards of role-models around me – my grandfather (a theosophist who became the principal of their Varanasi school, and at one time, was the private tutor to the JK Singhanias), my grand-uncle who became the principle of the Gwaliar’s Scindia School, my two uncles who were profs at Delhi and Bombay Universities…, etc.]

… As I grew up, I also recall a dream/fantasy in my teens and early-20s of an Ashram that I would start, to teach the marginalized children… (need-less to say, the fact that I ended up teaching in a business-school where I interact with people who are “marginalized” from the rest of 95%+ of society is an irony… another story…)

But coming back to being/becoming a teacher…

It was not easy… how do you “teach” – i.e., make a difference in someone else’s life? Can you?

When I read Jerry Harvey’s “Learning not to Teach”, I could resonate with him…. He wrote:

“The longer I am employed as a professor, the less sure I become as to what a teacher is supposed to do. When I stand up in front of a class and someone says explicitly or implicitly, "teach me," I become confused because I seldom feel as if I have anything to teach...

…..anything of value can't be taught, but that much of value can be learned. I suppose that's one reason I find teaching so unsatisfying and learning so much fun.“

And then I came across this quotation from Rabindra Nath Tagore, which made so much sense:

“A very great musician came and stayed in our house. He made one big mistake… (he was) determined to teach me music, and consequently no learning took place. Nevertheless, I did casually pick up from him a certain amount of stolen knowledge.”

This, of course, led me to many academic explorations into issues of learning, tacit knowledge, Nonaka, John Sealy Brown, KM, etc. – but at the heart of all this, I realized that simple – and somewhat shattering – realization as a teacher:

You can’t teach anything to anyone; people learn what they want to learn… what need to learn.

{in retrospect, it was clear; I (should have) learned it the hard/frustrating way: …when our daughter was 2-3 years old, we thought that a stimulating environment will help her to grow. And so, we got crayons, a sketch book, and plastered the walls with cardboard sheets for her… the idea was to give her a medium for “freedom of expression”…

..as parent/teacher, the frustrating part was that she was having more fun rolling the crayons on the floor (or just dropping them to see them break) than in using them on the paper…}

I guess, she was experimenting – and learning something (maybe about gravity)… but it was definitely not what we “wanted” her to learn at that time ;0)}

I found an analogue to this as I taught courses…. Students perhaps, learn more about how to “crack” the quiz/exam, than about the subject….

So it again all boiled down to: You can’t teach, but people learn…. Though, you can “facilitate” learning.

This issue of “facilitating learning” was quite seductive. For a long time, I felt that I have (or can develop) the power to create an atmosphere/ environment, in which people feel “facilitated” to “learn” and “grow” as a human being… the issue, however, still remained:

but how??... How does one “facilitate” learning & growth?

…Life takes its own turns, and mysteriously communicates… and so, though I never thought that I will be going through someone’s private diaries … but that also happened…

…which was a learning of another kind… to quote:

“I learnt once again that the self exists in relations to the other, but not necessarily to confirm the Other, or to be confirmed by the Other. Beauty in any relationship must be achieved though truth and some amount of genuineness - it is not a part of the basic givens of life…

...I think the sun facilitates growth, the rain facilitates growth; they facilitate growth by just being there, by being what they are. The sun does not rise - and the clouds do not rain - so that the plants will grow, but their being there is invaluable to the growth…”

This seemed so simple and easy: all that facilitating learning required was to “be yourself”

Over a period of years, I have come to realize that this is really not as easy and simple as it seems…

…specially when:

• You know that “being oneself” is not a statement; it is an extremely personal – often an uncomfortable - continuous, and ever-changing process of self discovery, and

• You are standing in front of a class of intelligent people – and are part of a system – which expects you to teach!!!

Growing up... in the 70s

... when we were growing - long back in the early 70s - there was a romance of life... and we would take up a line/phrase

This is what came out of this....
the line was:

भटका दिया है प्यार ने फिर प्यार पाने के लिए...

क्षितिज पर कोई चितेरा
खींचता सपना सुनहरा
हृदय छलता मार्ग मेरा
भ्रमित आशाएँ लिए.॥

I guess... hope... I have not changed since then...

10 years back....

....I confronted the void...

...and learned to grow to fill up that vaccuum in life

I hope - or at least I try to believe - that I have done a reasonably decent job to carry on what was left half-way...

maybe, once that gets over will also be time to leave....

Revolt in the Animal Kingdom

This an amazing video... a must-watch!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

The nearest imagery from the human world that came to my mind when I watched it, were some of the scenes from Eisenstein's films like October, Battleship Potemkin, Strike, etc...

still remember these verses

Another of those verses that I still remember, but can't recall the poet (if you know, would be grateful for the info):

रे चिरंतन!
ठहर कुछ क्षण,
शिथिल कर यह
मर्म बन्धन।

जानता अभिसार का चिर मिलन पथ मुझको बुलाता,
कौन गाता... कौन गाता...

trying "transliteration"

one learns...

only recently, I came across a term "transliteration"... googled, and found that blogger provides a "transliteration tool"... which allows me to make blog-posting in Hindi devanagari lipi

it is a trial... just keying in some of the many verses of the old days (not mine... and have forgotten who wrote these), which I still remember after 35-40 years (I grew up with/through them):

गीत गाता हूँ किसी दिन बाँध चंचल काल का पल
चेतना अपनी बना दूंगा स्वरों की एक हलचल
मौन का जब बाँध टूटेगा, घड़ी होगी प्रलय की
क्या नहीं इस मौन मे हलचल छिपी मेरे हृदय की?...

if this works out, then there is more to come...

Update: It works!!.. यह काम करता है!!

Making a "tough" quiz for a "tough" OB course

For those who don't know this "OB" stands for "Organisational Behaviour"...

In MOC (my creativity course), I try to communicate to the students that our thinking and actions are influenced/constrained by how we perceive a situation (and so, if we change our way of perceiving a situation, new solutions would emerge)

The disadvantage of such a simplistic approach is that it is not sufficiently complex, lacks academic rigor, and since students learn it easily, there is no way one can make a tough quiz on this point, which they can't solve.

Today, luckily, I stumbled upon something called "Theory of Situated Cognition", which defines the above mentioned common sense in the following mysterious, complex and academically respectable format:

"A theory of situated cognition suggests that activity and perception are importantly and epistemologically prior - at a nonconceptual level - to conceptualization and that it is on them that more attention needs to be focused. An epistemology that begins with activity and perception, which are first and foremost embedded in the world, may simply bypass the classical problem of reference - of mediating conceptual representations."

I am sure, an ordinary sane person will find it almost impossible to make sense out of such inane drivel - and thus, this is a proof that OB is actually a tough subject, if one takes sufficient pains to prove so.

...and now, I also know how to make tough quizzes for the students!!! :0))

at the right place, at the right time

Well.. I was at the at Oxford end of March '07 to attend the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship '07 at the Said Business School - and to attend the first meeting of the Advisory Board of the University Network...

....we both met on the side walk of the Broad Street, both searching for the Sheldonian Theatre where he was to be a speaker in the inaugural ceremony, and I was to sit on an excruciatingly uncomfortable chair/bench... !!



I can't claim it as an "achievement" - it wasn't!!

I was merely at the right time at the right place...

...last time similar coincidence happened was when I was born :0)

...of wolves and soul

A father got a story in his mail box, which was doing rounds on the net:

"One evening, a grandfather told his grandson about the conflict that goes on inside each one of us.

"The battle is between two wolves," he said. "One wolf is called Evil, and it is anger, jealousy, lies, arrogance, guilt, false pride, superiority, and ego.The other wolf uses almost the same letters in his name, which shows how close they are to each other. This wolf is called Life, and it is love, peace, truth, hope, humility, kindness, and compassion."

The grandson thought about this for a few moments and then asked, "Which wolf wins, Grandpa?"

"The one you feed," the grandfather replied."

He liked the simplicity of the story, and forwarded it to his college-going 20-year old daughter.

Next day he got this response:

"But those are human "failings". One is incomplete without feeding either, because one is only attempting to starve the other, which makes it angry, as per logic, and then it'd come back with a vengeance to EAT you.

No?"

Long back, Goethe's Faust had responded to Wagner:

By one impulse alone are you impressed.
Oh, never learn to know the other!
Two souls alas! are dwelling in my breast;
And each is fain to leave its brother.
The one, fast clinging, to the world adheres
With clutching organs, in love's sturdy lust;
The other strongly lifts itself from dust
To yonder high, ancestral spheres.

Bloggers vs IIPM: Two Concerns

There are two troubling aspects about "the IIPM" vs."the Bloggers" episode.

I had written about the first one in my last post on Alternative Perspective yesterday, which was about preserving the sanctity of the grassroot democracy and freedom of speech of the blogosphere.

But the other is an equally important aspect - about the response from the blogger community:

Needless to say, this episode has brought many bloggers together. They are writing - expressing their concern, outrage, dismay, solidarity, anger - and geting connected. DesiPundit and SambharMafia have done a remarkable job of tracing the blogs, postings and news about the issue and compiling them at one place.

So why is that a troubling thing?

for two reasons:

one:
I had once made a posting about the Primitive Processes on Internet. Given the nature of the medium, it is so very easy to get carried away by it. I mean, when the only 'human' interface is with a terminal, it is quite easy to slip into solipsism, and fall prey to one's own fantasy and impressions (even if they maybe, by and large, correct). This is more likely to happen in interactive forums - mailing lists, online group, and across connected blogs - since each posting only reconfirms what one believes in.

So if the concern is about finding the "real" facts about IIPM (and if they are different than what is given in their advts), there is actually no attempt (or at least, no report of such an effort) in that direction. It would be far more "real" thing to do (if one is staying in a city with IIPM campus), to actually go and talk to the students or faculty there, have a look at their infrastructure, get in touch with any of their alumni (a partial list is available at: http://www.iipm.info/placements.html) to find out if their education was worth it or not.... and share that on one's blog.

After all, one can't form an opinion about the worth of an institute and its education, based on just its hyper-ads, the behaviour of a few who may have vandalised Rashmi Bansal's blog, or had created those ridiculous "IIPM blogs" overnight...

...in any institute, one will find a few immature people of this kind.

two:
When an issue of personal concern gets framed as a fight against someone (not against something), then one becomes vulnerable to casting oneself in the image of one's "adversary" (in this case, in the image of what one perceives as "wrong" with IIPM).

Two examples of why I find this as a real and possible danger in this unfolding of events:

- I read some suggestion in a blog about why not to "googlebomb" IIPM, (which actually will be an act very similar to those very objectionable comments in Rashmi's blog).

- I found this through a posting on Dilip D'Souza's blog: the use of Wikepedia to highlight the controversy.

While there is an apparently sincere attempt to keep this in-construction IIPM Wikepediia page objective and neutral - but the fact remains that the motive for constucting this page is a controversy, where the builders of the page have "stand"

...Somewhere, The Virtual needs to visit The Real - both either to verify or to disconfirm it, and to remain grounded in reality.

Manual for Climbing Mountains

From Paulo Coelho's this week's Warrior of the Light Newsletter

A] Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing.

B] Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off – beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them, flowers grow between you and your objective, what seemed so clear on the map is tough in real life. So try all the paths and all the tracks until eventually one day you’re standing in front of the top that you yearn to reach.

C] Learn from someone who has already been up there: no matter how unique you feel, there is always someone who has had the same dream before you and ended up leaving marks that can make your journey easier; places to hang the rope, trails, broken branches to make the walking easier. The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don’t forget that the experience of others can help a lot.

D] When seen up close, dangers are controllable: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.

E] The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course, you have to have an objective in mind – to reach the top. But as you are going up, more things can be seen, and it’s no bother to stop now and again and enjoy the panorama around you. At every meter conquered, you can see a little further, so use this to discover things that you still had not noticed.

F] Respect your body: you can only climb a mountain if you give your body the attention it deserves. You have all the time that life grants you, as long as you walk without demanding what can’t be granted. If you go too fast you will grow tired and give up half way there. If you go too slow, night will fall and you will be lost. Enjoy the scenery, take delight in the cool spring water and the fruit that nature generously offers you, but keep on walking.

G] Respect your soul: don’t keep repeating “I’m going to make it”. Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying “it’s harder than I thought”, because that will make you lose your inner strength.

H] Be prepared to climb one kilometer more: the way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. But since you were prepared to go beyond, this is not really a problem.

I] Be happy when you reach the top: cry, clap your hands, shout to the four winds that you did it, let the wind - the wind is always blowing up there - purify your mind, refresh your tired and sweaty feet, open your eyes, clean the dust from your heart. It feels so good, what was just a dream before, a distant vision, is now part of your life, you did it!

J] Make a promise: now that you have discovered a force that you were not even aware of, tell yourself that from now on you will use this force for the rest of your days. Preferably, also promise to discover another mountain, and set off on another adventure.

L] Tell your story: yes, tell your story! Give your example. Tell everyone that it’s possible, and other people will then have the courage to face their own mountains.

Why MBAs can't normally become Entrepreneurs

These are some thoughts which came to mind during some class discussions this term on how new businesses get created, how the entrepreneurial companies and individuals "create" rather than "adapt" to the environments... and in the process, often violate (and change) the way of doing business...

...and it occured to me that why the typical B-school environment does not provide any groundings for making entrepreneurs... in fact, inadvertantly, it desists people from becoming entrepreneurs... so my take is that if MBAs become entrepreneurs, it is not because of the MBA degree, but in spite of it!!

Reasons?

Firstly, let's look at why people want to do MBA. In many ways, the motivation for doing MBA nowadays is same as why people used to prefer a government job in yesteryears - security!... a government job provided job-security, while admission to a good B-school provides the security of getting a well-paying job.

Secondly, unlike most other professions (e.g., engineering, medicine, CA, etc.), MBA admission is the only one which does not require an aptitude - or a basic grounding of the 'discipline'. For instance, to become an engineer or a doctor, one can apply for the admissions in the professional institute, only if one has a basic grounding in certain specific subjects (whether maths, physics, or biology, etc.). The admissions tests would also try to assess the robustness of this grounding.

However, an aptitude to manage can only be judged in a real-life situation; it cannot be judged by the paper-pencil tests which are used for admission.... with the result, for all practical purposes, the MBA admissions are based on the premise that anyone can become a manager!

And lastly, the predominant B-school curriculum is focused on learning from companies - as cases or as theoretical frameworks - who have already moved up to the latter-part of the S-Curve. So people learn, for instance, about

how to analyse industry to craft a strategy
(and not how to strategise when the industry itself is in formative stage),

how to compete in a market
(and not how to create a market),

how to manage resources efficiently
(and not how to create and acquire resources),

how to operate within regulatory boundaries
(and not how to push the regulatory boundaries to evolve to accommodate new business realities), etc.

in fact, if a person learns all these things, he is actually at a handicap for any entrepreneurial venture!!!

Life goes on...

Somewhere around this time of the year... For last few years, I start counting the days...

It struck me this evening, that just seven years back on this day, we had landed in Mumbai - less out of hope and more to confirm... We had parked ourselves at Abhijit and Nandini's place, and had stayed for almost a week (Geeta used to tell stories to Jojo and Fenny - and had made some "magic rings" for Jojo...)

...I still carry that image of amazement on doctor's face, when she found that a person can actually walk and look "healthy" in the 4th stage (actually, the person registering her had asked us to bring the patient!!;)... The slide actually started only after 14th - after NHRC...

...two days from now, Bitti will be carrying the School Flag on her school's Sports Day - the date when we got our first appointment at the Tata Memorial... 20 years back, on the same day, I had passed Bhopal station (just a day after the Union Carbide tragedy) which marked my move to Hyderabad...

...some day at the end of this month, I will also go to take a class, with the memory of requesting and bringing the bank manager home to get some documents signed (my own imagery of that day was of closing one more 'window')...

In the last one year or so, I have lost some more of those who were part of my journey across decades - Shumona, Goel Sa'b, Woozy...

... And so the life goes on...

I guess/realise that in another 10-20 years, most of those who were part of my history (including myself) will not be here anymore... In some ways, the feeling of "having played my innings" is quite satisfying also....

... Which, in a way, makes life and relationships so very cherishable (and 'givable')... it feels good to know that there are others - with similar intensity and purpose - who will come and occupy the space and time... at least for some time

Yes, perhaps we are all specks and sparks in this vastness of life-in-progress... but...

...but so what!!!... Actually, it does not matter!!!

Life - not life - goes one

Innovations in The Bottom of Pyramid

I came across this news item from BBC - and just when I am reading through CK Prahlad's Book Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid. Put in juxtaposition, the two create a curious mix!!!

On the one hand, it is humorous, and reminded me of the story of how farmers in Haryana used washing machine for churning milk. On the other hand, it also highlights, how the meaning of a product can drastically change when it moves into a new reality.... am not sure if the contemporary management/business framework is attuned to the other reality of the BOP.

but anyway... read on...

------------
Farmers tackle pests with colas
By Alok Prakash Putul in Raipur

Story from BBC NEWS


For farmers in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh it is cheaper than pesticides and gets the job done just as well. The product? Pepsi or Coca-Cola.

Agricultural scientists give them some backing - they say the high sugar content of the drinks can make them effective in combating pests.

Unsurprisingly, Pepsi and Coca-Cola strongly disagree, saying there is nothing in the drinks that can be used in pest control.

Cheaper
Farmers in the Durg, Rajnandgaon and Dhamtari districts of Chhattisgarh say they have successfully used Pepsi and Coke to protect their rice plantations against pests.

It is a trend that has been seen in other parts of India, with farmers also using Indian brands of colas. The practice of using soft drinks in lieu of pesticides, which are 10 times more expensive, is gaining so much popularity that sales of the drinks have increased drastically in remote villages.

Farmers say the use of pesticides costs them 70 rupees ($1.50) an acre. By comparison, if they mix a bottle of Pepsi or Coke with water and spray it on the crop it costs 55-60 rupees less per acre.

Old practice
Agricultural specialist Devendra Sharma says farmers are mistaken in thinking that the drinks are the same as pesticides. He says the drinks are effectively sugar syrups and when they are poured on crops they attract ants which in turn feed on the larva of insects.

Mr Sharma says using sugar syrup for pest control is not a new practice. "Jaggery made from sugar cane has been used commonly for pest control on many occasions. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are being used to achieve the same result," he says.

Fellow scientist, Sanket Thakur, has a different explanation: "All that is happening is that plants get a direct supply of carbohydrates and sugar which in turn boosts the plants' immunity and the plantation on the whole ends up yielding a better crop."

Vikas Kocchar, regional manager for public affairs and communications of Coca-Cola, says claims that the drink can be used as a pesticide have no scientific backing.

Anupam Verma, Pepsi sales manager in Chhattisgarh, says sales figures in rural areas of the state have increased by 20%. But he adds: "If there was any truth in these claims then we would rather be selling our product as a pesticide rather than soft drinks. "There is more money in selling pesticides than in selling soft drinks. Their claim smacks of lies. At best it is idle natter."

Open Source Bazaar Model of Terrorism

A few months back, I had made a posting here about the Clash of Paradigms. This theme of Paradigms in Collision - the Centralised vs. the Network - was also the subject of one of the issues of Alternative Perspective Newsletter last month.

Today, I found this very interesting posting on John Robb's Blog Global Guerillas, which uses Eric Raymond's open source model (The Cathedral and the Bazaar) to understand the Fourth Generation warfare - the insurgency, guerilla warfare, terrorism, etc. - as being enacted in Iraq. To quote:

"A major difference between the guerrilla war we are fighting in Iraq and previous insurgencies is its lack of center of gravity as we commonly understand it (an ideology/party, ethnic independence, etc. or hierarchy). The real center of gravity in Iraq is a bazaar of violence. This bazaar is where a combination of local and global "hot" money is funding a diverse set of groups, each with their own methods of operation and motivations. Groups engage in co-opetition to share resources, intelligence, and funds.... A bazaar of violence is a hallmark of global guerrilla warfare. When a state collapses, as it did in Iraq, global guerrillas quickly arrive with money and violence. Through this funding, terrorist violence, and infrastructure disruption; global guerrillas create conditions ripe for the establishment of a bazaar of violence. In essence, the bazaar is an emergent property of global guerrilla operations within a failed or collapsed state. Once established, it builds on itself and creates a dynamic that is almost impossible to disrupt."



In another piece, Robb, describes the tactics of this Open Source Bazaar:

"Release early and often. Try new forms of attacks against different types of targets early and often. Don’t wait for a perfect plan.

Given a large enough pool of co-developers, any difficult problem will be seen as obvious by someone, and solved. Eventually some participant of the bazaar will find a way to disrupt a particularly difficult target. All you need to do is copy the process they used.

Your co-developers (beta-testers) are your most valuable resource. The other guerrilla networks in the bazaar are your most valuable allies. They will innovate on your plans, swarm on weaknesses you identify, and protect you by creating system noise.

Recognize good ideas from your co-developers. Simple attacks that have immediate and far-reaching impact should be adopted.

Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away (simplicity). The easier the attack is, the more easily it will be adopted. Complexity prevents swarming that both amplifies and protects.

Tools are often used in unexpected ways. An attack method can often find reuse in unexpected ways."

Why "War on Terror" Can Never Be Won?

Even George W Bush acknowledged that in one of the interviews last week!

...but my reason for thinking so is different - The phrase "War on Terror" is about as meaningful as War on "Shock and Awe"... Terror/Terrorism is a tactics, not the enemy - and therefore, one cannot really fight it...

I came across this interesting compilation on History of Terrorism, which also shows how terror has been used as a tactics across time and geography:

* Terrorism, the use or threat of violence to create fear, has a long history. In the first century, the Zealots, a Jewish religious sect, fanatically fought against Roman rule. An extremist group of Zealots, called the Sicarii (which means "dagger men"), used terrorist tactics to resist Roman rule in what is now Israel. They assassinated not only Romans but also Jews believed to be cooperating with the Romans.

In 11th- and 12th-century Iran, the Assassins, a radical group of Ismailis (a sect of Shiite Muslims), attacked leader's throughout the Middle East. Even the most powerful enemies of the Assassins risked sudden death. The founder of the Assassins was Hasan ibn al-Sabbah. In 1090, he and a band of followers seized a mountain fortress in Iran known as Alamut. From Alamut, Hasan sent out secret agents to kill his enemies. Hasan became known as the "Old Man on the Mountain".

The word terrorism first came into use during the French Revolution (1789-1799). In 1793, the Jacobins, a group led primarily by Maximilien Robespierre, seized control of France and adopted a policy of ruthless violence against their opponents. The period of Jacobin rule became known as the Reign of Terror, in which thousands of people were executed by guillotine, including Louis XVI, the King of France, and his wife, Marie Antoinette. (She's the one who never said, "Let them eat cake!") In a 47 day period, more than 1,376 people were executed. In 1794. Robespierre found himself under the blade of the guillotine. He was executed by members of his own party by order of the National Convention, the assembly that took over the governing of France after, the monarchy was overturned.

The United States, a relatively young country, has its own history of terrorism. After the Civil War (1861-1865), Ku Klux Klan members terrorized blacks, Jews, and other groups they deemed inferior. Sometimes Klan members burned crosses on victims' lawns; at other times Klan members brutalized or killed people. At its height in the 1920s, the Klan had more than two million members. Today the group has only a few thousand members.

French Revolution. The French revolution lasted from 1789 to 1799. The revolution began on July 14, 1789, when a group of Parisians stormed the Bastille, a French fortress. These people, mostly peasants, captured the Bastille and tore it down. A new legislative assembly was formed in 1791. In December of 1792, King Louis XVI was brought to trial, and on January 21, 1793, he was executed for treason. After the King's death, a Committee of Public Safety took over rule of France, controlling local governments and the armed forces. The committee governed during a period of time known as the "Reign of Terror." During this time, the committee declared a policy of terror against any potential enemies. From September 1793 to July 1794, nearly 1,400 people were sent to the guillotine in Paris alone. Most historians say that the Revolution ended on Nov. 9, 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte seized the government.

Profits from Poverty

CK Prahlad is getting it wrong again (last time was when he sang euologies for Enron in Leading the Change). His new thesis, described in his book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (read the article), focuses on the 4-5bn people on earth who subsist on less than $2/day - or the $13trillion market!

With all noble intentions, CKP argues that this mass should be viewed not as victims or a burden, but as value-driven consumers, whose life can be made better, if large corporations design and focus their offerings to them, change their life-styles, and even help them with micro-credits to enable them to consume the goodies of life.

There are three biases which jar me, and which actually permeate the whole contemporary management literature:

1. that masses are primarily consumers, and not producers. Thus, their life becomes better, if they get to consume more, and not if they produce more. Compare Lijjat and, say, any biscuit manufacturer which targets the rural market - both focus on BOP, but with very different concepts of "making life better."

2. how much profit you make is more important than how you make that profit. CKP, like most management theorists, does not differentiate profits generated from, for example, selling more cigarretes/coke/candies, from those generated from selling milk/medicines/education.... I mean, a more profitable Playboy or mafia does not really make them more value-adding than maybe less profitable Amul, does it?

3. wealth-creation is same as making profits. Somehow, in management literature and theories, the concept of wealth has got reduced to just money. Rest - e.g., the community or the environment - have just become resources which need to be "exploited"...

but, well... some companies, even with their profit-motives, would end up, more by default than by design, creating wealth for people they serve. Two examples which come to mind are ITC e-Choupal, which not only is a channel for sales, but also for procurement of farmers' produce and for disseminating information; and Reliance Infocomm, which targetted the BOP profitably, but has also enabled people in that segment to be more productive...

The Two Paradigms: The Child Soldier & Army Soldier

Sometime back I had made a posting on this blog, how the current global conflicts (from "Civilized World" vs. Al-Qaida to RIAA vs. P2P) are all manifestations of a clash of two competing paradigms.

Today, while reading this news-item in Telegraph, this idea of "the clash of paradigms" became more visible:

Struggling to lift a Kalashnikov, a 12-year-old with the Mahdi army militia said he could do anything in battle except fly a helicopter.

"Last night I fired a rocket-propelled grenade against a tank," he said. "The Americans are weak. They fight for money and status and squeal like pigs when they die.

"But we will kill the unbelievers because faith is the most powerful weapon."

The boy called himself Moqtada, styled after the rebel cleric whose ranks he joined a month ago having travelled to Najaf from the Shia slum of Sadr City in Baghdad. He said that he hopes for a glorious death.

Compare this belief-driven warrier to those who opt for a career as a soldier. If one reads monetary benefits, educational facilties, healthcare and timeoff, which The GoArmy.com site describes to attract "job applicants", it becomes so easy to understand the two different worlds - each with its own motivations, expectations, understanding of what the war is all about, etc. - from which the two sides of Iraq-War III are coming from (I used the term "Iraq-War III" because the last one got over a year back!)

One can also see parallels in the two "worlds" in which warring parties (e.g., Windows vs. Linux; World Economic Forum vs. the grass-root movements, etc.) live...

Yeh Mera India!

Eight years back in 1996, on this very day – 15th August – the then Prime Minister, HP Deve Gowda delivered the traditional Independence Day Address to the Nation from the Red Fort. Like his previous eight predecessors in last 49 years, he delivered this traditional speech in the ‘national’ language – Hindi.

There was a change, though - Deve Gowda hailed from Karnataka, and did not know or understood Hindi – and so, his Hindi speech had to be written in his native Kannada script… and was telecasted across the nation to an audience, more than 60% of whom also did not understand Hindi!!!

Yeh Mera India! ….

…where else in the world – but in India -can this happen?!!… the Chief Executive of a nation makes an address in a language which he does not understand, and to a people who also do not know that language!!!… (the 1961 census reported 1549 “mother tongues”!!!)

In my mind, that fascinating, but much neglected, event in the 49th year of the history of India is also the metaphor of what India is:

…its diversity weaved into a unity, a myth which became (is becoming?) a reality… the belief in a ‘concept’ of India which perhaps exists (and is taking roots) only in the minds of its people, a contradiction which is internally consistent… a belief, which is simultaneously ridiculous and sincere.

… Or the only oxymoron encapsulated in a single word – India!!

It seems so easy to say now that “India” became independent on August 15th, 1947… almost a trite statement in any history book.

But it always seemed a miracle, actually…. that we have something called “India”…

India is perhaps the only country in the world, where we have 18 scheduled “official” languages (and some 2,200 dialects) – and yet not one single language which everyone shares and can use to converse with others….

So how does this nation exist as an entity, when its members can’t even understand each other’s language?…

(And just to mention the obvious: though English is often touted as the cosmopolitan uniting language, but even then… as one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world, barely 30mn – or 3% - of Indian population can really speak, write and read English… in rest of the India, English is Hinglish: roadside dhabas who put up sign-boards announcing “Snakes served here”, or liquor shops where “Child Bear” is available, etc…. that’s how you can find “snacks” to have with your “chilled beer”!! )

Almost – or perhaps more than – a hundred years back, when Gopal Krishna Gokhle and Justice Ranade described India as a “Nation-in-Making”, I guess this is what must have been in their mind… that India is a process, a state of mind, and not an entity…

It is so easy to talk about “India” now – and know what one is referring to – but back in 1947, it must have been a faith-based shot in the mystical dark….

In 1957 – 10 years after “India” became “independent” - a research team from Jamia Milia did a survey across 4 north-central states of India, covering 150 villages. The findings:

around 10% people did not know – after 10 years of “independence” – that the British no longer ruled the country; and,

about 17-18% did not know the name of their own country!!! – of course they knew “Bharat” aka India (since they had heard people shouting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”), but they did not know what this “Bharat” was.

If a common message, understanding, language, communication network, etc., is what is needed to unite and create a common identity as a nation, this is what we had around that time in mid-50s:

1.5mn radios for a population of 400mn

a circulation of 3mn newspapers for 400mn people (of which only 18% could read and write)

40k “community village radios” for 500k villages

80% of Indians lived at least 20 miles far from motorable roads

0.4mn telephones for 400mn people… etc.

And yet, now, we do have a “Bharat”, which people know about and understand (even if it is not the same as the “India” which “shines”)…. At least we know what we are talking about….

…which is a miracle of sorts!

There were other miracles as well in the journey of this “Nation-in-Making”:

Just till a few months before August, 1947, 40% of the land mass belonged to 562 princely states – each with its own rules, customs – and even currency.

In a country with 83% rural population, dependent on agriculture, 70% of the cultivated land was owned by handful of landlords and moneylenders.

We adapted “jana gana mana…” as the national anthem – a song written as a salutation to the “Bharat Bhagya Vidhata” - King George the V of England on the occasion of his visit in 1911.

We even adapted a name – India… a name given by non-native imperial forces to refer to the land on this side of river Indus (which does not flow through modern India!)

etc. etc….

… and yet, now we have an “India” to talk about…

… and to be proud of:

In 1947, we had a population of 30crore and 15% literacy. Today we have more than a billion population and around 50% literacy. In real numbers, India, in a span of two generations, created a literate mass almost one-and-a-half times the size of current US population.

Back then, we depended on PL-480 wheat aid, (and the Prime Minister of India appealed to the nation to keep fast for one evening a week – so that the hungry could be fed)… today we are a food-surplus country.

From a country with just 7 engineering colleges (2200 students), 9 agriculture colleges (3000 students) and less than 10 medical colleges in 1947 – now we can be proud of having the 2nd or 3rd largest technically qualified manpower in the world.

India is among the 3 countries in the world, which built its own super-computer– and among the 6 which developed its own indigenous space technology.

In spite of its diversity, dissensions and communal conflicts, the democracy, and the culture of assimilation, survives – a “Hindu” nation elects an “Italian” to become the Prime Minister, who refuses, but in turn proposes a minority representative (a Sikh) for the post, and gets an OK from another Minority (Muslim) representative of the society, who is the President of this country.
etc. etc….

It has been a long journey, and we have come a long way…

…and yet India still remains a “Nation-In-Making”… a contradiction in its own way..

In a food-surplus country, approx. 5—7 farmers commit suicide every day due to poverty…

The top 10% of the society own 48% of the nation’s assets – while the bottom 10% own just 1%…

The 90% of “unorganized” labor force do not feature in the statistics – and therefore, have no rights…

The financial capital of the country also boasts of housing the largest slum of Asia…

The market goes down – and loses thousands of crores in value – when the country democratically elects a new governments

The Super-Malls come up along with the slums….
...

… as India enters its 58th year as an “independent” sovereign nation (hopefully, we will mentally retire from being a colonial country in a year), one realizes that we all live in our own “India”… that there are many Indias - each different, and yet connected – and open to assimilate these differences and contradictions…

…perhaps that is what makes it such a fascinating place…
well, …Yeh Mera India!! – this is my India:

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/madhukar_shukla/album?.dir=/4fe8&.src=ph
or try:
http://tinyurl.com/4a28g

A Very Happy Independence Day to You!