Robin Hood was a terrorist!

Last week all of us were given topics to speak on, for the last evaluation of our Effective Business Communications sessions. Like the rest I was also given two topics, one being the title of this post and the other one being “The creative artist’s freedom to creativity is a threat to social stability”. The second one was so long that I lost my breath when I read it the first time, so I decided to stick to the first one, which I thought would be easy to prepare, although that was not the case eventually. But nevertheless I went forward and below is what I thought would be the script, which again was not the case.

Honestly speaking I was perplexed when I first looked at this topic. Robin Hood is and has been one of my favourite childhood heroes. I had no answer, not even any idea where to look for them. No clue at all.

But then it reminded me of Krishna sir and I saw a ray of hope with secondary research. I decided to dig deep and read as much as possible about Robin Hood and Terrorism.

I was surprised to find out that there was no fixed, universally accepted, agreed upon definition of terrorism or who is a terrorist. The closest I came was this UN General Secretary report which stated “Terrorism is any act which causes bodily harm with an objective of intimidating a larger population”. And terrorist is anyone

Whose methods are violent in nature,

Whose aims and motives are Political in nature,

Whose actions have a wide psychological effect than the immediate victim,

And who works with an organization with a clear cut chain of command.

After reading this, I was even more confused. I thought how Sherwood’s Prince of Thieves could be one of such.

Yes his methods were Violent in nature. Yes his action had a far wider psychological effect than on the immediate victim, so much so that even King John felt it. And yes he had an organization called the “Merry Men” with him being the leader.

But what was it that he really did? He robbed the rich and gave it to the poor. He was what a lot of economists call today a believer of “Equitable Distribution of wealth”. If he would have existed a few centuries down the line, his name would have been taken with the likes of Lenin or even Karl Marx. He championed poor’s cause, a hero of the poor, and a messiah for the oppressed.

He cannot be termed as a terrorist, at best a communist. I believe Robin Hood was a terrorist or hero depends upon from which side of the fence you are looking through.

MBA for a receptionist!

So here comes another Sunday. It’s been a while I rested on a weekend and not go for some partying or shopping. But I have to say as much as I love partying, travelling or shopping, this time I really liked a quiet and alone Sunday. As the first thing on my checklist was to get a good amount of sleep for my sleep deprived body, so I woke up in the afternoon when finally my back started aching. And then as always I had missed my breakfast and lunch at the hostel mess is an option that I never consider. So I decided to take a walk and treat myself to some paranthas. That is how I ended up settling for the nearest market to our hostel which is Kailash. I went there, got my cell phone recharged, another thing I can strike off the checklist and ordered some paranthas. At that point only one thing crossed my mind if only I could have mom’s handmade paranthas. I got my order and started eating. Just as I was engrossed in them, some advertisement struck my eyes. It was one of those kinds where you take out a printout and you go around the town pasting them on the walls. It read

Required-Receptionist

Salary- 6000-8000

UG/Graduates/MBA

I was stunned. It really shook me. I was so taken aback that I forgot I was having food. How can an MBA even think of doing the job of a receptionist, leave alone the salary. You go to a B-school, pay around half a million Rupees at least and then go through the entire rigor to be an MBA. They teach you operations, marketing, finance, HR, strategy and what not. How a person after learning so much, can even think of being hired as a receptionist? I started thinking, my mind now totally diverted from the fact that I had no food for the last 15 something hours and now a plateful of paranthas lied in front of me and only me. I thought, how can that person who gave that advertisement, think of hiring an MBA for the specific job. Well It didn’t require too much of thinking. It takes no Sherlock Holmes to figure out that we are living and studying in a fractured system. A system which has stuck to the old notion of just getting admission in a college and then go through the motions and one thinks he will end up having a job. This has what led to the dilution of what MBBS, MBA or other educations really meant. Many of us study because we think we don’t have enough education to match how much we want to earn. And we forget the fact that it not the education but the capabilities that matter. We forget that in the real world nobody gives a damn what degree you have, they see what you can do. What results you can deliver. I think the person who gave the advertisement, is aware of the same fact. He knows he might hire an MBA for the job of a receptionist but then that’s all he or she might be capable of. Here I am not questioning our education system, what I am questioning is our mindset, how we approach our life at college. Are we one of those who just go through the motions and are desperately waiting for two years to end, so that they can finally earn something, or are we part of the other breed who approach everyday as to learn something new and make a change in them. Are we the same what we were a year ago or there is a fundamental change in how we think, how we act. These all are questions I think all of us who have this huge burden on their shoulders to be dubbed as nation’s future should ask oneself. What am I here for?

AND I THINK REALITY IS UNDERRATED.

What do we live for?

Last few days, something has happened but it has been hard for me to put it in words. I have been unable to figure out what that has been and more precisely why? I have been running here and there for years, reading lots of stuff, questioning it, discussing it with people looking for answers. But it never occurred to me what was the question. But suddenly today it happened. I started thinking about what was the question. But still what really was the question is irking me. And then it struck me, WHAT DO I LIVE FOR? You might think what am I talking about? This is a fundamentally simple question. And that is what really is, a fundamentally simple question and one with a very hard to be answer.

I started thinking. I decided to look around, looking for people close to me and what might they be living for. Is it the family? Or that dream? , Or the money? How could be the answer, to such a simple question be so tough to be answer. I have read numerous books, numerous blogs, many newspapers, magazines etc. But all that looks like going for a toss, when I try to answer this question. I close my eyes and I feel this dark hollow black area where feel I am struck, looking for the way out. I see myself standing and wherever I look it all looks the same and I get no idea which way to go. Am I living for money or to be with the people I love or a dream which is so vague that it makes modern art look meaningful? What is it?

We all come to this world with a blank mind and we all get to know this world and ourselves gradually, taking each step with the help of our parents, friends and others who influence us over a period of time. I don’t know why but somehow after the time this question struck me, I have been unable to find answer to any dilemma that came my way. And this thing is so bothering that it is making me feel as if I am asphyxiating. Well most of us look for answer in the people who have influenced us over a period of time. Our parents, achievers, our friends or might be a big brother. And there is where my confusion even becomes more acute. I really don’t understand where to look for answers. I look at those in Egypt fighting for a cause and many losing their lives for it. Do we live to fulfil a cause? Then I look at people who study day and night to be something, but what something? I know this post is full of questions and I really don’t know what to write more. But if someone is reading this do try to answer this question. “WHAT DO WE LIVE FOR?”

Vision 2020, really?

For the last few days i have been reading a lot. The exams are over and finally I got time to instil some oxygen in my inactive blog. I was a bit confused about what to write. Lots and lots of things were going through my mind, particularly about India and the global scenario. But before i reach there, there has been a thing that has been bugging me a lot. Recently i happened to watch this documentary Enron: the smartest guys in the room. It was a very intriguing experience and at the end of it I was left a bit numb. The magnitude of the accounting scandal and the way it was executed was shocking. Right from the point where SEC granted Enron the right to use “mark to market” practises in its accounting, to the trial where top executives said that they were unaware of what was going on in the company was too much to digest. The worst thing was that top executives earned hundreds of millions out of it and the hardworking employees lost more than a billion dollar worth of pension funds. It was the biggest bankruptcy ever declared in corporate America and was soon overtaken by the bankruptcy declared by Worldcom, which was recently toppled by Washington mutual’s bankruptcy. Although in the aftermath of the Enron scandal the Sarbanes-Oxley act came into existence. But scandals like Enron continue to occur. It left me in a sense of a bad feeling that soon I will be part of this world, where greed continue to exist and is ever increasing. It’s not only limited to the US, India has also seen its fair share of corporate scandals, Satyam being the name that crops up first in everyone’s mind. Although these have been far smaller and too less in frequency compared to the scale of corruption our government engages in. And this is where my apprehensions start. Last night i was reading this article in ET by Swaminathan Aiyar. The article’s name was “India to overtake China in 2020”. A very well written article I must say and he aptly describes why he believes that. He gave many reasons like China’s mean population age will be on the decline, whereas India will have a large young English speaking population. The export based economy of China will not sustain and will suffer the same fate as Japan suffered in the 90’s. He also gives some of the problems India will face like terrorism will increase; tensions with the red dragon will also increase. Demand for smaller states in India will also increase. Well along with all these he forgot a very pressing problem and maybe the most important one prevalent today, its corruption and the corporate world scandals. It was once widespread only in the government run institutions and India’s corporate elite seemed to be saner compared to their western counterparts. The Tatas, the Birlas had built an impeccable reputation. Although Reliance was always seen as someone taking advantage of the loopholes, but it was not up to the extent it occurred in US. But now with the Satyam scandal, LIC housing scandal and many more getting uncovered, it seems like those days are long gone. And then there were other scandals like the 2G scandal, the CWG scandal, the Karnataka Land scam and many more. It can so easily be said that year 2010 was the year of scandals, one after the other kept coming out. And there is a general feeling that many more skeletons might come out of the closet in the near future. Sensex which was supposed to reach new highs has been showing growth signs but every now and then a new scandal hits killing the investor confidence and the ruining the growth. India has got everything it needs to be the next superpower but along with it, it also has everything which can shatter this dream. The billion dollar question “will India become what it is touted to be?” will always remain until we reach that point in the future where we see it fall or rise up to the occasion and prove it to the world. All said and done the disease of corruption is killing India presently and the world thing is, it has infected the very innermost parts of her and is slowly paralysing its economy. For India to rise we need to kill this disease right of its roots, the corporate world needs to be more sensible and so should be the government and regulatory agencies. The need of the hour is strict laws which curb such occurrences and increase investor confidence as well as win the confidence of the common man. Once my economist teacher told us in the class that in America the least trusted institute used of to be the congress and now it’s the corporate world. I fear India might be moving in a same direction. But one must not forget that India’s growth is a story of private players not waiting for government but doing things on their own and getting success and for India to be a superpower that is the way forward. A very happy new year to all who are reading this and to them also who are not. I hope we all step in the New Year with new hopes, new dreams in our eyes and a new found willpower to fulfil them all.

India to overtake China in 2020: Swaminathan Aiyar- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/swaminathan-s-a-aiyar/India-to-overtake-China-in-2020-Swaminathan-Aiyar/articleshow/5401241.cms

Just my opinion

I had an operations management chapter to read. Well i started reading it and somewhere down the line i found it too boring to continue. And i know most of you guys reading this would agree. So i decided to scribble down few words. Well considering the fact i was just through one of the most fascinating experiences of my life, this post is certainly going to be tilted in its favour. Let me draw the curtains and reveal, though literally i do not mean to reveal in that sense. Ok enough, i just happened to watch the movie “The Social Network”. And this is addressed to people who have no idea what that movie is. It actually goes through the story of how Facebook was founded or as Mark Zukerberg repeatedly says was invented. Well it touched two topics that are very close to my heart, entrepreneurship and social networking. So i guess it was not a big deal when it left a profound effect on me and also brought with it several moments that gave me goose bumps and eventually left me in tears when the movie ended. Truly I have to agree it is one of the finest movies i have seen in the last few years and certainly the best this year along with Inception. And i do believe Inception and the social network are really that good, that it is really impossible to pick the better one. It is like when Joey in one of the Friends episode was asked to pick between food and sex and never comes up with a decision. Moving forward I think the movie really gives a big insight how much motivated a person is when he or she is going for one’s idea. Mark forgets everything and it’s not the money that drives him. It is something else and that something else really makes all the difference and I think one can only understand that something else only if one has gone through what Mark goes through and truly treating his venture as his baby. The Winklevoss brothers according to me lacked that something else. They just didn’t had it or they would have went on to start another new thing or they would have never waited 52 emails to take actions. Another thing that struck me was when Sean (The Napster guy) wakes up and the girl asks who are you? Sean replies "I am an entrepreneur". To which she replies"so you are unemployed". Well it tells me how normal people look at entrepreneurs. Well I believe entrepreneurs are just a separate breed of people altogether. They just breathe differently, they walk differently, and they will talk differently. But normal just happen to not notice the difference. And me, I just have lots and lots of respect for entrepreneurship and people who make is respectful. We owe everything today to some or other entrepreneur who decided this is not how things happen and decided to take a new course and change things altogether. I just happen to remember an Ayn rand quote from her book Atlas shrugged

“All though the decades unknown faces have walked on new roads armed with nothing but their ideas to became known men”

This truly defines entrepreneurship for me. And for me, i think Facebook was the greatest things that ever happened on this earth, until it gets surpassed by another revolutionary idea. And the story continues.....................