The modern all pervasive corporation

Disclaimer: This post is just food for thought. I don't have any plans to start a revolution. I am quite comfortable in my corporate environment and see the merits far outweigh the concerns. Also, this post is not intended to undermine those passionate achievers, entrepreneurs, leaders etc. who have caused a positive shift in human life. This post is for the larger majority of us who think we make a difference but in reality just add up to the numbers

The pandemic has got me thinking at levels I have not done in the past. Questioning the purpose of our existence, our actions. The fact that I read a bit of Harari's seminal work Sapiens in this period has also contributed to the thinking. 

There is no doubt that the human race is at its most comfortable stage in its history. In terms of human suffering due to war, food shortage, poverty etc. we have made great progress as a collective. In terms of general comfort whether its toilets, running water, accessibility, a roof on our head, gadgets to make everyday life easier; the current human race has it all and things will only get better. There are challenges no doubt, of unequal distribution of wealth and resources, poverty, lack of freedom in pockets but all these have seen a reduction in last 100 years.

In my view, there are 3 large contributors to our current state. The first 2 are fairly obvious. The third needs some discussion

1.The industrial and scientific revolution and the mass appreciation of role of education and science in making human life far more easier 

2. The role of democracy in allowing free thought, freedom to pursue your interests 

3. The role of free markets and the emergence of the role of large corporations in making everything an economic decision. 

The role of corporations in making the world more efficient and self-sufficient cannot be understated. Many areas get resolved when corporations come in. Large projects are executed, capacities created, bottlenecks resolved. Structural cost reduction, Structural demand generation (breakfast cereals??) etc. I have seen firsthand how the mandatory CSR spend requirement of the government in recent years has seen so much more professionalism and structural work being done in this space. Even the space of sustainability is driven by corporates seeing it to be of long term value. Electric cars are being made more efficient and economical by the day. Pharma companies continue to research in making more effective and cost effective drugs. Telecom is continuously trying to reduce cost, improve access. Start-ups are trying to identify gaps in the market and plug them with unique solutions.  Every corporate is working on making itself larger, more productive, more cost efficient, more responsible. All this makes the world a better place to live. Many of us have created tremendous value through our corporations. Henry Ford, Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs and many more such legends have achieved greatness through the route of corporations.

How has this modern day corporation evolved. It was not a concept that existed 500 years ago. Yet today, many of these are larger than the economies of some of the countries of the world. And who knows, 50 years hence, people may be known by the corporation they represent rather than their country or race or religion. 

But this is not the objective of my post. It was just context.

What is a corporation. A collection of people, driven by a common objective, creating a pool of assets and resources. People come and go, the objective remains, the resources increase. How has the modern day corporation managed to be so pervasive. An average human spends one third of his productive life dedicated to the service of a corporation. If you add time spent travelling, time spend preparing to become worthy (education, technical trainings etc.) to this, it may seem that the purpose of modern day life has become to be worthy of serving a corporation. Makes me wonder if we have conquered the hardships using corporations or converted hardships from the earlier ones to now serving corporations. Has the purpose of humans become serving corporations?

While at a whole, every organisation is striving for excellence, at the micro level it is doing this by creating a very high sense of purpose for its employees. Terms like vision, engagement, value creation, customer centricity and many more have got coined to capture, justify and rationalise everything we do in there. Banal pursuits become matters of life and death. High stress environments are created.  The vision and purpose of the organisation and serving its customers becomes the purpose of existence of all its employees. I may be working for a cigarette manufacturer and killing my customer, but i have to make sure every single packet is made, supplied and sold as quickly, efficiently and creatively as if everyone's life and not death depends on it. 

In some sense, isn't a modern corporation similar to a religious cult? Here we worship the customer, the shareholders profit and the corporations vision. Isn't it curtailing our freedom to do as we please? Doesn't it limit our actions, regiment us to think, talk and act in a particular manner? 

Case in point is Messi. One of the greatest footballers ever, richest sportsperson of our times, loved by millions for the joy he has given to them with his skill. Stuck in a contract to play for a club he doesn't want to. If he opts out, his career is stuck in a legal battle where the only people who win are the legal corporations on both sides. With all his riches and fame, he is a slave to his situation due to the modern corporation.

The corporation has given us all an opportunity to create impact which we may never have done as individuals. However, it may still merit a thought if this justifies it becoming a purpose of existence. 

Fundamentally, the purpose of all our existence is the same, the pursuit of happiness. How to achieve happiness may differ for each individual. In varying degrees, all of us have different things that make us happy. Some may get happy creating wealth, some by travelling, some teaching, some watching their children grow, some pursuing arts, some sports. However, the corporation regiments us. It tunes our thinking to make happiness equal to reward, and hence performance. Performance to meet the organisations vision, targets, KPIs. Of course this has caused tremendous human progress in last 200 years. It has created tremendous value, sustainable solutions for many problems, advanced technology. All of us have reaped the benefits of corporations in action. But then how do we balance the overriding influence the corporation has put on our worth and on our behaviour and our priorities?

Maybe, its time to for us to stop worshipping corporations and stop being corporate slaves. Or maybe, that time hasn't come yet. Lets just live for the weekend until then. 

Diary of a Nationalist

 

8 am: Dear Diary, today is going to be a wonderful day. It is the day I get to show off my new Bharat Mata tattoo. Got it done on my biceps yesterday night. It looks fab, especially with my black 'Being Human' tee.

This tattoo is an answer to all those intellectual traitors who keep giving sermons using big words like Jingoism etc. I think they know nothing other than big talk. We should be proud of our county and what better way to display the pride than this tattoo. I am going to get so much attention at the nationalist march tonight. More on that later, right now I am just excited walking around with it.

9.30 am: The day continues to be awesome. Managed to sneak into the bus before it halted and beat all those losers standing in the queue. I was lucky, managed to grab the last vacant seat. Now I can sit and browse thru the Indian Army Fans page on facebook and like and share all the pics. Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than sharing pics from this page. I share everything. My friend Vikas started lecturing me that day on sharing responsibly. Bahut pakaya, something about checking facts etc. Who has the time boss. Share what you like, and let people who want to, figure out if it is true. Anyway, this old lady came and stood beside me and started staring. Stupid old people, try to stare you into feeling guilty. Not going to happen woman. Here, look at my tattoo!

10 am: Too much traffic boss. Don't think I will reach college on time. Not that is matters much, but sitting in this heat is quite irritating. Atleast in the college hostel there is eye candy. And this aunty continues to stare at me. No way are you getting this seat lady, not in this heat and traffic. Wish I had a bike, then I could cut thru this traffic, jump signals and get to my destination faster. Need to start pestering dad for that bike he promised me for finally clearing first year.

10.30 am: My cousin Pinku called. He is in 10^th and wanted my advise on further course. I told him how to go about making a fake caste certificate. It will help him get into science and then either medical or engineering. He didn't know this was possible. I explained to him how I did it and managed to get into BE in Mumbai university. After all, its all about getting in. Baad mein toh degree mil hi jaati hai. Pinku was quite surprised and grateful. I even gave him the contact of Anil Bhai, who does the caste certificate work, and told him how to haggle for a lower fee. Pinku was going on and on about how thankful he was, so I asked him to send me some fresh raunchy clips… he is always well stocked with those on his cell.

Feels good when you can help your family. Now I feel like a responsible elder brother, responsible and patriotic.

11.30 am: Finally reached and settled in the canteen.  The bus ride was quite sad, but I made it up by managing to brush against this hot chick wearing a tight kurta, in the subway crossing. It was dark inside and a bit crowded and I too full advantage of the situation. Mast maal thi… she gave me a dirty stare, but who cares, bahut mazaa aaya. Awesomeness level of the day restored. Now to boast about it to my gang.

3 pm: Attended Prof Nene's boring lecture post lunch to nap on the last bench. Got caught and thrown out. Since everyone’s attention was on me, I ensured that my tattoo got a lot of visibility. Even some of the chicks were staring at it. The gang met up finally in the canteen. Could not get to boast much about my morning exploits in the subway though as Sunil kept yapping. He is such a talker, has so many things to share. Today he was telling us how his dad managed to evade taxes and convert white money to black.  Apparently, there is a concept of charity. So you give money to these farji charities in cheque and they return you cash, after taking a small cut. You can show that entire cheque payment for tax deduction. Solid idea hai, tax bhi bachenga aur white to black bhi. Let me tell dad. He was cribbing last week that this time he may have to end up paying tax. Let me also use this opportunity to make my case for a bike.

6 pm: What an afternoon! Our students union met and conducted a dharna outside Prof Phanse's residence on campus. That asshole actually had the guts to fail our president Ganesh for the third time in his Vivas. This time we had warned him of consequences, but he failed him again. So we started a rumor that Prof Phanse insulted our national leaders. Wasn't difficult at all. He is anyway a jhola carrying commie, all with a beard and kurta and all. Also keeps quoting Marx etc in class. We just put some random statement against his name on whatsapp. Anyway, people believe everything they read on whatsapp. There was a good turnout of 45 of us. We made some placards, clicked some selfies and shouted nationalistic slogans. Sunil gave the idea to do some toh-phod. So we threw stones and broke his window pane. I took advantage of the situation and even threw 2 stones on Prof Nene's window. 
Need to head home now.  We have to attend this nationalist march in the evening. Need to be ready for that. This march is a big deal for us. Dad is one of the organisers and has taken a target of getting 100 participants. All of us are going and doing our bit to help. He is giving me and Sonu Rs 10000 and mom Rs 15000 for help him. Mom and Sonu already blew the money on shopping yesterday as they want to look their best in the evening. Sonu has her eyes set on this top on display at the Gucci store. It has the right colour for today’s event too. It will however be no match for against my new tattoo. I also ended up saving Rs7000, which I plan to blow up tonight. All us friends will go to the disc after the march and get piss drunk. Post that, we plan to drive to Igatpuri in Sunil's car.

Mom has conned our maid into attending with her kids by promising to pay her for the 4 days she took leave last month, when she had jaundice. Mom has an awesome way of dealing with these lowlife losers. She just cut her salary and told her to give proof of illness.Now she is giving her that same salary if she promises to get 4 people in the march. I am sure she will find a way to recover this later. Last time she just chipped an old plate and blamed the maid and cut 200 Rs. Mom is the smartest, I tell you.

Dad has invited all our neighbours from the society. Many are joining. Except for that stupid Mr. Dhingra and his wife. They have a solid superiority complex. Just because their son is in the NDA, they think they know best. Mr. Dhingra started lecturing my dad on the being patriotic in actions and not to show others, or some such crap. Too much pak pak the Dhingra’s do. And Mrs. Dhingra, she really doesn't know how to dress up. Her son is a year elder to me, but she still wears jeans and skirts. She even goes to the society Gym. Once I was sitting with my gang and she passed by, I got a smart idea and cooked up a nice story about how she had invited me home one day afternoon, when no one was around, and seduced me. That story became quite famous.

Anyway, I will sign off now diary. Don't think I will get time to update tonight after the march and post march partying. It’s been a good day. Rather it has been a great day. I feel so proud and patriotic with my new tattoo. It’s too bad that the sleeve of my t-shirt keeps slipping down to cover the face of the tattoo. Wish Bharat Mata could see my exploits.

Of Marriages

And they keep falling like nine pins. Its carnage, its a bloodbath I tell you. 

Finally, even the last bastion of bachelorhood has fallen... the person whose exploits as a serial wedding attender raised some sniggers, whose life of gay abandon raised some envy and whose parents had almost lost hope in ever knowing his whereabouts. Yes ladies and gentlemen, yours truly is taking the plunge this calendar year. However that is not the objective of this blog.

The objective of this blog is to talk about 2 bastions, that have been swaying and tipping and leaning and trying to fall for a while now. 2 bastions, that are spoken of in reverence, that are the epitomes of bachelorhood, if there is was any such thing. The 2 bastions of bachelorhood of Asian Paints, Pradeep Vedula 'Shastry' and Sabyasachi 'Sabhya' Ghosh.

Former roommates, its hard to tell which one has jinxed the others endeavors of getting hitched. However, one of the two has definitely got the shaadi dev (marriage gods or as they say in Sabhya's town, shaadi deb) pissed. For not only have the 2 been struggling to find their life partner (despite a very passionate effort in this regard), their effects are also rubbing in on their younger and hence less eligible roommates. Infact, legend goes that, at one time, anyone who shared a room with Shastry (including women ;) ) got married within 6 months. However, its been so long that noone even remembers the last time that happened.

Lets first talk about the 100 kg, lean, mean, soccerball kicking machine, Sabhya. At 31, the gentle giant is quite young by bengali arranged marriage standards. However, in the his opinion, he is ready and has been ready since the last 4 years. It seemed to us that he indicated his readiness by buying a fridge. Imagine, which bachelor would waste his hard earned money on a fridge, especially in his nomadic days of house shifting every 6-8 months. Many a moons have passed since Sabhya bought his fridge. It has been the only constant in his life since. Roommates have come and gone, cities, houses and work roles have changed. Even many a potential prospects have come and gone. The fridge remains Sabhya's best companion. It is also his most beloved companion. Sabhya has deep passionate affection for his food and that automatically translates into a lusting for his fridge. However, as materialistic as his reasons may be, I think its time Sabhya commits himself to his fridge. He should get married to it. Self and Shastry have also determined a few strong arguments in favour... a la 10 reasons why Sabhya should marry his refrigerator... here goes

1. It is the most imp thing in his life 
2. He has been found manyatimes craving for his fridge in the middle of the night 
3. Sometimes he dreams of his fridge
4. If stranded on a deserted island, the only thing he wants for company is his fridge
5. Given a choice, he would love to sleep with his fridge beside him  
6. Coz his fridge would say things that women say about men.. like
1. "He can never get his hands off me"
2. "He is always licking and biting"
3. "and drooling at the sight of me"
4. "sometimes i feel i am nothing but a piece of furniture in the room"
7. And finally, Sabhya’s fridge will always live in fear of a new, younger, more voluminous fridge coming into his life…

So that one being settled, we now come to the 2nd object of this blog. Shastry, the man who can eat like an elephant and still look like a rat (imagine how much he must excrete). In his case, there is actually not much to be said. His is a man of modest expectations. All he wants is a extremely fair, fantastic looking, very hawt, totally wife material by nature, awesome cook or all rice dishes, constant food providing, intellectually and verbosely brilliant, Telugu brahmin girl from a good family who will dote on him. Oh, and she should not be from his gothram and the kundalis must match. He is after all a man of simple taste and balanced expectations. We wonder why our tall, dark and handsome friend hasn't found her yet. Well, wonders never cease. However, I have a solution. A la Aishwarya Rai.

The best solution for Shastry is to marry a tree. 

After that, all his bad luck will change and befall on the girl who he then finds. So if anyone knows a nice good Telugu tree from a good family and different gothram, do suggest. A food giving tree preferred. If not for your love for Shastry, then for the love of humanity, and his poor bachelor roommates.

 

The politics of development

Starting with the standard disclaimers... below are my views based on my half baked research, knowledge and gut feel. Hopefully there are no factual gaps. If you wish to disagree, please do it in a civil manner.

Bihar goes to polls next week and a lot of us are keenly watching these elections. The opinion that the Nitish government has performed is almost unanimous. Will this help them win a 2nd term, we have to see. One might say it was easier for Nitish, considering that the state was rock bottom in the development index. However, I would differ. The culture of the state towards lack of government ownership to development was amazing; even faking news acknowledges this. Getting this state machinery moving is some task. My personal opinion is that not only will the JD-U win, it will win handsomely. And this is in no measure due to the BJP. And despite fighting alone, Congress will gain seats. This is the beginning of the end of Lalu.

However, my opinions aside, if JD-U indeed does better and Lalu poorly, it will be an epic result in Indian democracy. It will firmly establish that the politics of development works and Indian polity has matured, right from Gujarat to Bihar. And that my friends is the best news one can hear. As the shrewd Indian politician will realise that no longer can he be reelected on vote bank politics, or by dividing the people on caste and religion or by making smart coalitions. Instead, all he needs to do is some work and bring some development.

The trend started with Delhi and Gujarat, both states where the incumbent has taken a 3rd term recently. Delhi is case in point. It was a BJP state in early 90s, much before the NDA was formed. However, since 1998 its been Congress all the way. In the last assembly, Shiela Dixit won 42 of the 70 odd seats, no mean feat for 2 time incumbent, in an urban and bipolar state, where the opposition is strong. Clearly she is riding the metro wave. I will not be very surprised if she gets a 4th term too. A lot of work has happened in the CWG and corruption allegations apart, the people seem happy with the government.

Modi may have won his 2nd term (he had inherited an incumbent government already) due to his politics of religion, but no one can deny his next victory to be a result of the development the state has seen under him. A lot of people who have been to Gujarat in last 2-3 years, swear by the highways, the power situation, the business environment, the lack of bureaucratic hassles etc. A lot of industry is enthusiastically moving to Gujarat. No denying that the opposition in this (yet another) bipolar state is weak, but that's again something Modi can take credit for.

Even Naveen Patnaik's second term, despite breaking off with the BJP, stinks (for want of a better word) of a state voting back a government that worked.

The evidence is too stark and wide ranging for any astute politician to miss. I hope it has made some impact already. It's debatable as to weather we are already seeing this in the policies of some state governments (TN and Haryana are examples I can hazard). However, I so wish I am right on this one. Maybe the time has come for the politics of development in the Indian democracy. Quite a refreshing change that would be, right?