The Idiot and the Rocket!!

Though movie reviews is definitely not our area, but 3 idiots and Rocket Singh struck a chord somewhere and have been an object of immense discussion and ripping apart (yes, that's what lawyers do in their free time, though only the subject matter is different in what they do in their 'fee time'). All the bonhomie did prompt me to add to our blog.

Nearly everyone I know has given the highest possible review to '3 idiots' which , as Sagarika Ghosh rightly puts in her blog is a tad of a sacred ritual (check out http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/sagarikaghose/223/54036/from-three-idiots-to-a-nation-of-idiots.html ) . The multi starrer flick, without any doubts has generated brilliant reviews from all ends and we end up ga-gaing over movies like this because somewhere, we all draw similarities. Hereinafter I speak solely for myself. Born in a Bihari family I know what pre-determined profession means (i.e. at birth, it is decided whether you are charted to be doctor or engineer). I can recall the days when we would use fire extinguisher for showers in hostel, I definitely know at least a couple of guys who would fit the role of Rancho and yes, have definitely heard of students going suicidal because of the pressure and expectations. But, partially agreeing to what sagarika comments in her blog, we really cannot afford to take actual lessons in real life. I have come across a fair share of 'rattu totaas', and I for one, have nothing but utmost respect for them since I could never be one myself . The sheer application of mind that goes behind in mugging up theorems , case laws, citations, definitions and latin dictums (as the case may be) in itself is a herculean task and a unique type of brilliance is associated with it. Sometimes, it does not matter that you cannot comprehend what application the dictum that you are mugging up has in your daily life but the sheer ability to apply your mind for hours and days and weeks at stretch to mug it up, is a step in character building . I fail to understand that while we go about denouncing 'rattu totaas' in college and school, we will shell out huge premiums for marketing/finance 'whizkids' who come up with umpteen quantum of BS just to sell their products without even knowing for themselves what is written between the lines. These are the 'bad products' of the education system. If anyone from academic circle is reading this piece, he/she may recall a bunch of students who would pre-empt what the lecturer is about to speak just to show off to rest of the class that the brains in the classroom rest exclusive with him. He will graduate with above average marks, pick up a marketing oriented or job that promises you the moon and sell you house loans at steep rates or get you to invest your hard earned money in finance products that are going to crash sooner or later. Find and sort this rot out.

Life after school is a different story altogether. We work with loads of small businesses and startups and get a first hand view of what entrepreneurship today is all about. Will give you a briefer. Entrepreneurship of the 80s constituted people fighting restrictive government policies to establish their businesses. Entrepreneurship of the 90s was a bunch of guys making it big after getting free from the maze of rules and regulations and the last decade was the decade of the latter making it really big on the world stage and being counted on a bunch of who's who magazines. But, somewhere something went horribly wrong, especially for those of our generation. In the name of organised working and bigger margins, departmentalisation came along and companies went about creating assembly lines in the name of specialization. Call centre/BPO culture picked up and was strictly implemented cauz' thats how money was to be made. Seeing the quantum of output generated from the employees by these BPOs, other industries followed suit to adopt such cultures. If a part of the assembly line wanted to reach out and create its own way of working , it was crushed in the name of the bigger cause. Every boss went around with the punchline, there is no such thing as 'I' and you better remove it from your dictionary, cause there is only one word, and that is 'we' (what he meant was there is only one word 'me'). Individualism was again treated as a misnomer and these companies went about with an sole intent of increasing their margins while sorely losing out on the values on which they were set up. The Google way of thinking was not encouraged, rather Google would have never survived if it operated with its base in India. I have friends working for some of the biggest brands in the industry and they are all frustrated due to limitation of horizon. The only thing that holds them back is the fat paycheck at the beginning of the month. Truckloads of paper is wasted on theories on attrition. Narayan Murthis and premjis, etc, have become legends for our generation but the fact of the matter is , can a fresher joining Infy have the hope of becoming the next Narayan Murti?? Taj staff on 26/11 showed what brand loyalty is. Can HCL/Wipro even dream of cultures where their employees can risk their lives for the customers??? As a matter of fact, most HR people admit that when they hire 20o guys, they expect just 20 to stay on. The next decade will be the decade of entrepreneurs like us breaking away from these cultures and trying to set up their own identities or companies, being hit by reality, bringing radical shift in their internal structures to accommodate innovation. India is a country of young people and the 00's need to understand that the new India will NOT acquiesce to such rent seeking. 'Live and Let Live' shall be replaced by 'Grow and let grow', and Rocket Singh showed just that!!

Cheers and a happy new year