Independence or Liberation

Story of a common man in India. I am sure everyone must have noticed this or similar.

Rahul spent whole day waiting in a serpentine queue outside the college for his admission. His hard work to score over 98% in twelfth standard was evident from his frail figure. Right from ninth standard his growing years were confined to the four wall of his small house studying hard to score well in twelfth standard. He was shaken when he found his name in the waiting list for admission in the college. By end of the day all that he saw was admission to a mediocre student under some quota and rejection of his application. Clutching the crumpled mark list in his hand he headed towards his home, uncertain of the future in independent India. The system had rejected the talent.

Ramu walked eight kilometres to the nearest police station with his application. He had a small piece of land that he cultivated diligently. The approach to his farm was through a narrow strip of land in between the farms of two landlords. A local goon had encroached on this passage blocking way to his own farm. Ramu had no access to his farm as the neighbouring landlords did not allow him passage through their farms and the goon had blocked his path. The goon had started an illicit liquor distillery that was blooming with the blessings of local politicians. Ramu waited whole day holding the papers in his hand to meet the police sub inspector. By end of the day all that Ramu saw was the goon speeding away in his SUV along with the sub inspector. Clutching the crumpled paper soaked with his sweat Ramu headed home, uncertain of the future in independent India. The corruption had vetoed an honest worker.

Naresh joined civil services nearly thirty five years back. He was on verge of retirement. After faithfully serving the government he was falsely implicated in a scandal as he did not oblige the kin of a minister. Naresh was restlessly moving up and down the corridor in minister’s office for an audience. He wanted to be heard and his suspension order to be revoked. Whole day he has been pleading less than half of his age twelfth standard pass personal secretary of the minister for few a minutes’ audience. By end of the day all that Naresh saw was the minister leaving his chamber with his kin who was responsible for the problems that he had. Clutching his suspension order in one hand and wiping his tears with another, Naresh headed home, uncertain of his future in independent India. The nepotism had anguished a loyal worker.

Sita suffered from tuberculosis. She got the medication from government dispensary. For some strange reasons the medication did not work. The organism had become resistant to the drugs. It was feared that substandard medicines were supplied to the dispensary. The medical social worker helped her to reach government hospital. Sita was lying in one corner of the female ward in the government hospital on a small piece of gunny bag. There was no bed available for her. No one attended her for whole day. Late evening Sita saw a bed being prepared, she had a ray of hope. All that Sita saw by end of the day was the bed being allotted to a patient with mild fever, who was the housemaid of the doctor. She gathered strength to be on her feet, clutching her prescription in one hand, she picked up the gunny bag with another and headed for home, uncertain of her future in independent India. The favour had overruled the need.

Rita, right from midnight was standing in queue for darshan of her favourite deity. On an auspicious day the temple attracts large number of devotees, that includes a common man on the street to the powerful politicians and Bollywood actors. Holding the puja thali (पूजा थाली) in her hand she was praying and patiently waiting for her turn to get the glimpse of the deity. Sun was rising over the head and she was sweating. The queue was moving at snail’s speed. Just after the dusk her turn came. She was dictated by the priest to offer the payers as fast as she could. See looked at the deity, stood still, and closed her eyes for a moment, to pray for a better future, when someone pushed her out. All that she saw be end of the day was a Bollywood star being escorted to the temple to have close darshan  (दर्शन) of the deity. On her way out she was clutching the puja thali ( पूजा थाली) in her hand and was uncertain of the future in independent India. The devotion was crumpled by position.

Sixty four years after the independence, we are still uncertain of the future. We got the independence but not liberation. The independence has resulted in dependence on power centres. We were slaves of foreign rulers and now again we are slave of unscrupulous politicians, corruption, nepotism, systems, bureaucracy, redtapism, politics etc. Independence is a thing of the past, what we need is liberation.

Jai Hind




Disclaimer: Resemblance with situation or any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

Raksha Bandhan

Need protection then tie Rakhi. It's emotional binding. Anyone can tie Rakhi to any person from whom one desires the protection. In good old days wife tied Rakhi to husband to protect him from evil forces and sister did the same to her brother for same reasons and to seek protection for herself. In return gifts and assurance of protection were given by the person who got the Rakhi tied. 

As on date, for obvious reasons, we all need to tie Rakhi to someone to get us protected from unscrupulous politician, corruptions and anarchy. 

This is the mantra for tying Rakhi.

येनबद्धो बलिराजा दानवेन्द्र: महासुर: । 

तेन त्वां प्रतिबद्ध नामि रक्षो मा चल मा चल ।।

Meaning - 

Just as the great King Baliraja, the great leader of duality, the king of all manifested existence, was bound by truth, just so do I bind you to protect me through all the movements of  life 

Enjoy Raksha Bandhan

Enjoy Raksha Bandhan

Patriotism on Sale

Come August and January every year and we find patriotism on ‘sale’. Every traffic signal has hoards of children pestering vehicle owners and passer-by to purchase a national flag or similar products depicting the tri-colour. This is very peculiar to our country. I have never seen such a ‘sale’ in the second largest democracy in the world.

Do we really need to sell patriotism? Perhaps ‘yes’, in our democracy. There is a huge market flooded with buyers. There are many who buy it twice a year, in August and January, just like observing fast on Ashadhi (आषाढी) and Kartiki (कार्तिकी)  Ekadashi (एकादशी).  Some need to buy it to display patriotism. They have to show it to others to get appreciation from them. It’s like observing a day’s fast to wash out sins. Many a times I find when hard core non-vegetarians are forced to adapt vegetarian meals or to observe fast during some religious events, they wait eagerly for the fasting period to be over so that they can bounce back on their favourite meals/meats. Likewise many unpatriotic activities conducted during January to August period can be washed away on August 15^th under the grab of patriotism and August to January sins can be washed on Republic Day.

The patriotism should be displayed by some long-term philanthropic activities. Distribution of fruits or sweets to patients or prisoners once or twice a year is not enough. Year round activities to alleviate the pain of patients can be more desirable. Reforming the prisoners on long term basis is also laudable. How can display of national flag on shirt or car dashboard be termed as patriotism? How can the crispy white cap be a symbol of patriotism? Can these and similar be the real parameters of patriotism? No one can buy or sell patriotism. It has to come from within. It has to be in one’s character. Will the politicians engaged in scams ever understand this. For them perhaps a twice a year display is enough. It has rather become a ritual. A political ritual in independent India.

The flags are bought or sold for display of patriotism. No one is bothered to look into Flag Code. The design and manufacturing process for the national flag is regulated by three documents issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), but does anyone really bothers? Originally only Khadi was to be used for the flags, either cotton or silk, and that too in a count of 150 threads per centimetre. Any violation of protocols, guidelines for manufacture or display or use are punishable by law with imprisonment up to three years, or a fine, or both. Unfortunately it is observed that a day after the Independence Day, many flags and those that are bought for display of patriotism are not disposed as per the guidelines given in Flag Code of India. We must respect the flag.Independence Day is round the corner. Please give a thought before you buy a flag. 

The national flag must get the respect and if you can do that then only buy a flag, that too the one that conforms to the guidelines of BIS. Patriotism that’s within needs no means for display. 

Jai Hind.

     

Marketing Significance of Shravan

Marketing and culture go hand in hand. Marketing has to be relevant to a given culture to ensure success. One can effectively make use of this strategy in ritualistic societies. In India various rituals are associated with festivals.  When it comes to rituals, who can ignore  Shravan (श्रावण)? Shravan is the most important month in India. The importance is from astronomical and cultural aspects. The stellar constellation of Aquila, known to Indians as Shravan Nakshatra (श्रवण नक्षत्र) consisting of α, β, and λ Aquila, rules the sky around full moon in this month. From cultural viewpoint this month is of great significance due its association with religion. Many cultural events are religious rituals. Shravan is wonderful blend of culture and religion. The significance of this in agro based economy like India is enormous. Major manual agricultural operations are over just before the beginning of this month. All those engaged in services in the farming sector have relatively free time. The peak of the rainy season generally starts receding after the full moon.

The food culture for the month is significantly different from rest of year. Abstinence from alcohol and non-veg food makes this month different. Marketing implications are a lean season for breweries, butchers, eateries and alike. A good season for service sector engaged in religious rituals (priests), vegetarian food and food that’s consumed for the fasts (उपवास), florists, and many others. In rural India the entertainment sector gains as the snake charmer earns an extra buck on Nag Panchami (नाग पंचमी), the banjo party does a brisk business for Govinda (गोविंदा) which in urban India has unfortunately become a political platform with huge turnover, and a multimillion dollar business for Rakhi (राखी). It’s an international business opportunity, and China has already replaced many indigenous gifts that brothers and sisters would like to exchange. Multinationals like Cadbury’s wait for this festival to improve their turnover and of course the profits by replacing traditional sweets. The courier companies work overtime and those in the online business make money by offering satisfaction of having sent Rakhi or a gift to brothers and sisters settled abroad. The festival like Narali Pournima (नारळी पौर्णिमा) in the coastal region of Maharashtra is also a money spinner for coconut farmers. The last day of Shravan, Pithori Amavasya (पिठोरी अमावस्या) is also of religious significance and the same day has festivities for the bulls. Business opportunities, for this thanks giving day (पोळा, Pola) for the bulls, who had toiled untiringly during past few months for the farming operations, are enormous.

Shravan helps us to understand the ecology. Nag Panchami signifies importance of snakes for farmers to control the rodents that eat away the agricultural produce. Had snakes not been there the farmers would have been left with no grains due to rampant rodents. Offering of different flowers and leaves in Puja (पूजा) provides the knowledge of horticulture and helps control the growth of certain unwanted plants and propagate the growth of useful plants. Rituals have been our teacher for this.

Fasting, restrictions on diet and ban on certain food items is prescriptive to have good health during somewhat unhealthy season. Water gets polluted and lack of sunshine gives chance for pathogens and bacteria to strike during rainy season (seen advertisements on TV for soaps), thus this food culture is for disease free period. Culture is our teacher.

Shravan is a month for socialisation, with no work on farms people gather together to perform Bhajan (भजन), Kirtan (कीर्तन) and other religious activities. As a ritual, Satyanarayan Puja (सत्यनारायण  पूजा)  is also performed in Shravan. Inviting friends and relations for this Puja makes it a social function. Each day is significant from religious ritual viewpoint. On Mondays one can observe long queues outside Shiva (शिवा) temples. The itinerant traders do a brisk business outside the temples. On Tuesdays the newly wedded brides worship the goddess in groups (मंगळागौर, Mangalagaur), it’s a more of a social event and lots of traditional games played on this day, rather night, that are designed for exercise and physical wellbeing. These games obviate the need for a modern day gyms. Shravan being a rainy season not much of physical activity is done, so such celebrations keeps the body toned up. On Wednesdays and Thursdays the housewife worships lord Vishnu along with Budh (बुध Mercury) and Bruhaspati (बुहस्पृती, गुरु, Jupiter). The images of these two celestial deities are drawn on door frames and cupboards. The underlying reason for this may be is to ensure the cleanliness and removal of dampness and fungus growth from wooden surfaces in the humid rainy season. Fridays mark the celebrations with high protein diet like Puran Poli (पुरण पोळी) and prayers are offered for the welfare of children (जीवति पूजा, JivatI Puja). Saturdays are for appeasement of Saturn as well as wealth accumulation. Sundays assume importance due to traditional Sun worship in this continent. So each day of the week is important.

Lots of marketing opportunities are available in Shravan due to its cultural and religious significance. One can design the products and services suitable for this month. The culture can be used for designing promotional tools and for effective communication. Being a ritualistic seasonal product prices never come under stress. Just for few flowers one shells out a ten rupee note without hesitation. Another business opportunity has emerged with revolution in IT. The e-pujas are also available in large number of temples. It’s a novel way for distribution of services.  One has to just design an appropriate strategy to take advantage of the belief of public, but in an ethical way.  

So go ahead and plan something  for a successful marketing career. Best of luck.

Marketing Terrorism

Globalisation of terrorism has created newer marketing challenges. Al Qaeda has realised the need to market their ideologies to the newer segments, newer markets. Globalisation and marketing have a close association. Globalisation results in enhanced competition and that triggers the need for aggressive marketing. Companies strive to build brand equity that enables them to have customers with life time loyalty. Organisations marketing health drinks, noodles, oral care products, toiletries, detergents and many more products effectively target children to CTY (“Catch Them Young”). Those in service industries also follow the suit. Today, advertising plays a massive role in the society, because it tends to steer young minds notably. Television and multimedia offer this exposure and has immense influence on behaviour of children. Like advertisements on TV, the other TV programmes and CD/DVDs of cartoon films have a deep and lasting impact. Unfortunately there are not many programmes that aim to inculcate positive values. Most of the programmes, cartoon films show violence. It’s sad; research indicates that the violence in cartoon films causes aggressive behaviour in children. Violence seen in the films and television increases the likelihood that the children who watch this will demonstrate aggressive behaviour towards others. The worrying aspect is that all this leads to desensitization to violence and there is no remorse for the violent act.

Juvenile crimes are on rise. One of the reasons is children feel that the violence doesn’t hurt. The young ‘to be’ criminals see that the person in the cartoon films or television shows get stumped over by another character and they get back unharmed.  Children tend to believe that violence doesn’t really hurt others. This is dangerous. One wonders if remand homes and correction center’s really help those juvenile criminals to give up the crime when they grow up.

Many cartoon films and programmes show the individuals who commit crimes go unpunished. The legal process is long and tedious. Many films show the criminals walk free after they commit the crime. This is another problem. This indirectly supports violence and also leads to erosion of values.

If children are viewing cartoon characters using violence or aggression to get what they want, then the children will do the same and will feel that violence is a good way to solve the problems. Many cartoon films create heroes out of the people who commit the crimes. Children feel that if they copy the criminal they will be a hero, too. The hero that commits the crime is glamorized. Children begin to think of criminals as powerful role models. There is definitely nothing heroic about violence and it is wrong to show children that it is.

Young minds needs to be given positive strokes. CTY is good, but has to be for the good. The recent news about Al Qaeda planning cartoon films aimed at recruiting children to their terror network is inhuman. Glorifying terrorism and depicting the terrorist as heroes is a threat to the world. The younger generation can get deeply influenced by such marketing gimmicks of a terror organisation, develop loyalty and it can be catastrophic to the world.

Can we do something? Of course, we can. The marketing brains have to unite to counter the terrorist propaganda. We have to be innovative to counter this malicious design. We need to project the virtues, demonstrate how values are still indispensible in today’s world. The TV serials like Ramayan (रामायण), Mahabharat (महाभारत) in yesteryears had kept the India glued to the TV sets. The streets were deserted when these programmes were telecasted. In recent years Lage Raho Munnabhai (लगे रहो मुन्नाभाई) had also casted some favourable shadow. Such magic will have to be recreated to CTY and to make the children good human beings. The technology has far more advanced today. We can make use of this for faster, better and effective communication. In India with over 122 crores population, nearly 33% population is less than 14 years of age. This translates to nearly 20% population in the age group of 7 to 14 years. If these formative years can be given positive strokes, then no power on the earth can dare to touch India. We need to create such material that will, not only neutralise the impact of evil cartoon films but will give positive directions to the young minds. Can my young MBA friends work on this? Can you create something that will attract the young minds?  Can you market positivity? Best luck.

Globalisation of Terrorism

Globalisation is the word that even a school going child understands in India. I asked some of my students to explain the globalisation and an easy to understand answer emerged. The explanation was very simple. It was about the Zara dress bought by someone in New York. Fabric bought in Asia…, cut in a factory in Spain…, sown by seamstresses in Portugal…, printed in Tunisia… and sold in New York…., to an Indian……,  for his South African friend!

Simple, isn’t it?

Yes, it is as simple as that. Every country contributes. Apart from economic and other considerations, globalisation may not really hurt, as long as it is confined to some moral and ethical norms. Globalisation can create legitimate job opportunities in different countries and results in win-win situation. One of the aspects associated with globalisation is internationalisation. There are many theories for this and one of the interesting theories for this is Network Theory. Subsidiaries, agents are important elements of this theory.  These elements help the parent organisation to spread their products and services to newer markets. Agents have an important role to play.

Globalisations of economy, politics, culture, markets, industry, production, technology, competition are very commonly heard terms. One term that matters most today is globalisation of terrorism. No text book mentions this but it’s a sad reality that terrorism has globalised. A person born to the parents of Yemeni ethnicity in Saudi Arabia takes up a fight against Soviet forces on behalf of a Pakistani agency in Afghanistan. The activity is funded by USA for ‘Operation Cyclone’*. Is it not globalisation? It is and the person involved is Osama. He and his philosophy are examples of globalisation. His involvement included Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Canada, UK, Albania, Tunisia, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and many more countries including India. The Network Theory fits into Osama’s spread of terrorism, it’s Globalisation of Terrorism.

The recent blast in Mumbai is outcome of terror ideology so well propagated and got implemented through the local agents. The explosives come from different part of the world, the technology is imported and perhaps adapted to meet the local conditions and technology. Chinese arms like AK 47 find there destructive activity in Kashmir at the hands of West Asian terrorist with the help of Pakistan is also globalisation of terrorism.

On one hand globalisation has consolidated and brought prosperity to the world while on the other hand it has divided and destructed the world. The drivers for the globalisation, be it for good or for bad are same. The drivers are growth in IT, telecom revolution, better transportation and communication, growth of supporting institutions, changes in the economy and technology, and of course the changes in government policies and political ideologies. All these have propelled globalisation.

Agreed globalisation is here to stay but as a common man should we not at the least influence the government to change the policies and ideologies for our own safety? We want safe India and of course safe world.

*www.wikipedia.org

Chanakya

Anecdotes are sometimes interesting and also educative. The other day while driving to college, I heard an anecdote on a local FM channel. The anecdote may be over two thousand years old. The RJ who narrated the anecdote, was unfortunately ignorant about the characters or the historical dates pertaining to these characters. However I do appreciate the anecdote and to some extent the confidence with which RJ broadcasted the same. Her ignorance may have been inherited or she might not have checked the details. It is certainly unpardonable to commit such errors in media. One must cross check with the dates and the events, but the anecdote made me forget about these imprudence.

The anecdote that I heard and liked may be true but has either wrong characters or wrong dates. The anecdote is about Chanakya. The RJ mentioned that the great Chinese scholar and Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang (var. Hiuen Tsiang) while on his visit to India, requested an audience with Chanakya. This doesn’t seem to be possible as Chanakya lived during c. 370–283 BC, whereas Hsuan Tsang’s era was c. 602 – 664 AD. So there is no way the two could have ever met. Anyway that is not what matters at this stage. It’s the story that was more important and that appealed to me. 

The anecdote says that one evening the visitor desired audience with Chanakya. He came to Chanakya’s residence. Chanakya was busy with some official paperwork. There were two oil lamps by his side in the chamber. Only one of the oil lamps was glowing providing adequate light. Chanakya gestured the visitor to take a seat. The visitor made himself comfortable and waited for a while till Chanakya completed his work. The visitor was about to initiate a dialogue, when Chanakya requested him to wait for a moment. Chanakya got up from his seat, extinguished the oil lamp that was glowing and lighted another one. The visitor got confused with Chanakya’s action. He wondered what could be the reason to put off one lamp and light another one. He could not resist asking the reason to Chankya. Chanakya smiled and explained that the oil for the lamp that was glowing earlier was provided by the King and he used that for official work. As the visitor was not on official visit, Chanakya refrained from using the lamp that was fuelled by the exchequer. For his personal work it was prudent for him to light another lamp that used the oil purchased by him. He would never like to use government funds for his personal use. The visitor was spellbound and so was I after listening to this anecdote.

I pulled my car and stopped for a while. I thought of all the politicians, civil servants and all those who use the public funds or employer’s money for personal gains or favours. Be it a using office phone to make a personal call or to grab a flat in Adarsha or similar fraud. Both are same, though magnitude differs. Can we not learn something from Chanakya? I am sure it would be a  different world if these values are practiced now. In this world I may sound stupid but CAN WE DO THAT?