I sometimes wonder what actually motivates people to earn money? Rather, earn more than they are earning now. The obvious answer is to improve the standard of living. To buy a car, to buy a new car, to buy a new expensive car and we are still at car! Human mind never ceases to dream. We always dream of the things we want to own.We always dream of a new house, of the latest car,of the latest cellphone. But do we really need all the things I mentioned above ? May be not. Do we really enjoy them ? Occasionally. After buying the latest cellphone - which has so many features that it is difficult to tell whether its a cell phone or a computer - how long do we use these new features?. Most of the things we aspire for are neither needed nor enjoyed by us, still why do we keep running behind them ?
Lets try to understand this by considering some exceptions.Most actors would be happier if their performance is praised, rather than say, a foreign holiday.Amitabh Bacchan will be more happy to get critical acclaim for his acting in BLACK than get 1.5 crore per episode for Big Boss.For a sportsman, the ultimate glory is performing in front of his fans, not the millions of dollars he might earn in endorsement money. Sachin Tendulkar will be more happy to scores a 60 ball hunderd and help India chase a target of 350 in a world cup final, rather that sign a multi million dollar endorsement deal with Nike.An author will be more happy to see his book getting good reviews than half a million dollar advance on a new book. A common factor in all the above instances is the preference for recognition over money. To gain an acceptance among others that you are indeed a special one. This is a feeling not restricted to actors, sportsman and authors, but is pervasive in all human beings. As Chetan Bhagat, the investment banker turned writer, writes in his blog "I no longer work in the bank, as I felt I had to get over the lure of money and go after what I really cared for".
How does a common man fulfill this inherent desire for recognition ? The most obvious way is to earn money and buy things which attract others envy. Money allows you to become The-one-who-has-mercedes or The-one-with-the-big-bungalow. Its not what we do with the money that gives us satisfaction, but what others see us doing with the money. Also, people's perception of a person's capability is directly proportional to the amount of money he earns; more the money, better is the perception.This in turn motivates us to earn more money.
Again, this is not true for every 'common man'.Money is the topmost thing in the minds of only those who don't have a goal in life. Since without achieving anything worthwhile, it is difficult to get recognition (the ultimate aim of any human being), people fall back on gaining respect by earning more money. Once we have a goal,an ambition in life, something to show others what we are capable of, we would find the lure of money slowly decreasing.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Joy of Reading
I have always been interested in reading books; but till some time back there was one small difference between me and the other book lovers – I was interested in the book only till I started reading it. After that, it seemed incredibly boring and I struggled to finish it. In short, I found no joy in reading books.
I picked up books which I thought would interest me – like mystery novels, science fictions etc. In fact, I also searched the top 100 books of the century through internet to find some good ones. One of the first books which I seriously started reading was, The silence of the lambs (which was one of the Google results). The book had around 250 pages – it took me almost 10 days to complete the first 120. The second half of the book was more interesting, though, and I finished it quickly; but I still did not find any “joy” in reading the book. If at all, I was “relieved”. (I still don’t know why I even tried reading books; why I was so desperate to read and “enjoy” the book, even though I did not like one).
Two months back I joined an online library (again, I don’t know why) and borrowed a book, India after Gandhi, authored by Ramchandra Guha – the remarkable intellectual from India. When the person from the library delivered the book, I was almost embarrassed. The book had 900 pages and was at least 5 times the size of any book which I had even attempted to read. Since he had come all the way to my office, I found it hard to send him back. I took the book and thought of returning it the very next week.
While at my house, I started reading the prologue – just did not feel like returning the book without reading even a single page. I was surprisingly refreshing. It talked about how different India is from the other nations of the world and how very few non-Indians actually believed India will stay united even until 10 years after independence. I felt a sense of pride and started reading the first chapter. The chapter ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I casually looked at my watch. One hour!!! It was one hour since I started reading? It easily beat my previous record of continuous reading – by 59 minutes. As I read the further chapters, I got sucked into the book and perhaps for the very first time I did not care how many pages I had read and how many were left. I just read and if I may use the word – enjoyed. After finishing the book, again for the very first time, I was a bit sad. Not happy, not even relieved to have finished a 900 page book, but sad. Since then I have read a few more books including The Wings of Fire and Alchemist and I must say I certainly have experienced joy while reading them.
I am a new entrant to the readers club, but I think to experience joy while reading, the choice of the book is very important. I may not enjoy reading a book which my friend enjoys and vice versa. In past, perhaps my choices were incorrect and hence I did not enjoy reading. Now that I have tasted blood, hopefully I will continue hunting the right prey and keep satisfying my thirst!
I picked up books which I thought would interest me – like mystery novels, science fictions etc. In fact, I also searched the top 100 books of the century through internet to find some good ones. One of the first books which I seriously started reading was, The silence of the lambs (which was one of the Google results). The book had around 250 pages – it took me almost 10 days to complete the first 120. The second half of the book was more interesting, though, and I finished it quickly; but I still did not find any “joy” in reading the book. If at all, I was “relieved”. (I still don’t know why I even tried reading books; why I was so desperate to read and “enjoy” the book, even though I did not like one).
Two months back I joined an online library (again, I don’t know why) and borrowed a book, India after Gandhi, authored by Ramchandra Guha – the remarkable intellectual from India. When the person from the library delivered the book, I was almost embarrassed. The book had 900 pages and was at least 5 times the size of any book which I had even attempted to read. Since he had come all the way to my office, I found it hard to send him back. I took the book and thought of returning it the very next week.
While at my house, I started reading the prologue – just did not feel like returning the book without reading even a single page. I was surprisingly refreshing. It talked about how different India is from the other nations of the world and how very few non-Indians actually believed India will stay united even until 10 years after independence. I felt a sense of pride and started reading the first chapter. The chapter ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I casually looked at my watch. One hour!!! It was one hour since I started reading? It easily beat my previous record of continuous reading – by 59 minutes. As I read the further chapters, I got sucked into the book and perhaps for the very first time I did not care how many pages I had read and how many were left. I just read and if I may use the word – enjoyed. After finishing the book, again for the very first time, I was a bit sad. Not happy, not even relieved to have finished a 900 page book, but sad. Since then I have read a few more books including The Wings of Fire and Alchemist and I must say I certainly have experienced joy while reading them.
I am a new entrant to the readers club, but I think to experience joy while reading, the choice of the book is very important. I may not enjoy reading a book which my friend enjoys and vice versa. In past, perhaps my choices were incorrect and hence I did not enjoy reading. Now that I have tasted blood, hopefully I will continue hunting the right prey and keep satisfying my thirst!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thank God for BSNL !!!!
India started economic reforms in the 90's and since then the economy has consistently clocked growth rate of over 6%. The clamour for dis-investing the PSUs is increasing and disinvestment itself is considered a panacea for all economic problems faced by India. Till sometime back even I considered private ownership to be the one and only solution; it increases efficiency and accountability and is beneficial for the stakeholders. A small incident made is rethink my take on the subject.
Last year I shifted to Kathriguppe, Bangalore - a relatively developed area ( It has Pizza hut, Dominos and Pizza Corner all within a radius of 100m! ). I contacted Airtel to get a broadband internet connection. The executive from Airtel arrived at my house within 24 hours of my call, installed the phone and modem and in less than half an hour I was ready to interact with the world! I couldn't help but admire the blue-turbaned Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh - the architect of India's economic reforms. I could picture him smiling smugly at his achievement.
Recently I shifted to another area called C.T.Bed - around 2 km from Kathriguppe, and as usual the first thing I did was to call the Airtel executive for the broadband connection ( Air, Food and Internet are the three most important things in my life nowadays - and not necessarily in that order!). The airtel executive took my address and promised to come the next day to set up the connection. To my disappointment he did not turn up. I waited for another two days before calling him. He politely told me that he could not give the internet connection as there was "no connectivity" in my area. Wary of sounding stupid, I did not ask him the meaning of "no connectivity" even though I had no idea what he meant. On inquiring with few people I found that "no connectivity" is not really a telecom jargon and colloquially it just means that it doesn't make any "business sense" for Airtel to invest here. There are not enough people in the area with airtel connection and in near future the number is not expected to grow rapidly. Unsurprisingly, the only company providing the connection there was BSNL. I applied for the BSNL connection and bang after 25 days, I got it!
The process may be slow in a public enterprise - as in my case, 25 times slower - but at least it reaches a wider population. SBI branches are ubiquitous across the country, where as you will find private banks like ICICI and HDFC heavily located in big cities with limited or no presence in smaller towns. The raison d'etre's of private companies is to make profit - by all legal means (and sometimes even by illegal means).
Before you conclude that I have graduated from Prakash Karat school of economics, let me tell you that I am not against private ownership or disinvestment.But before privatization, the government should ensure that all regions have an equal chance of benefiting from it. The government should lay the groundwork ( in some cases literally!) before giving the reins to the private companies. It should build the necessary infrastructure to encourage private investments. Only then India will be able to utilize the full potential of disinvestment. Otherwise, a part of India would be the new Singapore, but to get there you have to cross miles of Sahara desert.
Last year I shifted to Kathriguppe, Bangalore - a relatively developed area ( It has Pizza hut, Dominos and Pizza Corner all within a radius of 100m! ). I contacted Airtel to get a broadband internet connection. The executive from Airtel arrived at my house within 24 hours of my call, installed the phone and modem and in less than half an hour I was ready to interact with the world! I couldn't help but admire the blue-turbaned Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh - the architect of India's economic reforms. I could picture him smiling smugly at his achievement.
Recently I shifted to another area called C.T.Bed - around 2 km from Kathriguppe, and as usual the first thing I did was to call the Airtel executive for the broadband connection ( Air, Food and Internet are the three most important things in my life nowadays - and not necessarily in that order!). The airtel executive took my address and promised to come the next day to set up the connection. To my disappointment he did not turn up. I waited for another two days before calling him. He politely told me that he could not give the internet connection as there was "no connectivity" in my area. Wary of sounding stupid, I did not ask him the meaning of "no connectivity" even though I had no idea what he meant. On inquiring with few people I found that "no connectivity" is not really a telecom jargon and colloquially it just means that it doesn't make any "business sense" for Airtel to invest here. There are not enough people in the area with airtel connection and in near future the number is not expected to grow rapidly. Unsurprisingly, the only company providing the connection there was BSNL. I applied for the BSNL connection and bang after 25 days, I got it!
The process may be slow in a public enterprise - as in my case, 25 times slower - but at least it reaches a wider population. SBI branches are ubiquitous across the country, where as you will find private banks like ICICI and HDFC heavily located in big cities with limited or no presence in smaller towns. The raison d'etre's of private companies is to make profit - by all legal means (and sometimes even by illegal means).
Before you conclude that I have graduated from Prakash Karat school of economics, let me tell you that I am not against private ownership or disinvestment.But before privatization, the government should ensure that all regions have an equal chance of benefiting from it. The government should lay the groundwork ( in some cases literally!) before giving the reins to the private companies. It should build the necessary infrastructure to encourage private investments. Only then India will be able to utilize the full potential of disinvestment. Otherwise, a part of India would be the new Singapore, but to get there you have to cross miles of Sahara desert.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Blank Receipt
This incident took place around 2 years back – on my first trip abroad. I was going to San Jose, California and was obviously very excited. Even though the itinerary was very hectic – I had to change 4 flights in 30 hours – I enjoyed every bit of it, as it was my first trip ever by air! I landed in San Jose around 6’oclock in the evening. I got out of the airport and took a cab to my apartment. The driver was a friendly fellow; he volunteered to put my luggage in the cab rooftop and smilingly asked, “Hey, how are you”? I was taken aback. It’s definitely my first trip to America and it looked highly unlikely that this guy had traveled to India. Then where did we meet before? Anyway I managed a confused smile. Handing the apartment address to him, I asked, “How much time will it take”?
“Half an hour”, he replied casually.
As the driver told, we reached the apartment in another half an hour. I took out my luggage and asked the driver for the cash receipt so that I can reimburse it back in India.
“Oh, Just a sec”.
He handed over two blank receipts to me and again smiled. This time though, the smile was a bit different. I did not understand why he gave me two receipts and that too blank ones. I returned them and asked him to give me only one, with the exact fare and his signature. He did as I told. I assumed that he had given two receipts by mistake, but I still couldn’t decode his smile.
A couple of days later, I told my fellow roommate about the cab driver’s incident. He laughed and replied, “Oh… he might have realized that you are an Indian. Many Indians ask the cab drivers 2-3 blank receipts to submit fake reimbursements”. For a moment I went blank, I couldn’t decide whether I was sad, angry or humiliated or a mixture of these. And yes, that explained his mocking smile and a There-You-Go-Again look in his eyes.
Breaching integrity is never a good idea, especially in a foreign country. Every Indian in a foreign land is a cultural ambassador of India and he/she should behave like one. Having started my career in Mindtree which lays much emphasis on integrity, it was particularly painful to know how foreigners perceive Indians. Though at one end of the spectrum Indians are considered smart and hardworking, at the other end they are looked at as a bunch of people with loose integrity. I sincerely hope the latter is proved wrong in course of time. For this every Indian abroad has to realize that they are not only representing themselves, but the whole country. Their every action will be generalized to 1.1 billion people of India.
I hope next time when I travel abroad , instead of giving blank receipts, the cab driver asks, “Hey, How are you? Are you an Indian? Tell me something about India. I have heard great things about that country.”
“Half an hour”, he replied casually.
As the driver told, we reached the apartment in another half an hour. I took out my luggage and asked the driver for the cash receipt so that I can reimburse it back in India.
“Oh, Just a sec”.
He handed over two blank receipts to me and again smiled. This time though, the smile was a bit different. I did not understand why he gave me two receipts and that too blank ones. I returned them and asked him to give me only one, with the exact fare and his signature. He did as I told. I assumed that he had given two receipts by mistake, but I still couldn’t decode his smile.
A couple of days later, I told my fellow roommate about the cab driver’s incident. He laughed and replied, “Oh… he might have realized that you are an Indian. Many Indians ask the cab drivers 2-3 blank receipts to submit fake reimbursements”. For a moment I went blank, I couldn’t decide whether I was sad, angry or humiliated or a mixture of these. And yes, that explained his mocking smile and a There-You-Go-Again look in his eyes.
Breaching integrity is never a good idea, especially in a foreign country. Every Indian in a foreign land is a cultural ambassador of India and he/she should behave like one. Having started my career in Mindtree which lays much emphasis on integrity, it was particularly painful to know how foreigners perceive Indians. Though at one end of the spectrum Indians are considered smart and hardworking, at the other end they are looked at as a bunch of people with loose integrity. I sincerely hope the latter is proved wrong in course of time. For this every Indian abroad has to realize that they are not only representing themselves, but the whole country. Their every action will be generalized to 1.1 billion people of India.
I hope next time when I travel abroad , instead of giving blank receipts, the cab driver asks, “Hey, How are you? Are you an Indian? Tell me something about India. I have heard great things about that country.”
Sunday, June 14, 2009
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