Unity In Diversity

A lot has been said over the circular by GoI giving preference to Hindi on Social media.. needless hullabaloo given the fact that the circular in no way imposes Hindi as a national language..

Let us go back in time to understand.. when in 1965, GoI wanted to make Hindi as the Only Official language, many opposed and rightly so, due to which we are today where we are...

At that time a compromise was worked out by the LS government.. English as the official language, with Hindi given an equal status in Central Government communications and initially 15 languages in the 8th schedule of the constitution as official languages in respective states and regions , which shall also be used in parliament... the 15 is now 22...

English is in no way defined in the 8th schedule as its a foreign language..

All GoI Communications are in both english and Hindi with Hindi being used in all government functions .. Even in loksabha or rajya sabha the arrival of the speaker is announced in Hindi... All government websites have been in two editions... hence whether people agree or not Hindi is a DE FACTO National Language....

We have established a system in which english is given preference and its well oiled now.. People can learn and master the language.. Now should we accept a common Indian language as a link in our unity in diversity.. regardless of the fact that only 25% have declared Hindi as mother tongue, its a well known fact that among the Indian languages, its widely spoken and understood..

If the government gives priority to it in Social Media with an english comment accompanying it, People should be gracious enough to accept it and move on... It is in no way an Imposition of a language

If people can learn a foreign language like english for better earning prospects, they should be willing to learn hindi for integrity sake.. If they refuse its like cheating.. then dont say unity in diversity.. its a hogwash.. its only diversity...People are learning german, japanese what not to earn.. cant they learn a language of this country for the sake of unity? Are we not that mature?

No use in arguing everyone learn telugu, kannada marathi , dogra then we will build unity.. thats immature and idiotic..

KVS Schools have only English and Hindi as Languages..Better to make all schools teach English, Hindi and the local regional language as the third language up until say secondary level..

If we still cant accept, why call us one nation, why not United States of India as a fringe party suggested in its 2014 manifesto??? food for thought!!!

Indian IT & The Media

It was not until the late 1990s that the Indian media took notice of Indian IT firms and started their coverage as such... Typically there were 5-6 firms which received a major chunk of the coverage.. Infy, Satyam, HCL, Wipro, TCS & Cognizant in more are less the same sequence.. Infy & Satyam were headed by really flamboyant and media savy bosses back then... TCS was unlisted and CTS was seen an outside firm as it was unlisted in India ....
Then came the folklore which everyone loved... a disciplinarian boss, darling of the media, core IITans blah blah... Media was seeing only the rosy picture.. with information about the industry itself so sparse and the key players were either unlisted or did not live by the media, Satyam & Infy which warmed up to the media became quite popular..

Mind you the serious business media were carrying stories on all major ones and were always doing serious comparisons even when TCS was unlisted... but I'm talking about the general media, which mortals like me follow...

Media frenzy is like underworld.. u live and die by it, Satyam, AAP are all great examples.. so it was not a surprise when after a while of sluggish growth, media ruthlessly cut off the bellwether tag and I read some articles which late in 2012 said TCS is the new bellwether.. 7 years after listing... i found that funny....

Anyhow, the reason for Infy sluggishness was attributed to the MD, 3.0 strategy and what not... but one man stood out and made a revelation, albeit late, to me which seems likely cause.. Chairman of Manipal Institutions and Infy veteran Pai has said that lack of empowerment among senior executives may have caused some of the sluggishness...

In the end all this drama and hype boiled down to just CEO selection... Naturally, the way the company has been operating and given the media limelight there will be many contenders for the top post...

Not many media reports are to be seen on the top execs of other firms.. no one knows the VPs of TCS ot CTS or wipro beyond the C level or the ones who are not in the board...Infy names keep getting published every now and then...

There were some key exits in TCS just around the 1-2 year period before and after the transition in 2008...Wipro also saw some exits at the time of 2 CEO model...none of these was made headline material....

On the one hand people are somehow made popular and on the other , when they leave its being said that not all were high performers.. well if that is the case then how did they make it so high up to the corporate ladder?

The CEO succession could have been done in a muted fashion as well... TCS, CTS saw a relatively smooth succession and so did wipro after Vivek Paul and  2 CEOs to Kurien....

similar hype was made in replacing the exec chairman after murthy... Yes media would intervene.. they did so in the case of the Tata succession be in in 1991 or in 2012.. I still remember in 1991 when my family elders were quoting a media report ad said RNT is quite a surprise choice don't know what JRD is thinking..

and the noise around Rohan Murthy.. I still can't fathom.. Rishad Premji wa inducted into Wipro and has been silently working for more than 7 years.... I don't think there was ever such noise..

may be this noise was because of Murthy's own doing.. the kejriwalesque statement on wards of Infy founders will never work in the firm.. Why? is the firm too lowly for them? or are they not qualified enough.. it would have been better had he just said.. there would be conscious plan for the succession of he wards of the founders.. they can join and rise through the ranks per their interest and merit... I never heard such a positive statement from Murthy...

always I have been hearing comments with some level of attitude.. be it the comment attributes to him on love ur job not ur company...that was silly... or be it that comment/memo on people spending time in offices for free AC & net... well that's equally silly...

These things go unnoticed when success is the norm of the day.. and when success begins to get slow ( mind you no failure yet just slow success) the scrutiny is more minute..
That's why many media carried a series of articles which eventually seen as defamatory culminating in the notice for apology or court case... Well  let's see if this new mgmt. brings out any changes..

Money Money Money...

Somehow making a quick buck or having a keen financial sense is usually taken in a negative connotation in our culture.. Either one is hugely successful to change it otherwise keep hearing the cliched name callings..

The most stereotyped folks in this have been the marwaris...Typically shown in films and tv soaps as shylocks who are ruthless or blindly following the footsteps of family elders into the family entrepreneurial set up... Many whatsapp jokes and twitter trends also seem to mock on the same trait..

The marwari blokes I have met since my college days have given me a new thought process.. All of them successful in their own right and have a very keen financial sense and approach to making money...

This is about few such interesting people.. ( Not Birlas or Goenkas or Bajajs) just AAM marwaris ;-)

Person 1 : Classmate in College - Family settled in TN for a while.. family business deals with some electrical fuse making etc... bloke joins IT in college.. after the second year suddenly makes a comment.. my Dad wasted 3 lakhs for the capitation fee. he could have put me in DGD Vaishnav (one of the famous colleges in chennai run by marwari trust) and given me that money.. I would've already started a business... He went  on to join MBA in oz land .. did not hesitate to retuen when the course was not as expected.. (Reason given - UG i had do to however it was, PG i need it my way)... joined  a entrepreneurial PGDBA course.. started the dealership of a German Carmaker in Chennai, now dealership spread across major cities in TN.. Just rocking entrepreneur... People may say he had the financial backing but the way he shaped his career is inspiring....

Person 2 : Casual Acquaintance during a bus journey from Pune to Mumbai.. Family of jewellers and shylocks.. did his engineering on merit.. set up a small startup specialising in digital signatures and PKIs .. had coop banks in MH as customers.. after a while sold the product to a mid sized IT firm and joined their product division.. has a good shot at C level now...

Person 3 - Neighbour.. Jeweller and shylock background.. Dad offered to fund any biz he wanted to set up.. dude did an architect course.. took a bank loan and is growing his design studio/firm now...Definitely in for a long innings of success

Person 4 : Another Neighbour .. Some family business in MP or CG... bloke is an auditor with a top consulting firm... immense knowledge in financial matters courtesy the education and the DNA ... from the looks and interactions definitely will retire early and do something on his own...

Person 5 : Colleague .... Family has a roaring Garlic business.. only kid.. showed entrepreneurial talent as a school goer by persuading elders to set up a PCO and making a 50% profit margin.. sold me a lunch deal which was cheap as well as tasty...  has plans to make it big in business after a decade of corporate stint....

These people have definitely inspired me...not that i too will set up a biz... that is never my cup of tea... but the way they look at finance and success in particular, what motivates them is just worth understanding.. The fact is these guys have been able to break into new territories from a supposedly rigid structure...Wishing them all more success....

Well for greater facts about the famous marwari's do read the feature named "Marwari Power" by forbes India....