Final placement season is approaching and understandably a lot of B-schoolers are apprehensive given that the first few hours of Day Zero can have a big impact on the kind of life one leads post MBA. Chances are that 99 out of 100 final year MBAs will not have a clue as to what to do for the rest of their lives (Ok I know most will immediately raise up their hands and say “Hey! I will set up my own Bizness you’ll see and beg to be hired”) and there’s rarely anyone who has a well-laid out path to what they want to do. The well-laid out paths hence are the ones which the suits who turn out to interview us lay down and there’s usually a scramble to tread on those paths. Oops just noticed that I digressed and this blog post was supposed to help those who were making their resumes tailor it better for the firms they desire. So back to the same.
Well I’ve only been behind the scenes of the recruitment process at a consulting firm so finance guys pls note that mortal harm may be done to your cv by taking this advice seriously. Fin never seemed as glamorous as pre-Bschool after my lifelong understanding of Debit/Credit was reversed dramatically in the first session on Fin 101. It took me one term to understand why is debit/credit different for banks than other people and five more terms passed before I could still not understand how to balance the bloody sheet. The “Unbalanced sheet” is one of those things which gives a “still-incomplete” feeling to life and makes me want to go back and balance at least one sheet properly in the Fin 101 exam in term 1. Aahh..Such Bliss just thinking of how fulfilling it will be to vanquish that great enemy!
But it won’t be mine, I know. So before I drive the rest of you away apprehensive about taking advice from a complete loser who’s sole motto in life is to balance a sheet, here goes my invaluable advice in bullet points.(One final Digression: I’m assuming all people reading this make a one pager CV in bullet points, if you don’t pls do so. Two-page CV makers in Indian Bschools are of two kinds
a. Those who want to dump in all their achievements starting from their first grade rhyming contest and also think that it’s cool to write a short story about what they did at work (Oh yeah I fixed bugs and exceeded the bug-fixing target by 300%. Those bugs were a particularly creepy kind and would’ve put Dan Brown’s “Deception Point” to shame. Was commended by my manager for the same ..blah blah..You got it rite?)
b. Those who don’t have that big a dump but still want to do it seeing other folks (Yuck!)
Hmmm..Thats not MECE(you better know what that means if you’re sitting for consulting firms!) but will hopefully convey the message to make a one-pager CV )
1. Your shortlist will be decided by around 10-15 points on your CV. I mean points and not lines. So a single point about you winning some major competition can come in two lines where you mention the competition in one line and the associated goodies (prize money, tv/print appearance, Pappus/pappis/lappus/jhappis all ) in other line. So spend time in bolstering the major points which you think boster your CV
2. Associated to the first point, we all know there’re 42 lines in a one-pager CV. Now pls don’t scratch your head searching for that last line. While perusing CVs, you won’t even know whether there’re 38 or 42 lines in the CV you read so chill if you’ve 38 or ever 36 lines
3. Associated to the first point again, try to bring those 10-15 points as upfront as possible. So if you have the academic section at top, you can club your major projects and competitions with academics of course massaging the right words
4. I remember my seniors consistently asking me to make my CV less cluttered and I consistently used to ignore them thinking the more filled up the CV looks, the better it is. Well that partly explains why I consistently got lesser shortlists. Naah, Don’t worry its not as serious as it sounds. Just don’t make it too texty or in other words don’t remove all line spacings/ borders to fit in your points. Take a printout on a normal paper or open in normal pdf without zooming to 200% and see how it looks. If its ok to read, things should be fine.
5. It’s better to be cautious as far as grammatical mistakes are concerned because there might be someone in the reviewing team who gets pissed off thinking “OMG! How can one have such silly mistakes in so important a document”. However its not that big a deal for most who’ve been on the other side not too long back
6. You might be done with your past but your past will never be done with you. It will come back to haunt you unless you’re among the lucky few who’ve topped in all exams Kindergarten onwards as the guys from the well-known institute of management down south claim themselves to be. So understand that the consultants have weightage for all parameters and academics occupy a high weightage and hence no matter how much effort you put in your CV it might just come up short on the screening radar. And to be honest, it also makes a little sense because the environment inside requires you to be on your toes most of the time which a lot of us obviously don’t do in academics thus making it easy for the faceless shortlister. Hopefully realizing this will save much heartburn for later on
7. But yeah, please do apply. It makes the recruiter feel good about himself \m/
8. Once done with your CV, don’t be afraid to flaunt it. Catch hold of any random senior (who’s got a PPO from a day zero firm) and ask him to review it. Repeat the process till they shut their hostel doors and flee the adda leaving their belongings upon hearing the thump of your feet. Strike fear into their hearts, make them shiver and give you respect! Ok, thoda jyada ho gaya, just make people review your CV
9. As an addendum to the above, stop reviews when one guy asks you to reverse a point which another guy has just changed. When that happens a few times ,it means that your CV in terms of form is near perfection and the reviewers are mouthing gobbledook to show their value addition and gyaan quotient.
10. Finally as the last point to all the awesome insights given above which I’m sure none of the gazillion websites giving gyaan on CV-making have been able to give you, Know that your job will only be as good as the best CV that you can make but realize that the best jobs in the world don’t require any CV. Understand what I mean? No? I’ll give you a hint. Think the Gan….(The following line has been Sibbalized owing to the new Indian social media policy) Hey! I was just giving a hint! #idiot^&*%^$##$*&
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
If Chanakya were alive today....
1. He stole from the official Magadha treasury to finance his exploits. How can he talk about corruption in Magadha
2. He used Alexander, the Great to destroy the power of the smaller kings so that Chandragupta could be the unchallenged emperor of Bharat. How can we trust someone like him to protect us from foreign powers
3. He used funds raised from businessmen to finance the education of his protégé Chrandragupta in Taxila. The businessmen did not know to what end their funds were being used. And he talks about money being siphoned away for personal purpose. Ha!
4. He used “Poison-girls” or “Vish Kanyas” to kill enemies including the illustrious Paurus. What the hell. Ethics anyone?
5. He used concubines to lay sex traps for politicians and blackmailed them. Talks about renunciation and celibacy. Bloody Hypocrite
6. Chandragupta seduced Cornelia, the daughter of Seleucus (Vassal of Alexander the Great) to further several aims including inciting the revolt of the tribesmen of Afghanistan against Seleucus. How can one play with someone’s feelings?
7. His expenditures are obscure and he has lot of fictitious accounts. He’s supposedly poor but travels in caravans with dozens of escorts. Must be investigated.
8. How can an ascetic get involved in politics? He should stick to what he does and knows best
9. He’s avenging the death of his father and has a personal agenda. Love of the country is but a façade. Don’t fall for this charlatan guys.
10. Why only Magadha? Can’t he see the corruption and decadence of other kingdoms like Kalinga, Kaikeyi, Gandhar? Why doesn’t he fight for the citizens there?
11. He’s a good man but his lieutenants are greedy power mongers. He should stay away from them
12. Chandragupta issued a statement supporting the right of Kalinga for self-determination. Down with his head! Team Chanakya wants to partition Magadha.
13. As a child he took a loan of 5 bronze shillings to pay for his father’s cremation. He paid back the loan after a year but without interest which now amounts to 100 silver shillings. He must pay that back!
14. I have credible information he’s a face for the extremist Brahmans and has their support. In fact I have a letter to prove the same
15. This Brahman will wipe out the Shudras who’ve borne the brunt of Brahman domination for centuries. He should install a Shudra king to show he’s clean
Does that ring a bell somewhere?
2. He used Alexander, the Great to destroy the power of the smaller kings so that Chandragupta could be the unchallenged emperor of Bharat. How can we trust someone like him to protect us from foreign powers
3. He used funds raised from businessmen to finance the education of his protégé Chrandragupta in Taxila. The businessmen did not know to what end their funds were being used. And he talks about money being siphoned away for personal purpose. Ha!
4. He used “Poison-girls” or “Vish Kanyas” to kill enemies including the illustrious Paurus. What the hell. Ethics anyone?
5. He used concubines to lay sex traps for politicians and blackmailed them. Talks about renunciation and celibacy. Bloody Hypocrite
6. Chandragupta seduced Cornelia, the daughter of Seleucus (Vassal of Alexander the Great) to further several aims including inciting the revolt of the tribesmen of Afghanistan against Seleucus. How can one play with someone’s feelings?
7. His expenditures are obscure and he has lot of fictitious accounts. He’s supposedly poor but travels in caravans with dozens of escorts. Must be investigated.
8. How can an ascetic get involved in politics? He should stick to what he does and knows best
9. He’s avenging the death of his father and has a personal agenda. Love of the country is but a façade. Don’t fall for this charlatan guys.
10. Why only Magadha? Can’t he see the corruption and decadence of other kingdoms like Kalinga, Kaikeyi, Gandhar? Why doesn’t he fight for the citizens there?
11. He’s a good man but his lieutenants are greedy power mongers. He should stay away from them
12. Chandragupta issued a statement supporting the right of Kalinga for self-determination. Down with his head! Team Chanakya wants to partition Magadha.
13. As a child he took a loan of 5 bronze shillings to pay for his father’s cremation. He paid back the loan after a year but without interest which now amounts to 100 silver shillings. He must pay that back!
14. I have credible information he’s a face for the extremist Brahmans and has their support. In fact I have a letter to prove the same
15. This Brahman will wipe out the Shudras who’ve borne the brunt of Brahman domination for centuries. He should install a Shudra king to show he’s clean
Does that ring a bell somewhere?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
21st century India, 19th century governance
Few days back an incident on a train jolted my “air-conditioned” consciousness back to reality. I had booked a ticket from Jhansi to New Delhi on the Bangalore Rajdhani express. The train was to arrive around midnight in Jhansi. I had not bothered taking a print-out of the ticket as the large banner on the IRCTC website exhorted us to carry the e-ticket on laptop or mobile rather than waste precious paper, ironical given the paperwork the government is famous for. As the train arrived on the station, I realized that I did not remember my ticket berth and deciding to check my berth through the railways IVRS but I boarded the train nevertheless. Soon a TTE came up and asked me to show my ticket. As luck would have it, the IVRS system was not working. I called up my brother and asked him to tell my berth from the IRCTC website and found that in the confusion of the midnight train, I had messed up my dates and had booked for the train journey a day before.
So I was now a ticketless traveller and the nightmare began. The TTE initially appeared to empathize with my plight and said this happens quite often. However I have to pay the full penalty which after some show of calculation he announced as Rs. 4150. I said that I did not have the money. He was joined by the Train Superintendent who asked how can they make a bill without the money. I felt the blood rise to my ears. “Of course dude when I don’t have the money and the train does not stop anywhere between Jhansi and Delhi It’s you rather than I who will suggest a solution short of throwing me out of the running train” I thought. Anyway I kept silent and waited for them to suggest something. They asked me if I can get money in New Delhi, I replied in the affirmative. They asked me to write a letter addressed to the train superintendent which made me apologize for travelling in the premier train (funny to see the egos of these guys just because it’s a Rajdhani. Wonder what they’ll do when the bullet train comes somewhere around 2030) as a ticketless traveller and promise to pay the fine on embarking in New Delhi Station.
As I set down to write the letter muttering to myself that I’m not going to ask these people to “ le-de ke mamla khatam karo” influenced as I was by the Anna movement, I was surprised at the fine amount since the ticket costs around 700 and they were talking almost 6 times the amount. I asked the same and they told in a Rajdhani it’s a rule to take the amount of the full train journey regardless of where you board. Now all this “It’s a Rajdhani!” I knew was total hogwash as I was somewhat acquainted with the procedure of ticketless travel and hence asked them to show me the rule where it was written. This triggered off stage 2 of the nightmare.
Slighted as they were by my refusal to pay a bribe and to lick up their ego, they unleashed a tirade of threats. They began taunting me that you are showing yourself as very educated and talk about rules, we’ll show you what the rules are. The train superintendent came with a 19th century walkie-talkie and said if I put in a word, the train will stop right here and you’ll be left in the jungle. He said I can call up the railway police and tell them that this guy has boarded from somewhere in the middle and is a security threat. You will have to make several rounds to the magistrate and pay many more fines just for turning up besides spending 6 months in jail for ticketless travel. Your career will be put on the line because a FIR will be registered against you. They even threatened to put false charges of me having assaulted the TTE and put in custody immediately. There were some pantry car workers there and they said we’ll be witnesses to the same.
This was about the substance of their diatribe, the less said about the form the better it is. Now when I look back at it, most of it was empty threat but at the spur of the moment a guy looks to err on the side of the caution. I told them that Rs 1000 was all I had and if that’s fine with you then take it otherwise you can do whatever you want. They said 1000 is not enough and I’ve to pay the full amount right now otherwise face the music. Ultimately I sat down and waited for their tongue-lashing to finish. After about an hour, they called me up and in an extraordinary act of generosity laced with a holier-than-thou attitude let me off for Rs 500 only. They concluded their ego-opera by giving sermons about how as a young man I should respect elders and officials and keep this lesson in mind all my life.
So here I was, another Aam-Aadmi who made a genuine mistake and tried to rectify it honestly but was brow-beaten to meekness and made to accept the over lordship of the government official. It reminded me of the scene in Matrix Revolutions where Neo tries to fight the trainman in the station and is knocked down by the latter who asserts “You don’t realize! I’m the Trainman and over here I’m God”. All those who say to eliminate corruption we must stop paying bribes, do you realize the trouble is much greater if you decide not to pay bribe. Try saying to a policeman who has caught you for parking violation and is demanding a bribe that you are ready to pay the challan and see how the next one hour becomes a complete hell. Should we keep fighting like this each and every time a petty officer decides to overstep his mandate
The problem lies in the way the system has been designed to grant over-reaching powers to the petty government functionary. It gives incredible discretionary powers to those who do not even know how to do their job properly and puts the common man (one without a lal batti, politico or their acolytes) totally at their mercy. This is nothing but a vestige of the colonial system something which team Anna Hazare is trying to battle through the Lokpal which will give a grievance redressal system to us (I would surely have complained to the Lokpal had it existed no matter if any action was taken). It creates a psychological pressure on the functionaries to do their duty properly even if action is taken on one of them. Indians by nature are a fearful and law abiding lot and no matter whatever the odds of them being punished, they won’t take the risk. Problem is right now the odds are absolutely zero (or somewhere nearby). It is also the reason why most of those who oppose the Lokpal are either those whose cash flow will be impacted by it (politicos, bureaucrats) or those who haven’t had an interface with the government empowered by its myriad rules and its veil of secrecy. All those who say ‘Aal is well’ with the current governance system should have at least one such encounter with the government and it is sure to change their positions as surely as Narayan Murthy’s mind was changed about socialism when he was arrested for frivolous reasons in Bulgaria.
So I was now a ticketless traveller and the nightmare began. The TTE initially appeared to empathize with my plight and said this happens quite often. However I have to pay the full penalty which after some show of calculation he announced as Rs. 4150. I said that I did not have the money. He was joined by the Train Superintendent who asked how can they make a bill without the money. I felt the blood rise to my ears. “Of course dude when I don’t have the money and the train does not stop anywhere between Jhansi and Delhi It’s you rather than I who will suggest a solution short of throwing me out of the running train” I thought. Anyway I kept silent and waited for them to suggest something. They asked me if I can get money in New Delhi, I replied in the affirmative. They asked me to write a letter addressed to the train superintendent which made me apologize for travelling in the premier train (funny to see the egos of these guys just because it’s a Rajdhani. Wonder what they’ll do when the bullet train comes somewhere around 2030) as a ticketless traveller and promise to pay the fine on embarking in New Delhi Station.
As I set down to write the letter muttering to myself that I’m not going to ask these people to “ le-de ke mamla khatam karo” influenced as I was by the Anna movement, I was surprised at the fine amount since the ticket costs around 700 and they were talking almost 6 times the amount. I asked the same and they told in a Rajdhani it’s a rule to take the amount of the full train journey regardless of where you board. Now all this “It’s a Rajdhani!” I knew was total hogwash as I was somewhat acquainted with the procedure of ticketless travel and hence asked them to show me the rule where it was written. This triggered off stage 2 of the nightmare.
Slighted as they were by my refusal to pay a bribe and to lick up their ego, they unleashed a tirade of threats. They began taunting me that you are showing yourself as very educated and talk about rules, we’ll show you what the rules are. The train superintendent came with a 19th century walkie-talkie and said if I put in a word, the train will stop right here and you’ll be left in the jungle. He said I can call up the railway police and tell them that this guy has boarded from somewhere in the middle and is a security threat. You will have to make several rounds to the magistrate and pay many more fines just for turning up besides spending 6 months in jail for ticketless travel. Your career will be put on the line because a FIR will be registered against you. They even threatened to put false charges of me having assaulted the TTE and put in custody immediately. There were some pantry car workers there and they said we’ll be witnesses to the same.
This was about the substance of their diatribe, the less said about the form the better it is. Now when I look back at it, most of it was empty threat but at the spur of the moment a guy looks to err on the side of the caution. I told them that Rs 1000 was all I had and if that’s fine with you then take it otherwise you can do whatever you want. They said 1000 is not enough and I’ve to pay the full amount right now otherwise face the music. Ultimately I sat down and waited for their tongue-lashing to finish. After about an hour, they called me up and in an extraordinary act of generosity laced with a holier-than-thou attitude let me off for Rs 500 only. They concluded their ego-opera by giving sermons about how as a young man I should respect elders and officials and keep this lesson in mind all my life.
So here I was, another Aam-Aadmi who made a genuine mistake and tried to rectify it honestly but was brow-beaten to meekness and made to accept the over lordship of the government official. It reminded me of the scene in Matrix Revolutions where Neo tries to fight the trainman in the station and is knocked down by the latter who asserts “You don’t realize! I’m the Trainman and over here I’m God”. All those who say to eliminate corruption we must stop paying bribes, do you realize the trouble is much greater if you decide not to pay bribe. Try saying to a policeman who has caught you for parking violation and is demanding a bribe that you are ready to pay the challan and see how the next one hour becomes a complete hell. Should we keep fighting like this each and every time a petty officer decides to overstep his mandate
The problem lies in the way the system has been designed to grant over-reaching powers to the petty government functionary. It gives incredible discretionary powers to those who do not even know how to do their job properly and puts the common man (one without a lal batti, politico or their acolytes) totally at their mercy. This is nothing but a vestige of the colonial system something which team Anna Hazare is trying to battle through the Lokpal which will give a grievance redressal system to us (I would surely have complained to the Lokpal had it existed no matter if any action was taken). It creates a psychological pressure on the functionaries to do their duty properly even if action is taken on one of them. Indians by nature are a fearful and law abiding lot and no matter whatever the odds of them being punished, they won’t take the risk. Problem is right now the odds are absolutely zero (or somewhere nearby). It is also the reason why most of those who oppose the Lokpal are either those whose cash flow will be impacted by it (politicos, bureaucrats) or those who haven’t had an interface with the government empowered by its myriad rules and its veil of secrecy. All those who say ‘Aal is well’ with the current governance system should have at least one such encounter with the government and it is sure to change their positions as surely as Narayan Murthy’s mind was changed about socialism when he was arrested for frivolous reasons in Bulgaria.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
An open letter to Shri Kejriwalji
Shri Arvind Kejriwalji
This letter is occasioned by a comparison I saw of you and Rahul Gandhi with your respective qualifications followed by the thought-provoking caption "Who is the leader of young India?" It set off a chain of thought in my mind about the point-by-point comparison between your movement and the Congress. Both have a Gandhi at the helm. One is led by a new-age Gandhian who has galvanized the country by his sheer moral force while the other is an Italian import who is using the Gandhi surname to make a mockery of our country. Both the leaders are surrounded by close aides. One set of aides are internationally renowned soldiers of modern India having won Ramon Magasasay awards and true epitomes of new-India aspirations while the others are a set of yes-men who've risen to the top by sheer sycophancy. Both claim to be secular while one is truly secular the other is pseudo as evidenced by the innumerable times they've attempted to divide our country on religious and caste lines and even led a major pogrom against the sikh community. Yet the former today is sitting on the streets, hungry, disillusioned and fighting for basic rights (as the right to live righteously) while the latter is making the most of their remaining time in office by filling their coffers and swiss accounts. Doesn't the irony hit you as hard as it hits most of us?
I'm sure it does. And i'm sure you feel the same anguish as most of us do ruled by a government which is secure in the knowledge that their alternatives are so vastly inferior that come-what-may they're going to be voted back. The fact of the matter is even if your recommendations are accepted, the implementation will be shoddy and will render the lokpal useless. The funding will be under control of finance ministry. The congress will continue their dirty games till people just give up in frustation. Not if you decide to do something which many people have been urging you to. Enter politics yourself, not in individual capacity but as an organization. The incredible support you're getting where people are taking leaves from their jobs, leaving their work on their farms to support you is definitely transferable into votes. Here's a 5-point plan of action for the same
This letter is occasioned by a comparison I saw of you and Rahul Gandhi with your respective qualifications followed by the thought-provoking caption "Who is the leader of young India?" It set off a chain of thought in my mind about the point-by-point comparison between your movement and the Congress. Both have a Gandhi at the helm. One is led by a new-age Gandhian who has galvanized the country by his sheer moral force while the other is an Italian import who is using the Gandhi surname to make a mockery of our country. Both the leaders are surrounded by close aides. One set of aides are internationally renowned soldiers of modern India having won Ramon Magasasay awards and true epitomes of new-India aspirations while the others are a set of yes-men who've risen to the top by sheer sycophancy. Both claim to be secular while one is truly secular the other is pseudo as evidenced by the innumerable times they've attempted to divide our country on religious and caste lines and even led a major pogrom against the sikh community. Yet the former today is sitting on the streets, hungry, disillusioned and fighting for basic rights (as the right to live righteously) while the latter is making the most of their remaining time in office by filling their coffers and swiss accounts. Doesn't the irony hit you as hard as it hits most of us?
I'm sure it does. And i'm sure you feel the same anguish as most of us do ruled by a government which is secure in the knowledge that their alternatives are so vastly inferior that come-what-may they're going to be voted back. The fact of the matter is even if your recommendations are accepted, the implementation will be shoddy and will render the lokpal useless. The funding will be under control of finance ministry. The congress will continue their dirty games till people just give up in frustation. Not if you decide to do something which many people have been urging you to. Enter politics yourself, not in individual capacity but as an organization. The incredible support you're getting where people are taking leaves from their jobs, leaving their work on their farms to support you is definitely transferable into votes. Here's a 5-point plan of action for the same
- Agenda and name: The party should have a single point agenda of removing corruption. It is a much larger issue than eradicating the bribe taken by the RTO clerk for giving your license. It will improve each and every aspect of our lives from government schemes reaching the BPL families to improving our security apparatus as our political leaders will be prevented from being on the rolls of foreign intelligence agencies. As they say, money is the root of all evil. Remove corrupt money as the raison'd'etre of the political system and everything will change for the better. Let the name be JanLokpal party as the rallying call for millions of people who came out on the streets.
- People: Select 500 people through a committee chaired by Anna,Ms Bedi and yourself. I refuse to believe that out of the millions of your supporters, you won't be able to find 500 worthy people to contest elections. Wherever possible, the candidates should be selected who know the local language of the constituency and belong there.
- Funding: Don't be fooled by the gargantuan sums being spent by the political parties to win elections. They have to do that because liquor flows like water, cash is distributed like mandir prasad, people have to be paid even to attend the rallies of so-called leaders like Sonia Gandhi. They spend so much because the autos carry loudspeakers beseeching people to vote in their favor, they've to put up huge hoardings and distribute pamphlets. Your party does not have to do any of that because it will have the moral force of Anna backing you. Just go and tell the people that the party will remove corruption come what may and see how the people respond. One only needs a few lakhs to do the basic stuff and win in a constituency
- Organization: Bring under your umbrella all the NGOs and civil society activists who have a lot of credibility associated with them. NGOs are unparalled in their reach and will take your message where the arrogant snots of the congress party will not dare to venture. Importantly bring Baba Ramdev on board and leverage his organization which is spread in every nook-and-corner of the country. Ramdev's primary problem was he did not have the benefit of master strategists like you and took a lot of decisions which were taken from the heart and went down wrong with the people.
- Media: Well what can i say here. You are the darling of the media with some exceptions. Witness the coverage the media gives to some unconventional aspiring politicians like they gave to Meera Sanyal (one of India's top banking professionals). Rest assured you'll be hogging as much of the limelight as you're doing now and will not need any of the full-page advertisements by political parties which they recover once they come to power.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
A dream washed out!
So here's my fourth post. Well i had half a mind to shamelessly post this one as if nothing had happened in the year went by since i last posted but times were such one could not hold the writer in oneself any longer. This is written from the perspective of an elderly person who grew up with hopes and aspirations, struggled to fight against the system determined to keep us in poverty, retired in cynicism and finally today is realizing that it was all part of the one of the greatest con-jobs in history ever.Read on!
Dear children
This is a message from an almost septuagenarian who was born at the time the British Raj in India was coming to a close. I was born in 1942 which is the date you all know in your history books as the year of the launch of the “Quit India” movement. No doubt you think that the atmosphere then was very charged up and almost everyone in his right frame of mind was obsessed with seeing the British kicked out of India. Well I don’t remember much of that time as I’m sure you all who were born in 1984 don’t remember much of “Operation Blue-star” or the riots. Yes what I do remember was an almost universal loathing for the “white man” in the closing years of the Raj (I think that was 1946). What I do remember is the small crowds in white protesting over some inane thing or other while we played “gulli-danda” in my home-town which was a small town in the then United Provinces. What I do remember was that there was a club near the railway station which was frequented by the “white man” and which used to be held by the locals in very high regard and fear almost as if it was haunted. Once while playing we climbed the fence of the club and seeing a crystal clear pool of water, thought it appropriate to relieve our morning stomachs there (we did not have any bathroom in our homes then) which apparently created a lot of mayhem. When we brothers came back and told the story to our mother she was in mortal dread and kept us inside the house for two days. We did not understand her fear then but we too were drenched with fright.
On 14th august 1947 we just could not sleep. There was too much commotion everywhere. People were glued on to the radio. As we heard Nehru come on air and deliver his historic speech, we felt a flood of pride flushing down our every vein. Although we did not understand most of what we said, it was clear that the much loathed white man was gone, for good. For everyone it seemed like this is the end of the pain. Our father told us that since now the national wealth is in the hands of our own people, we will become rich. He was happy. He had grown up in a country bound, his children were going to grow up in a country free.
We did not understand much of all that was happening. It is important to understand that the times never seem momentous as they occur, only when one looks back do they appear history-changing. There were never large humongous crowds as is shown on TV. Those are for the rare occasions which were captured for posterity by the newly invented cameras. It was always a small group of people residing in different pockets of the country who seized on the universal hatred everyone was feeling for the white man and made it happen.
As the years went by, we grew up. We saw overwhelming poverty everywhere but knew that our leaders were working 24x7 to help us out of the mess. After all a shameful devastation of 200 years cannot be cleaned in 10 years. We waited. We were patient. We used to go for long distances to hear Pandit Nehru speak whenever he used to pass by the provinces. And came back perplexed. Because he did not talk about the nation or the poverty. He talked more about how we should respect every animal and not just the cow (a dig at the Sangh Parivar) and how labourers and farmers must do more to help India by giving their land and rations. He used to praise China more than India. We did not know much about the world. He was a learned man. He must be right. So even though we were perplexed, we came back satisfied that our futures were secure.
Around 10-12 years after independence as I was in my late teens, we began to get a feeling that something is not right. There were food crises and inflation everywhere. Apparently the second five year plan was a shameful disaster. It had given agriculture almost a total miss. But we did not know about it then. Most of us gave the leaders the benefit-of-doubt. Afterall it was Pandit Nehru at the helm. How could anything go wrong?
The disaster of 1962. It was a complete surprise for most of us. A few months before that Nehru had been making some statements in Parliament against China but we had been schooled in the genuine benevolentness of China for the last 12 years that we thought it must be a temporary phase of misunderstanding between brothers. Only after we lost thousands of hectares of land to the aggressor, did we understand true Chinese designs. But by then it was too late. For the first time, our confidence in our leaders was shaken. For the first time, Nehru appeared human. It was the first dream washed. He appeared too human. He was making meaningless statements in Parliament like “Aksai Chin is a deserted piece of land and not a blade of grass grows on it”. To which a parliamentarian pointed to his bald head and said “Not a blade of hair grows on my head but it still belongs to me”. The parliament was in uproar but we were not amused. He was defending Krishna Menon the chief architect of Indian defeat. It was inexplicable.
Two years later he died. Such was his charisma that everyone was worried about the country’s future. Luckily a great man like Shastri was there to take command. And he did it so commendably that we did not miss Nehru for a minute. In fact some of us wished Shastri to be the first PM then perhaps we could have been in a better state. Unfortunately as happens so often with our hapless nation, a great leader died too soon.
He was replaced by the little princess. Few of us knew about Indira Gandhi then. Most political commentators at the time (end of the 1960s) were giving her a right-royal ignore. I got commissioned into the army around that time. Soon after, the 1971 war was upon us. I was in the Western sector when the news of Gen Niazi surrendering reached us. I cannot describe the feeling among us at that time. For the first time we felt India had come of age. We had become a power which cannot be taken lightly and pushed around anymore. To be in the army at that time was a supreme honour I take pride in till this day. That was the pinnacle of Indian patriotism.
And it was downhill since then. The queues outside the ration shops grew longer. The protests by farmers became more violent. The trains were late as always and the coaches were becoming more crowded. The roads and power situation were worsening. But we had faith in Indira Gandhi. She had won against Pakistan. She had given us the nuclear bomb. She’ll tackle these problems too. Give her time. And tackle she did in her own style. By imposing the emergency. Whatever people may say about it, for the first time there was order in the country. Trains were running on time. Government offices were actually pushing files. We finally happened to be progressing. Yes, the Youth Congress had become very boisterous and rowdy but that was collateral damage. To our military minds, this was the answerable solution to chaos all around.
And we stayed as apolitical as ever even as our generals were made to run from “pillar babu” to “post babu” for even small things as procuring rations for us. Most gave up. And the army too went into a steady decline.
But we still were hopeful. Indira Gandhi will set it right. Nothing got right. She was shot dead, the riots followed. By this time, a cynicism was setting in. People were becoming disillusioned. This country with all its contradictions and contraptions is inherently ungovernable. Her son came and brought with him a beautiful young Italian woman who used to keep a low profile. She seemed an amiable person and we took a liking to the young couple. When the Bofors scandal broke out, most thought Rajiv had been conned into signing documents and made to look like an imbecile. Nobody thought someone that high could do such a thing.
The real shocker was the progress India made after liberalization. For the first time, we knew (even though we had doubted it for a long time) that our policies were wrong. But by then my generation had lost out completely. The brightest among us become gazetted officers. It’s shocking to think of how incredibly intelligent young Indians had wasted away their lives sitting as clerks in a decrepit government office signing and stamping on the gargantuan paperwork that the bureaucracy produces in India.
Soon enough we knew that Indira was not the patriotic lady she was made out to be. Her economic policies were an unmitigated disaster. Economists proved that Indian economic output actually shrinked during her years which is a crime for a developing country. And we did not have a civil war like the African and Latam countries did. M.D Nalapat writing in the Indian Express exposed her corruption cases and the “Queen-in-waiting” Sonia Gandhi too. Wonder where he’s now. Why has he stopped writing suddenly?
But all of this pales out when I come to this day. After seven decades of living as good-citizen a life as I could, I feel I’ve been cheated. Been mocked at and my intelligence insulted. By everyone. The politicians, media, bureaucrats, foreign powers all have taken me for a ride.
New-age media tell me that my heroes (and heroines) were nothing but greedy power-mongers and money-launderers. That the first family was in the payroll of the KGB since the 1970s. Suddenly a lot of things are falling into place. Like why the Indian rupee was pegged artificially at 43 rupees to the rouble and 20 rupees to the dollar while the rouble was pegged at 47 roubles to the dollar. Very simply the Russians took commodities dirt cheap from us and sold them at high rates to the European countries. The Russians were supposedly helping us but sold us second-rate equipment (like Mig 21 when the Mig-23 had already been launched).
Our laws which were framed by the British to help keep an imperialist government in power continue till this day. Our education system which was again framed by the British to keep the vast masses illiterate and hence unable to understand the ramifications of the loot of India continue till this day. Each passing day is bringing into even starker contrast the image we had of our leaders and what they did/continue to do to us. Each passing day seems like an unbearable burden for our generation who have been conned again and again and again. I wish I had the mental or physical strength to be another Anna Hazare, God bless him, but plainly I don’t. So I helplessly watch and hope and pray that something, some real tangible comes out of all this upheaval right now. You, my children, are growing up at an age where you know that you’re being looted. Hence you’re shackled with something much more difficult. You will be knowing that while you were looted, you did nothing about it. If we are to personify a generation, we will be the simple hard working farmer who lost his life’s savings to a crooked moneylender through fraud while you will be the crowd traveling in a Mumbai local train sitting calmly worrying about your own future and bank account while a gang of hoodlums rape a deaf and dumb physically challenged minor girl!
Dear children
This is a message from an almost septuagenarian who was born at the time the British Raj in India was coming to a close. I was born in 1942 which is the date you all know in your history books as the year of the launch of the “Quit India” movement. No doubt you think that the atmosphere then was very charged up and almost everyone in his right frame of mind was obsessed with seeing the British kicked out of India. Well I don’t remember much of that time as I’m sure you all who were born in 1984 don’t remember much of “Operation Blue-star” or the riots. Yes what I do remember was an almost universal loathing for the “white man” in the closing years of the Raj (I think that was 1946). What I do remember is the small crowds in white protesting over some inane thing or other while we played “gulli-danda” in my home-town which was a small town in the then United Provinces. What I do remember was that there was a club near the railway station which was frequented by the “white man” and which used to be held by the locals in very high regard and fear almost as if it was haunted. Once while playing we climbed the fence of the club and seeing a crystal clear pool of water, thought it appropriate to relieve our morning stomachs there (we did not have any bathroom in our homes then) which apparently created a lot of mayhem. When we brothers came back and told the story to our mother she was in mortal dread and kept us inside the house for two days. We did not understand her fear then but we too were drenched with fright.
On 14th august 1947 we just could not sleep. There was too much commotion everywhere. People were glued on to the radio. As we heard Nehru come on air and deliver his historic speech, we felt a flood of pride flushing down our every vein. Although we did not understand most of what we said, it was clear that the much loathed white man was gone, for good. For everyone it seemed like this is the end of the pain. Our father told us that since now the national wealth is in the hands of our own people, we will become rich. He was happy. He had grown up in a country bound, his children were going to grow up in a country free.
We did not understand much of all that was happening. It is important to understand that the times never seem momentous as they occur, only when one looks back do they appear history-changing. There were never large humongous crowds as is shown on TV. Those are for the rare occasions which were captured for posterity by the newly invented cameras. It was always a small group of people residing in different pockets of the country who seized on the universal hatred everyone was feeling for the white man and made it happen.
As the years went by, we grew up. We saw overwhelming poverty everywhere but knew that our leaders were working 24x7 to help us out of the mess. After all a shameful devastation of 200 years cannot be cleaned in 10 years. We waited. We were patient. We used to go for long distances to hear Pandit Nehru speak whenever he used to pass by the provinces. And came back perplexed. Because he did not talk about the nation or the poverty. He talked more about how we should respect every animal and not just the cow (a dig at the Sangh Parivar) and how labourers and farmers must do more to help India by giving their land and rations. He used to praise China more than India. We did not know much about the world. He was a learned man. He must be right. So even though we were perplexed, we came back satisfied that our futures were secure.
Around 10-12 years after independence as I was in my late teens, we began to get a feeling that something is not right. There were food crises and inflation everywhere. Apparently the second five year plan was a shameful disaster. It had given agriculture almost a total miss. But we did not know about it then. Most of us gave the leaders the benefit-of-doubt. Afterall it was Pandit Nehru at the helm. How could anything go wrong?
The disaster of 1962. It was a complete surprise for most of us. A few months before that Nehru had been making some statements in Parliament against China but we had been schooled in the genuine benevolentness of China for the last 12 years that we thought it must be a temporary phase of misunderstanding between brothers. Only after we lost thousands of hectares of land to the aggressor, did we understand true Chinese designs. But by then it was too late. For the first time, our confidence in our leaders was shaken. For the first time, Nehru appeared human. It was the first dream washed. He appeared too human. He was making meaningless statements in Parliament like “Aksai Chin is a deserted piece of land and not a blade of grass grows on it”. To which a parliamentarian pointed to his bald head and said “Not a blade of hair grows on my head but it still belongs to me”. The parliament was in uproar but we were not amused. He was defending Krishna Menon the chief architect of Indian defeat. It was inexplicable.
Two years later he died. Such was his charisma that everyone was worried about the country’s future. Luckily a great man like Shastri was there to take command. And he did it so commendably that we did not miss Nehru for a minute. In fact some of us wished Shastri to be the first PM then perhaps we could have been in a better state. Unfortunately as happens so often with our hapless nation, a great leader died too soon.
He was replaced by the little princess. Few of us knew about Indira Gandhi then. Most political commentators at the time (end of the 1960s) were giving her a right-royal ignore. I got commissioned into the army around that time. Soon after, the 1971 war was upon us. I was in the Western sector when the news of Gen Niazi surrendering reached us. I cannot describe the feeling among us at that time. For the first time we felt India had come of age. We had become a power which cannot be taken lightly and pushed around anymore. To be in the army at that time was a supreme honour I take pride in till this day. That was the pinnacle of Indian patriotism.
And it was downhill since then. The queues outside the ration shops grew longer. The protests by farmers became more violent. The trains were late as always and the coaches were becoming more crowded. The roads and power situation were worsening. But we had faith in Indira Gandhi. She had won against Pakistan. She had given us the nuclear bomb. She’ll tackle these problems too. Give her time. And tackle she did in her own style. By imposing the emergency. Whatever people may say about it, for the first time there was order in the country. Trains were running on time. Government offices were actually pushing files. We finally happened to be progressing. Yes, the Youth Congress had become very boisterous and rowdy but that was collateral damage. To our military minds, this was the answerable solution to chaos all around.
And we stayed as apolitical as ever even as our generals were made to run from “pillar babu” to “post babu” for even small things as procuring rations for us. Most gave up. And the army too went into a steady decline.
But we still were hopeful. Indira Gandhi will set it right. Nothing got right. She was shot dead, the riots followed. By this time, a cynicism was setting in. People were becoming disillusioned. This country with all its contradictions and contraptions is inherently ungovernable. Her son came and brought with him a beautiful young Italian woman who used to keep a low profile. She seemed an amiable person and we took a liking to the young couple. When the Bofors scandal broke out, most thought Rajiv had been conned into signing documents and made to look like an imbecile. Nobody thought someone that high could do such a thing.
The real shocker was the progress India made after liberalization. For the first time, we knew (even though we had doubted it for a long time) that our policies were wrong. But by then my generation had lost out completely. The brightest among us become gazetted officers. It’s shocking to think of how incredibly intelligent young Indians had wasted away their lives sitting as clerks in a decrepit government office signing and stamping on the gargantuan paperwork that the bureaucracy produces in India.
Soon enough we knew that Indira was not the patriotic lady she was made out to be. Her economic policies were an unmitigated disaster. Economists proved that Indian economic output actually shrinked during her years which is a crime for a developing country. And we did not have a civil war like the African and Latam countries did. M.D Nalapat writing in the Indian Express exposed her corruption cases and the “Queen-in-waiting” Sonia Gandhi too. Wonder where he’s now. Why has he stopped writing suddenly?
But all of this pales out when I come to this day. After seven decades of living as good-citizen a life as I could, I feel I’ve been cheated. Been mocked at and my intelligence insulted. By everyone. The politicians, media, bureaucrats, foreign powers all have taken me for a ride.
New-age media tell me that my heroes (and heroines) were nothing but greedy power-mongers and money-launderers. That the first family was in the payroll of the KGB since the 1970s. Suddenly a lot of things are falling into place. Like why the Indian rupee was pegged artificially at 43 rupees to the rouble and 20 rupees to the dollar while the rouble was pegged at 47 roubles to the dollar. Very simply the Russians took commodities dirt cheap from us and sold them at high rates to the European countries. The Russians were supposedly helping us but sold us second-rate equipment (like Mig 21 when the Mig-23 had already been launched).
Our laws which were framed by the British to help keep an imperialist government in power continue till this day. Our education system which was again framed by the British to keep the vast masses illiterate and hence unable to understand the ramifications of the loot of India continue till this day. Each passing day is bringing into even starker contrast the image we had of our leaders and what they did/continue to do to us. Each passing day seems like an unbearable burden for our generation who have been conned again and again and again. I wish I had the mental or physical strength to be another Anna Hazare, God bless him, but plainly I don’t. So I helplessly watch and hope and pray that something, some real tangible comes out of all this upheaval right now. You, my children, are growing up at an age where you know that you’re being looted. Hence you’re shackled with something much more difficult. You will be knowing that while you were looted, you did nothing about it. If we are to personify a generation, we will be the simple hard working farmer who lost his life’s savings to a crooked moneylender through fraud while you will be the crowd traveling in a Mumbai local train sitting calmly worrying about your own future and bank account while a gang of hoodlums rape a deaf and dumb physically challenged minor girl!
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