The last few weeks have been fulfilling. Or fruitful? Or productive?? I don’t know. Etymology was never my subject of choice. Anyway, all jokes apart, Management Development Institute and Institute of Management Technology ‘cordially’ invited me to their respective GD/PI sessions for admission to their MBA courses. Dyamn bro!!!! I finally feel SO blessed!! I have joined an elite class of students who have braved the toughest of challenges (namely Miiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooo) to secure a score worthy of their caliber and ability. Yeah, we see it all.

Attended the IMS workshop for ‘Achievers’.. Another word for ‘losers-who-didn’t-get-to-the-IIM’s-but-still-want-to-piss-family-cash’… was pretty objective, as opposed to my expectations. Same bunch of students ho either want to help Dad run the family business or to climb the corporate ladder into becoming an efficient manager. Don’t we already have enough of them? Why are the best minds in this country ONLY thinking about wealth generation, for themselves?? Why would they want to exponentially augment the coffer strength of companies that are already riding high on cheap labor and substantial balances?? So that you can boss around and possibly flog those budding freshers who join the company, thus vent your frustration through more ‘professional’ channels??

To most MBA aspirants, thinking differently is procrastinating like Calvin. They can either state the rigid, clichéd statements made infamous by thousands of similar aspirants, or they can come up with a monstrosity of an answer that will blow the living brains out of you. And when there is an answer that is differently honest, refreshing but not original, it is scoffed at for ‘trying too hard’. It’s tough to impress, but it’s easy to fake. And that’s how the cookie crumbles.

Everybody tells everybody else to think beyond the box… Fuck you Shiv Khera.. He never helped anybody make themselves more efficient thought leaders. But people still quote him. Sad, utterly sad.

Solve et Coagula

Talked to a friend of mine after a really long time. Now that I’m jobless (pun intended), I have very little to do but procrastinate. Got thinking.

Raj Thackeray declaring that North Indians are unfit for Maharashtra. The Forward Bloc causing a 12hr bandh and albeit a few million man-hours lost in productivity. There’s an Anthrax scare in Nadia. That’s what the TV says. I’m just a normal, law abiding, segregated, middle class loner. I watch what I’m told to watch. I read what I’m shown. I rebel when told to pick up arms. I cry out in agony when I see my able bodied, sound minded, educated and deserving OBC friends get the job I wanted. To hell if hey got it NOT on reservation but merit. But I’m still chirpy as hell. You see, the government just jabbed me with a new dose of democratic euphoria inducing drug. It’s called PROMISE.

The new Indian middle class is a rampant, bulging enigma that seems to have outgrown its cloak of secrecy. They are the bourgeoisie of the developing world, see? They work in high end IT companies with salaries that roughly translate to $10,000 annually. They work like sniffer-dogs on acid. They keep this country’s economy in check. Or so it would seem. Their labor is repaid with what, you might ask? Well, they’re told that their ‘services are no longer required’ because the rupee has suddenly, catastrophically, risen against the dollar!!! God, oh my God!!! That’s economic heresy. The USA was, all this time, trying their level best to keep this in check... alas, they could not. Blame it on an emerging economy where talent is now as common as sand in a desert. So how do we manage this rather horrific dilemma? Fire them Indians, I say.

And for good reason too. Employees in TCS & IBM entered their blissful, cocooned workplace one fine morning to be told that they were fired? Is it their fault that the rupee rose against the dollar?? Hasn’t the industry been trying to garner a stronger currency because of globalization? Because of social liberalization? Then why this volte face? India was not waiting for this.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both been crying themselves hoarse, stating with ‘passion’ that they’ll get back the American jobs for the Americans, snatch it away from Indians…. He he he he he… These Senators are doing a great job of creating nationalist factions, I’ll say that. Well, I’m sure that when these very same conglomerates , who control the global economy, notice that they’ll end up paying $40,000 for a job that can be done at a fourth of the price, all the Presidents will have a different song to sing.

We’ve lived on their promises for so, so long now that we forget where we come from. We forget to think, to remember. Rather, we choose not to. There is no mobilization of collective thought. It’s lying dormant. No one wills to speak. Not that they’re tired or thoughtless. They just don’t want to. No issue is too big or too small… it needs a proper forum to be addressed. It’s all right to ask for more. We forget to differentiate between what we want and what we need, often confusing one for the other. The media does not help either. All of them – the media, the politicians and the critics – feed off the same cesspool and blame each other for the miseries of a country. This confuses a generation for which 9 to 6 is the main mantra. We confuse profitability for efficiency. We confuse radicalism for anarchy. We confuse nationalism for Hindutva. We confuse our privileges for our rights.

Every man for himself. Every single one….. Only then can we unite in a common, non-disparate manner to solve issues that matter, and let issues that rake in moolah and viewer ship lie to rest.

My friend also passed on a small anecdote. Marx once, apparently, said: “I’m not a Marxist”, because people totally misunderstood what he meant. I’m sure they still do, and Marx, if alive today, would echo the same. Probably with more vigour and vodka.

Peace

Jadavpur

4 cups of black and still he continues.
7 stubs in the stainless steel ashtray
Ashes overflow. Fire rests beside.
Rimless glasses scan around the mesh of unknown
Faces for a faint shimmer.
A quick glance at the old Tissot,
Thin hand sweeps away at time.

3 tables across diagonally,
Beside the window, see?
She sits there everyday, from noon
Till dusk falls into this neighbourhood
And the honking of the rickshaws takes centre stage.
Designated waiter serves the same latte everyday,
At her whim and sleight of hand.

New footfalls today.
All from the Arts Department.
1st year. Unmistakably.
Discussing Goddard, Ray and Karnad.
Adding to their repertoire of the unknown and the assumed.
Always trying to outdo the others’ lack of knowledge,
Accompanied by red tea and incessant flicks of the thumb and index fingers.

Don’t think he’s from around here.
Adorned in a faded khadi kurta and Bata flip-flops.
Subterfuges as he rolls in a Capstan paper, eyes darting across the hall from time to time.
Is anyone prying? Looking? Asking for some?
Satisfied, he beckons the waiter in white overalls and a white ‘topi’.
‘Ek cappuccino dena, jaldi’, he orders,
And runs a wet tongue over his rolled enigma.

I haven’t been here long.
I haven’t been gone long either.
Little has changed, a lot has altered.
The crowd’s still frantic. The students still curious. The waiters are still obliging.
A smile pasted firmly on their lips, In spite of the lack of ventilation in the kitchen.
I like it here.
I like to watch.



It feels great to be back in Calcutta. Some things are amiss, but the city's still too beautiful to behold.