BW Communities

In The Penumbra's Shadow

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Anirbaan Chowdary looked around him at the people in the train. Between mobile phones and laptops, they stayed engaged; everyone was busy. Anirbaan looked towards the man sitting in front of him, hidden by the newspaper he was reading. He saw the front page, which faced him, and presently engaged with some front-page political condition. Just then the train lurched, and Anirbaan lost the sentence he was reading; he leaned forward and held the newspaper erect to catch the words. Raghav Kashyap, the man behind the newspaper, folded the paper down to see Anirbaan lost in deciphering the folded sentence, his eyebrows raised as he mouthed the little he could read. Kashyap smiled and said, "Here, would you like to read it? I am done anyway." Anirbaan: Arre, nahi nahi... it's fine. What is there to read anyway! All graft and corruption and pointless arguing and posturing! Everyday same thing! Just see, no news about value-added governance. Every news is about condemnation, defence, counter-condemnation... ‘They are corrupt, they have always been corrupt, we are a better party,'... tchah! Everybody is corrupt! By the way, I am Anirbaan... Kashyap: I am Raghav, Raghav Kashyap. Anirbaan: Just see the world, such dishonesty! Nobody can be trusted. Why? Because finally everyone is busy looking out for himself, and finally the good guy gets hit, you understand? (Kashyap nodded, folding the paper and putting it away.) Arre baba, you tell me, is your government looking out for me today? Can you say that? No. They are busy defending while the other side is throwing cow dung at them. Soon, this side will get to throw the dung and the other guy gets to duck. Our television channels will be the ones to laugh all the way to the bank, and we idiots will still be sitting there watching, wondering whose serve it is now! Kashyap: Are you in public administration? I get the feeling your world is full of politicians. Anirbaan: Not at all! But there are politically sly people in my life. I was the CFO of a very large organisation, Gemmet India. One day I cottoned on to the fact that my MD was siphoning out money through some third-party transactions. Like this only (he said tapping at a 2G  news report on the first page), big-time money, several crores. I foolishly confronted him. Finished! He framed me, then sacked me and nobody would believe me. Can you imagine? Eighteen years in Gemmet, and they believed that crooked fox! (Tears welled up in Anirbaan's eyes and he hastily wiped them.) "My parents don't know; they will die of shock. I am living between the Company Law Board corridors, the lawyers' office and the Sahyadri... a really bad time for me yaar. How successful I used to be! Sab gaya. I could not find a job. It has been three years now. I found one, but same thing there also! Everybody stealing money... nobody has commitment! I was a rank holder! How do I explain this effect that has no cause to my son? What do I tell him about working hard?" Kashyap: Wait until destiny knocks on your door. (After some silence) I am returning from Pune after a reunion with six of my friends. We meet every two years and have been doing this since 1979. We studied together, dreamt together over shared cups of tea in the college canteen, and built our lives from there. This weekend we shared our failures, lost dreams, new joys, surprises... Let me share some of that; you might find some answers there. break-page-break Cyrus came from a family of stage actors and was throughout his life exposed to theatre life. When he thought of Prithviraj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, he didn't think of movies; he thought of Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. The small stage was all he wanted to be part of — intimate, immediate, challenging. He was determined to become a method actor... went off to study drama at NSD. Cyrus was our hero — he was going to become a thinking star. So when Som, another friend, wanted to take to theatre, Cyrus encouraged him to think about NSD. But Som did not want to be in a classroom. Could theatre be taught in a classroom? he argued. Som would watch and observe life. So Som walked into a Mumbai film studio to see what he could do. At the same time, Cyrus came back with a drama degree and found himself playing roles in plays that had tremendously challenging intellectual content, but did not pay much. He did bit roles in movies, parts in advertising films and taught drama as a module in some private colleges.  After 25 years of living in theatre greenrooms, Cyrus realised he would never be a star. Somehow he had not realised this aspect of success. Som, meanwhile, was immersed in variety — one day a street don, another a billionaire. But he worried that he would not be able to make a living from hanging around film studios. Then, one day, the break came, just like that. Som was asked to write the script for a movie! He did. It won an award. Other scripts followed. Bit roles in movies at first, and finally, he wrote his own movie. Not that his own movie was a big hit, but it had India's No. 1 movie star in it. Som was our hero. Today, he plays the lead role in a television serial. But sadly, he did not have the time to join us friends yesterday in Pune. But Cyrus came, dropping some of his badly needed work — it did not make a difference to him if his being away was upsetting some schedules. But Som could not risk what had taken him a lifetime to build. Two professional actors: Som, who rejected structured education in drama, yet ‘success' came to him. But he can't live life anymore. And Cyrus — slaved at drama school, family of actors, yet his dream eluded him. But he has found a connectedness with life and values that above all else! So tell me, Anirbaan, can it be that what you thought is the goal of your life, an accounting career, is, in fact, the means to get you to another point C? How do you know that your travel is not over? Does success lie in becoming a CFO or in being a CFO through all the challenges it brings? The point is this: you may have found people cheating, you may have pointed out the wrong they do and slipped many rungs down as a result. But is it all just about a career? Do we not also need to see what our stretch potential is? Like Som did at the start of his career, as Cyrus did 20 years after his career started. Anirbaan: Achha, see, for these film folks and theatre types, all this is fine. They live between park benches and coffee shops. We guys are family men — children, biwi, etc. We need to have a steady job to save for the kids' education! Kashyap: You mean you assume your kids will want to study? What if they decide not to become an accountant or a doctor but a hair dresser? Will that define your success? Anirbaan (shuddering): My son is intelligent and a ranker... he will make it to IIT for sure. Also, see, where we come from, fathers plan the careers for their sons. Kashyap: Actually, it is odd that you think that hair dressing requires no education. Hair stylists need to learn styling, sanitation, bleaching, hair care, skin care, scalp care, massage... Will you believe it, there are over  5,000 colleges world over, who offer courses for barbers? Another friend, Aparna, who was there yesterday, should have become a hair stylist. She is so good at it. Grooming comes right on top of her list of priorities. No wonder she became an airhostess. And, today, her 20-year-old son Anay, who plays a guitar in a heavy metal band, has long Rastafarian locks! It is a young band. They were finalists for a music contest and could have been playing at an international festival this year. But they lost. Doesn't make the band bad, just that they were not the best! Aparna is really worried. She earns well, travels the world, is a single mother. She is doing exactly what she used to dream of in college — be an air hostess, with a good airline, and see the world. So career-wise, she is successful. She has a gifted and talented son, but she is concerned that Anay does not want to study. He wants to travel the world, meet great people, not have roots or responsibilities. His world is music. One day he wants to do it as a travelling musician. He stopped going to college, hated the system, found it almost bizarre; and began to focus on his music. Anay thinks he is headed north. Aparna thinks he is heading nowhere. But Aparna also thinks that Anay is a sign of her failure. How can her son not want to study, not have a career, not want to have a stable life? She was very worried yesterday, Anirbaan! Anirbaan: I empathise with her. That son is up to no good. She is right in wanting him in college! Kashyap: She sees her other friends; their kids are studying in fancy colleges in the US. One of them even told us that her daughter was a peer ambassador for the Unicef! Now imagine what that can do to someone like Aparna. Anay and his matted locks are sure doom. Aparna tried to send Anay to a college of music in Canada, where her brother lives. But Anay didn't want to leave his band mates — they need to be together to produce music! The odd thing is that Aparna went to college with Sakhi, who also became an airhostess for the same airline. The two were very good friends — they still are. They used to fly together, share rooms when they were stationed abroad, and so on. Then Sakhi got married and stopped 10 years into her career. Sakhi's husband is a very successful banker. He recently bought her a Mercedes. Her kids are studying in the US. One is doing a course in fashion design — seems like another barber career that requires no education, right? And the other is doing an MBA in international trade. How precise and exotic, no? Yesterday, Aparna was saying, ‘Look at Sakhi, wasting her life. But that is because they can afford anything. But it's her husband's money!'" Anirbaan: People's lives are different and looking after family is not wrong... Kashyap: Aparna feels Sakhi neglected her career. Anyway, Anay should have been in the US, doing an MBA too, isn't it? She measures herself against Sakhi. And when the subject of children comes up, Aparna has nothing to talk about. Her son does not even go to college.  Anirbaan: Now you see my condition? My friends talk about great achievements they have made. And I don't even have a job! I can understand how Aparna feels. She wants her son to be successful, and he is not. The only thing he was doing right was the band business, and in that also he went and failed the contest. But even if he won the contest, how long do bands last? How can he make a career with that? Raise a family? How long can you cut hair? And how much money? When I was in school, Coolar Hair salon across the street from where I lived, charged Rs 2 for a haircut. Today, it is Rs 200 at Habib's. But why would I go to Habib if Bunty's Cool Cut can do it in Rs 45? Aparna wants her son to be successful, do a post-grad and be relevant! Kashyap: Why would you go to Habib's if Bunty Cool can do it for Rs 45, is a good question. But let's not go down that road now. Aparna's problem is perhaps not her son. It is her growing definition of success. Once it was ‘see the world'; now it is ‘son must be an MBA'. Let's not forget Anay is only 20. One failure doesn't sum up a band. John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy Of The Dunces was rejected by publishers to the point where Toole committed suicide. Eleven years later, the book got published, became a cult classic, and won Toole the Pulitzer for fiction, posthumously. Jonathan Swift was the inspiration for the book's title. Swift said, ‘When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by his sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.' Aparna needs to read Toole, read Swift, and face the irony in her life. She is a student of literature; she should know that literature, music, poetry, drama, art, dance, cinema are the nectar of life. That is what we live for. Do you recollect ever paying Rs 250 to hear an MBA talk for two hours? Was it houseful? Did the MBA get great reviews? Did he win an Oscar? I doubt it. break-page-break Another of our friends is Arthur. He studied literature with us, and then left for the US to study educational instruction design — a science that helps develop frameworks for learning for different levels of education. For example, how do you teach a bunch of electronics engineers the theory around Bluetooth networks? Arthur designed such courses. While in Houston, he met his would-be wife, Zahara (Zah), a student of public health at Kent's Clear.  When Arthur returned to India, he found it difficult to find anyone who valued what he had studied. Is that failure? You tell me. Meanwhile, he married Zah. He turned to consultancy, but all he got was six assignments in 22 years, and nothing in the last five years. He can't believe he is not fit for a job. Zah, too, became a consultant for a water project in Jharkhand, but she was putting her education to great use. She travelled often, earned a small but reasonable amount managing clean drinking water projects for an NGO, and was able to look after household expenses. Recently, after 20 years with the NGO, she was called by Kent's Clear to manage some of their health projects in India. Now, at last, after two decades, she has begun to earn a fat salary. But Arthur was not sitting quiet, lamenting. He developed skills in personal finance, using an inheritance as seed fund. Over the past five years, using the Internet, he taught himself the skills of market trading. It is a story that ends well: Arthur is happy again; but it took two decades of search. Now he plans to place funds for his friends and neighbours. Zah has found meaning in her education; but it took two decades too! <img src="/businessworld/system/files/case_study_2_mdm.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" height="200" width="200">Is there something in the stories of Arthur and Zah for us? About looking for opportunity even in the dark? Life is not only about a degree; it is about an education. Is the purpose of education only to earn money? I guess colleges and B-schools do not teach you how to apply it to yourself. Foolish, but then that is what we asked for, no? Then again, who said it should come through text books, teachers and tutorials? And why should a loss of a job be seen as failure and not as success? Anirbaan: Eh? Raaghav: Indeed! Think... suppose, your office finds out that the MD was a crook after all, and they call you back and everybody commends you for your ethics. Will you continue to think of yourself as a failure? Will you not think that in the matter of upholding ethics and fighting evil, I am successful? That means success is relative to other things and others' beliefs, no? Sakhi thinks her life is successful; that she has contributed to her husband's and hence family's success. But Aparna thinks that is not success! Yet, Arthur says his life has turned out pretty well after all! Hahaha!   Anirbaan: What use was that fantastic education? He studies for one thing which was not even relevant 20 years ago, and ends up doing a banker's job! Don't know about ‘failure', but definitely foolish! Raaghav: One led to the other, maybe? But that is in the realm of philosophy. Then what is success, Anirbaan? A little while ago, that man came to sell tea. He offered it to us in extremely thin plastic cups that bent to the touch.  Yet we bought. Then came the railway canteen chap, with his thermos and tray and ceramic cups. Suddenly the tea in our plastic cups looked terrible; the ceramic cup tea looked real, better and hygienic tea. What happened? Anirbaan: The thing about philosophy is that it always appeals to the mind. Raaghav: Co-rrect! Isn't that the real customer? Yet all our definitions of success are based on others' definitions! US education or band business? NSD or self-taught? IIT or hair dressing? Where do these come from? I think from our definitions of ourselves — what we would rather be, than what we are; how we would like to be seen by others. Anirbaan: Philosophy is the ploy of the mind to make life palatable. Isn't that the same with your friends? Kashyap: To an extent, yes. Twenty two years down the line, my six friends are still negotiating their successes and fine tuning it. Some won their lotteries early; then they coasted. Some won late; but they remained okay with the late start. Losing can happen in anyway... you may just lose it in a tsunami, or someone may steal it or you may spend it after a drunken night, or you may be waylaid... You lost it to a fraud MD. How does that make you unsuccessful? I thought the MD is unsuccessful because he had to push you down to rise up! When the cracks appear, find a way to re-enter life. A lot like Alice and the little door and the Pick Me Up and the Eat Me... if she had thought of herself as big and the door as small, Lewis Carroll would not have a story to tell.  Successes don't make great stories, Anirbaan. Managing a failure does! To be continued... Classroom Discussion After a setback, we plan how to present it to others. Instead, we need to explain it to ourselves first. casestudymeera(at)gmail(dot)com (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 21-11-2011)