LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT. 75. LEARNING FROM LITERATURE-MANAGEMENT

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT

75. LEARNING FROM LITERATURE-MANAGEMENT

Reading: pleasure and profit

We generally read for pleasure. But great authors also make us profit by it. While books setting out to instruct us, educate us, or even edify us - the 'How To' type books end up boring us- some of the books about the experiences of people in real life situations teach us a lot , by the way. It is always like this in real life- health, happiness are always by products of other pursuits. Set after them, they often elude you. Do other things- they may visit you, or even attend on you!

In my younger days, elders used to advise us about wealth: if you go after it, it will run away from you. You leave it alone, concentrate on doing what you like, or what you have to, wealth will run after you-if it is destined to come. It may sound fatalistic, teaching us indifference. But there is wisdom in it. Those who are after wealth become indifferent to other aspects of life- its graces and charms and become one dimensional. In the ultimate analysis, we can neither control the inflow, nor the outgo. So many people lost their savings investing , or even putting it in banks. C.V.Raman, our Nobel laureate is reported to have lost his money when the bank sank. Many people who earned a lot did not know how to manage it, while people with moderate income remained prosperous all through life. So what our elders taught was to mind what we could, and let Providence do its part. Later as I studied Sri Ramakrishna and Ramana Marharshi, this became my firm conviction. I was pleasantly surprised when I found the sentiments echoed through a beautiful Bollywood song, in the lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi, in the  melodious voice of Mohammad Rafi, and immortal music of Jaidev:

Jo kuch bhi mil gaya usiko muqaddar samaj liya
Jo kho gaya  main usko bhulata chala gaya.

Our elders also used to tell us not to get preoccupied with little things. They used to say, don't be like the dog, always looking out everywhere for a piece of bone, carrying its stomach wherever it went. Look at the universe- there are 8400000 forms of life. God feeds everything. Man alone runs after food, yet calls himself intelligent! Later, I found Lord Christ said that in the Sermon on the Mount: do not worry about what we shall eat, what we shall wear, etc. Look at the sparrows and the lilies of the field. But alas! We now have more churches than lilies or fields or even sparrows! Where are sparrows in cities like Bangalore? The Telecom towers have killed them.

At one stage I read lot of Self-help, or Self-improvement books like those of Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller,etc. I also read Maxwell Maltz and his Self -image Psychology. Recently, Tom Butler Bowdon has come with two books containing comments on about a hundred books and authors  in such genre.They are good in a way, in their own way. But they cannot be a guide for life. 

A real guide can be: Rich Dad,Poor Dad! It should be read by every youngster now. People - young people spend before they earn! They spend before they save! They spend their capital! Rich people never do that! All that the book says may not be applicable in India, but this one principle is eternal wisdom: Don't spend your capital Make it work for you! Spend out of what it earns, don't spend it!

Another great book is: Made in Japan by Akio Morita, former chairman of Sony. I learned one thing from it- one strong message: quality. You are reflected in the quality of work you do! What kind of person you are if you do slovenly work? 

But this kind of attachment to supreme quality may not be practicable now. Suppose you get the TV  of the highest possible quality now. In three years it will be replaced by another quality product, and you cannot get the old ones serviced or even get spares for it. It then becomes a quality junk in 5 years. Why spend a mini fortune on it now? After all, whatever may be the quality of the TV, what is the quality of the stuff you watch in it?

However, there was another great lesson in that book. He tells a story. An American and a Japanese are jogging. Ahead they notice a lion on the way. The Japanese prepares to run away. The American asks: do you mean to out run the lion? No, replies our Japanese friend. "It is enough if I out run you!" This is the situation we are all in , now. Modern economy has set brother against brother. We can live much better by cooperation. But competition is thrust on us. This is what we have to do: we cannot beat the market, we have to beat the competition!

Most management books seek to teach us to manage the environment. They give us the techniques to manage each segment like HR, Finance, Marketing. But the market is always changing. Products and processes are always changing. You keep changing the technique!

Peter Drucker taught us to manage ourselves! We cannot control or manage the environment, always. But we can learn to control ourselves, prepare ourselves, control our reaction to the environment! Come to think of it: this is, in essence, what Krishna tells Arjuna! Understand yourself- we act out of desire. When it is not fulfilled, we get angry. Desire and anger are the two enemies which control us! Understand this and do what you have to do without anger or agitation- vigatajwara! So what Drucker teaches us is an attitude- a value, not a technique. With the right attitude, we can discover a hundred  techniques ourselves.

The management literature also tells us the games the companies play to fool us. Kentucky Fried Chicken faced lot of criticism and opposition from health conscious youngsters, as the fried food they were selling was not found healthy. What did they do? Instead of changing the food, they changed their name to KFC so that the word 'fried' was dropped from their name! Is this honest business? Do we need management experts to teach this? Our own Indian example is the ITC! They still sell tobacco products, but the word 'tobacco' is not in the name! Such companies talk of 'corporate social responsibility'!

It is such practices which made me realise the reality in the private sector, and shed the idealistic notions I had developed in my student days. I found conscientious managers to be the exception- whether in the private sector or the public sector.

Power of officialdom

We associate corruption with the public sector. But it takes two to tango. The other partner is the private sector. Corruption is institutionalised in both. It has entered the very bloodstream of the entire nation at all levels. Right from birth certificate to death certificate, we are ruled by corruption. I used to wonder why our authorities cannot levy a corruption cess, as they levy a library or education cess? Some star hotels lay down that we need not pay tips, the element is included in the bill!

When I first landed in Delhi in the 60s , I had friends in the ministries and secretariat. Karol Bagh was the main area of our stay- being South Indian bachelors. We used to compare notes. They would tell me how the systems worked. The official concerned would visit some club  in the company of private parties. There they would play cards for stakes. The private party would keep losing , and the official would pocket the proceeds  neatly. It all looked so natural. Who would call it corruption?

The UNI canteen and the canteen attached to the PTI were favourite spots for getting simple, tasty South Indian food, since most of the journalists were South Indians.The UNI canteen was particularly popular and even Joint Secretaries used to visit there, though it was a very kacha arrangement- with a tin roof under some trees. .The govt officers, especially about the middle level would be very snobbish and would not treat officials from other institutions-even PSUs as equals. They would behave as if they carried the govt on their very shoulders! During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi took a particular dislike for this place- he did not want any temporary structure there and he ordered the demolition of the place and closure of the canteen. The officialdom was unhappy- they were deprived of a cheap source of good homely food. Their lobby was so strong, someone sufficiently senior could directly approach the "Madam" and get it stalled! A similar structure in Connaught Place-  'Coffee House', housed in a huge colourful tent, equally popular,but with the locals, could not be saved, as the demolition had been carried out already. One should never trifle with these officials! We now understand why we have to bow before the ' parivara devatas in our temples!

In Delhi, you had another class of 'devatas' or devils: the 'consultants'- intermediaries between babus, netas and the private sector.They were in fact liaison men. Almost every company had its own- like permanent agents. They could manage most anything- for the right price. They used to boast: 'Sir, every one has a right price!-Everything has a right price'! But they were a double-edged sword. And one could never be sure of what they would say or do in your name! This is a danger always present in the public sector.

There were other forms of making 'easy money'-called corruption or not. When govt officials were sent abroad, especially from the finance ministry, their stay abroad would be managed by branches or correspondents of Indian banks abroad and their allowances in foreign exchange would be entirely saved. When fairly senior officials went, they would not go by the direct flight, but by connecting flights, involving delay in transit- resulting in an additional day's allowance in dollars! The famous Tamil magazine Thughlaq once carried an article from its Delhi correspondent revealing that all import and export transactions done through MMTC, STC, etc involved  official commission and it asked where the commission went!  I do not think there has been an answer.

I remember an incident. When R.Venkataraman was the Industries minister in Madras, some textile machinery had to be imported from Japan. Everything was finalised. The Japanese then offered the commission. Venkataraman asked them to send another machine in place of commission!

But the govt machinery is not only heartless, it is thoughtless. One does really wonder that things work at all. But the individual officers are also heartless wretches . One case I know is pathetic. The brother of a college-mate of mine was a journalist with a Tamil newspaper, in his late twenties. He was selected as a translator in the Publicity dept of GOI and was asked to join his post immediately. He resigned from the newspaper and joined the post in Delhi. In this case, I do not know how, the medical examination had not been done before the appointment, but was done later. It was found that he had a heart condition. He was asked to undergo surgery and report thereafter. He went to CMC Vellore where such surgeries were done then. It was found that he was weak, would not withstand surgery and was advised some rest and dietary supplements so that surgery could be done after 3 months. He died in about a month.He had been a new employee and had been summarily discharged by the govt; he had resigned from the newspaper and so they had no liability or even sympathy for him. He had been married hardly 4 years earlier. No one thought of compassionate appointment or any compensation. All this because the medical examination was not done before he joined the post. Was it a lapse or was it a standard condition? I was told by my doctor friends that such a condition was not normally serious, most victims carried on normally for long unnoticed, provided they did not engage in strenuous activities;what caused the sudden death in this case might have been the shock! This boy stayed with me during his short stay in Delhi, I could not get over the shock for long. Had I been deficient in some way? Could I have helped?

PSU- again!

I do not know how it is in the private sector, but in the public sector, it is difficult for a straight person to manage to survive. Some times, it is direct. At times he is caught in a cross current. Sarojini Naidu once said that it cost money to keep the Mahatma in poverty.Honesty would cost career in the PSU. 

Often it is found that an honest manager at middle level is found to be inconvenient by either side. He is usually sent to an innocuous position like managing the record office! Or he may be sent on long training, to obtain at least temporary relief. Some time it can get nasty. 

A case I know involves a middle level manager in a PSU. It had to deal with cases of Indo-Aghanistan trade in the olden days, when it was subject to special regulations and facilities.The Indian importer was expecting some unauthorised facilities, bending some rules, but the manager would not do.There was no way to by pass him. The importer found a way. One day he planted some fresh currency notes in his table drawer when he was away . He had locked the drawer of the wooden table ,but it was not a problem to get it opened. Then he tipped off the CBI. They raided his room and found the currency notes! Since he was in the habit of locking the drawers,  it was taken as evidence against him! This man had been such an honest worker for more than two decades, the entire office came to his support and the workmen and junior officers downed their pens! Top management had to intervene, conduct their own study and found the truth. But this had been an exception- he was lucky. But he advised all his friends: don't lock your cabin or room, always keep your drawers open, don't carry work home, always keep another person while talking to customers,etc.

In another case, the No.3 or 4 executive in an Establishment was sought to be implicated, in a matter involving the Chairman. All top appointments in PSUs are political; when the regime changes, the old appointee is troubled by the new ones: they have one post less to extend their favours on! In this case, the new regime got this man investigated. In the process, they asked the above executive to give an adverse statement about the Chairman. He did not really know anything about the matter, and so refused to give the statement. The Investigators told him that since he was no.3 or 4, he 'should have known' it. In the PSUs, things don't work like that . Each executive is an island, just handles his portfolio, and does not know developments in other areas. Finally, they raided his house and office and gathered whatever was available including professional magazines and Telephone Directory, and gave a press statement about 'incriminating documents' having been seized! Finally, nothing could be established against him. If this is the overall picture, what morale or motivation would any one have?

These things happened decades ago, but one hesitates to write about them, even now, after 40 years. As poet Shailendra wrote:

Apne saaye se bhi log darne lage
Ab kisi ko kisi par bharosa nahin!
Ab kahaan jaayen hum?

Where do we go now? People are apprehensive.We can't trust our own shadows!

All good managements believed in protecting the honest worker against genuine mistake.But the managements today have abandoned this practice.

There is also the question of discretion. No administration can lay down rules for all contingencies.Executive power always involved exercise of discretion; but even Indian courts do not support this. 

Literature to spring out of national character!

In this respect I found the Japanese practice better. In institutions like banks, all credit decisions are taken by groups of people, never individually. All decisions have to be by consensus. So matters are discussed repeatedly, each problem and point is thrashed out , the dissenter has to convince others so that all would dissent or the dissenter has to be convinced! If things go wrong- they sure do- no one is harassed as being accountable! The process is tortuous and time consuming, but safe for the executives!

But such practises grow out of national character, not out of American academic text-books! And this is the point I want to make: literature has to grow out of national context and the human character!  Nothing exemplifies this more than the works of Tagore, Munshi Premchand, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, R.K Narayan. There is a local context but a universal human element. Does not a Manjunath invite favourable comparison with a Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, without being American? Boys are boys, and can be both Indian and American! Both are flowers in the garden of humanity. What does it matter if they are not same? Variety adds to richness. Such authors endow humanity with real, perennial wealth.

This is where Indians have generally,almost totally failed. In every field, we have our writers following foreign ideas and trends. Books like India Uninc are exceptional. Arthasastra was written  centuries before Machiavelli, and they are so unlike each other, but we call Kautilya Indian Machiavelli

Machiavelli


Chanakya or Kautilya
An Artist's view.  >..>>> 


Indian religion has always recognised Artha- Economic effort- as a goal worthy of human endeavour: purushartha. Yet our people write  that India was 'other worldy' .They used to ridicule the Hindu rate of growth, forgetting that fast-running economies falter,while the steady and the slow win the race and have the last laugh! There is an element of the eternal and long-term in Indian thinking,its methods and institutions, not the mere ephemeral. Just see one glaring instance of muddled thinking. We expanded our Engineering education in a hurry and manufactured thousands of graduates yearly. Now 60% are found to be unemployable! Now seats are not filled in the colleges!  Not one of them has really good teaching staff.The same process is getting repeated in other areas too. Will we ever learn from the past?