I would like to share two thoughts on this 72nd Independence Day. The first one is rather new thinking that is evident from several interested messages on social media. These messages talk about the real freedom that shall liberate us from narrow minded attitudes on regionalism, religion, dietary habits, casteism, sexism, parochialism and such negative isms that are restraining our great nation from an all inclusive progress. The most heartwarming thing about this kind of messaging is that as education and economic prosperity take root in our country, more and more people cutting across segments are supporting such thoughts. It is not confined to a few pseudo seculars, but is being propagated by more and more commoners like us. Violence in the name of caste based reservation, religion, road rage, sexual list, beef eating, rumour mongering etc. are all derogatory and representative of primitive mentality. Can this thought be converted into a nationalist movement of such force that even opportunistic politicians do not dare disturb social fabric of this country?

Second thought is something that strikes me after a little bit of exposure that I regularly try to get to Pakistani media. In India, we celebrate freedom as a positive outcome of prolonged struggle against 200 years of oppressive British rule. We remember our heroes – known and unknown – who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. We also lament the unfortunate partition of this country by remembering holocaust linked to migration of populations from one part of the undivided India to divided India or Pakistan. However, the impression I get from Pakistani version of celebration is that they rather rejoice separation from India more than liberation from British rule. They only talk about the rigid stand taken by their founding father Jinnah against the unified India, insisting on creation of a separate state for Muslim majority. They rather seem to be happy about the prospects of having avoided living in a Hindu majority India. Isn’t this a strange thought? Hindus and Muslims have lived together for centuries in peace and are continuing doing so in Secular India, which boasts of a Muslim population larger than that of Pakistan. We do have Ram Mandir- Babari Masjid dispute, occasional riots, stray incidents of discrimination, but wherever communities live with full freedom, some friction can not be totally ruled out! And is a Muslim majority and relatively more homogeneous Pakistan free from strife or dispute amongst its citizens?

The two German nations got united and two Koreas may unite; unless Pakistan avoids harbouring such thoughts and change its attitude, while unification is an impossible possibility, co-existence in peace will always remain a distant dream!

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Indians. Jai Hind

I can very well imagine the hope and euphoria that the citizens of our neighbour may be going through at this juncture. The situation can be likened to 1991 when a very raw, reluctant and innocent but extremely honest Rajiv Gandhi was taking over as the Prime Minister of India. To some extent, this hope and expectation was also kindled by Dr Manmohan Singh twice – once while taking over as Finance Minister and then as PM. I think this hope is common to any country and nationality whenever a person of eminence in a field other than hard core politics assumes a public office of such stature.

Having said so, the comparisons above is really not very pertinent as unlike Rajiv and Manmohan, who were pursuing their respective passions almost till the last moment before being dragged into the big bad world of politics forcibly due to prevalent circumstances, Imran nurtured these aspirations almost since he demitted the role of Pakistan cricket team captain after heady World Cup victory.

His PTI has been in the thick of the controversy and his victory is quagmired in the charges of rigging elections with all powerful Pakistani Army support. His main rival Nawaz Sharif was deprived of the level playing field as he was cooling his heals in the prison along with his daughter during the crucial pre polling canvassing period on charges of corruption. His personal life is also not too clean with a spate of marriages ( with one hardly lasting 11 months; this ex wife is not leaving any opportunity to malign Imran’s reputation and image) and the current also reportedly going through rough weather. His love child out of wedlock with Sita White is the stuff that adorns headlines of gossip magazines.

While India may not have any major reason to rejoice as he is not likely to go against the line being towed by hard liners, Pakistan should not lose hope to end her continuous tryst with miseries (power shortage, inflation, terrorism, law and order, international standing, debt burden etc) for the following reason:

(1) Imran is educated, suave, charming and has much broader outlook then any of his predecessors ever had, except may be the founding father Jinnah, who for all his hawkishness, was a liberal at heart.

(2) He is not a mere talker but a doer. Shaukat Khanum Cancer Research Institute, Karachi, promoted by him in memory of his late mother , who expired of cancer, is his great contribution to the citizenry of that country. As I understand, the hospital already has branches in Lahore and another city.

(3) He brings with him certain basic tenets of a sportsman- discipline, fitness, team spirit, camaraderie, temperament, patriotism- all the virtues that today’s Pakistan is badly in need of.

(4) Pakistan is almost on the verge of adoption of Islamic Law (Sharia), which may be just one Mullah away. Imran offers hope of liberalism, openness and modernism.

(5)’Lastly, unlike Musharraf and few others, who hated India in spite of undivided India being their birth place, Imran knows that India’s sport lovers adore his personality and attitude and this should be enough reason for him to use this goodwill to make a positive start.

All the best Imran!

The other day I learnt a new word of Hindi/Marathi outside a train coach – ” Reserved for cancer patients and divyang (having godly body parts) persons”. I liked the word that is representative of progress since the days when we called people with crude and vulgar terms such as langda (lame), bahra (deaf) or andha (blind). In English what started as handicapped became spastic and then differently abled, visually challenged, hearing impaired but I think and readers will agree that “Divyang” takes the cake for its sheer sincerity and sensitivity. It can be loosely translated in English as “God’s blessed ability”, which is extremely respectful and sensitive to the challenge that such persons face.

But this has happened across the use of English language. Problem has become pain point and domain is comfort zone. Transparency became slide, which became presentation then power point and now its trendy acronym PPT. You now leverage strength and not merely use it and derive benefits rather than just taking them! Outsourced agencies are channel partners, head office is corporate office, meeting is brainstorming, housewife is homemaker, home is abode and humble bus became public transport and then Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system! For some reason using the word actress for a female performer has become demeaning and so is respectful Madam (though Ma’am, pronounced with a silent d is alright). Doctor is medical practitioner, lawyer is legal counsellor, banker is financial advisor, radio announcer is radio jockey, host is an emcee, artist is an exponent, peon is an office boy and policeman a cop. Outline is now become contour while future is road ahead. Change has now become disruption while any difficulty is now a constraint.

When the change is the only constant, language has got to change as change is always for the betterment. However, we must not lose human qualities of inclusiveness and compassion and accept not only languages but their different dialects, variants, versions and forms without necessarily looking down upon the users of quaint old language.

In our childhood, we knew of very few days – Republic Day, Independence Day, Teachers’ Day Children’s Day and of course ever popular the 1st of April the Fool’s Day. Then during studies we learnt that May 1 was Internationally celebrated as Labour Day. Fast forward to 90s, when people of my generation were grown up, married and parents of 1 or 2 kids, a new fad called Valentine’s Day started catching up. We regretted and lamented at our days of prime youth when this was unknown. Fast forward this to now and virtually every other day is a special day. There has been World environment day, laughter day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and just gone by Friendship Day.

While some of the special days mentioned at the beginning corresponded to significant events that happened on those dates – India becoming republic, India attaining independence, Pandit Nehru’s birthday to whom children were very dear, Dr Radhakrishnan’s birthday who was an erudite scholar and very old traditional Fool’s day, but what about some of the newly coined special days? Do our parents deserve only one day in a year to be remembered or paid respect to? Should the person we love from the deepest core of our heart wait for Valentine’s Day to be expressed love to or gifted? And above all our friends, who are our lifeline, do we need a special day to celebrate friendship? We are from an era when friends meant family. Friends were there for you at all points of time and with a true friend around, there was hardly need for anything else. He or she would be a partner in studies, games, movies, festivals, family functions and never ever any need was felt to either express gratitude or say thanks or sorry!

However , in today’s parlance when the competition is cut throat, focus is on one’s own well being and progress, personal ambition and requirements take precedence over all relations and friendly hug has been replaced by WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, celebrating one day in a year as Friendship Day probably makes sense.

If we ask a senior citizen who was the best actor of his or her times, the odds are that majority of them will say Dilip Kumar, till date regarded as the best actor India has ever produced, a true thespian. If we ask people of our age and even millennial the same question, the chances are that 9 out of 10 are going to name one amongst the Khan triumvirate. Madhubala was Marilyn Monroe of India and indisputably the most beautiful face to ever hit the Indian silver screen. India is a land of music and culture and has produced in the past and will continue to produce in future artists of all hues and colours. But likes of Mohammad Rafis are born probably once in 100 years and while there have been classical music exponents galore, but very few have touched the heights attained by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Allahrakha, Ustaad Vilayat Khan or Bismillah Khan. If we ask Ghazal lovers their favourite, chances are the poet is going to be Mirza Ghalib and singer Mehandi Hassan and our own Begum Akhtar continues to rule the heart of music lovers as one of the greatest exponents of ghazals in her own unique style, ages after she bade adieu to this world.While we have a battery of talented female singers, our very own nightingale says that there can never be another Noor Jahan. One of the best Hindu devotional song to ever have ever been produced was penned by Shakeel, composed by Naushad and sung by the great Mohammad Rafi. There have been several film makers and grand movies, but people remember Mahboob Khan and Mughal-e-Azam most fondly. Of course, tragedy queen immortalised herself with her swan song performance as a Courtesan in evergreen hit film Pakeezah, whose numbers composed by Master Ghulam Mohammad are all time classics. And if you ask me someone in the recent past catching the fantasy of Indians like no one before, inspiring today’s generation like never before, it has to be the great scientist, one of the most popular Presidents of this country, ever humble and simple Dr APJ Abdul Kalam ! Our favourite food is Biryani and Mughlai cuisine is now amongst the most popular cuisines internationally. If we love individuals of the community, love their art and food, adore their personality and appreciate their contribution, it shows that we have assimilated them into our own selves and there can be no hatred or discrimination against them. While an ordinary citizen understands this very well, is this not clear to the proponents of vote bank policy who thrive on causing friction amongst the communities instead of unifying them? Only an ordinary Indian, who has been all inclusive since time immemorial, can do this by carrying forward the great spirit of tolerance that’s intrinsic to India’s ethos.

According to an interesting article appearing in e magazine, Mindbullets, China is breaching the vacuum created by US leadership crisis and not Europe. With a large population and internal consumption, the needle to nano technology country is there everywhere. It’s new generation entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma have acquired cult status almost at par with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. China’s innovators in the field of machine or artificial intelligence, robotics and nanotechnology are making major disruptions in the fields of telecom, e commerce and global financial systems. It is also focusing on infrastructure and its dream of One Belt One Road (OBOR) is a manifestation of its endeavour to provide seamless movement of raw materials into China and finished goods from China.

There have been videos doing rounds on social media concerning China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Though being objected to by India, as it stretches along the territory under disputed occupation of Pakistan, the structure itself is being touted as eighth wonder of the world reckoning the sheer technological marvel that it is! Though abandoned by US, it’s old ally, Pakistan hardly seems worried on economic or defence fronts (two areas in which it relied on US – for financial aid and weaponry) as China is proving to be its all weather friend and to that extent Pakistan foreign policy makers can not be faulted.

With Kargil and Doklam issues still very fresh in our memories, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives showing clear tilt towards China and Bangladesh posing problem of different sort, India cannot afford to lower its guard. But the policy makers and politicians of this country do not seem to be realising this issue and giving it the attention that it deserves. Their infighting, mud slinging and policy of promoting vote banks seem to be destroying the social fabric of our great country weakening it internally. All sane minded forces should rise above petty politics to be together because united we stand and divided we fall. We, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and above all the Indians will be there only if India of our dreams is there – strong and prosperous.

The word management has several connotations. It is said that each person in an office, managing a particular activity or a desk, is a manager in his or her own right. A group of such managers form a team that is managed by a team leader. Several teams form a department, which is managed by a departmental head. A few departments combine to form a part of the bank – corporate relationship management, credit appraisal, credit risk, credit operations are essentially part of the corporate bank while retail relationship managers, retail operations etc. constitute retail bank. Each bank has a head of corporate bank, corporate centre and retail bank, which can be board level positions. Above them is CEO and MD.

If each of the above is a manager, how are their roles and responsibilities different? MD’s role is to give direction by laying down the vision that the bank or company is supposed to follow. In addition, the values such as ethics, culture, transparency etc. are also outcomes of the vision. Rest all the roles are about managing work and people. However, both these viz. work and people require different skills. While managing work requires domain knowledge, knowledge of the operating ecosystem and building team comprising best of the talents, managing people is more complex as it mainly entails softer skills, difficult to codify.

Over the last 35 years or so that I have been working (across roles, verticals, organizations), I have seen it all – the bosses who have been feared, respected, idolized, adored, hated, emulated and fully replicated. While not much has changed over the years and bosses still continue to either fascinate or frustrate their subjects, the new generation of managers seem to be better skilled to meet the aspirations of millennial. I worked with managers who were sticklers for quality of drafting (to the extent that each comma should be in the right place) and would approve a letter or communication finally after number of corrections till the best text emerged. Today in the age of Whatsapp and other social media, forget comma/full stop, the spellings are auto corrected to American English and slangs and acronyms are used freely. As the communication is mostly on e-mails, Dear, Mr., Respectfully at the beginning and Thanks, Sincerely, Obediently, Truly are all but forgotten. Some of my bosses of the erstwhile expected you to be in Office (with or without work) till they were there or seek their permission if you intended leaving ahead of them. I see today’s bosses themselves more worried about life beyond work and leaving in time to be with family and pursuing other hobbies. And one of the biggest changes can be seen in the interpersonal relations. We used to address even one batch senior guy “Sir”, leave apart senior functionaries. Today, calling all your colleagues, immediate seniors, department heads and even CEOs by their first names is the in thing and Sirs and Madams are a big time passe.

Management styles have indeed undergone big time changes. There is no point in lamenting about the past (office decorum, respect for seniors, formal behaviour) as these disruptive changes are irreversible. But is something missed from the old time? I think those lifelong relationships and  bonds,  that gratefulness-  when you learnt something good you treated that senior like a “Guru”, that family feeling are some of the good things of the past that are amiss today. However, there are several good things in the changed scenario also. But let me pay my obeisance to all my seniors from whom I learnt so much and to whom I owe what I am today on this auspicious day of “Guru Purnima”. I am not sure whether I will be eligible for similar gratitude from my subjects! But I have decided to move ahead with the change.

 

In furtherance to my previous blog, another commonality between the two countries is total disillusionment of the populace with the politicians. This is a loose translation of how frivolous are the election promises as explained in a Pakistani Punjabi satirical poem. It reads:

Three streams flowed out of mighty river Ravi,

Two were dry and the third never flowed;

Three persons came to bathe in stream that never flowed,

Two drowned and third was never found.

One who was never found actually found three cows,

Two impotent and the third unable to bear calf;

One who wasn’t able to bear, gave birth to three calves;

Two were lame and the third was unable to get up;

One who was unable to get up was priced at three gold mohurs,

Two were fake and the third illegal tender;

One that was illegal was brought to three goldsmiths;

Two were blind and the third incapable of seeing;

One who was incapable of seeing anything got three blows;

Two were in the air and the third off target!!!!

Politicians must redeem themselves through their act and conduct, lest they be target of ridicule of masses, a result of their hopelessness, as expressed beautifully in the above satire.

Our neighbour goes to polls today. It’s a three way fight with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) and Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) being the main contenders and the slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) providing the third dimension. As is inferred from the press and media, there has been unprecedented rancour and mud slinging during the campaign and Army seems to be once again involved actively and favouring Imran this time. Nawaz and his daughter’s arrest in graft case has further spiced up the contest.

We take great deal of pride in being the World’s largest democracy. While for Pakistan the tryst with successful democracy is a new experience (this is the first time since independence that a democratically elected government has completed its full tenure) for India its business as usual. Since independence we have only had democratically elected governments. But in some sense, the signs of common lineage are very evident. The canvassing involves lots of rabble rousing, noise, wasteful expenditure, unhealthy practices (cash, other incentives), character assassination and exchange of wild allegations. There is no grace, rationality, constructive agenda, poise, tolerance or sensitivity. Isn’t it strange that BJP sees no good work done by successive Congress governments since independence and Congress sees no positives in BJP government? Even a totally apolitical campaign such as “Swachch Bharat” does not find favours with the opposition.

But the comparison is unfair beyond this point. India is a matured democracy. Notwithstanding the loser finding faults in electronic voting machines (EVMs), the election commission is a neutral body with substantial powers. We do see election related violence particularly in geographies like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but ours is definitely far more peace loving society when compared to Pakistan. And above all, Military here is focused on protecting the nation from enemies rather than being interested in politics.

But there is a drawback too! Most of the matured democracies , be it US or UK, see one to one or at best triangular contests. India for long time had Congress (centrist with slight tilt to left), BJP or its original clone Bhartiya Jana Sangha (rightist) and CPI/CPM (leftist). Regional parties did exist ( Akali, Shiv Sena, DMK) but it was largely triangular affair. Now on the face of it we have BJP led NDA and Congress led UPA- but as it seems the 2019 election is likely to show case muscle power of Samajwadi, BSP, Trinamool, TDP, DMK, AIDMK, BLD, Biju Janta Dal, Shiv Sena, RSP, Akali Dal, NCP, FB, JD(S), TRS, National Conference, AIMM…..the list is endless. Everyone will flex his muscle extracting his pound of flesh. Will Indian voter prove his/her maturity and rise above cast, creed, religion and factionalism to vote for the best candidate and save the country from chaos to be caused by in the likely scenario of hung mandate? After all, how long can the strange bedfellows sleep with the enemy?

Today is 22nd July, a landmark day as far as I am concerned, because it proved to be a game changer as far my life is concerned.

I was rather fresh university pass out with very little professional experience when I joined State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur on 22nd July 1985, which unfortunately is a redundant entity having merged with colossal SBI, as a Probationary Officer, a respectable and well sought after service in civil life. Alas, the first experience was none too pleasant, with my first branch being one of the notorious branches of New Delhi! I felt suffocated, regretting my decision to join SBBJ in preference to another Bank, whose offer was also simultaneously available to me! However, come October and were invited to the training centre at Jaipur for almost month long induction programme. Here I was exposed for the first time to people from all over – Orissa, Bihar, Bengal, Assam, South apart from Delhi- a mix of scholarly, erudite and interesting fellows. Not that we struck an immediate camaraderie; there were groups, sub groups, factions, which is not uncommon when people with vastly different backgrounds come together for the first time! We also, for the first time, met our seniors, who were vastly different from the crowd we were exposed to at our branches. Beautiful city of Jaipur added to the quality of our experience.

Fast forward to 2018 i.e 33 years later, I am drenched in nostalgia remembering good times that we had, especially during our first congregation in October 1985. The batch is not even half the original size. A few left within the first couple of years for greener pastures like IAS and SBI. When the Govt. decided to liberalise licensing of new banks, a host of new generation private sector banks took birth, more significant amongst them being Axis Bank, then known as UTI Bank. It’s founder CMD was the then MD of SBI, who had earlier headed SBBJ too. There was, therefore, an efflux of officials across grades from SBBJ to UTI that included the writer of this blog. Life continued till social media gave an opportunity to bring us together once again after a long hiatus.

Today professionally each one of us may be different- some are in private sector banks, some have migrated to other countries, some continue to have their tryst with SBI. Several of us are in different cadres, with one of us recently having been named to head a nationalised Bank. One of us has superannuated, one opted for early retirement, while most others will be doing so in next 2 to 4 years. One of us has died too. A few of us have their children doing very well and I have become a grandfather too! But when we are together on common platform, nothing matters – professional achievement, personal wealth, geographic location. Only thing that matters is that a relationship that started 33 years ago has only got stronger and stronger and while we shall start retiring, becoming feeble with age, having Alzheimer’s or what not and ultimately dying, we will always cherish those moments that we once spent together.