Without discovering it, we become a part of it. Without realising it, we start accepting it as fact. Somethimes, some of us devote our entire lives to it. I am talking about "Lifestyles" (the term as is used in modern popular literature and media.)
Some of us live. Some of us possess style. And some of us strive for "Lifestyles". Essentially, a product of the post-capitalistic consumerist society, this whole concept of a "Lifestyle" driven life is almost alien to India. What is it? It is an affluent's striving for (largely) a self-centred, nuclear existence with the best material comforts the world has on offer. It presupposes certain givens - you don't need too many relatives for your emotional or physical well-being, your intellectual prowess alone will pull you through, you deserve the best (cool!), life is all about "today", you have provided for your parents and seniors, and that you have to adopt everything that's mandated by popular media (cars, soaps, fairness creams, holidays, branded goggles) if life is to be felt to have been lived.
So it comes as a HUGE CONTRAST when you hear about someone who breaks the mould. Someone who says a big no to everything that modern life mandates. Someone who is so different that you can only wonder at his audacity. Like those Western kids who are trying to propagate the seemingly crazy idea of a cashless society (where services are the only exchangeables), this gentleman - by the sheer dint of his consistent iconoclasm - is a true example of contrarian success. He breezes through a Mumbai month with not more than Five Hundred rupees!
Click here to know whom I am talking about.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-09-01/mumbai/28103641_1_crematoriums-clerk-wr
I am sure you were shocked to read that!
Now some regular stuff- We celebrated the Teachers' Day with gaiety across the PT network on 5th of September. What always strikes me the most about these celebrations is
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Some of us live. Some of us possess style. And some of us strive for "Lifestyles". Essentially, a product of the post-capitalistic consumerist society, this whole concept of a "Lifestyle" driven life is almost alien to India. What is it? It is an affluent's striving for (largely) a self-centred, nuclear existence with the best material comforts the world has on offer. It presupposes certain givens - you don't need too many relatives for your emotional or physical well-being, your intellectual prowess alone will pull you through, you deserve the best (cool!), life is all about "today", you have provided for your parents and seniors, and that you have to adopt everything that's mandated by popular media (cars, soaps, fairness creams, holidays, branded goggles) if life is to be felt to have been lived.
So it comes as a HUGE CONTRAST when you hear about someone who breaks the mould. Someone who says a big no to everything that modern life mandates. Someone who is so different that you can only wonder at his audacity. Like those Western kids who are trying to propagate the seemingly crazy idea of a cashless society (where services are the only exchangeables), this gentleman - by the sheer dint of his consistent iconoclasm - is a true example of contrarian success. He breezes through a Mumbai month with not more than Five Hundred rupees!
Click here to know whom I am talking about.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-09-01/mumbai/28103641_1_crematoriums-clerk-wr
I am sure you were shocked to read that!
Now some regular stuff- We celebrated the Teachers' Day with gaiety across the PT network on 5th of September. What always strikes me the most about these celebrations is
- there is tremendous respect students in India possess naturally for teachers
- if channelised properly, this sentiment can work wonders
- most teachers are extremely sensible, and alive to their task
- it is touching to see old students remember you after many years!
- the talent of young students is boundless, and just needs some right nudge & push
- event management must be learnt by doing it
- before any event is conducted, a printed "Process Chart" must be prepared
- traditions must be integrated into the "Process Charts" - so if there is the national anthem and the Honour Code that is to be recited at the end of any event, it must be made a part of the Process Chart itself
- nothing brings the Teaching Fraternity together like a sentiment-driven event on Teachers' Day - I felt that with hundreds of my colleagues yesterday
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15 comments:
Respected Sir,
Morning was automatically good when i Read your BLOG.
Great to read about the Lifestyles..and what to say about MR.Narayan Murthy great combitaion of Vision,hardwork,Ethics and Commitment.He started with Rs20000 and now the company has Cash balance of 10000crores..Thats Success.Hats off to him.Will surely read this book.
At the last thought on Teachers day celebration and your beautiful speech -"AAGE NIKAL RAHE HAI HUM"!!
Good morning Sir,
How are you?
Nice blog and we enjoyed a lot our yesterday's project.
Dear Sir,
It was really an eye opener.
Today we are so obsessed to buy everything in a mad pursuit of "lifestyle" culture that we tend to neglect the unexpected. One of the best ways to stand out is to live below your means so that you don't struggle when everyone around does . This provides with a lot of freedom too.
It may be toughest task when culture dictates extravagance, but those who break the mould are winners.
Yours sincerely
Munish Sharma
Fall'09, Indore.
Respected Sir,
Nice to read this.
Ashish Sharma
Fall 09, Indore
Hi Anurag, Ashish - thanks for reading, and commenting!
Munish - good observations!
Akshay - we all loved the event! Try learning from each aspect of it.
Respected Sir,
The input about the printed Process Chart is valuable & I think everyone organizing the event must have a copy of it. I am sure next time onwards this will be implemented.
Shoaib Qureshi
Fall 09, Indore
Respected Sir,
It was good to read another thought-provoking article of yours.
It sketched in my mind a picture of a man, tied fast to his stump of self-centredness with an elastic rope, and trying hard to run in all directions boundlessely with shaking legs, in order to accumulate as much as possible and then springing back to the stump.
I wonder at the quality of that elastic which though becoming thin with every stretch, doesn't break.
Isn't 'consumers' the apt title for us, instead of human beings?
The article about Mr Mukund Prabhakar Agte was really shocking.
The Project 'Guru Vandan' was a wonderful experiential learning in humble manner.
With regards, I would like to share a few of my learnings:
1.Our purple colour stand out among the different shades of black and white. We are totally diversified from run on the mill approach.
2.It is the person at middle level of hierarchy, who reaches closer to value of things. In business terms, it is the middle class who is the promising customer to be focussed upon. And, the dots can be connected - the surging southern world with huge growth potential, the scarcity as a requisite to demand, the growing phase in the product life cycle, the ignorance towards the sharp decline of the most common bird 'sparrow,' so on and so forth. Coming closer, it is the need to work more diligently with interest in the developing committees at PROTON, and not only in the coveted fives.
3. We, the Protons, with all the values imbibed in us, our Honour Code and adherence to our PROTON culture, our nature of work, in a nutshell, everything that went into making us a Proton during the span of 35 days so far, was clearly validated by the appreciation we received by the teachers and their elated faces.
Congratulations and thank you Sir for such an effort of your entire management team and faculty members, for bringing such a wholesome effect to our daily course of learning.
Thank you for reading.
Sincere regards,
Proton Nidhi Agarwal
Good Evening Sir,
It was a great effort taken by Mitesh sir and the whole PT Universe. We really enjoyed the process.
Shoaib, Nidhi, Vidit - thanks for reading and commenting.
Process Charts can drastically change the way you look at event management. Try it!
Respected Sir,
We would always look forward to contribute our efforts and be a part of any of the programmes or initiatives taken by PT Universe.
Its always our pleasure to do something for Proton
Respected Sir,
It was a great experience for me in a project "Guruvandan".
The top 2 things i have learnt from this project were:
1) How to communicate with the higher authorities.
2) The value of respect.
Thanks for the project.
Proton Ankit Talera
A couplet from a song in a very old Hollywood musical movie - KING & I
" Its a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought,
when you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught "
SM
Dear Ankit, Subhro - thanks for reading!
Subhro - wonderful thought. I particularly also like the saying "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear"
Respected Sir,
Mr. Apte's life is really tough. It's hard to believe that a person is apending his nights in crematorium's for last 2 decades. It's amazing.
Thanks for the insight.
Regards
Ashu Barjatya (Proton-Indore)
It was a nice read. Thanks for sharing!
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