The world has been changing so fast that it scarcely seems to be the same every other day. In 1997, when India was punished for going Nuclear and letting the world knows about its nuclear capability; In Europe, the euro had not been introduced as a common currency; Amitabh Bacchan was still young and Madhuri Dixit was not so plump; Hong Kong had not yet been handed back to China; Google did not exist; the dragon’s dominance in the world economic map was still a far cry and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were still four years away ---- Deepak was frustrated , why is his father not listening to him.
Deepak wanted to change his father’s old “Ambassador “car (a distant cousiin of 1941 model Austin) for a new Generation X car. The newspapers were full of advertisements. “Exchange your old car for a new one, and pay on easy monthly installments. Deepak was trying desperately to convince his father but he was adamant. What his son is not aware of are the many cherished memories attached to the car. When Deepak was born he was brought from the local hospital in this car. Deepak had grown up with this car.
Deepak graduated and got into a Post Graduate Business Administration course.
He wanted to change the world too soon. He has now acquired a new motorbike with a funky look. He has changed his attire and wardrobe. Everything he has changed with the passage of time but he is still not able to change his father’s outlook, attitude and business policies. His father still goes to the factory in a white sweat shirt and a cotton trouser. He still mingles with the factory workers. Tries to gauge their feelings. Hugs them when he is overjoyed and also hurls choicest abuses when angry.
Now India has opened up. Private bankers have come in. “Gone are the days when a nationalized Bank staff would talk to you rudely”. Smart young people are now manning the private banks with their plastic smile, trying every moment to access a customer in terms of business he would give. But India is different. People can differentiate between the artificial and the natural. The common man can do wonders. He can shun Ray-Ban, Reebok and prefer locally made under garments. He uses Debit Cards instead of Credit Cards. The billions of middle class Indian market use their own thinking based on their sincere feelings for their families.
Deepak comes to the factory in a Ford but his father still comes in the old car. People love his father more than him. Deepak had tried to implement all his “imported management policies” in the factory. His father had given him the required space. Some were successful while others miserably failed.
Deepak wonders why things don’t work here. He has tried to implement most of the case studies that he has learned. He is impatient. Why India is so averse to change? Is there a physiological factor playing among the Indians? A change is required but why there is so much resistance?
What he fails to notice are the small meaningful energetic changes that keep taking place against seeming changelessness.
He forgets that small changes are much more powerful than big artificial ones. There is actually no resistance. How can one grapple and fight against something that has no resistance at all. So, no big changes can be brought about in India by copying something or somebody else. It is always a state of becoming not being. That is the ethos of the land called India.
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