A New Game -- Pain in the ....

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Munna Ranjan was very happy. He cleared the UPSC Examinations. This afternoon the postman handed him an “O.I.G.S “marked registered letter. It contained the job offer, directing him to join one of the premier Government offices on or before 31^st December at Delhi.

The evening “aarti” at the Hunuman temple had just started. Munna, barefooted went to the temple. He took one of the “Hunuman Chalisa” books, squatted in front of the image of Lord Hunuman and started reading it with a new energy. He stayed there till the aarti was over. He took a “parikrama” and returned back to his home. 

Munna joined the government office on 15^th December. The elders were giving him a lot of advice. Ragging of a different kind started. He was made to do some odd jobs like filing, indexing, page numbering etc. At the end of the day Munna went to his new home, satisfied. He made a small list in his mind --- whom to give and what to give, when he gets his first salary.  

Munna started preparing for his 15^th transfer. His upright attitude in life has made him suffer. He didn’t know how to manipulate and use office politics as a weapon to guard himself. He was singled out and hammered. Munna was very good at his work. At times he became arrogant and rude to his higher ups. He thought his work would speak for him but it didn’t. Bosses wanted something more from him.

Sefali Dixit Kumar, the only daughter of an IPS officer who had headed one of the offices under the Ministry of Home regularly uses her father’s clout to gain undue advantage. Be it securing an out of turn taxi at the airport or not getting a challan (ticket) at a No-parking zone she always has her father’s name on her lips. Sefali got through the Civil Services Exams after a third attempt. Her rank was quite lower in the order. She became an IOFS (Indian Ordnance Factory Service) officer but she didn’t want to join. Her father again came to her rescue.

Sefali Dixit had married a Tamil and didn’t want to affix the surname of her husband. After a lot of coaxing and fatherly advice from her only “father” she added that “Kumar” after her name. She believed these are done by the males so as to dominate their woman folk of the society. She wanted power and wanted it badly. She was very good at understanding the power centers in the office. Her noodle strap designer blouses did the trick as most of the middle aged male officers and “over the horizon” senior officers went gaga over her. She was attractive and venomous. There was no hurdle for her. She got everything she desired. From junior staff to the chief in the office everyone addressed her as “Madame”. Every thing went smoothly for her. Her TA, Medical Bills, Leave, Loan sanction was done at record time but others had to wait for days if not for months. Was it because of her able handling of the staff or she knew exactly the pulse of the epicenter of power. She was used to hearing the phrase “yes Madam”.

“Power” is intoxicating. It gives a “high feeling”. Sefali had tasted power. She wanted to be a symbol of woman’s emancipation. She is the new generation woman where she wants to hold the reins of power. Sefali was a regular visitor to the high end clubs where army officers and government officers would love to ogle at her. Her liaison with other government officials didn’t help her office though. She enjoyed them and ey also had a new perverted feeling with her.

Sefali Dixit Kumar was also posted at the same station where Munna got posted. Sefali is Munna’s new boss. Munna did not learn from his previous mistakes. Munna made his opinions clear. He did not become a “yes madam” like others. While others were enjoying, Munna was slogging at his desk. Sefali didn’t like him. She wanted to dominate this man. All her men in her short 32 years of her life had been her slaves. She was not used to hear a “no” from anyone. Sefali was waiting for the right moment to strike Munna. The opportune moment came. An important file went missing. It was under the custody of Munna. An enquiry was initiated by Sefali. She placated him for the important missing file. The Chief of the station tried to down play the whole episode. Sefali was desperate to nail Munna. She filed a detailed report directly to the Headquarters. Some of the decision making officers were her biggest fans. They did what she wanted them to do. A commission held Munna guilty. All decisions were made ex-parte. Munna was not heard at all. Munna lost his seniority and was transferred to the newly opened station at Nagaland --- 16^th transfer.

Lesson Learned:

1. Vindictive nature and ego of bosses dampen the best people in the organizations at the expense of organizational peformance.

2. Bosses such as Shefali wants their subordinates to have their faces turned towards them and their backs turned towards work and clients.

3. This is an old game but appears in new forms. No organizational systems design can take care of this critical aspect that spoils an organization at its roots.

This post is contributed by Mr. Sitendu De.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

Social Learning:A Case Study:No One No Thing

Learning is an intensely personal affair though not totally a private affair and certainly not meant for the faint of heart.

This is what I discovered about learning over an active learning span of about half a century: Effective long term learning takes place in three interdependent ways:

a) Enlist at least one like minded co-learner to start -- dialogues, discussions, thinking and working together.
b) Create time and space for deep reflections or practice by doing -- working on a live problem, doing something like blogging and twitting, listening, thinking, imagining, practicing a skill, commenting etc.
c) Engage a mentor, who has traveled a long way on this path  to assist the learning process -- dialogue, questioning, guidance, bouncing off ideas, gently encouraging to take critical leaps in understanding, learning about lessons learned etc.

Admittedly even five years back this approach was difficult to work with. Now it is not so. Thanks to the rapid growth of the social media things are turning out to be extremely interesting, easy and full of fun. Learning is everywhere and nowhere. It depends on the learner. The modern mantra of learning is NO ONE: NO THING (not NONE and NOTHING). One can set up his/her own learning experience the way he/she likes.

With this in mind I with a group of dedicated learners started leveraging the existing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for effective long term learning. Learning groups were formed around two subjects: a) Vibration, Flow and Wear b) Industrial Problem Solving & Innovation. In this story I would like to highlight how effective learning can take place through constructive and supportive dialogues.

We were discussing on a blog post in our one-month-old group 'Industrial Problem Solving & Innovation':Ref: http://rapidinnovation.org/what-limits-a-systems-performance-what-we-mig (What Limits a System's Performance and What we might Do about it?)

The dialogue (excerpts from Facebook)  that followed was this:

Dibyendu De: Added a comment to the blog post to make the example more clear. Does it make it clearer? Comment.

Wednesday at 15:14 · LikeUnlike

D C Padhi: Destroying a system would need enormous courage. Possibly to hide ones fear human tend to believe that things will be OK with passing of time. I think it's not the same system that become OK after elapsed time. The future only bring new sets of essence & emergence of a fresh system where man get engaged & forget the past. Whether we ourselves destroy or not it would destroy itself once balance is lost.

Wednesday at 15:24 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: To me the airport case seems to be an excellent interaction between AND & NOW. This NOW changes every moment & with that the ANDs might also change. The complete system becomes dynamic. O&M should also include system re-design all along the system life cycle to keep it at dynamic equilibrium.

Wednesday at 15:28 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Thank you. You just gave me a brilliant idea. I think the words essence and emergence are difficult words to understand by general public. It is better to call the essence as 'and' (the critical relationship that makes a difference) and the emergence as 'now'. What do you think?

Wednesday at 15:48 · LikeUnlike ·

D. C. Padhi: All I can say at this moment is that your understanding is 'WOW'! Gr8. Keep it up. Now we would build up from now. Can we now tackle the previous cases..?

Wednesday at 15:50 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: So from now we would use AND and the NOW.

Wednesday at 15:55 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Yes.Essence & emergence are difficult to swallow. I find AND & NOW the best. I think this is the central theme of ST.

Wednesday at 15:56 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi: Human Dimensions of change is a long story. I have not yet studied it thoroughly. Pls allow some time.

Wednesday at 16:02 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Can we make a simple equation {AND1,AND2,AND3.....}=NOW

Wednesday at 16:13 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Thanks for your encouragement.

Wednesday at 16:27 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Yes, it can now be stated in simple maths or set theory. Let the elements of the set (system) be e1, e2, e3.... Then S = {e1, e2, e3,...}. Then the relationships can be drawn out (like a truth table) & defined as e1 <->e2 = AND1 and say e2 <-> e3 = AND2. Let this two form the critical relationship that determines the now. Then {AND1, AND2} = NOW.

Dibyendu De: The practical problem is how do we go from the NOW to the AND set. Why do I say this? Because we would definitely see the NOW (the visible portion). From the NOW we would have to find out the AND (the invisible portion). After we find the AND we can then change, modify or monitor the NOW for collective benefit.

Wednesday at 16:57 · LikeUnlikeWednesday at 16:53 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: So, how do you do that?

Wednesday at 16:58 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: You see that we would have to go down from the whole(NOW) to the ANDs, make some changes there, go up again to NOW to see the effect of the changes. So it is going down and up at the same time. That is wholistic creativity. What do you think?

Wednesday at 17:00 · Like

Dibyendu De: Not only up and down but sideways too and move in circular fashion. Truly wholistic.

Wednesday at 17:02 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi:I am able see a better picture.Once the NOW is crtically observed & AND is honestly understood then ST goes and DT should come into action for achieving improvement. Am I right? Making changes seems to me like manual tuning of process controller(may be a PID control sys for better stability).Do u agree here? Lastly if we are to move circular can we not move in a sphere (the world is 3D).

Wednesday at 19:00 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: "ST goes and DT should come into action for achieving improvement" - exactly. Tuning to change AND to change NOW is ok. If tuning does not change NOW - no use. The 3 words for improvements may be Design (new), Modify (change), Monitor (feedback). OR easy: Bhrama (Modify to create new NOW), Vishu (Feedback/monitor to maintain), Mahesh/Shiva (Design new after destroying the old - change the old).

Wednesday at 19:10 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Bhrama, Vishnu, Shiva - The Trinity

Wednesday at 19:11 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: This is sublime.

Wednesday at 19:14 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: In ST we would go from NOW to AND. In DT we would go from AND to NOW.

Wednesday at 19:20 · Like

Dibyendu De: In fact in ST it is an iterative action between NOW to AND and Back and.. In DT it is AND to NOW and back ...(again iterative action..). In ST the iteration is in the thinking. In DT the iteration is in the action (doing) that promotes thinking.

Wednesday at 19:23 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Revised the blog post. Check whether it is now easier to understand.

Wednesday at 19:24 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi; This is instant DT. May I call it Rapidinnovation.

Wednesday at 19:26 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi: Now the engineering community may understand what you say.

Wednesday at 19:27 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi; The blog post has a new NOW. more valuable.

Wednesday at 19:30 · UnlikeLike

Dibyendu De; OK. So Rapidinnovation is the play of the AND and the NOW or Rapidinnovation = Doing by Thinking about Thinking (ST) + Thinking by Doing (DT). Does it look right?

Wednesday at 19:32 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It looks wonderful. She is most beautiful.

Wednesday at 19:37 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It's beauty compels me to use "she" instead of "it".

Wednesday at 19:38 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: LOL. Understand your viewpoint.

Wednesday at 19:39 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De; This conversation was simply fantastic -- a thing to remember for life. I would be out for about 2 hours. Would pick up the thread at about 10. Thx for the wonderful exchange.

Wednesday at 19:41 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Yes. I can't help LOL

Wednesday at 19:41 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: This is the power and the reward of a fruitful dialogue. The reward is only a benign smile inside -- smile that bring contentment. That is wealth which all the riches of the world can't buy.

Wednesday at 19:44 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De; It fulfills the very purpose of opening the forum in FB. The desired NOW is evident.

Wednesday at 19:45 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It was like liberation. Reincarnation instead. Gratefully indebted to you.

Wednesday at 20:04 · Like

Legends:

ST = Systems Thinking

DT = Design Thinking

Lessons Learned:

1. Learning takes place through interactions. So, it takes two to a tango. Learning takes place through intense concentration and reflection in the numerous small pauses during the exchange. It has an advantage over face to face discussion since we can think and 'speak' without being forced to respond quickly. This deliberate act of slowing down of the mind triggers the 'reflective' capacity of the brain - vital for learning anything deeply. I term this as 'micro-meditative' state that facilitates deep and effective learning. This is precisely the advantage of learning through social media over other forms of learning where we are generally rushed into a response. Moreover, one can always check back the train of thoughts and revise it if required. This reinforces learning many times over.  

2. So, typically a double-loop learning takes during a dialogue (through reflection of each others mind brought into a dialogue) and a triple-loop learning takes place upon further personal reflection on a discussion thread. This automatically initiates higher level of learning which is highly improbable through traditional modes of learning. Note that it is always a 'one on one' interaction never 'one to many'. In Bengal there is a saying about effective learning  -- "One creates confusion; Two create Learning: Three create chaos: Four create a market"

3. Dialogues create Learning stories. It is similar to life creating and participating in creating as an on-going process.

4. Collaborative learning or social learning moves from document centric to more people centric. Hence it is like learning from nature or life. 

5. Time, space, age no longer pose as constraints to learning as seen in traditional modes of teaching and learning.

6. Feedback is instantaneous through the use of the 'like' buttons. This greatly encourages the conversations to proceed smoothly.

7. The paradigm shifts from 'Need to Know' to 'Need to Share'. Sustainable organic growth of ideas, thoughts and actions in the real world.

8. Effective Learning takes time and effort since the brain has to rewire itself through neuro-plasticity. This is easily possible through social media learning since the expansive interactions happen over a long period of time and not condensed into smaller time frames as evident in other traditional modes of learning. This is greatly aided by the stories that continuously unfold through such open dialogues. It helps in changing the neuron wiring of the brain more effectively than anything else -- leading to higher long term effectiveness.   

9. Next paradigm shift: Ask questions to "those you know" to "those who know that they don't know". This opens up a wider choice for learning to select people to ask from rather than being restricted to a few whom he/she probably knows in say the workplace. The learning environment expands.

10. Learning is the sole responsibility of the learner. Much depends on the attitude of the learner on what and how much a learner decides to take home from an engagement and how much a learner decides to 'share'. More 'sharing' leads to more learning. 

11. The learners merge to develop a collective consciousness. This is a latent power of social learning. As of today, information and knowledge are free and easily available. What is unavailable is understanding, which can be effectively harnessed through social learning by accommodating different perspectives and bouncing ideas off each other. Fortunately, Learning is no longer a lonely affair.

12. Much of effective learning happens like a story unfolding with its natural twist and turns, building on each others ideas leading to understanding, wisdom and instant realization. That makes Social Learning fun and interesting.

13. The only requirement to participate in such learning processes is the courage to engage and imagination to continue. The attitude of 'contribution' is the key. 

14. Who is the mentor and who is the mentee? Who gives? Who takes? Who gains? Who loses? No one No Thing

References:

1. http://rapidinnovation.org/the-and-is-in-the-now

2. http://rapidinnovation.org/changing-brain-pattern-for-good

3. http://zentricks.blogspot.com/2010/12/social-media-product-development-design.html

4. http://rapidinnovation.org/i-confess-i-dont-know

5. http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/design-principle-9-user-experience-insi...

6.http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/achieving-balance-of-opposites-design-principle-8/

 

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What Limits a System's Performance & What we might do?

 As a child I loved watching the trailing vortices of beautiful white plumes in the wake of commercial aircrafts flying majestically in the sky. I watched them as long as I could till the plumes gradually dissolved their presence into the blue sky.

Such vortices are strong, long and lingering. But, what might be the effect of such beautiful vortices on the system’s behaviour?

By the way, what system are we talking about?

The aircraft is a part of a much bigger system than we might immediately notice. The bigger system consists of the airport, the number of planes ready to take off or land, number of runways, air traffic control, signals, lights etc. These elements are well within our control or almost. However, some of the elements like atmospheric temperature, humidity, visibility are not within our control at all. 

We can easily understand that all these elements are interdependent on each other and produce a range of possible interactions between them. This we call as the "essence" of a system. The presence of this essence produces a range of behavior of a system that emerges in somewhat unpredictable or random manner. We call such possible and uncertain range or types of behavior (since we can't precisely predict) the 'emergence' of the system. Because of the 'essence' the 'emergence' takes place.

Obviously the essence and the emergence of a system effectively determines the behavior of the system and places an upper limit on a system’s performance.

Let us see how that might happen in the case of vortices generated by the interaction of an aircraft's movement and the wind?

These vortices stretch for miles across the sky trailing behind a large aircraft and endanger the planes that follow it or go across it by inducing drastic rolling moments, which might lead to the failure of the aircraft that follows or crosses the path of these vortices. Thus persistence and length of such vortices would govern the frequency of take off and landing of other planes in an airport. So, the 'essence' and the 'emergence' of the system determine the airport capacity and the limits of the system’s functioning and performance.

Now, if we want to improve the productivity of the airport in terms of number of take offs and landings we immediately recognize the inherent ‘imperfection’ in the given system. Recognition of such inherent imperfection (in terms of the objecive we would like to achieve) would automatically lead us to innovate or design solutions to either eliminate the ‘imperfections’ or avoid them in case imperfections can't be eliminated totally or monitor them if we have no other way but to live with them.

Such solutions might take the form of a concentrated research work to alleviate these swirling wakes or shorten the length of the wake or we might think of building or using alternative runways instead of relying on one or we might think of increasing the air traffic corridors etc.  In fact, most major airports in the world have now increased the number of runways and the air traffic corridors to improve system performance.

That might be all well for running commercial aircrafts. But what might we do to save aircrafts from accidents during an air show?

During such airshows aircrafts would be forced to fly parallel to each other to avoid the dangerous trap of vortices (as shown in the photograph).Perhaps we need very skilled and experience pilots to perform such feats.

Summary:

The steps that we followed were::

1. Observe the system as a whole (what are the elements that make the total system)

2. Understand the range of possible 'essence' (number of possible interactions happening over time)

3. Understand the set of related 'emergences' or behavior of the system (in relation to the essence)

4. Understand the present objective function or purpose of the system as of now and in the future.(since objective function/purpose changes over time)

5. Identify the inherent 'imperfection(s)' that limits the system to achieve the present objective.

6. Find or design solutions to eliminate the imperfectons or avoid the imperfection if the imperfection can be partially eliminated or monitor the imperfection if it is not possible to eliminate imperfection(s) at all.(all imperfections can't be solved and might have to be lived with, but we may do that in a better way rather than give up).

7. Observe changes in the system over time (in terms of essence, emergence and objectives)

8. Set new objectives and goals to harness uncertainty for productive use.

9. Respond with new solutions and check performance and/or behavior of the system over time.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

What Limits a System's Performance & Doing Something about it!

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 As a child I loved watching the trailing vortices of beautiful white plumes in the wake of commercial aircrafts flying majestically in the sky. I watched them as long as I could till the plumes gradually dissolved their presence into the blue sky.

Such vortices are strong, long and lingering. But, what might be the effect of such beautiful vortices on the system’s behaviour?

By the way, what system are we talking about?

The aircraft is a part of a much bigger system than we might immediately notice. The bigger system consists of the airport, the number of planes ready to take off or land, number of runways, air traffic control, signals, lights etc. These elements are well within our control or almost. However, some of the elements like atmospheric temperature, humidity, visibility are not within our control at all. 

We can easily understand that all these elements are interdependent on each other and produce a range of possible interactions between them. This we call as the "essence" of a system. The presence of this essence produces a range of behavior of a system that emerges in somewhat unpredictable or random manner. We call such possible and uncertain range or types of behavior (since we can't precisely predict) the 'emergence' of the system. Because of the 'essence' the 'emergence' takes place.

Obviously the essence and the emergence of a system effectively determines the behavior of the system and places an upper limit on a system’s performance.

Let us see how that might happen in the case of vortices generated by the interaction of an aircraft's movement and the wind?

These vortices stretch for miles across the sky trailing behind a large aircraft and endanger the planes that follow it or go across it by inducing drastic rolling moments, which might lead to the failure of the aircraft that follows or crosses the path of these vortices. Thus persistence and length of such vortices would govern the frequency of take off and landing of other planes in an airport. So, the 'essence' and the 'emergence' of the system determine the airport capacity and the limits of the system’s functioning and performance.

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Now, if we want to improve the productivity of the airport in terms of number of take offs and landings we immediately recognize the inherent ‘imperfection’ in the given system. Recognition of such inherent imperfection (in terms of the objecive we would like to achieve) would automatically lead us to innovate or design solutions to either eliminate the ‘imperfections’ or avoid them in case imperfections can't be eliminated totally or monitor them if we have no other way but to live with them.

Such solutions might take the form of a concentrated research work to alleviate these swirling wakes or shorten the length of the wake or we might think of building or using alternative runways instead of relying on one or we might think of increasing the air traffic corridors etc.  In fact, most major airports in the world have now increased the number of runways and the air traffic corridors to improve system performance.

That might be all well for running commercial aircrafts. But what might we do to save aircrafts from accidents during an air show?

During such airshows aircrafts would be forced to fly parallel to each other to avoid the dangerous trap of vortices (as shown in the photograph).Perhaps we need very skilled and experience pilots to perform such feats.

Summary:

The steps that we followed were::

1. Observe the system as a whole (what are the elements that make the total system)

2. Understand the range of possible 'essence' (number of possible interactions happening over time)

3. Understand the set of related 'emergences' or behavior of the system (in relation to the essence)

4. Understand the present objective function or purpose of the system as of now and in the future.(since objective function/purpose changes over time)

5. Identify the inherent 'imperfection(s)' that limits the system to achieve the present objective.

6. Find or design solutions to eliminate the imperfectons or avoid the imperfection if the imperfection can be partially eliminated or monitor the imperfection if it is not possible to eliminate imperfection(s) at all.(all imperfections can't be solved and might have to be lived with, but we may do that in a better way rather than give up).

7. Observe changes in the system over time (in terms of essence, emergence and objectives)

8. Set new objectives and goals to harness uncertainty for productive use.

9. Respond with new solutions and check performance and/or behavior of the system over time.

.

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Social Learning from Toyota to E2.0

Toyota engineers emphasize that learning how to use the know how database does not make a good engineer. This is not to say that engineering database is not useful for learning. Databases are primarily born out of experience of other engineers who found that exceeding certain limits might cause a problem.

Databases are tools to provide guidelines and ensure that the engineer or the designer does not forget the key points. It certainly helps training young engineers and designers but fails to create a great engineer. A database can only provide the limits on possible design solutions. It helps an engineer to know when not to exceed a limit or keep something at some minimum. It certainly does not make him creative.

At times, there is a need to exceed limits or change the structure to make the system as a whole function better. This obviously calls for better design thinking that would involve learning by doing through prototyping, extra testing and field studies. If this proves OK then the previous level of social or organizational learning jumps to a new level. This is something like a quantum jump that is reflected through changed fractals within the entire organization. 

If the organization stagnates at any particular level of learning, say by sticking to the database, then everyone learns the same thing and we would see the corresponding fractals of that learning in everything the organization does or produces. With a quantum leap in learning the fractals within the organization change immediately reflecting new learning. 

But how would that possibly happen?Possibly we may learn about this from Toyota.

Real engineering would remain a creative activity that would involve innovative thinking to solve problems or provide the desired functions to the customer while treating database constraints as standards.

Toyota places great emphasis on developing know-how over time by doing the work under the guidance of a mentor because it is the only way to develop the real creative power of the engineer. Over the years Toyota has developed such mentors within the rank and file of their organization.

But this poses a problem.

Most organizations are filled up with doers and thinkers but not mentors or the wise ones as I call them. And with performance review systems in place (one of the 5 deadly organizational sins of Dr. Deming) it becomes still harder to develop mentors, teamwork and retain people who would be willing to learn over time.

So, what might be a new path of learning for most organizations since it is vital to developing and sustaining competitive edge?

To my mind E 2.0 has the potential to provide the new framework for social learning in organizations under natural work conditions. People would learn from each other. People would learn from the mistakes made by others. People would become aware of the customer problems and take steps to correct their thinking. The organization as a whole becomes aware, active and thinking.

E2.0 offers other advantages as well. It can seamlessly connect customers, outside experts, suppliers, trainers, mentors and every department of the organization into a cohesive whole all working towards a common purpose.

How to do that would be a creative design process in its own right.

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VICTIMIZE THE VICTIM

The early morning has a chill in the air. Its middle of November and winter has slowly crept in our lives. The woolens are out from the steel trunks still smelling of the naphthalene balls. All are armed to face the winter. Indians look expectantly for the winter season to enjoy and flaunt their woolen garments and those wonderful scarves and shawls the ladies love to wear. Its time for the Indian families to go to the zoo with their family and celebrate Christmas with a cake and some oranges. The Kashmiri youths had already arrived at Kolkata. The first thing they do is buy a cycle and roam around the streets, selling fake “pashmina” shawls and lovely blankets.  The “Bhutanese “have come down from the hills and have made their new homes in the pavements around Wellington Square of north Kolkata. Why this same routine affair goes on year after year? As a child I have seen them and now also the same way of selling their wares --- on the pavements with babies tucked up around the shoulders. 

 

In front of the Adarsh Apartment two youths disembark from their motor bike. Hesitant steps.  Looks up at the building. Does Mr. Santosh Kumar lives here? Yes, I replied, 5^th Floor. I move inside my apartment. The morning tea was ready. I was enjoying my cup of tea when I heard some “shouting” and “screaming”. I opened the door and saw the two youths coming down the stairs, hurling obscenities and abuses. One of the sentences which I picked up rather startled me----- “You enjoyed while screwing; now you don’t want to own the baby”. My wife started to pull me inside the apartment. “You don’t have to listen to these dirty rouges, COME INSIDE “. Like most Indian lower burgeoning middle class families do, she also acted the same way. To hell with others, first let me play safe.

 

From the conversations among the two youths I could gather they are “recovery agents” of a particular bank/financial institution. Mr. Santosh Kumar had over stretched his feet from the blanket (Literal translation from Hindi proverb --- “Jitni chaddar ho utna pair fellao”) now with the compound interest Mr. Kumar is in doldrums. Yes, have fun while spending and later pay through your nose. Kumar works for a “Ranta” company of India. Good salary with lots of perks. But Kumar forgot the Indian traditional mindset. He tried to imitate the people of the other side of the world. Here debit cards go well but not credit cards. The salaried middle and lower middle class play it safe. They save and then spend and not vice versa.

 

The frequency of the visits of the “recovery agents” to Kumar’s house became frequent. Kumar became a fugitive. He avoided coming home. The sweet home turned sour. Mrs. Kumar was there to tackle those rogues. Life was torturous for her. She avoided any eye contact with her neighbors. Every one including my wife was secretly celebrating the “death” of a victim. After coming back home from office her topic of discussion centered on Kumar’s family. The bachelors, forced bachelors young and old, almost every one in the locality wanted to have a bite in the cake called Mrs. Kumar. Every male saw an easy prey. Their primitive animal instinct became alive. Some “benevolent” male members of our wonderful society wanted to “help” her by offering her loan with no interest so to tide away the situation. Mrs Kumar remained firm and took no help from any outsiders. Her brother came and rescued her from the situation. Now Mr. Santosh Kumar is back in his home by 7 PM. They learned a lesson of their lives.

 

 

 

What do the Kashmiri youths, the Bhutanese selling cheap sweaters, the ordinary lower Indian middle class family celebrating Christmas, Mr.Santosh Kumar tied in the rigmarole of debt have in common?

 

They fight every moment in their lives to survive victimization of the victim. That is the way the world is.

The author of this blog post is Mr. Sitendu De.

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Not One: Not Two

Sun & its light

Ocean & its waves

Singer & his song

Writer & his story

Artist & his art

Dancer & her dance

Poet & her poem

Engineer & his designs

Bearing & its lubrication

Gas flow & its duct wall

Motor & its bearings

Rotor & its bearings

Bus bar & its joints

Bus bar & its capacitance

Leader & his followers

Organization & its employees

Working & its learning

Production & its demand

Productivity & its inventory

Earnings & its expense

Problems & its constraints

Context & its context

Management & its effectiveness

Mentor & his mentees

Cow & its meadow

Mother & her child

Father & his family

Husband & his wife

Beautiful lady & her beautiful necklace

Lover & his love

How do we separate one from the other?

Whom do we appreciate?

What do we change or improve to get what?

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