A cup of filter coffee in one hand, while one tries to do justice to a plate of idli-vada with the other hand even as a hit song from the Tamil film in which popular actor Karthik made his debut blares in the background.
Chennai in the 1980s? Actually no. It is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2010. As I sip the coffee and drink in the atmosphere I could not but experience a sense of déjà vu of being back in the Chennai or Madras as it was then know of my boyhood. After one steps outside the hotel though all thoughts of being in Chennai disappear. There can be no mistaking the fact that one is in Malaysia or at least the fact that it is not Chennai. Despite, the significant strides that India has made as a nation in the last five years, despite remaining relatively unaffected by the global economic meltdown, India lags far behind other countries when it comes to infrastructure. What all this has resulted is in that while the India story has been good in terms of improving the income levels of at least a certain section of the population, it hasn’t translated into a better quality of life for Indians
Despite this shortcoming there is a sense of pride as one goes about ones business in an elite Kuala Lumpur shopping mall. It only reconfirms my impression that today there is nothing lacking in India. The old paradigm of Indians going abroad for their shopping and then showing off to their neighbors is gone forever. Add to this that fact that India is a vibrant democracy where one can freely speak one’s mind and you realize that you have got a good deal in India. Sure it is a democracy that is flawed. Sure one would give a lot for uninterrupted supply of water and power. And yes, the roads can be much better. But then India has managed to marry democracy and growth. Not many countries from the developing world have managed that particular combination. As India continues its journey on the road less traveled all one wants to make the journey complete is good, clean roads. Then the dream would continue when gets out of a Kuala Lumpur hotel next time.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Living to Fight Another Day
“ Ravi, you are simply running,” away said my friend Ajay. “ I am running away to fight another day,” I returned. The year was 1997 and I had spent about a year in Business Standard as a journalist and had clearly failed to master the art of reporting. No one doubted my writing skills but the consensus in the newspaper was that I quite simply did not know reporting. To tell the truth I myself had come to the same conclusion. The dream of 1996 had clearly turned into the nightmare of 1997.
It was then that I made what in retrospect turned out to be a wise decision. I simply decided to take a break for around 15 days around mid-May and went off on a holiday to Chennai and Bangalore. I can also say that with the benefit of hindsight that I did the right thing by simply refusing to even think about my work and simply enjoyed myself. The net result of all that was that I felt refreshed when I came back.
I also found able allies on the road to making my career work: My friend Ajay and my boss R Sriram who is the present Editor of The Economic Times, Bangalore. Ajay not only assured me that I had the skills to succeed in the profession, but also displayed a surprising knowledge of journalism for one who was not a journalist. He guided me on newspaper requirements. Sriram actually taught me the tricks of the trade. Amongst other things he taught the art of developing sources. Plus the art of simply being firm with companies\individuals who were ducking queries that were uncomfortable for them. For instance, a leading Indian company had submitted a corporate restructuring to the financial institutions and I had managed to get hold of a document outlining that. Despite that, Sriram first insisted that I get a comment from the company and later when the company ducked responding to my faxed questionnaire under one pretext or the other, he insisted on my telling the company in question that I intended to go-ahead with story now without a comment from its end. The response was instantaneous. In two minutes a person from the CEO’s office was on the line gving me a comment. That was Sriram for you. He not only taught me but a bunch of mostly rookie Business Standard journalists between 1996 and 1999 the art of reporting.
All this worked for I did get two promotions in the next three years in Business Standard. Of course it was time to move on from the newspaper and eventually from journalism. I have never forgotten that in life it is important to live to fight another day. Nor of course Ajay and Sriram who helped me make that decision work.
It was then that I made what in retrospect turned out to be a wise decision. I simply decided to take a break for around 15 days around mid-May and went off on a holiday to Chennai and Bangalore. I can also say that with the benefit of hindsight that I did the right thing by simply refusing to even think about my work and simply enjoyed myself. The net result of all that was that I felt refreshed when I came back.
I also found able allies on the road to making my career work: My friend Ajay and my boss R Sriram who is the present Editor of The Economic Times, Bangalore. Ajay not only assured me that I had the skills to succeed in the profession, but also displayed a surprising knowledge of journalism for one who was not a journalist. He guided me on newspaper requirements. Sriram actually taught me the tricks of the trade. Amongst other things he taught the art of developing sources. Plus the art of simply being firm with companies\individuals who were ducking queries that were uncomfortable for them. For instance, a leading Indian company had submitted a corporate restructuring to the financial institutions and I had managed to get hold of a document outlining that. Despite that, Sriram first insisted that I get a comment from the company and later when the company ducked responding to my faxed questionnaire under one pretext or the other, he insisted on my telling the company in question that I intended to go-ahead with story now without a comment from its end. The response was instantaneous. In two minutes a person from the CEO’s office was on the line gving me a comment. That was Sriram for you. He not only taught me but a bunch of mostly rookie Business Standard journalists between 1996 and 1999 the art of reporting.
All this worked for I did get two promotions in the next three years in Business Standard. Of course it was time to move on from the newspaper and eventually from journalism. I have never forgotten that in life it is important to live to fight another day. Nor of course Ajay and Sriram who helped me make that decision work.
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