The world has changed since the last time I logged into this site(a year ago). And, changed it has drastically & dramatically - more so for some Wall street smarts who find themselves in a highly impoverished, sticky corner.
That said, we all know change is inevitable, and important. It is one constant on plant earth that needs no further mathematical expression. The Gita talks about it. Every philosopher who walked the earth extolled on it. Change defines our history, our past glories and fun stories. Mythologically speaking we could call it the brahmastra, all primed and ready to go. In Potter style, it is always lurking in the shadows, not necessarily the dark alleys, ready to sweep in and take shape whether we are ready for it or not. ready
As I look back on the year, I wonder what's really changed... you may say it's not time yet for this - we are only in Nov. It's not too early, trust me. In fact, I am afraid we are too late. There is no better time to analyse it than now. And I am not talking only chronologically.
Eat this: The MAHA govt gets sworn in 17 days after election results. Drink this: India lose another cricket series and half the nation has an expert opinion on Indian cricket yet again. Sleep on this: we are having problems aplenty with our padosans - Ziddi _Pakistan & Buddhi _China. Big brother ain't letting us have our way and btw, Obama wins Nobel Peace. Bollywood continues to dish out more flop movies in a year than any other film industry in the world. Rakhi Sawant records more air time than Manmohan Singh. Vande Mataram becomes a source of difference of opinion. Indian Airlines is seeing RED and so are passengers. Delhi Metro threatened after bridge collapses. Big BOSS house is more more interesting and profit generating than our Parliament house. And the icing on the cake, Kasab is still alive, one year after the Mumbai terror attacks.
The point over here is not about pessimism. It's not about failures. It's only about lost chances, a change for a better collective consicence. Everytime we decided against affirmative action, we shied away from change, we gifted ourselves a society that was light years behind it's actual intellectual capabilities. I say, we should forget the moon, mars and all the stars in the universe, we are unaware of our own atronomy. We don't know if our allegiance lies with our family or friends, values or money, consumerism or austerity, media or logic, success or obscurity, KFC or McD, MTV or Channel V, State or Nation, Peace or war. I am not for one moment saying we are confused. But we can't ignore the fact that we have lost the power to differentiate and to make an informed choice. We are on auto pilot with a risk apetite lower than an ant.
Actuall, we simply don't care. Change as most management Gurus tell us, is about vision. It's a state of preparedness to progress. Let's look at our best example yet again from cricket. Coaches can't win matches. It is impossible to expect a team to win merely by appointing a good coach. That's either insanity or reflects a formality. Cricket is about 11 men on the field, their talent, their team work, commitment and attitude. Now, just as the BCCI almost always never answers the fundamental problems plaguing Indian cricket, no one really cares for the bigger whole.
I mean come on I am sure most of us don't even know what the BIG picture looks like.
What we have come to represent is something like the program on Matrix. We need to find it lock horns with it and kill it. but hey dont go looking for Neo, Morpheus or Trinity - we are the only chance we have got for ourselves. All is not lost.
Not yet!
