|
September, the month gone by, when the weather starts turning a little hospitable this side of the globe – nip in the air and all of that, start of festivities and a general sense of well being amongst the population at large. This year, there was more good news – indications are that the Corporate world has shed some of the caution that infested it’s spending on the nice-to-have activities (yes, I AM talking of activities on the Human Resources front here, unfortunate, but true). On the national front, the déjà-vu brought back a sense of unfairness, almost as if the Gods were conspiring yet again – India has lost a disproportionate number of leaders to unnatural deaths – Gandhi, Bose, Shastri, Sanjay, Indira, Scindia, Pilot, Surendra, the list is endless – and now we have the Andhra strongman, YSR added to this unfortunate inventory. While not all of them will rank right up there in terms of leadership skills, popularity, expertise or skill, the fact remains that the political canvas of India just might have been a little different if all of them were still around, or had lived their full lives. What was more disconcerting was the senseless ranting amongst even the senior state party functionaries to pass on the baton to his greenhorn son. THIS is our own doing, the craving to attach oneself to someone who is not even close to his father or uncle or husband, or what-have-you, for short term gains and miss the big picture completely. My father served as the Vice-Chancellor in two prestigious Universities of India – and when he retired from there, none of his senior Deans and professors put pressure on the authorities to hand over the mantle of running the Universities to his son. Why, you must ask – and the answer is clear (apart from the fact that I would stand nowhere close to my father in administrative or subject-matter expertise, but that’s the obvious one) – the real reason is about structure – the more ambiguity there is in the surroundings, the more the uncertainty, the more the insecurity, the more the chances of the wrong decisions being taken. Universities, unlike states or nations, are run, like well-oiled machines – on policies, rules, regulations and structures. Read Complete Story and Comment In the meantime, enjoy the festive season, and keep smiling Ajay Chowdhury |
|
