Decoding Aamir

Aamir Khan has put his foot in his mouth. Going by the traffic on media – social, print or television –  his statement has generated enough comments. As per him, his wife feels there is a state of despondency in this country and fears for their child. One can’t argue with maternal instincts.

But why is it that I do not feel the intolerance and am not suffocated and fear for my children? The pattern that arises in this country over the last so many years is that intolerance, threat of existence, fear etc. are only felt by some minority communities. Is it because they are in the minority and fear the majority community?  68 years of independence has shown that all communities can co-exist with each other.

I interact on a daily basis with all minorities – at work, in a cab, at the marketplace. I do not see the fear in their eyes. I have a lot of friends from minority communities, and nowhere have I got an impression that they live in fear in this country. It is not that when the minority and majority communities come in contact with each other on a daily basis, they are on a state of high alert, ready to thwart off any attack from the other.

Maybe, my inability to feel the intolerance arises from my being a non- celebrity. Celebrities live in a cocoon. In a fan crazy country they love the adulation. They also live a tough life. They and their children cannot live a simple life like we do. It is very difficult for them to go to a movie, or take a hit in the park. They live in their exclusivity and continue to weave that web around themselves. They do not travel by public transport. They do not have to visit the supermarket to shop for groceries. In a literal sense, “Unhe daal aate ka bhaav pata nahin.”

They also have another problem- they need to be in the limelight. The warmth of the focus on them is what gives life to the cocoon. They fear that if the focus on them dwindles, their cocoon will fade. Let us look at Aamir Khan’s story. He does one movie at a time and focuses his energy on the same. His last movie was PK which was released in December 2014. Now we are closer to December 2015. There is a general impression that this statement of his is a publicity stunt, a lead in to the marketing campaign for Dangal.

There are enough Aamir Khans in corporate life. As you grow senior, your year - end appraisal depends upon, among many things, your ‘visibility’. It is important to make your point felt, ask questions in cross functional meetings, so people notice you. There is a pressing need to constantly raise points, issues, questions, irrespective of whether they are relevant.

It does not matter whether these questions are actioned upon. You need to ask a question just to stay in the limelight. And if you go three such meetings without a question, people wonder whether you have lost your touch.

A few things can happen when you ask these questions. One, they can be brilliant questions, which can shape policy or strategy. Cheers to that. Secondly they can be disruptive. Your question might be relevant and very close to the truth, which unfortunately the person chairing the meeting does not want to be asked. It is at that time when the response you get is of sarcasm. This is exactly the way people have reacted to Aamir Khan. Thirdly the question or point you raise can actually go against you. It could be nonsensical but you never intended to make sense. You just wanted to make your presence felt.

I believe Aamir Khan clearly wanted to increase his visibility. The noise against intolerance, which had died down after the Bihar elections, lent credibility to the fact that the entire noise including ‘award wapsi’ was a manufactured debate with a political intention. There would not have been a better vehicle to flog and Aamir did the same. Like the corporate analyst, the objective was to ask a question, and increase his visibility.

This statement has created a lot of negative visibility for Aamir. Is the statement irresponsible? Definitely. Has he overplayed his hand? I don’t think so. Given the short public memory, the issue will die down after two months. His objective was to return to the limelight, which he has achieved. The tolerant and forgiving country that India is, the issue will be forgotten at the release of Dangal, which will be a superhit, and Aamir will laugh all the way to the bank.

It is sad that a great story about two women wrestlers (Geeta and Babita Phogat who to me are bigger heroes than Aamir) and their father has got mired in this controversy.

Every person creates a personal image or a brand within the organisation or society. It takes years to create an impression and one bad statement to shatter that image. I wonder what is more important, visibility or cultivation of a personal brand. Wonder what pays off in the long run.

Murphy’s Angel

Last couple of weeks have been extremely interesting. I was on my way to Bandra (a suburb in Mumbai), and on SV road, a big dumper fell in love with my car. And in a spontaneous public display of affection, it kissed my car. It was more than a kiss, it was a passionate smooch. Like every damsel, who has been smooched by an unwanted stranger, I was angry and the scars were huge. I don’t know about my car, but I definitely did not enjoy the smooch.

It required some physical healing, and the mental scars on me were huge in terms of the cash outflow. A great start to the festive season. Another day, I was travelling to go on an official visit to a beautiful campus in a business school, nestled in the hills. The management had been kind enough to invite my family and we were all set to go... when my four year kid got viral fever. Very nice, family plan aborted, I decided to go on my own.

And then my friend Murphy visited me. For the uninitiated, there is a Murphy’s law which says “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Little did I know that Murphy had decided to engulf me in a bear hug.

Having not played golf for nearly two weeks as the car was in a spa undergoing healing, I planned to practice at the course on the way to Pune. On my way, I was stuck in traffic at the most unexpected of places. As a result, I reached the course ten minutes late and the course had closed. Murphy had just started playing his tricks. I decided to drive directly to Pune for my engagement with the business school.

On the way, in the ghats, the car was struggling to accelerate. I realised there is something wrong. Somehow, I managed to complete the stretch of the expressway and parked it at the garage. The clutch plate had burned and on the verge of collapse and I had to leave the car. My destination was still fifteen miles away. Somehow I reached my destination, in a foul mood, cursing my luck.

Out of the blue, I received a call from an angel. I consider myself to be blessed as I have a lot of angels hovering around my life who hold my hand from time to time. This angel was calling me after a few years. The mood was already foul and just needed an outlet, somebody to speak to. I narrated my entire sob story to her and she in turn congratulated me and said, “Congratulations, you are one extremely lucky man.”

I was aghast, here I have destiny working against me, my son is not well, my vacation with family has to be aborted, my car had an accident and a break down within two weeks, stuck in the middle of nowhere and this lady was congratulating me!! She was passing off my bad luck as good luck!!! How preposterous!!

And then she explained. In the accident where the dumper decided to kiss my car, I was unscathed and unscratched. Every few thousand kilometres, we are destined to meet with an accident. Even Sachin Tendulkar gets out on zero. I got my turn of the accident and was lucky to escape without a scratch. Amazing, I never thought of it in this fashion.

I still wasn’t a full convert. I asked her to explain my road trip incident. She said, firstly count yourself lucky that your son developed fever, else they would have been in the car, when the engine began stalling. Imagine being stranded in the middle of nowhere with your four year old and wife. She also said, you were lucky, that you drove your car till the garage. Imagine if the car had been stuck in the middle of the Mumbai – Pune expressway, middle of nowhere and not a garage in sight.

Still not completely convinced, I asked , “What about the traffic and not being able to play golf?” She replied, “If you had played golf, you would have wasted an hour and a half and maybe reached the garage after dark. Was there a guarantee that the garage would be open?”

Each sentence was a thunderbolt, destroying my negative thoughts. What an amazing deduction!! All along I had been cursing my bad luck for the multiple mishaps in my life. When I think of ‘What else could have gone wrong?’, I get scared. Looking back at the incidents in a dispassionate manner, I realise I have been extremely lucky!!

Being alone in campus at night, had me reflecting on various incidents in my career, which I attributed to ‘bad luck’. When I had people in my team leaving, my statements being misinterpreted, not getting that promotion when I wanted it, even one bad training session, were all attributed to bad luck. Looking back I realise that I had to work extremely hard, to surpass these setbacks. I always used to say, that I have never got things easy. But in hindsight, it is this hard work that has taught me so many things. I would today like to think that all these have been learning experiences rather than tests by fire.

And then suddenly a thought struck me. Why did this angel call me today after so many years? She had no agenda; it was just a courtesy call. The hand of God is clearly evident. The angel is just the messenger. The beauty is, I was travelling to a business school to impart knowledge, and it is here sitting on campus, that my perspective has changed.

It’s time to start counting my blessings... and I need to go back to school!!!