Smaash!!!

My love for sports has taken me to watch the Mumbai Super League held at the NSCI Worli, which is a local, IPL style league for Table Tennis. It is a ten team franchise based league, with each franchise bidding IPL style for players. Apparently this is the second year for the league; I came to know of the same, only because my batch-mate Samir Thakkar owns a team Kool Smashers.

While the IPL is a money spinning machine, there is no way any franchisee or anybody can make any money out of this event. The franchise owners are people in love with the game, who get a high from playing. They are investing money in a real sense to give it back to the sport. The total purse available for bidding for players is a princely sum of Rs. 80,000 which is to be used for buying 6 players.

I think it is a great move which inculcates team spirit in a sport which is largely individualistic. It was fantastic to see 70 players, the team owners, the coaches, parents of the players and a whole lot of people who are interested in the sport coming and watching. For me personally it was a great learning experience watching matches sitting with the team, speaking to the players, coaches and interacting with them.

What was heartening is there was no ugly rivalry, as everybody knew everybody. While there was aggression on the table, everyone was friendly. Rival teams sat next to each other, indulged in banter and technical discussions. It was extremely heartening to see a senior member from the opponent team, come and encourage the cadet – the kid who is less than 10 years. Every good point was cheered. It was great competition with camaraderie.

One thing that struck me was what happened after the end of the match. In an unwritten protocol, the winner; after shaking hands with the opponent and umpires, went to the opposition benches and shook hands first with the opposition coach and their team members, before being congratulated by their own team.

I am amazed by the values that this four day event is teaching people. During a side conversation, my friend Samir taught me a huge aspect, something which struck me very hard. He said, every kid should play a sport, as it teaches them how to cope with failure. The casual conversation had a deep impression on my mind. In a format like this, failure, bounce back and redemption is instantaneous. The junior team has to play doubles as their first match and half an hour later come back to play the singles. I was amazed, how the players were able to put back the defeat out of their mind instantaneously and come back motivated to play the singles.

In Corporate Life, one failure, one bad conversation with the manager spoils the rest of the day. Carpe Diem or Live in the Moment is really what sport teaches people. One bad shot, one mishit, one bad judgement, has to be put away instantaneously only to focus on the next point. Samir… thanks a lot for this, I am definitely going to ensure my son plays some sport.

While I am watching this over Wimbledon, a quote from Serena Williams caught my attention. For long there has been a debate about equal prize money for women in sport. In tennis the matches are three sets long for women, while five sets for men. Physically men are supposed to be better than women in any sport. With this aspect at the back of mind, an incident at the table tennis league, sparked my imagination, which led to this post.

For this league, the organisers have introduced an innovation – the power play. In doubles, the team can use the power play to change one of the players for two points… only to receive the serve. For example in a team of say Ajay and Atul, if Atul is to receive the serve, Ajay can call a power play, and get another member of his team to receive two serves in place of Atul.

In one of the mens doubles matches, Paresh Murekar called the powerplay. His team was up game point at 11-10. In a very close match the next point was very crucial. He asked the veteran player to wait and called the junior girls player to take serve. I personally was amazed at the decision. One, he was replacing a men’s player with a girl, in a discipline, which is inherently sexist. In any mixed doubles game, the women player is generally the weakest. Secondly, he did not call the women’s player, but the girl’s player, a junior. Whatever the outcome of the game, I thought it was a gutsy decision. If they won the point, Paresh would be a hero, if they lost it, he could be a villain in a tight game. Paresh Murekar take a bow, for taking such a decision on game point. If I was a recruiter, I would have hired Paresh on the spot. It is a different matter that they won the game.

I then look back at corporate, and wonder, whether when faced with a crunch situation, would I depend on experience or youth. 99 times out of hundred it will be experience, and then I wonder whether the corporate world can learn something from sport.

I am waiting for the day, when we form a team in companies which is an amalgamation of people with all levels of experience, and the best person leads it, and not the senior most. Till then.. Carpe Diem.

Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si...

I was woken up by the hard landing of the Indigo flight on the runway at Mumbai airport at midnight. After training for 8 hours daily, continuously for five days, I was as tired as one can be and looking forward to a quick ride home and lots of sleep. I picked up my baggage and moved to the multiple taxi counters picking one by using the eeny-meeny-miny-moe method. When my turn arrived, the attendant received a call from somebody. After answering the call, she asked me whether I am fine with a lady taxi driver.

In a half asleep mode, I said yes, but was wondering why did this question arise? I am not averse to lady drivers. Since childhood, I have seen women in the family drive. There are quite a few ladies driving in Mumbai, and hence I was wondering about the appropriateness of this question. I decided to explore this question during the one hour taxi ride home.

Veena was not a day older than thirty and had a slim frame. Her figure could give any of the models a run for their money. She was not just size zero, but maybe a size negative if there is anything like that. The torrential rain was dripping into her teacup, which she expertly balanced on her mobile phone in one hand. She offered to take my suitcase with the other hand. I am sure the suitcase weighed more than her. Thankfully chivalry is a virtue I have learnt since childhood.

I started having a conversation with her. Apparently, even single women travelers, refuse cabs driven by ladies. They don’t seem to be convinced about the driving skills of the lady. Interestingly a lot of these women, may themselves be driving cars, but don’t trust a lady cab driver. Hypocrisy is alive and kicking.

Veena’s husband had ditched her leaving behind three kids. Two years earlier, she used to cook food at people’s houses. One of the families encouraged her to learn driving, and get a license. And now here she was driving a rented cab.

Her eldest son who was 9 years, had failed in school. So she decided to send him to a boarding school, with the hope that the discipline would help him study. She also wanted to send him away from her neighborhood, where the local boys would have a bad influence on him. Her daughter who was 7 years, was sent to a missionary school, as she did not have time to take care of her. Her younger son of 5 lived with her. The neighbors took care of the five year kid every day.

Veena dropped me home at 130 in the night and then would reach her residence by 230- 300 a.m. Then she would get up in the morning, do the house work and start her car by noon. She has to pay a sum of 850 rupees to the car company, daily, irrespective of whatever she earns. A car breakdown, or accident or a political rally, strike will hit her hard. Over and above this, she has to spend on diesel and then if she makes any money, she will use it for her household expenses I am sure she would struggle to save more than 1000 bucks a day… and no weekly off. No support system, no manager to listen to her grievances. And she was not complaining, she was happy that she was able to support her family in a dignified manner. She was not blaming her situation on anybody, no blaming government for increase in diesel prices or increase in price of dal. She was too busy making two ends meet. I am sure she starts her day with hope in her eyes and a revenue target. No corporate employee can ever understand the meaning of revenue targets as Veena does. Reality bites these people and how.

We as middle class complain about an increase in service tax by 0.5% sitting in the comfort of our air-conditioned homes. I now know why we complain - we have time and are overpaid. We work hard for our living, but do not have to struggle, the way a common man does. These people are too busy making two ends meet, to think about Krishi Kalyan Cess or whatever. This girl’s size negative was not due to eating less carbs and working out, but simply because of forced dieting. I am sure she skipped a meal or two to ensure that her children got two square meals

After listening to her story, frankly I had a flurry of emotions. I wondered, whether I will be able to manage a situation where I lost my job. How will I be able to deal with deprivation? What happens if so many things which I take for granted, go away? I was scared!!!

I was ashamed at myself for complaining about the unfair and unjust (from my perspective) appraisal system at work. There was a fixed amount coming in the bank at the end of the month, I had nothing to complain about

That rainy night, Veena taught me a huge lesson of life – I need to be grateful for what I have. Veena has one quality which I doubt exists in me – resiliency and the ability to fight back. It was my biggest motivational lessons ever. Salute to everyone who works hard for a living. 

Infidelity

No, I am not going through a bad marriage. I love my wife, like her company, but one of the reasons we still have the spark in our marriage after fifteen years, is infidelity.

It is an open secret that I love so many people over and above my wife. The list of people I have loved begin with Kapil Dev, John McEnroe, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virendra Sehwag, Sanjay Manjrekar. Currently my favourites are Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. In case you are worried about my sexual preferences, let me add Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Jhulan Goswami  to the list, with my current heart throbs being  Saina Nehwal, Ritu Rani, Rani Rampal, P.V.Sindhu and Heena Sidhu. No Heena Sidhu is not Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife, she is an international shooter in her own right and is a medal hope at the forthcoming Rio Olympics

Last month my parents completed 45 years of marriage. That is more than a lifetime of staying together. Notice I used the word ‘staying together’ and not happy married life. By the way ‘Happily Married’ is an oxymoron. Last twenty years, I have seen them greet each other early morning ‘politely’ with an argument.  Then the acidic politeness continues throughout the day. It’s a wonder they are not killing each other.

Then I reflect on my own marriage which has completed nearly fifteen years.  I slowly realise both of us are going our parents way. And then I look around, I find that a lot of people are all in the same situation. The only good thing that me and my wife do, is we clearly ensure our paths don’t cross during the day. I work for 12 hours, sleep for 6 and travel for 3. In spite of just having three hours, we manage to find time for arguments. There is a Hindi movie song, which goes as follows, “Where is the time to hate, when there is so little time to love?” Today the situation, is “Where is the time to love, when there is so little time to argue?” I am sure thirty years later we will be as severe as my parents.

There was one more interesting thing about my parents’ generation. Along with having one spouse, quite a few of them were also married to their jobs. It was not uncommon for them to work with one company throughout their entire careers.

A marriage is similar to a job. The first two years, are the honeymoon period. Then differences start developing and slowly reach a point where we can’t stand each other

When I look back at my career, managers seem to be great at the beginning of relationships. Slowly they start developing faults.  I then start having differences in the actions of my managers and my organisation. The increment is not good, the rating could have been better, we could have handled this issue differently, my manager does not stand up for me; everything is bad. My constructive criticism is viewed as cynicism. I then get into a negative spiral, where I try and see negative even in any positive action of my manager or organisation.

I am sure, even my manager experiences similar feelings about me. I am sure he /she thinks my enthusiasm has waned, am no longer as committed, have become lazy. He / She thinks that I am resting on my laurels and am no longer self-motivated. He / She finally concludes that I am well past my expiry date.

What do we do? The organisation tries to give me a bad rating, or a low increment, hoping that it will help me pull up my socks.

My reaction? I think the organisation and manager is against me. The manager thinks that an experienced person like me needs no motivation. I think the organisation will not improve, sulk and stay in a corner, become more and more silent at meetings. I am accused of not contributing; I think, what difference will my views make, manager is not going to listen to me. I become more cynical, my performance dives further.

There is no such thing as ‘Negative Motivation.’

Be it a marriage or a job, the courtship and honeymoon period is the most productive. Both parties put their best foot forward. Somewhere along the way, we start taking each other for granted.

I think that is the reason, I keep on changing jobs every few years. I have taken a few risks, some of which have paid off and some haven’t. But end of the day I am happy. Am I satisfied where I have reached in my career? I believe I have underachieved, and could have done more. Is it a result, of changing jobs frequently and not building a career? Don’t know.

The solution is Positive Encouragement. Be it me and my manager or me and my wife, we need to get into a heart to heart conversation, sort out the issues. We need to keep reminding ourselves of the reasons for which we entered into the union. The spark, the fire needs to be rekindled every now and then for a fruitful long term relationship. Remember, people leave managers not organisations. My advice, is if the current manager is not able to excite you, look at another manager who will. Change managers and roles frequently but think twice before changing the organisation. After all relationships are like wine, they take time to mature.

Thankfully society does not allow me to change spouses so frequently. Else I would be bankrupt paying alimony. Be it a marriage or a job, boredom is a classic recipe for disaster. Familiarity breeds contempt, which can be a breeding ground for infidelity.

Big Data and Bakasur

It is seven thirty in the evening. I have had a tough day, extremely busy, no time for lunch. Five more minutes, before I complete the task on hand, and head out for dinner. That is when I hear a big noise and go out on the balcony to investigate. I don’t find anything and as I look at where the 3X optical zoom vision, limited by the buildings in the horizon, takes me I find a car parked across the street with its hazard lights on.

Not a sight, which should make you think twice. Just when I am about to head back, a piece of data from the brain sends information that my car was parked in the same place. I look back and instantly recognize that it is my car, which has these hazard lights on. These are times when you realize that the brain is a supercomputer. Its ability to retrieve information from different segments and piece it together to give the analysis, result and repercussions can give any advanced analytics program running on high speed processing machines a run for its money. In simple English it is called intuition

.

I suddenly realize that the hazard lights have been blinking from noon; for seven hours. Reality strikes that the battery of the car would have drained and it will not start. I run down the stairs, cross the busy road in James Bond style, getting a few cars to screech and shout at me. I open the car, enter it, switch off the hazard lights, and hoping against hope insert the key into the ignition. As expected the car doesn’t start.

I call the car’s on road toll free assistance number and am promptly greeted by a tele-caller. My wife says men are like kids. When kids bawl, mom knows that they are hungry. When men get angry, the major reason is hunger, the incident confronting them is just the trigger. So if anybody of you has an irate boss, check his food schedule, chances are he overworks and skips food. So my brain was at a flashpoint because of the hunger and anger at my stupidity. It was no surprise that it exploded on the tele-caller.

Before I say anything about the process, I will commend him, and say that he did his job very well. 

Kudos to him, for tolerating an irate customer. However I did an analysis of my call. My call ran for sixteen minutes out of which I spent last three minutes on berating the tele-calling process, not more than two in telling my problem and my location and spent more than ten minutes either on hold or providing a host of data.

The guy asked me my details about my car and then sent in a bouncer. “Sir can I have the chassis number?” I started wondering, how did he know I was working with Chase and gave him my employee number. “That is incorrect sir, can I have the chassis number.” In the next five minutes I started going through the documents of the car hunting for the number which would decide whether I would go home in four wheels or three. It was nearly eight at night: I found it and tried reading it with my blurred eyesight (I am forty plus) only to find that it is a forty eight digit alpha-numeric number. Sorry maybe it is fifteen. All numbers beyond six digits are the same to me. Come to think of it, there can be no safer password than the chassis number of your car.

Finally he gave up on me and retrieved it from customer care. I was told that a complaint can’t be registered without the chassis number. Then he went to ask me so many other questions, before he asked me my problem and location, I broke into a sweat. I seriously hoped he would not ask for my grandfather’s PAN number. Thankfully he didn’t.

I then began wondering, why did they need all this information. The answer -  data and analytics. This information would one day find its way into my insurance records. Does this guy leave his lights on, and hence, how often do I have to provide him road side assistance? At what mileage did the problem happen? What color is the car?

It is the age of data, Big Data as they call it. There is an entire industry out there which thrives on analytics and compressing big data. Sometimes I wonder, whether we need to massage data on 30 parameters or 5 to get ‘accurate’ results. Will there be a substantial difference in results by increasing the number of parameters and different types of analysis? Or is advanced Analytics a mirage by itself?

From a customer service perspective, I only cared about two things:

1. Have they recorded my problem correctly?
2. Have they got my location right

I am sorry, but as a customer in a problem I do not appreciate the car company’s need to collect data for analysis. Not all functions can be a source of data collection, and someone needs to just look at what that function is supposed to achieve.

Accuracy has a cost. The more variables, parameters you analyse, more data you collect. Sometimes I think, there isn't much difference between‘B’ for ‘Big Data’, and ‘B’ for ‘Bakasur’, a monster, with a great appetite. The villagers had to provide him huge amounts of food and one member of the family, whom he would eat. ‘Big Data’ and ‘Analytics, have a similar voracious appetite. I hope it does not 

end up devouring the users.

I am writing this blog sitting in the car, as I have to charge the battery for a minimum of an hour. Time to refuel.

Unearthing the next Dhoni

Once upon a time, the India cricket team comprised of players from big cities. The current CEO of a big outsourcing company was once a budding cricketer who was interested in making a career in cricket, till a senior counseled him. “How many people from your Ranji team have ever played for India?” This one sentence changed his life.

Today, if you look at the Indian cricket team, the big city representation is limited. There are an equal number of people from small towns. Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya… the list is endless.. Talent is coming from the hinterland. What has happened? Where has talent suddenly sprung from? The answer is talent was always there, talent scouts were absent. The people from small towns did not have the confidence to compete against the boys from big cities.

One of my ventures has taken me to Pune to run a finishing school. Last week, we gave an advertisement in the local vernacular newspaper for admissions, which has a geographical reach upto a 100 km radius.

The response was a flood. People travelled more than 2 hours to apply for a job. People aged 30 plus called asking whether they stood a chance. I met three ladies who came from 75 kms away, all engineers, instrumentation engineers, a commodity which is in short supply. For a moment I forgot my role and started speaking to them about engineering and their careers. They were brilliant, but had one drawback… they were not fluent in English. Engineering jobs on the shop-floor were very low paying- lower than even the minimum wage. Travelling  two and a half hours one way to work on the shop floor with a largely male dominated work force and spending entire money in travel and not saving much at the end, really doesn’t make sense.

I met another person, who literally begged me to give him a job. He lives on a cot basis, can’t go home to his villages as there has been no rain and the crop had failed. To those who are uninitiated, cot basis means, he lives in a big hall where there are 20 cots. Our friend gets a cot, and lives out of a suitcase which he keeps locked beneath his cot and access to a washroom shared by 20 people. All these people are in search of jobs. Every day, when I meet five such people, I struggle to hold back my tears. Clearly meeting these people is a humbling experience and reminds me of how fortunate I am.

There was another girl, who was even willing to pay for the course, which I am offering, but can’t speak English to save her life. She is hugely talented, has great hunger and I can clearly see her succeeding …if given an opportunity.

At the same time, I see that the recruiters still come from good B- Schools. The interview will be conducted in English. At the third question in English, this girl will clam up, which means she will not answer. It is not she doesn’t know the answer, she will be overawed by the language and will have no confidence to reply in English. I clearly see, that she will be rejected by the corporate.

And that is where my dilemma begins. I have invested money, big money in my venture, have fixed costs and need admissions to sustain my venture. Should I give her admission, take her money and cut my losses? The socialist in my heart wins over the capitalist in my brain. I reject her… to her utmost disappointment. My principal and partners will be unhappy with me for not generating enough sales. At the same time, I cannot be at peace with myself if I have given a wrong admission. What is right is not always good, and what is good for me may not be the right decision. Life never ceases to surprise and teach you.

I am reminded of something I did nearly 15 years ago, when I was on the admissions panel of leading B-School. There was a brilliant chap, who I quickly realized was not comfortable in English and I conducted the entire interview in Hindi. That is when he opened up and was free flowing. We selected him, and today he is at a very senior level in a leading Private Sector Bank. My question is does corporate India have a similar mindset?

In the early 2000s BCCI spread its wings, and had talent development officers scout the hinterland. Munaf Patel was picked from obscurity. Dhoni’s Ranji team was Jharkhand, which was just a speck on the domestic circuit, one of the teams which turned up to make the numbers. It is time for Corporate India to do a BCCI. There is talent, raw talent which is available in the villages.

Make in India and Skill Devlopment are good initiatives. Corporate support is needed. Over and above the funding and the CSR, what is required is a change in the recruiting mindset and patience in nurturing these people. There are enough and more Dhoni’s available there to be unearthed.

In Duryodhana's footsteps

Duryodhana will be proud of me. Now that I have attracted your attention, don’t worry, I have not succeeded in disrobing any Draupadi, nor do I intend to. Unfortunately Duryodhana is remembered only for his one wrong act of ordering Draupadi’s vastraharan or disrobing. However, I respect Duryodhana for his quick decision making.

During the graduation ceremony of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, Arjuna excelled in Archery and was the favourite to be crowned as the champion. Suddenly an unknown masked warrior entered, and proceeded to do everything that Arjuna had done and even bettered them. However he could not be crowned as a champion, as he was Karna, the son of a charioteer and not a Royal. To cut a long story short, Duryodhana  on the spot crowned him as king of the kingdom of Anga, thus raising his stature. He did not ask for permission from his seniors, parents or elders.

Just imagine, if he had been asked to prepare a proposal. Come to think of it, how many of us cringe when we have to prepare a case and write up to justify a junior’s promotion? And then it is questioned and half the promotion cases don’t go through. What were the chances of the masked warrior’s proposal sailing through a discussion in the ‘evaluation committee’, or in this case the learned people in the court? Zilch – Zero, not a chance in hell. First of all he would be pulled up for not having come through the ranks… he doesn’t have enough experience to promote him to a king straightaway. His qualifications, caste etc. would be questioned and he would be discriminated against. In today’s corporate environment, Duryodhana would never be able to crown Karna the king. Instead he would be disciplined for insubordination.

In this case, Duryodhana was extremely quick on his feet and took a very fast decision, and capitalized on the opportunity. That is exactly what I did, when I began my entrepreneurship three months ago. I got into a deal, where my counterparty increased the price and in a fraction of a second, I said yes, and signed the deal, before my counterparty could even react. I am sure he was caught completely off guard.

Prudent businessmen would say that I should have bought time and negotiated etc. But the fact remains that I saw value in the price I was paying. I followed two principles :

1.      You don’t look at a gift horse in the mouth

2.      Opportunity doesn’t knock twice

I am sure that if he had gone back to his partners with the decision, they would have done their math and would have upped the price further. I still tell him that he sold me his business very cheap. Excel sheets don’t make decisions. Back of the envelope calculations, gut feel and conviction is what you need to take a decision

Now that I got into a deal committing a certain price, and was wondering how to get the funding. I spoke to a few friends, and they agreed, but subjected my proposal to a complete body scan. I hold no grudges against them; they are completely justified, as they are putting in their hard earned money. As discussions progressed, they wanted me to lay down all the risks on the table.

That is when I learnt a huge lesson, maybe one of my biggest learning over the last six months. Their entire perspective seemed to be what are the risks and what can we lose. My perspective was how soon we can fly and I had started building castles. Actually both perspectives are right as well as wrong. Let me explain.

Raj Kapoor (Kareena Kapoor’s grandfather for the younger generation) was bankrupt after producing his dream project “Mera Naam Joker” which bombed at the box office. At that time it was the costliest movie made. He was blind to the fact that his movie could fail, and maybe he could lose everything.

When Ratan Tata announced the ‘people’s car’ at a price of one lakh, everybody laughed at him. It was a rare case, where the product selling price is announced and then the design is made. A classic case of gut feel and conviction.

Now let me look at the risk evaluation perspective. Too much risk analysis paralyses you. At that time, you allow the projected negative of the project to overpower the projected gains.  And then your conviction begins to falter. A lot of achievements and innovation happen because, people who set out on the journey never believe that it can’t be done.

Some madness is required for innovation, at the same time the madness needs to be controlled so that you don’t lose your shirt as well as underwear.

I have the following takeaways from my experience over the last few months

1.      Projects should not be evaluated on past performance, but on future potential. No innovation would have been possible if all projects were evaluated on past performance

2.       For a new project, or innovation to succeed, you need one mad or passionate person who is blinded by potential success. His / Her thought process should not be clouded by fear.. Remember Gabbar Singh said in Sholay “Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya”

3.      The second partner should be risk focused, with a very clear focus on when does one bail out and exit the project.

4.      You need a third partner, who is a referee between the risk taker and the risk averse guy.

When I was working, and getting a fixed income, I used to think ten times before spending. Today, in entrepreneurship, when I am earning half my earlier salary, I have lost the fear of money. Is it me, or does it happen to all entrepreneurs? Am I looking at the bigger picture or am I foolish?

I have no clue. One is wise only in hindsight.  Duryodhana never regretted the decision to make Karna the king of Anga.

Freedom of Speech

Over the last few days, I have seen an interesting phenomenon. There is a daily soap going on, and interestingly, the same soap is being played simultaneously on different channels. One rarely sees all channels colluding in unison. As an advertiser, I think I have missed out on the biggest ‘eyeball grabbing’ opportunity. Debates on nationalism (or anti nationalism depending on which side of the political spectrum you are) gather higher TRPs than an inconsequential India Sri Lanka cricket match or the latest Khan movie.

I shall refrain on commenting on the appropriateness or otherwise of the slogans raised or the arrest made or whether there are curbs on freedom of speech or limits to freedom of speech, as the matter is sub-judice.Saying that the matter is sub-judice is a great excuse to conceal the fact, that I am confused. 

I then wonder whether speech is really free. If I were to talk about the situation at home, speech is free for one spouse, while there are extreme curbs on the other spouse. After listening to all these debates on TV, I think of filing a writ petition in the Honorable Supreme Court for protection of my rights under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Unfortunately this thought is the by-product of watching debates on TV which happen at prime time, when the throat is being lubricated by nectar of the evaporating kind. A heady combination, leads me to think about Article 19 and exercising my fundamental rights. Unfortunately at that time, the only two bones in my body that move are the hands and the tongue for all the wrong reasons. By the time I get up in the morning and get a nice smile with a cup of coffee, all these thoughts evaporate. Yes even after fifteen years of marriage, I get a warm smile, which is nothing but softening of the target before going for the kill.

Driving on the way to office, the thoughts come back. I think about exercising my right to free speech. I want to talk about everything that is wrong at work. How I think my manager is an idiot, my co-worker is wasting his / her time at work, with a Machiavellian streak and would be fit for politics, organisation policies suck, life is unfair at work, performance management systems are doctored to work against you, targets are impossible. And then I see my family photograph on the desk. I come back to mother earth and look at the monthly pay cheque which hits the bank account regularly, and all thoughts about Article 19 evaporate. I dream about the promotion, being a yes man, sucking up to my manager and other senior people and come back to reality

Come to think of it, the number 19 has always been a stumbling block since childhood. I dreaded mugging up the table of 19 and now Article 19 is a nemesis.

No sir, Freedom of Speech is nothing but a figure of speech. The sooner we understand it the better.