The following narration refers to events occurring between 27-8-2007 & 28-8-2007
I had been standing in Gurukul for the past 35 minutes. No sign of my parents. Not one bus stopping there. There was a guy trying to stop a bus and I couldn’t help but laugh at his modus operandi(hope it’s the right way to use the term).. He’d wave for an oncoming bus to stop at least 4 feet away from the foot path.. I hope that he finally got some bus to stop. Well, I felt the power of the Telecom system there at Gurukul.. 10 years ago I wouldn’t have known till I reached Delhi that I’d forgotten my ticket. My parents finally arrived and delivered me “my precious.” After another 10 minutes and I found myself (inspired by my unfortunate friend) on the road trying to stop a bus.. It did.
It was a U.P. Transport, Air Conditioned bus. The cost of the ticket, lets just say two times more than what I had paid earlier for another one( it seems that’s the lowest for an AC bus). Nevermind.. I was back on my journey. “Ab Dilli door nahi hai,” I said to myself while boarding the bus and wishing my parents farewell. And boy!!! Was I wrong!!
The events that followed have already been narrated but what wanted to ponder upon in this part is a book I bought at Cheetal. The book, written by Thomas L Friedman, is called “The World is Flat.” I wanted to buy this book for a long time but didn’t have enough cash and here it was being sold at a price an eighth of the printed one. The offer was irresistible.
No prizes for guessing: I bought the book.
I started reading the book and I was in the middle of a movie that I had seen earlier when I was traveling in the same bus(it seems to me that they have only this movie to show in that bus). It was a bit disturbing to be distracted from reading this book. I read some 4 chapters while in the bus. I had practically no idea that, like the author too claims (about himself), I had been sleeping while the world was being flattened. Suddenly I find myself in Bangalore and in the middle of the events narrated in the book. What a wake up call that was!!
As I continued reading the book, I came across many interesting facts that, if I had not bought the book, I would never have come across for I was in my dream world. Ignorance is bliss. Now I feel that I need to look at jobs that will and probably cannot be outsourced in the future. Although a bulkier part of the book was dedicated to the Americans, but I feel that like them we must not be getting into the same act: Of thinking that we can stick to one job for the rest of our lives without any need of innovation in thinking. The main mantra of the corporate world is “cheaper and better” and this is where Indian, Chinese and other Asian corporates come into the picture. I feel that the first sign of the end of my sleep was my association in the organizing of symposiums in college, now I feel that our motto for Evolution was the first signs of an alarm bell going off. “Imagine Invent Innovate” is the key for survival in the flat world. I feel that people in Muzon(especially students) have one thought that needs to be in their heads: Sheltered in their own world won’t get them anywhere. It’s the best place to learn as much as you can. The world belongs to motivated individuals. The Geeks shall not inherit the earth.
But just being motivated is not enough to succeed in the flat world. They say Necessity is the mother of invention, if that’s so then motivation is her dad. In any case what I want to stress on is adaptability to changes by the individual leads to innovation in thought to try out things that one, under ordinary circumstances, would never have dared to try out. It’s the age of creating your own job description. Period.
I’m still reading the book. Advisable for all to read. Especially the students of Muzon.
