My stay in Jakarta was always fun. I still remember the thrilling moments of the last visit. May it be me standing in front of the ticketing supervisor at airport – looking with some strange expressions when she said “Sir, you do not have a valid ticket!” or may it be me sitting in a park with a tiger on my laps!! Whatever, it was always entertaining. Same is the case this time as well. But apart from it, there is more to learn. Interaction with varieties of people makes me think. This often throws to me some unending chain of questions. I am going to put something similar here as my first blog.
I had an interesting chat with one of my friends here. A few days back, he came back to apartment from some meeting with his boss and the client company’s managers. The meeting was all about the promotion of the new product. (Even I am working on somewhat similar project, so was a bit curious).
He mentioned about the meeting that everyone was only trying make own interest safe!! In the meeting his boss tried really hard to advertise the new product and convince client’s manager. What was the approach of client side’s manager? He was trying to understand how that product could put him in a better position in the company if he accepts the deal. What was my friend doing there?? Well, he was listening attentively most of the time and was just supposed to do nodding whenever his boss puts some new feature in front ambitiously. He was the tech-export, after all. The whole thing was going on with lots of boozes and lasted almost for 3-4 hours.
What was the objective behind these 3-4 hours? How to earn more money for self … not even for the company? This apparently doesn’t even sound odd. Let us not get in to the debate if this was right or wrong but it was enough to initiate a chain of questions for me. When it comes to money why do we often act such that it is THE ONLY objective in life?
Somehow everything has gone money oriented … for me as well, perhaps. Is that what we call professionalism? And most importantly is it really THE ONLY thing in life?
well, money is certainly a part of life … but now it is now becoming heart of life. Earning money used to be ‘one of the things’ which now is THE ONLY thing in life. Why do we feel really satisfied when we earn more money? Is there not anything beyond that? Yes, we do need money, but then one needs to have some goals for which money might be one of the resources. Somehow today we earn money to make ourselves capable of earning more money! Isn’t it?
Simple example … My friend got an offer from a company which was ready to pay him thrice as much as he was getting that time. Also there were experts ready to advise him then how to earn more. Isn’t it funny? There were experts to advise how to earn more money to the person who was going to earn anyway more! And there is a major sector of society which strives for earning; there is no one to guide them!!
Well, the experts came to him because he was ready to pay them for the advice. At times it sounds fair. But is it really? Should it not be need based rather than money-oriented? If I have a skill to make things better then should I not be using it for someone who really needs to make the things better? What is the point really in using it for someone who already has better things?
This is how chain of thoughts started… Let me continue further.
Somehow I am also a part of the same society and call the above mentioned tendency as the culture. I do salute the great souls like Shivaji Maharaj and Mahatma Gandhi who used there skills to understand people and show them the way of living and made the lives better. The people who earn revenue for social cause, appeal me a lot. I look at the organizations like CRY. These people are working for children. They are making business to return something back to society.
No arguments that one has social life as well as personal life and both of them have to be balanced. But then it has to be on both the sides.
Questions still continue…
What am I doing then? If I understand all this and really feel something then why am I not acting over it? Sitting in an AC room and commenting on social life doesn’t really reflect real urge for social work.
Sometimes I really wonder why each chain of questions ends up in maligning my own image in my mind! Anyway, the point here is about glamour. We have attached glamour to wrong things. Now all the consequences are reflection of that. Should we not give importance to the things that are really important?
We work for the team Dream India 2020. In fact, we are Team Dream India 2020. We are making an attempt to make a strong India by year 2020 with no odds. Though I am doing it, at some corner of the mind, it feels that I am not doing at the fullest. I, myself have not reached to the level what we talked about so far however I am leading towards it. This feeling certainly gives a bit of relief. But that is not an end. I know there is going to be a next incidence and the chain is going to start again! But this helps to improve. And I believe it helps to improve in positive direction. But it is also true that after certain stage in this questionnaire, I try to satisfy myself with some vague answers and try to run away! :-)
However working for social cause or making use of our skills to make the society better, is like a knowledge transfer that grows when spread. Similarly more we work for this cause; more energy we get. If we give your best, best of the best comes back to us.
I am not sure when this journey would end and I could finally get over this chain of questions. Well … this adds one more question to the unending chain! :-)
