Brexit: A White-Washed Indian Family Drama?

The current political atmosphere in the United Kingdom is both charged and divided ahead of Brexit referendum to be held in less than 24-hours. Hearing arguments on immigration, economic freedom and independence reminds me debates that happen in our homes over joint family set-up and same-caste marriages. 

The UK Independence Party has been fiercely supporting the exit like daughter-in-laws seeking economic freedom and independence from joint-family set-up. The EU has been warning Britian of 

Exit price and no opportunity to come back in the union, while the Conservative party realizes the advantages, it is struggling to convince its citizens. As much as the joint family makes it feel rigid in the inside, it offers tremendous support and protectionism when things begin to go wrong. 

The cultural change brought about by immigration is another point of contention between the warring parties. If I were to bring home a girl from another caste or religion, my parents would not be too happy because of the dilution of cultural values and practices. Similarly, the Conservatives are worried about the fast-changing religious demographic and evolving British palette for Kebab and Curry. By exiting EU, Britain hopes to prolong the shelf-life of their culture and palette for fish and chips. Scientifically, Cross-pollination is an opportunity to improve the genetic make-up and propounds Darwinism: survival of the fittest and the need for constant evolution.

Another striking similarity to this white-washed version of the Indian family drama is the recent murder of a Parliamentarian, Jo Cox who supported staying in the EU, which resembles honor killings that happen here in the name of caste and religion. 

Irrespective of what we term this: a white-washed version of an Indian drama or a brown version of a British Soap, the Brits will have to face the repercussions of their choice, which will significantly alter their cultural DNA and legacy. Only time can tell the real merits and demerits of such a choice, until then let's enjoy the drama in British style with some beer, fish and chips.

Life lessons from Mowgli and Dory

Taking my 10-year old nephew to movies this summer has not only helped us bond, but also made me review the purpose of life and characters in it. But, before I share my interpretation and point out the uncanny resemblance of characters from these two movies (The Jungle Book and Finding Dory) to real life, let me share about a craze that hit our generation (the 1970 borns) like an epidemic.

The craze

I was my nephew's age then. Gold Spot, a popular soda, promoted their drink to kids using the Jungle Book. A certain number of bottle caps when turns in earned us the Jungle Book comic, which had a simple story line with vacant spots for key characters. Beneath every bottle cap of the drink came a character, which we collected and pasted in appropriate empty spots in the comic. We used our pocket money to buy Gold Spot drinks for the sake of collecting these characters and when we ran out of money, we walked by small shops in our neighborhood looking for Gold Spot caps. 

Sometimes, we got lucky, but most times we either spotted empty caps or those from other brands. A few of those lucky spots earned us multiple copies of the same character, which we swapped amongst our friends. May be we replaced these fictional characters with formulas, equations, theorems and science laws. Should we also include prejudices and biases to the above list?

A common theme

Both animation movies revolve around shortcomings, searching the past and returning home with help of friends. Returning home is a metaphor that can be used for jobs, people, relationships.

From Mowgli's perspective, the Jungle Book is a story of friendships and how it helped him handle vissicitudes of life and return home. From Shere Khan and King Luois's point-of-view, it is a tale of how prejudice, revenge seeking mentality, desirescan reduce one to ashes. 

Finding Dory, a sequel to Finding Nemo, not only involves return of Dory to her parents, but also return of species who were being forcefully taken away from the ocean in California to an aquarium in Cleveland. 

Reel is real!

Gone are those days where we exchanged duplicate characters in bottle caps, while today we discuss tales of such characters in our life. 

In our professional lives we often come across managers who mirror Shere Khan in their attitude and venomous peers like Ka who pretend to be our true friends. Fortunately, it is folks like Baloo, Bagheera, Akela and Raksha who make our lives happy.

Like Dory many of us have shortcoming that eclipse our objective of life. We happily move around lforgetting our goals and priorities like Dory. It is people who meet along the journey who help us get back on track and realize our dreams.

The two movies besides being funny, poignant and thought provoking remind us that life is often a mix of both good and evil characters and that one must pause and think of their objectives and not be hijacked by emotions and instincts. 

Watch the movie and come up with your own interpretation. Don't forget to listen to Baloo sing...The bare necessities of life will come to you...They'll come to you! - https://youtu.be/Gu8mFbBvoMI

Euphoria and Gratitude in Marriages

Yes, sometimes marriages can happen over social media in the corporate world. And there is one striking similarity in the emotion broadcasted after announcement of marriage plans and company buy-outs: overly optimistic. If you don't agree with me, watch the recent video of Jeff Weiner and Satya Nadella speak about what the take over means to each of their companies: https://youtu.be/HHVtNgngLHA. 

Jeff is seen to be controlling his smirk (he recalls what happened to Nokia after Microsoft buy out), while Satya brags about the deal and how it buying Linked In would help Microsoft expand its business. And subsequently, Jeff defends the deal and explains why it is a win-win for Linked In; as Satya vehemently shakes his head like a joyous partner who slipped in the engagement ring. You know who is the husband in the marriage.

Though I've never been married or engaged in my personal life, but in my professional life, I've played the role of a communications specialist giving false hope to both parties. At one time, I was a part of the team that prepared optimistic communications assuaging fears of employees and customers during Satyam fiasco, and later on announcing an aquistioon to employees, compiling Q&A to customers and financial analysts who often sit on the fence questioning the value of the deal and success/failure of the acquisition strategy.

Over valued?

Microsoft is paying 79 times the social network's earnings before EBITDA and Linked In shares are being bought over at $220 despite Linked In shares dropping in value by 44% due to poor performance reported in Feb 2016 and losing $11 billion in market cap. 

Today 26.2 billion deal is being questioned, analyzed and reviewed by press, analysts on business channels and shareholders on Twitter. Though we could hear the similar tune in the background: over valuation, but let's not forget that the rich always marries into rich and often the marriage is a way to consolidate wealth and safeguard personal prosperity more than ensuring prosperity for employees and shareholders. Linked In shares surged in value (46%) as soon as the deal was announced by Microsoft, which clearly shows the market pulse on the buy-out.

Raw deal

In my professional career, I have gone through the experience of both being taken over by a smaller player and taking over a smaller player. The truth is that, many of colleagues were made redundant and high cost resources being replaced with cheaper options from the other side bringing gloom to employees. 

Just as kids get a raw deal in a marriage, employees get the other end of the stick in M&As. Euphoria and gratitude are both an illusion as management looks to multiply their wealth and reduce cost. The only parties that stands to gain in corporates marriages are lawyers, investment bankers, deal brokers and consulting companies (therapist) that work on post-merger integration. 

Vasantham: A Heaven on Earth

When the students were asked to assemble in the room downstairs, one of them came running down the stairs looking for his parents. Upon seeing me, he was a little disappointed, but I wasn't. Anitha and I had driven for an hour to see them and understand their needs. 

Shortly, remaining students trickled down the stairs to join us in a classroom across from the administrative room. We didn't have any earlier experience of interacting with this many children; their warmth, inquisitive nature and special talents didn't do justice to the tag - mentally challenged. Though we were a bit nervous, but we quickly snapped out it and began by introducing ourselves. We explained the objective of our visit in simple terms in an attempt to win their trust and confidence. The next thirty minutes turned into a very pleasant interaction as they showcased their super powers.

A student in a pitch-perfect voice adhering to tala (rhythm) sounded like a professional singer as he sang hymns on Ganesha; many of his classmates chimed in without hesitation. A few other students asked us if knew the score from the one-day cricket match between India and Zimbabwe. And shortly, teachers took turn to brag about their students successfully passing 8th grade exams. What we saw and heard inside definitely didn't match the name board displayed at the entrance. All of them were specially talented. The love and care of attenders and how they intervened to calm and pacify was beyond motherly.

We were taken on a tour of the classrooms to understand the kind of formal and vocational education imparted to students. One of the admin staff who was busy filing invoices and bills when we walked into the facility shared his story at the end of his tour. Three years ago when he discovered his son was a special child he quit his high paying job in Bangalore started work at this school in an effort to better understand his son, who is now six.

As we sat down to discuss their needs with Mrs. Alli Murugesan, who has been running this school for over 30 years, she revealed amazing abilities of her children and how some of them have become a part of the administrative staff. The place doubles up as a  residential school for 40 special children, while 70 others go back to their homes at the end of day.

Anitha and I had stepped out convinced that the place was aptly named Vasantham. In a few weeks, we will be organizing a medical camp for these lovely children. Many thanks to our donors and a special thanks to my friend Maheshwaran for recommending this school of angels with special powers to me.