Role of Media in today's Indian Scenario

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
This sensitive topic was in my mind for quite some time now but I always got busy with other things - Media in today's world, today's Indian scenario, plays an integral role to ensure smooth functioning of the country and it was most evident during the Mumbai Massacre (26th-28th November 2008), that continued for ~60 hrs. Media crew (Reporters, Technicians, and Cameramen) tried their best to get the most updated news to the viewers throughout the world.

I have heard people saying that it's all business and hence each news channel wants to increase its TRP; I would say that these are people who are doing their jobs in the best possible manner. When a soldier fights at the border his selfish interest remains that he wants to perform his best for the country and so remains the selfish interest of the reporter. When it comes to the crisis situations like Mumbai Massacre then Military and Media come to the rescue of the trapped people and the people who are worried about their loved ones. They were the bold media personnel who brought home continuous news and events - hats off to them.

It’s said that Media has got the power to turn around thrones and that's evident in the tough times like this Mumbai tragedy and the follow up. Media could have asked the questions (how, why and what next) to the Government when the rescue operations were on but they behaved responsibly that time and ensured that latest news were brought to the loved ones of those who were trapped in the hotels. Now when the time is right, they are questioning the governments (both Central and State) about the casual approach that government took for this whole tragedy.
Warnings were given by IB and RAW to the State Government and after that there was so less security in the South Mumbai area. Above all, Maharashtra Deputy CM Mr. R. R. Patil says that these small things happen in the big cities. This approach clearly reflects that this massacre means nothing to him and his allies. Media is doing its work and it is doing its work too well by ensuring that these questions are asked in front of the country so that faces of all corrupt politicians are shown to the people.

Everything seems to be in place when we talk about Media but there is one thing which is missing - an active regulatory body to monitor the news content shown to the country. There is a regulatory body but it functions only when there is conflict of interests between two parties. When I said we need the body I have got my reasons for the same.

• Content Regulation - There should be regulations to edit disturbing pictures shown over television (news, special reports etc) like Cigarettes are banned to be shown on TV. Today we are asking every one to remain united in this difficult time and fight against terror, but think about the kids who see the scary pictures shown in the news channels. They would grow up with terror within them. Some might get mentally disturbed due to these pictures. Channels like AAJ TAK and India TV should be given serious warnings regarding their content.
• Ethical behavior - The news channels should not be allowed to bias the ongoing judicial cases by using the extreme terms like faces of death etc. These terms just bias Junta's viewpoint towards the case and the convicts. Incidents have been reported when media has pointed fingers over people and they were declared innocent by the court but in the eyes of Junta, they remained criminals. As an example - each convict in the Arushi murder case was at one time or the other was declared criminal over the news channels.
• Rating System - Sensitive news channels should be rated Adults and every program should come with serious age range warnings. There should be strict laws to ensure that children are not allowed to see adult content to ensure that they don't get scared from within.

There are some news channels that assume this responsibility and are the right picture of Media in the country today. Most of us know the channels that show responsible content, debates and viewpoints.
Today, India is moving in the right direction and Media is one of the strong pillars to ensure that. Media has helped in providing transparency and accountability in government operations. The latest challenge to the government which is New Age Terror would be addressed properly by the government and if not, then Media would help in providing the channel to question government.

What does India need today?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
India has 1/6th of world's population, best technology institutes and biggest democracy in the world. We have lots of other things to feel good about and we are in the direction to make this country best of the places to live in the world. There has been numerous preachers, thinkers and philosophers existing for thousands of years who have given directions to the countries.

What have we got today? We have got the work force, the energy and the zeal, not to compete or think relative w.r.t. other countries, but to evolve at an absolute level, at a level much higher than any other level existing, much broader than anyone can imagine. What we truly need today, is a leader and its not anymore the ancient Roman empire where everything can be governed by a Church.We truly need first generation entrepreneurs, who have the vision and appetite to eat the world.

If I ask the honorable Prime Minister of India that where is our country heading, he will very humbly say 'to the future', but he can only provide us the means and show us the direction. What we truly need is a thought, a virus (keeda) which can lit up millions of souls in this country to create business and to sell it through out the world. Its not because it would solve the employment, infrastructure, literacy and growth problems of the country; but it would provide a platform for innovation and excellence to cultivate. Innovation that can take us to the next millennium, to the next level.

I have always believed that we live not in our times but in our dreams. If we can dream the future and help thousands of other people do the same then we, the country of India, can contribute a ton, for the growth of the society.

Whose responsibility is it at the first place to redefine what is already defined? Or, let me reframe the question, who is expected by the common man to redefine what is defined? India invests crores of rupees on the Technical institutes, Management institutes (IITs/IIMs/NITs) and its our responsibility to not crib about the system but deliver and preach what we have learned.
I have heard thousands of people all over the world cribbing about the social conditions, economic policies, infrastructural issues etc existing in India. If its a way to justify yourselves that you don't want to contribute in the corrupt system, then you were never destined to do that anyway. But if you have slightest doubt that you will feel sorry for not paying this debt back, then its not worth a life.Thousands of IITians and IIM grads move out for everything that they curse don't exist here. Who would the government look up to solve these problems?
It has happened forever that some people crib about the system in their entire lives, while others go out and solve the problems. We are born in a time when we have the freedom to choose and think about our futures. At least use it to contribute and not to crib and plug in negative energy in the system. If you can't do anything about it, then at least support the people who are willing to do the same. That would be better than sitting in your balcony and cribbing.

Remember one thing, if you choose this or ignore this, don't mean a thing to anyone. Its bound to happen in the coming time, you would feel good in the end if you work for it.

This is what they call Gunda Raj

Date: 21st Oct. 2008, I woke up in the morning and like everyday, I switched on my TV. It was some news channel with its “Breaking News”. To my surprise, news this time was indeed breaking news. It said 'MNS Chief, Raj Thackeray arrested in Ratnagiri at about 2:30 AM'.

Raj Thackeray has addressed the issue of growth and opportunities of Maharashtrians (“Marathi Manoos”) all the time which according to him meant growth of Maharashtra. It's good to see that he cares about its local people much more than most of our leaders who visit their constituencies once in a while just to ask for their support. Somehow I am not quite convinced about his intentions and approach. In his campaigns, I see same old tactics of politicians to misguide voters and common men, just to grab power and public wealth.

Just to mention, political career of Raj Thackeray started when he quit his Uncle’s (Bala Saheb Thackeray) party (Shiv Sena) and started his own political party “Maharashtra Nav-nirmaan Sena (MNS)” to gain some power and establish his own identity. Most of us already know how a virtually non-existent leader of Shiv Sena grew up to become one of the most popular leader of Maharashtra almost overnight. Since then he is trying to prove his superiority over his counterparts in Shiv Sena.

Now my concern is that if this is someone’s personal matter then why common men is being dragged into all this. How can anybody expect to show his superiority by openly challenging law and order? It’s certainly not possible in an educated society, but I guess it’s baseless to assume such things in our country where you can convince anyone to fight and even kill others for incentives that can be as small as a bottle of liquor and meal for one time.

These leaders (I do believe MNS chief is not the only one. Almost 90% of our leaders are doing this) make use of this population and misuse their powers, resources, infrastructure and above all man-hours. All of above mentioned things are to a large extent tax payer’s money. So directly or indirectly it is affecting all of us.

Let us analyze few incidents that happened in the recent past:

At the time when our popular leader got arrested recently the very first reaction of his own party workers (who I assume share same feelings for their very own state) is to torch buses, taxis, bus stands, toll plaza. What are they doing now? Is it a agitation against North Indians as half of the labor employed in these places are North Indians, or is it agitation against the system which did not take any action against their leader till it became inevitable. I assume, in the end, that it's nothing but agitation against growth and progress of wealthiest state of the country.

In the end they are doing same things against the reason for which they are fighting … poor people!!! Or maybe they have been ordered by their chief to destroy everything that has any association with North Indians. :)

Secondly, let’s go back to from where it all started? How is it possible that our dedicated leader has realized that this state is being dominated by North Indian population just when state elections are close? Why is he doing all this? If this is just to be in power, I have a different opinion on it. Assuming MNS might come into power by all of this. What next??... Raj Thackeray will become new Chief Minister of the state. He will have few more powers to influence local people or maybe he can go ahead and ban North Indians from working in the state so that his very own “Marathi Manoos” get a preferential treatment in their very own state. But wait!! He is doing all this right now and maybe he is doing it much openly and effortlessly than he will be able to do when he is in power.

What else might be the reason to do all this? Next thing which I can think of is monetary gains. But in common man’s language we call it corruption. Oops!!! Knowingly or unknowingly quite a few of us have supported a potentially corrupt leader in this case.

Huh!! Not again. It’s hard to believe so much blind followers of a person who has indicated his greed for money and power. If this is even 10% true, I simply feel sorry for the future of this state. There should be a law that can impose a life time ban on political careers of people with such intentions. But, we are living in a democratic country where anything is possible if you have power. :)

There is no doubt that standard of life and opportunities in few cities in Maharashtra is much much better than any other city in India. Having said that, we can’t deny that it's a collaborative effort of more than 50 years rather than efforts of a particular community or group. So it’s my sincere request to our Marathi friends to not get carried away without any reason and collaboratively contribute towards the growth of the state.

If incidents like this keep on happening, I, being an employer, don’t find a reason to continue creating jobs here when I don’t feel safe and I am forced to employ workforce on the basis of their origin rather than their abilities.

This is just my personal opinion and everyone is free to agree or disagree. I chose this platform just because I could not organize a rally in some huge ground or gain media attention like our esteemed leaders to express my opinion.

Singur Nano story - Was Bengal ready for it?

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Nano (Lakhtakia) has remained in the news channels, summits and discussion forums worldwide for various reasons; be it the cheapest car tag, car for poor tag, India's technology showcase tag, Tata's promise to poor tag or the dispute over the farmer's land.

This story brings in the foreground the other side of the emerging Brand India, where some States are not ready for the change or atleast the political leaders are not ready for the change. It's the beauty of democracy which gives us the right to get the public cooperation and turn around things, and India is a living example of this concept. I would also like to bring up that if we really want things to move as planned by the government then we should move to the concept of Communism like China, but do we really want that? I would vote for 'No' as we cherish Freedom - freedom of words, thoughts, ideas and we believe in the same. I am sure that Tatas would have done great job for the future of Bengal, no doubt about it but is it only Future that we should invest in? I want to quote an example out here to give a lateral picture of what I am thinking - I always used to curse people who steal National property but never thought why they do the same. Some do it for fun and I still curse them, but there are some who are hungry and hunger comes before National identity; they steal because they are struggling with their Present. They laugh at these speeches because they are not sure about their Present and leaders are busy planning for Future. The leaders are putting money for Future but are they fulfilling the dreams of the Present? I don't know the answer to this question because all of this is politically driven but I think its a good mathematical problem as to what proportion of the national funds should be used for Future and what for Present?

Let's discuss Singur plant story, Tatas are finally planning to move out of Bengal and Singur plant is shut. Somewhere over the net, I read that its a black day for Bengal and India, and I will say Yes & I might support No too. Ratan Tata said it right that if Bengal doesn't need them then they will go away and they stood by their words. It's the decision taken by the State of Bengal to not support Tatas and they will see impact of the same in coming years, but who knows they might be happy with it. Mamata might get people's support and become CM, people would feel happier with no industrialization in the State and Tatas would get a better deal in other State. So, in the end everyone might feel happy, except the current CM who wanted the change but didn't check whether the time is right or not. You can't bring a change until the time is right. Among all of this chaos ,what will happen to the youth of Bengal. What about their Future? No issues, people move to other places if there are gaps in the system. IITians used to move to US in 80s & 90s for the same reason. People from all over the country come to Maharashtra for the same reason. We might see the Bengal government after 15 years cribbing about brain drain problem. But what should a good leader do in between all this bullshit?
Some weeks back I was given a brain teaser, when this whole Singur issue was connected to Indian partition issue in 1947. Jinnah's role was assumed to be played by Ratan Tata who is interested in Nano project only, Nehru's role was assumed to be played by Mamata Banerjee who is interested in West Bengal only, Nano plant was assumed to be Pakistan which either stays with Bengal or go away (with Ratan Tata), West Bengal now was assumed to be India and Mahatma Gandhi's role was assumed to be played by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. I didn't know that answer then as I wasn't sure whether moving out of Bengal (or parallely having a separate country) was a better solution or not, but in the end its about safety of our people and in democracy people come first. So, Bengal people decided against Singur and Tatas are out. People call 14th August 1947 as a black day for India and we are still fighting because of that one decision. Gandhi in 1947 was looking for peaceful lands which didn't turn out as planned. Same might exist over here too, but living in the same land and fighting is not the solution. I don't know whether it is right or not but I am sure that there exists many dimensions to this whole story.

Will this have impact on India shining story?

Answers turn up to questions now

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
Dynamics of the world economics is at the verge of changing and it will impact, in a big way, our age old thought process and the way we used to solve problems. The failure of US financial system questions back the authenticity of all the answers and solutions known and taught for decades. This situation also questions back all the notions told in the existing lecture series, workshop sessions and other study material.
Now, a kid can question back in the class that if a 150 year old bank can collapse with all the smart people around, then what is the guarantee that the theorems taught in my class will solve the world problems; and we should stop faking that we know the answers. We should look for new approaches, then simply looking up to some one to come up with answers. We can crib for almost everything around saying that this is the way this business is run, but we are living in a time where history is written and we should learn from it.
You might find these words bookish but this is my solution to the problems around, and if you think other wise then it's good too because any successful economy requires two types of people - Leaders and Followers. People in between these two categories create problems in the system.

Things around are about to change; many big giants will go down and new empires will emerge. It's not a time to feel bad about the lost money. Soon we will see many new empires defining new rules and changing world dynamics.

Lets see how things shape up ......

Feeling that you have a thought to add, go for it!!

Skip weeds on the boulevard of dreams

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

When we start our journeys on the so called less traveled road, we meet lots of people; some learned faces, some worried souls, some shrewd minds and lots of successful bastards who tend to slow our journeys down. They might be narrating their success stories or telling us the lessons that they learnt along their ways to success (which can be very different for us), but most of them try to convince us that their paths were tough. They knowingly or unknowingly pump in lots of negative energy in our positive system.

We all have met these kind of people at some point in our lives and we chose to ignore them because we knew that they would distract our visions. The difference in this case remains that we choose to go to these people and hear their success stories, which is nothing but a carefully edited piece of the same age old story, decorated beautifully to sound attractive. We will refer to these successful bastards as weeds for time being as they suck in our positive energy. :)

It's our fault that we go to weeds and ask them about their paths. At the end of the story, we feel that it's really tough to move ahead on this path and before we even understand the positive energy within us is sucked. On the contrary, a real teacher/mentor helps us feel good about our passion and guide us with the next steps, but a weed makes us feel small about our plans.
These weeds forget one important point while naratting their stories which is that we all are traveling or we all chose to travel on this road because we all were looking for absolute peace of mind and a solution for restlessness lying deep within us.

An important lesson learnt in the early school days, of ignoring people who try to distract us, still holds true. These weeds (successful bastards) confuse us by their manipulated arguments (changed over time) but they forget that it was the passion that took them where they are, and not all the stupid arguments that they give. It happens with people when they succeed and we should not blame them for that. Every successful individual looks for audience to listen to his /her success story, be it Donald Trump or Richard Branson. It also happens because once a person becomes big then his/her focus shifts from idea initiator to business prosperer. When they started their journeys they were like us - Wanderers, but they remain no more like us.

It's like asking a rich person about how he became rich, and he would tell you the story of his hardships because he needs someone to prove himself that his journey was tough. History is written by successful people and that's why I always question it's authenticity. We should always remember that it's an absolute journey of ours where we stand alone all the time.
It's the journey against time and ambitions and we should not distract our visions because some successful bastard said that it's not the right way; because when we ask some one, the journey becomes relative. We are born with a road map and we all understand our paths, and if we hear from deep within, we will all know the answers. It's the question of not getting distracted by weeds and keeping faith in our destinies.
If you don't feel for this post, or don't understand it ..... don't bother - it was never meant for you. :)

Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta

We all must have read or heard somewhere about the ‘India becoming a Super power by 2020’ story or debate and interestingly some of us do believe in it, and rest of us don’t give a damn to it… who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

Why do we need all these Multi National Companies, Investment Banks and Consulting Companies that pay us some percent of our efforts as salaries and get work which is worth 10-20 times? Why can’t we get the ball rolling from India so that all the money comes to us only? Why does every IITian and IIM grad aim for NYC, London, Hong Kong or Sydney placement - Google, Microsoft, BCG or JPMC? I guess everyone has his/her reasons for choosing a particular career path and that’s what freedom is (Freedom we all are born with!) but let’s not go over the Idealist discussion board and all that bull shit, but one thing is for sure true; these best of the class companies have given us an exposure of money and an understanding of being big, have given a push to our lifestyles to take it to the current metro style level where extra adrenaline is something that flows in our veins all the time.

We are in a sense hypnotized by the new buzzing fields – Consulting, IBs, KPO and IT and we have started cruising towards them. What bothers me the most is this sheep mentality which stops us to become visionaries or future faces of the country. Then there comes that very thought with which we all are born, live and die each day. Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

I won’t make huge remarks or right wrong statements out here but, will love to discuss what, I think, can lead us to our destinations. I know that most of you are not going to like my philosophies, ideas and thoughts but I am not here to write cute bullshit love stories or some masala news; I am aiming to target the 5% souls who I think will represent the Indian future.

To initiate, let’s discuss about the direction where the cream of Today’s India is cruising. It is dreaming for all the best packages, and tends to oversee what it is not shown. These dream Jobs of top notch college grads (JPMC, Google, Microsoft, Mkz, and BCG) come along with huge pay checks and learning opportunities. Some of us choose to learn the lessons first, by joining a good firm and then applying those lessons in future to reach our destinations. We all are free to choose any path but what ends up happening with most of us is that we become slaves to our luxurious lives, expensive wines and discothèques which these jobs give us as drugs. This insecurity later dissolves our magic energy and we end up missing the Ship; the Ship to Ithaca. To add to all this, we don’t give a damn to this missed opportunity as those magic words help justify what we did - Who cares about all that bullshit anyway! We are smart enough to come up with philosophies to justify our paths.

What I think is that we need to learn the skill to move up the ladder from the Pay check collection department to Pay check generation department. A total generic line, heard 1000 times and that is most ironical that we all hear it, understand it and choose to skip it. J

It’s not like we can’t do it or haven’t done it before. We have our superheroes that too are ‘made in India’. Indians have shown the potential of buying the most promising brands of the world and expanding in the territories where even big players of the world find hard to enter. With TATAs proving the potential of generating dream car for Common Man and Reliance proving potential to go over multiple dimensions, we are all set with our set of role models; and we need to move ahead of the cribbing part where we say that we need people to lead us. We can choose to say the famous, carefree, lovable slang - Who cares about all that bullshit anyway! J

Who will lead the way? I have met many people with innovative ideas and most interestingly, you can notice that we all have the entrepreneurial capabilities and live with an Idea down in our heart. We need people to set examples, proving that going for your own startup is not a risky career option and is a career which generates careers. This is the only solution which can lead India to the place where we want to go – India becoming a superpower.

I still remember the preparations for the 2k millennium parties and the discussion forums, groups declaring that India will become Superpower by 2020. I am pretty much sure that we are on the right path but I see couple of problems with the path; and the solution exists in the society itself but what we need is an army, to live with the dream and spread the magic.

India has a group of big house tycoons and thousands of budding entrepreneurs. These big tycoons will set the stage but one who will lead the future is our 20s age group crowd and we need to shift their focus from followers to leaders. I am not here to blame any one as all of my friends say that they are happy with their packages and the path they are moving towards and those who are not, are preparing for GMAT. A great way to cash in huge pay checks but surely, some of our youth (~5%) need to turn towards the Entrepreneurial path to ensure that we sell things in every dimension to the world and get in as much pounds, dollars for the country as possible.

It’s not like that those who are leading us don’t know all this. It’s the list of day to day problems that they all are busy solving and I agree that we can only think about future when we are happy with our present. The problem is that we are missing a CEO, visionary who can work over numbers for the overall growth of the country not only to make us self sufficient but to become Super Power.

I think the American President and his team is smart enough to invest in the Present and Future. I saw an opening for the Asia Pacific region Lead of Ashoka who will report directly to the US President. What I understood is that the American CEO is monitoring what world is moving towards i.e. they are keeping a tab on the future. We all have heard the famous dialogue of the movie ‘Wallstreet’ – Every battle is won before it’s ever fought. It’s the information that keeps you ahead of everyone around and that’s something that Americans know really well.

We need a CEO for India who can think over new dimensions to monitor where the world is moving and gauge where it might be in next 25 years, and this way we will exactly know whether our future investments are going in the right direction. Is it that simple an equation? I don’t know but I truly believe that the concept at the heart core level is as simple as concept of Gravity then why can’t our leaders do that. I think the answer to this is simple too. If you are frustrated and know the answer then stop cribbing and go for it. Anyway, there were lot of revolutionaries before Bhagat Singh too but he didn’t crib and tried his way of solving the problem.

I agree to not cribbing and moving ahead, but how can I also ensure that not only 5% but 10% population is motivated to generate jobs, salaries and go for the less traveled and over hyped road, but a thought comes up to my mind too.. Why the hell do I care about all that bullshit? Who cares about all that bullshit anyway!

Apologies - Out of Touch and ME Confused

This blog is written and owned by Saurabh Gupta
First of all, my sincere apologies for remaining out of touch with the blog for quite some time (almost 4 months). I have been doing some research of the real world but somehow couldn't find time to scribble it down. I have remained really confused for a while now and I am still confused and all these days I was looking for a reason to continue with writing. Today, I thought why not share my confusion and some thoughts I have been struggling with all these days.

Also, I should admit few things before going forward with the post - the definitions written, concepts documented, ideas implemented, situations known, problems discussed and the solutions proposed so far by renowned writers are not as simple, easy and straight forward as they might have described. People describe all of these concepts in the form of simple words and justifies them with examples but in reality time justifies these concepts in some situations and at the same time completely discards others and so there is nothing right/wrong when described. No matter how big, famous or learned a person is, even he/she is bound to commit mistakes and those may not be mistakes while the event happens but becomes one when repeated or over a period of time. They write different concepts and try to work out a model for these concepts but there is nothing UNIVERSAL.

I am struggling with some thing like UNIVERSAL definitions of all these situations/terms, something as simple as concept of GRAVITY. Defining situations, problems and solutions becomes tricky and hence it seems like all of these are man made concepts and hence should not bother a focussed sole.

Like how can we define a 'Problem'? - Something which bothers a person or something which can disturb his/her easy life. Here comes the confusion - I am trying to define everything in terms of words and FOCUS is also a word and when I try to define it, something else confuses me. Also, I am confused with the complexity of time as problems change with time and so is their perception.......

This confusion, if discussed with some one, is beautifully described by him/her, but as I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post - solutions defined by people are either people dependent or situation dependent and are also always function of time. I believe these concepts are UNIVERSAL and hence need to be defined in a language which is independent of time.

We need to come up with a concept like say Concept of Fixes (for eg.) which would say that people look for the first or the second exit while in a problem, but they are in a problem because the situation is described in their mind by some thing else and which is something similar to GRAVITY. Lets call it XETA till next post. But, is it in the mind frame that is the problem or is it some thing else which is actually trying to stop him/her to generate positive energy in the world?

In the next post, I would like to discuss how I think the cell phone would look like in 20 year time frame and how will we do our day to day work.

Till then help me define problems, solutions with some other language - I don't know either.