Daily Post 2989
SERMONISING INDIA
We are born to be sermonised. People who would sermonise have changed over ages and centuries. First the print and then all sorts of other media, more so electronic have in recent times amplified the sermons. It was left for the social media to break open the glass ceiling in a manner unimaginable, gyan as we call it, sermons are doing good social business, but what is finally coming out of it, is no one’s business. To establish oneself as a worthwhile public domain person is the name of the game. You would have achieved all name, fame and money in whichever area you have excelled, but the name of the game is to crack this public domain jackpot.
What have you done to improve your sector or your ilk or bring in qualitative change there, after your stupendous success, is the core issue? Or did the humongous personal wealth garnered yield anything worthwhile in the fields of education and health? The challenge is that these are the areas which have long gestation periods and might not deliver the public domain mileage of the nature the protagonists are looking for. Cross diversifying into public domain areas one is not aware of and commenting even better than best in trade or people who have sacrificed their life gaining knowledge of that field, or even trying and implementing changes for its betterment, cannot be a given.
Paternalistic at times and all-knowing at other, they could have spent their time better in bringing professional excellence to the ones in the same field in the generations following them. They sermonise even areas of personal life, culture, parenting and values they seem to be following, and try to make it mainstream public domain discourse. Suffice to say that these are not dissected and are dished out for public consumption through the social media, talks etc and slowly becomes the gospel truth. Viral is true has become a fake truism. Occasionally there is some backlash, but given the nature of the personal branding it finally creates, it’s just a professional hazard.
Infosys stands out in sermonising by its founders and mentors in a variety of unconnected areas over the years, most recent being a wish / suggestion / want that IAS, IPS officers to come from business schools rather than the UPSC process. The less we talk about call centers, managed services and a neatly productless Indian IT, the better it is, not notwithstanding the yeomen service done to the Indian class youth, consistently over the years, decades. The outside world barely knows of their murky acts, closeted in the manicured IT company campuses. The news time reads, Infosys faces a record Rs. 283 crore fine over alleged visa fraud. In a groundbreaking settlement, the company agreed to pay this amount following allegations of systematic visa fraud and misuse of the U.S. immigration process.
IT IS HIGH TIME THAT SERMONS NEED TO BE VALIDATED BY A THIRD-PARTY INDEPENDENT AGENCY BEFORE BEING DISTRIBUTED AS FREE COUGH SYRUP.
Sanjay Sahay