Village headmaster may need you to water his garden ::::: Republic Day Musings: Performance may not matter a bit !

 

Republic Day Musings: Performance may not matter a bit

Village headmaster may need you to water his garden

New Delhi 

"Soon, if we are not prudent, millions of people will be watching each other starve to death through expensive television sets,"

 -- Aneurin Bevan, British leader

Republic Day is an occasion of positivity. This year's R-Day coincides with the Saraswati Puja

for Hindus. The Goddess of Learning. In a fun and frolic mood one can also describe this

as a Bengali Valentine Day with religious and 'Khichadi' lunch added to it.

But Learning is a lifelong exercise. One lesson one perhaps needs to learn in life is

you need not be 'only good' to achieve success. Hard work and talent do not help you.

In journalism, it's 'Jugad' -- the right connection. Bosses need to make you the blue eyed

boy. You perform 'miserably' still there will be laurels awaiting  you - one after another.

My Naga politician friends these days agree to most of what I try to tell them. Performance maybe negative, it could be worse than 'failures' -- but the village headmaster may need you to water his garden. So, the focus can be on that side; and less on studies in the classroom or trying to learn literary criticism or the merciless mysteries of calculus. 

However, a dedicated student of the old school will still insist that all these are 'games' with wins 

and loses; but this will end too and the real 'achhey din' will come one day if you really deserve it.

Positivity and learning exercise may take us for a while to think about what's going on in Sri Lanka.

The island nation is no longer a symbol of a cheap resort getaway. 

Another analogy could be better prudent. These days my colleagues at 'Nagaland Page' desk and the Editor

herself get into semi nervous breakdown situations every evening around 8 pm.

No, it is not related to any 'threat' and so no chance of any 'denial' from anyone. Their concern is related to

power failures. It's happening in the state's commercial hub, Dimapur. The city is cash-rich and almost

a heaven without mosquitoes in summer. It's happening after 60 years of Statehood. 

Independence Days, R-Days and Statehood Days come and go; yet certain things continue. That's a governance

model too. The Power Department lineman cycling or chewing pan is hardly responsible for the acute suffering.

It is due to those who fail to govern -- well in the name of those who 'elect' them. Someone used the phrase

'double engine' and people are still wondering what does the 'engine' do!

"I will take action against the chief engineer," -- former Power Minister E T Ezung used to ofen say. 

When votes are for auctions; the democracy can be easily remote controlled. This is also a vital point of 

Learning in the context of achievements and milestones of a Republic. 

Now, things may become far worse if people do not swallow the bitter pill. The confidence of those who 

know elections can be easily manipulated are actually throwing challenges to common people on a daily basis. 

The result is we all are on the brink of a socio-economic collapse.  

 

But who will rescue -- the politicians ? What are their intentions?

The primary rule in their game is to stay on in power. The second rule could be to garner wealth for 

oneself and even for political and apolitical forces he/she is associated with. Importantly, there is a third rule. 

'Simply surrender' to the demands of power that be -- the legitimate power centre(s) and the illegitimate 

hubs. From the other side -- the Big Boss or Semi Big Boss need come like any invading occupying force. 

Still you could fall 'occupied' more in mind than actions. What makes some of the challenges

still worse is that they cannot even be named, forget the diagnosis.

If one has been 'negative' even on such an auspicious occasion, forgive me and my journalism.

Here it's almost a business with negativity.

The dog biting a reporter is not even an accident; but the reporter in me biting a dog gets us into

headlines. Well. that's people's mandate for us.

I have time and again tried to define and redefine life, journalism and challenges - 

often betraying my own frustration. 

"The Wrong one will find you in peace and leave you in pieces; and the Right will find you in pieces and 

leave you to peace", says the Karma lesson. 

ends