The Ratna that Ratan was!

October 9th 2024, will go down in Indian Industry as not a day of mourning but one of immortalizing a legend who was an embodiment of humility, business acumen, philanthropy and integrity. As soon as the news was broken at around midnight there was a huge out pouring of emotions on the social media leaving many Indians with welled up eyes and lump throats across generations from boomers to Gen Alpha! Such emotions are normally reserved for celluloid heroes and politicians in India.

This is not a requiem to the great Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, as the Social media is flooded with tributes by people who have worked for / with / along him and also people who have met him in an elevator, hotels, airports, events, exhibitions etc. I don’t fall under any of the above categories. I felt I should write this from a common man’s perspective growing up hearing this household name the last 50 odd years. Salt to Steel conglomerate they call the empire, that’s how a Gen X would remember and also, for Titan that replaced the boring HMT’s on the wrists of the bride and bridegrooms of the 90’s, the Gen Z would remember them for the jewelry and sarees from Tanishq and Taniera, while Gen Alpha would remember them for Starbucks and Jaguar.

The story of Ratan Tata is not one of rags to riches, but one of humility in entitlement. He was handed over the baton of a thriving century old empire and one in which the surname was a household brand, what more could one ask for, taking over a business. Many a brands and great business surnames have fallen by the wayside while Tata remained and continued to make an impact on the common man’s lives across generations. That is not just due to the brand recognition / recall value the name carried but solely due to the bearer of the baton who carried that brand name, in this case, the man, Ratan Naval Tata. The timing was also right for him as he took over the reins of the Tata group in 1991, a significant year in Indian corporate history as that was the year the seeds of liberalization was sown by the Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. P V Narasimha Rao and yours truly was in the sophomore year in Engineering hoping for a better future is a few years. TELCO / TISCO / TCS / TCE where the names that did rounds in any aspiring Mechanical Engineer’s minds in the 90’s.

India is a country where sycophancy rules the roost and paid mourners and crowds are mobilized for the final journey of a politician or a celluloid celebrity, and the journey to the final resting place takes multiple detours and is delayed by several hours and even days to gain maximum public empathy. However, this was not the case with Mr. Ratan Tata’s final journey.  He was laid to rest within 18 hours of his breathing his last breath. But the crowd that lined his final journey route and the millions watching it on television or on social media sites with moist eyes were a testimony to the man he was, and the culture he had created in an organization.

Tatas were an epitome of corporate culture and the words that are used these days more as fad or simply for ticking the governance boxes were the bywords at the Tatas. The emphasis on Compliance, Ethics, Integrity, Equality etc. look good on governance posters in canteens and board rooms in corporates these days, but that was the way of life and business that Ratan Tata preached and practiced.

Many stories on Ratan Tata’s benevolence to the society has been written about in the last couple of days, I would like to highlight one from my side too. Tata Chemicals dropped a 500 Mio USD (in 2008) Soda Ash Plant close to a potentially large soda ash reserve in Lake Natron in Tanzania which was a popular breeding ground for Flamingos, on the instructions of Ratan Tata, yes, there were a few objections raised by environmental activists, but Ratan Tata was willing to give an ear and react.  I cannot imagine any of the present-day industrial power houses willing to lend a ear or compromise on a 750 Mio USD deal today to save a breeding ground for flamingos.

The political parties were up in arms even before he was laid to rest on who will be the first to recommend a Bharat Ratna (the highest Indian Civilian award) for him. The same award was given to a cricketer who is just as old as Mr. Ratan Tata’s contribution to the Indian society at large and yet politicians are debating on if and when one should bestow him with this honor. He definitely would not be turning in his graves thinking of this, as his very name embodies the most precious gem and for his work, 1.3 Billion people of Bharath have already adopted him as their RATNA.

Ratan was well and truly the Ratna that Bharath had or will ever have and for optimism sake, wish more Ratans come up in corporate India following his legacy of humility in governance which is lacking in the new age valuation driven business leaders

Veni!, Vidi!, Vici! without any Ad ostentationem!

Yusuf Dikec is a household name today, thanks to social media that made him viral. The ‘virality’ on social media eclipses the essence of the coveted silver medal at the Olympics 'he' won, that every sports person aspires for in life.

But wait a minute… Did he win this medal alone? No! He was a part of the mixed team 10-meter air pistol shooting event. This was a Team sport and only his image & name went this viral, I wish to present before you the name of his team mate no one knows, or rather the less 'virtually' popular,  Sevval Ilayda Tarhan who is nonexistent in the entire narrative. Had Sevval performed badly would he have been on the Silver podium? NO! is my emphatic answer, and had he not been part of the silver winning team, would his image have gone viral with messages of motivation like ‘Success doesn’t come with your hands in your pockets’ tagged along with it? That’s another emphatic NO!!! Incidentally, Sevval also shot with her hand in her pocket!!!!

This image for me gives multiple messages of relevance to each and every one of us, be it in our personal or professional lives. Social Media takes bits and pieces of the life around us that we project and amplifies to an extent that people around get mesmerized by the ‘now’ image and do not look into the so called behind the scenes or do a fact check on those events or images. This is a rather dangerous trend irrespective of the context we apply it in.

In the professional context this is akin to a Manager over shadowing his best performing employee from being part of the success story, also from the now all-important inclusivity angle, was that not a sidelining of the contribution of a woman in the success that got them the silver? Her only fault was, Unlike Dikec, she was competing with large ear defenders, a visor, as well as braids in the red and white colors of the Turkish flag. She was shooting with one hand in her pocket, too.

His one hand in pocket image portrayed nonchalance and confidence and inspired people the world over to be like him, while her show of patriotism towards the country with braided hair in Turkeye’s national flag colours and her large ear defenders (Dikec was wearing ear plugs) and a protective visor (Dikec was wearing a glass, the power of which we know not) cost her the moment of glory in the virtual world of virality even though she was an equal contributor to the first ever silver medal in Shooting for Turkiye. Sadly, Sevval Ilayda Tarhan’s hand in pocket image did not gain the same traction, the male shooter got? Wasn’t that nonchalance? Was that not Confidence? Dikec has been competing in the Olympics since 2008 and has never won a medal, so where was his nonchalance then? Where was his confidence then?

In the Corporate world too, akin to a team sport, the main contributor / player, Manager or even the team / company is only as good as his / her / its team.  In the personal world the so-called influencers send a multitude of naïve children, youth and even grown-ups to pursue the path of attaining virality on social media without really understanding the real not reel story behind the scene. The story is always longer than a scene or the reel and unfortunately given the pandemic like attention deficit all possess today it is very difficult to inculcate the virtues of patience in people to understand the essence or the real story behind the events happening around us.

Talking about inclusivity when you google up Yusuf’s name most of the searches return questions like Did “he” win a medal?  And the results that throw up are “He” won a medal when the actual reply should have been “They” won a medal, as it was mixed sport and he won it because of her! In this era of pronoun sensitive prose this is an unpardonable and glaring error.

Dekic might have Veni! Vidi! Vici! the virtual world!

Sevval not only Veni! Vidi! Vici! but also helped her country in walking away with the silver medal without any Ad ostentationem!

FOMO on a Silver Jubilee!

Finally, yours truly now has something more silver to look forward too than just the silverware at home or a scanty silver haired cranium.

We touched our Silver Jubilee as wedded husband and wife. 25 years back, falls under the prehistoric era in the evolution timeline of the so-called Big fat Indian weddings. Those days the weddings were neither fat nor were the bride and the groom, they looked famished by the end of the wedding ceremony, and with no Toni or Guy around to make us look like a Bollywood hero or heroine and we also did not have the right lighting to make us look fairer than we claimed in our matrimonial ads.

To reminisce the day, I had a glance at our Wedding Album after ages... Was shocked to see, I had been devoured from the cover page of the album by other inmates who co inhabited with us the last 25 Years. Wondered why only I was taken apart while my wife was still smiling, consoled myself saying I must have been the sweeter of the two! When I saw a copy of the same picture, I realized I was all sweaty, famished and glaring without any emotions and the photographer then did not have the tools nor the skills to make me look otherwise... The insect inmates must have mistaken me to be glaring at them and devoured me to glory.

The entire ceremonial affair was done and over with in less than 72 hours, and I’m talking about the engagement, marriage and in some cases even meeting the girl / boy for the first time. The closest I got to the Sangeeth ceremony of today was when the cab driver of the car I was travelling in for my engagement churned out a creaky version of Congratulations and Celebrations from his archaic car stereo!!!!

Less talked about the photo shoots of the days the better. It was more like a shoot at sight for me. May 18^th in Madras is like being barbecued and here comes the photographer with super bright lights at my face, the heat from which literally tanned me and took the sheen out of the efforts I had put in to look fairer the previous evening.

The staple menu in almost all weddings was, a Biriyani followed by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and if you are lucky they would throw in a few pieces of fruits of the season and viola you had a fruit salad too.

Fast forward to today, The Indian wedding industry is a 159 Billion Dollar industry, starting from hiring the likes of a globe-trotting Seema Taparia for your match making which technically was a freelance activity for your neighborhood aunties then, to date nights that cost a bomb now which were limited to samosa cut in two and a cutting chai then. Not to forget the tribe of Wedding Planners who would go any length to ensure you were shot from tree tops or underwater, bedeck your venue with Tulips from Keukenhof, Michelin Star Chefs would be dishing out the choicest Foie gras and Sushi and finally not to forget the designer wear that might look good at Met Gala events but not quite designed for Madras Kathri in May.  Ah and not to antagonize the senior citizens of the household, add a dash of tradition too into this cacophony with the likes of Mehendi and a Haldi ceremony which is a fixture, irrespective of the cast or creed you belong too, they would justify it saying after all turmeric is just an anti-oxidant. Mind you, this trend is not just confined to the ultra-high net worth strata but has trickled down to the middle and lower middle-class India too, albeit in a marginally scaled down fashion.

The latest addition to destination wedding is in a space capsule and to add salt to the wound it was announced on 18^th May 2023 exactly 25 years after I got married. You can have up to 8 guests in the capsule that will take you 100,000ft above poor Earth and will also feature a play list, my guess is that Stairway to Heaven would feature in them and how much more literally closer can you to get to the old adage “Marriages are made in Heaven”, but the Indian version says for it to last, it should be written in the stars. So, all you folks who are going up there please read the script on the stars as well and pray that it lasts on humble earth too.

As we celebrate our Silver Jubilee, I am going through a sense of FOMO (Frustration Of having Missed Out) on all of the above. I want to shake a leg, but cannot, as the knees are creaking, had hair then but no stylist or a head spa, designer wear these days come only in slim & super slim sizes and on the best days I can fit just about an arm into these shirts, the closest I get to haldi is in our kitchen while cooking and no drone photo shoots from tree tops for me, else they will capture a barren head. Wish I was born 25 years later!!! Having said that, I still cherish going through those moth-eaten photographs in my wedding album and vividly remember every guest who came on stage (and the gift he / she gave me). I can vouch, this joy, no wedding planner or a big fat wedding can give.  

Here’s Wishing my wife of 25 years all patience and strength with help from all Gods & Stars to endure another 25 with this annoying man!!! 

BOT (Bought) me not!

The buzz around the new BOT on the Tech block was making me go crazy, and I decided I will join the bandwagon too. Google will be out of business someone mentioned, while another said education is going to become redundant, well the thing about education becoming redundant had little effect on me as I had already used and misused what was taught at school and work and hardly had another decade of effective working life ahead of me and realized education cannot get me far anymore. Then someone said writers are going to be extinct as the new kid can write Prose and poetry with poise. Now, that hit me and I had to take a quick call and write a Requiem for my Blog. RIP Writers and bloggers, I told myself.

The doubting Thomas in me still refused to believe and buy into the idea that a couple of chips, wires, waves and cryptic codes could invade and hijack my thought process and creativity. After all we are “The Creation” isn’t it? And the new kid is just our creation.

So, armed with a user name and password I decided to confront the new Frankenstein in the room out to destroy the creativity of mankind. The gladiator in me walked into the coliseum to take on the massless but artificially intelligent rival!

Will a writer become redundant now that AI can write poetry and prose with ease? I asked

The speed at which it/he/she/they replied amazed me. I heaved a sigh of relief as I read the contents with bated breath...Relieved I was!

The new kid ChatGPT surrendered saying it can only generate text and acknowledged the fact that it does not have the same level of creativity, nuance and emotional depth as human writers and will not be able to bring the cultural context that a human writer can bring to text.

I have posted the complete transcript at the end of this blog. But what impressed me was the humility with which ChatGPT acknowledged its limitations. I totally admire the quality and speed at which technology surprises us every day. However, we humans are gifted with a power unique to us when compared to other living species that inhabits the universe. It is the power of discernment, which is also considered a virtue, decision making with discernment involves both the heart and the mind. Discernment is an important tool in Management, Personal life, and even Technological decision making.

ChatGPT might have an edge over us in the head part of decision making as our brains are wired in a complex way which can, to a certain extent be replicated outside the boundaries of the skull. But, the way of the heart is out of bounds to tech yet, except for the fact that tech can keep it oiled and working for just a while and not more.

Chat GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer and as the name suggests it is Pre-trained and it needs a trainer, that is us, to transform our queries/prompts. I’m not a naysayer of Tech and hope that it goes on to add value to human existence, but with the same humility that ChatGPT exhibited to my query I should admit that 'THE CREATION', that we are, happen to be far ahead of anything we create.

So, our 1000+grams of grey matter, any day will outclass the creation of latest chips, waves, codes and wires

Now for the fun part!!! Please find below the transcript of my interaction with ChatGPT

My Prompt: Will a writer become redundant now that AI can write poetry and prose with ease?

Artificial intelligence (AI) can generate text, such as poetry and prose, using a variety of techniques, but it does not mean that human writers will become redundant. While AI can generate text that may be grammatically correct and coherent, it does not have the same level of creativity, nuance, and emotional depth as human writers.

AI-generated text is based on patterns and trends found in existing text data, and it can produce results that are impressive in terms of its technical capabilities, but it lacks the ability to understand the human experience, emotions, and the cultural context that a human writer can bring to the text.

Additionally, the creative process of writing is not just about producing text, but also about exploring and understanding the world, expressing oneself and connecting with others. For many writers, the act of writing is a form of self-expression and personal exploration, which is not something that can be replicated by AI.

Moreover, as technology advances, so too do the expectations of readers. They are becoming more sophisticated and discerning, and they expect to be engaged in a way that is hard for AI-generated texts to match.

In conclusion, while AI can generate text, it does not replace the role of human writers. Human writers bring creativity, emotional depth, and cultural context to their writing that AI cannot replicate. The role of human writers will continue to be important in literature, journalism, and all forms of written communication.