Changing Lives Through Reading ...

Somebody has correctly said "to read is to fly, it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history ,human psychology and varieties ,ideas shared experiences and fruits of many inquiries of some of the most brilliant minds".
The above lines clearly sum up the essence of reading in human lives.Reading offers a rare insight into the minds of some of the greatest thinkers, philosophers, and human beings who have preceded our era and changed the lives of people through their unparalleled intellect. Through reading , we map our minds to the minds of the greatest of thinkers and experience the same level of freedom ,that has pushed human race forward. It bridges the gap between mediocrity and excellence.
Reading frees our minds from all malice and transcends our energy towards bigger purpose of life. And when our thoughts transcend these stereotypical norms of society and strive for excellence ,then our lives change, forever. We become a part of that race which makes this world a better place.
Through reading diverse arena, we come across different facets of life ranging from lives of affluent to people struggling everyday just to survive. It allows us to have a peek into lives and suffering of millions and tempts us to do something for them. It presents before us the beauty as well as contradictions of life.
There are times when we are down and out , we lose hope, we feel unwanted and unworthy ,and we want to hide form rest of world. That is the time when a good book really acts as a teacher, a philosopher, and a guide and rekindles that simmering fire within us.It gives us a new lease of life and reaffirms our faith in ourselves.
When we read lives of great people ,we come to know about their struggle, suffering ,perseverance and all the qualities that made them great .It inspires us to emulate them and simultaneously tell us what it takes to be great. Lives of greats like Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther king ,Nelson Mandela etc have inspired a whole generation and made our world a better place to live ,and by reading about them, in the process,we become a better person. Krishna , Kabir ,Prophet Jesus,keep guiding us through their words, and that strengthens us to constantly fight the devil within and out.
I have always believed that all wisdom, all knowledge & everything lies within us. But it lies in hibernation under a thick cover of ignorance and most people die in mediocrity, unaware of that untrammelled treasure , simmering within them. Reading uncovers that layer and presents us with the key to excellence. The more we read ,the more we move from darkness of ignorance to light .And when we see that that light ,it literally astonishes the world. When we see that light ,it connects our lost chord and brings us in sync with that divine energy, what we call "god". And when we come in sync with that energy ,that is what is limitless. That is what is freedom .

Indian IT Industry: The Dark Side Of The Moon ...

This article is dedicated to all those big Indian IT giants, who claim to be the bellwether of Indian economy by posting growth story worth million dollars every quarter. They claim to be the rescuer of our otherwise stagnating economy and aim to bring India strongly on global map by generating enormous job opportunities for our young population, enabling us to reap the benefits of our demographic dividend. This superficial story seems to be all rosy and fills you with a sense of pride, being an Indian.
However if we delve deeper into this fairy tale, we realize ‘the dark side of the moon’. Indian IT industry is mainly about services and solutions that these companies provide to their customers, spanning all over globe. The geographical advantage of having located just opposite to US (the biggest market), on globe (for 24/7 work), availability of cheap labor and few emerging Indian companies in this field, have really propelled the growth in this sector, especially in post globalization era.
The business is growing aggressively on the abilities of these companies to find the untapped potential in new sectors, banking, retail, Insurance to name a few. And so is their intake of employees. Few companies are even going to the extent of hiring almost fifty thousand people per year. So they have a big force of employee and growing every year. Being a service based entity; the primary focus of these companies rightly is on customer satisfaction, so as to bring more value to customers and business to the company. But among the hullabaloo of customer satisfaction and race of earning more revenues, the employee satisfaction takes a severe beating. These so called altruistic companies claim to follow all the laws of land on paper, but actually bend each one of them for their own benefits. And among all this noise of growth story and billion dollars revenues, the ultimate loser is the employee.
Almost everywhere (except a few generous ones ) ,employees are paid for eight or nine hours but are made to work for twelve to fifteen hours every day and in many cases on weekends too. And the higher authorities justify it by calling it ‘going beyond the call of duty’. The employees in most cases lose their personal lives (health, relationship, peace of mind) just to keep themselves alive in this rat race. And this does not happen for a day or two or for a month. It happens as long as someone is there. A psychological propaganda is spread inside these organizations, where anybody opposing it, is either thrown out or subjected to severe mental pressure leading to anxiety, frustration and depression. I mean what is the meaning of paying someone handsomely at the cost of one’s rights to live.
There is no denying this fact that customer satisfaction is the primary goal of any service based company and it must be ensured with the best efforts. But isn't there any meaning of ‘employee satisfaction’? After all its employees, who are the basic building blocks of this growth story. And an employee is as much human as a customer. Then why are they subjected to such dual standards? We must come out of this colonial exploitative mentality.
If there are more work and business coming in, wouldn't it be a noble idea to hire more number of people instead of pressurizing the existing ones to stretch? Wouldn't it be nice for our economy and our growing demography? And in longer run more number of employees will eventually be able to generate more revenue. It’s a win-win situation for everyone .But for this to happen, these companies will have to come out of their ‘revenue-generation-at-any-cost’ mentality.
Since IT industry is our primary vehicle of growth and is covering more and more people in its ambit, we need to address these reforms, period. The reforms that address the human side of people working in such places. And for a change , we need to consider that the person sitting next to that computer is a human , not a machine.