Monday, August 13, 2012

Unsafe.

Yes, unsafe, not by crime but by the justification.

Everyone seemed a little sad and disturbed (and no not shocked, it doesn't come as a shock at all) that India is ranked among the worst countries for women. A "little" sad and disturbed, cos it is as bad as it is, we  always knew, but by the regular Indian logic of things, we just hoped that there were a few countries that were a little worse so we wouldn't be "ranked" so high. Just like everything in India, how good or how bad you personally are doesn't count. All that counts is relativity. Even if we are pathetic, as long as there are people who are more pathetic than us, we are all happy. 

Ok. ok. Coming back to the topic of women. So India is a terrible and most unsafe place for women.Why? Aren't women raped and molested anywhere else? Aren't they attacked and their physical weakness preyed upon? Oh yes, they most definitely are. It is a phenomenon that exists all over the world. There are totally sick, crazy, deranged people all over the globe. They are incapable of thinking beyond the ecstasy of that particular moment. They are incapable of evaluating the consequences for everyone involved, and, they are completely incapable of feeling any kind of fear of the punishments associated with the crime (give due importance to the word "crime") when they are completely taken over by the power and excitement of that moment. They are just simply sick and deranged and criminals. Yes, admittedly these sickos exist everywhere. 

So what makes India so special? No, I'm not going into the high numbers and statistics, because even that is associated with this particular specialty. Cos India's specialty is that, rape and molestation is ALWAYS justified. In other words, it is NOT a crime enough.The people who do it are not momentarily deranged or sick. No. They are very intelligent, very decent citizens who commit these acts in an attempt to protect the morality and dignity of women and the values of a country as a whole. It is not a crime, no. In fact, it is the justified punishment for a crime that the women have actually committed by following a certain lifestyle or wearing a certain kind of dress. And if the "victim" (I'm not even sure if I can use that word considering they are actually being punished for their crime) happens to be a very "decently" and modestly dressed hapless lady, returning on the metro from her college or work or even a school student, then her crime is as simple as being out alone at certain hours in a slightly lonely compartment.

And the rest of us are all the same as the rapists themselves? Cos, those who give and the rest of us who buy this explanation are not only agreeing that it is okay to rape and molest a woman who is unfortunate enough to have to earn her living as a sex worker, but have made our conscience so non existent, that once we have convinced ourselves that the woman is "bad", then we can just as easily convince ourselves that the rape was justified and that "she asked for it". Nice. 

And yes, with that philosophy that it's okay to rape a "bad woman", in this great land, rape is , hence, justified.
Not just by the perpetrators, but even by the so called defenders like the police, the politicians and certain rather powerful ladies, like the chief of the National Commission of Women (I'm sure you all can sense the slight irony there somewhere). Yes. In India it is always the woman's fault. Hence, not only will you be raped and molested (Like what can happen outside India as well), but to top it, it will always be your fault for bringing it on to yourself. 

Hence, where, in any other place, rape is a heinous punishable act, no matter who gets raped, in our country, where we bow our heads to strong female deities, it is ok to punish "loose" women by raping them and the "not so loose" women for just being where they were. In other words, it is a totally justified act, no matter who gets raped.

I am not one for publicly bashing my country. In fact, through all the ups and downs that this nation has seen I have maintained and always will maintain that we have only gone ahead and gotten better from where we were a few years back and slowly all possible loose ends will more or less get tied, despite all the politicians and corruption. But this, not the fact that the crime exists in a certain statistics, more than other countries, but that one of the most heinous crimes in the universe can be so simply justified away by the law makers themselves, this makes me hang my head in shame in front of the rest of the world. Yes. We have failed. And how.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Just Another Day at Work

There are some things that really cannot be avoided in a day's work and is usually handled by employees cribbing in the cafeteria till, at times, it gets too unbearable and they leave, only to crib in another organisation. In this series, I am attempting to log a few of these things, that may at some point of time, help me from falling into the same trap as an employer or team leader (at least the avoidable ones, cos basically we are mostly tuned to love to hate our jobs/bosses). Some conversations/ snippets may be real, some may be reported by friends and some may be purely fictional. The intention is not to log the occurrences but only the learnings from them.

So, one morning, the boss person (TBP) asked me about this document I should have been completing and sending to him. I informed him that since my laptop isn't starting, I would be reworking the document from another system and sending it. To this he replies with great mock-shock and incredulity in his voice, "what do you mean by "rework"? It's just downloading a form, entering the remarks we discussed  in a new column and sending it back, right?!". 

Me: Yes. And that is what I said I will do 
(In my head (IMH): Yes sweetheart, it is that only. But even that doesn't get typed by itself, eh?)

TBP with his usual smirk: "Yeah. But, when you said "rework" the document, it sounded like there are some 100 pages to type".

Me: (this completely IMH cos I am already walking on very thin ice with him most days): Ohh really? And which part of "I'l type it again from a different system and send it to you today" implies that?!

And as if this was not enough. 

TBP: So when are the onam holidays?

Me: From 28th to 31st.

TBP: 4 days are HOLIDAYS?

Me: Yes sir (IMH: Yes. Right. Just shout like that and the 4 days might get frightened enough to become 1)

TBP, With great drama and frustration: Oh Great! This is just simply great!

(IMH: Erm....Yes. 4 days can very drastically affect the progress of this project, that hasn't moved one step in the last 4 years)

Seriously. Could you for once, just try NOT to be over smart and sarcastic and bitchy? Who in the world taught you that bosses have to be assholes, anyways? There are different ways to it, you know, which are not even very tough. Like, for eg., not losing your cool and not getting angry at an employee who informs you of a sudden hartal or a local holiday. Seriously, try it some time. It's not that tough. Not even for you, jerk. 

I completely fail to understand this urge that TBP has to render everything super-important and super-urgent, even the things, that by the judgement of a normal employee like me, are mundane and random. Who do you think you are fooling by making everything we do/don't do sound like a major crisis. It might work, once, at the max twice, especially if the employee is new to the organisation. But how much IQ do you think your employees lack, to not be able to see through these charades? And, how do you think it affects the organisation when employees get so damn used to you 'crying wolf' for every little teeny report.

It is very simple. Reduce the amount of self-importance you have, and learn to respect your employees. Learn to treat them as thinking, intelligent, sensible folks and then talk to them. You know what giving some respect will gain you, as against questioning and burning sarcasm? A little respect in return. We will want to do things fast and efficient cos we think you are sensible and worthy of our efforts and if you are saying it's urgent, it really must be. Dude, no one is dispensable, we understand that. But never ever make the mistake of considering "dispensable" as "dis-respectable". Cos both (in)dispensability as well as respect are things that work both ways.

So, in this article I would like to highlight three major flaws in TBP's ways:

1. Making a major hue and cry of a small issue like a hartal or a local holiday, knowing fully well that in the current context of things, one day, or one week, doesn't make any difference.

2. Making every single document and every single mail, a matter of extreme urgency, and following up a hundred times with sarcasm and questioning, such that finally, for the employee, all matters become of no importance. Remember the saying: "when everybody is somebody, nobody is anybody"? well, that applies to work too. If all work is extremely and equally urgent, then no work is more urgent than the other.

3. Finally, after all the hullabaloo you made to get the document, not even glancing at it for weeks together to only call back 2 months later to ask, "Had you sent it to me? If yes, can you tell me on what date so I can check". Really, dude, you can only do it twice at the max for any self respecting individual to not want to work for you or at your "extremely urgent, need it as of yesterday" documents for exactly those 2 months. 

Be realistic with targets, real with your expressions and respecting in your demands; and you will be respected and responded to.