The small matters...

It was an amazing dialogue and it came from someone we normally do not expect capable of such thoughts. Oh, I must first narrate what happened.

I was at a dry cleaner's shop. As I pulled out the jacket to give it to him, both of us noticed a small tear at the shoulder joint. 'You must get it it mended before giving it to me', said the cleaner. Alright, I went looking for a tailor in my car. Here was the past middle age tailor with his customary paan (beetel nuts) in his mouth and at that time with nothing to keep him occupied. As I showed the jacket, he looked  at me quizzically first, then at my car. With a sumptuous 'no offence meant' smile he then asked me

 " dho rupaiah ka silai ke liye, pachas ka petrol? Apne  hi haath se siladethe?" (for a stitch for two rupees, why have you burnt petrol for fifty rupees? You could have stitched it at home).

I told him that I was at the Dry Cleaner and of course I had no thread and needle. So would he mind?

"Arre, na na saab. Humara tho pesha hein. Yehi dho rupiah se hamara ghar chalta hein" ( No, no sir. do not mind what I said. This is my profession and my home runs on this two rupees only) So saying, he stitched in a jiffy and my Cleaner was happy. But the dialogue has kept going in my mind for over three or four days.

A simpler wisdom on economy and self help could not have been given by the most prestigious B-School for a thousand dollars. Most of the time we tend to think that small is ignorable and will eventually pay through our nose to mend it with big.

Not just in terms of money but in life too, many of us take no notice of things very small - relationships, colleagues, work, family, children and every other thing around which our lives reolve - we are 'blissfully' unaware that it is the small and most of the time intangible things that actually make us happy.  And like I did, we do spend big money thinking that money makes up for every thing.

'Stitch in time' is perhaps a proverb not for mending clothes but is apt to be followed in life too. The small matters!! 

  

A question of language...

The biggest challenge or rather, one of the biggest challenges in life, is to give advise. 

Just the other day, I was on the bus to a city centre. The young man sitting next to me had a flyer in his hand that read " Do you want to make it big? Learn to communicate first. Contact xyz for spoken English classes." I queried him out of curiosity.

He had completed his under-graduation in arts; diploma in computer programming and a certificate course in hardware maintenance. He could not pursue his dreams of  making into an engineer (at least half of India wants to!) because his father could not afford. He had worked part-time here and there and just then was on his way to another job interview. Yes, he was contemplating whether to subscribe to 'Spoken English' classes or not because at each interview that he faced, it appeared that the job went to those who spoke better English.

Perhaps he was right. Even though I ventured to suggest to him that he may perhaps like to hone his language skills, there was as yet another thought that wormed through me.

Are we looking at English because we want a job or are we looking at it because that is essential to perform both in the interview as well as at the career thereafter?

MDQ (Million Dollar Question)!

Language, particularly English, skills today are considered as important as mastery of any professional subject. Rightfully so. In a fast-shrinking world, where you and I need to work together we may as well interact and understand each other better through a common language. The other day Times of India carried a huge article on 'A question of employability'. The article in nutshell said that societal pressure, inadequate infrastructure, poor quality of teachers and outdated syllabi contribute more towards un-employability than the ability to speak in English.

Every developing society has the same story. Employment is not just a desire, it is a fundamental right. It is just that in our enthusiasm to obtain employment, we forget the ancient adage ' So you sow; So you reap'. Proliferating colleges, huge donations, reservations as against merit in the selection of teachers, poor pay for teachers in private sector colleges, job rather than quality oriented education and syllabi, lack of encouragement to original research and such other issues have a direct impact on the employability of the school and collages graduates that we produce every year.

As I was even suggesting to the young man that he must hone up his language skills (this particular one appeared to need that), I could not help my mind wander into the system reforms that we in the society must look for; ask for and work for so as to enhance our children's employability than merely helping them to speak better English.

Anyone seen the movie 'English Vinglish'? I believe the Japanese enjoy the movie!!!