Are Indians innovative?
Are Indians Lazy?
WHO SAYS INDIANS ARE NOT CREATIVE?
On several occasions I have written and talked about how every problem is really an opportunity in disguise. That being so, no country presents business opportunities more than India where even the simplest of things is a problem . Just try crossing a road anywhere in the country!
WHO SAYS INDIANS ARE NOT CREATIVE?
Taking this to heart a group of young entrepreneurs has done just that—they have converted a daily problem into an opportunity to make a modest living. My Hindu friends complain that there is a problem attached to doing even a ‘holy’ act in India like worshipping at a temple. Even as you seek God’s blessing to make money you come out of the temple only to see that one of your humblest possessions –the chappal—has been stolen! Cross your heart—have you not faced this crisis at least once in your temple going life? This is where some young boys took my advice and have built a small business . They applied my teachings on ‘ shifting’ of perceptions to interpret the problem differently. Thus while most of us would ask how we could prevent theft and thereafter routinely decide to appoint some watchmen, my youngsters interpreted this as ‘How can we make it unprofitable to steal chappals?’ Presto they struck upon an idea that is set to become a rage in the history of temple security. Hereafter you need not pray to God for the safety of your chappals. My boys will enure they will not be stolen. How? The boys reasoned correctly that a thief will have no incentive to steal just one chappal—for his thievery to be of any benefit he needs BOTH the chappals. Thus my boys will receive your esteemed chappals and place each chappal outside different parts [sannidhis] of the temple! Thieves now find it fruitless to steal your footwear—after all who will buy just one out of a pair ? Talk of Indians not being innovative!!
2..If deliberately striving for a variety of perceptions on any issue is one sign of creative thinking then the ongoing telecom scandal provides a memorable example. Over the last few days I have been following the media ,listening to experts, politicians, ordinary people, drunken guys at bars to find out how differently they perceive the scam. I am delighted to present these innumerable perceptions. Thus A.Raja’s followers perceive it as witch hunting of a dalit by forward caste guys .Some allege that it is really a conspiracy by Aryans against Dravidians. Quite a few say that it is a battle between veshti wallas and dhoti wallas.. My friends allege that it is a north south divide. The more creative people tell me that there are many who do not want the poor people to have access to mobile phones. A.Raja’s policies have led to the tele density in India being among the highest in the world and upper class people do not like ordinary people sporting a mobile phone!
3. Tamil language came into more focus than ever before when the World Classical Tamil Conference was held at Coimbatore a few months ago .Speakers flaunted the antiquity of the language with some going as far as to say that Tamil was the mother of all the world’s languages. One speaker demanded that a committee be appointed by the Central Government to locate the long lost island of Lemuria from where the Tamil language was said to have originated This island was said to have sunk into the seas about a million years ago. Now comes the assertion that there are 276 words common between Tamil and Japanese languages Not to be outdone someone says that these are hundreds of words in common between Tamil and Korean languages—hence the rush by Korean car companies to set up factories un Chennai
4. The last word was from one of my readers an NRI who brought her kids to Chennai for the first time in their lives. Walking down Chennai streets they saw what is a common sight—men wearing veshtis folded halfway up their legs. I call it peshtis[pant plus veshtis].Looking at what the kids felt was a strange sight one kid exclaimed ‘Mummy Tamilians have much in common with the Scots. They also wear skirts’
Now how many words are common between Tamil and the language spoken by Scots? Come to think about it is not the nadaswaram like the bagpipe?
K.R.RAVI
WWW.KRRAVI.COM
