THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE – 2
CYBERCAFE VENTURE
After the rains one can find the mushrooms sprouting up in the dense jungles and in the parks where the sun’s rays do not permeate to the ground. One can find them in the house gardens too. There is an abundance of parks in Bangalore.
Like the mushrooms, the cybercafes have mushroomed all around the Bangalore. In a shop area of 10 ft x 12 ft one can find at least seven cubicles with the desk tops. One cannot move the elbows to organize the keyboards or the mouse. One cannot sit comfortably to operate the inter-net. They charge you by the hour. Some of them do have monthly subscription rates too. Is it a world wide web or Bangalore wide web? Like a spider they have woven their web around the Bangalore. There is a need for them.
Since he can speak English and Hindi too, this time Mr. Nagaraj accompanied me for my run around the circles of the Bangalore. There are a number of circles around the Bangalore e.g. Majestic Circle, Hudson Circle, etc. In these cybercafes one can find the people of African origin, Westerners, the people from the NEFA (north east frontier area of India) i.e. Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and the Assam. No doubt, apart from the people from other parts of India, there are the locals too.
The people working in the IT and ITES industry are not allowed to access their personal mails in their work place. So, they troop down to the cybercafes in their spare time. Indians were severely cautious to talk to. They give a furtive look and question you thoroughly. Well, some pep talk and some cajoling helped them to loosen down. The scenario is that one cannot count on his/her colleague as a friend. So, also one cannot be called a foe. This is the truth from the top management level to the junior most employee. If one wins a laurel or a certificate of appreciation, then there is always someone to pull the rug under you. If one gets a small gift cash voucher, then the situation becomes diabolical to handle. In the work place if the decibel of your voice goes up a little, then someone will be breathing behind down neck. The fear and the fright grip that person like a tentacle.
The people of the African origin straightaway refuse to talk. They simply say “go away man, go!”. They would not even talk about the country of their origin. They live in groups and move as such. There is something surreptitious about them.
The westerners adopt the British etiquette. They palm of niceties and brush you away. They would not even say whether they are from the Eastern Europe or the Western or the USA. Even after producing the identity cards or business cards, the westerners would not open up. It appears they are afflicted and pull into their shells like a turtle. Are they also affected by the fear and fright?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Devil's Advocate
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
An half-a-century back when the faithful petition the Church for granting Sainthood for a person, then the Church appoints a Priest to discredit and debunk the claims of miracles attributed to that person. This Priest is called the “Devil’s Advocate”. In the case of Mother Teresa, the Vatican has done away with this principle. Mr. Morris West wrote a fiction a few decades back with this title. With the no avenue available to contact him and seek his permission to use his title, the title is being used with the hope he would forgive me.
From Delhi came to Bangalore for a hunt. Got trapped for want of train passage to Delhi. Having been forced to stay back, me thought why not utilize the time as a Devil’s Advocate. Then the IT industry came to my mind.
Most of the Development Centres and Delivery Centres of the IT industry, who are depending upon solely on Outsourcing, are located in Bangalore.. With the help of Mr Nagaraj and Mr Bheeme Gowda (they operate autorickshaws), a few visits to quite a few biggies were made. Then there were the cybercafes. Both of them were briefed about the concept and ideas of the Devil’s Advocate. They were so happy and willingly shared a lot of information with me. The enormous amount of information with them thrilled me. Both of them acted as my emissaries in my adventure.
Tall claims, the biggies make. Consistent high percentage of marks from the 10th standard onwards. Equal opportunity employer. Employees first. No limits for meritorious candidates. The salary is not a constraint. They fail to say that the westerners have the right to removal of an employee. The under educated and uninformed westerners call the shots. With the loss of jobs to outsourcing, they have found a new way to tease and terrorize. The Chinese are known for politeness and etiquette. However, the new breed of Chinese who migrated to the America are an arrogant lot. Their objective is to dislodge outsourcing to India. Now the under-educated Chinese have started calling the shots. They brand themselves more American than the Americans.
Initially it was very difficult to seek the employees coming out of these shops. Freight and fear were written large in their faces. Losing of the jobs prevented them. Here, Nagaraj and Bheeme Gowda became the soothsayers. They mellowed the guys and the girls. Then came the torrent of information. Much of them cannot be written for the fear of identification. The crux is that the Team Leaders and the Managers are scarred of the westerners. Even if it is wrong, whatever the westerners say is correct and the junior employee is wrong. If one is not a favorite of the TL or the Manager, then that person becomes the scapegoat. The TL or the Manager do not have the guts to tell the westerners that he or she is wrong. The jolly good thing is that the TL or the Manager does not have the sufficient knowledge and they are dependent upon the “primary’s” knoledge and expertise. The “primary” is likely to lose the job.
An half-a-century back when the faithful petition the Church for granting Sainthood for a person, then the Church appoints a Priest to discredit and debunk the claims of miracles attributed to that person. This Priest is called the “Devil’s Advocate”. In the case of Mother Teresa, the Vatican has done away with this principle. Mr. Morris West wrote a fiction a few decades back with this title. With the no avenue available to contact him and seek his permission to use his title, the title is being used with the hope he would forgive me.
From Delhi came to Bangalore for a hunt. Got trapped for want of train passage to Delhi. Having been forced to stay back, me thought why not utilize the time as a Devil’s Advocate. Then the IT industry came to my mind.
Most of the Development Centres and Delivery Centres of the IT industry, who are depending upon solely on Outsourcing, are located in Bangalore.. With the help of Mr Nagaraj and Mr Bheeme Gowda (they operate autorickshaws), a few visits to quite a few biggies were made. Then there were the cybercafes. Both of them were briefed about the concept and ideas of the Devil’s Advocate. They were so happy and willingly shared a lot of information with me. The enormous amount of information with them thrilled me. Both of them acted as my emissaries in my adventure.
Tall claims, the biggies make. Consistent high percentage of marks from the 10th standard onwards. Equal opportunity employer. Employees first. No limits for meritorious candidates. The salary is not a constraint. They fail to say that the westerners have the right to removal of an employee. The under educated and uninformed westerners call the shots. With the loss of jobs to outsourcing, they have found a new way to tease and terrorize. The Chinese are known for politeness and etiquette. However, the new breed of Chinese who migrated to the America are an arrogant lot. Their objective is to dislodge outsourcing to India. Now the under-educated Chinese have started calling the shots. They brand themselves more American than the Americans.
Initially it was very difficult to seek the employees coming out of these shops. Freight and fear were written large in their faces. Losing of the jobs prevented them. Here, Nagaraj and Bheeme Gowda became the soothsayers. They mellowed the guys and the girls. Then came the torrent of information. Much of them cannot be written for the fear of identification. The crux is that the Team Leaders and the Managers are scarred of the westerners. Even if it is wrong, whatever the westerners say is correct and the junior employee is wrong. If one is not a favorite of the TL or the Manager, then that person becomes the scapegoat. The TL or the Manager do not have the guts to tell the westerners that he or she is wrong. The jolly good thing is that the TL or the Manager does not have the sufficient knowledge and they are dependent upon the “primary’s” knoledge and expertise. The “primary” is likely to lose the job.
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