While working with WAVE some years back, we often soaked up the sun on the terrace of the Sanchaya Kosh building, right opposite the United Nations office at Pulchowk. We were always impressed and awed by the fleet of gleaming white SUVs that were lined up each evening in the UN parking lot, despite an unimpressive track record on the activities and transparency front. Is humanitarian work, in a country that one of its agencies (UNDP) puts in the mid 140s of the Human Development Report, so demanding as to require that big a fleet of SUVs? Or is it plain extravagance, borne out of unmonitored, misguided and forced charity in the name of corporate social responsibility: corporate ‘<i>paap kaatai</i>’, to use local lingo.
I read about the United Nations in school, and I was duly impressed. But, as I grew up the image slowly crumpled, and I now view it as a house of vice. While there have been instances when the UN has come off in exemplary light, in general I have nothing but cynicism for it. While the Secretary General perennially rants about the lack of funds to fulfill all its goals, the establishment and its numerous appendages suck the main body dry through sheer extravagance and corruption.
This post is very different from my usual ones – in fact, this is the first time I have expressed my ire against a public body in a public platform, but I guess it is high time each one of us expressed our disappointments more openly. And the credit for this outpouring goes to Lochan Rizal. Most know him as a singer, some as a ‘very good person’ (the <i>aankha halda pani nabijauney</i> type), and a very few as a ‘UN White Band ambassador’. As a goodwill ambassador of the UN, he was invited to a Millennium Development Goals seminar held in Kathmandu recently. The event may have found mention in the media, but what was snubbed out was Lochan’s oration during the event.
The floor flew high fuelled by bloated, far-fetched plans and initiatives, characteristically UN, UNDP, Youth Initiative, the government… It was big in every respect – the dignitaries, the budgets, the plans, but hollow to the core. Finally, it was Lochan’s turn to address the gathering and much to the ire of the preceding speakers, he proceeded to speak out his heart and his soul. His speech was rudimentary, but it was ‘honest’. While the speakers before him painted a hollow picture of achievement for the future, he scrubbed the sheen off it, exposing the sordid reality that we live in. His agenda was not big initiatives, bigger budgets and much bigger piles of reports and declarations – but, an honest effort at poverty alleviation, driven not by the multi-million dollar budgets of the INGOs, but by a true zeal to see a positive change in the plight of the underprivileged.
As Lochan spoke a silence descended upon the gathering. Many heaved a sigh of relief as he left the podium. There was no applause, but he had struck a discordant note among all those assembled – and that was evident in the air. He may have failed to get public approval for his outburst, but I am sure he has gained the respect of many like myself.
He was a layman speaking among a group of experts. His speech lacked the finesse, the oratory or the statistics displayed by the others, but it was 'honest'. Way to go Lochan.
Now that is attitude!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Green Brigade
If you want to sell someone a Mac, show that person a PC. Sounds odd, but going by some recent Apple ads, it appears to be a ploy that works really well. What better way to highlight the Mac-vantage than by showcasing the faults of the PC. The past few decades have been a turbulent one for business, and we have seen some drastic changes in business sense, models and ethics. Innovation, traditionally a Xerox domain, is now Google’s forte, and innovation seems to be the key to success in recent times. Apple’s dig at the PC maybe seen by many as innovative marketing, but despite being a Mac fan, I do not approve of it. Living in Nepal, I am all too familiar with such negative marketing, and thus know the pitfalls.
With the Red Brigade now in the national mainstream, a lot of people are breathing easier. This is the time to look ahead and put the wheels of the economy back on track. The red shadow still looms at large, but I see a bigger threat from the Green Brigade – it may not be out in the open, but it lies within most of us, and manifests itself in our policies and day-to-day dealings. The green in us is not a new phenomenon, even inspiring Kunti Moktan’s very popular hit, ‘<i>Khutta tandai gara</i>…’. Many people in fact consider it the basic ‘Nepali trait’.
I am no expert on Nepali business, but I have been in Nepal long enough to see its ailments. Corruption has sucked this nation dry, and sadly it continues to do so. People languish on favours and obligations, scratching each other’s backs, and flushing down talent, quality and ability towards extinction. Another rabid infection that is keeping back business is the negativity that resides in all levels. I remember the members of the marketing team, of a newspaper I worked for once, come back with long faces and say how difficult it was to sell ad space in the market. As they said, clients were not difficult to convince, but they had no way of keeping at bay the competition and their negative marketing. What our competitors were selling was not ad space in their publications, but reasons why not to buy space on ours.
The green thing is not just about selling advertisements or rather spreading bad vibes about the competition, but it is something we encounter everywhere. I went to New Road recently to buy some RAM for my computer – the price as I was told in one shop would be lower than what was being offered elsewhere. I first had to tell the person what the price was in another shop and then he would quote his. It is okay to be wary of competition, but why base one’s business or marketing policy on someone else’s? We so fixated about the competition’s offering and why not to go for it that we often neglect our own offering so much so that it fails to be competitive on its own. It is ironic that our USP is not our own strength, but the competition’s alleged weakness.
When Apple can, so can Orange, but how many of us really have an offering as good and as innovative as Apple does to go into negative overdrive? Have we explored our inherent strengths fully so that we can now move our sights to the competition? Is our offering good enough to justify marketing the weaknesses in others’?
With the Red Brigade now in the national mainstream, a lot of people are breathing easier. This is the time to look ahead and put the wheels of the economy back on track. The red shadow still looms at large, but I see a bigger threat from the Green Brigade – it may not be out in the open, but it lies within most of us, and manifests itself in our policies and day-to-day dealings. The green in us is not a new phenomenon, even inspiring Kunti Moktan’s very popular hit, ‘<i>Khutta tandai gara</i>…’. Many people in fact consider it the basic ‘Nepali trait’.
I am no expert on Nepali business, but I have been in Nepal long enough to see its ailments. Corruption has sucked this nation dry, and sadly it continues to do so. People languish on favours and obligations, scratching each other’s backs, and flushing down talent, quality and ability towards extinction. Another rabid infection that is keeping back business is the negativity that resides in all levels. I remember the members of the marketing team, of a newspaper I worked for once, come back with long faces and say how difficult it was to sell ad space in the market. As they said, clients were not difficult to convince, but they had no way of keeping at bay the competition and their negative marketing. What our competitors were selling was not ad space in their publications, but reasons why not to buy space on ours.
The green thing is not just about selling advertisements or rather spreading bad vibes about the competition, but it is something we encounter everywhere. I went to New Road recently to buy some RAM for my computer – the price as I was told in one shop would be lower than what was being offered elsewhere. I first had to tell the person what the price was in another shop and then he would quote his. It is okay to be wary of competition, but why base one’s business or marketing policy on someone else’s? We so fixated about the competition’s offering and why not to go for it that we often neglect our own offering so much so that it fails to be competitive on its own. It is ironic that our USP is not our own strength, but the competition’s alleged weakness.
When Apple can, so can Orange, but how many of us really have an offering as good and as innovative as Apple does to go into negative overdrive? Have we explored our inherent strengths fully so that we can now move our sights to the competition? Is our offering good enough to justify marketing the weaknesses in others’?
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Lost years
A friend of mine turned 26 recently. I cautioned him to think twice before calling me ‘old’ henceforth since he would be in my place soon enough. On a serious note though, I have just one thing to say to him: ‘youth comes just once and it passes by sooner than we realise’. This friend in question is a doer: someone who likes to do things and is always ready for fresh challenges. Of late however, I have seen a faint trace of cynicism seep into him, and he is no longer ready to jump into things as of old. He is more cautious and definitely wiser, but I wonder if he realizes the valuable years that he is losing through caution, by being cynical, and looking for ‘a reason and purpose’ to justify each effort.
The cushion is so much thicker when you are young. You can take risks, and if you fail, you can bounce back each and every time. But, as time goes by and responsibilities pile on the cushion wears thinner, and you no longer recover as you do in the past. It takes more time and leaves deeper bruises on the mind and soul.
As youngsters, we often leave things for the future and for a time ‘when we are older’: we wait for that day to dawn when we are old enough to make a start. We wait and we wait some more, and very often, there comes a time when we look back and realize we are just too old to start or to risk failure. It is a hard fact to bear, but we only wake up to the lost years when they long gone and over.
Youth comes once in a lifetime, and it is nothing short of magic. It is a difficult time to wade through: one of discovery, learning, stumbling, adjusting… I would advise extreme caution for all my young siblings, but while I say that, I would also ask them to take risks. One can always leaves things for better times, but there is no better time to start than when one is young – to lay foundations and to build on them. If you have big dreams as a youngster, dare to take the plunge while you have youth on your side.
Getting back to my friend, a word of advice for him, “Wipe the cynicism from your mind. Take the plunge and do the twist while you are young. Things may not always work out as you expect them to, but you will regret more never having tried when you had time and youth in hand.”
Failures can be reversed, but the lost years are never recovered.
The cushion is so much thicker when you are young. You can take risks, and if you fail, you can bounce back each and every time. But, as time goes by and responsibilities pile on the cushion wears thinner, and you no longer recover as you do in the past. It takes more time and leaves deeper bruises on the mind and soul.
As youngsters, we often leave things for the future and for a time ‘when we are older’: we wait for that day to dawn when we are old enough to make a start. We wait and we wait some more, and very often, there comes a time when we look back and realize we are just too old to start or to risk failure. It is a hard fact to bear, but we only wake up to the lost years when they long gone and over.
Youth comes once in a lifetime, and it is nothing short of magic. It is a difficult time to wade through: one of discovery, learning, stumbling, adjusting… I would advise extreme caution for all my young siblings, but while I say that, I would also ask them to take risks. One can always leaves things for better times, but there is no better time to start than when one is young – to lay foundations and to build on them. If you have big dreams as a youngster, dare to take the plunge while you have youth on your side.
Getting back to my friend, a word of advice for him, “Wipe the cynicism from your mind. Take the plunge and do the twist while you are young. Things may not always work out as you expect them to, but you will regret more never having tried when you had time and youth in hand.”
Failures can be reversed, but the lost years are never recovered.
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