“Tut tut
tut tut…” I heard Lulu, my parrot whistling while perched atop my window.
“Hey!
Hello there!! How are you?” he asked.
“On top of
the world.” I said emphatically. When you are there you want everybody to know
it.
“Oh,
parrots are always there, homo sapiens, like you, reach only occasionally”
he said. Lulu was taking a close look at me. “But something seems to be special
today.”
“Our prime minister said ‘Acche din aayenge.’
So I felt very happy. Long overdue, happy days, right?”
“Oh, leave
him alone. All PMs say that or something similar; you must not take Modi
seriously.”
“You are a
pessimist. I feel that Modi will do something.”
“Wishful
thinking. Did you not read about El Nino?” Lulu hopped on to my writing table
and then on my laptop. “Petrol, Gas, Rail fare everything is going up. It can’t
be otherwise. What can Modi do?”
“You are
speaking like a Congressman.”
“Ok, ok.
Forget it. I saw you entering a management institute. Have you taken to
teaching again?” Parrots are the most inquisitive among birds.
“Nah! This is
an interesting assignment. I will be mentoring a group of students. It is not
an institute which will exactly compete with IIMs. But that is why they need a
mentor. And I feel very excited about it.”
“You have a
point. The so called ‘best’ are not always the best. See what happened to
Brazil. And we have also seen minnows Greece winning in Euro 2004, beating
Portugal twice in the tournament. I think it is easy to underrate potential,
though I won’t say the same about overrating. What say you?” Lulu glanced
at me and moved closer as I wiped my glasses clean.
“You said
it. And I see ‘Brazils’ all around me. Brazil seems to signify a team of
stalwarts who bite dust. I see it in Congress defeat. I see it in minority shareholders
of Tata Motors defeating management proposal to hike executive pay. I see it in the
humiliating defeat all political honchos had! Nobody could have imagined a year
ago that Modi will give congress drubbing like Germany gave Brazil.”
“Why does
it happen? Everybody has his ‘udayakaal’ or time of awakening, becoming aware
of his potential. Do you believe that?” Lulu
“May be. As
for me, my teachers have always made a huge difference to me. Mentor makes the
difference. It is like a machine which needs to be switched on by somebody else
– then things move, there is transformation.”
“So this is
the time for all ‘Brazils’ of the world who think they are great to reflect and
draw a lesson for themselves. Is that what you are saying?”
“Yes. And a
little more. It is also time for minnows of the world to throw away shackles of
negative mindsets.”
“So it is
time for all so called small players of the world to think that they may be ‘ugly
ducklings?’”
“You got
me!”
“How will
you do it, my friend?” Lulu fluttered his wings.
“By
connecting with them.”
“This is
certainly Greek for me. Can you tell me that shorn of all your philosophical
and MBA-wala jargon?”
“Hmmmm……
that is difficult. But let me try. It will be by holding a mirror in front
of them – if they dare to look in it, they will get it.”
Lulu hopped
on to my shoulder. “When it comes to people issues, you speak in riddles.”
“Well, what
can I do? Words are so poor communicators of meaning!”
Vivek