In early 2014, I had the opportunity of meeting the IITian-turned CEO of a multi-crore technology and media research company based in Noida, after an interview for the post of editor in one of its publications. Just a decade ago, the company was a start-up with four or five employees on board. With the right vision and grit, the CEO turned the venture into a phenomenal success in only a decade’s time.
Believe it or not, some journalists from northeast India who lost their jobs after the Seven Sisters, a newspaper launched by a controversial group, pulled down its shutters. This company was approached by them, seeking suitable opportunities. The company is not limited to specific kind of jobs, rather it’s open to talents from various domains and industries. The working of media convergence that I had read about in books, I got the opportunity to witness it there. From CEOs to journalists to sales guys to engineers, all of them work in synergy in a collaborative environment towards a common goal. Once the team is engaged in a project, hardly anyone remembers who the boss and seniors are. The only thing that matters is how well one delivers from start to finish.
The point I want to drive home here is that the company is increasingly improving on its employees intake capacity by virtue of its ever-increasing projects and thereby, helping the talented workforce of our country to fight the crisis of erratic employment. When most companies lay off, it is all but ready to hire highly-skilled people with unmatched packages in the industry. Once I asked the CEO of the company, “Sir, How do you do all this?” He replied, “Subash, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about. One can’t survive the heat of 21st century without being flexible. And it’s not only about self-survival and making profits, it’s the entire community that helps you grow and what you give back is all that matters. If you dream of becoming an entrepreneur or anybody for that matter, keep all your doors open.” His words are etched in my memory and shall remain there for good.
The message reverberates in my ears when people suggest me to go back to my hometown and do whatever little I can do there. In their pearls of wisdom, I find a missing link between reality and feasibility. In other words, my reality won’t ever permit me to move back until the feasibility of taking opportunities back home becomes possible. Unless one becomes capable enough to give back, one only adds to the woes.
Every fifth year, we go to the polling booth to elect leaders with a hope of optimism, but that shatters with gifts and freebies replacing jobs for the deserving or creation of infrastructure and possibilities for financial help to the needy. Will the new India ever wake up to this reality and kill the culture of freebie-ism from the face of our democracy once and for all?
And what’s more is that playing the blame game is one of our compulsive habits that prevents us from doing our bit towards improving any given situation. Some pestering questions like what most of our educated youths are doing besides proudly claiming to be citizens of their states that have failed them on many fronts eventually leading to their exit and forcing them to find homes away from their homes? And the rich folks, barring those who are already modeled on the requirements of the new century and have learnt to give back, are contented in their own world with no responsibility whatsoever towards their society. The million oppressed citizens who are struggling to earn their living remain at the receiving end of the society that is yet to adapt to the reality of lending helping hands or for that matter, creating avenues and opportunities for those who really need them.
How many successful ones are helping those who really need their help?