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SHORT TAKES
MODEL: The Return of the Employee
Deva has invented a collection of 10 new age corporate parables that elucidate 10 new age commandments. The protagonist, Model, is a social misfit with uncertain professional future. Academically brilliant but a rather irritating character, he is a highly opinionated prude, prone to egotism and whingeing. Friends suffer him and put up with his ceaseless whining only because they haven’t mastered the art of avoiding him, but his employers have. One day Model disappears and nobody really misses him. But in due course, he returns a transformed man. Not only has he become top honcho of an MNC but also a much quieter, wiser and dignified person. How did this come about? This is where the author introduces an ingenious narrative device: There were two sets of 10 Commandments in the hard disk of God’s computer. Only one of them survived a disk crash, otherwise "Mr Moses" would’ve been the first ever beneficiary of both the sets of divine precepts. However, when the Lord retrieved the second set He chose Model as a medium to convey the Ten Commandments–II to the humanity that’s running the soul-sapping corporate gauntlet. The narrative has too many clich`E9d adages, viz., "no gain without pain"; "spruced up to the nines" etc. Moreover, usage of double adverbs like "really smartly" and "really sharply" could’ve been avoided. Am I whingeing? Since the parables may benefit employees this can be a valuable handbook for HRD managers. Ha, at last I’ve slotted this one!
Literature on spiritualism enjoys a growing market. The reasons aren’t far to seek. Materialistic pursuits mercilessly test our conscience. One can’t survive without taking part in the rat race, yet one desperately seeks solace for one’s soul. Traditional religious structures are fast becoming redundant as these are unable to rid themselves of outdated rituals and shibboleths. This leaves the field open for new age gurus to hawk their stuff promising instant nirvana. While going through this volume one couldn’t find anything that doesn’t sound spiritually sensible, but has rather hazy practical value; viz., this observation, "Words are like the stick of the candy. Just as the stick is thrown away after the candy is consumed, similarly, words should be cast off after the understanding is drawn from their true meaning." But, if you’re attracted by the book’s title, do read it. It might be good for your soul. Enlightenment comes in variegated ways, after all.
A mix of Sikh theology, history and mythology, this volume touches various aspects of Sikh culture too. Divided into six parts, it contains details of such Sikh festivals and special days as Baisakhi, Diwali, Holi etc in the first part. The second part delineates the salient features of Sikhism while the third gives bio-sketches of prominent ladies from the "Guru Family". Part four describes various martyrdoms like that of Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Teg Bahadur, the sahibzadas and many others. Chapter five gives details of various gurdwaras located in different parts of India and abroad, and chapter six explains terms from Sikh lexicon. Interestingly, this book describes all the nine succeeding Sikh Gurus as Nanak 2, Nanak 3 and so on.
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How
does one slot this humorous page-turner? Self-improvement? Nah, the
tone, tenor and content are neither preachy nor pompous enough.
Corporate management? Ah, but where’s the systematic development of
concepts backed with well researched data, cogently argued theses or new
ideas pertaining to administration, production and distribution
processes?
Enlightenment:
Right Here, Right Now!
The
Sikhism