I Hang My Head in Shame

Delhi is again in news for a heinous act of crime against a 23 year old female student. Over the years, the National Capital Region (NCR) has earned a notorious reputation of being unsafe for women. Several rape cases have made headlines but have mostly fallen on deaf ears. Every case has a similar trend of media coverage, and promises by politicians and police administration for situation to improve. Things hardly change and as soon as media has something new to discuss victim's agony is forgotten and life moves on. There is no denying that crime against women is a scar on the face of our society. Although NCR is undoubtedly the Rape Capital of India unfortunately other Indian cities are not untouched. The frequent report of crime against foreign tourists especially girls in Goa is another example. In daily news we find numerous sad incidents being reported in various Indian cities. As I said earlier, things hardly change and to our horror we continue to move from bad to worse.

 Talking about reaction it is both easy and logical for public to vent out its anger on police administration. However we all need to realize that the men in uniform are people from the society sharing ordinary man’s mindset. Another fact is that Delhi has a population of roughly 17 million so there is a limit to effective policing that can be implemented. I am not defending Delhi police for not being able to ensure safety of women. I believe effective policing has a big role to play but we need some cultural changes to make public life safer for women.

The biggest change I think has to come at the family level. The indiscrimination towards the girl child in Indian societies (especially in Northern India) is far more than common. There are numerous studies indicating Indian parents discriminating in providing better health care and education to the male child. I see the problem here two fold, first the girl child starts to feel unwanted and unsecured at a very early stage of life. Second the favoured male kid just by chance of birth starts to get a false sense of superiority over the other half of the society. Male child from early stages of upbringing is nurtured to believe in having a command over the “weak” women. This false empowerment of the Indian male child is reinforced in following behaviours: 

• Lot of people generally feel absolutely normal in bringing “vulgar” sense of dressing as a reason for instigating eve-teasing and sexual assault against women. Male child feels like his birth-right to comment upon the clothing the women should wear. I have seen a significantly younger brother trying to control and comment on the clothes his elder sister is wearing. May be it’s the guilt of normal conversations about women in Indian male circles that instigates this sharp and defensive reaction. Question is why to have such discussions in the first place?

• Derogatory language used by people is mostly limited to target women. This trend is disturbing and to an extent again certifies the notion of a weaker section of the society.

• Rape by no means is a pleasurable experience even for the male culprit. However, the belief is to “Teach Women a Lesson” because she is not abiding to the “rules” set up by chauvinistic pigs.

• Certain male members also discourage girl/women of the house in speaking against harassment they face in their public life. This is the most dangerous trend of all as it only increases the confidence of a culprit. Girls should be absolutely vocal about any harassment they face and not listen to people (even own father and brother) discouraging them to do so.

Talking to any regular female commuter in public transport in Delhi would bring out shocking stories of molestation and sexual harassment. The fact is that the public transport system is mostly used by not-so-well-off section of the society. Upper middle class, rich and our elite hardly ever board a public bus. Especially our policy makers never use public transport and so have no idea about the existing pathetic conditions and over stressed services. Mahatma Gandhi used to travel in third class just to feel the pain and agony of a common man. However, as the country has “progressed” after independence examples of elites using public transportation, which they in turn are responsible for, is practically impossible to find. Disconnect within the elite and the normal man on the street has to go before we make public life (especially travel) safer for women. It is not a coincidence that almost all the rape victims come from relatively poorer section of the society and are targeted on roads at night waiting for public transport.

Recent shocking incident has created a big uproar among the citizens of Delhi. Some people living in denial may cite the fact that in most of such cases “outsiders” are the culprits and native citizens of Delhi have their hands clean. However in general people demand action and are unanimous in slamming the law and order situation. A bigger problem is the absence of fear and respect people have for rules set out for the society. People have been slamming Delhi police for not being able to stop the bus with tinted glasses in the 40 minute duration of the crime. However, our personal behaviour needs to be scrutinised. The number of cars operating on the roads of Delhi with dark glasses is just huge. A major section of the society simply refuses to comply with the administration’s order to not to have filmed glasses. People need to be more responsible and have a broader perspective of the consequences their actions can have on a stranger’s life. Driving drunk is another example; people take pride in discussing their drunken driving skills socially. The fear of law and understanding the broader consequences of not abiding to it has to come at individual level. The so-called educated section of the society can definitely be more proactive and cooperating as thousands of cars with tinted glasses and drunk drivers cannot be controlled by the police alone.

As I write this article a lot of us are concerned and terribly confused about what is this all about. Is this a total breakdown of the society or we are seeing a big divide where people relying on public services are left on their own destiny. I firmly believe that this crime against women is a result of wrong attitude developed by years of false upbringing. Things would have to change and that would definitely take time. One thing is certain that we need to fight this battle at individual level and it can’t be left only to policy makers and police. Reason I say individual attention is needed comes from the fact that UP government which has offered to takeover the medical expenditures of the victim in the recent case has sitting MLA’s tainted with rape charges. We as a society should show zero tolerance and make sure that goons are not elected to coveted positions. Situation looks grim but we can take strength from the fact that India gave one of the first women prime ministers to the world. For now, I hang my head in shame.

Email-users to Active Passive and Missing eSOCIALizers for the Changes to Come!

Only indubitable subject today is the change societies are going through. Unless the Dooms day advocates have their way, there is no debate that the change process shall continue and I suspect the rate of change only to go north. Change- almost like an uninvited guest, without taking our permission- continues to alter our personal, social, familial and professional conduct. I assume a lot of agreement in identifying globalization and technological advancements as the “change drivers” of the contemporary world.

Globalization continues to impact our surroundings like products we buy (my parents recently bought a China made microwave from a Walmart store in India), movies we watch (MI4, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel do show a trend) and people we interact with (ethnic diversity in German Kindergartens). Globalization by nature being a top-down approach has left a room open for discussion. Recent criticism of the Indian government of being “too slow” in reforms is an example. On the contrary, technology with a bottom-up approach is embraced much faster by individuals. Adoption of latest mobile communication over the fixed telephone connections in Sub-Saharan Africa is a result of a bottom-up consumer driven approach. Technology impacts us (irrespective of reluctant habits) and would continue to alter our conduct, and is the theme of discussion here.

To start, let’s define any form of social interaction over an electronic medium as eSOCIALization. Examples include Emails, blogs, voice and video chats, on line forums, intranets and the recent inclusion of social networks. Internet initially developed by government funding gave rise to Email in the 70’s. Email as it got popular, transformed our habit of posting hand written letters to an electronic exchange with our contacts and loved ones. Further, individuals embraced blogs and online forums to connect to a wider and mostly unknown audience. Let’s refer Emails, blogs, online forums and intranets as first generation eSOCIALising tools. First generation tools are easy to comprehend and not hyper interactive, novice beginners can easily control who received what, when and how much information?

Modern tools are taking eSOCIALization to a new level all together. With the advent of very interactive second generation eSOCIALising tools like Facebook, Google+ etc. the personal/public boundaries disappear unintentionally. Already in brief existence, their role in the Arab spring uprising has been widely acknowledged. Not only these tools brought societies together for a cause but also provoked ideas about a bright future in distant groups. If societal impact is a measure, these tools have clearly left the first generation counterparts far behind. Minute by Minute, hundreds and thousands of individuals across the globe are getting hooked to form a human information chain. To understand our interaction with this information chain, let’s classify second generation eSOCIALizers into three categories (according to activity behavior). I enlist common actions (not a conclusive list of course), individuals in these categories would generally engage in.

Active eSOCIALizers: Have readily joined all the possible social networks and indiscriminately share a lot about life online. These people have adopted the technological advancements with a “don’t-care” attitude. Without getting into the details, they have gone with the flow to become the cheerleaders of next generation eSOCIALization. If an individual does most of these tasks on a regular basis, I assume her to be an Active eSOCIALizer:

• Add an acquaintance as a friend during the first meeting using a mobile device
• Checking in your location as soon as reaching a target destination
• Upload photos instantly with new acquaintances without bothering to check face expressions and nearby surroundings
• Enthusiastically posting trivial activities like jogging, outings and online activity scores etc.
• Mostly using social networks with the default settings provided by the platform (a darling for your service provider)

Passive eSOCIALizers: Are the people who have social network accounts but exercise caution. People here are watchful in putting any personal information (for different reasons like introvert nature, not very confident or fear data misuse) but enjoy observing what their peers are up to. A typical user here may spend the same amount of time online as an Active eSocializers but is mostly consuming information rather than posting something personal. Common activities include:

• Cautious approach in adding friends, differentiate between personal and professional contacts
• Use social network only to promote personal skills and services
• Not very keen to post location and details of people accompanying
• Carefully select photos and maybe Photoshop them before uploading it to the social platform
• Trying to understand various settings so that uninvited people don’t have access to too much of personal data
• Skeptic  that social networking tools might lead to personal data leaks on the Internet

Missing eSOCIALizers: This is the group totally averse to social networks and considers it as a mad wave engulfing a section of the society. This group mostly includes people with regular internet connection but not an active social network account.  You are self-immunized against social networks (not permanently I believe) and find the change happening amusing and in some extreme cases, deplore the phenomenon.

As individuals get hooked with different intents and behaviors, it can be realistically argued that all the participants cannot be grouped into three broad categories. In all probability, there is a huge chunk of readers that might fit between Active and Passive or Passive and Missing eSOCIALizers. We might also see people, based on personal experiences, changing groups with time and age. I personally don’t have a favorite category but I do have a point for the Missing eSOCIALizers. Friends!, irrespective of who you are, how old you are and what you do for living, by abstaining you have unilaterally decided to close your eyes to a big transformation our society is going through. Agreed there is a lot of irrelevant content being posted and discussed on these hyperactive platforms but is everything exactly irrelevant? Consider the prospect of three family generations interacting freely in public domain. This was not a possibility in the past but would be business-as-usual in the future. Let’s try to enlist major implications that social networks could have on us as individuals. I won’t be surprised if some of the Active, Passive and Missing eSOCIALizers have already experienced one of the following:

• We are in an era where parents and kids (especially teenagers) can be together on the same platform. Parents have a choice to use social networks as a policing tool or as a medium to bridge the gap that generally exists between middle aged parents and teen aged kids. An Active eSOCIALizer kid in the family can by chance post sensitive family matters in the public domain so parents of the 21^st century have an extra mentoring task assigned. Personally I feel that Missing eSOCIALising parents might find this more difficult to achieve.
• Knowing consumer preference and behavior would take a center stage and it would be normal to see companies trying to socialize with an individual consumer. Big multinationals would be very careful in counting an end customer as a single individual (consumer empowerment). Even a small misconduct of a company being discussed on social networks can spread like a wild fire and hit its bottom line. Already there are reports of customer mistreatment apologized by companies after a bad consumer experience was fed into these info-chain reactors.
• Professional talent hunt would take into our eHabits into account. It would be in our personal interest to maintain a dignified eProfile. Active eSOCIALizers might start considering consequences before posting uncontrolled content under their name. Employers, basically our peers in this eSOCIALising era already do considerable checks on our online activities (it is very easy, just Google your name from a new computer or your existing browser after clearing all the cookies) before considering us for potential job offers. Recruitment would evolve and it is in our best interest to understand the future.  Networking, impressive CV’s and a well maintained existing ePofile and eContacts might unlock the jobs of the future.
• Existing hierarchal structures within societies and companies would feel a flattening force being applied. I foresee very formal student teacher relationship in countries like India being redefined in the 21^st century.  The uncontrolled online interaction would push people and ideas closer for the better. Big multinational companies’ aspiring to bridge the communication gap between senior management and the workforce would also be benefitted. Today’s teenagers would enter the workforce tomorrow as competent eSOCIALizers and feel very comfortable using eSkills for work. Understanding employee profile, big companies would adopt corporate social networks to supplement the normal communication channel which now-a-days is primarily the Email. Static corporate intranets as they exist today would be redefined to provide an interactive environment for employees who meet occasionally in big corporations.

I truly feel that we are in a transformation process, lot of aspects and impacts of eSOCIALising are still not clear. People engaging on social platforms are not exactly aware of the hidden costs of the “free service”. A recent survey in a high school in the UK indicated that most of the teenagers didn’t know how Facebook and Google make their money and why the service is being offered for “free”. Extending this survey to an adult community might also give us some interesting insights. However, for the future we would see people much more informed about their digital life. Regarding conduct, eEtiquettes are not clearly defined and might never be but a careful thought at individual level can just serve us right.

Lot would change and new things will always appear, the discussion here is, by no means, conclusive. I hope that prospective readers through comments can also contribute other avenues where eSOCIALization might impact us. As one might guess, the option to become a Missing eSOCIALizer is not the one that I proclaim (of course, opinion is open to discussion). I firmly believe a balanced approach for good can guide us into the new era. Remember, basics change seldom.

The Pursuit of Growth: A Western Perspective

Recent downturn in the world economy, the Great Recession, has made “Pursuit of Growth” a source of migraine for policy makers. Growth or growth levels for Individuals, enterprises and nations (especially in the west) have been hit hard and a recovery to “normalcy” is nowhere in sight. Past-mistakes, present-survival and future-revival is an everyday topic on the Main Street, High Street and the Wall Street. In “Pursuit of Growth”, recent decades have seen a fundamental shift in the economic profile of the developed world. To fuel this shift, phrase coined and championed by free-market and globalization advocates was “move-up-the-value-chain”. Western governments and companies complied by moving “low-end” jobs to the cheaper world. The argument was compelling with three cornerstones:

 

• Westerners would take up jobs high-up in the value chain commanding higher wages and influential positions 
• A win-win situation, the consumer in return was promised cheaper products to satisfy its ever growing appetite for electronics, textiles and lifestyle items and many more things 
• The trend would fuel growth in the developing world further encouraging demand of western branded (not necessarily manufactured) goods. Western companies would have increased profits implying more affluent lifestyles and prosperous societies

There is little doubt that growth by the above mentioned formula did happen. However growth has come with side-effects and implications that I want to elaborate. I am based in Germany so readers might find this article a bit euro-centric. Europe has been in news for all the wrong reasons so this might be an interesting read for many.

Jobs High-up in the Value Chain

The transformation into a knowledge based economy has exerted a lot of pressure on the western-manufacturing-dependent-middle-class. Competition and cheaper prices in developing markets are forcing westerners to prepare for skilled white-collar jobs.  Knowledge based jobs generally require sophisticated training but a functioning educational system alone isn’t adequate to produce a quality workforce. I think education infrastructure also requires a social fabric, like fight to exist, belief of control over own destiny and pressure from parents and peers to compete and excel. Compared to levels I saw in my Indian upbringing (not an advocate of the Indian education system) I find this pressure missing or not enough in the western world.  A general worry in Germany about companies not able to find young engineers to fulfil open positions shows a trend. Education in Germany, at all levels, is almost free but still German companies worry about lack of quality engineers. So definitely it indicates that free-education-to-all is not sufficient to produce quality graduates. That is why, in the developed world, parents/mentors and teachers have a big obligation to train people in subjects like Math and Science. The future jobs in the west would demand sophisticated training and a high proportion of western kids studying the “easier subjects” can be a worrying sign. Talking about Europe, inadequate evening and weekend courses to train people get the right skills for the changing world along with supporting a livelihood is one aspect policy makers need to look into.

Innovation

It is becoming evident that growth can’t come just by filling existing positions but establishing new companies. Except for American companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple flourishing, the IT revolution has almost escaped the developed world (especially continental Europe). Innovation to produce new jobs has not come from every corner but new globalized economy has exerted pressure on traditional sources of livelihood. Reckless government spending, faulty accounting methods and irrational asset bubbles have been counted as one of the major factors for the on-going sovereign debt crisis in continental Europe. However, I see lost investor confidence due to “lack-of-innovation” in recent past in a lot of countries as one of the major causes. Factors like dwindling demographics, stagnant domestic consumptions, huge public sectors and inflexible labour market also play a part.  United States, the largest debtor nation in the history of man-kind continues to live comfortably due to favourable economic indicators and investor confidence in American companies to innovate. Of course Dollar being the world’s reserve currency has a special role to play.  It should be noted that unlike continental Europe, America doesn’t offer free education to its citizens (and pays a huge cost in terms of social inequality) but still it has been the birth-place for most of the high impact innovations of the past decades. Somehow, the social fabric discussed earlier in the article has a role to play.

Forces from the East

It appears that some of the big corporations as they started shipping jobs overseas were not completely prepared for the future. Exposure the low cost manufacturing hubs like Korea, China got in the process enabled local companies beat their western counterparts at their own turf. Existing giants like Nokia, Phillips and Siemens (to name a few) in businesses with low entry barriers have taken a big hit due to pace of innovation and relentless competition from the East. Companies like Samsung, LG, Lenovo and Huawei are no more interested in producing gadgets only for low budget customers. High profile take overs of IBM PC manufacturing, Arcelor steel and Jaguar luxury cars by rich companies based in relatively poor countries shows a trend.  New players from the East including sovereign wealth funds like China Investment Corporation, Qatar Wealth Fund and big conglomerates like Wipro, Tata, Mahindra and Reliance with deep pockets are taking the established western giants’ head-on.

Growth in the Developing World

Not every company in the west has struggled in the globalized world. Flourishing sectors like American technology companies, European aviation, German cars, Italian fashion ware, French luxury items and British services and education see new avenues of growth. As I write this blog, luxury car maker Porsche reported record sales due to strong demand in China and America. China would soon overtake France to become Germany’s largest trading partner and this trend has benefited Germany.  Employment in German manufacturing has seen enormous growth but it’s not a win-win situation for everybody.  The recent announcement by General Motors to close its Opel factory, the bankruptcy of Qimonda (Memory division of Infineon), Financial Times Deutschland in booming Germany are some examples. There is a huge list of companies that have ceased to exist in Germany to force redistribution of labour. Recent uproar about car and steel manufacturing in France is another example. Today an industry if not competitive globally, irrespective of socialist/protective measures would meet its destiny (not necessarily bankruptcy) sooner or later.  People need to acclimatize in the new environment to see some of the old power-houses biting the dust. Days of starting and ending a career in the same sector (forget a company) are over.

Pursuit of Growth

 

Western companies generally operating at higher profit margins need to identify a niche market and innovate before it’s too late. I personally feel most of the smarter ones have already done it.  Talking about Porche’s record sales it is worth mentioning that Porsche in 2012 was one of the first luxury car makers to open a dealership in Nigeria. This bold move was a topic of discussion in western media but a country like Nigeria with huge oil reserves provides the perfect clientele that any forward looking company should crave for.  Companies and individuals in the west are set to benefit a lot from a richer globalized world but not without an ambitious “Pursuit of Growth”. As I read somewhere, the illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. The mantra to “learn, unlearn and relearn” would be the key to sustain growth and high quality of life.

Starting a Ph.D., This Might be Useful!

First of all, welcome to the club. Earning a Ph.D. degree is nothing but a training to churn you into a tougher and a smarter individual.  Been through the transformation, I credit it to be a phenomenal learning curve. After my experience, there were lessons learnt and this blog is a platform for a narration. I want to discuss certain essentials to help people do the roller-coaster ride which I completed in spite of terrible motion-sickness. I caution that the analogy of equating a Ph.D. program to a roller-coaster ride is only limited to ups and downs so please avoid looking for the speed here. Before even I attempt something like this, I should have a disclaimer. This blog is no recipe to earn a comfortable doctor title. These are thoughts recapitulated as I look back at my own personal stunt. This idea-assemblage is just based on a one off account (mine) and I won’t be surprised if it doesn't match opinions of many. However, I would appreciate to ensemble constructive comments and criticism from prospective readers.

Planning

Planning impacts lot of things that you end up with and a Ph.D. degree is no different. Plans can begin much earlier than you actually start the research program. For example, choosing a master thesis topic with a potential of being extended into a Ph.D. dissertation can easily leapfrog a candidate in front of others with little or no connection between their master’s and doctoral research. Other pre-planning decisions can vary from selecting an institution to applying for attractive funding and scholarships well ahead in time.  During the tenure, detail experiments, scheduling resources, vacations and personal time definitely help you reap rich rewards. Said all this, here comes the bitter truth, not everything goes according to the plan, so take care.

Enthusiasm

This persona aspect seems to be an indispensable part of some lucky souls. This breed in humanity is always upbeat and in turn the euphoria created give people unmatched benefits at the workplace. Examples include and are not limited to more interpersonal discussions, joint projects and brilliant ideas and tips from colleagues. I know enthusiasm if not from within is not easy to enact but keeping it back of the mind might just help.

Patience

Being persistent is a trait which I think is hardest to conquer. Even after completing a Ph.D., I am not even half enduring that I would like to be. I have been fortunate to meet very patient people who have always left me wondering and admiring. I know that advising people is easy, so playing a true opportunist I emphasize the importance of being patient. Though I myself realize, easier written than done!!!!

 

Research tourism

Well well well here comes the fun part of being a Ph.D. candidate. So part of a good wealthy institute, you should not miss any travel opportunity to learn good work and wonderful countries.  Networking, exposure and confidence building are some of the advantages people associate with research tourism. Other thing I want to discuss is the grants made available to young researchers at various scientific meetings. I myself was a proud grant holder at conferences in two different continents till the grant recipient meeting. Why only till the grant recipient meeting??? Because there I sniffed that the organizing committee still had money left to disburse!!!! Well I lost some self pride but have shared trend which can be utilized to your advantage. Successful grant applications not only add a line or two in our resume but also provide an opportunity to sell yourselves in the marketplace.

Document your sweat

Publishing papers, reports and preparing project documents is important to be in this business.  Imagining a reliable source available, you are sure to be overwhelmed by the amount of papers published in any field in a considerable time frame.  It is natural to be lost in sheer volume of data and claims people make in every new issue of every single journal. I feel if all the claims were directly applicable in the applied world then Mr. Branson rather than thinking of offering a guided trip to outer space should have been offering holiday homes on a far distant planet by now. Although the research publication volume is already colossal, it could be much higher if all the researchers were documenting their efforts intelligently. I have come across people with quality work but shy, lazy or not confident to send their work for review. Research in this case is self reviewed and disqualified for publication.  Avoid suffering from this syndrome. I have experienced that reviewer comments are beneficial even if the work doesn't match the journal standards and is rejected (I had so many of them, lost the count). Moreover, by documenting your research and sending it for review you learn what people actually want to read (this is a big secret that your boss might not know either). You should simply put your best effort and leave it for the learned world to judge. Following an iterative procedure you might converge on a much needed first publication. After this the road is relatively easy as you just learned the trick.

Boss handling and expectations

A kind boss is a luxury and a rare commodity accessible to very few and has numerous benefits difficult to list explicitly. If you are on the other side of the spectrum, you need to make things happen to be on the right foot with your boss. I say this because a bad equation with her has more chances of harming you rather than her personally. Let’s assume that you have a great boss possessing all qualities you desire and admire. However, boss might still be busy and it is absolutely normal for you to be the last person on her priority list. It is your duty to brief her regularly and keep her updated.  There is one big thing to remember here and that reads “IT IS MY Ph.D.”.  A burning aspiration to use your own brain and not becoming a paid slave is important. You are here to earn a degree rather than to collect a certificate by executing someone else’s instruction set. Please don’t even think of a spoon-fed baby diet to survive the day, if you need one, it is the right most indicator of being in the wrong trade. 

What next???

One dilemma that arises after a Ph.D. is about deciding upon the very important question of What Next? You need to decide what to do after you have accomplished this important milestone of being addressed with a doctor title. It is natural to have different wishes and aspirations like to stay in academia, work in the industry or to start something of your own. I insist here that planning again plays an important role and you should already start looking into options in the last year of research itself. This might not fetch you the desired objective but won't do any harm either.

Not a Bingo every time

With all the hard work you need to account for the luck factor besides intelligence and determination. If you are not getting the expected results, a well deserved break is highly advisable to replenish the energy levels. Make sure that any rough patch doesn’t impede you from enjoying somebody else’s success. Rather than sulking on personal failures, communicating with people and starting afresh with a much harder intent is really needed. With this never-to-die attitude there would be no prizes for guessing the host of a big bash to follow.

Some 1200 words are not sufficient to describe the experience and learning in great details. Here, I have only touched few minimums that a Ph.D. candidate can keep in mind. I am sure that all of us realize that things change with people and situations. Finally, you need best wishes and good luck to prove your mental strength and competence. Good Luck!