The Tribal Way

Can a National Change be Driven by a Tribal Action?

It’s 2 AM and I just got back from an Indian movie I’d been wanting to see since I got here. It’s called “Rang de Basanti”, which translates to Color Me Yellow…. amazing how the concept of color keeps popping up once I write about it ☺. Anyway, I found the film to be a brilliant example of “one must look back in order to be able to look ahead.”

The film is about a British documentary filmmaker who comes to India to make a film about 6 historic figures in India’s freedom struggle. She finds college kids to play the role of these legends, who initially didn’t know and couldn’t care much for the history of the nation or the characters they were to play. However, as they begin to take interest in the production, they feel the emotions felt by the characters, and recognize that the challenges faced by these characters in India’s freedom struggle are the exact same ones faced by the country today.

They realize that India faces another Independence struggle today – that from a corrupt system of government and society in general, and if it is to meet the expected growth rates, it needs to free itself from corruption. And like the freedom movement 70-80 years ago, they realize that the revolution needs to start with a small mutiny. I won’t give away the entire story, but it’s a must see for anyone familiar or interested in India’s history and how it applies to modern day India.

Most people I spoke to after the film related to the issue of corruption and spoke of many other examples where the corruption and unfairness of the government significantly hurt the ability of the nation to grow. Not many got what I considered to be focal point of the movie– a group of 6 college kids decided to PUT THEIR THOUGHTS INTO ACTION and attempt to bring about change.

In a country of 1.2 billion people, most if not all would agree that in order for this country to grow and mature, a drastic change is needed – a change in the way the country is governed, is managed, is operated, and is served. Almost all have an opinion on why Bangalore should’ve built the infrastructure to support the IT growth 5 years ago, how Delhi should’ve planned for the roads to match the growth in vehicles., and many, many others.

The people with the opinions almost unanimously declare that the government needs do something about it, and also outline the 17.5 reasons why they don’t have hope that the government can or will.

In a country of 1.2 billion people, I haven’t met more than a handful that try and influence change by their own actions.

The question is … Can we drive a change in a nations behavior by changing things within our own tribe?

I’m an optimist. Thanks to Google, it took me all of a few minutes to find examples in my own hometown – San Francisco. Apparently, a small group of 50 people in the San Francisco bay area have made a vow to not buy anything new in 2006 – because they believed that the consumer culture is destroying the world. They call themselves the Compact. They have a blog, a Yahoo group and monthly meetings to reaffirm their commitment to the rule, which is to never buy anything new.

They've been joined by denizens of sparsely populated Pacific islands where recycling is a necessity rather than an option, high school students and one person in Kansas who said, "I thought I was the only one. Now I've found my tribe." They have found themselves in the middle of an international furor over consumerism, ecology and middle-class hypocrisy that has spread around the world in just days – because the local newspaper covered the story and it grew from there.

Links to Articles
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/17/BAG9UHAEM71.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL

So, regarding the situation in India that needs drastic change – the corruption across all levels of government and organizations. Is there a way to form a tribe that would attract others who believe in the same action? I’m not sure but I am willing to try. I FOR ONE WILL NOT BE PARTY TO CORRUPTION FOR THE REST OF 2006. I will not offer money to get someone to confirm a travel reservation, to bypass the 300 people at the DMV or the passport office, or for any other task that I could get done by spending time or planning better. I call it my anti-corruption tribe 2006 and others are welcome to join.

I know it won’t change the country, but I feel a little better already. I'm doing my little part. I know there will be many who will say that's a drop in the ocean, but at least I am taking a step. I’d love to hear from people who have other IDEAS they are WILLING TO ACT ON.

What Color is My Identity?

Yesterday was an interesting day. I got a chance to meet two very different sets of people – one at my aunt and uncle’s silver wedding anniversary celebrations, and another at what was advertised as Asia’s largest handicrafts fair.

At the fabulous celebration event, I was introduced to quite a few individuals who were friends of the family. One gentleman was introduced as Mr. “xyz”, in a particular business, and a billionaire. Another was the steel tycoon in a particular state, who had weekly breakfasts with the highest levels of government officials, and could get things done.

Earlier, I had spent the afternoon at the tribal art fair – where I got a chance to meet artisans from tribes all over India, displaying with pride their art, their culture, and their creativity and innovation – expressed through objects and forms of song and dance that were very unique.

I spent quite a bit of time with the tribals, trying to understand the themes behind their artwork, the motivation that drove them to create and innovate, and how they defined and expressed their identity.

From the tribal elders, I got a different story than from the young up and coming tribers. The elders talked about the concept of not going it alone. They asked me if I realized that almost all forms of tribal creativity was centered around a set of individuals, and rarely on an individual alone. They walked with me across the fair to show me that every tribe that was present followed a similar pattern – be it in dance, song, or craft, there was a sense of pride and togetherness.

We talked about how in the ancient world, that meant banding together just to survive. In the modern world, it means a range of things from not getting stuck in trivial selfish materialism, not getting lost in huge corporate or bureaucratic machines, having an identity that matters, not just being another faceless consumer at the mercy of the powerful. On the pragmatic side, it means all working and succeeding together, and on the spiritual side, it means having your life grounded in something.

With the younger generation of tribals, the discussions primarily focused on why they chose to have their identity be associated with the tribe, rather than as an individual.

What I heard surprised me! I had expected to hear about how it is what was expected of them. What I heard was immense pride in being part of the tribe, a feeling of power in being able to uniquely express themselves, a sense of satisfaction in knowing that they were doing it all together – across members of various generations, and a sense of comfort in knowing that there was an established level of trust between tribal members, and across various tribes in general.

In contrast, the conversations at the anniversary celebrations all focused on the individual identity. The identity as defined by wealth, by stature, and by association with a corporate identity. I added to the list what I had learnt as an American – identity associated with my credit worthiness and my social security number.

So here I was, lying in bed last night, having experienced what I considered to be the two ends of the spectrum in the definition and expression of an identity. One was the identity in BLACK & WHITE, as expressed by my individual achievements, and the other was in LIVING COLOR, a tribal identity if you would.

I realized that maybe, just maybe, in a rush to define my individual identity, had I de-emphasized the facets of my identity that I grew up. The sense of community, the joys of an extended family living together, the advice of “tribal elders” who had no selfish motives and my best interests in mind, the joint pride associated with the achievements of a family member – are those the colors I needed to color my life and my identity?

As always, I would like people to COMMENT AND FORWARD the link to anyone they think would enjoy reading it or may have an opinion that they'd be open to sharing. And since I’ve enabled the comments capabilities, please do submit your thoughts and comments on the site so they are shared with others as well.

And, for those who live in San Francisco or plan to visit anytime soon - of course I picked up a beautiful hand crafted 3-dimensional piece to place above my fireplace at home – which I’d be happy to show off as my prized possession, maybe my first step at adding color to my otherwise black and white life.

Can Bangalore be "Bangalored?"

Sitting in Delhi on a beautiful Friday morning, I was sipping tea and reading the dailies. Right there on the front page was the economic growth forecast - a staggering 8.1%. I had to smile. India had not only arrived on the global economic scene, but was clearly demonstrating that it has a permanent seat :).

And then I got to thinking about my experiences over the last year working with the IT Outsourcing industry. I say "with the IT outsourcing industry" because I was helping the world largest outsourcers shift their work to a more strategic source - India. I was helping them identify their customer needs, document the IT processes that could be moved to Indian delivery centres, and transform the delivery processes - so Sunil in Bangalore could perform with perfection his ONE TASK in the overall process of setting up storage on a server for example, while others performed theirs.

I realized that the IT industry had set up its own Global Assembly Line. Not too surprising, since it was worked so well in transforming the automobile industry and the high technology electronics manufacturing industry.

There were a few differences though...

1. The assembly line worker in this case was not just the average Joe with a high school diploma; it was a highly educated individual who had trudged through life to get his/her computer science or engineering degree, whose parents had spent their life educating their kid for a prosperous future.

2. The assembly line worker in this case was an individual with an entrepreneurial spirit, with a desire to create something meaningful.

3. The assembly line worker in this case was attracted to the fast rising wages offered by the industry, which relieved something within them - a fear of economic insecurity.

I am sure there are more differences that others will care to comment on.

But then, I was forced to look back in order to look ahead - what happened to the assembly line workers in the automobile industry? I remembered the headlines from a couple of days ago while I was still in San Francisco - General Motors, Ford, .. deep cuts everywhere to recover from unprecedented losses. This wasn't new - this had happened before - this was just the latest gash.

And the workers, who had grown up with the assembly line, no longer able to compete because after all is said and done, GM's assembly line was far more EXPENSIVE, and far less INNOVATIVE than those of the Japanese counterparts.

So, back to the IT Outsourcing industry in India. Do we see a parallel??

Yes, we have the growth numbers to back up the forecasts. Yes, we have millions of IT individuals who are benefiting from that growth. Salaries have never been higher. Unemployment rates are similar to those in the Silicon Valley in the late nineties.

BUT

Is the average individual innovating? Or is Sunil happy with setting up storage on the server, and doing it really well, 736 times this past week, with a 99.9% on time performance rate! Should Sunil be concerned that he is losing his entrepreneurial spirit, losing his passion for learning, losing his ability to INNOVATE; or the fact that the day the Bangalore assembly line becomes too expensive to operate, it makes absolute sense for it to move to Prague. Or is Sunil content with the fact that his fear of economic insecurity has been removed - at least for today.

The fundamental question is - is Outsourcing a Chain? Can Bangalore itself be "Bangalored?"

And of course, does Sunil deserve an identity beyond that of an assembly line worker, similar to the sticker on the windshield of a brand new car - INSPECTED BY #72.

I'd love for you to post your thoughts, and forward this post to anyone you think would have an opinion.

–R

I am a Triber !!!

Hi,

My name is Rohit, and i'm an Indian American.  On a few recent trips to India, i've had some realizations that I have shared with both colleagues and family/friends.  While the universal feedback has been "we completely agree", i've also found that not many are willing to do anything about it, or take any actions..

Well, then a friend reminded me of the blogsphere, where I have the ability to share my thoughts with other individuals, and hopefully, get to hear from other like minded individuals or those with opposing views for that matter.... just so we could have an open dialog about life as we see it.  So after a long flight and jetlag, http://thetribalway.com was born.

Just to establish my identity, i'm 35, have had a fairly successful professional career so far as an executive for mid to large software size software companies, and I believe I live a good life today.  Events in the recent year have given me an opportunity to look at my life in detail, and i've found that life is pretty good if I live it honestly... and that means being honest with myself.

So, THE TRIBAL WAY, is my forum for being honest with myself.  It is a forum where I can honestly look at the life of an Indian in a world which has LOVE for the intelligence and the work ethic, FEARS for the ability to outshine people, ANGER for taking away some of the jobs, and ENVY for the projected 8.1% projected growth rate, etc. etc. 

So why the word TRIBAL?  Well, in my mind, it's about what a "TRIBE" represented.  It represented a spirit of community, a sense of ethic, a sense of respect, and a structure that allowed it to grow.  While we've come a long way since we lived in a tribe, I'm not sure if the tribal way isn't so applicable today.   I am proud to call myself a TRIBER !

But that's just my opinion.  I'd be very interested in hearing yours...

-R