Can we really be minimalist?

Browsing through an airline house magazine, I happened to read a short interview of the spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev.  He was talking about people’s greed to have more, acquire more and consume more. He referred to the depleting natural resources and the urge to use-up all of it much sooner that what is needed.  He also referred to a beautiful quote of Mahatma Gandhi - The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.

A further reading of the interview made me a little uncomfortable. It spoke about technology aiding the manufacturing industry increase production manifold. Perhaps, much more than what is needed. It made me think about the typical business rat-race. The corporate brouhaha over the perennially upward moving revenue guidance. Only the ones who get stimulated by the very smell of this melee are the ones who survive and swing upwards along with the revenue graphs. The rest end up as burnouts.

Is it the fear of survival of the fittest? Is it the fear of a big fish eating the smaller ones and hence the pressure to continuously grow bigger? Or is it simply a poorly learnt lesson on ‘stretch goals’ taught in some high profile management school? What we don’t want to understand is that any material has a limit to its elasticity. Beyond that it becomes plastic. And plastic is typically artificial, false and superficial.

With corporate performance being measured at quarterly intervals, the executives are forced to demonstrate that much more agility, in terms of continuously pushing their goals to higher levels in shorter intervals. With that kind of appraisal, the focus too shifts on short term results rather than concentrating on a long term strategy. And they end up scraping through the bottom as if there was no tomorrow.

Long back, I was watching a TV interview of the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. The anchor referred to his flourishing career even beyond the age of 70 and asked him as to how long would he continue to work and earn.  To that Bachchan responded by saying – ‘I want to earn enough for my next generation to live a comfortable life. But unfortunately nobody knows how much is ‘enough’. So, I will continue to work as long as I can.’ I respect Bachchan a lot – both as an actor and as an individual who has been through many ups and downs in his life and still has maintained his dignity and has continued to earn respect from people at large. But that statement coming from a person who is supposed to be earning Rupees 1.5 crore for a day’s appearance on a TV show, is an indication of the uncertainties and insecurities of our society and therefore, how and why we get swayed towards acquiring more and more fearing for the rainy day.

So, if the large corporates do not believe and respect a minimalistic philosophy, the celebrities do not have the belief in creating a conservative eco-system then how do we expect a common man not to acquire more than what is required. Be it wealth, hard currency, consumables or even a few buckets of extra water. The minimalistic fervour in the society stays to the minimal.That it is not zero is the only silver lining. 

Hanging up..... what???

After working for about 30 years, I was seriously contemplating to call it a day. Neither was I comfortable with the changing corporate environment nor was my organization showing any particular admiration for my skills and experience.

I was thinking as to what would be the right timing, how I will keep myself busy once I quit and how will I present this decision to my family and friends.

I very distinctly remember and cherish those childhood memories of the momentous event of Mohammad Ali’s retirement. The King hangs up his gloves – screamed the newspaper headings. Or for that matter, when the football legend Pele announced his retirement, it was his boots that were supposed to have been hung.

Having worked in the IT industry for the last 18 years, I failed to figure out as to what will I finally be ‘hanging’. A keyboard or mouse didn’t make much sense as there was no symbolism associated with these – unlike the boots and the gloves.

As I was recollecting all my childhood dreams of a career, I remembered my first impression and fascination for the armed forces.  If I had joined the army, I would have proclaimed hanging up my uniform. The other fascination that I had was for cartooning. In that case, I would have announced hanging up of my pen or my brush. Another dream profession for me was that of a Doctor. It is another matter that the doctors never retire, but for the sake of records, I would have at least hung up my stethoscope.

I began my pursuit by jotting down the various roles played by me in the last 20 years. I did a bit of database administration, some software programming, some product SME and a lot of program management, people management and delivery management. All this while, I neither used any particular prop nor wore a specific attire – not even a symbolic one.

Finally, I could zero-in on one particular aid that I used all these 20 years doing grey and white collared jobs. The one key tool that I used while writing my code; designing a solution; shaping a product; interacting with my teams and my clients was perhaps my brain. And therefore, will it be appropriate if I announce to my friends that I would be hanging up my brains? But post that, my close friends and family will surely be in trouble – managing a brain-less creature around for rest of his life.