AMRI - some thoughts and a few questions..

Are we Bengalis low on Emotional Quotient ( EQ)?

#seeing the TV coverage of some of the Bengali TV Channels, I certainly thought as a race we are EQ challenged. This was certainly no time or place for feigned histrionics – that most of the anchors were indulging in – led, of course, by the upstart “star” of Star Ananda (who was pretending to gasp for breath inside the wards - compalining of suffocation by "Carbon Monoxide" it seems. First of all, who let him in – before the situation had been brought totally undercontrol ?).

#What was #MamataBanerjee doing there with a Micro-phone screaming instructions – promising to reward the local youth for helping out, advising the relatives of the deceased to proceed to SSKM Hospital Mortuary – where the “dead-bodies were being taken for post-mortem” and wait “patiently” as it would take some time for the “bodies to reach” . Few of her Ministers who had reached the scene were busy giving inane news-bytes to channels. There is none to tell our VIPs that the best way to help in such emergencies is to stay out of the way of those managing the crisis. They can cause more harm than good by their interference eager to score a few cheap political points.

# Perhaps, to prove their ‘professionalism’ the AMRI website put up Excel Sheet list of the “dead” – with noting of “bodies that have been identified”. But – not a word of condolence, mourning or regret. The rest of the pages were left as it is – full of marketing spiel. The next day, however, they did carry advertisements in the inside pages of city newspapers – making it a point to thank the staff “who have shown great courage in saving many lives without a thought to their own safety”, the latter I have no reason to disbelieve or discount.

unfair comparisons ?

A Twitter friend took serious umbrage at a comment of a well-known Mumbai journalist, comparing the AMRI tragedy with the Taj 26/11. He felt the comparisons – especially of Bombay and Calcutta were odious – and I agree with him. But, the point she was trying to make, I think , was a bit different. Is it right to compare the professionalism and dedication of The Taj staff with that of AMRI – even if both are ‘service institutions’ as she argues ?

I have reasons to believe, the junior nursing and the service employees - of organizations like AMRI are under-trained and under-paid. They are mostly drawn from very poor quarters of suburban and rural hinterlands of Calcutta and put on the job with minimum induction. Most of them are contractual employees – not even on the hospital’s permanent rolls. The HR policies of these places – set up with the sole objective of making a quick buck – are not conducive to inculcating any sense of pride or belongingness. The lack of professionalism of the employees would be apparent from their blatant casual attitude – on a visit to the Out-patients Departments of any of these private hospitals. Therefore, I for one am not at all surprised – without trying to justify their action in the slightest – at these junior staff - many of them the sole bread earners in poor families - trying to jump off to save their own lives leaving behind the patients under their care.

About the security staff the less said the better. This has become an industry that breeds more insecurity than security. Remember the Dhananjay episode (where the Security Guard was accused of rape and then hanged). Most security agencies get hold of riff-raffs from the slums for a pittance and put them up with shabby uniforms and no training whatsoever. The old peanuts and monkey theory.

Service institutions must have a different ethos and can’t be run as any other commercial organization. This fact is often not appreciated by promoters – who see it just as another profit making enterprise like any of their other ventures in real-estate, FMCG (Fairness Creams) or Undergarments - just as Doctors no longer remember Hippocrates’ oath.

The business model of many of the mushrooming private hospitals and nursing homes are based on the unholy nexus with Insurance TPA (Third Party claim Assessors) outfits.

Domain expertise counts in running hospitals as much as it does in a paan-shop or restaurant. Medical industry needs its own core-competence – which the Apollos, Escorts, Fortis, Medantas, Manipals, Narayan Hrudalayas even the Jasloks and Leelavatis bring on board to some extent, I hope, and that's not to think they are bereft of commercial interests..

Anjan Dutt – a Bengali singer and actor – put it very well, I thought, on a TV show. Calcutta has been taken over, he said, by a breed of businessmen – who have no love for the city and see it only as an object of exploitation for quick profits. The same mentality seems to afflict – even the successful professionals – most notably among them the Doctors, who have earned a terrible reputation for their lack of professional ethics. That’s a real pity – since Calcutta was once known as a centre of medicine with some of the finest physicians and surgeons of the country in every field of specialization. Today, we have train loads of Bengalis travelling to Chennai and Vellore for treatment (ironically, sometimes to the sister hospitals of the same groups which have affiliates in Calcutta).

Much is being written about the government nominees who were on the Board of AMRI. It seems most of them never attended any meetings and the Chairman - believe it or not - claims that he was even not aware he had been elected to the post.

I know a couple of Trustees of the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. These people take immense pride in their association and, therefore, great interest in the affairs of the hospital. Big names – who are visiting doctors – are extremely demanding on the hospital authorities for medical and support services – as they don’t want their reputation to be compromised.

Here, in Calcutta, people see it only as a ticket for freebies – a perk of being in a position of power or having the right connections  (for the well-known gynaecologist on the board - I am sure it's no more an honour than being the President of The Bengal Club) - and for the hospitals it is a convenient pay-off to flaunt some respectable names on their website.


the first and last resort


The fire-brigade used to be one of our finest outfits. It, probably, is still very good. But, can it be compared with the New York fire-men post 9/11 ? Certainly not. Therefore, it was telling to hear some aggrieved relatives ask – why wasn’t the army called in for the rescue operations. For me – this is indicative of the deep distrust and lack of faith that the general public has developed for most of our public service institutions. The army to them remains the only one that inspires confidence – by the sheer dint of their self-less courage, dedication and discipline.

The sense of service seems to have gone out of our lives – with perhaps, the sole exception of a few religious orders and the armed forces. Consumerism has stolen our hearts and made us irredeemably self-centered.

Wonder what it will take to change that, if ever?

A weekend of awards

Suddenly Omar Abdullah has become the poster boy of Corporate India. He has certainly got “star appeal” and India Inc, as it has come to be fashionably called, seem to have made this great ‘post-Obamatic’ discovery of “younger politicians” as potential agents of change (keeping the butter warm and soft, ready for application on another scion in waiting – should the contingency arise after the forthcoming general elections, à la circa 1984 - if you understand what I mean!!). Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the choice of this third generation Kashmiri “lion” cub as the Chief Guest for an award function of a respected Business Weekly, in Mumbai last Friday (which I had to attend on a call of duty). His only tenuous link with the city, we were told, was that, he went to college at Sydenham and his “corporate” credentials come from his having been a trainee at ITC and a Manager at the Oberois (who then ran a property in Srinagar, by the Dal Lake)before he took his plunge into the family business of Kashmir politics.

The corporate brass turned out in full strength – including a few odd numbers like a leading Urologist, who probably holds some little secrets of their inside tracts. And, strangely young Omar arrived not just with his wife (which would be understandable) but also his father in tow – like protective mothers of young starlets, who accompany their nubile daughters on out-of-town shoots, presumably to keep predators at bay or to ensure that they are not short-changed on pay and perks.

the Pandit and the Sheikh

Personally, I was never enamoured of the Abdullahs. I find them a bit like the Koirala family of Nepal – on whom successive Governments in Delhi (I am advisedly refraining from saying: the ‘Indian Government’) have over-invested in the past 60 years. Until very recently, New Delhi always thought that the Koiralas were our ‘best bet’ – and continued to back them covertly and overtly through the years. But, everytime the Koiralas came to power - Delhi became a distant friend and they found virtue in other neighbourly and regional ties – be it across the Himalyas to the North or a bit further beyond the western borders of India. The Indian establishment tried to retro-justify this ‘lack of reciprocation’ as compulsions of local politics – only to repeat the folly again in future.

Politics on the Golf Course

The long saga of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s fraternal foibles with the old Sheikh is well known. And, one still remembers the National Conference’s minor flirtation with the BJP and NDA. The ascent of the motor-biking Farooq was greeted with as much enthusiasm as we now see over his son – only to realize in no time that, he is a better partner on the Golf Course than in the political mine-fields of Kashmir. Therefore, I am a bit skeptical about this euphoria over the anointment of Omar as the heir of the ‘riyasat’ and was not in the least surprised, when he declared at the same august gathering ( in the course of an otherwise very impressive speech) - “Pakistan is not an enemy of India …but there are elements within Pakistan ( comprising about 99.9% of the population, I would reckon) who do not want normal bi-literal relations with India”.

The Corporate ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’

If the choice of Omar Abdullah as the G-o-H was intriguing, the selection of Bikki (P.R.S.) Oberoi as the “Businessman of the Year” was equally baffling. I wouldn’t have had a problem if he was awarded a “Dada Saheb Phalke” equivalent award of the Corporate world for his “Lifetime Achievements”. But what was his special achievement in the last year to merit this recognition ? I couldn't simply get it. From the various laudatory speeches, one almost got the feeling that he was being honoured for the 26/11 attack on his flagship property – which, by their own public admission, was the favourite haunt and watering hole of many of jury members (some, infact, had their offices and homes right next to it and, so, had witnessed first-hand the events of those 3 fateful days). By the same token Ratan Tata should be nominated for Bharat Ratna for the onslaught withstood by The Taj.

But, the real entertainment of the evening was 6 top businessmen coming on stage to offer their prescription on how to tackle terrorism. It was hard to believe that, people of their stature with extraordinarily sharp minds could come up with such puerile analysis of and even more banal suggestions. I thought, 6th grade students would have done better if they were asked to write an essay on the subject. The first – an young steel baron – talked of how industrial development was the only way to solve the terrorist problem and offered to fly down with some of his business cronies to suggest ways of industrializing the state. (In his speech – Omar was quick to point out that, he hadn’t come to invite people to set up industries in Kashmir – as his state couldn’t offer the infrastructure and skilled manpower required for it. He would, instead, like them to provide vocational training that would help Kashmiris find jobs in main-land India. A sure conduit for Pakistan to export terrorists from across the border and infiltrate our industries – some security experts might argue!!)

This reminded me of an apocryphal anecdote that used to do its round in my old company. A project team had gone to Srinagar – at the behest of the GoI – in the early 80s to explore the possibility of setting up a Detergent Packing plant in the Valley. On asking about the security situation – it seems a government official told them nonchalantly (he was joking - I’m sure) – ‘what’s your problem? You are a multi-national – so your plant will either belong to Hindustan Lever or will go to Lever Bros Pakistan”.

Tackling terror with paranoia and wazwan

The second was a top banker – who provided a brilliant 3P formula for tackling terror: Pillars, Paranoia and Pakistan. First – he said we need to strengthen the ‘pillars’ of society (very original !!), then we need to create enough “paranoia” and finally tackle Pakistan. Tauba, Tauba !!. ( For a moment – when he mentioned 3Ps – I thought he was referring to the Pakistan Peoples Party).

Then came the flamboyant liquor baron turned air-line tycoon and part time politician (who, incidentally – as I gathered from an impeccable source - had just returned from a ‘self-financed’ junket to Srinagar and Gulmarg – gorging on the fabulous ‘Wazwans’ - to celebrate the accession. Some say, he is angling for a rajya Sabha ticket from the state). Speaking with his familiar élan, he didn’t miss the opportunity to plug his airline and spent some time discussing the problem he has in docking his yacht at the Gateway – from which he surmised that the terrorists couldn’t have landed there without the complicity of the locals. He also shared his worry on the very ‘real’ possibility of one of his airliners being hijacked or blown-up. Both fair points – but not particularly luminescent in my limited view.

But that’s all that I could take. I decided to make a quiet exit (seated on one of the last rows being the habitual back-bencher that I always was). While walking out - I reflected that it’s not the business of corporate honchos to hold discourses on terrorism, just as politicians should desist from lecturing on Corporate Governance.


Part II: 'Scams' accha hai

Yesterday was the mother of all corporate awards – the ET(Economic Times) Excellence Awards (which was originally scheduled for October 28th – at The Trident) for which the Prime Minister had flown down. Needless to say that, anybody who is somebody in the corporate galaxy was there. Obviously, I was not one among them. Have been to some of the earlier ET Awards by default - and found them to be exceedingly boring affairs (like most corporate award functions usually are) despite getting the 'glam-quotient' up with the likes of Katrina Kaif to making star appearances (don't forget VJ's clout in Bollywood and the Glamour world) as Corporate 'item numbers'. In this mornings newspaper I read, the PM spoke at length on Corporate Governance apropos Satyam and Corporate India listened in "rapt attention". I'm sure he must have made some very pertinent observations and recommendations (not for nothing Raju Narisetti - former Editor of MINT and now Managing Ed of Washington Post - had written that he would make an excellent 'op-ed writer). But, Singh is not the most inspirational orator even at his best - so I wondered how many in the audience were actually listening.

It was a wonderful gesture - though, on the part of ET to honour The Taj staff - Karambir, Kang, Hemant Oberoi , Raymond Bickson and Mahavir Rathore (the Head of Security) for the 26/11. On behalf of The Oberois, I believe, the award was received by - who else ? - P R S Oberoi himself. But, it was quintessential ET to claim that, Oberoi had specially flown down from Delhi only for the awards !!


Instead, I went for a very different kind of award function in the suburbs billed as the ‘Product of the Year (POY)” Awards. It was more of lively, 'high-voltage' entertainment and the awards were almost incidental. POY works broadly on these lines. They run some kind of a market research (totally “independent” and “not rigged”, Charu – who heads POY in India, assures me) for the Brands that register and on topping the category they are awarded the “Product of the Year” certificate – which the company can use on the payment of a “fee”. (Click here to read the concept) I asked Charu - "isn’t it a 'scam'?". A ‘scam’ it may be – she threw it back at me with her signature laughter - but a “scam that works”. It seems that, empirical evidence has shown, on an average the winners witness a 10 per cent to 15 per cent upwards increase in sales. “Come for the awards”, she told me, “I promise it will be fun”. And, fun it was for sure.

While driving back home I concluded that, 'scams' are far more interesting than the real awards.

Light and Sound Show on TV

For me personally, 26/11 was in some ways a replay of the Kandahar Hijack of the Indian Airlines plane IC 814 and the Royal Family Killings that followed. I was based in Kathmandu then - so I happened to see them from very close quarters. Though both those incidents were of a very different order of magnitude, there were similarities in the manner of their unfolding. Particularly after the Palace Massacre, I remember the kind of public outrage there was in Nepal about the ‘insensitive’ coverage of the Indian electronic media, who had landed up within hours of the incident (some of them were accused of “stage-managing” public protests against King Gyanendra). One very respected Nepali voice pleaded while being interviewed on a channel – “why don’t you realize, for us it’s a national tragedy – please let us mourn in peace.” (Read “A Kingdom Mourns”)

This time round – I just happened to be in front of the television when the story broke. But, thereafter, by a certain quirk of circumstances (a visiting overseas colleague was holed up in The Trident), I was glued to the flat screen for nearly 36 hours without a break. So, I saw the coverage ‘grenade by grenade’ and one gun-shot at a time, as it were, right from the start.

It began with TIMES NOW carrying a footer of the PTI Flash about firing inside a Colaba restaurant (Café Leopold), followed in quick succession by another ticker on the shoot out at the VT Station. The first was billed as a fight between Nigerian students and latter as possibly a ‘gang-war’. In a few minutes, CNN-IBN had picked up the news. Their reporters were screaming about firings at “The Taj-Oberoi” – without making a distinction between the two hotels. Soon they had Suhel Seth on the phone from Bombay. He had come to attend a wedding and was staying at The Taj. The hotel had pro-actively called guests who were out - asking them not to come back immediately. Suhel was venting his spleen at the nincompoop politicians who can’t offer basic security to the citizens. Like many of us, I don’t think he had realized till then the seriousness of the situation. There was another young lady, a fashion journalist, who was partying at the Indigo, calling in to say – they were stuck inside the restaurant, which had pulled down its shutters and turned-off the lights – because of firing going on in the vicinity. In a little while, Vikram Singh Mehta (Chairman of Shell India – who, when in Mumbai, stays at the NCPA Towers right behind the Oberoi) was on the line giving an eyewitness account of fire belching out from The Oberoi lobby, which he could see from his apartment.

During this time – NDTV, or at least those watching the channel, were blissfully unaware of what was happening in Mumbai and they continued with their show “Cricketing Matters” where Sonali Chander was listlessly chatting away with Ajay Jadeja about the amiable nature of Sachin Tendulkar on and off the pitch. At 11 – they brought on the eyelash fluttering Sunetra Chaudhury “breaking news”.

By then, TIMES NOW was already airing live footages of the encounter at VT Station borrowed from the STAR NEWS OB Vans. At CNN-IBN Anubha Bhonsle held post till Bhupendra Chaubey came on air and their cameras reached the scene of action at The Taj. But when Srinivasan Jain took charge of the NDTV telecast, between him at the studio and the Shivnath Thukral-Shaili Chopra duo on the front-line at the Gateway of India - they were easily ahead of the rest (that I am partial towards Chopra women – in this case not Priyanka but Shaili – is well known!!).

Paratroopers
However, things changed once Ms Dutt parachuted into Nariman Point the next morning. Around the same time Rajdeep appeared in front of The Taj. Much before that, since the night infact, Arnab was firmly ensconced at the TIMES NOW desk. But, from then on it became a battle for the “eye-balls”.

TIMES NOW – stuck to a no frills coverage for practically 72 hours non-stop. One must hand it out to not only their tenacious Editor-Anchor but also their team of feisty young reporters.

Once their ‘star’ arrived on the scene, NDTV all but pulled out their previous night’s team of Vasu-Shivnath-Shaily. After trying her signature high-pitched ‘ball-by-ball’ commentary for a while – she quickly shifted gear, taking a ‘softer’ line - talking to family members of hostages waiting anxiously outside the hotel. Soon she was interviewing Shobhaa De. By the evening she was hosting a chat show with the so-called Mumbai “intellectuals” (if the city had any in the first place) in a program emotively titled “Enough is Enough”.
s-O-tainment

CNN-IBN struck a middle ground between the fact-based, non-hysterical reporting of TIMES NOW and the high emotion-packed coverage on NDTV. Overall they were much more balanced (barring some shrill anchoring by the lady who shares her last name with me - spelt exactly the same way with an ‘e’ at the end). Well, I suppose, you do need product differentiation even in TV News coverage.

In my view, TIMES NOW carried the day with Arnab playing a marathon Test Match style innings (much like the double century of - Rajdeep’s Dad, the redoubtable Dilip Sardesai, at Kingston in ‘71 – the same series in which Gavaskar had scored his first double ton in Port of Spain). He never left the studio and was, therefore, able to control what was being aired - unlike, I suspect, some of the other channels whose editors were busy on the field.

Of course, I didn’t watch the Hindi Channels – which I am told were dramatised to the point of being pure paranoia arousing “news-o-tainment”.