The business of politics

I was listening to some news channel and there was this heavy discussion going on about the increase in salary of our members of parliament. One of the comments was “politics is not a career, it is a service”. But my doubt is, is it? Really?. I think it is time that we take a relook at things. Politics should be viewed as a career. One where progress or growth is directly proportional to the qualifications, skills, commitment, results etc .. An interesting comparison is to compare politics in India with the business in India. While agree that business has got a long way to go to reach International standards, it is definitely ahead of politics in India by a long shot. One of the major reasons for the business excellence is the large number of educated, talented and hardworking young men and women who were attracted to the world of business and excelled in it. Unfortunately politics is still in the hands of .... hmmm senior citizen politicians. Why aren’t many youngsters attracted to politics?


Perception of politics as a service and not as a career plays a major role in this. The Gandhian idea of a life of service to others was never very attractive to many people (not only now even during his life time). There are very very few people who would devote their entire life for service of others or of the nation. And unfortunately the number of politicians that we need is much more than them. This leads to a much bigger problem. The country has become full of politicians who believe that in the pretence of doing service, they can siphon off public money to build their empires.
In my opinion, politics should be made a lucrative career with good salaries and incentives. Managing the needs of approximately 2 million people (a billion+ divided by 500+) is not an easy job. Legislation or the creation of law is a task which is over and above it. Also if sufficiently compensated through salary, less number of politicians might get involved in corruption. This will also invite a lot of young men and woman to the realm of politics which will help the country in the long run


After all, its all about the money rt?

Snapshots from Hell

My life in Mumbai has completed two whole months. (ohh rent is due ). Well for a start, I moved from Bangalore to Mumbai in mid June, to pursue my post graduation in business administration. If the title has not made it clear, this post (and may be a few subsequent posts as well) is going to be on business and business studies. Yes the title is derived from the legendary book by Peter Robinson about his Standford days.

Well, for the time being, I will start the story from a Saturday morning on which I boarded Chalukya Express at the Yashwantpur railway station, leaving my job, a whole bunch of friends and several material pleasures behind in pursuit of knowledge and a life time of overly paid jobs. The process of getting admission and last days in Bangalore are good stories as well but we will save them for another time.

So on a breezy, slightly cold Saturday morning, I somehow managed to jump onto the already-started Chalukya Express with a slight hangover from all the beer that was drunk along with toasts for my good health and prosperity the last night (in fact the 7 preceding nights as well)

The journey (which took 24 hours) , in itself was quite interesting. I did not have a confirmed berth. But I had an RAC ticket which allowed me to board the train and sit through the journey. How ever I realized that traveling from Bangalore to Mumbai is not exactly the same as traveling from Bangalore to Cochin. The fellow passengers, for one, was ..... well... different. I was traveling with my lifetime possessions which made we very scared and I didn't want to move away from my seat even for a minute. Also I happened to fight with few of the fellow passengers (sigh)

I can not express the happiness, I felt on reaching Dadar station with out any serious damage to me or my luggage. But I did not know how long the feeling was going to last. But how ever, like many a stories of poor and smart guys reaching a BIG city to make it BIG.. I had arrived, would I be successful? or would I be just another sucker? only time will tell :D