Visa Diplomacy

Two weeks ago the Indian government issued 10000 visas to Pakistani cricket fans to enable them to come to India and support their team. It was a great gesture which not only took forward the peace initiative but also paved the way for greater people to people contact which is most vital for the fostering peace and friendship. This was considered to be a reciprocal gesture to Pakistan issuing visa’s to Indian fans last year. Cricket and visa diplomacy at its best.

Now another issue has cropped up which also deals with visa and diplomacy. But this issue may is not as pleasant as the first one. One tiny group of lobbyists going by the name of coalition against genocide have perhaps wrought in the most humiliating insult that a seasoned politician like Mr.Narendra Modi would have faced in his career. I am referring to the contentious issue of the USA denying him a visa and going further in revoking his business visa

This coalition, having members on both the countries and more had done their homework thoroughly. They convinced a US congressman that Mr.Modi by virtue of his actions; or rather inaction during the Gujarat riots of 2002 had violated a US law and hence cannot enter the country. The congressman then took the mantle and drafted a letter to the authorities pointing out the crimes attributed to Modi during the riots and how it violated the rights to religious freedom act. Acting on it, the visa was refused. Putting in not so subtle terms, as per US law, Narendra Modi is a criminal. A criminal who presided over a genocide, who had the power to stop it, but who did nothing, who in fact abetted it. While I have no sympathies for Modi and am happy that he was insulted in such a manner, at the same time I am awestruck by the power and reach of democracy in the US. We proclaim ourselves to be the torch bearers of democracy, but all that is on paper. The same Narendra Modi won elections riding a wave fuelled by the riots. Today we see the shameful scenario of a jailed MP walking into parliament to take his oath and immediately after that returning to his cell. A person no less than the President of India has commented about the trading of legislators like commodities.

Forget a small group like the coalition against genocide, a body as powerful, big and independent as the election commission has not been able to prevent criminals from contesting elections. Is the common man s voice heard and respected? I doubt. Can any government decision be taken without being influenced by the local representatives, the members of parliament, ministers etc. But a little lobby of determined individuals could get the most powerful country in the world to listen to it and act on its findings. The US is after all a country which brought a sitting President to trial and almost impeached him. That is what I call Democracy.

Maybe politically the decision to revoke the visa was an error, and to an extent smacks of their traditional arrogance; but since when has been the US politically correct. What if all the nations of the world passed similar laws or just interpreted their existing laws to say that anybody directly or indirectly responsible for the propagation of violence would be banned from entering their country? George W Bush would not be able to step into any country in the world. Isn’t he responsible for the anarchy in Iraq, for indirectly converting Al Qaeda into the most dreaded terrorist organization in the world, for shattering peace in Madrid, Bali, Casablanca, for legitimizing dictators in some countries and demonizing elected rulers in other countries, for not listening to three fourths of the world’s population and attacking Iraq.

Heard that Uncle Bush is planning to visit India this year, why don’t we deny him a visa as well.

Forgetting ..

While at School I remember having studied an essay titled “forgetting”. I don’t exactly recall its contents, but I do remember that it was a funny article generally poking fun at the very common human fallacy. Forgetting the content and remembering the title is acceptable when the topic in question is a grade 8 English essay. On similar lines but disconcertingly, I seem to be remembering only the titles of many other things learned in school/college for which the content is more important. Examples, Bernoulli s principle, Laplace transforms, Doppler Effect and so on. But on the other hand I can tell you the dates of the school trip to a hill station, the name of my class teacher in grade 1, and that a friend of mine had this strange sentiment of wearing the same clothes on all the examination days. On paper this looks like a problem, of remembering the trivial and seemingly unimportant, while forgetting all those theorems and principles. But is it..? Don’t we all remember things closer to our heart than those closer to our brains?

I think this trait is common to many people. While I can remember the number of Oscars Lord of the Rings won, I don’t remember when the deadline for the assignment I am working on now is. The other day I saw a friend of mine forgetting her insurance papers which are a must to obtain the visa to go abroad for the company sponsored training session, while she had no trouble in remembering what another colleague’s favorite word was … yes of all things... favorite word...

The other day my roommate forgot the house keys and stepped out. The door has an automatic lock and our friend was there trapped outside the flat and I was hundreds of miles away on a holiday. The only other person to have the keys, the landlord, stayed a good hour or so away. So he had to trudge all the way there and collect the keys. The travel is not the issue, but the “how can you be so stupid” stare from the landlord can kill you. I am saying this with confidence because I received one such stare for the same reason many months back. But, my roommate can in his sleep run through the starting line up of Real Madrid, Man U and maybe Galatasaray and Dynamo Kiev also for good measure.

I am sure many among us would have had similar experiences, how many times would you have struck your hand on your forehead and said “Damn! I forgot to submit that assignment / forgot to return the book to the library/ forgot to call up a best buddy on his birthday (yeah, the buddy would be a guy, if it’s a girl, the guy may not forget) “.

And how many times would one have prided himself for remembering among other things the names of all the girls across all the years who studied… nah ….shared the campus while one was in college, the clinching answer that helped your team win the inter college competition, the number of runs Sachin scored in the world cup, the first movie with your girlfriend and so on..

I am not going to delve deep and analyze this for I have already told that people remember things closer to their hearts than to their brains and also I have blissfully forgotten all the basics of psychology that I learnt in first year B-school..

STOP the SOP

SOP s – Standard operating procedures. There is none that I hate more in this world, than this term. It has overtaken reality television, Valentines Day and washing clothes as the thing that I hate the most.

The first time I came across the term SOPs was maybe when I was in school. That SOP was something else, it stood for statement of purpose – that darned write up that one sends along with other stuff while applying to a university abroad. A friend of mine was showing me his sister’s statement of purpose, I just gave it a passing glance. Years later when I gave my GRE and time came for me to apply for universities; this SOP reared its head again. People said that SOP s would make or break your application and it is the most vital thing that you send to the university. There even were career counselors who would help you to prepare a SOP. Things so happened that I did not apply for any university but I started developing a hate for this term SOP.

But the SOP that I have mentioned in the initial paragraph refers to standard operating procedures. This is an absolutely good for nothing piece of document, that nobody likes, but everybody swears by. I think it was while doing my MBA that I was introduced to this definition of SOP. We were taught that having standard operating procedures was a good business practice and the one of the characteristics by which you could define a good firm.

The very first day of my job I was given an 8 page SOP to read and familiarize with. I faithfully read the whole thing only to realize that the SOP has not been updated to include some major changes that had taken place. All my efforts in comprehending them went waste. Fortunately my co workers never paid much attention to this document. Every job was treated on its merit and done with common sense, which I thought was very good. But I also learnt that higher up the hierarchy everybody was swearing by SOPs, anything and everything needed a SOP
SOP for taking holidays,
SOP for telephone calls,
SOP for e mails,
SOP for talking to customers
SOP for the way you arrange your desk, your file and what not.

Even when a new system was being tried out, everybody wanted a SOP made for its working, even before the system was perfected. The system should grow on its own, with the various users trying out new methods for improving it and ultimately one will get the best way of working. But if the system is in its nascent stage and the users hands are tied down with the knot called SOPs then the system will not evolve and be a failure. And also it takes so much time to draw up a SOP, that by the time you finish it, the procedures mentioned become obsolete. So what do you do?? Draw up a fresh SOP, what else!! I think some people are perpetually making SOPs.

Though the intention of having a SOP is good (it is always good to have a ready guide to look upto when in doubt) I don’t think that it must be used an end word, as something that decides the way you do your job. A rigid adherence to SOP means no scope for innovation, no cross learning from other departments, no risks and as the saying goes no rewards. SOPs can provide the much needed excuse for u to pass the buck to someone else and also to cover your ass. You can always say that it is not part of the SOP and so do not expect me to do the job. So convenient isn’t it?

The day is not far off when someone would draw up a SOP for making a SOP. Or is it already there??