It has been a long felt dream of mine to contribute to an exclusive column in my favourite newspaper in my country- India and call the column ‘microMUSINGS’. I was at the verge of sending the content for publication when I decided to blog. My disillusionment is not only confined to my favourite newspaper but also to the entire Indian media on their inept handling of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.
As a kid I had started reading my favourite newspaper for its daily dose of a comic strip of Tarzan and over the years adhered to the paper for its bold exposés and matured editorials. However, I was saddened by the fast deterioration of its quality and started reading blogs. Having discovered the blog it is now going to be exciting, I thought.
What am I going to write about?
A glance at my profile will let you know that I do not belong to the average age group of bloggers. As an urban bred person my career ambitions were to study agriculture and work in the villages of my country. After completion of my post graduation in Agricultural Economics in 1977 I started off my career in the Government sector where I had my first brush with the idiosyncrasies of the bureaucracy and the way they affected the poor gullible farmer slogging out in his fields oblivious of the happenings around him.
Thinking that the public sector would be a better place I moved to a nationalized bank in 1982 as a rural development banker. Although I could seek a space for myself in all my rural postings and could do my best in rural development and rural banking, various reasons drove me to look at the private sector as my next option. Callous treatment of a segment of sincere employees by the so-called nationalized bank, total apathy on the part of the management on various matters, the hegemony of the staff unions and the resulting sycophancy of the staff towards either the management or the union, deep rooted corruption and malpractices- are some of the reasons. Sincere employees who were not sycophants of either the management or the union were left high and dry. Caught between the devil and deep sea I landed up working only in difficult areas all the time. But I always took it in my stride and have left an indelible mark of path-breaking work in all the places I was posted.
In 1998 when the leading housing finance company in my country inserted an advertisement inviting applications for a CEO for its microfinance venture, I found the requirements and the responsibilities virtually tailor-made for me. For a person frustrated with the government sector & the quasi-government public sector and always seeking a bigger space to work the assignment was God-sent. The nine years from 1998 to 2007 were my career’s best period.
You may now wonder why I left the institution. When everything was going on fine, I was suddenly reminded of the dictum ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ and I took a conscience driven, thoroughly introspected decision to quit and go on my own.
During the course of my career I had wonderful experiences in the field which I thought of sharing with everyone. Coming from lower-middle class moorings, I had over the years developed a passion to work for the poor- in other words the small families out there. The word micro in microMUSINGS is symbolic of the small person out there. I am going to sing my song about the small woman/man out there for I know that I alone can play the best tune for my musings. I can assure you that my musings are going to be of great interest for people who share my concerns- some of them would be eye-openers, some nerve- shattering, some conscience-pricking, some tear-shedding, some touching the heart….My musings are not to be read as case studies but as random ramblings of a rural development worker.
Uday Shankar
Coimbatore-INDIA
26.05.2009
As a kid I had started reading my favourite newspaper for its daily dose of a comic strip of Tarzan and over the years adhered to the paper for its bold exposés and matured editorials. However, I was saddened by the fast deterioration of its quality and started reading blogs. Having discovered the blog it is now going to be exciting, I thought.
What am I going to write about?
A glance at my profile will let you know that I do not belong to the average age group of bloggers. As an urban bred person my career ambitions were to study agriculture and work in the villages of my country. After completion of my post graduation in Agricultural Economics in 1977 I started off my career in the Government sector where I had my first brush with the idiosyncrasies of the bureaucracy and the way they affected the poor gullible farmer slogging out in his fields oblivious of the happenings around him.
Thinking that the public sector would be a better place I moved to a nationalized bank in 1982 as a rural development banker. Although I could seek a space for myself in all my rural postings and could do my best in rural development and rural banking, various reasons drove me to look at the private sector as my next option. Callous treatment of a segment of sincere employees by the so-called nationalized bank, total apathy on the part of the management on various matters, the hegemony of the staff unions and the resulting sycophancy of the staff towards either the management or the union, deep rooted corruption and malpractices- are some of the reasons. Sincere employees who were not sycophants of either the management or the union were left high and dry. Caught between the devil and deep sea I landed up working only in difficult areas all the time. But I always took it in my stride and have left an indelible mark of path-breaking work in all the places I was posted.
In 1998 when the leading housing finance company in my country inserted an advertisement inviting applications for a CEO for its microfinance venture, I found the requirements and the responsibilities virtually tailor-made for me. For a person frustrated with the government sector & the quasi-government public sector and always seeking a bigger space to work the assignment was God-sent. The nine years from 1998 to 2007 were my career’s best period.
You may now wonder why I left the institution. When everything was going on fine, I was suddenly reminded of the dictum ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ and I took a conscience driven, thoroughly introspected decision to quit and go on my own.
During the course of my career I had wonderful experiences in the field which I thought of sharing with everyone. Coming from lower-middle class moorings, I had over the years developed a passion to work for the poor- in other words the small families out there. The word micro in microMUSINGS is symbolic of the small person out there. I am going to sing my song about the small woman/man out there for I know that I alone can play the best tune for my musings. I can assure you that my musings are going to be of great interest for people who share my concerns- some of them would be eye-openers, some nerve- shattering, some conscience-pricking, some tear-shedding, some touching the heart….My musings are not to be read as case studies but as random ramblings of a rural development worker.
Uday Shankar
Coimbatore-INDIA
26.05.2009
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