The Hindu rate of Growth
The Hindu Rate of Growth – Why is it the best?
Detachment from worldly desires, not to expect the fruit of your actions and selfless service – these are few things that come to my mind when I think of the lessons from the Hindu scriptures. Unfortunately, I am living in an era where owning the iPad or the latest touch phone or the coolest property is what counts. There is immense pressure to become an “ acquirer” - of wealth, fame, facebook friends et al. This is at the “aam aadmi” level. At higher levels of power there is rampant corruption and people make so much money that they have no clue of their assets and end up building 15 storey houses!! They have crores in accounts across countries and are still striving to make more!! For what joy? Picture this – what percentage of facebook friends are you in touch with. Extending the analogy – what percent of your phone book contacts are you in touch with? I would be surprised if the answer is more than 10%. Then why this unending urge to acquire more?
What’s wrong with the Hindu rate of growth? Why should the Indian GDP grow at 9%? Its because the auto companies want to grow at 25%, the fairness cream industry wants to grow at 40%, the packaged food industry wants to grow at 75% and all this and much more will happen only if the GDP grows at 9%. But spare a thought – What makes these companies grow? It’s you and me!! Either we are working in these companies or we are users of these products (why do we use these products deserves a separate blog on its own). Ironically the products uses us to grow when we bask in the glory that as “con”sumers we are the king!!
Getting back to the first point – We are working in these sectors and only if we grow at such neck-break speeds will we get ourselves a great career. That’s when we can beat the mediocre and slip to that all important top 10% performers list!!. But what is it doing to all of us?
We are increasingly getting schematic and devious in our approach to things. Why did that guy get promoted, its cos he sucked up to the manager. Very rarely do we feel that yes, that guy deserved the promotion. There is a constant fear of competition lingering right above our heads. Driven by the drive to succeed, we go to any levels to get work done. Not one day passes by when we are not jealous of somebody’s accomplishment. There is incessant pressure – deadlines to meet, tasks to be accomplished, resume points to be built. I believe that this has taken the joy out of things. So much growth has led to a colossal loss of human spirit. We have stopped enjoying simpler things in life and even before we learn to drive the bicycle and feel the whiff of fresh air on our face we want a car (not even a motorbike). Is there ever a solution? Satisfying the desire does not kill it. Instead it fuels it further – Yeh Dil Maange More.
The only solution is to get back to the hindu rate of growth. No pressures, no big competition. No performance ratings. All of us are happily mediocre. To think of it mediocre works best in the long term. There is no need to RG, no need to cram late hours or cheat or be jealous of any body. All of us will be happily mediocre and continue to work happily ever after. And who knows, in our spare time we might discover time travel – Then we can alternate between 9% and 4% GDP growth time space continuums. But wait, who is going to get the glory of discovering the time machine?
