Thoughts on Child Labour

Most developed nations (and many developing nations) are today signatories to many conventions and declarations against child labour. As the EU and India get closer in economic ties, child labour becomes a contentious issue. But I guess I am missing something and don't understand what the big noise is all about. I guess this is particularly true since all my childhood I wanted to work rather than go to horrid schools where teachers teach you stuff. Most of the time I wondered, why should I study all this instead of working with my hands, to be say, a car mechanic. Everyone told me that I will understand its value once I get an education. Well I have a Ph.D. and I teach other people now. I still don't see the intrinsic value of going to school versus working in a garage, provided ofcourse you have the same open mind (which is sorely lacking in schools too).




When they talk about Child Labour, most people think of the portrait that Charles Dickens drew; underpaid children in horrid working conditions. Sure that is inhuman. However that is not the problem of CHILD labour specifically, it is the problem of cheap labour. No human being, man woman or child, should work under inhuman conditions! I would even agree that young children can't speak up, hence need special protection, but thats a far cry from banning child labour.



During the trades based society, everyone was supposed to learn a trade. Spinoza, during his life was best known for the lenses he made than for his philosophy! Children learnt a trade by hanging around...say a carpenter's workshop. The apprentice would learn the trade hands on. Initially, he would just hang around and watch, do odds jobs (the kind of low end work that is desperaged today). He may be asked to fetch and carry or to hold things, etc. But if the apprentice is observant he soon learns the trade. The smarter he is the quicker. And as he learns more and more, the Master moves him up towards more value added work. This has been the way trades have been practiced for thousands of years in India and other countries.

I am told that children belong in Schools and not at work. I wish I could unequivocally endorse that. Most children who go to school learn a lot of skills that are not relevant to their immediate lives. True one of them could even grow up to be Chancellor of Germany someday. But the vast majority of underprivilaged children LOSE the ability to learn a trade when they devote their childhood to schools...at least schools as we know it. But I guess that is where India's Call Centres and BPOs get students who know English.

There is a general feeling that people treat child workers badly. By and large I have seen in many Indian businesses children learn useful skills. However, it is in the Master's interest to see that his apprentice learns quickly, so he can take off some of the load and become an accomplished craftsman! I sent my own son to work in a cloth retailer during school vacations.


Ofcourse there is much money to be made, and political axes to grind, by showing children in miserable working and living conditions. But then children have become the symbol of today, in much the same way sex was the symbol a few years ago. Maybe our society has matured from being a horny teenager to a parent? Caught within the symbols of sexuality was the Woman, now caught in the symbols of today are real children.

Children are used as symbols:.......

1. Against pollution

2. Against poverty

3. Against War

4. Against Mind Altering Drugs

5. Against Sex

6. Against political enemies and dictators

7. Children as symbolising Innocence in a complicated world. A simplistic view of the world and the life we believe we have lost.

All the time, children are boxed in to fit our mental pictures. Like Procrustes , we ask them to lie on the bed of our imagination and our symbolism, and when they dont fit.....

"Children are not LITTLE PEOPLE", is what I am told. But next time you see a child, think of him or her as a human being, not just a symbol!

Komitas.. er Alexander Tamanyan?

Komitas
Originally uploaded by Intrepid wanderer.

I love this statute of Komitas! I think it is a good one to become a symbol of Yerevan, like the Eiffel Tower of Paris.


Ooops major mistake. This is not Komitas, it is Alexander Tamanyan. Such are the perils of working in a land that you dont know the culture, you accept what is told to you without cross checking. Anyway sorry!

A blog about blogs

" I don't think blogs are a good idea" said my wife. " your thoughts should be your own and one doesn't have to publish it to the world"

"Why not?" I asked

" Well, why should you put your personal thoughts and experiences up there? Anyway why would anyone be interested in your thoughts"

" Well frankly, I dont know. But I somehow have this urge to share my world with others. To share a world which is so full of meaning so rich with experiences"

"Thats for you, what is interesting to you may be completely boring to others!"

" No doubt about it, but I am writing only for those who think otherwise. Thats the beauty of a blog. It costs nothing to produce, it costs nothing to read."

"You are an egoist."

" I guess I am, but remember my blog doesnt have a hit counter. I have no idea how many people read it, and I dont want to know. Its not about circulation, its about sharing."

Up to no good in munich

I guess wherever I go, I am upto no good. Here I am sipping beer at Munich Airport, why am I drinking beer? For one, my friend Cherian insisted if I am in Germany, I should drink beer and for another I had two euros left after the expensive internet I had taken. So I decided to blow it on beer. Another few hours and I will be in Yerevan, where I am headed.

I spent a lot of money to get access to the WIFI hotspot in Frankfurt (18 euros if I remember correctly). But when I went from Frankfurt to Munich, they had a different provider in munich. I would be damned if I am going to pay again. This brought an interesting question to my mind. How far should business go to make a fast buck? Ofcourse it would be good for the customer if there was one service provider across german airports so that a transit passenger can utilize the same account. But I am sure that somewhere there is a thought that if I can get a customer to pay twice the money to access the service, its better than just once!

My flight by Lufthansa meant a wait of ten hours at Frankfurt and four ours at Munich. During the waiting period they didnt even give me a meal, let alone a place to freshen up as would have been the case say five years ago. Lufthansa is supposed to be a full-service airline and not a "no-frills" one, yet they operate like a bus service. What I expect is that lufthansa will take care of me from my point of boarding to my destination. I am their responsibility. But what I find is that they just operate flights and that I am no one's responsibility. I guess Lufthansa, like so many other operators are caught in an indentity crisis, do we go up or do we come down to compete?

The classic story of the swiss watch manufacturer comes to mind. When faced with competition from cheap electronic watches, they redifined their business and INCREASED the average price instead of competing with the cheap alternatives. I know there is booming business in operating planes, but is there also business to be had in taking me from point of boarding to point of disembarkation? Or will there be a new add on service provider who will do that, integrating the flight and delivering people point to point, like a courier service that does that for documents and packages?

An Experiment

Bombay_meeting

On saturday I had another meeting with the company I mentioned in my earlier post. Having talked to the top management, it was now required to take it to the next level. I was enroute to europe but promised I would have dinner with them.

5% rain 95% panic...Is how a newspaper described Bombay on Saturday. Having dealt with a major deluge many were worried by the incessant rains in Bombay. As it turned out the downpour on that day was only 5% of the rainfall on the previous occassion. But still many people decided not to take the risk and stayed at home. Meanwhile, my own plane was delayed by over an hour.

By the time I arrived at the venue and went in to freshen up, the guests had arrived and were waiting for the dinner meeting. Among them were some former students who I had invited to come and witness the proceedings. Huh?Former Sudents? What are they doing here? It was the result of a rather interesting experiment.

The management okayed a proposal that I had put up saying that we would involve a wider community in the transformation of this organization. This second meeting we consciously made a decision to work with people outside the organization as we go through the transformation process. Such people bring in an outside perspective to a process that would otherwise be highly inwardly focussed.

Not only have we decided to invite people to attend our meetings workshops, but we also decided that we will also post write ups about the process on the internet so that the entire process can be recorded.

I find the whole experiment quite exciting and ofcourse will keep you posted.

Motorcycle Diaries (2)

I landed at Kochi airport and found I didnt have enough money to hire a taxi to go home. I trudged along until I found a Kerala STate Transport Bus. I took six hours to reach home, and I had to stand part of the way.

Finally on Sunday evening (4th) I decided to go watch a movie with some of my friends here. My friend his wife, her sister and two other guys. At the theatre there were a couple of guys (part of a large gang) who acted funny with the girls. I saw my friend speaking on his mobile. In shortwhile his friends started taking up seats in the theatre. By the time the movie got to its climax a huge fight errupted in the theatre. My friend's gang mercilessly beat up the other group. While I guy was flung on to the back of my chair, I lent forward to watch the rest of the movie. By the time the movie was over I was the only guy in that entire area of the theatre, still watching the movie!!

Not a bad start for the year. Not bad indeed.

Lets see what else happens.

Motorcycle Diaries

Hi,

FOUR days on the road and I thought its time for an update.

On first I flew down to Bombay to meet with a company who had asked me to meet them. A mutual friend told them they should talk to me, and I to them. After a longish flight, we spent a day together. Its a small but rapidly growing service-sector company. They are on the verge of explosive growth and they wanted to know what to do next. Thanks to my reference, they were in a very receptive mood. In fact when I met them, they had already decided they would take my help, without discussing the details.

I talked to them about my Theme for the year "Courage". I said that I could help them if they could go forward with courage. I told them to make a list of ten people they trusted from different walks of life. We said we would ask them about their version of the "ideal world", and then we would try to figure out the role of the company in bringing about this world. Ofcourse Milton Friedman started rolling in his grave at great speeds.

I said a company is valuable only because it stands for something. That its products my change, its markets might change, but it will continue to thrive if it "Adds Value", and I didnt mean economic value. It is the responsibility of this company to identify the values it stands for, I will help you do it. I will also help you put in place systems and a culture which celebrates these values. But remember all organizations are in the process of arriving, none has arrived. So when people point fingers at you, accept them with all humility and say. "We know where we are headed but we are far from getting there." A vision is that which gives us the direction to go, like a compass, but can't give you a map to get there.

I told the company that it requires courage to do this, to stand out in the business community and go beyond making XX tons of something-or-the-other. The CEO said, that he felt butterflies in his stomach already. I said my theme is that of courage. Question, do you have the courage to go ahead. Courge is not the absence of fear. That is foolhardiness, courage is the ability to act despite fear. The CEO promised he will go ahead despite fear and we ended the evening over dinner. Over dinner we had a hearty conversation about different paths we take towards spirtual progress. I said that organizations are supposed to exist for spiritual progress, making money is a by-product.

Now I have to live up to my words! The project is mine. It sure promises to be fun!!