All work and no play

If you don’t know who Mr N Murthy is, allow me to give a brief introduction because we will be talking about him for a while. 

He is the one who started Infosys in 1981 with bunch of his colleagues. And he has received civilian honors like Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shree. Time magazine once called him the Father of Indian IT sector. I guess he is a single father, because I am yet to meet the Mother of IT sector. Fortune magazine considers him as one of the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time. Don’t ask me why the number is restricted to 12, its arbitrary just like your sun sign.

You can now very well comprehend that his opinions are listened to and recorded by almost everyone, but except the Board of his own company, but let’s not go in that territory… coughs .. Corporate governance red flags at Infosys.

And he has long list of well wishers, which also includes me as well.
With this in mind, let’s start with the point of it all directly.

Only few days ago, Mr Murthy said that, to revive Indian economy; Indians should work for 60 hours a week (For 5 days a week), for a short term period of 2 years. (I am paraphrasing the statement).

It means,

1    For 5 days a week - office should be open for 12 hours a day, atleast.

At present, or should I say, few months ago, in general, a day at office was officially for approx. 9 hours. It may vary on case to case basis so please don’t text me to elaborate how  diligent, persevering employee you are, who spends jillion of hours at office desk and is anyway working 60+hours a week. Don’t sweat it, you are not a princess in a Disney movie, we all have been there!

Before I go further into the boring math and the impact of a cute ‘short term increase in office hours’, let’s discuss a Japanese phenomenon.

It’s called as ‘Kodukushi’ (Don’t confuse it with ‘Khudkushi’ in Hindi, though both are sad cousins).

Kodukushi is also called as “lonely death’. And as the name suggests, people die in isolation. 

Unattended, withdrawn, abandoned….. by oneself. It is alarming to know that whooping 32,000 elderly died in 2009 under the aforementioned grim phenomenon.

To understand the major reasons, we have to dive in the history and work ethic of japan. But in the quickest way I can put this:

-       Japan suffered huge economic depredation due to world war.

-       In order to revive the economy the next young generation put sweat and blood into businesses at all levels. Corporate, individual… public.. you get it, right?

-       Which means, no Friday night partying, no Saturday night-outs, and no Netflix and chill. Wanderlusts were frowned upon. Yeah, people were doing real jobs. It was serious!

-       Hence, they had fewer friends. Fewer than all the Tinder matches guys can get.

-       Gradually the older Japanese way of life- having closer families, strong social bonds was replaced by increased social isolation and decreasing proportion of elderly people living in multi-generational housing.

-       Basically everyone was behaving like an ever-angry teenager. Sadly, the same values were passed to the next generation, and so on the cycle continued.

-       Social isolation became a habit to avoid stressful situations.

Then came 1990 economic slump in Japan (1986-91). If you know the ‘Burst of housing market bubble’ in USA during 2008 you can easily co-relate.

If you don’t know and aren’t lazy enough to ask, please text and we will bi#ch about the wealthy- elite class.

-       So the unfortunates lost savings, retirements funds …. tons of businesses went bankrupt.

-       These all, combined together with Japanese habit of ‘gaman’, which is a Zen-Buddhist principle of patience and perseverance, amplified the problem and discouraged people from seeking financial, emotional help. 

When we make a sum total of these masala, what we get isn’t a great spicy Indian Royal dish, but unsalted, lifeless British meal. Memes were yet to be invented so yeah….. it was sad all around.  

Later, when economy boomed again, represented by the tall, shimmering apartment buildings; a whole generation was left behind to die in their cornered, tiny houses; bodies of whom were looked for only when the neighbors starts complaining of a foul smell.

You might wonder,” We were talking about the late office hours and here we are empathizing with old boomers. Do we have all this time”?

Well, may be, due to lockdown, we can take a break from the rat race; sit back, and reflect on the life.

Hence, I am daring to call the bluff out, simply because, we humans keep on desiring more. 

Take Germany during world war.
Hitler didn’t just sit back after winning France and Poland. He couldn’t just lay down and enjoy the interest of big fat Swiss bank account. But he went on to invade Russia in the winters, and we all know rest of the History.

Nobody wins Russia in the winters (except, if you are a Mongol.. winks.)

But if a dictator is too extreme of an example, we can observe any stock market from around the globe.  and there one finds the practice of putting ‘circuits’ as an artificial measure to pause trading temporarily.

For example: Recently due to ‘Yes bank’ crises, the prices of its shares went downhill and circuit was imposed to prevent further collapse of its stock price.

So the point is, a single minded focus on economic growth shall be later followed by painful economic stagnation, just like what has happened in the past. And that will result into frayed families and communities.

Our blind aspirations for a modern, American way of life will result into – stress, anxiety, social apathy – lonely deaths.

Beloved ex-president of India, Late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, had very well put this thought across while addressing a conference.

He had explained.

“Economic development is not the end of the story”

But, Development = A + B + C

Wherein,

A = GDP

B= Lifting people out of poverty (He had given a target of 220 Mn people)

C = Value system in society. (He asked for how many people want to live in a joint family?)

So, let’s not resort to our meaner instincts and think like few crooked bankers who tend to reduce people to mere numbers in a report.

Instead, let us work toward a cleaner, harmonious environment. We are anyway part of the same team and this is the only planet that we have to live until Elon Musk gets to wherever he says he has to reach.

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