Book review

THE WORLD IS FLAT

मित्रांनो, मी ज्या पुस्तकाबद्दल लिहितोय, त्यात  राजा नाही, राणी नाही, युद्ध  नाही, fantasy अशी काही नाही. तरीही हे पुस्तक वाचताना अंगावर शहारे येतात. हे पुस्तक मी एक  novel म्हणून सुरु केले. पण वाचून वाचून होईपर्यंत ते माझ्यासाठी एक textbook झाले होते. आपण आपल्या शंकांचे निरसन  करण्यासाठी पाठ्यपुस्तकाचा आधार घेतो, तसेच मी आता माझ्या जगाविषयी आणि त्याच्या भविष्य विषयीच्या शंका दूर करण्यासाठी या पुस्तकाचा आधार  घ्यायला लागलो आहे.

The world is flat हे Thomas Friedman या अमेरिकन पत्रकाराने जागतिकीकरण या विषयावर लिहीलेलं  पुस्तक आहे. दीड हजार वर्षांपूर्वी पायथागोरस ने म्हटले की पृथ्वी गोल आहे. आणि आता इथे  की the world is flat? तो शास्त्रीय रित्या चूक आहे का? तर नाही. त्याला  इतकेच म्हणायचे आहे, की पूर्वीच्या मानाने आजच्या काळात जगातील अधिकाधिक जागांमधील जास्तीत जास्त लोकांना बहुतांशी ज्ञान आणि सुविधांचा वापर करणे शक्य झाले आहे. त्यामुळे जगाचे मैदान कोण्या एका बाजूला झुकलेले न राहता आता  समतोल झाले आहे. म्हणजेच सर्वांना समान संधी उपलब्ध आहेत.

पुस्तकाची सुरुवात फ्रीडमन यांच्या भारत भेटीने होते. बंगळूर मधील इंफोसीस च्या कार्यालात नंदन निलेकणी यांच्याशी गप्पा मारताना त्यांच्या लक्षात येते कि मागील १५ वर्षात विविध कारणांमुळे जगातील प्रत्येक कोपऱ्या पर्यंत जागतिकीकरणा ची लहर पोहोचली आहे. लेखक  म्हणतो,कि त्याच्या बालपणी त्याचे पालक त्याला म्हणायचे- Thomas, finish your dinner. people in India and China are striving. आज तो आपल्या मुलींना म्हणतोय- Girls, finish your homework. people in India and China are starving for your job.

बहुतांशी माहिती तंत्रज्ञानाचा विस्फोट, तसेच बर्लिन ची भिंत पडणे यासारख्या जागतिक महत्त्वाच्या घटना यांचा संदर्भ घेऊन लेखक जगाला एका पातळीवर आणणारे १० घटक सांगतो. याबरोबरच, हे घटक एकत्र येण्याचे  ३ टप्पेही  लेखक विस्तृत पणे मांडतो .

असेच एकदा खम्बाती देशांमधील युद्धाची मीमांसा करताना जेव्हा लेखक लिहिण्यासाठी LAPTOP उघडतो  तेव्हा त्याचे लक्ष्य त्यावरील Dell च्या logo कडे जाते. कुतूहलाने तो तेथे संपर्क करून त्त्यांच्या supply chain म्हणजेच व्यापारातील साखळी बद्दल माहिती मिळवतो. त्याच्या असे लक्षात येते की या एका LAPTOP चे भाग चीन, तैवान, मलेशिया, सिंगापूर अशा आशियातील विविध देशांतून  येतात आणि मग एकत्र  जोडले जातात . आणि महत्त्वाचे  म्हणजे  या देशामध्ये अनेक मतभेद असून सुद्धा ते एक मेकांबरोबर सलोख्याने राहत आहेत. मग याचे कारण काय? तर जेव्हा दोन देश एका जागतिक व्यापारी साखळीचे भाग असतात, तेव्हा त्यांच्यासाठी युद्धाची किमत ही कितीतरी पटीने अधिक असते .  हेच भारत आणि पाकिस्तान तसेच  चीन आणि कोरिया  यांनाही लागू पदते. पण इराक आणि इराण, अफगाणिस्तान, सायरिया यांना लागू पडत नहि. तेव्हा जागतिकीकरण हे एका अर्थाने शांततेसाठी पूरक आहे असे लेखकाचे म्हणणे आहे. या उदाहरणावरूनच जागतिक सलोख्यासाठी तो व्यापाराच्या जागतिकी करणाची conflict prevention theory मांडतो .

जागतिकीकरणाचे वारे एखाद्या छोट्याश्या गावात सुध्दा  कसे पोहोचू शकतात हे सांगताना तो आंध्र प्रदेश  मधील कुपम या छोट्याश्या गावाचे उदाहरण देतो. HP या जग विख्यात camera/ computers/ printers तयार करणाऱ्या कंपनीने या खेड्यातील लोकांना आपलि गावासाठी स्वप्ने  विचारली आणि ती एका चित्रकाराद्वारा   कागदावर उतरवून एका भिंतीवर लावली .   यात गाव कार्यांना चांगले रस्ते   इथपासून विमानतळ या सुविधा  गावात येण्या बद्द्ल आशा होति. यात एक गोष्ट त्यांना   प्रामुख्याने दिसली ती म्हणजे तेथे कोणतेही छायाचित्र काढण्याचे ठिकाण नव्हते. त्यासाठी  १० किलोमीटर दूर अशा ठिकाणी जावे  लागत असे. तेव्हा  कंपनीने तेथील   महिला बचत गटाला एक कॅमेरा   घेऊन दिला . गावात लोक ओळखपत्र व इतर अनेक कार्यक्रमांसाठी या सुविधेचा वापर करू लगले. कंपनीला यातील थोडा नफा देण्याचे मान्य केले गेले. असे चालू  असतांना ३ महिन्या नंतर  कंपनीने त्या गटाला आपले साहित्य  परत मगितले. आश्चर्य चकित महिलानी  याला नकार दिला . कंपनीने स्पष्ट केले कि ती कोणती समाजसेवी   संस्था नाही,. तेव्हा त्या गटाने  भाडे देऊन तो कॅमेरा  व प्रिंटर ठेवण्याचे मान्य केले. यातून त्या गावल सुविधा मिळाली, महिलांना रोजगार मिळाला आणि कंपनीला हि कोणता तोटा नाही झल.   सामाजीक उद्योजकतेचे एक उदाहरण म्हणून लेखक हे तेथे मांडतो .

याबरोबरच लेखकाने मांडलेल्या अनेक संकल्पना मनात घर करून बसतात. एके ठिकाणी लेखक Michael hammer याचे वाक्य लिहितो-  One thing tells me a company is in trouble- when they tell me how good they were in past. It is also true with countries.

जेव्हा एखादी संस्था आपल्या भूतकालाबद्दल खूप काही चांगले सांगत असते ,तेव्हा समजावे कि त्यांचा अंत जवळ आला आहे. हे राष्ट्रांबद्दल सुद्धा तेवढेच खरे आहे. यावर उपाय म्हणून लेखक म्हणतो कि our dreams should outgrow our memories. आपली  स्वप्ने हि आपल्या आठवणी पेक्षा जास्त मोठी असावित . हीच गोष्ट पुढे नेताना लेखक David Rothkopf याचे एक वाक्य सांगतो-

The hallmark of a truly successful organization is the willingness to abandon what made it successful and start afresh.

एखादी संस्था  यशस्वी असण्याची कसोटी म्हणजे  जेव्हा ती त्या सर्व गोष्टींना पूर्णविराम द्यायला तयार असेल ज्यामुळे ती पूर्वी यशस्वी झाली होति.

जगाकडे पाहण्याचा एक नवा दृष्टीकोन (किंवा 'नवा चष्मा') देणारे हे पुस्तक नक्की वाचण्या सारखे आहे .

A Monday

                 It is very difficult for a person who is so fond of going office every day without fail, to stay at home on a day which is neither weekend nor a holiday and when he’s not feeling ill either. The world looks so calm and serene to him that he can’t believe how much he missed the life while he was busy all the day in his office..

                 It was a Monday. The previous day, though for the entire world, was not a holiday for Rattan. As the vacations for Diwali got over, he was back to the work, but only for two days, after which he fell sick. Coming home in the middle of his work on Sunday, he took a good rest and finally recovered. The Monday morning was difficult for him as he woke up late and had not decided whether to go office. Being absent without any reason was going to be disastrous for him, as he barely knew what to do for the whole day except his routine office work. It was 9’o clock already and there were little chances of reaching on time now. The years of work and hardship had given him a lot of leave balance and he had not used it much. Though, he was at home for Diwali, a vacation of 3 days was barely sufficient for him. So he decided to stay back and explore his own vicinity where he was staying for past five years.

                 Rattan was used to the office breakfast which had limited choices. Today, he decided to make something on his own. He tried to recollect any recipe that he might know. The list was small, so he browsed through it in his mind. Working as a computer engineer had made him expert in quick mental calculations. It took no time for him to realize that he can’t really make anything worth eating for breakfast. So he just opened his bag and started searching for something to eat. Accidently he found a packet of homemade ‘sevaiya’ that his mom had given him a few days ago when he was home for Diwali. Something rolled in his mind and he decided to prepare kheer for breakfast.

                  He ran towards the nearest dairy but unfortunately it was closed. He decided to try searching in the village that was behind his building. Rattan jumped over the compound wall and entered the tiny village which was somehow stuck in the buildings of this rising city. A man was sitting there with his buffalo. Next to him was a kettle full of milk. Rattan’s eyes shined with a glow. He asked the milkman to fetch him as much milk as it was needed to make kheer. The milkman dipped his bowl into the kettle and took out a liter of milk. Surprisingly, Rattan had not brought anything with him to carry the milk. So he brought the entire kettle from the milkman, paying the price for the kettle too!

                  When Rattan returned home after this adventure, it was well past 11’o clock. The breakfast time was long gone but he still decided to try his recipe. He put some ghee in a vessel, turned the stove on and threw a handful of sevaiya in it. Since the quantity of it was not too much, he emptied the whole packet in it. Then he poured as much milk as possible in the vessel. He didn't forget to add sugar and all the dry-fruits which were not taken out of fridge for several weeks. He started mixing it all with a smile on his face.

                   Jawed woke up and came out hearing the unfamiliar voice of Rattan singing a song.

“What’s up bro!”

“Hey bro, good morning!”

“Good morning ‘eh.. what you doing?”

“Nothing .. just making some breakfast”

“Wow.. looks like we’ve got a chef at home”

“Haha.. yeah”

“Hey wait shouldn’t you be at work by this time?”

“Nope. It’s a week off”

“It was yesterday, man… it’s Monday now!”

“Yeah.. still, it’s a day off”

                  Rattan finished making the kheer and started pouring it all in a big bowl. Jawed was going to insert his finger in the bowl to be the first one to taste it.

“Stop. What you doing?”

“Tasting it..”

“No. not here”

“Then where?”

“You know what I saw today morning….”

                   Both of them came out with the big bowl of kheer in their hand. They started walking towards the village behind their colony. It was Jawed’s first time there and Rattan was guiding him into the tiny streets of it. This morning, when Rattan was out to seek milk in his vicinity, he had seen a world which was so close to him, yet so far from him. There were children roaming around there, with a piece of biscuit in their hand which was a gift for them from some stranger. There were no clothes on them but still the broken toy in their hand was the dearest possession they were holding. On the day of Diwali, they must have looked at the children in the tall buildings of the vicinity enjoying with the crackers full of colors and amazing sounds. But here, their day might have gone without a meal. Rattan saw all this with his eyes and was shocked to see that a world outside his office was indeed in existence. This world, in fact held more challenges than his office!

                    Today, he had decided to make kheer, not only for him, but also for all those tiny angels of his locality who might have missed the fun on this Diwali. He, with Jawed reached the village where the kids were playing. As all of them smelled the aroma of something beautiful in the hands of their dada, whom they had met a few hours ago, they came running towards him. Jawed gave them all spoons but didn't forget to keep one for him. Everyone enjoyed the experimental recipe of Rattan. The children were feeding him sitting on his lap. It was a wonderful afternoon indeed!

                     After returning home with the empty bowl, Rattan smiled and promised himself to do this often. Jawed too was happy as never before. A week-day at home was well worth it! 

"Trusting like a child"

When I was an innocent child

I used to cry & shout like a dog gone wild.

That’s when things started going against my will

I needed someone who would understand how I feel.

The quest for a helping hand begun then

I cried in front of all men & women;

They laughed at me thinking I would soon be fine

But never listened to me or feelings of mine

I didn't need sympathy or support

For that, I was not weak

I was man enough when listened to

But when ignored by all, I would be a freak

I may not be strong enough, not as you

Try being ‘me’ sometime, walk in my shoe

I will bother you not, nor will ask for anything

Let’s talk for a while, then dance & sing

One day then, my friend appeared from nowhere

His name now forgotten though, ‘coz I didn’t seem to care

I grumbled under my breath in  my uneasiness

‘Tell me’ he asked ‘what’s bothering you these days?’

Now I was stupefied when he asked me to speak out

I collected my thoughts, ready to spout 

With the words from heart, all the worries came out

Slowly, then I felt lighter, and did not have to shout

I was happy to have  someone listening to me

For all the peace I needed, this was indeed the key

All the pain in your heart will seem so mild

When you try opening up your heart to someone and start trusting like a child!

= = =

Often the bridge between despair and hope is 

an open, honest conversation

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