A thought provoking question

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I have become rather fond of a class called strategic management, quite uncharacteristic of me. Impressed and inspired by the professor, the discussions and my brilliant classmates, I spent the last four sundays, trying hard to stick to the deadlines and at the same time, submit good assignments. One has to, when the professor is capable of remembering what exactly you wrote and pointing out discrepancies in the next class. A discussion based approach is followed and as more than half the enrolled students dropped out, five each after every assignment is announced, everyone in the small bunch of the students does their own share of ACP (Arbitrary Class Participation), including me.

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In the last class, we watched a video on Enron and its downfall and were discussing the case and ethics in business in general. It very naturally flowed towards the assumptions of a 'self interest maximizing, rational, economic man' and the way theories based on this assumption influence organizations. At this point, a Mexican in the class made an observation, "In the East, especially in India, where most of the people follow a religion called Hinduism (he looked at me for assurance that the name is right), due to the influence of this philopshy, the country is against capitalism and people are not after money." The professor turned to me then , "So Sudheera, what do you think of it? Does the high economic growth have any implications? Lets hear your comments on your homeland."

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Economic growth and cultural implications -hmm - I told the class about how the previous generations were satisfied with a steady income and a reasonably a good life and how our generation is highly ambitious, is more competitive and agressive, that things are surely changing and then switched to my usual rhetoric about how free weekends are a luxury for us. Here, Susanna (exchange student to IIFT in 2004) tried her best to assist me in describing the horrors of life at IIFT. We made it sound gruesome I guess, because half the class were gasping aloud; the professor was upset and ended up saying its all traumatic.

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The episode ends here but it triggered off a bee hive of thoughts. Who are this race called Indians? How exactly did the philosphy affect our being? Is it working in contrast to the economic growth? Are things really changing fast or is it the usual, normal change that occurs with the passage of time? Are many of these assumptions about Hinduism true? At least being after the money part, no. My words mocked at me when I once said Indians don't like to flaunt wealth. Just remember the last wedding that you attended.

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On reflection, although we are not a spiritual race as we are portrayed to be, we aren't too materialistic either. The population and economic growth meant more competition and longer working hours, compensated with increasing real wages and high spending power. The pie has increased and so has the clamour to grab a share of the pie. But we are certainly not 'Americanized' - family ties (read nuclear) are emerging stronger as the times get tougher; more people are concerned about purpose in life. I think we do not have a hedonistic approach to life - yes, some of us still feel guilty of splurging. Globalization and economic growth did have an impact on our way of life, but they did not change us completely. More often than not, we live in dichotomy.

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While this means we are torn about the choices we make, it also means that there are cultural traits that remained unchanged. Probably it is all about being a flexible and dynamic culture, shedding some aspects, retaining some and assimilating others. The recursive and discursive theories are simultaneously at work in India. We survived many transformations, let alone changes, all the while retaining that distinctive character. A high economic growth for a few years would be just another one of those. A glitch or at most a trend in a cycle that goes on - Afterall, 4000 years is not a short time.