Short Shorts

A crafty man

A man saw sweet yellow mangoes hanging from the branches of a tree in an orchard. He was sorely tempted to get them. He thought to climb the tree, so he looked around and called out the shepherds who were grazing their sheep around there. The shepherds gathered on hearing him. “It seems you haven’t eaten anything for a long time, so you must be feeling hungry,” the man said to the shepherds. “Look, if you all help me climb the tree, I’ll pluck those mangoes and throw them down for you to eat.” The shepherds lifted him up so that he could reach for a branch. Anyway, when he succeeded climbing the tree, he started eating the fruit and putting some into his bag. “O you, what’re you doing?” shouted the shepherds. “Throw down a few mangoes for us too.” “Friends, after tasting the mangoes, I have found that they are all sour and so not worth eating,” the man on the tree replied. “But you know, the leaves taste so sweet.” And with that he chucked a bunch of leaves with a few unripe mangoes on the ground. In the meantime, the man on the tree was too loaded with fruit to remain steady on the branch. Eventually, he lost balance and screamed, “Shepherds, dear my shepherds, help me – I’m falling down!” Brothers, would you like to Help Gandhi’s once again?  

  

A Drunk

It was quarter to eleven at a dark night. The bust stopped and a man followed by a boy of eight got in. He sat on a vacant seat anyhow and with that every passenger in the bus turned uneasy with a vile smell that filled the air. The man was so drunk that he was unable to hold himself for long. Suddenly he lost control and was about to fall down. The young boy came forward and helped him lean his head against the seat. “Hey you! Where’ll you go?” asked the conductor. “Ja...rrr...tha Mafi” came the unclear reply. Anyway, the conductor got which was his stop. “Give me thirty two rupees for the ticket,” the conductor said. “Do... ave.. the pe...nalty?” the man stammered and with that he reached into his pocket and brought out a cigarette packet. “Here you are,” he added, trying to hand the packet to the conductor. It annoyed the conductor who soon asked the driver to stop the bus. It was a dark and secluded area where the bus stopped.
Four Brothers

A woman had four sons. They loved each other and were very obedient to their mother. They were happy even though they did not have enough to live on. They worked together on the farm and ate what their mother cooked for them. Slowly they began to improve on their physical strength and financial position. But a few of their neighbours could not bear to see the old women living happily with her promising sons. One day they invited the eldest of the bothers to a party and pretended that they loved him too much and were his well wishers. The innocent boy believed them and got into the habit of calling on them every evening. One day one of the neighbours asked him how many loaves her mother backed for dinner. He innocently replied that she backed four or five of them as the day’s earning could afford. “How many of them does your mother give you to eat?” asked the other. “We share them between us without thinking how much one gets,” was his simple reply. Whereupon the third one said, “I’ve seen you working harder than your brothers, so your mother should give you the greater part.” These words of the neighbours made a strong impression on him and when he sat to eat his dinner with his brothers, he claimed two loaves, saying that he earned more so he would eat more. This caused a bitter conflict between the brothers. The mother was shocked to see all that and one day she fell ill. 

Sailing against the Wind

There lived a couple who always bickered with each other because the wife did the opposite of what her husband asked her to. One day an idea came to the husband that he would ask his wife to do the opposite of what he actually wanted. “Madam, I’ve decided not to go to any pilgrimage this summer,” said the husband to his wife. “No, no, we’ll certainly go to Haridwar,” responded his wife. They set off for the Holy Place. On reaching there, the husband told his wife that he would by no means bathe in the Ganga, whereupon his wife became adamant about taking a bath in the river. They walked down the stairs into the water. When the enthusiastic women walked ahead of her husband, he shouted, “Paro, paro! Stop, stop!” The headstrong women continued heading for deeper water and finally bubbles rose on the surface.   

The Stranger
I was sitting on a park bench – quite alone, deep in thought. A little while later a stranger came to sit next to me. We looked at each other but showed no interest in getting introduced. When I glanced at my watch, I found I had spent about four hours thus sitting on that bench. I was late already, so I got up and hastened over to the parking but before that, I could not help giving a final look into the eyes of my mute friend. The next day I sat yearning for those great moments.


The Boy and the Girl

A girl was walking along the road. All of a sudden, a boy came running to her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her with a jerk and consequently the girl fell down in the dust alongside the road. She got up quickly and slapped the boy hard on the cheek, but soon she heard a loud bang and saw a car that went past them crashing into a boundary wall ahead. She turned to look at the boy again and asked what his name was. The boy was dumb and deaf so he could not reply. He stood putting his hand on his cheek, with his eyes brimmed with tears. The girl eventually could not help stroking his head.

A Lovely Puppy

I was coming home for lunch one day. A pup of 20 days that lived in the lane to my house came running to me and stood right before my bike. I braked to a halt and started to look at it. A little while later, it crept over to my leg and began to climb on it. A surge of affection ran across me. I picked it up and sat it on the seat. It did not resist, nor did it try to climb down; instead it kept sitting - almost stuck to the seat. I could not help bringing it in. When it did not eat anything with me, I chose to give it a cup of milk which it drank with relish. It played and jumped in the lobby, on the brandah, in the courtyard and almost everywhere in the house. Finally, I left it in the street and went back to the office. The evening was very cold. By chance at about 8 p.m. it occurred to me to go out for a walk, so I opened the gate and went out. When I came back after an hour I found that Pillu was sitting near the fire. My children gave it another cup of milk and after that they prepared its bed. It went to its bed by itself - without being guided -and soon fell into a deep sleep.

A rabbit

A rabbit had a safe abode in a meadow surrounded by green fields and sloping hills. One day a trapper passed though it while going to his village. He was carrying an old obsolete net, which he chucked away. It accidentally fell onto the hedge in which the rabbit was sitting. When the little creature hopped to come out of it, he got tangled in the net. He chose nothing but jumped up and down, each time leaving less space between him and the wreathing net. At last, he knotted himself so badly that he was unable to open even his mouth. He could have carefully crawled out, or else crunched the strings. The poor creature lay groaning with pain caused by the loss of his freedom. Friends, in such a one, one should try one’s wisdom, not mechanical efforts.

Nature Looks After

On a morning walk I caught sight of something lying in the dust on the road slope. My curiosity led me closer to it. It was a chilly and misty morning and what I saw was a torn blanket wrapped around a thing physically similar to a man. All of a sudden it stirred and a woman of about fifty got up from her bed of nature. I wondered why her blood did not freeze that night and why rich woman fall ill if they happen to get a touch of open air. Perhaps both these women receive equal pain from nature. The only difference is that we sympathize with the former and scorn the latter, the wife of a white robber. 

A Sensible Servant 

One day a donkey went to a horse and said, ‘Brother, your master treats you with respect and kindness, whereas my master insults me and also treats me with contempt – I wonder why?’

The horse smiled. ‘You carry out the instructions of your master right as you have been given,’ replied he, ‘but as for me, I sometimes disobey him, particularly, when I see a ditch or some danger ahead of which he’s then unknown.’ The donkey turned round and went back, with his head bent down.

The Future of India

“One evening, I decided that I would not go to bed until my day’s work was finished, and with that I opened the windows, sat at the desk, determined, and got on with my books and notebooks. Just then a sweet wind from yon hills rolled forward, carrying the fragrance of wild flowers, and passed dancing through the room. My eyelids lowered, so I forced open them and gave my head a shake but everything seemed blurred. A little while later, a gentle hand slowly placed my forehead on the book. Anyway, the future of India slept for one more night.”

The Young Monkey

Once the animals of the forest believed that someone young would give them good governance so they elected a young lively monkey as their king. But what came out later was just the reverse of what they had expected from him, as the newly elected king was a gourmand and loved to have enjoyable time with his ministers and bureaucrats. Not long after he sat on the royal throne, anarchy spread across the jungle. Lions, tigers, wolves - all started to do what they chose. After having received a lot of complaints from the animals, the king grew furious and ordered the heads to control the situation, but they did not listen to him because they thought that the king would forget everything in the evening. One day a delegation of goats arrived for talks with the king. But the king climbed up a tree before they said anything to him and started jumping from this branch to that. The goats looked up and cried about the insecurity that they were facing in the forest. At this the king roared from above, “Don’t you see I’m making all possible efforts and all for you people!   

 The Naughty Boy

Hello, hello!”

“Hullo, dad...”

“Raju, you’re out for so long. Where are you? We’re worried about you, my son.”

“I’m riding on my bike. Daddy, please, you know, I’m afraid I can’t talk to you much at the moment.”

Putting his mobile phone into his pocket, the boy turned to his friends sitting around a table in a hotel and continued chatting to them.

Weakness is Strength

Sometimes one’s weakness is one’s strength. There was a blacksmith in a village. He was very lean and thin but equally very peevish. Not a day ever went by but he had a bitter quarrel with one of his customers or with a neighbour. The strange thing was that nobody dared to beat him because they were afraid that he might die if they beat him brutally and consequently they would have to go to jail. Whenever the money he earned exceeded his expenses, he would become more quarrelsome and would go the police station to lodge an FIR against the person he bickered. All of his neighbours had become worn out of his behaviour but they were helpless.                  

Thug
A pundit ji was going back home with a heifer that he had got from one of his yajmans. On the way, he met up with a thug who stopped him and asked where he got that donkey from.

“Do you call it a donkey?” pundit ji retorted angrily. “You fool, don’t you see it is a heifer?”

Pundit ji walked on. After half a mile, another thug emerged and asked the same question. “Where did you get this donkey from, Pundit ji?” Then he added, “You’re a Brahmin and I wonder you are taking this ugly animal!

This time pundit ji rubbed his eyes, but he was still sure that he was taking a heifer and not a donkey. He rebuked the thug and went on.

Before he completed another mile, he came across a third thug who asked the same question, too. “Where did you get this donkey from, Pundit ji?”

This time pundit ji lost his confidence and accepted that the heifer was a donkey and handed it to the thug.

Dispute between Family Members

Two brothers quarrelled over a piece of paternal land, though the elder had already given the full share to his brother. The younger one was a bit untruthful and as stubborn as a mule, but not as strong as his elder brother. When he was beaten up by his elder brother, he went to a bullyboy and paid him to hurt and threaten his elder brother. The goon did what he was paid for but in addition he slowly took over all the property of the younger brother.

By Ramesh Chandra Tiwari

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Appeasement and Politics

Alms and charity are meant for beggars, handicapped and helpless old people. It is shameful the way our people succumb to the temptation of meagre cash handouts, freebies, debt relief, humanitarian aid, relaxation in the law etc and make the government. Do these things ever stamp unemployment out, or be their regular means of livelihood? This money could be better used to increase investment in infrastructure and power generation, which play a vital role in development of Industries, and to expand market, which ultimately creates activities and employment. Moreover, the party that lures people with such deceitful welfare schemes constitute a breach of the law of election more seriously than those who bribe voters, for the latter ones at least spend their own money.

In fact, those who cry ‘the poor, the poor...’ and thus project themselves as the saviours of them do nothing for the poor; instead, they make the mess of the national economy in its name and assuage their own hunger. Who do they think they are misusing public money this way? Who do they think they are thus causing a rise in inflation, low growth, slow down etc? The irony is that the lower classes, the so-called kingmakers, are blind to the love game that the politicians start playing with the family business soon after they enter the offices, and to their policies that work like the baited hook; the irony is that the cheats who tempt people with a ten rupee aid and help themselves to the remaining ninety are adored; and yet again it is an irony that the working-classes, who are thus led astray, never go hand in hand with their astute middle-class brothers, and finally let a few foxes of the oligarchy succeed in making use of both the groups.

Caste and religion have been the major factors in politics of India despite the fact that discrimination on the grounds of caste, gender and religion is harmful to a healthy democracy. The long practice of this sort of politics has now divided people in as many groups as there are political parties, which, for the most part, arouse simple caste related sentiments in their band of supporters and seldom benefit them, but on certain occasions, when they have something to offer people, they choose to show favouritism to them, depriving all other groups of their shares of public property, which, unlike the distribution of electricity biased towards the constituencies of ministers, or unlike the provision of budgets for states biased against one ruled by some other party, is meant to be distributed equally among all.  

Our statesmen have little to do with the country – for if they had least love for it, they would prefer positive discrimination policies, which are welcoming on condition that they be in favour of the people from poor backgrounds and disadvantaged families from all communities and social classes, to the distribution of national resources on the basis of caste and religion and to hate campaigns (their tools of politics).

The multi-party democracy may be good but it does not suit to the country like India where the population comprises a diversity of religious, racial and ethnic groups and where it has been learnt that this sort of system has often led to poor governance, corruption and a free-for-all among the countrymen. Here it is as well to bear in mind that it was in this political climate that India was invaded, and therefore the sectarian politics (the outcome of the multi-party system) should be regarded as treachery and be banned.

The democracy in which we live works like an autocracy because the various parties seem to confront like sworn enemies, but when it comes to take action against a corrupt politician, they amalgamate into one.  All that they swear and shout and denounce the policies of their rivals is a mere drama meant to divide people and not to prevent each other from sucking the nation dry. Furthermore, the laws that affect the freedom of the common people change but the laws that restrict the rights and liberties of legislators are not touched, whereas the latter are required to be bound by stricter rules because the politics, if misused, stands for a trick – as the politicians themselves, while warning one of not playing it with certain sensitive issues, accept the fact that it is too deceitful a thing to be used against brothers – because they are likely to manipulate the system for their own ends and because the  top level corruption causes the leakage of fund from the system, which like a punctured tyre ultimately stops the country from making further progress.

It is unfortunate that our representatives as well as bureaucrats evolve a new trick to embezzle public money instead of evolving methods for a leak-proof system. The repeated slowdowns in economic growth have mainly been the result of the heavy withdrawals from the market, which either capitalists make or politicians make. They do it so secretly that the people assume the falling growth rate to be an accident in the journey of the economy and accept price rises, taxation, levy, quota etc without much protest. In fact, those who so betray public confidence do not have the right even to hold citizenship because citizens are the owners of the nation, and an owner never damage his property, nor does he bear to see others damaging it. It is amazing why they are so careless about the national interests when no amount of money can buy them a life of self-respect and save them from being discriminated against if they happen to lose the sovereignty of the Republic.

Some of us hold that the government is corrupt because the people are corrupt. To some extent, it may be true. But if it were so, there would be no need of any government, court of law and other machinery for maintaining law. People from every part of the world are comprised of both honest and dishonest persons. Time can neither exterminate criminals, thieves, cheats, hooligans, terrorists, fraudulent and so, nor are scruples, faith and values going to be scrubbed off. It is nature. No country can combat crime by waiting for the criminals to transform themselves into gentlemen; nor can any country check fraud without sending the culprits to jail. Therefore it is not justifiable to point the finger at our people on the grounds of their conduct. Instead, we can blame them for their illiteracy which makes them different from the people of developed countries and does not let them see whether their representatives talk the talk or walk the walk. In short, democracy works where the system has firm control over people; and the people, over the system makers.

It is a sad truth that we are a group of many different communities – each at enmity with the other and each too self-centred to care about national interests – rather than a wholesome team of brothers, that we have forgotten all human ethics, that we ignore the livelihood of brothers in our efforts to live more and more luxuriously, that we are not satisfied to live off the milk of the Motherland but off her flesh to be precise, that termites of cunningness, corruption, casteism and treachery are destroying our roots, that the law makers are all disloyal and the people have become blind owing to the divide and that ours is an autocracy cloaked in democracy, which evolves system-proof corruption as against corruption-proof system. In such a one how can we hope even for a miracle? Good brothers, just think of the consequence; just think what had happened to you and what may probably happen to you again! If you so keep eating the whole tree instead of eating its fruit, how can one expect you to plant one?

- Ramesh Tiwari

वह शक्ति हमें दो दयानिधे,

It should be made compulsory for the legislators to recite this prayer before starting their session:

सभी सांसदों/विधायकों के लिये यह आवश्यक कर देना चाहिये कि संसद/विधानसभा की बैठक प्रारंभ करने से पूर्ब एक प्रार्थना सभा में निम्न प्रार्थना को करें :

वह शक्ति हमें दो दयानिधे,

           कर्तव्य मार्ग पर डट जावें |
पर सेवा पर उपकार में हम,
                            निज जीवन सफल बना जावें ||
हम दीन दुखी निबलों विकलों
                            के सेवक बन सन्ताप हरें |
जो हों भूले भटके बिछुड़े
                            उनको तारें ख़ुद तर जावें ||
छल-द्वेष-दम्भ-पाखण्ड- झूठ,
                            अन्याय से निशदिन दूर रहें |
जीवन हो शुद्ध सरल अपना
                            शुचि प्रेम सुधारस बरसावें ||
निज आन मान मर्यादा का
                            प्रभु ध्यान रहे अभिमान रहे |
जिस देश जाति में जन्म लिया
                            बलिदान उसी पर हो जावें ||

A Handful of my Ideas

Sometimes our ego provokes us doing something dangerous and we decide to destroy someone who we might hate. In such a situation when we go to make that happen, we often fail. On contrary to it when we leave that for God to decide, we succeed in taking the revenge. Aggression often hides consequences, which may sometimes pop up in a dangerous way; greed blinds almost every sense of relationship; on the contrary, passion prompts to sacrifice anything; a stern prejudice floats on the surface of a deep ignorance. A prudent mind stands on the better side because it organizes its strength instead. Revengeful persons therefore dig a ditch for their foes and for themselves.

A person, having arguments with their spouse, thinks that no one else ever has such beastly things, whereas the truth is different. In fact, those spouses who never argue with each other do not have the purity of their relationship. They are quite too formal. In an informal relation there is all that Nature provides, like: resentment, annoyance, affection, complaint and so. A timely quarrel works like a filter. Ah, it makes the heart soon after cool, calm and clean! When heart overflows with saddest feelings, there rise the sweetest feelings.

Hope is the colour of life; and an effort, the act of colouring life in. When we try to make impossible possible, each bit of result (maybe it is fake) gives the taste of the wholesome success. Anyway, it inspires us to carry on our efforts. Every sun set publishes the results of our performance. Passed, we enjoy evenings and a good sleep; failed, we get agitated. Expectations often result in disappointment. A self-reliant can enjoy both his own and his friend’s company. A man of knowledge, power or of talent is esteemed though he never shows what he is.  Those hours which we anticipate to be tough often turn into a few more of our sweet dreams.

-         Ramesh Tiwari

A Drink of Life

While I sat picturing a piece of the sweet past –
Afraid I was lest something should my dreams wash –
The eyes creaked and the present barged in on my fancy and me.
Now I am what nobody would like to be.

I don’t see what the fuss is about – why!

Nothing has no love, and so have I

Your love, when away,

Sends you, too, far away –

For you are then alone

Without the company of your own.

Hate me as much as you can

But I don’t know how to forget you.

Do not come quite too close

The magnet is terribly strong.

The weather this winter was brutal –

Snows, heavy hail and the frozen sky –

If not for the warmth of your love,

I wouldn’t have survived.

The world will greet you with a smile

If on your lips you yourself have a smile.

A crying baby seldom anyone bears;

There’s no room in the eyes for tears,

Just sit down before me

And let me look into you

As for the talks,

Later to myself I will do.

Each smile you give adds a new moment to my life

Your callous indifference, meanwhile, takes away a day.

If you really love me, let me see you smiling.

I am busy loving

They peer at me

As though I am doing nothing.

Deep is the sense of silence.

If only you could descend.

If there would be no charm

Of returning home in the evening,

Nor would the flowers of my garden form

A smile for me in the morning –

My world would then be the world of a man

Who holds it in contempt.

Lend me a smile, I’d just as soon.

I want to buy myself the moon.

Yonder looks a lake of sweet water.

Its waves leap like a heart stimulated by a deep love.

I looked and lo! They sing a note of forbidden friendship.

Ah, my throat is scorching; my mouth dry;

My steps are effortful to run like; in a dreadful dream,

The dreamer try to escape from the approaching death.

Perhaps I am chasing a mirage.

May be, I am.

It is still something of divine.

I am in wait but I clearly do not know what for.

My cell phone rings and soon dies,

Leaving a number on the screen.

Every particle of my body gets shaken

As I see a face even in that number.

May I call back?

No, no, I have no word to say,

Though there are heaps and heaps of things to impart with,

Besides I fear doing so.

Then the same waiting process begins again

And keeps moving on minute by minute.  

-          Ramesh Tiwari

The Supermen

‘The Supermen’ was composed by me on the eve of the 66^th Republic Day when the president was to be the Chief Guest at the Parade.

“I’m right because I’m right,” says man

And like an adolescent listens to no reason.

To look the earth turning red

And to hear the sky crying

Are his favourite pastimes.

The world is a stage – to sadomasochism,

He is rehearsing his hymn.

Babies are balloons; women cushions;

He loves to reap the fields planted with humans.

The dead spread deaths;

The civilization its leaves sheds

Perhaps to make new shoots.

The autumn, it looks, is at the door.

No walls, no door, no roof –

The living one lives in the house life-proof.

Nobody knows the cause of strife,

Not even who is dead and who is alive.

God kills and God is being killed;

On the hills of hypocrisies holy faiths have settled.

Whether Nonsense kills Sense or Sense Nonsense

But it is clear what will remain is innocence.

A lot many are ignorant of all that lies ahead,

Heading happily for the mouth of moments dreaded.

O the Supermen! On whom Heaven has conferred

The power that can calm down the earth and sky,

Of you the world has expectations high

And the innocents are ignorant

Because on you they depend. 

By Ramesh Tiwari

जागो भारत वालों !

बर्तमान सरकार के पूर्ब देश में कानून व्यवस्था समाप्त हो चुकी थी, भ्रष्टाचार अपनी पराकाष्ठा पर था और सरकार के काम-काज में मजबूरन मानिय सुप्रीम कोर्ट को हस्तक्षेप करना पड रहा था | इससे उद्दवेलित होकर मैने इन पंक्तियों की रचना मार्च 2014 मे की थी | इसके माध्यम से मैने देशवासियों से गुजारिश की थी कि वे श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी पर भरोसा करें |

                                  

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों !

जागो भारत वालों, 

प्रजातंत्र में धुवां भर रहा, फटतीं देखो घर की भीतें

संभल सको तो अभी समय है, पहिंचानो पौराणिक रीतें

सधते मुहँ, भयभीत निगाहें, गुप्त हवाओं का रुख जानो

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों,

जागो भारत वालों !

भेंड़ बाड़ के दरवाजे पर भक्त भेंड़िय भेंड़खाल में

सुखी घास का खारा लादे, खा लो, सब बंट रहा मुफ्त में !

जनता को ठगने को आतुर मधुर बचन में विष को भांपो

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों,

जागो भारत वालों !

भ्रष्टाचार रंग में डूबी, खून, घृणा, हिंसा की होली

हुडदंगी उत्सव को देखो, देखो देश द्रोह से सजती डोली

खून खून से फटते रिस्ते जाति धर्म् से जुड़ते हैं, अन्जानों

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों,

जागो भारत वालों !

लेने वाला बातें करता देने की, देने वाला बातें करता लेने की

विद्या, देकरके ही लेना सीखो, सीखो स्वाभिमान से जीने की

कौन तुम्हारा हितकारी है, देश बचाना कौन चाहता जानो

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों,

जागो भारत वालों !

नयी चेतना नवनिर्माण नित प्रति बढे ज्ञान विज्ञान

किसको चिंता इन सबकी है, कहाँ हमारा है सम्मान

राष्ट्र प्रेम की ज्वाला किसमें, उस आतुर मन को अब जानो |

कंस कौरवों की सेना पहिचानों,

जागो भारत वालों !

जागो भारत वालों !

-       रमेश तिवारी

Of Employer and Employee

By Ramesh Tiwari

The Creator will not like His creation to be inferior. If the persons of high intellect could only make the world beautiful, He would not bother to create mediocrities. Since most things in the world can be done well by ordinary people, the larger part of humanity consists of them. Now the question arises whether a system that opposes this law can yield satisfactory results. If not, the policies of recruitment in our country is in need of review as they provide that the minimum education qualification should correspond closely to the position i.e. lower qualification for lower post but they aim at the candidates that come from the pool of highest intellectual capability for every capacity, ignoring the bigger group of average students. An average student is not responsible for his being average but rather it is God who made him a boy of middling talent. Why should he then be discriminated against? He can make a very good clerk and feed data into a computer or do repeat nature of the work more diligently than a quick-witted clerk would do – for an employee of high intellectual ability often avoid laborious and monotonous jobs. However, sharp minds cannot be ignored absolutely. There are certain jobs like decision-making, formulating policies etc that need accomplished persons and to promote higher performance in studies, it is necessary to select candidates of higher merits for higher positions.

Now in addition to a candidate’s qualification, his general behaviour is equally an important point that a selection committee should take into account.  It is often observed that a few gnomes have pretty negative attitudes and whizz-kids are prone to corruption whereas most ordinary minds are scrupulous and faithful. A genius may be eccentric or have negative approach in everything; consequently, he, for all his intellect, is useless at a job. Our top skilled workers make two groups: one of them carries every job off and the other cops out smoothly. The latter group are the components wrongly fitted and so shifting them to their correct slot is preferable to forcing them to work. A bad farm worker may be the best waiter. Often slackers are very clever because they know how to skip responsibilities. And on the contrary, the responsible and sincere feel the urgency of work and the need that one may be in. The former is selfish, cunning and unkind, but often makes a good manager. The latter is generous, sympathetic and helping and makes only a good worker. The group of dullards comprise of meek persons and the brains, of emotionally distressed. Accordingly, they are likely to represent serious hazard of adverse selection to an employer.

Since a recruitment process is not perfect unless it targets a suitable candidate out of the whole crowd of job seekers or provides opportunities to the candidates of every mental level, we need to conduct a detailed study of which sort of person best fits a particular profession.  So to decide a perfect eligibility criterion, we should first create a big database of resumes of all the employees working in different offices across the country with their day-to-day output of work and the quality of their performance. This database could then be used in sorting out those officials that are burden on the offices and also the nature of the best ones at different professions.

With the nation’s poverty-stricken underclass struggling for social justice, we cannot absolutely ignore reservation policy. The disabled as compared to other sort of the people from deprived areas are more deplorable and therefore required to be provided with adequate number of jobs. But in implementing such welfare reform legislation, great care should be taken to insure that no ineligible person takes the advantage of it, nor does the same family have the repeated benefit and in no situation the percentage of reservation exceeds thirty percent of number of jobs available – for negligence in checking corrupt practices may cause the real needy to lose his chance and the high inflow of unproductive employees may give rise to factionalism, make different groups have a rather incestuous relationship and finally hamper offices to render smooth services to the people.

Thus we come to the conclusion that recruitment process involves continuous study of human mind but to recruit appropriate employees is not the ultimate solution to every problem that an employer may have.  A structure of pay scales also has a lot to do with the performance of employees. Where too high salaries breed luxury and then impertinence; too low, irresponsibility. Unnecessary high salaries may disturb the financial situation of the government or the employer and ultimately get in the way of further recruitments. Low salaries at the same time may create a problem of retention and unrest among workers. Salary is a livelihood to every employee but it is also a tool in the hands of an employer which he can use to stimulate interest among his employees. The job of determining pay scales is as complicated as to set rules for recruitment because it too requires a database of varying living standards, depending on different levels of income. 

A long term clerk is the worst officer and therefore there should be no provision for a clerk to be promoted to an officer. The clerical cadres should also be divided into different grades and ranks so that clerks may have opportunities for promotion within their own class.

To allow too many leaves and holidays is against the interest of the institution, organisation or the concerning office every way. It not only causes the loss of work but also diverts the attention of the workers away from their duties. Usually, they get involved in some of their own business and thus their office work becomes a thing of secondary importance. Take government teachers, for example. They have long summer vacations and many other holidays throughout the year but they never give the same results as private teachers do. Even five day week is the worst concept in India considering the poor work culture here. However, extremely long working hours and very few days off, too, have bad effects on the efficiency of workers. They start feeling gloomy and turn mechanical instead of taking interest in their work. Some of them fall into depression and some develop negative attitudes. So while determining number of leaves and working hours, employers should take the middle course.

The staff regulation should be worker friendly, but no worker or supervisor of any position should be allowed any relaxation of disciplinary measures. A careless control is a serious disease of a system and causes the organisation to diminish. 

A good training course pre-empts many problems, so there should be a system whereby all sorts of employees and administrative staff must undergo regular training. Generally, we never try to consider the large experience that our retired officials develop during their service period. We can make the best use of that by employing such senior people to train the new generation of staff at various training centres. In so doing, we can not only save them from old age frustration but also purchase value-added services with the money that we spend on pension.

17 June 2014