the sitting train

No one in office reads anything. It’s quite a sad state of affairs. I can’t even seem to find people who read enough fiction. I have been a non fiction reader. I have nothing against people who read fiction. I personally somehow find it a waste of time. When there are brilliant books that make for a lovely read and are non fiction, I haven’t had the desire or urge to read fiction. Though some of eth fiction that I have read I have quite enjoyed. The da Vinci code and the White Tiger spring to mind immediately. I have also made my thoughts very clear in the past on stuff like robin sharma. Those self help corn ball you are good at heart shit is something I cannot bear.
But then again – I really don’t have anything against people who read that as well. The problem is that people don’t read anything. I guess TV has ensured that you must be entertained sitting on your couch. You only breathe and keep awake. Awake not alert, simple open eyes will do the trick. The TV is loud enough visually and otherwise to keep you sufficiently titillated.
Reading is a great thing that is getting missed. When I see book stores I take heart that people seem to be finding / discovering their love for books. Especially the young ones. They seem to have a wide range of books at their disposal at they seem to be enjoying it quite a bit. When we were kids, I spent a part of my earlier childhood in Dubai. We were quite lucky to be there. At least in some supermarkets there would be a book section, mainly comics, where we would gather and lie down and start reading. These were supermarkets run by Malayali businessmen. They were not meant for a reading experience. So we would pick the comics from the shelves and sit on the cold floor and read. Till one Malayali store keeper would come and shoo us all away. Only to find us come back. Much like the pigeons feasting on open grain. How long can you keep shooing us off.
The greatest thing India ever had; was the Amar Chitra Katha comics. We used to devour them, the tales of valour, intelligence, stupidity and freedom. I guess a many of them were flawed, wrong and as one book suggested – racist. But they still allowed for a lovely and vivid reading experience. The first chance I got I bought the entire set that is in print and kept it at home. I am almost spoiling Jispa by doing this. We would get them one book at a time and sometimes one set at a time. Between us and other kids we would get them all read.
Sigh… reading. I guess that why talks by authors who have written books are so popular. Yesterday I had the chance to attend an Al Ries and Laura Ries seminar. Al Ries and Jack Trout are probably the demi gods of marketing. They first wrote the book Positioning and have then proceeded to write many books since then, together and individually. Good smart guys. But the seminar is meant for those who haven’t read their books. It is meant for the TV generation. They talk about what they have written. It is almost the same thing as reading their books and seeing them convert it into a ppt. Pretty boring. Laura especially is a n extremely boring speaker. She does not even change her tone while talking. Somehow the older Mr Ries is far better and somehow more compelling to listen to.
In the good old days when I did my management, these books were not easy to get. I had taken one copy from my library and photocopied it and then bound it into a book. It is nice to get to now see these seminars. For me personally I recommended the same as it would interesting to go with the team. No matter how boring, there is always something one can relearn from good minds. And I did and I have something that I can action out right away.
But the question that came across my mind is this – at 15 grand a person it is quite expensive. My company agreed to pay for me and my two team members to go and attend the same. But if I had put up a bill for 15 grand, saying I read these books instead, I am not so sure if the company would have agreed.
When I worked in consulting with Dharen Chadha, the rule was that per month you get two thousand rupees as a personal development allowance. This was to be claimed against bills for books, movies, music etc. the thought being that as a brand strategist you would get your reference point / creative spark form any source. You could even learn dance or gardening with that money. It was a small allowance like that that to my mind changed my life. It made me look at books that cost 600 or 700 and buy them. Once the heroin struck it never left me since then. I remember when I finally resigned from consulting, my wife and me decided to keep that allowance going as a budget.
For companies the easy decisions are the ones that look like seminars and group therapy sessions. Something as simple as buying books for reading wherein you might learn and implement much more is not allowed as a reimbursable but a seminar or an offsite or a training program that is boring, not accountable and ridiculous might find greater favour. What to do. Such is the way of corporate life. I don’t think the CEO might feel good thinking that so many of his employees read so much but might feel better that so many of his employees went to a training program. And hopefully they got a certificate at the end of it all. A shiney new certified employee as opposed to a reminiscent germ of a thought in an employee brain.