Please wait ……..Iam busy being busy The collective and individual busy-ness of Indians at their workplaces leads me to believe that we are the most industrious nation on earth. The syndrome of busy-ness that prevails among corporates is topped by the busy-bee babus or the mandarins who stride along the government corridors of power. Appearing to be busy and making a hapless visitor wait is so deeply entrenched in our work and business culture – it is now assumed to signal not-so-subtly one’s worth and importance. Now film stars and other celebrities are notorious for the waiting games they force others to play, which is attributed to starry airs and bloated egos to match their current box office appeal. Our netas and politicians are no laggards at this either – in fact they perhaps lead the race today as the power they wield is directly proportional to the wait time between confirmed appointments and the actual meetings. Office juniors waiting to meet their superio...
If you are a Indra Nooyi or Ginni Rometti or Meg Whitman to name some of the world’s best known CEOs, their age is neither a conversation starter nor a deal breaker. Their incredible minds, inspirational addresses and perhaps their immaculate power dressing are what matter. In India while we actively and happily participate in global conversations about cryto-currencies, artificial intelligence #metoo campaign, womens’ rights, women breaking the glass ceiling etc, we distinctly lack enthusiasm in leading conversations about older women in the workplace. We boast of our demographic dividend, revere our ageing politicians, worship a pantheon of goddesses while slyly indulging in female foeticide. Our cauldron of contradictions and hypocrisy is apparently bottomless. And this extends to the women in the workplace narrative as well. We blithely borrow from patter in popular magazines to breathlessly state to some hapless woman who is clearly trying not to be an ‘age’ victim ...