The Roar of the Paper Tiger
PAPER counts for so much these days. You should know. You spend three (often more) years in a forced labour camp to get one that says you are a graduate (to say nothing of several other borstals for twelve years before that) and are now eligible for the next level of serfdom.
Without this little piece of paper your life is as good as junk. Employers absolutely insist you have it; prospective brides positively swoon over it.
And to that, if you can add another piece of paper that certifies you as a post-graduate, you have it made. Doors automatically swing open and avenues magically transform from dead-ends into broad boulevards stretching to infinity. All this without your even having to say `Open Résumé'. You don't have to be a mere pen-pusher commuting in the local bus anymore; you could be a financial analyst with a Mercedes at your disposal. You don't have to settle for a homely hausfrau; you could have one of those stunners from lingerie ads draped over your furniture. Perhaps even several.
And, what do you do once you have got this precious document that justifies your existence on the planet? Why, get more pieces of paper of course, in various shapes and sizes. ]
This time, to stuff in your bank, your wallet and the secret compartment under your bed. Only when your house and your pocket are bursting with paper and you find yourself panting under the weight of it all can you look back on life with a smile, a grin or an evil leer.
The truth is, these little bits of paper have become a part of us. Try, as we might, we cannot get rid of them. We derive enormous satisfaction from owning them. The more paper, the happier we are. They proclaim our social status.
They are a passport into the elite club we call Society. In fact, every institution, hallowed or hollowed, runs on paper. If you don't have a birth certificate, what proof is there of your ever being born? You might as well be a figment of imagination, or perhaps a pigment of peregrination, as minds nowadays are so inclined towards bouts of random hallucination. If you don't have a degree certificate, what evidence exists of your capability? Your ability could be a chimera, never mind if you are the inventor of herbal petrol or the latest version of MS Windows. Heck, you could even be the inventor of post-its, but who would believe you unless you had a piece of paper saying you were. Signed by the registrar and attested by a gazetted officer, of course.
The corporate world is perhaps the greatest victim of paper. There are few things that can touch their hearts more than a document that says you are an IIM topper or a Wharton graduate. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Some of the best brains have been a product of those noble establishments. But, the downside of it is that truly competent people often get the short shrift in favour of those less suited for the job.
Take Jiten Joshi for instance. After years of clawing away at his desk and wearing the soles of his shoes into the ground on road trips, he managed to push sales to an all-time peak and create a well-oiled team of marketing professionals. He was expecting to be rewarded with the post of general manager when to his dismay he was informed that a graduate from a top management institute would now be occupying that chair. Despite his vast experience and evident competency, Jiten had little credentials in the eyes of the management. He was a mere graduate, and that put him out of contention for a managerial post. Jiten is not alone; there are many others like him.
The moral of the story is obvious. We take little pains in disguising our message. If you are not backed by that ubiquitous yet elusive piece of paper, your career may hit a dead-end. No wide open boulevards or fancy lingerie models for you.
If talent is your sole claim to fame we don't mean to cast a cloud of doom over your future. There do exist some broad-minded employers who rate performance over paper. But they remain proverbial needles in a haystack. Finding them is harder than finding El Dorado. The only way you can get to them is by trial and error; by first passing a serpentine queue (in look and deed) of conformist bosses who'd give you a chance only if your name is garlanded by an MBA degree.
Of course, the easiest way out of this mess is to get yourself one of those pieces of paper. But be forewarned, if you do not back your qualifications with actual performance, the charm of that certificate washes away soon. This is one of the reasons why there are so many MBAs hopping from job to job. Once the con is revealed and their bluff called, they are forced to move on to different (mind, we say different, not greener) pastures.
That is not to say that there is no hope for the inept and inefficient. They cannot and will not be precluded from the general scheme of things.
There is a place for them too. If they are incompetent and intend on remaining so, all they have to do is make sure they have a paper that says it.
ARJUN SENGUPTA
arjuns.hyd@cnkonline.com
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