Thursday 7 August 2014

What's in a name?


"What's in a name ? That which we call a rose by any other name will smell as sweet."- quoted Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet. Well he may have been right about the times that he lived in. Today, Name [Surname] makes a lot of difference. And if Shakespeare were alive today, he would have agreed with me.

Let me give you an example. A few days back, I got up in the morning to see the photo of the arrested CMD of Syndicate Bank right on the front page of the newspaper. First thoughts : What on the earth does a CMD need to do something so despicable? He must already be having a good amount of money [white money], reputation and status in the society. Why do people bet what they already have and do need to achieve something which they don't have and don't need ?

Second thought : OMG, He is a Jain. I am also a Jain. Shame on him !
Though I am agnostic to religion and caste but the same surname does ring a bell inside. 

Why did the CMD stoop down so low? I think the road to becoming a CMD is extremely slippery and sometimes one might require to play hand in glove with the powers to be; to become a CMD. And once into the game, there is no U-turn. You have to continue pleasing the people who helped you in the first place or you become a prisoner to kleptomania. Neither is easy to get rid of.



 
And another party in the deal was Bhushan Steel. The Vice Chairman of the company has been on the run while the share is in a free fall. May be the shareholders should change the name of the company from Bhushan Steel to Bhushan Steal. Shakepeare would have agreed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen Traffic police taking 100 rs without Challan ?? Its so widespread in India , sometime people think its perfectly OK to steal in front of everyone.

Ankur Jain said...

Hi Anonymous,

There is no doubt that corruption is endemic in India. However, my concern was about corruption in high places amongst people who already have a lot of legitimate wealth. That doesn't justify the bribes at lower levels though.

As Buffett said : "Marrying for money is probably a bad idea under any circumstances but if you're already rich, it's crazy."

I believe the same applies for unethical behaviour too.


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Ankur