It was a nice evening at the local Redi market and I was at a local dhaba ordering my daily dose of mutton chow. As I listened to the clatter of the cook, I noticed two Mizo students approaching the dhaba. As they sat and gave their orders, I realized that I had been introduced to these students before and exchanged the usual pleasantries with them. These boys knew that I am working and out of curiosity, one of the boys asked me where my office was and what the nature of my job is. I usually avoid talking shop outside the office, but since I was asked and as they seemed to be genuinely interested, I talked about my job, the profile and where I worked. From my part I tried to make the conversation as interesting as possible. "Maybe they are really interested", I thought.
And then it hit me like a needle in the head when one of them asked, "Hna nghet ami?", as in "Is it a permanent job?". I felt like asking the young man what he meant by a permanent job. It's a different matter that I didn't.
I knew what he meant. The question took me back to the 80's when we were encouraged to seek a permanent job. Their explanation of a permanent job? Well, it was government officer's job, a 9 to 5 one. Which from what I remember involved going to office, coming back, pick up the tabs at the end of the month and watch life as it passes by. The permanent job syndrome, as I call it, sounded so pleasant and was so much ingrained in my head that it even stopped me from taking many risks in life. Of course, it's a different story now.
It's almost 16 years after India opened its markets to the world-what amazed me was the fact that our young man was not aware of the changes taking place around the world that he lives-no discourtesy meant to anyone here. What also surprised me was the fact that, in today's globalized world, he was looking for a permanent job. Consider googling "Permanent Job". As of yesterday, the first link of the search result was this headline from the Washington Post- "Permanent Job Proves An Elusive Dream". The question that came to my mind was whether parents/relatives/teachers back home, as in Mizoram, are still encouraging our kids, and each other to look for a permanent job?
It's a whole different world from what we had in the 1980's and it's saddening that kids/students, like the one I just met, are being told, if not taught, to get that "permanent job". These days its all about being competitive and delivering something for what you are paid.
I'll sum up my thoughts by quoting two people I really admire.
Thomas Friedman, author of the best seller-The Worlds is Flat, wrote it this way:
"Girls, when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, 'Tom, finish your dinner—people in China and India are starving.' My advice to you is: Girls, finish your homework—people in China and India are starving for your jobs."
"... we took/have taken away jobs from them (Americans/Europeans) and if your skills aren't up to the market or if you fail to upgrade your skills on a recurring basis, it's going to the Chinese. You think you have the English advantage? think again, English is a compulsory subject in China now! And believe me they will catch up with India in another seven years, if not earlier. If you are not prepared, you jobs are going there..."
You don't get ahead by standing still.
