People get the government they deserve: or is it the other way round?

It is said that people get the government they deserve.  This must be true of societies that are cut off from the rest of the world and offer little mobility to their denizens.  However the present age of jets zipping across global village, instant communication through various data and voice networks and universally accepted globalization, has made the saying stand on its head.  Today capital and talent moves from areas with bad governance to those with good governance.

Thus if you govern well you will attract the best human resources and your economy will bloom.  The quality of your governance will ultimately be reflected in the society / country / population that you govern.   By the same token, you neglect governance you will be left with a poor economy and poorer human resources.  And even if you are a country with an iron curtain and don't allow movements, the capital and talent will simply rot and turn putrid.

"Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." -  Matthew 13:12

My dear netas, you stand advised.

The Office Jerk

The Office Jerk lost all work-life balance,
Family nagged him and it didn't make sense.
He asked the boss for lighter duties,
Only to be rebuked for his impertinence.

The Office Jerk had no family to go back to,
So he decided to turn it into a virtue.
He pretends to work till very late hours,
And expects poor staff to do so too.

The Office Jerk in advance was told the decision,
and tasked with finding for it a suitable reason.
All the while keeping his responsibility in mind
For he also had to make a strong recommendation.

The Office Jerk got close to number one,
But he did not meet the promotion criterion.
So the HR was asked to re-engineer it
Till OJ came out as the most suited one.

The Office Jerk, his BOD* was to meet in London,
For the good old boardroom was not much fun.
Wondering whether he could tag along,
Was told that that was out of question.
* Board of Directors

The Office Jerk, in staff expenses he found a rise,
He figured out the reason after a few tries.
It was his FreqFlier boss' foreign jaunts,
This fact he was asked to carefully disguise.

The Office Jerk, once he went overseas,
To attend a seminar with exorbitant fees.
Learning, if any, is already gone, but
Thrilling are all-paid tour's sweet memories!

The Office Jerk, his computer literacy was low,
And yet, "Best laptop for me", he told them so;
And for operating the god-damned thing,
he must have a secretary in the tow!

The Office Jerk had this very funny notion,
He thought that hard work could get him elevation.
But he was unaware of management's worry:
Who will do their work if donkeys got promotion?

The Office Jerk when young he was told
To show deference to the experienced and the old;
Now old himself, OJ is dismayed to find
That the day belongs to the young and the bold!

The Office Jerk made a serious presentation,
Late in the afternoon, the board lacked concentration.
OJ was asked to make an executive summary,
and give it to the secretary for annotation.

The Office Jerk, his perforev# fell due,
The HR wanted a 360 degree view,
The boss didn't like him, staff despised him,
And the peers didn't give him what he thought was due.
#performance review

The Office Jerk finally became number one,
Decided it was time to have frolic and fun,
So he charged around like bull in a china shop,
and had his entire staff on the run.

The Office Jerk, his boss was a bully
and treated OJ like an office coolie,
At last OJ tried to confront him
But it took just a growl to scare him fully.

The Office Jerk, finally got promotion,
Of his new role he had little notion.
So he decided to be at his formal best
and to always write a terse notation.

The Office Jerk, his promotion was due,
Aspirants were many but positions were few,
OJ dyed his hair and put on his best suit,
And yet why he failed, he is without a clue.

The Office Jerk, in work he was mired,
One find morning he got retired.
Now at home with no escape,
There too the chap is not much admired.

The Office Jerk, he just ran amuck,
Wanted to put in his papers and have no truck,
Couldn't find papers in the paperless office,
So had no choice but to go back to work.

The Office Jerk, may his tribe increase,
His employer wanted his salary to freeze.
He went out with a placard and a mike,
The employer just shrugged, so he went on a strike.

BARFI

Even if you have not seen the film, by now you must know that it is about a lovable kid who is called Barfi because his mother longed for a look alike of the boy featured in Murphy ads.  The mother promptly dies soon after giving birth to the boy: the film breaks the news in a pretty light vein.  Now the image of a boy in an ad is naturally deaf and dumb and for that matter devoid of all senses.  Barfi turns out to be merely deaf and dumb but quite lively otherwise.

The film is an attempt to take a leaf out of Raj Kapoor's book.  The film is even set in a period dating back several decades.  Barfi, born to a chauffeur, grows up to be a handsome boy who has little inhibitions in flirting with girls.  He manages to gatecrash into upper class parties as part of his chase.  Girls fall for him including an autistic one living away from her upper class family and spoilt parents.  She rediscovers Barfi on her way to her family residence as her grandfather lies on the deathbed.

The story continues to unfold in an enchanted fairyland where mothers still long for their lost love, and daughters don't bat an eyelid before walking out, empty handed, of a smooth well settled marriage for the sake of love.  This is a world where the hero has the guile to stage a kidnapping for the sake of money instead of simply asking for it.  And yet he doesn't have the faintest idea of exigencies and demands the exact amount of doctor's fee for ransom.  In this world a handicapped man with an empty pocket and an autistic girl without even so much as a change of dress elope together, ward off other derelicts who in this world limit themselves to just ogling, find employment and a roof in a metro while managing to retain their good looks and humor all the time.  Just to reassure the viewers that this world is part of the real one, there is a scene where the autistic girl demands assistance for doing "soo soo."

In this romantic world love alone triumphs.  Finally the hero gets old and haggard and gives up the ghost.  The autistic girl, though seemingly unaware of the death, lies down beside him and attains death (at will?)  A romantic dying together that will be remembered down the generations.

NB:  Once you have witnessed this strange world, our anxiety laden preparations for leisure travel and furious preparations for a relocation will look truly neurotic and insane. :)