Raju Hazir Ho

Mulzim No 420, Ramalinga Raju hazir ho....o...o.

Ever imagined what cd have prompted an erudite technocrat to call his company "truth"? It cd have been a reflection of his lofty ideals in his youth for I cant imagine that several years ago he wd have envisioned running his company on principles that are on the wrong side of law.

Obviously, these ideals have disappeared now.

The fact that he lied is now well known. But that a man - like you and me - by education, training and experience - chooses to mis-lead his trusted employees, shareholders and junta at large into an abyss of filth is alarming. To assume that he was doing it only to protect his shareholding - wd be naive. But did his mis-doings ever prick his conscience?

Obviously he did this at a stretch for many years. what i am really keen to understand is how did he do it the first time and overcome the call of his conscience? was it in a typical filmy way, where, buoyed by the success of his first misadventure, of not getting caught, he continued to dig deeper and deeper and the call of his conscience kept getting buried inside?
My theory is that he was completely overwhelmed by the power-attitude-personality troika that has been the undoing for so many before him.

a) Absolute POWER - of money, coupled with the backing of a political establishment much more powerful than him - Chandrababu Naidu who supported through his initial years ; and YSR Reddy who guarded him in his latter years, even delaying his arrest to enable him to put his house in order. when you have friends who cd change the environment for you -why wd anyone bother ?
b) Attitude - "manage kar lenge" - the confidence that he would be able to smoothly slide out of any situation may have been the cornerstone of his intrinsic belief that he wd survive. after all "money buys everything" ? manage kar lenge !! This is not confidence but a complete lack of respect for any norm that civil society follows - masquerading as self confidence.
c) Warped Values - Crossing the thin line between what is right and what is not, is reflective of a warped upbringing; of values that tilt in favour of :" how the world shd see it" and not "what is right" ; it is reflective of a personality ridden with an inferiority complex that equates blind ambition with Money and power, failing to understand that credibility, self respect and character need probably higher weightage.

that these three are a deadly combination is proven time and again - by every single despicable politician who gets caught crossing this thin line.

We all strive to go beyond what we have, or beyond what we have achieved. But going beyond recognised norms of honour, respect, scruples and of ethics -is something we dont attempt. The difference between the Rajus of the world and many others including people like us is not in the scale of our ambition or our confidence- but in the importance that we attatch to our ingrained values. Maybe our relatively contented nature and respect for self and others makes us what we are and makes raju - what he is.

Some say, that they were surprised that an educated industrialist did something like this. Ask anybody who has seen companies work up close and personal. There are lots of rajus out there !
Maybe, the humbling experience in jails wd do them some good.