Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog hosted as http://parallelspirals.blogspot.com/. I recovered the text from the WayBack Machine. This post appeared on Ocober 12, 2006 as per the timestamp. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.
What if for one day all the world’s multinational companies sat down and allowed alternative people in their business to demonstrate their skills. One place where the world can watch. All free and open source or paid services from the people in your adjoining area. No, this is not for saving the rupees you would give the multinationals who have made themselves an integral part of our society.
One day, one place where only people from the locality field their products. Call it the Local Market. Locally manufactured food, locally manufactured drinks, locally manufactured products, local people. A place to meet and discuss. A place for local businessmen to sit and talk with these enterpreuners of the local kind. One day that their talent is showcased to the community.
Maybe they have a better computer than Apple. Maybe they have better food than MacDonalds. Maybe their products are better than the ones you would find in multiplexes. Maybe their product is much more superior to anything that you have seen till date. OR maybe they are worse than the above named people. What’s wrong with giving it a try? For one day?
Empowering local communities with local self government powers like the Advanced Locality Management is not enough. You should give them the power to survive as local economies doing well in themselves and also yearning to do better than the best in the industry. When, you encourage such organisations, you will have companies like Apple and Google starting from a garage in India.
Alas, people still want the best. But who decides what’s best. That was told by a fellow sitting in someplace near Silicon Valley or in Bangalore or Hyderabad. What if there was a better Operating System than Windows or Linux? What if there were people who don’t have the Internet access to distribute their OS but had a small community who used a system of telegrams to send and receive mail regarding bugs and bug fixes?
I am not saying that such a community exists but isn’t there a possibility? Programs aired on TV recently showed the work of village level enterpreuners who had no basic education but used the skills passed on from their parents to build these wonderful machines useful to the people around them.Necissity, is indeed the mother of invention. But, if man does not accept these inventions, what then? The TV shows maybe a 10-20% of the actual events taking place and even less percentage of perspectives on a subject.
There is no denying that the youth in India today are taking initiatives that their forefathers would not have imagined taking up. But, if you do not pay attention to that human voice asking for attention for the work that he is doing, how will this whisper be heard by more people?
Life is not always just. Man is not always fair. But, atleast we must try…
Parallel Spirals 