Me, Elvis, Golf and Wine

My grandma started worrying about me when I adopted some habits newly. Her grandy (yeah, that's me) was watching programmes in unknown languages on TV. I heard her whispering to her friend (another oldie in my neighborhood) that I must have gone mad after 4 years of my engineering degree. This happened when I was doing my fourth year engineering.

Originating from a small town (well, my friends still call it a village. But I don't agree) I was not exposed to English pop music & albums at all. One fine day I made a decision that I should start watching MTV and Channel-V to gain my knowledge on English music. I call it as 'knowledge' purposefully because I thought getting such exposure would make me a good schmoozer. In less than a year from then I was supposed to join my first job, which would have people from all over India with different cultural background. That’s the motive behind my decision. I learnt the names such as Bryan Adams, Lou Bega, Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain and etc thru that exposure. I must say that to some extent my newly gained knowledge helped me in making me a schmoozer at various situations.

While I was extending my knowledge horizon on my English music, one fine day (it happened few years after my grandma started worrying about my habit) in Minneapolis, USA, an American was mentioning about someone called Elvis during her conversation about music. I thought Elvis was a new singer whom I missed to notice. So I shrugged my shoulder (just for style) & declared that I never knew who Elvis was. She gave me a satiric smile and asked 'don't you have Elvis in India?’. Then she taught me that Elvis was a very famous singer in the world a few decades ago. I must say that it was one helluva embarrassing moment for me.

Few weeks after that, at my work place a karaoke contest was organized and they gave a list of songs which participants could choose to sing. I saw a few of Elvis's songs in it among hundreds of 'unknown' singers to me. With my friend's motivation I made a brave decision to participate in that contest. I bought a music CD of Elvis with the songs listed in the contest and started practicing.

D-day arrived. I was surrounded with an intimidating crowd of 300 Americans, I saw raising eye brows in the first couple of rows when I went on to the stage, my vision started becoming blurry, I grabbed the mike, my face was brave & legs were shivering (as vadivelu says: building strong, basement weak), I opened my mouth, I started the first line 'You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog'. (Just try imagining Elvis singing a song with thick south Indian accent). I must say that I made people around me very happy that day. I saw all of them smiling (or should I say burst out laughing?). Also I gave them a great topic to chat at dinner tables with their family. I finished singing the song and walked with my chins up and real proud like a successful gladiator even though there are heavily bleeding wounds. People (read Americans) cheered and applauded and came congratulating me. Later, it helped me to make some acquaintances at my work place too.

Remember it was a contest. They gave 3 prizes ($100, $75 and $50 cash prizes). I lost it. But the very next day, I got an email declaring that I got an 'honorary prize' of $25 and a T-Shirt. Not bad, eh? So at last, my MTV, Channel-V exposure paid me back.

Mohanbir Sawhney, McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology, Kellogg School of Management says: "While Indian engineers are good at maintaining and testing software, it's about time they also learnt how to hold a glass of wine and swing a golf club. It will go a long way in building a global brand".

When I read the above excerpt in the last edition of Business Today I had the flashback about my decision to get exposed to English songs & how that exposure came in handy many times enabling me to break ice, to make conversation and to make acquaintance.

Conclusion: When India growth story is keenly watched by the world and when many Indian companies are going on M&A spree, it is imperative that Indian companies should produce executives who are not only competitive but also comparative with their counterparts in the foreign companies.

(Well, when my wife is okay with my swinging a golf club, she is strictly prohibitive about my holding a glass of wine. As a future executive and a corporate leader, I am fighting so hard with my wife to improve my soft skill(?).)