Month: April 2019

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April 2019

Welcome to April 2019 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

2019 marks the birth centenary of some of classic Hindi cinema’s greatest in the field of music. Music director Naushad was born a hundred years ago; lyricists Kaifi Azmi and Rajendra Krishan were born a hundred years ago; and two of Hindi cinema’s most popular playback singers—Manna Dey and Shamshad Begum—were also born in 1919, less than a month apart.

The unforgettable voice of Shamshad Begum: Birth centenary special – 14 April 2019 marks the birth centenary of one of India’s most durable and outstanding singing voices — Shamshad Begum.

Ten of my favourite Shamshad Begum solos is tribute to her to commemorate her birth centenary, of which I have picked three of the post-1950 songs-

K L Saigal – The Modern Tansen – Saigal was so perfect in his singing that musicians, composers and singers around him called him Shiva’s Bhrm Naad. During a recording or a song recital it is usually the musicians who set their instruments first to give the scale and the singer would match that scale. But in case of Saigal, it was the other way round. Tanpura and other instruments were set after Saigal sang a scale.

Director Ravindra Dave, who was ‘Ravinbhai’ in Hindi films and ‘Bapa’ for Gujarati cinema – A tribute to the multi-faceted filmmaker on his birth centenary –  Hiren B Dave – Ravindra Dave’s Hindi films between the early 1950s and the late ’60s include Nagina (1951), Agra Road (1957), Post Box 999 (1958), Satta Bazaar (1959), Dulha Dulhan (1964) and Raaz (1967). His films had numerous hits songs and were largely popular with audiences. His contributions extend to Gujarati cinema, which he revived with the blockbuster Jesal Toral in 1971. Dave also had an interest in carpentry – he would make chairs for domestic use – and was an amateur painter and sculptor too.

Nagina (1951), directed by Ravindra Dave. | Courtesy Subhash Chheda

‘Like Holi with the blood of Hindus and Muslims’ – Sumangala Damodaran – This song – Din Khoon Ke Hamare – about Jallianwala Bagh still resonates

Also read:

Some Nice Film and Dance References to the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah (plus some other things) – Raj Kapoor has personified Nawab of Awadh for the song  Kate Na Kate Raina for Mera Naam Joker

Jeetendra – The Jack Of All Trades – From becoming Sandhya’s body double in Navrang (1959) at the age of 17 to doing a lead role in Mother (1999) at the age of 57, Jeetendra has come a long way. In between he travelled a distance of almost 200 films.

Jeetendra as Sandhya’s double in Are Jaare Natkhat – Navrang

Shailendra Sharma @ Golden Era of Bollywood has posted following memorial tribute posts:

Flashback series for the current moth informs why these films need to be watched again. We shall record these reasons in brief here:

The legend of Baiju Bawra: Was there ever a musician who could melt marble with his singular voice? – Malini Nair – There’s more to the mystery than what was immortalised on screen – the early history of Hindustani music, largely an oral tradition, is a mishmash of legends, anecdotes and miracles.

April, 2019 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up. Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shanker Jaikishan: 1956 -1957. This in continuation to the previous articles in 2017 and 2018 respectively wherein we had covered Hasrat Jaipuri’s songs for music directors beyond Shanker Jaikishan for 1950 to 1953 and from 1953 to 1955 respectively.

And, now commence the posts on other subjects with a SoY celebration of The Unified Theory of Fools on 1st April.

Stage Performances at College or School Festivals – The songs are either of chhed chhad type or rarely announce the love, the performer has, for his or her love interest. In all, majority of such songs are of celebration, songs with happy mood, etc. Rarely we do come across a melancholic song Here is one illustrative song_

B A, M A, Ph D – Adhikar (1954) – Asha Bhosle & Chorus  – Avinash Vyas – Prem Dhawan

Before size matters- When Hindi film songs were extra-long and all the better for it – Devarsi Ghosh – The one with a lengthy prelude and numerous antaras that exercised the imagination of music composers, lyricists and filmmakers? … That time when Bollywood tunes stretched on for seven minutes and more, and no one complained… the eight-and-a-half minute Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho from Chetan Anand’s Hanste Zakhm (1973) incorporates the sounds of rain, thunder and waves. Similarly, in Piya ToSe Naina Laage Re (Guide, 1965) Rosie (Waheeda Rehman) also signals her changing equation with the world. After four antaras and multiple costume changes, Rosie is a star hounded by fans.

व्याकरण, उच्चारण और उत्पीड़न (Grammar, Pronunciation and Persecution) – is an excellent treatise on the subject of deliberate or natural abuse of either grammar or pronunciation in the Hindi film songs. The songs presented in the post range from subtle to hitting-on-the face impact of such errors. Here is one illustration to enhance the point under discussion – Suno bairi balam sach bol re ‘ib’ kya hoga by Rajkumari from Bawre Nain (1950), lyrics Kedar Sharma, music Roshan – We don’t know whether Kedar Sharma meant to use ‘ib’ for ‘ab’ consciously, but it does enhance Geeta Bali’s impishness. HFGK writes it as ‘अब’ kya hoga. ‘Ib’ might have gone unnoticed.

In the Song Sketch series we have :

Ghar Aaja Ghir Aaye – Chhote Nawab – Clouded Craving – Lata Mangeshkar –Shailednra – R D Burman

Hothon Pe Beeti Baat Aayi Hai – Angoor – Moonlit Fib – Asha Bhosle – Gulzar – R D Burman

Ye Dil Deewana Hai Dil Toh Deewana Hai – Ishq Par Zor Nahi – Doting Ditty – Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi – Anand Baxi – S D Burman

Hothon Se Chhoo Lo Tum – Prem Geet – Psalm Of Love –  Jagjit Singh – Indeevar – Jagjit Singh

Lasting Music Pieces in Films – Some of the finest music in films becomes emblazoned in the audience’s mind as any of the images. HQ Chowdhury, author of the recently republished Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman looks at a few of these lasting music pieces in cinema in the western world that have stood the test of time and are now part of film folklore. E.g.

Theme music is that of Dr. No.

the Lawrence Music – Theme music of Lawrence of Arabia

SoY has set the ball rolling for continuing the annual series of Best songs of year with an over view post Best songs of 1946: And the winners are?.

[I plan to commence our corresponding The Micro View of Best Songs this blog from the next month.]

Before we formally take up the end of the episode, we have a two-part post Mohd. Rafi & Manna Dey Songs- Part 1 and Part 2 dealing in details with the songs that Mohammad Rafi and Manna Dey have rendered together. I have picked two illustrative songs:

Dildaar Milenge Kahin Na Kahin – Vatan Se Door (1968);  – Lala Sattar –  Farooq Qaiser .

Mehfil Mein Shama Chamki – Gunahon Ka Devta (1967) – Shankar Jaikishan – Hasrat Jaipuri.

Now we post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi, each one of which basically has a link with the topics discussed in the present post.

Mere Sapno Ki Raani.. Tu Hi Tu Hi Mere Sapno Ki Raani – Shajehan (1946) – K L Saigal is the lead singer and Rafi joins in a chorus – Naushad – Majrooh Sultanpuri

Duniya Ki Nazar Hai Buri Zulfein Na Sawara Karo – Agre Road (1957) – With Geeta Dutt – Roshnan – Prem Dhawan

Main Jaan Gayi Tujhe Saiyan – With Shamshad Begum – Howrah Bridge (1958) – O P Nayyar – Hasrat Jaipuri

Jhin Chak Jhin Chak | Mohammed Rafi, Shamshad Begum – Lal Quilla (1961) – S N Tripathi – Bharat Vyas

I earnestly solicit your inputs for further broad-basing our cache for the content for our carnival of blogs on the Golden Era of Hindi film music.

Disclaimer: This monthly series of posts is my best-effort-based compilation of posts on Hindi film songs that I normally visit regularly. As I record my sincere thanks to all the original creators of these posts, any other posts that I have nor covered herein shows my lack of awareness of existence of such posts and is by no means any disrespect to their work. The copyrights to the posts, images and video clips remain the properties of the original creators.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – April 2019

Welcome to April 2019 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

Our core subject of Quality Management – Road Ahead to Digital Transformation during the year 2019, we have covered:

  • The Basics of Digitization, Digitalization and Digital Transformation in January 2019;
  • The foundation of the Digital Quality Management.in February 2019.
  • Quality 4.0 in March 2019

Presently we will take up first of the nine disruptive technologies of Industry 4.0 – Big Data Analytics, wherein we will first look at Big Data and Analytics separately, then take a collective look and then connect it up with its use in the manufacturing.

Gartner defines (circa 2001) Big Data as data that contains greater variety arriving in increasing volumes and with ever-higher velocity.

Put simply, big data is larger, more complex data sets, especially from new data sources. These data sets are so voluminous that traditional data processing software just can’t manage them. But these massive volumes of data can be used to address business problems you wouldn’t have been able to tackle before.[1]

But it’s not the amount of data that’s important. It’s what organizations do with the data that matters. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.

This is where the Big Data Analytics comes into play.

Big Data analytics refers to the use of powerful tools and techniques to leverage data insights, trends and patterns from huge – often unstructured and disparate – data sets and make them easily and quickly accessible to business leaders, managers and other key stakeholders. These insights are used to inform and develop business strategies and plans (Bertolucci, 2013a; Zakir et al., 2015).[2]

Even in the 1950s, decades before anyone uttered the term “big data,” businesses were using basic analytics (essentially numbers in a spreadsheet that were manually examined) to uncover insights and trends. [3]

The new benefits that big data analytics brings to the table, however, are speed and efficiency. Whereas a few years ago a business would have gathered information, run analytics and unearthed information that could be used for future decisions, today that business can identify insights for immediate decisions. The ability to work faster – and stay agile – gives organizations a competitive edge they didn’t have before.

4 Big Data Use Cases in the Manufacturing Industry [4]are:

  1. Improving Manufacturing Processes
  2. Custom Product Design
  3. Better Quality Assurance
  4. Managing Supply Chain Risk

There are dozens of others. If you can narrowly define the problem and assemble the right data you can harness big data to address almost any manufacturing problem.

By incorporating robust analytics and visualization tools, you can build a more granular understanding of how your production line operates, and how you can streamline it further.[5]

At both strategic and tactical levels, only a small percentage of organizations’ data is actually converted to useful information in time to leverage it for better insight and decisions. Much of this gap can be explained by the fundamental disconnect in goals, objectives, priorities, and methods between IT professionals and the business users they should ideally serve. [6]

The other challenge facing leadership is the rapid evolution of the data platform (see below.)  How do you create strategies that adapt to a changing landscape?

The figure below from Data Management Association (www.dama.org) captures the data management foundational elements and the overarching management elements that need to be in place to pull it together.

Given the understanding of data as a strategic resource for the digital economy, the structure of the data management framework builds on the principles of performance management and the logic of management cycles.

Given the understanding of data as a strategic resource for the digital economy, the reference model specifies design areas of data management in three categories: goals, enablers, and results, which are interlinked in a continuous improvement cycle.[7]

Data Excellence Model

5 Ways Big Data will Impact Quality Management

  1. Correlating performance metrics across multiple plants
  2. Perform predictive modeling of manufacturing data
  3. Better understanding of supplier network performance
  4. Faster customer service and support
  5. Real-time alerts based on manufacturing data

LNS Research’s new paper discusses  “Big Data: Driving Quality Intelligence at the Speed of Manufacturing.” Click here to get the paper

We may sum up our discussion on the subject by noting that you get realistic and attainable results when you look more closely at the data you’re already collecting.

Fully leveraging data requires a comprehensive model

We will now turn to our regular sections:

For the present episode we have picked up article, Finding Insight in a Digital Sea of Information, by Josh Steimle, …. As we embrace the power of data-driven decision-making, we move into an age of limitless connection, that will inevitably alter the way we think about the world for all time….Today’s generation of children are born into the digital age….Tomorrow’s generation will be born into the age of big data.

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we look at videos related to Big Data Analytics:

  • Big Data looks at Big data, data analytics, and predictive modeling, and how organizations and quality professionals can use all three.
    Additional reference: The Deal With Big Data
  • New Era of Quality: Big Data and Predictive Analytics – Nicole Radziwill, Quality Practice Leader, Intelex Technologies Inc., discusses big data and predictive analytics, and the opportunity to augment human intelligence to help people become more capable in their own jobs.

Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems posting for March 2019 is:

  • Pursuit of Quality – Beware of pitfalls, disguises and misconceptions – Many organizations continue to pursue improvement using traditional approaches. Some of those approaches might be based on concepts that surfaced decades ago…Many organizations become short-sighted. They often repackage old beliefs focusing on quality improvement…Among the most challenging hindrance to quality improvement is cost reduction in pursuit of short-term profit. More recently cost reduction is known as productivity improvement… Let it be understood by one and every body that Improvement endeavors have their greatest potential when they are understood and accepted by everyone…In order to properly convey this seemingly simple rationale for improvement, managers must first understand why, and when, to communicate the rationale. This is much more than trying to achieve buy-in.
  • Imagination – Take a few minutes to stretch your imagination to see what you can discover. Perhaps share what you see with others as you must be able to visualize this future world before it can ever be created, but it’ll take change…Change, however, can be intimidating; but using your imagination can present all sorts of possibilities. William Arthur Ward, American author and educator, said “if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” The challenge is to fine tune your imagination. The sooner you begin, the greater your possibilities.
  • Say Bye to Negativity – Successful people, however, have learned how to quickly get rid of their negative thoughts when they do surface.
      1. identify the thought that is bothering you.
      2. remind yourself that a very high percent of the time, things that we dread (fear), never materialize.
      3. interrupt the worry by a visualization technique.
      4. reject the negativity.
      5. replace the negativity. Instead of negativity, put a positive affirmation in its place and repeat it several times.

I look forward to receive your inputs / suggestions that can further enrich our discussions on the subject of Digitalization in the Quality Management

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[1] What is Bid Data?

[2] Big Data Analytics

[3] Big Data Analytics – What it is and why it matters?

[4] 4 Big Data Use Cases in the Manufacturing Industry

[5] The Future of Manufacturing and Big Data By Mark Samuels

[6] BI, Analytics, Reporting Center of Excellence (CoE) by Ravi Kalakota

[7] Data Excellence Model

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: April, 2019

Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shanker Jaikishan: 1956 -1957

Hasrat Jaipuri (born Iqbal Hussain) – B: 15 April 1922 – D: 17 September 1999 – has penned around 2000+ songs for close to 350 films in a fairly long active career as lyricist for the Hindi Films. He has written several books of Hindi and Urdu poetry too.

Just as Hasrat Jaipuri invested his earnings in real estate or rental property, on his wife’s advice and create another independent stream of income, he also prolifically wrote lyrics for music directors other than Shankar Jaikishan. We have been trying to get some of his less heard songs with other music directors on one page in this forum. We commenced the series in 2017 wherein we had covered his songs with other music directors from 1950 to 1953, and then in 2018 the songs from 1953 to 1955. In this episode, we will cover Hasrat Jaipuri’s songs with other music directors for 1956 and 1957. In order to keep our catch-pool wider enough, we have repeated some of the HJ – music director relationship that may have been covered in the earlier episodes as well.

1956

HJ had 19 songs – Basant Bahar (1), Chori Chori (5), Halaku (3), New Delhi (2), Patrani (2), Kismat Ka Khel (2), Rajhath (4) – with Shanker Jaikishan and  11 songs with 6 music directors – Dilli Darabar (S N Tripathi, 4), Insaaf (Chitragupta, 2), Naquabposh (Ramlal, 2), Shailaab (Mukul Roy, 2) and Toofan Aur Diya (Vasant Desai, 1) – in 1956.With Vasant desai this is his second consecutive V. Shantaram film, after Janak Janak Payal Baje in 1955.

Music Director: S N Tripathi

Dilli Darbar – The film has Hasrat Jaipuri’s professional alter ego, Shailendra, as his partner lyricist in this film. It seems that none of three songs of Hasrat Jaipuri are available on YT.

Music Director: Mukul Roy

Film: Sailaab –

Sailaab was produced by Mukul Roy, in virtual partnership with Geeta Dutt, her sister, and was directed by Guru Dutt.

Haye Re Haye Re……Baje Dil Ke Taar Kare Pukaar – Lakhsmi Shankar

We have no basis to find out why was the song awarded to Lakshmi Shankar. None the less, the song is very pleasant to listen to.

Jiyara Baat Naahi Maane Re Kisi Ki – Geeta Dutt

The song a is a typical solo a young girl in love that is not spelt out in public, would sing to vent her feelings.

Music Director: Chitragupta

Insaaf is another film for which the song written by Hasrat Jaipuri does seem to have been uploaded on YT.

Music Director: Ramlal

Naqabposh also has the similar fate in so far as Hasrat Jaipuri’s songs are concerned.

Music Director: Vasant Desai

Fim: Toofan Aur Diya

All other songs for this film has been written by Bharat Vyas.

Neegahe Neechi Kiye Haaye … Sar Jhukaye Baithe Ho….Tum Hi Ho Jo Dil Mera Chrauye Baithe Ho…..Dil Tumne Liya Hai Mera Jaan  – Shamshad Begum

The song is essentially a mujhra dance, but the song is based on garaba folk tune. However, use of harmonium pieces helps the song to retain its mujhra dance character. Use a prelude couplet in the song is the tell-tale indication of it being a Hasrat Jaipuri song.

1957

HJ’s score was 5 songs with Shanker Jaikishan – Begunah (3), Kahputili (2) – against which he had written 25 songs for Dattaram (Ab Dilli Door Nahi, 4);  Roshan (Coffee House, 1); O P Nayyar (Johnny Walker, 6); Basant Prakash (Maharani, 3) and (Neelofar, 3) ; N Dutta (Mohini, 2) and (Mr. X, 3); Vinod (Mumtaz Mahal, 3).

Music Director: Dattaram

Film: Ab Dilli Door Nahi

As is well-known, Ab Dilli Door Nahi was the maiden film of Dattaram as independent music director. Hasrat Jaipuri’s Choon Choon Karati Aayi Chidiya (Mohammad Rafi) remains hugely popular even today. Jiyo Laal Mere Tum Lakho Baras (Lata Mangeshkar, chorus) was well-acclaimed among the critics.

Lo Har Cheez Le Lo Zamane Ke Logo, Baharon KI Ham To Ada Bechate Hai – Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Sidha Malhotra and chorus

The song opens with a HJ-signature prelude couplet Idahr Bhi Ek Nazar Jaanewalo….and then runs into a high-pitched street sale of toys by the young children. Lyrics befit the simplicity of the adolescence of the protagonists and yet have very deep meaning.

Aside:

The child actor who opens the main lines of the song is Amjad Khan.

Bhej Chhanna Chhan Khoob Rupaiyya, Ham Tere Kehlate Hai – Mohammad Rafi, S Balbir

The prelude couplet sets the tone of the song when the protagonist yearns the a fourth of a crore as side-kick gift from the almighty. The song goes on to spell out the details of the application, seriously by presenting in a lighter tone.

Music Director: Roshan

Film: Coffee House

Prem Dhawan was the principal lyricist for the film, however Shailendra and Hasrat jaipuri have got one song each to write in the film.

Tod Diya Dil Tune Sanwariya – Asha Bhosle

The prelude couplet marks the Hasrat Jaipuri’s signature style. The song is drenched in pathos mood, even if set to a quicker rhythm.

Music Director: Basant Prakash

Film, Maharani is one more film for which we do not find Hasrat Jaipuri’s songs on YT, even as all songs, except one, were written by Hasrat Jaipuri.)

Film: Neelofar

The film has two pairs of music directors and lyricists. Basant Prakash has teamed up with Hasrat Jaipuri for three songs and Avinash Vyas has teamed up with Pandit Mathur for two songs.

Nazuk Bahar Hoon, Dil Ka Qarar Hoon Duniya Hai Mujh Pe Nichhar, Laayi Hoon Main Ankhon Mein Pyar – Asha Bhosle

The song is simple dance song, both in terms of simplicity of the lyrics as well as that of the composition.

Naache Dil Mera Chhamma Chhamm…. Meri Aankhon Mein Sanam Hai, Meri Saanson Mein Sanam – Sudha Malhotra

A lilting dance song is set to so-called Arab tune.

Music Director : Vinod

Film: Mumtaz Mahal

Out of the seven songs, one each is written by Pandit Priyadarshi and Kaifi Azmi and the rest five are written by Hasarat Jaipuri. We have picked up only one song here.

Main Dil Ka Saaj Bajata Hoon Chaahat Ke Nagme Gaata Hun – Talat Mahmood –

The song fits the possible feelings that music director, Vinod, may have about the way his own music was treated by the commercial world of Hindi films.

Music Director: N Dutta

Film: Mohini

The film has two HJ songs, of which the video clip of Raat Yeh Bahar Ki Tere Pyaar Ki (Asha, chorus), seems that the video of this song seems to  have been removed on YT and does not seem to have been restored.

Nainon Mein Jhoome Hai Pyar Savariya – Asha Bhosle

The HJ-signature prelude couplet has been very cleverly used as an opening gambit to draw the initial attention of the king. The song then goes on as dance recital wherein the lady engages the attention to put forth her love.

Film: Mr. X

Mr. X had Ashok Kumar in the lead role, but the film was a thriller in which the hero becomes invisible. The film had as many as four lyricists – Majrooh Sultanpuri, Tanvir Naqvi, Bharat Vyas all had one song each whereas Hasrat Jaipuri had three songs. We have picked up two representative songs here…

Mein Pyar Ki Laila Hoon , Paogi Na Tum Aisi, Ye Chand Bhi Deewana, Surat Hai Meri Aisi  – Manna Dey, Sudha Malhotra

In this duet, it is the lady-love who praises her own beauty for which even Moon is jealous. The poor love musters up courage to reply in the second stanza only. He goes on add to her praise and in the process is ready to throw away all the trivia of the worldly pleasures.

Sadke Tere Chaal Ke’ Kajara Vajra Dal Ke, Jaanewali Aana Kabhi Yaar Ki Gali – Mohammad Rafi, Geeta Dutt

A very playful duet wherein the lady love is lavished with all top-of-the-head -sounding praises by her beauty-and-style infested lover. The lady love also takes the praise in her stride with a chin-up demur.

Music Director: O P Nayyar

Film: Johnny Walker

This is a full-scale film in so far as role of Hasrat Jaipuri as lyricist is concerned. O P Nayyar is also in his usual full flow.

Thandi Thandi Hawa Pooche Unka Pata – Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle.

The present song is filmed on Shyama and Sheila Vaaz. This is one of the two duets by Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt in the film – Jhuki Jhuki Pyar Ki Nazar Dekhe Unhe

We will leverage the advantage of having Mohammad Rafi’s ssongs in the film to maintain our tradition of ending the episode with Mohammad Rafi songs.

Ae Dil Tu Na Dar Is Jahan Se…– Mohammad Rafi

Mohammad Rafi is in his full Johnny-Walker style in the song.

Muh Se Mat Laga  Dekh Zaraa Cheez Hai Buri – Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey

Mouhamad Rafi and Manna Dey have joined to sings duets across a variety of moods and genre. Her we have one of the finest Raf-Manna Dey duets in a very light situation.

We will continue our journey of Hasrat Jaiuri’s songs for other music directors in our next episode.

We will continue remembering Unforgettable Songs that seem to Fading away from our Memories every second Sunday of the month……..

Disclaimer: All images are sourced from net. All copyrights of the respective image remain with the original owner of the image.

Business Sutra |10. 2| Jugaad – Good or Bad?

Business Sutra |10| Finale : The Indian Way of Doing Business

We have covered nine episodes of Devdutt Pattanaik’ TV serial on CNBC 18:  Business Sutra.

The final episode explores Indianness. Devdutt Pattanaik believes that Indian ideas need to be seen through a fresh post-post-modern lens. The post-post-modern lens looks at things in context appreciating the subjective realities of Indians and recognizing it as being different from those of other people. It is of value in some situations but not in all. Segment 1 took up the subject of destiny v/s desire.

Business Sutra |10. 2| Jugaad – Good or Bad?

Financial Times defines Jugaad as:

Jugaad (a word taken from Hindi which captures the meaning of finding a low-cost solution to any problem in an intelligent way) is a new way to think constructively and differently about innovation and strategy. Jugaad innovation has a long-lasting tradition in India but is also widespread in the rest of the so-called Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and numerous other emerging economies. Jugaad is about extending our developed world understanding of entrepreneurial spirit in the traditional Schumpeterian style (Joseph Schumpeter was the Austrian economist known as the prophet of innovation).

Jugaad means thinking in a frugal way and being flexible, which, in turn, requires the innovator or entrepreneur to adapt quickly to often unforeseen situations and uncertain circumstances in an intelligent way.

Intelligence in this context “isn’t about seeking sophistication or perfection by over-engineering products, but rather about developing a ‘good-enough’ solution that gets the job done”. (Radjou et al., 2012, p. 109 ff.)

And to reposition the question ‘Whether it is Good or Bad?’, I will pick up a paragraph from Manu Joseph’s article, “’Jugaad’, India’s most-overrated idea” that would set the stage to listen to what Devdutt Patanaik has to say on the subject.

‘The existence of jugaad is merely the evidence that the circumstances of a society are so bad that its smart people are doing what smart people in other civilizations do not have to do…There is an argument that such humble innovations can solve problems no one else but the poor want to solve. But then India holds enduring proof that giant capitalistic market forces that throw up accidental solutions are more beneficial to the poor than jugaad, or humble altruistic research. For instance, Media Lab Asia, the pious short-lived collaboration between MIT Media Lab and the Indian government, worked on a range of technology to improve the lives of the poor….In the end, the problems were solved by BlackBerry, Apple and Google, giant corporations that thought big and believed in having extravagant budgets for innovation.’

Oh, we have two divergent views! And, possibly, we have well-meaning, smart and sincere people lined up in both camps.

Now, let us see what Devdutt Patanaik has to say with regards to Jugaad – The Indian Way of Doing Business in Segment 2 of the episode 10, Finale, The Indian Way of Doing Business

A recent feature on management practices in The Economist said Indians often say frugal innovation as their distinctive contribution to management’s thinking. They point to the National tradition of jugaad, meaning roughly making do with what you have and never giving up and cite many examples of ordinary Indians solving seemingly insoluble problems.

You mentioned an interesting thing when you said it is our strength and our weakness. Is it good or is it bad?

Again, the answer is maybe, but you see the word Juguaad is a North Indian word. When you use the word, there is a sense implicit in the word, a mischief, a prank. There’s something not right about that word. It has negative connotation, and yet when the word Juguaad is used in the eastern parts of the country, it carries a little different meaning. For example, when my mother would use the word Jugaadu, she didn’t really mean it in the same way as you say it in Hindi. She would mean it in the form of a resourceful person. A juguaadu is both a responsible person and a person who is able to go through the cracks, between the lines and find his way. He can improvise. He is able to innovate. So it depends on the situation and depends on the outcome. If the outcome is favorable, then it is good. If the outcome doesn’t favor, we say it is bad.

The problem with the mindset of a Juguaad is that nothing can be taken for granted. It doesn’t allow for planning, it doesn’t allow for systems to be constructed. So, you suddenly feel lost in a system that everybody is improvising. You are not sure what is happening out there. This is a negative part of the Juguaad mindset. The good part is that it’s more about relationships it’s more about people. It is about people feeling powerful, of saying that no matter what the situation is, no matter what the odds are, no matter what the scarcity is, we will figure a way out.

You have listed an equal number of pros and cons. So, will Jugaad take us forward or will it hold us back?

It is who we are. Whether we harness it and take us forward. If you do not harness it, if you wish it away, it won’t go away. It will always be there. The question is do we consider it as a factor when we are designing our cities, when we’re making our plans, when we’re making our business plans. We, sometimes, forget that as Indians, by nature of who we are. Rather than looking down upon and wishing it away and hoping to sort of condition and decondition Indians to make them something different. Let us see this as an attribute and turn it into a strength, which sometimes we don’t.

Can you really design something for people who are more creatively driven, and therefore, more unpredictable? It is considered difficult to do that. A system requires predictability. So, it becomes very tough to harness unpredictable creativity to create systems.

This is a very good point. It is about predictability. When you need predictability, you talk about processes and systems. But, in a country like India, where everything is unpredictable, or they make it so, people have always relied on how to create the innovative solution. That is the journey that we will have to undertake in the next 10 – 20 years, as India becomes a more important country.

Let us look at examples. We can focus on results rather than on methods. This is one way of looking at it. The other method could be you know what 80 percent will be as it is defined by process, but 20 percent will be allowed for human freedom, for Jugaad. Multinational organizations define everything to the last detail, because we almost don’t trust the human intelligence.

You always need a defined manual. If it does not exist, then people can’t function.

Somewhere along the line, we believe the processes will force people to have integrity. But the fact is, integrity has nothing to do with the processes.

The segment seems not to be normative when choosing between the Jugaadu-way of doing things or systemically doing the things. However, it does unequivocally state that integrity, or voluntary commitment to the organization’s vision, will not come in simply by the defined processes or system. The segment also makes a firm statement that Indian way of  doing business does need to be better aligned with standard, global, way of doing things.

In our continuing journey of Devdutt Pattanaik’s TV serial Business Sutra, we will move on to the concluding, 3rd, segment, ‘Raas Leea – The Perfect Organization’ of 10th Episode, the Finale, in our next episode.

Note: The images used in this post are the irrevocable property of their respective creator. They have been taken up courtesy the internet, so as to illustrate the point under discussion.