Web Gurjari Spreads Wings…..

Web Gurjari idea was conceived as a platform to bring all “GUJARATI” writing and reading netizens under one roof so as to help Gujaratis shed their inertia

–  To use Gujarati language, in all natural modes of communication among Gujarati-speaking communities;

–   To promote the culture of using the Gujarati language, inherently, even in their own professions

thereby protecting Gujarati language from being an Endangered Language.

Initially, Web Gurjari evolved as Gujarati Language and Literature blog. The blog operates on voluntary active contribution and collaboration of its members.

And now, Web Gurjari is poised to spread its wings in new directions, too.

“સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]“  is the Top-Level Title of the new Chapter added to Web Gurjari.

Web Gurjari’s “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” aims to bring the coded knowledge of the’ Science and Art of the Modern Management Theories and Practice’ under one Gujarati roof.

Typically, the world “management” connotes Business (and Industrial) Management.  Hence “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” is likely to have to more of the concepts, literature and discussions from the world of Business Management. However, “management” is, consciously or unconsciously, intertwined in all walks of the modern life. It may have been documented as Management Literature in the books, magazines, newspapers or blogs and websites. It may have remained implicit in the lessons of the history or in the realms of folklores and mythology.  It remains embedded in the lives of the legends. “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]”will, therefore,  provide the common platform for sharing all these aspects and forms of ‘Experiments of Management’, thereby providing not only a multi-faceted source of the knowledge to the practicing professionals, but also adding the much needed depth and variety to the fare to the burgeoning tribe of ‘common’ visitors to Web Gurjari.

And as a bonus, the active contributors to “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” will find a medium to unleash their ‘bottled-up-in-the-mundane-pressures-of the-routine’ creative juices. And to the reading professionals, the content will act as strong stress-buster.

If we look at the coin from the other side, “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” will be the networking platform where topics ranging from the technical intricacies of the principles of management to the nuances of the art of practicing the management will be shared, in Gujarati.

In the process, “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” would also strive to bond all present and future exponents of management (Gujarati) literature, on and off the net.

Under the top-level chapter title, the content of “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” would be grouped under appropriate ‘concept / topic’ “category”. Each of the “categories” may have “sub-categories” dedicated to a focused subject matter. Each published shall also have identifying tags for the contributors and other keywords of the content, in addition to the net-world contacts of the contributor.

The typically suggested categories and subcategories that સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ [Contemporary Management World]” would encompass are:

Management Principles in Practice

Self (Personal) Development

Contemporary Management Literature

– Review of Books, Magazines, Article, Blog/websites, Films /Videos

Informative Profiles (First preference to Gujarati, then Indian and then international) {The content shall not amount to commercial publicity}

–  Institutions (Organizations)

–  Individuals (Entrepreneurs, Managers, Educationists, Trainers, Authors)

–  Interviews (in Text and /or audio video formats)

Reports of the proceedings of Conferences, Conclaves and Seminars

Trends at Education and Training Sectors {taking care of not publishing any promotional material)

–  Management Education and Training

–  Technical Education

–  Professional Education and Training

Topics Not Covered Elsewhere

There are two routes to contribute to this endeavor – as a reader and /or as the contributor.

You can “bookmark” the link to “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ” and can be a regular reader. If you want the notifications of new posts on the blog delivered to your “inbox”, you may like to register your e-mail address at the “તમારું ઇ-મેઇલ સરનામું લખો” box available @ “ઇ-મેઇલ દ્વારા વે.ગુ. સંપર્ક” on the top right-hand side of the blog-site.

You can be an ‘active reader’ by jotting down your considered feedback @ “Comments” and / or writing to webgurjarim@gmail.com. Your active participation, by way of sharing your views, experiences, references / links to similar literature, would go on enhance the discussion quality to more meaningfully value-addition to the original post.

You can also choose to bean ‘active’ – occasional or regular – ‘contributor, by way of writing in the articles, and /or providing sharable multimedia content. You can send in your contributions to  webgurjarim@gmail.com.

You may also like to take over role of coordinator’ of a particular category / sub-category and develop your own circle of contributors. It is expected that “સાંપ્રત મેનેજમેન્ટ વિશ્વ” @ Web Gurjari grows into a vibrant family, built at the level of cities, region and nation as in the course of the journey over the longer term.  Your response would be eagerly awaited @ webgurjarima@gmail.cor or web.gurjari@gmail.com.

‘કળશ’, Divya Bhaskar, Ahmedabad issue of 23rd November, 2011 – Part II

In continuation to Part I of this topic that addressed the totality of my views, what follows are the views on those articles in that issue that prompted me to jot down my reactions.  I have followed the page order in which these articles have appeared in the supplement:

“Catchphrase – A super hit formula for success’ [‘કૅચફ્રૅઝઃ સકસેસકા સુપરહિટ ફોર્મ્યૂલા’ – વિહાર – કાના બાટવા] is quite smartly informative on a topic which may perhaps be grandma’s theory for students of marketing management or new entrants into the advertising industry. But his pick of  currently popular examples as well as his extension of the theory to politics, business and day-to-day life helps in making this article a standout. The use of રૂઢપ્રયોગ as potential equivalent of catchphrase sounds like a “May I Help You” sign on a police station – it neither appeals nor helps.

Shri Jwalant Chhaya has successfully maintained his standard of uncommonness of views in his article “R K Laxaman- Uncommon Man” [“આર.કે.લક્ષ્મણ – અનકોમન મૅન” – સંવાદ – જ્વલંત છાયા] by capturing a good deal of unknown facets of Laxman’s ‘Common Man’s style and the philosophy it epitomizes. Shri Laxman had the guts to leave his allotted print space blank in the days of the Emergency. This was at a time when it was actually considered quite prestigious to be included in his caricatures! For many TOI readers, including your humble self, a day would truly begin after reading the day’s ‘Common Man’ cartoon. He brought the cartoon or the caricature to a status of one of the most important USPs of newspapers or magazines. Shri Chhaya’s quote of Shri Ishwarbhai Dave could not have been more aptly placed.

As always , Shri Nagindas Sanghavi has been quite objective in his analyses, but unlike in the past, he is quite expansive in this latest article ‘Division of states: Key to good governance’ [“રાજ્યોનું વિભાજનઃ સારા વહીવટની ચાવી” – તડ ને ફડ – નગીનદાસ સંઘવી] by covering similar additional examples, although, it could be argued, the apparent similarity of ultimate outcomes may have been possible because of a variety of reasons.

Even Shri Anil Joshi has not hesitated in aiming quite sharp barbs at the current crop of so-called intellectuals in ‘These are not intelligent people, they are clever ones’ [“એ લોકો બૌધ્ધિક નહીં, હોશીયાર હોય છે..” – કાવ્ય વિશ્વ – અનિલ જોષી]. This should send out a loud message to the world about the power of sarcasm in the words of a poet when he chooses not to be diplomatic about poetic justice.

Varsha[ji] Pathak has taken up the cudgels with sycophancy [“પપૂ,ધધુ,સંશિ, ક,ખ .. ઝ,જ્ઞ?” – આપણી વાત – વર્ષા પાઠક] and its vulgar manifestations. The range of examples of these ‘symbols of respect'(!) make interesting reading but also call for the mustering of courage in extraordinary measure to practice them – both as giver and the  recipient.

Shri Vinay Dave’s ‘Band- Baaja – Baraat’ [“બેંડ – બાજા – બારાત” – La – ફ્ટર – વિનય દવે] has succeeded in rubbing salt to the wounds that have just healed or nearly healed. His satirical account of the ridiculousness of our marriage rituals and ceremonies must evoke a revulsion of this extravagant show. That is, unless it has the unintended effect of helping the marriage industry of getting the entire set of activities so beautifully documented.

Similarly, let us hope that the message of love for the mother [“માતા પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમઃ આપણા સંસ્કારી હોવાનો પુરાવો” – ખુલ્લી વાત ખૂલીને – મનોજ શુક્લ] is able to help us in exhibiting our mother–to-be – the female foetus!!

‘TeamLease – Preparing an employable workforce’ is not only an inspiring story of an entrepreneur of a different kind, but is quite timely too. [“વ્યાવસાયિક ક્ષેત્રમાટે વર્કફૉર્સ તૈયાર કરતીઃટિમ લીઝ” સ્ટ્રૅટૅજી & સક્સેસ – પ્રકાશ બિયાણી] It is indeed quite ironical that the education industry is considered a sunrise industry and the very place to mint money, but its current products – our adolescents and youth – are unfit for the market [i.e., not readily employable].

The neighboring article – ‘Would you like meeting Sophia?’ [“સોફિયાને મળવું ગમશે?”- સાયબર સફર – હિમાંશુ કીકાણી] – has sought to introduce a pain-killer to the multitude of stakeholders of education such as parents, teachers, students and academics, by painstakingly ferreting out, from the world of the Internet, a very useful website – www.sophia.org. But he has acknowledged the currently ailing state of affairs of education at the end of his article – by way of a humble request to teachers to take up meaningful teaching, to parents to be helpful in a real sense and to students to shun a marks-only orientation.

I would certainly accord part of the credit for motivating me to write this lengthy review / comment letter – as an acknowledgement of the stature of  ‘કળશ’ as well as appreciating the excellence of most of the articles of the issue under discussion – to “You need a wide chest (36″!) to appreciate (someone or something)” [છત્રીસની છાતી જોઇએ વખાણ કરવા!” –  Small સત્ય – મુકેશ મોદી]. (More on the reasons for this piece at the end.) Even as the science of psychology has codified ‘appreciation’, its practice, whether as a motivational or a sycophantic tool, does  remain an interesting and intricate art.

Shri Madhu Ray (or Rai?) [Thacker] has effectively expounded on the concept of two-fold repetition vis-à-vis three-fold repetition. [“ગફલત તે ગફલતને ગફલત છે” – નીલે ગગન કે તલે – મધુ રાય]. I am sure he would have been equally effective and attention-catching if he had would not have resorted to mixing English words with his erudite Gujarati, except the use of businessman in place of વાણિજ્યપુરૂષ. I also liked the topic selection;; sentence construction choice of precise but modern Gujarati words; the ‘throw’ of intent in the writings of another iconoclast of Gujarati literature – Shri Chandrakant Baxi; but failed to comprehend his compulsive use of Urdu words. I will thrice repeat the topic with quite jarring practice of the Gujarati generation, who was brought up on half-baked English medium education using some funny-sounding adjectives or adverbs or part of the verb in a “gujarati” sentence which then has only noun and verb in gujarati, in their communication with their children, now under  quarter-baked education ‘system’. If all these are called styles in the modern lingo, then so be it.

‘Bail out’ could not have been better bailed out than the way Shri Paresh Vyas has so smartly taken us around all bail outs in “બેઇલઆઉટઃ મા, મને કોઠીમાંથી કાઢ!” [શબદ કીર્તન]. If Shri Bakul Dave has succeeded in exemplarily brief manner from ‘old’ to ‘elder’ in “ઘરડા નહીં, પરિપક્વ થઇએ” [અક્ષયપાત્ર], then Shri Ajay Nayak has excelled at pulling down the house of inflated ego-cards of those who have false notions of who  they are. He has hit the bull’s eye when he states that you can spend your lifetime and still do not know who you are. He has aptly used the simile of a pumpkin, but there is a strong possibility that for many of the current generation, this may well be a message from Mars. [“મને ઓળખે છે તું?!”- નાવીન્ય].

The cake of luck is in both the hands of Shri Chetan Bhagat. Shri Vinod Mehta are you listening? ‘Lucknow Boy’ is confined to a footnote in શબ્દસંહિતા, even if he is “must read”, whereas ‘Revolution 2020’ got a repeat full scale article even when it was ‘not liked much’ [“‘રિવોલ્યૂશન ૨૦૨૦ એક ભ્રમ છે’ ચેતન ભગત” – મૂડ ઇન્ડિગો – જયેશ અધ્યારુ]. Incidentally, I am quite an old subscriber of ‘Outlook’ and have been reading articles / blogs of Chetan Bhagat in TOI with interest.

Shri Sanjay Chhel [“ભગવાન ભવનમેં ભીડ હૈ ભારી, સુણો અરજ હમારી” – અંદાઝે બયાં] has so well picked up the pulse of ever so subtle philosophy of the omnipresence of the God, when he says, “Wow, where do you stay and what address do we publicize”. This reminds me of an excellent series of articles by Dr. J J Raval in Janmabhoomi Pravasi a few weeks back. He has also explained the concept of અહંબ્રહ્મમ [I am universal] equally lucidly, both in metaphysics and in astronomy.

‘કળશ’ – Divya Bhaskar, Ahmedabad issue of 23rd November, 2011 – Part I

Almost all articles in this supplement of the Ahmedabad edition of the Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar are excellent in terms of the theme, content and presentation in their respective fields.

In the past, each issue of ‘કળશ’ had some articles that went much beyond the normally high standard of this supplement, but the present issue is unusual for its high proportion of articles of a very high standard. Nearly all columns can also be said to rank among the respective authors’ best.

I am able to visualize to a large degree the kind of constraints you and your editorial team of કળશ would be grappling with in planning each issue by balancing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the top management’s concern for absolute circulation numbers as well as relative market share, both on a macro level as well as for the daily issue; the supplement’s competitive positioning vis-à-vis other supplements within the unit, group, industry peers as well as other formats of the publishing industry; your team’s and each individual columnist’s urge for defining ever-higher standards of creativity and performance; recognition within the industry as well as at an external  professional level on the basis of an odd individual issue or article as well as on an overall evaluation of its design and content.

It is really creditworthy that કળશ has carved out a distinct identity on all of these parameters and has excelled as far as most readers’ expectations are concerned.

If I have to raise but one concern, it would be this: I really fail to understand the usage of a sprinkling of English words in an otherwise lucid, flowing Gujarati, in a publication of the caliber of ‘કળશ’. This should be avoided even our day-to-day colloquial exchanges, except for those words which are far more easily understood in English rather than its Bhadrambhadra-style / text-bookish / ‘pure’ Gujarati. ‘કળશ’ has already attained a stature where it can easily influence the habits of Gujarati readers, along with other equally popular magazines, such as, say, Chitralekha. These have the requisite mass reach.  Of course, whether your management or your editorial team should or should not take on this altruistic goal of improving the jarring, avoidable use of English words in Gujarati usage is not what has prompted me to share my views. The extremely innovative topics, very well-planned content and use of very lucid language in your supplement are the factors which prompt me to do so, and your editorial team and contributors do deserve compliments for very refreshing Gujarati reading fare, delivered with very high professional journalistic standards, every week.

My views on the individual articles would be a little lengthy, hence I will state them in a following post…