Maruti Suzuki’s honchos have, after two years of repeated
misdiagnoses, finally figured out what was wrong with their Manesar plant. It’s
negative energy trapped inside. Well, that there was a lot of negative energy at
that plant was well-known. So what’s new? The correct identification of the cause
of the evil energy.
The negative energy came from the evil spirits that were angered
by the razing of certain structures at the plant site a few years ago. To make
matters worse, the plant did not have doors and windows at the right place for
the negative energy to go out and for positive energy to come in. Fortunately, Maruti
Suzuki’s leaders are blameless; the workers have nothing to do with it either. They
are victims of this evil energy.
Once the cause was correctly identified, cure was simple. According
to news reports, astrologer-cum-Vastu expert Deivajna K N Somayaji has already
started the treatment. In three to four weeks the plant can function again
without any problem.
This is a brilliant move by Maruti Suzuki’s management. You may
accuse them of many things, but stupidity is not one of them. I congratulate
them on this strategic decision and confidently predict absolute success.
My reason for such certainty, however, is not the correction
in Vastu but the quiet sex change Maruti Suzuki will have undergone in the
meanwhile. The plant that reopens will have a new management, a new set of
workers, and the new location. No, I don’t mean Mamta Banerjee’s Paschim Bengal
or Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. The plant will stay back at Manesar. Then what do I
mean by a new location?
The environment around the plant has changed so much that it’s
like a new location. The villages that supply workers to the plant have
changed. The local politicians have changed. The Haryana government has
changed. Within the plant, the workers have changed. The managers have changed.
The root cause of such a dramatic and
widespread change is the horrible death of Maruti Suzuki’s HR manager, Awanish
Kumar Dev.
Just as the self immolation of the Tunisian vegetable vendor
Mohammed Bouazizi sparked the Arab spring, Dev’s murder within the plant altered
everyone’s calculations fundamentally. Maruti Suzuki’s management realised that
they couldn’t keep the plant open and risk another manager’s death. That would bring
down the company. The workers realised that the game had gone from their hands.
It was no longer a labour dispute that they could handle. They couldn’t expect
support from the usual quarters. The panchayats around and the state
politicians realised that the giant goose that had been laying golden eggs was
in danger of dying. The public wooing from two chief ministers added a sense of
urgency to everyone.
Maruti Suzuki has had a sex change. Deivajna Somayaji’s puja
and architectural corrections will provide a huge fig leaf to hide it. The
return of peace and productivity to the Manesar plant will be attributed to it.
Our faith in the power of buildings to determine our fate will be reaffirmed.
Everything will be well with Maruti Suzuki and Manesar. Everyone can go back to
work pretending that they haven’t changed.
I think hiring Deivajna Somayaji was the best ever decision Maruti
Suzuki took apart from the original decision to produce cars in India at a time
when the only alternative Indians had were road boats called Ambassador, Padmini,
and Gazelle.
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The photograph was retrieved from: http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/maruti-suzuki-union-leaders-in-custody-over-manesar-violence/1/186913.html
Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteWe are known for our superstitions, some born out of ignorance, others deeply rooted in our age-old traditions and some others introduced by people to reap benefits out of people’s blind faiths and beliefs. A majority of superstitions don’t stand scientific scrutiny; still we continue to practice them without raising even eyebrows, much to the chagrin of rationalists who challenge anything that is not explained convincingly. But often they do it for publicity, throwing a gauntlet; and if nobody picks it up they can claim the superstitious protagonists are charlatans.
The Japanese, who are known for their work culture and shop floor norms, find themselves utterly helpless while dealing with the Indian workforce as happened recently in their Manesar plant that produces the most popular model Swift and its variants. The labour trouble over seemingly a petty issue that cost the factory and its top management dearly and led to a lockout had the Maruti-Suzuki bosses running around for a solution to recurring staff unrest after exploring all avenues.
Like cause and effect, they are well aware of the effects of strikes and violent protests but not exactly the root cause that is triggering all the problems. Finally, they have struck upon an out-of-box solution, or as is the common practice in this country, when all therapies show no appreciable effect on a patient’s health he turns to alternative methods of treatment.
In Maruti-Suzuki case, it is vaastu expert.
Why all mumbo-jumbo? In all probability, Somayaji must have been given the green signal for the ‘purification project’ by the Indo-Japanese management. If peace comes to the plant it’s the power of puja and holy ceremony; if not, blame it on evil forces that are still haunting the area. It’s arguable whether people of one of the most industrialized countries in the world believe in Hindu rituals which are part of the majority community’s life.
There are, of course, a good number of people who don’t believe in positive and negative energies and vaastu but still observe them because the lady of the house believes them. The reasoning behind such double-speak is some want to present themselves as modern outwardly but still traditional inwardly. However, the bottom line is belief is the driving force and hope
fuels it.
If peace is restored at Maruti-Suzuki’s Manesar plant with all labour problems resolved and if it is back in business, say, after the successful completion of rituals, even the Japanese will start thinking on Indian lines! Scientific reasoning goes for a toss; what matters most is to get the factory going and to get the cars rolling out.
Great strategy. I guess it doesn't matter what medicines you take provided the disease is cured.
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