Of Balladeers and Dreamers

Music does these strange things. It cuts across boundaries. While words tend to have walls around them when you mix music and turn words into lyrics, they suddenly get wings. They reach out and tug at heart strings. The MTV office at Time in New York is a favorite destination for musicians to strut their stuff hoping some talent scout from the office would listen and give them their big break. i am not aware of anyone actually getting their break like that. But heck, New York is the city where dreams are bought and sold everyday. I have stood by mesmerized by the sound of a bunch of musicians from Andes playing their folk tunes on pan pipes accompanied by an electric guitar powered by a makeshift car battery and a set of drums. I have seen an African American drummer play the drums on a set of plastic paint barrels. I remember missing my train to watch a group of teenagers from Harlem show the world what break dancing was all about. And of course who can forget the Naked Cowboy stand in the middle of Time Square in his underwear and have a bunch of screaming hysterical teenagers line up to photograph themselves with him.

Last evening I went to see Sushmit Bose perform. He calls himself an urban folk musician. Sometimes I see him being referred to as an urban folk balladeer. It is difficult to imagine this person once sported shoulder length hair and wrote protest songs. Well he still writes songs and I guess he still protests against a range of issues. He briefly mentioned Tibet and then also sang a song protesting against the inhuman treatment given to stray dogs in Kerala. He sings about urbanization and the loss of soul etc. His songs are set to simple chords and will inevitably remind listeners of the sounds of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger. The only tragedy was that when he finally sang Blowing In The Wind, he mixed up the lyrics. This is where his guitarist and banjo player Deepak Castelino stepped up to the mike and sang along with the crowd.

Sushmit was accompanied by Deepak Castelino - one of the finest guitarists I have heard. Many years back when Deepak was still in college, I watched him on TV singing Me and Bobby McGhee. His flawless strumming and deep baritone voice has only matured over the years. Deepak worked for fifteen years in the corporate sector and left it in disgust to pursue music. He composes and teaches music to children. I loved his composition called Corporation (which he calls कर परेशान meaning Make Miserable)। May his tribe increase. Maybe someday I will get a chance to learn from Deepak not just how to play the guitar but how to chase my dreams.

Rascal Rusty’s Guide to Interviewing

“You know it is the usual stuff about why you want to join this company or tell me about your strengths and weakness kind of stuff. Ummm… I forgot, there is no such word called weakness - in the HR lingo we all have ‘developmental opportunities’, right? These are questions the candidates expect to be asked and now even the answers have become more standardized. So the ‘correct’ answer to the first question is that I want to join your organization because it has an exciting culture and has top class leaders (like yourself) and has a product line that will rock the economy way beyond what the subprime crisis has done. ”

Rusty continued, “I always give the job to a candidate whose strengths are hard work, teamwork and ability to motivate the troops. Any others strengths are also welcome - we need at least a few blokes who will pull their weight. I am really tense when the candidate talks about weaknesses err… the developmental opps. Of late I have been meeting a lot of people who say stuff like I work too hard… I set very tough standards for myself. Now that’s a fault one can’t have enough of. I love those folks next only to people who say I need to address my work-life balance. That always means the person is willing to bust his gut working hard while I go away worrying about my golf game.”

I tried to make hiring more technical than what this ignoramus realized. “There are questions that can give you a sneak peek into the mind of the candidate. These are psychological insights that come out of the responses to seemingly innocent questions.”

“I know those ones too. My favorite psychological-insight-generator comes from the innocent query, if you were an animal, what would you be and why.”

“What is the correct answer to that question?” I never hesitate to learn even if it is from a chimp behind bars at the zoo.

“I look for standard responses. The people who want to be horses are ambitious and hardworking. Maybe tough to rein in. Then there are those who say they want to be dogs. These folks are all about loyalty.”

“I was once attacked by a blood hound.” I reminded Rusty who was by now suitably inebriated.

“Good move. If someone wants to be a dog, ask them a follow up question like, what breed would you want to be. If the candidate wants to be a blood hound, then steer clear. Stick to candidates who see themselves as a Spaniel or Retriever wannabes. They are worth their weight in gold especially if you are a boss that is constantly losing papers. Imagine the value of having your very own retriever in the office. Abbey, you have to read between the lines.”