Social networking - A great way to stay connected(get kicked)...

Alas! India Inc. sees yet another bright spark fade away into the darkness of oblivion (I hope not!) as Shashi Tharoor sends his resignation to the PM and he accepts it.

The newspapers are quick to dissect the whole issue and claim "He had it coming...". One underlying theme that keeps recurring is the use of social networking site Twitter. Both Tharoor and his now-nemesis Lalit Modi have been active on the site and this is what the media says was the beginning of the end.

Tharoor especially was in the media bad books as all that they could should or would have conveyed to the masses with their input was directly being told to the people who cared to listen. Was this the crime that cost Tharoor dearly? He sure did not make fans of the high and mighty with his cattle class theories and the daily updates.

And that makes me wonder - Why do the people in authority really worry about people who like to have a lives OUTSIDES of their profession? What does it matter to the media if a Tharoor or an Amitabh decide to talk to the people who matter? What is the harm or impropriety if they wish to give their version of the story directly to the society?

Interestingly, there was an article in the ToI that complimented Microsoft for having the most social media savvy employees. Amazing, how the most successful company (arguably) in the world takes great pride in letting its employees have a life outside of the campus even when they are on it. On the other hand, Indian Inc., the so-called harbinger of the IT revolution, takes great pains in making sure their employees cannot browse even the most basic of sites. Some of these companies even pose great restrictions on the OUTLOOK as well. The size of attachments that can be sent through official emails, the IDs that can be communicated with etc all are monitored ad nauseum. Why do their HRs ponder or lament over the brain drain or the high attrition rates then?

Why cant a minister, who has been given that post by the mandate of the very common man he is talking to, converse with his people without a middle man? Why cant an Amitabh, a RGV or an Aamir connect to their audiences without the media playing the essential go-between? Why cant a software engineer who works day and night for the company (which refuses to share even a fair percentage of profits its making on his toil and prefers manicuring the lawns or build inanely positioned buildings instead with it) take a healthy break away from the maddeningly dull work? And why are all these people suddenly bad boys?

Someone needs to point out the ultimate irony of this Indian mindset. We are the largest democracy in the world. We guarantee to all the citizens of this country the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression of thought. But what is meant to be in theory never translates into reality. Or is it just that like everything else in India what we preach is what we shall seldom practise? As someone pointed out in one of the numerous articles I have read since this morning - the man who had 20 years of illustrious career overseas has been undone in less than an year in the great country called India. Some homecoming, huh?