The "creativity" in India

"Indians study hard and get MBA, may be buy Mercedes but lack creativity"Apple co-founder Steve Woz said today. Indians can't be creative, and there cannot be any breakthrough company like Apple or Google in India is what he said. This statement might anger a lot of Indians .Before debating whether we are creative or not, I want to debate on one thing . Why should everyone be only creative? Companies are not only run by creative people. Companies need employees of varied qualifications, experience, and background in order to grow. Facebook does not only need Mark Zuckerberg but it needs those millions of coders, HR personnel, data scientists and professionals from various departments to keep it running. These people are experts in their field. The same example is true for any company. Companies like microsoft and google have Indian - origin CEOs. A company may be started by creativity but is sustained through teamwork by diverse people.

Now coming to the second point of creativity, is creativity only judged by starting a breakthrough company. No, right? We have top singers like Lataji, ashaji. Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of film production.
The noble prize winner for Literature Late Shri Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian.
We are a predominantly a cricket loving nation , though we also love other sports.
The late Indian mathematician Aryabhatta discovered zero on which the foundation of Mathematics rests.

What else should I say? I guess blaming and finger pointing Indians just for the heck of it has become a habit...Even our mission on mars was looked as spending money by a country which does not have basic facilities. I would only say - Kuch to log kahenge, logo ka kaam hain kehna"

Edited to add comment from my friend Saurin Gosar- Totally agree to the fact that we have a long way to go in RnD and product development. The intention behind writing this article is to not justify a false sense of Indian pride but to just remind us of our strengths in the face of such comments by global figures. Let us remember that our very own Haldi-doodh is glorified and sold by Starbucks as Turmeric latte. Our very old jowar is now gaining acceptance as a healthy whole grain named Sorghum in US. Let us be aware of our strengths and work on our weaknesses. Let us not wait for the west to acknowledge every single achievement of ours - be it food, yoga Or dabbawalas. Let us be proud of them and work on the rest to become the best.
- Dhanashree
Text of Steve wozniaks comment here: https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/technology/news/story/indians-study-hard-and-get-mba-may-be-buy-mercedes-but-lack-creativity-apple-co-founder-steve-woz-1177668-2018-02-26?__twitter_impression=true

You missed it man!

Oh man, you missed it. It was awesome. You should have come. We all enjoyed " statements like these represent this age, this generation. I am sure all of us hear something like this on a regular basis. We are all plagued by the FOMO epidemic. FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out. It's like if you go to a movie, you will miss a party. If you go to parents meeting, you might miss out on some concert at the same time.

Let's come to the very basics. Why do you choose to do one thing over the other? That is because in your opinion, the thing you chose to do is more important, holds more priority.

Let's take a small example. You decide to take care of your sick grandma and miss a music concert that you booked tickets for. Your friend tells you "Hey D, you missed it! " What your friend says is totally true, you missed the concert. But think further , what did you miss it for? You missed it for your dear grandma. How much is your grandma important to you? Is she more important than the concert? In this case, your answer will be yes since you chose to be with your grandma . As one person cannot be at two places at the same time, you stayed with grandma and missed the concert. In any case, you would have had to make a choice.

This is the basic stuff. Life presents us with many choices at any given point. It is up to us whether we choose to be home, in university, in office, care for our loved one, watch movie or travel. The choices we make have their own consequences. Any choice will have its own "opportunity cost"-the cost incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would have been had by taking the second best available choice. No matter what alternative you choose, you will have opportunity cost.

So what do you do in the "FOMO" era? First , set your priorities right. Be aware that you cannot have it all. Be aware that all what is said about "you missed out" is sometimes said more to make you feel miserable than anything else. Never ever set your eyes off your goal, no matter what. Let your mind not be manipulated by FOMO feelings.

Remember that a person who is seen vacationing on Facebook might have a sick mom at home who wouldn't be seen on Facebook. He too has the opportunity cost of not being with his mom. Whether he chose to vacation or was forced to travel for work we don't know. Hence do not judge people by their social media appearances. Let's get back to school and remember " All that glitters is not gold" .