Osama's Death reminded me of Freedom at Oracle

Let me start with the below line from my earlier post Infosys Loaded with its 3.0 Version - Part II

"I am not a regular television viewer (more due to living out of home since last 12 years) but i do consider myself just lucky enough to catch the historic ones - from IC 814 hijack to 911 to Obama's election to Egypt crisis to almost all the general elections in India post the famous riots at Bhagalpur. "

and extend it further. 

I am not a regular television viewer because i never had one during the last 12 years of my life plus the almost ubiquitous internet accessibility ensured that there was no need of it. But now after landing up in Bangalore in a 'furnished' accommodation with fixed monthly bucks to pay for it and with a television right in front of me, i subconsciously seem to be trying to make up for it. To the extent that its always on. Yes the first thing i tend do in morning is check my mobile and switch on the tv. The same happened on the Monday morning (on 2nd of May, 2011 to be precise). Having a usual incomplete sleep (just check when the angry bird blog was posted, the clueless act of grouping the objects on Prezi was the culprit ), i hurriedly left my place around 8:30 in the morning.

I reached office around 9:45, though the official hours start at 8. Now if you are an MBA graduate that too a fresh one that too from TAPMI (yes , time is still the religion there; you can be late for your date and still make up for it but not to a lecture there) and when your manager inadvertently (read always) arrives before you perhaps to check on your just-got-late excuse, it should be a crime. I will make up staying late, thought me but again if you are part of the Indian IT setup , that should be a norm. Nevertheless, i squeezed though my desk and started pretending to work perhaps like most other folks.With a printer behind and people gushing in there for their share of this facility , it was difficult to open my morning dose of Linkedin (yes that's the only social/professional networking site which the sensors allow here), The Social Canvas Daily (thanks paper.li for making access to the twitter-se-posted links so easy and that too without logging into twitter) and other sites to which i have almost got addicted to. Only around 11:30ish, i was able to browse through Time of India headline and headline it was - President Obama confirms death of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

That was it. Series of googling and series of write-ups on how it all transpired - let them note if they want to - the rebel inside me declared. You can browse through n number of pages but catching it live on the box has its own element , if only there could be one around. The dear Oracle cafeteria was being missed. That Lehmann Brother collapse, the Mumbai 26/11 attack and the Tendulkar's century with India winning in Chennai a month after, the Satyam scam and the stock market crashing - i had watched them all in those cafeteria's TVs. And it was not me, a whole lot of their employees did - the good part was no one minded those so called loss of productive hours or questioned it in any way. Trust was the key (and still it is i am sure) at Oracle. Loved the freedom being provided. There was no concept of swipe-in and swipe-out for logging your attendance to office. You can come and go to office anytime. There is no dress code attached. No blocking of the social network sites. No one checking your bag while you leave the office.

Yes, when you have whole bunch of talented people , the best of IT land, you should consider them to be matured enough to prove their worth and give back the returns on the salaries they receive. And who don't want to be a liberal soul. The age cohort of Indian workforce says it all:

Generation Bharat (Born between 1960-1975) characterized by

• Collectism and conformity
• Strong family values
• Do not question authority
• Believe that higher education is the only way to success
• Deep-seated economic insecurity
• Lack of optimism
• Cynicism and lack of empowerment

Generation India (Born between 1975-1990)

• Characterized by high confidence
• Capacity to process information very fast
• Urge to develop a career fast
• Tendency to expect to be given high responsibilities immediately
• Individualism
• Impatient
• Bold
• Tendency to overestimate themselves (arrogance of ignorance)
• Tendency to expect employer to adapt to them
• Roaming in cynicism-optimism paradigm
• Living in duality

General Globalized India (Born after 1990)

• Characterized by awareness of the world
• Environment conscious
• High technology literate
• Multitasking ability
• Urge to grow up fast
• Disrespect for elders and authority
• Lack of proper role models and references
• High self-confidence
• Optimist by nature
• Sees plurality as a way of life

A U.S company seems to have understood this Indian cohort better than its Indian counterparts.