Image via intoday.in
Things were all quiet in Chennai on Monday. But there have been a sudden spike in Skype and WhatsApp calls to the US since then. Moments after the news came out on P. Sundararajan aka Sundar Pichai becoming the CEO of Google, anxious mothers wanted to check up the career status of their own children currently working in tech in the US. While some expressed confidence in their future, others picked their corporate organization chart and asked their mothers to go through it. Several mothers also created what is called the “Maami defense”:
“Oh, they interviewed our Ramu for that job. Who would have left Microsoft for this small company then? This Sundar fellow is lucky.”
“I spoke to Suresh. He is already a director in Oracle. This Pichai fellow is only CEO! Suresh is Director, one step above no?”
“What is all this hype? He has just become a divisional head. Alphabet has the power and that is with the American guys.”
“I checked out. Google is only an advertisement company! SAP is technology. Anyone can become big in an ad company…”
At the same time, the Chennai teachers association passed a resolution thanking Google for this. Mr.Deivasagayam, head of the association, told us: “It is our responsibility to tell the students to become like someone. Till last month it was APJ Abdul Kalam. We can tell every student going for exam to aspire to be like Abdul Kalam. We were not only sad but also worried when he passed away. Thankfully Google has selected a Chennai person as CEO. Now we can manage next 20 years using his name.”
It is the students who are really worried about this development. Both parents and teachers prefer telling their wards to aspire to emulate some role model. This after all is a state that celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the ascension of Rajendra Chola. A student going for class X cannot just do well or get 90%. He or she better become the state topper. Legend has it that when a student got 499/500 in class X, the mother went along with the son looking for the missing mark and the father filed for re-correction!
Explaining the problem, Rajat who initiated the petition said, “Consider our plight. Whenever I go to Google.com now, my mother will remind me to become like Sundar. Every time I write an exam, she will tell me the same. Every assembly in school, the principal will want us to aspire to become like him. Above all, random grandmothers in weddings will bless us to become like him. I wrote the petition to avoid going through that grind”.
It has already been signed by 40,000 class 9 students from Chennai alone. Shyamsundar, a class 8 student, was really beside himself. He said he is a good student and plays cricket for the school. When he went to school in the morning, his mother told him to be like Sundar. When going for cricket practice in the evening his father told him to become like Ashwin, who had taken 6 wickets today. How can he be both?
Unmindful of all this, AIADMK functionaries are stealthily working on their latest cut-out. It will have Pichai, Kurian, Satya Nadella, Indra Nooyi all bowing before the one and only “Amma”.