The Hindu Business Line : Birds of a feather...

... flock together. And it's no different with members belonging to the IAS or IPS. Though today their networks have deteriorated considerably, they still stay connected.

Old school tie: The upper-middle-class solidarity and system of mutual assistance attributed to alumni of British public schools. The narrow clannish attitudes characteristic of the members of a clique.

— American Heritage Dictionary

It has been known for long that birds of a feather love to flock together. That's a sure-fire guarantee of strength, support, safety and survival. From ancient times, people belonging to the same religion, caste or community have found it a congenial, compatible and comfortable practice to band themselves. Even today, for all the talk of the crumbling of walls, language, profession, hobby and vocation have not ceased to be a cementing force. In any cocktail party or other social event, even in these cosmopolitan days, men and women quickly coalesce into separate groups, as that is what gives them a sense of similarity of perspectives and greater freedom for exchange of views.

Backslapping one's way to plums basket

People in the same organisation too develop emotional attachment for each other. Not for nothing did the two books How To Win Friends And Influence People and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying sold millions of copies in the early decades of the last century. They dwelt graphically on the techniques of cultivating colleagues and forging alliances that helped in sprinting up the ladder.

"Show me the person, and I will show the rule" and "It is not what you know but who you know that counts" have been age-long determinants of organisational behaviour. There have always been blue-eyed boys (and doe-eyed girls, of course!) who have backslapped their way to the plums basket. More seriously, Sir Charles P. Snow made waves in 1959 when he said in his Rede memorial lecture that there were two cultures of the sciences and the humanities, each with its own world view and even idiom, and the breakdown of communication between them was a major hindrance to solving the world's problems.

Spontaneous bonding based on common interests comes naturally to human beings. Actually, the new ICE (Information, Communication, Entertainment) age, with its attendant volume, velocity, variety and versatility of transactions and its premium on interconnectivities, is predicated on networking and even seeks to jettison conventional notions of free play of market forces in favour of a blend of cooperation and competition christened `coopetition'. However, networking can become detrimental if it does not have always before it a vision of the common good, and if it becomes the handmaiden of self-centred, self-serving cliques. That way, there is danger of its becoming a closed, cloistered and incestuous community impervious to new ideas and bold initiatives.

Impenetrable solid front

In the view of the outside world, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) seem to exploit their exclusive privileges and elitist character as the leverage to prop up their cohorts regardless of merit or ability, cornering prime slots available. Is this true? Let us go back a little. Take the case of the men of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the Imperial Police (there were no women until Anna Malhotra till Rajam George entered the IAS in 1951) who were engaged in bolstering an empire: Living far from home, often in remote and desolate areas, facing the menace of fatal diseases without the benefits of modern medicine, and isolated from the people, they were in dire need of clinging together as a clan, constantly vigilant against any encroachment of their interests and entitlements.

The ICS, especially, was called twice-born or heaven-born, not so much for the power and authority it wielded, untrammelled by constraints of democracy, as for the close-knit free masonry it became. It presented an impenetrable, solid front to the rest of the world, and acting true to the descriptions I have quoted from the American Heritage Dictionary at the beginning of this article. Indeed, most British members of the ICS were from the upper crust of society, having had their education in public schools. Indians who were later admitted to the Service were also required to undergo their baptism in the form of a degree from Oxford or Cambridge, which conferred the needed sanctity on their education in Indian Universities and lent a homogenous complexion to the Service. They were not too keen to mix with the members of the Imperial Police (IP) who were not educationally or functionally their equals, nor with any British businessman whom they looked down upon as boxwallahs.

To digress a little... interestingly, within the ICS itself, there were subtle racial or class demarcations. The British element regarded itself a notch superior to the Indian, and both looked askance at those who merely belonged to the subordinate cadres such as the Deputy Collectors. The colonial masters devised an ingenious system whereby, among Deputy Collectors also, such of those who were at ease with Western dress, etiquette, customs and manners had Mr (or the more coveted Esq) affixed before (or after) their names, while the rest were just called Babu so-and-so (in the North) or Maharajarajasri, as a prefix, or Avargal, as a suffix (in the South). Admission into the ranks of Mr (or Esq) was done after close social scrutiny and there was often a wild scramble every year for appearing before the appraisers. Once approved, they too formed part of the charmed circle, though decidedly at a far remove.

Two commandments and five `whats'

The two commandments impressed on the ICS and the IP from their inception, and on their successors the IAS and IPS, as supreme and sacrosanct were espirit d'corps and noblesse oblige. They were understood to mean that members of the Service always needed to maintain the exemplary traditions of solidarity, brotherhood, camaraderie, mutual helpfulness and mutual esteem. Unless pushed by circumstances beyond control, they hardly took public notice, leave alone resort to any open censure, of the misconduct of fellow-members, although elders of the Service might privately pull them up. On the other hand, they were treated with indulgence as brothers and protected from hurt or harm. Newly appointed members, fresh from England, were accommodated in the bungalows of seniors, and it was a must for an Assistant Collector under district training to stay in the Collector's bungalow in which a suite was customarily earmarked for him.

While the membership of the Service was in itself an advantage, fostering networks and toadying up to seniors hastened the landing of succulent plums. In fact, in the ICS days, there was a ditty doing the rounds as sung by an up-and-coming whizkid, narrating how he directed his charms at elders who were in a position to dispense favours. The sample stanzas given in the Box will recall the flavour.

With the advent of Independence and the growing hold of politicians over career prospects, the networks within the IAS and IPS have considerably weakened. Their place has been taken by the politician-civil servant nexus. The canker runs so deep that almost every member of the Service, and indeed every public functionary, is believed to be in the pocket of one or the other politician or party. However, the Service allegiance invariably scores in keeping track of the five `whats' that are pre-requisites for self-preservation and self-aggrandisement: What's up, what's on, what's new, what's what, what's where! Instead of being monochromatic, the new inter-linked foci of favour-seekers and crony careerists have acquired a multi-level, multi-faceted, collaborative, polychromatic character, cosily co-existing with the political class in a rewarding dynamic equilibrium.

Pleasing your boss

The following is the ditty that made its rounds in the ICS days, as sung by an up-and-coming whizkid, narrating how he directed his charms at elders in a position to dispense favours.

This is Law that I'll maintain
As ably as I can, Sir!
For, whatsoever king shall reign
I'll be the rising man, Sir.
Wooing a shikari
When Bob Anderson was the one
To rule over the district,
I turned to game with glee and gun,
For hunting though a misfit!

Enticing a Crosswords addict
A ticklish job now cast its lure,
With Statesman's Crosswords flaunted,
When S.N. Ray came out on tour
I'd have my request granted.

Pleasing a Chess champ
But Arthur Glass was all a class
By himself: Chess his fad was!
I fetched a board and made an ass
Of myself pleasing my boss!

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