I wrote this post about two years ago for my friend's blogs. Now i hava a three blog with me and am going to publish this artcle again in my blog. Read and enjoy. comments are most wellcome.
Introduction of chamchagiri
The Nepali word chamcha has found a place in the English dictionaries of the world, meaning a spoon or a colloquial word meaning a sycophant and hanger-on or lackey. The dictionary describes chamchagiri as a noun meaning sycophancy and explains that chamchagiri is a mix of flattery, servility, sacrifice, obsequiousness, service and restraint and it is also a kind of hard work. To do it well, one really needs an aptitude for this kind of thing. Another explanation is, a chamcha is a person, who uses a lot of “Tel (oil)” to promote his self interest. A chamcha is a loyal soldier, trouble-shooter, henchman, doormat, all rolled into one.. Even though chamcha and chamchagiri are colloquial words they are very popular slang words in Job and in other walks of life. Whether you are a student, a trainee, a manager, a CEO, a supplier or even the PM of this country, chamchagiri of your superior is a surefire recipe for success. It fails rarely. The capabilities and role of one chamcha differs from another. When the boss is fading away, chamchas’ condition becomes quite pitiable. The Fear of the unknown grips them.
Benefits of chamchagiri
If you want good grades, but are not willing to work for it. If you want that promotion but you know that you do not have the performance to back it up if you want that prestigious assignment, but you know there are more deserving candidates. If you want that order badly, but you know you had goofed up in the last order. Then there is no better formula than chamchagiri for you.
Chamchagiri is an art and it is always helpful to start early. So as you grow older and the challenges of life and career increases, this is one skill that will never let you down. Having a ‘gift of the gab’ helps but the intent to be servile is more important. Sometimes, restraint in expressing your opinion before your superior may get you more rewards than what a few words will.
If you cannot speak you can always demonstrate through actions. Like standing with your hands folded and head down in front of your superior, even when there are several empty chairs. Waiting for the boss to complete his task to join for lunch and if he decides to have a sandwich, you also order one, even though you feel like a full meal. Carrying the boss’s bag or opening the car door goes a long way in establishing one’s credentials as a chamcha.
More than the skills of communication, the skills of perception are more valuable. It is important to perceive the driving force of your superior. It is equally important to sense what invokes fear in your superior. Using that information to selectively feed information and only that information which the boss wants to hear is a good starting point. As you hone your communication skills, you can fabricate news and information which the boss would like to hear.
As for the words of flattery, when one starts getting into the chamchagiri act, one can pick up easily from other exponents of this art who will normally be found around the boss. One dilemma facing a typical chamcha is to what kind of a disposition one needs to have with another chamcha of the same boss. Should one cooperate or compete?
I think cooperation helps. If you are waiting for the boss at the airport and the flight is delayed, having a fellow chamcha for company helps in passing time. Or when the boss is shifting house or conducting his daughter’s wedding, sharing the chores with other chamchas can reduce the burden a bit. Sharing the expenditure of that birthday cake or that garland for boss’s award may lessen the dent on one’s wallet. One thing to remember is just like one must never let go an opportunity to praise the boss, when you find your boss alone, never let go an opportunity to bad-mouth that upstart fellow chamcha.
One thing a chamcha has to be clued into is whether the stock of his boss is rising or falling. If it is rising, he/she needs to get prepared for more competition. If the stock is falling, then it is time to jump ship and look for the one whose stock is rising. Nothing can be worse than being branded as a chamcha of a has-been.
The pay-offs of chamchagiri are many times more than the efforts and difficulty encountered. You will get invitations to parties and committees you would have never dreamt of. You will get assignments which even you did not know you could do it. You will be given power and authority, at least on paper, which you would not know how to use.
You will also attract chamchas around you. The word spreads around that you are this blue-eyed boy/girl; this is enough for juniors to practise the art of chamchagiri on you. Why should you resist it? It helps in maintaining the balance in the oil-pool account.
If the returns of chamchagiri are promotions, good grades, big orders, what is an occasional lie or losing one’s self respect or looking the other side when one’s superior is doing something wrong or using you to get even with someone. After all, truth is relative and merit lies in the eyes of the beholder. Freedom, dignity, integrity are empty values good only for moral science books. Personal growth and professional pride are meaningless pursuits of idealistic idiots. Money, positions, awards are the real things.
conclusion
No one is a virgin in the chamchagiri game. Everyone has been a passive chamcha sometime or the other. Rise and become an active chamcha and give the other chamchas a run for their money. Beat them in their own game.
Nothing succeeds like success and nothing succeeds like chamchagiri.
Introduction of chamchagiri
The Nepali word chamcha has found a place in the English dictionaries of the world, meaning a spoon or a colloquial word meaning a sycophant and hanger-on or lackey. The dictionary describes chamchagiri as a noun meaning sycophancy and explains that chamchagiri is a mix of flattery, servility, sacrifice, obsequiousness, service and restraint and it is also a kind of hard work. To do it well, one really needs an aptitude for this kind of thing. Another explanation is, a chamcha is a person, who uses a lot of “Tel (oil)” to promote his self interest. A chamcha is a loyal soldier, trouble-shooter, henchman, doormat, all rolled into one.. Even though chamcha and chamchagiri are colloquial words they are very popular slang words in Job and in other walks of life. Whether you are a student, a trainee, a manager, a CEO, a supplier or even the PM of this country, chamchagiri of your superior is a surefire recipe for success. It fails rarely. The capabilities and role of one chamcha differs from another. When the boss is fading away, chamchas’ condition becomes quite pitiable. The Fear of the unknown grips them.
Benefits of chamchagiri
If you want good grades, but are not willing to work for it. If you want that promotion but you know that you do not have the performance to back it up if you want that prestigious assignment, but you know there are more deserving candidates. If you want that order badly, but you know you had goofed up in the last order. Then there is no better formula than chamchagiri for you.
Chamchagiri is an art and it is always helpful to start early. So as you grow older and the challenges of life and career increases, this is one skill that will never let you down. Having a ‘gift of the gab’ helps but the intent to be servile is more important. Sometimes, restraint in expressing your opinion before your superior may get you more rewards than what a few words will.
If you cannot speak you can always demonstrate through actions. Like standing with your hands folded and head down in front of your superior, even when there are several empty chairs. Waiting for the boss to complete his task to join for lunch and if he decides to have a sandwich, you also order one, even though you feel like a full meal. Carrying the boss’s bag or opening the car door goes a long way in establishing one’s credentials as a chamcha.
More than the skills of communication, the skills of perception are more valuable. It is important to perceive the driving force of your superior. It is equally important to sense what invokes fear in your superior. Using that information to selectively feed information and only that information which the boss wants to hear is a good starting point. As you hone your communication skills, you can fabricate news and information which the boss would like to hear.
As for the words of flattery, when one starts getting into the chamchagiri act, one can pick up easily from other exponents of this art who will normally be found around the boss. One dilemma facing a typical chamcha is to what kind of a disposition one needs to have with another chamcha of the same boss. Should one cooperate or compete?
I think cooperation helps. If you are waiting for the boss at the airport and the flight is delayed, having a fellow chamcha for company helps in passing time. Or when the boss is shifting house or conducting his daughter’s wedding, sharing the chores with other chamchas can reduce the burden a bit. Sharing the expenditure of that birthday cake or that garland for boss’s award may lessen the dent on one’s wallet. One thing to remember is just like one must never let go an opportunity to praise the boss, when you find your boss alone, never let go an opportunity to bad-mouth that upstart fellow chamcha.
One thing a chamcha has to be clued into is whether the stock of his boss is rising or falling. If it is rising, he/she needs to get prepared for more competition. If the stock is falling, then it is time to jump ship and look for the one whose stock is rising. Nothing can be worse than being branded as a chamcha of a has-been.
The pay-offs of chamchagiri are many times more than the efforts and difficulty encountered. You will get invitations to parties and committees you would have never dreamt of. You will get assignments which even you did not know you could do it. You will be given power and authority, at least on paper, which you would not know how to use.
You will also attract chamchas around you. The word spreads around that you are this blue-eyed boy/girl; this is enough for juniors to practise the art of chamchagiri on you. Why should you resist it? It helps in maintaining the balance in the oil-pool account.
If the returns of chamchagiri are promotions, good grades, big orders, what is an occasional lie or losing one’s self respect or looking the other side when one’s superior is doing something wrong or using you to get even with someone. After all, truth is relative and merit lies in the eyes of the beholder. Freedom, dignity, integrity are empty values good only for moral science books. Personal growth and professional pride are meaningless pursuits of idealistic idiots. Money, positions, awards are the real things.
conclusion
No one is a virgin in the chamchagiri game. Everyone has been a passive chamcha sometime or the other. Rise and become an active chamcha and give the other chamchas a run for their money. Beat them in their own game.
Nothing succeeds like success and nothing succeeds like chamchagiri.
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