DISCLAIMER:
I do not intend to write a white paper on ‘what is meant by JUGAAD?’. By now, every human cell in India is definitely aware of the term. If not, please start living in 2012. Awaken yourself and have a look at your surroundings, you’ll find jugaad in plenty. This article has been written solely for the purpose of creating confusion and is purely intentional.
Now, coming to the topic, JUGAAD!
Does jugaad mean creativity? Well, it probably could, since it is the art of doing things differently and making something out of limited resources. These resources can be time, money, people, space etc. Also one more very desi alternative to the term jugaadis ‘setting’. So much has been said and witnessed about this term, that management gurus have given it a second name, ‘Innovation’. But, many would also argue that this kind of innovation often provides only a short term solution to a problem. This solution bends all the rules and regulations and often, even the laws, which renders it inefficient towards a long term fix.
A result of Jugaad..!
Juggad is a blessing in disguise, which helps us save our skin, when the Almighty fails to answer the prayers of his people, the Janta. Think about this, when the content in our presentation is not up to the mark, we choose to add some attention grabbing videos. This by itself is a kind of Jugaad. Or how about this, many a times, we use jugaad to clear our exams. We divide the syllabus among our friends, each one reads a particular section and explains it to the rest of the group. I still don’t understand how, but mostly, we do fair decently. Jugaad rocks! One more way of seeing this technique may be called as ‘delegation of work’. It happens in organizations as well. Since independence, India has thrived on Jugaad. Many organizations, no matter how big or small have survived and are growing owing to this one principle.
Many corporates and multinational companies, also, ultimately resort to collaborate in the Jugaadu way with the personnel in power i.e. the Government, to get their work done. Consider the various scams that have happened in the recent past. All these were also a jugaad in some form or the other, involving various ministries. Since, these ministries were part of the government they are not expected to get involved in Jugaad. In such cases, the jugaad failed terribly.
Jugaad is practised by almost all Indians, in order to make the most of what they have. It is implemented in varied situations, by finding new uses of the existing daily-use objects. Just to quote an instance, every Indian kitchen will definitely have two to three Horlicks or Bournvita glass jars filled with spices like mustard seeds, salt, chilli powder etc. Even my kitchen has a Cadbury Celebrations chocolate jar, which currently stores incense sticks comfortably. Thanks to the length of the jar!
So SIESCOMITES, as I said before, Jugaad is an inevitable term in every Indian’s life. But, it is up to us to draw a line and decide the extent to which we would depend on it. Going overboard with Jugaad could prove to be dangerous, as we tend to think that everything in life can be achieved through it. But the harsh fact is that, not everything in life has a shortcut that could be called Jugaad!
By:
Shrawanthi Amruthwar
PGDM (2012-14)
The SIESCOMS Blog 
Good read.
thanks!
super girl !!
well written.