3 years and running

Was about 3 years ago that I graduated as a pompous corporate citizen from the hallowed halls of one of the 'premier' B-schools in the country. Like the rest of my 180 batchmates, we were told that we are this great bunch of people who will create a difference wherever we are. To use an expression from a professor when he was ridiculing our resume writing capability, we were 'god's gift to mankind'. (..that sounds so hollow)

Coming May, it would be 3 years of post-MBA experience. So today morning I come in, one of my batchmates puts this question to the group 'what has changed in these 3 years?'. While that question led to a volley of emails mostly making a mockery of the whole corporate setup, I think the question is quite relevant.

I am part of the cynics category who believes that in most cases, people hate their work (or if not hate, are just plain indifferent). They dont probably even like what they are doing. It is only the lucky few and the brave ones who get to work on something they love. The rest of us are all people looking for the comfort of 'security' rather than the satisfaction of doing something interesting.

So did the 'premier' education change anything in any of us? For sure, it did. My view of the world pre-2000 is different from now. In fact, I think rather than prompting me to do something different, it just made me so risk-averse, that I have become so comfortable in this life. The education did provide me with an ability to think in a structured manner which kind of also subdued the most important ability required - to listen to your gut instinct. So I know I will probably do well and probably lead a comfortable enough life but that is about it.

One of my very good friends, made a quote which I am reproducing without his permission:
"Life is a game of snakes and ladders'...
if ur lucky u get the ladder..
else you take the normal route one step at a time..
if ur f****d u get the snake..."
I thought it was pretty good....I am not sure if it was original. Sorry, dude..:)

I am sure there will be people who think that you need to create your own ladders. But sometimes this obsession with creating the ladder and climbing to the top kind of takes away from the 'living' part because you tend to black out the more important things in life - relationships, pursuing interests, maintaining friendships etc. I could think of so many things. There is no wonder that so many people are compiling the 43 things list as mentioned by Kiruba in his post.

Visit India?

Since the time I have come to Europe, I have remarked many times to my colleagues here that India has so much more to offer as a tourist location than probably whole of Europe. However the fact is that Europe is so tourist friendly that they get so many tourists visiting them. I think that is true for Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore.

Supposedly, the 'Incredible India' campaign is creating a few stirs. To me, it is only one of the campaigns amongst Thailand's - the heart of Asia, Malaysia - Truly Asia which are all really good campaigns. TV spots are all good but that is not enough.

In addition to the spots on TV, it is important that the government works offline with the people who matter to get more attention to India. More important than that is to ensure that the problems back home are sorted out. Today, it is a struggle for any tourist in India starting from the 3 hr queues at the Customs (I also have had to stand in these queues and I was thinking at the time what first impression will this make on these tourists?) to taxi-drivers and guides trying to screw them over.

Well, at least there seems to be finally some effort to managing these.
This report talks about how Renuka Chowdhary, the Minister for Tourism is actually driving a campaign for this amongst the people who are Customer-facing.

I must confess, when Renuka was made the Minister for Tourism, I thought, 'What? will a woman who has been this glib spokesperson for Congress really do something worthwhile?' I must say, I am pleased that Tourism is not being thrown to the backburner like every other government does and there is some serious thought given to what we need to do. Renuka, I think, is doing a better job than any other previous minister.

I just hope we manage to maintain the momentum. There is such huge potential in this industry and can really make the lives of so many people in India.

Bollywood calling

Never would I have imagined that Bollywood would be interesting to a country like Germany where their own language is so dominant in every form of communication and are almost perceivably xenophobic. In fact it has become so popular that there is at least one Bollywood movie every month on some of the German channels.

Friday, when I was going home from office in the bus, the driver asks a friend and me "Have you seen 'Sometimes Sad, Sometimes happy'?". We then realized he was refering to Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. He went on for the rest of the 10 min ride about the movie and how he loved it. Kal Ho Na Ho(Indian Love Story) too was a big success. All the major shops have these DVDs. Based on the success of these 2 movies, a whole bunch of Indian movie DVDs are getting onto the mainstream shopping lines.

I was wondering why these movies are catching the interest of people in Germany. Asked a few people. An interesting comment that I got is the idea that India has managed to hold on to its culture (based on the movies) in the face of globalization [Sidenote: Dont know how much these 2 movies are really about Indian culture].

In fact, I think Germany is going through a difficult time of trying to hold on to their culture but losing out slowly to the American corporate invasion. Given their dilemma at this, they are appreciative of the strength of the Indian culture and tradition.

I just hope that is the case. I think it is just a matter of few years when we will be going through this conflict in India and our generation is the one which will have to really struggle especially when the next generation comes along. It is really important we are clear about our bearing or else in a few years, we will be in the same boat.

Courting India

Yesterday I was at my video library talking to this friendly German owner there. He was remarking how he feels that the Indians in Germany at least seem to be much more confident over the last couple of years. He thought that most of us were this shy, reserved characters and that now things seem to be changing. Well, I unabashedly took that to be a compliment to myself as to how cool I am....

I would think to a large extent, it is true. At least people like me who are in that part of the social pyramid where good things are happening, have had a large personal boost of confidence not just because of the education but also the general confidence levels in the country and the image of the country in the world.

Anyway, he also made this comment that more than China, India would probably be the one to watch in the next few years. Well, I didnt respond at the time. To me, it has always been 'Great! we are on the right path. But are we doing enough?'.

But on the other hand, it really makes me feel proud that we are slowly in the radar of the most of the world as one of the nations to be reckoned with not just a push-over. So when I read this post on
Business Week about how the two aircraft manufacturers are sweetening up to the Indian airline industry, it feels good. And of course, we just had the Chinese warming up to us.

But I think in all, this is a good time for our politicians and bureaucrats to play their card well and negotiate to our advantage. I think Japan, China all grew to what they are today based on some smart negotiation with the US and Europe. Japan had a trade surplus with the US for a long time before the US realized what was happening. With China, it is the same now. Sometimes, I think we dont negotiate hard enough. We always try to be the 'good' guys and be fair and thereby lose out.

In a Sitcom

Have you ever felt that you are part of a comedy sitcom as you sit through some of the meetings in office? I think far from being a drab boring place, the office can be really a funny place sometimes especially when virtual meetings happen.

Me was part of this meeting where about 90 people were joining from all over the world. As it always happens, if not planned well, can quickly turn into a chaotic situation. So anyway, here I was, sitting and listening to people offering suggestions about how to run the meeting so much so that the only thing we could hear being said was 'I cant see the screen' or 'How do I connect?' all after 15 min of the meeting starting...

Then of course, you have the heavy breathing sounds on the phone and the poor presenter trying to maintain some semblance of sanity and asking people to go on mute. I had just watched the original 'Office' series from BBC a few weeks back. I could really get where Ricky Gervais got his inspiration from.

For me, this was the most hilarious meeting I have ever been in. It was so funny that I felt I had to make a post about this.

Flea Markets

Had been to a 'Flea Market' in town today (similar to a Garage Sale in the US). Quite an amusing concept where people sell anything that they dont want to keep at home. But the array of products is just amazing with anything from TVs to clothing getting sold.

I am not sure we have anything of this sort in India. Also will it work? On one hand Baazee (now eBay India) has become so popular selling both new and used products on the web. But Baazee does not require the person to be acting as shopkeeper in person.

On the other hand here, people actually sit the whole day with their 'wares' on display. I am not sure if people will actually do that in India. To some extent, I think the 'dignity of labour' will itself prevent us from doing this exercise. Probably the household help would be enlisted for doing this sale or something.

Changing Quarters

Two corporate earnings reports caught my attention over the last couple of days. Apple reported that their revenues were 70% up Y-o-Y. Infosys reported that their revenues were up 50% Y-o-Y. By any standards, both outstanding results.

Yet Apple shares lost close to 9% value, Infy close to 5%. As a result, both Wall Street and Dalal Street took a beating. The reason:both of these companies gave conservative guidances for the next quarter. It almost seems shareholder expectations are reaching ridiculous levels. Corporates just have no breathing space with every 90 days bringing an hour of reckoning. The 'American' way is so all pervasive now that no public firm can escape this scrutiny.

I guess all of this pressure will finally translate to the employees working in all of these firms. Already I can see most of the tech firms still trying to find innovative ways of cost cutting so that they can still hold on to their margins. Of course, many of these are directly linked to employee benefits.

The question is where will this stop? I guess companies will need to find a balance amongst employee well-being, looking after shareholder interests, finding new growth engines & a whole bunch of other objectives.

Catch 22

I think this is probably one of the cleverest books/movies ever. The pure simplicity of Catch 22 and the way it looks at war satirically is really one of a kind. I thought there were some really cool quotes in the book which I thought I will put here:

"...Let somebody else get killed."
"But suppose everybody on our side felt that way."
"Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn't I?"

"'They're trying to kill me,' Yossarian told him calmly.
'No one's trying to kill you.' Clevinger cried.
'Then why are they shooting at me?' Yossarian asked. 'They're shooting at everyone,' Clevinger answered. 'They're trying to kill everyone.'
'And what difference does that make?'"

"How much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering."

"'They didn't have to show us Catch-22', the old woman answered. 'The law says they don't have to'
'What law says they don't have to?'
'Catch-22'."

I think the book became the icon that it was just because of the sheer simplicity of the concept and definitely one of the funniest. I guess we could really have these Catch 22 type of situations for every aspect of our life. I am sure people can think up loads of Catch 22 situations in their lives.

For now, whenever I crib about work, invariably somebody will make the comment
'ya, everybody hates work. You are not the only one'...so I guess i should go on 'what difference does it make?' in Yossarian speak

Development at a cost

Yesterday was talking to my sister who has just gone to Kerala to my home town travelling from Mumbai. Supposedly nothing much has changed over there. Karunakaran and Muralidharan are still making a joke of governance over there. The communists are still a major force.

Over the past few years, my visits back to home have reduced so much. But every time, I start to think, when will these guys realize so much more is happening outside? I mean everything remains almost exactly the same everytime I go back.

Anyway, (putting down my nostalgia cap) my sis was saying that she likes it that way that nothing much really happens. The reason "Bombay is cool..lots of things happening always...but when I come home, I want to savour the true 'Keralaness' of the place..and dont want to see another Mumbai with the same sort of restaurants, malls and the like"

Maybe that is what places like Kerala should capitalize on. Develop keeping in mind the true 'character' of the place unlike in places like Bangalore where there is no longer a real 'character'. I think Europe does that quite well. Most of Europe (at least based on the places I have been to) is a tourist haven but things have been done up well enough to maintain and retain what is truly characteristic of the place.
In this article in Indian Express the author, a Pakistani, recounts how it was different in Kochi than in Bangalore.

Germany and Jobs

For the past few months, news from Germany hasnt been good with unemployment figures touching a record high 12% last month. In a country where labour unions hold a lot of clout, a concept such as wage auctioning on the web is bound to rub people the wrong side.

But to me, it shows how the situation is really going from bad to worse. Already, the government has reduced unemployment benefits which has kind of pissed off a lot of people. (Imagine earlier, you could actually refuse jobs that the government offered and continue to live on welfare money). Obviously things had to change. So now the country is on the road to a long and painful process of change.

This has raised concerns amongst the expat community whether the locals would become more antagonistic in the future. To be fair, Munich has definitely not given that impression to me. Maybe it isnt the case in other parts of Germany. Probably something to keep in the back of the mind.

Friendly Neighbours

In the recent past, there have been quite a number of good will gestures that are happening between the neighbours, India, China and Pakistan. I think, in some sense, we are probably moving to a more practical mode.

It's an interesting thing about China. I think there is no other country in the world that really stands up to the US & the EU. Now we have all of these textile imports talks happening where the US and the EU are contemplating putting quotas on the amount of imports from China (expected to have more than 30% of the world market). I think it is a good time for India to leverage this opportunity.

Of course, we never planned for the Jan 1st dismantling of quotas and hence we are not able to capture market share like the Chinese. But in any case, it is a good time to work with the Chinese and try to make up for lost time. I think, we in India, tend to become self-satisfied pretty quickly with our small wins. We do have some of the largest producers of denims etc in the world yet we do not have as large a presence as China has in the textile world market. Yet we are so smug about it but not doing enough.

This article from IHT speaks of a new era in the Indo-Chinese relationships. In fact they go a step further to call it the rising dominance of Asia in the world. Makes good press, but I just hope we act quickly on it.

In fact the thing I really think is true is the speed of action in India. Even though things have changed a lot, there needs to be a much faster response to the changing market scenario. With the state of coalition politics as it is now, it is very difficult with the number of internal agendas floating around. But I think there is a lot of optimism in general about the country which is great.

We need to take some cues from the Chinese for sure!!

Joining the Times brigade

I have been observing from the sidelines the increasing number of critics for the Times of India and the amusing 'Slimes of India' name. But I used to have a little more respect for the Eco Times which at least until last year, I used to be a faithful reader. I guess the Times Group have tampered with ET also so much.

This report is a perfect example of how these guys will write anything to get people to click on them. Other than the first sentence, there is not a single statement in the report which has any sort of relevance to the title of the report.

If it were not for the real lousy interface of The Hindu, I would have been happily reading it.

Why cant we get a better alternative to the Slimes?

Statistically speaking

Of course, the Pope's death is a quite a common discussion topic at the coffee rooms. After all, CNN did manage to cover it 24x7. Have a look at this post by Nilu where he rants about the TV network. Strong words!

I forget why I started off this post.
ah...So I started wondering how many people in the world look up to the Catholic Church. I ended up at the CIA factbook and found these numbers:

Christians 32.71% (of which Roman Catholics 17.28%, Protestants 5.61%, Orthodox 3.49%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.67%, Hindus 13.28%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 13.05%, non-religious 12.43%, atheists 2.41% (2002 est.)

Even if you consider just Catholics, it is nearly about 17% of the world. The Pope really IS a powerful position!!!

Passing Away of a Figurehead

As the news of the passing away of the Pope came out, the reactions have been profound and varied. To me, that shows the power of the Catholic Church and the significance it holds for millions of people in the world. I dont think there is another more powerful figurehead who can unite people from all around the world.

I have always felt that the Church is probably one of the truly global organizations in the world (not in any negative sense). In Kerala, where I come from, there are a large number of Christians. The Church plays an important role in their lives like for the millions of Christians around the world. But I am amazed at how a message from the Vatican percolates to even the small churches in the countrysides in Kerala such as a call for donations to a world cause.

If you compare the Church to a corporate organization, it shows how 'systems' and 'processes' are important in managing a global organization. I dont mean any of this in a condescending manner, but I think there are corporate lessons to be learnt in understanding how this system works.