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.