Trouble in Eden !

There was once a magical land named Eden where the Demi-gods lived, where dreams came true, it was a place where wishes came true and for little efforts, rewards were huge. The Demi-Gods were kind and admitted the mortals freely and for devotion, mortals were rewarded with gold, plush houses.

The mortals from earth could come visit Eden and live for a few years, earn huge fortunes and go back to their land much wealthier and influential. The Demi-Gods just wanted the mortals to make statues and to glorify them.

As the story of the mortal artisans making the trips to Eden became more and more well known, the mortals realized this was an easy ticket to ride. Several schools to train and deploy artisans began to spring up. Other trades began to be ignored, the sole motive of mortals was securing a gateway to Eden.

Like all good things, the good times at Eden also had to come to an end. By the curse of the sages, Eden was struck by a series of natural calamities like quakes and storms. Suddenly the demi gods no longer had the luxury of entertaining the mortals.  Suddenly the demi-gods wanted the mortals out, they began to see the mortals as parasites feeding on their great society.

The mortals were concerned, and once the gateways to Eden began to close, politics and opportunism began to take over, it was no longer easy for people to reach Eden. The journey to the promised land of Eden has just become a nightmare, with thousands and thousands of mortal artisans waiting for their turn to enter Eden, life just got tougher.

As you might have guess, this story was a thinly veiled reference of the Indian IT services industry and the situation in the Western World. India was fortunate to have an army of English speaking programmers who could take on the Y2K problem. Any one who was lucky enough or smart enough to catch the IT wave became quite successful, however the same cannot be said for the young engineering graduate passing out of college today as circumstances have become much more challenging.

Lessons from Iaccocca one of America's most respected business professional

After a long time, I decided to read Iaccoca’s autobiography again as several years ago when I was an aspirant to do my MBA, somebody told me this book was a good start. It did make some sense back then but it had even more sense now. Clearly reading the book the second time, you do realize the man has a very large ego and most of the book is written in first person, it takes pot shots at opponents and glosses over personal failures. Although it is an engaging book, it is not very objective and projects as Iaccoca as a superman. In my mind, the most objective business book written by a corporate manager must be ‘Who says Elephants cannot Dance?’ by Louis Gernster the CEO of IBM who oversaw the reinvention of the IBM business strategy in the late 90’s.

Who is Lee Iaccoca

Iaccoca was the son of an Italian migrant who went on to become the president at the Ford motor company, he was subsequently fired from his job at the age of 54 as a result of differences with the CEO and owner Henry Ford Jr. Instead of going home and enjoying retirement, he took over the reins of a financially struggling company Chrysler by taking a loan bailout from the US government and made it up and running again. This bailout package which has become so common in today’s economic scenario was extremely controversial in the early 80’s. One ironic fact, when Iaccoca testified before congress for a bailout, one of the staunch opponents was then chief executive of Lehman Brothers on the basis that a bailout was against the principles of free market economy. It is amazing indeed how times change so quickly.

Lessons for Professionals

Need for a good boss – It is very important to have a good boss to look up to. A good boss not only helps you to get the best of your professional capabilities and also helps the organization to be more profitable and sharper to handle competition.

Data is important but avoid analysis paralysis - Iaccoca is a believer in having good data and research work but it is not a great idea to wait endlessly for some small piece of data when you have more than 80% facts already.

Need for strong corporate governance - During his Ford days, Iaccoca talks about how the management regularly misused the company resources for personal use. The directors on the board often have collusions with the company executives which lead them to ignore excesses in financial planning. The problems faced by Chrysler highlights this fact. This point is pertinent as Iaccoca pointed this out in 1984 long before the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandals which shocked the world.

Lessons for Politicians and Economists

America is investing too much in paper money – Iaccoca in his closing remarks mentions that America is slowly moving away from a manufacturing and export driven nation to an import driven economy in many key sectors. An obsession with paper money was creating assets on paper instead on direct investment in the American economy. This point is well made as America has plunged into the subprime crisis and secondly the FIIs have been fuelling the economies of developing countries like India, China, and Brazil instead of strengthening the job market in the US. (Not that I am complaining about it, the IT industry boom has helped several professionals including myself to make a living and put India on the global map)

The debate about capitalism versus communism is dead- In the 80’s when Chrysler Corporation, the third largest American automobile company went to the government for a bailout package; it was severely criticized in the media and financial circles that it is a bad precedent. Now after the failure of the USSR in the later 80’s and the American economy meltdown in 2008 now question of taking extreme stands on capitalism versus communism is futile. You need free markets and competition but it has to be coupled with checks and balances in form of an industry regulator.

End Note

In the book it is mentioned, in 1980 when Chrysler was undergoing the financial crisis and was in line for a government bailout, the stand-up comedian Bill Cosby made a joke on the company's financial condition. "A guy was so mean... so mean that he called up Chrysler and asked them how is business?”

Two days back, Conan O Brien on the tonight show said“You know why Chrysler’s cars are the safest in the world, because most of them don’t leave the dealer’s store anyway”

The greatest lesson from history is that it repeats itself because men do not learn lessons from it.

The Order in Chaos … that is India !!

I must admit, I have been a bit out of touch from posting on my blog due to certain other commitments in life, feeling a bit rusty so forgive the lazy writing to follow.

India the world's largest democracy, one the world's oldest civilization and second largest populous nation with a huge youth population does look forward to a very great and vibrant future. But many historians, economists and many citizens see it as a chronic under-performer and condemn it as though it is close to a failed state. Let us look at a few common criticisms India has faced in the past 60 odd years of independence.

Extended Socialism Tryst and Anti Business Attitude

To be honest, India had the scars of being victim of imperialism and being taken over by a very large corporation , remember The East India Company, all our leaders were in jail and faced oppression from the British Raj, so there was strong urge to break free from all Western. It was more a misdirected anger towards all things Western and capitalists who exploited India as a colony.

So I would say India behaved like an angry emotional adolescent who did not want to talked down anymore and wants to break from the past completely. A case of throwing the baby out with the water.

The Pro Russia Stance and Non Allied Movement setbacks

It is a fact, India still does not enjoy the best of relations of US in spite of being a democracy, the US with its regional interests still views Pakistan as a key ally and does not want to provoke China. In the 70's during Bangladesh war, the Americans were pro Pakistanis.

India was like Karan from Mahabharata, when faced isolation in the South Asia with the twin threats of Pakistan and China with US taking the opposite side, India chose to side with the Russians. India which had strong socialist leanings naturally sided with the Russians who eventually went on to lose the Cold War.

Caste based Reservations and politics

The only issue which is very close to my heart, that merit does not get its due in this nation due to a large proportion of reservations in college/government. In this case, I have two points of views to be objective, the scheduled castes and tribes did suffer extreme atrocities in the past. They needed some economic benefits to find their feet. The Congress party which had the mandate from the people from 1947 to 1977 – 30 years could not give a coherent solution to the masses. The 1975 Emergency was the last straw for the people of India and Congress party lost its first Lok Sabha elections. In 1978, the Mandal Commission was set up by the Janta Party Govt. which paved the way for wide spread reservations and the rise of the caste based parties.

My conclusion, I agree Caste based politics is detrimental to the nation, but it was the mistake of founding fathers of Independent India that they could not address this issue in the first 3 decades and finally it became an emotive issue for exploitation. The funny part is there are poor people in the villages who face the Maoists and rich people driving in cars who have a OBC certificate who keep get the benefits of the reservation schemes. It is flawed but even nations like the US have suffered from apartheid, India is not unique in its problems.

Conclusion

India has its flaws, but the fact is India is a vibrant economy which gives people the right choose its government, you have a free press which reports events as it happens, not like our neighbouring China which is ruled with an iron glove with extreme censorship, The crack down on Tiebetans and now against the Muslim Uyghurs is one such example. The world is silent about these events but I am happier India has made slower progress than China, at least we have an open free society. India is finally on the way to realize its dreams with an economy which is robust and has great potential. Indian entrepreneurs, Tatas, Ambanis, Mittals ( Sunil and Laxmi), Premji and Murthy taking India to center stage.

I would like to end with two points, US got its independence in 1776 and is 233 year old democracy and the UK gave women the right to vote only in the year 1928 after long and bitter struggle for equal rights. India despite a large illiterate population and a large diversity in religion, language barriers and regional aspirations has remarkably succeeded as a democracy.

There have been blemishes on occasions but I think for a 62 year nation it has done pretty well considering the constraints and the environment. Let us consider the first 50 years like birth pangs and adolescence phase during which our nation learned the ropes. The new India is mature and raring to go. India was founded on a noble ideas freedom, social justice and religious tolerance.

Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come !! That Idea is India. There is a method to this madness and an inherent order in this chaos.

Being a second class citizen in a first world country !

Oscar Wilde aptly put it “Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious”, although one can be proud of one's nation but the strong sense of identity should not extend so much that one hates other nationals. It is fairly ridiculous for me to believe just because I am born in a particular country, that nation becomes the greatest nation in the world and the rest are somehow inferior. The focus on racism has emerged in view of the recent attacks on Indians in Australia and some murders of Andhra students in the US couple of years back.

This kind of identity based ideology has always lead to ugly civil wars and genocides, may it be against the Jews, the Lankan Tamils conflict and the racism discrimination in South Africa of Blacks and Asians including Indians. Although these were really horrendous crimes against humanity, the current crisis in Australia is more a result of fear and mistrust rather than a deep seated racial bias.

I would like to raise a question if it is really racism or other factors at play. I believe it is more a case of xenophobia – a dislike/fear of some one different from oneself which is a subtle difference owning to one cultural differences and secondly the increasing economic recession which makes them hostile towards India, arguably the largest back office of the world.

It is indeed surprising in a first world country in the 21st century, where education levels are so high and countries which have better human rights records, why do such citizens of this civilized society demonstrate such base violent emotions. For a moment here I would like to play Devil's advocate, to understand why would people from the first world countries hate Indians.


Racial profiling post Sept 11 - Let us face it, post Sept 11 any Asian person in a public place who acts a little weird sends shivers down the spines of our Caucasian friends. The fear leads to anger and anger leads to hate which finally takes more violent proportions


Cultural Differences – Indians hang out in groups, dont really want to mingle in a bar and speak their own native language that is a criticism often laid on students here. I guess it must also be a result of discomfort they feel in a new country they kind of bond with their own to get adjusted intially. But my friends in the States, seem to have only desi friends not even good foreign acquaintances. ( I may be wrong here, people can correct me) This could be a factor why the two cultures do not assimilate comfortably.
But then Indians have always bad at inclusiveness, a group of Tamilians or Bengalis can isolate Indians from other part of the same country, where does an Australian or American have a chance to mingle in :)


Where does you loyalty lie Mate ? - It is ironic, when you watch a India- England match at Lords, all our NRIs come in smart blue Sahara India cricket shirts and cheer India beat England in their own country, they celebrate Rajini kant movies and the Pakistanis scream Pakistan zindabad in a must win match for England in the T-20 World Cup match. I am sure this kind of disloyalty is not going to win hearts in the home country.


Its about the money honey – No one really cares if immigrants live here, only when the sinking feeling beings to start that, we are getting marginalized in our own backyard leads to instant hatred towards the outsiders, The fact that the Australian GDP growth has dropped to 0.3% and people cheering Obama on when he imposes work permit restrictions while advocating free market economy for all other goods ( talk about double standards, perhaps better left for another blogpost )


These are perhaps a few reasons, why Indians aboard are hated, although any form of violence cannot be justified and it is condemnable in all forms. However, There is introspection needed on both sides to see how in this era of globalization, this sort of nation based identity can be diluted and we see each other as just as human beings. The world economy has moved irrecoverably wherein the boundaries between nations have been breached, so people need to break those boundaries in their hearts as well.

Although I do feel sympathy for Indians abroad, I do also believe we need to get our act together at home as well, wherein students from Bihar UP are beaten in Mumbai for wanting to appear in Railway Examinations, a shame considering we being villians at home and calling foul abroad. Kind of ironic isnt it ?

Some Things are learnt Better with a Bloody Nose

The last couple of weeks of December was a wonderful vacation back home, so I even took a break from blogging so as to completely stay clear of any sort of mental exertion. I guess considering how 2008 panned out, not many people could say happy new year with any sort of conviction or happiness. It was not just the shadow of the Mumbai Terror attacks but a series of catastrophes plaguing Mother Earth this year. As just a recap how the giants tumbled this year and how the ground shook below our feet.

U.S

The adage if US sneezes the World catches a cold was stretched to the limits, sub prime crisis collapse with Bear Sterns, Freddie Mac and Fannie May meltdown leading the way for more disasters like Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch collapsing virtually on the same day sent out tremors which will experienced for the great part of the near future. It was ironic, the economy which was earlier this year facing the pressure of high oil prices saw the drip in oil prices from $140 per barrel to fall below $40 per barrel in a matter of six months. I guess now packaged drinking water is much more costly than oil now in the United States now. The host of industries lined up for Federal Aid which including the ailing auto companies which most analysts are convinced are beyond help unless some urgent action is not taken again to reform the operations of the companies. In 2008, US did not any need an external enemy, the self inflicted financial terrorism took its own toll apart from its losses of troops and material in Iraq and Afghanistan.

China

This year, even China has its share of pain, although the impact of global recession on China has not discussed in detail so far, the direct human tragedy which was evident from the earthquakes which took place. Earlier in the year, Tibetan protesters were able to successful in utilizing the Olympics to show case their cause by disturbing the Olympic flame in certain nations and in the riots which took place reflected the underlying unrest in this mighty nation. The iron curtain style of controlling information regarding the milk contamination and the control on the Internet did not exactly cover China in glory this year.

India

India had its share of troubles this year, if the first part of year was marked with the increasing inflation and the serial blasts in several cities across the country was disturbing enough, the stock market crash was a terrible blow. Although Indian economy has strong fundamentals, the impact of global recession has began to show in the companies and in their HR policy. The Mumbai Terror Attacks was like the proverbial last nail in the coffin making this year immensely forgettable.

Well you can imagine how bad this year was, in cricket too, Aussies lost their aura of invincibility in losing first to the Indians and then to South Africa.

Not that it was a bad thing, on this perhaps slightly positive note let us look at the lessons from this year.

• There are events which are beyond our wildest imagination which can go horribly wrong
• No one is invincible and every body needs help
  
• Patience and staying united are key to finding solutions
  
• Goals must be set for the long term and ability to endure pain in the short term
  

Let us hope that 2009 is much better than the last year but if we do not learn from previous year, I am sure 2009 would not be much different as the title of the post goes, some lessons are best learnt with a bloody nose.Anyways the Satyam scandal is not exactly a perfect start to the year. To end on a positive quote, from a great movie, 'The Shawshank Redemption'

Fear can take you prisoner. Hope can set you free...

The tale of two presidents ....

The history of a nation can perhaps be narrated best by the story of its leader, perhaps that is why it is called HIStory. (Please pardon my insensitivity toward gender neutral language but that is the word in the Dictionary) 

This is the tale of two great democracies of the world, one the world's largest super power and the other largest democracy and knowledge industry powerhouse. The leaders I have chosen  to discuss are not the most historic figures like George Washington or Mahatma Gandhi, but rather because their lives of the two men is represents their nations' history in the second half of the 20th century. 

Birth 

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4th 1961 to a Caucasian American woman and a Kenyan gentleman which was a fairly short lived marriage and the son saw his father just once after the divorce. He went to spend years of his  childhood in Indonesia with his step father and mother.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was born on October 15th 1931 to a Muslim family at Rameshwaram in South India. The family business was to rent boats to local fishermen for a living. 

The time they were born, both countries were in the midst of a social revolution and  poised on the cusp of a dramatic change.  In India it was Independence movement lead by Mahatma Gandhi and the growing civil rights for Afro-Americans protests led by Martin Luther King in the States. 

The impact of the movements did help both the men meet their destinies in lot of ways.

Intial Career 

A 16 year old Abdul Kalam could walk in a free India specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology and joined ISRO. He went on to play a crucial role in India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 making India an exclusive member of Space Club. 

Barack Obama  went on to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review ( First black president here too ). Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate.

APJ Kalam rose in the ranks as scientist and its is considered the ISRO, DRDO and few other research institutions which are purely meritocracy driven organisations with minimum interference from the bureaucracts which explains why they have stood the test of time. He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles. 

The break through moment 

Kalam became a house hold name with the success of Pokran II nuclear blasts and the term 'missile man' of india was coined by the media. He became the symbol of modern India's intellect and military might. 

Obama came into the limelight with his key note address in the Democratic Party Convention where he spoke in favour of John Kerry and when he came out heavily down on President Bush and advocated the need for CHANGE, The folks in the democratic convention stood up and took notice. 

Rise to Power 

Dr Kalam rise to the presidency is a telling comment on the vote bank politics Indian politicians have perfected. The BJP lead proposed his name so that they could take claim to the nuclear bomb and parties like Congress, SP and Mayawati wanted to be associated the fact they supported a Muslim President to the highest office. 

Obama's rise to power is a far more compelling story of the US people getting tired of the same old politics. The people set aside both the old establishment candidates Hillary Clinton in the democratic primary elections and then Sen. McCain was defeated by a large margin in the U.S elections. 

What their tales tell us about the two nations 

Indian democracy is very fragmented with several regional parties playing kingmaker in central politics. The two principal political parties are across the communalism idealogy divide which prevents much co-operation between them partly driven by rheotric. A political career is scoffed at by the common man, because it is like a family business, muscle power, criminaliaztion and the black money which are the factors which decide the outcome. 

U.S on the other hand has an election system which provides state funding, primary elections and a fair chance for any one to run for president. By limiting the president's post for 2 terms, it is ensured newer leaders come to the fore and they do not have octogenarians clinging to power unlike in India.  It has its shortcomings in terms of lobbyists ruling the roost and bi-partisian apathy to world affairs. 

A final Note 

Dr Kalam was born in South India, which was far removed from the scars of the India-Pakistan partition which has poisoned the minds of generations. The high proportion of Muslim community in India is still under the poverty line and less access to education compared to the nation's average. 

Obama was born to a white mother and spent his early childhood in Jarkata and later  on with his white maternal grandparents did not see the travails in a usual black neighbourhood and was never denied the opportunity for growth.

The success of both men can perhaps attributed to the fact they were not beaten by the system in their formative years. 

India needs an inspirational leader to emerge from the grassroots and Obama needs to walk the talk and take America forward to chart the future histories of these two great nations.