"Meandering Pachyderms"

Indians have long been associated with the disdainful term “meandering pachyderms”. Also, in couple of forums on TV or otherwise, lack of patriotism gets highlighted. Sitting idle, I happen to relate this acquisition to my observations from couple of places I visited in recent times (US and Mumbai). In US, I noticed US flag being displayed at lot of places, in front of hotels, restaurants, adventure clubs etc. I remember how one of my friend, always ridiculous of India, commented to my childlike question, “We do not have our flag in India at some many location”, by saying that “In India if we put our flag on road, it will turn black in couple of days due to dust and pollution and then someone will use the cloth for cleaning its shoes etc”. An answer I felt uncomfortable with, yet something in me counterfeited my feelings. Why do we have people so insensitive about our National flag or for that matter whole nation itself? I do not intend to refer to a particular person; it is just that I meet lot of people with similar thought process. Are people the problem or is it the system? Something which encourages me to think deeper in this.

Yesterday, in an article in TOI about education in China, I read how Chinese students in every school take a 5 minute break for these National Anthem everyday, a practice common across China and followed religiously across all regions of the Great China. On the other hand, citing a similar example of promotion of patriotism and feel for the country, in Mumbai, all the movies I watched had one thing in common. Every movie started with National Anthem with audience standing in respect (I do not remember myself when last time I heard National Anthem before Mumbai). Perfect. We are just there. The only problem is that the practice not being followed across regions. No where else, at least in NCR is this thing followed. There must be some school promoting National Anthem. But not everywhere.

No doubt we are democratic. No doubt we are diverse. No doubt we are liberal. No doubt we have reforms. But can’t we have a system to reinforce the basic values back to the society. Food for thought.

Quit Mumbai Movement !!!!

Finally, finally the day arrived and I left Mumbai. Not that Mumbai is so bad, but tenure of my stay in Mumbai coincided with a lean patch of mine. My return from Mumbai back to Delhi is supposed to trigger a series of interesting negotiations with quite a number of stakeholder and is supposed to put me back to work, which I have longed for.

However there have been some positive out of Mumbai. First and foremost, exposure and taste of the city itself. I have felt a hidden desire somewhere in me to visit Mumbai once and actually feel the way people deliberate about it. A venture on Sunday in Mumbai Local to visit Siddhi Vinayak Temple, Gateway of India, Taj Hotel and Marine drive proved to be an enriching experience. And I can never forget the "massage" I had at Chaupati Beach. Few "massager" can be more cruel :)

Second thing to carry from Mumbai was meeting lot of new people, a whole new Offshore Team and lot of people from TQ. I fairly believe, TCS TQ happens to be "THE" place for networking across TCS. TCS even employ consultants from Manufacturing Domain to provide consulting in Supply Chain, Assembly line etc, this I learnt from one guy. And a funny anecdote from an Andhara guy during a booze party that just struck me goes as " All these Managers have criminal minds" :) Precise, Concise and Perfect. When will I be a Criminal ??

Finally left Mumbai on a "wonderful" Air Sahara flight, which with 2 hours delay managed to screw all my travel plan from Delhi to Dhuri. Sticking to my original plan to reach home the same night, I managed to catch a wonderful bus, by far the best bus I have ever boarded, from Delhi to Ambala. However the grill started at Ambala at 5:00 A:M when I, traveling since 8:00 P:M, discovered that flight delay was not the only tragedy to strike. Even the Express Train I hoped to catch is cancelled. And here I sit in a passenger Train from Ambala to Dhuri (my lovely home town) , estranged by all the people around me staring at me and pouring in my laptop to have a look at this out of place thing. It is irritating and funny as well. The situation in which I sit and write this blog, remind me of Sharukh Khan’s rare good movie, Swades. But seriously these wooden seats of train hurt :(( , yet worth an experience once if you have not .. Someday my experimentation will kill me :P

Budget 2007 - “It’s not a bad budget at all”

No, please do not go by the caption at the Top as my personal opinion. I heard/ read the similar views from lot of corporates honchos. The best one and most ironical from CCD director Naresh Malhotra " We are hit by the increase in commercial property rentals and will lead to increased prices. This will surely hit our profits. All this when commerce ministry is asking us to double to coffee consumption within 5 years" ..Wait a minute Mr Naresh. Who is bothered about your profits. Do you deserve a profit of 10% more with each Union Budget or do malnourished lakhs of children need water to drink, food to eat. How much better would a country be served by offering handful of pleasant gifts to honchos like you to better your profits and convince your top bosses that you are doing a incredible job. Laurels and promotions on your way and you will be out of this country to head CCD Global operations. How does this idea of "growth" compare to providing lakhs of students access to education, more teachers. Increased spending on agriculture, education and health . Sounds like I am forming an opinion here. Well Not really !!!!!

Two compelling yet opposite thought from industry "Gurus" lead to different interpretations of this Budget. Following Arindham Chaudhry’s fine book on India "The Great Indian Dream" this comes as a dream budget in itself. "He says if middle class is increased, it will create more demand and hence more growth". Increased spending on key areas such as Agriculture, education and Health. Industries such as IT, Telecom to be taxed more to collect the revenues and "Incredible India’s" achievements shared with "The other half- Pathetic India". Perfect it sounds. Isn it ? After all, what would a father having resources to distribute to its 2 sons , one an Indian IT Engineer (Smart, Growing, Professional, Well placed , Progressive ) , another one (uneducated, unemployed, incompetent and not able to meet his 2 days meal) do. No prizes for guessing it right. The Father would allocate the resources to the poor son and also would encourage his Engineer son to take care of his brother and to share his success with the poor guy. The finance minister has acted like a Big Daddy. Exemplary isn it.

On the other hand, a study on McKinsey Quarterly (could not find the link) steers my thoughts in a totally different direction. Some of facts stated in the reports were as follows :
1. Indian household saving is among the highest. Yet only 50% of people put there savings in government led financial institutions.

2. Corporate sector, a major growth engine of India gets only 43% of this money while rest goes to dilapidate sectors of agriculture, public sector companies and inefficient education system.

3. While it is important to address social sector of the country, history(Brazil economy) testifies putting money in high growth sectors would create more jobs, prosperity and cyclic growth.

Seems finance ministry has kick assed the guy who analyzed, complied and formed this report. Corporate sector has not been anything aside from the assurance or rather taking granted there growth story. Agriculture, public sector and education spending has been increased by almost 30%. A completely social budget with an "All-inclusive" caption line.

Now where do I, an avid fan of all three - McKinsey Quarterly, Arindham Chaudry and PC, go from here. Who do i believe ???

Whatever the views be "Chance missed to transform the economy" , "It’s a good budget for long term growth" , "It is not a bad budget at all" , "There is nothing significant in this budget" , n the best "it’s a kutta-billi bidget" I earnestly believe growth lies in Action and not in Planning.

I question , why cannot finance ministry form a team to track each and every rupee disbursed by center to state ministry and to local bodies ??? Why cannot they set up an institutions to complete the golden quadrilateral project by working 24/7 with workers working in 3 shifts of 8 hour each?? Why cannot a institution to monitor the irrigation projects going on the round the country be set up ?? Why cannot government develop a website to list the names of 1 lakh scholarships winners?? Why cannot government set up more B-Schools if ISB can set up a successful school in 4-5 years . Indian student go abroad to study due to lack of infrastructure and opportunities and never return back..then you cry for Brain Drain . Why can not an ordinary man know what is happening with his money ?? Does the numbers matter to me ? Does planning matter to an ordinary person ? No, results and an aggressive approach matter. Whatever be the budget 2008,2009 or 2050 as long as an action oriented approach is adopted, it is going to be same story. Year after year, budget after budget!!!!!!!