BLOG UPDATE

Why didn’t we see the crisis coming?
An introspection into why this crisis dropped on us all of a sudden… and what the root cause of this shocking surprise was!

Hotel Atlantis… out of favor from IIM alumni
A campaign to get a captive whale shark released from the Hotel Atlantis has got the IIM alumni go out of favor with the hotel for hosting its first Gulf Summit scheduled for 24th May 2009

Today’s world… building perceptions of instant gratification
We live in an age when not only do we want everything now, the technological innovation and our lifestyles have created the perception that it is actually achievable.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH
It is high time we DO something about the way India is run – raw thoughts of a wounded Indian

Is India ready for the big league?
India’s candidature for the global power league… a reality check

Media in a frenzy to garner more TRPs
A complaint against the media for wasting prime headline space with crappy and unimportant news items that are just meant to attract public attention only and not serve the main purpose of journalism.

The courage to be honest
S Anand writes about how people and organizations need courage to be honest in their actions

Being forgetful during a crisis is hazardous!!!

One major pain point in times of this crisis comes from the fact that businesses lose sight of the overall business objectives while reactively maneouvering the downturn.

My thoughts are more in the context of organizations which spawn many other firms from within i.e. a holding company managing a number of large-scale projects.

BUSINESS LOGIC 1

Observation
When the times were good and power was directly derived from the size of the team/organization people commanded, every project was spawned into a separate organization with its institutional overheads. So, what essentially started off as projects being run by a single firm ended up being ‘n’ number of firms coming under one umbrella of the originating company.

Implications
Along with the size comes the cost of managing a gigantic organization. In the context I am basing my thoughts on, these projects being in a conceptualization / early-development stage were by no means having any revenue stream (leave alone it being sustainable) to be self-reliant as an organization. So, when the crisis came along… sustainability became the key question on everyone’s minds.

Where did the logic go wrong?
It is so very commonsensical that there is a maturity cycle for any long-term initiative that an organization undertakes. Firstly, a project runs on a fixed timeline (a start date and a definite end date). So, a project should remain a project until it completes it intended objective and then, when it seems to have reached a certain stage of maturity whereby it can sustain on its own and be an independent organization in itself, should it be spun off from the originating organization.

Had this approach been taken, the current downturn would have been far easier to ride out. There wouldn’t have been a reckless spending on opex in the past, no excess manpower to be laid off in a disappointing manner and no questions marks of the magnitude that are staring at us now!

BUSINESS LOGIC 2

Observation
When an organization was envisioned in the postive, growing economy, even the thoughts of companies not being self-profitable but being there for a larger good was considered rational.

Implications
Many projects have been undertaken with a very sensible big-picture thought of leveraging these projects to propel many other commercial ventures managed by the larger stakeholders of the local economy. However, when the crisis dawned, all this talk of “larger good of the local economy” was thrown out of the window and everyone was asking “where’s the money?” and “is it profitable or not?”

Where did the logic go wrong?
The envisioning of any organization should never be forgotten even in good times or bad times. A strategic project for the larger good of the local economy can rarely be profitable on a commercial basis. And if the dichotomy was not internalized by the powers-to-be, I guess they were in the wrong business in the first place. And by turning over the basic idea behind running a business, more harm might be done to the larger economy in the long-term and hence there is a strong need to stick to the basics and look for other ways to get these initiatives going.

Disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions about a business case I’ve come to know of. Plus, I have not taken any names here and so I shouldn’t be held responsible for maligning any real organization I am associated with or otherwise.

Why didn’t we see the crisis coming?

It is not the economists alone whom we should blame for not foreseeing the crisis. There is a long list of professions that failed to see the crisis brewing… from the road-side palm reader to the bankers on the wall street, even the academic gurus, the journos and the government machinery is also to blame.

But, barring the economists, for all others, it was just a side game. So, the spotlight again goes back to the “economists” who were relatively better equipped to smell the tsunami tide coming our way. No matter what different reasons these economists give about their blinding of this crisis, major reasons that stand out are
(1) lack of big picture about potential impact of any bubble burst in the economy
(2) capitalist inclinations leading to “capitalism is always right” mentality
(3) reckless and irrational use of quantitative models to explain their “works” without an eye for the ground realities

Although the relation between financial institutions and the wider economy seems so commonsensical, no one factored this relationship in their strategizing and even if they did, it was just a minor side reference.

So, does this mean that economists are not the root cause and that there is something more primary than this… yes!!!! It is the academic world. Having been to one of the hallowed IIMs, I have had a chance to watch the faculty closely on what they do to churn out the theories / frameworks / methodologies that
professionals and companies adopt sincerely without question. Looking a little deeper into this…. the paradox that shows up is that the academic work is based on economic orthodoxy derived from economist views from the early 20th century when markets operated in a different manner. So, whatever comes out of this academic exercises is basically an extension of those views into the present context. And the disconnect happens when a professional of the new millenium believes in a fresh economic perspective but uses archaic models to execute his/her ideas. It is so like putting a cart wheel on an aeroplane.

Quantitative models seem to be everything for the businesses… and the commonsensical ground realities were mere aberrations. How I wish we knew that these aberrations are going to drown us as well along with the models.

So, one basic lesson that I learnt was… “keep your ears to the ground while you watch the sky”! For any senior manager, it is important to go beyond pure quantitative models and understand the business environment at the operating level.

Hotel Atlantis… out of favor from IIM alumni

The IIM alumni in the Middle East region are gearing up to organize the first-ever Gulf Summit. The event’s main theme, “Riding out the Downturn”, is expected to get major business leaders from the region and outside to ideate on the global economic crisis.

Now when we were considering hosting this event at Hotel Atlantis… not just for the pseude value of the venue but more from an economical perspective (managed to get a competitive deal), one of the alumni highlighted the plight of a whale shark which has been kept in captivity at the hotel. Instantly, the group came to a consensus to shift the event to an alternate venue… and the Hotel Atlantis went out of favor.

Save Sammy Campaign

Recognized as a threatened species vulnerable to extinction, one whale shark specimen has found fame in captivity. “Sammy,” a young female whale shark, is being held at the Hotel Atlantis’ massive aquarium. rowing up to 65 feet long, whale sharks are the largest fish in the world – fitting for Dubai, a city trademarked for having the biggest and best of everything.

Sammy’s confinement has kicked up a global protest. The World Wildlife Federation launched efforts for Sammy’s release. Locally, Dubai-based groups and newspapers have demanded the same, accusing the Atlantis of profiting from Sammy’s capture. The most scathing indictment comes from Jason Baker, Director of PETA Asia-Pacific, in a letter reprinted, in part, by Dubai’s Gulf News. Baker wrote: “Removing animals from the wild and putting them on display in captivity does nothing to promote true conservation efforts and is often a death sentence for marine animals who are torn away from their families and placed in a foreign environment. In the ocean, Sammy would live in deep water, swim for hundreds of miles to feed and mate, and constantly feel the ocean’s currents…in your hotel, she will be forced to live in a virtual bathtub.”

I think we all need to express our reservation to this hotel’s wrongdoing by atleast keeping away from the hotel if not vocally speaking against it in public.

Today’s world… building perceptions of instant gratification

One major aspect of my life that seems to have missed the “revolution bus” is the elevators at my office… or perhaps the ones at the mall. I think they are a good lesson on the concept of waiting. Even though it doesn’t make any difference, I still end up hammering on the buttons until I see a elevator door open up for me. However, the difference it has made to me is… it increased my impatience.

And when I talk of user frustation, there is a whole list that crops up… right from the endless wait for the computer to come out of stand-by / hibernate mode when I want to get working on something important… to the water heater that takes atleast 5 minutes to dole out hot water. When we come to think about it, it’s crazy that we cannot accept those few minutes to be a reasonable time to wait. The real question is how valuable that delay time is to us in the real terms… what do we want that few minutes for? or what can we do in that time?

The whole world seems to be running like a clock in fast-forward mode. while I’m constantly amazed by the pace of today’s world and the flexibility that technology brings to our use of time, it is definitely changing our perception of the value of the minutes and seconds that make up our very existence.

What is it we’re looking to achieve…. fame in as little time as possible. Shortcuts seem to be the mantra of today. Look at the umpteen reality/talent TV shows…. blocking every channel for most part of the day… this has created such a phenomenon that ordinary public (including a rickshaw puller and a laundry man) queue up for days together in thousands just for a chance of giving an audition to the judges with no regard for whether it results in a praise or a ridicule. At best, this whole journey promises them a chance of short-term accelerated fame with no guarantee of longevity. No one really bothers about becoming the “lambi race ka ghoda”… the problem is that fame is the ultimate objective and now this has become to look like the most viable career option for the younger generation.

Come to think about it… one of the biggest paradoxes is the whole “voting” phenomenon. When we have elections coming up, there are social organizations and the Election Commission themselves who run around spending money just to get the eligible citizens to register for a vote…. and then make all means possible for them to cast their vote. If you think about all the struggles there have been in history with people fighting for that right to vote, it is just amazing that so many are now so passive about exercising that freedom. Shift frames to the TV shows… and the voting statistics seems to be breaking records every week. And lo’ exercising that vote actually costs people money. Yet we need encouragement to vote for free for something as important as deciding the political future of countries.

Can’t get crazier than this… huh!!!! We seem to have really got our priorities wrong somewhere… or maybe we have moved away from the reality. So, when it comes to thinking about our time and how we use it… it’s all about keeping it real and not surreal.

3 months…. back on the circuit

Wow… cannot imagine that 3 months have gone since I last wrote here!!! So much has happened…. all along on the global front, on my professional front and also personal front. I have so many things to write on… dunno where to start

Some topics that are on top of my mind are:
1. The global crisis and its impact on a middle-class expat in the Middle East
2. What’s the best thing to do for me in this crisis… continue on the job or go back to school?
3. Making marriage work… I seem to be doing a good job there [LOL]
4. The Year of Uncertainty 2009
5. Movies / Pets / Traveling / Shopping… experience-sharing
6. The upcoming 1st Pan-IIM Gulf Summit… behind the scenes
7. Across the Desert – My road trip to Saudi Arabia
Let me ponder over the coming weekend (yuppieee…. it’s an extended one!!!) and start somewhere…. meanwhile, sincere apologies for the inexcusable absence.

However, can’t resist confessing that this month (March of 2009) is a very important month for me… a month of perseverance and decisions.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH

It is high time we stop talking and start acting… nothing else will change our country! I wouldn’t delve into the pain that we have been through or the anguish of many others.

However, what I propose is an ACTION plan to target the root of all our problems – the mediocre polity and the irresponsible media.

1. Circulate this to all alumni groups that you’re a part of (e.g. pan-IIMXL, pan-IIT, pan-REC, etc)

2. Get a group-level commitment from the alumni leadership as well as inputs / feedback from these alumni groups

3. Create an ENVISIONING GROUP to finalize the work plan and roll it out based on self-nomination with recommendations from peers / peer nomination

4. Envisioning Group to draft the action plan and create discrete work products

5. There are two approaches that can be pursued in our action plan:
(1) Create a SHADOW GOVERNMENT (as in the UK governance model) to focus on governance issues – reviewing government policies, drafting new recommendations and providing a citizen-government interface as required
(2) Directly enter into politics by forming an independent party and contesting elections

The second approach might be pursued at a later stage but the first approach can be instantly taken up based on the action plan prepared by the Envisioning Group… and the plan is as proposed below:

6. Identify WORKING GROUPS that need to be constituted for implementing the action plan (along with the expected effort / proficiencies required for each of the working groups)

7. Communicate the plan to the complete volunteer groups to seek feedback and support

8. Incorporate feedback and then issue notification for WORKING GROUP nominations

9. Review the nominations and ensure independence (prevention of conflict of interest with current political establishment in a manner similar to what is done with consulting firms)

10. Create the WORKING GROUPS with clear roles and responsibilities

11. Each of the Working Groups needs to prepare their internal plan for actual roll-out and get going!!!

12. Alongside these groups, there will be a need for additional volunteers to run the SHARED SERVICES GROUPS such as Media Relations, Legal, Finance, Administration to basically provide shared services support to the Working Groups
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH… now can we please start acting on it??

WE NEED ACTION!!!!

Important suggestions from readers open for consideration (being compiled as they appear on the comments to this post):

1. The working groups may be decentralized across regions for easier operations

2. An approach of “parallel government” shouldn’t be followed since it might be short-term and might derail governments… rather we should work on studying various areas and providing our recommendations

3. We need to leverage RTI and other such provisions to demand accountability from the government and possibly strengthen non-profit organizations deploying these for the same

4. It would be good to make reccomendations on various areas of governance and then the risk of implementing it falls on the government. Once the common man realizes the merit of our recommendations and sees no action, the government’s credit is at stake

5. Need to nurture it more rather than marely putting it out on blog as just an idea

6. Some areas to be covered by working groups are: Security, Internal, Extremist – Terrorism, Extremist – Naxallite, General Policing, Cross Border, Terrorism, International Propaganda and Support and Other Socio-Economic Issues

7. Every citizen who votes for some candidate with a feeling of “voting for best of the worst” has an alternative now… as per the Article 49-0 of the Constitution, a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote anyone! If a candidate wins by “x” votes and there are more than “x” voters who have exercised this right, the poll results will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Also, the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them

8. One long-term measure is to enter into active politics and clean the system

9. We need to build awareness amongst the voting public on vital issues – healthcare, education, public utilities, economy, national security – and that is where these working groups can identify and communicate what the government is doing for us and what is not being done for us

Is India ready for the big league?

Oflate, India has been in the news for a number of positive reasons… which does give an image of we having reached a position of importance in the global scheme of thigns. On top of it, it is very encouraging to get outsiders (non-Indians) realize the potential for India to get into the big league. However, one needs to note that economic growth, scientific advancement through space missions or nuclear deal and international involvement as in the UN peacekeeping missions or the anti-piracy mechanism are not the only parameters to judge India’s candidacy. Are we really there??

Unfortuntely, we are very close to that coveted slot… and yet we are far away from it. The ecosystem within India has to favor such a move since with the position comes a whole lot of international responsibility and the challenge of sustainability. I must highlight the urgent need for India to focus on basic issues that still continue to seek attention of our policymakers without much success – education, healthcare and public utilities (infrastructure). The sustainability of a nation depends purely on its masses and the state they are in! This is where, education and healthcare are of prime importance as has been seen in the journey of the developed world.

Unless, we make sincere efforts and resolve these issues, we are not in a position to seek a position in the big league and more importantly, retain it in the long-term. But yes, while I might be sounding “pessimistic” on the whole prospects thing, I do earnestly hope that we reach there… and undoubtedly, this journey isn’t unachievable… we have the wherewithals to tackle these challenges – only thing needed is determination and a renewed thrust to address these!

Media in a frenzy to garner more TRPs

The wierdest thing I came across in the last few days in the media was when I came across this news article – Does Obama have an Arab link?

Why does it happen that when some person reaches new heights of prominence do the rest of the world go about finding some connection so as to take the credit? And the levels that they have gone to is now entering the nth generation of their fore-fathers. Wow!!!!

In my opinion, no way is my ancestry beyond 2 generations influence who I am… so when Obama is now the President-Elect of the United States of America, how does the “fact” (not verified yet) that he has a so-called “arab link” with the bedouins of Israel matter to the world. I think it is the irresponsible part of media who are out to increase their readership by using any vague fact that comes across their ears. I must in the same tone highlight the transformation of our media… no where do you come across a newspaper or a news channel which doesn’t have a war-zone report on the headlines… “n men dead – x cities bombed – this person y got kidnapped” and so on.
Absolutely poor journalism!!!!

It is high time the media rises above this and starts addressing more pressing issues… of economy, environment, healthcare, living, harmony! And it is also upto us… the general public… to not encourage such poor reporting and demand more responsible and objective reporting.

The courage to be honest

Source: The courage to be honest written by S Anand

Some months ago, I was working with a client who wanted to set up a website with social commerce elements. (That’s Web 2.0 in fancy words.) They only seemed to have a very rough idea of what they wanted, so asked them right at the start of the meeting: “Why do you want social commerce?”

Their answer was interesting, and one that I had not expected. They said, “We want to project the image of an honest an open organisation.”

Hmm. Fair enough.

So we went on with the meeting, discussing what they could do with blogs, how commenting would work, and so on. The main thing was to open up the site for the bank’s customers to talk freely.

At some point, one of the client’s team indicated that profanity and abusive comments would need to be filtered out, so moderation becomes important. “We don’t want to become liable for content that is on our site.”

Fair point. While discussing that, another chipped in, saying “True. We will also need to monitor negative comments. We don’t want our site to have negative comments about our products.”

A brief silence.

Many nods.

And the conversation continued.

I was too stunned to butt in immediately. But after a few minutes, I raised the point about negative comments. “You want to project the image of an honest and open organisation. If you filter out comments that say anything bad about you, how are you going to achieve that?”

They thought for a short while, and someone said: “Yes, the users will probably find out about it.”

You can’t project an honest image unless you are honest. That means being honest about the good as well as the bad. Honesty is irrelevant for good news — no one lies about good news. Are you honest when delivering bad news? That requires courage.

This is worrisome. Someone saying “We don’t want negative comments” is a bit of an issue. But also worrying is their reason for why not. I had hoped that it would be “That’s not what an open an honest organisation does”. Instead, it was “The users will probably find out about it.”

This sort of behaviour stems from insecurity. It’s what keeps us late at work, not want to be the first to leave. It’s what makes us say “Yes” to things we would really rather say “No” to.

I remember a time when we were making slides late in the night. I finished mine quickly, and took printouts for the project leader to review. He word-smithed it on paper, I typed it back in, and took a printout again. (Yeah, he could’ve edited it himself. But…) And when all of that’s done, I’m still waiting, not wanting to “leave the team behind”. I’m a team player after all.

It’s like drugs. You want to fit in. Be a team player. If the team’s doing it, you do it too.

These days, I’m the first to leave from work. Sometimes, it’s late when I leave, but I’m always the first to leave. And it hasn’t made any difference. At least not that I can tell.

A lot of the fear is in the mind, frankly.

There also was a time when I couldn’t say “No”. When I left BCG, I spoke to a partner during an exit interview about how I wanted to work less hours. He thought the problem was more fundamental.

“Anand, knowing you, you’re the kind of person that will end up working hard no matter where you are. So will the move really make a difference?”

“The difference, James, is that here I’ve set up an expectation of saying ‘Yes’. I’ve gotten into the habit, and I’ve gotten others into the habit. At least in a new place, I’ll have a fresh start and set new expectations.”

That’s happened, fortunately. These days, I consistently say ‘No’. With some folks, it’s easy.

“Anand, would you be able to help out with this?”

“No, sorry.” (with an “please excuse me” smile on my face.)

Some people still scare me, though. (These are the aggressive Type A personalities that it is my occasional misfortune to come in contact with.) And when it does, I lie.

“Anand, we need this proposal out by Monday. Could you help out over the weekend?”

“Sorry, have plans for the weekend. I’m visiting a cousin at Brighton.”

No, I don’t have a cousin at Brighton. I’m just scared to just say, “Sorry”. It didn’t matter, though. The fear is real, but it still is only in your mind.

It’s the same with businesses. We’re collectively scared to admit something’s wrong with us, or that we can’t do something. I went for a meeting with a partner recently. The client mistook us for operations consultants. (We’re IT consultants.) So he asked us what operations experience we have. Our response should’ve been “None. We’re IT consultants.”

Instead, our response was “Oh, we have several years of experience in the organisation. We’re this, we’re that, we’re great.”

I don’t think we’d have been thought less of if we’d said “None”. And we were found out in the next meeting anyway.

It’s the same about opening up to negative comments. If somebody makes a negative comment, it’s okay! Not that many people care. Hushing it up makes it worse (like for instance with BA and Virgin recently). Lying about it might work, but only for a while. The real problem with lying not that you might get caught out — it’s that you’ll get into the habit and in the long run, will get caught out.

For me, the best cure for this sort of fear is the firm belief that the world cares a lot less about us than we think. It’s okay to be a loser. No one cares but us. But it’s less okay to be a liar.

US Elections: Lessons for India

The world’s celebration on the US presidential elections finale is over… but one question that lingers on my mind is, “Can we Indians learn something from this and transform India?” Of and on, I and so many other expressionists have cribbed about the mediocre polity plauging India that it is high time we draw a few lessons from such experiences.

Some of the striking outcomes of the US presidential elections have been:
1. Race, creed, religion, ethnicity are no longer the factors amongst voters
2. Character, education, persuasiveness and far-sightedness of the candidates seems to rule over the voters’ minds
3. Age is another important decisive factor with voters going for the youth instead of the grey-haired
4. Voters seem to have more faith in people who have come up in life through struggles but have still shown their grit to fulfil their dreams

The lessons for India are equally simple…. we need to weed away the religion-caste divisions and rise above that. Unlike the order of the day where the average age of a politician is in the mid-40s, it is high time we start encouraging and supporting the young political entrants. More importantly, it is not just the age which should decide their candidature but the assets they bring to the table in terms of their character, education, communication skills and more importantly their independent thoughts to work for a common good.

Hope we Indians get to see a major political revolution back home… with the rise of some dynamic, intellectual and young politicians rising to the helm to get back India on the track of growth and prosperity. Amen!

Delivering on the “change” promise

The paralyzing wait for the entire world is over… Obama has come out victorious riding on the mainstay of the election campaign, CHANGE! It was indeed very surprising to see that in the last weeks of the campaign, both the reds and blues were harping on the same theme… time and again.

Perhaps they had realized the frustration of people not just within US but everywhere around the world… and thought it prudent to promise a change that would bring prosperity and economic stability – a change that is expected to make the world a better place to live in. Haven’t we heard this cliche ending before…. “make the world a better place to live in”??

However, the majority of the voters found Obama’s call to be more genuine and trustworthy. Needless to say that this communication of change was an implicit admission of the failure of the current administration. And the significance of this election was also in its relevance to the global community… the world fraternity keenly followed the almost two-year old campaign (take me… this was the first news item I looked at every day in the last few months) and its unique status in the global framework made us look at the polls with a sense of optimism and hope.

Now, with change ruling the voters’ decision, the world expects to see the return of the good ol’ days when the US administration’s actions were dictated by compassion and world brotherhood rather than by prejudices, religious bias and petty vested interest that has only created chaos, violence, disorder and human despair. The best thing is to hold Obama by his words spoken at his victory speech in Illinois…. where he promised to revive the old doctrine of “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

But then, will change really happen?

It is worth admitting that Obama has no luxury of learning before delivering on his new role… What he has got on his plate is a mess which he needs to clean up. And while he waits for Inauguration Day to formally get into the White House, it is absolutely necessary for him to do the groundwork right away.

And knowing that the American voters really want a positive change… a change that will reposition themselves to lead the global framework, Obama has no choice but to go by his election promises. With the financial crisis reaching its depths in the next 2 months, by the time he gets into office in January, it would have started shaping up… the upward path!!! So, it is an apt moment for him to see opportunity in this mess and make himself also a political hero from this semi-automatic recovery!Bottomline, change will happen but in a step manner… with no sudden and rapid challenge to status-quo.

And if one asks me what should be on the top of his to-do list, I would recommend:
1. Financial reforms
2. Global peace dialogue
3. Environmental correction

No matter whatever he undertakes on his presidential agenda, the world expects him to stand by the basic leadership values of integrity, fairness and humility. These values will truly make him deliver the promises he has kept to the global community.

FASHION… a behind-the-scenes look

An absolutely hard-hitting behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry… what with all the fake apparel designs, corporates calling the shots, the “wild” lifestyles, dope, casting couch, anxiety-behind-the-smiling-face!!! This movie attempts to portray the inner details of how the fashion industry work… how a middle-class girl’s dreams go overboard and how in her quest to fulfil her dreams, she comprises on the familial tapestry that actually was her support backbone.

Wouldn’t share the story details… but then would admit that inspite of Priyanka Chopra (as Meghna Mathur) being in the lead role, some other supporting actors took the honors… Kangna Raut and “Spare-me-the-horror” lispy designer (don’t know his real name). Though Madhur Bhandarkar, like every (yes, every) filmmaker puts the disclaimer of this movie not being reflective of any real-life character, I could gather from my sources that the role played by Kangna is based on model Carol Gracias (the wardrobe malfunction) while Priyanka’s role is inspired by the lives of models Alecia Raut and Shivani Kapoor.

Even the pain of being a long film (almost 3 hours… BTW I heard Madhur talking on a radio show about he having the script to make 3-4 Fashion movies but compressed it to one) didn’t let the interest levels of the movie audience go down… and all credit goes to Madhur Bhandarkar for handling this subject in an exemplary manner. An all-out “A-rated” entertainer… (yea, sad for Madhur that the censor board gave it an A-rating although I think it didn’t deserve it).

Expansion of IIMs… credibility at stake

Oflate, we have been hearing a lot about government’s vote-bank politics entering into the education domain as well… an area which was hitherto left to the scholarly and the academia to sort out.

First came the shocker about the IIT cut-offs which are bound to ensure that an applicant with absolutely no sense of physics would still get into IITs with some remarkable performance in Math and Chemistry… while his classmate who was in the top rung of the class with a balanced and excellent performance in all 3 subjects will still not make it to IIT. <Shattering of the Great Indian Dream>

This news was only a precursor of things to come… everyone knew that the other schools of repute would not remain untouched… and so here came the R C Bhargava Committee Report on the IIMs…  I understand that there are some very pertinent issues that have been addressed in this report which is always a good thing but then… the mediocre polity also has reared its ugly head in there. The vote bank politics again in play… increasing the number of IIMs and increasing the student intake @ IIMs.

However, being an IIM graduate myself and having experienced the educational system prevalent in the IIMs, I have serious reservations against the recommendation of expanding IIMs… personally, I’ve myself seen the value eroding through the years with increase in intake. One must understand that IIMs draw their credibility partly from the exclusivity… an eliteness that they bring to the corporate world.

And this “value” that the global economy sees in IIM graduates can erode very easily through this expansion for the following reasons:
1. Skewing up of the faculty-student ratio… we have to accept the fact that we cannot find additional faculty (qualified and experienced) to manage the increase in student intake… so even if we end up with more participants in the program, there wouldn’t be any good faculty to teach
2. The lower you go in the merit list to pick candidates for admission, the lower goes the quality of the program participants. And I have seen this happening with the recent batches… the same as what is happening to IITs right now
3. One bad fish can dirty the entire pond… so is the risk that IIM graduates carry. One IIM graduate not being able to deliver adequate value to the industry would tantamount to IIM graduates in general losing their credibility… and that is what happens when lower caliber applicants also make it to the business school… this will be the death-knell… the value eroded would never be reclaimable.

I think a better alternative would be to create new management institutions (non-IIMs) on the lines of NITs in the under-grad domain but keep the IIMs distinctive and untouched. Plus the second issue of governance… should again be kept autonomous for the IIMs… I think that is one of the key factors that have kept the IIMs to maintain the leadership in the industry.

Trafficomania… a global epidemic??

Every morning… the biggest battle I look forward to is neither the typical corporate boardroom battles nor the hard bargaining with the roadside vendors… but the race to reach the office in the crazy traffic.

Firstly, when I was back in India, I used to crib about the mad traffic there… with traffic discipline so obvious by its absence. I used to always wonder how peaceful it is gonna be to drive in the western world… a case of the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener.

Lo’ stepping out of India, I realized that traffic everywhere is chaotic… the only solace this time being that I didn’t have the “license to drive”. I used to merrily enjoy the fact that I can happily take a cabbie to any place I want (with the exception of the long wait on the road to get some generous cabbie to stop) and not bother about parking and other trivia. But, then, the exception became the norm and that is when I decided it is high time I get a license for myself.

After a difficult time of coughing up so much money for a VIP Driving License application… (where the number of Vs adding to the left side of IP decide the multiplier in the application fee… VIP costing around 4000 AED… VVIP costing around 6000 AED… and so on), I managed to get my driving license in the second attempt. What a feat… one of a fellow IIM alumnus I met at the driving school even agreed to my conclusion that this is more of an achievement than getting through the CAT for admission to IIM.

Anyways, done with the license, now when I got onto the roads… the initial feeling was of “exhilaration”… the pure delight of driving at a speed of 120 without breaking the law and mine / anyone else’ bones. However, slowly, the flip side started rearing its ugly head… and before long, I started feeling the pain of the Dubai traffic.

Right from the time I start from home for office begins my battle for survival… I have to get down an overpass and get onto the left-most lane on the road (5 lanes across) and all the cars in those intermediate lanes honking and some even daring me by coming close… and once am in the left-most lane, a new problem of other cars getting into the lane with no notice… and then the radars… I am almost half-tired by the time I get to the office. A trip which ideally should take me 15min in no traffic takes me 1hour with average traffic… mind you, average!!!

And by the time evening comes, I start dreading the traffic menace again… on the way back home, it is more painful… with everyone in a rush to get home. Who wants to rush to get to office early?
Mostly, I pass through the toll gates coughing up more than a dollar one each way… but then when I have to take the normal route, the traffic is chaotic and slow (slow is also an understatement).

That is the new global epidemic… that has been a cause for worry and anxiety for everyone on the roads worldwide… TRAFFICOMANIA. What one can only do to keep sanity intact during this phase is… to either hook onto the phone with family / friends (only with a hands-free buddy… lest you come and bang my backside with ur car) or listen to the radio…

Must thank the radio stations… for treating traffic patients free-of-charge…. May the radio stations and the radio jockeys thrive!!!!

Why should I take the blame?

Whenever any sort of extremism / violence / terrorism happens anywhere in India or even across the world, the first fingers point towards one particular community – the one I belong to. I understand the politicial intentions and in some cases, the rationale, behind this. But, the partisan attitude of calling such form of violence MUSLIM EXTREMISM (a religional tag) while anything else done by other communities only gets a REGIONAL tag… this is very disappointing and an evidence of absolute partiality.

However, above all this is the important point of understanding whether there is any religious allegiance for these so called “extremists” or “terrorists”. It is absolute commonsense that any actions would get a group tag only when the group ideology encourages those actions and most of the group either involves themselves in such actions.

The world has been living side by side with terror for a long time. Even though actions may differ from country to country, all terrorist organizations aim at innocent civilians and send their messages by way of these people. When it comes to Islam, Islam is derived from the word ‘salaam’ which means peace. It is a religion of peace whose fundamentals teach its followers to maintain and promote peace throughout the world. All forms of terrorism / extremism are unconditionally condemned in Islam. According to the Holy Qur’an, it is a great sin to kill an innocent person, and anyone who does so will suffer great torment in the Hereafter:
… If someone kills another person—unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth—it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind. Our Messengers came to them with Clear Signs, but even after that, many of them committed outrages in the earth. (Qur’an, 5:32)

Any Muslim who believes in God with a sincere heart, who scrupulously abides by His verses and fears suffering in the Hereafter, will avoid harming even one other person.

If this is what Islam is all about, then there is no way one can associate such voilent acts with the muslim community. In fact, all practising muslims denounce such acts and in no way regard these extremists / terrorists as one amongst us. How can someone who breaks the basic fundamental tenets of Islam (by harming innocent people) still remain a muslim? They are, in short, not muslims by any means of definition.

So, it is our earnest hope that we don’t give a religious color to such acts and that we unite together to fight this menace and wipe it out of this world forever. Only when this happens can we ensure that our energies and efforts are spent in the right direction… and not misdirected as it is happening today.

The American Financial Crisis — Dejà vu??

No sooner did signs of the crisis dawn upon the “market makers”, the blame game started… and with more signs of an economic depression, the game only got messier. However, being a market outsider, if you ask me… who is really at fault, I would say that it is neither the Investment Banks nor the Financial Lending Institutions nor the Federal Government nor the average American nor the global citizen. WTH??? Who would it be then? The Aliens?

Nopes, it is a vicious circle and all players in the market are to blame… collectively. So, what we see today as the crisis is a result of the greed and gambling of the investors (through I-Banks), lending institutions, borrowers (the average American) and not the least, the US Federal Government. The lending institutions created the environment… the investors took the bait with some help from the I-Banks… the average American saw his long-term dreams getting fulfilled… and the government decided to keep quiet and not even look their way.

This is precisely what in theory was defined as “neo-lieralism”… a concept which eliminates government regulation and oversight under the pretext of a free market economy with minimum federal intervention. Not that, this phenomenon took roots under the present US regime… it has been followed since the Nixon days but then Bush took it too far.

This economic crisis began in the real estate sector and spread its tentacles to the financial sector which was being its god-father. However, the cycle is not gonna stop there. In my judgment, these problems are gonna percolate into the actual economy… which will then break the insulation for every global citizen. And if u ask me, will the famous seven-o-o bailout
stem the tide? NO… not at all. I think it is just trying to push the waste under the carpet.

So, for us as a common middle-class man… what happens to our lives?

1. CAREER
Somewhere or the other, the uncertainty in our careers is gonna go up… either by our industry of work directly facing the ire of the crisis or pushing up job seekers in our sectors which are still insulated or worse still pushing the salaries down.

2. PERSONAL INVESTMENT
This is surely gonna be a big mess… after all, even a LN Mittal with his hawk advisers couldn’t avoid 16Bn USD getting wiped off his balance sheet. It is high time you evaluate your investment… and best, if you can divert it into a low-risk, low-return bank deposit. However, one question worth asking the US Feds is… who will pay us for the loss we have incurred by investing in the stock markets for no fault of ours? I know what answer you will get… IGNORANCE / at best SILENCE.

3. FAMILY LIFE
The biggest lesson for us is to not rely on “fake” liquidity and always plan our lives based on the “real” liquidity we possess. This reminds me of my dad’s advice when I joined IIM… and many banks realizing our future earning potential ran to us offering credit cards and loans… he said one thing – “Never fall into the trap of credit cards. It is not free money which you can use without any accountability. So better pay with what you have in your hand”. I did heed his advice albeit having a couple of credit cards years later… but just to manage online transactions. Nevertheless, I would give the same advice to all… avoid credit cards as much as you can and also try to plan your asset acquisitions (house, car, etc.) based on what you can afford… and not based on speculation.

As for the US economy, it is in a very dangerous situation… with no disclosure, no oversight, no transparency. The suspicion levels are so high that even a bailout approval couldn’t keep the markets from falling. Because, behind the big facade of the financial sector is the real American economy which has been the lifeline for the financial sector and that itself is now reeling in pain.

Other interesting reads on this subject:

Paulson’s Reasons for Delaying Day of Reckoning: Jonathan Weil (Source: Bloomberg.com)

Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals (Source: New York Times)

America’s financial meltdown: lessons and prospects (Source: openDemocracy)

Global action for a global change

In the midst of all these discussions about terrorism and other diseases plaguing our lives… one issue which comes into the centre of discussion with as much rapidity as it fades away is GLOBAL WARMING.

Now, when I started reading about this a few years ago…. I was bombarded with a number of terms thrown in – CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING, CARBON EMISSIONS, KYOTO PROTOCOL, GREENHOUSE EFFECT……. Little attention did I pay to these (owing to my ignorance and preoccupation with other things affecting me more directly) until I realized that these so-called terms have a long-term effect on me… and also that I am equally responsible for their existence in the first place.

For the sake of readers who might not know these terms, I think it’s prudent to put their context into perspective… one group which is doing lot of work in this area is 350.org. And this is how they define the whole problem:
Global warming is happening faster than ever and humans are responsible. Global warming is caused by releasing what are called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Many of the activities we do every day like turn the lights on, cook food, or heat or cool our homes rely on energy sources like coal and oil that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. This is a major problem because global warming destabilizes the delicate balance that makes life on this planet possible. Just a few degrees in temperature can completely change the world as we know it, and threaten the lives of millions of people around the world.

But we don’t need to lose hope… Any problem doesn’t arise without a solution!! However, the urgency of the moment is to curb this menace… before it would end up haunting mankind forever. Another dimension of this problem is its global imbalance… developing regions like Africa are more at its receiving end than the developed countries even though they are not contributing so much to the problem. And so we should not look for isolated solutions at a country / regional level but come together across the table for a global solution.

Time for us to unite again… to make this planet livable for generations to come. United we stand and divided we fall.

Blogging / Bombing… which is mightier?

This title was inspired from the adage – “Pen is mightier than the sword”

While I was reading the Guest Editor, Thich Nhat Hanh’s article in Times of India, it reaffirmed my faith in non-violent handling of terrorism by the global community.

No matter, whether these “terrorists” have a genuine grudge to take revenge for or are doing a grave wrong, I think it is important for us to understand the psyche behind these people. Just like how investigators solving a murder case try to understand the killer’s mental state of mind as also retravce the killer’s logic behind his/her actions… so is there a need for us to understand what goes on in a “terrorist” mind.

Am sure it would help us demystify his/her actions… thereby preventing a repeat action of terrorism and if we are fortunate enough, get these people in the mainstream society and reform them to become ambassadors of non-terrorism. See the potential there… just like how corporates hire professional hackers to ensure their system security, so can we hire these “reformed” terrorists to tackle terrorism.

Anyways, leaving aside my expert inputs on this sensitive topic… the main point I have been wanting to say is that there are different number of more “effective” ways which we can use to get ourselves heard… For instance, blogging – I have been at it for the last two years and this has given me a platform to speak out on whatever comes within my grey radar… and yes, it has also helped others question / answer my thoughts / views on varied subjects. Perhaps, if one were to make blogging more focused on a particular issue, it could possibly be the best medium to reach out to everyone.

Gone are the days of “Pen is mightier than the sword”… here comes the new one, “Blogging is mightier than bombing“!

What do you say?

The desi version of www.amazon.com

We ain’t talking of a fresh-on-the-block online bookstore launched by some IIM grad… And neither is it an existing Indian book store going online to brace up to the digital revolution.

Then what??

It is our very own roadside bookseller who puts up a stall every weekend morning to only pack his bags n leave in the evening… only to come back again the next weekend. The cycle continues!! Every Indian must have, in his lifetime, atleast once been a customer at this traditional book market.

I remember my first tryst with these booksellers was in Hyderabad on the Abids road where a whole pavement stretch of 2kms was occupied with makeshift bookstores selling everything from Tinkle to The Space Odyssey!! However, with my parents having a foresight of these books passing through three kids – spanning an age range of 3 years – they always went for new books to ensure they last. And neither did I take an initiative to go and check out what’s on display there. So, my almost around 20 years of existence in Hyderabad only saw me admiring the booksellers’ business sense and a thought on what type of books get to these sellers…

Fast forward into 2004 when I moved to the big city of dreams – Mumbai – for my internship. Having come to a new place and a city of this reputation, me and my classmates doing their internships in Mumbai ended up scouting the bylanes around VT during the weekends… I still clearly remembering crossing Standard Chartered Bank… and then Westside almost every Sunday. And since all these journeys used to be on done on Bus No. 11 (in our school gossip, this translated into walking), we got into whiffing distance of these booksellers eventually one Sunday evening. Unable to resist my curiosity, I went around looking for some familiar authors. Having read Goal in the library, I always wanted to have a personal copy… And so locating it, I asked the guy for the price… he said, it is for INR 100. I knew that the original version of this book in the uptown stores was priced at around INR 400. More so, this book seemed unused although the finish was not so professional. Didn’t know how to react… whether to be happy that I got a great deal or confused that I didn’t know the catch in this pricing.

Mistaking the confusion writ so largely on my face to be indecision, the guy quickly lowered his price to say, “acha aap iska sattar rupaya de do” (Ok, give INR 70 for this”)! I quickly recalled my bargaining skills effectively taught by my mom… to ask him for a further reduction. To my quote of INR 40, he went back into the book dump and came up with a used copy of the book and quote INR 45 for that. Oh my God, can you ever imagine Amazon digging through its archives to give you the deal you want… you give the book name and your favorable price range… and the engine draws up the right match. hahahaha.

As if this wasn’t amazing enough… I decided to put this book on hold and asked for another book… And lo’ the guy again jumped into the heap and came up with the book. To me, the heap of books lying there seemed like a haystack with searching for a book equivalent to looking for a needle. Now, buying any book was nowhere in question with me quickly getting to shoot my queries @ the guy…

Our conversation went something like this:
MOID: “Bhaiya, aap kaise dhoondte ho kitab ko is mess mein?”
RAVI (the bookseller): “Nahin saab, woh aadat ho gayi hai… main yahan par gyara saal se hoon”
And this guy hadn’t even crossed his teens.
MOID: “Aap ke paas koi order hota hai… in books ko arrange karne ka?”
RAVI: “Nahin aisa nahin hai. Hum generally category ke hisaab se arrange kartey hai. Aur bina kisi cheez ke, same order mein hi jamatey hai har haftey ko”

For my non-hindi speaking readers, the translations goes like…
MOID: “Brother, how do you search for books in such a mess?”
RAVI (the bookseller): “No Sir, it has become a habit. I am here since the last 11 years/”
And this guy hadn’t even crossed his teens.
MOID: “Do you have some order in which you arrange these books?”
RAVI: “No, nothing like that. We generally start with the category of books but eventually end up sub-consciously arranging the books in the same way every time.”

When you come to think of it, even Amazon cannot retrieve books from its online directory as fast as these guys flip the books from the heap. And then when you get speedy delivery at one-tenth of the price of the original book on Amazon, time for Amazon to rethink their strategy????