Unmuddlings!!

Yes the gold medal haul example again – but that’s just one. The opening ceremony at Guangzhou, the lovely religio-festive and decorative artefacts [ganeshas, diwali crackers, candles] at awesomely value prices that have swept Indian [Read global] markets, the global IT manufacturing monopoly almost, credible story in IT/ITES, the strengthening Yuan, the consistent economic growth. That’s the real story. We can rile the Chinese at the roadside here, we can ridicule their communist background. Yes, the Chinese top brass – seem intolerant on the Dalai Lama issue; they come across as land grabbers in the Arunachal Pradesh story [so do we to some people in the world in the POK issue – but I know we are not ;)]. Many times we here stories of journos gagged and populist voice stifled [Tainammen Square]. Despite a partisan western media, these stories may be as correct as the above macro indicators. But the macro indicators still remain. A 150 crore or so people cannot be gagged and flogged t...

History repeats itself. It’s a cliché. But like most clichés, it might come true sometime soon. The wealth destroying saga of Indian Airlines Industry is starting to get replicated in the Indian Telecom Industry. Billions of dollars of the exchequers money has been lost in the past by delaying an exit to nullify a strategic advantage. Post independence, the government had to invest and nurture many high investment, long gestation services as a part of national building. Airlines, railways, education, steel, ship building etc etc. These were inevitable and were steps in the right direction. These industries helped India gain both self sufficiency in many ways and global acceptance as a force which can take care of itself and be accepted a geo-politics force. But then, all policies and strategies have a context. Globally, there are lot of case studies to show that government organizations create both social and economic wealth when they are there to hold Atlas’ responsibilities to b...

Its out in the open that the global ecological balance is deteriorating every day. We all know that if we continue to consume as compulsively as we do, the doomsday will come sometime. The question is whether it will come in our generation or whether we will beat it by a hundred years or more. The answer to this we don’t know – the secret is that we don’t want to know. Lest the answer should spoil our mood, and more importantly force us to look at the world, life & living, differently from what we have looked at for a almost 60-70 years now as a race. The massive strides in scientific knowledge have actually pandered to the senses. To shop to consume, to be occupied – is to give ourselves a perception of fulfilled living, while we hurtle towards destruction. It is all wired too deeply in our psyche. Where does the solution lie? One solution, it for all of us to go back to a 1000 years behind time. No electricity, no airplanes, no gasoline guzzling vehicle, no anti-biotics, lower l...

I have always found – ‘Tell something about yourself’ – to be a tricky request to respond to. I always have to fear of either telling too little or talking too much. Or for that matter, not contextualizing well and talking in a tangent. But then, I have write about myself. I don’t have a choice – even though writing a meaningful introduction is so much more difficult than ‘telling something about ones ownself’. However the fact I have to write [something or the other] in this pretext, makes me feel a bit better. There I go then. A wee bit of an introduction there in the introductory lines. I love writing. Writing gives me a sense of self esteem and space. I blog on every sundry topic I lay my minds on – either in my diary or [more likely these days] in my web corner ‘www.unmuddlings.blogspot.com’. But nay the world doesn’t know me as a writer. I do other things for a living and few other things for health & relaxation. More about me then. By training I am an engineer [I have a Bach...

The biggest reason for leakages and manipulation of the system are the operational related to large numbers coupled with the general apathy for community well being. The general apathy is a cultural problem [ref blogpost Survival vs Service] and would need the re-conditioning of the society’s psyche and would be dependent upon a state of financial and/or spiritual affluence for a prolonged period of time. On the other hand, the operational bottlenecks have a solution round the corner. Interestingly [fortunately too] while the general apathy for community puts the self above the society by a large distance – the making the individuals/groups involved with commissions and omissions justifying their acts irrespective of financial need; the same individuals/groups are eager to create to social mechanisms [wherever possible] which enables posterity to gain. A bureaucrat or a minister will be happy to implement a heavily funded project [with the satisfaction of making a healthy cut] even if ...

After a comparatively sedate start to the Asian Games @ Guangzhou, 2010 the Indian contingent has finished with the flourish. In the first few days of the games, it seemed to the ‘discerning’ that the Indian sportsperson are back to their true form. The CWG performance just a flash in the pan. The nation, particularly compulsively sports lovers [yours truly included] swell with pride with such news of sporting success. Looks like we have started hitting the trajectory and that means we have starting believing in ourselves as a nation. All the big talk about India in international for a is real, not a case of statistics lying. And India going great guns is not just the haves of the digital divide or the top corner of the pyramid. Going by the laurels from unknown mofussil towns and stellar performances dotted from all corners of the country, this is really good news. This is corroborated by the general confidence and high EQ demonstrated by the 1980+ plus DOBs. The under thirty Indian a...

I realize how seriously we take a place we visit specifically to see it – an event in itself, and how much taken for granted are those places that we can hop in an out with regularity and ease. Interestingly I had never wrote or thought of writing about Puri or Konark or Cuttack. Places for which reams have been and can be written. The history, the culture, the cuisine and the local chutzpah [espl. Puri / Cuttack]. Even more interestingly, I have never pondered enough on these places and their unique niceties to have them simmering in my cerebral consciousness. They are somewhere deep there sedimented at best; and at [likely] worst, I do not have the desired ammunition to do justice to write anything substantial. Probably, I will have to resort to the frivolous flourish of the might of the language as a cover. A point to note - I have never seen the Bali Yatra [Cuttackis don’t faint please]. The Puri beach and temple I have always felt is my backyard [so had the taken for granted attit...

This is something which I would have probably written in my private hand-written corner and not left it open on the blog. But then this unmuddlings is almost a private corner with highly personalized readership – that quelled the feeling of a flogged nakedness writing in this forum. Also off late am closer to following my motto of ‘Shamelessness’…which I had told myself and few others [maybe] almost 2 decades earlier would be the name of my first book/novel. Since then, I have christened and not written many a book by now. So my announcing the old name hardly makes a statement. The third reason for publishing is that – this message a trigger a train of thoughts of some. Worth a debate. What is being successful? What is the common characteristic or the most important pre-requisite for success? How does one go about it? These are some of the questions which have been with me in my mind for a few years now. Interesting for a large part of my life – I hardly cared to bother about wanting t...

I am the person who believes, that winning is a conditioning and so is losing. In that sense winners are winners and losers and losers. I don’t intend to open a Pandora’s box by changing the dictum. But then there is a winner’s loss as much as there is a winner’s curse. We all know that. Similarly the opposite of winners curse is a losers win. So the point is made. And the piece may end here. But then, it would be more of a tweet and not a blog. And am not twitter yet. So let me go on to explain the re-worded title. This is hardly any universal dictum and to a large extent contextual to the people and place involved. As an example, many times in sports we must of heard of a player cruising through an easy draw and suddenly succumbing in a tight match. Or the opposite, a player sweating out a tough match and then using the grilling to dust out the rust and play to win against tougher opposition. So there it is, my losers gain is the opportunity to reflect and learn from a reversal. And ...

At the outset let me give due credits. This title is a copy of the title of JNU professor Dipankar Gupta’s October 11, 2010 TOI editorial. This article has set-up a chain reaction of thoughts. First it gave a general direction, as where I should look answer to a question that was stumping me for a good while now. Second, it has also set the tone for further questions – ranging from the abstract to the real. First things first. We must have all read, heard, written, uttered the word Middle Class. Sometimes derogatorily and some other times approvingly. What is this Middle Class? – That was the question, which had always irked me. Who can be said be a part of the middle class? How can we identify the same? Is it good, or is it bad to be termed one? It started off in the late 90’s, when I was doing entry strategy studies for different products for different Indian and overseas companies. All were going after this 300 million strong middle class – that was supposedly bigger than the big e...

Around this time last weekend I received an sms…which ran like this.. ‘An interesting fact about October 2010. This has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in one month. It happens once in 823 years……’…..The message went on, urging people to forward to others…. Normally I press the delete button for such forwards, but this time [probably because of the mathematical wonder in it], I instinctively forwarded the message to a few friends. No sooner that I had pressed the trigger – I suddenly realized there is something potentially amiss. This situation of triple 5s, will happen whenever a 31 days month start on Friday. There are 5 months with 31 days and there is a good chance this will situation will happen more regularly than 823. I checked up the calendar and May 2009 too had ‘5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays’. So all these forwards we receive that evoke mercy [1 paisa per sms to cancer patients], fear [forward or else…], greed [forward and get magic] irritate most, maybe give...

The cover story on TOI today [Oct 16, 2010] blunts a part of the punch of this piece. But let me write this anyway. This morn, got to read that the PM had ordered for investigations to the questionable deeds in the run-up to the CWG. I have hardly followed CWG, 2010 but for snatches of golden news vide TOI sports pages – quite unlike 1982 Appu’s Asiad when I was glued to the Rohini TV from 9 AM to 9PM; initially at neighbours’ and towards midway at home [aka D48] - but was sub-consciously awaiting the sort of bouquets that Mr. Kalmadi will claim. Like many I was disappointed with brand India being taken for a ride with all the negative media publicity on corruption and ineptitude. Like a few I also secretly feared a terrorist attack like 1972 Munich Games, and the further erosion of Brand India that might happen. But then everyone’s delight, including mine – there were all smiles at the end. A good haul of 100+ medals, second in the tally. No horror stories from the stadia or the games...

Stewart School, Bhubaneswar. The spark associated with these three words, have yet been and will ever remain, one of the most cherished. When I try to explain and understand the reasons – I realize, that there aren’t any that help to rationalize the feelings and yet there is this inevitable intuitive delight associated with the 10 long years of schooling and almost 24 years alumni status. Glorious indeed! It was an honour to have been a part of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations- comprising pan Indian dance formats, Shakespearean plays, Science Exhibition and much more. I remember my moment of pride of having designed a burglar’s alarm for the Science Exhibition – where time spent over a few weeks to create a palatial cardboard house was memorable. Here we are. In no time are staring at the Golden Jubilee celebrations. The last 25 years have gone by in a jiffy. It is difficult to internalize that we are no longer a part of the school premises involved in multifarious activities including ...

Many times, most of us - either in a bantering mood with a serious facade or plainly in a rebellious mood – would have relished taking a contrarian point of view just as a end in itself. This often associated with an inner delight – a story that might be played and re-played to self and willing ears in the times to come. But then, how about toying with such an approach with ones own-self. In the process, turning on its head the self image, pricking it left, right centre. In one of my earlier blogs, I had implied that I might want to write something on self-image. This is a piece related to that. All of us. Full 100%. Sleep with a certain about of self smugness. A innate satisfaction that we have earned our sleep and our image. We actually sleep well or not or whether we will good or bad is a different issue. But we most certainly are often convinced that we have earned our peace and self satisfaction. That’s what is fuel of self image. That is what, fortunately or unfortunately, the ...

The entrepreneur’s hat is an awesome one by any stretch of imagination. The buck stops at you. You are the last resort. Period. That more than anything else, ensures continued self assessment and its concomitant – an on-going self evolution for the better. Especially if there is an implicit internal commitment to build an excellent organization with sustainable values respecting the eco-system in its totality. The outcome is story that run along the lines of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – I have not read the book, but do have an inkling [based on the assortment of quips and quotes] on the fare it provides. This piece has a limited agenda, though and just intends to target of at least 4 posts a month, in as elegant and useful a form as the time, mood and other self imposed [read conditioned] constraints permit. :) One thing I can state loud and clear – entrepreneurship is quite an enthralling thing and it is much easier than I imagined when I embarked on this road. I say th...

Can you guess, whom I am talking about? Which new kid off the block is it? Someone in Hollywood, or in the sporting arena? Or some maths Olympiad or spelling bee Whiz? Couldn’t really be further off the mark. The person who has caught my attention – is another old man. [The last man – to have caught the national sub-conscious with some endearing freshness was Dr. A.P.J]. Not quite a maverick – of which heros are normally made of. But a real solid hard core professional, with some delightful old school work and living style. The kind of people, who call a spade a spade. Nothing flashy at all about them, zero tolerance for corruption, all about competence and team spirit. Consistent track record of executing large, mega, hyper complex projects before time and within costs. To top it, someone who wakes up at 0430 hours every day, does yoga in the morn and sleeps at 2130 hours. The type of person India is desperately short of now. Just a thousand odd such people, 50 in every state – and w...

Survival or Service One fine moment we reply with a smile, at other times to the same solicitation we might give a frown. At times we respond to a challenge with grit and character, to some other challenge we instinctively justify the bending of a rule. For the better part of the day, we stand tall by our self-mirror as we adhere to the moral science lessons, but for a few [yet significant] moments we would prefer to go practical. All of us, - most certainly, yours truly – live in two states. In one, we focus only on the survival of self [or the vaguely extended self]. In the other, we desire to be of service to others. Every moment, I feel, all of us live in these two states. The difference as an individual at different moments the relative dominance of one state of over other varies. Every ‘sinner’ has a heart and every ‘exalted’ guru has a moment of weakness. Similarly, as groups [families, organizations, communities, nations etc] different states dominate at different times. Diffe...

Its been a good thousand years since I have written, yeah looks so far behind in the past. Me seems to have become a different person in the interim. Muted, morphed and almost wearing a looong whirrrrrrr by my ears. The buzz of female fatale notwithstanding. Almost a feeling of insanity - without the periodic cathartic mingling with the printed matter. Mind you – its not just not-blogging hello to my alter-ego or not writing some nice lovable letters [I hardly do the latter anyways] - I haven’t even read anything of substance. No, not even nuanced literature to sooth my nerves. But it’s the Phoenix which rises from the ashes….and yet again history repeats itself [or it promises – at this moment]. As I was poring away into my murky self, with a general sense of jaded distaste, suddenly something gleamed. A sense of illumination, [The idea of blogging was the effect not the cause] and it runs as follows. I am normally a jaded, irritated and low tolerance self, when am in a mono-d...

The first question is - what went wrong? Only then can we address the other questions better. The trigger of the poor quality was the huge hungry demand back-log for education because of pre-independence regime’s regulatory inertia had starved supply of education. So when de-regulation started in mid-90s in many states [who followed the 4 states of AP, TN, Karnataka and Maharashtra], any capacity was good capacity. The colour was glee. There was no other CSF for success. Just get started. So while one CSF [resourcefulness] became pre-dominant in, two other critical dimensions – i.e domain capabilities and industry orientation took a serious back seat. Outside the 4 states mentioned above, most entrepreneurs [or edupreneurs as I like to call] who got into were under / unemployed graduates looking for a career or small time businessmen looking for low payback period businesses and who had expertise in running unorganized businesses and who thrived in an environment that required rent se...

For most countries, primary education is the priority sector. This is the long term regenerative investment in the education sector. In India too, since the early 90s, higher education has gotten lower down in invest priority and understandably so. Large investments go [and should go] to SSAs with the IITs / IIMS and other premium higher education institutes are more and more asked to seek less budgetary support. But Indian certainly needs more and more higher education institutes, that are global powerhouses. When one reads that we have single digit numbers of institutes that are counted in the global rankings – it doesn’t just hurt, to me it scares. Unless we get this act together, coupled with the brain drain, we will in another 50 years be another vegetable case. Probably, the big wigs understand this, therefore in the last 5-7 years [after this long lull for decades] we keep hearing of these big bang higher education projects – more IITs, IIMs, NLS, CUs, NITs, IISERs/NISERs e...

Long back - almost 16 years from now - when I first read [to understand] micro-economics, the concept of first degree differentiation appealed to me quite a bit. A stated price for a product – is actually restrictive. Necessarily puts in the cost plus category. The key is to go for value pricing, that is have an individual customer pay as much he or she can pay. To make it graphic – the price of a soap is not bar-coded to the soap, but the to PAN No or any other unique no [ooops!!] of the customer. Different companies do it differently. Hotels have different categories of room. With a wee bit extra feature thrown they charge a good deal extra for a different room. Or an ERP co [;)] can thrown in lot more services to live up to the jingling budgets. Or our local trinket shops owners or auto drivers will wear an infra red glass and try to gauge the threshold limit of the prospective customer; some other smart alec – would start pricing from the roof and start coming down in small steps...