Indian politics : As I saw, growing all these years...

Photo credit: BBC.com

I remember as a kid, some politicians visiting our home at the time of local elections. 4-5 politicians visited us in 10 days time, to check our well being, requesting to caste vote on D-day and circulated pamphlets with their party symbol and slogan on it. We use to play with Party Symbol cutouts and try to collect as many as we could. At times there use to be party workers blabbering on a loud speaker mounted on an auto, roaming around carelessly in the colony.

“Mom, why are these politicians coming to our place?” I asked my mom wondering might be we were big shots and they came to take our blessings.

“This is election time, politicians will come; they will make false promises and hide after elections. This is the only time when they run after people and post elections, make people run after them for every trivial thing!”

I don’t remember if I understood what my mom told me then but now I clearly know where it came from. Traditionally, the elected candidates did not take the job of politics seriously. Once elected, politicians are on cloud nine and they forget the common man. A lot of times voters know that the candidate is not good but due to lack of choice, they are forced to vote same candidate every time. This makes politicians more arrogant. There are good people also in the world of politics but it is as hard to point them out as finding a bucket of fresh water from salted seawater.

In my early days, whenever I thought of politics, the only association I could make of it was with words like: Congress, BJP, Jayalalitha, Left, Mayawati, Bofors, Narsimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Nehru and few others. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM when I was in my college days. That was the phase were I use to discuss and debate about politics and policies with friends. And I remember I use to say that Atal Bihari was my favorite politician! Indeed he was, not only my favorite, even the opposition parties never denied of his aura and Charisma. My fondness was more to do with his personality rather than political views. He truly represented India as a country at the Global platform.

 

It was 2004 and Congress/ UPA came to power post elections. Mr. Manmohan Singh became PM and being one the finest economist and key architect of 1991 liberalization, hopes were high. At the same time there was pessimism because probably the country has already seen enough of Congress. And I distinctly remember people saying, “Now things will become costly…” “…Now country will take 10 steps back…” and I use to wonder why did people vote for congress in the first place then? To which I never got an answer.

History repeated itself in 2009 with UPA coming to power again. Once again Manmohan Singh was the face of the nation, to the world. This time scams and corruption became more evident and there seriousness multiplied. Out of hopelessness, I wrote a ‘Letter to Prime Minister’ to which he never replied. Though I am happy I expressed my wish and was not mute like him. Miss-governance can be attributed to weak opposition also who was not aggressive enough to keep the ruling party in check. Even the international press criticized Indian PM by putting him on Time magazine cover page with an ‘Under Achiever?’ headline. It surely raised lot of brows but then everything was forgotten with the passage of time.

And then suddenly, out of nowhere, there came Anna Hazare and the anti-corruption movement. The demand was to pass Jan Lokpal Bill in parliament as a mechanism to tackle corruption. After initial denials and ignorance government was forced to listen to Anna’s demands. It was a storm that shook the government. People saw an avenue to make India of their dreams, into reality. Indians were on the streets around the country supporting the cause and it was considered a big victory. News channels telecasted minute-by-minute proceedings of what was happening at Jantar Mantar. It was a massive movement and I never felt so strongly or so passionately about any movement ever before. Candle lit marches to slogans to dharnas, all peacefully.

Since it was matter of power, stake and survival some anti-social elements were planted among the working committee of the movement. What happened next was a series of opportunists, frauds, hope, exposes and dismay. Aam Aadmi Party was born with Arvind Kejriwal became crusader and projected as the representative of common man. Delhi elections were fought and in the history of Indian democracy, first time a new party got such a huge number of votes by country men. It was not a clear mandate but it became a coalition government with local people’s choice.

For the first time it looked like the country has taken many giant steps forward on the path of progress. The canvass looked perfect and beautiful. It was time for an agitator to become an administrator. It was time for the crusader to fulfill his promises. Though promises were short term like free to heavy subsidy on water and electricity yet people were swayed by the miracle of having an alternate in the politics.

Arvind Kejriwal promised to clean the system. He seemed to be Anil Kapoor from the famous Bollywood movie Nayak. But when it came to execution, the dreams seemed to be faltering away. Day by day, the way Delhi was miss-governed, looked dubious. The man who stood against corruption and exposed from CM to Industrialist became soft on a section of political society. The dharna politics became way of life. But Indians are always hopeful. In the game of Cricket, even if we would need 8 runs to win on a last ball, we would hope for opposition to bowl a No-Ball, our batsmen to hit a four on it and then hit another four on the last ball. We are a land of hopefuls, forgivers, 'Chalta Hai' attitude endorsers, Cricket lovers, God-fearers and not so politically inclined people.

Supporters of AAP ignored and discounted all the miss-doings of AAP under the name of inexperience party. But it became evident that AAP had soft corner for Congress with the passage of time. It was called a Team B of Congress and a well-planned movement to gain anti-congress votes in Delhi elections. In hast, Arvind Kejriwal quit CM ship and dissolved his government. The man who appeared as crusader, a common man driving blue Wagon-R, who gave hopes to clean the society, change the way politicians work, broke millions of dreams and hearts. How can you leave Delhi and Delhiets in a state of political limbo? Anarchy? Double standards? There are many questions that Kejriwal needs to answer not to us, but to the people who believed in him and who voted for his party. The alternate government, the very option seizes to exist now. There seems to be no difference between AAP and any other political party.

Ideally, Kejriwal should have stayed as Delhi CM and strengthen AAP as a national party over a period of time by good governance. The country capital faces so many issues, biggest being women security. He could have picked 2-3 major issues and resolved them permanently. This would have given him some political experience and chance to prove his administration capabilities. Changing the system is not easy but he had biggest strength with him – The Common Man. With passage of time it became more evident than AAP is against Modi and BJP. It never gave importance to people who actually gave birth to the party. Jumping for Lok Sabha elections shows that Congress wants to get anti-congress votes through AAP and keep BJP away from power. And this is the reason why my mom was so correct back then, when I was a kid, about the politicians.

Arvind Kejriwal who is projected as an alternate PM candidate for Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, have shared very shocking thoughts. His priority is to defeat Narendra Modi. He is of the view that there would be another elections in a year or so and then India will get new stable government. More can be read here. Any sane person would not subscribe to his views. When the country is in such a fragile state, economy is crippling, constant threats to internal and external security, corruption is spoiling the image of India at International level, this guy seems to play a trial-match this time to get some practice and then play real match again next year! In all this humdrum the only thing that is being ignored is – The Country. We still have time and resources to put country back on the growth track. If not this time, we may get deviated so much that the road to growth might look impossible.

To me, it is always nation first. Whatever takes the nation and its people forward should be done. The world is progressing and we have to lead the way of development. We are self sufficient, self-sustaining and a vibrant force of energy. All we need is good leader and decisive policies, which are executed for the benefit of society as a whole and not just a particular section. It is time we shun the ‘Chalta hai’ attitude and vote for a change. After looking at the manifestos of BJP, Congress and AAP, I would opt for the one giving hope of development and willingness to execute and take some difficult but corrective actions. Enough of communal card has been played and this time we should vote for development. We should not forget that we ourselves would progress if the country moves in proper direction, we the people would be the most benefited.

fOoD fOr ThOugHt: For the country and for the dream of development to fulfill the unfulfilled, please go out and vote for an able leader. Let not your heart rule over your head!

Jet Airways : On Time, Efficient : Customer delight!

Not the first time I travelled with Jet Airways but after this time’s experience I thought of putting it in an article as a positive feedback for the company.

The first and the most important factor when it comes to flight especially when your itenarry is relatively tight and you do not have buffer for any delays is TIME – On Time Arrival/ On Time Departure. I am convinced and trust Jet Airways for On Time arrival. This helps is planning your trip properly and do not put you in an unforeseen circumstance at a remote location. The scheduled flight 9W21 from Singapore to Chennai took off little late due to delay in clearance from local control room. Public Announcements were made in flight to communicate about the delay. Since I was to reach Chennai at around 10:15 PM IST nighttime, I thought I will have a delayed landing but we arrived On Time. Full marks.

Check in and boarding was effortless. 30Kg+30Kg+7Kg+7Kg luggage allowance was enough to make us happy while returning back from Chennai to Singapore.

Stewards and Airhostess were presentable and professional enough to take care of us. Airhostess looked at ease, as they did not have to bother about if they were looking young or old or fat or slim! We were travelling back with infant and the in-house flight service was on its toe when it came to our needs.

Food – We Indians are always on a munching spree whenever we are travelling. Be it with Indian Railways, Buses or flights. We were welcomed with a ‘Chatpata’ munching followed by liquor.  Food was good, served hot, fresh and sufficient. For me the highlight was steel-ware cutlery unlike plastic made. Though it doesn’t make a difference but the former enhances your eating experience when you are travelling. Please continue doing so.

Good food with steel-ware spoon, knife and fork!

Touch screen entertainment – It was loaded with latest Songs, Videos, Movies both Hollywood and Bollywood. Business section of entertainment had videos from CNBC Young Turks. It also stored my favorite comedy entertainment – ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ episode. Overall total enjoyment.

Security announcement via an animated video instead of Air hostess doing the drill.

Security announcement via an animated video instead of Air hostess doing the drill.

Entertainment Juke box was fully loaded with latest songs and movies.

Passenger load – I was really surprised to look at the full house in economy class. I have observed that normally flights fly with a 70%-80% capacity load. Though it was Chennai bound flight and I am told the capacity load is always at a higher end but this was my first experience with almost full load flight.

Improvements - Since there is always a room for improvement, two of the points that I want to highlight which management can take up are: Please add Coca Cola in your offerings of non-alcoholic drinks unless you have a tie-up with Pepsi and forced not to add Coke. Secondly, taste of food was far far better in Chennai-Singapore flight as compared to Singapore-Chennai flight. I know there might be supplier constraints and also you cannot satisfy each and every customer but these are things that I thought would have increased my experience. You can try to match taste of food with what is served on Chennai-Singapore flight.

After this experience I checked Jet Airways stock listed on NSE. Though the aviation industry is in trouble for several years now, still the industry is not closing. Talking about India, I find Jet Airways evenly poised providing full service and connected to international destinations. Company has posted losses last year though it was lesser than the then previous year. With stake sale to Ethiad Airways and leveraging on potential synergies from the combined resources and expertise, I would say a ‘Buy’ considering the fact that it is near its 52-week low.

PS: These are my personal and independent views based on past few experiences with Indian carriers like Jet Airways, Air India, IndiGo, Go Air and Spice Jet travels. It easily matches with the standards of non-Indian International carriers. No offences meant, if any.

When I bought my first iPhone…

 

Phone is single biggest medium to get connected and communicate with anyone across the world. Mobile has made life even simpler with calling/ receiving message on the go. Motorola was the first company to demonstrate handheld device called mobile phone. The device evolved over a period of time and newer and fascinating features got added. Yet, primarily mobile phones remained dorky and were used strictly for communication – voice or text.

In 2007, history-defining event happened and the industry never remained the same. Steve Jobs introduced the first ever iPhone to the world. Having played the launch video over and over again on YouTube, I can tell you the crowd and the world were amazed to see what Steve was presenting on large screen. The immediate question that most of them had, “is that for real? Is this a concept or a reality!” The reasons were obvious because nobody ever thought what a multi touch screen phone without a keypad would look like. No company ever before gave so much importance to the design and customer experience. The streets were cautious over the success and competitors had written off the device at the launch itself.

When Steve Ballmer then CEO of Microsoft, considered as biggest competitor, was asked to give his first reaction on the iPhone after its launch he said:

 "Five hundred dollars fully subsidized with a plan! I said that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine…”

Clearly companies were not looking at innovation. Most of the companies were in disbelief of the features that iPhone was to offer. They thought it would be very high on battery and may not last long in market.

Over the years, the device has become a style statement. It is a lifestyle product now with owners oozing an edge over others when in public. It has redefined the way people use phones. Be it Apps or messaging, communication has taken a giant leap forward.

Today, at every launch, millions of people wait outside Apple Stores to grab the latest offerings. The device comes for a price (read heavy price) but then you cant put a price on the experience you derive from such high end products.

Even I waited for six years to buy first ever iPhone. The feeling was euphoric. I was on cloud nine and I praised Steve Jobs for conceiving such a brilliant idea. Even he would have become happy up there, looking at me since his long term admirer was finally buying his product, two, and not just one. The company stock prices closed up 3% that day on the NASDAQ.

 

I carefully opened the box as if I was handling a newborn baby. Delicate and beautiful with ‘Designed in California’ all over it. I saw it over and over again. I started remembering notes from Steve Jobs’ Biography, book I read in its first week of launch. How much effort and deliberations were done to bring this masterpiece out to the World. Every body part is skillfully crafted giving highest pleasure to the user.

For iPhone and for the innovation, take a bow, Sir, Steve Jobs.

PS: I bought two iPhones for my relatives as I was visiting my native place on vacation. The wait to own one still continues with my wife promising to gift it on my next Birthday!

Mayura Restaurant : Such a delight!

First time I went to Mayura was with my brother-in-law, sister and their two little kids. Just going by the name, it doesn't sound really funky restaurent and doesn't make you feel hungry. Located on the East Coast Road where you would find at least another 20 restaurants if not less, adjacent to each other on the same lane. My brother-in-law parked his four wheeler and we were on our mission. Outside the restaurant, it read 'Mayura : Authentic Indian Chinese restaurent'. As we entered, we were greeted and offered a table.

The ambiance was rather average to good kind I would say. Plain, simple, minimal. Played Bollywood songs. On the menu, you would find host of dishes for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Actually it is a delight if you have such a variety in a typical Chinese speciality restaurant. I only felt that Menu Cards were old and tornout and need some fresh look. We clicked and laughed till the time we were served.

And boy! the food came quickly, in good quantity and hot. The aroma was perfect and we got busy. The dishes were really good. Whatever we tried, tasted awesome. In third bite, I decided I am coming back here again and that was surely a place I can recommend.

As decided, I did visit there again and this time with my better half. The experience was the same - Great! My wife thoroughly enjoyed the food and we had good time. Now, when we think of eating authentic Indian Chinese in Singapore, no other restaurant comes closer to Mayura!

Infact I recommended it to few of my office colleagues also. My colleges had non-vegetarian dishes and they liked it. They liked the food and I was happy that it worked well. I thought as if I was the chef and I won something big.

On Food: Tastes awesome. 

Quantity: Big. One dish for example Gobi Manchurian serves 3 easily. 

Quality: Preparation is fresh, served by heart. 

Price: Truly value for money, you will come out with a happy face.

Ambience: Average

Service: Quick, polite, well mannered.

Rating: 8.5 (It could easily become 9 if they work little bit on the ambience.)

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: The post is all about food and I am feeling hungry now! Hats off to the operator who has a courage enough to serve Indian Chinese speciality at a place where chinese food can be found in abundance!

Colgate: Now that is called an Aggressive Strategy!

I was reading the news and views of Corporate Industry to keep myself updated on the strategies and policies. I came across an article about the launch of Oral-B toothpaste by P&G in India. P&G already has Oral-B brand tooth brush in India and with this launch they are entering the toothpaste industry. Now what was surprising and caught my attention was the article talked more about Colgate revamping its marketing expenditures and less about launch by P&G.

Prabha Parameswaran, the MD of rival Colgate was the one watching it most closely. As soon as the launch was announced by P&G, Colgate was quick to respond in the market to ensure entry for Oral-B isn't as smooth as they expected. Colgate is market leader in Indian Oral care market. They could have waited to see the response Oral-B gets in the market. But Colgate doesn't believe in wait and watch philosophy. I also believe a lost ground is more painful to gain back than protecting and going aggressive especisally when we are talking about sensitive consumer industry like this one.

Madhuri Dixit is roped in as brand ambassador for Oral-B toothpaste.

Colgate has hiked its advertising and promotion spends considerably during the first half of this calendar year. Company is roping in more and more Bollywood stars to promote their product because they know that is one of the best way to capture Indian mind space and influence their buying. It has bought more shelf space in retail outlets and giving better margins to shopkeepers. For consumers, buy one-get one free or money saver packs are introduced. The company is truly going aggressive and sending out the message that it is not a sleeping elephant in this market. In short run, this may possibly hurt margins for a quarter or two but that should be alright in the long run till the time company doesn't loose market share and give space to competitors.

The company has done well when it faced competitions from Pepsodent and low cost Anchor brands. It faced similar situation in Brazil market where Colgate held around 80% of market share and Oral-B toothpaste was getting launched. The company adopted same policy and went aggressive to keep the new competitor at bay.

For Oral-B, I think they should not take Colgate head on to start with. Colgate has around 55% market share in India but there is a good 45% with other players. It should slowly edge out the second and the third players and win space in  large number of Indian bathrooms. It should then challenge the market leader having understood the market and people enough.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: While P&G has all the resources, startegy and good brand in place - they are challenging the market leader. Colgate has been successful in maintaining its dominance in all the markets wherever it got challeneged by competitors but Indian market is always special and different to watch out for. This could an interseting contest.

Sources: Online News

Will this Kolaveri guy change the way we look at Bollywood heroes?

 

Raanjhanaa starts with a frame where Kundan (Dhanush) is shown lying on stretcher being carried to hospital with face all wounded. He starts narrating his story and takes us back to Banaras ki galiyan. Child Kundan is too cute and the movie is full of smart dialogs. You may want to remember them to put it on Facebook as your status messages to showoff, that’s the running trend now-a-days.

“Namaaz mein who thi, par laga dua hamari manjoor ho gayi”

Between all this somewhere the thought of should a ‘better looking’ conventional Bollywood actor be casted instead of Dhanush?, creeps in.

You definitely don’t want to accept the school going Dhanush as shown in the movie, as your mainstream hero who would romance with beautiful lady in a movie. He is not well built in-terms of physic and is nowhere close to the likes of Hrithiks or Shaheed Kapoors of Bollywood industry. Neither he looks chocolaty like Aamir nor over personifying Shahrukh or Amitabh. We were also not expecting him to go Emraan Hashmi way to lure the heroine sensuously and create a niche identity. These are the set definitions for actors in Hindi film industry and if we look at the debutantes over last one year, they fall in either of the above categories.

While all this was going on in your head, you get lost in the plot of the movie. Hats-off to the way story is built. In that madness and clamors of Banaras, is a cute romantic love story. By the time Dhanush receives his 16^th Thapaddin the movie, you start liking him for his simplicity.

“Humein apne gaal pe thappad se zyada uske gaal pe puppy ka sukh tha.”

As the plot unfolds and story starts building, you want to see more of him. There is a sincerity in every dialog, every action. Abhay Deol gives another dimension to the movie and brings some more freshness. By this time you are in love of the music, characters and characterization. You just pray to God that the movie doesn’t end up as another cliche Hindu guy-Muslim girl set formula.

“Tumhara pyaar na ho gaya..UPSC ka exam ho gaya.10 saal se paas hi nai ho raha!”

Everytime the story takes a turn, Dhanush surprises with his acting skills. There is see-saw of emotions. Heart is broken, love is lost, he is ignored, thrown out of his house, media chases, he is beaten, yet his selfless heart wants to see Zoya (Sonam) happy and get what she wanted. Clearly by now, you can guess why he is a superstar of South Indian movie industry. While Kolaveri di song might have made him a star overnight, Raanjhanaa movie sets him as an actor class apart in Bollywood.

The other angle to film industry is the ability to generate commercial success for a movie. I feel no matter how many good movies he gives, he would still remain a second rung actor for the audience in the Hindi film industry.

The first league of actor is dominated by Amitabh, Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir and who are now passing on the baton to next gen to the likes of Ranbir Kapoors, Ranveer Singhs and Arjun Kapoors. Actors like Irrfan Khan, Abhay Deol, Konkana Sen Sharma are not perceived as huge stars by the audience. They somehow don’t move to the first league. While there is no doubt in my mind about the versatility in acting of Konkana, she still cannot occupy place of the current Katrinas, Kareenas or Priyankas.

I think a lot has to do with how Bollywood has evolved and the way audience perceives their Hero and Heroines. We have audience who has always worshipped Dharmendra, Jitendra, Rajesh Khanna and the gorgeous Madhubala, Hema Malini or Madhuri Dixit, etc. It is always about the look, about the charisma. Larger than life portray of beauty to rule million hearts.

With passage of time and with more maturity in the views and perception, I think this trend may change in a decade or so. Box Office opening is one of the key parameters that movie pundits use to categorise a movie as Flop/ hit/ Super-hit. Good opening means movie will be screened for a longer duration of time and thus generate more revenue. A Salman Khan or a Ranbir Kapoor starer guarantees good opening and then movie may pull more crowd if the reviews are good. But for actors like Dhanush or Irrfan Khan it is the other way round, at-least in Bollywood. Box office opening depends on marketing and if the reviews are good, people may start going to theaters.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: Can Dhanush change the way we look at Bollywood heroes? Can his star quotient rise enough to get houseful opening and super-hit box office collections in Hindi film industry too?

“Mere seene ki ye aag ya to mujhe zinda kar sakti thi ya maar sakti thi...
Par saala ab uthe kaun... Kaun firse mehnat kare - dil lagane ko, dil tudwane ko...”

Helping is Inspiring!

I am very strong believer in ‘whatever you do, comes back to you in a bigger way!’ The earth is round and it constantly revolves around itself. If you do good, sooner than later something good will happen with you too. If you do bad same will come back to you in a bigger way. The return for doing good is limited but for bad, it can be anything.

This also does not mean that you should be doing things in order to get something better in return. You should not be expecting to get a thousand rupees automatically in your pocket from skies if you give 10 INR to a beggar. The intentions of doing good or helping others should be pure selfless. Somewhere it will benefit you or keep the evils away.

The other thought is if somebody is asking for a help, don’t deny. The one who is asking for help knows that you can do it and that is why you have been selected from his list of known people. Always try to help if the request comes to you. It may not be entire cent percentage of fulfillment of request but whatever fits in your principle, you should do that. I am careful to use word ‘fits in your principle’ here because I don’t intend to mean that if somebody asks your help to rob someone, you go ahead. It does not fit morally. A lot of times we get to hear that a friend has taken loan on his name to help somebody else. Well, I would say that there is no harm in doing that but you should always be ready to pay the liability if the need arises.

A numerous times when I board metro, I see people happily seated with their known ones getting up quickly when they see an old man or a pregnant lady entering train with no empty seat to occupy. That is a real act of kindness I must say. People are really generous in helping a pregnant lady. They will pounce on picking up any stuff that a pregger might have dropped on floor by mistake.

I think when somebody asks for a help you should feel lucky and fulfill the request. With my experience I can say you would soon be in a situation where you will need same help. If you are traveling by airplane and find elderly people struggling to find a way or dealing with any process, go ahead and extend a helping hand. Soon your parents or ill grandparents might be in their situation. They would definitely get helped. If you see an aunty with grey hairs standing in a public transport, offer her your seat with a smile, sooner or later you might be in a situation where your mom is with you and you would wish if somebody could get up and offer a seat to her.

In a way helping is contagious too. If a kid falls, two people will quickly response and move towards that kid to help. Few others may also then realise and look to provide help. Mostly people will wait for someone to begin the kind work first and then they would join. You be that first person. 

Try and help your juniors or cousins in making proper career choices. With your experience, guide them what is the trend in market, what options they can explore. Enlighten them as much as you can. Someday, when you are lost in the rat race and not sure where to head, you will get answers without putting much efforts. No help goes waste. And in any case no body has ever become poor by giving!

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: If you receive a request to look for job openings or put resume in company’s portal, do it. Be a facilitator and try to be as much accommodative as you can. Because God help those who help others!