Chinese Checkers

China is an enigma. The Chinese culture has been tricky right through thousands of years of history. But during the last fifty years, Chinese thinking has changed. They have done exceedingly well during this period and have rapidly gone up the pecking order in terms of GDP. It is predicted that they may go ahead of the US in less than ten years. How have they done this? How have they achieved this? Simple. Hard work, a bit of copying and not bothering about intellectual property rights. Chinese dictatorial regime helped to do all this. I am all for the authoritarian regime if they wanted to achieve tremendous financial progress. But in the last few years, they have started showing the true colours with their actions.

They want to become numero uno power globally and do not now care what methods they are using. Let us look at our neighbours Sri Lanka and Pakistan. For around a decade, China has a policy of “helping” countries by giving them soft and sometimes not so soft loans for the “Belt and Road” initiative!

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), known as One Belt One Road or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries/international organisations.

 

Sri Lanka and Pakistan have later found out that this initiative was equivalent to what loan sharks do in real life. These countries are financially so weak that they are not in a position to repay the loans. In Sri Lanka, they gave a loan for developing the Hambantota port with a lure that it will attract many ships from a vital sea route below Sri Lanka. Nothing of that sort happened, but China has now taken control of the port a few hundred miles below India’s southernmost tip!

 

Pakistan has also fallen into the same trap. Gains there are even more lucrative for China. China is getting physical access around Ladakh and Kashmir! How do you think the Galwan clash began? The idea was to try and push Pakistan to give up that area and gain control over Himalayan high plains to consistently have better access to attack India, at will!

 

Pakistan and Sri Lanka OBOR’s purely India centric acts- to corner India.

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the initiative in 2013, the World Bank estimates about $575 billion worth of energy plants, railways, roads, ports and other projects have been built or are in the works across the globe. Its progress has slowed recently, dogged by accusations that China is luring poor countries into debt traps for its own political and strategic gain.

So the Chinese “ACTION” began sometime back, and it culminated into the Galwan clash. This was when the world realised what China has been trying. China, the “World’s Factory”, captured large businesses unaware of what they were doing. Everybody was happy with good quality inexpensive components, products and a massive market for finished goods. But when China switched directions as they did with Belt and Road initiative, the whole world missed the markers.

I will share one more example. This happened in Canada just after the COVID issue had begun outside China. In May last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau endorsed the deal with CanSino —  a company funded by Beijing and producing its vaccine with the People’s Liberation Army.

Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) announced that it has abandoned its partnership with Chinese company CanSino Biologics because China’s government continued to block vaccine materials to Canada. (Incidentally, Jaya had taken training at NRC way back in 1981 for three months!)

The NRC — which is part of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry — has received about $44-million since late March in 2020 to upgrade Montreal’s production capacity to prepare materials expected from CanSino.

That is China for you! How to handle China is going to be the main problem in future. Dealing with China is so complex it’s produced its own lexicon: Engagement. Containment. Confrontation. Constrainment. Even “con-gagement.”

The words reflect the dilemma for governments facing a power that is no longer simply “rising.” The leadership under Xi Jinping believes China is now strong enough to forcefully assert its agenda both at home and abroad because it has reached the point it can withstand whatever penalties come on the way.

China’s imposition of a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong despite global outrage indicates the change. A deadly military skirmish on the border with India and China’s aggressive pandemic-era diplomacy are the latest examples of how Western policies have largely failed to shape, slow or stop China.

The latest they have come up with is the Chinese Visa for Indian nationals. They have now made it mandatory to have a certificate of having taken the Chinese vaccine dose to get the visa. Of course, post- Galwan, India has also started acting forcefully about blocking some Chinese apps in India. India has changed the tender terms for some contracts to ensure that the Chinese companies will not participate. But in general, we know that we cannot totally stop mutual business with China- so we can do it selectively.

But today’s global situation is such that nations and societies are interdependent, but China has managed to control these things more favourably. Slowly global business leaders are also acting. Samsung and Apple have moved its production base from China to India for some products- the number two best location in terms of size and skillsets!

The open policies toward China from the US and the European Union were well-intended and mutually beneficial, hoping that China will join or at least learn to conform to the free world order. But with growing economic power and military might, it’s becoming apparent that Xi thinks the order under the Chinese Communist Party is superior, and they want to conquer and display where possible.

QUAD, the initiative between the US, India, Japan and Australia, is a good beginning. The QUAD had been formed in 2007 but has become active now! Nations, it appears, have understood the importance of coming together. The countries have to realise that they have to agree with each other on some issues and agree to disagree on others. The good old days of the Iron curtain and others are long past. Today the need would be to be together where possible on mutual things. But it is a MUST to be together against the Chinese Dragon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

India’s Point of Inflexion

In differential calculus and differential geometry, an Inflexion point, point of Inflexion,  points to a smooth plane curve at which the curvature changes sign. In particular, in the graph of a function, it is a point where the function changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward) or vice versa.

When does a nation or a business reach a point of Inflexion? It is a tricky question to answer. It depends on different parameters; it depends on the situation. It also depends on if the idea itself is right! Sometimes after lengthy deliberations, we are not sure if the point of Inflexion is reached. The initial discussion may have been handled by a team that missed out on certain essential aspects. So, you change the idea or modify it; or in the worst-case scenario, dump it.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as the Quad, has always been sound. A rising China, with its authoritarian one-party system, is a challenge to the democratic order. Therefore, it made sense for democracies around China to pool their resources and strengths and present a better and more sustainable governance model to the world. The coming together is helping the Indian industry to go into overdrive.

The idea first came up in the year 2007. The countries involved in Quad are India, the US, Japan and Australia. As usually happens, after the initial enthusiasm, somehow nobody, including India, showed the keenness to take the idea forward. I will naturally not go into the nitty-gritty, but it will suffice to say the Quad remained only on paper. The pact went into hibernation as China-friendly Prime Ministers of Australia and Japan came into power. The whole thing revived again in the year 2017. Till then, all were in the honeymoon phase with China, but President Trump understood the strategy of China to rule the world commercially, silently pressurising small countries like Sri Lanka monetarily. China also started bringing Pakistan under its influence by providing huge soft loans. Pakistan’s anti-India stance was to the benefit of China.

Is 2021 the breakthrough year for new ways of global alliances? It appears to be so. All countries will learn to live with each other as married couples live. You take some, and you leave some! The recent virtual Quad summit will be a path-breaking event that will show the world the way forward. Why is that so?

These four countries are first coming together to handle humanity’s worst problem- the COVID pandemic! The US vaccines, Japan’s finances and India’s humungous vaccine manufacturing capacity will be utilised. Australia would help in the last-mile logistics for South Asian countries and the Pacific belt small countries. The vaccine manufacturing target date is to complete the world requirement by the end of 2022; it is an aggressive target and will help combat the pandemic. The simple reason for the change of heart was that the honeymoon with China is over for all. India’s strong response to the Chinese border aggression showed the world that pushing China back is doable.

Why did this situation arise? You consider the Purchase head of any organisation; it could be a commercial organisation or a nation. When a single source offers good quality stuff at a reasonable price, life becomes more manageable. That is what everybody did. Want to buy Christmas gifts in tons- place orders in China. Order Ganapati idols for Ganesh Chaturthi from China. Of course, the cheapest Manja (thread used for flying kites) is supplied by the Chinese. Covid exposed the futility of depending on a single source or a nation when the first major COVID threat began in Wuhan, in China. On the political front, most of the countries were against the Chinese dominance in politics. It was only the question of who will bell the Cat or, in this case, Panda? Indian response to the Chinese border incursion changed worlds thinking.

But is this a golden opportunity for India? Can India become the factory of the world? Will the Indian government aggressively pursue whatever is needed to be done? There are strong indicators that this is happening. Has Quad become viable finally?

Consider India’s success in PPE kits. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, India was manufacturing zero PPE kits. As the world — including the developed economies — was scrambling to secure supplies from China, India created an overnight world-class manufacturing capacity to meet its own needs and started exporting PPE kits. From zero to almost a million kits a day — the ability to scale was breathtaking. The same was the case with ventilators and other essential supplies, such as the drug HCQ. This has indicated to the world that India can do it.

India’s two-wheelers industry is the real success story that remains hidden. India manufactures the highest number of two-wheelers in the world. This has happened over a period, and Indian manufacturers have given the local market the right products. Indian companies need to tap the Indian as well as the export market. Bajaj Auto exports 1.8 million motorcycles a year!

The success of India’s fourth-generation fighter jet programme and the orders placed by the Indian Air Force for 83 Tejas jets is an indication of India’s high-end manufacturing capability. Very few countries can locally manufacture such high-tech fighter planes, and India’s success is one more milestone in its journey towards emerging global manufacturing destination.

India’s success in precision high-end manufacturing is another such story. The PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme launched for electronics manufacturing evinced unprecedented global interest with 22 top companies, including the leading manufacturers for Apple and Samsung mobile phones. Over the next five years, a manufacturing capacity of over $150 billion and exports of $100 billion have been tied up through this scheme. Also, let us not forget that India’s local market is large enough to give homegrown customers.

The enterprise of India’s private industry —is a hallmark of the deepening manufacturing base. When it came to syringes — without which the vaccines were useless — the global scramble again led to India and Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices, among other manufactures. Hindustan Syringes alone has ramped up its manufacturing capacity to almost 6,000 syringes a minute! It is a great way to ramp up the production given by the opportunity.

There is another company in Rajasthan manufacturing electronic meters, called Secure Meters. They manufacture at least one hundred thousand plus meters a day. Out of all the production, 70% is exported to the developed countries.

There is an extensive list of manufacturing organisations that are doing exceptionally well, but these are islands. Bombay was initially made up of seven islands. Over a period, these seven islands merged together as Bombay, the business capital of India. How can these manufacturing islands be joined together to form a global manufacturing hub? It is possible; it is doable. All of us should become obsessed with quality in whatever we do- backed by significant numbers! Governments can provide the correct tax and infrastructure regime. But it is for us to ensure that we create India Incorporated!

If we achieve this, India Inc has reached the Point of Inflexion!

Internationally India Matters II

“A nation that does not honour its past has no future- GOETHE.

External Affairs Minister of India- S Jaishankar has shared this thought by Goethe at the beginning of one of the chapters in his book “The India Way- The Strategies of uncertain World”. What a wise statement and it shows the thoughtfulness and wisdom of Mr Jaishankar. He has used the gems from Mahabharata to explain how the modern world operates.

The picture above depicts how Shrikrishna advised Arjun to finish off Karna, as Karna was busy removing the chariot wheel stuck in the ground- it was one the treacheries or in today’s context called Out of Box thinking suggested by Krishna. We come across many real-life situations in Mahabharata, the Hindu classic. As a tactic, looking at the furious activity of the Chinese army recently, our army acted smartly and swiftly to wrest control of heights in that area.

We became independent in the year 1947 and were a poor country with low self-esteem as all the other larger nations would utilise experiences from their history to decide worldly affairs. We as a nation and a society had low self-esteem and pride in our past. Mahabharata is vast, it does not talk of only about theory but explains and discusses real-life situations. We should be proud of the real-life depiction. All these years, we spoke about Mahabharata as mythological treaties and never as go-to, wise writings of our ancestors. Jaishankar suggests that we should be proud of these treaties and utilise the wealth of knowledge it provides to be used in the modern world of the 21^st century. Basic things in our lives never change. We all need the air and water to survive; the food may be fancy or simple- but some food is also required. Mahabharata has simple, challenging, tricky, apparent solutions to the most things in life personal, social interactions and for diplomacy. We need to only search for it. There is the betrayal by Shakuni in the dice game, and Kauravas trying to burn Pandavas in the Lac (a highly inflammable material) house were the tricks Kauravas tried. Pandavas’ intelligence gathering got them critical information in time, and they escaped.

The statecraft is well explained in Bhagwad Gita. Krishna tells Arjuna that duty comes before everything else without getting scared about the collateral damage. After the battle, all Kauravas who were cousins of Pandavs were killed. Indian nation and society learnt it’s lessons over a period. Almost every decade or two was the turning point after independence. Just after independence, India tried to get “poor” countries together as a non-aligned movement. We were afraid of joining the western group or the soviet group. But the 1962 war with China exposed our wrong thinking about battle readiness. It was the lowest point in our modern history. We learnt our lessons, and in 1971  we showed the courage against Pakistan to make them weak permanently- by creating Bangla Desh. There was fear of the US helping Pakistan, but we did what needed to be done.

1974 Pokharan nuclear test was another event which India used to showcase the capabilities. But again we faltered and delayed the next test for 24 years. But 1998 nuclear test and the 9/11 event changed the US thinking about India and in 2005 the nuclear treaty was signed. The world prefers strong nations. We as nation dilly-dallied with a weak response to firm acts. We were not used to working from the position of strengths. A young friend sent me a comment, “What did India gain by banning TikTok?” after reading the part I of this blog. I wrote to him, ” It was only to show to the Chinese that we can not be browbeaten now, we can stand up to them!” My friend’s response was a typical response from a weak position and a need to keep the status quo! But now the time has come to demand “Status Quo Ante”! “Status Quo Antebellum” is the original Latin phrase which is shortened to “Status Quo Ante” in real use. It means the state existing before the war!

This brings us to the recent meeting between Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Yang Li! The statement after the meeting did not use the words “Status Quo Ante”! Opposition parties in India started making a big noise about the report. An ex Indian Ambassador explained that such statements are for the consumption of politics in the respective nations. It is evident that when political parties, including the opposition parties, are on the same page, national issues get resolved satisfactorily. If COVID and Chinese aggression are not national issues, then are Kangana Ranaut and Sushant Singh death national issues? India’s political parties have shown this wisdom during previous difficult situations! I sincerely hope they do it again.

When Chakaravyuha was created, Arjuna was busy, so his son Abhimanyu went to break it. Jayadratha could prevent other Pandavas from helping Abhimanyu and who died. It was an error of judgement. Sending Indian forces to Sri Lanka as IPKF was a similar error. India lost many soldiers and was forced to retreat. India has learnt from the mistakes of IPKF and the 1962 Chinese war. I am sure they have realised the mistake they made like sending Abhimanyu to war!

The brute strength of the army matters but in Mahabharata, before the war, Arjun and Duroyodhan went to Krishna to take his help. Krishna said, “I will not fight, but I can give my army for fighting on one side, and I will become an advisor to the other side.” Arjuna opted for Krishna’s advisory role. The correct judgment of the situation, tactical decisions are essential in a war. Krishna used his tactical knowledge and sometimes advising diversionary tactics to win some battle e. g. the killing of Jayadratha, use of Shikhandi against Bhishma. During Balakot surgical strike, one set of planes was sent in the direction different than Balakot. Pakistan ATC’s were diverted to look at these planes. In the meanwhile, another group of planes performed the surgical strike. Shivaji did the same trick by sending bulls, with torches tied to their horns, to deceive Shahistakhan.

What a wise statement made by Goethe and appropriately selected by Jaishankar. Going deep into our history is essential, and we should be proud of our history. Mahabharata is a treaty that has such vital situations which perfectly fit our daily life of today. But that is a matter a few more blogs.

But one thing is for sure, the Indian government and people handling the international matters have become adept to handling tricky situations. They think ahead and are willing to change as per needs. In today’s multipolar world, where you have frenemies every day could be a different and complicated day. People like Jaishankar know what they are doing, and will ensure that India gets its rightful place in the world hierarchy.

Leaders of Indian Democracy- a tough journey!

I prefer not to write blogs about politics, but so many things have happened in the last six months, that I am compelled to write one more time. The blog is not about comparing leader A with leader B. It is about the leaders who took decisions and moved forward as against those who preferred the status quo. It is about accidental leaders; it is about “leaders” who were led by remote control. The discussion is also about the changes in society and its thinking. Hindsight is always 20:20. So it is easier to comment on things that happened sometime back. We need to understand that today’s times and decisions will only be understood better 50 years hence. History is an easier science than prediction.

We also need to consider separate periods as “Before the Internet” and “After the Internet”! Nehru led the post-independence era. The society loved the handsome, cigarette smoking prince. One hundred and fifty years of British Raj ensured that society became naïve.

Anything that the authorities did was considered good, and people rarely challenged them. The nation glorified poverty, but Nehru’s fashionable lifestyle was never challenged.

The first significant unrest was in the late fifties as Maharashtra was being split into Gujarat and Maharashtra. During this agitation, people from Maharashtra wanted Marathi speaking area around Belgaum to merge in Maharashtra. In this agitation, 106 people died in Police firing. It led to the conversion of Flora Fountain in Bombay into Hutatma (Martyr) Chowk. The leader at that time was Moraraji Desai. Then there was Goa agitation. Indians wanted Portuguese to leave Goa. But this happened after a lot of unrest and a small armed forces confrontation. Then occurred the 1962 China war, where Indians were unprepared. Luckily, China stopped the fight unilaterally. It was the first kick that made us understand what the real world is all about. Nehru’s downfall started from this incident, and he died, a sad man, in 1963! India continued to be led by the old guard as they never wanted to retire. China war did not need history to prove how India was ill-prepared to face the world both politically and otherwise.

Shastriji’s quiet leadership during the 1965 war made India a little more confident!

In the case of decision-taking leadership, history decides whether their decision was right or wrong. In came Indira Gandhi. She had to remove the old guard, which she managed with aplomb. Indira Gandhi took two significant decisions. She helped Bangla Desh to become independent, thus splitting Pakistan. The act indicated that India had some spine! You don’t need only to be tough, but you also need to show that you are tough. She nationalised all the banks leading to the start of the socialistic era in India. In hindsight, it proved to be not a very right decision. For joining the global economy, it was a retro step. Her next brave decision was to send the Army into the Golden temple in 1984! Had she not taken that decision; Khalistan movement would have created another Kashmir due to indecision. Operation Blue Star resulted in her assassination, but it was necessary to have Blue Star! Here the terrorists were Sikhs! They were trying to take advantage, hoping that the government will be soft and will not enter the Golden temple!

Rajeev Gandhi took some excellent decisions about computers with advice from Sam Pitroda! But his miscalculation cost India dear in Sri Lanka; LTTE took their revenge by assassinating him in Sri Perambuddur!

By the time Narsimha Rao’s term was over, the system got used to status quo. He is said to have opened Indian Economy to the world. But this was done under duress in 1992 as India’s financial condition was critical. India had to borrow money against “family” gold. Coalition governments, Bajpayee Government and later Manmohan government were in status quo mode. Good, soft people sometimes are not enough to run a vast country like India. India is a complex country and has diversity. Different people think differently and want their solutions to suit themselves. These may contradict with the requirements of other states!

The effectiveness of government actions, people’s reactions and court interventions collectively define the society’s acceptance or rejection of any event. Two events show how unfortunate events were allowed to happen. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the silent support by the then government allowed hundreds of Sikhs to be murdered. The Gujarat government was a mute spectator and silent supporter of riots after the Godhra incident. But during the last ten years, “Post the Internet” news and rumours have started spreading fast with the advent of social media.  The significant aspect of the Internet is that Government cannot hide any news from people. But at the same time rumour mongering is rampant. The courts intervene whenever they can at a reasonable speed. During the recent CAA event, there were 99 litigations entered with the Supreme Court. The court quickly acted upon these by clubbing them together. They told the litigants that CAA could not be stayed legally, at the same time they informed the Government to have all India campaign to share with people the detailed information about the law. The court told the political litigants to stop the riots first before the litigations would be heard.

Now let us talk about the government from 2014. The government took actions on many issues and went away from the status quo norm. It has been acting fast and is seen to be implementing many schemes. Aadhar Card, GST was the action started by the previous government but was implemented by the Modi government. When massive all India changes of this nature are being implemented, problems do crop up. The opposition must question the government for errors but should give support in the process. Article 370 was a similarly swift decision by the government. Ayodhya Ram Mandir decision was handled with finesse by the government!

Similarly, NRC has been in discussion for more than a decade. The Supreme Court had intervened in 2015 and had given the directives to the government. But one thing is sure; the current government is taking fast actions and not maintaining the status quo! At the same time, people have changed. During the emergency in 1975, the people of my parent’s generation were not brave enough to show dissent, openly. “Post the Internet” information flow has speeded up. It is a good thing that people of my generation express disagreement openly, now. The young people of today have been trying to push the government effectively. After all, these are young people, so they behave like young people. In their enthusiasm, they go overboard and make significant mistakes. They are, after all, young folks are with hot blood. It is the responsibility of opposition parties to ensure that harmful elements of the society don’t take advantage and create an unhealthy atmosphere by rioting and arson. It is the responsibility of every adult irrespective of their political allegiance to help make these demonstrations peaceful! Demonstrating against something which we don’t approve is our right given by the democracy.

Governments usually act when their backs are to the wall, or there are elections around. Current governments tenure is till 2024! So these actions were not crucial for them to act.

In a diverse country like India, it is difficult for any government to take action which will please everybody. Now with BJP losing elections in many states, there will be strong opposition at the state level, which is essential. But state governments must remember which laws are in the Central Government list and which ones are under state government list. They should not take an unreasonable stand like eight or ten states have said that they will not allow CAA in their states! The position is legally not tenable because it is under Central Government list. By taking such a stance, these states are starting unavoidable fights.

What is my preference; a government taking actions or status quo governments? Status quo is a big no, no! Any entity that acts is likely to make mistakes, like Indira Gandhi’s emergency. Such acts are known immediately to be vicious. But the effects of other actions would be known after twenty or thirty years.

But one thing is for sure that all governments should be benevolent and be soft on people, especially the young ones. They should ensure that society does not get divided. It should not be us versus them under any circumstances. Words like revenge are not acceptable. The UP government recently used this term. But at the same time, the UP government is the first state government in India which has shown the guts to use the Supreme Court ruling. The ruling allows the authorities to fine rioters to reimburse the property damaged. Today it is easy to prove the participation in riots because of video recordings.

Action, softness with people and non-divisive methods will lead to vibrant and better India! There will be some unhappy people whatever you do! But one thing is sure. There will be tough decisions, there will be fights but my country will never be divided! There will be Prime Ministers who take actions, but there won’t be dictators!

India’s tallest flag at Guwahati!

CAB, now called CAA!

CAB-CAA today has a different meaning than the conventional definition. CAB means Citizenship Amendment Bill and CAA is Citizenship Amendment Act. Here is a disclaimer. I am neither a constitutional expert nor am I a Supreme Court lawyer. I am an ordinary citizen of India like crores of others. I have tried to write in a manner without writing about complexities (there are too many) because I am not an expert. I am also not an intellectual. People like Doctors, Engineers, Architects are not intellectuals. You have to be born intellectual and be educated at JNU, Oxford, Harvard in political science, finance, or at least history! Sometimes Geography is also okay!

CAB was passed in Rajya Sabha on the 11th December after Lok Sabha passed it on the previous day and became CAA the next day; it became law as the President signed the necessary documents. Citizenship, migration is the phenomena of the 20th Century. Before that period,  travel was tough, and a comparatively small number of adventurous people migrated and settled in different countries. The journey from one part of the country to another part was tough. Hence the laws and rules of migration and citizenship have been comparatively recent phenomena.

India was never a single country as we see it today. There were Rajas of various small and big states. I am not sure how people travelled in those days from place A to place B. Hyderabad was a big state under the Nizam. The procedure and documentation involved in going into Hyderabad from outside are not known to me. Was the visa required before independence? After the independence “India” was split into two nations. Bharat and Pakistan (West and East) were created based on religious majority. India had a Hindu majority, and Pakistan had a Muslim majority. Creation of Bangla Desh in 1971 created a significant flux in Eastern India. Many people from erstwhile East Pakistan moved to India and moved to West Bengal/Assam. These people were both Hindus and Muslims.

The partition in 1947 created the first sizeable Hindu nation of the world. The first principle of citizenship is if you are born in a country where your parents and grandparents were born, you automatically become a citizen of that country. The US is a nation formed by migrants. So even today, there is a law in the US that if a child is born on US soil, the child automatically gets US citizenship. They do not bother about the citizenship status of the mother. She can be alien too!

India applies a similar law of citizenship, and those who lived in India at the time of partition automatically became citizens of India. Those like me who were born just after partition also became a citizen of India by birth. This law applies to all the people of irrespective of their religion. India used the same law before and after the CAB bill came into existence. My point is that there is a significant discussion going on, that this bill is against the Muslims, is not correct. The bill has nothing to do with Muslims who are already citizens of India, like me. Such propaganda and discussion are incorrect. I have one question for the intellectuals. Do they know that Muslims in India are far better off than Dalits, Tribals in India? So why not talk about these people?

So why are different groups protesting the CAB bill? Political parties feel that it is an excellent vehicle to create confusion in the minds of the people and get some mileage to push the government politically. People forget that politics is a trapeze act in a circus. Accidents can happen easily if both sides do not follow the basic rules of the coalition. A classic example is Rahul Gandhi’s comment on Savarkar. Shive Sena has immediately retaliated on what he said. I am sure that it will lead to blood pressure and temperature rise in Maharashtra politics.

I have read many articles, treaties, and seen a couple of videos by experts. I have tried to explain the critical issue of CAA in plain English! Now at least I am clear what stakes are involved in CAA. I hope you also will get a fair idea of the same.

Why there is a strong protest in Assam? Assamese feel that many Hindus who have “migrated” after the 1971 Bangla Desh war in Assam will become citizens of India. The act will reduce their opportunities in their state by making a large number of migrants Indian citizens. The map above shows the states for which CAA is not applicable. The blue states do not come under the purview of CAA, but it applies to Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura. These states have a common border with Bangla Desh.

It is important to know what is ILP. ILP is an Inner Line Permit. This permit is required by tourists,s including all Indian citizens. At a time, it is given for seven days; later on, it can be extended if required. For those Indians seeking jobs in these states, it is given for one year at a time; it is also extendable like the tourist permit. The permit is used for keeping intact the special social and cultural fabric of these states. Now Meghalaya has also requested ILP. It will be decided in a meeting after Christmas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Line_Permit

Why there is a strong protest in West Bengal? Mamta Banerji is a strong supporter of Muslims. She assuages the Muslim community at the cost of the Hindus. She has a fear that her vast vote bank of Muslims from Bangla Desh will not get citizenship under the CAA. They can be sent back to Bangla Desh.

Don’t miss this horror story of what Jyoti Basu’s West Bengal Government did with low caste migrants who came to India in large numbers before and after Bangala Desh War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marichjhapi_incident

The concerned people have managed to keep it hidden as much as possible.

Why are protests continuing in Jamia Millia and other such institutes in Delhi? The main reason is that they do not understand the meaning of the act. Secondly, these institutions have been anti-government all the time. The moment they get an opportunity, they start protesting.

There are collateral damages when acts like CAA or action like Article 370 is taken. The first discussion on citizenship had begun in 1971, and it took some form in 1985. Somehow the governments after 1985 kept the status quo instead of acting on the same. The collateral damage of CAA will be the relationship with Bangla Desh. But in the first place, we must note than Bangla Desh never made any attempt to stop the illegal migration of Hindus and Muslims to India. Once India starts acting on this bill, India will send back many Muslims who had illegally entered. The reverse migration can be problematic for Bangla Desh. But is that India’s fault? Pakistan did not like Article 370 action. If they had lived peacefully, India might have maintained a status quo. But continuous terrorist attacks forced India to act in Kashmir. A strong nation needs to act even if others don’t like it. Recently the US sent back about 500 Indian people who were trying to enter the US illegally via Mexico. Did India protest? They were Indian citizens trying to perform illegal acts.

Opposition leaders and intellectuals are raising a question. They are asking why the government has chosen only three countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangla Desh. I feel that it is a matter of policy. Persecuted people are usually in the minority. These countries have Muslims in the majority. The Indian government is trying to help people in the minority. Muslims from these countries have a different route of seeking Indian citizenship. Adnan Sami, Taslima Nasreen, Dalai Lama are the prominent people who have been given Indian citizenship. Ruskin Bond has been living in India for 50 years. If Imran Khan decides on one fine day that he wants Citizenship of India, he can always apply. He will have to follow a standard procedure, and at the end of scrutiny, if he fits the bill, he will get Indian citizenship.

Opposition parties and intellectuals are raising a question of why Sri Lanka (Tamils), China (Uyghur), Myanmar (Rohingyas) and more are not included in the list. India is already giving shelter to Tamils. Rohingyas are coming via Bangla Desh since we don’t have a common border with them. So they have to go back. CAA is a relaxation in rules of giving citizenship and not against taking away citizenship. The government has made CAA to help minorities from these three countries (these countries have a majority Muslim population) who are persecuted. The persecuted majority from these countries can apply if they feel like taking Indian citizenship. The government will consider them under routine migration process.

By no means, this subject is over. Major genuine discontent is for Assamese people. I am sure that the Central Government will sit and talk with Assamese people and their leaders. They will come to an amicable solution with CAA as the guiding principle. Some tweaking may be needed. I am sure both the sides will show flexibility and reach a reasonable conclusion.

How are you doing today?

Years back, when I travelled to the US for the first time, whenever we went  in shops or malls, a question was always asked, “How are you doing today?” Honestly, we were never used to being asked such a question. After a few days, we got used to it and would reply, “Oh, I am doing good. How are you doing?” Beyond that generally, there was no further discussion.  

If you look at this simple sentence and its effects on day to day basis, these are unbelievable. Consider a scenario at an office. There are workers, staff, managers, bosses and the boss. Every person who comes to the office, goes to his or her place of work and starts working, no hi or hello! Work gets done, and at the end of the day, people will go home. But this is not life; whenever you meet someone, even unknown person, you say hello or equivalent (こんにちは, नमस्कार, Hola) depending on the language of communication. Someone may ask, “How was your weekend?” or “How is your wife, has she recovered from flu?” Such discussion brings people together, and you feel that you belong! This sense of belonging is what brings people closer personally or formally.  

The sense of belonging makes a big difference to organisations. Every day when you come out of bed, you must feel that you want to go office as many things have to be done. If you go to the office as compulsion, work becomes a formality. Your efficiency and productivity remain average.  

I will share with you a story of the Chairman of a large company in Pune. In the company, they used to have a meeting once a month which 25 senior officers from the company attended. Last half an hour of the meeting was reserved for a brief one on one meeting with each of the officer. The Chairman knew details about these officer’s family and would ask questions about their welfare. I understand that similar practice continues and now the chairman’s son handles the meetings. I know many people who worked for this organisation, and they always have good things to say about the company.  

I will share a story about Mr Sharad Pawar. Mr Pawar is a senior leader in Indian politics, has been chief minister of the state of Maharashtra. There are a lot of controversies about his wheeling and dealing, but this is the way politics works. I will not go into those details. He has a fantastic relationship with many people in Maharashtra. Years back he was travelling from Pune to Aurangabad, about 240 km distance. 100 km from Aurangabad one the cars in his convoy had a flat tyre. All the vehicles stopped for the change of tyre. Everybody got out for fresh air. Some people in the area saw Mr Pawar, and within ten minutes about fifty people came out to meet him. Within no time this number increased to a hundred. People came there with some Roti, Dal, Juice, buttermilk and what have you. It was an unplanned stop, but Mr Pawar had an excellent rapport with the people in that area. He started chatting with those people. He asked someone how your younger daughter is? Are her marital issues resolved? To someone else, he asked if he had settled his land dispute. He said to another person that he came to know about that person’s father’s death, he gave his condolences. It was an unbelievable site to see his rapport with the people in those years; the team was forced to spend almost two hours before they could restart their journey. That is how people loved him.  

This incident took place in a remote area of interior Maharashtra, and it was unplanned, but the event turned out to like a festival for those people because their beloved leader was among them. Hats off to him for a terrific public relations and contacts. His tag line must be “How are you doing today?”  

Connecting with others is an art but can also be looked at, as a scientific method. 

Positive Intent 

First and foremost, when someone comes to meet you, or you go to meet someone, show a positive intent. The opening remark could be, the “Hey, looks like there is an issue, let us solve it, or there is an issue, and this is what I have in mind. Should we  brainstorm?” This type of opening statement will bring positivity into the atmosphere. 

Unsure, it’s ok 

You can be hesitant, and it is ok to be uncertain. Nobody is born with solutions to all wrongs in the world. When asked you may say, “I am not sure, let me think about it. When do you think this needs to be resolved? Let’s meet today at 4 pm.” That person has come to you because probably he is also not sure. It’s ok to be unsure occasionally. 

Be open-minded to listen 

A person comes to you and starts telling you something. Sometimes it so happens that you have understood most of what the person has said. But don’t start an argument with him nor should you persuade the person to do it differently. It is possible that the person is using you as a sounding board. Unless you are asked to comment or suggest, only  listen.  

Take any opportunity to connect 

It is imperative to get in touch with everybody at each available opportunity. A sentence like, “You always look fresh, what is your secret?” makes a big difference. Make a comment about the achievements of the people from your colleagues’ family. But be careful to comment if you are a male, connecting with a female colleague. Be a little cautious and you may not talk about her dress or her looks or hairstyle! She may not feel comfortable.  

I want to share with you a story about the effect of saying, “How are you doing today?” In cold storage, one lady was working in the second shift. She would always say to the security person, “Hey, how are you doing today?” She would always add a sentence or two, every day. On the weekend, everyone was in a hurry to rush home. When the last person left, the security person said to his colleague, “Where is our fine lady? She looked delighted when she spoke to me today.” He told his colleague that he would go inside and check. At a remote corner in the cold storage, the lady had fallen and was unconscious. He picked  her up and rushed her to a hospital. Next day when he went to see her, the doctor profusely thanked the guard for his quick action. The doctor said, “Another hour or so and the lady would have died. Now she is stable.” 

Stay in touch, stay involved! In the ’50 s of the last century, Voice of America radio station operated out of Sri Lanka. Their tag line was, “If you see someone without a smile, give him one of yours!” 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Small is also big!

Whenever we discuss progress, we talk about the contribution of large-scale projects; they help the nations in a big way. Yes, the contribution of such projects is enormous, but we tend to forget the small contributions made by the tiny business. Their changes can be called incremental or delta changes (In mathematical terms). There are hundreds of thousands of small companies that also help society and nation to grow. These small businesses together also make a significant contribution.

In Marathi, there is a term called खारीचा वाटा, a contribution made by a Squirrel. Squirrels are very tiny, and they can carry small things held their mouth. But they are busy animals and do a lot of work in a short period. The term खारीचा वाटा has come from a mythological story. Lord Ram was trying to cross the sea to go to Sri Lanka. Sita was taken to Lanka by the demon Ravana. An army of monkeys led by Hanuman was putting large boulders in the sea to make a bridge. A squirrel saw this and helped in her own way to build the bridge. He picked up small twigs and made many trips to support the bridge creation. Ram was impressed by squirrel’s contribution. He picked him up and caressed him by using three fingers on the back. Squirrels have three lines on the back as a result of this caress. Ok, enough of mythology.

Small contributions, small improvements, small habits can all contribute in a big way if done consistently. Small continuous improvements are made famous by the Japanese technique of Kaizen. (カイゼン) Kaizen is the Japanese word for “efficiency”. In business, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organisational boundaries into the supply chain. Healthcare, psychotherapy, life-coaching, government and banking sectors implement Kaizen.

How do small changes improve things? How are they helpful? I read about the British Cycling team. Till the year 2003 British team was also-ran team in all the tournaments. Their reputation was so bad that the reputed cycle companies avoided selling any bikes to them. In the year 2003, the British Cycling Association appointed Dave Brailsford as new performance director. Since 1908 they had one gold medal in the Olympics and had never won the Tour de France race in 110 years.

https://www.letour.fr/en/

Brailsford had a relentless policy known as “the aggregation of marginal gains”. He felt that everything involved in cycling should be looked into for improvement. Even if it gave 1% improvement, it was used. They tried different massage gels which improved recovery time of muscles. They determined what type of pillows and mattresses should be used so that athletes slept well. Many more such changes indirectly affecting the cycling performance were made. But these things improved the lifestyle of athletes which in turn helped them develop better cycling skills. They also used improved seats, quality of tyres and such things which directly affected the performance.

In five years after Brailsford took over, the British team dominated the track and field event in 2008 Beijing Olympics and won 60% of all the Gold medals. In 2012 London Olympics, the group broke nine Olympic records and seven world records. That same year, Bradley Wiggins became the first Britisher to win Tour de France race for the first time. Next year his team-mate Chris Froome won the race and went on winning for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017! Between 2007 and 2017 the British team won 178 world championships, 66 Olympic medals.

The above records show the contribution of 1% improvement model. Sometimes improvements are quite small, sometimes these are not even noticed. These minor improvements are helpful when they are done consistently. Imagine 1% improvement every day for one year, i.e. 365 days. See the maths. There will be an astounding improvement of 3.7 times compared to what you were doing on the first day. The reverse is all equally true. Imagine you are doing 1% worse every day. You will not take much time to reach the zero level.

The small habits that we form are like compound interest earned on money deposited in the bank. It is better than the simple interest earned. Don’t do good things once in a while; if you want to become a good reader, read every day, every week.  If you’re going to remain fit go to the gym every week. Go for those long walks you tried to take, regularly. Maybe going on every Sunday is a good idea.

Look at the way how Kaizen helps. Consider a process in which the operator has to bend twice, per cycle. At some stage, the operator will get tired, and his efficiency will go down. Study the process and try to eliminate at least one time bending to start with the improvement. The change is bound to improve productivity. All the Kaizen methods are based on common sense and are quite cost-effective. But for this, a detailed review has to be made for the process. There is a case study where using common sense, a significant cost saving was achieved. Two equipments were kept next to each other. A component processed on the first machine was fed to the next device. It was done manually. The simple solution was provided by increasing the height of the first machine. The component was pushed to the following equipment by providing a chute!

I wrote about habits in details in my blog last week.

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/habits-or-goals-goals-or-habits/

A group of about 12 bees in their lifetime will produce a teaspoon of honey between them. The quantity is a negligible quantity, but thousands of bees together produce honey which is commercially sold. Similarly, an ant individually is tiny. But all of them together build their large colonies, take away things from our homes. It is the small contribution that does this work.

Friends, I have shared some of the methods about which I have come across, and I found out that consistent, small contributions are crucial to the success of individuals personally and professionally. Large companies are equally important, but that does not mean that small enterprises can be neglected. Both should be treated on par!

Think small consistently and improve significantly in the long run!

Blogging is a big deal! Nah…

Today on my engineering college WhatsApp group, a close friend Vijay, shared a blog about his journey to Sri Lanka! Vijay is an accomplished photographer; I am hoping to get his guidance in photography, at some stage. There was a discussion on the group about what a blog is! Of course, friends pulled my leg too, which is the norm among our group, when discussion veers towards blogging!

A blog is defined as a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style. I started blogging way back in 2011 with a few blogs in the first year, 2nd and 3rd years were also not very productive. In those days there was huge audience of three people, all from family and hence captive! Jaya, my son Sachin and my daughter Priya. They were all told to appreciate my blogs! In mid 2014, after my illness in the first part of the year, I suddenly became more productive and since last year I write 10 to 15 blogs in a month!

Why did I start blogging? Honestly, I do not know but probably it might have something to do with my being comfortable using computers. I bought my first PC in the year 1989, at home! During my school and college days, I was never a part of elocution competitions, singing, art or magazine stuff. I was busy in sports! Only thing I used do was a bit of logistics, behind the drama stage. I have never been a good photographer nor a painter, basically I am not an art and literature person! One thing I used to like since those days was chatting with friends, lot of gupshup, more of time pass which we enjoyed during engineering college hostel days. I used to be in a gang which would celebrate end of term with a bit of drinking alcohol; I and another friend (both non-drinkers) would be policemen to handle them when gang went our dinner after drinks! Maybe, I was a sponge all these years absorbing experiences, stories and anecdotes during the journey. Maybe this is helping me in blogging. Another thing I picked up on the way during professional years was creating good documents and writing mails which perfectly depicted my thoughts.

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/random-thoughts/

This is my first blog written on 7th February 2011. When I went through it, I could see the rawness in me. There were three major spelling errors which I have corrected. (I am ashamed!) But other than that, I have not done any changes. Now I see that I had not even done formatting! It was really written randomly as per the title of the blog. Why I am writing this is because I feel that many of my friends are more talented than me and can be more productive and enrich their own and others lives by blogging. Sudhakar is a painter and writer par excellence, Vijay is a fantastic photographer, Pravin is a good singer, Shriniwas and Shashi have great flair for solving complex puzzles along with Shrikant and Sudhakar. I am sure many others have talents which are not known to others. There are some social workers in the group doing a great job, there are story writers like Kishor! Hey come on guys write something about your expertise, how you achieve end results, how you prepare and all such things. Write about your experiences.

Slowly I meandered towards blogs about human behaviour and relationships. This is my favourite topic for blogging. Sometimes I write about technical things but I make sure that it is not a technical document; my blogs are also read by non -technical people.

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/dance-of-civilization/

This is my most favorite blog written on 19th January 2016. For me this was a path breaking blog which was ready in my mind the moment I thought what I should write. This happens to me in some blogs and my blog is ready in an hour and half! For some reason there is clarity of thoughts, the beginning and end is also ready. You must have observed that in my blogs there are always some anecdotes but, in this blog, it is full of small stories in the form of observations. About 30% of my blogs are written this way. Appropriate thoughts and the stories that I have absorbed over a period, somehow are accessed instantly from my hard disc in the mind.

Later, I have written blogs based on personalities, some based on poems or songs, some are based on real life events. Some were just based on a sentence I had read somewhere! It appears that over a period I improved my skills into expanding my thoughts from something small into a blog.

My favourite blog on personalities is of course the one on Shashi Kapoor when he passed away! He was in commercial films but never looked comfortable. He had the looks, charisma and family background with him!  But he was more humane than many other stars!

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/shashi-kapoor-the-british-punjabi/

Most favourite or all time favourite blog that my friends have liked is

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2017/07/12/paranormal-behavior-or-angat-yene-or-devi-ana/

It is miles ahead of all other blogs for number of views. This was written from a personal experience of someone from family, who had this effect on her during a religious function in the family. I had heard about this aspect and I had assumed that this happens to people I don’t know! But that it was real was proved when the lady came out of the trance, she was totally drenched in sweat!

Another blog that is dear to my heart is  Brave Art!

https://panvalkarpramod.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/brave-art/

It is about a young girl, maybe 26/27 years old, from Nasik who dared to break the social norms and did nude paintings of self! I was reading a poem by Kedarnath Singhji when my friend Sudhakar shared all details about Mansi and her background! I combined the brave girl’s act with the poem that I was reading on the subject of woman’s nudity! Both subjects have gelled beautifully to create a satisfactory blog.

From 21 views in the first year, I have already crossed a figure of 10,500 in the year 2018. Let me tell you this helps! I am not writing for praise only,  but the comments made by friends, telephonic discussions add to my enthusiasm!  I have 65 regular followers and they are from different countries. India, US, Australia, Canada and UK are the countries where I have friends so it is no surprise that my viewers are from these countries. But I get surprised when there are sometimes viewers from non-English speaking countries like Germany, Hungary whereas Ireland, Hongkong is also a surprise to me.

Only reason I have written this blog is to tell people the real inside story! When we were younger such technology did not exist. Friends, make use of technology, don’t go by what I have written about blogs. Read on the net and interpret the meaning of blogs in your own way but start playing with it. Another important aspect is that writing a blog is your own product whereas pushing forwards on WA/FB is like service industry, sharing someone else’s work. I prefer own product, anytime! There are always hidden gems in the society, they only need a bit of cut and polish! You could be one of them! Don’t forget we all have a lot of stories and anecdotes to share, it’s a matter of pulling them out at the right time!

A little deviation!

I generally avoid writing about things that are in public domain and especially related to politics. But some recent events have forced me to temporarily tweak my rule, maybe just this one time! So, pardon me. Many actions in public domain are supposedly taken with elections in view, or some such ulterior motives. As usual ruling party and oppositions parties do not see eye to eye on most things. Only time both sides seemed to have come together, are during national emergencies. But there have been no such emergencies. I am not talking of this government or that party. 

Today I read about a small plane carrying Rahul Gandhi and his close aides, flying from Delhi to Hubli. It appears that as the flight was approaching Hubli, the airplane suddenly lost height, became unstable, and pilots lost control. This was during day time and weather was clear with no obvious winds. Pilots took charge of the plane by shifting from Auto Pilot to manual mode and landed safely. On landing, the entourage approached the police and lodged an FIR, claiming sabotage. The FIR is lodged against the pilots! Do pilots not know if the plane crashed, they will also die? I do not know why FIR was lodged. All, including crew were petrified. If someone wanted to kill the leader why will they put the lives of unknown persons also, in jeopardy? The plane could fall and kill a few on ground too! Are we such a vicious country that we will try to kill some senior leader because of elections? Are we a set of “Stupids” to react this way? Are we so malicious, that we want to charge our opponents of murder? After getting down, the complaint could have been made to authorities. These authorities could have been requested to stop flying the plane for thorough inspection. (apparently this is now done) Who advised this group of people to complain about saboteur? What is this, stupidity or viciousness, naivety?  

On the other side, due to the rise in Oil prices in international markets, petrol and diesel prices at home are also sky rocketing. With elections around in some states and national elections next year, this is supposedly a disaster for the current government. But they are sticking to basic finance rules and not taking any action to reduce these rates by way of subsidies. Sometime back, Indian petroleum sector was linked to international oil prices. A couple of years back, we got the benefits of very low petrol/diesel prices. Popular measures may be good politics but it is not good for the nation. This is an extraordinary courage being shown by the government.  

Supreme Court Chief Justice issue is one more such saga. I do not understand much about law of the land. But it was apparent from the beginning that this action was going to boomerang on the people who started the action. First and foremost was that the opposition parties could not form a coalition, based on similar thinking. The numbers were not there, and according experts, logic behind the action was not tenable. With this background there was no point in moving ahead. But why they moved forward is a mystery! Do they have no other agenda? Do they have nothing viable to pressurize the government?  

AFSPA is Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), are Acts of the Parliament of India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in what each act terms “disturbed areas”. Tripura government has withdrawn this act after 18 years. This was promulgated when situation there was bad and there was no option left. But somebody has reviewed this and taken a decision to withdraw these. This is creditable because generally nobody wants to bell the cat. Decisions in the government, are generally left to bureaucracy and their motto is status quo! Generally, there will be no review, things keep on lingering. One arm does not know what the other arm is doing! That reminds me of a small anecdote from Solapur district. In the district collector’s office, there was a file called “Report for the Queen”! Nobody knew what it was. But every month a group of officers was creating a mundane report, to be sent to the queen (of England), naturally! This procedure was started more than 100 years back during British Raj and continued till the year 2000! Review? What is that! 

Last but not the least is current China visit by our PM. Both our countries are large and with big population. Somehow China has been coming in the way of many things that India wanted to do on the world stage. May it be Pakistan, Sri Lanka or United nations China has always tripped India; on top of that there has been continuous probing on border posts in Himalayas. These type of skirmishes, are always stressful and can prove to be very expensive, even money wise, with no tangible results. Our PM has realized this and has taken first step to cool down tensions with China. There will be give and take, but we need to be pragmatic and keep our egos aside! That is the real diplomacy. I always felt that India was always lagging in finesse in diplomatic relations, though there has been improvement in last ten years or so. There were no declarations, no noise, just tête-à-tête between top bosses; it appears that meetings will be regular in future! I felt that this is a feather in the cap of our Government!  

Are we showing maturity in our governance? Are we not afraid to take steps which may be termed bold? But one thing is sure, we continue to be idiots, stupids and smart at the same time. Mainly the political arena has to change! Can we be a little smarter in our internal political moves also and try to be less confrontational? Hope we mature in this area too!  

Jaihind!  

 

 

  

India 2020 or 1820?

                                                                  

Pramod somehow caught hold of Genie, managed to make Genie run at the high speed that was expected of him. Genie as usual started narrating a story. He started with a question, “Pramod, you always look positive and gung ho about Bharat desh; but you seem a bit perturbed after you had a chat with your friend, Vijay,  who came back from China visit, today?” Pramod knew that if he uttered a word, Genie would slip out of his control and system will hang! So Pramod did not give any reply to the question asked.

As usual, Genie kept on talking. Genie said, “I know that Vijay must have shared with you the advances made by China in all fields.” 35 to 40 years back Chinese started a revolution in their lives, overcoming the setbacks from Mao regime. Ok, I saw you smirk and I know what you are going to say. They have dictatorship that is why they can do whatever they want! Give 30 % discount to “No Democracy” but still how far ahead are they? Look at their new cities, look at their production volumes? In car production they have gone way ahead of the US also! So many international companies get their products manufactured in China for different reasons. Cost, productivity and quality! When they get these benefits, it is obvious that people will queue up to get things manufactured in China. Chinese think out of the box. They have a major manufacturing set up in north west China. Shipping products from there to harbours on the east coast, putting them in containers and sending them to Europe by ship, was 45 days cycle. They got the rail tracks ready in north west China to connect to Russian train system and now they ship the products by train to Europe in 15 days!

Pramod, you look gloomy. I know that you are not sure if we in India live in 1820 in mind, though we will be reaching 2020 in a couple of years! Yes, we are doing some great things like ISRO but you fail to understand why can’t we follow simple things like crossing roads on zebra crossings; sometimes it looks as if cattle is moving in the field in random direction but these are roads in cities and these are humans and not cattle! It is no rocket science, oh but we do very well in Rocket Science! We run excellent Metro Services in many cities but what happens on local trains and especially long-distance trains? We have dirty bedsheets in sleeper coaches, unclean toilets and so on. We are doing good in IT field and looks like we will go up the value chain going into AI and deep learning. But we can’t find solution to smog in Northern India. The smog levels reached are ten times the normal value, but we are collectively sleeping! Pramod, I know Beijing also faces similar problem, but they are at least trying to do something about it and not sleeping over it!

In our Metro ecosystem behavior of Indians is very disciplined and the system remains very clean all the time! Just outside the system we are back to “Old Dilli” ways. Old Dilli is a thought process. चलता है is our motto! This means whatever rubbish is done we accept it with an attitude, “It’s ok! चलता है.” Unless we come out of this attitude we will remain in 1820! We have Urinals on expressways just after every toll station. But people will relieve themselves on the wall of the Urinal but from outside. Local governments ear mark zones for hawkers, but we will start hawking where ever it is suitable to us. On footpaths, railway foot bridges! But with चलता है attitude we regularly buy stuff from these hawkers and accept situation as if we are still in 1820! Local Governments make anti encroachments drives, within a couple of hours or days, hawkers occupy the same space and it is business as usual. We do not have time to breathe because of busy life but we will spend hours together to follow some age-old traditions under the garb of religion.

Pramod, what is the solution to this? How do you think Indians can be physically as well as mentally be in 2020? Do you at least  see some progress in that direction! Sri Lankan cricket team captain made a statement that their teams performance is not up to the mark because of some “Spirits” are working against them! Are you sure Pramod that these things are not discussed in Indian Cricket team meetings? At least from what is written in newspaper, Indian skipper is a 2020 guy who totally believes in training, discipline, performance and positive attitude! This probably helps Indian team to open the bottle of “Spirit”, Champagne, after most of the matches, these days!

Pramod, I want your reply on this, as I know you have strong views! I also know that your friend Vijay is like you! He also is in gloom after visits to other countries  but is a similarly positive guy like you and wants to work harder again! Pramod tried his best not to talk but Genie hustled him again with the same questions! Pramod just could not keep quiet. He said, “Genie, look at the positive side. All this discussion shows us that there is so much to do! For next many many years, we all have lots of work to do! I am sure we will do it, the way we are doing with ISRO, Metros, IT “

With this statement Pramod broke the golden rule of silence that Genie had locked him in.  At that instant Genie slipped out of Pramod’s grasp, Genie’s speed became equivalent of 2 G and system hung!  Genie could not help but make a passing remark before escaping. “Pramod my gut feeling tells me that most work we will be required do will be on Indian Mentality!”