An indian in london

Europe’s positioning in the emerging order

2008-02-11T15:12:00.001Z

Was listening to a rather interesting debate at Davos this year on Europe's position in the emerging world order. I personally find this line of argument that Europe in a steady period of decline rather tiresome- after all, if every country in the regional vicinity is clamouring to join the EU, come on, it cannot be that bad… However, what is rather important is for Europe to think about its relative positioning, given that the world is moving away from a Trans-atlantic centricity to a multi-polar world, each interest group's ability to influence global agenda will be determined by its relative value add.

Thinking about what Europe would bring to this order, I would look to what Europe does best as a start point. One idea that comes up is the high level of "social responsibility" displayed in Europe- think about putting the citizen (never mind it is just the European citizen) center-stage, think about democracy, liberal values, welfare state, people's needs etc. I think Europe could very credibly take an agenda setting leadership stance in issues pertaining to what would loosely be defined as "Social responsibility"- sort of defining the core around positioning the European brand.

The implications are not trivial- From Green technologies, Education, Healthcare, Corporate Governance, Infrastructure, Administration, Regulatory governance, the sectors this theme could cover are vast enough to sustain a very profitable economic and a leadership model for Europe.

Bill Gates and a new approach to capitalism

2008-01-24T17:49:00.001Z

An account-What people are doing with their intelligence, wealth and knowledge to help the not so privileged… I find this very interesting, and fairly sophisticated in the way this is being approached by the single biggest kitty on the planet to help the underprivileged…

Trying to articulate bill gates view of a new Capitalism- Creative Capitalism as articulated in Davos…

The concern with market capitalism is that it tends to benefit the ones that need it the least, and penalizes the ones that will hurt the most. So we need a new capitalism- the challeng is to design a system where market incentives drive recognition in serving the underprivileged- market based social change- self interest with interest in fortune of others- creative capitalism- where govt,business and ngos stretch together…

Market: In Africa, they needed to find a vaccine to be priced at <50 cents- and a student in india found a new vaccine for 40 cents- and 250 million of these were sold- in another case, the dutch company for cholera vaccine that shared the rights for emerging world for free- resulting in a a Vietnam based drug manufacture priced at < $1.

Business: Government funds aid, research, healthcare- but the highest leverage is to set policy that sets market incentives for biz activities that help the poor- eg bush- any drug developed for say malaria- can get a priority review from fDA for another drug- bringing the other drug into the market a year early- worth 100s of millions.

NGO: If u give people a chance to associate with a cause they care, while buying products- they will buy- eg Red campaigns in Davos- $50 MM to fight aids, tb and malaria- impacting 2 million people.

Discussions at Davos- Water

2008-01-24T10:29:00.001Z

This year, water was a topic of priority- 7 sessions including a plenary. Exremely complex, multiple facets (quality, quantity, use of water etc) big Sense of significant urgency but is eminently solveable problem. Convinced this is as big a problem…

Peter Brabeck and Nevill Isdel set the context –interesting large co ceos are passionately talking about water- both Coke and Nestle have a huge water footprint- but that's not enough-u use 9000 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bio diesel- the big issue is that water is not being valued. We "eat" a lot more water than we drink.

Potential solutions-

2^nd green revolution- addressing 70% of water consumption- perhaps using Biotech and Genetech-

Also we should not make decisions on other issues that exacerbate water situation-eg if we try and solve for the Co2 by increasing water use in creating Bio fuels, for instance, we are making a huge mistake- also currently oil takes about 2.5 liters of water/ liter of oil- if we go after new reserves in heavy oils and oil-sands will multiply by 10-=100 times.(steam injection)-

Last optimistic notes- perhaps market forces? Oman has a system for 4500 years- farmers have access to water that they pay for thro infra and thro money, and those rights are tradeable- every famrer can buy and sell water- the other interesting thing- a certain % goes to mosque for poor people.

Nuclear power as an option- dialogue from Davos

2008-01-24T09:11:00.001Z

Another interesting debate from Davos- nuclear power/ proliferation and consequences…

There was an Iranian (Larijani) on the panel- interesting views. On a question on Iran's views on Israel- he made a point about anti-semitism being a western notion…

Brahma was emphatic about the cost of nuclear power not beign articulated well enough- the specific points were that the nuclear industry did not need to pay for the collateral costs of nuclear power- ex liability damages, cost of retiring plans, radioactive material management and storage, R&D etc… and hence the true costs of nuclear power would never justify the benefits.

Bad news for me! In todays world, I am sorta hoping that alternates to fossil fuels are perhaps the most cutial- and before solar/ wind become wide spread, there needs to be some bridging sources like nuclear power- if that aint it, what else is? And what will good ole india and china do?

America at Davos 08

2008-01-23T18:32:00.001Z

Listening from the congress hall, I found Condy's speech at davos extremely moving- very eloquent address of the value of values and the need to act with it- a stellar job particularly given the credibility challenge the current presidency faces. A valiant attempt, perhaps, on her behalf trying to address the stereotypical American fallacies and take them head on.

Henry Kissinger was on stage open plenary as a co-chair as well- quite interesting- a throwback to a bygone era, perhaps? He made a point about idealism and realism- which was very interesting-something the art of the possible; about how u needed idealism if u wanted to lead, but needed realism to get there (all a bit confusing after a nearly sleepless night, but hey, there you go)-

Also heard a few views on the "Transatlantic alliance"- I think America has enough going on (Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea) for it to legitimately not focus too much on Europe.

The one thing that came out for me is there seems to be an attempt to create a legacy for George Bush on perhaps gaining some ground around the Israel- Palestine situation. I must profess to skepticism here, don't know if he has enough going on for anyone to listen to him- albeit he is still the head of state of the most economically active nation.

That said, America still has the clout to have a commanding presence wherever it is represented , and it is represented in Force, in Davos -08.

China v India- brought home to me…

2007-10-30T09:07:00.001Z

At the fortune global forum, New Delhi, and, got really involved in a conversation around how China and India were different. I will not try and put together a laundry list of what is different- enough has been said about democracy (and the lack thereof), infrastructure (and the lack thereof) etc., however, I think One particular interchange really got across the point to me.

The panel on Indian growth was asked a question about why india's performance in sports did not reflect the size of population (in short, it "sucks"), and why India could not do what China did, and improve sports performance. On introspection, my view is the following:

China is quite capable of taking a problem, and putting together an army to work on this problem, and churn out oceans of athletes, swimmers, sports players, etc, but I cannot ever imagine India doing that. Things are much too free flowing, much too democratic, and much too "free willed" for the country to go from Zero to 100 medals in 2 olympics… things will happen, but they will happen much slower, and will happen with consensus- people need to have bought in etc.

Now the good part is that people's opinion will count. The bad part is that things do not get done..the issue seems to be- there is no organization- and hence Brownian movement prevails- every individual doing a bunch of things by themselves- which makes for brilliant individuals (hence the demand for Indian talent), but does not make for a very cohesive society.

There is something about the Silicon Valley…

2007-10-10T14:50:00.001+01:00

We all read about it- how the valley is what it is because of the confluence of various factors: VC money, top universities, very high entrepreneur activity, a great ability to attract talent, and of course, a great climate. The Valley has been the bellwether for technology innovation and we have read about it. But reading about it is not the same as experiencing it…

I happen to work in a role that takes me to the valley regularly, and every time I get here, it gives me new food for thought. Since I am spending an extended period of time here this visit, I am hoping to explore what is happening in the valley around some of the newer phenomena such as Social networks etc. And I still marvel and how this part of the world is indeed just that little bit ahead of the rest of the world…

I was at this event that focused on this entirely new space that is being created around building applications on Facebook, and met a few people there that brought home to me the "valley effect".

For instance, I met this "power youngster"- Mike Sego who developed the fluff-friends application for Facebook, this application is currently on 2.1 million profiles on Facebook, and is valued at $ 1.5 Million. He has graduated in 2003, works with Google, and developed this application in his spare time. The panache and aplomb with which he was handling queries and telling us his story about how he developed this application was just admirable- and he definitely symbolized what was different about the valley for me…

Or my interactions with Blake Commagere, whose love of horror movies and sheer persistence with asking for "help" translated to building applications such as Zombie, Vampires and Werewolf on Facebook. He described to us with a little apologetic hand-wringing, how people found great pleasure in biting/ sucking blood etc from their friends…

Or, take my interactions with Naval Ravikant, a VC who had a lot to do with Epinions from the dot com bubble days, and the razor insight and clarity he brought to how he made decisions on what to invest – which gave me quite a few views on where this entire space was going.

Or, my conversations with Murtaza from peanutlabs.com, a business that has been able to monetize presence on Facebook.

A closing comment-one interesting insight I got out of my interactions is that there seems to be a higher tolerance to failure here in the valley. People are not afraid of taking risks, and consequently failing, indeed, it seems to be celebrated, which, I suppose, has something to do with why the valley is and will possibly continue to be the hub of innovation for technology…

New York, The Big Apple...

2007-09-30T23:49:00.000+01:00

Well, i always enjoy my trips to the US, and New York has a particular interest for me...

Why not, with 1 £ fetching $2, it is a great time to be coming to the US, and sorta buying up the house... (oops pun not intended on the housing market) - i did end up buying a few baubles though...

My best experiences- this is a city with buzz, and one can see why this is the financial capital of the US, and it is always a pleasure dealing with newyorkers- no nonsense, focused, and very very competent...all my business meetings were jolly good fun...

I also found that it is not enough to have the address, but what is more important, possibly vital to ensure that your taxi driver will not end up screaming at you, are the "grid coordinates"- drop me off between the 50th and 51st on the 5th avenue is probably music to the taxidriver's ears... whereas 76, park avenue is met with a pained look, and possibly sorry, have just decided to take the rest of the day off...

And oh, plan your meetings around the taxi shifts- i found myself unfortunately requiring a taxi at 4:30 pm- and there is a shift change at 5 pm- so around that time, all taxi drivers will studiously ignore you, even if you did the whoopi-whoopi -war dance wearing bright yellow markings with your hair dyed in the colours of the rainbow...

the hotels were something else, though... Apparently it was the UN in session and the fashion week, but i very quickly found that getting a room for less than $500 was not possible, hence had to stay in a rather poor quality hotel right next to the JFK (the double tree) rather close to an interestingly named Jamaica. Rather strange, why it is so difficult to find a decent place to stay in New York for a pocket that is not a millionaire's, or one that does not require authorisation (or atleast raised eyebrows) from authorities to spend a princely sum sleeping in a bed...

Ofcourse staying in this hotel meant that i had to schlep across to Manhattan every day, and the traffic was quite painful- but i did make a few friends amongst the taxi drivers, who, seemingly were all from the subcontinent- found myself conversing in english, and very quickly moving onto hindi, punjabi and bengali... (did you know that the license to own and drive a taxi costs nearly $500 K?)

finally, a word to my airline- i was asked if i would fly EOS, and i must say it turned out to be a very pleasant experience...

Musings from Berlin...

2007-09-17T00:55:00.000+01:00

Was in berlin last week..

did a guided cycle tour of the history of the third reich.. why the third reich? well, the guide, Wolf asked me this question and i answered- this was one of those momentous periods in history- of races and extermination, of ruthless effectiveness and of vicious crimes, of a city divided (Berlin) and of the start of the cold war... definitely something i wanted to learn a bit more about...

One aspect that emerged for me (apart from the very serious disquiet about the enormity of the atrocities against humanity commited by this regime) was the relative openness in Germany to examine this terrible period. It takes a lot of courage for a country to stand up and admit to its mistakes, and i must say- the amount of information available about this in Germany tells me something about its peoples.

Another thing that i hadnt known before- that the wall between east and west berlin was actually a ringfence around "west" berlin- it completely encircled a part of berlin occupied by the Western allies.

i wonder what it was like growing up in city to have 2 parts, both completely isolated from each other for almost 30 years...particularly for those in the East...

on a parallel note, unlike in China, i found communication a lot easier- everyone understands english, and i understand a bit of german, and found getting vegetarian food a lot easier (again, seemingly the chinese dont understand the notion of vegetarian food)

China Floored Me...

2007-09-17T00:52:00.001+01:00

visited china the week before last...

have read, heard a lot about this country, but a visit is an absolute necessity to grasp the enormity of what is happening there...yes, i know. it is not a democracy, it is not a place for freedom, it is very regulated etc.

but...

it is the place where i experienced the highest speed i have ever reached on land (432 kmph, on a Maglev train to Shanghai Airport), i saw great infrastructure, and great development. The insight?

To me China resembles a company. A small group of people at the top decide what happens, and there is a sequence set in motion, where a series of incentives and disincentives ensure that people behave according to the rules. And follow the rules they do.

Whilst this may sound a bit restrictive, there is no hiding the fabulous results this has brought about for the . Am looking forward to the olympics, which, by all accounts will be a chinese showcase.

The link to Europe and India? My first thought of comparison to India was a sense of disappointment, and a comparison with Europe was like comparing sunrise and sunset... but then, i believe that this is a great opportunity for us. In my chat with the indian ambassador to china, Nirupama, she tells me that the india-china trade is growing really really fast.

Opportunity anyone, to try and do a business idea which had a triage between China, India and Europe?

My visit to Geneva

2007-07-03T20:47:00.000+01:00

Interesting city, Geneva!

i never cease to be amazed at how well the Swiss have done, in getting international institutions into their country, and hence ensuring they are able to have a say in doing many of the things that happen all around the world.

That said though, i have a gripe-Taxis in Geneva.

Why is it that for such an international city, not a single Taxi driver in Geneva accepts credit cards as a mode of payment? let me modify that, some of them will, if you have specifically asked for a taxi that accepts credit cards, however, they will add a 10% commission, or say minimum 20 francs or say machine broken (i refuse to believe that so many machines are broken)- i had the occasion to taxi around, and my consistent message was - we dont like your card, but we like your business.

i asked a couple of them why this was... only a couple, because, by the time i got around to getting to a shared understanding of what i was asking (the french, they are!), i gave up on a decent conversation. Anyway, one turned out to be particularly articulate, and mentioned that- 85% of the taxis are run by immigrants, and basically, no one cares.

thats ok, but for the businessman, the first point of contact with the city is the taxi, and it doesnt pay for a city to have surly, uncommunicative and uncooperative taxidrivers being the first brand touchpoint...

reflections from the hannover fair in germany

2006-05-07T16:04:00.000+01:00

i was at hannover fair in germany- it was a part of india everywhere, the campaign, and i was glad to see that india everywhere seems to be picking up significantly, after davos.

i was privy to hear our pm, Manmohan ( i would be cheeky in refering to him as Mannu Singh) and the chancellor, Angela speak about this at the hanover fair-. So Mannubhai comes out with a generally humble and respectable speech that basically said indo-germany bhai-bhai! and the formidable lady came out with the speech, the tone of which seems to be "we want change " but without the attendant hardships to the welfare society model that germany practices- a lot more inward looking, for an economy that wants to embrace globalisation.

i suppose folks like mannubhai has a very beneficial effect in international gatherings, he does come across as a "well intentioned" and "intellectual" and "deliberate" in his decisions etc, giving india the much needed patina of "less risk" for all those people pouring their billions into good old materland!

whilst at the opening ceremony, i heard a lot ofchest beating about the worlds largest manufacturing fair etc, i was rather suprised at the relatively inward looking nature of all the speeches etc (eg there was an innovation award, all the nominees for the award were internal german organisations ) and all speeches were about making germany more competitive.

the interesting thing about all of this is the fact that there was a HUGE indian contingent- i met quite a few people, from TVS, to the munjals, to the public sectors CEOs , to folks such as Bharat Ram and others here!

i had a rather interesting chat in the evenings gala dinner with a couple of owners of small specialised foundries in germany- was asking them about what they felt about globalisation!
interestingly, both had a rather interesting view to take- neither of them, wanted to particularly engage wiuth china, the view being that any engagement wouldf automatically mean that the chinese would"lift" their technology and bring it out as their own in a space of days, intellectual property be damned!

but this said, india had a huge presence and a huge mindshare at hannover, and it has improved our perception
amen to that

reflections from my official trip to Germany....

2006-04-10T18:23:00.000+01:00

hmm, been sometime since i blogged....

well, i was in Germany last week and would like to share some reflections on the differences between Germany and England...

there are quite a few differences, but let me go over them in no particular order..

the most obvious one that i notice is the significantly lesser non germanic populace-and i suppose i would chalk it to the lack of "colonies" that they do not seem to have too much by way of cultural diversity! However, I am told that there is a significant Turkish and Eastern european immigrant population in Germany.

Hmm,i wonder what could be the potential implications- i suppose the old english argument that England will continue to benefit from the deep "relationships" they have with countries such as india and china, will no doubt be something germans will want to ruminate about, particularly given the recent upsurge in growth good ole india is witnessing.

i like working with germans because, like the dutch, i find them pretty straight forward- no beating about the bush, no trying to fudge what is essentially "i screwed up" message through twisting the language etc. however, i find it quite interesting when they communicate, because i find that there is a bit of a translation loss when they make a point, somehow, it does not have as much punch coming from a german as it has, coming from someone who has more of a way with english.

i was rather interested to hear about the heated debate on education that is on in germany at the moment-all this interesting stuff about segregation and how if you do not make it to the right schools, you are sorta condemned to a life of failure- hey, where have i heard that before??? aha, good ole tony...well, looks like german state has made a deliberate effort at creating an "intellectual appartheid" in their schooling system...something they will want to have a crack at changing in the near future, i bet!

this brings me to the indian view- the challenge that most indians face whilst spending some temporary time in Germany! Most of german education is in German- so what does an indian, who probably will not be in germany for more than 3 years anyway, do about their kids education? get them to go to a german school, learn everything in a language that will be of limited use to them after 3 years, or pay a truck load of money to ensure that they go to an international school where they will learn in english and hence potentially end up not having too much of a catch up to do once they returned to good ole india?

on the other hand, i suppose learning german does have its benefits- afterall, if you are in the engineering or the manufacturing sector, deutsche is a competitive differentiator, particularly among a billion indians many of who can speak english anyway!

well the jury is out, but i must say i enjoy visiting germany over multiple other countires in western europe that i have been to. Amen!

how do others view india?

2005-12-24T16:11:00.000Z

i had an interesting experience at St.Gallens university the other day... it is quite amazing how widely varying the european public's view is about india- it spans the entire range - the very few who look at india for its high tech high end computing skills to the majority who still conjure up cows on the non existent roads and poverty when they think of india..

i will never forget the german chappie who after speaking to me for 5 minutes, very proudly asks- are you from pakistan? it seems he had a couple of friends from there and he was proudly showing off that he knew about that part of the world- this reminds me of a gaffe i committed-on a flight in 2002 i asked a swiss german whether he would support germany in the worldcup finals against brazil - for the record, i got my head bitten off- it seems the swiss germans think the chaps who speak "hoch deutsch" are infra dig, and the very vocal swiss would always go ra-ra brazil. moral of the story- dont ask an indian if (s)he is from pakistan, atleast not if you want to win friends and influence people.

coming back to st Gallens, there was this rather quiet (and good looking, i might add!) german girl that i was trying to impress with my speech(obviously!)- and at the end of it all, she asks me- what would india do about its brain-drain problem- i.e, if every educated indian moved out of india, who would progress the country? guess that put paid to any ideas i may have had of impressing her- but my response was- the 20 million (compare that with the billion still left in the country) outside india were already contributing in terms of money, skills and brand ambassadoring the country's name.

then there are the "patronisers"- who sort of sidle upto you and commiserate with you abotu india, and say- it is our moral right as the first world to provide for the third world countries- thanks mate, they dont want any handouts, thank you- india is quite capable of creating her own wealth.

one very interesting view from france- the traditional english speaking worlds view of france is its intolerance to anything not french- my personal experiences in paris and in other parts of france has been quite interesting- they tend to appreciate that indians in general tend to hang onto their cultures rather than just blindly copy the cultures of the west, and that is something they feel strongly about.

however, the most interesting views emerge from the 2nd generation indians that live in europe- the ones that came in as children or were born here... they tend to carry a fairly deep chip on their shoulders about india and are not particualry sure as to how they view india- on the one hand, when they were growing up, indians and india was not particularly well regarded, and yet, given genetics, their association with india was inescapable, so many of them end up perpetually feeling that they need to prove a point, and hence tend to be quite sensitive to their indianness...

all this contrasts with the american view- after all, europeans tend to view americans as "not really having a culture" that is beyond 300 years old... but the interesting point is, it seems to make the americans more accomodating of multiple cultures as compared to most europeans.

my view- there are many indias- afterall this is a country that is almost 20 times the size of britain by population- and it reflects in the wide variety of cultures and subcultures that exist in the country.

on the one end (about 40 million households) live in relative poverty- with all their income being expended on basic living necessities- food, shelter clothing etc... , then there is the so called middleclass- about 70 million households which can afford a bit more, and who are sustaining the boom in india now, and at the top is about 1.2 million households, which think, earn and spend like a global community.

traveling through Heathrow

2005-05-30T21:56:00.000+01:00

i hate flying out through heathrow... there is something viscerally difficult about the entire experience..

maybe i am genet'ically gifted to be clumsy, or maybe i am plain intimidated, but my ability to navigate myself through a complex e-ticket, to get myself into a plane and onto parts beyond seems to be a superhuman task...

the problem starts while booking- i tend to book myself onto a flight at say 1830, and that is the start of my nightmares...

come the day of travel, and i know i should ahve carried that damn bag to work and then taken off from work to the airport, but i have forgotten, henc ehave to go back to home, pack, panic, repack, and see that i have just 1 1/2 hrs for the flight to take off, and i am still at home...

then comes the panic part- i cannot make it by train, or by taxi, because the only way i can be in time for the flight is if i fly myself to heathrow (atleast until means of "teleportation" or whatever flash gordon used to call it is invented)

so, with my heart pounding away at 120, and my blood filled more with adrenaline than corpuscles, i reach the desk about 15 mintues before the flight leaves...

the lady smiles very politely and tells me the gate is closed- it does not matter that i have flown with them zillions of times, and i am being exceedingly polite and saying that it is all my fault...

and then, there was this one time when i woke up really early, got to heathrow well on time for the flight, and then found that i was sitting outside the wrong gate, and apparently missed all their "last and final call for Mr...." summons..
you absolutely have to hear about this one- i landed up for the flight at 10 30 in the night, but found that the flight had left , obviously, without me, at 10 30 in the morning...
the sum and total of all this is, i hate traveling to heathrow and out of heathrow...

an indian in england

2005-05-30T20:59:00.000+01:00

hmm, my first blog attempt...

this blog is intended to be a spot for indians to muse about their experiences of britain... please point me in the direction of anything that resembles what i am looking for, and of course, it is your blog, please comment on it as well...

have started rather ambitiously- adopting the title of "an indian in london"- not sure if i have the credentials, but here goes...

what would be the tracks i would take, if i wanted to muse about my experiences?

weather, i suppose would be a favourite, afterall, it is to most londoners.. (the most seen/heard program that gets it wrong almost all the time i)

The one thing i have learnt to appreciate is the value of the sun, i suppose- having come from country where one is used to continually overdosing on the sun, to be in a country where the sun is really hidden, and hidden very well most of the time- starting from really dismal january and february- where the one continual impression is darkness and more darkness, to summers that are "heatwaves" at 25 Celsius, and the most popular car on the road is a convertible, and one's idea of "cool" is to be driving around in really cold air with the hood of your M3 down... ( ever felt the air rush past you at 15 celsius? it can be very cold) with a pair of dark glasses that are not really required...

i guess i have become more british that way, i have started to crave for the sun now... ( i hear that the happiness of peoples is more a function of the amount of sun they can soak in, not the economic wealth they own- hey now i refuse to believe that- why am i here then???)

so that concludes my rant#1 on weather....

let me talk about something else- English....

i think the biggest thing England has going for it is English- imagine, you have invented the means of communication the world uses... and believe me, the british are past masters at using and managing english- from the subtle nuances where you dont even realise that you are being chastisised but you very clearly are, to the "oh so polite" but very clearly evident ticking offs, to the satire and the sarcasm- i marvel in the english's use of english. Every day, it is a delight to read the papers, be it the broad sheets, or the phenomenal titles in the sun, be it the left media or the right media, be it the comments on the FT or the rants on the "news of the world"...

the other thing i am increasingly learning to appreciate is the way the language can be used to achieve what you want.. if there is one thing i want to take away from britain, it would be an ability to use the language the way the english use them.,.

well, that was a start, wasnt it? now, i am waiting to find if there are more of you folks out there that want to comment on this...