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...
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Sunday, May 07, 2006
reflections from the hannover fair in germany
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
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
Monday, April 10, 2006
reflections from my official trip to Germany....
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!
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!
Saturday, December 24, 2005
how do others view india?
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.
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.
Monday, May 30, 2005
traveling through Heathrow
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...
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
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...
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...
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