Jacksons many lives
Who was the King of Pop really As theories about his previous births abound, Atul Sethi examines the mystery of reincarnation
Michael Jacksons death has opened up a regular Pandoras Box, from which surprising information about the late popstar keeps popping up. The most recent is claims about Jacksons previous incarnations. Who was the King of Pop in an earlier life Walter Semkiw, an occupational therapist practicing in San Francisco and recently in India, says that Jackson was the incarnation of Charles dAssoucy , a 16th century French singer. At the peak of his career, dAssoucy was known as the Emperor of entertainers . He performed regularly at the court of Charles I of England and Louis XIII of France and was hailed as "one of the most famous masters of the musical art."
Sceptics may scoff at the possibility that a French musician, who lived more than 400 years ago, was reborn in the 20th century as the African-American Jackson. But, claims about reincarnation continue to abound and popular culture both Bollywood and Hollywood has often taken up the theme. There are many Hindi films on the subject, including Madhumati, Karz, Milan and Om Shanti Om. Several Hollywood movies deal with it too, such as Goodbye Charlie, Switch and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud.
Should we be surprised For centuries , Hindu and Buddhist philosophy has accepted reincarnation as a matter of fact and complementary to the doctrine of karma or the theory of cause and effect. This stems from the belief that the circumstances of ones life are shaped by numerous other lifetimes and that the circle of life and death will continue till one is free of karma. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, Many are the lives I have passed through and you too. The Buddhist text Samannaphala Sutta describes the Buddha remembering his past lives as Bodhisattva.
The notion of reincarnation in order for a person to develop his strengths in each lifetime is mentioned in early Christian writings. In the third century, St Gregory, the Bishop of Nyssa, which now lies in modern-day Turkey, wrote that every soul comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its previous life.
Critics remain doubtful, insisting on scientific proof of reincarnation. They ask, does it follow any particular pattern and is it possible to co-relate facial features and personality traits from one lifetime to another to arrive at a firm conclusion about the state of ones karmic progress
Semkiw says further research will be needed in order to answer these questions. There is a definite pattern in the way reincarnation works. Our status in life seems to be determined by the karma we have created in past lifetimes as well as by the lessons our souls have set for themselves to learn, he says. He insists that personality traits persist across lifetimes.
Facial architecture and body language appear to follow a pattern as well. But Semkiws book Born Again says reincarnated people can alternate between being perceived as beautiful or ugly. Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is offered as an example. In a previous life, during the reign of Louis XIV, she is described as being unattractive, with a forehead too high for her face, crooked teeth and coarse complexion. Semkiw attributes this to the rationale that ones appearance can switch from attractive and ordinary, based on the lessons that are to be learnt in that particular incarnation. Going by that rationale, Jolie would seem to have learnt her lessons well.
Semkiw says that Michael Jacksons case was slightly different. His subconscious desire to look as he did in a prior incarnation as a Caucasian prompted him to undergo plastic surgery several times. And in a remarkable example of art imitating life after death, Semkiw adds, that the morphing of faces that occurs at the end of Jacksons music video Black or White is how reincarnation truly works in different lifetimes, one can incarnate into different races, religions and nationalities and can even change gender.
Some of this is borne out by other research, not least that conducted by Ian Stevenson, a psychiatry professor at the University of Virginia. A 1997 eponymous study Reincarnation and Biology of 210 children indicated that physical characteristics, such as birthmarks and birth defects, could point to a previous life. The children Stevenson studied were born with birthmarks and defects, which were believed to be somehow linked to the trauma they suffered in previous lives.
So too Jackson, says Semkiw, who traces his traumatic and often controversial association with young children to an incarnation that occurred around 1200 AD. In this lifetime , Jackson, as a boy, was enlisted in what was called the Childrens Crusades. It was a war that Christians from Europe waged with Muslim soldiers in order to take back Jerusalem from them. Jackson lost his life in one of the battles, he says. This experience imprinted itself on his soul as emotional trauma and led to his behaviour as a man-child .
Critics remain skeptical, but reincarnation researchers insist it is one of the main reasons for some children to be born as prodigies. As was Michael Jackson. Semkiw explains his talent as being carried forward from his previous incarnations . There is a pattern that powerful souls come back as powerful souls, great artists come back as great artists. We build upon our efforts from lifetime to lifetime, he adds.
If one were to accept this hypothesis , life would seem a process of constant evolution because each lifetime would offer the opportunity to add on skills to those learned in previous lifetimes. But not everyone is convinced. Many dismiss reincarnation as mumbo-jumbo .
Howver, there is a school of thought that insists evidence of reincarnation brings far greater realization and acceptance of diversity because religious affiliations are recognized as a temporary belief system . Semkiw says that people need to see that we can change religion, nationality and ethnic affiliation from one incarnation to another that we can be Palestinian in one lifetime and Israeli in another, Muslim in one incarnation and Christian in another, then racial prejudices will also dissolve. Indeed, in the bigger picture, it doesnt really matter if were Black or White.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Eyes wide shut
Eyes wide shut
Why would a spouse turn a blind eye to an extra-marital affair Gayatri looks at marriages that go beyond irreconcilable differences
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SEAN PENN and wife Robin filed for divorce in December, for the third time, but requested the court to dismiss their petition again in April this year to save a marriage that has withstood affairs with Kate Moss and pop singer Jewel. Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has allegedly taken to the bottle over his affair with co-star Barbara Mori, even as his wife Suzanne clings to him in a public bid to declare their togetherness.
Infidelity has always been the largest stakeholder in a marriage. Director Karan Johar confessed in an interview to Times Life, Around the time of making Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, I lost my faith in marriage because of the affairs I saw around me. Sheena Sippy, who refused to comment, issued marching orders to Kunal Kapoor after valiantly struggling to come to terms with her partners infidelity for many years. Saif Ali Khans ex-wife Amrita Singh still bangs down the phone, if you call to ask about Rosa. Why would any self-respecting woman tolerate an affair
Yet, marriage as an institution continues to hold its ground long after pundits predicted its day was done. Does Anupam Ahuja know something we dont when she says, We have walked together for 15 years and will continue to. These are just bumps in the road
What makes a woman see a future in a man who has strayed Director Sanjay Gupta, who has been linked to actors Sameera Reddy and Dia Mirza, and assistant director Jasmeet Dodhi, confesses to having always stayed in love with exwife Anu, whom he remarried early last month. Gupta explains , The institution of marriage is sacred and spiritual. Its about finding your soulmate and then building and living your life together based on the foundation of love, trust, faith and hope.
Do all marriages that reach a golden period then involve looking the other way Neetu Singh Kapoor spells it out, Yes, you have to look the other way sometimes. Or you get an elder to sit down and mediate, you talk things over. A longlasting marriage means resolving things. Not allowing walking away to be an option . Is there a cost Everyone from Zarina Wahab , Hillary Clinton and Victoria Beckham overlook dalliances to keep their rings. And as Krishna Raj took Nargis in her stride, Jaya Bachchan takes Rekha in hers. An industrywallah says of Shyam and Neera Benegal, considered a golden couple , All that glitters is not gold, you know! They went through a difficult patch too. You want to know why they are a golden couple They rode it out. The golden period , says the observer, only comes after the darkest one. A woman makes the tough decision to stay when the marriage has enough moments of happiness to outweigh the unhappy ones. Says a spouse defending her decision to stay with her cheating husband on an online forum, Why would I throw away 16 years over a one-night stand After so many years, happiness becomes so much more than just sex. Another warns, The number one lie women tell themselves is it meant nothing . Lee Ann, 32, an NRI in Sydney says, There are two kinds of affairs physical, which I can forgive, and an emotional one. If your spouse is going to someone else every time he is happy or sad, then its over. Sex I can deal with. Some claim a cuckold is always in denial. Others cite reasons ranging from for the children to his affair giving you the licence to cheat too, to even believing other women wanting her man makes him hotter . Bimal Roys daughter Rinki Bhattacharya , a womens awareness worker, though says for the children is actually the number one reason a woman walks out of a marriage. When a marriage falls apart and a mother sees the impact upon the children , she sheds the denial shes been living in for years and walks, she explains. On the flip side, the only reason to stay can be for the self in the balance sheet of life, the marriages credits have to counter its debits .
Divorce lawyer and womens activist Flavia Agnes asks; Why did Jaya stay with Amitabh despite Rekha Why is Dharmendras wife still married to him despite Hema Every marriage is a calculation. The decision to stay is a calculation. When a woman has a choice that is better for her than the one the marriage offers whether thats money , social status, property, she goes. When she has something to gain from the marriage , she stays. Same for men. Love, romance has nothing to do with it.
In The New York Times, Betsey Stevenson, assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania , who studies marriage and divorce trends says, I wonder if faithfulness really is a litmus test in marriages, or if it just becomes a litmus test in the media because thats the one betrayal we hear of in celebrity relationships.
Shekhar Kapurs Masoom became one of the earliest films to take marriage beyond fidelity . Life is not about beginnings and ends. It continually evolves and breathes. A healthy relationship that understands that, stays the course, avers twice-married Shekhar Kapur. Priya Vader, a US-based NRI about to celebrate her 10th anniversary, isnt standing for it, I certainly dont think there's anything masoom (innocent) about affairs. Naseeruddin Shahs character knew exactly what he was doing and didnt confess till the love child showed up! Infidelity is unforgivable. Many echo her traditional viewpoint, but few move beyond it. Says H yd e rab a d - b a s e d Aparna Ganti, Yes, a marriage should, and does, outlast any momentary outburstbe it a fight, a brief affair, etc. A strong bond forms the foundation which makes two people inseparable and everything else insignificant.
Gupta believes till death do us part encompasses all. The only true achievement one can have is the family you create through marriage and all that you do to nurture it. Yes, things do tend to go wrong as well, but if you truly want and believe then you can survive it. We did. The difference from a live-in relationship is that marriage is sacred. The vows you take are the rules you live by and make your life worthwhile.
As Bangalore-based Vidya Vaidyanathan puts it, Not that soaps truly mirror life... but doesnt Ross say we were on a break to the woman he really truly loves What do most F.R.I.E.N.D.S fans want to happen out there Says something about fidelity as a be-all , end-all thing.
Why would a spouse turn a blind eye to an extra-marital affair Gayatri looks at marriages that go beyond irreconcilable differences
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SEAN PENN and wife Robin filed for divorce in December, for the third time, but requested the court to dismiss their petition again in April this year to save a marriage that has withstood affairs with Kate Moss and pop singer Jewel. Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has allegedly taken to the bottle over his affair with co-star Barbara Mori, even as his wife Suzanne clings to him in a public bid to declare their togetherness.
Infidelity has always been the largest stakeholder in a marriage. Director Karan Johar confessed in an interview to Times Life, Around the time of making Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, I lost my faith in marriage because of the affairs I saw around me. Sheena Sippy, who refused to comment, issued marching orders to Kunal Kapoor after valiantly struggling to come to terms with her partners infidelity for many years. Saif Ali Khans ex-wife Amrita Singh still bangs down the phone, if you call to ask about Rosa. Why would any self-respecting woman tolerate an affair
Yet, marriage as an institution continues to hold its ground long after pundits predicted its day was done. Does Anupam Ahuja know something we dont when she says, We have walked together for 15 years and will continue to. These are just bumps in the road
What makes a woman see a future in a man who has strayed Director Sanjay Gupta, who has been linked to actors Sameera Reddy and Dia Mirza, and assistant director Jasmeet Dodhi, confesses to having always stayed in love with exwife Anu, whom he remarried early last month. Gupta explains , The institution of marriage is sacred and spiritual. Its about finding your soulmate and then building and living your life together based on the foundation of love, trust, faith and hope.
Do all marriages that reach a golden period then involve looking the other way Neetu Singh Kapoor spells it out, Yes, you have to look the other way sometimes. Or you get an elder to sit down and mediate, you talk things over. A longlasting marriage means resolving things. Not allowing walking away to be an option . Is there a cost Everyone from Zarina Wahab , Hillary Clinton and Victoria Beckham overlook dalliances to keep their rings. And as Krishna Raj took Nargis in her stride, Jaya Bachchan takes Rekha in hers. An industrywallah says of Shyam and Neera Benegal, considered a golden couple , All that glitters is not gold, you know! They went through a difficult patch too. You want to know why they are a golden couple They rode it out. The golden period , says the observer, only comes after the darkest one. A woman makes the tough decision to stay when the marriage has enough moments of happiness to outweigh the unhappy ones. Says a spouse defending her decision to stay with her cheating husband on an online forum, Why would I throw away 16 years over a one-night stand After so many years, happiness becomes so much more than just sex. Another warns, The number one lie women tell themselves is it meant nothing . Lee Ann, 32, an NRI in Sydney says, There are two kinds of affairs physical, which I can forgive, and an emotional one. If your spouse is going to someone else every time he is happy or sad, then its over. Sex I can deal with. Some claim a cuckold is always in denial. Others cite reasons ranging from for the children to his affair giving you the licence to cheat too, to even believing other women wanting her man makes him hotter . Bimal Roys daughter Rinki Bhattacharya , a womens awareness worker, though says for the children is actually the number one reason a woman walks out of a marriage. When a marriage falls apart and a mother sees the impact upon the children , she sheds the denial shes been living in for years and walks, she explains. On the flip side, the only reason to stay can be for the self in the balance sheet of life, the marriages credits have to counter its debits .
Divorce lawyer and womens activist Flavia Agnes asks; Why did Jaya stay with Amitabh despite Rekha Why is Dharmendras wife still married to him despite Hema Every marriage is a calculation. The decision to stay is a calculation. When a woman has a choice that is better for her than the one the marriage offers whether thats money , social status, property, she goes. When she has something to gain from the marriage , she stays. Same for men. Love, romance has nothing to do with it.
In The New York Times, Betsey Stevenson, assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania , who studies marriage and divorce trends says, I wonder if faithfulness really is a litmus test in marriages, or if it just becomes a litmus test in the media because thats the one betrayal we hear of in celebrity relationships.
Shekhar Kapurs Masoom became one of the earliest films to take marriage beyond fidelity . Life is not about beginnings and ends. It continually evolves and breathes. A healthy relationship that understands that, stays the course, avers twice-married Shekhar Kapur. Priya Vader, a US-based NRI about to celebrate her 10th anniversary, isnt standing for it, I certainly dont think there's anything masoom (innocent) about affairs. Naseeruddin Shahs character knew exactly what he was doing and didnt confess till the love child showed up! Infidelity is unforgivable. Many echo her traditional viewpoint, but few move beyond it. Says H yd e rab a d - b a s e d Aparna Ganti, Yes, a marriage should, and does, outlast any momentary outburstbe it a fight, a brief affair, etc. A strong bond forms the foundation which makes two people inseparable and everything else insignificant.
Gupta believes till death do us part encompasses all. The only true achievement one can have is the family you create through marriage and all that you do to nurture it. Yes, things do tend to go wrong as well, but if you truly want and believe then you can survive it. We did. The difference from a live-in relationship is that marriage is sacred. The vows you take are the rules you live by and make your life worthwhile.
As Bangalore-based Vidya Vaidyanathan puts it, Not that soaps truly mirror life... but doesnt Ross say we were on a break to the woman he really truly loves What do most F.R.I.E.N.D.S fans want to happen out there Says something about fidelity as a be-all , end-all thing.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Yes, I see spirits...
Yes, I see spirits...
As some report celeb ghost sightings, we explore the world of people who claim to see ghosts. Anuradha Varma peeps into the next dimension
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
FANS of Michael Jackson were stunned as they watched a shadowy figure resembling the King of Pop rush across Neverland in CNN video footage. A spectre Well probably never know, but the notion is not as outlandish as it sounds.
Actor Johnny Depp, playing bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies, also felt the criminals presence on the sets. He stated, I did feel him, not to be spooky or anything, but there were moments when I felt his presence. There were moments when I felt a certain level of approval from the guy...
Most of us have tried a spot of planchett or dabbled with an ouija board. So did Sanya (name changed) when she was 21. Her immediate goal then, over 15 years ago, was marriage, but she was told categorically that it wasnt on the cards, sending her into depression. She remembers Zeno, the spirit, who was summoned using a scented bottle cap. He was impatient, in a tearing hurry to answer questions and go off. Everything he predicted came to pass, she says. While she moved on, there are others who keep their contacts with the spirit world alive on a regular basis.
Veenu Sandal, tarot reader, was introduced to this world by her father, who was often summoned by people after they suddenly sighted a deceased family member in their midst. Veenu casually mentions one such lady she takes care of, on her late father's behalf. A not so pleasant lady, her family was glad to see the end of her But, Ammaji wasnt done yet. She often overturned their beds or chopped someones hair for an act of indiscipline with scissors that appeared out of thin air.
There are times when visitors ask me if I have a grandmother staying with me, and I can tell that theyve caught a glimpse of Ammaji and her white malmal dupatta, says Veenu. A much tamer version of Ammaji often travels with Veenu and is content for now. She once even transported Veenu and two others to a level that exists beyond . Veenu recalls, Its a world I cant describe. The fruits are so colourful. There are people and
you can communicate on a different level. They were back as suddenly as they were gone.
While Veenu has seen spirits in various forms a divine goddess who appeared in a blaze of light and danced in a temple courtyard or a young diabetic woman who emerged in her home for a taste of sugary barfi spiritual healer Rudrabhayananda sees them everywhere. He describes them as glowing lights, less than two inches high. Its like having a rainbow in your room, he explains. He adds, The spirit world follows a set of rules. You dont disturb them and they dont disturb you. We are spirits too, only our bodies are visible due to the refraction of light. The communication happens on an intuitive level. There are various kinds of spirits. Some are still attached to the people and the world they left behind and are suffering . On the other hand, there are neutral spirits, who pass on messages to help people, says Rudrabhayananda.
Whats popularly referred to as the inner voice may well be a communication from beyond. Since we often tend to not heed the call, a network of spirits may help to pass on the message to the person concerned . Nan Umrigar, who communicated through automatic writing with her dead son Karl, who died as a young jockey, wrote in her book Sounds of Silence about him being summoned with other spirits to serve the needy in another continent, by their guru and mentor Meher Baba.
Veenu remembers not being able to contact her spirit guide right after the tsunami. I thought I wasnt getting the steps right. However, I was later told that they were busy helping the tsunami victims people who suddenly found themselves dead. Michael Jackson, too, his funeral done, will need nurturing in a spirit hospital ; so that his soul can be strong once more.
Veenu remembers being contacted by the late Pakistani premier Benazir Bhuttos spirit after she was killed. She was prepared , yet not prepared. She was most worried about her country. She communicated with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein too, after he was executed and found the leader unrepentant. But he wasnt a negative spirit, she maintains.
Communicating with spirits or even sensing their presence can often change the course of ones life. As happened with filmmaker Mahiema Anand. Searching for that missing something in her work, she felt one day that a door had opened, exposing her to experiences that ensured life was never the same again. She once sat hours through the night at the Benaras ghats for a shoot, watching bodies being brought for cremation.
She recalls, I lost all fear of death. I could sense a strong energy in the air. For me, spirits are just people without bodies. Their presence also makes her feel touched by divinity and protected .
And neither she, nor the others who can peep into the beyond, would have it any other way!
As some report celeb ghost sightings, we explore the world of people who claim to see ghosts. Anuradha Varma peeps into the next dimension
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
FANS of Michael Jackson were stunned as they watched a shadowy figure resembling the King of Pop rush across Neverland in CNN video footage. A spectre Well probably never know, but the notion is not as outlandish as it sounds.
Actor Johnny Depp, playing bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies, also felt the criminals presence on the sets. He stated, I did feel him, not to be spooky or anything, but there were moments when I felt his presence. There were moments when I felt a certain level of approval from the guy...
Most of us have tried a spot of planchett or dabbled with an ouija board. So did Sanya (name changed) when she was 21. Her immediate goal then, over 15 years ago, was marriage, but she was told categorically that it wasnt on the cards, sending her into depression. She remembers Zeno, the spirit, who was summoned using a scented bottle cap. He was impatient, in a tearing hurry to answer questions and go off. Everything he predicted came to pass, she says. While she moved on, there are others who keep their contacts with the spirit world alive on a regular basis.
Veenu Sandal, tarot reader, was introduced to this world by her father, who was often summoned by people after they suddenly sighted a deceased family member in their midst. Veenu casually mentions one such lady she takes care of, on her late father's behalf. A not so pleasant lady, her family was glad to see the end of her But, Ammaji wasnt done yet. She often overturned their beds or chopped someones hair for an act of indiscipline with scissors that appeared out of thin air.
There are times when visitors ask me if I have a grandmother staying with me, and I can tell that theyve caught a glimpse of Ammaji and her white malmal dupatta, says Veenu. A much tamer version of Ammaji often travels with Veenu and is content for now. She once even transported Veenu and two others to a level that exists beyond . Veenu recalls, Its a world I cant describe. The fruits are so colourful. There are people and
you can communicate on a different level. They were back as suddenly as they were gone.
While Veenu has seen spirits in various forms a divine goddess who appeared in a blaze of light and danced in a temple courtyard or a young diabetic woman who emerged in her home for a taste of sugary barfi spiritual healer Rudrabhayananda sees them everywhere. He describes them as glowing lights, less than two inches high. Its like having a rainbow in your room, he explains. He adds, The spirit world follows a set of rules. You dont disturb them and they dont disturb you. We are spirits too, only our bodies are visible due to the refraction of light. The communication happens on an intuitive level. There are various kinds of spirits. Some are still attached to the people and the world they left behind and are suffering . On the other hand, there are neutral spirits, who pass on messages to help people, says Rudrabhayananda.
Whats popularly referred to as the inner voice may well be a communication from beyond. Since we often tend to not heed the call, a network of spirits may help to pass on the message to the person concerned . Nan Umrigar, who communicated through automatic writing with her dead son Karl, who died as a young jockey, wrote in her book Sounds of Silence about him being summoned with other spirits to serve the needy in another continent, by their guru and mentor Meher Baba.
Veenu remembers not being able to contact her spirit guide right after the tsunami. I thought I wasnt getting the steps right. However, I was later told that they were busy helping the tsunami victims people who suddenly found themselves dead. Michael Jackson, too, his funeral done, will need nurturing in a spirit hospital ; so that his soul can be strong once more.
Veenu remembers being contacted by the late Pakistani premier Benazir Bhuttos spirit after she was killed. She was prepared , yet not prepared. She was most worried about her country. She communicated with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein too, after he was executed and found the leader unrepentant. But he wasnt a negative spirit, she maintains.
Communicating with spirits or even sensing their presence can often change the course of ones life. As happened with filmmaker Mahiema Anand. Searching for that missing something in her work, she felt one day that a door had opened, exposing her to experiences that ensured life was never the same again. She once sat hours through the night at the Benaras ghats for a shoot, watching bodies being brought for cremation.
She recalls, I lost all fear of death. I could sense a strong energy in the air. For me, spirits are just people without bodies. Their presence also makes her feel touched by divinity and protected .
And neither she, nor the others who can peep into the beyond, would have it any other way!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE | 22 JULY, 2009 Starts 5.28am. Totality around 6.30. Ends: 7.40am
ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY
Havent yet planned a trip to watch this event in person Youre missing something very special. Amit Bhattacharya explains why
What exactly is a total solar eclipse
Its when the new Moon gets between Earth and Sun, and covers the solar disc completely
Is it a big deal
A total solar eclipse is easily the most spectacular celestial event you can view from Earth. An eerie darkness descends during totality, birds fall silent and stars peer out in daytime. Read the watch out for column for more
OK, but isnt a solar eclipse happening somewhere in the world every 2 years or so What's so cool about this one
This ones truly special. It's the longest total eclipse this century and the longest seen in India since Aug 18, 1868. The next big total eclipse in the country takes place on June 3, 2114. Between then and now, there's only 1 total eclipse, on March 20, 2034, and it would just be visible in J&K . The line of totality traverses a distance of over 3,000km. So, more Indians will be in the path of totality than ever in history!
Great, but where should I go to get the best view
Look at the map. As you move east, duration of totality increases. Theoretically, a spot in Arunachal should be the best in India. West Bengal, Bihar and east UP in that order would be better places to catch the event than Gujarat or MP. Globally, Shanghai offers the longest totality on land 5m30s
Heres a spoiler: The monsoon is here, so chances of clouds blotting out the spectacle are high. The danger gets compounded by the fact its an early morning eclipse. So, the Sun will be low in the horizon and chances of clouds even higher. Keep those fingers crossed!
India and the ECLIPSE
Three solar eclipses are described in Mahabharata. Theres also reference to Krishna blocking the Sun with his sudarshan chakrato help Arjun in the battle Abul Fazl writes in Akbarnama about Akbar visiting Kurukshetra during an eclipse in 1567 Jehangirnama accurately talks of an annular eclipse later traced to March 19, 1615
On Oct 17, 1762, a Diwali day, a fierce battle between the Sikhs and Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali was abandoned when it became so dark during the day that stars came out
Helium was discovered by Jules Janssen while observing solar spectrum during a total eclipse in India on Aug 18, 1868
Urban Legend
Galileo went blind watching an eclipse. False. He became blind at 72 from cataract and glaucoma. But watching a partial eclipse with naked eye is dangerous
Total eclipse will last about 3 min, 30 sec. Partial eclipse visible throughout India
A total eclipse depicted in a Ragamala painting from Bundi dated around 1850s Source: Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi
WATCH OUT FOR
Partial Phase |
Shadows of tree leaves etc get a strange conical shape as the eclipse increases
Diamond Ring |
Just before or after totality, Suns rays stream out, giving stunning effect of a diamond ring
Bailey's Beads |
Tiny specks of light, like a string of beads, appear from lunar valleys and craters
Corona |
During totality, a breathtaking aura surrounds the invisible Sun. This is the solar atmosphere
ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY
Havent yet planned a trip to watch this event in person Youre missing something very special. Amit Bhattacharya explains why
What exactly is a total solar eclipse
Its when the new Moon gets between Earth and Sun, and covers the solar disc completely
Is it a big deal
A total solar eclipse is easily the most spectacular celestial event you can view from Earth. An eerie darkness descends during totality, birds fall silent and stars peer out in daytime. Read the watch out for column for more
OK, but isnt a solar eclipse happening somewhere in the world every 2 years or so What's so cool about this one
This ones truly special. It's the longest total eclipse this century and the longest seen in India since Aug 18, 1868. The next big total eclipse in the country takes place on June 3, 2114. Between then and now, there's only 1 total eclipse, on March 20, 2034, and it would just be visible in J&K . The line of totality traverses a distance of over 3,000km. So, more Indians will be in the path of totality than ever in history!
Great, but where should I go to get the best view
Look at the map. As you move east, duration of totality increases. Theoretically, a spot in Arunachal should be the best in India. West Bengal, Bihar and east UP in that order would be better places to catch the event than Gujarat or MP. Globally, Shanghai offers the longest totality on land 5m30s
Heres a spoiler: The monsoon is here, so chances of clouds blotting out the spectacle are high. The danger gets compounded by the fact its an early morning eclipse. So, the Sun will be low in the horizon and chances of clouds even higher. Keep those fingers crossed!
India and the ECLIPSE
Three solar eclipses are described in Mahabharata. Theres also reference to Krishna blocking the Sun with his sudarshan chakrato help Arjun in the battle Abul Fazl writes in Akbarnama about Akbar visiting Kurukshetra during an eclipse in 1567 Jehangirnama accurately talks of an annular eclipse later traced to March 19, 1615
On Oct 17, 1762, a Diwali day, a fierce battle between the Sikhs and Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali was abandoned when it became so dark during the day that stars came out
Helium was discovered by Jules Janssen while observing solar spectrum during a total eclipse in India on Aug 18, 1868
Urban Legend
Galileo went blind watching an eclipse. False. He became blind at 72 from cataract and glaucoma. But watching a partial eclipse with naked eye is dangerous
Total eclipse will last about 3 min, 30 sec. Partial eclipse visible throughout India
A total eclipse depicted in a Ragamala painting from Bundi dated around 1850s Source: Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi
WATCH OUT FOR
Partial Phase |
Shadows of tree leaves etc get a strange conical shape as the eclipse increases
Diamond Ring |
Just before or after totality, Suns rays stream out, giving stunning effect of a diamond ring
Bailey's Beads |
Tiny specks of light, like a string of beads, appear from lunar valleys and craters
Corona |
During totality, a breathtaking aura surrounds the invisible Sun. This is the solar atmosphere
Friday, July 17, 2009
Re-Discovery of India
Re-Discovery of India
From somnolent and sluggish to resurgent and self-confident , powerful new images of India have emerged, and everyone, from CEOs to bureaucrats and foreign correspondents, is turning author to tell the story of a country in the midst of sweeping transformation. By Arati Menon Carroll
Thirty five years ago, British Broadcasting Corporation appointed Mark Tully as its India correspondent. This was to be the prodigal return to his birthplace, having being born in Calcutta in 1936. Eager to re-acquaint himself, Tully sought out written material on the country; almost everybody recommended VS Naipauls India : An Area of Darkness, a book known for its harshly critical view of India in the early 60s. Im glad I didnt use that as my guide, recalls Tully, because if that was the kind of baggage I brought with me as a BBC reporter, what a dismal view Id have had.
Many years on, Tully is widely acknowledged as one of the most trusted, authoritative voices on India and his books, from India in Slow Motion to The Heart of India, and most recently India's Unending Journey, speak of his deep affection for his adopted country. Tully has been signed on by Penguin India to write Changing India, a work-inprogress that examines what economic liberalisation has and hasnt done for modern India.
Udayan Mitra, Publishing Director, Allen Lane, the nonfiction imprint of Penguin India, is delighted that Tully has returned to Penguin. His books are perennial bestsellers, he says. This hasnt been the only bit of good news recently for Penguin India. Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, written by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani in which he presents his manifesto of ideas that have held India back and those that could change Indias place in modernity forever, has sold 50,000 copies. The book has become a great visual for a developing India, says Mitra. So powerful was the impact of his book that the government invited Nilekani to develop one of those ideas that of a unique identification system for all Indians. He accepted and did the unimaginable quit Infosys.
IF FRIEDMAN CAN, SO CAN I
Many will credit economist Thomas Friedman for Nilekanis foray into writing. A comment he made to Friedman Tom, the playing field is being levelled inspired the title and thesis of Friedmans The World is Flat, a mega best-seller about offshoring and globalisation. With a focus on India and China, what Friedman (and Nilekanis comment) essentially did for millions of readers, was establish Indias place firmly on the 21st century world stage. India as a subject of non-fiction writing isnt a new fascination. There have been seminal books on India, broad and richly detailed , like Jawaharlal Nehrus Discovery of India and works by Naipaul and Ved Mehta. More recently, historian Ramachandra Guha and former P&G boss Gurcharan Das have found enormous success with their writings on India, as has Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen through his collection of essays in The Argumentative Indian. Today however, everyone from CEOs to bureaucrats and foreign correspondents seem to want to articulate a view on Indias economic and social transformation. The desire to write about India seems to have gained momentum, confirms Lipika Bhushan, manager marketing, HarperCollins India. 'At a time when the rest of the world is growing grey, Nilekani writes in his book, 'India has one of the youngest populations in the world with a median age of 23 and 'the second-largest reservoir of skilled labour in the world . From the Indian-built mini Nano, an expression of the burgeoning aspirations of the Indian masses, to the growing confidence of Indian entrepreneurs and sustained economic growth even in the face of a financial crisis, the world is sitting up to take notice of India.
Even Indian-born management gurus who never really capitalised on their India connection are now focussing their case studies on India, whether it is Harvard Business Schools Tarun Khannas Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, London Business School Professor of Marketing Nirmalya Kumars Indias Global Powerhouses: How They Are Taking On The World or Stanford scholar Rafiq Dossanis India Arriving. Earlier there wasn't much to write about. It's only in the last few years that Indian businesses have transformed from leading domestic players to global giants, and their unique approach to globalisation is also a very recent evolution , says Kumar.
So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds
Mark Twain
American-born Anand Giridharadas moved to India six years ago as a consultant with McKinsey but defected to become the South Asia Correspondent for the International Herald Tribune. His column Letter from India that appeared twice a month in The New York Times and IHT has chronicled, as he writes in his concluding column in NYT dated July 4 2009, the self-inventing swagger of a rising generation of Indians . Giridharadas is now writing a non-fiction book about modern India.
So is the former Canadian envoy to India David Malone, whose forthcoming book on Indias foreign policy is titled Does The Elephant Dance Edward Luce, similarly, came to India in a professional capacity, as the South Asia bureau chief of the Financial Times and ended up writing In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, an evaluation of contemporary India, lauded by some as the best book written on the New India .
From somnolent and sluggish to resurgent and self-confident , powerful new images of India have emerged, and everyone, from CEOs to bureaucrats and foreign correspondents, is turning author to tell the story of a country in the midst of sweeping transformation. By Arati Menon Carroll
Thirty five years ago, British Broadcasting Corporation appointed Mark Tully as its India correspondent. This was to be the prodigal return to his birthplace, having being born in Calcutta in 1936. Eager to re-acquaint himself, Tully sought out written material on the country; almost everybody recommended VS Naipauls India : An Area of Darkness, a book known for its harshly critical view of India in the early 60s. Im glad I didnt use that as my guide, recalls Tully, because if that was the kind of baggage I brought with me as a BBC reporter, what a dismal view Id have had.
Many years on, Tully is widely acknowledged as one of the most trusted, authoritative voices on India and his books, from India in Slow Motion to The Heart of India, and most recently India's Unending Journey, speak of his deep affection for his adopted country. Tully has been signed on by Penguin India to write Changing India, a work-inprogress that examines what economic liberalisation has and hasnt done for modern India.
Udayan Mitra, Publishing Director, Allen Lane, the nonfiction imprint of Penguin India, is delighted that Tully has returned to Penguin. His books are perennial bestsellers, he says. This hasnt been the only bit of good news recently for Penguin India. Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, written by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani in which he presents his manifesto of ideas that have held India back and those that could change Indias place in modernity forever, has sold 50,000 copies. The book has become a great visual for a developing India, says Mitra. So powerful was the impact of his book that the government invited Nilekani to develop one of those ideas that of a unique identification system for all Indians. He accepted and did the unimaginable quit Infosys.
IF FRIEDMAN CAN, SO CAN I
Many will credit economist Thomas Friedman for Nilekanis foray into writing. A comment he made to Friedman Tom, the playing field is being levelled inspired the title and thesis of Friedmans The World is Flat, a mega best-seller about offshoring and globalisation. With a focus on India and China, what Friedman (and Nilekanis comment) essentially did for millions of readers, was establish Indias place firmly on the 21st century world stage. India as a subject of non-fiction writing isnt a new fascination. There have been seminal books on India, broad and richly detailed , like Jawaharlal Nehrus Discovery of India and works by Naipaul and Ved Mehta. More recently, historian Ramachandra Guha and former P&G boss Gurcharan Das have found enormous success with their writings on India, as has Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen through his collection of essays in The Argumentative Indian. Today however, everyone from CEOs to bureaucrats and foreign correspondents seem to want to articulate a view on Indias economic and social transformation. The desire to write about India seems to have gained momentum, confirms Lipika Bhushan, manager marketing, HarperCollins India. 'At a time when the rest of the world is growing grey, Nilekani writes in his book, 'India has one of the youngest populations in the world with a median age of 23 and 'the second-largest reservoir of skilled labour in the world . From the Indian-built mini Nano, an expression of the burgeoning aspirations of the Indian masses, to the growing confidence of Indian entrepreneurs and sustained economic growth even in the face of a financial crisis, the world is sitting up to take notice of India.
Even Indian-born management gurus who never really capitalised on their India connection are now focussing their case studies on India, whether it is Harvard Business Schools Tarun Khannas Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, London Business School Professor of Marketing Nirmalya Kumars Indias Global Powerhouses: How They Are Taking On The World or Stanford scholar Rafiq Dossanis India Arriving. Earlier there wasn't much to write about. It's only in the last few years that Indian businesses have transformed from leading domestic players to global giants, and their unique approach to globalisation is also a very recent evolution , says Kumar.
So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds
Mark Twain
American-born Anand Giridharadas moved to India six years ago as a consultant with McKinsey but defected to become the South Asia Correspondent for the International Herald Tribune. His column Letter from India that appeared twice a month in The New York Times and IHT has chronicled, as he writes in his concluding column in NYT dated July 4 2009, the self-inventing swagger of a rising generation of Indians . Giridharadas is now writing a non-fiction book about modern India.
So is the former Canadian envoy to India David Malone, whose forthcoming book on Indias foreign policy is titled Does The Elephant Dance Edward Luce, similarly, came to India in a professional capacity, as the South Asia bureau chief of the Financial Times and ended up writing In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, an evaluation of contemporary India, lauded by some as the best book written on the New India .
INDIA THROUGH THE EYES OF A WESTERNER
Gone are the days, it seems, when books written on India by Western writers were either excessive odes to Indias exoticism or filled with doomsday judgements about a country collapsing under the weight of its social contradictions. Todays writers, like Luce prefer to chronicle rather than judge, and their writings are imbued with affection but also informed by exhaustive research.
India has laboured too long under the burden of spiritual greatness that Westerners have for centuries thrust upon it and which Indians had themselves got into the habit of picking up and sending back
Edward Luce
Even the voices from within are growing more assured and the perspective is that of an increasingly liberal, outwardlooking country that is eager to use the opportunities now within its grasp. It is only now that Indian minds are getting de-colonised , says Das, a consummate story teller, whose second book, Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma is to be released next month. One of Dass favourite stories is that of Raju, a tea stall boy who, inspired by a television show on Bill Gates, nurses dreams of studying computer science and starting his own firm in his village.
As Giridharadas writes in the earlier mentioned column, India has changed dramatically, viscerally, improbably in these 2,000 days: farms giving way to factories; ultra-cheap cars being built; companies buying out rivals abroad. But the greatest change I have witnessed is elsewhere. It is in the mind. That self-confidence is now reflected in our writings. A great example is A Better India, A Better world by Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy, a collection of lectures through which he makes a compelling argument for why an increase in India's power in the coming decades will be in the world's larger interests. Pavan K Varma, prolific writer and Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, believes our non-fiction writing is finally getting out of self-perpetuated myths. In the flush after independence you begin to write books in categories that you believe will reinforce the image that you think others have of you. Sixty years down the line, you hopefully develop the self-confidence in terms of who you really are, not what others think you should be. Then you write more honestly, candidly and there is a market for that, adds Varma, who is writing Becoming Indian, from his home in Thimpu, on the issue of culture and identity.
Old India, New India
Does that necessarily mean we can finally talk of India in the present without getting into the inevitable backdrop of the past Some people are obsessed with the colonial past, in the attitude of a victim. Thats very defeatist, says Das, whose latest book is an interesting way of interpreting the present through the lens of the past. It turns to the Mahabharata and discovers that its world of moral haziness bears closer resemblance to modern day dilemmas of right versus wrong than we imagined. Amitabh Kant, principal secretary and special commissioner of the government of Kerala, and author of Branding India, a fascinating story about the Incredible India campaign , says the temptation for everyone is to show the vibrant, confident, young India, but the challenge will be not to lose oneself in modernity. The era of the brochure book on India is over, says Varma, although like Das he believes that one must come to terms with ones past. Not in terms of glorifying it or decrying it but understanding it, he says. There are a whole host of young writers for whom the past isnt as critical as the present. Writers like Palash Mehrotra who was a journalist and parttime Practical Ethics teacher at Doon school before deciding it was time someone wrote about changing India, from within. His upcoming title The Butterfly Generation is aimed at the young urban Indian grappling with issues like promiscuity, drugs, money and personal liberty. They have issues other than caste to worry about, he says.
Anything one might say about India, the opposite can also be shown to be true" Amartya Sen
The other factor driving supply is, of course, a growing global readership that believes India and its future are worth understanding . And that readership, says Mehrotra, eggs foreign publishers on to back writing that brings a fresh perspective to this old onion of a nation . Kumar is witnessing first-hand the hunger that the West has for knowledge on India and Indian businesses. Having just released Indias Global Powerhouses he is already in India to research his second book on the subject of innovation in India. Finding a publisher today is the easiest part of the exercise, he says with a laugh. Tully warns, though, against getting caught up in the superpower euphoria. I would actually hope India is the one country that doesnt care for the label of a superpower, he says, admitting he feels both affection and exasperation when he writes about India, Im exasperated about things like ineffective governance. As Nilekani writes in his book: The opportunity of the global economy has highlighted our internal differences between the educated and the illiterate, the public and private sectors, between the well and the poorly governed , and between those who have access and those who have not. Still, bad and good, the world is watching India. We are something like an onion, one complex layer after one another thats worth examining, says Varma. The opportunities for non-fiction writing on India have really opened up, says Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO, Landmark. Its a gold mine for publishers, echoes Mitra. What then might master statesman Winston Churchill have to say about all this attention showered on a country he once infamously described as a beastly country with a beastly religion, no more a country than the equator Save his well-chewed Havana, he might have had to go this one alone. arati.menon@timesgroup .com
India has laboured too long under the burden of spiritual greatness that Westerners have for centuries thrust upon it and which Indians had themselves got into the habit of picking up and sending back
Edward Luce
Even the voices from within are growing more assured and the perspective is that of an increasingly liberal, outwardlooking country that is eager to use the opportunities now within its grasp. It is only now that Indian minds are getting de-colonised , says Das, a consummate story teller, whose second book, Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma is to be released next month. One of Dass favourite stories is that of Raju, a tea stall boy who, inspired by a television show on Bill Gates, nurses dreams of studying computer science and starting his own firm in his village.
As Giridharadas writes in the earlier mentioned column, India has changed dramatically, viscerally, improbably in these 2,000 days: farms giving way to factories; ultra-cheap cars being built; companies buying out rivals abroad. But the greatest change I have witnessed is elsewhere. It is in the mind. That self-confidence is now reflected in our writings. A great example is A Better India, A Better world by Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy, a collection of lectures through which he makes a compelling argument for why an increase in India's power in the coming decades will be in the world's larger interests. Pavan K Varma, prolific writer and Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, believes our non-fiction writing is finally getting out of self-perpetuated myths. In the flush after independence you begin to write books in categories that you believe will reinforce the image that you think others have of you. Sixty years down the line, you hopefully develop the self-confidence in terms of who you really are, not what others think you should be. Then you write more honestly, candidly and there is a market for that, adds Varma, who is writing Becoming Indian, from his home in Thimpu, on the issue of culture and identity.
Old India, New India
Does that necessarily mean we can finally talk of India in the present without getting into the inevitable backdrop of the past Some people are obsessed with the colonial past, in the attitude of a victim. Thats very defeatist, says Das, whose latest book is an interesting way of interpreting the present through the lens of the past. It turns to the Mahabharata and discovers that its world of moral haziness bears closer resemblance to modern day dilemmas of right versus wrong than we imagined. Amitabh Kant, principal secretary and special commissioner of the government of Kerala, and author of Branding India, a fascinating story about the Incredible India campaign , says the temptation for everyone is to show the vibrant, confident, young India, but the challenge will be not to lose oneself in modernity. The era of the brochure book on India is over, says Varma, although like Das he believes that one must come to terms with ones past. Not in terms of glorifying it or decrying it but understanding it, he says. There are a whole host of young writers for whom the past isnt as critical as the present. Writers like Palash Mehrotra who was a journalist and parttime Practical Ethics teacher at Doon school before deciding it was time someone wrote about changing India, from within. His upcoming title The Butterfly Generation is aimed at the young urban Indian grappling with issues like promiscuity, drugs, money and personal liberty. They have issues other than caste to worry about, he says.
Anything one might say about India, the opposite can also be shown to be true" Amartya Sen
The other factor driving supply is, of course, a growing global readership that believes India and its future are worth understanding . And that readership, says Mehrotra, eggs foreign publishers on to back writing that brings a fresh perspective to this old onion of a nation . Kumar is witnessing first-hand the hunger that the West has for knowledge on India and Indian businesses. Having just released Indias Global Powerhouses he is already in India to research his second book on the subject of innovation in India. Finding a publisher today is the easiest part of the exercise, he says with a laugh. Tully warns, though, against getting caught up in the superpower euphoria. I would actually hope India is the one country that doesnt care for the label of a superpower, he says, admitting he feels both affection and exasperation when he writes about India, Im exasperated about things like ineffective governance. As Nilekani writes in his book: The opportunity of the global economy has highlighted our internal differences between the educated and the illiterate, the public and private sectors, between the well and the poorly governed , and between those who have access and those who have not. Still, bad and good, the world is watching India. We are something like an onion, one complex layer after one another thats worth examining, says Varma. The opportunities for non-fiction writing on India have really opened up, says Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO, Landmark. Its a gold mine for publishers, echoes Mitra. What then might master statesman Winston Churchill have to say about all this attention showered on a country he once infamously described as a beastly country with a beastly religion, no more a country than the equator Save his well-chewed Havana, he might have had to go this one alone. arati.menon@timesgroup .com
Monday, July 13, 2009
India Calling By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
India Calling
VERLA, India
“WHAT are Papa and I doing here?”
These words, instant-messaged by my mother in a suburb of Washington, D.C., whizzed through the deep-ocean cables and came to me in the village where I’m now living, in the country that she left.
It was five years ago that I left America to come live and work in India. Now, in our family and among our Indian-American friends, other children of immigrants are exploring motherland opportunities. As economies convulse in the West and jobs dry up, the idea is spreading virally in émigré homes.
Which raises a heart-stirring question: If our parents left India and trudged westward for us, if they manufactured from scratch a new life there for us, if they slogged, saved, sacrificed to make our lives lighter than theirs, then what does it mean when we choose to migrate to the place they forsook?
If we are here, what are they doing there?
They came of age in the 1970s, when the “there” seemed paved with possibility and the “here” seemed paved with potholes. As a young trainee, my father felt frustrated in companies that awarded roles based on age, not achievement. He looked at his bosses, 20 years ahead of him in line, and concluded that he didn’t want to spend his life becoming them.
My parents married in India and then embarked to America on a lonely, thrilling adventure. They learned together to drive, shop in malls, paint a house. They decided who and how to be. They kept reinventing themselves, discarding the invention, starting anew. My father became a management consultant, an entrepreneur, a human-resources executive, then a Ph.D. candidate. My mother began as a homemaker, learned ceramics, became a ceramics teacher and then the head of the art department at one of Washington’s best schools.
It was extraordinary, and ordinary: This is what America did to people, what it always has done.
My parents brought us to India every few years as children. I relished time with relatives; but India always felt alien, impenetrable, frozen.
Perhaps it was the survivalism born of scarcity: the fierce pushing to get off the plane, the miserliness even of the rich, the obsession with doctors and engineers and the neglect of all others. Perhaps it was the bureaucracy, the need to know someone to do anything. Or the culture shock of servitude: a child’s horror at reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in an American middle school, then seeing servants slapped and degraded in India.
My firsthand impression of India seemed to confirm the rearview immigrant myth of it: a land of impossibilities. But history bends and swerves, and sometimes swivels fully around.
India, having fruitlessly pursued command economics, tried something new: It liberalized, privatized, globalized. The economy boomed, and hope began to course through towns and villages shackled by fatalism and low expectations.
America, meanwhile, floundered. In a blink of history came 9/11, outsourcing, Afghanistan, Iraq, Katrina, rising economies, rogue nuclear nations, climate change, dwindling oil, a financial crisis.
Pessimism crept into the sunniest nation. A vast majority saw America going astray. Books heralded a “Post-American World.” Even in the wake of a historic presidential election, culminating in a dramatic change in direction, it remained unclear whether the United States could be delivered from its woes any time soon.
“In the U.S., there’s a crisis of confidence,” said Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, the Indian software giant. “In India,” he added, “for the first time after decades or centuries, there is a sense of optimism about the future, a sense that our children’s futures can be better than ours if we try hard enough.”
My love for the country of my birth has never flickered. But these new times piqued interest in my ancestral land. Many of us, the stepchildren of India, felt its change of spirit, felt the gravitational force of condensed hope. And we came.
Exact data on émigrés working in India or spending more time here are scarce. But this is one indicator: India unveiled an Overseas Citizen of India card in 2006, offering foreign citizens of Indian origin visa-free entry for life and making it easier to work in the country. By this July, more than 280,000 émigrés had signed up, according to The Economic Times, a business daily, including 120,000 from the United States.
At first we felt confused by India’s formalities and hierarchies, by British phraseology even the British had jettisoned, by the ubiquity of acronyms. We wondered what newspapers meant when they said, “INSAT-4CR in orbit, DTH to get a boost.” (Apparently, it meant a satellite would soon beam direct-to-home television signals.)
Working in offices, some of us were perplexed to be invited to “S&M conferences,” only to discover that this denoted sales and marketing. Several found to their chagrin that it is acceptable for another man to touch your inner thigh when you crack a joke in a meeting.
We learned new expressions: “He is on tour” (Means: He is traveling. Doesn’t mean: He has joined U2.); “What is your native place?” (Means: Where did your ancestors live? Doesn’t mean: What hospital delivered you?); “Two minutes” (Means: An hour. Doesn’t mean: Two minutes.).
We tried to reinvent ourselves, as our parents had, but in reverse. Some studied Hindi, others yoga. Some visited the Ganges to find themselves; others tried days-long meditations.
Many of us who shunned Indian clothes in youth began wearing kurtas and chappals, saris and churidars. There was a sad truth in this: We had waited for our heritage to become cool to the world before we draped its colors and textures on our own backs.
We learned how to make friends here, and that it requires befriending families. We learned to love here: Men found fondness for the elusive Indian woman; women surprised themselves in succumbing to chauvinistic, mother-spoiled men.
We forged dual-use accents. We spoke in foreign accents by default. But when it came to arguing with accountants or ordering takeout kebabs, we went sing-song Indian.
We gravitated to work specially suited to us. If there is a creative class, in Richard Florida’s phrase, there is also emerging what might be called a fusion class: people positioned to mediate among the multiple societies that claim them.
India’s second-generation returnees have built boutiques that fuse Indian fabrics with Western cuts, founded companies that train a generation to work in Western companies, become dealmakers in investment firms that speak equally to Wall Street and Dalal Street, mixed albums that combine throbbing tabla with Western melodies.
Our parents’ generation helped India from afar. They sent money, advised charities, guided hedge-fund dollars into the Bombay Stock Exchange. But most were too implicated in India to return. Our generation, unscathed by it, was freer to embrace it.
Countries like India once fretted about a “brain drain.” We are learning now that “brain circulation,” as some call it, may be more apt.
India did not export brains; it invested them. It sent millions away. In the freedom of new soil, they flowered. They seeded a new generation that, having blossomed, did what humans have always done: chase the frontier of the future.
Which just happened, for many of us, to be the frontier of our own pasts.
INDIA
Countries like India and America are so large and diverse that it is impossible to define the societies they contain based on any criterion. The way things work in India – the bureaucracy, the poverty, the class system – have been that way for such a long time, these traditions are so ingrained, that it’s a wonder that there has been the sort of economic upheaval there at all.
The idea of “controlling” a place like India, to secure rule of law or human rights seems impossible to me, given the scale that the place encompasses. This seems to be the big divide between how the US and India work, in that there is a “plan” for America; the very founding of the state was “planned”, whereas things seem to occur “more naturally” in India.
And, yes, it’s also impossible to live in India and not become “Indianised”. I don’t think anybody ever really conquered India, not even the British. The place just gobbles up any foreign elements and turns them into its own.
Harnessing IT for Indias growth
Harnessing IT for Indias growth
SUCCESS can sometimes become an anaesthetic. There is no undermining Indias success, nor our accomplishment over the past decade in taking the countrys GDP to the trillion dollar mark. Some more cause for cautious celebration is the fact that we have proven sceptics wrong by clocking 5.8% GDP growth amid the global slump. There is, however, need for a closer examination. We need to ask ourselves whether this success is sustainable in an environment that will keep getting tougher. Is the growth equitable and accompanied by greater competitiveness I believe we can do much better, if we leverage Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The GDP per hour in India is still less than threefourths of the average rate among economies under-invested in IT. It is even lower when compared with the technology-rich economies of the world. IT adoption has a direct impact on GDP: according to a 2005 NASSCOM report, ( Information Technology in the Economy of India ), for every rupee invested in IT, there is a 2.5%-3 .5 % multiplier on the growth of GDP.
We need to shift from looking at IT as an industry to viewing it as part of the essential infrastructure for economic development and job creation. There are three avenues through which the government could harness the power of information technology and transform the nation for good. The 2004 Common Minimum Programme had kept education as a high priority, committing as much as 6% of GDP towards it. The manifesto for the recent elections committed expanding education at the higher levels with a couple of new IITs, IIMs, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research , central universities, Indian Institutes of Information Technology apart from other colleges.
But it must be noted that with the explicit focus being on outcome rather than enrolment, the current education system is labour intensive and is subject to vagaries of shortages of teaching staff, infrastructure and funds. Leveraging ICT is the best way the government can work around this challenge and put its education budget to good use. Instead of only focusing on IT literacy, we must use IT to impart knowledge in other subjects such as maths, science, geography, etc.
For instance, we have today new online learning and blended learning approaches that preserve the high quality of learning at low-cost . Rich multimedia curriculum consisting of text, animation and videos from the best professors in country and interactive simulations , virtual labs and online quizzes can make a world of difference to aspiring students, especially those from rural areas. The government should make universal IT literacy mandatory for the six million school and college teachers by 2015. The mantra should be One laptop per teacher with access to free content on a national teachers portal. Second, a time-bound programme must be designed for creating ICT-enabled class rooms in one million Indian schools by 2017.
It is a hard fact that only a fraction of Indias human capital is employable. If students are provided with the skills that help them attain jobs, the challenge of talent shortage can be solved. ICT skills and other vocational skills provided through ICT-based training could very well address this problem. Therefore, the acquisition of globally relevant ICT skills must be made mandatory for the 12 million higher secondary students in India through all secondary schools by 2012. A national digital literacy programme to make all students digitally certified by 2015, and vocational training through ICT enablement should be introduced by 2012 in all ITIs and secondary schools and colleges.
The Indian education system has the task of improving literacy and livelihood levels of millions of Indians as well as building a talent pool of diverse skills. An ICT framework that improves teaching and learning, builds professional educator skills, improves the availability of content and learning resources, and builds job-related skills, can help Indian education build a stronger India.
Financial inclusion is another major challenge that needs to be addressed. More than 90% of employment is in the unorganised sector, which includes both rural and urban employment. Add to it the fact that 52% of Indians do not make use of banking facilities. The propensity to rely on non-institutional forms of banking such as local money-lenders will not help people benefit from the extensive financial options that are available in the organised sector. Also, the absence of standards and regulations in the unorganised sector renders the users vulnerable to scams and extortion. Once again, ICT could offer a number of solutions .
Payment gateways and an intermediary layer of service providers can replicate the success of mobile telephony through proliferation of stored value cards for savings and purchase of goods and services. Currently, efforts such as Oxicash, M-check offer these experimental models for small value transactions. Similarly, technology platforms can be aggressively used by banks through the banking correspondent model provided some fundamental policy reforms are carried out. Usage of IT platforms for individual MFI firms and SHG implementations needs to be expanded. All these efforts need to be suitably supported by an appropriate financial literacy campaign, at the scale of the national literacy campaign Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
At present, ICT utilisation in India is woefully underaverage . PC penetration at 30 per 1,000 people is about a quarter of China; our six million broadband connections pale compared to over 100 million in China; and the number of secure servers in India is lower than those in Bangladesh. Indias rank in the global ICT indices is only in the 30-40 percentile range. These are not figures a would-be super power can be proud of. More importantly, in relegating IT to an industry, we ignore a powerful tool that could form the backbone of inclusive growth in the country. You address ICT, and you address unemployment, education, healthcare, economic growth and every other factor that defines a developed nation. For India, the stakes are high. If we are truly able to educate and impart skills to 500 million people by the year 2020, we will take our place in the league of developed nations.
(The author is managing director, Microsoft India)
SUCCESS can sometimes become an anaesthetic. There is no undermining Indias success, nor our accomplishment over the past decade in taking the countrys GDP to the trillion dollar mark. Some more cause for cautious celebration is the fact that we have proven sceptics wrong by clocking 5.8% GDP growth amid the global slump. There is, however, need for a closer examination. We need to ask ourselves whether this success is sustainable in an environment that will keep getting tougher. Is the growth equitable and accompanied by greater competitiveness I believe we can do much better, if we leverage Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The GDP per hour in India is still less than threefourths of the average rate among economies under-invested in IT. It is even lower when compared with the technology-rich economies of the world. IT adoption has a direct impact on GDP: according to a 2005 NASSCOM report, ( Information Technology in the Economy of India ), for every rupee invested in IT, there is a 2.5%-3 .5 % multiplier on the growth of GDP.
We need to shift from looking at IT as an industry to viewing it as part of the essential infrastructure for economic development and job creation. There are three avenues through which the government could harness the power of information technology and transform the nation for good. The 2004 Common Minimum Programme had kept education as a high priority, committing as much as 6% of GDP towards it. The manifesto for the recent elections committed expanding education at the higher levels with a couple of new IITs, IIMs, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research , central universities, Indian Institutes of Information Technology apart from other colleges.
But it must be noted that with the explicit focus being on outcome rather than enrolment, the current education system is labour intensive and is subject to vagaries of shortages of teaching staff, infrastructure and funds. Leveraging ICT is the best way the government can work around this challenge and put its education budget to good use. Instead of only focusing on IT literacy, we must use IT to impart knowledge in other subjects such as maths, science, geography, etc.
For instance, we have today new online learning and blended learning approaches that preserve the high quality of learning at low-cost . Rich multimedia curriculum consisting of text, animation and videos from the best professors in country and interactive simulations , virtual labs and online quizzes can make a world of difference to aspiring students, especially those from rural areas. The government should make universal IT literacy mandatory for the six million school and college teachers by 2015. The mantra should be One laptop per teacher with access to free content on a national teachers portal. Second, a time-bound programme must be designed for creating ICT-enabled class rooms in one million Indian schools by 2017.
It is a hard fact that only a fraction of Indias human capital is employable. If students are provided with the skills that help them attain jobs, the challenge of talent shortage can be solved. ICT skills and other vocational skills provided through ICT-based training could very well address this problem. Therefore, the acquisition of globally relevant ICT skills must be made mandatory for the 12 million higher secondary students in India through all secondary schools by 2012. A national digital literacy programme to make all students digitally certified by 2015, and vocational training through ICT enablement should be introduced by 2012 in all ITIs and secondary schools and colleges.
The Indian education system has the task of improving literacy and livelihood levels of millions of Indians as well as building a talent pool of diverse skills. An ICT framework that improves teaching and learning, builds professional educator skills, improves the availability of content and learning resources, and builds job-related skills, can help Indian education build a stronger India.
Financial inclusion is another major challenge that needs to be addressed. More than 90% of employment is in the unorganised sector, which includes both rural and urban employment. Add to it the fact that 52% of Indians do not make use of banking facilities. The propensity to rely on non-institutional forms of banking such as local money-lenders will not help people benefit from the extensive financial options that are available in the organised sector. Also, the absence of standards and regulations in the unorganised sector renders the users vulnerable to scams and extortion. Once again, ICT could offer a number of solutions .
Payment gateways and an intermediary layer of service providers can replicate the success of mobile telephony through proliferation of stored value cards for savings and purchase of goods and services. Currently, efforts such as Oxicash, M-check offer these experimental models for small value transactions. Similarly, technology platforms can be aggressively used by banks through the banking correspondent model provided some fundamental policy reforms are carried out. Usage of IT platforms for individual MFI firms and SHG implementations needs to be expanded. All these efforts need to be suitably supported by an appropriate financial literacy campaign, at the scale of the national literacy campaign Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
At present, ICT utilisation in India is woefully underaverage . PC penetration at 30 per 1,000 people is about a quarter of China; our six million broadband connections pale compared to over 100 million in China; and the number of secure servers in India is lower than those in Bangladesh. Indias rank in the global ICT indices is only in the 30-40 percentile range. These are not figures a would-be super power can be proud of. More importantly, in relegating IT to an industry, we ignore a powerful tool that could form the backbone of inclusive growth in the country. You address ICT, and you address unemployment, education, healthcare, economic growth and every other factor that defines a developed nation. For India, the stakes are high. If we are truly able to educate and impart skills to 500 million people by the year 2020, we will take our place in the league of developed nations.
(The author is managing director, Microsoft India)
Aam Ka Mazaa
M A N G O M A N N E R S
Aam Ka Mazaa
Satish K Sharma
With products like Mango Fruity, Maaza and mango-flavoured ice creams, the taste of mango is available all year round. On the one hand, it has made the maharaja of Indian fruits literally aam (mango, commonplace). But on the other, processed mango products have undermined the delightful act that mango eating should be. While it comes naturally to children and even monkeys, for the greater part of evolved Indians , this delectable activity has been reduced to an inanity. They seem to have forgotten that the mango is nothing if it doesnt bring out the child in us. It is, therefore, worthwhile to recount the basics of the art and etiquette of mango eating. First, a mango should be dealt with bare hands. To use steel in any form knife, fork or spoon upon the mango is not only impolite but also an act of unpardonable violence. As far as mangoes go, any tendency to suppress slurping or similar refined gestures is bad manners. Although the British ladies of the Raj were loathe to savour the fruit other than in the privacy of their bathrooms, mangoes and privacy go ill together. Therefore, always have a group of people partaking the feast. The other side of this is that one should never decline an invitation to mango eating, not even during office hours.
When eating the stuff, any attempt to prevent ones clothes or that of a fellow mango eater from tasting the juice or pulp is a strict no-no . In other words, the ad line Daag achhe hain holds true more for mango eating than any other activity. As for someone who is too squeamish, one can always have a few detergent sachets ready at hand. Talk of moderation and you kill the pure joy of mango eating. So, the connoisseurs prescribe that there should be at least a basketful ready before mango eating takes off and it shouldnt stop until all the fruit has been dealt with. The last of the mango eating rules is rooted in an important canon of mango morality, which says that all mangoes, procured by whatever means, are kosher. Therefore, when someone offers the fruit, it is sacrilegious to ask from where it has been sourced. Unfortunately, this beautiful planet is teeming with rude people. Its they who forced someone to coin this gentle snub: Janaab, aam khaiye. Ped mat giniye (Eat the mango, Sir. Dont count the trees).
Aam Ka Mazaa
Satish K Sharma
With products like Mango Fruity, Maaza and mango-flavoured ice creams, the taste of mango is available all year round. On the one hand, it has made the maharaja of Indian fruits literally aam (mango, commonplace). But on the other, processed mango products have undermined the delightful act that mango eating should be. While it comes naturally to children and even monkeys, for the greater part of evolved Indians , this delectable activity has been reduced to an inanity. They seem to have forgotten that the mango is nothing if it doesnt bring out the child in us. It is, therefore, worthwhile to recount the basics of the art and etiquette of mango eating. First, a mango should be dealt with bare hands. To use steel in any form knife, fork or spoon upon the mango is not only impolite but also an act of unpardonable violence. As far as mangoes go, any tendency to suppress slurping or similar refined gestures is bad manners. Although the British ladies of the Raj were loathe to savour the fruit other than in the privacy of their bathrooms, mangoes and privacy go ill together. Therefore, always have a group of people partaking the feast. The other side of this is that one should never decline an invitation to mango eating, not even during office hours.
When eating the stuff, any attempt to prevent ones clothes or that of a fellow mango eater from tasting the juice or pulp is a strict no-no . In other words, the ad line Daag achhe hain holds true more for mango eating than any other activity. As for someone who is too squeamish, one can always have a few detergent sachets ready at hand. Talk of moderation and you kill the pure joy of mango eating. So, the connoisseurs prescribe that there should be at least a basketful ready before mango eating takes off and it shouldnt stop until all the fruit has been dealt with. The last of the mango eating rules is rooted in an important canon of mango morality, which says that all mangoes, procured by whatever means, are kosher. Therefore, when someone offers the fruit, it is sacrilegious to ask from where it has been sourced. Unfortunately, this beautiful planet is teeming with rude people. Its they who forced someone to coin this gentle snub: Janaab, aam khaiye. Ped mat giniye (Eat the mango, Sir. Dont count the trees).
COLD SRORAGE
Cold Is Hot
India needs better cold chains and warehousing
Its estimated that nearly 40 per cent of the countrys fruits and vegetables are wasted while moving from farms to retail outlets. That a developing nation grappling with poverty, hunger and malnutrition should waste so much fresh produce is obscene. Improved post-harvest technologies especially storage and transportation facilities are a must for a nation thats the worlds second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and where agriculture and allied activities account for around 17 per cent of GDP.
Its good that Budget 2009-10 promised investment-linked tax incentives in order to attract private funds in the cold chain and warehousing sector. More so, since existing profit-linked tax breaks to which investors are entitled dont seem to have worked magic so far. In theory, sector-specific tax incentives risk distorting efficient resource use. But, given the woeful inadequacy of cold chain and storage infrastructure, public policy has to make some practical concessions to a critical sector of the economy. Increasing the shelf life of perishables is key to supply mechanisms whether we talk of fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, meat and meat products or processed foods. To create a cross-country network of godowns and integrated cold chains, capacity building is required in farms, food processing units, refrigerated storage and distribution hubs as well as retail outlets, apart from temperature-controlled transportation.
All of this represents capital-intensive infrastructure. However , while industry has welcomed the investment-linked tax sops, these may not be sufficient. There should be a multipronged strategy to raising resources, in light of the huge growth potential of organised retail in India. It would make sense to relax rules on FDI in multibrand retail. Along with big domestic firms, several multinationals are keen to enter the field. That supermarket chains, foreign or home-grown , can boost farmers income by eliminating middlemen isnt their only advantage. Getting greater numbers of organised sector players into farm-to-fork retail would automatically boost business stakes in improving the infrastructural logistics of the rural farm and non-farm sectors.
We also need a holistic look at related infrastructural shortcomings . Investors may baulk at pouring money into a sector where returns could depend on factors beyond their control. Electricity, for instance, is the lifeline of cold storage. If ensuring uninterrupted supply meant resorting to power backups, it would hike operational costs. Movement of goods also demands good roads and highways. Finally, a common market as sought to be created by the goods and services tax regime would spur demand for cold chain and storage facilities. That, needless to say, would have to be combined with an overhaul of our creaking agricultural marketing infrastructure.
India needs better cold chains and warehousing
Its estimated that nearly 40 per cent of the countrys fruits and vegetables are wasted while moving from farms to retail outlets. That a developing nation grappling with poverty, hunger and malnutrition should waste so much fresh produce is obscene. Improved post-harvest technologies especially storage and transportation facilities are a must for a nation thats the worlds second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and where agriculture and allied activities account for around 17 per cent of GDP.
Its good that Budget 2009-10 promised investment-linked tax incentives in order to attract private funds in the cold chain and warehousing sector. More so, since existing profit-linked tax breaks to which investors are entitled dont seem to have worked magic so far. In theory, sector-specific tax incentives risk distorting efficient resource use. But, given the woeful inadequacy of cold chain and storage infrastructure, public policy has to make some practical concessions to a critical sector of the economy. Increasing the shelf life of perishables is key to supply mechanisms whether we talk of fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, meat and meat products or processed foods. To create a cross-country network of godowns and integrated cold chains, capacity building is required in farms, food processing units, refrigerated storage and distribution hubs as well as retail outlets, apart from temperature-controlled transportation.
All of this represents capital-intensive infrastructure. However , while industry has welcomed the investment-linked tax sops, these may not be sufficient. There should be a multipronged strategy to raising resources, in light of the huge growth potential of organised retail in India. It would make sense to relax rules on FDI in multibrand retail. Along with big domestic firms, several multinationals are keen to enter the field. That supermarket chains, foreign or home-grown , can boost farmers income by eliminating middlemen isnt their only advantage. Getting greater numbers of organised sector players into farm-to-fork retail would automatically boost business stakes in improving the infrastructural logistics of the rural farm and non-farm sectors.
We also need a holistic look at related infrastructural shortcomings . Investors may baulk at pouring money into a sector where returns could depend on factors beyond their control. Electricity, for instance, is the lifeline of cold storage. If ensuring uninterrupted supply meant resorting to power backups, it would hike operational costs. Movement of goods also demands good roads and highways. Finally, a common market as sought to be created by the goods and services tax regime would spur demand for cold chain and storage facilities. That, needless to say, would have to be combined with an overhaul of our creaking agricultural marketing infrastructure.
ARE YOU READY TO MANAGE IN AN IRRATIONAL WORLD
ARE YOU READY TO MANAGE IN AN IRRATIONAL WORLD
Jim Heskett
HAVE you noticed that we are being bombarded by a flood of work by neuroscientists and behavioural economists , aided by such things as clever research design, the use of improved technologies for measuring brain activity, and the admission by Alan Greenspan that markets acted in ways he had not anticipated...
Consider two examples that came to my attention this past week. One is a book by Charles Jacobs, Management Rewired, which concludes that many conventional beliefs about management run counter to the findings of neuroscientists . The other is an article in this months Harvard Business Review, The End of Rational Economics, by Dan Ariely. It argues that theories, strategies , and actions based on assumptions of irrational behaviour on the part of employees, customers and competitors are likely to be more effective than those that assume rationality . In his book, Jacobs begins by asserting that, because each of us harbours our own perceptions of reality, it turns out that most of what we thought we knew about management is probably wrong. Reactions to our efforts as managers reflect what each individual receives in relation to what he or she perceives and expects.... Instead of a management philosophy centred around the manager as the play-caller , we are told by the neuroscientists that the new management job is one of facilitating more of a customised, do-it-yourself process centred around each newly-energised employee, one centred on questions (often leading) rather than direction.
Jim Heskett
HAVE you noticed that we are being bombarded by a flood of work by neuroscientists and behavioural economists , aided by such things as clever research design, the use of improved technologies for measuring brain activity, and the admission by Alan Greenspan that markets acted in ways he had not anticipated...
Consider two examples that came to my attention this past week. One is a book by Charles Jacobs, Management Rewired, which concludes that many conventional beliefs about management run counter to the findings of neuroscientists . The other is an article in this months Harvard Business Review, The End of Rational Economics, by Dan Ariely. It argues that theories, strategies , and actions based on assumptions of irrational behaviour on the part of employees, customers and competitors are likely to be more effective than those that assume rationality . In his book, Jacobs begins by asserting that, because each of us harbours our own perceptions of reality, it turns out that most of what we thought we knew about management is probably wrong. Reactions to our efforts as managers reflect what each individual receives in relation to what he or she perceives and expects.... Instead of a management philosophy centred around the manager as the play-caller , we are told by the neuroscientists that the new management job is one of facilitating more of a customised, do-it-yourself process centred around each newly-energised employee, one centred on questions (often leading) rather than direction.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Farewell to an India I Hardly Knew
Farewell to an India I Hardly Knew
MUMBAI, India — The first thing I ever learned about India was that my parents had chosen to leave it.
The country was lost to us in America, where I was born. It had to be assembled in my mind, from the fragments of anecdotes and regular journeys east.
Now, six years after returning to the country my parents left, as I prepare to depart it myself, the mind goes back to the beginning, to my earliest pictures of it.
India, reflected from afar, was late-night phone calls with the news of death. It was calling back relatives who could not afford to call you. It was Hindu ceremonies with saffron and Kit Kat bars on a silver platter.
India, consumed on our visits back, was being fetched from the airport and cooked a meal even in the dead of night. It was sideways hugs that strove to avoid breast contact. It was the chauvinism of uncles who asked about my dreams and ignored my sister’s.
It was wrong, yet easy, to feel that we did India a favor by coming home. We packed our suitcases with things they couldn’t get for themselves: Jif peanut butter, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Gap khakis. These imports sketched a subtle hierarchy in which they were the wanting relatives and we their benefactors.
My cousins in India would sometimes ask if I was Indian or American. I saw that their self-esteem depended on my answer. “American,” I would say, because it was the truth, and because I felt that to say otherwise would be to accept a lower berth in the world.
What it meant to be American was to be free to invent yourself, to belong to a family and a society in which destiny was believed to be human-made.
I looked around in India and saw everyone in their boxes, not coming fully into their own, replicating lives lived before. If only they came to America, I told myself, so-and-so would be a millionaire entrepreneur; so-and-so would be as confident in her opinions as her husband; so-and-sos’ marriage would be more like my parents’, with verve and swing-dancing lessons and bedtime crossword puzzles; so-and-so would study history and literature, not just bankable practicalities.
I moved to India six years ago in an effort to understand it on my own terms, to render mine what had until then only belonged to my parents.
India was changing when I arrived and has changed dramatically, viscerally, improbably in these 2,000 days: farms giving way to factories; ultra-cheap cars being built; companies buying out rivals abroad. But the greatest change I have witnessed is elsewhere. It is in the mind: Indians now know that they don’t have to leave, as my parents left, to have their personal revolutions.
It took me time to see. At first, my old lenses were still in place — India the frustrating, difficult country — and so I saw only the things I had ever seen.
But as I traveled the land, the data did not fit the framework. The children of the lower castes were hoisting themselves up one diploma and training program at a time. The women were becoming breadwinners through microcredit and decentralized manufacturing. The young people were finding in their cellphones a first zone of individual identity. The couples were ending marriages no matter what “society” thinks, then finding love again. The vegetarians were embracing meat and meat-eaters were turning vegetarian, defining themselves by taste and faith, not caste.
Indians from languorous villages to pulsating cities were making difficult new choices to die other than where they were born, to pursue vocations not their father’s, to live lives imagined within their own skulls. And it was addictive, this improbable rush of hope.
The shift is only just beginning. Most Indians still live impossibly grim lives. Trickle down, here more than most places, is slow. But it is a shift in psychologies, and you rarely meet an Indian untouched by it.
Grabbing hold of their destinies, these Indians became the unlikely cousins of my own immigrant parents in America: restless, ambitious, with dreams vivid only to themselves. But my parents had sought to beat the odds in a bad system, to be statistical flukes that got away.
What has changed since they left is a systemic lifting of the odds for those who stay. It is a milestone in any nation’s life when leaving becomes a choice, not a necessity.
My parents watch me from their perch outside Washington, D.C., and marvel at history’s sense of irony: a son who ended up inventing himself in the country they left, who has written of the self-inventing swagger of a rising generation of Indians, in a country where “self” was once a vulgar word.
At times, my mother wonders if they should have remained, should have waited for their own country’s revolution instead of crashing another’s. And as I leave India now I can only wonder how history would have turned out if the ocean of change had come a generation earlier.
Because it came between their generation and mine, the premise of our family story has been pulled out from beneath us. We are American citizens now, my family, and proudly so. But we must face that we are Americans because of a choice prompted by truths that history has undone. They were true at the choice’s making; in India, I saw their truth boil slowly away.
They don’t crave our mayonnaise and khakis anymore. They no longer angrily berate America, because they are too busy building their own country. Indian accents are now cooler than British ones. No one asks if I feel Indian or American. How delicious to see that unconcern. How fortunate to live in a land you needn’t leave to become your fullest possible self.
And how wondrous, in this time of revolutions, to have had my own here.
I grew up in America defining myself by the soil under my feet, not by the blood in my veins. The soil I shared with everyone else; the blood made me unbearably different. Before I loved India, I loathed it. But that feeling seems now like a relic from a buried past.
I leave now on the journey’s next stretch, with sadness and with joy, humbled by India, grateful to have been at the revolution and to have known the revolutions within.
Govt needs to sell its story better
Govt needs to sell its story better
Voters must understand the trade-off between taxation & better services
Mythili Bhusnurmath
We want more and better trains, better connectivity , more facilities, better food, worldclass stations. Listening to the cacophony of demands from rail commuters on Doordarshan on the eve of the Rail Budget was a revelation.
Not because the demands were extravagant . On the contrary, they were mostly pitifully small all a commuter in Bihar wanted was some space inside the train so he wouldnt have to travel on the foot-board hanging on for dear life. Or because they seemed so endless ! But because there seemed to be so little realisation of the gap between their demands and the ground reality in terms of what government can deliver with the limited means at its disposal.
And, equally important, so little willingness to pay! So Mumbais sub-urban train commuters saw no irony in wanting more and better train services even as they demanded fares remain where theyve been for the past decade; never mind that they spend more per month on their mobile phones. Likewise, commuters in Bihar and UP, where ticketless travel is rampant did not seem to question how long the Indian Railways would be able to continue even its existing services if people continued to free ride on the state-owned railways.
It was much the same story on the eve of the Union Budget. Everyone wanted taxes to come down, more exemptions, better schools, hospitals, better roads, improved law and order . But no one, just no one, seemed to think none of this can happen if the government does not have money. And for that all of us must be willing to pay taxes and user charges for water/power/rail services, higher education , a host of other services that weve got used to either not paying for at all or pay absurdly subsidised charges. Ask the man on the street whether he is willing to pay more taxes and watch his hackles rise.
There is a reason for this. Those who do pay their taxes are incensed at the poor services they get in return, the wasteful expenditure (forty statues of Mayawati at the last count) , the corruption, poor delivery and so on. This is what we need to question: The wasteful spending, the poor delivery. Not the right of the government to tax or our duty to pay! The sad reality is only a miniscule section (less that 5% of the population) pays income tax. Its a little harder to evade indirect tax, especially with the introduction of VAT (value-added tax) but the growth in indirect tax revenues is nowhere commensurate with the rate of growth of the economy.
The net result is we have one of the lowest tax/GDP ratios in the world, about 17% for the centre and states combined, as against close to 30% in the US and 40% in Brazil. Buried in the Receipts Budget 2009-10 is a statement that tells you how much revenue the government foregoes on account of various tax exemptions and other incentives.
This years statement says as much as 69% of the total revenue that could have been collected was foregone as a result of various exemptions . In other words, for every Rs 100 of revenue the government could have collected by way of taxes, it actually collected only Rs 31! The comparable figure was Rs 52 in 2007-08 . Is it any wonder government finances are in such a parlous state
Yet, year after year Budget time sees the same clamour for lower taxes/higher exemptions /lower rail fares. Clearly there is huge gap in the aam admis understanding of the tradeoffs between taxation and public services. This is what the government needs to address. It needs to communicate better. It needs to explain why free power today means no power tomorrow, why subsidised rail fares today mean fewer trains and more accidents tomorrow , why low tax revenues today mean more borrowing/higher inflation tomorrow.
And lest we think the Budget is governments lookout, not ours, let me disabuse you of the notion. Government has no money of its own. Its ultimately our money from taxes or borrowing or obtained by printing notes (debasing the value of the currency). So when the government is broke, as it is now, it is only a matter of time before we will feel the pinch too! But in exchange for the grand bargain that gives the government the authortity to tax, it must spend honestly. Both go hand in hand.
Voters must understand the trade-off between taxation & better services
Mythili Bhusnurmath
We want more and better trains, better connectivity , more facilities, better food, worldclass stations. Listening to the cacophony of demands from rail commuters on Doordarshan on the eve of the Rail Budget was a revelation.
Not because the demands were extravagant . On the contrary, they were mostly pitifully small all a commuter in Bihar wanted was some space inside the train so he wouldnt have to travel on the foot-board hanging on for dear life. Or because they seemed so endless ! But because there seemed to be so little realisation of the gap between their demands and the ground reality in terms of what government can deliver with the limited means at its disposal.
And, equally important, so little willingness to pay! So Mumbais sub-urban train commuters saw no irony in wanting more and better train services even as they demanded fares remain where theyve been for the past decade; never mind that they spend more per month on their mobile phones. Likewise, commuters in Bihar and UP, where ticketless travel is rampant did not seem to question how long the Indian Railways would be able to continue even its existing services if people continued to free ride on the state-owned railways.
It was much the same story on the eve of the Union Budget. Everyone wanted taxes to come down, more exemptions, better schools, hospitals, better roads, improved law and order . But no one, just no one, seemed to think none of this can happen if the government does not have money. And for that all of us must be willing to pay taxes and user charges for water/power/rail services, higher education , a host of other services that weve got used to either not paying for at all or pay absurdly subsidised charges. Ask the man on the street whether he is willing to pay more taxes and watch his hackles rise.
There is a reason for this. Those who do pay their taxes are incensed at the poor services they get in return, the wasteful expenditure (forty statues of Mayawati at the last count) , the corruption, poor delivery and so on. This is what we need to question: The wasteful spending, the poor delivery. Not the right of the government to tax or our duty to pay! The sad reality is only a miniscule section (less that 5% of the population) pays income tax. Its a little harder to evade indirect tax, especially with the introduction of VAT (value-added tax) but the growth in indirect tax revenues is nowhere commensurate with the rate of growth of the economy.
The net result is we have one of the lowest tax/GDP ratios in the world, about 17% for the centre and states combined, as against close to 30% in the US and 40% in Brazil. Buried in the Receipts Budget 2009-10 is a statement that tells you how much revenue the government foregoes on account of various tax exemptions and other incentives.
This years statement says as much as 69% of the total revenue that could have been collected was foregone as a result of various exemptions . In other words, for every Rs 100 of revenue the government could have collected by way of taxes, it actually collected only Rs 31! The comparable figure was Rs 52 in 2007-08 . Is it any wonder government finances are in such a parlous state
Yet, year after year Budget time sees the same clamour for lower taxes/higher exemptions /lower rail fares. Clearly there is huge gap in the aam admis understanding of the tradeoffs between taxation and public services. This is what the government needs to address. It needs to communicate better. It needs to explain why free power today means no power tomorrow, why subsidised rail fares today mean fewer trains and more accidents tomorrow , why low tax revenues today mean more borrowing/higher inflation tomorrow.
And lest we think the Budget is governments lookout, not ours, let me disabuse you of the notion. Government has no money of its own. Its ultimately our money from taxes or borrowing or obtained by printing notes (debasing the value of the currency). So when the government is broke, as it is now, it is only a matter of time before we will feel the pinch too! But in exchange for the grand bargain that gives the government the authortity to tax, it must spend honestly. Both go hand in hand.
THE PARADOX OF INDIA
Once-Clear Thoughts Are Clouded
MUMBAI — There has always been a lush, adjectival richness to foreign correspondence from India. We write of creaking bullock carts, curled moustaches, stinking latrines, sallow-cheeked farmers, smoky air, sweltering megalopolises and aching villages. We relentlessly describe.
We write about India this way because India is beautiful — not beautiful like Paris, sumptuous and elegant, but beautiful in its distillation of the extremes of human experience. To go into a Mumbai slum or a rain-starved Rajasthani village is to know how beautiful ugliness can be.
But description tempts us, too, because India is mystifying. Correspondents send home answers. India withholds reliable answers. Correspondents schematize reality. India waits for the schema, then cruelly disproves it. The temptation to write 1,000-word tone poems is fierce in a country easier to describe than to explain, and easier to explain than to understand.
I will leave India soon for America, from where I came. I have spent six years seeking to understand. Before going, I wanted to write a column saying something conclusive about India, why it matters, what it means.
But India is a place for seeking, not concluding, and here the chasm between what I wonder and know has widened with time. So I decided instead to write down the questions that still haunt me after 2,000 days here, about justice, love, culture, power, freedom — questions I hope someone abler will answer someday.
The first thing you see in India is indignity: filthy slums, boulevard defecation, puffed-out bellies. You feel shocked but also noble in your compassion. Then it becomes normal. You see that the true degradation is in human relationships, in the belief that people come in different levels of humanness. The idea is so pervasive and tempting of your vanity that, in time, it infects you, too.
And so I wonder: At what moment does a child learn her level of humanness? How did so many in this generation suddenly defy those destinies, as their parents never dreamed? How can callousness to poverty mingle so closely with the warmth that Indians rain on family? Which will change India first, the trickle-down of compassion or the trickle-up of rage?
Some of what I wonder was clear to me until India clouded it.
Indian love — family love, romantic love — once felt alien. It was not easy to spend time in giant, multigenerational households. Love meant scolding, meddling, judging, people obsessing about your eating, telling each other why their skin is too dark or their frame too thin. In romance, too, love was understated and assumed, given through sacrifice. It never aimed to fascinate, exhilarate.
Then I began to see the power of love in which it’s not about you.
Now I wonder: does love mean never taking another for granted, as it often does in the West, or is it the serene liberty to do so? Which is more of a gamble, marriage by arrangement or by love? Is love more durable when it is just the two of us or when it weaves together tribes?
Then there is the question of what you keep.
In the Davos Age, there is a formula for developing nations: low tariffs, privatization, sushi, English fluency, jazz bars, Bellinis, fashion weeks, consumptiveness, thinness, the purging of superstitions. These nations must in a decade Xerox a way of life that rich countries built over centuries.
But India is an ancient, continuous civilization, and Indians feel excitement but also pain in the dueling pressures to be someone else and be themselves: to subscribe to their astrology charts, schedule things on “auspicious days,” dance to the beats of Punjab’s plains, drink lentil soup.
Can one be “global” without being a mimic? Does the English language obliterate or liberate, disguising the caste and class of those who master it? Why is more culture flowing into India today than flowing out?
I wonder, too, about Indian power. This week, at a summit meeting in Russia, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, stood shoulder to shoulder with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the dubiously re-elected president of Iran. Mr. Ahmadinejad might have listened to Mr. Singh: India and Iran are cultural cousins, sharing elements of language and culture. Millions of Indians claim Persian descent. India buys Iranian oil.
But this week, as Iran trampled on the values that Indians hold so dear, Mr. Singh found nothing meaningful to say.
Why, when the world sees India as a great power, does India see itself as Burundi? Beyond its own affluence, what kind of world does India want? What will it do to build it?
And what can the world’s Irans learn from Indian democracy?
I once asked Mufti Shabbir Alam Sidiqi, an important Islamic cleric, whether disenfranchised Muslims were losing faith in India and taking solace in fundamentalist ideas.
“What you have in India you have in no other country,” he replied. “In this republic there are rights. We can demand our rights, speak out. In other countries: eat, drink and shut up. Go to Saudi Arabia: you can’t speak. There is Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Iraq, Iran. These things are nowhere. They are all dictatorships.”
Indian democracy should not work. Indians share no language. They cling to their identities. Most live below that level of middle-classness beyond which democracy supposedly thrives.
But the system holds. The coups, election theft and statecraft-by-murder that afflict much of the developing world don’t happen here. Democracy brings little to the poor, the state is corrupt, politicians lack principles and ideas. Yet those with no reason to believe continue to believe, vote, speak, petition.
And I wonder: Is India reinventing democracy — democracy designed not for colonial Virginia, but for societies like this: poor; inequitable; ethnically, religiously, linguistically balkanized; in the throes of convulsive change? Would India, if it summoned the will, be a more persuasive lecturer on democracy’s merits than America?
Then there is one more question. This one I will seek to answer — not now, but in my next and final letter from here.
Is a land with such beauty and possibility, with these vast questions still to answer in my lifetime, a land whose addiction can ever be escaped?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Learning is not just a worldly pursuit
Learning is not just a worldly pursuit
Universal Understanding
Humanities need to be given their due
Shahid Amin
Education in India appears to be in for a major revamp. There is a certain urgency to getting things right this time. Imparting of knowledge, skill, expertise, all these need to be of high order but without bypassing the aam aadmi. A balance between quality and a level playing field has to be ensured. The government must pump in more resources, but also make investment in education by private players attractive. All this seems propelled by two considerations: first, to try and meet the abysmal shortage of engineers , doctors, educators which India faces and, second, to climb up the ladder of educational success on the world scale. We get dejected by the fact that none of our IITs figure anywhere near the top, or even the middle, of international listings.
Most such listings are biased in favour of cataloguing academic output across universities in the sciences. One may be forgiven for thinking that the blips figuring most prominently on the radars of our educational CEOs are the sciences, law, medicine and management. This is not to denigrate the importance of these disciplines, but only to underscore the appalling lack of any fresh thinking on the role of the humanities in the fashioning of the India of tomorrow.
The feeling that universities must relate to the market instead of functioning largely in the realm of ideas often leads to certain oversights . First, the best universities in Europe and the US continue to have programmes in the core areas of the humanities and social sciences : their remit is to train well-rounded undergraduates , not single-minded , monochromatic specialists. This attention to universals distinguishes premier universities like Oxford and Harvard from polytechnics and other institutions offering only professional courses. Lest we forget, the emphasis put in independent India on strengthening core humanities and social science disciplines (economics, history, sociology, political science , literature) has contributed its part to the development of a vigorous civil society.
An absence of democratic governance in several parts of the world has often gone hand in hand with an excessive emphasis on the technical and the professional in education, to the relative neglect of the humanistic and the social scientific. It would be suicidal for India to forsake the nurturing of these critical components . The upsurge of the marginalised requires that apart from making them employable , we also invest resources in understanding our societys past and present. Electoral analysis cannot be a substitute for understanding the politics of the governed in its wider social , cultural and economic dimensions.
We hear about the contribution of Indians worldwide in medicine, management and the sciences. What has gone unnoticed is the large number of prestigious positions occupied by our social scientists and humanists in some top universities the world over. Our achievement in these fields has been considerable. We need to invest in innovative programmes in these very areas. To take one example, there has been a singular lack of attention to classical and premodern languages and scripts in higher education . Sanskrit and Persian language and literature are taught in a large number of universities . But in most instances, their teaching has little interaction with those studying ancient and medieval Indian history. Till 50 years ago there was an essential language requirement for those studying pre-modern India. The average history researcher today is largely innocent of any language other than English and her mother tongue. This has created a piquant situation: there are very few scholars left who can meaningfully study a Sanskrit or Persian inscription.
The same holds for scripts. A good many older records and texts were written in scripts different from those used today in some modern Indian languages. So Marathi
had its specialised modi script for revenue documents, Urdu had shikasta , a kind of munshis short-hand , and Hindi in large parts of UP and Bihar was written in kaithi , the script of the scribes. Today, an average school-going child would not even know of their existence. Till the early 1950s, 15-year-olds routinely learnt how to recognise and partially decipher these scripts in Indias different linguistic zones. The progress of modernity, which includes modernisation of scripts, has been largely responsible for their disappearance from the school curriculum.
This is not to suggest that we add to the school-satchel of our children by teaching them arcane ways of writing. But innovative programmes are required , where the learning of classical languages and pre-modern scripts as inputs for humanistic studies is actively encouraged. Let there be special scholarships for budding historians and social scientists for the learning of Sanskrit and Persian, so as to deghettoise these remarkable languages and bring them into the humanist mainstream. Similarly, we need specialised courses, where graduate students sit together with the limited number of experts that remain to study pre-modern scripts such as shikasta and kaithi , modi and mahajani . Otherwise, we may soon have to rely on scholars from abroad to come and read our pre-modern texts and pasts for us.
Universal Understanding
Humanities need to be given their due
Shahid Amin
Education in India appears to be in for a major revamp. There is a certain urgency to getting things right this time. Imparting of knowledge, skill, expertise, all these need to be of high order but without bypassing the aam aadmi. A balance between quality and a level playing field has to be ensured. The government must pump in more resources, but also make investment in education by private players attractive. All this seems propelled by two considerations: first, to try and meet the abysmal shortage of engineers , doctors, educators which India faces and, second, to climb up the ladder of educational success on the world scale. We get dejected by the fact that none of our IITs figure anywhere near the top, or even the middle, of international listings.
Most such listings are biased in favour of cataloguing academic output across universities in the sciences. One may be forgiven for thinking that the blips figuring most prominently on the radars of our educational CEOs are the sciences, law, medicine and management. This is not to denigrate the importance of these disciplines, but only to underscore the appalling lack of any fresh thinking on the role of the humanities in the fashioning of the India of tomorrow.
The feeling that universities must relate to the market instead of functioning largely in the realm of ideas often leads to certain oversights . First, the best universities in Europe and the US continue to have programmes in the core areas of the humanities and social sciences : their remit is to train well-rounded undergraduates , not single-minded , monochromatic specialists. This attention to universals distinguishes premier universities like Oxford and Harvard from polytechnics and other institutions offering only professional courses. Lest we forget, the emphasis put in independent India on strengthening core humanities and social science disciplines (economics, history, sociology, political science , literature) has contributed its part to the development of a vigorous civil society.
An absence of democratic governance in several parts of the world has often gone hand in hand with an excessive emphasis on the technical and the professional in education, to the relative neglect of the humanistic and the social scientific. It would be suicidal for India to forsake the nurturing of these critical components . The upsurge of the marginalised requires that apart from making them employable , we also invest resources in understanding our societys past and present. Electoral analysis cannot be a substitute for understanding the politics of the governed in its wider social , cultural and economic dimensions.
We hear about the contribution of Indians worldwide in medicine, management and the sciences. What has gone unnoticed is the large number of prestigious positions occupied by our social scientists and humanists in some top universities the world over. Our achievement in these fields has been considerable. We need to invest in innovative programmes in these very areas. To take one example, there has been a singular lack of attention to classical and premodern languages and scripts in higher education . Sanskrit and Persian language and literature are taught in a large number of universities . But in most instances, their teaching has little interaction with those studying ancient and medieval Indian history. Till 50 years ago there was an essential language requirement for those studying pre-modern India. The average history researcher today is largely innocent of any language other than English and her mother tongue. This has created a piquant situation: there are very few scholars left who can meaningfully study a Sanskrit or Persian inscription.
The same holds for scripts. A good many older records and texts were written in scripts different from those used today in some modern Indian languages. So Marathi
had its specialised modi script for revenue documents, Urdu had shikasta , a kind of munshis short-hand , and Hindi in large parts of UP and Bihar was written in kaithi , the script of the scribes. Today, an average school-going child would not even know of their existence. Till the early 1950s, 15-year-olds routinely learnt how to recognise and partially decipher these scripts in Indias different linguistic zones. The progress of modernity, which includes modernisation of scripts, has been largely responsible for their disappearance from the school curriculum.
This is not to suggest that we add to the school-satchel of our children by teaching them arcane ways of writing. But innovative programmes are required , where the learning of classical languages and pre-modern scripts as inputs for humanistic studies is actively encouraged. Let there be special scholarships for budding historians and social scientists for the learning of Sanskrit and Persian, so as to deghettoise these remarkable languages and bring them into the humanist mainstream. Similarly, we need specialised courses, where graduate students sit together with the limited number of experts that remain to study pre-modern scripts such as shikasta and kaithi , modi and mahajani . Otherwise, we may soon have to rely on scholars from abroad to come and read our pre-modern texts and pasts for us.
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
CAN THE MNCS
then be expected to take a lead in creating a gay-friendly culture in their organisations or will it eventually be up to Indian business houses to bring about change Most MNCs already have a stated diversity policy that lays down specific targets on the number of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (GLBT) employees the company must strive to recruit. Their Indian subsidiaries may now be obliged to fall in line with global practices in the aftermath of the Delhi High Court judgement . The GLBT percentage norm just may come into force for India weve seen it happen in other countries , says Abhijit Bhaduri, HR Director at Microsoft India. But then again, India always seems to evolve in a unique way and the process may be different here.
One of the most pro-active companies in this sphere is IBM India and reports are that some years ago, it sponsored its sole openly gay employees trip to the USA to attend a get-together of gay IBM-ers . Annice Paul, the program manager for GLBT and work-life integration at IBM India, says: Our first commitment globally towards GLBT was made way back in 1983. We believe a diverse organisation fosters excellence.
This kind of positive discrimination in favour of gays will go a long way in fostering openness in organisations (not to mention the benefit of the creative ideas gay people are famous for bringing to the table), but working against it is the deeply ingrained social stigma associated with homosexuality. One of the top honchos of the Kantar Group, Balachandran Ramiah is a core member of GayBombay, a social outfit that works with the gay community in Mumbai, organising parties, film festivals, picnics, treks and Sunday meetings, where discussion points include coming out at work, grooming and managing your finances. Ramiah is one of those who new-gen gays look to for advice and he says: I know a lot of people who are still mortally terrified of their family and colleagues finding out that theyre gay. Ive always told them there is no pressure to come out of the closet if youre not ready for it. It is ultimately an individual decision. Now that criminalisation under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code has been revoked, the gay community will have to work towards changing social attitudes and that, as everyone knows, is an excruciatingly slow process. But historian Saleem Kidwai, co-author of Same Sex Love In India, says that doesnt take away from the importance of the Delhi High Court judgement. History tells us theres always been social disapproval, he says, but never to the point of criminalisation as was introduced by the British in India. dibeyendu.ganguly@timesgroup .com
CAN THE MNCS
then be expected to take a lead in creating a gay-friendly culture in their organisations or will it eventually be up to Indian business houses to bring about change Most MNCs already have a stated diversity policy that lays down specific targets on the number of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (GLBT) employees the company must strive to recruit. Their Indian subsidiaries may now be obliged to fall in line with global practices in the aftermath of the Delhi High Court judgement . The GLBT percentage norm just may come into force for India weve seen it happen in other countries , says Abhijit Bhaduri, HR Director at Microsoft India. But then again, India always seems to evolve in a unique way and the process may be different here.
One of the most pro-active companies in this sphere is IBM India and reports are that some years ago, it sponsored its sole openly gay employees trip to the USA to attend a get-together of gay IBM-ers . Annice Paul, the program manager for GLBT and work-life integration at IBM India, says: Our first commitment globally towards GLBT was made way back in 1983. We believe a diverse organisation fosters excellence.
This kind of positive discrimination in favour of gays will go a long way in fostering openness in organisations (not to mention the benefit of the creative ideas gay people are famous for bringing to the table), but working against it is the deeply ingrained social stigma associated with homosexuality. One of the top honchos of the Kantar Group, Balachandran Ramiah is a core member of GayBombay, a social outfit that works with the gay community in Mumbai, organising parties, film festivals, picnics, treks and Sunday meetings, where discussion points include coming out at work, grooming and managing your finances. Ramiah is one of those who new-gen gays look to for advice and he says: I know a lot of people who are still mortally terrified of their family and colleagues finding out that theyre gay. Ive always told them there is no pressure to come out of the closet if youre not ready for it. It is ultimately an individual decision. Now that criminalisation under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code has been revoked, the gay community will have to work towards changing social attitudes and that, as everyone knows, is an excruciatingly slow process. But historian Saleem Kidwai, co-author of Same Sex Love In India, says that doesnt take away from the importance of the Delhi High Court judgement. History tells us theres always been social disapproval, he says, but never to the point of criminalisation as was introduced by the British in India. dibeyendu.ganguly@timesgroup .com
Out @ Work
Out @ Work
Dont-ask-donttell days are over as the gay community turns assertive in the workplace. But is India Inc ready to re-write the rule book, asks Dibeyendu Ganguly
LAST THURSDAY, GAY
men and women across the country were going around their offices with a spring in their step and a grin on their faces. They were constantly on the Net and on the phone, typing endless messages and talking excitedly about parties. Some even parked themselves in front of the office TV, unabashedly switching from business channels covering the Economic Survey to channels reporting on the Delhi High Court judgement de-criminalising homosexuality.
All this surely posed a bit of a dilemma for their colleagues. Were congratulations in order or should one just let the whole thing pass Did one have to be a close friend to congratulate someone on matters of sexuality What exactly does one say under such circumstances anyway
In some offices, however, there was no dilemma. When Parmesh Shahani, Editorial Director of Verve magazine, entered his office late in the morning, he was greeted with a big hurrah. It was like India had won the World Cup, he says. My straight colleagues were as excited by the judgement as my gay colleagues. It became a way for them to show their support.
Never has it been harder to stay in the closet in India . After Facebook, Dostana, pride parades and television talk shows, the Delhi High Court judgement is the latest in a recent series of opportunities for gay men and women to declare themselves. This is such a morale booster, says Shahani , who authored the book Gay Bombay: Globalisation , Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India last year. It quite often happens that everyone around you knows youre gay but theyre just waiting for you to come out and tell them. Now the process has become easier.
One might say these things are always easier if youre lucky enough to be working at a fashion magazine, but Shahani actually began his corporate career at staid old Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M ) before Anuradha Mahindra whisked him away to Verve. He still holds the post of head, vision & opportunities, at the parent company and says, Ive been out at M&M since I joined. Its a very warm, accepting group.
While those in the closet ponder the possible process through which they could come out start with the boss Tell colleagues in the immediate team Spill the beans to the office gossip and wait for him or her to spread the news others are making things simpler for themselves by declaring their sexuality during the recruitment process itself. When Harish Iyer, 30, joined Shobiz five years ago, he made it a point to scratch out the marital status options in the event management companys standard recruitment form and write gay. Its a very important part of who I am and I wanted my boss to know right from the beginning , he says.
And then theres always the option of coming out with a bang through the media. Fifteen years ago, when corporate India offered up no gay role models, Owais Khan was a pioneer when he addressed a press conference along with well known activist Ashok Row Kavi. Khan then worked for Pertech Computers and recalls, The papers carried my photograph so prominently that even the security guards in my office congratulated me, though they probably didnt know the context.
Khans colleagues at Pertech found out about his sexuality through the newspapers, but while being interviewed for his next job at Compaq (now Hewlett Packard), he made it a point to raise the subject at the onset. I was in the media quite often in those days, featuring in every other television programme on gays, so it was important they should know. The HR head just said they were an American company, so it was no big deal.
Khan has since managed to live the middle class dream of retiring from corporate life while still in his 40s and lives with his boyfriend in Bhopal, the city where he grew up. His last word on being gay in the workplace: Indian companies dont want to hear about it. They have a dont ask, dont tell policy. But as the new generation replaces the old, things may change.
In the wake of the sweeping changes taking place around the world, gay executives may be less willing to be discreet. They might want to be spared having to participate in the usual office banter about attractive members of the opposite sex and they might possibly want to be able to bring their partners to office parties. They would definitely want their companies to provide them the concrete financial benefits that go to their heterosexual counterparts, such as being able to include their partners in leave travel allowance and health insurance plans.
Massive in its scope, the Delhi High judgement has explicitly brought gays within the ambit of anti-discrimination laws, which is likely to have wide ramifications as it is tested in the courts in the years to come. Vikram, a 24 year old sales executive at the Taj group of hotels, hopes that corporates might now introduce their own rules to protect their openly gay employees from discrimination. Theres a perception that the glass ceiling that works against us might disappear after this breakthrough judgement, he says.
But history shows that when a minority becomes more assertive, theres a backlash from the majority, so discrimination may increase rather than decrease in the years to come. Sunit Mehra, managing partner of placement consulting firm Hunt Partners has already dealt with two cases where high grade candidates were quietly eliminated when the company learnt they were gay. Interestingly, the recruiting companies were MNCs. The old timers in Indian companies are not a particularly enlightened lot, he says. The senior management quite often consists of Hindutva-types who dont even like divorcees, let alone gays.
Parmesh Shahani
Harish Iyer
Saleem Kidwai
Dont-ask-donttell days are over as the gay community turns assertive in the workplace. But is India Inc ready to re-write the rule book, asks Dibeyendu Ganguly
LAST THURSDAY, GAY
men and women across the country were going around their offices with a spring in their step and a grin on their faces. They were constantly on the Net and on the phone, typing endless messages and talking excitedly about parties. Some even parked themselves in front of the office TV, unabashedly switching from business channels covering the Economic Survey to channels reporting on the Delhi High Court judgement de-criminalising homosexuality.
All this surely posed a bit of a dilemma for their colleagues. Were congratulations in order or should one just let the whole thing pass Did one have to be a close friend to congratulate someone on matters of sexuality What exactly does one say under such circumstances anyway
In some offices, however, there was no dilemma. When Parmesh Shahani, Editorial Director of Verve magazine, entered his office late in the morning, he was greeted with a big hurrah. It was like India had won the World Cup, he says. My straight colleagues were as excited by the judgement as my gay colleagues. It became a way for them to show their support.
Never has it been harder to stay in the closet in India . After Facebook, Dostana, pride parades and television talk shows, the Delhi High Court judgement is the latest in a recent series of opportunities for gay men and women to declare themselves. This is such a morale booster, says Shahani , who authored the book Gay Bombay: Globalisation , Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India last year. It quite often happens that everyone around you knows youre gay but theyre just waiting for you to come out and tell them. Now the process has become easier.
One might say these things are always easier if youre lucky enough to be working at a fashion magazine, but Shahani actually began his corporate career at staid old Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M ) before Anuradha Mahindra whisked him away to Verve. He still holds the post of head, vision & opportunities, at the parent company and says, Ive been out at M&M since I joined. Its a very warm, accepting group.
While those in the closet ponder the possible process through which they could come out start with the boss Tell colleagues in the immediate team Spill the beans to the office gossip and wait for him or her to spread the news others are making things simpler for themselves by declaring their sexuality during the recruitment process itself. When Harish Iyer, 30, joined Shobiz five years ago, he made it a point to scratch out the marital status options in the event management companys standard recruitment form and write gay. Its a very important part of who I am and I wanted my boss to know right from the beginning , he says.
And then theres always the option of coming out with a bang through the media. Fifteen years ago, when corporate India offered up no gay role models, Owais Khan was a pioneer when he addressed a press conference along with well known activist Ashok Row Kavi. Khan then worked for Pertech Computers and recalls, The papers carried my photograph so prominently that even the security guards in my office congratulated me, though they probably didnt know the context.
Khans colleagues at Pertech found out about his sexuality through the newspapers, but while being interviewed for his next job at Compaq (now Hewlett Packard), he made it a point to raise the subject at the onset. I was in the media quite often in those days, featuring in every other television programme on gays, so it was important they should know. The HR head just said they were an American company, so it was no big deal.
Khan has since managed to live the middle class dream of retiring from corporate life while still in his 40s and lives with his boyfriend in Bhopal, the city where he grew up. His last word on being gay in the workplace: Indian companies dont want to hear about it. They have a dont ask, dont tell policy. But as the new generation replaces the old, things may change.
In the wake of the sweeping changes taking place around the world, gay executives may be less willing to be discreet. They might want to be spared having to participate in the usual office banter about attractive members of the opposite sex and they might possibly want to be able to bring their partners to office parties. They would definitely want their companies to provide them the concrete financial benefits that go to their heterosexual counterparts, such as being able to include their partners in leave travel allowance and health insurance plans.
Massive in its scope, the Delhi High judgement has explicitly brought gays within the ambit of anti-discrimination laws, which is likely to have wide ramifications as it is tested in the courts in the years to come. Vikram, a 24 year old sales executive at the Taj group of hotels, hopes that corporates might now introduce their own rules to protect their openly gay employees from discrimination. Theres a perception that the glass ceiling that works against us might disappear after this breakthrough judgement, he says.
But history shows that when a minority becomes more assertive, theres a backlash from the majority, so discrimination may increase rather than decrease in the years to come. Sunit Mehra, managing partner of placement consulting firm Hunt Partners has already dealt with two cases where high grade candidates were quietly eliminated when the company learnt they were gay. Interestingly, the recruiting companies were MNCs. The old timers in Indian companies are not a particularly enlightened lot, he says. The senior management quite often consists of Hindutva-types who dont even like divorcees, let alone gays.
Parmesh Shahani
Harish Iyer
Saleem Kidwai
THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE
THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE
Peter F Drucker
TO BEeffective is the job of the executive. To effect and to execute are, after all, near-synonyms . Yet men of high effectiveness are conspicuous by their absence in executive jobs. High intelligence is common enough among executives. Imagination is far from rare. The level of knowledge tends to be high. But there seems to be little correlation between a mans effectiveness and his intelligence, his imagination or his knowledge. Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual ; they fail to realise that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement. They never have learned that insights become effectiveness only through hard systematic work. Conversely, in every organisation there are some highly effective plodders.
While others rush around in the frenzy and busyness which very bright people so often confuse with creativity , the plodder puts one foot in front of the other and gets there like the tortoise in the old fable. Intelligence, imagination , and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results. By themselves, they only set limits to what can be attained. One reason for this neglect is that effectiveness is the specific technology of the knowledge worker within an organisation . Until recently, there was no more than a handful of these around. Formerly, the manual worker whether machine operator or front-line soldier predominated in an organisation . Few people of effectiveness were needed.
Peter F Drucker
TO BEeffective is the job of the executive. To effect and to execute are, after all, near-synonyms . Yet men of high effectiveness are conspicuous by their absence in executive jobs. High intelligence is common enough among executives. Imagination is far from rare. The level of knowledge tends to be high. But there seems to be little correlation between a mans effectiveness and his intelligence, his imagination or his knowledge. Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual ; they fail to realise that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement. They never have learned that insights become effectiveness only through hard systematic work. Conversely, in every organisation there are some highly effective plodders.
While others rush around in the frenzy and busyness which very bright people so often confuse with creativity , the plodder puts one foot in front of the other and gets there like the tortoise in the old fable. Intelligence, imagination , and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results. By themselves, they only set limits to what can be attained. One reason for this neglect is that effectiveness is the specific technology of the knowledge worker within an organisation . Until recently, there was no more than a handful of these around. Formerly, the manual worker whether machine operator or front-line soldier predominated in an organisation . Few people of effectiveness were needed.
Two Different Worlds
Two Different Worlds
Subhash Kaura
This was in New England some years back Portsmouth in New Hampshire, about 50 miles north of Boston, to be precise. It was a weekend and we were driving round the countryside savouring the scenic beauty of this east coast town. Old churches, strawberry fields, tulips , open spaces, golf courses, dense forests... all beautiful and clean. A ship moving slowly on the calm waters of the Atlantic ocean in the distance. Clear blue skies and a cool breeze, all serene and soothing. It felt like a dream compared to the traffic jams, honking vehicles, heaps of garbage , broken roads and chaos so common in India.
At one place by the roadside, we saw a table laden with a heap of large red tomatoes for sale. Wanting to buy some we went closer . There was no one there to sell them. The price was written on a card. An open box filled with some dollar notes and change, along with brown paper bags and a weighing scale, was neatly placed on the table. We could see a house about 50 yards away and called a few times, but no one came. Finally, we weighed two pounds of tomatoes, put them in a paper bag and left cash in the open box. As we were leaving, we saw a lone figure move near the house. We waved and shouted to say that we had taken two pounds of tomatoes and left money in the box. The old man waved his arm in acknowledgement as if to say that it was OK. Later, an American friend confirmed that it was common to sell home produce that way. From there we went to a local library for getting a membership. I enquired about the number of books issued to members at one time. The answer was, "As many as you can carry. Would 50 meet your needs" In five minutes, we were new members of the library. I could not help but recall the time back home in India when one was made to run around in circles to become a member of a local library. I was told that a maximum of two books at a time would be issued and was asked to fill in a two-page application form, attach an affidavit, pay the fee, get my application witnessed by two persons and then approved by the librarian. These are two different worlds.
Subhash Kaura
This was in New England some years back Portsmouth in New Hampshire, about 50 miles north of Boston, to be precise. It was a weekend and we were driving round the countryside savouring the scenic beauty of this east coast town. Old churches, strawberry fields, tulips , open spaces, golf courses, dense forests... all beautiful and clean. A ship moving slowly on the calm waters of the Atlantic ocean in the distance. Clear blue skies and a cool breeze, all serene and soothing. It felt like a dream compared to the traffic jams, honking vehicles, heaps of garbage , broken roads and chaos so common in India.
At one place by the roadside, we saw a table laden with a heap of large red tomatoes for sale. Wanting to buy some we went closer . There was no one there to sell them. The price was written on a card. An open box filled with some dollar notes and change, along with brown paper bags and a weighing scale, was neatly placed on the table. We could see a house about 50 yards away and called a few times, but no one came. Finally, we weighed two pounds of tomatoes, put them in a paper bag and left cash in the open box. As we were leaving, we saw a lone figure move near the house. We waved and shouted to say that we had taken two pounds of tomatoes and left money in the box. The old man waved his arm in acknowledgement as if to say that it was OK. Later, an American friend confirmed that it was common to sell home produce that way. From there we went to a local library for getting a membership. I enquired about the number of books issued to members at one time. The answer was, "As many as you can carry. Would 50 meet your needs" In five minutes, we were new members of the library. I could not help but recall the time back home in India when one was made to run around in circles to become a member of a local library. I was told that a maximum of two books at a time would be issued and was asked to fill in a two-page application form, attach an affidavit, pay the fee, get my application witnessed by two persons and then approved by the librarian. These are two different worlds.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Putting a price on nature
Putting a price on nature
SANTOSH DESAI
As a child during the summer holidays, we would as a family embark on an LTAfuelled trip to our native place by train in a journey that lasted two and a half days. A recurring feature of the trip was the act of keeping ones eyes glued for the solitary water spout on the platform as the train eased its way in, and racing to fill up our water bottles and running back before the train began to wheeze its way onwards . The taps were filthy, as were the surroundings . But the thought of hygiene was very far from our minds; this was drinking water and by god, we were going to drink it, carefully of course, for we didnt want to run out before the next station arrived.
Today, it is unthinkable for most of us to drink water from such a dodgy source for we know better. We carry our bottles everywhere, which are in any case available everywhere.
Going under the description of mineral water , there is nothing remotely natural about most of these bottles but they give us a sense of reassurance. We read occasional reports that suggest that in a lot of cases, the water we drink from these bottles is little more than tap water, but the act of opening a sealed bottle makes us feel that we have done our bit. Beyond that, who knows
In moving to bottled water, we have tacitly agreed to pay for something that was available to us for free. What was available to all for no cost, is now available to those willing to pay a price. In this case, the rest can continue to get it for free. But by creating a hierarchy of suspicion, we create room for differentially pricing what was once free. So we pay a rupee for water that comes in a plastic pouch, a few times that for an unbranded bottle, a few more times that for a known brand and then of course, we have the mysteriously priced Evian, which is perhaps the value you place on yourself. What we see here is the conversion of something inert and universal into something charged with different levels of meaning and available to only those who understand this and are able to pay the corresponding price. What this also implies is that the need to improve the quality of tap water reduces as the most vocal and influential segments of society no longer agitate for a change in this respect.
Similarly, when we build new roads that take us faster from one point to another, we create a system of tolls that convert a public good into a conditional private one. The desire to travel faster, which rests much more in a small affluent segment , creates an apparently universal need for better roads and leads to everyone having to pay more for using these new highways. Since this is part of the discourse of development, it would be churlish for anyone to oppose it or how else will we manage to improve our infrastructure in a short time
Since the state owns and operates public goods, the question of whose interests does it look after when it chooses to act in a certain way becomes particularly contentious. Land acquisition is a case in point. When the government exercises its right to move people for the purpose of industry, it is privileging the needs of industry over those of the individuals. Now, it is the role of the government to take such calls on the basis of longterm benefits and costs to all concerned. But it is curious that the displaced are always the vulnerable; we rarely hear such proposals being even put on the table in urban India. Why, we have celebrities stalling a flyover on the grounds of noise when it runs too close to their house!
The push towards private ownership of the public is a gradual, seemingly natural process. It begins with mistrust of the natural (water, air, food) and takes the shape of making a compelling case for modifying the natural , for a price of course.
We extract the commercial from the social, by creating a sense that all is not well with things as they are. In a lot of cases, this is simply the price we pay for progress. The question is, who really pays this apparently inevitable price
Implicitly, in this model, resources get sucked upwards towards those who have the means to pay a differential price. The idea of development is inherently skewed towards those ready to receive it only people with cars can value expressways. For the rest, it is back to the tap water at railway stations. It didnt kill us, did it
SANTOSH DESAI
As a child during the summer holidays, we would as a family embark on an LTAfuelled trip to our native place by train in a journey that lasted two and a half days. A recurring feature of the trip was the act of keeping ones eyes glued for the solitary water spout on the platform as the train eased its way in, and racing to fill up our water bottles and running back before the train began to wheeze its way onwards . The taps were filthy, as were the surroundings . But the thought of hygiene was very far from our minds; this was drinking water and by god, we were going to drink it, carefully of course, for we didnt want to run out before the next station arrived.
Today, it is unthinkable for most of us to drink water from such a dodgy source for we know better. We carry our bottles everywhere, which are in any case available everywhere.
Going under the description of mineral water , there is nothing remotely natural about most of these bottles but they give us a sense of reassurance. We read occasional reports that suggest that in a lot of cases, the water we drink from these bottles is little more than tap water, but the act of opening a sealed bottle makes us feel that we have done our bit. Beyond that, who knows
In moving to bottled water, we have tacitly agreed to pay for something that was available to us for free. What was available to all for no cost, is now available to those willing to pay a price. In this case, the rest can continue to get it for free. But by creating a hierarchy of suspicion, we create room for differentially pricing what was once free. So we pay a rupee for water that comes in a plastic pouch, a few times that for an unbranded bottle, a few more times that for a known brand and then of course, we have the mysteriously priced Evian, which is perhaps the value you place on yourself. What we see here is the conversion of something inert and universal into something charged with different levels of meaning and available to only those who understand this and are able to pay the corresponding price. What this also implies is that the need to improve the quality of tap water reduces as the most vocal and influential segments of society no longer agitate for a change in this respect.
Similarly, when we build new roads that take us faster from one point to another, we create a system of tolls that convert a public good into a conditional private one. The desire to travel faster, which rests much more in a small affluent segment , creates an apparently universal need for better roads and leads to everyone having to pay more for using these new highways. Since this is part of the discourse of development, it would be churlish for anyone to oppose it or how else will we manage to improve our infrastructure in a short time
Since the state owns and operates public goods, the question of whose interests does it look after when it chooses to act in a certain way becomes particularly contentious. Land acquisition is a case in point. When the government exercises its right to move people for the purpose of industry, it is privileging the needs of industry over those of the individuals. Now, it is the role of the government to take such calls on the basis of longterm benefits and costs to all concerned. But it is curious that the displaced are always the vulnerable; we rarely hear such proposals being even put on the table in urban India. Why, we have celebrities stalling a flyover on the grounds of noise when it runs too close to their house!
The push towards private ownership of the public is a gradual, seemingly natural process. It begins with mistrust of the natural (water, air, food) and takes the shape of making a compelling case for modifying the natural , for a price of course.
We extract the commercial from the social, by creating a sense that all is not well with things as they are. In a lot of cases, this is simply the price we pay for progress. The question is, who really pays this apparently inevitable price
Implicitly, in this model, resources get sucked upwards towards those who have the means to pay a differential price. The idea of development is inherently skewed towards those ready to receive it only people with cars can value expressways. For the rest, it is back to the tap water at railway stations. It didnt kill us, did it
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