Indomitable Spirit

I read a piece on the garbage collectors in New Delhi today. It's amazing, how a woman who daily hand picks trash in her allocated community performs one of the most important civic services, and expects to earn Rs. 3,500 a month in donations, yet gets only Rs 1,500. Few jobs can be as demeaning and exploitative as hers. But she doesn't have the time or the luxury to entertain such thoughts. She has mouths to feed. She looks for optimal ways to use her scavenge, including trading waste food for milk to grow her 4 children at home. I've regularly seen trash pickers all around, somehow, I won't ever be able to recognize any, they all go unnoticed to me.

Mr. Handa recollected his experiences during the Bhuj earthquake that rocked West India many years ago. While his residence went unscathed, an apartment complex near-by was razed to the ground. In the debris was a young girl stuck under some cement slabs and her right arm crushed between cement and steel. The army dug a tunnel to reach her, a doctor went in and amputated her useless limb, and 30 hours after the ordeal began she was freed. She came out without her parents, sister and an arm. Today she's a serious painter/artist and is attending 1st year in medical college.

In the beginning of every Tae-Kwon-Do class I attended, we had to chant the tenets of the martial art. It ended with "...indomitable spirit, Sir!". Those words didn't quite make sense then. They make better sense now. Able bodied people who haven't worked in tough conditions for little money and many insults don't quite understand "indomitable spirit". They cry over missed internship/job or girlfriend/marriage opportunities. It seems our worries enlarge to fill up our entire existence.

Experiments in Microeconomics

I'm not much of a shopper, but my last trip home I joined my mother in her regular trip to the local fruit market. Bananas, the tiny yellow ones, my favorite, I thought I should do the dealing, after all, I'm about to become a businessman:
"How much?", I asked.
"20 Rs. a dozen".
"Come on, Man, we'll buy if you give us a better price."
"No Sir, the prices are fixed", already packing 12 bananas for us. My mother was searching her purse for a 20 Rupee note.
Something is wrong. The market is perfectly competitive. The consumer's supposed to be the king. I'm supposed to get the best price in the market, something to do with marginal cost. I referred my night-before-the-exam study of microeconomics, mentally drew the demand and supply curves and concluded, that I can exercise my consumer power now, and force the retailer to oblige to my price decrease request.
"So you won't give us a good price? I'm tempted to try elsewhere."
"Sir, my prices won't change."
Sensing I still have the "quantity" variable in my control I said,"In that case, I just want half a dozen bananas", expecting the retailer to say, "OK, Sir, take the dozen, pay Rs. 18 (or 19)."
He didn't. He said "OK, half a dozen you want, half a dozen is what you get."
My mother adjusted her search, now she just needed Rs. 10.
I was baffled. Lost my 1st assignment on price negotiation and now I had to go and haggle with another retailer for the other 6 bananas that we needed.

Mr. Handa on Entrepreneurship

The man's a motivational Guru. The sort that can groom entrepreneurs. I was lucky to hear him a total of 5 hours the past 2 days.
What's the mantra for entrepreneurship? It's leadership, negotiation and delegation. Let's consider each one.
King Akbar of the greater Indian subcontinent, 500+ years ago, was illiterate. His navratna cabinet included the greatest musicians, philosophers and strategists of his time. His grandson, Aurangzeb, on the other hand, was well versed in many languages. He translated multiple texts to arabic/farsi himself. Aurangzeb killed his brothers for the throne. While the Mughal empire grew and prospered under Akbar, it disintegrated with Aurangzeb's rule. If you get the gist, Akbar was a leader, his grandson wasn't. Leaders can motivate ordinary people around them do extra-ordinary things.
Mr. Handa's first lessons in negotiation were learnt in his bus journeys from college to back home. He stood in the aisle hanging on to the support for the entire 2 hours because he couldn't find place to sit. Some trips later and he smartened up. He began asking the seated passengers to scoot to the side and make place for him. Initially, he felt guilty for the inconvenience he caused his co-passengers. But soon his skin grew thick, because what was important, he realized, was that he get his job done.
Delegation is the tool to grow from a small company to a large industry. The former requires a hands-on approach, hard work, wearing many hats, close control, while the latter requires building a team and being able to trust them with your baby.
These are the three essentials of business we just can't learn in business school.

The Persian Gulf War and the Indian Rupee

Sept 1990 and Bush Senior declared war on Iraq. Oil prices suddenly went up. Rajiv Gandhi was the Indian PM then. In order to avoid popular discontent at home, he had approached commercial banks in the US for short term loans instead of the IMF. India was under a $60 billion debt to a few large private commercial banks. With oil prices soaring high and India's limited forex, all of a sudden the nation's credit rating plummeted. Guess what, short term loans can be withdrawn at the end of every 6 months. After the Latin American debt crisis, this time around, the banks wanted their money fast. India paid. The country of something less than a billion was left with resources that could buy just a few weeks worth of essential imports. The IMF offered aid, but the Rupee had to be devalued and economic controls relaxed. The rest, as they say, is history.

Things around the globe impact our personal lives in weird ways.

Positive change needs a crisis to happen.

Foreign Casualty in Desi Institute

My college saw one of this country's first students of western descent enrolled for an entire degree program. The institute gave him a special welcome during the orientation program. Subsequently he received coverage in print and A/V media. Little do people know that he is quiting and leaving, 3 months into the program.

Our guest was helpless. He spoke to whomever had authority, whomever he could, articulated his problems, simply with the desire to adjust to his new "home". But nothing happened, and he has finally decided to call it quits.

What surprised me was a system where lip-service was paramount, but a supporting system, where promises are translated to actions, where there is a genuine effort to find solutions and not apologies or excuses, and where problems are escalated and pro actively handled before they become crises, is missing.

The US has tremendously benefited from immigration. A lot of effort of made to make immigration so successful. Organizations which invite/accept/admit immigrants for work or study create professional and social environments where perfect aliens can function comfortably benefiting both the individual and the system. A lot of effort goes into making sure people of foreign descent adapt to life in the US.

Our guest was one of the first to enter this country for professional education. While the institute picked up accolades for its ability to pull talent from the developed land, it forgot that it also has to do its bit to ensure that its trophy student doesn't run away without getting his education.

The IITs and the IIMs

I recently came across two rather contradictory versions of their origin from people who both claim expertise in contemporary Indian history.

The first version goes like this. Back in the 1950s-60s, India was falling short of it's domestic demand for food-grain. And either, India was also not in a position to pay in foreign exchange (US dollars) for the imports or the US did not want to accept cash for exporting its surplus food supplies; but whatever payments that India made were channelled back into the country via the Ford Foundation. The Foundation set up these "centers for excellence" (the IITs, the IIMs, colleges in DU...) to find and train local talent who would later find roles in US industry and fuel development there.

The other, more popular version, is that with the establishment of public sector units, especially heavy industry, the Nehru-led Indian Government needed skilled talent to fill the ranks to manage and run these pillars of Indian economy.

The truth behind the origin of these schools might be somewhere in between, but inspite of their limited resources these institutes have made great contributions. The graduates of today are basking in the reflected glory that the alumni have earned.

Down Memory Lane: My Hyundai on the PCH

About two and half months ago was when I last "rolled my wheels" (I always wanted to use this expression) on PCH, i.e. the Pacific Coast Highway. What makes that highway so special is the pacific ocean on one side and the Santa Monica hills on the other. Each time (of those 100+ times that I did), as I drove through the valleys and onto the highway, I experienced the same thrill and happiness as I did the first. The clear blue sky, the crystal blue ocean, the sun, the hills, the multicolored houses and people, the dry cool breeze, the frolic, the show-off; it was shear paradise.

In a road with Beamers and Mercedes, my ride was way more humble. That's where I thank God and PCH. No matter what a person's background, socio-economic status, etc, the beauty that PCH had to offer was free and accessible to everyone. All you needed were a pair of eyes and ears, an open mind, and an absorbing heart.

My Hyundai took me places, here's an ode to you for showing me what the world has to offer. I miss you.