A few days ago, I came across a post titled ‘Can India Compete with China’ on the website Management Paradise. I was really surprised to see the response of people on this topic, and even more surprised to see that most of the people were giving illogical answers to the topic being discussed.
Most of the people who gave answers either do not know the real situation in India and China or they don’t want to know the truth.
I personally feel that India cannot compete with China anytime soon. I have my own reasons to believe in this. Let me highlight a couple or more of them.
1) India liberalised its economy in 1991 and China did it after 1995, and that too not entirely as it is still reeling under communism. China became a very hardcore player and started undertaking aggressive strategies to attract the world towards it. India, on the other hand, just freed the economy and sat back. The laid back attitude of the industries and people in India added to the already existing lethargy.
2) Even under communism, China continued to grow at a very amazing speed whereas India enjoyed a steady growth rate. The bureaucracy and the political environment in India is what hampered the overall growth of India.
3) In China, people either do or die. In India, we have options of doing, enjoying, resting (more than necessary) etc etc..but we don’t have the do or die attitude. Just take a look at our new 11th five year plan for the economy and most of you will understand what I am saying. Did you know that we have made money amounting to almost Rs. 19000 Crores from Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s), but have invested and lost more than Rs. 90,000 Crores in these SEZ’s by giving them tax benefits and illogical leverages.
4) Agriculture is supposed to be the backbone of the Indian Economy, but most people don’t know that the aim of the 11th five year plan(2007-2011) is to accelerate the agricultural growth to 4% of the entire GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Just 4%!! and the government still says that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian Economy.This plan also wants to a) provide primary education to at least 50% of the Indian population free of cost b) provide secondary education to at least 50% of the population at reduced rates c) develop and maintain important roads in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai etc d) provide clean water to at least 90% of the population etc. From this isn’t it quite evident that previous governments have not been able to provide even the basic amenities to Indians?
5) In India, we have only 40 vocational and technical areas in which we can get training. In China, people have access to more than 4000 vocational and technical courses!!!
6) India seems to borrow almost every ideology from China, except for communism. We borrowed the concepts of SEZ’s , proper infrastructure development , industrial licensing policy etc etc etc.. from …China!!
7) China in the past few years has become the world’s second largest economy after the United States. And where are we? Can anyone answer this?
Its amazing that many global organisations like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Nokia etc arrived in China, even before India actually knew about these organisations! Hell, Wal-Mart and Starbucks have still not arrived in India!
I am not a person who loves to criticise India. I love my country, however, I would really like to take pride in saying that I am an “Indian”. Once we get more strict and stringent with our policies and cut down the bureaucracy in India, we can “think” of at least arriving at the stage where China is right now. However, I don’t see this happening anytime at least in the next 5 years!!!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
India - A Nightmare for Foreigners
India is a nightmare for foreigners and most of them would agree with me. I have seen many foreigners being harassed by locals. Yes, literally harassed! These fellows come to India with the thought of seeing a new India, where the ancient traditions gel perfectly with the new modern ideologies and thinking (well almost). What follows their actual visit to India is not less than a nightmare.
Local people of a certain city take advantage of these foreigners by overcharging them on almost everything. I for once saw a foreigner pay 125 Rupees for a bottle of mineral water, which cost only 12 Rupees. The extents to which Indians can actually take advantage of them Is really unimaginable.
Ok, so they have got loads of money in their pockets. I mean, come on, is it really their fault that theirs is a much better and stronger economy than ours? If the Indian economy would have been so strong then probably, we would have been in their places and they would have tried to sell the same bottle of mineral water at a much higher price than we do. But I am not writing this because I am jealous of their economy or anything else. I am writing this because it appalls me at the sight of Indian people taking advantage of these foreigners who visit India to have a good time.
One such instance that frequently pops up nowadays in my mind is of this Iranian girl who was my girl friends co passenger in a bus en route from Goa to Pune. My girlfriend told me about this Iranian girl and how she was having an awesome time in India. Now, we all know that Iran is a country which according to its customs and traditions has some restrictions and prohibitions on the way women dress, and behave in their country. So this girl came to Pune to enjoy two years of her life on the pretext of learning English language from Pune University.
She told my girlfriend that she was enjoying her time in India. She was doing everything in India that she could never do in her country. Right from smoking to drinking, multiple dates to wearing all kinds of clothes that she could never possibly wear in her country.
So that same evening I was having dinner at a restaurant called Malaka Spice with my girlfriend, when we spotted the same Iranian girl sitting in the same restaurant with an Indian guy. So my girlfriend went over and spoke to her and exchanged pleasantries (this has to be the most irritating trait among girls, where they giggle and laugh without any specific reason). She also came over to our table to greet me. Then she told us something that I can never forget.
Apparently after my girlfriend and this girl got down from the bus at their destination in Pune, this girl took a rickshaw to her place. The rickshaw driver told her that his friend was also in the same rickshaw and asked if it would be a problem to her. As she did not want to argue with these local rickshawwallas at 6:30 in the morning, she said no, it won’t be a problem. While the rick was driving her home, this alleged friend of the rick driver spoke continuously in local language i.e.in Marathi, with the rickshaw driver and she felt that something was wrong somewhere. She saw the surroundings and did not recognize them.
She spoke to the driver in Hindi with real difficulty as she only knew some words. The driver told her that he was taking a short cut so that they could go faster. After almost 25 minutes, the driver stopped the rick in a secluded place and demanded 3000 Rs from her. Now, this poor girl was in a mess. She did not have any ‘real friends’ in Pune and she did not know what to do, as they were two hefty and sturdy guys. So she got scared and took out 500 Rs from her bag and gave it them. They noticed that she had foreign currency in her handbag and asked her to hand over the “Dollars” to them (Its funny, that people deem each and every foreign currency to be a Dollar even when they don’t exactly know what the currency is). This girl could not do anything. There wasn’t single soul around to help her. She took out whatever money she had in her handbag and gave it to them (Of course, she had much more “Dollars” in her luggage bag, which obviously was not known to the rick driver and his friend).
They took the bait and took the money she gave them. Luckily for the girl, they did not leave her there. They eventually dropped her in the locality where she lived and fled from the scene. This girl was very lucky that they did not rape or kill her after taking the money. The rick driver and his friend seemed to have got scared at that very thought. Whatever the reason, this incident had really shaken up the girl.
After listening to the story, we felt very sad for her and also for all the other foreigners who visit India. Each and every foreigner goes through such a phase in India where they are literally looted in daylight by Immoral Indians. I am an Indian and believe me; I don’t feel proud about being an Indian after all this. The fact that we can be as downtrodden as this causes immense sorrow to me.
I personally, did not want this to happen to the girl again, and I told my girlfriend to exchange phone numbers with her, in case she got into any trouble in the city. She also did not know how to contact the police. We told her that in any emergency, if she needed help from the local police, all she needed to do was to dial 100 from her cell phone or from the nearest public phone. She was very happy when we gave her this information and I think she must have felt a bit safe as well.
I don’t say that all Indians cheat foreigners. People like hawkers, shopkeepers, antique sellers, tour operators and even bus drivers take these foreigners for a ride. Indians have this fascination for white-skinned people and think that all foreigners have lots of money. Sometimes I feel pity on these foreigners and sometimes I feel pity on myself on being an “Indian”, where according to traditions, a guest should be treated as god!
Local people of a certain city take advantage of these foreigners by overcharging them on almost everything. I for once saw a foreigner pay 125 Rupees for a bottle of mineral water, which cost only 12 Rupees. The extents to which Indians can actually take advantage of them Is really unimaginable.
Ok, so they have got loads of money in their pockets. I mean, come on, is it really their fault that theirs is a much better and stronger economy than ours? If the Indian economy would have been so strong then probably, we would have been in their places and they would have tried to sell the same bottle of mineral water at a much higher price than we do. But I am not writing this because I am jealous of their economy or anything else. I am writing this because it appalls me at the sight of Indian people taking advantage of these foreigners who visit India to have a good time.
One such instance that frequently pops up nowadays in my mind is of this Iranian girl who was my girl friends co passenger in a bus en route from Goa to Pune. My girlfriend told me about this Iranian girl and how she was having an awesome time in India. Now, we all know that Iran is a country which according to its customs and traditions has some restrictions and prohibitions on the way women dress, and behave in their country. So this girl came to Pune to enjoy two years of her life on the pretext of learning English language from Pune University.
She told my girlfriend that she was enjoying her time in India. She was doing everything in India that she could never do in her country. Right from smoking to drinking, multiple dates to wearing all kinds of clothes that she could never possibly wear in her country.
So that same evening I was having dinner at a restaurant called Malaka Spice with my girlfriend, when we spotted the same Iranian girl sitting in the same restaurant with an Indian guy. So my girlfriend went over and spoke to her and exchanged pleasantries (this has to be the most irritating trait among girls, where they giggle and laugh without any specific reason). She also came over to our table to greet me. Then she told us something that I can never forget.
Apparently after my girlfriend and this girl got down from the bus at their destination in Pune, this girl took a rickshaw to her place. The rickshaw driver told her that his friend was also in the same rickshaw and asked if it would be a problem to her. As she did not want to argue with these local rickshawwallas at 6:30 in the morning, she said no, it won’t be a problem. While the rick was driving her home, this alleged friend of the rick driver spoke continuously in local language i.e.in Marathi, with the rickshaw driver and she felt that something was wrong somewhere. She saw the surroundings and did not recognize them.
She spoke to the driver in Hindi with real difficulty as she only knew some words. The driver told her that he was taking a short cut so that they could go faster. After almost 25 minutes, the driver stopped the rick in a secluded place and demanded 3000 Rs from her. Now, this poor girl was in a mess. She did not have any ‘real friends’ in Pune and she did not know what to do, as they were two hefty and sturdy guys. So she got scared and took out 500 Rs from her bag and gave it them. They noticed that she had foreign currency in her handbag and asked her to hand over the “Dollars” to them (Its funny, that people deem each and every foreign currency to be a Dollar even when they don’t exactly know what the currency is). This girl could not do anything. There wasn’t single soul around to help her. She took out whatever money she had in her handbag and gave it to them (Of course, she had much more “Dollars” in her luggage bag, which obviously was not known to the rick driver and his friend).
They took the bait and took the money she gave them. Luckily for the girl, they did not leave her there. They eventually dropped her in the locality where she lived and fled from the scene. This girl was very lucky that they did not rape or kill her after taking the money. The rick driver and his friend seemed to have got scared at that very thought. Whatever the reason, this incident had really shaken up the girl.
After listening to the story, we felt very sad for her and also for all the other foreigners who visit India. Each and every foreigner goes through such a phase in India where they are literally looted in daylight by Immoral Indians. I am an Indian and believe me; I don’t feel proud about being an Indian after all this. The fact that we can be as downtrodden as this causes immense sorrow to me.
I personally, did not want this to happen to the girl again, and I told my girlfriend to exchange phone numbers with her, in case she got into any trouble in the city. She also did not know how to contact the police. We told her that in any emergency, if she needed help from the local police, all she needed to do was to dial 100 from her cell phone or from the nearest public phone. She was very happy when we gave her this information and I think she must have felt a bit safe as well.
I don’t say that all Indians cheat foreigners. People like hawkers, shopkeepers, antique sellers, tour operators and even bus drivers take these foreigners for a ride. Indians have this fascination for white-skinned people and think that all foreigners have lots of money. Sometimes I feel pity on these foreigners and sometimes I feel pity on myself on being an “Indian”, where according to traditions, a guest should be treated as god!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
closing techniques and follow up
I have used Google and other search engines to find lots of information for my projects, reports and presentations for more than 6 years now. But sometimes, I could not find the exact thing I searched for either in Google or the other search engines. I also, used to be too lazy to even prepare a document myself and upload it on the internet so that others could use it. However, from now onwards I will start posting my presentations, documents etc on my blog, linked to either Scribd.com or Esnips.com where the actual documents will be uploaded. The first document I am uploading is a presentation on the topic 'Closing Techniques and Follow-Up. These documents have been prepared by me and as a firm believer in Open Source Tech, I urge all the people who use this document to tweak the document as required and post it again on the internet so that other people can access it.
Let me know if anyone needs any specific document and I will be glad to help.
This document can be downloaded from either Scribd or from Esnips
Monday, March 9, 2009
Chetan Bhagat - The Three Mistakes of My Life Book Review
One day, I was wasting my time doing nothing. I was bored, really bored. Then, this friend of mine, came to me and said, "Hey, Chetan Bhagat's new novel, 'The Three Mistakes of My Life' has become a bestseller! Well, I thought, I could read his book, though I was very apprehensive about it. Apprehensive. Yes, because his last novel, 'One Night At The Call Centre' was 'CRAP'. Seriously, after reading his first book, 'Five Point Someone', I was expecting much more from him. So, when I heard about his third book, I decided to read the book. It was "The First Mistake of My Life". If this was not enough, I decided to buy the book to read it. This was "The Second Mistake of My Life". Then, I finished reading the book in 4 hours. This was "The Third and The Biggest Mistake of My Life". I am not going to get back those 4 hours of my life!
The book is utter crap. Take my words for it. I have read many more crappier books, and this is one amongst the crappiest best. Thank goodness I finished the book in 4 hours. I can imagine the anger and frustration in those people, who were expecting a mind blowing novel. True, the book is mind blowing coz it really blows your mind so far that you can't even search for it. Even an amateur could have written a better book.
The book starts with Govind and then I really don't know where it heads coz it is mindless crap. I had thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Five Point Someone' but this book is worthless. Chetan Bhagat, is just capitalising on his fame and writing crappier books day by day. Normally, books are so interesting that readers are compelled to turn the pages. Here, I was compelled to turn the pages because I wanted to finish off reading the book real fast so that I could at least get some of my money's worth by not wasting too much time on it.
The book looks promising at first but then loses the track altogether and the author's style of writing is pathetic. One suggestion Mr. Bhagat. You really need to get your act together for your fourth book i.e. if you are planning to write another one, after all the bashing you got for your last two books. I would really love to read 'Five Point Someone - The Sequel'. That book was really good. Please spare the poor readers from more of this crap and write better novels. We expect this from "The biggest-selling English-language novelist in India's history"
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