Oily Conversation

These days, almost everyone discusses Gas prices, energy problem, and alternative sources of energy everyday. After some time, people will begin the talk with gas prices than with weather. Recently, Prasad, Sunil and I exchanged conversations on oil subsidies. An article in Economic Times became background of these conversations.
Here flows our discussion:
Prasad: interesting article. Oil is subsidized, but we seem to have the highest cost for petrol..... Wonder why? ;D
Sunil: assume you mean India by "we" and not Karnataka. The Govt. of India imposes a Central Excise Duty on refined petrol and diesel (apart from the import duty on crude oil) of the order of ~6%. Apart from this, each state imposes its own State Excise Duty and State Sales Tax. I believe these also run into high single digit percentages. Retailed oil still does not come under VAT for taxation purposes, which is the reason most states impose high duties. That effectively negates the subsidies I guess.
Myself: If new innovations for alternate energy don't happen then this issue is going to cause a global turmoil. Adding to Sunil’s point, one more reason behind Petrol being costliest in India is cross subsidization of diesel and kerosene with Petrol. Diesel runs tractors and tube wells in farms, so it has to be cheaper than Petrol. Kerosene is poor man's fuel, so it has to cheaper than Petrol and Diesel. And whole nation faces the consequences of this mad policy. People adulterate petrol with kerosene since kerosene is cheaper than petrol and India is probably the only country where every car manufacturer tries to launch a diesel version of car as soon as he enters in the market.
Sunil: I would disagree with "mad policy". Cross-subsidization is effectively the only way to provide a cheap source of power to farmers and the BPL population. Even after taking this into account, the petrol prices in India are not the highest in the world especially given that we are not a "net" oil producing nation. If I remember right, until a few years ago the oil prices were entirely controlled by the government and they had built up an "oil pool deficit account" of the order of many thousand cores (which was finally liquidated by former petroleum minister Ram Naik). The nation has done better without that additional burden. Adulteration of petrol is not so rampant nowadays. Most new vehicles will bust their catalytic converters if the gasoline is spurious. Auto drivers adding kerosene to petrol is an entirely different matter. Coming to manufacturers rolling out diesel flavors of vehicles, this again has to do with the price differential between petrol and diesel and is specific to India (and maybe some other emerging countries). Diesel vehicles obviously have lower maintenance costs in terms of fuel over a period of time. I'll put my environment-conscious-guy cap and say that diesel engines are also much more efficient than petrol engines.Again, if I remember correctly retailed petrol in India has a 5% ethanol blend. Countries like Brazil have already moved to a 25% ethanol blend. India is still struggling to get the Bureau of Indian Standards' (BIS) to accept the 10% ethanol blend standard (this was a while ago, not sure what the situation is now). I'll sign off a-la NDTV - "It remains to be seen if there is enough political will to implement cleaner fuel promoting policies"
Prasad:btw, new age diesel engines generate more power for the same amt of fuel, more efficient and cleaner (see wikipedia -Diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline (petrol) engines of the same power, resulting in lower fuel consumption. A common margin is 40% more miles per gallon for an efficient turbo diesel.)... unfortunately, we would probably have older diesel mixes which combined with older engines generates SO2 & particulate emissions. Noise is the other issue which is being tacked too in the modern engines....Blends are still iffy... they have a much lower calorific value and tend to clog the engines since they are thicker. Moreover, with the current food crisis, there are schools of thought against redirecting food generating land to fuel generation. The only plus in my opinion is that it is regeneratable (though at a high cost per some of the current research)
Sunil: Fuel from blend - ethanol can also be generated from molasses, which is the way it is done in India. And sugar-cane doesn't figure on anyone's list of staple foods :) And then there's Jatropha and bio-diesel.....
Sunil: India’s Warped Economic Policy - by Sunita Narain She stole my words! ;)http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jun/06guest.htm

Champion of Spelling Bee

Sameer Mishra won 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee championship on 30th May. It was another year in which lot of kids of Indian origin made into final rounds. Sidharth Chand, Samia Nawaz, Kavya shivshankar, Jahnavi Iyer and Sameer Mishra made into list of top 10. http://public.spellingbee.com/public/results/finishers They all love Math and Science. Most of them want to become doctors (that surprised me as none of them said they want to become engineer). For American Indian kids to make into finals has become a kind of trend since last few years. Their continued success is quite fascinating.
What makes these American Indian kids to do so well in this competition? Is it that they are following some kind of trend like Russian girls becoming tennis stars or is it about inborn talent which lot of American Indian kids share, that makes it possible for them to excel in this competition. It would be interesting to follow these kids’ career paths. I hope these kids do well in their lives and achieve their dreams.

Housing needs a Nano

I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation for all of you who visited my blog and shared comments on last post. It was startling and exciting to know so many diverse thoughts and opinions. Some agreed, some disagreed, but one thing evident was everyone’s zeal about development in India. I believe no one would disagree with me on this.
Last week an article caught my eye. It was about affordable housing in India. http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?tab=r&autono=323039&subLeft=1&leftnm=1

Omaxe, a real state player is planning to spend 20 bn dollars on constructing 1 million low cost houses. This move should be applauded and placed in same category of low cost innovation same as No frills hotels(Ginger, Tata’s venture), No frills airlines(Kingfisher, SpiceJet, GoAir) and low cost car(Tata Nano).
Housing sector has long been ignored and underserved. An 2BHK apartment in India’s Big cities like Mumbai and Bangalore is dream for millions of people. Hardly any one in India’s big cities can think of house with front and backyard like we see here in US.
There are various reasons to this housing problem:
Lack of government support and priority for affordable housing: There is lot of financing agencies, various housing banks but reality is none of them have revolutionized housing finance sector barring few such as ICICI bank and HDFC.
Lot of Black money involved in Land transactions: People with black(unaccounted) money have been parking their money in land and real estate for long time. Since it’s unaccounted, it gives an edge to these people in buying a property. Moreover, it drives the prices upwards and makes it even more difficult for people with limited white incomes to full fill their basic need.
Arcane Laws: Because Land is a state subject and not a union or federal subject, there is no common policy framework in whole country. Laws vary from one state to other. And for bankrupt state governments, land revenue is lucrative source of earning but they treat housing and land transactions like a butcher who kills Hen that hatches golden eggs. High property taxes, corrupt Land revenue department, low IT penetration, lack of transparency hinder growth of this sector.
Lack of corporate involvement: Companies have always structured their offerings for people with high disposable incomes,NRIs etc. There have not been large scale offerings of quality and affordable housing.
But looks like exciting times have come and things are changing. While taking cue from Omaxe, Tatas could consider venturing into this untapped, high potential market with a Ginger or Nano version of housing product. Mr Tata, Are you listening?

More things change, more they remain same

It has been close to two months since I “put pen to paper”. Since I have just been to India, I think this is good time to share the observations that I made in this trip.
I went home after close to 1.5 yrs. Hence, I was anxious to go and see family and friends. I boarded from Minneapolis Airport for Chicago. Baggage check in and security check were smooth. These days, airport security staff and travelers have learnt to cooperate with each other and they are taking traveling travails in good spirit. The flight from Minneapolis boarded and arrived on time in Chicago. I had lot of time on my hand in Chicago and hence made use of time to see the airport, buy some gifts and read books and paper.
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is world class airport. I could see lot of shops selling promotional items for 2016 Olympic Games, planned to be organized in Chicago while in Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Intl Airport, there were hardly any signs of Commonwealth games which are just 2 years away. This clearly tells you why sports are non priority for India.
I bought and read Financial Times as I had never read this paper before. I was surprised with lot of articles on India and China in paper and felt as If I am reading some paper from subcontinent. I was also carrying a book, “Exporting America” by Lou Dobbs. Since I had seen Lou Dobbs tonight on CNN several times, and main theme of this book is on outsourcing, I was interested to read the book. I was not impressed by reasoning presented in book. It seemed to be chauvinistic and exaggerated writing with sole agenda of presenting facts in negative light. But, I was impressed with the fact that after outsourcing of Manufacturing and high paying service jobs, how the employees and future generations would be trained to something that is unthinkable currently.
My American Airlines flight to New Delhi boarded on time. I liked the cabin crew services, especially sumptuous Indian food. I felt American Airlines serves good food and has good in-flight services. I am making these comparisons with experiences that I had with NWA-KLM which I feel grossly under serves.
My India experience started as soon as I landed in GMR Delhi Intl Airport at 9pm in Night. Nobody needs to tell you that you have arrived in India. The appalling infrastructure (more so because of revamp being done at the airport) and sad faces you see at immigration present a disappointing picture. You can make world class Infrastructure but how will you change mindset of people in immigration, customs and security check? All the claims of world class airport will fall flat if we don’t make folks at airports customer friendly and service oriented.

You are ashamed at mistreatment and feel like not coming to your home country. Nevertheless, one has to come and so did I.
To be on Delhi roads with so much traffic, noise and pollution is an experience in itself. I now imagine why foreigners become scary of Indian conditions when they are not accustomed to these in their home countries. while going to my friend’s place, I zipped through Chankyapuri area where all embassies and consulates are located. It was reminiscent of days when I came to Delhi for getting Belgium Visa.
I was soon going to start early morning when I was supposed to catch a train to go home.
I reached New Delhi Railway station early morning. It was crowded as expected but signs of grand railway station were missing. As soon as I entered the station my luggage was searched by two police men. I felt happy that there are people who are keeping eyes on people in such crowded areas. But, Here is a problem, when hundreds going in and out of station are two ill-equipped policemen sufficient to carry out this job? Can’t we have some x-ray machines installed at entrances and exits of National capital’s railway station?
My train came on time. As soon as it stopped, all passengers lined up at the door not even allowing passengers to get down. This is another typical behavior that you will find on all railway stations in India. Despite knowing that train is going to stop for 20 mins still people don’t have patience to let the passengers disembark from train. Why Indians are so Impatient? Why can’t they display more civilized behavior?
I was using Railway e tickets for first time. TTE came, saw my tickets but never bothered to ask for my identity card. After a while, a retired tourist couple hailing from New Zealand boarded the train. They were heading for Rathambore to see tigers. We had good conversations. At least it helped me pass time. One thing that I heard from them was differential pricing of tickets in tourists attractions like Taj Mahal. Indian govt charges Rs 20 to Indian citizens and Rs 750 to Foreign tourists. This lopsided pricing of tickets is unjustified and leaves a bad taste among foreign nationals. I have never seen this kind of pricing in any tourists location here in US.
After some time, lunch that I ordered came. I was surprised that IRCTC has outsourced the pantry services to RKHS(RKHS also serves in Infosys canteens) . I found no difference in service or quality of food which left a dangling question in my mind that whether organizations consider “customers” in their quest for outsourcing services?
My train journey was about to end as Ratlam(You can find references about Ratlam in "India Unbound" by Gurcharan Das) station was about to come. I reached Ratlam in evening after 12 hours of train travel. I have nice memories of Ratlam as I have spent my childhood days here. Out of station, I saw same old buildings, congested roads and tempos guzzling pollutants in plenty.
Dad had come to take me to home. We started our 2.5 hours journey to my home on a bumpy ride. I felt sad with road full of pot holes and more so uncomfortable life that has been in India for centuries. I was feeling drowsy and tired after traveling for more than 40 hours. Finally, I reached home with a thought in mind that “More things change, more they remain same”. I once belonged to the place and now I don’t desire to be part of it.

Better Know the restrictions

These days, USPS (United States Postal Service) is quite active as they are coming out with new products and services on regular basis to meet changing needs of customers. Recently they introduced Large Flat Rate Box for domestic and International Priority mail giving customers option other than Regular Flat Rate box. They also started Sunday delivery with Express mail. This is one of only its kind offering in Parcel industry as none of big three UPS, FedEx, DHL offer Sunday delivery.
USPS has been taking right steps after momentous Postal law signed by President Bush last year to fight with other carriers as they cannot sustain the business by just delivering letters to each and every zip code from Alaska to SanDeigo.
They have to compete aggressively with other carriers in profitable business of Parcels and their moves are in right direction.
I will transition to another topic which actually prompted me to write today. Few days back, I was surprised to read some of the restrictions that various countries place on Shipments coming inside their borders ( http://www.usps.com/mailpro/2008/janfeb/janfeb.pdf )

Here are some of seemingly absurd restrictions that I found.:
Australia: Goods bearing the name “Anzac.”
Costa Rica: Blank invoices.
Ireland: Hay, straw, including articles made of straw.
Latvia: Live animals except bees and leeches.
Russia: Color copiers.
Switzerland: Mini-spies (miniature wireless transmitters).
Tunisia: Playing cards.
Countries generally disallow arms, ammunitions, explosives and hazardous substances that are identified by United Nations. But what’s wrong with Anzac? And why is Hay is restricted by Ireland? Funnily, Latvia restricts live animals with exception of bees and leeches and Russia doesn’t want color printers to be sent to them. Perhaps, they are happy with monocolor printing.

Infosys Predictability

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Last week I came across Infosys Ad on CNBC, with same themes which are on show in this video. We used to wonder why Infosys never comes out with Ads on TV as part of brand building exercise as had been the case with likes of Accenture. We used to get answers that we don’t need to spend money on such campaigns. Keeping this point aside this video is truly motivational, inpiring and nostalgic. The bonds and attachments that you create with fellow infoscions is truly understood when you are 8000 miles away from the heart of company, representing it and upholding the values every single day.

I believe among all other top IT companies, the one true differentiator is strong value system. Every single day, strong values are ingrained and embedded in you and in my opinion; this is the best asset that you build when you work for Infosys.

The story in video is about adventure of 7 guys who thought of playing gamble and risking their successful careers leading to a company that becomes brand identity of nation after 25 years. This achievement is truly remarkable. But, this is half the journey completed. If Infosys wants to survive another 25 years, then it would need immense imagination and strategy.

Million Dollar Story

I just realised that it has been three months since I have scribbled.Some how I was stuck in other things and couldn't devote time to write.However,I was constantly reminded by some Friends of my full stop on writing...

I recently completed four years in the company.It has been fast ride with lots of ups and downs with varied experiences. On 4th anniversary, I mailed to my training mates in company who joined in the same batch.More than 60% mails bounced providing the proof of mass exodus, which has become norm for Indian IT companies.

This mass mail bouncing reminded me of comments by Subroto Bagchi,Founder of Mindtree Consulting, in one of his article in which he referred oldies in an organisation to be of two types dead trees or evergreen trees.I am not sure which category I fall into. A month back,I read an interview of senior employee in Pitney Bowes where in he made a point to jump organisations early in the career.

There are lot of counter arguments to these opinions but they give you enough food for thought.

I will switch topic and talk about http://milliondollarstory.blogspot.com/
which prompted me to scribble today. Ankur Shanker,DCE graduate is writing stories everyday on his blog and bringing readers on his site to earn money from Advertisements.He is doing this to fund his education at prestigious London School of Economics.

I was amazed to see his unique idea and media coverage that he has garnered.
He hopes to raise 100,000 USD but he is sceptic of meeting the target but hopeful of getting some monetary help in form of scholarships from corporates.
This story is yet another proof of love for education among young Indians and it also attracts our attention on huge demand and supply gap in Indian education system.

I recently got chance to visit one of the Government schools here in US.The infrastructure was mind boggling.We hardly have such good infrastructure in schools and colleges in India.On side of planet we have insatiable demand for education with poor supply and on the other side, we have such good schools struggling with drop out rates as high as 30 percent.

I hope Ankur can join LSE this July and dreams of millions of Indians for good education get realised one day...

An Idea whose time has come

In the above interview, Manmohan Singh clearly mentions, Left parties as source of opposition to India-US Nuclear Cooperation. He would have never imagined the kind of tussle that has existed between Congress and Left since last two months at the time of the interview.He shares his dreams and vision about India in this interview. India has been blessed with very few prime ministers who have such depth of knowledge and understanding about World's affairs. He shares his views on china and Iran impresssively.Very few politicians can express any kind of insight on such countries. It's remarkable to hear from prime minister about India's desperate need for Infrastructure. He is also critical about Government's role as Ma-Baap. Beaureucrats and politicians should take lessons from his vision about Government’s role as helper and facilitator.
Hear this interview to get insight on his thoughts and dreams for India.

Sidhu's Quotes

Sidhu's sidhuisms have found place on brainyquote.com.

Here is one:
"There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an oncoming train which will run them over"

I am not sure whether these quotes are brainy but definitely they are funny.

Here are some of his brainy quotes:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/navjot_singh_sidhu.html

IBM's patent on Offshoring

Few days back, I came across an interesting article by Mohan Babu on IBM's patent on offshoring process .

Here is the article.

http://infosysblogs.com/managing-offshore-it/2007/09/patenting_offshoring_jobs.html

Engg colleges-Need to engineer names

Recently, I came across list of engineering colleges in MP.There close to 83 colleges now.80% of these colleges lack basic infrastructure and are far away from any kind research activities.These colleges are owned by either by politicians or Businessmen.

MP politicians learnt to make money out of educational institutions from their South Indian counterparts. While states such as Tamil Nadu have close to 250 engineering colleges,Madhya Pradesh has lot of catch up do in their comparison.

Precisely, this is the logic quoted by most politicians, for opening new colleges but the logic doesn't consider the huge employment opportunities existing in South Indian states and none in their BIMARU(Bihar,MP,Rajasthan,UP) states

This apalling situatution is true for most of North Indian states.They opened new colleges and produced engineers but they forgot to attract companies into their states to employ these engineers.

While going through that list, I came across some names which were funny and made me laugh.
So here are some names.

• Technocrat Institute of technology
• Shri Institute of Science and technology
• Rishiraj Institute of technology
• Thakral college
• All Saints college of technology
• Nagaji Institute of technology and Management
• Gyan ganga Institute of technology
• Shri Dadaji Institute of technology
• Jagatguru dattatreya college of technology

In my opinion, People who opened these colleges could have named them differently at least, they could have shown some respect to Indian scientists and technologists.

American Telecom Mess

Government Fees and Taxes

1. California State Telecomm. Relay Svc Surcharge
2. California State Universal Service Fund
3. California State Excise Tax Surcharge
4. California State 911
5. California State High Cost Fund Surcharge
6. California State Deaf Tax Surcharge

Surcharges & Fees

1. Federal Wireless Number Pooling And Portability
2. Federal Usf Non-Ld Surcharge
3. California State P.U.C. Fee
4. Federal E911

Above is list of taxes and surcharges that is part of your cell phone bill.For the first time, When I saw this list ,I was surprised to see so many taxes and surcharges.What's the need of so many taxes? Couldn't the Government collect some kind of single tax which can replace all the other taxes and fees? Single Tax/surcharge is easier to manage both by payer and payee.Some of the taxes are obvious but some like California State Telecomm. Relay Svc Surcharge are difficult to fathom. What could be Telecomm Realy Svc? Only California state could answer.You have state 911 and federal 911 tax.What's the need for two 911 surcharges? You have many surcharges charged both by both State and Federation.

Most ludicrous tax is High Cost Fund Surcharge. Whose cost of funds are high? Have you seen somebody charging you because some body's cost of funds is high?

Overall,this doesn't present a good picture of American Telecom sector.Higher number of taxes impede growth of any sector.

Take notice of some other indicators of existing Telecom mess::

1. Incoming calls are charged to receiver of call.(Operators in countries like India where Average revenue per user per month less than $15 do not charge customers for incoming calls.)
2. Non presence of pan US operator.(AT&T has license to operate in 22 states only.)
3. Not enough competition among telecom operators.
4. Non existence of cellular network in some parts of the country.(Hard to believe but truth is that there are some regions which don't have cellular coverage.)
5. Strong lobbying by incumbents like Verizon and AT&T etc(Their recent opposition to Google's suggestion of shared spectrum.)

Things don't look enthusiastic for Consumers.

Regulators should step in and take some path breaking decisions to clear this mess.It's sad to note that sorry state of affairs exists in an industry like Telecom which is considered to be backbone of knowledge society.

Progammers Guild : FAKE JOB AD VIDEO

I recently came across this video which is sponsored by Programmers guild. http://programmersguild.org/

The association is a lobby group which recently rebuffed Microsoft's appeal to Senators for increasing the H1b limit to 300,000. Subsequent to rejection of Bill, Microsoft had to open and expand Vancouver,Canada office as it was finding difficult to place employees without H1 visa in Redmond,US office .
This is a interesting video in which fake job Ads posted by employers are discussed.I have no idea about veracity of claims that are being made in this video but at least it gives another perspective on H1 Visas.

Father:RickShaw Puller, Son:IAS

He is Govind Jaiswal,22,IAS(dream job for a north Indian common man).I got this inspirational forward from one of my colleague.

His story is captured in numerous magazines , websites and blogs.

Yet another story of hard work,continuous struggle,passion,perseverance and unbirldled faith on System.

A rickshaw puller's son can manage to become IAS should inspire millions of people who are living in hope of coming out of poverty and struggle.

It's yet another story which proves that miracles do happen in India where government functions are replete with corruption and redtapism.

I just could not imagine the risk that he was riding on as his father had to sell land for Rs 40,000.

Studying for IAS requires great concentration unaffected by any metro city distraction which he could manage successfully.

It's proud event for govind to achieve his dream which will ensure a decent living his family members in future.

But these miracles happen once in million.This reveals ugly face of Indian system which doesn't guarantee people with decent human life even after 60 years of independence.

It's shame to all of us as we are way short of providing people with dignified living.

Ever wondered why all these stories of exceptional achievements in IITs and especially IAS come from feudal lands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.UP and Bihar are feudal parts of country where development is abysmally low,population is high,castesim is rule of day.In these societies, people with lathi, rupiya and taakat(power) are respected.Common people like Govind can not attain first two but can attain later by getting a job that wields power.

I hope Govind will work developmental agenda unaffected by politicians' pressure and ugly politics.

M D Pai,True Visionary

I recently read the interview of Mohandas Pai, director on the Board and chief of HR,Infosys.

Here it is . Do read it

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2007/07/27/stories/2007072750020100.htm

I have always found him inspiring and visionary.If I am not wrong, he is only person in Senior Management who is not founder of Infosys. He is a glib talker and charismatic personality. Its pleasure to listen his views on Infosys and IT industry. After NRN and Nandan,If any body can leave audience spellbound,He has to be Mohan.He dreams big and believe in achieving them.

I remember asking him about non existence of ESOPs on billion dollar day celebrations in 2004, to which he hinted on creating Loyalty Bonus program which somehow is not there in priority list now.

I was watching PT Usha's dream to create Sports Academy in Kerala,India on National Geographic Channel. In that documentary, She profusely thanked Mohan's initial contribution of Rs 1 million.

Bring jobs back from India

Yesterday, I stopped on c-span TV channel while I was jumping from one channel to other. For those who don't know C_SPAN http://www.c-span.org, let me tell you that it's a channel dedicated for airing government debates in senate,seminars etc involving public policy. Its a kind of government's interface to connect with citizens. Prasar Bharti (Indian Public Boradcaster) should take steps and transform Rajya Sabha and LokSabha channels to cover more public debates out of parliament.

The live telecast of National Governors Association (http://youinnovate21.net on subject of Innovation and technology was going on. I started listening to Mr Randell's ( AT&T CEO) speech followed by Mr Schmidt's (Google CEO ) speech.
The presence of these two CEOs glued me to channel till end of council meeting.
Randell talked about challenges in broadband penetration and competitiveness of Telecom Industry while Schmidt talked about Transformation of Govt. Services using new and latest technologies.Mr Schmidt is a glib talker while Randell seem to be regulated like his industry is.

All the governors seemed to be concerned about growing importance of new technologies and were deeply interested in learning new ways to bring innovation in government services and change in society.

I was day dreaming of this becoming a reality in India where 99% politicians and 90% IAS officers can't even define innovation.

The speeches were followed by Q & A round.I was struck by question from Mr. John Baldaccid Governor of Maine.He talked about creating IT clusters in his state and asked about Industry's role in partnering Government . His question could have been straight forward but he added chauvinistic spice by mentioning IT clusters will help bring back jobs from India.

This is another example of how India has taken centre stage in Government policy formation on Job creation and losses. Ten years back, these Governors would not have known what and where India is. But today it is a different world.

This development is significant as it highlights the achievement of Indian IT Services Industry.
It very easy to blame Indians for all job loses and but hard to evaluate the core reason behind such development.

The Senators and unaware public in large forget the hard labour that Indians apply to deliver IT Services at low cost to make American economy competitive and robust. They forget the taxes that Indians and Indian companies pay to federal and State Government without availing any Social Security benefits.

Its sad that Indians' hard work for American companies doesn't get much deserved acknowledgement and appreciation

5 worst companies to work for

Here is an article which lists top 5 worst companies to work for.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=159&tag=nl.e124

I am surprised to see Verizon in the list. New economy companies are hardly expected to be in such list but Verizon seems to be an exception.I am surprised not to see Walmart which is universally famous for inhuman conditions.

One thing noticeable is that 3 out 5 companies Home Depot,Best Buy,McDonalds all connect with customers directly.

How can they keep their customers happy with demoralised employees?

Fatima's Story

Recently came across this heart touching story. Read the below link:

http://harirhk.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/06/pani-puri-funds-infosys-dreams.htm

India is land of hard struggle. In order to get simple things in life, one has to struggle hard.On one hand this makes people tough and strong to bear and live in this global world and on the other hand exposes the brutal reality of trials and tribulations that one has to go in our society.

Imagine how hard would have been for Salar to manage mind boggling Rs 60,000 for first two years of education. Credit is always for non needy.Poor is always hit hardest. Considering her background being a Muslim girl,married to a street hawker that too a at early age and living in non livable surroundings, achievement is unfathomable,incredible and superb.

Indeed, It must have been of proudest moment for fathima and Salar when she would have entered sprawling Infosys campus.

Hope, this struggle ends one day for millions of Indians

Infrastructure Bottlenecks

Twenty years back,"India-land of snake charmers", the idea used to popup in people's minds about India...

But now thankfully, if some knowledgeable American has to say something about India-It will be IT, Call centre and Poor Infrastructure.

I have been hearing Infrastructure debates since last 10 years.But sadly nothing substantial has happened.
Some Indians especially BJP leaders might take pride in Golden Triangle Highway Project, But truth is that all the things that have been done on Roads is drop in ocean.

Recently, I was listening to GE CEO's interview with Prannoy Roy. His message for Indian leaders was to focus only on Infrastructure for next 10 years. According to him, this measure alone is sufficient to bring revolution and sustain 10% GDP growth.

Infact in my personal conversations, I have found this is major lacunae that people identify India with.The chaos and mismanaged traffic, and not to mention crowded and poor roads that they see become a point of ridicule.

Indian community in US has a strong sense of appreciation for US Infrastructure and the same time they are grossly pessimistic about Indian infrastructure especially roads.

Urban, Metro Indian now relate Infrastructure with Roads.But what about Electricity,Ports,Airports,Railways?????

Still 6.5 lakh villages haven't experienced what electricity is even after 60 years of Independence.Poor electricity conditions exist in whole of India. Mass Transmission and Distribution losses, Inefficiency of State Electricity Boards are prime reasons for poor electricity infrastructure.

Urban elite especially in Metros have kind of forgotten how sad the story in rest of India.There has been same talks since post liberalisation about electricity sector but hardly anything has happened.....

Millions of Indians are still deprived of basic human needs.How can we grossly ignore plight of 1/6th of humanity?
Let's talk about Roads..."The most talked about topic among Indians in US as far as infrastructure is concerned"

The problem is India is we haven't made it as top priority in spite of recognising it as major bottleneck in her growth.

We are still talking about Golden Triangle which is in fact past now...I haven't travelled on GQ Highway hence, i will not talk about it. But what about 100s of National Highways and 1000 of state highways????
GQ fell into purview of Central Government, hence it was achievable by a central body like NHAI. But how will we expect upgrading of state highways into 4 to 6 lanes which come under purview of bankrupt state governments????

Indians are now touted as most talkative people in the world by looking at figures of time spent on cell phones..Same distinction can be achieved for Roads sector.The kind of economic factory bythat will get built Road and Travel Industry is unimaginable.

We constantly hear about Unemloyment rates in US and Europe.. But If I ask what is unemployment rate in India? Hardly any body would be able to answer.
Infrastructure is key to mass unskilled and skilled job creation.We can seriously kill all birds with single stone called as "Infrastructure".

How can w claim to be a super power in making if we are not willing to solve the gross problems??People always compare India and China.But infrastructure part, China has taken a big lead and where are we?

Take Airports,hardly India, with a Billion+ people have 35-50 airports with most of them below world standard except 4-5 airports which are kind of OK.
Hardly 20 million people travel by flights.We don't have enough airports and enough flights for all 1 million plus cities...

if you happen to be in Mumbai or Delhi Airports, you will find them to be shabbiest Airports in the world....What face do we show to foreign travellers??

what we people, who are neither into administration nor Infrasture sector can do???
I find, there is lack of solid concern about sorry state of affairs in India.
We should at least be conscious and concerned about problems and solutions,discuss, debate the issues.

Do you share same opinion??? Let me know your thoughts................

Ugly nexus

Amitabh Bachhan is slowly become synonymous with controversies....

He was one of the charismatic actors who had fair public image.
A year back, when He was admitted to Hospital, whole country's attention was focused on his health.

Here is an article which captures the ugly nexus between the Super Star and Politicians..

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/12nazar.htm

Can any one imagine, Amitabh with such great personality to be associated with petty politicians like Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh?????

A Comparison between USPS and India Post

I recently went to US Postal Service Office and was curios to see how US Post office is different than Indian Post offices and hence, was busy noting the differences....

Immediately I noticed, Big Building,Clean entrance and blue colors, symbolic of USPS.USPS has long legacy. In its 200 years of existence,USPS has evolved alot. See its history below::
USPS History

It's a Government organisation with financial and business autonomy. People call it semi governmental org.

Interactive website ,Online label,shipping and tracking functions,Stamp Vending machines placed in post offices and retails stores like Walmart ,Operations in lines of carriers like UPS and Fedex( while trying to retain distinction of a Government org), huge technological spend, strong linkages with mail stream companies like Pitney Bowes http://www.pb.com separate USPS from its Indian counterpart.

USPS has a monopoly on letters and cards delivery. Federal govt granted this exclusivity to reserve some business in which USPS doesn't face any competition, while cross subsidizing USPS's obligation to serve rural areas and hinterlands.

If you enter Indian Post Offices premises, you will immediately find decrepit Betel coloured walls.You will go inside and will see crowded counters.Crowd is obvious if you happen to be in India.

There were lot of people on that day on my Post office visit. Everybody was lined up in a disciplined manner.All the stationery was properly placed that can hardly be expected in India(because orderliness is not to be expected if you are in Indian Offices)

You can expect Indian Post offices humming with noise, with sad, tired,unfriendly and ungrateful looks on employees. I noticed that USPS staff was greeting everyone with a friendly smile and a customer friendly greeting, What Can I do for you Sir/Madam?

Has anyone ever received a greeting like this in Indian Post offices??

I tendered my envelope, paid fee and got a computerized receipt.If I would do same in India, I will get either a paper receipt with rounded black stamp or a dot matrix generated small receipt containing bare minimum information.

Americans disparage USPS for being a slow decision maker and bureaucratic. I think they haven't experienced what bureaucracy and slow decision making is.

Serious and strong measures are needed to modernise Indian Post offices offering best services to customers and to make a strong, vibrant, agile entity.

India Post is in desparate need of Business and Financial autonomy. The Indian Govt. should corportise Post office functions, infuse technology in systems and focus on customers.The deficit financing can still be achieved as it is being done today but commercial objectives should drive India Post to achieve world class standards.

One Billion people expect much more than what they have got from thousands of outlets of India Post.

How long do we need to wait to see the transformation??????????????????????????

Infy Management's Worries

I was going through Google Finance and came across this discussion. Here is the link

http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.663089/browse_thread/thread/67e7beee64a647cb/2976e02191d13613#2976e02191d13613

Analysts are worried about rupee getting stronger which will put Infy management in diffcult position to meet its own revenue projections.Two months have passed in 2008 fiscal and Every body is waiting for 13th july when Infy will come out with Q1 results. This time if Infy revises its guidance southwards, then we can expect some big selling.If they are able to maintain the guidance(no body is expecting upward revision) for the year, it will be a big boost to sentiments in Markets.

But One thing is sure This year will be one of difficult years for Infy Mangement to maintain growth of 40% in event of stronger rupee,bigger employee base,rising salary pressure and fresh H1B debate.

Let's wait for 13Th July!!!!!!!!!

Basab Pradhan's views on H1B

Here are by Basab Pradhan's(Ex Infoscion) views on H1B visas. Interesting analysis by Basab and subsequent comment poolers.
H1B visa prog needs a revamp

Stolen Antiques from Mandsaur

Last week I came across the article (click the link to read the article) Antiques Scrutiny in US
on Antiques Scrutiny in US.

On April 17, 2006, a stolen Vishnu statue worth about $30,000 was turned over by ICE(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to the Indian government. The 250-pound sandstone statue was taken from a temple in the city of Mandsaur(My home city) in the Madhya Pradesh state of India sometime in 2000,

I hail from the same city, from where this Vishnu statue was reportedly stolen. But sadly Neither do I nor many of residents of my city remember about this precious loss.

Similar to above story there are thousands of reports with regard to loss of statues and historical artifacts from our centuries old temples and monuments.

Our negligence, lack of care ,corrupt Government bodies and hot antique markets in US and Europe are primary reasons for it.

It was really painful for me to read the above story.Will we ever be able to preserve our rich ancient heritage????????

Sanjaya Malakar

Everybody knows who Sanjaya Malakar is. If you still don't know the link below can be of help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjaya_Malakar

I am not big fan of music but I followed him because of his name which kept reminding me of his Indian origins. Initially, I thought he is of Marathi origins because his last name ends with "kar" but, no He is not Marathi. He is son of Bengali father.

One of the important attribute which clearly attracted people's attention was his unique style.Be it, his famous hair style or way of talking .

You only gets recognized if you are able differentiate your self and not become part of crowd.One thing is sure, to achieve success, you have to believe in your strengths and be always what you are..............

Confused State

Young single people in their mid 20s go thru a kind of confusion regarding their relationship status.This becomes prominent when when their friends start getting committed and married....and This is how they share their opinions and thoughts...................



Person1:
Person2:
Hi Person1
u there???

Person1:
hey Person2
whats up

Person2:
Nothing much...
planning to sleep in some time from now


Person1:
great
?
so howz life

Person2:
pretty good

Person1:
cool
still single?
cant be

Person2:
gud question.....
I need to be cautious while facing facing questions from a Poet!!

Person1:
come on
i m no poet

Person2:
Ya I am married thats why chating with u on Friday night..............

Person1:
i understand :)

Person2:
how r things going at ur end??

Person1:
ye going good

Person2:
any plans in near future to leave bachelorhood

Person1:
well i m all for that but i need some1 called a girl to consider me...

Person2:
girls to shayron pe fida hoti hain... u will get one without efforts!!

Person1:
and that part is
no re
girls ko pata hota hai shayars sirf shayari se hi pyar karte hai :)
and i will have to wait until i succeed in breaking that myth

Person2:
i wud disagree with u... ek shyar se achha unhe koi nahi samajh paya hian...

Person1:
ha ha


Person1:
ok
same as xyz person

Person2:
ya infact same ac

Person1:
oh great
she too is here

Person2:
ya u r right.. ur databases are in sync

Person1:
ye m good in maintaing databases :)

Person2:
thats apparent:)

Person1:
databases r pretty handy tools, especially when it is 'relational'

Person2:
That too when history spans from previous company ......

Person1:
?
oh u mean pqr?

Person2:
ya u got it...

Person1:
how do u know

Person2:
need some query tuning...

Person1:
ah ha

Person2:
see I know abt u.....

Person1:
nice to know that
she must have told u

Person2:
whats nice abt she telling me?????

Person1:
i mean nice to know that u know abt me!

Person2:
hehehe........

Person1:
not she telling u :)

Person1:
he he
ye most them r happily married
all the girls r married at least, xcept a few

Person2:
girls ki baat alag hoti hain....

Person1:
ye

Person2:
they get married 4 yrs earlier tha guys...

Person1:
yes
usi me vaat lag jati hai :)

Person2:
ya!! But I mean girls are not right bechmark

Person1:
i know

Person2:
what abt guys from our batch?//

Person1:
well 70% are booked

Person2:
hmmmm...

Person1:
and if u too decide to get married within a year, it will make 80% :)

Person2:
so what r ur plans in this directiomn...
hehe.. and u then 90%

Person1:
i think i will be 100

Person2:
oh I see..........

Person1:
i will have to be 100 else i wud have start from 1
well whenever i look into that direction i see nothing...

Person2:
why are u waiting to be mr 100%. there is greater charm in being 75 or 80%

Person1:
well there is the problem my friend

Person2:
whats that?/

Person1:
mujhe lagta hai abhi mera waqt nahi aaya

Person2:
why do u feel so?

Person1:
coz m not seeing any signs :)

Person2:
what kind of signs?

Person1:
signs that direct u in that direction

Person2:
but what are these kind of signs??

Person1:
good Q. i donno the answer.
now u know i m confused

Person2:
whats making u confused in making decsions??

Person1:
m not making any
just being lazy under the xcuse of signs :)
well i dont want to confuse u more
so tell me abt ur progress in this direction

Person2:
hehe...

Person1:
i might take a clue

Person2:
take go ahead!!

Person1:
i m still a kid in heart's matters
so u did go ahead?

Person2:
Not really heartd filled with emotions are not really kids hearts
Nope dude Ur guess is wrong...

Person1:
how

Person2:
I am also like u...

Person1:
come on
set an example for me

Person2:
waiting for some time......
i wanted t tale lessons from u..............

Person1:
u must be kidding
be prepared to go missing in that case

Person2:
nope... kind of in same boat...

Person1:
well u will sail thru

Person2:
oh whats the basis for reposing confidence in me...
Infact I initially said that shayar has no probs...but ppl like us (without talents) have probs

Person1:
bcoz once u r in boat u either sail thru or sink. and u r not gonna sink. hence u will sail thru...
if u call it a talent, i wud love it. but at the same time u have what i dont have...
so it's relative

Person2:
what do I have hat u dont have??????????/
have

Person1:
can be anything that u might even dont know
we are unique in our own ways!

Person2:
infatct u also dont know the answer!!!!!!!!!
btw since we are in same boat we both will sail or sink!!

Person1:
thats right. bcoz i dont know ur uniq talents. only u do...
nope we wont sink

Person2:
he.........
do we really need this much of permutation of talents and khubainyan.......................

Person1:
no way

Person2:
I guess its pretty much staright forward game

Person1:
u got it


Person2:
chalo I will keep smth resreved to talk later....

Person1:
oh sure

Person2:
it was nice chatting with u

Person1:
it was pleasure