Shrikant’s Blog

If you want to experience the best beer in India head straight to the 1st Brew House at the Corianthan Boutique Hotel. The beer is called Doolally if you find something better let me know >>>

Just back from Sikkim after a 10 day holiday.  A state as beautiful as Kashmir but not as popular or controversial.  I would like to convey what our driver Mr Bhutia told us on our way to our 1st stop in Peling. I have not edited any of his statements. The state is beautiful, scenic but crippled with bad infrastructure especially the roads. On our way from Siliguri to Peling in West Sikkim, our 1st stop, the roads had not been repaired for 10 years, some patchwork here and there. While China has built a 4 lane highway all the way to Nathula Pass, they worked day and night and completed the 520 km stretch from Lhasa to Nathula in 3 years. It is a wonder how they did it ? Lhasa is already connected with a high speed train to Beijing and this will be extended to Nathula. Our journey from Gangtok to Nathula a distance of about 50 kms took 3 hours. The previous day our journey from Lachung, North Sikkim to Gangtok a distance of 120 kms took 6 hours with one stop for tea. Sikkim generates enough revenues to the tune of Rs 1 lakh per family but where does the money go ?

It is a matter of time China will use this infrastructure to take over Sikkim and Bhutan and they are pretty much committed to break India into 32 pieces.

Till 1973 we were happy people with whatever we had. The politics of Indira Gandhi and joining India has ruined the state and its people. In those days we were innocent, honest and lived happily with whatever we had, Kam Kaho Kushi Raho.

The above are not my statements but straight from the mouth of Mr Bhutia, a local resident in Sikkim. Our prime minister makes mother hood statements daily but has no clue the infrastructure our not so friendly neighbours are laying to our door step. A war will only open a can of worms.

We continue to sleep at the wheel. Wake up call will be difficult but who is to blame ? Frustrated and disgusted whenever a really bad patch came, he would comment, “Saheb hamara government so raha hai”. My reply kya kare!  clueless sympathizing with the clueless.

While reading about the innovation gyans from his highness, the great Narayan Murthy, a question cropped up, which Indian company or industrial group has really tried to address the Indian market differently. While always in the news, Reliance and Birla groups, with friends in powerful positions continue to corner scarce resources like coal, gas, aluminium, etc.,  I must commend the Tata Group which has been quietly developing and launching  products for the Indian middle class.

Over the last year they have launched  products in automobile, hospitality and finally mobile, that has challenged the status quo in their respective industries. In automobiles they have launched the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano, which has broken the rules of the game. Their launch price of US$2500 was half that of the next expensive car. Talking to an engineer, who was part of the design team, my question to him, how did you do it ? His answer, the car Industry has always enjoyed good margins, we have only sacrificed margins to make it affordable. Lets us look at the hotel industry next.

Five years ago in the Whitefield suburbs of Bangalore, a hotel called Tata IndiOne was launched. The room was available for Rs 999 a night, with buffet breakfast available for Rs 50. This was a no frills hotel with must have basics well done. Clean sheets, spotless bathrooms, wireless internet, Lcd TV, etc.  What you did not get was room service delivering coffee or snacks in the middle of the night, no spa, no swimming pool, no gym, stuff you anyway never used on a business trip. This model has been scaled out across India under the brand Ginger serving over 22 cities. The model is a commercial success with occupancy rates,  the highest, of any hotel group in India and the return per square foot better than any 5-star hotel in India. This has not only disrupted the expensive hotels but also ensured that the hotels at the same price point improve their infrastructure and services. A positive social impact for sure.

Most recently they made a unique foray in mobile telecommunications via Tata DoComo by launching a GSM service with per second billing, something most consumers wanted but no telco dared to offer, because it would have cannibalized ARPU (average revenue per user) by more than 20%. Lot of consumers were being taken for a ride with overloaded networks and dropped calls. Even a 5 second call with Hello yelled on both sides and no success in sustaining a conversation yielded one Rupee. A call that was 2 minutes and 5 seconds was charged for 3 minutes. Telcos and TRAI (of course in deep slumber) allowed this to happen for a number of years till the Tatas came and changed the rules of the game. The bad news is that all their capacity and available SIM cards are sold out and we have to wait for more.

I always rated  Tata organizations to be as lethargic as the government of India. However they seem to be one of the few industrial houses in India that still cares for the middle class citizen. A group with ethical standards that are an exception not the rule in India. Lets pray, they keep walking and for the time being No Tata please.

Professor from IIM Bangalore and political aspirant Rajeev Gowda gives tips on learning from failure. The article also conveys  the difficulties in doing business in India. Does India provide a level playing field for new entrepreneurs ?

Keen on investing in India, Murdoch arrived in Delhi and met key officials manning the licence-permit raj. He then met Dhirubhai and told him he was satisfied and ready to get started, now that he had met all the right people. “Aha!” Dhirubhai replied, “to succeed in India, you must meet all the wrong people!”. One can elaborate meet to other actions while conducting business.

Indian rarely conduct postmortem of failed companies. He recommends investigating the 5Ps, people, product, pricing, place or promoter. >>>

In India how do you become rich or richer ? How do businessmen become more powerful ? Why is intellectual property development negligible ? Why is it that the little that gets developed in the campuses of multinational companies does not proliferate  the local markets ?

If you look at the largest industrial houses in India, none of them have any core technology that India or the world wants. Probably one reason why India has not produced any global brands. All large companies private and public  have access to some resource or rights that is scarce, popularly called the unfair advantage. It could be land, spectrum, natural resources like gas, coal, aluminum, iron ore or an exclusive license where no one else is permitted to get in.

India has become very difficult for honest people to do business. With liberalization everyone would have thought the involvement of the government would diminish. It hasn’t. The good opportunities in business are controlled by the government.

The death of YSR is very unfortunate but he was the guardian to the biggest fraud in corporate history. I have read so many obituaries, not one highlighted the fraud, only  as a great leader  who knew the masses, felt for the poor and  did for them etc. Have you ever bought a piece of land in India ? can it be done without government support ? Raju acquired 17,000 acres of land around Hyderabad, was it without the participation of the late YSR. Maytas bagged the Hyderabad Metro project again was it without the support of YSR. It is very likely Hyderabad will see the Metro last, till all the financial issues are sorted out. They should thank the right person for the delay.

If you go to the richest areas of Delhi and ask, who stays here ? Have these residents created products and services which the world is using ? Of course not. They are basically dalals or pimps for the next big contract the government will dole out. These agents will collect money from the service provider and of course give the due share to the various bureaucrats and politicians in power.  These dalals will even sell the country for money. How else could the bullet proof jacket of martyr Mr Karkare of 26/11 fame be made of bamboos. If you do find a professional in these upmarket areas, it is an exception rather than the rule.

I have a prediction that in 50 years, India will go the Pakistan way, where 50 families will rule this country, govern the scarce resources, everyone else will be a bonded slave to these families directly or indirectly. The question to ask is whether you want this environment for your children, where they live in fear of speaking their mind and doing what their heart wants them to do.

Some wise man said, India is not a poor country, but is poorly managed.

The film Nirop produced by Amit Abhyankar of Outreach Media Services won the Siver Lotus for the Best Marathi Film at the 56th National Awards.

India’s first true microbrewery will start serving beer at the 1st brew pub  in Amchi Pune in the last week of September. Now experience fresh beer in your own city.

Clover Greens has launched a new cafe, ” Belly Bunker” that will serve snacks and beverages. We have tried to be green and used old containers to construct the kitchen and toilets for the cafe.

(via nytimes) Gerald Graff describes what most successful college students do. In his experience they cut through the clutter of jargons, methods and ideological differences to locate the common practices of argument and analysis hidden behind it all.

1. Recognize that knowing a lot of stuff won’t do you much good unless you can do something with what you know by turning it into an argument.

2. Pay close attention to what others are saying and writing and then summarize their arguments and assumptions in a recognizable way. Work especially on summarizing the views that go most against your own.

3. As you summarize, look not only for the thesis of an argument, but for who or what provoked it — the points of controversy.

4. Use these summaries to motivate what you say and to indicate why it needs saying. Don’t be afraid to give your own opinion, especially if you can back it up with reasons and evidence, but don’t disagree with anything without carefully summarizing it first.

full article >>>

I saw this version of the National Anthem before Kaminey was screened at Fame Adlabs, searched and found it  on youtube. Spine tingling rendition by AR Rehman.

I was keeping tab of the YSR drama till the bodies were found. There was speculation that either the Naxalites had captured him, he was in the forest waiting for someone to reach or dead. But what happened after his death was most amazing. People started rioting destroying public property, committing suicide (more people died than swine flu), many sycophants started demanding his inexperienced son of 36 years become the next CM. His death is a sad incident but all the other acts are unpardonable. Destroying public property is an offense, committing suicide is an offense, taking up a important job without the right experience and credential is just not done. It is sad that no senior members of our society or media is pointing this out.

All I can say is that we are like that only, crazy.

Some really profound articles, view points and editorials have emerged post the expulsion of Jaswant Singh. I have not seen such good articles in a long long time.

I would like first start with what I said in this blog a few months ago. Indians cannot differentiate between History and Mythology. 11th century Arab traveller’s Alberuni’s observation that Hindus (as Indians were then known) have no sense of history. Indeed, they can scarcely distinguish it from mythology.

This is what Sudeendhra Kulkarni had to say in the Indian Express today. He says his expulsion is a baseless one and will haunt the BJP for a long time. Over two days he read this book cover to cover and scribbling comments on almost every page of it, more than on any other book I have ever read, I cannot but exclaim: “Stupendous achievement, Jaswantji!” I cannot think of any other political biography authored by a practising politician that is so exhaustive, erudite, penetrating and well-written. >>>

Jaswant is emerging as a martyr with full public sympathy says Swapan Dasgupta. His article is a narration of contradictions the BJP seems to fumbling on. >>>

Shekar Gupta in the Indian Express writes about us being Masters of Illiberal arts. We have a poor record of history writing. That is the reason why the poorest entry on our CV as a great democracy of 62 years is in contemporary history writing. The Nehru-Gandhi family has led us for most of these years, directly or indirectly, and yet there isn’t a single book on one of the greatest democratic dynasties of all times that would do justice to them, our intellect, or to the great Indian tradition of debate. >>>

Rajdeep Sardesai is willing to place a small bet. Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah is a little over 650 pages. None of the 20 odd members who comprise the BJP’s think tank at the party’s chintan baithak have read the book cover to cover. Had they read the fine print, they might have realised that the book is more a critique of the role of the Congress leadership during partition, doesn’t eulogise Jinnah, nor does it castigate the BJP’s new posterboy Sardar Patel . Unfortunately, in politics, no one really bothers about the fine print! >>>