I think the parallel process of denigration of values following the transition to capitalism has slowly begun. Myth and fiction are being inter-twined creating a new confused Indianess.
There is a serial on Ravana, extolling his virtues as a king, not 'demon' king. Ramayana has been re-serialized in a 4-book form and presented as fiction. The video games on Ramayana have you fight demons with the bow and arrow acting as Ram and there is a new movie in the works which presents Mahabarata from Draupadi's point of view ! Saw a management book on case studies recently that carried a line- who will you choose- Krishna or his army?
Last weekend , I finished reading Ozamu Tezaku's 8 volume graphic novel 'Buddha' . The illustrations are quite stunning and the story moves quite rapidly - the journey of Buddha's birth to enlightenment is detailed even though it is classified as a work of fiction.
The book is, however, full of nudity, expletives,racism, profanity and violence.
How is a 10 year old kid to read it ? And what is he to retain from it? Whose version of mythology is it? Does being classsified as fiction give it the license to distort and represent old myths ? Fictionalizing myth further will dilute the Indian value context and leave behind confused meanings.
And in 10 years, what will be left of the original Indian Mythology?
Monday, October 19, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
You ain't seen nothin yet !
Here's what Yogi Berra means
A snapshot of numbers and growth of various products and services over the last 10 years:
Product/service: 1999 nos: 2009 nos: % growth
ATMs : 1100 :40000 :3636%
Air passengers(mn):12:54:450%
Coffee shops:9:1200:13333%
DTH(mn):0:16
Internet users(mn):1.5:55:3667%
Mobile users(mn)1.2:449.3:37442%
Multiplexes:1:900:90000%
PC's in India(mn):1:7.6:760%
Desktops(mn):1:5.4:540%
Laptops ('000):23:2200:9565%
FM Radio stations:0:280
TV channels:75:426:568%
Phenomenal.
Here's a list of new cars launched in India in 2009:
i20, Spark, Jazz, Ritz, Astar, Linea, Punto, Merc E class, Audi A6, Passat, zetta,Fortuner, Estilo, Zylo, Altis, Altis sport, Rangerover, Road liner, Jaguar, Landrover, Nissan, Nano, Beetle ( coming in Nov), Golf, Tuareg, Polo( coming in Dec) !
India has suddenly turned to become a market for global brands now that most other markets are deep in the red with no consumer demand.
The best is yet to come.
A snapshot of numbers and growth of various products and services over the last 10 years:
Product/service: 1999 nos: 2009 nos: % growth
ATMs : 1100 :40000 :3636%
Air passengers(mn):12:54:450%
Coffee shops:9:1200:13333%
DTH(mn):0:16
Internet users(mn):1.5:55:3667%
Mobile users(mn)1.2:449.3:37442%
Multiplexes:1:900:90000%
PC's in India(mn):1:7.6:760%
Desktops(mn):1:5.4:540%
Laptops ('000):23:2200:9565%
FM Radio stations:0:280
TV channels:75:426:568%
Phenomenal.
Here's a list of new cars launched in India in 2009:
i20, Spark, Jazz, Ritz, Astar, Linea, Punto, Merc E class, Audi A6, Passat, zetta,Fortuner, Estilo, Zylo, Altis, Altis sport, Rangerover, Road liner, Jaguar, Landrover, Nissan, Nano, Beetle ( coming in Nov), Golf, Tuareg, Polo( coming in Dec) !
India has suddenly turned to become a market for global brands now that most other markets are deep in the red with no consumer demand.
The best is yet to come.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
What next for Balika Vadhu viewers ?
Television has changed significantly over the last couple of years.
Maybe it reflects the changing demographic structure of society or maybe it is leading the change. Time was when rural audiences were the core viewing group, as there was one uniform India - licenced, protected, uncompetitive and poor- and the need was to reflect their reality. Then came 1991. India became free again and tasted capitalistic independence -with abundance, choice and wealth. Print added color and skin, Television added slickness , svelteness and instantness, Radio added the music and the internet re-defined urban. The Aspirational housewifes dreams found satisfaction in the well-decked bahus and saas'es with the scandals and affairs reflecting capitalistic values again- choice, competitiveness and infidelity - to brands and men. Over the years, another adaptive format of capitalism- competitiveness and identity- in the form of reality shows emerged in all formats of talent- laughter, singing, dancing, dating, fighting, driving, or just staying together - competing to win.
India was definitely split - into two , three or maybe four India's - the rural , the emerging, the developed and the evolved. The mass at the bottom remained rural but the pace of growth of 1991 had now caught up with them and they had access to cable- so wanted to identify with that content - Colors, followed by Zee, Star and everyone paved the way for such new rural social-issue oriented programming.
Every other day, there is a new car being launched costing anything from 80 lakhs to 5 cr. There are watches costing 0ver a lakh, bags worth many lakhs, shirts and trouser brands costing 50,000 rupees available at showrooms. And at the other end, there is a sachet for every product priced at Re.1 to create newer market segments that can migrate upwards to buying the pack.
A kid born today has atleast 20 channels he can spend his childhood in front of and then he will maybe migrate away from the medium by the time he is 12-13 and get onto the internet and maybe migrate to the mobile by 17-18.
What medium will he consume when he is twenty?
Its unlikely to be television as it is today, for sure.
Maybe it reflects the changing demographic structure of society or maybe it is leading the change. Time was when rural audiences were the core viewing group, as there was one uniform India - licenced, protected, uncompetitive and poor- and the need was to reflect their reality. Then came 1991. India became free again and tasted capitalistic independence -with abundance, choice and wealth. Print added color and skin, Television added slickness , svelteness and instantness, Radio added the music and the internet re-defined urban. The Aspirational housewifes dreams found satisfaction in the well-decked bahus and saas'es with the scandals and affairs reflecting capitalistic values again- choice, competitiveness and infidelity - to brands and men. Over the years, another adaptive format of capitalism- competitiveness and identity- in the form of reality shows emerged in all formats of talent- laughter, singing, dancing, dating, fighting, driving, or just staying together - competing to win.
India was definitely split - into two , three or maybe four India's - the rural , the emerging, the developed and the evolved. The mass at the bottom remained rural but the pace of growth of 1991 had now caught up with them and they had access to cable- so wanted to identify with that content - Colors, followed by Zee, Star and everyone paved the way for such new rural social-issue oriented programming.
Every other day, there is a new car being launched costing anything from 80 lakhs to 5 cr. There are watches costing 0ver a lakh, bags worth many lakhs, shirts and trouser brands costing 50,000 rupees available at showrooms. And at the other end, there is a sachet for every product priced at Re.1 to create newer market segments that can migrate upwards to buying the pack.
A kid born today has atleast 20 channels he can spend his childhood in front of and then he will maybe migrate away from the medium by the time he is 12-13 and get onto the internet and maybe migrate to the mobile by 17-18.
What medium will he consume when he is twenty?
Its unlikely to be television as it is today, for sure.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Fine city -Singapore !
Singapore looks like a nursery.
Everything is monitored and everyone is well dressed. Noone breaks any rules and cleanliness is the way of the world.
The country is rightfully positioned as a world city and is truly integrated into the global economy. Many ads for basic products like housing and shopping use expat models. Food is truly multi-cultural. Having faced tough choices about food in most of South East Asia- HongKong, Kaula Lumpur, Macau, Bangkok and China , Singapore was a breeze- basic edible fare with vegetables was available everywhere- including in the Jurong bird park and Sentosa island. The good Orchard hotel which hosted us( cost quite a packet though) had an Indian menu everyday.
Patches of Singapore look like Chennai - Little India for sure with its zillions of tamilians and the ananda bhavans and banana leaf restaurants ; while some parts reflected the city's multi-ethnicity - Chinatown with white-as-paper chinese people and the consistent smell of fish oil and Arab street with its Malayasian Muslims.
The city cheekily advertises itself as a fine city- full of fines - fines for smoking, traffic, spitting, importing chewing gum to get people in line. The best control for rush hour is to fine the drivers - there is a 30% surcharge for peak hour traffic and a 50% surcharge on taxi fares on weekends.
At 41 rupees to a singapore dollar, it is expensive as taxes account for 5-10% of the rate. A bottle of water is 8 bucks and any cab ride spills into hundreds. The city-country is also trying hard to catch up with Malaysia and HongKong to get tourists with investments in resort city etc. The 120 page Strait Times also chronicled the post-recession problems of Singaporeans, the issues with expats and the aspirations of the local population. The stock market was rebounding and was in good shape while the bank interest rates stayed close to the 1% mark.
The other intersting thing was the continual re-development - each building had been torn down every couple of years to make way for a more smarter,slicker building keeping the city chic 24X7.
With only a 700 sq km area and a population of 27 million, geographically, its only a patch on Mumbai, forget matching to India's size.
Like the taxi driver driving us to Jurong on Ayer Raja Expressway said, you can finish Singapore in 4 days, but even in 4 years, you will only know so little of India.
How true !
Everything is monitored and everyone is well dressed. Noone breaks any rules and cleanliness is the way of the world.
The country is rightfully positioned as a world city and is truly integrated into the global economy. Many ads for basic products like housing and shopping use expat models. Food is truly multi-cultural. Having faced tough choices about food in most of South East Asia- HongKong, Kaula Lumpur, Macau, Bangkok and China , Singapore was a breeze- basic edible fare with vegetables was available everywhere- including in the Jurong bird park and Sentosa island. The good Orchard hotel which hosted us( cost quite a packet though) had an Indian menu everyday.
Patches of Singapore look like Chennai - Little India for sure with its zillions of tamilians and the ananda bhavans and banana leaf restaurants ; while some parts reflected the city's multi-ethnicity - Chinatown with white-as-paper chinese people and the consistent smell of fish oil and Arab street with its Malayasian Muslims.
The city cheekily advertises itself as a fine city- full of fines - fines for smoking, traffic, spitting, importing chewing gum to get people in line. The best control for rush hour is to fine the drivers - there is a 30% surcharge for peak hour traffic and a 50% surcharge on taxi fares on weekends.
At 41 rupees to a singapore dollar, it is expensive as taxes account for 5-10% of the rate. A bottle of water is 8 bucks and any cab ride spills into hundreds. The city-country is also trying hard to catch up with Malaysia and HongKong to get tourists with investments in resort city etc. The 120 page Strait Times also chronicled the post-recession problems of Singaporeans, the issues with expats and the aspirations of the local population. The stock market was rebounding and was in good shape while the bank interest rates stayed close to the 1% mark.
The other intersting thing was the continual re-development - each building had been torn down every couple of years to make way for a more smarter,slicker building keeping the city chic 24X7.
With only a 700 sq km area and a population of 27 million, geographically, its only a patch on Mumbai, forget matching to India's size.
Like the taxi driver driving us to Jurong on Ayer Raja Expressway said, you can finish Singapore in 4 days, but even in 4 years, you will only know so little of India.
How true !
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
On business - 3
Democratization has set in for good.
There was a time in the 1960s and 1970s when IAS was the coveted job to do. Then came Engineering and Medicine that ruled the roost for very many years. Till one day in mid-1991, PVN Rao liberalized the country. Management and Chartered Accountancy suddenly became the rage.
Today, eighteen years later, anything is ok - fashion design, culinery courses, acting , interior design, real estate , NGO and charities are all considered at par. Water management , Civil engineering, Nanotechnology and Petroleum engineering are as coveted as Computer technology. A Dentist is as coveted as a Neurosurgeon.
'Business' was looked down upon and the middle class dream ended with a service and retirement pension. A pawn broker was looked down with contempt. Now, credit card and mortgage firms pay the highest salaries.The economy has shifted from being agrarian and industrial to knowledge driven. And one cold afternoon late last year, Jet Airways tried to retrench 1900 people, resulting in a huge stir, political protests, an apology from the chairman and a re-instatement of the people . A month later, as the world came crashing down financially, Jet quietly removed over a thousand of its employees without a protest. Hire and Fire is now an accepted part of Indian corporate world for good, settling the Union issue once and for all.
Accountability has also reached high standards. You need to tread the straight and the narrow - with judicial and media activism, its difficult to fool all the people all the time anymore.
And while its cool to be an entrepreneur in the knowledge economy, there's now a level playing field for first gen entrepreneurs.
Heave Ho !
There was a time in the 1960s and 1970s when IAS was the coveted job to do. Then came Engineering and Medicine that ruled the roost for very many years. Till one day in mid-1991, PVN Rao liberalized the country. Management and Chartered Accountancy suddenly became the rage.
Today, eighteen years later, anything is ok - fashion design, culinery courses, acting , interior design, real estate , NGO and charities are all considered at par. Water management , Civil engineering, Nanotechnology and Petroleum engineering are as coveted as Computer technology. A Dentist is as coveted as a Neurosurgeon.
'Business' was looked down upon and the middle class dream ended with a service and retirement pension. A pawn broker was looked down with contempt. Now, credit card and mortgage firms pay the highest salaries.The economy has shifted from being agrarian and industrial to knowledge driven. And one cold afternoon late last year, Jet Airways tried to retrench 1900 people, resulting in a huge stir, political protests, an apology from the chairman and a re-instatement of the people . A month later, as the world came crashing down financially, Jet quietly removed over a thousand of its employees without a protest. Hire and Fire is now an accepted part of Indian corporate world for good, settling the Union issue once and for all.
Accountability has also reached high standards. You need to tread the straight and the narrow - with judicial and media activism, its difficult to fool all the people all the time anymore.
And while its cool to be an entrepreneur in the knowledge economy, there's now a level playing field for first gen entrepreneurs.
Heave Ho !
On business - 2
The entreprenuer differs from the manager in only one aspect - risk apetite. This reflects directly on the rewards. An entreprenuer gambles big and makes it big, but a manager trades his skills for smaller, safer returns. The entrepreneur manages his external environment and needs skills to negotiate his way in the world , the manager manages his people and so focuses on operational efficiency.
Can a manager make a transition to entrepreneur ? While they are necessarily cut from different cloth ,some managers migrate to become entrepreurs and some even behave as entrepreneurs in their role with a high degree of ownership and responsibility which is occasionally traded for some stake in the firm.
The US is a great example of how an entire society is built on entrepreneural skills. Punjabis and Gujaratis adapted quickly into that environment and blended their entrepreneural skills with Jews, Britishers, East Europeans etc. South Indians waited for Y2K and leapt into the couldron with many IT ideas for outfits of all sizes, sweeping away the BPO business and SAP implementation worldwide. As the internet came into its own, a new generation of entrepreneurs was born.
The tech world also needs extensive collaboration - IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, HP and Google all need each other to survive. Unlike the rest of the industries, IT has high inter-dependence. Everyone is a cog in the wheel. Entrepreneurship comes easily in this space, you need to find a small niche, seek small funds, get guys with stars in their eyes on board with equity, build your product, find the wheel that needs your cog, get valued, sell-out and exit with your millions. Orace, for instance, has bought 52 companies in the last 24 months.
Most other businesses - TV sets, Cellphones, Cars,Films, Burgers, Garments - need you to market your product and find consumers. The tech world doesn't need you to find consumers, it only needs you to find the nearest complimentary product and then together you can tango ! e.g. The iphone has spurred over 6500 apps, each of whom on revenue share can roll in the moolah. The app makers focus on the open source code of the phone and create zillions of games etc. that people will download for a fee. A revenue share worked with the phone maker can fund your lifetime of travel.
The trick is in finding the idea.
Can a manager make a transition to entrepreneur ? While they are necessarily cut from different cloth ,some managers migrate to become entrepreurs and some even behave as entrepreneurs in their role with a high degree of ownership and responsibility which is occasionally traded for some stake in the firm.
The US is a great example of how an entire society is built on entrepreneural skills. Punjabis and Gujaratis adapted quickly into that environment and blended their entrepreneural skills with Jews, Britishers, East Europeans etc. South Indians waited for Y2K and leapt into the couldron with many IT ideas for outfits of all sizes, sweeping away the BPO business and SAP implementation worldwide. As the internet came into its own, a new generation of entrepreneurs was born.
The tech world also needs extensive collaboration - IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, HP and Google all need each other to survive. Unlike the rest of the industries, IT has high inter-dependence. Everyone is a cog in the wheel. Entrepreneurship comes easily in this space, you need to find a small niche, seek small funds, get guys with stars in their eyes on board with equity, build your product, find the wheel that needs your cog, get valued, sell-out and exit with your millions. Orace, for instance, has bought 52 companies in the last 24 months.
Most other businesses - TV sets, Cellphones, Cars,Films, Burgers, Garments - need you to market your product and find consumers. The tech world doesn't need you to find consumers, it only needs you to find the nearest complimentary product and then together you can tango ! e.g. The iphone has spurred over 6500 apps, each of whom on revenue share can roll in the moolah. The app makers focus on the open source code of the phone and create zillions of games etc. that people will download for a fee. A revenue share worked with the phone maker can fund your lifetime of travel.
The trick is in finding the idea.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
On business.
How is it that some people can create enormous businesses generating large scale employment and creating a lot of wealth in the process, while a large majority are destined to plough the till and seek salvation by becoming Sisyphuses ?
Maybe its in the genes. All of working humanity can arguably be divided into four parts - workers, managers, entrepreneurs and geniuses or talent. Talent creates the idea, entrepreneurs convert it into reality, managers run the ops and workers run the processes. The wheels of business churn to produce so as the rest of the world to consume - be it knowledge or goods or services.
Since these layers are a pyramid, there are very few entrepreneurs and fewer geniuses or talent, but a whole lot of workers at the base.
Workers slog to create EBIDTA while the entrepreneur laps up the PAT. Innumarable CxOs create inumerable balance sheets and stare at quaterly humungous profits, but none thinks of the possibility of creating that value for oneself. Some take the leap from one classification to the next- from manager to entrepreneur and maybe genius. Infosys is an example- Nandan and Murty have climbed the complete ladder. If Nandan cracks the national ID project, he is absolute bankable 'talent'. Sreedharan after the Delhi Metro has orders from the world over including Pakistan. Jobs, Buffet, Gates, Tata are gifted. But so are Subramaniam of Subhiksha, Majumdar of Symbiosis, Parekh of HDFC - they are among the many who have built businesses from scratch.
Now, if hard work, perseverance and some luck turns a worker into a manager, what helps make the transition from manager to entrepreneur?
And then to genius ?
Maybe its in the genes. All of working humanity can arguably be divided into four parts - workers, managers, entrepreneurs and geniuses or talent. Talent creates the idea, entrepreneurs convert it into reality, managers run the ops and workers run the processes. The wheels of business churn to produce so as the rest of the world to consume - be it knowledge or goods or services.
Since these layers are a pyramid, there are very few entrepreneurs and fewer geniuses or talent, but a whole lot of workers at the base.
Workers slog to create EBIDTA while the entrepreneur laps up the PAT. Innumarable CxOs create inumerable balance sheets and stare at quaterly humungous profits, but none thinks of the possibility of creating that value for oneself. Some take the leap from one classification to the next- from manager to entrepreneur and maybe genius. Infosys is an example- Nandan and Murty have climbed the complete ladder. If Nandan cracks the national ID project, he is absolute bankable 'talent'. Sreedharan after the Delhi Metro has orders from the world over including Pakistan. Jobs, Buffet, Gates, Tata are gifted. But so are Subramaniam of Subhiksha, Majumdar of Symbiosis, Parekh of HDFC - they are among the many who have built businesses from scratch.
Now, if hard work, perseverance and some luck turns a worker into a manager, what helps make the transition from manager to entrepreneur?
And then to genius ?
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