Delhi: Time to introspect

The recent spate of sexual crimes against women in Delhi got me thinking. Has it always been like this like this in Delhi or has there been an increase in crimes against women over the past decade? Purely from memory, I don't recall the early 90s having such a spate of rape incidents. Has it really increased of late or were such incidents going unreported in the past?

As per statistics from the crime record bureau, the number of incidents of rape in Delhi have more than doubled since 2002 increasing from 320 to 706 (120%)!!  There has been a 26 % increase since 2011. Over the last 15 days of 2012 there were 45 rapes and 75 cases of molestation.

It's clear from the statistics that there has been a massive increase in sex crimes in the recent past. What has caused this shameful increase? Is it the influence of western culture as our political leaders infer? Or is there a more home grown reason?

Blaming western culture is quite ridiculous because the west is the most equal of societies with minimal crimes against women. If anything we should be learning from the west about how to treat and respect women. Blaming the west is nothing but an ill-disguised attempt by a patriarchal society to keep women shackled. Girls out late in the night or wearing skimpy clothes is not an excuse for rape and men should be able to restrain their urges. If men from other parts of world can do it, why can't Indian men?

I would not be surprised if it is our own Indian culture (the corrupted irrational social customs that exists today) that is to be blamed. Female feoticide has resulted in dangerously low sex ratios in north India. With the exception of Himachal Pradesh,  no state in north India has sex ratio above 900. Delhi, Haryana and Punjab have the worst sex ratios and is it mere coincidence that these states are also the 'leaders' in crimes against women? Has the skewed sex ratio resulted in frustrated men without partners?

I would also assign blame to Indian attitude towards interaction between boys and girls. Socialising and dating is taboo in most Indian cultures. Teenage boys and girls are kept segregated in schools and any interaction in public is frowned upon. The result is that boys do not learn how to behave with the opposite sex. Girls are like some sort of exotic species to them! We should reinforce equality of the sexes at an early age instead of creating gender ghettos due to physical differences!

We need to introspect about our social customs. Are we actually going backwards? Are we becoming more rigid and less in tune with the modern world? What India needs is a demolition of the gender ghettos and a liberation of the sexes.

Work Life balance Vs Pleasing the customer

I have always been under the impression that in the open western economies like Australia, the customer is always the king. This is true in customer facing sectors like retail but the customer does not matter in common service sectors like Couriers or Telecommunications. These sectors where a visit to the customers location is required is characterized by an ostrich like rigidity, lack of communication and total apathy towards the customer. A couple of my experiences below will illustrate why the customer doesn't matter in these sectors.

I ordered some stuff from Apple and it was dispatched from California via Fedex Express Priority services which cost a bomb. When I tracked the consignment I found that they were "unable to deliver since Customer was not at home"! The courier never made an attempt to call me. When I called up Fedex, I was informed that the couriers do not carry business phones! They advised that I stay at home the next day to enable delivery! I then suggested they deliver it to my office which is half a block away. I was then informed that this constitutes change in address for which i will be charged $16! I totally lost it at this stage and told them that the service was a priority service for which I paid a bomb and the least I can expect was a telephone call as to when they expect to deliver. The girl then told me that they will attempt delivery after 1 pm. I said that is unacceptable and that I too have a job to do and that Fedex is not the only company in the world that works on a tuesday. I finally got a one hour slot and stayed at home to collect it.

If you thought that was bad then consider this one. I ordered a broadband connection froma leading broadband telco for which I also ordered an ADSL2 modem. The modem was promptly dispatched but since I was not at home, the courier was unable to deliver it. They never contacted me but waited for a week and then promptly sent it back to the sender! Such incidents are very common over here. Contrast this with a cheap parcel service from any Indian Courier. The delivery boy would call you up and go to any location you ask him to and deliver it to you. The customer is truly the king in India.

Going back to the installation of the broadband service I was asked to stay at home on a particular day when the technician would come over and install the services. I stayed home all day but no one came or called me. In the evening I recieved a mail that the service has been activated. I assumed that the technician activated the service on the Main Distribution Frame of the apartment and there was no need for him to visit my apartment. When I connected the modem to the telephone wall socket I found that the net connection was not working. I spend atleast 2 hrs with the customer care person trying to trouble shoot it in vain. The next day I recieved a call from the broadband provider, that the technician who installed the service has informed them that the Jumpering from the MDF to the Apartment does not exist and I would need to pay an extra $100 to set it up. Its not about the money as I understand the contract does not cover setting up the jumpering, but its about the lack of simple communication. The technician was present in the same floor as my unit, a few feet away from my door. He knew I was at home and he could have simply knocked on my door and informed me that the jumpering is not set up.

We Indians always crib about the "poor" quality of services offered by our corporates. Having lived in Australia for a year and a half now, I can confidently say that the services offered in India are much better. They may not be punctual, they can frustrate you, but unlike their Aussie counterparts, they actually ensure that they complete their task.

Its not all bad by the way. There are a lot of sectors especially in customer facing areas where the customer is truly the king in Australia. Even on a routine visit to the supermarket and you would be greeted with a smiling face, pleasantries exchanged and you would be made to feel special. Shops dont try to rip you off or sell stuff by hyping them up. They try to understand your needs and frankly explain the pros and cons of various products to help you make a judgment. These are some areas where e Indians have some catching up to do.

Oz Oz Oz.. Oye Oye Oye

The most common question posed by my friends every time I meet them online is "Is Australia safe? Is it racist?" I have got tired of answering them and hence I decided to post my opinion on my blog. Any queries from any one about Australia will be directed to this post from now onwards. I'm expecting a surge in hits to this post after the next attack on an Indian in Melbourne :-)

So is Australia really Racist? The answer is an emphatic NO!! I have never come across any racism in the work place or in normal public places. In fact the Australians have been very warm and friendly. I have built some excellent relationships out here and have never once felt out of place or uncomfortable. So what about the spate of attacks on Indians? Can there be smoke without fire? Surely there must be elements of racism right?

My take on the attacks is that it is a law and order problem rather than racism. These attacks are perpetuated by skin head disgruntled teens who resent and fear the influx of smart successful Indians into Australia. They see their jobs being taken over, they probably are school drop outs and dont stand a chance against the highly educated and hard working Indians in the white collar market place. Since they very obviously do target Indians, it can be argued that it racism, but I would rather look at it as the reaction of a disgruntled loser.

So have I faced any racism in Australia? Yes in the pubs. For some reason me and my Indian friends find it extremely hard to get into pubs. We get stopped by the bouncer and asked to display our passport!! We obviously wont be carrying passports and hence we get denied entry. Sometimes we are told there is a private party on. I cant help but believe that this is an act of racism to keep Indians outta pubs :-) But it surely is not the vicious type of racism as is being made out by the Indian media. Who cares if I am not allowed into pubs. Its good for my wallet and my liver :-)

Have I been attacked? No, but have had a couple of scary moments. There was a time when I was under heavy load in office and I used to work till midnight everyday. Its a 30 min walk back home from office and I live in the heart of Melbournes Central Business District. A couple of times I've had groups of drunken teens jeering at me or showing their middle finger as I pass them. On new years eve, a group of teens approached me and my friends menacingly with clenched fists and shouting "f@#k them".

The above were isolated incidents and more of a law and order problem. But yes, the reaction of the cops to each of the attacks was disgusting. Rather than admitting to a law and order problem, they advised us not to display iphones and gadgets, not to go out late, not to live in the suburbs!! Unless the cops admit there is a problem, it wont be solved.

Way to go, Sachin!!

Text Book!

Sachin Tendulkar becoming the leading runscorer in history was an emotional moment for me. After all here was my hero scaling Mt. Everest and I was as happy as I have ever been in my life. As a school going kid I used to invariably bunk classes to watch Sachin bat. If India won the toss and elected to bat in the morning, I would bunk school that day. If India fielded, I would go to school. In the after noon, at the end of every period, I would rush to the nearby sports club where there was a TV. If Sachin was batting, it was bye bye to school for the day, repercussions and angry teachers be damned!! When Sachin batted at number 4, I remember shamelessly hoping the openers would get out so that Sachin could take gaurd!! And if Sachin got out early, I would be left with a guilty feeling for having brought about the downfall of the poor openers and India!! I remember a lot of my friends used to just switch off the TV once Sachin got out!! I was finally brought out of my misery when one fine day in New Zealand, Sidhu woke up with a stiff neck and Sachin opened the innings. The rest, as they say is history. Sachin with his attacking batting at the top of the order captured the imagination of the country. To emphasise, let me recall this incident from my childhood. Satellite TV had just arrived in my village in Mangalore. There was an India-Australia match live on Star Sports starting at 5 am in the morning. The only nearby place with access to cable TV was the REC, Surathkal hostel. Me and my friends trudged 3 KMs at 4 am in the morning just to catch Sachin bat!!

I can still vividly remember those days. The hostel TV room was packed to the brim, buzzing with excitement and anticipation. As the Indian openers walked in to bat, the TV cameras were firmly focussed on the small man, expending nervous energy in his trademark fashion: fiddling with his box. It was almost as if his opening partner didn't exist! After an initial flurry of boundaries, each cheered loudly by the students, the small man got out. The excitement and buzz was replaced by a deathly silence. And in no time, the TV room was 3 quarters empty with only the most die hard cricket fans remaining.

The above episode was very common in early upto the late 1990s. This was before the arrival of Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag and Yuvraj to share the burden with Sachin Tendulkar. For the major part of his first decade in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar carried the burden of being the sole match winner in the team. He gracefully carried the hope and expections of a billion people starved of heroes. If Sunil Gavaskar showed the way by standing up to fierce fast bowlers dispelling the notion of Indian batsmen being cowards, Sachin enthralled the cricketing world by adding an attacking dimension to Indian Cricket and in the process inspiring a new generation of exciting Indian batsmen like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Raina and Rohit Sharma.

Sachin Tendulkar has given me and scores of other Indians immense joy and happiness with his breathtaking batting. With his expliots with the bat and sometimes with the ball, he helped us live in a dream world, momentarily helping us forget our hardships and the harsh realities of life. To me, watching him bat was like getting high on dope, being lifted to a totally different plane. Its stunning how one man defined the mood of an entire nation, carrying its hopes and expectations, and still managing to remain level headed. He was the sole good news for pre liberalisation India, which was still learning to face the world. Sachin showed an entire generation how to not fear the world but engage it with confidence. This to me is his legacy to India.

Right through the 90s, Sachin dominated bowling attacks, fast and slow, like no one else. He strode the pitch like a colossus taking apart attacks with a breathtaking array of strokes all played the classical way with text book precision. He is the best exponent of the short arm pull, essayed with precision through midwicket off truly fast bowlers. His powerful hook shot (seen MCragth hooked right out of the ground in Kenya?) played with a heavy bat made one wonder where he got the strength from!! His use of feet aginst the spinners was spectacular. I will never forget Sachin waltzing down the track and away from the stumps to the pitch of a viciously turning Shane Warne legbreak pitched on the rough of a fourth day Chepauk dustbowl and hitting it deep into the crowd over longoff!! Sachins backfoot coverdrive, nothing more than a push actually, but played with immaculate timing and placement is a sight to behold. But the shot that takes the cake is his straight drive, both on and off. It is worth a million just to see the stunned look on the fast bowler's face when a good delivery pitched up (and sometimes banged short) is met with an apparently defensive but dead straight bat played with a strong bottom hand, sending the ball racing past the bowler to the boundary.

The Sachin of the 21st century may not be as sensational and scintillating as the Sachin of the 90s. The naked aggression and flair have been replaced by methodology and clinical efficiency. He no longer takes your breath away like he used to but but the runs still flow at a quick strike rate. As he showed in the last tour of Australia where he slammed two tons acoring 497 runs, he still has a lot left in the tank, fitness permitting. I suspect the elusive ODI world cup is whats driving him. Dont be surprised if Sachin carries on till the 2011 world cup, a strong possibility since he'll only be 38 then. If he does so, he would have accumulated a pile of 15000 runs and 50 test centuries, a record that should stand the test of Ponting and Time. Way to go Sachin!!

Shame on us!!!

How ungrateful can we be as a nation? Sample these: A Lt. General in the Indian army with 36 years of experience and who would have shed blood in the 1972 Indo Pak war, would be of a lower stature and paid far less than a DGP of the Civilian Police. Lt Colonel ranked armed forces officers would continue to draw the existing Band 3 salary, but their equivalent Civilian counterparts will now be eligible for band 4 salary!! The Pension of the poor humble Jawan has been reduced to 50% from the existing 75%!! Unbelievable though these affronts may sound, these are the recommendations of the 6th pay commission and it has been accepted by the Finance Ministry.

The Indian Army in action in the dense jungles of the North East

Protests by the top brass of the armed forces led by Admiral Suresh Mehta, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, have fallen on deaf ears. All that the armed forces requested was to be treated on par with their civilian counterparts, and this very reasonable (and rational) request has been rejected by the Finance Ministry on the grounds that they do not want to open a Pandora's box by reopening the Pay Commission report!! While our armed forces have been bravely fighting terrorists from the valleys of Kashmir to the Jungles of the North East, our finance ministry babus are wary of opening a Pandora's box!! As a mark of protest the armed forces have refused to accept the revised salaries. If you ask the common man, I am sure most of us would want our Jawans to be treated above par vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts.

Apart from the fact that the disparity that will seriously affect inter-operability between the armed forces and their civilian counterparts, the amount of money that our Officers and Jawans
could potentially lose is considerable. For example, the band 3 range that the Lt. Colonels are eligible for is Rs. 15,600 to 39,100. Their civilian equivalents would draw band 4 salaries that range from Rs. 37,400 to Rs. 67,000!! This is all the more galling considering the fact that the Lt. Colonels constitute the heart of the fighting forces. Almost 19,000 of the 55,000 officers in the 13 lakh strong armed forces are of this rank.

Accepting the Defence Forces fair and just demands would only entail an additional burden of Rs. 450 Crores on the exchequer. This is a pittance when compared to the hike that our Politicians regularly award themselves. It is hoped that our PM Manmohan Singh would set right this injustice done to the armed forces on his return from the US. Else, apart from Pakistan, China, the LeT, the Hizbul etc, our Jawans would also have to battle the IAS. As a proud and Patriotic Indian I hang my head in shame at this affront to our bravehearts.

Twenty 20 in the year 2020

The crowds were swelling up outside the brand new 125000 capacity Reliance stadium at Vashi, Mumbai. All roads leading to the stadium were jammed with Nanos, the preferred vehicle of the common man. It was super Saturday, the big day the whole of India and most of the world had waited for with pregnant anticipation. It was the final of the Airtel Indian Premier league between bitter rivals the Mumbai Indians, owned by the worlds richest man, Oil to Textile to Retail baron Mukesh Ambani, and the Bangalore Royal Challengers, owned by the flamboyant Airlines and Liquor billianaire Dr. Vijay Mallya.

At stake was more than the $100 million prize money. There was pride at stake and neither team could even contemplate losing to the arch rival. Two hours before the match start time, the stadium was already a sea of blue, the color of the home team. The North Stand was painted red with fans of the visiting Royal Challengers. The fans were already exchanging abuses. Security was water tight; all precautions had been taken to avoid a repeat of last months bloody clash between the two groups at the Kingfisher stadium, Bangalore after the Royals had lost to the visiting Mumbai. The teams had started warming up. Tension was writ large on the face of Mumbai Indians coach, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. At the opposite corner of the ground the Bangalore team was being put through the paces by their burly Aussie coach Mathew Hayden.

Whipping up a frenzy!

These two teams had dominated the IPL since 2010, when the $5 million salary cap on players was removed. They had shared 8 of the 10 tournaments held since then, with Mumbai winning 5. Mumbai was led by India Captain, Rohit Sharma. Bangalore was led by big Phil Jones, the burly allrounder from the US. He had been purchased from the American League champions, the Dallas Dashers for a record $200 million making him the costliest sportsperson on earth.

Twenty 20 Cricket had become the most popular sport in the world beating Soccer to a distant
second place. In fact soccer was being played only in certain parts of Latin America. There were T20 leagues all over the world. The biggest, toughest and most glamorous of them all was the Indian Premier league, powered by the worlds economic engine - India's 1 billion strong middle class. The IPL season spanned 9 long months from September to May. The league consisted of gruelling home and away matches between 25 privately owned Indian Franchises culminating in a grand finale between the two top placed teams.

The American Cricket League had started just two years ago, but had already captured the imagination of the American People in a big way. Home grown American players led by Phil Jones were making waves on the the T2o scene. Baseball players were slowly making a switch to the more lucrative T20 Cricket; not at all surprising since the basic skills required for both the sports were common - slam bang.

The English Cricket league owned by Sir Stanford was Europe's number one league though the Italian Serie Cricket was quickly catching up. Manchester United (yeah, the legendary Soccer Club had switched over to cricket) led by Indian Stud Robin Uthappa were the Europian Champions. There were leagues for Oceania, East Asia, Africa (the Africans were the most feared fast bowlers), Russia and even South America. The icing on the cake was a Champions League played between the top three teams from all the major leagues. T20 Cricket was truly the numero uno sport in the world. The traditional variety of cricket, Test Cricket was almost extinct played only by old timers on Weekdays at Lords when there were no T20 matches scheduled. The world cup played on national lines was held once in four years. The last world cup was held earlier in the year; dark horse Nigeria had stunned favourites India in the finals held in Moscow.

The IPL final had begun. Phil Jones won the toss and elected to bat first. Bangalore scored a whopping 260 runs powered by a brilliant century from Australian Shawn Marsh. In reply, Mumbai fought hard but lost by 2 runs, having required 24 runs in the final over bowled by Ivory Coast fast bowler Joseph Mbangwa. The Bangalore fans delirious with delight, were all headed for the nearest pubs. Without doubt revelry would continue through the night aided by pitchers of Kingfisher Lager. Amidst all the celebrations, Phil Jones was already thinking about next months Champions League final against Manchester United.

The Ugly Aussie

The Indian cricket team's tour of Australia has been a pot of gold for the media. There has been plenty of action both on and off the field. Sachin Tendulkar resumed his role as the master blaster after half a decade of playing a mere grafter. A ungainly unkempt beanpole teenager Ishant Sharma captured the imagination of a billion people; offering hope to a nation used to being blasted away by Pakistani pacers. VVS Laxman was very very special. In Anil Kumble, the team found a proud uncompromising leader. Brett Lee finally filled the big boots of Glenn Mcgrath; his scintillating battles with Sachin was cricket at its best. Adam Gilchrist, the man who redefined the definition of a wicket keeper announced his retirement. There was an equal share of events just not cricket; unfortunately this tour will be remembered for non cricketing resaons: huge umpiring blunders, war like bad blood between the two teams, threats of tour cancellation, allegations of racism and hypocrisy The media has gleefully lapped up every thing and stoked lightening sparks into towering infernos. The result has been edge of the seat entertainment, better than any well made bollywood thriller.

Right since the late 90s, the Indian and Australian teams have shared memorable battles which have become a part of cricketing folklore. The close rivalry can be gauged by the 10-8 win loss ratio in favour of Australia. It all started with Sachin's ruthless dismantling of the wizard of Oz, the greatest leg spinner ever, Shane Warne. However the two shared a great mutual respect which added positive spice to the rivalry. Then came Laxman's Very Very Special knock along with Rahul Dravid in 2001 which halted the Australian Juggernaut after 16 wins. The Kolkata test is arguably the best test match played in the history of cricket. In 2004, the Indians did the impossible. They actually drew a test series in Australia 1-1. These battles were true cricketing epics led by gladiators on both sides.

Things started to change for the worse through ugly on and off field battles with the influx of youth in the Indian side and the beginning of a cocky Ricky Ponting era in Australian cricket. The brash new kids in the Indian team were typical of India's post liberalisation generation. They are confident, aggressive, strong in their belief that the the world is their cocoon and they give as good as they get. The Harbhajans, Sreesanths, Uthappas and ODI skipper Dhoni are all part of this overtly aggressive generation. Ricky Ponting built an arrogant Australian team that humiliated and ripped apart all opposition. They played to win at all costs; the hallowed turfs were nothing but warfields. They least expected to see a reflection of their own cockyness in the young Indian players; totally contrary to thier picture of Indians as meek and pacific. They accused the Indians of faking aggression and were confident of running rough shod over the Indians in Australia.

The first indication of bad blood between the two teams came after the T20 world cup semifinal in South Africa which the Indians won. Post match imagery was all about rejoicing Indians and sulking Aussies. It didn't help that the Aussies were scheduled to tour India soon after even before the wounds could heal. There were comments by members of the Australian team that Indian celebrations were way over the top. On landing in India, the Australians were witness to the huge rock star like reception given to the Indian team by the public and the government. Symonds in his syndicated column expressed his displeasure that the Indian players were rewarded hugely by the government and corporates and that they were seen in ads on all the TV channels. The language used by Symonds reeked of jealosy and Symonds had no business commenting about the amount of money made by Indian cricketers. He even went to the extent of publicly claiming that Sreesanth and Harbhajn would be shown their places by the Aussies. His comments drew equal reactions from the Indian players. Harbhajan accused the Aussies of being bad losers, while Sreesanth targeted Symonds on and off the field.

Nobody in India knew that monkey chants were racist. There has been no history of monkey chants in Indian sports. An embattled Symonds mistook chanting in native Indian languages to be symbian chants and complained about racism. It snowballed into a huge issue and now Indians knew that monkey chants got Symonds' goat. In subsequent matches, monkey chants were used by the crowd. The jury is still out on whether the crowd chanted with racist intentions or just to rattle Symonds. But the fact is the racist genie was let out of the bottle by none other than Symonds. Every incident was started by Symonds. Each time he adopted the facade of a victim.

Take for example the Sydney test. Harbhajan patted Lee on the backside to compliment him for bowling a good yorker. But Symonds butted in with expletives because in his own words "a test match is no place for opposition players to be friendly"!! Is this guy demented? An infuriorated Harbhajan claims he sweared back in his native tongue, Symonds claims he was called a monkey. Nobody else heard anything. Still the Aussies expected that their word be taken above that of Sachin who was closest to the incident!! Talk of a holier than thou attitude!! This I can do no wrong attitude is why the Aussies are universally despised. It reeks of hypocrisy.

After Justice Hansen exonerated harbhajan due to lack of evidence, common sense suggested that all the stake holders would allow the issue to die down. Instead, the Aussies and Symonds have expressed shock that Harbhajan was let off mildly. An Aussie player even cribbed about Indian influence and and money and how much it pisses him off!! Symonds could not confidently tell Hansen that he actually heard Harbhajan call him Monkey, but after the decision expressed shock to the press "I can't believe this. You know I'm telling the truth"!! The heights of righteous indignation.

Its high time that Cricket Australia pulled up errant players like Symonds and the equally culpable Ponting. These guys have reduced Australian cricket to a bunch of hypocrites and morons. The Australian team has had problems with every other team in the world. What they term hard and fair cricket is anything but fair. They have even alienated the Australian people with their ugly ways. By tolerating and suporting this behaviour, CA is doing a great disservice not just to cricket but also to the Australian people. The solution is to dump Ponting. A team takes the character of its leader. But is Michael Clarke who is being groomed to take over any better? Recent actions like his behaviour during the Sydney test suggest he is even worse. He's proved to be a liar and a cheat. The ideal guy to represent Aussie ideals would be Brett Lee or Hussey. The Aussie teams that played the game really hard but fair were the ones led by Border, Taylor and even Steve Waugh, who championed the art of mental disintegration. Australia has to reclaim this legacy.

The Tata Nano: Saviour or Polluter??

The Tata Nano

The revolutionary "peoples car" the Tata Nano which was unveiled at the Delhi auto show recently has been received with great praise as well as brickbats. Praise for innovation, for its ability to turn the automotive principles on its head and most importantly for bringing within reach safe personal transportation to the teeming millions of the third world (which was only a pipe dream until now). The brickbats have mostly flowed from the usual suspects: sundry environmentalists aghast at the impact to the environment, elitists worried that even the neighbouring sabzi wala may now own a car, and competitors forced to eat their own words.


First the facts. The Tata Nano is a wonderful example of innovation at its best and testimony to India's coming of age in manufacturing. It was developed by a team of 500 young engineers led by Girish Wagh. The team started work without any clear cut specifications. All they had was a cost target of Rs 100,000 ex showroom price in the face of ever rising raw material costs. The objective was to develop a full fledged car that at least matches the Maruti 800 in performance at half its price!! By all accounts they have done it; it fact perhaps they may have even exceeded the Maruti 800! The car is car is smaller than the 800 at 3.1 meters, but thanks to innovative designing like placing the engine at the rear, it still provides 21% more space than the 800! Its high enough for a 6 ft person to easily get in and out. In fact the car was designed keeping the tall Ratan Tata in mind. It has a 623 cc twin cylinder MPFI engine that delivers 33 PS power. The engine performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.

When the Tatas announced plans to manufacture a $2500 car, it was greeted with scorn, derision and scepticism by the big auto companies. Now that all of them have been forced to eat crow, their response has been interesting. Maruti claim that it would not be possible to manufacture a car at this price level without compromising on safety and emission standards. There have been comments in the western media that the Nano's safety is compromised by the absence of air bags. This may be true by western standards, but in India most of the small cars including Maruti don't have air bags. So it is unfair to single out the Nano for criticism. The Nano has a sheet metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres further enhance safety. It has passed Crash and impact tests. It does not have ABS brakes but neither do the base variants of the other small cars. The Nano is no less safe than the other small cars in India and all comments questioning its safety features are malicious.

Coming to emission norms, the Nano meets the Bharat III norms stipulated in India (equivalent to Euro 3) and the Tata's claim that with a little bit of tweaking, it can be made to meet the Euro 4 norms too. Forget the 800, even the Alto which is more than three times the price of the Nano meets only the Bharat 3 norms (and neither does it have airbags). So all questions raised by competition questioning the safety and emission standards of the Nano reek of hypocrisy! The environmentalists are a different breed altogether. People like RK Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel peace price winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment have raised dooms day scenarios for the environment. They foresee millions of cars manufactured by the tatas every year resulting in a huge increase in green house gasses. But is it physiclly possible to actually manufacture millions of vehicles per year? Manufacturing a car is not just about the Tatas setting up production facilities. A lot depends on hundreds of third party parts suppliers, raw material supplies and suply chain issues. The Tatas have planned an initial capacity of 250000 Nanos per year and plan to ramp it up to 500000 cars in the near future. They have claimed that it is not possible to increase production beyond this level. So an increase of 500,00o cars in a country where atleast 15 million automobiles are sold every year surely does not call for panic. In fact, the nano may prove to be good for the environment. An autorickshaw too costs around the same as the nano and these pollution spewing threewheelers may be replaced by nanos. In fact auto drivers from around the country have indicated that they are open to switching over to the nano. This will do immense good to not just the environments but also to the aesthetics of our traffic.







CO2 footprint

The western media too has raised concerns about the impact to the environment by the Nano. however the per capita CO2 emissions from third world countries is almost negligible when compared to the developed countries (see figure above). The developed world has been the main contributor to pollution in the name of development and they are now concerned about the increasing pollution levels in the developing countries. Why don't they reduce the carbon footprint in their own countries now that they have achieved a good standard of life? Why don't they replace their polluting SUVs with small cars like the Nano. At 25 KM/litre, the Nano would leave a much smaller footprint. In fact this is where the environmentalists should focus on. Instead we have the developed world trying to prevent the vast majority of the poor from enjoying a better life, from the comforts of their air conditioned homes and offices.
Another bogey, that the critics are raising is congestion on India's badly maintained roads. Agreed, the roads are in bad shape and the Nano will certainly lead to more congestion. But is infrastructure development the responsibility of the Tatas? Sorry, but we have the wrong people under the cross wire here. Why don't the critics pressurise the government to get its act together and improve the infrastructure? My guess is that more than the cities the Nano will hugely transform the landscape of Indias vast hinterlands. A lot of Nanos will be sold in the villages where congestion if any is caused by Bullock carts. If the Nano does replace the Rickshaws, then the city traffic would certainly get more orderly. Think of the reduced noise pollution!!

A typical Indian family on a two wheeler

Opposition to the Nano also reeks of Elitism. What gives the right to the elite to think that only they have a right to own a car and not the next door grocer? Is it because their special status of being one of the few car owners would be no longer special? Does not the common man have the right to enjoy the luxury of owning a personal vehicle? Let us recall what made Ratan Tata consider making a peoples car. He saw a typical Indian family on a bike; the man riding it, the kid perched on the tank, the woman riding side saddle with a baby on her lap. Is this not a daily sight for us Indians? How many of us ever gave a thought that the entire family was at risk here? It is a tribute to Ratan Tata that this typical lower middle class family can now travel in a safer manner. Air bags or no air bags, I guess all of us would agree that the Nano is a whole lot safer than a Bike!! Rather than taking potshots at Ratan Tata and his band of innovators, let us raise a toast to them for making safe personal transport affordable to the masses.

Wah Tata!!

Ratan Tata with the Tata Nano

January 10 2008 will go down in history as a watershed day for the automobile Industry. The revolutionary $2500 "peoples car" the Tata Nano, costing at least 50% less than any car manufactured anywhere in the world was unveiled by the septuagenarian Tata group chairman Ratan Tata. Owning a car, which was till now only a pipe dream is now well within reach of India's teeming middle classes. This is the Tata's moment in history; our very own Model T. The Nano is also testimony to the vision, perseverance and commitment of Ratan Tata.

The preceding year too was no less spectacular, what with Tata Steel acquiring the Anglo-Dutch behemoth Corus in a hard fought $12.1 billion deal. The Corus takeover was symbolic in many respects. In the early 20th century the group founder Jamsetji Tata had offered to make steel for the British controlled Indian Railways. The then chairman of British Steel (which became Corus following merger with the Dutch group Hoogovens) had scoffed volunteering to "eat every ounce of steel produced by Tata to British specifications". With the acquisition of Corus, the wheel had completed a full circle. The Empire had struck back. While the 21st century saw the Tatas silently gobble up companies from around the world like Tetley Tea and energy drink major Glaceau to name a few, it was the Corus deal that heralded the arrival of a hungry Indian Multinational corporation. The Elephant had truly woken up from its deep slumber.

2008 promises more excitement, with the Tata' s on the verge of acquiring Ford's marque brands Jaguar and the Land Rover in a $2 billion deal. Tata motors would be in the unique position of manufacturing the worlds cheapest as well as as the most expensive cars. To put things in perspective, the cost of the Nano is around the same as the cost of a DVD player in the top end Jaguars!! However what got my goat was the comment by the US Jaguar car dealers association that an Indian owned luxury car brand would not go well with US customers. This came on the back of the Orient Express's arrogant and racist comment that any association with the Tata owned Indian Hotels would result in erosion of the premium commanded by the Orient Express group hotels (on the contrary, the Tata hotels in the US command a higher revenue per room than the Orient hotels!). These responses from the US are born out of ignorance of the Tata groups pedigree.

Bombay House, headquarters of the Tata Sons

The Tata group was started in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata. The Tata group include some of the most outstanding companies of India like the flagship software firm TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, the telephone service provider Tata Teleservices, the watch maker Titan, the retail chain Trent, the hotel chain Indian Hotels (who run the famous Taj brand hotels) to name a few. The steel to software conglomerate includes 98 companies operating in 85 countries employing around 400000 people, an MNC in every sense of the word. The group revenue is more than $50 billion dollars with a market cap of $72 billion and more than 2.9 million satisfied share holders.

The stratospheric numbers don't provide a complete picture of the essence of the Tata group. The Tatas are by far the most respected, loved and admired business house in India, a country which has traditionally looked down with contempt at the pursuit of wealth. The Tatas have created not personal wealth but wealth for the society at large. The family holding is just around 3%, which is why we don't see Ratan Tata's name in the list of the worlds wealthiest. The holding company Tata Sons is a grouping of charitable trusts. Local communities and groups have always been stakeholders in all Tata ventures. The Tatas have always been benevolent employers. Tata steel was the first Indian company to introduce 8 hr work shifts. When Tata steel was forced to lay off people in the 60s they ensured that the laid off workers would be paid a stipend for life!! Tata group companies always rank at the top of employee satisfaction parameters. The Tatas can be described as compassionate capitalists focused on wealth creation for the society at large. In fact one of the group values is defined as "what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over".

The Tata's have contributed immensely to society in the arts and the sciences. Jamsetji Tata set up India's premier institution for science and technology, the Indian Institute of Science (IISC). Nobelist Dr. CV Raman was a product of the IISC, which today is at the forefront of research in cutting edge technology. Other Tata institutions include the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Tata Institute of social sciences and the National Center for the performing arts.

The Tata's have entrenched themselves in the hearts and minds of all Indians with their brand of Compassionate capitalism. Unfortunately, Ratan may be the last Tata to preside over the group. He is the last of the Tata's, a bachelor with no heirs and no kin. Upon his impending retirement the Tatas for the first time ever will be led by a non Tata. Ratan Tata would surely have identified his successor, a person who will not just lead the Tatas to greater heights but who will also closely guard the values and ethics that the Tatas have always stood for. In response to the ignorant arrogance of the Jaguar dealers and the Orient Express management I quote Shirley Williams of the British house of Lords "God help us if we cannot learn to respect Institutions like the Tatas of India". Amen.

Why is the west so politically correct

The rise of political correctness must be causing headaches to linguists and wordsmiths. If left to the liberal intellectual and the feminists, language would soon be gender neutral.HIStory would be OURstory, MANkind would be HUMANkind; the list is quite exhaustive. But perhaps the biggest impact would be on the Vatican. God is always referred to as HE in the Bible. Coming up with a gender neutral Bible would be quite a task, that would test not just the patience but also the linguistic skills of our Biblical scholars. Finally, the way we pray in church would be different. Imagine praying "Our PARENT in heaven" instead of "Our FATHER in heaven"!!
However the biggest casualty of political correctness is Christmas (and Santa), at least in the over civilized west. Its ridiculous that the message of Peace, Joy and happiness, Merry Christmas, is taboo in the West. Merry Christmas has been replaced by "Happy Holidays". Santa has been asked to clean up his lingo. In fact a Santa was fired in Australia for singing Jingle all the way!! God alone knows whats nonsecular about Jingling Bells!! Poor Santa cant even greet with Ho Ho.I wonder whether kids actually knew the American Slang synonym of ho. But now thanks to the controversy, I bet a lot of kids would have coloured their vocabulary with dirty American slang!!

Brigade Road in Bangalore in full Christmas Splendour

I work in India for an Informational technology Services MNC. This Christmas all my non christian colleagues and myself greeted our western colleagues with Merry Christmas. We were taken aback when most of our western colleagues replied with Happy holidays!! In India, a Hindu Majority country where Christians constitute just 2% of the population, the whole country is awash with the festive atmosphere during Christmas. Even non Christians join in celebrating the spirit of Christmas. Bangalore's busy shopping arcade Brigade road would be awash with Red, and Santa greeting u with Ho Ho!! All the newspapers would have "Merry Christmas" splashed across the front page in a hue of Red. In fact India's largest selling English daily The Times of India, brought out a special Christmas edition edited by prominent Christians from Bombay!! The Majority Hindus and other minority communities like the Muslims and the Sikhs certainly did not get offended at this overt celebration of an alien Religious Festival. The most popular Hindu festival, Diwali too is publicly and uninhibitedly celebrated in grandeur by all Indians, Hindus and non Hindus alike.

When a non christian multi religious India can publicly rejoice Christmas, I wonder what prompted the christian West and Oceania to replace a beautiful greeting like Merry Christmas with the drab and gloomy sounding "happy holidays"?? Is it to avoid offending the non christian minorities? From India's experience, the non Christians certainly didn't seem to mind the celebration of Christmas, and neither do the minorities grudge the grandeur with which Diwali is celebrated. In fact I would go to the extent of saying that the public celebration of religious festivals in a unobtrusive and non coercive manner has furthered unity and secularism in India. My guess is that "happy Holidays" and other symbols of political correctness are a result of a nonspiritual and paranoid liberal intellectuals. As the former Australian President, John Howard said, let us not take Christ out of Christmas.