Last week, I read a book titled, World is Flat. It was a very good work by Thomas L Friedman, trying to explain the globalization that we are living in. He has attributed most of the knowledge to Nandan Nilekhani and Vivek Paul. Infosys and Wipro seem to be present in every other page and Bangalore seems to be there all around. It was quite a change to read about India, as such an attractive place, rather than the usual stuff about corruption, poverty and communalism.
Some things in the book were really worth mentioning. First thing is, where the author describes the method to identify if a country is going to prosper or not. He says, before investing, you need to ask this: “Are the people living in this country dreaming about a future or are they recollecting its past greatness?” When it is the latter, he says, the heydays of the country have ended and it is time that the people living their dreams take over. Think about it. For people like me, growing up in India from the time markets opened up in 1990, the nation has looks like an entirely different one. Politics aside, the India Shining campaign was a huge success. Why? Instead of telling about Gandhi, Nehru and all, it said, what we can do and what we are doing. It did not try to tell us about the greatness of freedom fighters and the sacrifices they made.
Come to think of it: Did Gandhi, Nehru, et. all sacrifice so much to see a country that would honor them for 50 years, or did they do it so that they could drive the nation to the league of developed ones? Somehow, this point seemed to have lost out for half a century and we were living in the larger than life shadows of figures from history rather than honoring those who were continuously propelling India to her destiny of greatness.
Another point that was worth nothing was on the issue of openness: Friedman tells this small tale: There is this person whose family was split during the partition and his part of family ended up in Pakistan while another severed part ended in Mumbai, India. Friendman questioned him about the fact that India seemed to be developing into an IT giant, while Pakistan seemed to be getting world coverage for all the wrong reasons. So, this person replied, something like this: In India, when my relative sees a rich business man sitting in a plush home in Mumbai, he’ll turn to his dad and say, “Someday, I’ll be like him.” In Pakistan, the small kid, seeing a rich businessman will say, “Someday, I’ll kill him!”
Come to thing of it: Despite the rampart corruption, stifling reservation and anachronistic legislation, India is powered by a stifling competition. More importantly, there is a free press and the fundamental right of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Thought is not censured.
In the same week that I read the book, something else strange happened: I was sitting at the client location in UK and the client PM was talking about his trip to India. He was definitely pleased. In fact, he is handling two projects: One from our company, an Indian IT service provider and another one being handled by the client’s own IT department. It seems the second project was over-running the budget and the deadlines seemed like a joke. At one point he said something like this: Maybe we should have given this to you guys itself.
That statement summarized the change in perception: India is not a cheap destination. India and Indians are now seen as an epitome of quality and delivery capabilities. What we promise, we deliver. And this perception is for delivering extremely complicated 24/7/365 enterprise solutions and web solutions being accessed by millions of people, generating billions of dollars in revenue. Howz that metamorphosis for a country that was known for only its elephants, snake charmers and />
Still, like the debate over India Shining campaign, there are problems that we need to address. The rampart corruption, the illiteracy, the caste system and all are going to be issues that the government and the people of the country have to solve. I guess it is time now that the quality of life issues is addresses like a typical business problem for an IT organization. With detailed plans, timelines and budget, I am quite sure that a country that handles the sites like eBay and Yahoo can definitely solve the so called Third World Problems.
But one thing is clear: Behold, India is now awakening and staking her claim to greatness that she always deserved!
Some things in the book were really worth mentioning. First thing is, where the author describes the method to identify if a country is going to prosper or not. He says, before investing, you need to ask this: “Are the people living in this country dreaming about a future or are they recollecting its past greatness?” When it is the latter, he says, the heydays of the country have ended and it is time that the people living their dreams take over. Think about it. For people like me, growing up in India from the time markets opened up in 1990, the nation has looks like an entirely different one. Politics aside, the India Shining campaign was a huge success. Why? Instead of telling about Gandhi, Nehru and all, it said, what we can do and what we are doing. It did not try to tell us about the greatness of freedom fighters and the sacrifices they made.
Come to think of it: Did Gandhi, Nehru, et. all sacrifice so much to see a country that would honor them for 50 years, or did they do it so that they could drive the nation to the league of developed ones? Somehow, this point seemed to have lost out for half a century and we were living in the larger than life shadows of figures from history rather than honoring those who were continuously propelling India to her destiny of greatness.
Another point that was worth nothing was on the issue of openness: Friedman tells this small tale: There is this person whose family was split during the partition and his part of family ended up in Pakistan while another severed part ended in Mumbai, India. Friendman questioned him about the fact that India seemed to be developing into an IT giant, while Pakistan seemed to be getting world coverage for all the wrong reasons. So, this person replied, something like this: In India, when my relative sees a rich business man sitting in a plush home in Mumbai, he’ll turn to his dad and say, “Someday, I’ll be like him.” In Pakistan, the small kid, seeing a rich businessman will say, “Someday, I’ll kill him!”
Come to thing of it: Despite the rampart corruption, stifling reservation and anachronistic legislation, India is powered by a stifling competition. More importantly, there is a free press and the fundamental right of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Thought is not censured.
In the same week that I read the book, something else strange happened: I was sitting at the client location in UK and the client PM was talking about his trip to India. He was definitely pleased. In fact, he is handling two projects: One from our company, an Indian IT service provider and another one being handled by the client’s own IT department. It seems the second project was over-running the budget and the deadlines seemed like a joke. At one point he said something like this: Maybe we should have given this to you guys itself.
That statement summarized the change in perception: India is not a cheap destination. India and Indians are now seen as an epitome of quality and delivery capabilities. What we promise, we deliver. And this perception is for delivering extremely complicated 24/7/365 enterprise solutions and web solutions being accessed by millions of people, generating billions of dollars in revenue. Howz that metamorphosis for a country that was known for only its elephants, snake charmers and />
Still, like the debate over India Shining campaign, there are problems that we need to address. The rampart corruption, the illiteracy, the caste system and all are going to be issues that the government and the people of the country have to solve. I guess it is time now that the quality of life issues is addresses like a typical business problem for an IT organization. With detailed plans, timelines and budget, I am quite sure that a country that handles the sites like eBay and Yahoo can definitely solve the so called Third World Problems.
But one thing is clear: Behold, India is now awakening and staking her claim to greatness that she always deserved!
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