Manmohan's Spine

Wonder why Indian journalists call Dr Manmohan Singh, a PM without a 'spine'? Don’t we guys notice how Arab world is driving out its dictators who had powerful spines? Dr. Manmohan Singh has more spine than most of us other Indians. Remember what he did he do for nuclear deal with USA? Mr Advani has tried this ‘weak theory’ in last elections too. People rejected that contention soundly. Let me recall some more events from our history. Mr LK Advani led the Hindutva mobs to pull down a Mosque, and he conveniently denied the charge in the courts. Can you tell me if Babri Mosque was not attacked by Hindu zealots, then who else were there? Did that gang show any signs of spine by not admitting their act? When PM Vajpayee said that we would be having a 'aar paar' war with Pakistan, and no war took place, did he show less spine? Indira Gandhi imposed emergency & jailed leaders was that not a case of strong spine?

I am not saying that a hundred mistakes could justify a new error. We have to appreciate the context & time of the events. The problem of India lies within its people, not leaders. In a democratic set up we get leaders that we deserve. Dr Manmohan is different as he has not been elected by people in an election as their representative. We are a country that has serious issues of poverty, education, old ways of thinking, meaningless rituals, divided by caste, money and numbers etc. We have many contradictions. India is a country that reveres Ganga and also pollutes it. We are a secular republic where Sikhs could be murdered and no one is punisshed, and moreover, the majority of people support the killings by voting the responsible party into power with huge numbers. Only Congress cannot be blamed for cold blooded murders of innocent Indian Sikhs but also all those who voted for the party in the subsequent elections. Modi perfected the science by repeating the same with equal effect resulting in proven success in Gujarat. Modi has been rewarded by Gujarati people for his act of bravery. It gives ideas to other leaders to emulate the feat. Let’s wait for the next experiment

India should be grateful to Dr Manmohan Singh for steering the country out of economic crisis away from the Hindu rate of growth into the double digit aspiring economy. Before we seek to hear & understand him how about some honest soul searching to check if we have attained a level to understand his words completely. Tell me, when you have cardiac failure, do you wish to engage the doctor to explain you how & why? Let Dr Manmohan Singh do his job and going by his previous record, India would be grateful to him that such a person ever led it with unprecedented humility, honesty, caliber & spine.

Education as a Ritual ?

Why do we Indians believe in ritual, without caring to respect the substantive. Our education is as bad as the other aspects of society. We are people who would happily be singing  'saraay jahaan say acha ..while peeing. spitting at public places randomly. We remorselessly burn kill in the name of religion, caste and other meaningless divides. We revere the Ganga but can't keep it clean? We have political parties named .......a, b, c,d...Sena, ain't our armed forces enough to protect the country? 

One visit to IITs & IIMs would get you real dismal picture of the standard of teaching there. Its easy to get rich & successful in India by stooping low and having your intelligent quotient less than the average. Just stand up for honesty, beauty & intelligence and you have hoards of marauders vying for your blood. Talent has no place here...otherwise  how could we loose battles to every johnny including a pvt ltd company from England? 

We are afraid to face positive criticism...why can't some social, religious or political organsiation convince Mr Narayanamurthy of Infosys to join them in building the country? Good people have no place in public life in India they are hounded out by half baked self proclaimed decadent leaders. India is my country and i am sad for it. Lets not shut our eyes to the people's movement for quality in governance forcing the rulers to show respect to the people.

our education system is as bad as other systems in India. A university topper [1986] could not get a lecturer's job in journalism department of Punjabi university patiala because the VC had decided to give it to his niece, sic.

Mr Kapil sibbal can not or does not want to do anything to improve the system. He has his own axe to grind. Why can't IITs/IIms employ industry professionals with years of achievements without the ceremony of PhD or Masters? How would you bring professional culture in classrooms without them? I have known a vast number of marketing professors who just pee on 4Ps without explaining the relationship with the shop floor. I had to leave a privately run management institute because the promoter/director of the institute was certain that sales is part of marketing function and when i told him an example that sales could be an independent function too and sometime more pervasive in a nascent market, his ego was hurt and my job..hahaa.

IITS/IIMs get PSU consulting projects only, even those projects they are unable to handle. Why can't they get projects from international corporates like the other institutes globally? UBS at PU Chandigarh has marketing teachers who can not tell names of advertising agencies, market research teachers who have n't heard of Nielsen? 

How many professors are there who can teach the subject of their own choosing? On a personal note, how many Marketing Management professors in India would know the profile of Indian consuming class? How could we have good MBAs then? IIMs are just names because they get best of India students, as for teachers they are like we get anywhere else. 

Kapil Sibbal can ask Nielsen or another research agency to seek opinion of students of IITs/IIMs & other national institutes on the academic standards & teaching quality. The rot is all pervasive..its not going to change unless the society changes..till then VCs & other leading academia would continue to be entrepreneurs & social engineers.

Appliances for Indian way of life

Home kitchen appliances market in India has many players but the action seems to be missing. Its is still dominated by refrigerators,  burners, mixer/grinders, food processors, microwave, dish washers, washing machines, coffee makers, soda fountains etc. Mostly the manufacturers follow the global trends to introduce the appliances. Therefore most new product launches do not do well and need huge effort to move off the shelves. Indian habits are markedly different from the west, so why not market appliances suited for Indian way of life.

We still do not have a dough maker for kneading the flour frequently? Could you recall any brand that come to your mind ? A food processor with limited capacity can't be an ideal option. Are we waiting for a global appliances major to introduce one for us to wake up? India needs a sturdy, sophisticated dough maker enough to serve  a family of 5 persons. Do you need an opportunity assessment study?

Dish washer is fine, do we need a vegetable washing and dicing machine?  You surely won't frown at the idea of a automated veggie cutting machine to give you chopped veggies as per requirements. Infeed surely can be sensor controlled to adjust the chopping blades make appropriate cuts.

Electric rice cooker is unsuitable for most Indian kitchens that's why it is no longer a good Diwali gifting idea. Indian appliances industry  could benefit enormously from the economic growth if they could come up with new smart machines for the kitchens.

Pray or else

Pray or else.....Fear should be made a criminal offence. No one should be allowed to be afraid, fear any one or any thing. It is the fear that makes the life meaningless. India had long been governed by the powerful people and institution that live by fear. Belief in God has also been linked to fear. Pray or else..? 


Let us stop being afraid of our Gods and instead love them if you like. Ask them to make things better for us Indians or leave us to our own devices. In order to progress and live happily we need to stand up and face. I been travelling 240 kms every day four days week to work. I did not die in a car crash, so why be afraid.


Old civilizations world over used to revere the Sun god. But if we examine it closely we would find that countries around the equator have not been blessed with prosperity  by the Sun god with the exception of middle east. On the contrary countries away from equator are rich, powerful & happier. Lets resolve to banish our fears.

The Wake-Up Manager

Recently during interviewing candidates for sales for a client in Punjab, I was told to select at least one guy who is unfriendly, mean & without any manners. I was surprised because till today no one has made such a demand for such widely available virtues. I have great respect for this entrepreneur because he is almost hundred eighty degrees away from such qualities. The candidates called up for interviews had good academic and professional records. 

I tried my best to short list three such persons, with whom I would have never have thought of working together. But before we began the final round, I could not resist myself from asking the entrepreneur regarding the need for such a guy on the team. He, knowing me well, could not contain his laughter, said, that there are two main reasons for having such a guy on the team. Firstly he would constantly remind us what how we should not behave with others, secondly he would keep informing us whatever is going on in the team without we ever bothering to know. And we would call him the wake up manager.