Indra's Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Grand Canyon- An Interesting Addition

Indra — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:53:44 +0000

We visited Grand Canyon while in US in 2005. It excited me. The nature with time has created this fascinating wonder that can keep alluring the people visiting it. I just loved to just have the wonderful views in the evening and the morning of the day. The news of the creation of a massive glass-bottomed walkway to the edge of the Grand Canyon is a great for the tourists.

A private developer has constructed the $30 million Skywalk in hopes of luring tourists to the region. It will open to the public later this month, charging $25 per person in addition to other entry fees. I really envy those who shall get this opportunity to see the bottom from the Skywalk. Some of the engineering aspects of the project are interesting too. "At 490,000 kg the Skywalk is about as heavy as four Boeing 757 jets stacked on top of each other. It was perched at the canyon's edge using an elaborate system of pulleys connected to four tractor-trailers. Underneath, hydraulic "shoes" lifted it above a cement track, rolled it across a bed of metal rods, and set it onto four steel anchors that were drilled deep into the canyon rock. Workers then welded the walkway to the anchors. While it was pushed out, the walkway was not anchored to the canyon wall. To keep it from tipping over the side, engineers loaded the back end with a half-million pounds of steel cubes as counterweight. The Skywalk extends about 70 feet over the rim and about 4,000 feet over the canyon floor. It is designed to withstand 160 kph winds and has shock absorbers to keep the walkway from wobbling." I don't know if the Skywalk is an encroachment on the natural creations at Grand Canyon, but it will certainly provide the visitors another attraction to visit it.

Hurricane Katrina- Was U.S Awaiting an Outsourcing?

Indra — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:04:20 +0000

It is almost a month or more perhaps that we returned from US. I had to take care of the mesh of the last six months. I had not looked at some of my favorite sites of US newspapers and weeklies. I used to go through the weeklies such as 'Business Week', 'Newsweek', 'US News', and 'Time' religiously in borders on every Monday and Tuesday. And then I saw some shocking headlines about Katrina in newspapers of India: "Complete systemic and leadership failure", "Is this because the stricken are blacks?" "Riot, rapes hamper rescue", "No more space in Astrodome, many stranded", and "Gunfire amid chaos: Police kill 4 looters". I tried to get into the details and visited the sites of 'The New York Times', 'Washington Post', 'Business Week','Time' and 'Newsweek' too. I am amazed. Were we (when in US) overestimating the capability of the superpower and citing wrongly US as benchmark for Indians to learn crisis management? Perhaps it was because of their super performance after 9/11 mishap in New York. The mayor managed the crisis superbly. The nation backed him. He became the hero. And more than the devastation, the news about poor and half-heated rescue work and the law and order situation there, will shock any one on this earth and one can't think of that sort of situations even in African countries, what to say of a developed country. It was in poor taste to read about robbers moving around the cities and towns openly, starving people, and even cases of rapes. It was disgraceful to see President Bush bringing in two past Presidents to help in getting donations from the people and corporate houses. I am sure the Indian Americans will also come out in big way to help those who suffered. Unfortunately, it appears most of them are under-privileged blacks who constitute a major portion of the population of the states affected by Katrina. India had a worse situation when Tsunami hit South India. It faced it boldly. The bureaucrats did a marvelous job. The country didn't ask for any aid too from other countries. There were absolutely no cases of law and order problems. Even the natural calamity because of unprecedented rain in Mumbai was well handled. It is a shame that US with all its technological might and infra-structural strength with strong Red Cross and other human rights institutions based there couldn't avoid the situations created by a hurricane that is part of life in American coastal regions. And it gives me a great pleasure when I read India offering aid to US. It is certainly a role reversal. As a leading producer of bulk drugs, India is sending across a large consignment of medicines. India with its proven expertise in combating large-scale disasters recently, can certainly be of great help to US. As one of my old friends jokingly said, "Let US outsource the disaster managements like Katrina to Indians. They will do better." So why couldn't the rescue work and the required help be made promptly available? Were those in administration awaiting an outsourcing of their work? And now this has become another failure of Bush administration for the people in other countries to talk about. American brand is losing its brightness. With machines and equipment, they perform better, but perhaps they are going poorer in coordinating people of different areas of expertise to face a critical situation such as Katrina hurricane. Let the famous management schools in US come out with some new courses.

Indians Everywhere in Different Roles

Indra — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:49:42 +0000

On the return trip to India, we were forced to have a stop over of almost 17 hours at new Hong Kong airport, thanks to the aviation policy of Indian governments- present and past. We reached Hong Kong early in the morning on Saturday 30th July. Courtsey the wheel chair assistance for Yamuna, my wife, we could easily reach the Travelers' Lounge where we were to spend the whole day till 10.30 PM. While the whole America uses a lot of papers for sanitation, many a times to extent of wasting it, the toilets in Hong Kong had a note near the paper containers-' use less paper, save environment'. Paper is produced with trees as raw material. Paper industry thus means felling of trees and reduction in forest coverage whenever it is unplanned. We must use it more judiciously. This is an advice for some like my youngest son- Anand. All the water taps and flushing systems are electronically controlled so perhaps, it leaves some amount of undesirable bad smell. Technology also needs some amount human controls or better sensors are to be invented. After I had a forced nap for an hour, I met with number of Indian youths- both men and women. Deepa is of Indian origin, but a citizen of Nepal. She works in the lounge. Her parents were from Varanasi and she also had some schooling there. She now works on the front desk of the lounge. Her husband also works in Hong Kong. And then Manpreet comes and asks if I am here for the flight to New Delhi tonight. He was working for some Indian company at San Hose itself and returning to India. He is an employee of TCS and lives in Preet Vihar in New Delhi. And then comes in Chhabi helping us in finding out pure vegetarian items from the buffet laid at the lounge. She is going back to Jaipur with her daughter, as her in- laws were with her husbands. She is a Brahmin married to a Vaishya family. I found her conscious about it. She was pretty forthright, when as an old man I advised her to do away with the feelings of superiority. It may damage the sweetness of relations. I enjoy every moment when I talk to the younger generation and get a feel of their aspirations. And right at the time of entering in the flight to New Delhi, I met few more persons one who worked for Jabalpur Vehicle Factory and the other gentleman from Dewas near Indore who was returning from China. After many days, I could talk about manufacturing and productivity. The Malayali gentleman was very impressed by the productivity of the Chinese employees, particularly women. This is my first entry after returning to India. I had to undergo a nightmarish experience. I am now digitally connected again with the rest of the world and shall keep on writing. After all, this is my India and I find many things to write- good and bad too. Please wait.

Bye Bye Bay Area..

Indra — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 16:07:10 +0000

I came, I saw...

p.s.
Posted on my dad's behalf

A parting note

Indra — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 06:32:11 +0000

We are going back to India tomorrow, the 28.7.2005. As you may (or may not) know, I've been writing from my son's residence at Mansion Park drive in Santa Clara (California, USA) for these past six months. As you can imagine, for the next few days, I will not be able to blog until I get back on the Internet from my residence in Noida. It may take a while as I will have to sign up for the service anew. Your patience is much appreciated. With that said, it will be interesting to see the extent of change in Noida in these last six months.

Broken Dreams and Concealed Tears

Indra — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 06:20:12 +0000

I thought I would be closing my blog entries from US on a pleasant note. But one of the parents of this complex (Mansion Grove Apartments) requested me to write one more. We are leaving tomorrow and I had a sprain in my feet. I had to abandon the 5-km morning walk. I came out for a walk in the campus of Mansion Drive Apartments complex itself. My two friends with their wives were walking on the ridge. They invited me to join them and I did. My doctor friend accompanied me. And very soon he picked up the subject of the behavior of sons and daughter-in-law with parents. My friends seemed to be very much hurt and aggrieved. I heard all the stories. I feel their agony has come because of some gap in expectations and reality. It would have happened even if they had lived with their sons in India. They feel their sons are totally under the influence of their daughter-in-laws who have mesmerized their sons. Their lifestyle and actions are against the traditional values of India. Perhaps the parents belonging to the older generation are expecting too much. And then I was just shocked when my contractor friend said, "A mother can take care of ten sons, but ten sons can't take care of one mother." Others also expressed similar feelings. I am reminded of Tulsidas : "Soot maanahi matoo pita tab lou, abalanan dekh nahin jab lau, Sasurari piyari lagi jab te ripurup kutumba bhaye tab te". Rough Translation: Sons respect their father and mother only so long as they have not seen the face of their wife. From the time they take a fancy to their wife's kinfolks, they begin to look upon their own people as their enemies. All these parents are from the traditional middle class. For many, this is the first time they've stepped outside India. Thanks to their education and the boom in IT industry in US during the late 1990s, the Indian youngsters have an opportunity to work in the most advanced country of the world. They are well off. They are earning in many cases almost equal to the total lifetime savings of some of these parents in just one month. They have cars, and all amenities at home that the parents have never seen in their lifetime. They have switched over to American way of living and even dressing to a certain extent. They invited their parents to show them around and to spend some quality time with them. In many cases they have paid the airfare too and are spending time and money to keep them happy. Unfortunately, lack of frank and honest communication perhaps is causing more challenges than good memories. Some plan to return sooner than they thought. They're finding it difficult to spend time here. After all, there is only so much TV one can watch. To make matters worse, Santa Clara (or for that matter, many US cities as I have been told) do not have good public transportation facilities that would make these parents a bit more mobile. There are certainly causes of abrasions between the generations, particularly between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but that is everywhere. Why should the parents be so concerned about it? Why sons can't foresee the problems in advance or discuss with the parents properly and solve it? May be I would have written on it on a later date, after some more research.

Can India be a KPO Hub?

Indra — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:28:06 +0000

Can India be the next powerhouse in science and technology? What will be the timeframe like? Will it take about 10, 15, or 20 years from now? A study conducted by brokerage CLSA predicts it to take 10 years. Over 100 R&D facilities already set up by the multi-national companies are operating in India. Is something symptomatic happening? Is it because the opportunities have gone better? The best brains today want to remain or return to India. India has now over 200 national laboratories, while the manufacturing sector boasts of another 1,300 R&D units. By '15, India will have about 20million students enrolled in higher learning, with 1.4million engineering students, 60,000 doctors and 50,000 PhDs. Presently, India has over 250 universities, 1,500 research institutions and 10,000 higher education institutes with an annual intake of 10m students. More than 5million graduates enter the workforce every year. Every year 350,000 engineers 25,000 medical doctors and another 12,000 PhDs are added in the workforce. This number is three to five times higher than the situation 10 years ago. The US usually produces 75,000 engineers, 25,000 doctors and about 40,000 PhDs in all disciplines. Do these figure put India on par with the US, Germany and Japan? Let us know about our neighbors too. China in comparison produces 1-2m graduates a year and Singapore 35,000. The companies are no more shying from filing for patents. As per CSLA, in '03 alone, nine technology start-ups have filed for patents. A good number of listed companies can today liberally fund their R&D wings. The R&D spend of BSE 500 companies have risen 600% over the last 10 years. The research and development (R&D) investment in India had 45% growth during 2002-04 at about $ 6.8 billion, and is the third most favorable destination for R&D investment. The government through its research labs and PSUs carries out 85% of the R&D. The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with 38 labs and 80 poly-technology transfer centres has the largest R&D network in India. But several MNCs have put up R&D centres in India and many projects are in pipeline. The huge talent pool, low cost and strong research infrastructures are the attractions for these MNCs to set up R&D centres in India. The government is also offering other financial incentives for R&D. History is in our favour. With consistent efforts of the intellectual class and policy support from the government, India has all the potentials to become a KPO hub