Category Archives: Features

Free Trade Hypocrisy

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By P.R. Ganapathy 

I've been reading the recent spat about the US Air Force's award of a Tanker Contract to a consortium of Northrop Grumman and EADS, the European Conglomerate and parent of Airbus, with great interest.

I have a strong sense of deja vu when I hear many of the arguments cited by opponents of the deal. Deja vu, because I remember the very same arguments being made by members of the Bombay Club, a collection of protectionist Indian businessmen, in the early 1990s, when India was contemplating opening up its economy to overseas competition.

I don't know if you remember that time, but India was forced to open up its economy under pressure from the Multinational lending institutions – the IMF and World Bank – during the balance of payments crisis of 1991-92. These institutions, and the Western Governments that controlled them, insisted on a lowering of import tariffs, freeing of capital and foreign exchange market controls and other liberalizing measures. Coke and Pepsi, GM and Ford entered India in the years that followed, and many businesses in the sub-continent either sold out to the multinationals (remember Thumbs Up?), or went under.

We shrugged our shoulders then, and treated this as a natural consequence of the changes that were taking place, because other industries showed their ability to be globally competitive. "This is the new world order promoted by the West" we said, and after the fall of the Soviet Union, we thought that it was perhaps a winning formula for "developing" our economies. We embraced it with all fervor, and another Asian Tiger was unleashed.

It therefore pains me now to see the West talking about the same trade protections that they forced us to dismantle, when the changes they thrust on us developing nations for so many years have come back to impact them. When US multinationals grew at breathtaking rates during the 90s, fueled by new-found revenues overseas, did anyone question it? Did they wonder about the lack of a safety-net for workers in third world countries who were out of work because their industries had vanished in the face of international competition? I seriously doubt it.

Fareed Zakaria correctly points this out in "What the World is Hearing" in the recent edition of Newsweek.

The US's hypocrisy in matters of democracy (supporting despots in the Middle East) created the disenchantment that fueled terrorism. However, given that this hypocrisy involves jobs (which affect people more directly) rather than politics (which doesn't), and also impacts much larger populations (Central and South America, all of Asia) I fear that the resentment that this will create will have much deeper and larger consequences. A sobering thought, indeed.

Maa – Tujhe Salaam

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By Aarti Johri

Our local town newsletter arrived a few days ago. In one corner, there was a small note, “Bullis goes to Bollywood”, it said. Our small town, whose demographics read- 73% white, 21 % Asian, 2.66% other- has just one public school. This announcement was that of its spring auction, a fundraiser with a 'Bollywood' theme. For me, the announcement established once again, India is “in”.

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From Bombay to Mumbai – returning after 15 years

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Swati Prasad Siddharth, an eclectic traveler in India, takes a stark look at the transformation of the big, bad (mad?) megalopolis Bombay to Mumbai.

I left Bombay and came back to Mumbai.

Fifteen years ago I was a daughter in Mumbai. I never had to deal with the day-to-day issues of running a home. Or lose sleep over the cost of living. I just enjoyed the benefits that Bombay offered within the luxury of my parents’ protection.

I spent the first quarter century of my life here. Given that I have always missed the city and its wonderful ethos. Given that I have missed the efficiency and tempo of living I was used to. Am I thrilled? Am I ecstatic? Am I really happy to be home?
 
Today I return to the realization that being a daughter in Mumbai is infinitely easier than being a housewife. Continue reading →

Spring ahead – Getting your garden ready for the season

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By Laxmi Natarajan 

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.  The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.  ~Henry Van Dyke

This morning I looked out of my window and saw the first blooms on my flowering plum and could smell the spring in the air.   This month early spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and grape muscari start to flower and it reminds me that it is time to get ready for the sowing season ahead.  It is the time to fix your garden structures, ready the flower beds, prepare the soil for the vegetable garden, cleanup the weeds, add a bare-root fruit tree or a rose bush and the list goes on. Continue reading →

Culture Shock – Moving back to India

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(Also read "A returning Indian entrepreneur reflects", an excellent article on moving back to India and The Big Move back, which talks about the practical aspects of moving back)

By Isheeta Sanghi

Delhi is one of the most fascinating places in the world,weather wise. It’s deathly hot in the summer, and its winters are frighteningly cold. On one such winter morning in Delhi, on my way to college in an auto I experienced something I had never experienced before. I was at a stop sign, and a young girl with dirty brown hair, and big curious brown eyes walked up to me. It was not that I hadn’t seen girls like her before, or that it was the first time someone had come up to me in an auto and asked me for money, but this time it was different. It’s almost as though the numbness of my fingers reached my heart, and I was able to feel just how numb it had become.

For years now, I have been coming to India for vacation and staying with extended relatives. They all seem to have one common mantra from Delhi to Bangalore “don’t look at their faces.” 'Their', in this case, referring to the beggars on the street. I never questioned this because I wanted to avoid the awkward situation of staring at a complete stranger, and them staring back. But this morning was different; I looked into this young girl’s eyes, and looked past her smile. I saw her parents on the sidewalk, or at least what they call a sidewalk in Delhi, and saw them covered in torn blankets, and rotting clothes. I saw their health and spirit deteriorating, and me not being able to do anything about it. When I saw this, it was like all of a sudden my problems had no place in the world. I didn’t have the right to complain about the cold because I am fortunate enough to run the heater the whole night, and afford blankets that make me sweat so much that I have to pull it off at times. What seem like little, or insignificant things are actually the most important in life. And if one wants to discover that, India is the place to come to. The disparity between the rich and the poor is just horrific, and it’s probably the only place on earth where the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor can live on the same street, side by side. Continue reading →

Jodha-Akbar : Long but engaging

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By Rohini Mohan 

Jodha Bai, Queen of Hindustan and wife of the greatest of Mughal emperors, Akbar,  may not have ever existed, claim  some historians. Others claim that she was his daughter in law and not his wife. Ashutosh Gowarikar’s latest blockbuster Jodha-Akbar starts off with this disclaimer – but goes on to convince us that we have indeed been remiss to  ignore this great love story which may well have shaped Mughal history. Continue reading →

The Empress’s New Clothes

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 By Aarti Johri

It was over a year ago. A friend and I were involved in a project with some young children that used a tie- dye kit. Our preteen girls were also participating. “Here”, my friend said, “your daughter can also tie-dye something for herself; this would look great in that blue”. I looked at what she was tossing me, a Hanes sleeveless T-shirt. I realized my otherwise brilliant friend had some idiosyncrasies, this probably being an example of them. I politely smiled and scrambled out of the situation, puzzled nonetheless why she would give my daughter an undershirt, obviously purchased for her son.

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A desert drive past Jaisalmer

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Navin Gulia severely injured his neck and spine while clearing an obstacle in a competition at the Indian Military Academy, where he was in the final term as a gentleman cadet.He was 22 years old then. Refusing to let his disability define him, he decided to conquer the world in a wheelchair.

He created a modification kit to allow him to drive a car and has notched up over 200,000 kms driving up the Himalayas in Uttaranchal, Himachal and Ladakh. He has driven up to the Khardung La (pass) in Ladakh, then the highest motorable pass in the world. He has also practised flying powered hang-gliders. Here he writes about his experiences driving from Delhi to the Indo-Pak Border.

Growing up, deserts have caught my fancy a number of times. From movies like ‘Omar Mukhtar – lion of the desert’ to the Hindi classic ‘Lamhe’ and books and stories on deserts. I had no real experience of the desert except what I had read. Going to Jaisalmer, the essence of deserts in India and the beginning of Thar, had been my fantasy for a long time.
When I got a call from the Ability Foundation to go on an assignment to Jodhpur, I grabbed it. Jaisalmer was 300 kms away and the India Pakistan border another 140kms. Continue reading →