But I felt compelled to write again, after driving today (being a Sunday and so no driver, have to find the way myself !). When the driver is driving the car, you just do something else inside the car and avoid looking out. Any focus on the traffic outside and the way you are being driven around is enough to give a newcomer the jitters.

I observed that my own way of driving a car has changed over the past several years of living in Mumbai. Previously I used to concentrate excessively on the car ahead of me and the three mirrors to see what is going on behind my car. I still sometimes do this, but mostly now I drive by instinct.

You have got to have a well-rounded 360 degree head in order to drive successfully in Mumbai, and you need to make guesstimates on how close the neighbouring car’s edge is located beside your own car’s rounded edges. This comes purely by instinct as geometrical analysis and data interpretation do not really help here on the roads. If we follow the rule that rectangles or squares move ahead in lanes on the road and you can avoid rupture by keeping the edges of the objects within the lane that you are driving, then you are headed for a disaster. That’s because of several reasons – in India, we not only have rectangles and squares, we have trapeziums, circles, ellipses, protractors, compasses, and long objects with seemingly no edges, on the roads at any time. We also have triangles and parallelograms. When you have a traffic comprising of all these objects with sometimes corrugated edges, and then you have roads in which the central dividers have swaying poles, and many a time big rocks or stones on the right edges of the road (India is on right-hand driving, which is the right way any way), then you can imagine the plight of an average driver like me.

I sometimes use the horsepower of the car to surge ahead when the traffic lights turn green, but I found that it is not always a good idea. Yes, I could create a distance between myself and the guys on my sides and back, but it does not work all the time even if I am first off the mark. The reason is simple. The pedestrians do not care about traffic signals, they keep crossing one by one – the dad first, the mom next, and then couple of children after them, or a trolley full of objects which could anytime spill over on to the road which needs to cross despite the traffic signal urging the pedestrians to stop. Apart from this unique “continuous crossing” behaviour of Indian pedestrians, we also have the super duper bikers, who have just learnt how to use their new bikes, and always use parabolic trajectories to overtake others on the road, whether the traffic signals work or not. So, when I am the first vehicle on my lane in the road, I am always almost surrounded by a bevy of bikers, just like the Prime Minister or President of India, or may be the Chief Minister of the state. This is because the bikers like the right most lane, which gives them the adrenalin rush to beat the cars and prove that parabola and ellipsoid are better geometrical figures as compared to cuboid.

Well, well, there are many tricks to be followed on Mumbai roads, but increasingly I have come to rely on my context-sensitive right brain, which signals to me that something is not right, or everything is all right. Generally, the right brain commands me to follow my instinctive reflexes, which it sends to my arms and legs which then act in conjunction to move ahead or stop. I have seen that the other vehicles have taken cognizance of my vehicle because of this manner of driving, which is better suited to Mumbai roads than the left-brain driven intelligent driving which is not practical. So, the other vehicles are now respecting me, and I am kind of pleased with my new status as a recognized driver on Mumbai suburban roads (I am yet to drive to South Mumbai even after almost six years).

I also decided that it is not worthwhile to spend a lot of money on your car in Mumbai as the sea wind causes corrosion of the undercarriage, irrespective of whatever plastic treatment you could do on your car. The bikers and cyclists almost always knock off your side view mirrors and then apologize (sometimes only) with a smile which means that these things are normal on our roads, so do not complain or even try to speak. Just keep the engine of your car running well, and that should be adequate these days. Tyres are already struggling due to the rough patches on the roads which are not attended to by the road works contractors or by the government (they know that people do not vote based on road conditions), with small stones strewn all over the roads.

Another unique feature of Mumbai suburban roads is the shrinkage of lanes from three to two and from two to one. This situation is because of the usage of road space for non-transport purposes, where almost one lane is taken up for various purposes such as loading/unloading, parking, living (yes, you have to see to believe), washing utensils and clothes, storage of heavy equipment (ostentatiously to prove that the government is going to deliver on its road improvement programmes), and conduct of political rallies or delivery of political and or religious speeches to whoever can gather in that space of the road to listen to such speakers.

The loss of such valuable space on the roads causes heartburn to both good and bad drivers, as drivers have to be extremely careful not to horn and not to hit any object (whatever be its geometric shape) or any person who is using that road space. Such practice of forcible and illegal occupation of roads continues unabated despite whatever action that the police takes.

Wow, that is more than a thousand words on my driving experience and general road-related observations from today’s driving. Enjoy driving in Mumbai using your right brain and context-sensitive pop-up menus which would guide your reflexes as you go along. Don’t worry about your car’s health – it would behave fine whatever little shocks you give to it.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
29th January 2012
Mumbai

I live in Mumbai and do not get “The Hindu” newspaper. The most widely read newspaper in this metro is of course, “The Times of India”, which I read every morning, spending barely 10 minutes on most mornings before I leave for office.

Today, being a Sunday, lent itself to some leisurely browsing of the newspaper, and for the first time I happened to see (!) the “Sunday Times Matrimonials” column, which even carried some article on Indian wedding rituals. It was funny reading that, and one could not miss the fact that rituals are widely different in different regions of this vast country.

Previously, the ads would always be based on castes – the insane division of people according to the castes they belong to, or sometimes on religions. Most people will be looking for brides or bridegrooms belonging to their own castes, which was only understandable in the context of the cultural mores of that time.

But a reading in the current time leads to a completely different interpretation of the market demand. Yes, the castes are there, no doubt. But more space was taken up some unique categories with headlines as follows:

* Doctors
* Engineers
* NRI/Green Card (shrinking category)
* Nepali (people from Nepal, which is an adjacent country)
* MBA/CA
* Bengali (people from the State of West Bengal, not on caste)
* Punjabi (people from the State of Punjab, not on caste)
* Hindu (in general)
* Muslim (in general)
* Christian (in general)
* Caste No Bar (a new one where the advertiser does not care about the caste)
* Cosmopolitan (the most intriguing classification)
* Others (free thinkers, I would guess)

and so on, and so forth.

India is changing, do you agree ?

Surely. People are thinking differently.

If as a people, we can accept our own people irrespective of where they came from, based on the value (not money for Gods’ sake) that each one brings to the table to ensure a lasting partnership, then we would have arrived in the Twenty-First Century.

In any case, it has been interesting spending some time grasping this change, which I seem to have missed till now. I do not know what is the situation of the ads in “The Hindu” in the Southern part of India, or in “Hindustan Times” newspaper in the Northern part of India, but I think we are seeing an increasingly modernistic trend, which can only bode good for India.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
29th January 2012
Mumbai

When I grew up, there was no pocket money. If there is a need for something, it would be met by the parents directly. There was no need to go and get something for oneself on one’s own pocket money. The need was not there.

Over the years, as with everything else, this notion of pocket money gained popularity. Children started comparing with one another about how much weekly or monthly pocket allowance they are getting from their parents. While an allowance per se is not a bad idea, as children would need some money even while at school, or when going out with friends, what is striking is that none of the pocket money today is considered as potential savings.

All the money is for spending ! No kid thinks any longer on savings. This is despite the long ingrained savings disposition of Indians, who have one of the highest savings rate in the world.

Spending culture has already gained ascendancy in India, with children driving the shopping malls to frenzy – most chains of shops in big malls are now redesigning to attract the young crowd which today is having a steeply climbing buying power vis-a-vis their own parents. Parents are now “old time”, still trying to figure out what all this mad rush is all about.

Mature teenagers are now directing the big-ticket spending towards high end accessories. Shoes cost INR 4,000 (USD 80) ? No problem. Handbags cost INR 5,000 (USD 100) ? Absolutely no issue. Seeing the way things are moving with their elder sisters and brothers, the younger ones as young as 6 or 7 years old demand pocket money these days and wish to spend on Haagen Daaz icecreams, which seem to be costing more than HP Printer Ink per ml in India.

The world has changed, and India is changing very fast. I have seen such huge changes in the past six years in Mumbai (which happens to be the most happening place in India anyway) that now I am immune to the rapidity of market changes. The market today is made up of people less than 20 years of age, and it is a huge market with growing spending power that retailers can ignore only at their own peril.

What do parents do ? Some adapt, some gawk, some question, some complain, some blog. Like this one – I mean myself, spending some time writing about the market trends driven by children in India. I can only admire at parents who seem to have adapted extremely well to the very fast changing trends, and also giving in to the ever-rising demands from their children. That may not be the right behaviour always, but adaptability is a key trait that most of us lack. The worry is the drop in sync with the traditional value systems that Indians have always prided as something unique in their culture. Unfortunately, value systems take a hit, whatever we might say, in a fast-changing culture which puts emphasis on money and spending, and moves away from a culture of savings.

Well, is this any different from what has been the practice in the West ? No, not at all, but then the West has long experimented with such changes and has more or less settled into peace terms with the cultural changes wrought by youngsters. But India is still struggling with those changes.

Parents in India are getting challenged by their kids all the time, and I think it would not be long before they are forced to seek help in the form of psychological counselling. It would be prudent to stay close to the ground and listen carefully to one’s children all the time, and then devise ways to cope with the changes.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
29th January 2012
Mumbai

In India, we do not have any political leader who uses data in campaigning for a better quality of legislation. There are only emotional leaders, who use passionate appeals for driving their cause. There are leaders who incite people, and get away with it as mostly their speech would escape any illegality. There are then leaders who blabber nonsense and just ask for votes or support. There is hardly any leader from any political party who appeals on a rational basis, using data available from public sources, and uses logic trying to convince people that the course of actions arising out of the data analysis is the best way to go. All this only shows that there are hardly any leaders with the courage of their convictions. And, unless they have that, only fools will be fooled and the mature voter cannot be taken in by exhortations.

Given the analysis that President Obama presented during his recent State of the Union address, I am inclined to think that such a presentation is required in the Indian context as well. We have a Prime Minister who is eminently qualified as an economist and is credited with introducing economic reforms into what was then a moribund economy in 1991. Can he explain the rationale for some of the economic actions (or lack of the same) to the Indian people and present an analysis of the inflationary trends in the economy ? Or, is that asking for too much ? Does his party worry too much that he would expose the weaknesses in the Indian economy and the lack of actions by the Government ?

Whatever be the situation, it behooves the leader of the Government to explain the same to all the lay men in the population in very simple terms. When there is such a communication, people are going to see that as genuine effort on the part of the Government to explain things on the ground. Such an attempt itself would help reduce the anxiety and fear of the people, and improve the morale of the population. They would come to see the leader as someone who they can relate to, and derive a positive conclusion that all would soon be well.

This is surely lacking in India, and I believe that every political leader who is aspiring for a place in the Government – whether Central (Federal) or State – should train himself or herself with a course on data analysis and interpretation.

However, at the end of the day, it is the conviction of the leader which would carry the day for him/her.

Let us hope the transformation would happen in India soon.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
28th January 2012
Mumbai

Disclosure: I do not support some of his policies, especially his moving away from the “friend of India” position established by the previous administration of George W Bush.

I thought that everyone around the world should watch the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address delivered at the beginning of each fiscal year, since it reveals so much about the way in which government business is conducted in the U.S. and the foreign policy positions of the U.S. Government.

What is different with President Obama is his oratorical skills. He speaks with clinical precision, with hardly much of an emotion, but with lots of conviction. He is a great communicator, and appeals to a wide spectrum of people easily.

It surprised me a lot when I was watching the video on his website. He did not, not even for once, refer to the booklet in front of him which contained his speech. Nor was he aided by a teleprompter device with running words from his speech. He never had an inch of hesitation, and his speech was almost like an extempore delivery. But obviously, great preparation has gone into the speech as always, and the extensive use of slides to demonstrate key points of his speech was impressive. President Obama did not even gesticulate towards the slides, he was absolutely focused on making a solid impression on the very important people assembled at Capitol Hill and on the American people listening to him live.

And, I think he achieved his goal. He drove home the key points pending before the Congress and the absolute necessity to move ahead in cooperation, rather than fight on issues between the two Parties as has been happening increasingly in Washington. I do not think his appeal towards collaborative approach to solving the nation’s huge problems would have much of an impact on the Republican Party or its Senators. But I think it would have had a good positive impact on the American people.

All in all, it was a solid State of the Union speech, well prepared and extremely well delivered by a superbly knowledgeable President who appeared to be in total control. This sounds good for America, but it is anybody’s guess whether Americans would re-elect him as President.

Americans like strong, good and persuasive communicators in all spheres of life, and do not like ambiguity. The President made his business case for his agenda for government in 2012 very persuasively and firmly.

I was not amused by the fact that he did not mention India even once, though he referred to China atleast twice, and to Israel, Burma, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Let us see if he can carry through on his agenda and his commitments to the American people. Let us see if the American Corporations would bring back more jobs to the U.S.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
26th January 2012
Mumbai

Very good Chardonnay with fresh flavours. This is a medium-bodies wine with lemon and peach flavours. Amazingly fresh.

The colour is pale yellow and the palate is soft with strong citrus flavours.

For its price, this is a wonderful wine. I liked it so much that I am looking for more of it, but unfortunately it is not available in the wine shops at the shopping malls.

Have to find some other way of sourcing this price-effective and very nice wine. Any ideas from anyone living in Mumbai ?

Strongly recommended. You will like it. It is better than the Sula wines or any other Chardonnay from Indian wineries. And, it is less expensive !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
22nd January 2012
Mumbai

I was mesmerized by the movie. It is a Russian movie with English subtitles. I could not move away from the TV and continued watching the unfolding landscape of Russia entwined with human emotions in the midst of miseries of war.

“And Quiet Flows the Don” movie is based on the famous novel “…and Quiet flows the Don” by Mikhail A. Sholokhov, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I am yet to read the book, but I will. It is a fascinating movie and I am sure the book would be even better than the movie.

I have always been fascinated by world war movies and historical movies. Soviet Russia has long been an intriguing country, and no experience in my life has been more thrilling than visiting Russia twice in the early Nineties, when it had just come out of its communist rule.

So, it was not surprising for me to be drawn to a Russian movie, I guess ! The scenery along the Don River was rural agrarian, not akin to what I saw in St Petersburg and Moscow. The unforgiving terrain of Russia and the Cossack life depicted in the movie was simply unforgettable. More than that the scenes of human passion and valour, family squabbles, the harshness of the Russian winters, et al, were shown in this movie with such splendour that I was captivated.

This is a long movie which requires lot of patience and understanding of Cossack culture. But for those who wish to be fascinated by a long bygone culture in a mysterious country, this is the movie to see.

The actors and the director have done a fabulous job, and the movie depicts human emotions in vivid colour. The World War I followed by the Russian Revolution and the continuous misery inflicted by the wars on the Cossacks is so well taken (though not in great detail) that this movie beats some of the best war movies from Hollywood.

I thought the Cossacks are tough warriors and bear the brutal impact of war and weather equally well, while masking their emotions. That may not be true – they are as human as others are, and the women show that very well in this movie. Gregori’s dad is another hot spot of emotions, who shows his anger against his son’s indiscretions rather well.

All in all, this is an amazing movie, and I would recommend that you see it.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
22nd January 2012
Mumbai

Wow, Sicilian white wine in India !?

I got a complementary bottle of Grillo 2010 recently. It is produced in Nashik wine-growing region of Maharashtra State of India, by Vintage Wines Private Ltd., who produce the Reveilo range of wines that you can see at most wine shops in Mumbai.

I was really surprised with this white wine. Actually, I was not expecting much, but was pleasantly impressed with the quality of the Grillo 2010 from Reveilo. Both my wife and myself enjoyed this wine as an aperitif, which is how this wine should be tasted, I guess. The acidity of Grillo is not missed at all, one can sense strong citrus and lemon flavours. I could not get the orange bouquet that was mentioned on the wine tasting note, but may be I will try again with a new bottle (having finished the first one !).

This is a sophisticated wine, and I would rate this in complexity closer to a Sauvignon Blanc, rather than the usual sweet Chenin Blanc or a Chardonnay. I have not yet figured out the food pairing, but I guess it would go well with seafood.

I think this is a good discovery, but I did not find this wine in the local wine shop which had other Reveilo wines. The shop keeper did not know about Grillo. Again, wine education and knowledge is lacking, and this factor continues to impact wine consumption in India.

I am not going to bore the readers with yet another wine sermon, but I recommend the Grillo 2010 strongly for a trial. You would surely like it, that is if you are a sophisticated wine drinker.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
21st January 2012
Mumbai

Shopping at DFS (Duty Free Shops) at the international airports in India was neither useful nor pleasurable from time immemorial, as the shops were not consumer friendly and used to stock things which were not really in demand. The shopping on the India side when you land from overseas was usually ignored by tourists, especially the Indian tourists. Any comparison with overseas DFS shopping did not make any sense at all. Further, the prices in Singapore or Hong Kong Airport DFS shops were much more attractive.

How things have changed, and how things are still changing !

Now, the Duty-Free Shopping experience on the Indian International Airports such as Mumbai and Delhi has improved significantly. There are many more things to shop for, and the shop attendants are hovering around trying to help. Of course, the infrastructure is not comparable as the shops in India are much smaller and are not gleaming reproductions of Singapore shops.

But, the fact is that almost the same things are now available, and at cheaper prices. I don’t know how, I thought stuff should cost more since Indian Rupee has depreciated by some 10 to 15% over the past three months.

The Singapore Changi Airport prices for wines for example, are much higher, and given that one has got to multiply by a much higher exchange rate, the price in Indian Rupees is really high (by more than 20 to 30%) for similar wines. I think the whiskeys are slightly cheaper on the Singapore side, though I did not buy any whiskey. I roamed around the DFS Liquor Shop at Changi for quite some time, and then decided not to purchase, as I came to the conclusion that the prices are higher than on the Indian side.

I still found many folks on my flight carrying stuff from the Changi Airport DFS, but probably they have not done their due diligence, or they are buying non-liquor things which are not readily available at the Indian airports.

As I rightly guessed, the Mumbai International Airport DFS had some very good wines (and many whiskeys and other liquors) and I picked up couple of Australian wines for USD 22 less a discount of USD 4 ! I had to pay in USD, but that was fine. At the end of the day, I know that these wines are more expensive in Singapore and very expensive in the usual wine shops of Mumbai out there in the city.

The pity is that they allow only two bottles of duty-free wine (and just one bottle of whiskey), so one can enjoy only for a short time !

Welcome to DFS experience in India, and keep some USD change while arriving back !!

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
21st January 2012
Mumbai

Note: I do not know the original author, so I am unable to give the credit that is absolutely due to him/her. I am just reproducing this outstanding story from an email I received from my classmate, and I believe that the more it is read, the more it would convey the importance and criticality of its central message to a wider audience. This truly impressed me and is really a great story with a strong message on how small acts of courtesy would go a very long way in life.

The Taxi ride….this is beautiful

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. after waiting a few minutes, I walked to the door and knocked.. ‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940′s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knick-knacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. ‘It’s nothing’, I told her.. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’

‘Oh, you’re such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, ‘Could you drive through downtown?’ ‘It’s not the shortest way,’ I answered quickly… .

‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft voice.. ‘The doctor says I don’t have very long.’ I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

‘What route would you like me to take?’ I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds
She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, ‘I’m tired. Let’s go now’.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked, reaching into her purse.

‘Nothing,’ I said.

‘You have to make a living,’ she answered.

‘There are other passengers,’ I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. ‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said ‘Thank you.’

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life…..

I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID BUT THEY WILL
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL

You might help make the world a little kinder and more compassionate by sending it on and reminding us that often it is the random acts of kindness that most benefit all of us.

Thank you, my friend…

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well enjoy it…….

Courtesy: Anu, my IIM-B Classmate

Note: I do not know the original author, so I am unable to give the credit that is absolutely due to him/her. I am just reproducing this outstanding story from an email I received from my classmate, and I believe that the more it is read, the more it would convey the importance and criticality of its central message to a wider audience. This truly impressed me and is really a great story with a strong message on how small acts of courtesy would go a very long way in life.

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
21st January 2012
Mumbai