Cover Story on Eco-Singapore

Environmental Challenge Organisation (ECO) is a Singapore-based non-profit organisation.

You can take a look at their website at “A Non-Profit Environment Organisation for Youth”.

My daughter wrote a cover story titled “Where has all the Water gone” in Eco-Singapore’s electronic magazine called “Express”. She is a voluntary staff writer for the magazine. Her article can be viewed by going to the above website’s home page and either clicking on the banner or clicking on the Express link on the right-hand bottom. Alternatively, click this link and download the zip file of Issue No. 4 – August to October 2006 “Eco Express !”.

Wow, was I surprised ! It is a good effort by a budding sustainable economist in the footpath of our eminent Dr JBW. I never knew that economists do exist in the young age crowd, till ofcourse I read Freakonomics with unconventional insights into normal lives. Normal people rarely care about sustainability of their environment, they leave it most suitably to the academic world and to the future.

However, Water is very relevant to normal peoples’ lives. They get daily challenges on this topic, especially in a country like India.

Well, Aha, I am proud of your first such publication. Keep it up ! May be you are well on your way to a Sustainability Ph D.

Best of Luck !!

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
15 Sep 2006
Mumbai

R2I Club Lunch

Today, we were invited to JW Marriott at Juhu for a lunch with families belonging to the R2I Club (“Return to India”). Except our family, all the others returned to India from the U.S. I was surprised to find that people have returned to India from such fabulous places as San Diego, one of the most liveable cities in the U.S.

Well, home is calling ! Like what happened in China a few years ago, the economic growth of India in the past couple of years is attracting middle-aged Indian Americans to return home, and contribute further to its growing economic might. Most of the people were from Mumbai, and one of the clear learnings was it is better to return to the roots in one’s own area of the country, unlike what we did. Neither me nor my wife particularly like Southern part of India where we hail from originally. We were prepared to go to any other place ! We ended up at Mumbai, one of the most dynamic yet difficult places to live in. This was suprising to most of the folks we met today.

JW Marriott in Mumbai is one of the best places to network in the city. It is a fabulous hotel by any standard, perched on the shores of the Arabian Sea, with the sea water almost touching the cafe below the lobby. Beautifully designed in sandstone colour, the hotel is in the midst of the busy Juhu area, known for its film star crowd. When you drive into the hotel, there will be an army of security personnel checking your car – its underbelly, the boot, et al – followed by an individual security check when you enter the hotel lobby through an airport style booth. You can just hang around in the lobby and be witness to celebrities shaking hands with other VIPs and networking around…..it’s a great place to hang out in the evening with the city’s most well-know disco.

We arrived well in advance and were waiting for some 40 minutes before the first R2I friends turned up for the lunch. The JW Marriott Brunch is again one of the city’s most well-known Sunday events, completely sold out on all Sundays. The R2I Club had booked 26 seats for 8 families and we were looking forward to networking with these folks.

It was a fantastic lunch as always, with a buffet spread from all over India, including even some Lebanese food specialties. The Buffet with alcohol included costs just S$ 40 and without alcohol costs just S$ 30 ! Alcohol consisted of beer and white/red wines, unlimited of course.

We met a wide cross-section of R2I folks, it was interesting to share tidbits of Mumbai living and its idiosyncracies. Many of the returnees had a short term view of the potential of their return, while some had a long term view. Many would go back to the U.S., I guess. But the current attraction and fascination seemed to be India, despite the difficulties of day-to-day living. I was vehement in communicating the difficulties, influenced by the happenings of past couple of weeks. It is not a great place to live, not with its endless traffic snarls, lack of civic amenities, terrible roads, unclean environment, poor infrastructure, rough people behaviour on the roads and in public places, lack of niceties, et al. I thought I would be less than honest if I do not acknowledge the harsh realities of life in Mumbai.

However, I did not see even a whimper of dissatisfaction from anyone of the returnees. All seemed to be in perfect harmony with their surroundings, and families in place. May be all of them were from Mumbai to start with – growing up in a place like Mumbai from a very young age has its advantages due to the opportunities it offers. Further, cultural assimilation cannot be underestimated. If there was any simmering discontent, I did not feel or see the same in any of them. They seemed to be happy with living in Vile Parle, Santacruz, Powai or Vashi, all well-established suburbs of Mumbai.

As is usual in my transactions, I communicated the dichotomy in the society – professional within the business environs (like a Hong Kong or a Singapore) and lousy outside in public and government behaviour and performance. Good words were offered by several folks commending the Singapore government, its economic performance, the city design, Sentosa, and the Changi Airport. Many said Changi was the best airport in the world.

I did feel I was a bit out of range since I did not come back from the U.S. Singapore is not considered something extraordinary in India. Many think that it is kind of “part of Indian society”. Not surprising, but not something which attracts peoples’ attention a great deal.

This brings me back to the point I made in an earlier blog post that Singapore Government should aggressively promote India in Singapore society and business as well as in India itself – otherwise Singapore will lose its relevance beyond being considered as a short-term tourist destination in India. Almost all people seem to be fixated on the U.S. and its universities for instance. Singapore’s status as an emerging bio-tech hub is not recognised in India, which has its own deep expertise in this area. Promotion, which I thought was a forte with the Singapore Government, has not been used much in India to push the cause of Singapore.

Well, it was a good weekend, did a lot of house cleaning as well, hope you had a similar weekend,

All the Best for a great week ahead,

Vijay Srinivasan
03 Sep 2006
Mumbai

Outlook on Imperfection

I thought I would share some of the personal household experiences tonight !

India is full of imperfections in the routine life of a layman. One can choose to look only or mostly at the positives, but that would be too idealistic and completely out of touch with reality.

I found one of the most annoying things in conducting daily life is the inordinary amount of followup that I had to do to fix seemingly simple things, which are taken for granted in other more advanced countries. There are countless examples. For instance, today I had to followup for the fourth time with my housing agent for getting a simple pelmet cover for an aircon tubing that he had committed to cover more than couple of weeks ago. Given the hectic pace of business life, it is impossible to followup daily on such matters. Another example would be the wardrobes that we were waiting for, to be delivered by the house owner – he took more than a week to get the same, and it took not less than five phone calls.

Now, the thing is these folks know full well that they had to keep up their commitments. But, given the nature of most poeple in India, they assume it would be okay if such matters are getting delayed. This, inspite of the fact that they knew I am from Singapore, and have a penchant for perfect work and work completion on time. The power of nature ! It is very hard to change people, and make them look at customer priorities and necessities. We often see this in business life as well.

More so than this is the imperfect manner in which things get executed in India. Having paid for a service or a product, one would expect a perfect delivery or execution. But was I surprised ! You got to monitor things so closely, you would get tired just standing and chasing workers around. A lackadaisical approach to daily stuff is what causes misery and adds to the difficulties. Example – I would have instructed that the car should be ready by 10 AM. But the car driver, blaming the intractable traffic conditions, would arrive at 10:25 AM. While it is simple for me to change the instruction to 9:30 AM, so that I would get the car atleast by 10 AM, that is not the way one operates outside the country. I learnt slowly and surely that clockwork precision is not possible, unless almost everything is controlled by me.

The relocation company was a good example of how global companies are influenced by local work culture, philosophy and practices. In Singapore, they took almost 3.5 days to carefully pack and ship my goods. In India, they arrived at my doorsteps without even carrying my mobile no., and were waiting since they did not know the apartment (unit) number ! Not only that, they had the temerity to inform me that, being a Saturday, they would like to complete all the unloading, unpacking, and assembling of stuff by the end of that day itself. They might not be able to come back on Monday to complete the work !

This was amazing to say the least. Ofcourse, it goes without saying that I escalated the matter to the country manager and things then fell into a better service mode, but I can’t but help thinking that India has a long way to go in terms of service attitude and culture. In terms of perfection in service delivery. In terms of execution smoothness. In terms of keeping up to a time sense. I can go on and on……..

Well, the silver lining is that, once educated as to the necessity to improve, Indians could be the most rapid learners on the earth. I saw this a couple of times. While the necessity to followup continued to annoy me, the quality of service showed a marked improvement as I worked with the same folks on a couple of home-related projects.

Well, that is for your consumption on India Living for the moment. Welcome to my new journey !

Have a great weekend !!

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
19 August 2006
Mumbai

The Price of Children

Courtesy : Anu, my Batchmate from IIM-B 1985 – 87 Batch

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive
for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It’s nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn’t even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn’t so bad if you break it down.
It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That’s a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother’s Day, and cards with backward letters for Father’s Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to *history* to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first blush,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal.

You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you’re lucky, a
long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great
grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice,
communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits,

So . . one day they will like you, love without counting the cost.
That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

And, you get to do it all over again with your grandchildren.

If you take care of yourself, you might even get to stick a “great” in there too!

Love and enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!

Courtesy : Anu, my Batchmate from IIM-B 1985 – 87 Batch

Back in Mumbai

What a week !

A hectic week for us and a harrowing week for India.

We leased out our apartment in Singapore, sold our car, and did innumerable other things in a span of just 7 days to get ready to leave for Mumbai on the 12th. But, the serial blasts of 11th July spoiled the mood. It was really sad to see the lack of serious and significant protests from the general population, who seem to have taken such things in their stride. While I can applaud the resilience of Mumbai citizens, I wonder whether such stoicism is enough to get the government to act. I saw remarks by various eminent people in government and industry praising the capacity of the people here to move ahead with life. Back to normalcy in double quick time of less than 12 hours !

However, I am not sure whether that is the right thing to do.

Governments take note only when there is a serious, concerted democratic, non-violent protest by concerned citizens to voice their opinions, worries and concerns. Democratic governments have just too many worries, and unfortunately safety of citizens is not at the top of their immediate priorities. And, unlike in the West, where every human life is valued and defended to the last by enlightened governments, in Asia it is sad to see the governments sometimes do not even wish to account for people lost in riots, wars, natural calamities, terrorist attacks and the like. Or, sometimes they just do not have the capacity or wherewithal to do anything more than tend to the aftermath of such disasters. Strategic Planning to avoid future attacks probably takes place away from the eyes of the public, but citizens only get to feel the non-existence of such advance planning when the next disaster strikes.

The Jet Airways flight from Singapore to Mumbai on the 12th was, obviously, not full. The service was good, but the plane was not as good as ones from SIA. Service was not bad though. We left 15 minutes late from Singapore due to air traffic congestion, and also landed 30 minutes late in Mumbai that evening due to the same reason.

I had warned my family to be ready for obtrusive Customs inspection, all the more so because of the high-alert in airports around the country. But, surprise, surprise ! We sailed through with something like 20 pieces of baggage without any question being asked – ofcourse all bags went through the X-ray scanner. We were received by someone from my company who had brought two Toyota Qualis vehicles, so we managed to get all the bags into one of the vehicles.

We all got into the other one and drove out of the airport – there was the usual check by the policeman who peeped inside the vehicle and let us proceed. We went out, but could not see the other one with the bags, so we waited. 15 minutes passed and still no sign of the second Qualis. I assured my family that such things are normal in India, when what you see is not exactly what you get. Our driver finally got to the other vehicle’s driver by cell phone and found that the police stopped the vehicle because there were no passengers but only baggages ! Explanation had to be provided why there were no passengers, and you know what, it is better to respect the delay rather than get into any major problem in such cases. Be prepared and patient ! It is not a bad idea to put couple of passengers and divide the bags between the two vehicles, I learnt !!

So, here we were, on the Western Express Highway, in Mumbai, after all these days ! Traffic was low volume, and the explanation probably was people chose to remain indoors or return home early due to the huge impact of the previous day’s serial blasts.

We checked into the temporary accommodation at Malad, and the rest is for another blog. So far, so good. Mumbai seem to be working and there was no commotion anywhere. It was hard to believe some big, bad thing happened in the city.

Have a great weekend, folks.

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
16 July 2006
Mumbai

Adieu Singapore

Well, the day has finally arrived !

And it arrives in a rather sad manner. Last evening was a very sad day for Mumbai, with serial train blasts killing scores of innocent passengers in the most crowded suburban train system in the world (approximately, more than one-third, or 4.5 million people travel every day on these trains in Mumbai – more than the entire population of Singapore).

It was definitely not a good evening’s news just prior to our departure to the same city.

There were a number of phone calls, and SMS messages. I even briefly considered revising our travel schedule.

Looks like the timing could not have been worse.

But, more critically, my heart goes out to the innocent victims of the dastardly acts of terrorism. No cause can justify such acts of terror. May be the Iraq war and Israeli-Hamas conflicts could have worsened the already deteriorating world situation over the last 3 years. May be it is the Kashmir situation. But, no God or otherwise, will condone violent actions which take away the lives of innocent men, women, and children.

Singapore looks safe and sound as we plan to leave today. Should we turn back and postpone the trip ?

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
12 July 2006
Singapore

The Tenth Day Depression

Today is the 10th day after I left Singapore on a major transition to India. So far, the going has been quite hectic, even yesterday I had been to Bandra to meet with a friend – in Mumbai, you feel rushed the moment you get into the traffic. Even on a Saturday the traffic was maddening, especially from Andheri onwards. Thick congested line of vehicles almost brushing against each other stretched as far as one could see. At Juhu, the situation was even worse. Outside of JW Marriott, there was hardly any space to stand.

In the midst of all these, pedestrians weaved around, as though the world is pretty normal. The motorbikes and scooters kept moving in between the gaps constantly. Amazing !

However, today is Sunday, and I hit on doing nothing ! There seems to be hardly anything happening – I decided to talk a long walk around the big garden shared amongst three condominiums in the morning. Must have walked around 3 Kms over 8 rounds and then the sun started shining aggressively – I started profusely sweating more from the heat rather than the exercise. I decided to call it a day for the walkabout and went back to the apartment.

When one has nothing much to do in terms of talking to others around (it was quiet all around), it was a bit depressing. How long one can spend on the internet – I did email, Skype chat, preparation of a business presentation, and some surfing. Beyond that, the mind got tired – one needs the family and friends to keep the mind going active. I have rarely been away so long at one go – when I had been, I know I will be getting back home on a specific date. Now I am not sure when I am going to head back to get the family over here – the school admissions process was quite challenging with no clear end date – still dragging on.

I am not able to believe that days are rolling on so fast, except ofcourse, for today. Action, action, action……..I should say it was a good first week on the job and in Mumbai/Delhi. However, one has to have a full complement of all aspects of life, otherwise one loses his/her balance.

I am sure I will be all right once I cross today – tomorrow being the start of a new week, and the really first week when I am going to be in the office almost full time, and meeting with a whole host of people. That’s the good news !

I looked around, and decided I have to juice up the evening – it is almost evening now, I am still typing this blog post, but I was energised by the fact that there is World Football Cup matches going on ! OK, let me rush to the TV now, India is lucky to be able to see most of the action from early evening onwards.

It’s a state of mind at the end of the day – I will get over it. I am sure all of us would have a wonderful week ahead.

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
11 June 2006
Mumbai

Farewell by G-12

I had previously posted about the G-12 Family Friends Group in Singapore. The Vice-Chairman of G-12, SR, decided to arrange a farewell for me on the 27th May Saturday evening at Mantra, a new contemporary Indian restaurant at Cecil Court in Singapore. Incidentally, I discovered that Mantra is a 2-week old restaurant started by one of my old colleagues, RK, from my WIPRO days (it is going to be almost two decades…..can’t believe it !).

The G-12 Family Group was almost in full attendance at the farewell event. This is a pretty stable group of Indian executives and it is the 11th year since I have been a member of this group. We have had excellent friendships and contacts all around via this group. The Chairman, the Big “B” and the Secretary, the “CS”, were present, and it was great to connect with all and have a nice get-together.

The food was good. I chatted up with the owner of the restaurant, RK, and we reminisced about good old technology days. He had recently left a tech company to start this restaurant. I told him that the location is very good for the lunch time crowd of CBD, especially the financial district.

The G-12 members surrounded me and tried to find out the rationale for my impending departure – some of them already knew, but several were quite surprised by my decision to leave what is the most popular “Indian City” outside of India – who would like to leave Singapore which combines the best of the West with the Eastern traditions ? Look at the orderliness and economic prosperity all around. What could have driven me to make such a decision as this, to move out of Singapore, not to go to a more advanced country, say the U.S., but back to India ?

Well, we spent considerable time discussing the reasons – after all, I am not the first guy to leave G-12 and Singapore back to India. There was, ofcourse, lots of talk about India, and its “living” challenges. Mumbai was a favourite city of G-12, as many members hail from that city, and are fond of Mumbai even today. I don’t know whether they would like to go back and live in Mumbai, but they found a soul who is prepared to do so, though the soul did not hail from Mumbai, neither has it ever lived in Mumbai. And, should I say, they were enthralled by its prospects ! And the soul is still thinking of the multifarious challenges that could face it in the very near future all the time !!

I have not learnt Hindi all this while, as there was no real need for the same, what with Hindi movie DVDs coming with excellent English subtitles – my only regret being that while my eyes were quick enough to read the subtitles, they were not robust enough to follow the actual scene being enacted as well – you get to see only partially and keep thinking about what you have missed ! I explained to the group that I engaged a Bhawan’s Global Indian International School’s Hindi Teacher for a rapid Hindi Learning Program for 12 hours, and just completed the same. They challenged me to speak a few words or sentences, but I demurred. It may not be a good idea after all.

Post dinner, there were a series of farewell speeches, spearheaded by the Vice-Chairman, SR, and eminently followed by others. There were some very touching speeches such as the one by RS, who expressed enormous confidence in my capabilities to weather new challenges. All the speeches and the gestures of goodwill touched my soul. Here’s a group of people who really do care about their team members’ welfare and growth.

I gave a fairly long speech of 20 minutes ; though I had prepared bullet points, I abandoned the same, as it was very clear that my extempore speeches are always better than my prepared ones. I made some good points in the speech such as deferring to one’s better half when it comes to making strategic decisions, as one’s head is always clouded with so many things and so is not clear always. When my wife found that I was dithering and beating the bush, she gave me a kick and then I realised I had better finish soon. It still took me another 5 minutes to wind up thanking one and all.

It was a great touching evening, and it was a fantastic feeling that one is liked and admired by a group of significant individuals who themselves are to be admired for their individual and collective strengths and character.

Thanks G-12 Friends and Families !

Some of the pics from the get-together as below for your enjoyment – please send me more for publishing.

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
27 May 2006
Singapore

Household Handywork

We decided to shift from Coronation area of Bukit Timah to our own apartment in Upper Bukit Timah in Singapore. This required far more planning than I had envisaged. The first thing I did was to make a booking with my favourite Ah Wah Removers (William) who has executed local moving for me before. He made a visit to my place last week, and within 10 minutes of examination, gave me a quote which was exactly the same figure he had given me 3 years ago when I moved from the Hillcrest area to Coronation side. Was I surprised, yes I was……to be honest. I tried to negotiate a bit, but he laughed it off.

So, I thought I had fixed the moving date……but, I thought I decided, and my wife disposed my thoughts ! Well, what about complete cleaning, full painting of the house in the colours that I would prefer, new lighting, additional power points, parquet floor grinding/varnishing, some new aircons, and additional maintenance work on the apartment to make it more livable, she asked. Wow, my budget zoomed rightaway to big numbers. Apart from that, my main worry was how to locate these multifarious contractors in a cost-effective manner and coordinate the activities before the actual moving date I had fixed with William. Ultimately, I had to postpone the moving by 4 days, and not only that, I had to work long hours to ensure all the activities listed out by my wife were completed in good shape.

Well, work is still going on, and I hope to complete all these activities by mid next week, and then effect the moving thereafter. I had to identify good contractors for all the areas of work and coordinate the work in a fine manner this past week. It was more hectic than it was at U21G !

I had to do a fair bit of shopping as well for several items – in fact, I went shopping twice for airconditioners for our living room and dining – it was very tough to select the right product for the area to be airconditioned – I have never done this before, and in the process learnt about BTU (British Thermal Units – don’t know why we are still using this measure in this modern world ?!), etc., Shopped in the Balestier area for chandeliers kind of hall lighting and other kinds of lighting with my wife…..it took a long time and drained couple of evenings.

The house painting started today and is expected to finish by tomorrow evening – it had better finish on time, since we have been invited for dinner by my good friend JBW from U21G.

That is for this week, folks, have a fantastic weekend, and will see some of you soon !

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
Singapore
18 May 2006

Fire Station Visit

Today was the first day after I left U21Global. Though it is a Saturday, it felt good to be occupied in some activity. As my colleagues and friends know, I have grown to be attached to my Blackberry too closely, and office was never too far from daily life even during weekends or late evenings. So, it felt a bit strange to be “out” of Blackberry and office-related phone calls, and I am sure I have to grow detached from next week onwards !

My son – we will call him Ash – had booked my time this morning to go and see a Firestation as part of the educational tour organised by his Montessori School. This is something I have rarely done, mostly outsourced to my dear wife all along. But this time I gladly accepted and proceeded to his school along with him at 8:15 AM ??? today. Yes it was too damn early for a Saturday, but never mind for a new experience !

I met with a lot of active dads, and there were three buses waiting to ferry the kids and dads to the Clementi Fire Station. I love these long buses with comfortable seating and excellent airconditioning. Ash joined hands with his class mates and created a ruckus on the bus. We were in Bus 3 which actually left first from the school. The boys rushed towards the back of the bus inside and climbed on the high seats, getting reprimanded continuously by the teachers in charge. I took several photos on the bus for fun, and the boys sometimes gave good poses. Take a look !