Telangana and good governance

I wonder what the real motive of anyone demanding separate smaller states is. True, the U.S. has 50 states and is reasonably well governed. But are we governing the best we can with available resources and technology-using it? I doubt it.

Good people at the top may actually do wonders for governance, rather than shrinking the size of the state. A Chandrababu Naidu made a lot of difference, Nitish Kumar seems to be doing the same. Even appointing a few good people can do the trick, as in Mr. Sridhar for the Delhi Metro project. The common man needs to see visible change for the better. Of course, some people would argue that they would rather be left alone by the government. But some interactions are inevitable. Registrations of marriage, birth, death, ration cards, driving licenses, passport issuance, roads, water and power are basic things every citizen must have. The unique identity card project is a good move, hope it succeeds. It is great that professionals like Nilekani are being sounded out and agreeing to get into public service. Let's hope there's more of it in 2010.

Woody Allen

Having seen a few of his movies, I was aware of the wacky sense of humour. So it was with some anticipation that I bought a book (Without Feathers)written by him recently. And he did not disappoint. The same wacko humour is evident on every page. It seems he can take off on anything. The book is a collection of writings about a myriad subjects. His movies are mainly about man-woman or man-God relationships, but this bunch is a lot more diverse.

Another comic from the U.S. who I like is Mel Brookes. His movies from the classic Silent Movie, to Spaceballs, History of the World Part 1, Blazing Saddles, and To Be or Not to Be are all uniformly good. His brand of humour is unique, though some people don't identify with it.

Beach Holiday at Shreewardhan

There is a beach called Shreewardhan. actually, it's a small town on the Maharshtra coast. We went there in a motley group of about 15 extended family members- ages 2 to 80. Had a fabulous time, doing almost nothing except eat, drink and sleep. If you exclude the swimming, the long walks, the meditation sessions including Kriya yoga and Zen meditation, and gup-shup about everything under the sun, from American politics to Indian sports.

Highly sporting dance and music sessions, dominated by the 2 year old (my niece) who danced non-stop for 2 and a half hours. The resort had a tree house, a hammock, charpoys, lots of trees, and no one else but us- I felt as if paradise had been relocated, for the three days I was there. Great place to chill- they even had chilled beer in the town.

Reunion at IIMB

Quarter Ke Baad. That was the brand name of the batch reunion, 25 years later. The campus was welcoming, and a few other batches were also there. We had a feedback session for IIMB with a prof., a session where we debated our own learnings from life, (zindagi kya hai?) and what we could still accomplish, a couple of side trips with no agenda, some good drinks, with music and singing, and a great feeling to carry back- along with the t shirts and caps to keep the memories alive.

The batch has a lot of entrepreneurs and quite a few professors (three or four of whom were there), three guys in the govt services (IAS and IPS), and a bunch of CEOs. Most looked happy with themselves, and a few even shared the secrets! We had been at it for a year almost, from choosing the name (it was a tossup between Pachchees Saal Baad and QKB), to setting up the reservations, mementoes, and the program. All's well that ends well. Looking forward to the next round-quarter ho ya half!

Significant Happenings

Asterix turned 50 recently. Millions of people across the world have enjoyed his adventures along with Obelix, the maker of the magic potion, Druid Getafix and so on. The names of the characters are great entertainment in themselves. I still carry around a particular one called Obelix and Co. which is a great take off on management- in particular, advertising and marketing. There is a smart alec who gets the Gauls addicted to making money by selling menhirs (he buys them himself)and succeeds in corrupting them. Great read for an MBA.

The bard Cacophonix is another briliant creation. We come across equivalent characters in real life so often, that he is easy to relate to. The caricature of Romans (particularly Julius Caesar)is hilarious, and should be compulsory reading for all would-be dictators.

Paul Samuelson, author of a great text book on Economics, passed away. I read his book during my MBA and it was the first one on Economics that I enjoyed reading.

The Telangana crisis set me thinking. I was born in Andhra (undivided), so will I have an identity crisis if that changes to Telangana? What is the economic rationale for a new stste to be formed? Will the reorganisation help the common man in any significant way?

Idlis and Orchids

Read a book called Idlis, Orchids and Willpower, written by Mr. Vithal Kamat who started the eco-friendly Orchid Hotel close to Mumbai airport. He is also from the family that runs Samrat and a couple of other restaurants in Mumbai. What I found interesting is that it is a service business (because I teach Services marketing), and a non-IT service business (because we have seen a lot written about them. Also, he has won several global awards for the environment-friendly ideas he has used in The Orchid.

In doing all this, he has drawn inspiration from a very traditional father and a home-maker mother. Also, he does not mince words about his siblings, and how family squabbles erupted at some points. Interesting style of writing too, not very sophisticated but appears to be straight from the heart. Interesting read for someone interested in biographies of entrepreneurs.

Coincidences

I happened to meet a student I had taught in 1991 while I worked at XIM. He came to the IMT Nagpur campus for recruiting our students. I do run into people from the past most unexpectedly. Another coincidence happened at a relative's place. I was trying to explain to a visitor about what IMT is and what I do there. To my surprise, he turned out to be a vendor of some services to our institute. A couple of days later, he was in my office discussing business.

An important visitor, the global head of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) visited the campus today. He lives in Silicon Valley, USA, and shared lots of experiences with students. He said from personal experience that India is now much more entrepreneur-friendly than it was in the days of Infosys starting up. We are hoping to do some joint events with TiE in future, through a student group called Kushagra, formed specifically by people who want to become entrepreneurs at some point.