India Shining???

Well that was the NDA’s tag line during 2004 polls. Now that the next episode is just around the corner, I am spending a few lines on the issue.. Well India IS shining with respect to some areas, and still rusting in many more. One of those rusty corners is Product based Industries. A friend of mine recently bought one of those chinese mobiles for Rs 4500. I almost fainted looking at the list of features it had: A huge maybe 3.0 inch 262000 color touch screen, 2.0 MP camera, FM, Music player, iPhone like menu, and all the basic stuff- expandable memory, but the most important thing: It had TV.. Yes.. I am serious, Came with a pretty compact (also wonderfully built) antenna.. pull it out and WELL… there was good old DD in better than TV clarity. Agreed, DD is hopeless for entertainment, but you can watch a cricket telecast on it… (Govt having forced the private channels to share the telecast).. and an odd movie.. Just imagine flaunting one of those, forget walkman… forget live scores,  The point is, for the same price, all you get in Nokia, Moto or Sony is a vga camera, 65k screen a crap looking phone (in front of the chinese that is….) Hey one more thing, it also accommodates 2 sims. The call lists, network level everything is separate. Even has dedicated keys for sim1 & 2. My friend liked this feature the best, he’s staying away from home-One sim with low std plan for calling home, other with good local tariff.

It got me thinking… There aren’t many companies in India which manufacture products which are world class, giving those big MNCs a run for their money. The impact of this is huge…Why else do we have to depend on others for our defense supplies, even 50 years after independence, when countries like Korea, Japan, having been ruined completely.. are up there at the apex. Why else, the fastest train in the country cannot cross 85mph, having had the first train run way back in 1853. Why isn’t there an Indian Google or MS or Yahoo, considering the scores of people make their living with computers. The list is long, but all is not covered by rust.

Enough of whining, lets look at the shine: How many of us know that the single reason Chinese automobile manufacturers aren’t daring to enter Indian market, is… TATA.. Aye.. they are scared of the low cost, quality automobiles of the Tata. They along with Mahindras have made some world class cars, There’s the ISRO, having set a world record by launching 10 satellites at one go. There’s HAL, having joined the elite with the Tejas. There’s Titan, having ruined the sleep of Timex in India, is making its mark in eye care. There’s Bajaj, coming up with newer technology in its every new bike. There’s HCL, having products on par with the Hps, Sonys and others… All in all… taking India to the world.. as an Aditya Birla ad says…

Well, All I can say is, we may be slow, but guys… watch out!!

India and Names..

India has always been assosciated with interesting(also multiple) names. Starting with the name of the country itself, I dont think any other country has so many names.. Hindustan, India, Bharat…. Indians seem to have an obsession with names, starting from ages ago itself. Why else will the hindu gods have so many names, just try and imagine yourself in that position… you will go crazy with just 5 names.. poor gods. Each one of them have hundreds,some even thousands…, just think about it.. in light of the recent announcement in Delhi about ID proof for every1.. Name is to identify some one or something. What is the need for multiple names for a single god? As it is there are thousands of them.. with enough of temples.. and there’s the belief that you get loads of ‘punya’ by reciting all those names.. Of course the god’ll pay.. he needs some1 to remind him of all his names..

You can get the taste of this naming frenzy by just looking around in any busy street. Every shop, from the hotel to the small paan shop, from the stationary shop to the cobbler kiosk..have names. I have always wondered about it, as no one else other than the owner himself will notice the shop name.. Anyways these names’ll be almost hidden in the huge hoardings of the brands in the shop. Also am puzzled on the logic with which they name… just think.. Sri Raghavendra mutton stall, Gandhi wine shop… The next one.. is absolutely heights… naming their vehicles. People proudly stick the names of their kids, loved ones, gods.. that too in photo reflective materials. Auto rickshaws go a step further and write ‘I love you ____’ on their rear ends… Some even post a ‘thanks to’… I really cant imagine who would be interested in knowing about someone’s kids, whom he loves..or whatever when they are standing at a traffic signal.

On a positive note.. Indians also come up with the most innovative and wonderful names. Think of Infosys.. it definitely rates as one of the best names. Who else can come up with all those millions of names for the gods which even today serves as a database, when naming babies.

As a parting note.. Just think of all the nicknames for an NRI with the name… “Jalakridasamasakta gopivastrapaharakaswami”…