Music: The Romance of Bootlegged Audio-Cassettes

A couple of years ago, as a new blogger, I wrote a paean to the long-playing record (LP). I still believe that a true music connoisseur will always prefer listening to LPs than to compact discs (CDs). CDs provide crystal-clear sound, but sound soulless. LPs on the other hand can be temperamental and are high-maintenance. Only someone who truly loves music will take the trouble of owning, maintaining and playing LPs. The sound of an LP is so rich and natural. LPs have personalities of their own. CDs do not.

Besides, perfection is not always everything it is cracked up to be, anyway. A little bit of imperfection always makes anything more interesting. Please read my blog on the long-playing record to find out more about that particular subject.

Today, while surfing the Internet, I stumbled across an astonishingly powerful cover version of “Almost Cut My Hair”; a classic 1969 song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY). Listening to it brought back a flood of memories, of youth and life in college in India, when the most pressing concern we had was whether we had enough money to buy a quarter of rum. I still remember the beat-up old CSNY LP (which contained this song) that a friend of mine loaned me in 1984. I rushed to dub the LP onto a Sony audio-cassette.

Those were innocent, fun-filled days when my friends and I would gather at my home to listen to bootlegged audio-cassettes. Much of the music I still listen to today I first heard on an audio-cassette. I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I first listened to the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” with its beautiful violin solo. I borrowed a bootleg cassette of the “Who’s Next” album from a friend. He was very reluctant to loan it to me. I don’t blame him. I would have been reluctant too.
I used to take a bus back from my college in Matunga to my home in Bandra. I wasted no time and started listening to the cassette the moment I got onto the bus. I had a brand-new Walkman, gifted to me by my uncle who lived in the US. This was 1984, and owning a Walkman in India back then was a big deal. I remember playing “Baba O’Riley” on the Walkman in the bus, and as it wound its way through the slum of Dharavi, the violin solo at the end of the song came through the headphones. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I had never heard anything so beautiful, so immediate. I wanted to grab hold of the passenger sitting next to me and say “Listen to this!”

I had many enjoyable evenings (and afternoons) listening to bootlegged audio-cassettes of “Who’s Next”. The audio-cassette had an audible hiss and eventually wore out. When this happened the spool would get entangled in the tape recorder, and I would painstakingly unspool it and make sure the tape did not break. I was a pretty good “cassette surgeon”. But bootlegged audio-cassettes were all that broke college students could afford back in those days. Besides, it wasn’t easy to get original albums of the music I wanted to listen to, since these albums were simply not available in India at the time. Therefore, bootlegged cassettes were the only way to go.

This was how it worked. Someone you knew usually knew somebody who had an elder brother who owned the Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” LP. Since you were a big fan of Eric Clapton and the song “Sunshine of Your Love”, you made it a point to get know the somebody in question. Over tea and a cigarette at the corner tea-shop, you begged and pleaded with him to speak to his elder brother and ask him to loan you his copy of the “Disraeli Gears” LP for just a day. You impressed upon him how careful you were with other people’s things, especially other people’s LPs (this was true).

After much coaxing, you got the LP you wanted. Then you ran home and promptly taped it on the best Sony audio-cassette you had, and invited all your friends to drop by and have a listen. I was always the “music guy” back in college, which made me pretty popular. Some of the best friends I made were at these music listening sessions we had. I turned on a lot of people to rock and jazz music. I often wonder what happened to all of those people, and whether they still listen to “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Almost Cut My Hair”.

The last time I was in the US, I met an old buddy of mine from the 1980s who now lives there. He is wealthy, married and has a family; he is a poster-child for the successful Indian immigrant. He picked me up from the airport. While we were driving back to his home, he turned on the radio, and the Who song “The Seeker” came on. He turned to me and said; “I first heard this at your place more than twenty years ago”. Then we both proceeded to sing the lyrics of the song at the top of our lungs all the way home. For a few moments, the years melted away and we were teenagers again.

The next time I get home, I will try and find the old bootlegged cassettes of “Sunshine of Your Love” and “More Than A Feeling” and play them. I now own these albums on CD, but listening to music on CD just doesn’t give me the same thrill.

Those old carefree days are gone forever. But maybe those memories can be recaptured for just a little while when I listen to those old bootlegged cassettes. Baba O’Riley still lives (fans of the Who will know what I am talking about).

India: An Economic Prediction

This is probably the first blog where I am making an economic prediction. Let me start by saying I am not a financial expert. Many (including me) will say that there are thousands of people far more qualified than me when it comes to predicting India’s GDP and stock market growth. And all of them will be right. I am only an amateur economist. I do not have a PhD, and I do not have the expertise to run complicated mathematical models of economic data. Nevertheless, I will persevere in making my own predictions, because as everyone knows, economics is the “dismal science”, and my guess is as good as anybody else’s.

So here goes. India’s GDP grew at a very healthy 7.9% last quarter, on the back of 6.1% for the quarter before that. We are talking real (inflation-adjusted) growth here, not nominal growth. Therefore, India’s real GDP growth for the six months of this financial year stands at 7%. Considering the GDP growth rates in the rest of the world at the moment, 7% is very healthy indeed. In addition, India’s stock markets have risen over 80% in this calendar year alone.

The key question is: will this GDP and stock market growth continue over the next six months?

Some pundits are now saying that the recession is over as far as India is concerned, and the time has come again for celebration. Let the good times roll! I suggest caution, for the reasons outlined below.

First, let us look at the stock markets. In business school, one is taught to look at “fundamental value” of any stock before buying it. Is the Indian stock market currently overvalued, undervalued or correctly valued? I would say that it is overvalued at the moment. It is not domestic investors who are flooding the Indian stock markets with money, but American fund houses and investors. Why American investors? Because the rate of borrowing in the US is ridiculously low right now, thanks to the recession.

Imagine if you could borrow money at 2% and get a return of 20% on that money. You would make a killing. That is precisely what is happening right now. Interest rates in the US are at artificially low levels right now, and these low rates are not sustainable. Sometime in the next six months, US interest rates will rise, as the economy comes out of a painful recession. The US Fed will then start concentrating on controlling inflation, and they will do this by raising interest rates. Also, investors (especially the Chinese) are beginning to get nervous about the returns they are getting on their US investments (Treasury bonds). The Chinese want higher returns on the US $ 1 trillion they have invested in US Treasury bonds. If they don’t get it, they may pull out some of their money and invest it elsewhere. So sooner rather than later, the US Federal Reserve is going to hike interest rates.
When that happens, the plug will be pulled on the Indian stock markets, as the easy money dries up. So, Indian stock prices will fall. I predict that this will happen in the first quarter of 2010.

Second, let us look at India’s GDP growth. Most of the stimulus in the Indian economy today is being created by the government through its borrowing and demand creation schemes. The largest of these is the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission which has put billions of dollars into the pockets of India’s millions of under-performing government bureaucrats. This has stimulated consumer demand which in turn, has increased demand for goods and services, which has contributed to 7.9% GDP growth in the last quarter. Is this sustainable for much longer?

The answer is no. Unless the Indian private sector now steps in and starts borrowing and expanding capacity rapidly, GDP growth will stall. The private sector expanded capacity rapidly between 2004 and 2008, and they feel that at the moment, there is a surplus capacity of goods and services in the system. Unless the private sector starts investing, job and money creation will not happen and domestic demand and GDP will not grow.

When do I expect this (increased private sector investment) to happen? Not before the last quarter of 2010. By then, the recession should have played itself out and they should feel confident enough.

The last and probably most important factor influencing India’s GDP growth is inflation. The government proudly trumpets the fact that Wholesale Price Inflation is below 2%. This claim is ludicrous. Food inflation in India currently stands at 18%, thanks to a poor monsoon and harvest last year. In a country where spending on food is the highest part of the household budget (for at least 50% of the population), this is alarming.

There is no reason to assume that food inflation will come down in the near future. There is much the government can do to alleviate it in terms of optimizing the food supply chain “from farm to fork”, but so far, we have only heard lots of talk on this front, and no action.


In addition, as the world economy recovers the price of petroleum will start increasing again. Combine increasing petroleum prices with already rampant food inflation, and you have all the ingredients for high inflation levels for the first half of 2010. High inflation means lower savings and lower real GDP growth.
There is much the Indian government can do to improve the situation; such as rapid disinvestment of Public Sector Units (PSUs), increased spending on infrastructure, improving the food supply chain to reduce waste and lower costs, etc. But the government’s record on making and rapidly implementing firm policy decisions is poor, and unlikely to improve anytime soon.

So what is my final prediction?

The stock markets will come down by 15% to 20% in the first half of 2010. Real (Consumer Price) inflation will go up to between 8% and 10%. Real GDP growth will come down for the first half of the year – to about 5% to 5.5%.

We will see light at the end of the tunnel during the second half of 2010, when borrowing by the private sector will start increasing (even though it will be at higher interest rates). This will spur capacity expansion and job creation and a rise in the stock markets and GDP growth. If we have a good monsoon in 2010, we should end with GDP growth of about 7 to 7.5% for the year ending March 31, 2011, on the back of a strong economic performance in the second half of that fiscal year.

Of course, all of what I have just said could be completely inaccurate and things may in fact, turn out just the opposite. But this is my prediction! Your comments (including any mistakes I may have made in my assumptions in this blog) are welcome.

India: Bombay Meri Jaan

Bombay Meri Jaan (which in English roughly means “Bombay, My Life” or “Bombay My Love”) is a very famous old Bollywood song from 1956. The song is sung by a character who is a petty thief, and he sings about how tough life can be in this City of Dreams, this modern-day Babylon – a city where millions of people come with stars in their eyes and the hope of making it big.

I am attaching the youtube link to the song. Most Indians would know and love this song. If you haven’t seen this video, I recommend you watch it. It has English sub-titles for those who do not speak Hindi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6INOamqU7xs

Fifty three years after this song was written, Bombay has lost much of its luster, though millions of people still come here from thousands of miles away in India’s hinterlands, seeking a livelihood and a respite from the desperate poverty in their villages. This huge migration of people has caused the city’s population to swell to twenty million, and put a huge strain on the city’s infrastructure which was designed to cater to five million inhabitants.

65% of the city’s population now lives in slums. The overcrowding in the city has also started causing tensions between “locals” and “outsiders”. India’s political parties, who never miss a trick, have started encouraging and exploiting these divisions for votes. Still, Bombay is the only truly “Indian” city in the country, with every single one of India’s states represented (and probably every district as well).

Citizens of Bombay are famed for its toughness. They are known for their intelligence, street-smarts, sass, tolerance, hardiness and sense of humor. It could hardly be otherwise. People live in tiny, one bedroom apartments in the far-flung suburbs, and often commute one hundred kilometers a day or more, packed like sardines in sweltering train compartments. You need all of the qualities mentioned above to cope.

You may not like Bombay; it is no longer a beautiful city. But you cannot deny that the city has a character and personality of its own, and how many cities of the world can you say that about?

I no longer live in Bombay, mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, I am not as young as I used to be. Pretty much everybody who works in Bombay is a workaholic. No matter how smart you are or how hard you work, there is always someone younger and smarter snapping at your heels. As I settle into comfortable middle age, my competitive spirit doesn’t burn as brightly as it did ten years ago. Secondly, Bombay is a chain of islands, and since there is no room for growth, the price of residential real estate is astronomical. A decent 1,000 square foot apartment in the area I grew up in costs in the region of US $ 400,000. I am not willing to mortgage my life to buy an apartment in a city that is already way too crowded, polluted and noisy.

But Bombay is still the city I was born in, the city I grew up in, the city that shaped the man I became. And there will be many others just like me; people who escaped Bombay to live in less stressful places. But ask them how they feel when they see a picture of Victoria Terminus (as in the “Bombay Meri Jaan” video), or Marine Drive or the Gateway of India, and wherever they may live, and however long it has been since they last saw Bombay, chances are they will look at the pictures and think “home!!”.

There is so much more I could say about Bombay, but for that, I would have to write a novel. So I will cease and desist!

Tomorrow (November 26th) marks the first anniversary of the terrible terrorist attacks on Bombay. This is my salute to everyone who lives in Bombay. People like the accountant I knew in one of my workplaces many years ago; a woman who lived in Kalyan and commuted every morning by train to Fort (a distance of about sixty kilometers one-way). A woman who woke up at 5 am every morning to cook breakfast for her family, feed and dress her kids for school and then come to work. A woman who returned home only by 10 pm every night, to cook dinner and then help her kids with their homework. She was super-efficient at work too, and accomplished more in a day than most people do in a week. I was in awe of her. And Bombay is full of millions of men and women like her.

So I would like to dedicate this blog to her and the millions of other hardworking residents of Bombay, that western-most of India’s cities. You deserve so much better.

India: The Many Indias

Having lived overseas for more than half of my adult life, I have often been asked the question “What is India like?” I always find this question difficult to answer, because India, unlike many other countries in the world, is very difficult to categorize.

There is nothing homogenous or uniform about India. When people want to categorize India, I often tell them to think of India as Europe – if Europe had been a single nation. India has fifteen (or is it sixteen) different languages (each with its own unique script), thousands of dialects, and dozens of ethnic groups. Culturally, ethnically and linguistically, Hungary and Iceland have more in common than Tamil Nadu (a South Indian state) and Uttar Pradesh (a North Indian state). Western India is more economically prosperous than Eastern India, Southern India is better educated than Northern India, and then of course, there are the “seven sisters”, India’s North-eastern states, beautiful but distant, with warm and hospitable people but populated by separatist groups. Culturally, the North-eastern states have more in common with Tibet and Myanmar than India.

This same diversity applies to India’s urban and rural areas. Urban India has its face to the West, and sophisticated Indian cities have some of the finest restaurants, entertainment and nightlife on offer anywhere in the world. Parts of rural India on the other hand (especially in economically backward Northern and Eastern India) are as backward and poor as sub-Saharan Africa. Real estate prices in Mumbai and Delhi are among the highest in the world; on par with cities like Tokyo and New York. An Indian corporate magnate recently constructed one of the most expensive buildings in the world, and converted it into his residence. He is among the fifty richest men in the world, I think. Yet, barely a hundred kilometers from where he lives is one of India’s poorest districts, where malnutrition and hunger cast a dark shadow on the lives of the rural poor.

Is India a rich country? Yes. Is India a poor country? Yes. Are primary education standards in rural India abysmal? Yes. Does India have some of the finest universities and scientific research institutions in the world? Yes. Is a large percentage of the Indian population illiterate? Yes. Does India have the largest English speaking population in the world? Yes. Is India’s government venal, corrupt and inefficient? Yes. Does India have some of the best-run private sector companies in the world? Yes. Does caste and religious discrimination still exist? Yes. Are some of India’s most distinguished people (including the country’s Chief Justice as well as former President) from these communities? Yes. Does religious bigotry exist in India? Yes. Are all religions equal under the law in India? Yes. Is India one of the most densely populated countries in the world? Yes. Are parts of India among the most sparsely populated places on the planet? Yes. Is India a hot country? Yes. Is India a cold country? Yes.

You see how difficult it is to categorize the place. All this diversity causes huge problems that would daunt many nations. Yet somehow India endures. I would like to say that it thrives, but that would be too strong a word to use. It is my fervent hope that India can and does start thriving soon. In school, we were taught that India meant “unity in diversity”. That cherished idea is still alive and well, despite many organized attempts to kill it. India can and should thrive, because no other country in the world is as diverse, as unique and as flawed. But this diversity also means unlimited potential; a latent ability to show the rest of the world how so many different cultures, races, ethnicities and religions can co-exist and prosper. It is an honor for me to call myself Indian. To paraphrase Nobel Prize winning Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, may India thrive and “into that heaven of freedom, My Father, may my country awake”.

Environment: Are You An Environmentalist Yet?

Many years ago, when I was a university student in the U.S., I had a Native American friend from the Shoshone tribe. Like me, he was getting a degree in Business Administration. We became good friends, and one year during Thanksgiving, he even took me up to an American Indian reservation where his family lived. I do not know of too many Asian Indians who have visited American Indian reservations. But that visit (or what I remember of it after so many years), will have to be the subject of another blog.

I was curious as to how Native American tribes viewed the American Gold Rush, the “discovery” of America and the West by people from Europe, and their view of American history. While talking about land ownership rights, my friend said something that has stayed with me all these years later: “Native Americans do not believe that people own the land they live on. Instead, we believe that the land owns us. We are only temporary custodians of the land we live on, and it is our responsibility to take care of it and nurture it for future generations”. I thought that this was one of the most profound things I had ever heard.

As a citizen of one of the most densely populated countries on earth, I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by overpopulation, greed and environmental degradation. Thirty years ago, Bombay (Mumbai) was still a scenic city, with the sea on one side and green, rolling hills on the other. The population of the city in the late 1970s was about eight million people. Today, thirty years on, all the open spaces are gone, filled with buildings or slums. The population has risen to twenty million people, though the infrastructure of the city (roads, public transport, electricity, water supply) was designed to cater to only about five million people. The beloved city of my youth is gone, forever.

When I go up to the Himalayas every year, I am distressed by the increasing vehicular pollution, the sprouting of ugly concrete houses on the hillsides, and the trash generated by uncaring tourists. It is infuriating to watch city tourists in their gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles defile the calm of the mountains, with their blaring Indi-pop music and their amazing capacity to generate mounds of garbage. The least they can do is to respect the sanctity of their beautiful surroundings, but I guess that is too much to ask for.

I usually head out into the wilderness very quickly to soothe my soul. The fewer the people I have to deal with, the better. Luckily, there is a growing awareness of the environment in India’s Himalayas, as locals also realize the economic value of conservation of trees, as well as the value of preserving and replenishing traditional sources of fresh water such as springs, etc. But India’s burgeoning population means that environmental conservation is always a challenging task, as the competition for finite sources of water and energy (such as firewood) intensifies with each passing year. There is much that the government can do in terms of environmental awareness and education, but then there is much that the government can do in all spheres of public life which sadly isn’t being done.

The Native American tribes were among the world’s first environmentalists because they revered the land they lived on, and took care of it. They learned to live in harmony with nature. There is much that we could learn from them. In this day and age, as global warming and climate change begins to manifest itself, there are simple things we could do to stave off a catastrophe. Plant and care for trees where possible, use public transportation where safe, clean and efficient public transportation options are available, judiciously use electricity and water – to name a few. If we don’t, the land we live on will continue to exist (in some form), while we will become extinct as a species. The pertinent question to be asked therefore is not are you an environmentalist, but are you an environmentalist yet? Because if you do not care for the land you live on, pretty soon it will not care about you. And that would be the end of the world as we know it.

Home: A Place Where Birds Nest

As someone who has spent more than half his adult life living away from home, every piece of news and information about it is valuable and precious. I make it a point to read all the latest political, economic and sports news about India very regularly. I incessantly e-mail friends to find out what is happening back home. Even the most seemingly trivial piece of information is most welcome.

Which is why I was thrilled to learn that a family of songbirds has made a nest in our little terrace garden back in Pune, India. There is nothing grand or magnificent about our Pune home. It is a spacious, bright two-bedroom apartment in one of the nicer parts of the city, surrounded by lots of trees. There is plenty of natural light that streams through the house. The main attraction of the place is the little terrace garden we have, which is being looked after (quite well, it seems) by our maid. One of the distinguishing features of the place is the continuous sound of birdsong, in part due to the little lawn we have. Birds of many varieties come by, looking for worms on the lawn. I have spent many a lazy afternoon, watching them as they visited the lawn. Once they figured out that this unemployed guy wasn’t a threat, they became completely unafraid of me.

Apparently, a family of songbirds have taken a fancy to one of the bamboo trees we have in the garden, and built a nest there. I like to grandly call it the “bamboo grove”, but in fact, it is just four bamboo trees, that we planted last year and which have now grown to over seven feet tall.

We spent a lot of time last year looking for a nice home. I have a marked tendency to over-analyze, and would probably still be searching for the appropriate home if it hadn’t been for Deepali. She took one look at the open space that eventually became the terrace garden and decided that this was the place she wanted to live in.

It was a great decision in hindsight. Both of us love the place. We have made some good friends in the neighbourhood. When we do live there (which is not very often lately), we often have friends over. People we know seem to love the place as well. I flatter myself, but I do believe that the place gives off a relaxed, positive, cheerful vibe that attracts visitors (including feathered ones).

It is great to know that a family of songbirds has found our home a fit enough place to raise a family. Home after all, is where birds come to nest, isn’t it?

Travel: Old Is Nothing

Deepali and I just returned from what is billed as the most spectacular train ride in the world; the Whistler Mountaineer from the city of Vancouver, Canada to Whistler, a ski resort in British Columbia. I haven’t been on all the train rides in the world, but I can well believe this claim. No other railway in the world takes you up through the spectacular British Columbia coast, with the sea on one side and evergreen forests, gushing white-water rivers and snow-capped mountains on the other. These areas are prime breeding grounds for killer whales, bears (grizzlies and black bears), salmon and bald eagles. We rode past Howe Sound, which is the southernmost fjord (glacier-carved sea inlet) in North America, through the hamlet of Squamish, considered the recreation and outdoors capital of Canada and up into the ski resort of Whistler.

I will be posting photos soon. Photos of course do not do justice to the awe-inspiring beauty of this train ride. I now have to admit that in my book, British Columbia is right up there with the Himalayas as the most beautiful place in the world. While the mountains here are lower, one also gets a view of the ocean and fjords at the same time.

We had a memorable ride on the Whistler Mountaineer. The train had a “Glacier Dome” compartment, one that was completely encased in glass and offered a 360 degree view of the natural beauty on offer. Since we paid an arm and leg for the trip, we were pampered with local Okanagan Valley wine, smoked salmon sandwiches, Glenfiddich scotch whiskey and lemon tarts. I must say it was a dining experience like no other.

What astonished me was the number of senior citizens on board the train. At least 80% of the travellers on the train were aged 65 and above. Many of them were in their 70s and a few of them were in their 80s. Older people in the West are so active and still have so much zest for life. I find that admirable. Here in Vancouver, the number of older runners and joggers outnumber their younger counterparts. I consider myself quite fit, but some of these elderly athletes put me to shame.

It is heartening to see so many senior citizens going mobile. But it is not surprising, considering the facilities that are always available for them, right from wheelchairs, clean and easily accessible toilets and medical staff. It is a pity that such facilities are not easily available in most places in India. Senior citizens often have worked a lifetime and have cash to spend, and would be an ideal market segment for tourism. Unfortunately, despite the so-called “Incredible India” tourism campaign mounted by the Indian government in the last few years, very little has changed on the ground as far as travel is concerned. Buildings are not easy to access for those who are disabled or elderly, medical care in smaller cities is not good and public toilets in India are few and far between (and indescribably filthy when you do find them).

India, along with the United States of America, has the most diverse natural attractions on offer – right from snow-capped mountains to beaches to deserts. We also have some of the most historic tourist sites in the world, from the Taj Mahal to the ruins of Hampi and so many forts, palaces and castles. We have an ancient civilization that rivals Rome, Greece, China and Persia. But we get so few international tourists, and even fewer elderly tourists.

We need those tourist dollars. The money could be spent to provide livelihoods to millions of people and give a major boost to the rural economy that would be a godsend in places where employment options are few. A carefully crafted and delivered tourism strategy would lift millions out of poverty. But is anyone in the government listening?

Coming back to those senior tourists I saw on the train, I salute them and their enthusiasm for life. Getting old doesn’t mean that one is waiting to die. The whole world is out there, waiting to be explored. And what better time to do it than when one is retired, the kids are independent and one has both time as well as money to spare? To paraphrase the punch-line from a running shoe commercial; “Old is nothing”

Up On Crank’s Ridge: Where It’s Always 1969

Memory is a funny thing. There are some places one has visited that bring back fond memories. Then there are a few places one has visited that one would rather forget. Lastly, there is a special category of places where one feels like one has somehow gone back in time. This blog is about a place that is as much a geographical location as it is a state of mind. I blogged about it in passing a couple of years ago, but this particular blog is fondly dedicated to Crank’s Ridge, the old hippie hangout tucked away in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, where it always feels like 1969.

Every time I go back there (and I try and go back every year), the old hippie song “Something In the Air” starts playing in my head. Crank’s Ridge, six kilometres above the Himalayan town of Almora in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, is known by several names; Kasar Devi (the traditional name), Crank’s Ridge (a tribute to the assortment of famous eccentrics from across the world who have lived there) and Hippie Hill (from the time in the 1970s when it became a haven for hippies and mystics).

There is something special about Crank’s Ridge. Apart from some of the best Himalayan views anywhere in the world, there is something about the quality of the air here – a sort of golden, hazy sepia-tinted glow that I have never seen anywhere else in the world. Standing by the side of the single lane tarred road that passes through the ridge, one can see the Himalayalan foothills roll away into the distance, and beyond them, three hundred kilometres of the mightiest mountain range in the world, with the summit of the 25,600 foot Nanda Devi Peak front and center. The view is breathtaking, and I guarantee that no matter how jaded a traveller you are, it will leave you speechless. The great Himalayas shimmering in the distance, sunlight glinting on a butterfly's wing, rolling meadows and tall, evergreen trees. As a nature lover, you could not ask for anything more.

Yet Crank’s Ridge is not just about astonishing natural beauty. It has a reputation for being a spiritual “power centre” and has played host to a number of famous (and occasionally eccentric visitors). This is as good a place as any to mention some of them. The first was Indian mystic Swami Vivekananda who lived and meditated at the Kasar Devi temple up on the ridge back in the 1890s. In the 1920s, it became a haven for Buddhist mystics, famous artists and poets. D.H. Lawrence spent two summers living here as did artist Earl Brewster, Buddhist scholars Alfred Sorensen (a.k.a Sunyata Baba) and Lama Govinda (a.k.a. Ernst Hoffman). Lama Govinda was the world’s foremost authority on Tibetan Buddhism. Indian Nobel Prize poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Uday Shankar, dancer Zohra Sehgal and sitarist Ravi Shankar also lived here in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, this remarkable and remote place became a haven for beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg and future hippie guru Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary lived here for several years in the 1950s and wrote part of the book “The Psychedelic Experience” here. But the true boom in Western visitors came in the 1960s and 1970s. Crank’s Ridge is supposed to be a deeply spiritual place. The marijuana plant also grows rather liberally on the lower slopes of the ridge, which is also a big draw for many. The 1970s saw many celebrity visitors – including Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan and George Harrison. There are unconfirmed rumours that all of the Beatles may have made it here back in 1968 or 1969. This is very possible, since they spent substantial amounts of time in Rishikesh, on the other side of the mountains. Also, the Beatles were very good friends with Timothy Leary, who lived on Crank’s Ridge.

Western tourists came in droves in the 1970s, as many people (not all hippies) came up to Crank’s Ridge as part of their spiritual search. Apart from the hippies, there were many distinguished visitors as well. Dr. Robert Thurman, noted Buddhist scholar, professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and father of actress Uma Thurman came and spent a summer on Crank’s Ridge in 1971 to write his thesis and study with his guru Lama Govinda. Thurman brought his family with him, so the infant Uma Thurman also probably lived here!

Another distinguished visitor was Dena Kaye, the daughter of Hollywood actor and star Danny Kaye. She opened a state-of-the-art hospital in this beautiful rural part of India, named the Dena Hospital. The Dena Hospital is still very much in existence, and is staffed by doctors from Mumbai and Delhi. The last time my parents visited the area a few years ago, they were astonished to find that some of the doctors at the hospital were their students from the G.S. Medical College in Mumbai (Bombay).

Much has changed in the last thirty years I have been visiting Crank’s Ridge. In the 1970s, there was only a dirt track that wound its way up through forests of oak and pine, from the town of Almora a thousand feet below. There were very few houses, no electricity and almost no tourists, except for the visiting hippies who had “freak-outs” and dances on summer nights.

Today, there is a tarred road, several expensive hotels and a four-star resort that have come up there, offering everything from local treks to exotic Indian Ayurvedic massages and power yoga. There also is a settlement of Tibetans who live here and a serene Buddhist monastery. The tiny local restaurants now offer pizza and burgers as part of their menu. There are several Internet cafes, and the locals rent out their village homes to visiting Western tourists in search of nirvana. There are a couple of hundred aging Western tourists who came here in the 1970s and decided to live here permanently. There is also a settlement of Israeli kids, who come here to relax and unwind after serving their time in the military back home.

But the aura of the place remains unchanged. The Himalayas still watch over the little town, silent yet awe-inspiring sentinels. And every time I visit, I still walk up to the top of the windswept ridge, where Swami Vivekananda meditated a hundred and twenty years ago, where one can still hear the eloquent roar of the blessed mountain silences.

For me, Crank’s Ridge still conjures up visions of flaxen-haired hippies in tie-dyed clothes dancing joyously in the meadows to the strains of “Something in the Air”. To quote the lyrics of the song:

“Call out the instigators
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right
We have got to get it together now”

I was never a hippie. The whole hippie thing always seemed too naïve and well-intentioned to work. The promised revolution came and went and very little in the world changed. But somehow, up on Crank’s Ridge, everybody pitches in and everyone seems happy. So call out the instigators, because the revolution is here and I am going back up to Crank’s Ridge where it still feels like 1969.

Care to join me?

Adaptability

“You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes,
You just might find
You get what you need”
- Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (1969)

I often ask myself the question: Why is it that all things being equal, some people succeed and others fail? There are of course, many unknowns that contribute to individual success and happiness – luck, determination and ambition are a few that come to mind. Also, some people are naturally gifted or more intelligent than the rest of us. But the operative words in the question posed above are “all things being equal”.

By success and happiness, I do not necessarily mean economic wealth, though that is important. I mean contentment, a sense of modest achievement, a few friends, basic levels of comfort. In the course of a moderately interesting life, I have travelled extensively and met many different types of people. I have met reasonably intelligent and talented people who are happy. I have also met exceptionally intelligent and talented people who are miserable. I have come to the conclusion that true happiness is fleeting and momentary, and not a permanent state of being. There is no “happily ever after”, only the present. And the present keeps changing, often in unpleasant ways. Those who stuck in the past or dreaming about the future are doomed to remain unhappy.

Happiness is based on the ability to adapt to an uncertain and rapidly changing world around us. Like an American friend once said to me: “Never get too comfortable with any particular situation, because life will throw you a curve-ball when you least expect it”. The one thing about life that is certain is its uncertainty and fragility. The moment you start taking any particular situation or person for granted, the rug suddenly gets pulled out from under your feet, and you are right back to Square One.

Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” principle is as applicable to individuals as it is to entire species. The happiest people I know are the ones that are able to rapidly adapt themselves to changing situations. This means realizing that life and people can never be perfect. To expect a given situation or person to be perfect is setting yourself up for disaster. When I was younger, I was frequently disappointed when things did not work out like I had envisioned them. I spent considerable periods of time trying to figure out why things didn’t work out exactly as I had planned and hoped for, and was frequently unhappy.

Nowadays, I realize that while planning, hard work and sincerity are a good start, it is important to be able to land on your feet when things don’t work out like you want them to. That is the secret to true happiness. Because very often, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. And smart people learn to be happy by adapting to changing circumstances, while realizing that getting what you want just doesn’t happen sometimes. There will always be the enviable few, the beautiful people, who possess a rare combination of luck, good looks, intelligence and ability. I do not belong to that select group of individuals, and chances are that you don’t either.

So if I ever have grandchildren, I will give them this advice; “Learn to roll with the punches, if you ever want to be happy”. This may be contrary to many of the things we are taught as children, but it is true.

Music: Remembering Jimi

September 18th, 2009 will mark thirty-nine years since Jimi Hendrix died in a London hotel room in 1970 at the age of twenty-seven. Nearly forty years after his death, his albums still sell more than a million copies a year. Many books have been written about the life and death of Hendrix by people far more knowledgeable than me. Movies have been made about him. As I write this blog, there is a big-budget Hollywood movie in the works with the singer of the rap-rock band Outkast in the lead role as Hendrix. I am a fan and have been one for the last twenty-five odd years. This blog is my own little tribute to the greatest popular musician of the twentieth century. He wasn’t the most popular musician of all time, though he was and remains very popular. But he definitely was the most innovative and phenomenally talented musician of the last century.

After many months, I took out my copy of Hendrix’s 1968 double album “Electric Ladyland” today and listened to it in its entirety. Forty-one years after the album was released, many of the songs still sound so fresh, so new, so innovative. The album is only one of the great albums Hendrix released between 1967 and 1970. He released three albums in 1968 alone, and each was a sonic landmark. The songs on “Electric Ladyland” range from the dreamy Beatlesque “Little Miss Strange” to the soaring cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and the impossibly heavy “Voodoo Chile – Slight Return”. And who can forget the effortless guitar solo at the bridge of “Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)”. That solo feels like a warm ray of sunshine on a bitterly cold, wintry day. In contrast, his peers such as Clapton, Townshend and Jimmy Page sound forced and laboured.

But for me, the brief, blinding guitar solo at the end of “All Along the Watchtower” is the best piece of music I have ever heard. I remember the first time I heard it twenty-six years ago on a beat-up old bootlegged cassette. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. It still does. Hendrix pours his entire soul into that solo. Listening to it is a spiritual experience and for me, it is the closest I have ever felt to being in the presence of God (except for trekking up above the tree-line in the Himalayas possibly). How can something sound so sublime, so perfect, so heartbreaking?

Jimi Hendrix invented heavy metal. Just listen to “Voodoo Chile – Slight Return” or “I Hear My Train A-Comin” to know what I am talking about. This is cosmic blues; B.B. King raised to the power N; intergalactic stuff, music for the Star Trek generation. Esteemed musicians such as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd sound like pale imitations of the real thing, once you have heard Hendrix. And what is “Crosstown Traffic” if not the first rap song ever written and performed? But Hendrix was not all about blood and thunder. He also had a deft light touch and he wrote and played some of the most delicate ballads you will ever hear. Listen to “If 6 were 9” or “Little Wing” and you will know what I am talking about. And who can forget that bittersweet instrumental romp at the end of his epic two hour set at Woodstock?

The 1960s were a very turbulent decade. By 1968, Jimi Hendrix was being pulled in many different directions by activist groups who wanted him to be their spokesman for their causes. Anti-war activists wanted him to be more outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War. African-American activists, demanding civil rights, wanted Hendrix to be their spokesman, since he was the most famous black man alive at the time. Hippies wanted Hendrix to continue to make spaced-out psychedelic music that represented the aspirations of a new generation. The mild-mannered Hendrix could never say no to anyone, and tried very hard to be all things to all people. The pressure on him as a performer was enormous.

Offstage, Hendrix was a shy, retiring man of few words, with a keen intelligence, great sense of humour and an almost child-like sense of innocence. Watch his old interviews with Dick Cavett on YouTube to find out more. He was an unwilling celebrity; and all the adulation made him look like a deer caught in the headlights of an onrushing car. He was ill equipped to deal with fame. When he was alive, he was exploited by groupies, hangers-on, managers and record companies. After his death, nothing changed, as many “recordings” were put out in his name. Most of them were poor in quality, and incomplete studio jams at best.

Onstage, Hendrix had a different persona. He was probably the most charismatic performer of his generation, and this was a generation that gave us live acts like the Rolling Stones and the Who. Hendrix had a sinewy lithe grace onstage, which combined his own onstage charisma with Keith Richards’ swagger and Pete Townshend’s acrobatic ability. He had audience members eating out of the palm of his hand, and women clamouring to gain his attention.

Other musicians often felt completely inadequate in his presence, though Hendrix himself was an extremely reticent individual. The great American guitarist Michael Bloomfield said that after he saw Hendrix perform for the first time, he was so intimidated that he “gave up playing the guitar for a year”. In London, Pete Townshend of the Who and Eric Clapton were so stunned when they saw Hendrix play for the first time in early 1967, that they left the club he was playing at and went and saw a movie together. “Neither of us said a word” Pete Townshend recalled many years later; “since words could not express how overwhelmed we felt”.

Clearly, Hendrix made an unforgettable impact on those whose lives he touched. Recently in Vancouver, I saw a televised concert by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. Half the songs they played were Jimi Hendrix songs. The Who still play a version of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” at most of their live concerts as a tribute. Pete Townshend says he still thinks of his friend Jimi Hendrix every day. So does Bob Dylan. A few years ago, I watched an interview with Kathy Etchingham, one of Hendrix’s old girlfriends. She moved on, got married to a member of the English nobility and started a family. But she never forgot Hendrix. Thirty years after she saw him for the last time in 1970, she broke down and cried as she described the kind of person Jimi Hendrix was.

Hendrix lives on through his influence on other guitar players. John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers often sounds a lot like Hendrix, as did Stevie Ray Vaughan (especially his live concerts). Pretty much every modern guitarist owes a debt to Hendrix, who expanded the guitar’s vocabulary so greatly that post-Hendrix, the electric guitar became an entirely different instrument. Hendrix greatly influenced jazz as well – especially people like Miles Davis, John McLaughlin and Herbie Hancock. Apart from inventing heavy metal and taking electric blues music to an entirely new level, Hendrix also invented jazz rock. The great guitar player Carlos Santana thought Hendrix was God Incarnate. Ironically, Hendrix himself was a humble, quiet man who thought of himself as only an average guitar player. His guitar playing skills were so prodigious that his considerable song-writing skills are often overlooked. He was a brilliant songwriter as well.

You can’t help but ask – what would Jimi Hendrix have accomplished if he hadn’t died at the age of twenty-seven? What would this quiet musical genius have done if he had lived through the 1970s and 1980s? The mind boggles, but the question is a moot one anyway. Jimi Hendrix was a force of nature, a comet that blazed across the dark night sky, leaving everybody mesmerized and everything else far behind in its wake.

Some things in life will always remain a mystery and can never be understood, only appreciated. So I am going to play all the Jimi Hendrix albums I have back-to-back on his death anniversary of September 18th, as my personal tribute. Join in – play a couple of his songs off YouTube if you don’t own any of his albums. There are plenty of them available, last time I checked. Join me in remembering the greatest popular musician of the twentieth century on his death anniversary on September 18th.

India: Why the Opposition Matters

The Indian General Elections are finally over. The incumbent Congress Party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition is back in power. Most people are heaving a sigh of relief. The only ones disappointed with the end of the election frenzy are the television media who of course, need to have something to report, since they are 24 hour television news channels. Round the clock television channels are media monsters that need to be fed all the time!

More and more people are beginning to recognise India as a potential giant on the world stage. I will give you an anecdotal example. Day before yesterday, my wife and I went up to Grouse Mountain, a scenic peak above Vancouver. The views of Vancouver and the surrounding ocean from Grouse Mountain are stunning. We hired a local guide for a trek around the area. Part of our little trekking group also included an English couple in their late fifties. As we were chatting with our new found friends, I asked them what they thought of India. The elderly couple responded by saying that their son-in-law often travelled to Mumbai from Essex, England (where he was based), because he worked for the Tata Group of Companies in India, which has interests in steel, automobiles and information technology. Our tour guide had been to the Indian Himalayas in the past, and he was now familiar with Indian information technology and call centres, since he interacted with an Indian business process outsourcing centre (BPO) for his credit card problems!

On the same evening, American television host Charlie Rose had two of India’s leading industrialists Azim Premji and Anand Mahindra on his television show which airs on PBS. Rose had obviously done his homework on India and the Indian economy. His questions were regarding the growing world stature of Indian corporates such as Wipro, the Tata Group and Reliance.

Clearly, the international view of India as a place of endemic poverty, slums, overcrowding and cows dozing on the streets is changing; albeit slowly. India is still a very long way from transforming itself into a player on the global stage, but hopefully that process has begun. We fervently hope that this government will continue with the reform process, which began two decades ago. The new government is making all the right noises; it remains to be seen whether they can deliver the high expectations the long-suffering Indian electorate has placed on them.

Among the losers in this general election are the Communists and the right-of-centre National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the so-called “Hindu nationalist” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I say so-called because the BJP is often unfairly targeted as being “fundamentalist” and “non-secular”. While fringe elements in the BJP certainly are, these tags are unfairly attached to them by their opponents at election time. The BJP as a whole is a secular party.

Both the Communists and the BJP have an important role to play in the Opposition. The Congress has in the past, exhibited a sense of arrogance in its own power. They need to be reminded that they owe a debt to the people who have elected them in the first place. I am a fierce critic of India’s Communists. For the most part, they believe in regressive authoritarian polices which would take India back a hundred years. But I agree completely with them when they talk about education and healthcare reform in India. Of course, they themselves have done precious little in these areas in the states that they do govern (Kerala and West Bengal). Still, their outdated doctrine does place emphasis on both primary education and rural healthcare, two important areas that we must make progress in. They need to quit raising the bogey of so-called “U.S. imperialism” and start pressuring the government to deliver on education and healthcare reform. Hopefully India’s Communists have realized that the electorate is more concerned about basic issues such as education, jobs, roads and water and cares very little about who delivers it. The Indian electorate is fine with being a “strategic ally” of the U.S., as long as their aspirations to a better life are met.

Similarly, the BJP has an important role to play as the primary Opposition party. The BJP is a reform-minded party, and much economic reform was carried out under their rule; the benefits which we are reaping now. The Congress has talked up a storm on economic reform over the past five years and delivered very little. Some of this lack of delivery is due to the compulsions of coalition politics in the last government. However, there can be no excuses this time around – either concerning economic reform or domestic security; another area in which the last Congress led coalition performed poorly. The BJP needs to push the Congress to deliver in both these areas.

A strong Opposition is the lifeblood of any democracy. But their role is not to oppose just for the sake of it. If our opposition parties mature, open up a meaningful debate on national issues and hold the government accountable for delivering on its promises, they will play an equally important role in determining India’s future as the current ruling coalition in Delhi. Let us hope they do.

Music: The Million Dollar Quartet

I was watching a television documentary on the Million Dollar Quarter last night. The Million Dollar Quartet comprised of four musicians who practically invented rock and roll music in the 1950s. They were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. All of them were white, born and raised in the American Deep South during the 1930s and 1940s.

The American Deep South was a very different place fifty years ago. Racial discrimination was not only widespread, but legal. The Million Dollar Quartet played a big role in making the US a much more racially tolerant country, by taking old blues music (made by African Americans), speeding it up a little bit and inventing rock and roll. Rock and roll music was invented and made palatable to white kids by these guys. They also made sure that they toured extensively with black musicians. The cross-over appeal of rock music among white kids played a big role in reducing racial discrimination in the U.S – especially in the South.

While Elvis Presley and later Johnny Cash became superstars, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t. Carl Perkins did not have the luck or looks that Elvis had, though he was much more talented – he played a mean guitar and wrote his own songs. However, Perkins did have a huge influence on the Beatles and Eric Clapton, both of whom covered his songs on their albums. Jerry Lee Lewis’s burgeoning career was cut short by a sex scandal. To learn more about Jerry Lee Lewis, watch the excellent movie “Great Balls of Fire” with Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Of the Million Dollar Quarter, only Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive and performing; at the age of seventy-four. The other three are dead.

The documentary I watched was narrated by Stan Perkins, son of the late Carl Perkins. Stan Perkins is also a musician. He spoke about the awe he felt when he first met George Harrison of the Beatles. George Harrison told him “The way you feel about me, I feel about your dad – he is my idol”. Both George Harrison and Eric Clapton toured extensively with Carl Perkins when he was alive.

One of the stories that Stan Perkins told was very touching. Carl Perkins died of a stroke in 1998 in the small town of Jackson, Tennessee. He was sixty five years old at the time of his death. George Harrison specially chartered a plane from London, England to make it to Carl Perkins’ funeral. At the end of the funeral oration, Harrison picked up an acoustic guitar and proceeded to sing one of his favourite Carl Perkins songs – “Your True Love”.

What Stan Perkins learned later was that at the time of his father Carl’s death, George Harrison himself was suffering from throat cancer and undergoing radiation therapy. George had not sung in a few years, and was not even sure that his throat would permit him to sing. As George later told Stan; “I wasn’t sure anything was going to come out when I opened my mouth to sing at your father’s funeral”. But George did sing the Carl Perkins song “Your True Love” at his funeral. And as Stan Perkins said on the documentary yesterday; “George nailed the song”.

That is rock and roll. It is a love that transcends time, race, culture and geography. This blog is dedicated to George Harrison - one of the nicest guys who ever picked up a guitar.

Lingerie: The Universal Language

The Indian general election results have finally been declared, and I am happy with the result. I will blog about the Indian elections soon. But for now, I thought I would write a short blog on universal words that are understood the world over.

Over the last century or two, many Indian words such as “bazaar” and “guru” have made it into the English dictionary. These words are widely used in English, and well understood. I recently found another such “universal” word.

Let me elaborate.

Vancouver is probably one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a predominance of South-east Asians – Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Thais and Vietnamese. Of course, there is a fair sprinkling of Indians as well, though they tend to congregate in greater numbers in Toronto, on the other side of the country. Parts of Toronto, I am told, resemble Chandigarh in the Punjab.

Indians (as everyone knows) are everywhere. The worldwide Indian diaspora numbers about twenty-five million, of which about two million are in the United States. Indians sometimes tend to be resented by locals in the countries they migrate to, because they can be clannish and do not always assimilate into the local population and culture.

As a student in the U.S., I knew a fellow Indian who worked in Africa for some years – in the Congo, I think. He was in the Congo at the height of the brutal civil war there. He was (if I remember correctly) a salesman of stainless steel buckets. He was an interesting character. Once during his travels, fierce fighting broke out in the region of the Congo he was in. It was nearing sunset and he was stuck in a lawless border town in the Congo, where life was cheap. He was afraid for his life, until in the setting African sun, he saw a hotel that had a board outside that read “Shree Ganesha Hotel”. Relieved, he walked through the doors of the Shree Ganesha Hotel, and was provided food and shelter by the friendly Gujarati who owned the place. As an Indian, there is one thing for certain (apart from death and taxes) - even in a lawless, remote town in an African country wracked by a bloody civil war, you will find a Shree Ganesha Hotel!

Now let me get back to the subject of my blog. While travelling in public transport in Vancouver, one sometimes feels like one is in a city somewhere in South-east Asia – Shanghai or Hanoi, maybe. One hears a multitude of languages being spoken, with Chinese being the predominant one.

While travelling on the train here I enjoy listening to people speaking in different languages and I often try and decipher as many words as I possible. It is a good way to while away the time. Yesterday, there were a couple of Chinese women sitting across from me in the train, talking away in Chinese. I do not know Chinese, and I did not understand a word they were saying. Until, of course, I heard the words “Victoria’s Secret”. At the mention of these two words, my ears perked up. It was obvious that the two women were out shopping for lingerie.

“Victoria’s Secret” and “lingerie’ are universal words and part of the vocabulary of all the languages in this world. You do not need to be a linguistic expert to understand what they mean. They mean the same thing in every language spoken on the planet. Lingerie is a universal word that spreads peace, harmony and understanding among the various races and ethnic groups of this world! All you need is love – or is that lingerie?

India: Beware of “Sakoolar Phorsej”

Before I start this blog, I would like to state that I consider myself an agnostic – I am not religious at all. I am also impartial in the great Indian Caste System Debate; you know, the one where many people insist that certain castes are “backward” and a few are “forward”. I also like to think myself as colour-blind, when it comes to judging people on the basis of the colour of their skin. I also believe that women are as capable and intelligent as men, if not more so. The only way I categorize myself is by stating that I am an Indian.

Unfortunately, not enough voters in rural India appear to think so. This is because our politicians insist on dividing people on many different criteria. The two main criteria for dividing Indians are caste and religion. So we have politicians who tell us that they hate Brahmins, because they are secular. We have politicians telling us that we should tolerate terrorism because we are secular. We have politicians telling us we should stop using computers and discard the English language; because use of the English language means that we are somehow “inferior” and have a colonial mindset. These last statements come from Mulayam Singh Yadav, India’s own answer to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. Yadav has much in common with the infamous Mugabe, who is a Robin Hood in reverse – he steals from the nation and makes himself rich.

Like Mugabe, Yadav also believes that everything in India that has gone wrong is because of “progressive forces”. The English language? It cannot be good, because it is a colonial hangover. All of us must communicate only in Bhojpuri Hindi, for the true glory of Indian civilization to return. Never mind the fact that English is the only truly common language that binds the entire nation. Never mind that English is the language of business, and is the main reason that India’s GDP has surged so remarkably in the last few years in a globalized economy. Never mind that Mulayam Singh Yadav’s own sons were educated in Lucknow’s finest English-medium schools and did their college education in Australia (where the last time I checked, they speak English and not Hindi).

Computers? Never mind that India’s software service providers are now among the best in the world. Customers the world over have heard and often worked with Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services. Indians make good software engineers and millions of jobs in the information technology sector have given rise to a new breed of confident, educated, urban middle-class Indian; professionals who live and work all over the world. India’s software services are the envy of the world. But not for Mulayam Singh. He believes that the use of computers must be banned, because they create unemployment. He has no scientific basis for this statement, but who cares? Computers and the Internet are the libraries of the 21st century. And in Mulayam’s rulebook, education itself is a bad thing (except for his own family of course). His vision of India is one where all Indians are poor, illiterate, live in mud huts, commute in bullock carts and practice subsistence farming. All Indians except for him and his family of course. Everybody and everything must be reduced to the lowest common denominator. This is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s version of socialism.

His vision of “secularism” is equally frightening. It means doing vote-bank mathematics, and cynically pitting the so-called Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Muslims against everybody else. Luckily, neither the OBCs nor the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh (India’s most populous state) bought his vision of “secularism” the last time assembly elections were held there two years ago. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party was wiped out. Like all Indians irrespective of caste, colour and creed, Muslims and OBCs also want jobs, education for their children, security and a shot at a decent life.

Secularism as it is defined in India, is used to divide, not unite. The definition of secularism means that all people are treated equal in the eyes of the law, irrespective of race, religion, gender or colour. Unfortunately, in India, secularism is used as a weapon to confer special status on groups of people in return for votes. This brand of secularism has been practiced by all our political parties, irrespective of ideology. It has caused a great deal of damage to the social fabric of India and it is time to say “Enough”.

Is it possible that the hundreds of millions of the rural poor in India’s hinterland are slowly waking up and realizing that they have been cheated time and again since independence with empty promises? Are they realizing that they have been betrayed time and again by the so-called “secular forces” they have voted into power? Will these millions finally stop voting on the basis of caste and religion, and vote based on good governance instead? Will we see a time in the next twenty years when politicians will have to work hard to actually deliver education, jobs, healthcare and security to the hundreds of millions who constitute India’s poor, instead of merely parroting that they represent secular forces, as if this was some sort of badge of honour?

I hope so. Until then, I hope that you, the educated, urban voter take this opportunity to hold your local politician accountable for good governance and not be fooled by him or her saying that they represent “sakoolar phorsej”.

Football: The Great Leveller

Footballing legend Pele once called soccer the “beautiful game”. He didn’t just mean that football was a pleasure to play and watch. He also meant that football, unique among all sports, has the ability to unite people across the world, irrespective of language, race, gender or culture.

I understood what Pele meant at a soccer game recently, here in Vancouver. The wife’s office organized a round-robin football tournament, and all the games were played yesterday afternoon. The wife, who was nominated to play for one of the teams, was a little nervous. She had never played soccer before. She ended up enjoying herself a great deal.

I went to the matches, as a spectator and cheerleader. It was amazing to see people from different races and cultures, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, playing for the love of the game. There were older British bosses chasing and trying to keep up with their younger, nimbler Chinese and Italian subordinates. There were Indians yelling out encouragements in Hindi, and Chinese exhorting their colleagues in Mandarin. A Chinese lady who had never played the game before, scored a goal. It was hard to tell who was more ecstatic about her goal – the lady herself, or the hundred-odd office colleagues who roared their approval.

For a couple of hours, everybody forgot about office politics and (dare I say it), religious, ethnic and cultural prejudices. None of it mattered. When your teammate scored, you cheered just as loudly for him if he was German as you would if he had been Indian or Russian. There were some very good players, and there were many who had never played before. That didn’t matter either. The better players passed the ball to their inexperienced colleagues. The objective was to ensure that everyone had a good time. Even the wife came close to scoring a goal! Like with most things she does in life, she gave it everything she had. She now wants to join a local league and play every weekend!

Unfortunately, since I do not work for the wife’s office, I was ineligible to participate. That did not prevent me from giving what I thought were insightful inputs into the game! You will never find a more incisive armchair critic than Your Truly!

After the game, everybody went to the local pub down the road, to soothe thirsty throats with a couple of cold beers and reminisce about the game before going home.

Football is a game that is truly egalitarian. Anybody can play it. It does not require any equipment or training, it is inexpensive, and it is beyond class, colour or creed. In many parts of the world, including Brazil, it is a ticket out of poverty.

I am glad I went to the game. I finally understood what Pele meant. Football will teach you how to respect and admire people based on their talent, enthusiasm and ability, irrespective of the colour of their skin, nationality or gender. Football will also teach you to respect your fellow players. It will teach you how to be a fierce yet respectful competitor. It will teach you to communicate in a universal language. It will teach you the value of teamwork and collaboration, and how to contribute to an overall objective that is bigger than yourself or any single individual. Aren’t these the greatest lessons life can teach a person?

Football is the great leveller in life. If you love football, you will never walk alone.

Observations: The Happiest Person I Ever Saw

The last few days have been lovely and sunny here in Vancouver. The cherry blossom trees are just beginning to well, blossom, and it feels so good to get out in the sun, and walk through a temperate rainforest that is just beginning to visibly come to life. Days like these make me happy. So I thought I should write a blog about happiness. No, this is not a blog about the secret to universal happiness. I am not qualified to write about that, and I do not think that such a state exists. Different things make different people happy. Happiness means different things to different people. I cannot reveal the secret of happiness, because I do not know it. I can only report on happiness when I see it.

So who is the happiest person I have ever seen? I would like to have said “happiest man I ever met”, but I did not meet him. However, I did see him, last November in the Indian mountain temple town of Rishikesh.

My wife and I were wandering through an area of Rishikesh called “Muni Ki Reti” (the Hermit’s Sands). This is the place where the fast-flowing Ganges River emerges from the high Himalayas and meets the vast plains of Northern India. “Muni Ki Reti” is a sandy beach, which overlooks the swift Ganges River and the bustling town of Rishikesh beyond. It was a cool sunny day, and across the river in the distance, the temple bells were tinkling. There weren’t too many people walking around “Muni Ki Reti” apart from us, a few white-water rafters in the distance and an assortment of dazed backpackers looking for nirvana. Their search seemed to be going nowhere.

Suddenly in the distance, by the riverbed, I saw a lone “sadhu” (hermit) who was relaxing on his “charpoy” (a wooden cot bound together with rope). It was obvious that he lived on that riverbank. His sole possessions were his “charpoy”, a couple of tin drums that contained his meagre personal belongings, a stove, and a battered old transistor radio that was playing old Hindi film songs sung by Kishore Kumar. Like many other sadhus, he was dressed in only a loincloth, though the day was quite chilly. His hair was braided and dreadlocked as is the sadhu custom, and he looked like an Indian version of Bob Marley. He was lean and muscular, and his age was undeterminable. He may have been thirty. On the other hand, he may have been seventy. It was hard to tell, just by looking at him.

Many sadhus are usually looking for your money, and since most of them live alone, they tend to be a garrulous bunch who will take every opportunity they get to chew your ear off with stories about spirituality and God, in return of course, for a little cash. Having been the reluctant victim of such sermons from sadhus in the past, I was a little wary and gave the guy a wide berth. But I could not help but notice how happy he looked.

As I walked past him, he turned around and gave me the happiest, sunniest, laziest, most welcoming smile I have ever seen on the face of a human being. It was such an infectious, contagious smile, that I could not help but smile back. I observed him closely. He did not look like he was under the influence of the potent local “ganja”. It was also obvious that he was not looking for an audience. Nor was he looking for a handout. I was in his neighbourhood, and it was just his way of welcoming me to it.

Four months later, that smile has still stayed with me. The next time I am up at “Muni Ki Reti” in Rishikesh, I will keep an eye out for this guy. If I see him, I will ask him what makes him so happy. I may also learn a thing or two about happiness.

Economics: The G-20 Summit and A “Cho-Chweet” Moment

The CNBC television channel today indignantly reported the extremely high compensation figures for Chief Executive Officers of several U.S. companies, at a time when their organizations are getting hammered by the stock markets and their revenues and profits are falling. This newscast was featured against the backdrop of violent protests outside the venue for the G-20 summit in London, where leaders of twenty of the world’s most powerful nations are meeting to try and figure out how to nurse the world’s economy back to health. People are beginning to get really angry. Of course, there was the usual assortment of Luddites and anarchists among the protestors. But for the first time, there also were sober older people who have lost their jobs and savings in the current recession.

It was obvious that Barack Obama’s charm and charisma stood out at the G-20 summit. Obama and his wife are still getting rock-star treatment in the U.S and around the world. The charisma, promises and potential that the Obama administration represent are all very good; but very soon, people all over the world are going to start wanting results. It is a little bit like the Beatles re-uniting (if they were all still alive). Everybody would be excited, but at some point people would start expecting a hit new song or album.

The breathlessness and excitement that the Obama family causes was evident during a press conference at the end of the G-20 summit. The U.S. President held a press conference. As usual, he was a mesmerizing speaker, and had the world press eating out of his palm. The speech was long on promising rhetoric but short on real progress made by the leaders of the world’s top twenty nations (which now includes India).

The Obama-mania came to a head when a pretty young Indian journalist with the Times of India who identified herself only as Simran, asked him what the U.S. planned to do regarding terrorist activities emanating from Pakistan and directed at India. You could tell that young Simran was trembling with excitement and anticipation. Obama started answering her question by saying that he thought that Indian Prime Minister was a very decent and good man, to which Simran said “Thank you”. I am not sure if Obama’s assessment of Manmohan Singh is accurate, but that is not what this blog is about.

Simran’s response to Obama’s praise of Singh raised a few laughs among the audience of journalists. Obama then teased her by asking her whether she had anything to do with the (perceived) fact that Manmohan Singh was a nice and decent man. You could tell that young Simran was completely and totally overwhelmed by Obama’s charisma. It was one of those “cho-chweet” moments that the U.S. media telecast over and over again; one that will make a 15 minute celebrity of Simran. You can bet that talk shows back in India will start interviewing her about her momentary brush with fame. She is going to be talking about this moment to her grandkids.

It looks like Obama’s charisma is still working its magic. While that is good for him, his administration needs to head to the studio and start making that new hit song or album. The whole world waits with bated breath. Hundreds of millions of jobs and the world’s return to economic health are in the balance.

Economics: Of Bonuses and Human Nature

I love bonuses. As someone who tried working as hard and (hopefully) as intelligently as possible, I looked forward to my bonus at the end of the year. I used bonuses to either bolster my savings or to take a vacation. But I always realized that bonuses were a way of rewarding good performance, not a birthright.

Which is why I find the latest controversy about bonuses at American International Group (A.I.G) so interesting. The financial giant, stricken by huge losses, is planning to use US $ 165 million dollars of the U.S. government’s bail-out money to pay bonuses to traders in its financial products division. These bonuses, when awarded, will go to the very same people who got A.I.G. into this mess in the first place.

So what are the basic facts about the A.I.G. bonus controversy? The facts are as listed below:

1. A.I.G (specifically their financial products division) made billions of dollars of losses with bad bets on derivative financial instruments, including trading in mortgage backed securities.

2. A.I.G then went to the U.S. government with hat in hand, pleading for a bail-out. Six months ago the organization’s Chief Executive said that if A.I.G. collapsed, there was a real danger of the entire U.S. financial services industry collapsing. This was true.

3. Based on Point # 2 above, the Bush and then the Obama administration agreed to bail out A.I.G. The U.S. government then pumped in US $ 150 billion to keep A.I.G. alive. This gave the U.S. government 70% ownership of this once-mighty blue chip financial conglomerate, a beacon of American free enterprise.

4. A.I.G. came back recently and said they needed another US $ 30 billion, which the U.S. government, in principle agreed to provide. This additional infusion of money by the U.S. government meant that the U.S. government would own about 80% of A.I.G shares, effectively nationalizing the organization (though nobody wants to use that dreaded word)

5. Last week, A.I.G. said that they planned to use US $ 165 million of the bail-out money (about 1% of the total bail-out funds) to provide bonuses to employees in their financial products division.

When asked about the wisdom of providing such large sums of U.S. taxpayer money to the people who caused such huge losses at A.I.G. in the first place, an A.I.G. spokesman responded by saying that these bonuses had been “contractually agreed to” in 2008, before this disaster unfolded. The spokesman also said that if A.I.G. did not provide these bonuses to these selected employees, it would be detrimental to A.I.G “attracting and retaining the best and brightest talent”.

“Contractually agreed to”? Huh?? I always thought that bonuses are optional, in the sense that they are awarded to employees based on individual and organizational performance. Therefore, in good years when the organization turns in a healthy profit, deserving employees get a healthy bonus. In bad years, you do not get bonuses. When the organization in question makes a loss, it is supposed to either terminate the services of those employees who caused the losses, or at the very least, not give them bonuses. That is how capitalism and the private sector are supposed to work.

“Attracting and retaining the best and brightest”. Huh?? Are these A.I.G. derivatives traders the best and the brightest in the financial services industry? Remember, these are the same guys who put A.I.G. in this hole in the first place. If these guys were so bright, how come they caused this mess in the first place? They should consider themselves very, very lucky to still have jobs. If not receiving bonuses for their disastrous performance makes them leave their jobs, A.I.G. should consider itself lucky. America is in real trouble if these traders constitute the “best and brightest”. I am sure there are thousands of people within A.I.G. who do deserve a bonus. But not these guys!!

Does President Obama have the right to use the “bully pulpit” of the Oval Office to denounce A.I.G’s decision to give these bonuses to derivative traders? You bet! Remember, A.I.G. is now 80% government owned. The U.S. government is the majority shareholder in A.I.G. As head of the U.S. government, the President has every right to do everything in his power to prevent this bonus being paid. A.I.G. is now (to use an Indian term for a loss-making government-owned organization) a sick “Public Sector Unit”.

However, the President has been left red-faced; because it appears that no such pre-conditions were put in place before the governmental bail-out money was handed over to A.I.G.

Obama, and his administration, are definitely going to be slammed for not putting in stringent conditions in their bail-out package before actually handing over the money to A.I.G. in the first place. Two U.S. administrations rushed the bail-out package through, without providing for adequate checks and balances. The fact of the matter is – the U.S. government does not have any legal recourse when it comes to A.I.G. and the bonus issue. The President can rail, rant and thunder, but he cannot stop A.I.G from handing out these bonuses. He can sway public opinion against A.I.G. (which is what he is doing), he can pressurize A.I.G. to reconsider its decision, but he cannot actually stop A.I.G. from using taxpayer money for bonuses to those who caused this financial crisis.

Coming back to bonuses, I did not think that India’s Sixth Pay Commission payout to India’s (largely non-performing) Civil Service last year was a good idea. This bonus was given to our bureaucrats to help get their votes in the approaching General Election. It had nothing to do with their performance. They did not deserve the money, because collectively, they failed in their job – which was administering India. Like the traders at A.I.G’s financial products division, India’s bureaucrats and politicians believe that bonuses are a birthright, and not a reward for good performance.

To summarize, bonuses are optional, and not a birthright – and this should apply to both the private as well as public sectors of the economy. I am amazed that private sector companies can “contractually agree” to provide bonuses, even before the performance of employees can be assessed. I am also amazed at the cynical way in which politicians use bonuses and pay commissions to woo bureaucrats and buy their votes at election time. Unfortunately, that is how human nature and bonuses actually work.

U.S. Politics: The Role of the Press Secretary

I watch a great deal of the MSNBC news channel here in Vancouver. One of the highlights is the daily briefing of the press by the U.S. president’s Press Secretary. The current incumbent is a gentleman named Robert Gibbs.

Of course, I do not know Mr. Gibbs personally, but the more I see of him, the more respect I feel. This is not an easy job. The Press Secretary has to face a gaggle of knowledgeable, nit-picking journalists every single day. These journalists ask very pointed questions on a whole host of topics, usually involving interpretations of the President’s views on critical issues such as the Iraq War, the stock markets, the economy, healthcare, the budget, terrorism, proposed education reforms, etc. Watching Mr. Gibbs answer these questions is like watching a man navigate through a minefield. He has to ensure that he puts the right “spin” on Barack Obama’s comments. He also has to ensure that his own comments are not misinterpreted, and reflect exactly what the U.S. President wants to say, or would have wanted to say.

If the President says something that can be construed as being even remotely controversial, the Press Secretary has to defend his boss by ensuring that the statement is not misinterpreted. If the President says something that is plain inaccurate or wrong, he has to defend that as well. He also has to have a very good understanding of the issues being discussed, remain calm, and be able to think on his feet. At all times, he has to be able to keep his own opinions to himself, and only express what he thinks the President would have wanted to convey.

And he has to do all this on live television, in front of a bunch of journalists who more often than not, resemble a pack of hungry wolves, just waiting for a misstep or weakness on his part. Journalists in the U.S., like their counterparts elsewhere in the free world, always wait for the opportunity to take any statement, however innocuous it may seem, and make a screaming headline out of it. American television journalists appear to be as opportunistic as their Indian counterparts. They also seem to have the same breezy attitude towards the truth as our Indian television journalists. The focus is on getting viewer ratings, not getting to the truth.

The only difference I see between American journalists and their Indian counterparts is that the Americans actually allow the interviewee to complete a sentence without interrupting. Many Indian television journalists I see are more interested in getting their own point of view across, without even considering the opinion of the person they are purportedly interviewing. As a result, most interviews and debates on Indian television end up being shouting matches, and when you watch them, you are often left no wiser than before.

Coming back to the U.S. Press Secretary, this cannot be an easy job. Standing up in front of a bunch of intelligent, often hostile people who sometimes view you as potential prey, and that too on live television, must be extremely stressful. Yet Robert Gibbs always has time to listen to everyone’s questions. He is always patient and never seems to lose his sense of humour. He keeps the wolves in good humour too, by always being respectful to them, even though the reverse may not be true. And he has to do this live, every day. This is a tough job!

The daily press briefing does provide listeners with a lot of information. I could be wrong, but in India, our Prime Minister does not have a dedicated Press Secretary who faces the press every day. If we did, do you think it would work, in terms of clarifying what the Prime Minister did (and did not) say and mean?

India: A Pensioners’ Paradise?

As a young man, I lived in the U.S for nearly six years, and in many ways, Canada, where I am living currently, is not very different. There is a lot to be said for living in a “developed” country (I always found that term a little strange, but that is the term that is most frequently used to describe economically advanced countries). However, there is one aspect of living in “developed” countries that I find sad. That is the condition of the elderly.

There are few sights sadder than watching a lone old man or woman here in winter, struggling to wheel a loaded shopping trolley across a huge parking lot in sub-zero temperatures. Old people here are often lonely, with nobody to look after them or even have a conversation with. Living in “developed” countries is great as long as one is working and fit. Once a person becomes old, children more often than not move away and do not keep in touch with their parents often (I realize that this is increasingly the trend in urban, middle-class India as well). Older middle-class people in the U.S, Canada and elsewhere are often forced to live all alone in difficult conditions. Unless one is rich, one has to do everything oneself, and there are no maids, chauffeurs and other domestic help available. Again, this is fine when one is fit and healthy, but when a person gets old, this can become a problem. The lack of a support system is a real issue for the elderly in Western countries.

This is why I think India (or parts of the country anyway) would be a great pensioners’ paradise for older folks from Western nations. If I was about to retire, what would be the factors I would take into account when deciding on a place to settle down? In my mind, the factors to consider while choosing a location to retire in would be:

1. A secure, stable place with a low crime rate and high levels of political stability
2. Plenty of sunshine and mild, warm temperatures. Cold weather has greater adverse affects on older people
3. A place where the cost of living is low, and my retirement savings will allow me to have a comfortable life
4. A pleasant, quiet, scenic location surrounded by nature
5. The availability of good, inexpensive medical care
6. The availability of domestic help such as maids, chauffeurs, etc.
7. Good public transport
8. Good infrastructure in terms of uninterrupted water, electricity and civic services
9. A place where the English language is widely spoken and understood.

Many parts of India score high on most of the factors listed above, except for Point # 8 (good infrastructure in terms of uninterrupted water, electricity and civic services). Erratic electricity supply is a major stumbling block to our country’s growth.

However, there are many parts of India that meet most of the criteria I have listed above. Goa, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh come to mind. All of these places are very desirable places to live in.

Let me give you a personal anecdote. I used to know an old American guy who lived in the town of Almora, in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. He was in his seventies when I met him, and divorced. He had worked in the U.S. financial services industry all his life, and had a Masters’ in Business Administration degree from Yale University. His daughter was married and lived in the U.S. They were not in touch often. Once I got to know him better, I asked him what made him come to a small Himalayan town to retire. He told me that the only other choice he had was to die in an old age home in New Jersey. He was alone, and felt that he still had a lot left to offer. He also had an interest in Buddhism. So he decided to chuck his life in the U.S., and move to Almora. He enjoyed life. He was an avid trekker. His dollar denominated retirement pension allowed him to have a very good standard of life in India. He died last year, and I am sure he never regretted his decision to move to India after retirement. He had ten years of an active, enjoyable life in Almora before he died in a hospital in Delhi.

In Europe, Spain is a very popular retirement destination for many people from the United Kingdom. It is cheaper to live in than Britain, and has much better weather. The Spanish government actively promotes Spain as a retirement destination, since British retirees bring in plenty of foreign exchange. Retirees, unlike immigrants, do not compete with locals for jobs, and you very rarely hear of seventy year old burglars or serial killers. These British retirees also create thousands of jobs in Spain, since they need locally based maids, drivers, doctors, nurses, financial advisors, real estate agents etc. Spain has many towns and “gated communities” that are full of British retirees.

There is no reason that parts of India cannot become a pensioners’ paradise. The places I mentioned above (Goa, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh) have great, mild, weather, are very scenic, safe and it is reasonably easy to get domestic help. These states also have reasonably large local English speaking populations. Medical facilities in these states are decent, and cities such as Mumbai and Delhi are easily accessible and less than two hours away by air. Most importantly, a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a month goes much further in Goa than it does in Britain.

If the Indian government actively promoted “pensioners’ tourism”, it would help in bring in law-abiding, prosperous retirees by the thousands, as well as millions of dollars and pounds in foreign exchange, apart from creating thousands of jobs. There would be a role for the private sector in providing hospitality and elder-care services. Of course, the government would have to do its bit in creating better quality infrastructure, specifically roads, water and electricity.

These are my opinions. What do you think?