Death Of Stupid Common Man

We hear about bomb blast, we are petrified… we call our loved ones and once we get the assurance that everything is fine, we take a sigh of relief, and take the remote control and flip on news channel to see the best footage, trust me these news channels during such scenario are best source of entertainment, hey its original as real as a realty show, what’s more its “LIVE” and its “BREAKING NEWS”. No I am not trying to blame the media, they do this to get their “BITE”, and earn their bread, neither am i blaming the stupid common Man. What i don’t like is the memory of “stupid common man”.
This is not the first time that Mumbai is a hot spot on terror radar. I try and compare the London tube train blast, Madrid bombings and the 9/11 WTC attack, one thing that strikes out is that lightning never struck again. And if we talk about Mumbai, we are a soft spot very vulnerable target, we’ve been attacked three times successfully, and the cheery on the icing is that we as a country is resilient and we don’t retaliate, and that’s great. I totally believe an eye for eye will leave this world blind. The question here is valuing human life, if we ask a question to our bosses (politicians) do they really value our life or they believe in pricing it? A dead body at 100,000 Rs and an injured man who’s bread earning hand is amputated at 25,000 Rs. This has to stop and our leaders must focus on our security. To counter that argument security will always be an issue in a city having population as high as 19 million* and police force of 39,000 to serve, this means for every 487 people there is one COP.
The recent attack proved that it’s not the stupid common man who is hot favorite of terror groups, it can be the big elite, Rich & famous of South Mumbai. It’s a pity that son or daughter of any politician was not present as Taj Mahal Hotel, if they would have been this would have been a beginning of end of lethargic & myopic political games. We are a nation of thinkers, and always almost all of us have an opinion on anything be it Sachin’s 90’th ODI “FIFTY” or TATA NANO the 1 lakh ki “GADDI”. What we don’t want is bunch of classy people with their espionage and debate on ‘What we should do?’.
We as a country are in desperate need of doers and no thinkers to save this “DYEING BOMBAY”

*Including suburbs of Thane & Mumbai

Indian Textile Indst. to Benifit from Neighbors

Textiles and apparel account for around 13% of India’s exports. As per Assocham, an industry association, the sector employs about 35m people. According to a recent study by India Today, a weekly news magazine, 700,000 jobs have been shed in the sector, both by organized and unorganized players. But that’s not all we might be in for good times ahead, as we might profit from woes of Pakistan and China, as the later is seeing pressures on cost due to appreciation of RMB (Chinese Yuan) and wage increases in China, cost gaps with countries like India, Pakistan & Bangladesh have narrowed. India can be one of the largest beneficiaries.

Indian companies are gaining from lower volumes or stagnating volumes from Pakistan. Given the increased concerns on terrorism in Pakistan, almost no company wants to increase their volumes from Pakistan. Big ticket retailers mentioned of contingency plans to move orders out to other countries, including India, if the internal situation in Pakistan worsens.

India will also see incremental benefit if growth in China slows, cost pressures in China increase and Pakistan remains embroiled in social strife and tension. India is set to gain from the Rupee depreciation, but the fruits won’t come to the surface as many Indian companies have hedged their exposure when rupee was higher and the next couple of quarter’s forex losses are likely to be high. The relief from lower rupee will be visible primarily in FY10.
Having cited all the above mentioned factors there is a flip side, and certain roadblocks to India stamping its authority on global textile market. Cotton prices and raw material prices are up 30%-50%. At Rs47-48/ US$, we can absorb the cost increases. But we are hedged for the next two quarters and so will realize the benefits only after that.
Due to the current financial Tsunami whose effect is now seen on the main street, US retailers are reducing inventories and as a result we expect that Indian companies will see increase in inventories and also further pressure to reduce cycle times. The sourcing companies maintain that given the sharp slowdown in consumer sentiments in USA and Europe, the focus on costs is increasing by the day. All in all opportunities always come with some sort of risk’s , they have to be taken to seize the moment.


*The Source of data and information for the above article was from a report by CLSA.

Who Owns Mumbai ?

Land of million opportunities, where million dreams are buried and born every day, home to Bollywood testimonial to thousands of scripted success stories, witness to many, ‘Big Indian Dreams ‘ coming true…,Maximum City, City that never sleeps…it can be associated with many such adjectives.
The city is Jewel of all Metros , Mumbai contributes 10% of factory employment, 33% of income tax collections, 60% of customs duty collections, 20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of India's foreign trade and rupees 40,000 crore (US $9 billion) in corporate taxes.*
But the big question which we have is, who really owns Mumbai? Is it the Men who Rule it, or self proclaimed Political leaders, or‘We The People’, wait a minute who comes under the purview of so called as we the people, is it the ‘Marathi Manus’1 or North Indians . If we dig deep within ourselves the answer is as clear as a crystal ball, Mumbai belongs to men and women who build this great city. And who are they, they are no one but common men and women who had a dream in their eyes and worked hard and chased it, and even if they were light years from fulfillment of destiny, they had a smile on their face.
And this ‘Stupid Common Man’ is tired of ‘Raj-giri’, pardon me for my language and use of famous phrases from recent bollywood flicks. Common man is crushed between some myopic and petty political actions, and pressure of earning daily bread. These actions actually may not give great deal of political mileage to a nascent Political Party, only it would play in hands of the ruling party. Let me not get my hands dirty by writing about our Politicians.
Talking about Marathi Manus, is against North Indians , I do think so, any stupid common man in Mumbai is too busy to care about stuff like that , here everybody has to think about their daily bread and any man Marathi, Gujrati or Bengali, tries to keep away from the mess. I have a serious doubt, if our leaders say that Marathi Manus is not getting his rights and a place that he deserves, I will ask who is Marathi Manus? Is he Milkha Singh that speaks better Marathi than Punjabi and has been a domicile resident of the city for 25 years or Rambharose who prepares better Puranpoli’s2 than a Marathi brahmen cook, or is Sheikh Nadeem who dances in Ganpati procession of Lalbaugcha Raja3. Even I was at the receiving end of things a very good friend of mine from Jaipur commented on a discussion on a b-school in Nagpur “ Sir your home is getting all the big ticket intellectual Investment”, I replied “Sir my home is the same as yours and we call it India”. This may sound to dramatic but this was the only reply I could think at the point of time.
I am Gurathi, and speak fluent Marathi and proud of the same, and I don’t believe that since one man went against the non Maharashtian’s the entire Marathi community should not be blamed. ‘An Eye for Eye leave all the residents of Mumbai Blind!.... As I always say.Revenge is sweet , but unfortunately not Fruitful!
* Mc Kinsey Report Published in 2005 in association with NASSCOM. http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/india/mckinseyonindia/pdf/NASSCOM_McKinsey_Report_2005.pdf

1 The Common Maharashtrian Man.
2 A Sweet delicacy from Maharashtra.
3 Lalbaugcha Raja is the oldest (75 years) Ganesh Mandal in Mumbai, They say all your wishes are fulfilled by lord Ganesha. This Idol has a first right of visarjan . Muslims in Crafford Market area, during the last day do a complete Pooja and then lead the procession before the Idol is immersed in Girgaum Chowpati in Mumbai.

Innovation Liberates

Fiction liberates and Reality educates, and if we don't learn we don't evolve.. Innovation and adaptation and most importantly acceptance are the key to chest of Doom, in which we find ourselves locked. Jobs being slashed right , left and center uncertainty and hope lingering heavily in the Air, what should we do....Or What can we do...Are we responsible for Sins of few aspirational (for lack of a sophisticated word)Investment bankers...We ask ourselves why should we suffer?
But if we check the History one fact is accentuated... the entire community pays for actions of one Aspirational (Greedy/Maniac)Leader. We can cite millions of examples from Jangeis Khan to Adolf Hitler, to Osama- Bin laden and few bankers.I believe herd mentality to earn profits of few basis points and follow the leader spelt the dooms day.
Yes you may argue i don follow the herd.. i am different..I think differently.. But there lies the catch we as a human race are excellent thinkers and less of doers.. as it takes courage to swim against the tide.
But History has been testimonial to the fact that great leaders and Change agents who have the tenacity to seize the moment emerge as strong leaders.
And in the Indian context i appreciate the proactive measures taken by Dr Subarao to tackle the situation,some thing that was never done and was never thought of, reminded me of situation when Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister, and when he took decision to pledge Gold Reserves and Open the Economy. True these decisions are not taken by a single man, but men having vision can influence Bold decisions. Yes Call Money Rates were as high as 20%.. but taking action in all three fronts was a bold and appreciated move. Hard decisions seldom don't come with a pinch of a salt...
But these decision are key ingredients to as i said seizing the moment.
If India is able to weather his storm ( and this Sub-prime Crisis is one Perfect Storm seen once in Century)it is poised for emerging as a strong leader.