The trickle down effect - one small example

While there have been innumerable articles written about India's march to economic prosperity, they all inevitably mention that the people at the bottom of the pyramid have not benefited.They talk about the wide gap, although in a statistic I saw recently India's
gini index compares favorably with other developing countries such as China and Brazil.

Yes we still have a long way to go, but believe me on a day to day basis we see numerous examples of this trickle down effect. One small test. If you have friends and relatives here, ask them how easy is to get help - house maids, drivers, cleaners etc ? You might be surprised.


Yesterday I took a cab, one of the many radio called cabs which have sprung up over the last few years. While they might not be as roomy as the black and yellow Ambassador taxis we all grew up with, these cabs do not serve as the living, dining and bed room of the cab driver. They are cleaner and surprisingly all their meters do work . Unfortunately the drivers are as clueless about directions as the black and yellows, so you should know your destination and how to get there.

While I don't normally chat with the drivers, out of desperation in my search for a chauffeur at home, I started a conversation about how much his income was etc. In the area where we live the average salary for a driver is any where between Rs.7000 to Rs.9000 per month.

The cab driver mentioned that he had to give the cab company an average of Rs.800.Together with the gas, his outlay per day was Rs.1200. The company took care of the maintenance. After five years the cab would be his. At the end of the month he cleared between Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000 . I asked him again to make sure that I had not misunderstood him. Taken at face value and not doubting him, on a yearly basis that works out to be approximately US Dls 6,7000 to 8000 which for a semi-skilled worker in India is not too bad. So the trickle down effect is happening.

Are we uncivilized ?

There was a recent column in the online Wall Street Journal in which the columnist said that Indians were not " civilized" ,because the men urinate in the streets, we do not follow traffic signals, we dump garbage on our door steps , we tend to jump queues and so on. A number of comments to the article all agreed with him.

All the points made are true - but they all seem to be missing the point. Its not that the Indians are not civilized . The same people who go abroad follow the rules and don't do all of the above things. Why does our behavior change and we become civilized ?

Very simple. Its because over there if we don't follow the rules we will be fined , arrested or be ostracized. In India we do it because " my father is a MP, Chief Secretary, DSP Police " or because you can pay off the enforcer. Until that changes in India, where you get arrested for bribery or it becomes irrelevant whose son or daughter you are, we will continue to be chameleons - " uncivilized " in India and " civilized" when we go abroad.

In India - the cow jumps onto your car instead of over the moon

The other day, just as we were turning the corner, a cow landed on the bonnet of the car and immediately jumped off and disappeared. No, we did not run into the cow . He came from the side and jumped onto the bonnet. The cow wasn't hurt, but the car was damaged.
Who do I blame ?


While watching the IPL, there is an advertisement for Castrol oil . It shows two young men who keep landing in awkward situations with the last one being in South Africa for the soccer world cup.

The situation before that shows both of them in a cooking pot being carried by a few jolly fat looking African men. The boys have a concerned look on their face.

What is wrong with the advertising company which came up with the concept ? Think about it guys ?

Introduction

Over the years I have written for various magazines, mostly financial and business magazines and newspapers such as IFR,Finance Asia, the Asset, Finance Asia, Economic Times, and The Mint.

I thought it would be more interesting to write when I chose and on a subject of my choice.It is not intended to be a daily blog.

Having lived in various countries over the last six decades with Hong Kong being where I spent the longest part of my life ( twenty six years), coming back to India in 2005 ( where I had only lived for seven years prior) to settle down was quite a challenge, but over the last almost five years have gotten used to it and even ventured to start a small company developing financial software for banks.

While I do intend to occasionally write about financial matters , it is not intended to be a financial blog . I do have interests beyond that.