Mea Maxima Culpa

In my blog of  February  twenty seventh, Getting Addicted To Food, I had pointed fingers to the parents for being responsible for not preventing the children from eating food which was unhealthy. Someone who is more knowledgeable about this matters than I am, pointed out that it is not quite as simple as that. A lot depends on the socio-economic factors. While one can berate the middle class, the lower middle class and the working class , where the obesity levels are higher ,is due to the need to fill your stomach at the cheapest cost.

In the United States, in the slums, the ghettos and the barrio's, you do not see the full range supermarkets where you can buy your balance meal of carbohydrates, vegetables , and proteins. You rely on the mom and pop convenience stores, which do not store perishables. Or you go to the neighborhood fast food joints. You can get your fill at a relatively low cost, whereas the balanced meal which has to be cooked would add up to much more.

This is increasingly the case even in the emerging market countries such as India, where there is a  influx of people to the urban areas. Increasingly both the husband and wife work and if you are in the lower end of the socio - economic spectrum , you will look for stomach fillers, such as deep fried samosas or fried spicy battered  bread fritters or kulchas, the Indian equivalent of a burger bun. Eating this day after day, you are bound to put on weight and develop numerous health ailments.

I therefore have to limit my critical comments to those parents who can afford , but who still allow the children to go for the type of food which they  know are not healthy. Finally , I also have to close with my mea maxima culpa . I plead guilty to  having allowed  my children to have sugared cereal, and the bi-monthly ( and sometimes more) outings to the fast food outlets. Perhaps I will be able to influence my grandchildren - if their parents allow me.

My Work Does Not Mean A Damn Thing !

In my blog on Writing About Art ( August 28th,2012) I wrote about the catalog of an artist who was having an exhibition in  Mumbai . In it ,the artist and a couple of critics wrote about the fantastic visions which she had while painting .It was amusing.

While reading the Financial Times of January 27th, I read a article about a American artist Carl Andre - who in 1965 created a buzz in the art world "by laying his sculpture flat on the floor.  The act of reorienting sculpture on the horizontal and inviting viewers to walk on it allowed “people to enter the space of the sculpture, not just look at it,” according to  Sarah Martin,  who is curating his present show Carl Andre: Mass & Matter, Turner Contemporary in Kent".

What I found interesting in the article were his comments on art and I quote a couple .

“I wasn’t inclined toward useful construction. I was inclined toward useless construction, which is what sculpture is.”

“My work doesn’t mean a damn thing. There’s nothing hiding under those plates.” talking about his sculpture.

Apparently he was "inspired" by a visit to Kyoto about 40 years ago and I quote from the article

" He is recounting a day spent in Kyoto with his fellow minimalist pioneer Sol Lewitt .... They roamed from temple to temple and listened to monks explain the  symbolism of each themed garden, before coming to a Zen Buddhist shrine. There, a monk advised the the two artists,  " This garden has no meaning whatsoever. It is only beautiful".

A contrast to the pages of visions and interpretation of works by most artists.

Getting Addicted To Food !!!

The New York Times of February 21st  had two articles which caught my attention.  The first one was "Children in U.S. Are Eating Fewer Calories , Study Finds ". The other one was " The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food ". Normally when you think of obesity you think of fast food and soft drinks and when you think of addiction , you think of drugs , cigarettes, or alcohol. You would not associate addiction with food produced by companies such as Nestle, General Mills, General Foods and  Kraft . However  the article talked about the great length these companies go to include ingredients which are not just unhealthy , but which make you crave for more. My intention is not to berate any of companies, because at the end of the day, as an adult you are responsible for what you eat or drink. As one of the CEO's in the article said of the consumer  " But most often,  people bought what they liked, and they liked what tasted good".

As far as drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin ,ice are concerned, the suppliers use the same argument as the heads of the multinational food companies " we are  giving the customers what they want ". The response of many of the South American countries to the United States is that they should kill the demand. Unfortunately based on certain legislation, it appears that steps are being taken to go in the opposite direction - legalizing it , first the soft drugs and then perhaps the others. Will this help solve the problem. I doubt it. If you look at the examples of legalized addictive products.

In most cases with tobacco and alcohol we start off as teenagers, not because we like their taste , but it makes us look or feel grown up and sophisticated and then gradually develop a liking for it.( I remember the first  and last time  tasting beer, I almost threw up). This then develops into a liking for it and while most of us are able to limit  it to  social drinking, there are others who exceed their limits. Similarly for tobacco, most smokers are aware of the consequences. If not, they must be illiterate. Increasingly in most countries, the packet clearly spells out in bold letters "Smoking Kills " or its equivalent , and in some countries have graphic images of diseased lungs.Similarly for alcohol.


On many social occasions you have friends " stepping out for some fresh air" when it is the opposite. The saving grace is that unlike a decade or so ago, it is not considered politically correct to smoke inside , unless it is your own house.  In both cases  taxes from  these products provide among the highest revenues, particularly for state governments in India. Concurrently the cost incurred in treating lung cancer (both in state and private hospitals ) probably offsets the revenue . The gainers are the shareholders of the companies. (Disclosure - I have shares in a tobacco company in India).

The irony of the whole situation is that while in tobacco, liquor and drugs the parents are totally against it , until most of us reach adulthood and decide for our selves, in the case of food it is the parents who are culpable. They feed the children food which they know is not necessarily healthy - starting off with sugared cereal and then moving them on fast food . The New York Times has an example of how Kraft created a whole market when its survey showed that Mothers were most busy in the morning and had little time in making lunch for the children to take to school. They created "lunchables" which was processed food and kept adding other items including dessert. In addition, the food companies advertisements are aimed at the younger children who pester their parents .Unless you are a strong willed parent, you give in, knowing full well that is is unhealthy.

 The school cafeteria added to list of unhealthy food for the children. This has resulted in almost forty percent of the population in the United States now being classified as obese. Leaders such as Mayor Bloomberg have taken radical steps in forcing restaurants to cut back on  the use of trans-fat in their cooking. Also on super sized food and soft drinks helpings.There now  appears to be some early signs that people are becoming more aware and perhaps the tide is beginning to turn, but it is too early to declare victory.

Unfortunately the unhealthy eating is not just restricted to the United States. It is now becoming univesal. We are all aware how the Pacific Islanders in countries such as Samoa and Fiji are becoming obese , but it is now spreading to countries which you traditionally did not associate with overweight people such as those in South East Asia, China and India.

In India, traditionally dairy based sugary  sweet deserts have been the norm for centuries, but now with the increased prosperity, this combined  with the western fast food and the fried snacks is leading to the age group of diabetes  and hyper tension suffers being lowered.  Public health is becoming a bigger burden and a increasing lucrative industry.

Looking at it dispassionately, one can say this is a easy problem to solve, particularly the issue of food. If the parents cut back on food items which we all know are harmful, it will set an example, but regretfully it is difficult for them to do so since they themselves enjoy it.

At  this point I have to confess my own personal addiction - a particular brand of peanut brittle made in Punjab"Swami chikee" made with peanut and raw sugar  from freshly harvested sugar cane. I have tried peanut brittle in the United States , in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, but this brand from Punjab beats them  hands down.When I occasionally  do manage to get hold of f a few packets occasionally, I hoard them  and refuse to share it. Fortunately the season lasts from November to January and it is difficult to get stock after that. I have toyed with the idea of filling  up the refrigerator, but unfortunately ( or fortunately )  my wife puts her foot down, so every February I  go cold turkey.

The Land of Contradictions -2

In my blog of December 29th, I made the point that making laws was not enough , they needed to be enforced.

“It’s not enough to change the law. We also need cops on the beat to enforce the law" President Obama 

( New York Times January 24th,2013).

Now if only our senior  politicians ,bureaucrats and police were to send out the same message  !!!!

Coming Together at Phuket !!!

In December my wife and I attended a Indian wedding hosted in Phuket , Thailand. The Indian  bride groom attended  a  Hong Kong International school. and then went to a Ivy League college. He works for a top private equity firm. The bride is an American who works as a analyst for a large American bank. While the wedding was lavishly hosted, with every thing being well thought and taken care of, what fascinated me most was the mix of young people and their ability/willingness to participate and enjoy the functions without any hesitation or awkwardness. What particularly brought them together was the music. Every evening  there was a party which lasted till the early hours of the morning.

The young guests were a mixture of Indian,Pakistanis, Americans,Chinese,Koreans, Japanese and numerous other nationalities. Most of the girls were dressed in saris and many of the boys in kurta  pyjamas. They all appeared well at ease with their attire. The evenings started off with top well known singers from Bollywood which were then followed by djs.The singers all sang Bollywood numbers and Punjabi bhangra  - all of them with a pounding beat. The dance floor was packed solid with people dancing Bhangra. Surprisingly the Asians , who normally tend to be more self conscious, had no problem at all adapting to the " Bhale Bhale " of the bhangra with the shrugging shoulder movements and the adaptation of both fore fingers in the air ala John Travolata in Saturday Night Fever ,with legs kicking and pounding  Cossack style and circles being formed in the manner of the Jewish " Hava Nagela " . Of course no party  these days would be complete with a Gangam style, including a version of Gangam " Punjabi  " style - the Punjabi's should certainly teach  the Gangam residents a thing or two about extravagance ! The stars of the show one evening were two Korean pre-teen brothers  who outdid the bhangra boys with their vigorous version of Gangam style horse riding performance.

The djs played a mix of Bollywood item numbers and rave and other club music about which I know very little, but  people on the floor were doing the combination of bhangra, gangam style or whatever went with the beat. It was incredible seeing the mixed group and the fusion  of music and dance  with a common objective of having a good time. It was a pleasure to see the intermingling of the young ( and older people like me) and their willingness to adapt and adopt the different cultures.

They all attended  the Sikh wedding ceremony sitting cross legged on the floor and the vegetarian food afterwards, as if they did this every day. 

I have thought about it further to understand what was it which pulled this diverse group together and come to the conclusion that it  was America. Yes of course an international city such as Hong Kong  played a role , but it was the American thread which pulled it all together. The people all were from America, or had studied in America or worked for American firms.While this might be stretching it and  sound like  the words of an Americanophile ( which to some extent I am ), I cannot think of any country including the United Kingdom which impacts the people and universalizes them as America does. Being a nation of immigrants it absorbs all cultures and " Americanizes " them,  to the extent there is something common to which they can all  relate to , while still retaining their own culture.

I have worked for a large American international banking institution and a large British international banking institution ( for a much shorter time). I left the American institution almost twelve years ago , but there is a common bond  among the the former employees  which enables you to  link up and you get talking about individuals or events which might have happened decades ago. This is certainly not the case with the British institution. I have friends who have worked with European ,or Asian  institutions,companies where the camaraderie is even less or non-existent. As a non-French or non-German, or a non-Japanese , you are in different category. There are institutions which are changing - Standard Chartered is probably one of the most prominent and was one of the first to have Indian Chief Executive, but then Standard Chartered is now more of a  international institution which just happens to have its head office in London.

 If only the world could always come together and work towards  a common goal of living happily, and not worry about race or religion, it would  truly be a wonderful place.

The Land Of Contradictions

The recent gang-rape, and physical assault on a young woman who eventually succumbed to her injuries,  has brought about an overwhelming response of fury from people from all walks of life through out the country. How can this happen in a country where some of the most powerful political figures are women, much more than most countries in the world  ? 

To list some of them,  Sonia Gandhi , the head of the ruling Indian National Congress Party , Meira Kumar is  the Speaker of  the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj a prominent leader of the Bharitya Janata Pary,  is the leader of the Opposition. Sushma Patil was the former President of India, Jayalalitha the Chief Minister of Tamil Naidu and the head of  All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party . Mamta Banerjee is the Chief Minister of W.Bengal and the head of the Trinamool Congress Party. Mayawati the head of the Bahujan Samajwati Party was the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in the country. Sheila Dixit is the Chief Minister of the capital Delhi.

 Also during the wedding season you read about the big fat Indian weddings where the bride's father ( businessmen , politician ) spends the equivalent of millions of dollars for his daughter's wedding to entertain thousands of people . The entertainers include top Bollywood or overseas performers who do not come cheap.  

You then have the contradiction of women being treated as chattel, where there is a rape committed in the country every few minutes. Delhi is not just the capital; it has the inglorious distinction of being classified the rape capital of the country According to the New York Times dated December 30th,2012, there were 600 rape cases reported in 2012 with one conviction. The National Crime Bureau statistics show  there were 228650  incidents  against women ,reported which averages almost 628 incidents ( which include crime such as  rape, molestation sexual harassment etc. ) a day,all over India. These do not include those which do not get reported ,including family incidents.

To make matters worse,  almost every day some unthinking politician makes a comment (including some the women politicians) as to how the rape victims brought it upon themselves , how they should dress soberly , how they should not go out at night “  dented & painted “ whatever that means. According to the social activists the problem arises, because it is a patriarchal society where women are treated as mere play things to be used and abused by the males.

However I would like to focus on the fact that almost all  of the rape victims tend to be from the poor or lower castes in the  rural areas or if in the cities from the  working class or the lower or middle middle class. You do not hear about such incidents among the wealthy or the senior bureaucrats. The reason for this is  because the wealthy do not use the public transportation in the evening , nor they do not live in areas which are not well lit, which exposes them  to the lecherous individuals. Also when these affected people go to the authorities to report them ,they are ignored or  not taken seriously , as happened recently with a young seventeen year girl in Punjab and who eventually committed suicide out of shame. 

Yes we do have to change the mind set of the men, but that is long term  solution. What can be done faster is  to amend the laws, but they in themselves will not make  much  of a difference. India has no shortage of laws, the problem is in the enforcement.We have to make the public transportation safe so that young people, particularly women  can travel without fear no matter how late it is. We need to ensure that when they go to the authorities, their complaints are registered, and action is taken immediately . The government needs to allocate more funds to the judiciary to enable them  to beef up the court system so that these cases can be fast tracked. They need to be able to hire better prosecutors, to ensure that they have a higher conviction record.These are relatively quick fixes, if the political will and determination is there.

It is only when laws are implemented without fear or favor,when people are made to pay for their crimes by serving long prison sentences, will we see the changes. Only then will there be one India - not one for the wealthy and well connected and one for everyone else.

Myanmar - Ready For Take Off !!!

Our family returned last week from a six day trip to Myanmar. For once we all agreed that it was one of the best holidays we have had. We went to Yangon, Bagan and Inle Lake. Based on what I have been reading , my observations and the conversations  ( albeit limited) I had  during our trip, I  feel that the country is ready to take off. If I was younger, I would have no hesitation in relocating to Yangon to start afresh.

First let me come clean on my Myanmar (or Burma) connection. My father moved there right after the war and started a business, getting the distribution franchise for international electronic, air- conditioners/refrigerating companies from Japan, India, Europe, UK and the United States. He did very well. While I was born in India, I was taken to Yangon while still a few months old. I spent a happy childhood  flying kites, playing marbles, shooting at birds with catapults. My friends were Indian, Chinese and Burmese. I went to a school run by lay American Methodist missionaries, which required us to attend chapel twice a week. We used to sing gospel and other American folk songs. Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson and Cliff Richard were all the rage, as were drain pipes and puff hair dos with T-shirts  rolled up a'la Marlon Brando in the Water Front and James Dean. The Beatles were just getting popular. Surprisingly (now that I think about it) , the newspapers carried a lot of international news and one read about the anti colonial movements in Algeria, the murder of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, and of course the assassination of President Kennedy.   

After the war Burma was one of the most prosperous countries in Asia. The first air-conditioned airport in Asia was in Rangoon in the sixties. I was told by a journalist friend that prior to the war, Burma was the most profitable branch for Mitsui worldwide. However in 1962, General Ne Win took over and announced that Burma was to go down the path of "The Burmese Road To Socialism ". In early 1964, the government announced that it was going to nationalize all private business regardless of who owned it. My father lost all his assets in that country. We moved back to India in the second quarter of that year.

After finishing my studies I ended up in Hong Kong working for Citibank. In nineteen eighty- one, soon after I joined the investment bank, a German colleague and I decided to visit Yangon to make a pitch for a sovereign loan, which was the hot product during those days. Upon our arrival, it seemed that we had gone back in time. While the rest of Asia was going through radical changes, in Burma time had stood still. Nothing had changed in the seventeen years since I had left. In fact things had deteriorated. I had no problem finding our old house and our neighbors. The Burmese central bankers came to pick us up in a pick up and we sat on the wooden benches in the back to go out for dinner. The hotel we stayed in The Inya Lake Hotel built by the Russians was in a terrible condition. There were cockroaches and an occasional rat. I caught an eye infection from the dirty towel in the bathroom. 

This time round however things were different. The airport was modern. The immigration officers were all well groomed, professional and efficient. All spoke English well. The airport was built four years ago, but due to the increased traffic, construction of a new airport is already under way. The roads leading to town were broad and clean. We did not come across any potholes during our entire stay. Sule Pagoda , the downtown area for Yangon had changed, though not completely. Some of the land marks were still recognizable. The building, where my father had his store and office, together with the adjoining building and two cinema theatre were all redeveloped to build the Traders hotel - managed by the Shangri-la hotel chain. All the two and three story wooden structures in our street have been re-developed into four to eight story apartment buildings. The only exception being our old house, a wooden structure almost a hundred years old. The upmarket residential area around Inya Lake would be on par or be considered better than most private residences in Lutyens Delhi.

India and Myanmar share a common colonial heritage .On a sad historical note, the last Indian Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zaffar was exiled to Yangon and is buried close the Shwe Dagon pagoda . In exchange the British exiled the last Burmese king Thibaw Ming to  Ratnagiri in Maharastra where he died and was buried. Because of the British overlords, Myanmar's civil service had more than its fair share of Indians. Also there was a large Indian population in most major towns and cities and in the rural areas. Growing up I remember my father's business and social acquaintances in addition to  the Burmese and Chinese, included Sikhs, Muslims, Marwaris, Guajaratis Bengalis, Tamils and Parsis. Our guide mentioned that in the old Burmese movies the doctors were always portrayed as turbaned Sikhs. 

 

From an external perception Myanmar is ranked among the poorest countries in South East Asia. However, in our limited travels the population we saw appeared to be reasonably fed and clothed. We were told that until last year the minimum price for a car (regardless of the make) was US Dollars One hundred and fifty thousand (unless you were well connected). Since then the duties have now been reduced to one hundred percent. The country has now been flooded with second hand cars, predominantly Japanese, with the exception of an occasional Benz or BMW. I was extremely impressed with the supermarket we visited. It would put most Indian supermarkets to shame in terms of the variety and quantity of goods. They were not cheap by any standards but people were busy shopping. Myanmar is probably the only South Eastern Asian country which is still cash based. Even the hotels will not accept credit cards, so it was surprising to see the prices of the goods. 

With the gradual lifting of sanctions, the influx of business and foreign visitors has shot up. Apparently last year there were only two hundred and fifty thousand visitors. As of early November this year, it was three hundred and fifty thousand and still counting and the peak tourist season was just starting. There are a limited number of hotels in Yangon and as such it is expected that prices will continue to rise in the short term.

With the new foreign investment laws now in the process of being implemented (with boys selling copies of the new investment law at traffic lights), you will see a flood of investors lead by the Japan.  Myanmar was the largest recipient of Japanese war damages and subsequently of aid. There has always been a historical affinity between the two countries in spite of the war.

I would expect in the medium to long term, Myanmar will over take the other South East Asian countries with the exception of Indonesia. Myanmar has a population of almost sixty million. It has a large variety of natural resources including oil and gas. It has rivers and mountains which are gradually being used to generate hydro-electricity. It was the largest exporter of rice and could quickly re-gain its pole position. Burmese teak is of course well know, as are Burmese rubies and jade, most of which over the last decades have been smuggled across to China and Thailand. It has unexploited beaches and hill stations, plus its rich cultural heritage. I was told that almost 95% of the population was literate (could read and write Burmese) - not because of the government, but thanks to the Buddhist monks who run schools in the monasteries. Most of the people we interacted with could speak and understand English, which puts it a step ahead of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. 

For the last three to four decades, China (both state and private investors) have dominated foreign investors, together with other South Eastern investors, all working hand in glove with the rulers. The Chinese investments are however resented, as the general feeling is that Myanmar was being used as a raw material supplier to the Chinese industrial machine without a thought being given to the contribution of the welfare of the Burmese or the environment. 

Over the next few years you will see radical changes and a bonanza of opportunities in almost all the sectors, infrastructure, (ports, airports, roads, bridges, rails), financial (banks, finance companies, insurance companies, stock markets), technology, educational and medical institutions.  I could go on, but suffice to say that if I was younger, it would have been a second generation of the Bindra family relocating to Myanmar to seek his fortune.