The Great Indian Cricket Tamasha

I was not a big fan of sports. However since  returning to India I have  developed an interest in cricket.Where possible I  watch the matches whenever  the Indian team is playing. Like all arm chair specialists I do not hesitate to give my opinion on the incompetence of a fielder or a batter, even though I haven't the foggiest of what is a leg bye or a mid off or the difference between a googly ( a Google derivative perhaps ?) or a doosra. Whenever the Indian team collapses during batting as it did recently ( although it eventually won the match) I express my doubt as to whether the match has been fixed ?

Having watched these matches for almost five years I have noticed the following :

- In the past cricket in India was a middle and upper class sport played in the elitist schools, but now with its popularity it is now a common man's sport with the players coming from a broad spectrum of backgrounds all across India.

- How the country unites ( no issues of  religion,  language,  regionalism - with the exception of the Shiv Sena occasionally playing the spoilsport) behind team India with Indian flags on shirts, faces, bodies leaving no doubt that it is a united India regardless of where the match is played.Bollywood movies  are perhaps the only other unifying events. Perhaps one should start a party consisting of only Bollywood actors and cricket players. In the South of course the movie players have been very successful in transitioning from movies to politics.

- The ascendance of the  Indian  team to the top rung of the cricket teams in the world. This is partly driven by the financial clout of the Board of Cricket Control of India ( BCCI) which was also responsible for the cricket league in India called the Indian Premier League which perhaps should be relaunched as a reality show  following the drama surrounding it over the last year and the rumored cash generated.

- The rise of the sports celebrity - particularly the cricket players who are now on par with the film stars and
  get large amounts for product endorsements, are seen at openings of new stores, walking the fashion ramp
  and of course on the society pages of the news papers.

- Of course in India you cannot have a good thing going without the politicians being involved, whether it is on the governing board or  at the various matches commanding the best seats.
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 In yesterdays World Cup  semi-final between India and Pakistan, it was interesting to note the difference in style between the two captains . India's Dhoni was captain cool displaying no emotion during the pre-match or post match interviews or during the match itself. No signs of worry when things were not  going the Indian way or showing any feel good emotions when things started to fall in place for his team. Pakistan's Afridi on the other hand wore his heart of his sleeve on all occasions. During the match you could see him encouraging, advising, and occasionally reprimanding his team players when they did not perform. As it became evident that Pakistan was about to loose, you could see him trying to hold back his tears. Post match he was gracious towards his team and his opponents.
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Generally I am not into adulation of sports persons or movie stars or any such persons. However I do make a exception for Sachin Tendulkar. If there is one person who stands out in terms of total commitment,team player, and all around decent person, I do not think there is any other sportsman who comes close to Sachin.
A few years ago when he was going through a bad patch I used to express my frustration and felt that it was time for him to make a exit. He had achieved most sports men would have hoped to achieve in a lifetime.I was wrong.

With his dedication he has come back stronger and better. He is the rock on which the Indian team stabilizes . Time and time again, when the rock stars of cricket, the Sehwags and the Yuvrajs let their egos take the better of their performance and let the team down, Tendulkar never lets that happen. In the semi-finals against Pakistan, you could see from his face that it was requiring quite a lot of effort on his part to make the singles but he hung in there. His modesty and humility is well known. Unlike  the old film star , who is way past his prime and who endorses anything from cement to hair oil , there are certain products which Tendulkar will not endorse based on his principles. You do not see him giving his opinion on political or economic events. He keeps a low profile when he is not playing. To misquote the words  of a  Mughal Emperor on Kashmir, I feel that if there is a all around  Indian  super star Sachin is it, Sachin is it, Sachin is it.
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Finally as I said that you cannot keep politicians away from sports, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yet again took the opportunity of the semi-final to invite his Pakistani counterpart for a bit of cricket diplomacy. In this case perhaps the Urdu couplet which he had used as rebuttal to Sushma Swaraj ( the opposition leader)  in Parliament,  would be equally appropriate in his desire to put India and Pakistan on the path to peace, in spite of the various snubs and rejections he has received in the past .

“Maana ki teri deed keqaabil nahi hoon main; tu mera shouq to dekh, mera intezaar to dekh "

(I understand that I am not worthy of  your gaze; but have a look at my keenness, have a look at my anticipation for you).

Hopefully his attempt will be rewarded this time.

The New Royalty

Last year I finished reading a couple of interesting books.The first was about the Mughal rulers of India by Abraham Eraly  and  the second  about  the last Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh by Patwant Singh.The book about the  Mughals  described in detail how Babur having lost his tiny territory in Central Asia, drifted  and eventually established the Mughal dynasty in India.Similarly the book about Maharaja Ranjit Singh described how he united the  twelve Sikh Misls ( clans) and established the Sikh Kingdom which at its height stretched from Afghanistan to Delhi. Both these empires were built with frequent battles,assassinations, constant betraying of allies or masters for personal benefit, bribing enemies or trusted lieutenants, and undoing by incompetent off springs.The hundreds of kingdoms in India ceased to exist upon Independence. They further lost their rights and privileges guaranteed to them under the Constitution  when they dared to politically  challenge Mrs.Indira Gandhi.  

However the royalists at heart in India  need not fear.There is a new generation of royalty .Looking at the present political scene in India, it appears that nothing has changed, expect the rulers are no longer called Maharajas but for all practical purposes are very similar.The are now called Ministers, Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly .The new royals   include the Gandhi's  at the apex of the political royals and worthy of a  36 gun salute , the Abdullahs,the Badals, the Pilots, the Scindia's ( a double royal )  and so on. They did not win their right to rule by brawn , but by vote or by inheritance. The royals  to retain their kingdom had to fight off invaders or align themselves with the stronger rulers and pay them annual tributes.  In today's world anybody who aspires to be part of the new royalty has to align him/her self with the more established parties and also be prepared to  pay  tributes  but in the form of funds for fighting elections or other purposes. Since they can no longer levy taxes directly on the citizens, they do so indirectly through corruption. At the end of the day the citizen pays one way or the other.

When the Royals traveled, roads were cleared and there was security escorts in front and back . In today's world its even worse .It would be a loss of face for even the most  minor politician  if he did not have some sub-machine gun toting guards  and escort cars with the red flashing beacon.Instead of the number of guns salute which determined your ranking among the rulers, in the political royalty  your place in the  hierarchy is determined by the different level of security category  assigned  by the government.

The royals really knew how to throw a bash to celebrate a coronation or a wedding or when they celebrated a festival. The politicians are no less. Recently newspapers were full of articles about a Delhi politician who is rumored to have spent almost Rupees One hundred crores ( or about Dollars Twenty million ) and was apparently given a helicopter worth Rupees Thirty five crores ( Dollars Seven point seven million). But then
he is supposed to be independently wealthy because he has large land holdings which has appreciated considerably over the last decade and a half. Receptions for almost five to ten thousand guests are not unusual.

As in the past whenever it appeared that their  grip on the reigns of power began to look shaky, support was bought  by carving out the equivalent of principalities , but in this case ministries are allocated  to the smaller party  or defectors who provide support. These are selected ministries which  can generate enough revenues, but steps are also taken to  ensure that tribute is shared proportionately.

The political royals are also above the law in most cases with very few instances of them actually having to serve a prison sentence regardless of their crime. In the minor principalities ( provinces) actually having a criminal charge or a having served a prison sentence is actually a badge of honor.

Serving the political royalty as in the case of the royalty are their administrators, the Indian Administrative Services . Like the prime ministers of the larger states , a few  of these administrators have grown wealthy beyond their means by exploiting their positions.

Whenever the royals overspent on baubles and toys and  ran into a spot of trouble, they went to the money lenders or hocked their family jewels or future income. Nowadays the political royals go their business houses and once elected repay the favor by providing preferential treatment. 

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture, so let me end with the time honored  toast, The Maharaja is dead, long live the Maharaja!!

Migrant Labor

Two recent conversations a few weeks apart got me thinking about the impact of immigrants on the development , economic and cultural  of the recipient region .

The first one was at a friends son's wedding. One of the guests  a Sikh who has large farm holdings in  Punjab was bemoaning the fact that the economic prosperity in India and the governments policy of providing guaranteed employment for a certain number of days to the majority of the population ,was making it difficult to find workers on his farm. Previously migrant labor from Bihar and other states would come to the prosperous states such as Punjab and Haryana during certain times of the year to find employment and it would be a "buyers market "for  the farmers.Also some of these immigrant labor would settle in Punjab and in some cases even convert to Sikhism.

Things have now changed. With the governments minimum employment programme, some of the migrant would prefer to stay at home even if they get paid slightly less. This  has caused problems in the farming states, as it  has now become a "sellers market " from the  job seekers point of view. The farmers representative now wait at the railway station and offer not just higher wages , but offer other incentives such as mobile phones, days off etc. to get the best workers. This particular  gentleman said that he had instructed his foremen to offer  twenty percent  above the market straight off,  so he was able to get the workers he needed. With one of the major input  now going up, together with the gradual removal of subsidies for other inputs such as  fertilizers, gasoline, diesel, electricity, are you surprised that the costs of your vegetables and grain are on a upward trend ? This is just the start. This will ultimately force the farmers to use more automation.

This is ironical because the youths in Punjab from the working class , and in some cases to the middle class all dream of going abroad - illegally if  necessary , and  where they are quite content to do manual labor in inhospitable climes. This  has been going on since the sixties but one would have thought that with the increasing prosperity and opportunities  at home, they would prefer to stay home, but that is not the case.

On the other hand the recent prosperity and the boom in land prices is enabling the harder working farmers to sell their land and with the same amount of money buy perhaps ten times or more farmland in places such as Canada and settle down there.The more adventurous have been  taking long term leases on farms in places such as Madagascar !!

This brings me  to the second conversation which I had over a dinner with a diplomat from Canada. We were talking about Japan and how the graying of the population in that country was the cause of the gradual decline of the second largest economy in the world. He said that during his posting he tried at various forums to convince the Japanese to open immigration but to no avail. According to him Canada allows in on an average two hundred and fifty thousand immigrants into the country and this enables them to grow. The United States , the United Kingdom and to a slightly lesser extent Europe have rejuvenated - if I may use the term , by opening their doors to immigrants from Asia, Africa , South America and now recently from Eastern Europe. They are willing to work at the bottom of the ladder. Over the decades this has caused problems in terms of the need of the immigrants to adhere to their own religions and their own cultures. Also the longer term impact is that with a higher birth rates they will change the character of the countries. I have written about it previously.

Unfortunately , as it happens during every economic downturn, the politicians make the immigrants the whipping boys and accuse them of  stealing jobs, which they were not interested in doing in the first place.In Arizona where the state police is now authorized to stop and search any person whom they suspect of being an illegal or in the United States  or Europe or the United Kingdom where you see random acts of " Paki bashing" or Indians getting shot or killed, purely for being who they are, which is very unfortunate.Fortunately in the long run they  will be overruled and the there will be integration whether they like it or not and they will find them selves in the minority.

What we all forget , if anthropologists are to be believed , is that we ultimately all came from one place - Africa and none of us are different.  Every country goes through a cycle of prosperity and decay depending on whom we select as a ruler. To think that there is a certain privileged class , as the Nazi did because of their race, is deluding yourselves.

Why Financing India's Infrastructure Is Not A Problem ?

Almost every week there is an article or some minister or a senior bureaucrat saying how we will need trillions of Rupees over the next decade to finance India's infrastructure ( used in a broad sense including power, toll roads, bridges, rail roads )  and  how difficult it is to obtain the funding.

Having seen the Asian economies grow in the eighties and nineties and being involved directly or indirectly in the financing of  some these projects I feel that the persons making these statements do not really know what they are talking about. The issue is not obtaining the money. The world is flush with liquidity.

At this stage however let me digress a little at this stage and take you back over a hundred years when American railroads where being built. At that time, Europe and particularly the United Kingdom  was the center of the world. Banks and investors in Europe financed the construction of the rail road systems. I also have bonds issued by the Kingdom of Siam and China during the late eighteen hundreds. I have no idea whether all of them were repaid or not. With the world now more linked together and with liquidity pools in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and now Asia and with  markets being more open,  funding is not the issue. The issue is transparency.

For any project financing , whether it is infrastructure or offshore production facilities or a real estate project, you have to recognize that they are capital intensive and that they are long tailed. The basic risk factors you have to take into considerations are as follows :

1. The reputation and financial standing  of the sponsors of the project
2. The reputation and financial standing  of the contractor
3. The political , regulatory and environmental issues
4. The reputation and financial standing  of the off taker or the end user market
5. The technology used and the reputation of the firm providing it

If you are able to tick off all of the above , you will have no shortage of funding.

I read a lot about how capital markets, particularly the bond markets, should be developed to finance infrastructure projects. While this attempt has been moderately successful in a small way, keep in mind that bond issues have to be rated. How do you rate a greenfield project, particularly in  emerging market countries including India,  when you know that the odds are very much in favour of the project not being completed on time, or it being over budget or running into political turmoil. In Asia the only country which seems to have had some success in financing project financing through the bond market  is Malaysia. I take my hats off to the local rating agencies there in their ability to rate these projects.However if you look globally in terms of infrastructure projects financed through the bond markets, you will  see that the number is extremely modest.

For the bond markets to be involved in the financing of infrastructure projects it will probably be in the form of a take out financing when the project has been completed and it starts generating cash. If you do want to go to the bond market right from the beginning the banks or the government agencies have to provide some sort of interim financing or provide a guarantee or a put which allows the investors to put the bonds in case the projects are not completed in the period agreed on with a allowed grace period. Also the initial proceeds of the bonds will have to be placed in a escrow account and released gradually. This will of course add to the cost of financing as the borrower will have to start paying financing from day one.

Obtaining   financing from banks is probably a better approach since banks have the  experience in project financing and the borrower has to pay only a commitment fee rather than full interest on borrowings. Banks  are better able to deal with restructurings then bond investors in case the project runs into genuine difficulties.

If the government wants to obtain overseas bank or institutional  financing for infrastructure it needs to set up a legal entity  which provides guarantees until the project is completed . The legal entity needs to have a very transparent set of guidelines and a strict list of  approved consultants, contractors, and water tight contracts which imposes penalties on  firms if deadlines are not met. It also needs to ensure that there is single window for all government approvals ( including environmental and other regulatory approvals) which are binding even if the state government changes, to avoid a project being stopped mid-way. It needs to ensure that the Equator guidelines are followed.

Finally the bank financing can be supplemented  with financing from the multilateral agencies and the export credit financing agencies if substantial equipment is imported from a particular agency.

With the above in place there should be no problem with obtaining financing for projects in India.

India's Noisy Silent Democracy

Prior to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's visit to India,  the Chinese  ambassador made some comments about the fragile nature of the India - China relationship being affected by comments appearing in the India media.India's Foreign Secretary  Nirupama Rao's pushed  back saying our “Chinese friends” should get used to dealing with the “vibrant…noisy, nature of our democracy " . The New York Times in an article  dated January 19th,  on Manmohan Singh commented on India's " white noise of India’s raucous democracy". Sadly however the noise associated with our vibrant democracy exists only in the minds of the media or the mandarins of the Foreign Office.

The reality is that the voice of the population which represents the true voice of democracy is silent, as can been seen in the daily scandals in both the ruling party and the opposition ruled states with offenders going unpunished, and the average man or the aam admi on the street finding it increasingly difficult to deal with it on a day to day basis. The bureaucrats, the politicians, the enforcers, all participate in the smothering of the democracy.  The government also plays down the frequent intrusions by our increasingly belligerent neighbors in the interest of maintaining long term relationships and which are generally perceived as a sign of weakness.

The media of late has been making more of an effort to highlight the misdeeds of the corrupt bureaucrats, politicians and business men. However its credibility has been hurt by the leak of the Radia tapes where taped conversations between a  lobbyist and certain prominent media personalities have highlighted the nexus between politicians, media  and  business houses.

Also it appears that the media tends to  focus more on urban crimes where the misdeeds are against the middle class or upper middle class. Massacres, killings, rapes, mistreatment  of the rural poor are generally buried in small columns in the inside pages. In my opinion the media appears to have a short memory and feels that its job is done, once an investigation is started .The media needs to continue  pursuing  on the front page , major scandals and highlighting it if the perpetrators are let off, or where the various investigations fall asleep on their job or whitewash the results as is often the case.

 The television debates trot out the same cast of characters including party hacks, retired bureaucrats, and others who are "specialists "in numerous fields . They argue vociferously and then having played their roles probably go out and have a drink together. Looking at the media's role you are reminded of the lines from Macbeth that  their role  appears to be  that of " a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more " . It is " full of sound and fury signifying nothing " until the next scandal appears.

In the meantime the populace suffers in silence. 

Country Men Now Enemies

In the summer of 2009 my family was in Boston attending my daughter's graduation from Law School. One day we were taking a cab from her apartment to the hotel and started chatting with the driver who looked like he was from the sub-continent. I told him that we were from India . His response was "I am your enemy". This took us completely by surprise.

This was the first time ever  that we got  such a response from someone from Pakistan and it shocked me. My family are Sikhs originally from Gujarkhan near Rawalpindi in Pakistan. I have had friends, colleagues at school and work from Pakistan and have encountered nothing but warmth and support . I visited Pakistan on business  and there again was welcomed by my colleagues. I regarded this was a one off thing and I forgot about it.

In the last few years since the 26/11 incident  there has been a lot of hostility between India and Pakistan  which saddens most of the population except those with vested interests, as to how one country with the same culture , same history, same food, common  languages, have fought a number of wars and spend billions of dollars which could be better spent on alleviating poverty and improving education.

India and Pakistan are not the only such examples.Sudan is now the latest example of a country being split into two .

In a lot of cases it is the colonial masters who  are to blame, as they encouraged divisiveness and created a elite class of the minorities who were resented by the majority of the population and when the time came , wreaked vengeance  eventually leading  to civil war or to countries being split up.

The separation of India into two countries was encouraged by the British and the arbitrary borders which affected the lives of millions of people was drawn up in a matter of weeks. The state of  Pakistan was unviable from the start when they were separated not just by thousands of miles, but culturally and linguistically. This eventually led to the creation of Bangladesh.

In Rwanda the German and the Belgian colonial masters favored the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus and lead to one of the worst massacres in history, when between half to a million  people were killed in the space of a hundred  days.

Similarly on the Korean Peninsula you have North and  South Korea separated initially by political ideology but now by a family with dynastic ambitions , refusing to give up control in the North.Once the "wall"comes down which in my opinion is a matter of time, we will see one Korea which will be a world economic powerhouse.

On the positive side look at Germany which after the war was separated by the Allies and the Russians  and now re-united and living peacefully . The separation will eventually be a tiny  footnote in history. Since the mid nineties Rwanda has enjoyed social and political stability.

One hopes that this will also be the case with India and  Pakistan but that is  wishful thinking . The country would be unmanageable and we will eventually see the balkanization into smaller states. If we could just live peacefully as neighbors and divert the funding used for the army to increasing interaction in the form of trade and culture  between the two countries it would be a dream come true for the majority of the population on both sides.

Are Men Bettter At Appreciating The Finer Things In Life Than Women ?

This thought was triggered while reading an article in the Wall Street Journal dated January 5th,2011 " To Dress Well a Woman Should Shop Like a Man " by  Christine Binkley. Her point was that men were practical and bought clothes which fitted well and are comfortable . Women place a priority on trendiness rather than comfort.

I had always thought that men in general  appreciated the better  things in life such as design, whether is is architecture, design, food or other things such as wine or art . And here was a third party and a woman  confirming that. I could not let this opportunity go without writing about it .I  recognize that I am treading on dangerous grounds  and will shortly be getting a earful from my wife and daughter.

If you look around whether it is chefs, architects, artists, designers, tailors,they are predominantly men. Some of you will  point out that  Zaha Hadid the well known architect  and Jancis Robinson the well know writer on wine are women and so on, but for every one Zaha Hadid there are ten men. Since 1926 there have been only four women chef's who have been granted a three star ranking in France. Doesn't that say something ? Perhaps the judges at Michelin are all men ? In the fashion field you see more women than perhaps twenty years ago, but in the other fields they are still a tiny minority.

Why is this the case ? Is it because until recently men made all the buying decisions and men had a better appreciation of what other men wanted ? With things beginning to change, will we now  see the emergence of women in these categories ? After all you are know seeing a gradual increase of professional  women CEO's ( not those who inherited it because of family reasons).Also the increasing number of working women professionals and  entrepreneurs who now have the spending power. I am not sure . I think men wear clothes for themselves. Women choose clothes  for others reasons  - to attract attention and  to be appreciated by members of the opposite sex or to be one up on their  friends and "competitors" .

It will be interesting to see whether the trends change over the next couple of decades