The Difference Between the United Kingdom vs the United States

Today's Financial Times had a column by Janan Ganesh who writes regularly on the British political scene.His column today was appropriately  headed " Britain Loudmouth Literary Crowd" in which he tore apart a column by a British writer of children's books amongst with  titles such as   You’re Thinking About Doughnuts" and "Little Rabbit Foo Foo". Rosen had written a open letter questioning Javid's credentials for being appointed the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, & Sport. Prior to that  Javid was the Economic Secretary and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. The reason apparently for Rosen's ire is not because Javid, a son of a immigrant Pakistani bus driver, is because he is not an  artist or been involved in art or culture organizations,and also because  he was a very successful investment banker at Deutsche Bank, which he gave up to become a Member of Parliament..

That is the difference between the UK and the United States.In America he would have been lauded for rising from such humble beginnings, and giving up a successful career to serve his country. Most ministers in almost every country do not come from the profession for  the constituency they take on when they join the government. I wonder how many former Ministers of Health have  medical training or for that matter Ministers of Education have been academics and so on.

Unfortunately in this case it smacks of the the resentment that this rich successful investment banker is now going to decide how much of a subsidy the likes of Rosen and his ilk receive. Among his mandate is to manage the budgetary allocation including the necessary cuts which are necessary to manage the deficits and the financials for the future generations. Surely his financial experience will help him do this.

In the United Kingdom it is impolite to talk about wealth, but dig below the surface and you will find that politicians and minor royals always have their hands out , at times from questionable partners. The recent reluctance to impose serious sanctions against the Russia is yet another example of the British turning a blind eye to the human rights because it might affect their bread and butter. The United States has no qualms of doing this. England continues to offer sanctuary to former dictators and corrupt rulers.

At least with the Americans you do not have this hypocrisy. They make money and are not shy about displaying it. The American billionaires are among the largest donors for philanthropic causes around the world. I would like to be able to name one or two British billionaires who have followed Bill Gates or Warren Buffet's example. You might have a long search. 

Election Day

For the first time in my life I voted yesterday.Contrary to what I had expected, it was totally painless and took less than ten minutes  Since this is the first election in which I am participating, I have been watching the process with keen interest. The results are expected in mid-May.

Since late last year we have all been inundated with news, advertisements , emails  sms, about the various parties and candidates. There have been  accusations, charges, innuendos, scandals galore.All  parties are making different pitches to differentiate themselves.

The grand old party as Congress is often referred to, appears to be a cross road. To paraphrase a line from Twelve Night , the reluctant heir having " greatness thrust upon him " is manfully rolling up his sleeves and making a go at it. You get the feeling that he would rather be partying at the night clubs at Ibiza where they are supposed to be playing Bollywood music. For the viewer listening to his speeches, it is confusing to hear him saying that  "we have to start empowering women, we have to start cleaning up corruption"  etc. While we realize that he might be living in a bubble, is he in a time wrap ? Congress has been ruling for ten years. As we saw from the Lokpal Bill incident, all he had to do was to come out publicly in support and like Moses parted the opposing members in his party and the bill  presented to the Parliament within days.The sycophants who had earlier opposed the bill,  changed their colors faster than a chameleon.  So why did  he not do the same for corruption and women empowerment  earlier on ?

The Congress party talks about cleaning up corruption, but due to political expediency does not hesitate to nominate candidates with spotty records. It talks about communalism and their leader has acknowledged that there were Congress party members participated  in the killing of the Sikhs in Delhi and these people are still regarded as senior leaders and given important assignments in the party.

Based on their priorities and public actions of  of senior Congress leaders, their game plan appears to be to open the money taps  in the form of subsidies,  and promise jobs by reserving quota's.In the process reputable  established institutions  are being destroyed by the induction of candidates who are not qualified but who are selected based on their religion or caste.They continue to wave the secularization flag as if only the Congress has the patent rights to it.

In anticipation of being able to garner the votes of the party pushing for  the creation of the Telegana state, the government pushed through the bifurcation of  the state of  Andhra Pradesh. Unfortunately the Telegana party turned out to be an Indian giver ( pun intended ) by taking back  its commitment.Most of its alliance partners have started walking away from them, except for those who have no choice as they are not large enough to be effective or who cannot find other partners. 

Across the street, the main opposition party  BJP is going through a churn . It is being usurped by the Gujarat Chief Minister. Its advertisements do not talk about the  Bharatiya  Janata Partty government, but the Modi  government. The candidate says you are voting for me as if he is the personal candidate from all the constituencies across India.

Unfortunately BJP and the candidate himself  cannot seem to get rid of the impression that it is communal and does not regard all communities to be equal. While there some in the Muslim community who are willing to give Modi a chance, a large segment still holds him personally responsible for the Gujarat riots during which a large number of Muslims were killed.  

Similar to Rahul Gandhi who is trying to remake the Congress , Modi is in the process of shaking up the BJP, but more effectively and with a iron fist . As is often reported  in the media, he is shaking up the Delhi club if not destroying it. The so called Delhi club consists of Delhi based politicians a lot of whom come from a certain class.There are certain unofficial rules such as you will not go after the children or other family members. While on television and the newspaper they vociferously criticize each other, in the evenings they socialize together and exchange gossip and favours. They all know where the bodies are buried in the opposition camp, but follow the protocol unless it is totally out of line.

Na Mo as Narendra Modi is often referred to, is changing this. He is not running the campaign out of the Delhi .He is not hesitant about mocking Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. The latter on the other hand gives as good as she gets, accusing Modi of sowing seeds of communal unrest, but using a deadly term by referring to it as the sowing of poisonous seeds.  Na Mo is in the process of sidelining the old guard of the BJP who in spite of being their late seventies and eighties refuse to go gracefully. At present the force (and Rashtirya Swayamsevak Sangh) are with Modi and the old timers are stepping or being pushed  aside.As in the case of Congress the BJP talks about getting rid of corruption as one of their top priorities , yet do not hesitate to partner with regional parties with tainted reputations.

Corporate India appears to be solidly behind Modi. They believe that he will remove the obstacles and get the economy moving.The general consensus appears to be that based on its track record,  the Modi government (rather than the BJP government) will focus on the infrastructure ( roads, power,ports, rails etc), remove roadblocks in terms of approvals and put the economy back on the fast track. Congress however questions the actual growth and economic development to which Modi lays claim.

Modi's ability to operate will be dependent on the number of seats the BJP wins under its own banner rather the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - a grouping of the smaller regional parties. If their numbers are strong, the concern is that Modi will steam roll and be it will be my way or the high way.

The other party which burst on to the  political scene like a firecracker, the Aam Admi Party ( AAP) initially caught everyone's imagination. Its focus on austerity, good governance and removing corruption resonated with the working  and the middle class. They effectively decimated the Congress in the Delhi state elections.

After swearing on his children's heads that he would not team up with any other party, he accepted "outside"support from the Congress. However after forty nine days with one incident after another, he resigned. While he argued that it was a matter of principle, it is widely perceived that it was an admission that he was not able to govern. While he initially had a huge amount of goodwill among the working class and the middle class he appears to have dissipated a lot of it, at least among the middle class.

Unlike Congress and the BJP, not having a large campaign war chest for advertising, he kept lobbying political hand grenades and running a guerrilla campaign by making charges and claims against prominent business figures or politicians, which got him the attention in the media without paying for it. However of late,because of his insistence of not wanting personal security, he has had his face blackened, eggs thrown at him and slapped a few times. This certainly gets him the media attention but probably not the kind he had been hoping for.

Then you have  the others - the Third, Fourth or Five Front .A grouping of the regional parties from various states  such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and  Odisha, where individually and combined they control a large number of seats.In the case of either BJP or Congress not getting a majority,emerge as king makers. However most of them have made no secret of their desire to become Prime Minister. So for the sake of the country one hopes that one of the above two makes a strong showing. According to the pollsters and bookies it is likely to be a Modi government, however two elections previously when India was supposedly shining under the BJP government, the people surprised them and voted in the Congress.

No matter what the results are , it will be interesting to speculate as to what will happen to the major players.
If Congress does not make a strong showing, what will happen to Rahul Gandhi since this is supposed to be his campaign ? Probably nothing , although clamor has started  for his sister Priyanka to play a more prominent role. The main issue for the Congress is that it is the Gandhi family is the glue which holds the party together. Without them the party will disintegrate. There is no other central figure. So expect to see a Gandhi at the helm of the party for the foreseeable future.

If BJP does not get a significant number of seats to be able to form a government ( with a little help from their friends),will that be the end  of Modi's political career ? Difficult to say. He has come a long way and now has a  strong grip over the party. However if he does not deliver, there will attempts to dislodge him.

If Kejriwal's party is unable to get more then five to ten seats, Aam Admi will be considered a shooting star which flamed out, which will be a shame. The masses had great expectation but as it happens so often Kejriwal overdosed on the  power aphrodisiac. He should have heeded the words of the American Archbishop Fulton J.Sheen

"Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is "timing"
it waits on the right time to act,
for the  right principles
and in the right way"

If he had the patience he could have changed the political land scape of the country. What a pity that he was in too much of a hurry.

.........................................................................................

India never ceases to amaze, while most of the time it is on the negative side there are times when you shake your head and say, if we can do this why is the country not doing better ?

The Election Commission has a gigantic task of organizing the election across the length and breath of the nation. It needs to have the infrastructure  in place to enable the eligible 814 million to vote.Apparently the Elections Commission has to ensure that no voter has to walk more than 1.5 kilometers from his door step to vote.This places a huge burden on the logistics especially areas where there are no proper roads.

Speaking of my own experience everything worked like a well-oiled machine. About two years ago people came to our residential complex to register those who had not done so ( my wife and myself ). Starting a few months ago, you could log on their website , punch in your voting card number to determine the location of your polling both. The website is well designed and unlike other Government websites we had no problem at all trying to locate the necessary information. A few months ago the representatives from the Commission visited the complex again and you could ensure that you were registered and all the information details were correct. About two weeks, we received our elections slips which showed the location of the booths where we had to go.

In our enthusiasm we showed up at around 8:30 am . The voting slips were checked, we were required to sign a register, our left forefinger was marked with a indelible ink. We cast our vote and were out of the polling station in less than ten minutes from the time we arrived.

Like the Kumbh mela we organize these most complex logistical problems, and yet we cannot maintain our roads, keep our drains clean , improve our traffic flow.  The only conclusion you have to come to is that the individuals ( bureaucrats, politicians ) driven by corruption ensure that  things do not work smoothly to line their pockets.

I hope and pray that the new government ( regardless whether it is BJP, Congress, AAP or the Third Front ) surprises us and ensures that things work. I look forward to that day.

My Religion My Faith

Religion never used to interest me. However, I have recently been reading a book " No God But God " by Reza  Aslan. While the book itself is fascinating what caught my attention was his definition of Religion. He says

"Religion ......is not about faith. It is the story of faith. It is a institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence.

In my view it very succinctly summaries what  religion should be, but that is not what it  has become.It should be to communally observe certain rules of society and share their encounters with the Divine Presence.

But regretfully religion has been hi-jacked by  minders in the form of priests, mullahs, pundits, Brahmins  and bhai ji's. All along they have led the common folk to believe that religion was too complex for the common man to understand and that they were the only ones who could interpret it. With increased media coverage and transparency,  we are seeing examples of how these people have exploited the system for their own gratification, which ranges from sexual, financial to power and control.

This has lead me to think about my self , what I believe in and what do I have faith in ?

I was born a Sikh. When we were young my Father, who was active in the Sikh community in Rangoon,  made it a point to take us to the Sikh gurudwara (temple)  most Sundays. However it was more of a social event for us children. While the elders listened to the kirtan and the sermons by the bhai ji's , we kids were outside playing , buying toys and eating ice cream from vendors who would gather there.

My formal education began in the Khalsa (Sikh) primary school. The principal was a  Anglo-Indian lady called Ms. Cooper. I do not remember any emphasis on religious education or even any attempt to teach Punjabi. The medium of instruction was English. Strangely enough my next school an International school run by the Methodist's  required us the visit the chapel a couple of times  every week and to sing hymns and American gospel songs. Back in India, I  finished my high school run by  the Irish Christian Brothers.I subsequently went to graduate school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and stayed in the Theology School dormitory.  None of these schools had any religious  influence on me.

The closest thing to religion in which I participated  was having to recite the Japji Sahib while my Mother plaited my long hair into briads at the back of my head. This went on until I was about twelve and  started tying a turban.

 According to Wikipedia " Japji Sahib  is a universal sacred hymn about God composed by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith. The Japji Sahib consists of the Mool Mantra as the beginning followed by 38 hymns and a final Salok at the end of this composition. The Japji appears at the very beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs. It is regarded as the most important Bani or 'set of verses' by the Sikhs and is recited every morning by all practising this faith.

I recited this every morning  without understanding a word and rattling it off as fast as I could,trying to see if I could finish it off before my Mother finished with my hair.As we entered our teens our visits to the gurudwara  got fewer , although we did have a prayer room at home and on certain days of the months we were required to attend and listen to the prayers being read. Also on every important occasion, birthdays, exam time, interviews and a special prayer or ardass would be read , requesting God to ensure our success.

Following my post-graduate studies in the United States I ended up in Hong Kong. For the first few years, on occasional  Sundays I would visit the gurudwara , more from a point of eating the langar ( the communal food ) and seeing if I could find others with a similar back ground and with whom I could socialize.

After my marriage and with our two children, our visits to the temple became less frequent, except when we visited India, when my Mother and my In-Laws would insist that we visit the gurudwara to offer a prayer of thanks.

As I grow older and start reading a bit more about other religions, I  have come to the conclusion that essentially all religions are the same. There is the ultimate belief in the concept of  one God, Supreme Being, Wahe Guru, Allah or what ever name you want to give it. All religions preach communal living and living in harmony. From a personal point of view I feel that religion is essentially  rules for society to live by. Look at the Ten Commandments. It is a set of rules which is observed by both Judaism and Christianity. According to Reza Islan , Islam incorporated some of the features of the Jewish religion  such as abstaining from eating pork, fasting on Friday.

I have come to recognize that the Sikh religion is probably one of the most enlightened. Its founder Guru Nanak Dev took aspects of of both Hinduism and Islam and the holy book the Guru Granth Sahib ( " the living Guru") contains hymns and sayings from both these religions. It does not stop people from any faiths( or caste,or gender ) entering or eating the communal food. All the gurudwara's in India and abroad are among the cleanest places of worship and almost all the maintenance work  is done by volunteers ( Seva) . All these temples have four entrances  symbolizing that it is open to all. It is not a proselytizing religion . Its religious programmes or its preachers do not  proscribe any hatred or dislike of any other religion or community. Its ceremonies are short and simple. Women are treated as equal and you will find Sikh women among the most emancipated.Even the Sikh names are unisex ? You will find a lot of boys and girls having the same name - such as Harjit, Simran, Manjeet or Jatinder.

Sikhism's beliefs are simple . Like all religions it believes in one God. Its rituals are minimum.

"Recitation of religious books, penance, religious discussions and all meditations,
The exposition of six schools of philosophy and Hindu ceremonial books,
The practice of yoga and the performance of religious rituals,
The abandonment of everything and wandering in forests,
The performance of many efforts of various types,
Alms giving, oblation to fire and bestowal of many jewels,
Cutting off the body into small pieces and making them an offering of fire,
The performance of fastings and vows of many varieties,
All these are not equal to the contemplation of Lord's Name".
(Guru Arjan, Ashtpadi, pg. 205)

 "One man shaves off and calls himself a sanyasin, another passes for a yogi or a celibate. One calls himself a Hindu, another a Turk, one a Shia, another a Sunni, ("another a Christian or a Buddhist" )but know ye, men all over are the same. He alone is the Creator of ("all" ) Hindus ,Muslims ("Christians or Buddhist"), the Compassionate One, the Allah, our great Giver: nay, know not another, for there is not another. So serve they all the One alone: for He the One is the only God of us all: it is His Form, His Light that is diffused in all." (Guru Gobind Singh, Kabitas 71-90, Akal Ustati)

 "The temple or the mosque are the same, the Hindu worship or the Musalman prayer are the same; all men are the same; it is through error they appear different. Deities, demons, Yakshas, heavenly singers, Musalmans and Hindus adopt the customary dress of their different countries. All men have the same eyes, the same ears, the same body, the same build, a compound of earth, air, fire, and water. All and Abhekh are the same, the Purans and the Quran are the same; they are all alike; it is the one God who created all. The Hindu God and the Muhammadan God are the same; let no man even by mistake suppose there is a difference." (Guru Gobind Singh, Akal Ustat, pg. 275)

Source: www.sikhs.org  Words in parentheses  are mine.

Having said that I am not a rigid practicing Sikh.I do not carry any of the five symbols associated with  Sikhism.These are the five K's. Kesh ( long hair /beard), Kanga ( comb to keep you hair tidy), Kirpan ( short dagger or sword ), Kara ( steel bangle ) and Kachera ( long drawers - I dont know if boxers would qualify?). These symbols to identify a Sikh from a distance were given by the last Guru Gobind Singh when the Sikhs took on the role of defending the Hindu's against persecution by the Mughal rulers.

While I am sure most Sikhs would disagree with me, perhaps these symbols were necessary at that point of time. I personally am not convinced that it is as relevant in today's world, but then it is up to the individual to decide. I still consider my self a Sikh and will be for the rest of my life.

I do believe in God or a Supreme Being  or a Wahe Guru to whom I utter a prayer at  times of stress or when I desperately want something  positive to happen.I do not go to the temple or make offerings. The one way communication could be when I am walking in the evening or when I am about to sleep or some other time when I am by myself. When my prayers are answered or something good happens, I quietly offer my thanks.While no saint, I do try to live a decent life within the constraints of the modern world.

I do not know whether my children and  their children will continue to be Sikhs (or follow any religion at all ), but hopefully they will keep a open mind and view Sikhism vs other religions and then decide for themselves.

On Most Parliaments

The following was sent to me by a friend.

This is so appropriate for most Parliaments in today's world ,
both of the emerging and the developed world.  

 Full text transcript of Oliver Cromwell's speech
 dissolving the Rump Parliament,delivered at 
London, England - April 20, 1653.

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. 

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? 

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? 

Yes or did prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go,get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go !



Thoughts for the day : 

Who  voted them in  ? 

Are they a reflection of the society we live in ?

Are they a reflection of ourselves ? 

India Elections Notes

The Indian Parliamentary and state elections for the majority of the states are just around the corner. Santa Claus has come early  in the garb of the political parties. They are all trying to out do themselves in terms of offering freebies whether it is in the form of subsidized cooking gas or waiver of outstanding dues or free lap tops or the I Pad copy cats.

As mentioned in my last blog, the BJP fired the opening salvo in gunning for the Congress party by accusing the Chief Minister of being corrupt. Rahul Gandhi in the meantime is going around the non-Congress states accusing their administration of siphoning funds allocated by the Center for welfare programmes. The enfant terrible of Indian politics the Aam Admi Party in its desire to outdo the establishment and to prove that it is serious about rooting out corruption, filed a First Information Report ( charge ) at the local police station in Delhi accusing the Oil Minister, some of the bureaucrats from the oil ministry and to top it all against one of the most prominent business tycoon Mukesh Ambani the Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.


The English twenty four hour news channels in the meantime breathlessly report " breaking news" every hour and starting around 7 pm, all have panel discussions. The panels consisting of representatives from the various political parties plus others are  harangued by the moderators who act as the prosecutor, the judge and the jury in making charges and trying to get the parties on the defensive. While accusations are hurled at all the parties, most of the time it is the Congress party representative who is put on the defensive trying to defend the comments made by Rahul Gandhi or one of the party leaders or why its own party members are trying to stop the Parliament from functioning. While some of the members try to brazen out by totally side stepping the issues, the others take on a self righteousness or condescending tone or being obnoxiously rude as was the case of the one of the former Congress minister. Invariably it all ends up in a shouting match with every body trying to out shout the other and brings the discussion to an end.


The two major pan-Indian political coalition parties are the ruling United Progressive Alliance dominated by the Congress party and the Bharitiya Janata Pary led National Democratic Alliance. The Aam Admi has ambitions and is planning to be nominate candidates from most major states. This will differentiate them  from the regional or state parties such as the Akali Dal, or the Samajawadi parties. Whether they succeed in doing so will be seen in  a few months time.


Since this is being seen as a Rahul Gandhi led Congress campaign  this time, it will be interesting to see what happens within the party if it does not perform well.This is increasingly becoming a personal election between Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and the new kid on the block - Arvind Kejriwal nipping at their heels lobbying grenades or perhaps more appropriately stink bombs at the others and shouting if he does not get his way . From appearances it Congress after being in the saddle is increasingly running a defensive campaign with its main target being Narendra Modi personally rather than the BJP. Aam Admi's  Kejriwal appears to be  a firm  believer in the  maxim "there is no such thing as bad publicity" is in the news daily with some outrageous charge or accusation or complaint against the Central government. Narendra Modi in the meantime appears to be running a well organized juggernaut criss-crossing the countries hurling accusation against the Gandhi family , the Congress and the regional parties. The Aam Admi Party is not worthy of his attention and is totally disregarded.

The Greatest Show on Earth as the Indian elections are often  referred to is going to be on for the next few months. The fun, action and drama has just started. Stay glued to your seats.

Is 2014 going to be a free for all or the begining of a clean India ?

In my blog of October 28 " Looking at India Through a Glass Half Full " * I had expressed optimism that unlike the past ,  positive changes would happen in my lifetime. The recent win by  the Aam Admi Party "AAP", the passing of the Lokpal bill are signs of this happening. I now feel that 2014 would be the start of the cleansing of India. Unlike the past where a incoming government would blithely carry on with the perfidious activities of the  previous government and go through the motions of uncovering the corrupt activities, it was always business as usual. Within forty eight hours of its swearing in, the  AAP initiated actions in uncovering the perceived mis-deeds resulting in over charging  in the areas of water and electricity supply for the Delhi populous.

Interestingly enough the Bharitiya  Janata Party " BJP"  has gone public with corruption charges against the ruling Congress Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. The BJP in doing so, perhaps has forgotten the Biblical quote of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"  It is now  going to be a matter of time before the Congress retaliates,  and throws dirt at some of the BJP party members.It is expected that AAP once it settles in will look into the major scandals such as the Commonwealth Games which were brushed under the carpet by the previous government. This will be just the start. 

The AAP has also emboldened the cleaner members of the bureaucracy to report the activities of their corrupt colleagues. A TV channel India Today interviewed a bureaucrat from the Delhi Jal ( Water ) Board who said that on a yearly basis , the Board spent close  to thirty million rupees on lunches for its senior management. That works out an astonishing amount of Rupees of Eighty two thousand per day. An amount large even by major  corporate standards.

The AAP has now set its target on going national prior to the Parliamentary elections in the second quarter of this year, with a focus on the urban areas where it feels it has the highest level of support. On a daily basis, it has hundreds of thousands of people joining up and contributing to their campaign funds. Some prominent corporate executives have also signed up. This is clearly a sign that the country is fed up with the two major parties, Congress and BJP.

While Congress has already felt the impact of the AAP wave , the Narendera Modi juggernaut might get derailed as well. If AAP wins a respectable number of seats in both the houses of Parliament, it also will result in bringing to an end the business-political nexus and make the business environment more of a level playing field. Business houses for whom the ruling party did not matter, because they took care of both sides will find AAP a tougher nut to crack.

If  the AAP is successful in achieving its goal for the elections, combined with the Supreme Court decision on convicted criminals not being able to serve in the legislature, the Right To Information , the Lokpal ( even in its diluted form ), you will see India changing. As a citizen I am looking forward to the next few years.


* http://avib-randomthoughts.blogspot.in/2013_10_01_archive.html

Are Online Retailers Going To Change Retailing In India ?

In the nineties when Amazon was launched during the first internet , I had a bet with a friend that the online stores would never get off the ground. I felt that people like to browse, touch and feel before they bought   and that Amazon was going to be bankrupt within a few years.

Boy was I wrong ? I lost the bet. Not only has it prospered and together with others in the online genre have totally changed not just the retail industry , but also had major impact on the publishing and music industry. Over the last few years it is now doing the same in India.

A few years ago I placed a order for a new computer for my home use,  from a  hardware vendor from whom we had been buying computers /printers for my small company. The computer was never delivered and to cut a long story short I had to write off the money which I had paid in advance. This is not the only bad experience I have had. It is always a case of once I have your money, you are at my mercy. However the online retailers are about to change all that.

This reminds me of the experience I lived through in Hong Kong. I arrived in Hong Kong in 1975. There were no retail chains and there was one major  upmarket department store. The service was terrible, particularly if you happened to be non-Chinese and even more if you were non-white.

However thing started to change with the arrival of a retail chain called Giordano, started by a maverick - Jimmy Lai, He stocked clothes which were well made at a reasonable price  and better still, staffed them with young cheerful polite staff. Gradually other chains emerged such as Join in, Espirit all with a similar service model and Hong Kong retail underwent a sea change. Of course it also helped that  since then the rest of Asia , including China, India ,Thailand etc all prospered and it was not just the Europeans and Americans tourists who had  fat pocket books.

In India, of  course money is not much of an issue but with some retailers honesty is. They will  take the advance payment and promise delivery by a certain date and rarely is it met. You have to keep chasing them and many times, it is of  sub-standard quality or not quite what was expected, but you really do not have a choice.

My daughter in New York is a big believer in ordering on-line and I could not understand why she did that.  Now after about three months of using the services of the online retailers in India,I can fully understand her preference. The first serious online retailer in India was Flipkart , now followed by slew of others including Amazon.

The best example is that of  buying books. I used to go to a book store in Delhi  and while the prices were reasonable and when physically there, the owner would provide keen service and flood me with suggestions , ninety percent of which were of no interest. However in a numbers of instances  I called his number to check about the availability of certain books and there would no response, and even where I left messages there would be no call backs. There where instances where he promised to deliver some books through his brother's store nearer where I lived and in spite of numerous calls and visits, never got the books. This in spite of the fact on every visit my family and I  would buy enough for him to stop attending to other customers and come to help us instead.

Now sitting at my desk I can order even a single book at a price almost at par, if not better delivered to my door stop on the basis of cash on delivery. If I had changed my mind about the purchase, I could return it, although I have never had to do that.

Unfortunately however  my experience of ordering an electronic item from one of the retailers from Amazon fulfillment was not a happy experience. Hopefully this is an aberration, but it would make me wary of ordering electronic items in the future.

As elsewhere Amazon is trying to break new grounds. It is reportedly  exploring delivery to the rural areas through the Indian Postal System. In the sixties the Postal System was superb, but like a lot of other institutions in India being part of the government with no accountability and life time employment, the services declined leading to a eco system of local and national couriers where people use them rather the post for normal deliveries . Perhaps if they do team up they will have to meet Amazon's delivery standard and we will see  the re-vitalization of  the Indian Post.

I wish Amazon, Flipkart, and the others all the very best  and hope they will all do a Giodarno in India.