Grade Inflation : Life Beyond 100%?

We met this U.S lady during our recent Sri Lanka trip. She had been travelling around many countries including the likes of India, Indonesia, Thailand et all since last 7 months or so. Believe me she was not on any vacation sort of. She left her 2 years old coshy job in Hollywood and then an offer from Versace to chase the things she is passionate about. She don't pay for her flight tickets but rather manage it from the airmiles she gained during her sales stint on her job.Touring around these countries was as she said her way of 'educating herself'. She stayed in India for around two and half months , got trained in Yoga(a certified one) and want to become a part-time Yoga trainer. Her ultimate aim is to work in yachts and become an 'international resource'. And her talks reflected the amount of knowledge she has gained of the countries she has visited. I never heard of Delhi Belly until Aamir Khan picked this 2 words for his upcoming movie but she knew it well with her dose of you tube clips.

Can we Indians afford to do the same? Even when we have world's all wealth? A break from the work and/or studies? Remember those application forms from your dream company asking for any gap in studies/jobs? And if it exceeds 6 months except when you have dropped preparing for IITs, you will end up being a non-serious candidate. You lose the edge over one having a 'continuity' with no gaps. The recruiter (read the society) wants you to be occupied - even when the job you are doing sucks you and kills you every moment, even when that engineering and doctorate degree makes your life more confused and more meaningless. Keep running else someone else will move ahead. Keep running else someone else will defeat you. 

This fear of losing has perhaps defeated our generation from core. Grades and percentages has become the hallmark of our existence in this society. Just pick anyone just anyone from any corner of the world , lock him/her in a room with those bundle of book to mug and he/she will finally vomit it in any exams - there is no rocket science in it, there is nothing great about it but still it is what count here - how fast , how good and how efficiently you can do it- this is the race we are entangled in. And still we are running and we will even after the 100% cutoff is here.But for what? We don't know. Perhaps to make your nearby uncles and aunties happy, perhaps to keep their mouth shut.

Why do we need to listen them? Why can't we have a life beyond grades? Why can't we educate ourselves the way we want? Why can't we learn the things we are passionate about?

Manipal Jinx

This is the place where patients from all over India come in hoards everyday to get the best in class treatment at Kasturba Medical Hospital. The Pharma market in Manipal is very large with an average monthly sale of around Rs 2.5 crores which is what prompted us to study the sales pattern of the medicines in this land of doctors, engineering , medical & MBA students. We could get hold of 2009 medicine sales data from the popular medical store here to carry out a secondary research of a sort and here are few of the findings :

• Amongst the drug manufacturers , Cipla shows a significantly higher sales. Perhaps a collusion with the local drug stores.
• There is a high sale of Varaday used for treatment from HIV 1 infection.The maximum sold drugs being: Antibiotics, HIV Drugs and Insulin.
• The sales of Anti Depressant is highest in the month of November, December and July. These are the months in which students here have their examinations.
• The top over the counter drug is iPill tab.
• The medicine sales is not dependent on the discount offered on it.
• Sales of Immunoglobulin drugs increases in winter season. It is protein enhancer and it shows that people tend to work out more in the winter season.
• There was a co-relation found between the high sales during the month of December and January of the protein supplements and the medicines treating Plasma Volume Expansion caused due to the intense strenuous exercise. Yes, the guys seem to try to look best before the forthcoming valentine day

Expected this? Does it alarm a ring as to why parents hesitate to send their children to Manipal? Do you still have doubt over this? Read the full report here. This is the image the students passing out from here at some point or the other struggle to break.

To be honest, there is much more than Love, Sex and Dhoka here. The engineers, doctors and MBA grads from here will vouch for the quality of education imparted here. And many of them have done and are doing exceptionally well in their fields. You get what you are promised. Not like those other prominent colleges - say one in top 10 claims a WiFi campus but still takes monthly charges from their students who opt to use this widely advertised service; From Microsoft to Google to Oracle to Samsung , you name any big shot company and it visits the MIT campus. Ask any MBA guy or a CAT aspirant , where lies the most disciplined and rigorous B-School in India?

And yes yes, you need to get your general knowledge fixed if you still think that Manipal lies somewhere in distant north-east corner of India. As a recruiter sitting in any of the big cities in India, if you still claim it's 'far' then check how much time to and from the airport you spent in a Bangalore or a Mumbai or a Delhi where you would prefer a visit anytime anyday stuck in heavy traffic (like it?)- you will take less of the time from the Mangalore Airport with a scenic view to die for. And the railway station is Udupi - Yes the same land of Krishna Temple where your parents would want to drop by anytime you can plan for them. And the same place for whose food you pay a premium to eat in your comfortable cushy zone (Did i say noisy, polluted?). Come here and see the new gen free India whose part you always want to become but cannot as it's not available anywhere else.

Osama's Death reminded me of Freedom at Oracle

Let me start with the below line from my earlier post Infosys Loaded with its 3.0 Version - Part II

"I am not a regular television viewer (more due to living out of home since last 12 years) but i do consider myself just lucky enough to catch the historic ones - from IC 814 hijack to 911 to Obama's election to Egypt crisis to almost all the general elections in India post the famous riots at Bhagalpur. "

and extend it further. 

I am not a regular television viewer because i never had one during the last 12 years of my life plus the almost ubiquitous internet accessibility ensured that there was no need of it. But now after landing up in Bangalore in a 'furnished' accommodation with fixed monthly bucks to pay for it and with a television right in front of me, i subconsciously seem to be trying to make up for it. To the extent that its always on. Yes the first thing i tend do in morning is check my mobile and switch on the tv. The same happened on the Monday morning (on 2nd of May, 2011 to be precise). Having a usual incomplete sleep (just check when the angry bird blog was posted, the clueless act of grouping the objects on Prezi was the culprit ), i hurriedly left my place around 8:30 in the morning.

I reached office around 9:45, though the official hours start at 8. Now if you are an MBA graduate that too a fresh one that too from TAPMI (yes , time is still the religion there; you can be late for your date and still make up for it but not to a lecture there) and when your manager inadvertently (read always) arrives before you perhaps to check on your just-got-late excuse, it should be a crime. I will make up staying late, thought me but again if you are part of the Indian IT setup , that should be a norm. Nevertheless, i squeezed though my desk and started pretending to work perhaps like most other folks.With a printer behind and people gushing in there for their share of this facility , it was difficult to open my morning dose of Linkedin (yes that's the only social/professional networking site which the sensors allow here), The Social Canvas Daily (thanks paper.li for making access to the twitter-se-posted links so easy and that too without logging into twitter) and other sites to which i have almost got addicted to. Only around 11:30ish, i was able to browse through Time of India headline and headline it was - President Obama confirms death of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

That was it. Series of googling and series of write-ups on how it all transpired - let them note if they want to - the rebel inside me declared. You can browse through n number of pages but catching it live on the box has its own element , if only there could be one around. The dear Oracle cafeteria was being missed. That Lehmann Brother collapse, the Mumbai 26/11 attack and the Tendulkar's century with India winning in Chennai a month after, the Satyam scam and the stock market crashing - i had watched them all in those cafeteria's TVs. And it was not me, a whole lot of their employees did - the good part was no one minded those so called loss of productive hours or questioned it in any way. Trust was the key (and still it is i am sure) at Oracle. Loved the freedom being provided. There was no concept of swipe-in and swipe-out for logging your attendance to office. You can come and go to office anytime. There is no dress code attached. No blocking of the social network sites. No one checking your bag while you leave the office.

Yes, when you have whole bunch of talented people , the best of IT land, you should consider them to be matured enough to prove their worth and give back the returns on the salaries they receive. And who don't want to be a liberal soul. The age cohort of Indian workforce says it all:

Generation Bharat (Born between 1960-1975) characterized by

• Collectism and conformity
• Strong family values
• Do not question authority
• Believe that higher education is the only way to success
• Deep-seated economic insecurity
• Lack of optimism
• Cynicism and lack of empowerment

Generation India (Born between 1975-1990)

• Characterized by high confidence
• Capacity to process information very fast
• Urge to develop a career fast
• Tendency to expect to be given high responsibilities immediately
• Individualism
• Impatient
• Bold
• Tendency to overestimate themselves (arrogance of ignorance)
• Tendency to expect employer to adapt to them
• Roaming in cynicism-optimism paradigm
• Living in duality

General Globalized India (Born after 1990)

• Characterized by awareness of the world
• Environment conscious
• High technology literate
• Multitasking ability
• Urge to grow up fast
• Disrespect for elders and authority
• Lack of proper role models and references
• High self-confidence
• Optimist by nature
• Sees plurality as a way of life

A U.S company seems to have understood this Indian cohort better than its Indian counterparts.

Infosys Loaded with its 3.0 Version - Part II

I am not a regular television viewer (more due to living out of home since last 12 years) but i do consider myself just lucky enough to catch the historic ones - from IC 814 hijack to 911 to Egypt crisis to Obama's election to almost all the general elections in India post the famous riots at Bhagalpur. But never saw a live corporate broadcast such as the Infosys' one yesterday. They have their own way of doing things. Everything scripted to picture perfect? Living up-to the transparent organization they are much touted as. 

Despite all the hoopla, the janitor example by Mr.KV Kamath was the most touching. It seems the first ICICI ATM was installed in the same Infosys campus from where the new leadership announcement was being made yesterday. One day Mr.Narayana Murthy asked one janitor standing in line of the ATM regarding what he thinks about the ATM. The janitor responded that he loves this machine because if he would have gone in the bank , the teller/cashier would give extra treatment/respect to the babus in the line , but the machine here treats everyone equally. This reflects the 'technology as a leveler' effect which the modern India is experiencing. This leveling on par behavior is being what is aimed when we speak about automating the NREGA process or the e-Choupal initiative by ITC or the introduction of UID - just reduce the manual touch points and get rid of the hierarchical society estranging  our India.

So here comes the first similarity between Mr.KV Kamath and Mr.Narayana Murthy - Both had brought social levelers in their own way/field. One by creating millions of employment/jobs (and honoring them all even in downturn) and the other by revolutionizing the banking sector in this country - both through technology usage and adoption. The other similarity comes from the nature of fields they come from - both IT business and financial industry have lots of similarity- ever changing and evolving fast with their own share of (cyclical) downs. Both these leaders are difficult shoes to fill in their respective spaces and now when one is putting on his feet on the other's, the movie should be worth watching.

Many see it as the toughest period for Infosys with the top management changes, founding members moving forward , their Global Delivery Model under test more than ever before and declining revenues amidst the transition. But forget that they started in the most unfriendly of the environment for doing business with limited resources and have now created an extraordinary setup of infrastructure and leadership.And the knack of Mr.Kamath to identify the next change/opportunity/trend will just add to it. The bigger challenge is motivating the team again after the recent media bashings holds the key for them

Where they lack is perhaps a little more aggression ; remember the Axon deal where they decline to re-bid on top of HCL's quote? They have done so many things first - listing on Nasdaq, consulting through GDM, center in China but in their quest of taking planned and thoughtful risk, they seem to be losing out. Perhaps the "'In data we believe and God we trust' philosophy needs a little tweaking. The declining gap with other Indian IT companies such as TCS is just a myth. One theory says that the gap is more because of they considering in their financial report the expiry of tax exemptions from the STP(Software Technology Park) scheme of the government of India leading to an increase in their effective tax rate which the other companies are yet to figure out like the government and NASSCOM itself. One point which media seems to be not pointing as of now is the dual leadership conundrum - At one point (merely 3 months ago) we saw Wipro breaking away from this model and now Infosys embracing it further by retaining the co-chairman space.

Perhaps a mix of continuity and fresh perspective was the call.

Click here for Part I

How Al Jazeera makes Money

I would say if you want to understand world politics , you should better watch Al Jazeera English (AJE) version. Etymologically,the two words mean "the island" and surely at some points,it proves to be surrounded with the Muslim world's euphemism of the western power. I have a cable connection full of South Indian channels and not a single international news channel and hence my appetite for international news is forced to find solace with its live stream. For good perhaps. Atleast qualitatively , its on par with any BBC or CNN coverage. 

To be fair, it is equipped with some very brave reporters. During the Gaza war in 2008, it was the only channel with reporters on both sides of the conflict. It was the only international news channel to cover the violent out-lash of government on the protesters in Myanmar with under-covered reporters using the spy cameras. They were the only one to cover the gulf-oil-spills.The ordinary Arabs would have never seen an Israeli official without it. With its Cairo office closed, journalists beaten and arrested , tapes and cameras confiscated , it ensured a live  broadcast from the Tahrir 'Liberation' Square throughout the 18 days of Egyptian protests.

True , it has a past which makes it appear biased against western world (but are the western press neutral? Don't they show the news from American perspectives?) with controversial connections. It is still referred as CNN and BBC of the Arab world. Those in U.S should watch it first before forming a perception from third-party unknowns. Plus , it is owned (and subsidized) by Qatar government which as a nation shares a friendly relation with U.S , is much more liberal compared with other middle-east countries except Dubai and has Exxon Mobile as its largest foreign investor !

Business Model

The value proposition is simple : it broadcasts as-it-is uncensored (that's what makes it credible and trust worthy) news , political talk shows and documentaries about current and controversial happenings with an objective dual-sided view.It was initially funded with a 5-year loan totaling to $150 million from the Emir of Qatar who still continues to subsidize it. Most of the money comes from licencing exclusive footages (not to say , they have many !). It sells documentaries, rents its equipment to other broadcasters. Little dependence on advertisements - the Saudis unhappy with Al Jazeera's coverage of their Kingdom have given implicit message to the businesses in the Arab nations that they will be forbidden from doing business in Saudi Arabia if and when they advertise on Al Jazeera. And hence its drive to expand across the globe trying to catch as many eye-balls as possible and once that's done , it presumes the advertisers will follow on their own. It also has launched its sports channels for which it gets paid subscription revenue. It also have a advertising revenue-sharing agreement with Google for their YouTube Channel (Yes if you are in U.S , in all probability that's what you need to rely on to watch AJE). 

But that's not enough, they still are not making profit , not withstanding the fact that the numerous middle-east crisis they leverage on is a costly coverage. When Vodafone was struggling its way out in Europe and elsewhere , it found solace and made millions in Indian market. AJE already has got the permissions to broadcast herein India. But the news broadcast industry here is highly crowded and hyper-competitive. Plus will AJE's "Journalism with No Frontier" policy work here given the fact that many of the private news channel here are owned by politicians and implicit lobbying on news item is as prevalent as it can be? Will they chase the profits as desperately as the deregulated media houses here are doing ? They were able to unite the Arab world viewers who are even now so fractured politically , socio-economically and historically. Will they be able to repeat the same here? 

Let's Get Rid of it

This is the chance to utilize the network effects which we learnt during our MBA classes in the best possible way. If the suppressed souls in an Egypt and a Libya can do it , why can't we in this much lauded democratic nation do?  Tsunami of corruption was always here , lets not further allow it to wash away our well being , lets not allow it further to eat away our growth saga , lets not our future generations suffer from it. Better late than never , this is the time to seal your name in the history books. Lets get rid of this bunch of ants surrounding our hard earned sugar cubes.