Community Concerns

I am a proud Nadar, as anyone who has read my blog for more than a few weeks will know. And the greatest source of pride for me arises from my communities flexibility and its ability to adapt and thrive under adverse conditions. One of the biggest strengths for our community has been the "Self-Respect" movement, supported by great stalwarts such as Periyar, Annadurai and WPA Soundarapandianar (my ancestor) and the Justice Party. Through this, Nadars rejected the albatrosses associated with organized religion, such as large and costly ceremonies for marriages, namings, engagements, coming of ages, ear piercings, head shavings and the like.

These ceremonies were conducted by Nadars with minimal fuss, with the administration of the ceremony being done by a family elder. There was very little wastage of money on unnecessary, and mostly inexplicable customs and ceremonies.

In my opinion, this is one of the major reasons Nadars saw the meteoric rise that they did in the past 50-75 years (along with a firm commitment to women's education and a sense of community). During this time, the traditionally prominent communities such as Brahmins, Chettiars, Mudaliars and Gounders struggled through layer over layer of "traditions" and "customs" that had accumulated over the generations, thereby taking a huge financial toll on them, thereby reducing their competitiveness in business - While Nadars, a young and hungry caste with no such encumbrances jumped eagerly into the breach and with their "low overhead", quickly established numerous businesses across the globe.

Now, I see that things have come almost a full turn. It is now the turn of the Nadars to be overwhelmed with unnecessary expenses and ceremonies as part of what should be an event distinguished by divine simplicity - A marriage.

I fear very strongly that we have gotten caught up in these ceremonies to the extent that we will not be able to fight the next rising (and unencumbered, hungry) caste that will challenge us in the perpetual battle for financial supremacy.

A few observations

Several people have asked me how it is that I have not the slightest trace of an American accent, after spending 4 years there. I do not really have an answer to offer, but only an observation:

Amongst immigrants into the US, even after 30-40 years of living there, Russians still have their Russian accent, the French have their accent as do the Iranians and people of every nationality but Indian !

The Park Hotel in Chennai is organizing Utsav, an Indian food festival. I really think this is the height of irony ! I cannot imagine a Chinese food festival in China, or an American food festival in the US ! Or is it that the Park has finally realized that they are located in India ?!

Glimpses of Mumbai

I am in Mumbai today, and here are some comments/observations:

Mumbaikars are tired as shit with being the strong folks that will not be cowed by terrorist attacks. They would prefer some peace to being labelled as the folks with "indomitable spirits".

Apartment prices in South Mumbai are in the order of multiple lakhs per square foot. My body, when I lie down, occupies 6 square feet !! I don't understand it. On a side note, I hear that my predictions on Chennai Real Estate prices dropping might come true in 2-3 months !!

People always talk about how people in Bombay move fast. One aspect that I noticed in this regard was the behaviour of beggars/traffic-light-vendors. In Chennai, the average beggar/vendor will linger outside your window for 7-10 seconds. In Mumbai, its around 2 seconds. In one look, they decide whether they like you, and if they don't, they move on to the next car. Sort of how the Dalal Street pigs all moved out of Jet Airways stock and left me holding a few pieces of paper, that are practically worthless :-(

Life as an Auto-Driver

No, I don't make a living as an auto-driver. However, I was wondering yesterday about the life of an auto-driver.

When I wake up in the morning, I have a rough idea of how my day is going to be. I have appointments scheduled, there are meetings, I know who I need to call. Of course, there are unexpected things - Suppliers dont deliver, our portal goes down, we get a new client etc ... But to a large extent I know what to expect.

And there are some people for whom life is even more predictable, with a great deal of repetitiveness. An assembly line worker, or a sweeper, or a tele-marketing "executive" ...

But could anything beat the unpredictability of the life of an auto-driver. The guy does not know where he will go during the day, who will flag them down, how much he will earn, where he will eat, what he will witness in the back seat, ... Nothing at all ...

The vicious cycle of tipping

While I was having dinner with my fiancee last night, I was stuck by the vicious cycle that tipping can sometimes be ...

In the US, Indians have a reputation for being poor tippers. Of course, in India, tipping is nowhere near as important or substantial as in the US (Where 15% of the bill amount is considered par for the course, with 25% or so being quite common).

So, lots of times, I would get inferior service from waiters, who would not work as hard in the anticipation of a poor tip. And at the end of the meal, although I am usually a decent tipper, would be pissed off with the service and leave a very small tip. And the waiter probably goes "Just like I thought ... These bloody Indians" ! And the saga continues

Firefly Phone

Cingular has launched a "Firefly" phone targeted at young kids. You can only dial numbers that are stored in the address book by the parents. The phone has two buttons, one with a picture of a woman, which when pressed, dials his or her mother, and the other is a button to call his dad.



I am just waiting for a gay/lesbian couple with an adopted kid to sue Cingular for discrimination :-)

PS: 365th post of mine !

China & North Korea & USA

China has to be really careful how it reacts to the North Korean missile tests. In my opinion, North Korea is never going to be a credible threat to the US, because before it does, Japan or South Korea will strike it down. But the US could goad North Korea's leadership (of one) into a macho strike on China, thereby using North Korea, which already considers China a sell-out, as a lever against China.

Imagine this scenario. The US continues to hype up the threat that North Korea has on the US Pacific Coast (total hogwash), and then gets China to issue increasingly strong statements against North Korea, thereby leading to an escalation in tension, which can be manipulated by a few choice string-pulls of the CIA when it comes time to cut China down to size.

Electric Cars

I just read about an electric sports car that is as fast as most BMW's. The creator is a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur who built the car because he did not want to drive a car that depended on the Middle East for fuel.

Where does this dude think the fuel for electric plants (oil, gas) comes from ? Yup, the Middle East !

O Google, where art thou headed ?

Checkout is Google's latest offering - A rival to PayPal, a part of eBay. How many more also-rans can the company afford to build ?

Update: The latest Business Week had a good article about this ... And their CMO went on record saying that they expect upto 80% of their efforts to fail.

Class Warfare on the Roads

When I was in India last, I noticed what is, in my mind, the first signs of a full-blown class warfare, enabled by the increased irrelevancy of caste in Urban India. (I believe that the incredible disparities in wealth and fortune are sustained by the caste system, that convinces the poor that this is "their lot" and that if they do a good job of being down-trodden, maybe they would be re-born in a better position)

Two wheeler riders, a few years ago would scramble to get out of the way of cars, at the first beep of the car horn. Now, bike riders have absolutely no concern for the repeated blasts of the car driver's horn, and in fact even look back and give the car driver a pointed frown. A microcosm of the overall shift in society, with the increased confidence and sense of entitlement of the middle and lower-middle classes.