Archive for May, 2007
What’s wrong with America is the way in which we are being forced more and more to equate criticism as something counter to democracy, when, in fact, it’s the core of it.
~Sean Penn
Another book review…
Games Indians Play is a short but intellectually heavy book in which Raghunathan tries to decipher why Indians are the way they are. In Raghunathan’s words,
“Why are we a nation that is individually so smart and collectively so naive? Why do we mistake talk for action? Why is our self-worth massaged only if we have the ‘authority’ to break rules? Why are we among the world’s most corrupt? Why do we jump red lights? Why do we dump our garbage at the neighbour’s doorstep? . . . Can it be our climate, population density, poverty, colonial past or even genetic encoding?”
Raghunathan uses game theory and behavioral economics to analyze the behavior which has prevented India from being a developed nation 60 years after its independence. I’m pretty new to game theory… the primary scenario Raghunathan uses is Prisoners Dilemma - The classical prisoner’s dilemma (PD) is as follows:
Two suspects, A and B, are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both stay silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a two-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. However, neither prisoner knows for sure what choice the other prisoner will make. So this dilemma poses the question: How should the prisoners act?
Raghunathan also describes iterations of this dilemma, and goes into different strategies for how to deal with it, and explains that ultimately the strategy that wins is Tit for Tat, which maximizes the gains of the individual as well as that of the population. So when you repeat the experiment, continue to cooperate until the other guy defects, then also defect. Selfishness maximizes short term gains, but in the long run co-operation leads to the greatest rewards.
Raghunathan also discusses several things about India that don’t make any sense, and they are the sort of things that many of us outsiders understand immediately… unneccessary paperwork (I had to submit 5 passport photos for my drivers license), the requirement that you fill out a customs form for a domestic flight that has an international connection, even if you’re just on the domestic leg, getting insurance for ticketless travel on the Bombay local trains (there are people who will offer to sell you a monthly pass for less than it costs to buy a pass from the railway - you pay them in advance and you don’t actually get a pass… you just travel with out a ticket and pay the fine if you get caught. They reimburse you after you present them with a receipt of getting caught. The chances of getting caught aren’t very high).
The book itself is very interesting, and I learned a lot about game theory, but I’m not sure I agree with the author on several points. One that he mentions several times is that he feels that Indians are perhaps the most intelligent race in the world… He uses examples like the vegetable seller who keeps track of the amount that everything costs and can compute how much you buy faster than a computer. I’d argue that he can do that because he grew up doing so, and may not be better at something else, and wouldn’t be as fast if he grew up with a calculator. Also, simple math isn’t a good way to measure intelligence. Also, I find this same skill lacking in a lot of Indians. Case in Point: I went to Subhiksha the other day to buy my groceries. I love the place - it’s kind of like my favorite store back home, Aldi. Their stores have a small footprint, but you can get everything you need, and it’s cheaper than you can get it elsewhere. The cashier rings up my order of goods that I’d mentally guessed would be approx 100rupees. Instead the cashier gives me a bill for about 300 rupees. He’d put in the wrong number for the daal that I bought, and ended up charging me for 2.5kg instead of 250grams. I pointed it out to him immediately, but he protested that that is what the number is, so that is what the price must be. I protested that it was impossible for such a small amount of daal to cost so much, and asked him to use some common sense. After a lot of convincing, he relented but said that only one of the registers was equipped to do returns, and that the manager had to do them, so I had to wait about 10 minutes to get my price adjusted. It’s a frustrating experience, and one that I often find in Indian supermarkets. Anyway, my point was that not all Indians are smart and can do math in their head. Don’t think that Indians are more intelligent than other races based off that assumption. Raghunathan makes some other assumptions that I’m not too crazy about, doesn’t cite his experiments very well (most of them seem to be run among his IIM students- you can’t represent an entire race based off of somewhat greedy students at their best business school) I also don’t think Raghunathan is a very good writer, but it is definitely interesting just to learn about game theory and how it can be applied practically, so I’d recommend reading book just for that and the insight into India. One thing that I really enjoyed reading about because I’ve found it to be so true is how Indians as a people mistake talk for action and boast about the glorious past when living in a filthy present!
And - I saw this shirt in a store in Delhi, but was short on cash so couldn’t buy it (wanted to buy it for Shaila, who’s working on a project with camel cart drivers), so I took a picture… It’s so true of India… New Century, Same day. It would’ve been better if they had the camel cart driver talking on his cell-phone, which I’ve seen.
Rather than the usual quote, I’ll start with a cartoon, because it fits in well with the book review:
I’ve been on a bit of a book-reading kick… I haven’t read nearly as much this year as I thought I would, but it seems like I’ve been catching up in the past month. The 3 books I read recently are:
For the Lova of India: The Life and Times of Jamshetji Tata, by RM Lala,
Games Indians Play, by V. Raghunathan,
and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins.
I’ve been criticized for my posts being too long so I’ll split this one up into 3, starting with a review of For the Lova of India: The Life and Times of Jamshetji Tata. It’s probably still too long as a review.
For the Love of India is a pretty good account of one of India’s first and most successful Industrialists, Jamshetji Tata. Jamsetji Tata not only built an unparalleled personal wealth but was also one of the builders of modern India. His conviction that India must change from a predominantly agricultural nation into an industrialized one put the country on the road to modernization, a road that encountered many bumps and hurdles during the socialist period of rule, but one that I think is on a better path now. Its simply amazing to me how many amazing things Jamshetji accomplished in his lifetime, and even more so including things that happened after his death but based on his plans.
Jamshetji brought to the country iron, steel and hydroelectric power, but also made fine cotton when everyone else was making coarse yarn and revived the silk industry in the South. In 1877, he set up Empress Mills in Nagpur to make cotton cloth. It was the first major industrial enterprise in the Central Provinces, and the book argues that he did a lot of world-wide innovation, both in technical prowess and in human resource management. As early as 1873, he was toying with the idea of using hydroelectric power for his mill, something that was unheard of even in the West.
The book primarily focuses not on how Jamshetji built his wealth, but rather on 4 projects he undertook “for the love of India,” in his dream to see an industrialized nation of educated people. Looking back from now, his 4 projects were amazingly ambitious for the time… they are The Taj Hotel in Bombay, Steel, Hydroelectric Power, and the Indian Institute of Science.
The Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay, which I’d argue is still the best hotel in Bombay, at a majestic location near the Gateway of India (though the gateway wasn’t there when it was built).
Here’s a picture of all of the kids from the Bombay Marathon in front of the Taj, still magnificent 100+ years after it was built.
The Taj is still owned by the Tata Group, and they now also own 77 other properties around the world. Taj Hotels have been acquiring beautiful old hotels recently, and have 3 properties in the US as well (Boston, NYC, San Fran).
Making Steel in India wasn’t seen as sort of a crazy dream at the time, but Jamshetji hired the right people from America and elsewhere to make his dream a reality. Again, Tata Steel is still in the hands of the Tata’s, chaired by Ratan Tata. Tata Steel is historically known for establishing an 8 hour workday when 12 hours was the norm, introducing leave with pay, and starting a provident fund for employees. It seems to me that the Tata’s mastered the art of being rich and successful, and also doing a lot for their employees and country. The Bizarro above is so indicative of the traditional stance towards wealth accumulation, but you can be wealthy and kind, and the Tatas have proven it.
The author doesn’t go into a lot of detail about the hydroelectric plant, and I can’t add any value there anyway, so I’ll skip over it, but I will mention that when Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Company was set up the only other place using hydro-electric power was Niagara Falls.
The most interesting of Jamsetji’s dreams for India was the idea of establishing an institute of higher learning that eventually took shape, after his death, as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Tata realized that Indias educational system was severely lacking, and he wanted to make a huge impact on it. He felt that the best way to uplift his nation was not to uplift the downtrodden, but rather to create an institution for the very best to prosper and advance the nation. There are debates everyday on both sides of the issue - should x person have spent $100 million by donating it to a business school or should they have cured X African people of malaria. I don’t know the answer to that, but I think its a value judgement and I wouldn’t criticize the person for their philanthropy. Anyway, Jamshetji wanted to create a Research University, of which none existed in India at the time (and very few do today). Personally, I think one of the best things about America, and what has kept it so prosperous is the American educational system. We have the best research universities in the world, which bring the brightest students from around the world to the US, many of them for life. In the US, we teach problem-solving and value creative thinkers probably moreso than anywhere else in the world. This is true to some extent at the secondary level, but much more so at the university level, and even more so at the grad school level. This is still a huge problem in India. Jamshetji foresaw this, and decided that he would endow a large amount of money to the place. In fact almost 1/3rd of his estate went to the University, after giving 1/3rd to each of his sons. He had to fight Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy to India at the time to make his dream a reality, but finally did so (although it didn’t formally launch until after his death)
Still, many say the greatest thing about Jamshetji was his ability to make leaders. He wasn’t personally able to fulfill many of his own goals, but he showed the way to others inspired them to hold on to his dreams after his death. Interesting read if you’re interested in business biographies and have an interest in India.
Looking for a book suggestion… any good book recommendations? I’m planning to read “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits”, by CK Prahalad, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School. It’s a book I really should’ve read a long time ago, given my interest in the subject. I’m also planning to read Maximum City in the near future.
Since I started with a Bizarro, I might as well end with one. I realllly love Bizarro. I think it’s the most clever cartoon out there. Here’s one of my favorites:
I haven’t seen it in syndication here in India, probably because the jokes wouldn’t make sense here. Every month or so I get caught up with my laughs here. I have to admit though, I’m finding the recent ones less and less funny… maybe its a sign that I’m becoming more and more Indian.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
~Mark Twain
I’ve been meaning to post on this for a while. Amul 
is a huge dairy cooperative in India (HUGE!), owned by 2.4 million milk producers in Gujarat. It’s one of the most long-term successful cooperatives world-wide, and is often referenced in the development world as being so. It started in 1946 and spurred India’s so-called “White Revolution,” which has made India the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world. This is an oft-referenced source of pride for Indians (I hear it all the time, especially at public functions). I wondered, if not India, who would be the largest producer of milk products? The only reasonable competition (population-wise) would be from China, but the Chinese don’t use much milk or milk products in their diet. So naturally India would be number one. The US has less than 1/3rd the population of India, but it turns out the US is now only slightly behind India in production, and it actually goes back and forth every year as to who is number one.
Anyway, this is all irrelevant, as I want to talk about marketing. But - here’s my vegan disclaimer (I am a vegan, or have been attempting to be one atleast for the past several years) - MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS ARE BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, FOR YOU, FOR THE ANIMALS, etc. There is some more information about the environment in particular on my Interesting Stuff page, and if you want information on the other stuff leave me a comment or do a google search.
Anyway, Amul is absolutely great at marketing. One of my favorite things to do every week is check the Amul billboard which comes out on Friday. Here’s one from a month ago when I was in Bombay, and Sanjaya was a semifinal in American Idol (No, I don’t watch American Idol or find it entertaining):
Since the 60’s, Amul has been putting out hilarious tongue-in-cheek sketches starring the Amul baby commenting jovially on the latest news or current events. They usually have some pun involving Amul and the loveable Amul baby and her friends. The Amul ads are one of the longest running ads based on the same theme… I’ve read that they are going to be entered into the Guinness book as the longest running ads based on the same theme. I would’ve thought Absolut would win there, but it turns out that campaign only started in 1980.
I don’t follow Indian news as much as I should, but I always know the top story of the week when I see the Amul ads. It’s an amazing timely slice of Indian culture at that time.
Here are some of my favorite recent ones:
This is from when the Bollywood movie Dhoom: 2 came out, which featured a bunch of the leading stars of India (and had the same font):
From when Shakira came to India to perform in Bombay:
When the SENSEX (Bombay Stock Exchange) plummetted last May:
I spent some time in Delhi last week, working with the folks at Drishtee. I had a great time, and met up with a bunch of other folks in the development space, doing very different things from me.
Picture-based overview of my non-work time in Delhi:
Getting driven all around Delhi in Andrew’s scooter. Andrew is the person I’m in contact with most often from a work perspective for Drishtee, and this time I was there over the weekend, so I got to meet up with some of Andrew’s friends, and was surprised to note that me and Andrew’s friends had many other friends in common, so it was one big happy family of people in the development sector. At times we were on the scooter for more than an hour at a time. At other times, we had as many as 4 people on the scooter at the same time (sorry, no pictures of that).
Andrew is brilliant at taking a picture and being in it at the same time:
Playing frisbee. This would seem to be picture worthy, except that if you look closely, we have a mix of several different races and most of the people are white. Also, we’re playing on a neatly manicured lawn with big trees and sidewalk-lamps. It looks a lot like America. It could be Schenley Park, where I occasionally tossed the frisbee during college. But it’s Nehru Park, in the heart of New Delhi, and these are mostly expats doing some sort of development work in India. There are a bunch of them in Delhi, and thanks to Andrew, I got to meet several.
Here is the one big happy family of people (most of whom I’d known for less than 24 hours) in the development sector… we had a great time:
It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
~Old Chinese Proverb, I recently heard it in a pretty awesome song at our workshop in Panchgani (really wish I had the mp3)
I keep on mentally referring to the past week as a retreat rather than a workshop. It was our 3rd Indicorps workshop of the year, and dramatically different from the past 2. The first one had a Socratic dialogue theme, where we read and discussed a LOT of text to give us a fresh outlook on leadership. The 2nd workshop involved a 4-day long project that we worked on for the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. Both were jam-packed with lots of work and located in Ahmedabad. This workshops’ theme was “From Micro to Macro.” We did a good deal of sitting down and discussing issues, and one case study, where we analyzed a couple of Government policies (one around mid-day meals for schoolchildren and the other about a sanitation program for slums) and came up with recommendations. The workshop was located in Panchgani, a small hill-station 100kms from Pune. It’s very popular as a weekend retreat from Bombay and Pune, and it’s also very famous for boarding schools (as are most hill-stations in India). Interesting sidenote: Freddie Mercury (the late lead singer of Queen) attended St. Peter’s school in Panchgani, where he learned to play Piano and formed his first band.
The workshop was hosted at a place called Asia Plateau, a conference center at a place called Initiatives of Change, formerly known as Moral Rearmament. It’s run by an intesting group of people. I’m still not exactly sure I understand what they do, but check them out on the web here.
The plateau is supposedly the 2nd tallest in Asia.
I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll do a quick wrapup of the workshop by pictures rather than words… There are a lot but they are really low-quality (click on them for bigger versions and higher quality).
Among other fun activities, we:
Hiked the plateau
Played really silly games: In this one, the 3 people were supposed to form a tree, but Anand (right) is forming the ear of an elephant instead of tree-branches, so he loses
Climbed trees
Played Ping-Pong-Tennis… a game on a smaller tennis court with big paddles, using a tennis ball. Really awesome.
Picked Strawberries from the farm of a huge jam manufacturer, Mapro. Apparently their season is over, so they didn’t mind us coming and picking/eating hundreds and hundreds of strawberries. (Radhika, Lisa, and Archana)
Me Prem and Shaila decided that we’d share all of our strawberries, so we had a rotation system so we each got to eat 1/3rd of the strawberries.
Jumped on a trampoline:
Sat around in the library and discussed development-related issues:
Enjoyed beautiful scenery
I’m in Bombay now, will be headed to Delhi in the near future.
