Manifestation of your Faith

I once saw a big bunch of sparrows using the Holy Water font at a church as a birdbath. The happy twittering and splashing was the cutest sight to see. And immediately I was reminded of Luke 12:24 -

"Consider the birds: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"

Some moments in life can be so powerful when you see the manifestation of your Faith. :)

Be legendary

It’s not about the shoes,
It’s about knowing where you’re going
Not forgetting where you started.

It’s about having the courage to fail
Not breaking when you're broken
Taking everything you've been given,
And making something better.

It’s about work, before glory
And what’s inside of you,

It’s doing what they say you can’t.

It’s not about the shoes
It’s about what you do in them
Its about being who you were born to be.

- From a Nike commercial

Take a look and be inspired!

Two minutes to stop procrastination

 

My friend, Patrick from the Prevoyance Group told me about the two minute rule. It goes:

Anything that takes less than two minutes to do must be done immediately.

This, to me is a gem in prioritization. Its simple, an most of the time, is what we do without thinking. What really needs work is the ability to analyse quickly how much time each task that comes your way would take.

And also the humility to accept that some task is gonna take more time than 2 minutes….

A company's DNA

Grooveshark is one of my favorite sites for music, considering I'm always stuck in the classics and need to update myself on the latest hits.

So when I logged into the site, which was evidently down, I find the following message:

To those of you who were redirected here, we apologize.

In an attempt to befriend Asian investors and increase office morale, we here at Grooveshark established some connections with the Chinese black market and imported our very own black-and-white Giant Panda (hereby known as "Pickles"). Unfortunately, due to circumstances no one could have foreseen, Pickles became agitated at the fluorescent lights and near-constant belly rubs and began clawing at our computers.

Pickles is currently thrashing about in the server room, causing the technical difficulties and temporary outage you just experienced. As soon as our interns return from Pier 1 with synthetic bamboo, a picnic basket and an oversized net, we will be able to return the servers back to normal and, if we can, rescue the coder that Pickles has taken as a prize.

Thank you for your patience.

Speaks a lot about the company's DNA, doesn't it?? No wonder I keep going back.

Goodbye Professor Prahalad

It is a sad time for me personally as I come to terms with the sudden passing of one of my greatest gurus and influencers. Prof. C. K. Prahalad, passed away suddenly on 16th April 2010.

Though I have never really met him nor attended any of his lectures, his book “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” is what pointed me in the direction of Social Entrepreneurship. If there was a calling in life, this was it.

An old adage says “That when the student is truly ready, the guru will make his appearance”. Professor Prahalad was that guru.

Rest in peace, Professor, and thank you for being a mentor to me.

Real Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day just went by, November 26th to be precise. While most of us in India are not exactly trackers of this calendar event in the US, its a good time to start thinking about it.

Historically, Thanksgiving is a harvest festival where it is a time to give thanks to God for the harvest and express gratitude to others for our many blessings. While predominantly a religious festival, it is today a very secular holiday.

We in India don’t miss it because given the unique diversity of religion and culture that this country is, we have our own harvest festivals….. multiples of them!!! Pongal, Baisakhi, Onam, Sankranthi, Bihu and for me as a Mangalorean from Konkan, Noven. Each with its elaborate set of rituals, traditions and oh so yummy FOOD!!!!

But my main point is not the cultural diversity of India but rather the entire ethos that surrounds Thanksgiving. About why we need a specific day to give thanks. Everyday is a time to give thanks, thanks for everything and everyone that helps us grow in some way…..

Thank you for being you, for reading this and letting me be a better me :)

Can Innovation projects fail?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And while a recession may not be the right time to launch new projects, the need to incorporate innovation to build cheaper, faster and more efficient products and services is one of the major ways that experts agree how the recession is to be tackled.

A friend brought up this subject during a coffee break. Apparently a number of organizations have started off innovation projects in a number of areas, Product Development, Green Eco initiatives, Cost optimization etc.

The argument was that most organizations drive innovation projects like delivery projects. In the sense, that sooner or later they must give results. Now I agree with the fact that all undertakings must give results to be viable, but to assume that any innovation project should be successful is maybe being too optimistic.

So, the question is, is it ok for innovation projects to fail?? After all, it is in the realm of experimentation. Some ideas will succeed, a lot of them won’t. What is important is to recognize the futility of the project early on and kill it. Most projects either get treated as babies or as burdens, both to be let go of at the very end.

Forcing innovation this way will never bring about a Google, but it’ll always produce Bings!!!

My Book Review: The Fountainhead

I finally finished reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. People all over have been pestering me about it, telling me how life changing it is and how I’ve missed something if I’ve not read it….

So I did and here are some of my observations:

1. Howard Roark is not genuine. I seriously felt a lot of respect for the character in the start, where he believes in his talent and his capability. Then somewhere he get’s lost preaching in the book and finally, when he blows up Cortlandt, it was my culmination of hypocrisy. For all those who think this character was flawless, here is the biggest flaw.

The driving factor was this: It would have been better if he had believed in his ability to create, rather than get attached to his creation. The whole book talks about the seeming individualism of Howard Roark and finally in that one incident of Cortlandt, he throws it all away.

One good friend of mine caught on to the actual act of blowing up the project, thinking that terrorism was my problem, saying “He did it to shock people to attention. Like 9/11. Like 26/11. They did it so that people would listen”. That was not my point. I do not condemn his blowing up of the structure, I question his need to do it. If Cortlandt was built exactly as he designed it, would he have walked away satisfied?? I’m sure he would. Isn’t that being too attached to your creation, rather than your skill and ability??

Isn’t that what we all do with our resumes and our professional lives?? We end up talking about what we’ve done, rather than what we can do… as if without the definition of our past work, we are nothing. I’m not talking about the second-handers, but for the would-be Howard Roarks out there, here is your Waterloo!!

2. I did not understand the character of Dominique Francon. Period.

3. Peter Keating was the most human character I could find in the book. Human, because there is a lot of Peter Keating in all of us, yours truly included. The necessity to conform is born, not out of our need for acceptance, but out of our fear of rejection. To say that Peter Keating was not talented would be rubbish. But with a dotingly ambitious mother, praising teachers and a world singing your praises, it would have been frightful for Peter to turn away from it to express his individualism. I felt truly sorry for Peter Keating. Not because he was weak, but because somehow, everyone played with his fear of being alone, which eventually he admits in the courtroom. Peter Keating never feared Howard Roark, he feared becoming Howard Roark, because deep down he knew he would not be able to bear the seeming loneliness that Howard Roark seemingly felt so comfortable with.

It does help to express your individuality and believe in your skill and abilities, even unto the point of rebellion. Sir Richard Branson is a live successful example. However, the need to have someone to support you through the lonely phases is what eventually gets you through. Howard Roark, throughout the book, had his angels to fall back on, even if the authoress never admitted it. Mike the electrician, Henry Cameron, Dominique Francon, Stephen Mallory, Gail Wynand……

Note: I’m reminded of a rather poignant scene in the Hindi movie “Guru”, where Gurukant comes to take back his estranged wife, Sujata. She runs into his arms, realising that their love is undiminished by their fight, and says, “Fight with the whole world, but never fight with me”. Gurukant looks at her and says “If you’re with me, I can go fight and win the whole world”. Sujata then retorts, “Well then don’t just wait here, let’s go win the world” :)

4. Everybody hates Ellsworth Monkton Toohey. Like its in fashion. What I liked about Toohey was his methodical approach to power. To be able to have patience and method in the execution of evil is infinitely more dangerous than being the perpetrator of evil itself. Its hard to ignore the Ellsworth Tooheys. Because as Ayn Rand painted him, you like the chap!! He’s fun to be with, speaks a lot of wisdom and pretty much would be everything that people would agree to symbolize perfection. Its essential to keep a lookout for these fellows. Would it make us more cynical and sceptical a race?? Yes, it would. It would cripple our ability to accept true love, but it’ll help us perfect the recognition and treasuring of love when we find it!!

All in all, The Fountainhead is a good read. At 700 pages, its a long read as well. It did tend to get overly philosophical in places. These are the places I skimmed through. Somehow philosophy from a fictional book is something I can’t take too seriously. Ayn Rand has a very forceful style of expression, tending to depart from subtlety while describing her characters as well as their interactions. As a result, her characters become very pronounced and in a way, non lifelike. But then that is the pleasure of fiction, to be able to create characters!!

I was reading what other people thought of The Fountainhead and was drawn to Jay’s Review of the Fountainhead. It is a spiritual website, so the review would be a bit coloured towards Christian doctrine. However he makes a very strong point about the “courtroom argument”:

“In this book, those that are completely selfless and serve others either are secretly after power (“the worst kind of second-hander”) or they become miserable, bitter and mean. I can’t help but wonder which category Rand would put Mother Teresa in!… ”

One thing I did agree with Rand is the argument on Altruism. Altruism, which is synonymous with plain charity. I believe that there is nothing more demeaning to a human’s spirit than plain charity. There are two aspects which define a human’s state in life, his circumstances and his inner spirit. Plain charity is an attack on the human spirit, specifically signalling to him or her that she is essentially not capable and that is why an outsider needs to “help” them.

The only form of Altruism that matters is sustainable charity, the type that aims its attack on the choking circumstances that limit the flight of the human spirit. Those circumstances that force a bright orphan to not dream about becoming an engineer or doctor, that force a debt ridden farmer to commit suicide, that force countless villages to cease all activity after sunset for want of light!! That’s the charity that Mother Theresa engaged in, targeting the circumstances that forced people to die in the gutters!! That is the charity that Baba Amte engaged in, targeting the emancipation of lepers to give them the will to live normal lives!! That is the charity that enabled Muhammad Yunus to lend, not give money to poor villagers in Bangladesh to rebuild their lives, thus starting the Microfinance revolution!!

My suggestion to wannabe readers is to read the book, but don’t take the philosophy as gospel truth. Treat it like a work of fiction and read it like a story, without trying to find meaning between the lines… But most importantly, just let it be your individual experience with the book, no matter what people tell you, even me :)

Update: Reader Birdy just finished reading the book and came away with pretty much the same feeling. She puts her thoughts rather beautifully in her review.

Poetry Uninterrupted

Being a fan of most classical poetry, the appreciation for verse is one of my vices. Due to the rapid modernization of most art forms and the incessant experimentation, I believe that the art form of poetry has been severely abused and a lot of liberties have been taken with the lyrical expression of emotions.
So when I get a forwarded mail containing the "classic modern poetry", heavy with feeling and emotion, I had to share it:

MBA Preferred

I've worked so hard for many a year
To nurture and develop a fine career.
No task too large, no chore too small,
Over time, I've done it all.

Crisis came and crises went
And I was never hesitant.
When someone knew not what to do,
I was the person whom they rushed to.

To serve our client was the major test
To please him we all did our best.
When things went wrong, we never lied.
And the customers? They were satisfied.

We worked together as a team
To turn our company into one supreme.
Service and quality were both assumed
But then, unfortunately, disaster loomed.

As time went on...we all grew older.
The young, new managers became much bolder.
Then business changed; it's sad to say,
The new folks had their MBA.

Methods effective for many years
Discarded, replaced with mere ideas
Of what was learned as textbook rules,
Compiled during time in business schools.

Meetings, meetings, all the time,
To waste a dollar and save a dime.
"Get profits up, no more no red ink!"
Employee morale began to sink.

Spreadsheets and piecharts of many hues
Forecasted profits for golf club dues.
They sat around in executive cliques,
These little boys whose greed so reeked.

"We'll charge him once and even twice,"
"The customer's the one who'll pay the price."
"On what's for free, we'll add a fee"
"We'll then make cuts in quality."

"We'll streamline this, restructure that."
"We'll rid this company of all the fat."
"We'll dump off all the old and sick."
"And take away some benefits!"

More meetings came, behind locked door.
We never saw them anymore.
They wanted no input from any of us.
If we offered same, they made a fuss.

The firm became quite mercenary
With client treated like an adversary.
When he finally saw how our business ran,
The customer took his business to Japan.

Then, after 'bout a year or two,
Predicted profits weren't coming through.
The next step in this little game
Was to find somewhere to place the blame.

Like rolling stone, fault went downhill.
Loyal employees paid the bill.
The MBAs? On no sound basis,
Then all lined up to get their raises!

The moral of this little verse,
At the very great risk of appearing terse,
Is that companies that know not where they've been
Care not how things are, but how they seem.

This major break from reality
Has moved U.S. business to number three.
To fix things up we must change some rules.
We can start by closing the business schools.

We can then hire people possessed of sense
With proved performance and experience.
They've paid their dues and learned the rules
In Hard Knocks College, the best of schools.

All is not lost, that's plain to see.
And if with my statements you do agree,
Since at the moment I am quite free,
You can start it all off by hiring me.

Copyright 1995-97, E.W.Boyle

Touche.... from someone who's been on both sides of that fence :)

When Microsoft got it a bit right for once.....

Microsoft launched Bing, their new search engine that many industry pundits are debating will be the Google killer. And while I have no idea whether the technology or algorithm or hit accuracy is superior to its rival or not, there's one thing that might just get me to use Bing........ the interface.

Whoever came up with the idea of putting up an image to look at, really got it right!!! And that's a rare thing with Microsoft.

So much better than a white page!! Because Its Not Google!!!! :)

India Shining???

The Times of India, arguably a rather venerable newspaper in India published with much glee, the news that for the first time in history, average Indian's income crosses Rs 3000.

While on the face of it, this is ecstatic news supposed to make you feel good and believe India is shining, a few facts would put the matter in perspective.

1. The average Indian is predominantly a fictitious character. The fact being that the middle class is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Rising incomes in key sectors ensures that the chasm between the haves and have-nots is essentially becoming wider and more well defined.
2. Any conclusion regarding an average distribution of demographic information, generally assumes that the distribution of the population is on a Bell's curve or somewhere near that. The truth is the population in India is nowhere near a bell curve, but rather as shown below. Applying a simple average to this type of distribution would produce a rather skewed result.

So when the news piece starts with the following line:
The monthly income of an average Indian for the first time in the country's history has crossed Rs 3,000, thanks to economic reforms and a high growth rate of above 9% achieved for three years since 2005-06.

I am seriously tempted to believe that this might just be a media stunt by some rather unscrupulous people, both in the media as well as the political machine, who still live under the false impression that resurgent India will now gobble up every lie thrown at them without question!!! The halo effect of a rather deserved mandate better die down now, because the great power has been given, and we will watch you while you perform your great responsibilities!!!

Matt

I'm not sure if you have seen this before, but when one guy decides to let go of his inhibitions, his limiting beliefs and decides to do things the way he wants to, you just might get a world wide phenomenon!!!!!

Introducing Matt and his Dance of Gratitude...

According to his website, Where the hell is Matt??, Matt is a 32 year old guy from Connecticut who in February of 2003, quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

Reminds me of the Royal Ballet School audition scene where Billy decides to just believe in himself and let go!!!!!!

Just a reminder that when you forget the world is watching and critiquing, you just might enjoy the dance!!!!!!

And I was right!! My Audacity of Hope - Redux

I was right.... you just don't care!! All you can do is complain and light a lot of candles!!



Now at least I can blame you with a clear conscience!!!

Who do I vote for???!!!

WANT TO MAKE AN INFORMED VOTING DECISION???

Find out about all the candidates in your area. This is your last chance!!

Find out about your candidate at Myneta.info

An attempt by Association of Democratic Reform to help the citizen of India make an informed choice!!


Vote!!! Make a choice!! Change your destiny!!! This time, YOU are responsible!!!!!

Will YOU vote???!!! My Audacity of Hope ....

Mumbai will go to the polls on 30th April 2009. And a long list of issues are pending with my city, the latest being terror!!

But will Mumbai wake up?? It still won't surprise me if apathy rules again.... Am I a cynic?? Read on:

1. Last week I overheard a co-worker say, "Arre, there's a holiday on election day. Do you realize that that makes Thursday, Friday [which is May 1st], Saturday and Sunday off?? Amazing, man... I'm planning a big vacation". I HOPE HE VOTES.
2. A man in the local train said, "Kya fayda?? [what's the use?]. Have you seen the candidates this time?? All chors or starry eyed independents". I HOPE HE VOTES.
3. The bus conductor said "They've put us on election duty. Just because they cannot find enough volunteers. They never are serious about it anyway." I HOPE HE VOTES.
4. A girl told me," I hate that ink they put on my finger. Really messes up my hands, man". I HOPE SHE VOTES.
5. Two youths outside an elite Business School "Did you see the Lead India campaign? Those men and women who went on that elated intellectual rampwalk. Never heard of them since. That's the kind of leader-wannabes we have to chose from" I HOPE THEY VOTE
6. On a Facebook discussion "This is no democracy. This is DEMO-CRAZY... Ha ha ha!" I HOPE THEY VOTE

You've heard this all everytime. Aamir Khan and Association for Democratic Reform making a statement about "Voting for Democracy". Janaagraha making its stand using the Jaago Re campaign. Everyone who's anyone keeps saying "vote vote vote" like its in fashion!!!

But ask yourself......... Will you get up out of bed on Thursday morning?? Will you take that short walk to your voting booth? Will you go through the lists to find your name? If you find it, will you queue up?? Will you get yourself inked? WILL YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT???

WILL YOU VOTE??? FOR YOURSELF??

I will.........

But I'm skeptical about you. About your committment to my country. Because whether you decide to vote or not, someone will get elected. To decide about your life for the next five years. And you won't have a recourse to do anything else after that, other than complain and curse this country.

After all, its a democracy. And its your life!! Best of luck with it!!

Conspiracy Theory: "Terror attack" on Sri Lankan Cricketers

Today is a sad day for world cricket. In a reminiscent of the Munich Olympics, gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan entourage of cricketers who were heading to the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, Pakistan for a match. More on the news story here.

So does a conspiracy theory look apt here?? Let me explain:

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are both trying to defeat insurgencies at this point in time. With the massive scale attack that the Sri Lankan authorities have mounted to wipe out the LTTE, this is a country that has finally decided to fix its problems once and for all.

Now, the attack takes place with unidentified gunmen who open fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team. This is the visitor team, so the radar of suspicion is wide open. The prime suspect now becomes the LTTE.

Then there is the world reaction. The usual words like "cowardly", "shocking", "sad" and the other usual adjectives are expressed. But what caught my attention was this statement:

Khaled Farooq, chief of police in Punjab province said the attack "resembles the Mumbai attacks" in November.

Strange this for a police chief to say, at such short notice. I'm not sure if the Pakistani Police personnel are so adept at quick assessment. but eventually, I find that a very strange thing to say in the middle of a definite security, potential political and eventual PR crisis.

By starting this comparison with the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan might have carefully started of the chain in a very well laid out image-cleaning strategy. The stages I see in the conspiracy are as follows:

The attack is staged. If the attack was malicious and with fatal intent, they would have killed the cricketers. terrorists are trained to kill. Yet the players are only injured, while police personnel get killed.

The focus is diverted to Mumbai using comparisons. This would effectively paint Pakistan as a helpless terror victim, while grossly elevating the seriousness of the attack.

Next stage: Garnering US and world support. The helpless terror victim not convinces the world that the terror situation is out of hand and beyond its own control. Pleas for help go out to all the big brothers.

Next stage: Blaming India for the attack. The attack on the cricketers now gets painted as a retaliation by India's Research Analysis Wing for 26/11.

Next step and most dangerous: India becomes the enemy. The attack also gets painted as a retaliation from India motivated by Tamil supporters of the Tamil cause within the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is worthy to note that the current coalition government in power in India has a pretty sizeable chunk of these supporters of the Tamil cause down south. Pakistan wil takethis opportunity to instigate Sri Lanka against India.

This will have two major repercussions:


The 26/11 story gets forgotten. International pressure on Pakistan gets reduced as now it becomes a victim of terror rather than a supporter.

India now has to fight on two fronts rather than one. With the LTTE near decimation, the amicable relationship with Sri Lanka gets eroded beyond repair.


But then its just a theory. Whether its the truth, only time will tell.

Eureka Moment: Vyatta Open Networking

I'm surprised at myself for discovering this almost 9 months late!! I'm truly slipping on my Technology Current Affairs!!!

But this one has me really excited, not so much about the novelty, but the sheer possibilities.

The concept is Open Networking and the basic premise is extending the Open Source philososphy to Networking!! Oh, by the way, that's Computer Networking, before you start to get your business cards out!! Just like the sotware industry was dominated by closed source proprietory developers like Microsoft and essentially the need was felt to free up the source code for various applications so that users could modify it freely to suit their own specific needs, giving birth to the Open Source Initiative.

Sooner or later, industry innovators started to think about bringing this Open Source story to the hardware market, dominated by large manufacturers like IBM and Cisco. Welcome to Open Source Hardware and Open Source Networking.

Now while a number of manufacturers are working on the Open Source Initiative in Hardware, open source Networking has been mostly dealing with networking hardware which ws powered by open source code. A good example is Netgear's Open Source Wireless Router. The box is still designed and manufactured by Netgear and the running OS is open source.

Enter Vyatta. What makes this offering different is that they decouple the firmware from the underlying hardware. Essentially this is a "software router". To explain this, imagine that you could take a PC with two network interfaces and convert it into a router. Better still, forget the PC, you can make the router "virtual" just like a virtual machine..... and then you could also have the option of buying the hardware box and seting it up, if you like to touch your router for reassurance.

Now let's see the implication of this in a Datacenter. Prehistorically, one would have multiple servers cascading onto a switch in the rack which would then connect to the router. Hardware evolved and Virtual servers came along, with one hypervisor connecting to all these multiple servers which were physically not there!!! However you still could not escape the cabling of the hypervisor to the switch (which essentially served the consolidation function) and then the router.

Now, you can connect the WAN line directly to the hypervisor, put the router into the virtual server cluster and eliminate the physical switch alltogether!! Lower power consumption, lower capital cost, lower wiring mess and lower management complexity!!! WOW or what???

Now the fun part!! Tux, the penguin mascot for Linux, Open source's best known posterchild, is always taking potshots at Microsoft Windows!!! Case in point is the picture!!!

Open source networking seems to be going the same way, with Vyatta taking on none other than Cisco!!! Vyatta claims that its open source router is better in value than Cisco's offerings in the same space. Now in the world of Networking, this is blasphemy!! Well, click on the image below:

This is big!!! With the current recession on, there is no way that Vyatta's position on costs won't impress. Also this brings "Technology Equity" in the market, where small and medium businesses can now afford Cisco offered features minus the premium price tag!!!

Wait and watch!!!!

Mumbai at war.... yet again!!

Three years and we're still the same.... For those who lived out the 26\7 story three years back, another reminder at how vulnerable we are to deal with crisis......

I would not want to blame the operational machinery, the Police, the Army, the NSG.... they're doing their job, they're doing it superbly and that's the best they can do.

But a few questions remain unanswered:

• Do we need a more serious reason to put a solid crisis management infrastructure into place? A UFO Alien attack maybe??
• Are we equipped to deal with terror attacks, now that we've been through the entire gamut of blasts, propoganda riots and now armed assault?
• Does the common man know how to deal with the situations as they arise or are we content watching the story unfold on the TV?

My prayers go out to the families of those who lost their lives in this horrible incident. This is all I can do now, but I vow that I will influence change from now on!! Enough of spectatorship!!!


And finally, Mr Raj Thakeray and his "Mard Marathi" MNS brigade, you can come out from your hiding holes now. There are poor North Indians to pick on. Hardcore terrorists are way out of your league, you cake cutting chickens!!

Obama's plan vs. McCain's plan vs India - Part 2

Before I continue, let me update that a focussed plan for the American Middle Class was published on the Obama-Biden campaign website. This was the revised The Economic Rescue Plan for the Middle Class. Couple this with the detailed plan on the website and all my past assumptions of the McCain plan being more comprehensive go right out of the window. Obama matches McCain's plan with added detail to boot. So I must revise my score...

Score: Obama 2: McCain 2

Now, going ahead with the analysis:

4. The Economic Crisis:

I'm taking this seperately as both sides have rather varying stances on how to handle this.

Obama's Stand: Free up the withdrawal of savings by legitimate savers if required, without any taxes or penalties. Frankly speaking, Obama tends to attribute a lot of cautious behavior to the American masses. But its a liberal stand, allowing people to be responsible for themselves and meet immediate urgent cash needs.

McCain Stand: Reduce taxes!! That's it!! I must say that the Republicans really think the American is stupid and needs to be continuously patronized. Though reduced taxes really sounds good, it will hit the US exchequer. Tax optimization is good, straight cuts based on popularity only reminds me of the story back home!!

India context: India can only wait and watch. The bailout plan and the different stances about solutions are all good newsbytes, but execution of the plan is going to be a real challenge. A focus on cash flow monitoring and checks and balances in the economic situation is really necessary now.

Score: Obama 2: McCain 2 [The points are for India Context]


5. Taxes on Business:

Obama Stand: This is something McCain makes a lot of noise about!! Obama wants to raise tax on any business that makes more than $250k a year. I think that is reasonable. Tiered taxation makes a lot of sense and establishes fairness in the economy. However this will hit the savings that businesses make from outsourcing.

McCain stand: Straight tax cut in Corporate tax from 35% to 25%!! Though small businesses will benefit outright, I'm worried about the windfall that large corporations will make out of this. More cash on hand, more fraud and reckless investing, more damage to the economy.

India context: Both plans hurt India, especially the Outsourcing industry. With Obama's plan, outsourcing for the sake of outsourcing will grind to a halt. Deals will be harder to come by and the margins will be wafer thin. However, in the long run, India would have an opportunity to develop value in its outsourcing offerings. We can move up the outsourcing value chain, making the deals richer and having more depth in specialization. So there is long term good coming out of this. McCain on the other hand is the larger evil. His tax cut will bring more business to India in the short term, however we will stagnate at the same old outsourcing offerings with little innovation and value addition.

Score: Obama 3: McCain 2 [Sustainable long term gain over short term gain gets more brownie points]

Well, the contest is tied close, but as I suspected, Obama did come ahead. I reiterate that Obama's plan was much more concrete than McCain's plan, while both were equally detailed. Obama-Biden dare to call a spade a spade effortlessly. And I believe that is where the strength of the Democrats lie.... fearless leadership in these troubled times.

Here's where Obama scores more brownie points:

- Green fuel tech focus as against McCain's "clean" coal technologies
- Reduced dependence on oil imports
- Focus on new small business development
- strong focus on eliminating corruption, especially with bankruptcy reform
- Opposed to Free Trade Agreements. This is big for India for levelling the playing field, though China will benefit more.

On an analysis, though the first two years of the Obama presidential reign will bring pain to India, it is going to make the best come out of us. Sooner or later, we will have to build value into our business relationship with the US. This seems to be the right opportunity.

Obama's plan vs. McCain's plan vs India - Part 1

Sitting back here in India, I watch with careful trepidation, the presidential race between Barack Obama-Joe Biden and John McCain-Sarah Palin. For all the criticism of both sides ranging from race, intelligence quotients, partnerships, political and economic stands, even religious leanings [??], it is funny to note that, wherever you may roam, politics will be politics!!

Now I would be out of my league to comment on which side would be best for America. I do hope that my American friends have the good sense to analyse and make that choice for themselves. However, what I can comment on is a very selfish issue, that of which side is best for India. After all, with a large portion of my work coming from the United States of America, quite frankly, the US presidential election is indeed, my business as well.

One of the best things that I find about the US Presidential race is the massive use of the internet that the candidates make. Everything from economic plans, advertisements, even merchandise is on the net!! And it makes a good starting point for a non-American citizen of the World like myself, to take an unbiased view at both sides.

I am going through both plans at this point in time, Barack Obama's Blueprint for Change and John McCain's Economic Plan. There is a lot of rhetoric and marketing spiel in both documents, but it does make interesting reading.

The major difference that I see is that Obama's plan is a 64-page, downloadable PDF document, while McCain's plan is on the website and all I can download is a 1-page summary of the "plan", with a lot of feel good statements. The actual McCain plan is here. If there are points for being open and upfront, I find Obama-Biden scoring big here!!! A website like McCain's that I have to dig through to get answers, well, I find that secretive and non-transparent, very similar to a speaker with folded arms!!!

On the face of it, both documents cover almost identical issues, and there is a lot of gloss, similar to the stuff in Corporate Annual Reports. The coverage also is rather comprehensive, and carefully laid out to cover almost every issue important to the American citizen.

I personally find Obama's plan a little easy to follow, because its all in one place. So the breakup of issues I'm going to use is as per the Obama plan.

1. ETHICS:

Obama Stand: Obama wants to make Washington [a synecdoche for the American Government] more transparent, specifically calling for increased communication with the masses, an end to no-bid contracts and removal of political lobbying [the Revolving Door]. It is a tough stand for a presidential candidate to take.

McCain Stand: McCain specifically talks about the "pork barrel", a government initiative to earmark taxpayers' money for pet projects. Also, he makes a prolonged statement against political lobbying, calling for removal of the "revolving door" as well.

India context: Though both sides address the lobbying issue, Obama is more specific about the "how" of increasing ethics. Also, with the issue of ending "no-bid" contracts, it might mean the levelling of the playing field for government contracts. Whether this translates into allowing Indian firms to bid for the same, needs to be seen.

Score: Obama 1 : McCain 0


2. HEALTHCARE:

Obama Stand: A very very detailed plan. It is solely focussed on inclusion, making grounds for more Americans to be brought under insurance cover. Specifically, the creation of the National Health Insurance Exchange to act as a watchdog over the private insurance market to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Also calls for transparency in the insurance schemes, with greater accesibility to advanced treatment and drugs for all. A detailed healthcare reform plan is available here.

McCain Stand: McCain has an equally, if not more detailed plan for healthcare. McCain specifically calls for Affordability, Access and choice, Portability and Security and Quality of healthcare insurance. For a change, McCain makes a specific reference to the "how" of healthcare reform. Apparently, this is a very touchy issue with the American population, as McCain also includes an "independent third party" comparison of his plan vs Obama's healthcare plan as well as a smear campaign against Obama's plan.

India Context: Both sides make a specific reference to the use of IT in healthcare delivery. I see an opportunity for India here. Also, Obama speaks about increased use of generics to increase affordability of drugs. The Indian generics pharma industry can benefit from this stand.

Score: Obama 2 : McCain 1


3. ECONOMY [a.k.a. the Big Kahuna]

Obama Stand: For this I had to search Obama's site, as the blueprint was a bit dated and did not fully account for the recent economic crisis that hit Wall St. However, Obama's prime focus remains the middle class, calling for reduced income tax for waged workers, enhanced worker rights, tax credit for homeowners, a five-star rating for credit cards and greater work-family balance. On the macro front, Obama promises Foreign Trade reform, re-looking into agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA as well as big specific on Innovation and Technology, including clean energy and high-skill manufacturing. There is a specific reference to bankruptcy reform, ensuring that bankruptcy of companies has minimum effect on the workforce.

McCain Stand: McCain's website has Senior Policy Advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin endorsing the McCain Economic reform plan. And the plan is very very comprehensive, with its focus on jobs, another touchy issue with the US voters. He guns for reduced dependence on foreign oil, with gas tax holiday and increased dependency on coal. There is a" HOME plan", calling for part writeoff of the principal amount by lenders and a federal bailout for the eligible homeowner. There is also a middle-class tax cut proposal and a simplification of the taxation scheme. One important point is a one-year Government spending pause to review effectiveness of all federal programs, though it exempts "essential military programs".
McCain makes very bold statements for Clean Energy, with sops being promised galore. Also in the fray is corporate tax rate cuts, which will positively impact new businesses. McCain also proposes to overhaul the unemployment insurance scheme, thus making it an engine for "retraining, relocating and
assisting workers" who have lost a job, a welcome reform for this important government initiative.

India Context: I find McCain's plan very comprehensive, compared to Obama's plan, which seems very generic. However both sides promise a lot of tax cuts and ambitious reform plans. This will take time and will impact the "cash flow" within the economy. I see a continued slump in the US economy which will take some time to break the plateau. US specific business will have a stagnancy and it would be better off for India to explore other markets and diversify their business mix.

Score: Obama 2 : McCain 3

[I gave McCain 2 points here, as the comprehensiveness and detail of his plan impressed me. Whether it is good for America is something the economists have to concur, but it is a very detailed action oriented plan, if executed properly]

The rest of the issues in Part 2.