Start afresh....

Well, yes it has been a long time since I wrote. This was driven primarily because of the fact that my pursuit for making money took the centre stage. However, unexpectedly that did not transpire as well as it should have been.

Though the debt markets have been kind to my company in the last six months or so with a downward bias, unfortunately I have not been able to make the most of it. It was quite disappointing to say the least as many mandates just evaporated before anything could happen. There were times when I questioned my own commitment and efforts on them, but sadly there was little I could do to influence them in my limited capacity. The "Bharat" inside me felt suffocated and frustrated over my inability to control the extraneous factors. There was a sudden & dramatic dip in my zeal and enthusiasm for work itself. Even when questions were raised over these issues in my interaction with senior colleagues, I had no answer. In fact any answer would have tantamount to a justification, and I hate giving one. There is no grey as far as results are concerned. Its like a P& L a/c. You either make a loss or a profit. In my case it was latter & I was quite prepared to take the heat for the same.

In all this confusion, my soul searching quests sadly took a backseat. Rightly or wrongly so , I may not be able to comment as of now. I spent quite a lot of time thinking on what should be the road ahead. I suddenly found myself drawn into a whirlpool where I was choking for survival. Initially when things were offering hope, I was brimming with confidence & was fighting hard. But then, when things went totally awry, I was left clueless. I tried to focus & concentrate hard, but then being emotional has its consequences. The whole idea of starting from scratch really scared me. Yes, I do not think that there is any shame in admitting that I was scared.

So, I was left thinking at the start of the race whether this race will result in a win or loss. As much as I would like to run on a separate track where either there are few people running or none, performance would still be benchmarked against those running on the real tracks. And the real track offers no mercy.

As the year has drwan to a close & the new year dawns on me, new targets will be set & the race shall begin again....or it has already started. Though its splitinto quarters, but its only for the sake of convenience. Each night as I lie on my bed, its the conscious that doesnt allow a peaceful sleep than anything else.

I still have to run nevertheless, and seriously the tracks dont matter. There are again things which offer hope and I only need to hang on to them. Yes, mistakes have been realised & correction may be possible in the coming months ahead.

Splitting the personalities

It had to happen one day. As I began to update my blog the other day, I realised that along the way, I had forgotten the very purpose of the blog. I was "Bharat". Bharat who was an average Indian walking on the street & discovering his country along the way. But somewhere that Indian wandered off.

Somebody pointed out that my thoughts were digressing. But I had also fallen in love with writing about Bharat - the person whose life was equally interesting.

Like a true businessman I have decided to diversify & maintain two separate blogs to cater to my alter egos as well. -

a) reformmybharat.blogspot.com - Bharat - the Indian
b) http://165ctimarpur.blogspot.com/ - Bharat - the person

Infact, I am also maintaining the blog of my batch as well. So, as of now there are three blogs that I have to live with. So, all those infrequent readers, I hope this little development will prove to be an inflection point.

Cheers

South Indian bride for US economy

Well, the other day I got a call from my friend in Hyderabad. She mentioned something about meeting her "just-friend-but-still-not- boyfriend"'s parents. Her excitement was clearly visible but there was a clearly a restrain to it. The Madrasi parents want a "Vadagalai-Iyengar" bahu for their son who was doting my friend. My friend listened patiently to their woes on their son's reluctance to get married. She herself being punjoo was wondering what was the fascination with madrasi bahus. I explained to her that it has little to do with caste than with the object of maintaining the conservative approach to life.

Its not too hard imagine how our economy has progressed from being an ultra conservative one to being a semi-market economy. By and large though people still criticise Nehruvian theory of planned approach & Public enterprise. The idea holds true in today's context of failing financial behemoth's being rescued by central government. We (me & my friends in financial markets) were already reeling under the pressure of rising interest rates & crude oil prices, but we were certainly fairly unaware of the mischief's of our American cousins. I remember in 2005, when I was just learning the alphabets of financial markets that I came across an article in bloomberg talking about the possibility of a recession led by housing market.

So, the last few days the pink pages have turned yellow & Udayan Mukherjee has become Dilip Kumar of financial industry. First it was the turn of Bear Stearns. Rescued by JP Morgan Chase bank piggy banking on Fed Reserve's assured financial support. In the last two days, it seems to have developed into a pattern of sorts. Its the turn of two of the biggest investment banks in US - Merill Lynch & Lehmann Bros. Closely followed by them is America's biggest insurance company - AIG. All strapped by over exposure to mortgage securities & associated derivative transactions. Questions are now being asked about the sustainability of the other two investment banks - Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley. As of now they seem safe. But that was the scene with the other two as well a few weeks back.

The three parties in question moved swiftly to the Fed seeking their support in rescuing them. While ML still managed to save itself by getting absorbed by BankAm, it was Lehmann which was the more desperate after failing to find a rescuer. Shunned out by the Government, LB now has filed for bankruptcy, leaving numerous shareholders with wet eyes. AIG, today managed to get support of the Government, given the ramifications of AIG's failure could have on the global financial industry. Introspection is now left for financial historians trying to reason out why a proponent of Free economy can resort to government intervention.

America for long has fought war on ensuring democracy across the world. Though most of these have been on a diabolical standard especially in the middle east, where puppet governments have been established to ensure US's oil interest. But by and large, they are the ones who seem to project themselves as upholding the rights of people & advocating freedom of speech & action. An American dream is that of fearlessness & of being a risk taker. The failure never matters but it is the reward of taking unprecedented risks that propels them to where they are today in the world. Driving the world's political & economic scenario. They seem to take decisions with an underlying assumption that they are after all the caretaker of the world. Thats not too far away from truth, but it is certainly not the truth. The double standard of US is not only visible in political scenario, but is also now evident in the manner they are handling the current economic situation in their country.

We cannot deny the fact that financial markets across the world are fairly integrated. No event can be viewed in isolation however small it be. So, the failing of financial behemoths in the US is sure to leave the financial world with a sufficient void. The question to be asked is that in the name of free economy you cannot shy away from the responsibility of being a regulator. That you allowed such entities to punt with minimum or no regulation is blasphemy. Given that it has happened in the past in Enron, the laxity shown in enforcing stricter governance standards is totally unforgiveable. Another point is that whether the US Government bails them out or they get bust, the cost of it has to be shared globally.

When these firms were reaping benefits from the regulatory body's blind eye, nobody bothered. But now that they were burdened by their own misdeeds, they rushed to the government to save them. Either the Federal Reserve should not be bailing them out or it should exercise greater control over the disclosures by the market participants. Financial operations like love is a two way street. But more importantly, these firms should not have crossed the lines given the leeway they were being given by the authorities in the US. Just like a South Indian bride exercising greater discretion in her actions...

So, I told my friend that Madrasis are very lenient people in terms of the norms of life, but its just they expect a great amount of restrain & discipline in return for the freedom of their lives.

Developing Municipal Bond Market & Mummy -3

Being an extremely peaceful organism in the cosmos, my altergo searches for frequent run ins with Aliens, Genetically Modified Beings, Hostile Extraterrestrials, Terrorist attacks and many such senseless action hallucinations which I thoroughly enjoy. I am a big fan of the "Mummy" series as well. Insane as people might want to refer me, But I guess we all have our share of weird choices. But the bottom line was that owing to my ill health I had to miss the premier of the Mummy - 3 as I did not want to take chances with my health.

So, while battling with my never ending fight with the "Jaundice", my boss called me up. He mentions very casually of a meeting being organised by the Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Finance and I jump out of my seat. He asks me if I was fine enough to attend the meeting. I wanted to find out the agenda of the meeting else it would be like any other dead rubber on Urban Development discussions. The topic was on "Development of Municipal Bond market". Hmm, that sounded interesting. I just wished the discussion to be as good as the topic as I was going to risk my health for.

So all dressed up for the occasion, I arrived at the venue. It was quite a crowd. In a small room, we were a gathering of about 50 people. I knew most of them. But I cannot say that the rest of the junta knew me as well. ( What a stupid expectation Deepak) It was also heartening that members from the SEBI, RBI, IRDA, LIC and other participants of the capital market and urban Infrastructure experts were also present. Also present was Mr. K.P. Krishnan, Jt. Secretary (Ministry of Finance). And of course, it was chaired by honorable Secretary of MoUD Mr. Ramachandran. So, when the discussion began it came out with a bang. Initial comparisons were drawn with the US municipal bond market. But I (along with many others) found the whole argument rather ludicrous to begin with. They have a history of nearly 100 years of a Municipal Bond market(Quite interesting given that civilization in that part of the continent started a good thousand and half years later than ours). There are learnings, but drawing an exact analogy could be very impractical. Most wanted an answer to the eternal question of the "Bankruptcy". What if the Local Body fails to honour its annual and final commitment to the investors??? No one had a clear answer to that. It was a constitutional issue and was a separate discussion in itself. But really the one point that set the cats among the pigeons was that of giving "SLR" status to bonds issued by Local Bodies (SLR status to Bonds means that these bonds become eligible under a compulsory investment by Banks directed by RBI). It was not taken well by the RBI officials. According to them in the past they had burnt their fingers with granting "SLR" status to State Finance Entities. These entities with State Government guarantee had defaulted which had led to Banks going in for a one time settlement with them. With Corporate Governance being a gray area with Local Bodies, RBI is not willing to take chances this time. A representative from Life Insurance Corporation, presented this view from a different perspective. He mentioned that because of the aforesaid mentioned reasons, LIC was unlikely to risk insurance money into bonds issued by local bodies.

Nobody discussed the supply side at length, which remains fairly sluggish. Say's law of market will definitely not hold true in this scenario (Say was a classical economist who said,"Supply creates its own demand"). Questions on the supply side were conveniently sidelined on the grounds that the discussion was focussed on those 10%Local Bodies, who not only had the need and capacity to raise funds through the issuance of bonds, but also maintained a fairly satisfactory levels of Governance.

At the end of the intense debate, the august gathering zeroed in on the following issues -

A) Giving "priority sector" status to bonds issued Local bodies (For banks)
B) Inclusion of bonds issued by local bodies under the approved securities for Insurance Companies
C) Encouraging ULBs to issue Taxable Bonds & not be steadfast on Tax Free bonds
D) Shortening the approval time line for Tax Free Bonds
E) Including Bonds issued Local Bodies in the Investment Pattern for Retirement benefit trusts

I am not sure if I can take some credit (due to the lack of evidence), but the majority of facts presented as likely impediments to developing a vibrant municipal bond market were in close similarity to the ones we have been harping in every gathering of local bodies. Or may be they are really so generic that we might not really have unearthed a pot of gold when we first delved deep into the issue. I wanted to stay longer, but I passed out before the luncheon.

But my reward came a week later, when Reserve Bank of India asked a us (my company) to join a "Working Group on Local(Urban) Finance". That was a personal triumph in many ways. My little baby steps were going somewhere after all.

Does rating tantamount to borrowing for Local Bodies?

I have often wondered, how a small microbe can make life extremely difficult for a being much larger in size. I have jaundice and find myself extremely weak to conduct even my basic routine. Thanks to a certain count of "bilurubin", I look straight out of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's new movie called "Basant"(There is no such movie, I am just so yellow these days). But the fact is true for possibly every other thing that we do, I mean the "size and microbe" stuff that I just wrote.

So, JNNURM is going at its own sweet speed. Constant monitoring, mega project submission, Many projects cleared blah blah blah. Big Deal. People constantly ask me, "where are the bloody projects? When will it take me 20 minutes to cover a 20 km distance? When will I have 24 hour clean drinking water?" My replies are pretty banal, "Patience is a virtue that is good to have in a country like India." So coming to point. These days the newspapers are filled with news on the ratings of various cities. An elaborate exercise carried out by all rating agencies (thankfully the agencies werent allowed to tear off each other's clothes & amicably distributed the work amongst the four rating agencies..Pheww..), to rate the cities under JNNURM which will eventually help them to raise money from the market by way of issuance of bonds.

It is hard to understand the rationale behind this exercise (the reason is that the rating would anyways have to be done again for the instrument, in case the Local Body does decide for a bond issue).The exercise was given to the agencies somewhere towards the end of last calender year (I am being too liberal here of the time line), and it has taken them 7 months to come out with the ratings. Initially the thought was to keep them a secret(which was unfathomable to me again), but then eventually they decided to part with the ratings. Normally any rating exercise takes anywhere between 4 to 6 weeks. Imagine the extent of delay. Counterpoint could be that each rating agency had close to 15 ULBs, which could have delayed the process. The truth lies more in the speed of percolation of information than the number of ULBs assigned to rating agencies. By now most officials in the UDD must be patting their back for having carried out this really "PROFESSIONAL" exercise, but the whole point is that how many of them are really going to borrow from the bond market (Since the launch of JNNURM, only two local bodies have issued bonds). More so, how many are adept to keep up with the information requirements for a Bond Issue. Probably a handful. Even the bigger cities are yet unaware of the modalities of carrying out a bond issue. The easier answer is, "they can appoint consultants to do the needful". No consultant will be smiling at this opportunity, given the sham of having to keep up with "transparency" and the marketing of the "municipal bond" issuance together.

The timing of releasing these ratings couldnt have been worse with the interest rates at their peaks & the outlook for them for the coming 6-7 months being fairly negative. Most Local Bodies, which have a decent rating may be tempted to borrow given their project requirements and the grant tap from government soon to run dry. However, it is not going to be an easy path to tread on. We do not have a Municipal Bond market to be excited about. In fact our debt markets is still dominated by Government securities. There is hardly any secondary market to talk about as well. Under the circumstances Bank credit is the ideal option for these Local Bodies, where terms can be negotiated over the table. Having a rating and concluding a bond issue are mutually exclusive exercises and merely rating does not tantamount to bond issue.

My concluding remarks on the subject are negative enough for me to ignore them, however, I will not restraint from exercising my "Right to Speech". We have been very slow off the blocks as regards Urban Financing. There have been far too many case studies, but none have been replicated at a speed that could possibly result in far more vibrancy. This rating exercise is just another one of those meaningless exercises that has consumed important time, energy and possibly a good sum of money as well. But on a positive note, the schemes will not die out post Congress, but are likely to be continued given the gravity of situation in Urban Development. Mere continuance might not be sufficient, unless some positive action is taken in this regard.

Ignore my flat top & the world would be a peaceful place

Following a back pain due to long distance biking, I started to travel by Delhi Metro. Apart from metro, I also have to take an autorickshaw. It is not cost effective by any sense of imagination. But when you compare the long term cost of paying for medication on my back with my current transportation cost, the latter is far cheaper. To strengthen the back, I have started Yoga as well. Apart from relieving the pain, it has suddenly managed to multiply the limited positive energy within me. So, certain people whom I cursed when it was imposed on me have had the last laugh.

Metro Station is not close to my office. So, while commuting from my office to the nearest Metro Staion, I boarded an autorickshaw. I have just had a very short haircut. More suited to the summer. Not to deny, I hate being commented on my receding hairline & the flat top growing my head. I have never been too obsessed with my looks anyways. So, as I de-boarded his rickshaw, He says, "Saahab, ek suggestion hai aapke liye.."..I looked at him & guessed from his tone that he was about to embarass me to the best of his abilities, but still I said, "Bolo.."..."I will tell you what you do. Put some sarson ka tel in a container. Put some Magnet inside it & place the container on a magnet. By god, aapke saare jhadte baal ruk jaayenge. Maan ke dekho, mujhe yaad karoge..." he said. I looked upto him & was speechless. After thanking him, I left fuming. It was for the umpteenth time that I was listening to a suggestion on growing my hair back. My god, it is so irritating...

Is it not possible for a 26 year old to have a receeding hair line? Why are people so obsessed with perfection? I do not seem to fathom that from where do we get these ideas of perfection. Our constant struggle for perfection & comparison with the best. Striving for excellence. My Sister is constantly worried about the performance of my nephew in school. Her concern? My 3 year old nephew is not able to draw properly & hence will lag behind in life. Why cannot we allow people to be themselves? Of course sometimes course correction is imperative, but that does not mean that it becomes an obsession.

It is hard to understand the logic of God to have had so many parameters for making a man. If only the recipe had been simpler, the world would have been a peaceful place.

Randomness

I am not a science student. Been too lazy too understand it, but have always been intrigued by its findings. Sometimes even yearned the dream of being a science student. Anyways, there is this thing about atoms. Particles or whatever they are. They keep bouncing off each other and with other objects around them. If not disturbed, they have nowhere to go and nowhere to settle. Last few days have been like that. Bereft of all thoughts and feelings. Some thoughts kept connecting and disconnecting to each other like waves on a river. Must have been to do with my grandmother's demise. I never quite understood the melancholy surrounding death. Dont we all know that its inevitable? Whatever be the age. Never heard of atoms stuck to each other. May be there are some things science still cannnot explain.....

Fast Cricket and a Fast Life

I still can vividly recall the time of the launch of World T20 championship. I wondered, how many of us who believe in classical cricket will accept the format that is faster than a 3 hour movie. But it went on to be a cracking success. More so because of India's unexpected win at the inaugural world cup. Amidst total confusion, Dhoni's men went on to lift the cup that left the punters gaping.

Anyways, The huge success of the format had to be translated into big bucks. There was bidding. Many people made huge amounts of money. We went back in time, when men were auctioned. The only difference is that this is more glamorised. Suddenly, cricket no longer remained cricket. It was coined as a new entertainment avenue. "Family viewing". I wondered how. At least in my family we have never watched T20 together. But then , may be we are an old fashioned family. The New types of families do not talk to each other. Electronic gadgets are their new friends and family. Gone were the days, when families would sit together to have dinner or lunch. We also do not do it as often, but at least we make an attempt to do it. Today's generation is wired up all the time. Be it to your laptop or your cellphone or your landline or to the internet or the I-Pods. I find it surprising, when articles suggest meeting people as a way of fighting stress. For us it is the other way round. Most of us get distressed if we find ourselves in an area which does not have a "network". There is total panic. May be they are very insecure about themselves? or May be they just have a reason to be annoyed with life. Sometimes my views on family and culture are rubbished. They say that I am not staying with the times. Sexuality is no longer a taboo. Virginity is. You must not long for intimacy with anybody. It is optional and used with discretion. There are no close/ best friends. There are just companions. It seems people have taken the adage "We-are-just-travellers-on the-planet-earth" very seriously. Every person has a utility. Like a rechargeable battery. I am not sure but hope that there are people who will not concur with the new perspective. I just heard somebody say, "Off, what a bore??"

The Little cost of Liberalization

The other day during "googling", I happen to bump into a site by Rajshri Productions, which had kept an online library of the episodes of "Malgudi Days". I watched all of them at one go & did not feel bored a single second. That prompted me then to search for other serials of the bygone era - Hum Log, Nukkad, Wagle ki Duniya, Fauji, Buniyaad...I found some but generally found my searches futile. Today when I look at the current television programs I find them too negative and repetitive.

Till 1992, we used to live in a place called Timarpur. More famous these days for the failed Timarpur Waste Mangement Project. Anyways, this time I will not discuss any serious topic but prefer to confine myself to some of my childhood memories which I am sure alot of us have in common. We were not an affluent family but always had sufficient. Like most working men, my father was employed in a "prestigious government job". I used to derive immense pride in telling my friends and people who used to ask my father's occupation that he was a government servant with the Delhi Government. I still take immense pride in telling it, however the reasons are different. Earlier it was a matter of pride, today it is a matter of sacrifice. He would leave for office by 8:40 & return latest by 6:30 pm. If he was delayed beyond that time, All of us would parade endlessly till he returned home.

Infact if I had to go bak in time I would say I would like my life to start afresh from 1988......When I was 6...When the only bread in the market was Modern bread....when the only cola drink was Campa.....When only congress came to power whoever fought elections......When there were only DTC buses on the road.....when the preferred mode of transportation was Rail, whatever be the distance....When the only time you could watch TV was between 8 to 10...when the only time you could watch movie was either to rent a cassette or on sundays on DD....when the only friends you had were anybody who could play with you....when you never questioned the logic of your parents......when you never had to take any decisions.....when people observed behavior than appearance....When Governemnt jobs were looked at with respect.....When I didnt know that there were B-school in the country.....when I thought that there were just 6 countries in the world - UK,US,China,Japan,Russia and Pakistan.......When Spiderman was the only superhero I knew.........When students were still afraid of not doing their homework........When Madhuri was the only hot woman in the world........When there was no Page 3........When I used to sleep at 9 in the night......when the latest I would ever wake up in the morning would be 8 am........When my professional life would end with the school's closing time at 2 pm......when I used to wait for Tuesdays to visit the temple....when the only time I had insecurity was if I would be able to save some prasad for myself after distributing to beggars.......when I thought enid blyton were the only children books on earth........when we used to have dinner at sharp 7:30 pm with all the family sitting on ground & my mum serving......when I knew that the only time one should fear is night.....when I thought that the universe ended with pluto...when I thought foreign goods were better than Indian.......when eating out was only for celebration.......When the maximum courage I ever had was to go alone till the colony gate......When I thought that all those who smoke & drink are anti-social elelments......When the roads searched for drivers to drive on them......when I thought that Nehru & Gandhi were the greatest leaders India ever produced.......When I sang only to please myself........When the only incentive to study was my mother's scolding.......when I used to eagerly await a marriage party to hog on the food.........

I am sure we all have endless experiences which now stand corrupted by the onslought of liberalization. Often I wonder if all that was worth it? May be in the long run and for the greater good. But I do not know who benefitted? At least I didnt.....

Public sector behavior

Coffee break sessions are generally very enriching. You talk gossip. Inside the company & outside it. But sometimes there are boring discussions on business as well. I don't enjoy the former too much. It creates unnecessary negative energies which can be more fruitfully utilized in work. During one of the discussions some intelligent people broached the topic of micro-financing for rickshaw pullers. Basically the idea was that of investment in an investment/ saving vehicle for these poor chaps. I was told that these days, Insurance companies were making a killing with this kind of concept. I did not believe it. My argument was that somebody pulling a rickshaw had too many obligations to begin with - a rent to be paid to the rickshaw owner, some borrowed money to be paid back, rent, daily food & more importantly some remittance back home. It is unlikely that after so many liabilities, the man would have sufficient money to save.

My assumptions have often been steam rolled whenever questioned. I guess that is the way with most assumptions. So, When I talked to a few rickshaw pullers, there was in fact some saving tendency in them despite all the compulsions that engulfed them. I was stumped as usual.

So, I happen to visit one of the top Public Sector Banks. No, it was not that I was on a leisurely stroll, but wanted to collect the statement of my education loan, which I unfortunately had taken from them. The office opened at 10:30 am. I happened to reach the place at 10:00 am, only to find a few people enjoying the morning tea. When I told them that I was in a hurry & had to rush to office after doing the needful. I was answered, " Arey Bhai, whats the hurry? chai to aane do, phir pakode...statement mil jaaegi, jaldi kya hai??.." I wish I could record the conversation & play it before their maverick CMD. But technology often fails when most needed. So, I had no option, but to wait. An urgent assignment required my immediate attention, but here was I waiting for just a simple statement with their rubber stamp. It seemed so archaic. I got a taste of how the erstwhile culture of most government entities used to be. It was accomodative & was fast to the speed of those days. We did not know what a speedy service was, so we never complained. We were fine with the pace of our lives & the pace at which they were being run by the public behemoths. But, then our lives had been deliberately put on a fast track owing to the complusions of 1991. Before we realised, we found ourselves surrounded by private enterprises harping on "Service Quality" and the "Speed of Execution". Indians have this habit of embracing to any new development (be it political or otheriwse) with open arms. We never question its arrival, but welcome it like a guest with open arms. I guess thats what caused our oppression till 1947.

Public Sector entities which had a decent lead in this dash, found the gap between them and their newly mushroomed private counterparts closing too fast. They remodelled themselves and presented themselves as savior to those suffered at the apathetic attitude of private entities who focussed themselves only on quantity of service than quality of attitude. But that was it. People like me preferred a delayed service than a conniving intent. And so I was caught up with this esteemed Bank. By the time I completed my mission, I was brimming with frustration and all the ideas on an organizational restructuring bounced in my mind like protons clashing with each other in a "Fission Reactor".

I reached home and narrated my harrowing experience to my mother. She had her own stories to tell. And I began thinking. When we decided that state entities were supposed to carry out economic activities, the premise was that their primary objective was to serve people, profit was a secondary motive. But, the reality was a far cry. Its a confllicting perspective. Those serving in Public Sector Eentities were meant to serve people not themselves. But a country subjugated to a considerable period of recent history leaves an insecurity deeply entrenched in its citizens, where survival and freedom of mind is of primary importance. Some people might want to term the attitude as selfish, but I will not. Where growth is not the agenda, service will never be of importance.

Nationalism like love is innate in nature. Most of us are yet to fall in love till then we have to live with the "Public Sector" behavior.

My little donation

Last night I was searching for an auto in Gwalior to visit one of my clients who happened to be a civil servant. This time winter had been really cold. As far as my memory goes, I can recall such bitter winter in the late 1990's. Most of 2000 has been pretty mild. As I shivered under two sweaters & a coat, the search for a conveyance became an absolute must. Just as I was about to lose hope, I saw this auto pass by me. I waved a hand at it only after it had passed. He saw me from his rear view. Retracing his steps, He asked me, " Where to?"..I said, " Race course road. I want you to wait there till my meeting ends & then drop me back to hotel". Bargaining is a very interesting phenomenon. Neither party knows the real value of the deal. As the two unreasonable quotes meet each other, the clash results in the determination of the true value of the deal. I had Rs. 100 in mind. Before he could reply, I knew he would quote a figure which blow me up like a grenade. He said, "Rs. 60 saahab". I said, "Deal!!". It was one of the very rare occasions, when the figure in mind was MORE than what such people quoted. ( For once I was not livid at an autorickshaw driver given my horrid experiences with these guys in Delhi, Chennai & Bangalore ).Honesty it seems is still prevalent. May be like an endangered species, but its there. Post that as we chugged along the narrow lanes of Gwalior. He asked me the address. I told him. For quite some time, he went in one direction. Then he suddenly stopped, "Saahab, Is you client an IAS or a PCS?"..I was stumped for a second. Then recovering I said, "PCS, why?" He replied," Oho Saahab, PCS live on another lane. Dont worry I will take you there". Normally you expect these guys to be street smart & know the inside out of the city. But differentiating between an IAS & a PCS??There are many MBAs, who will still scratch their head wondering what I am talking about. I even in my wildest dreams did not expect a rickshaw driver to distinguish between state & central civil servant. Then out of curiosity, I asked the usual question, "Babu, You seem very smart.." Before I could complete the sentence, he replied,"Saahab, this is not my real job. My daughter is studying for medical. I am working extra hard to finance her studies..." My question to him was like an arrow to a pot filled with water to the brim. It was heartening to see female education being alive & kicking at one of the smaller cities of the country. Our country is full of paradoxes, where on one side the country is grappling with the problem of an abysmally low sex ratio owing to the blaspheming acts of female foeticide, on the other here was a person with a white collar job driving an autorickshaw in biting cold. For a second I had tears in my eyes....soon to be replaced by frustration......At the end of journey, I handed him a Rs. 100 note. As he searched his pocket for change, I walked away.....

1 million chulhas

Well, the last week was marred by the "Racist" row between the Indians & the Aussies. The newspapers, websites and the audio visual media just added fuel to the fire. There was of course an issue to be made for that. We are not a nation that takes such allegations lightly given that we ourselves have had to face the situation in the past. Nobody knows what happened. But its not that it doesnt happen in our country. Ask any North Indian who visits South India and he will tell you horriffic tales of the way the South Indians treated them which will put any Southie in North to shame. Not to say that our brothers from the Northern hinterland are any better. I, myself, have had to face them on numerous occassions. But then, you have to look at the larger issue at hand. Some of my cousins didnt take it too well & could only recoup when they found familiar faces (though with slightly idiosynchratic ideas about life). We can never escape it. We must accept that certain segments will always try to make you realise that you are different from them, but the intent must not be demeaning in any manner. Again, given that most of us are insane & insecure such thoughtful event would be a rare occurance.

Last week, one of my crazy searches landed me with a company called "Hi-tech Agro". The promoter happens to be one person called Mr. A K Khater. Upon meeting him, I realised that he was a stalwart of "briquetting and pilleting of Bio-waste". For some of our less aware friends, Bio-waste is not human waste, but rather the residue from farming harvest. In some cases it also includes household waste, waste wood material & other bio-degradable waste. Now briquetting as the name sounds relates to compacting of bio waste and making it in the form of bricks. Pilleting means making small bullet like structures out of Bio waste. To me it was as exciting as a teenager missing a heart beat on meeting a prospective sweet heart. And more so, I was intrigued by his enthusiasm on making it reach the remotest villages of India. He wanted to give something back to them. Whats the use of the 9% rate of growth, when the riches continue to throng the city dwellers, who are just making life difficult for themselves in their pursuit of quenching the thirst for luxury? So, what was the concept? Well, here it goes. In villages, the dwellers use the bio waste for household purposes like you know burning them for cooking food and heating purposes. Now these villagers do not use any efficient chulhas. They just burn the waste & over them place the vessel to be heated. Now, there are many hazards associated with such an exercise. One, this bio waste is not processed which means burning them leads to more smoke than real heat. This poses a health hazard to the user, but also consumes a lot of time. In some cases, wood from nearby forests are cut to burn the chulhas. Also, the bio-waste isn't basically a product that is of much economic significance to them. So, the better way is to use them to burn them to make food.

Mr. Khater, the pioneer in briquetting & pilleting of bio-waste, has hence thought of installing one million chulhas (on a pilot basis) that will allow villagers to use bio waste in a more efficient manner for more or less the same purpose. Now, here is the deal on offer. Firstly, a "Group operator" will be appointed for each zone/ state. Each of these zonal/ state level operators can appoint one operator who will be taking care of say 80 - 100 villages. Each of these smaller operators will own a briquetting & pilleting machine for treating the bio-waste. The villagers will give their bio waste to these operators. The operators will return one-third (by weight) of the bio waste submitted by the villagers back to them in the form of a briquet or pillet. The remaining pilletted bio waste is then sold in open market where there are ready buyers for them. These buyers in some cases own their own captive power generating capacities for which they badly need the raw material. Now, as far as the villagers are concerned, they also get a chulha from the village level operator. These chulhas are much easier to operate. More importantly these chulhas burn the bio waste more efficiently ( am no science geek, but they say it can burn the fuel inclusive of coal & wood efficiently by over 45% - 50% as compared to your traditional chulha) causing less environmental pollution and less health hazard.

Who will bell the cat? This was the question I asked Mr. Khater. To which he invited me to a brain storming session at "Batkal Lake" in Faridabad. I had been there earlier. Flanked by mountains, it used to be a scenic lake with a hovercraft facility. I am talking of at least 13 years to 14 years in the flashback of my life. Depreciation is another fact of life which is hard to ignore. "Batkal lake" wore a sad look. Thoroughly molested by apathy of local authorities and raped by human inhabitants around it, I was disheartened. Given that it is maintained by Haryana Tourism just underlines the importance we give to tourism in our country. Much to my excitement, I reached the venue much before my host. Whenever, I reach early for an appointment or am waiting for a person for a meeting, I am reminded of a very interesting definition of "Punctuality" - Punctuality is the art of waiting for those who are unpunctual.

We were a gathering of about 15-16 people. Most were from the same field as Mr. Khater, but were more or less leaders in their regions. So, when the discussion started it hit a road block on the financing part & more importantly the ownership part of it. For a long time I listened to the gyaan being imparted on environmental conservation & the inherent strengths of the project etc. etc. etc.But when I took it no more, I stamped my hand on my table ( not exactly, I just interrupted one of the speaker who was repeating the same point), and said, "Excuse me gentlemen, in the absence of funding from Government, how are we going to make this a viable project?" Thats when everybody agreed that they were missing a crucial point. I mentioned that debt in no option for them . Given that returns are still uncertain & there could be a substantial gestation period, till the project becomes viable taking upon a fixed liability will spell doom from Day 1. The project must be self-sustaining & must have an equity partner as far as the funding is concerned. I told them that they must float an SPV for this purpose. In this SPV, each "Group Operator" will necessarily be an equity partner. What can then be done is that based on demand from each of their regions, they could set up manufacturing facilities and could seek funding from the SPV. The SPV could then assist in either direct contribution to the project or can access Banks. Incase of a substantial equity contribution, debt might come cheap (I was also given to believe that certain Banks had shown interest in funding the project at a subsidised rate). Another point was that since, the chulhas were efficient burners they could also invite funding by way of Carbon Credits. Personally, I am vehemently against the concept of Carbon Trading. But then for a noble cause, what the heck??

One thing that yet remained unaddressed, was the ownership of the briquetting machines at the village level. Will that be owned by the goup operator or the village level opertaor or the village head or a SHG? But then the group Operator wont be able to benefit from the sale of the two-thirds of the bio-waste. Whoever is owning it will also have to bear the cost. Under the scenario of inadequate revenue streams of villagers, the role of micro-financing agencies will be pivotal. My suggestion was to de-couple the ownership of such machines & sell them to village based operators. Our SPV makes money by selling these machines to village level operators who are financed by micro-financing agencies. These village level operators make money by selling the pilletted Bio waste. Our SPV also makes money by selling the more efficient chulhas to the villagers. We can distribute them for free as well, because the more operating chulhas there are, the more carbon credits you earn and the more faster your project becomes viable. The villagers get a more effcient chulha that uses less fuel & causes less smoke.Voila!!!!

Towards the end of the meeting, Mr Khater told me, "Deepak, I pray to God that this project must be successful. We will need all the help from you". I replied, "Khater saahab, it seems your God has gone on a Long Holiday & he seems to have misplaced his cellphone as well. I guess, we are to help ourselves and more importantly the villagers will be our gods if there is going to be any involvement of divinity at all."

Nehru and the funda of Mixed Economy

Wishing all a very happy & prosperous New Year!!! A cliched line that will go on for at least the next couple of days. I was starting to wonder this time that the time is passing so fast, that expression of every regars over every occassion sounds so repetitive. With friends, colleagues, bosses, clients and with every second person that you meet on the street. I felt it was losing its relevance. This time I hence went on a "Satyagrah". No wishes to anybody. It really didnt make much difference anyways. Some friends did call up, but most didnt react clearly highlighting the boredom behind this entire concept.

I guess, one of the most beautifully written books on Indian history has come from none other than Free India's first prime minister, Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Books like "Glimpses of World History" or "The Discovery of India" are a joy to read if you relish history. These days I am reading a book called, "As Nehru saw the World". For a long time I believed that we were led the wrong way in terms of economic development. And that, we wuld have done more justice to ourselves by opting for a "Market Economy". Ex- CEO of HLL, Mr. Gurcharan Das calls it, "When humans err, it is sad. When leaders err, its haunts a generation".A close reading of Nehru's ideas kind of broke the mental shackles.


Many of us still recall the Indian Independence from the famous speech of Nehru called, "A Tryst with the destiny". And some of us from the black & white footage of Nehru unfurling the tricolor. Its a wonderful feeling isnt? But the background to Indendence was rather traumatic. There were numerous areas which were pulling the nation seeking their attention. National security, Food security, formation of consitution, uniting the divergent culture and more importantly ensuring that the identity "Indian" remains firmly entrenched in the psychology of the members of the Union. You know today we take it for granted, the fact that outside India a Tamilian, a Punjabi, a Bengali, a Garwali, an Assamese, a Kannadiga, a Malyali, a Gujarati would always be known as an Indian. The concept of India & Indian have come to us from our fathers & grandfathers who saw the dream of Nehru of a Unified nation that had an identity which overshadowed the other regional disparities. We must thank Mr. Nehru for it. At the time of independence we were short of leaders & intellectuals who could have driven the country on a fast track. With his limitations, Nehru thought that given the limited resources an optimum allocation of them is the best idea. He wanted to build a nation for the future. Then came the concept of Planning & the Planning Commission. The Five Year plan extensively criticised, then & today, remained a formidable driver of economic growth for India for many post-independence years. Today, though we are entering the eleventh Five year Plan, its role is limited to allocation of resources with a societal focus. In those days, in the absence of economic activity, Nehru saw creation of wealth as part of the Government's responsibility. Interestingly, he says, " India is a poor country. A poor country cannot afford concentration of wealth with a few individials. The idea of development in a country like ours is to ensure equitable distribution of wealth." His idea was not to kill Private sector, but more liberal role for Public sector. He also goes on to say, "Socialism as it is catching up today will not fit in well in a poor country like ours. Socialism is concept which is more suited to countries who are already wealthy & developed. Socialism seeks to ensure equity of prosperity, but in the absence of prosperity, distribution of it is a mere Myth." ( Both the lines are not direct quotes of Nehru, but rather the version as I interpret it). Unfortunately, the concept fell on its face. He was also more concerned about concentration of wealth. It is not that he was averse to a vibrant market economy. Being a political leader, his thoughts were more directed towards a just society. In his address to the Indian Merchant Chambers in 1950, he says, "Planning is a crucial element to India's growth. For its execution, we need the support from all quarters" (Again my interpretation). He saw Planning as a major tool to implement projects whose benefits would accrue to our future generation. There was then the fear of "Imperialism" in its new form. Multinational Agencies highjacking the growth of the country & making it dependent on the MNCs whims & fancies. Nehru feared it & more than that despised it. His vision was that of self generated and indigenous growth (we came to realise it only 50 years hence as today we are the second fastest growing economy driven by internal demand). His insecurity was echoed across all sectors. Hence, we saw extensive governmental control & Public sector domination over all economic activities. For him, America & Soviet were more or less the same entities. He wanted to distinguish India as a country with its own disntict identity & voice. Thanks to that belief instilled in our system, today our views over geo-political scenario are construed as filled with individuality and non-prejudice. But I guess today we lament over the fact that the growth engine could have run faster had we done this or that. And that Nehru was a total failure. Today we look at what we lost out & not what we have achieved. History will always remind you more of lost opportunities & less of achievements. He did what he thought was best for our country. If there was any view point contrarion to him, then surely with a logically strong basis would have ensured a growth pattern different from what it is now. Since, there was none then we must applaud the efforts of Mr. Nehru. He had a dynamic vision that if people work for other people, Growth will will happen at a fatser pace & will far more evenly distributed. But the vision was not shared by everybody in India. As it has been rightly said, "Leaders are remembered because of their followers"...Seldom the fally is ever that of the leader....Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru you did a great job...