India’s sports Ambassador

Who should be India’s global sports Ambassador?

Many would say – Hey this is an easy one !! Sachin Tendulkar of-course
Some might also say Major Dhyanchand. P.T. Usha will also be a consideration.

Before you also start rattling “ Kapil Dev”, “Sunil Gavaskar” …., please go back and check the text again. I mentioned “GLOBAL” sports Ambassador.
A global ambassador should be someone with whom the world audience can relate to. How many can relate with a cricketer or Hockey Player? Maybe 1.5 billion people across the world. That’s hardly an 20% of the world’s population. That’s not Global.

You would be surprised to know that the Indian sportsperson who has exposure in most number of countries is someone many of us haven’t heard of.

Well, so you know its not Sania Mirza – the whole country knows her. If not for her game, then for her controversies.
Can it be Saina Nehwal? Naah – its too early for her rise so high in the world popularity charts. Besides, who plays Badminton in North America !!!

Still guessing , let me spoil the surprise…
It is Jeev Milkha Singh.
Can you faintly remember him? Oh am I talking about the Flying Sikh. Nops, you missed it by a generation. That’s his Dad, Milkha Singh. I am talking Milkha’s son – Jeev Milkha Singh.
But, are you aware which sport does he play. There comes the shocker – he plays Golf!!

Jeev is India’s numero uno Golf player and is ranked 29th in the world.

He has done spectacularly well last year winning 4 tourneys and achieving top 5 positions in another 5. He made a lot of money as well. USD 3.5 Million to be precise.

So what’s the big deal? Dhoni made close to USD 20M in 2008. But how many countries actively follow Cricket. Actually, you can count them on your fingers.

On the contrary, Golf is actively watched and followed by over 85 countries across the globe and this list spans all the 6 continents. Jeev’s tremendous performance in 2008 has made him a brand name across all popular golf playing countries and looking at his form in 2009, this popularity is all set to grow multifold.
Some of his successes in 2008-09

Jeev won Bank Austria GolfOpen in 2008
Jeev won Nagashima Shigeo Invitational Sega Sammy Cup, Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in 2008
Jeev won Barclays Singapore Open in 2008
Jeev signs off 4th at WGC-CA for best major finish in 2009

He won the Bharat Padma Shri Award in 2007.

What I would suggest to you is. If you have a handicapped trivia about this rising star, go to Google and find out most about him. After all you don’t want to get embarrassed in front of your American client when he knows more about Jeev than you !!!

Chief Review Officer ( CRO )

I got a review from a good friend who said that my writing style is very non-bloggy.
Its a style which is not followed by general bloggers. Though, he has his heart in the right place but he has one majorly annoying habit. Getting a positive feedback from him would be easier than building Rome !!! What he unrealizingly ends up doing everytime is giving just one piece of constructive advice, which is " I like it " as I metioned, if you get one !!! otherwise you will always end up getting a monotonous demoralizing " I dont like it " syllable from him.

I with couple of my frens ( he being one )are working on this new idea these days and there are major debates about each and every decision we have to make. Some of these debates are about stuff so trivial that I am too embarassed to even mention them here. So everytime we need to take a call, our C.R.O gives his expert review which is always " I dont like it ".
I felt like sharing something which is so-called "Bloggy", so this was the entry.
If you have a friend/manager/colleague who has this habit , don't take it anymore, Go ahead and nickname him the CRO of ur life!!!

A chinese proverb for the flat world

I have recently finished reading "The World is Flat". This book is written by "Thomas Friedman". The book talks about the benefits of economy boom in countries like India, China, Vietnam & Mexico. It elaborately discusses the impact of the flat world and how it has changed the economic equation of the world. Fantastic Read - would happy to suggest it to anyone who is half serious reader.

There is one quote in the book which goes something like this -

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
The moral:
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.

What an amazing quote - it inspires you to the core.

This Holi - Save Water

Experts say that World War 3 is going to be about Water. The world population is growing at 1.2% every year. We added 66 million people to earth in 2008 stretching earth’s already limited and dwindling resources.


I know that I might be considered a grouch for suggesting this, but this year why don’t we change the rules. Let’s play Holi with dry colors in 2009 and eventually making it a tradition. Holi was originally the festival of colors and water has been added artificially to it. If we can avoid this water wastage, I think we should go for it.
Let’s enjoy the festival but at the same time help the world conserve water.

The Indian Hypocrism story

In all my interactions with Indians who have travelled abroad - particularly to countries like UK, Australia, US and the Gulf - they have one common story to tell.
They talk about the racial discrimation they face during their stay.
I have travelled to the US and have experienced that racism exists in the west.

However, when Indians talk about racism, they are being the biggest hypocrites in the universe.
What right do we have to complain about racial discrimation when we practice it more efficiently than anyone else.
When Indians can't accept their own people from other regions to migrate to their regions, how can we expect Americans to accept us ( we the people from different nationalities + religion + colour).
Indian politicians have used the race card to gain popularism and sensationalism for years and everytime I see the public falling for this piece of dirty politics, I realize the shortcoming of this countrymen and their mentalities and notions.
Whether it is Raj Thackeray & his anti-Bihari policies or ULFA & its anti-UP/Bihar practices or the ever-famous North India vs South India duel, I have witnessed all and trust me, its not a pretty sight.

I agree India with its multi-cultural diversity, these kind of problems do come up, and I am proud of India for staying an united country for 60 years now inspite of these problems. We could easily have gone the Yugoslavia, the Zimbawe or the Fiji way
What I don't like is that we don't acknowledge this problem and we are more than ready to play the blame game against other countries.
I hereby invite all to be Indians and not Tamils or Rajasthanis or Bengalis. You ll find India to have become a much better country to live in.

Rebirth of the brand "Public Sector"

I have watched the Anil Kapoor starrer " Nayak " many many times.
The concept was unique and I loved the movie.

One distinct scene in the movie I remember very well is the part where the bride's father is adamant on his daughter's groom to be a public servant ( employed in a public sector division/ government job ). During those days, I was astonished & amused by narrow mindedness by the old aged & "minded" father. But, in India we have a "postulate" - Always listen to your elders, they are never wrong"

I guess the postulate holds true today -

Today, Indian private sector is reeling under extreme pressure. They are closing shops, laying off workers and trying to somehow navigate through this economic slowdown of slowdowns. What it has done is created financial & mental instability of mind of these employees. Today, again the public sector is back to being the cream job creator in the country.

So, these days, maybe a BEL would be a better idea than Sasken, or India Post a better bet than DHL or SAIL a safer haven than TATA Steel.

What the public sector in India needs to do is utlize this opportunity to bring home the public sector brand on the minds of prospector employees. After all, Public Sector like all other companies needs to hire and retain the right talent to prosper and grow.

Linkedin - Have you joined the bandwagon

LinkedIn was officially found in 2003.

At that time, I was in college and power of internet had start hitting me.

We had reached a phase where software development converted from Anti-Internet to Pro-Internet ( software were getting customized for the internet, instead of software companies expecting the internet to get customized to their products )

The time was ripe for a business networking product to be launched in the web space.
Like all famous start-ups, LinkedIn was started by 5 partners in humble surrounding (read a one Bedroom apartment). ( sometimes, I feel my start-up hasn't done so great for the fact that we started in an office instead of a Garage/storage room :-)

In a month's time, Linkedin had 4500 registered users and by end of year, it had 82000 users listed with it. By that time Sequoia chipped in USD 4.3 Million in the venture.( the same VC firm which funded Google, Apple, Oracle, Atari, Yahoo, Paypal and many more )
Linkedin registered its first 1 million users in mid 2004. Today, Linkedin has over 33 Millions registered users and it gets a monstrous 7 Million hits everyday.

Enough about LinkedIn History.

The bottom line is, LinkedIn is doing to business networking what MySpace & FaceBook did to social networking. It has become the ultimate channel for recruiters to get right talents. (I hire all my freelancers through linkedin).
If you want to lookup a person, and cant find him on Orkut, facebook and Myspace, you are sure to find him on Linkedin.
Today, if you are not in linkedin, you are not on web !!

So what are you waiting for? if you still are reading this blog - goto www.linkedin.com and register your profile. Trust me you will not repent it !!!
And if you want to add me - Search (Amit Agarwal DivideByZero)

See you at Linkedin

The Indian Fiscal Deficit Story

The Congress is back to its election propaganda with its so called " Common Minimum Programme"
This programme "ensures" that "AAM AADMI" has employment, daily meal and access to education.
So what did the UPA do?
It waived off Rs 60000 crore loans to the farmers. They got many applauds and importantly " dedicated vote banks" for doing that.
What it has done is created a LEGACY. Now, no matter which party is in power, they don't have a choice, due to the populist nature of Indian politics, every Government would need to continue this policy. THE RESULT - USD 12 Billion fiscal pressure on the Government

A hypothetical situation is the SC/ST Reservation system in India. It started in 1950, and there is no way , its going to end anytime soon.

I am not surprised by this LOAN waiver scheme by the UPA. I am used to illogical political judgements from Congress. What hurts me the most is that- Manmohan Singh approving it. He is the same guy who liberated our economy in 1991 - ( the reason why we are a superpower today ). Such an irrational decison from such a rational person is shocking.

What is UPA doing under CMP is reducing the price of Petrol& Diesel.
What is Government is doing is " They are adsorping losses by selling petroleum products cheaper and to compensate these losses they borrow money from the world ". This is done by using a financial instrument called OIL BONDS. Oil bond is nothing but “postponing the pain & Problem for another other day.
Total withstanding OIL Bond commitment on the Government is around Rs 5.5 Lac Crores or
USD 120 Billion. Does anybody have any clue, how are we going to pay for this.

And to maintain their populism, further reduce the price of petrol & diesel.
Who will eventually have to bear the burden of this irrationality - THE COMMON MAN !!!
and we talk about CMP - Hilarious

What does all this eventually boil down to ?

They increase India's Fiscal deficit - Now what is Fiscal Deficit

- Fiscal deficit is essentially the difference between what the government spends and what it earns. It is expressed as a percentage of GDP.

India's fiscal deficit in 2007 was 3.17% of GDP. ( thats a staggering - 1.40 LAC crores ) India's fiscal deficit continues to be one of the highest in the world.

S&P - the most respected rating agency in the world recently revised India's status from STABLE to NEGATIVE. The reason - because of our fiscal deficit.

This rating is a key parameters for funding institutions like WORLD BANK, International Monetary Fund ( IMF ), use this rating to decide on funding a country or a project. SO the implications of S&P ratings are quite clear.

We all applauded the Government for reducing the price of fuel last month. But ask yourself, is it correct and rational. Wouldn't you rather pay a buck or two etc instead of enjoying this cosmetic luxury.

Take a call now. Fiscal deficit is going higher & higher, and there will be stage like 1991 when India is bankrupt again.

Traffic woes

THIS IS MOSCOW DOWNTOWN .

AND WE COMPLAIN BANGALORE HAS TRAFFIC !!

Do you waste food ?

Every time, I see this picture, my body goes into a shiver. I appreciate my life more. I appreciate the abundant food I get everyday and I ensure that I don’t take this abundance for granted.

But, every time I go to a party or to a restaurant and see people throwing food , wasting food, my blood boils. I wish I could have given my piece of mind to that person. But my rationality or my lack of it , stops me from doing it.

Everyday, world over, 18000 children die of hunger. I respect Obama, he seems to be the solution to America’s woes. But what is outrageous is that his presidential ceremony cost USD 170 Million. That’s simple unbelievable, that much money could have ensured that for 2362 days, not a single child would have died because of hunger.

I am sure this figure is staggering and baffles you as well. But, REMEMBER the food you waste also has a same story to tell. We all need to realize the implications of this wastage.
What we need is a national.. actually an international level public awareness campaign to create a social consciousness against wasting food.
Just because it’s available abundantly to some, they don’t respect it and this notion has to change ASAP.

pachaas rupaiye do aur vote le lo

Yes, in India many look forward to elections

WHY, because they can get one kilo of free rice + 50 rupees + and if you are lucky ( one umbrella as well )
Who gives these "election perks"? The currupt politicians ofcourse.
But the next question is " where do they get the money to give such rewards"
The answer is " Indian Tax payers and the Indians treasury "

So who has the power to stop them? The Election Commission .
But why is nothing happening ?
kyuki , Yes hai India meri Jaan !!

Yes, we love Rahman, but should we love the film?

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ..
Yes, it's in news these days. 8 oscars , 7 BAFTA awards, 4 Golden Globe.
Mass Euphoria in India when the movie won 7 BAFTA and the whole India was glued to the screen and went exuberant when we won 8 OSCARS.

But , do you think we should be proud of slumdog millionaire.

Do you think we should be proud of depiction of India in this movie -

The movie only showcases the following points about India and Indians

1. Adrocities against poor
2. Police Bullying
3. Communal riots
4. Thiefs and robbers
5. Crime

Do you think India is all about all this. Aren't we the same country who has never attacked an another country ever. Aren't we the same country where we have the self governance in the form of village panchayats? Aren't we the country whose leadership exhibits an epitome in communcal harmony ( We had a Muslim President, a Sikh PM, an Italian Head of ruling party )

We are celebrating Slumdog's success, we should be ashamed ourselves.
Instead of celebrating or also PROTESTING ( We are very good at it ), we should benchmark Slumdog to buckle up and improve the living standards of Indian slums.

Slumdog has no doubted helped India as well -
Indian film technicians have received tremendous exposure. Russell Pookutty was not known by anyone. Today he is a household name.
A R Rahman has received the well deserved acknowledgement of his brilliance
Talent of Indian actors have been showcased to the world

Does the US or the British rue on the fact that they dont win any awards in Filmfare 2009? In the same way why do we strive so much to win an OSCAR. After all, Oscars are American awards. They are not global awards.

We as Indians need to be proud of ourselves and our accomplishments and shouldn't look for Westerm world acknowledgements of our success