You also make me proud... very proud

BBC News | Corus accepts £4.3bn Tata offer

Growing up in India it is hard to miss the Tatas. Their product and services were integral part of my life (and, for that matter the life of most Indians). In B-school two years back we had a case study on the Tatas. I remember the German professor asking the class - "What do you know about the Tatas?" And, my response was ..."I think they have done more for India than all Indian governments put together." Well, that may not be saying much given the quality of Indian governments but here is a group that for the most part knows the right from wrong and plays by the rules.

I was bit sad when Reliance took over the position of #1 indian industrial group. I remember Anil Ambani launching a website called "Anil Ambani for India" (now goes to Reliance insurnace) in true Amreki estyle. And, the next thing I knew was Reliance Telecom was fined a hefty amount for terminating international calls as local calls to avoid the gateway fees. Talk about robbing the country blind. Reliance to some extend is the opposite of the Tatas - for the most part they bend the rules and when their conscience troubles them they do something good. A bit like most Indians.

Anyway, coming back to the topic. One of the most memorable advertisement was the Tata Steel ad that showed their commitment to society and ended with the line "We also make steel." Yes, and a whole lot of it. But, you also make me proud (and, I bet most Indians would concur).

Irony that is India

The other day I was having a chat with the head of sales of a mid sized Indian offshore service provider. And, he mentioned that Bangalore was closed because of a "state sponsored" bandh to show their grievances about north karnataka area that is claimed by karnataka and maharastra. Then, came the protests against english.

It made me wonder about the various stupid acts that we seem to proudly carryon. I think Gandhi probably never realized that the non-violent non cooperation movement will legitimize bandh, hartal and what ever you may call it...And, is it really non-violent? Try telling that to someone who is trying to get to a hospital for a medical emergency.

We take a lot of pride in claiming that ours was a non-violent struggle for freedom.But, we forget that the first act was to kill each other. Yes, we did not fight the british with arms, we fought our own.

Then, there is the stupid practice of calling the disadvantaged folks "harijans". As, if calling them that will change the people's behaviour. Why not just try to remove the need to classify people and enforce the non-discrimination law. And, that is not the same as handouts.