Earth Hour in India ?

Today at 8pm Central Chicago is supposed to go dark for about an hour. The whole "Earth Hour" concept is gimmicky but gimmicks catch attention and something is better than nothing. I checked the Earth Hour website to see if any of our desi cities were participating in it - None. Then, I realized that they are the pioneers in the concept but they never branded it - they just called it load shedding/ maintenance outage ;) Someday they too will call it "earth hour(s)" or "earth day(s)".

Getting everyone to reduce their energy consumption on a daily basis is hard esp. when we cannot let go of our laptops, broadband connections, flat screen tvs, cellphones and iPods. I left the cars and SUVs here because while they get the rap for global warming the biggest culprit is electricity (See Vinod Kholsa's presentation). Would you unplug your flat screen tv because it contributes to global warming or would you rather watch planet earth on it in high-def?

Tata Ambassador... now Tata is the Ambassador

Tata Motors have bought the Jag and Land Rover brands from Ford. And, folks in India called it "Empire Strikes Back!”. Folks here called it a case of former colonies being obsessed with sticking it to their former masters. Well, it is not what you got that matters but it is what you do with what you got that matters. So, let us see what Tatas do with these two brands - yes, they are just brands. If they were making good vehicles then people would be buying them. Building a brand is hard.

If you are wondering, what the Ambassador had to do with the rest of the article. Nothing. I just liked puns- good/ bad and everything in between. I guess it is time to say "tata" (who says bye-bye in India) to Ambassador and welcome Tata as the ambassador - the ambassador of brand India.

Bear Stearns ...why can't "market" bear and grin?

I am a bit (actually, more than a bit) amused by the Bearns Stearns issue and bailout. Here is the deal - if Bears Stearns is a failed company then so be it. Why should the tax payers bear the risk and JP Morgan walkaway with a great steal all in the name of national interests. Did Bear Stearns or other firms ask for government or tax payer permission before they gave away the nice bonuses? To be fair I don't think they even requested to be saved. JP Morgan and Wall Street suit types are funny - Bear Stearns deal was "fair" at $2 and then a few days later it was "fair" at $10. What is fair is to let Bear be - see if it can survive. If it dies, it was meant to be - greed did it in.

So, why does the government care now. And, is n't this and every other solution for the current crisis tackling the symptoms without addressing the root cause. I have seen a lot of this in India - usually for public sector (government owned) companies. There the reason was very clear - politicians need to win elections, to do so they need votes and these public sector undertaking represented nice large vote banks. While they may have also justified their actions as "protecting national interests" they never preached capitalism.

Right and Wrong about Wright and Rezko

Last Friday as I was returning from the airport I heard on the news that Presidential candidate Obama had condemned the comments made by Rev. Wright and apologized for errors in judgment in his dealings with Tony Rezko.

The funny thing is I never heard the Tony Rezko issue mentioned again in the media. Here is a case where the candidate who says, "Being right is more important than being prepared" (Is a "right" liberal any better than a "right" conservative? We have one claiming victory in Iraq) saying his real estate dealings with Rezko was not straight and that his campaign had got a lot more money through Rezko than originally claimed. I guess nobody cares about such trivial matters.

Instead, everyone jumped on speeches made by Rev. Wright about 5 to 7 years back. And, gave the Illinois senator a nice photo op and speaking engagement that left lot of the media pundits teary eyed. What is the big deal about what Rev. Wright said? He was expressing his opinion. And, everyone is entitled to one. He was not instigating violence or other subversive methods. He is entitled to his view on 9/11 (and, he was not blaming the victims as Chris Matthews said. He was blaming the government). He is right about Hillary not knowing what it is to be black (he used the N word) in America. Similarly, Obama has no clue what it is to be a woman in America. Both of them have no clue what it is to be a brown skin in America. If you believe in "God Bless... <>" why not "God damn ...<>"

Senator Obama has no control over what someone else says. But, he has control over his actions and dealings with folks like Rezko. Obama may not represent "same old Washington politics" but why do I get this feeling that he represents "same old Chicago politics." I am not sure which one is worse.

P.S: Geraldine Ferraro is a brave woman for not backing down. And, she may have a point here. Reminds me of the Oscars a few years back when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won. Do not get me wrong, both are great actors but the way the media created the buzz and called it made me wonder if they were getting the prize for their effort or if someone had decided that this is the year.

In support of ICL and IPL

Finally, market forces are emerging in Indian sports and it bodes well for sports in India. Of late, a lot has been written and said about Indian Cricket League (ICL) and Indian Premier League (IPL). A good number of them have expressed their opposition to the "auction of humans" and the "high price".

In B-school there is question that is asked often - "What is the value of a company?” The only right answers to it other than "it depends" is "what ever the market is willing to bear. If SRK spent $80 million on his team, it is because he is hoping to make more than that. If he and other investors do not make good on their investments because of either team performance or drop in advertising revenue they are going to act on it. I am sure soon they will have NFL like trading, salary caps and scouting.

I like the idea of ICL and IPL because for  -

1. It takes cricket into realm beyond national teams. Of course, there is nothing new about that. The English cricket league already does that. However, now you have this happening where it matters. This is to cricket what the European soccer leagues are to soccer.

2. It makes compensation visible. It is to some extent "pay for performance". These people are not only paid for their skill but also their ability to bring in money. They are part salesmen, part gladiators.

The fact that the hard numbers are in the open makes it easy for everyone to compare. It is bit like "lobbying" vs. "bribe" - both may be undesirable but first one is better because information on what was paid and what was received is out in the open and is taxable. I think the numbers may come down as the talent pipeline (Point 3) increases unless ICL and IPL have a truly global following.

3. It generates new talent pipelines. We now have two new international leagues in addition to the national cricket team. And, each league has a number of teams. To fill these teams you will need talent. It gives opportunities for talented Ranji and college players to move up. And, hopefully this will improve the pool and the access to opportunities.

4. You finally have some cool names. Other than the New Zealanders who were referred to as "kiwis" (thanks to a flight less bird), none of the national teams had a cool name. Now, we have a chance for some interesting names (though, I must say I have been disappointed with the current set). My award for the best name for any sports team that I have come across goes to Mambalam Mosquitoes. I have never seen them play but growing up in Madras I had heard a lot about them. But, talk about making lemonades of lemons. So, why not Chennai Chimps? I have some nice headlines ready - "Chennai Chimps are the Champs" or "Chennai Chimps Chomp the Competition".

What can "brown" do for you?

I work for a small two year old company - about 60-70 people. When I joined there were fewer than 20 people and I was the first hire of desi origin. Last year I hired another guy of desi origin (a Pakistani guy). Together we are the IT department for the company.

It is amazing how often folks refer to us or call us by the other person's name. And, it is not like our names sound similar, start with the same alphabet or that we look similar. There are a few repeat offenders. It has gotten to a point where we use the UPS line on them - "What can brown do for you?." I guess to them we are two brown guys for the most part.