Sach ka Samna / Moment of truth
While I was flipping channels yesterday I came across an interesting program. Sach ka Samana aka Moment of truth.

A game show where one has to face 21 questions about their life; I should add, uncomfortable, disturbing, revealing and rather personal questions, at the end of which they would stand to win Rs.1cr (Rs.10 million). Quite a sum of money.

Basically before one qualifies to sit on the ‘hot seat’, he is put through a polygraphic machine (lie detecting machine), the one which Robert De Niro subjects Ben Stiller to in ‘Meet the Parents’; and are administered 50 questions that are quite personal.

While I tuned in, there was this fat north Indian guy, typical Mumbai middle class businessmen type, gold chain on wrist, double chin, paan stained red teeth, overflowing stomach flab, sitting on the ‘hot seat’, a thin bead of sweat on his brow, answering questions like:

1. Do you have a secret in your life, which could potentially break your marriage?
2. Have you ever suspected your wife of adultery?
3. Have you been unfaithful to your wife?

Well if you are wondering what the answers to the above were, then I should say at this point that you have a Voyeur hiding inside you (though you would never admit it). Let me relieve you of your curiosity. The answers, were YES, YES and YES. And the answers were all TRUE.

If it brings you any relief, I will accept I am a voyeur too, because I continued watching the show and derived pleasure out of it too. Not the kind of sadistic pleasure you derive out of torturing people you hate, but the kind of curious pleasure you derive, when you see a horrific road accident but just ‘tut tut’ your way as you pass by the hapless victims and the blue and red sirens of the police cars and hospital vans and then shamelessly brag to your friends later that you passed by that accident, while they have just heard of it on the radio.

Then I came to know that this show was popularized in the US (Moment of Truth), though roots were in Colombia. It’s got very good TRPs by the way. Now, why am I not surprised?

And guess what, the guy in the hot seat has to answer all the questions in front of his family and friends, who are given a front row seat to see the tamasha.

While I was watching the show I was wondering is this all really worth it? I mean I wouldn’t reveal the dark secrets of my life for Rs.1cr (probably Rs.10cr might convince me otherwise). Imagine you win Rs.1cr, but you are mentally scarred for the rest of your life. Your friends, your family, your neighbours, the whole frigging country knows everything about your life! Is it really worth it? I guess that question would be best answered by the contestants.

And you know why I think this show will succeed? Because inside each and every one of us, there is a voyeur hiding. An innate quality we are all born with. And one which the media guys have scented, salivated on the thought and capitalized on.

After the show my wife asked me “Sweetie, would you ever participate in this show?” I said “Would you?” Both of us didn’t answer the question. We just gave that smile to each other. After all, life isn’t worth spoiling with 21 truths.

What about you? Would you?

Product or Brand? I think Product.

I was sent this wonderful article written by Al Ries http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=138150 a few days back. It makes great reading. Read the rest of my blog, after reading that article.

You know why Sachin Tendulkar, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer or Maradona are legends in their respective sport? Before they became icons, before they became brands, before they became legends, they were and continue to be THE BEST in their respective game. Period.

When competition came, when competition sometimes got better, these sportsmen always made a comeback because their foundation was excellent. They dug deep, corrected their flaws, bettered their technique and came back hard on their competition.

Everything else followed. Money, fame, them becoming brand icons in their sport. Everything. They became great brands, because fundamentally they were great products.

You can have the best marketing team in place, you can have the best advertising agency doing your ads, but in the end if you don’t have a good product, then it will all fall flat.

GM does not have good cars. Period. Their cars are not fuel efficient, neither are they stylish and nor are they as reliable as their European counterparts. And this is not perception. Its simple hard hitting reality. Their competition is better in at least 2 of the 3 above mentioned parameters.

Marketing is not going to help and neither is advertising. First build a reliable product which can stand up to competition. Once a good product is in place, everything else will follow. Their story, the brand, the marketing, the advertising et all…

The best brands are the best, because they have fantastic products to begin with. The brand, the perception about it, the advertising etc helped build it into the giants that they are today.

So I grudgingly disagree with Al Ries on only one count. To me the focus on product should be more important than focus on the Brand. People might buy brands, but if the brand does not live up to its promise or their expectation from the product then they will switch loyalties to a brand with a better product. (Note that I acknowledge that they will buy a brand and not a product).

It might sound like I have gone back 50 years in my thinking, but come to think of it, sometimes going back to the roots is probably for the better.

First impressions

A few days back I attended a seminar on Islamic Banking. Well for the uninitiated, let me clear doubts right away. It's got nothing to do with funding terrorism. Islamic banking is all about following the Sharia' laws, which of course finds its roots in Islam and the Quran. The seminar was about Islamic banking and how it is better than conventional banking.

Well I digress. I am here to write on first impressions. So Samir (my client servicing director), Trevor (Group Account Director) and I decided to attend this seminar, which was supposed to last 2 hours. Well at 6:00pm, it's not the most exciting way to spend your evening. But hey, I handle HSBC, and therefore I am compelled to attend. Whether I like it or not. Its times of recession and I better show extra interest and enthusiasm towards my work.

So we head out to knowledge village, aptly named because of the number of universities that are bunched together here. Frankly I wasn’t expecting many people to attend. I mean how many people would be interested on a talk about Islamic Banking? I was imagining myself, Samir and Trevor in a room full of empty chairs and the speaker talking to us. And if he turned out to be one of those chirpy, interactive ones, he just might point out at me and ask me questions on what he just spoke.

We near the registration desk and my fears seemed to be true. I take a peek into the seminar room and the bloody room is empty. We were the first ones. I feared we would be the last too. I just resigned myself to my fate, filled my details in the registration form and took my seat in the hall. Sam and Trev, dutifully sat on the 2nd row. Damn.

I took the seat next to Trev.

The time was 5:55pm. I was expecting a few more atleast. But the next 10 minutes completely took me by surprise. There were already around 40 in the room! And a good mix. Indians, Westerners, Arabs, Africans. I thought to myself "Well…."

I saw a person who I thought was the speaker. He was speaking to a guy in a uniform who looked like the technical guy who sets up projectors and laptops before a seminar. And he was selecting white board markers. He was in casual gabardines, linen shirt and looked like one of those cool professors I never had. I looked around the room and took in the profile of people attending. Mostly suits, a few kandooras, a couple of ladies in abaya and a man in a pathan suit, with a big beard, looking like one of those radical mullahs of a madrasa, that you see from time to time on CNN or BBC, yelling at other similar bearded men demanding them to wipe out the infidels.

I thought to myself "Quite a crowd". "I hope I don’t doze off". Would have been quite a crime considering I was on the 2nd row. For the record, there was not a single person who took the first row. So we were literally the first row.

It was 6:15pm. The guy in the khaki gabardines was standing on the dais, pacing slowly. Allowing everyone to settle. Then he walked off solemnly to the back of the room.

A person in a suit walks up to the mike. Clears his throat and delivers the opening speech. "Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for your presence today. We have amongst us a great personality today. Mr. Atif Khan. He brings to us his rich experience on banking. His conventional finance experience includes investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York and London, executing mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions, and Chief Financial Officer of Iprox Limited in London. Atif earned a Bachelor’s summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Master’s from Harvard University. Before becoming MD of Islamicadvisory.com, he has worked closely with Islamic financial institutions on product development, Atif studied the Shariah sciences for five years in Pakistan, the last years of which were spent one-on-one with some of the world’s leading Islamic finance scholars. Today he will speak about Islamic banking. So without much ado, I present to you, Mr. Atif. Atif the stage is yours. Thank you".

I hear faint footsteps. And lo and behold, who do I see taking the stage!

The young bearded radical mullah! I was shocked.

I suddenly hear a perfect American accent wafting from his direction. I was confused. Here was a man, who had a long flowing beard, he was in a Pathan suit, with a black sleeveless cashmere coat on top of it, wearing sandals. And he has an American accent. Perfect English. He had my complete attention. And how!

After speaking for about 10 minutes he clears his throat. Cracks a joke about how he just delivered a 2 hour speech before this. And that his throat is sore. Asks for a glass of water from a person sitting at the back. And who walks up with a glass of water?

The cool looking professor in gabardines. Ah! How wrong I was.

He went on to deliver one of the better seminars I have attended. He explained in very simple terms what Islamic banking was and what it is based on, its foundations. And his delivery was perfect, his humour; self deprecating, casual. He in fact even cracked a couple of contextual jokes on Muslims and how the world looks at all of them as terrorists! I mean how many of them would do that? Not sure how the muslims in the room took it though. Because I thought I heard a few uncomfortable laughs.

I was quite amazed at the end of it all. He almost convinced me that Islamic banking is better than conventional banking. But like most things in my life, all my brilliant queries and doubts on any topic comes a good 2 days after I have had the discussion / attended a seminar. Anyway, I answered my own queries and decided I will stick to conventional banking.

But coming to the point. First impressions can be deceptive. I had made up my mind about quite a few things that day. My first impression about a topic like Islamic banking that no one would be there to attend it. My first impression about the guy in the gabardines. My first impression of Atif.

I thought of this guy as a radical Islamic mullah of a madrasa, who goaded blood thirsty Jihadis to their deaths. But he turned out to be someone completely different from what I had assumed. Like the saying goes "Don’t judge a book by its cover".

I hope I never fall prey to first impressions again.

The creative clan

I can't do it.
Come later.
Buy more time.
You are a fucked up Eunuch.
Your brief sucks. It does not inspire me.

These are some of the lines I listen to on a daily basis from my brethren. I sometimes wonder how creative people are able to think creatively with so much negativity flowing in their blood stream. And then it strikes me! But of course! They feed of us, the client servicing guys.

They are like the leech; feeds on the blood of its victim in order to live. And once they are full, they fall off so they can digest the blood they just drank, before they get hungry again and find another victim. But unlike the leech's prey, here we feel the pain.

I can live with the first four statements. It reeks of their incompetence and mindless arrogance. But the last one irks me the most "Your brief sucks" because they are directly questioning my ability and competence. I run every creative brief past my Account Director and my client servicing director and if that wasn’t enough, past my client too. That brief filters through 3 layers; approximately about 50 years of experience between the three against their single digit experience in the same field and they have the nerve to call it "uninspiring".

I in fact fail to understand many things about these chaps:

• Why do most of them dress like hippies? Unshaven, unkempt, turning up to office in bathroom slippers, uncut armpit hair peeping out of their T-shirt?
• Why do most of them listen to rock, hard rock, metal, heavy metal and worse. Haven’t they heard of hindi songs, carnatic music, old melodies?
• Why do they have to wear low hip jeans, with their jocks sticking out and their arse crack showing, everytime they bend or stretch?
• Why do most of them smoke?
• Why are all of them addicted to super hero movies?
• Why do they create ads, where the image takes up the whole layout, the font of the copy is the size of a disclaimer and the brand name is included in the layout like they are doing it a favor?
• Why do they have psychedelic designs on their desktop background or screen saver.
• How can they think creatively by breeding so much negativity? Oh I think I answered that question…but anyway…how?
  
  Well after putting in 7 years, I know one thing for sure. I am in this field neck deep. I aint going anywhere, (unless I get a break on the client side, in which case I will screw them if I ever get the chance). And I don’t think I will ever figure them out. But they are the backbone. I admit to that fact with all humility. Without them an ad agency is nothing, I am nothing. So till then, live long you inflated egotistic off-springs of concubines.

How do rainbows make you feel?

When I say the word 'Rainbow' what do you think of?

Do you envision a beautiful cool spring morning that has just been kissed by rain and a shade of sun that’s run through droplets of rain water, causing the wonderful bow of 7 colors to rise in the sky, and bring out the magnificence of nature's beauty in full blossom? OR; do you think of homosexuals, bi-sexuals, lesbians, eunuchs and transvestites?

You are goddamn right. I think of gays nowadays. Well my alternate sexuality preferring brethren. You should have left the rainbow alone. A symbol that epitomizes nature.

I wonder why they chose that as their symbol of Gay Pride? Was it to make us 'straight' thinking folk think 'twisted'. Or was it to make us understand their perspective of nature and what's natural to them? And who associated the word "Gay" with "Homosexuality"? I mean gay was such an innocent word before.

India of all places had gay parades! A land with the 2nd highest population in the world. Well on the brighter side, maybe if half our population turns gay, at least we won't continue multiplying at this rate!

I am from Chennai, one of the places which had a gay parade. And I heard there were a couple of hundreds participating in it. And what did they want? Article 377 of the IPC that criminalizes alternative sexuality, repealed. Why? So the closet gays can come out in the open and showcase their sexuality in gay abandon (pun unintended).

Nowadays when I hear the word gay, I cannot synonomise it with happy. I can only think of a cheesy looking man, with a lilt of a woman, dressed in flashy pink with white framed shades, driving a purple colored car.

They have to understand something. The world has always been ruled by the majority. And the majority are still 'straight'. So till then, lie low and follow the rules of the land and nature. Only opposites have attraction. Two penises coming together is just a distraction.

Good Old Letters...

How long has it been since you wrote a letter? Ah, I am not talking about writing an e-mail. I am talking a physical letter. A hard copy! Postcards, inland letters, remember?? Sounds like a bygone era, eh?

Frankly I don’t remember the last time I wrote a letter to someone and posted it. I think it was sometime in 1999 or 2000 when I wrote to my dad’s long time old friend’s daughter, thanking her for the Rakhi she religiously sends me every year. And that is about the only time in the year me and Usha (that’s her name) kept in touch.

I remember the not so distant past, when my mom or dad used to receive inland letters, faded blue in color, from my aunts and uncles living in different parts of India. The call of the postman, “Saar post”, used to get an immediate response from my mom.

Letter in hand, she would thrust her index finger in the gap of the inland letter and tear it open, careful not the tear the contents by mistake. She would perch herself on the doorway of the verandah, adjust her glasses and read the letter with great enthusiasm.

She would then relate the news to my dad when he comes back from office in the evening, reading it out aloud for extra effect! I can still hear the opening sentence and closing sentence which my mom used to read out aloud “Priye Janaki, Asha hai wahan sub teek honge” (Dear Janaki, hope everyone is fine at your end) and “aap logoan ko hamara ashirwad aur bacchon ko hamara pyar” (our blessings on you and love to the kids).

I especially remember the letters from my uncle, my dad’s elder brother living in Delhi, who would always have a paternal word of advice about life in general. The best part about his letters, was his impeccable handwriting.

I miss wetting the stamp with my tongue, sticking it on the envelope and then riding to the post office on my happening “Street cat” bicycle, in a hurry to catch the 10:00 O’clock post in the morning! The next clearance being 12:30 in the afternoon when the sun would be burning hot or at 3:00 p.m when it would be hotter! Nothing is more pleasurable, than the thrill of catching the postman in the nick of time, clearing the postbox.

The best part about letters, is it invokes a personal touch. The personality and mood of the writer could be felt from the letter. Till date I haven’t experienced, this feeling from an e-mail.

The personal touch is lost, the mails get delivered instantaneously, and a reply received almost before the minute is out! Sometimes, the simple pleasure derived out of waiting for a reply is also lost…

I wish we could go back in time. I would have loved to write a few more letters, and live to cherish the memories in the age of e-mails and chat rooms…

The Pathan Taxis

When I first came to Dubai a little over a year back, one of the first things I was cautioned about was never to get in to a Pathan taxi! At first I thought it was something to do with patriotic fervor. A deep feeling of hatred, stemming from enmity since the days of seperation, rooted in the heart of every Indian that they would never get in to a taxi driven by a Pakistani. But later found out that the caution was two fold, one they were illegal taxi drivers not permitted by the Govt. of Dubai and second and most importantly, they stink! Stink with the smell of their grimy sweat.

Now I was someone coming from a place where stink is commonplace. I thought it really wouldn’t matter much to a nostril which has smelt the notorious Cooum river. A once beautiful and clean river, which adorned the length of the city of Chennai, but now just an abysmal area to dump all kinds of refuse. For the uninitiated, the odor it emanates can be overwhelming to the sensory organs, specially the sense of smell.

Now given this unenvious history of mine, I thought “big deal, I can put up with the stench, and as for the illegality, well if the police stop us, they are going to catch him, not me”. The only incentive to travel in these taxis was, these Pathans charged a third of what a national taxi would charge. For a middle class Indian, who has come to Dubai with the sole aim to make money, this was an attractive deal.

Now you may ask me how do we identify a car as a Pathan taxi? Well this needs a little bit of getting used to, else you will end up embarrassing yourself by stopping the wrong cars (happened quite a few times to me). These cars are normally run down old cars, mostly Toyota Corollas older than 5 years, with ridiculous colors, like a paki green with red upholstery in the inside, off white (and I mean it), pale black, off color red, and if you peer in, is normally driven by a bearded Paki wearing a Pathan suit. More often than not, these guys flash the headlight at you. It’s an indication that they are looking for customers.

I have taken these cabs many times. And I realized that these Pakistanis are as human as we Indians are. Most of these Pathans are very chatty and love talking to Indians, or so they say. I am yet to encounter a Pathan taxi ride, where the cabbie has kept his mouth shut. They love talking. They have their opinion on all topics. Be it politics, sport (read cricket!), religion, world economy, Bollywood, life in Dubai, or their lifestyle. I have had some interesting and often enlightening conversations with some of these cabbies.

Sometimes it’s a humbling experience talking to them. Like this one time, I was talking to this elderly Pathan driver, who said Politics is supposed to be the face of the nation and not its arse. He said this in his crude Urdu/ Hindi mix. He said it is a chaste profession, one which should be in the hands of true leaders of men. He went on to talk about Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He said no man is perfect. Everyone errs. There are many critics who will talk a lot and keep hollering that it is these two men who divided the land and made it in to India and Pakistan.

But if others were so sensible as to find out this fault, why didn’t they take action and unite these two lands again? It’s because no one had the balls to stand up for the truth, then and even today.

He says, people in Pakistan have the same mindset as people in India. They adore Bollywood movies (and he proudly brags that some of these movies release in Karachi first, even before they are released in Mumbai), love Indian cuisine, enjoy watching Sachin Tendulkar, but it pains them when they see the occasional war movie the likes of ‘Border’ and ‘LOC’. He says such movies wont do any good to further diplomatic negotiations!

I have had many such interesting and often inspiring cab rides. If sometimes it’s a Pathan humming the tune to classic old Indian film songs and telling me how much he likes Bollywood, sometimes it’s a tale of a poor Pathan driver who has successfully sent his son to study in the US and sometimes a Pathan who regales me with the story of that dreadful match (if you are an Indian supporter) of how he was at the stadium and saw Javed Miandad hit a six of the last ball of Chetan Sharma.

I have had my fair share of cab rides with these Pathans. I even have some of their mobile numbers stored in my phone, in case I need a taxi urgently. I look at it as a chance to meet another good human who works hard for a living and also get to save 10 dhirams in the process/ aka Rs.125/-. They are jolly good drivers, slightly reckless (even with their battered car), they are chatty and they definitely do stink, no doubt about that. But it is the stink of their sweat. It’s a smell of their effort after a hard day’s work. And it doesn’t smell that bad to me.

Seen God?

An often asked question. Seen God?

What is God? Who is God? Is it a He or She? How does He/She look?

There are no definitive answers to any of the above questions.

Today I saw God. Not a statue, not a book written about him, but God, in flesh and blood!

Today morning, I went to the kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore built for Lord Shiva. I went at my usual time, 8:30 a.m. I made my usual rounds in the temple and came to the praharam (sanctum sanctorum) of Lord Shiva. The Archana was going on and hence the curtains were drawn. I could not see the Shiva Lingam. I was waiting for about 10 minutes for the curtains to be drawn but it didn’t seem like it was going to be.

I was just preparing to turn back and head home, when a hand tapped me on the shoulder. I turned back and saw an old man, a man whom I had met a year back before I left for Dubai.

Now I have mixed feelings about this man. The first time I met him I was under a lot of stress mentally. I was going through a tough period in my job. In order to take my mind away from it all, I used to visit the temple and empty all my burden on God. I prayed for long hours asking for many things and praying things would all turn out OK.

During one such visit, when I was stepping out of the Karpagambal’s praharam, I met this old man for the first time. He steps in front of me and very gently enquired “Did you have a good darshan?” I replied in the affirmative. He looked at me and said just one more sentence. “Don’t ask her for anything, she knows what is right and what is wrong for you. You just go in and let your mind free. She will take care of the rest”. He then went in to the Shiva temple and got me a special flower used during the prayers called “Vilva Poo”. He said, “Today is a good day to come to the temple, I am sure you will be a happy person soon”. This chance meeting and that one sentence of his when I was stepping out of the Goddess’s shrine, stunned me.

But I also considered him a little bit of a con man, for the simple reason that after all this talk about God and one’s well being, at the end of it all he would ask for whatever monetary contribution possible to feed hungry Brahmins. I never bought that story because instinctively I felt he wasn’t entirely truthful. But I used to give him what I could for his ‘noble cause’. Moreover the couple of times that I met him, it has always been only at moments like these when I was about to miss seeing the God and never any time else.

Again this time around just when I was about to turn around and leave without seeing God, he said “you waited for 10 minutes, wait for another 10 seconds and the curtains will open”.

Sure enough the curtains were drawn in 10 seconds! I had a good Darshan and what’s more the old man got me that special flower again, the ‘Vilva Poo’ used during Lord Shiva’s archana.

He did not ask me for the customary monetary contribution for his anna danam to Brahmins. Probably he had forgotten me. He was an old man after all and I was meeting him after 1 year! I don’t know what made me ask him how he was and how his family was. I also don’t know what made me ask him how his anna danam (food distribution) for hungry Brahmins was going on. I don’t know what made me give him Rs. 50/- towards his noble cause, whether he did it or not I care less. But I felt happiness in my heart. I felt light.

Now atheists would call this chance meeting, coincidence. I like to call it the touch of God. It was God’s way of reaching out to me. The old man was the channel.

Who was it for you?

HOPE

Hope. The world lives on this word. It is a very powerful word. There is just so much pinned on this one word. I hope that one day I will be the richest person in the world. I hope that I will be famous. I hope I will find the love of my life. I hope I die peacefully.

Everyone has hope. But what is it that strengthens hope? What is it that justifies hope? You can’t just futilely hope for something without doing something about it. Like for example, if I hope to be rich, the least I should do is buy a lottery ticket and then continue hoping that I win it.

In this world nothing is free. Nothing comes easy. Everything has got a price tag on it. I am not just talking monetary value. I am also talking qualitative price. You pay the price and hope things work out fine for you. But without paying the price for something, don’t hope to get it.

Let me tell you a story. A story of a nation. A nation known for its varied culture. Its rich history. A nation called India. This country epitomizes the word ‘Hope’.

With a population of over 1 billion, where close to 30% is below the poverty line, large scale unemployment, a per capita income of $600, a fiscal deficit pegged at 4% of GDP, deplorable infrastructure in more than 50% of its land, by and large inept and corrupt politicians and most citizens with a ‘care a damn’ attitude, this country still hopes to make it as a super power.

So what is it that drives this nation? What is it that makes people hope that they will be a super power one day? Like I said earlier, what is this country doing to become a super power. IF it is doing something, are the doing enough of that something? Blind hope leads nowhere.

I gather they are doing the following.

- They have liberalized economic policies. Industries have opened up and large MNC’s have started flocking India, understanding the potential this country has. This is reflected from the contribution of the service industry to the GDP, which is over 50%. This move has helped us to reduce our dependence on agriculture (30% of GDP) and if not to a large extent, at least, to a small extent curbed unemployment.

- They are looking to privatize hard core government sectors. (That it has found so much resistance is another matter altogether!)

- They have empowered rural India, by introducing schemes like PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas), which is to be implemented in 4130 rural clusters across the country in the next 5 years. The program aims to provide road, transport, power, telecom, e-commerce, education and market connectivity to the rural areas. We have to wait and watch how successfully this is implemented.

- At the same time they have ensured that urban India equals the development of developed nations. The metro cities have been developed at a pace never before seen. Success stories include Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurgoan (outskirts of Delhi) to name a few.

Now when you check the pros vs. the cons the odds may seem even, give or take a few. This country has an equal share of pluses and minuses. So what keeps this nation going?

We come back to that one word. Hope. That is what is going to make this country a super power. People’s hope. Hope in the system, hope in the nation, hope on each other that one day we will all awaken to a developed India.

Are we doing enough to support this hope? Time will tell…

A Comparison

I am 26 running 27. My first 25 years I lived in India. A country known for many things, famous and notorious. The past one year I have been living in Dubai, UAE. I always considered the Middle East, particularly Dubai, as a source of making a quick buck and getting the hell back to your home town.

But then, I noticed that the only thing I was missing in this foreign place, was my family and friends. I wasn’t missing my country. I wasn’t missing my place of origin. If my family and friends were here I would be better off living here.

I sat and thought about it and the realization was pretty simple. Dubai is superior in all terms. Why?

Having spent one year in Dubai I realized this place is far well equipped from all angles when compared to India. There is social security. There are no political fallouts. The economy is booming. No tax! the infrastructure is fantastic. And above all the people are great. There is a strong civic sense.

How is it that such a small Emirate has scaled such Herculean heights? Is it because the population is small and manageable? Is it because there is no poverty? Is it because they are rich in oil? NO.

The population being small or large does not matter when running a country. Anyone who has lived in Dubai for a few years know that Dubai has developed only in the past 30 years. It was a nomadic culture before that. And for those under an illusion that Dubai is oil rich, it sure is not. Their oil reserves which has been responsible for the country’s superb transformation and prosperity is scheduled to run out in the next 20 years!

As I see it, their phenomenal progress is a culmination of many factors the most important 3 being:
- Vision
- Ownership
- Commitment

The leaders of this nation have taken it upon themselves to put Dubai on the world map and make it the place to be. Their vision is to be the destination of choice. And they have pulled out all stops in ensuring that.

Liberal economic policies coupled with world class infrastructure has created a congenial atmosphere for trade to flourish. The cropping up of state of the art business hubs like Media City, Internet City, Knowledge Village and the numerous free zones has ensured that.

The real estate and the retail sector is booming as the focus shifts to transforming Dubai as a tourist destination. The contribution of the non-oil sector has risen for one third of GDP in 1993 to over two thirds today. They had the vision to realize that oil is not going to last forever. Their dependence on it should reduce.

And why are they doing this? Because, there is a sense of ownership towards the nation. Every citizen of this country feels the country is their home. Unlike in India, as our Honorable President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam put it, in India everyone is out to rape the nation. In Dubai, they ensure through rigorous rules, that it does not allow anyone to rape it. Any initiative taken is given the full respect it deserves.

This sense of ownership, leads us to the next factor, commitment. Since people feel they are a part of this place, there is a sub-conscious commitment to the set vision. Rules are also set which ensures that people are committed to their duties and responsibilities to the nation. The commitment to good governance is supreme.

I noticed that of the above three factors, at least 2 are missing. Ownership and commitment. A country is only as good as its people. You may have the vision set for the next 20 years, but if the ownership and commitment is absent among the administrators and the citizens, there is absolutely no use.

This commitment and ownership should flow right from the politicians to the peon in a government office and every citizen of the nation. The day we understand this, is the day we will start overtaking other nations in the quest to be known as a developed nation.

Till then, you will have people like me writing blogs like this. I know what you are going to ask me. What am I going to do for my nation? Frankly, I don’t have an answer. I believe no one can single handedly bring about a transformation. It has got to be a collective effort. The sooner this enlightenment happens the better it is for India.

BREAKING NEWS – GIMME A BREAK.

Nowdays, after Sex and Sharukh Khan, the third ‘S’ that sells in India is Sensationalism. And who understands that term better than the News Channels! Sensationalism was always part of Media, but the last decade or so has seen it go overboard.

Dig this. Star news in the name of a cover story runs the news about the breaking up of Karishma Kapoor with her husband ‘whatshisname’? How important is that to the nation? Another terminology abused by this news channel is ‘breaking news’ and ‘flash news’. Check out the following ‘breaking news’, ‘flash news’ I have come across in this news channel.

BREAKING NEWS: “Shahid and Kareena Kapoor caught kissing”
FLASH NEWS: “Laloo Prasad plays cricket”
BREAKING NEWS: “India won the toss and elected to bat”
FLASH NEWS: “Man slides down a mountain as part of a religious ceremony”
BREAKING NEWS: “Mangal Pandey fares badly in the box office”

I grew up thinking that “Breaking news” or “Flash news” was something which news channels flashed across the TV screen when there was news of “National Importance”. Like the following:

BREAKING NEWS: “Tsunami hits South India”
FLASH NEWS: “Rajiv Gandhi assassinated”
BREAKING NEWS: “India wins Cricket World Cup”

The third one is wishful thinking but definitely “BREAKING NEWS” alright!

So what is causing these news channels to take to sensationalist journalism?

Is it fear of competition? I don’t think so. Because to counter competition in the Media industry, I believe strongly you got to turn to quality journalism. Report truly “ground breaking news”. That’s the only way to remain on top.

A couple of things where I think these news channels have got it completely wrong.

- They got the pulse of the nation all wrong. People, who watch news, DO NOT want to see an analysis of why “Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi” is doing so well on TV.

- They are concentrating on beating their competition by telecasting any and every news and focusing on blowing it out of proportion.

Living in Dubai I get to view only Star news. Some of their rubbish programs include:

- Match ke Mujrim: A “below the belt” program which crucifies cricket players who didn’t do well on a particular day. They haven’t even left out Sachin for Christ’s sake.
- Sansani: An utterly ghastly host, with a hoarse voice assisted by “khufiya camera”. They call it investigative journalism.
- Cover Story: Covers everything but quality news.

The garbage is endless.

India IS a land of great potential. The world has realized this. They view us as an upcoming super power. But, there are so many pressing issues which need to be ironed out in our great nation.

We have so many social, political and economic issues much much greater in importance than an actress’s marriage gone bust or a cricket match or a godforsaken Don (they ran a cover story on Dawood by the way and treated him nothing short of a Demigod, an outsider would think he was Robin hood).

If India is to become a super power, an average citizen HAS to realize the magnitude of these social, political and economic issues. He/she needs to realize what their contribution should be towards the nation. He/she needs to realize their role. The only medium through which this “Realization” can take place is the Media, specifically, the News Channels, given the number of people who own TVs and have a cable connection.

It is high time they started acting responsible.

When and how, they intend to do it? Now that will be “Breaking News” isn’t it?