Happy Diwali and Congratulations to Pankaj Advani

Happy Diwali to everyone. Also celebrating apparently will be young Indian billiards champ Pankaj Advani:

The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) today hailed the victory of teenager Pankaj Advani, at the world snooker championship as "terrific" and said the feat would encourage youngsters to take to the indoor sport in greater numbers. "Its a terrific and fantastic news. He has done all of us proud by winning the coveted title at such a raw age," BSFI President, P N Roy, said , a short while after the 19-year-old Advani got past Pakistan's Saleh Mohammad 11-6 in the final at Jiangmen in China. A visibly elated Roy said the BSFI's move to send Advani for training in England last month as part of preparations for the big event has paid rich dividends. "We will surely give him a grand welcome on his return from China," he said.
Source; Hindu News
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Now all of this may appear somewhat frivolous, but that's not my take. Looking across the gambit of Indian sport, there is more than a smattering of 'old colonial' influence. I don't know whether Billiards was brought to India by the British (although they do tell me that it's more than likely the bagpipes arrived in Scotland at the end of a voyage which started in India), but imagining that it was: is this a good, or a bad thing for India? I, personally, have no idea. I don't like billards. Second question: Advani was apparently sent to England for training by the BSFI, was this a good or a bad move on their part? Third question: Indian youngsters may now take to the sport "in great numbers", is this a good or a bad thing for India? Trivial questions? Maybe. But I have a nasty feeling that a lot about India's future might depend on finding the answers.

Welcome to Prashant Kothari

Well, It seems that we're adding people at the rate of about one a day, and clearly this can't go on like this. So with Prashant we're nearly done (although watch this space, there may be one or two last minute surprises). Prashant informs us of several things about him on his sidebar, among them that he has 'insatiable curiousity' (again he probably isn't the only one round here with what used to be a considered a problem, Atanu is a self proclaimed sufferer from attention-deficit disorder, and I fear there may be more of us in the closet). He tells us he'd "ideally love to write separate blogs" on each of following topics:

- Current affairs in India and the US
- Literature, especially Indo-Anglian writing
- Outsourcing white-collar services to India (aka Business Process Outsourcing)
- Economics and finance

He would also combine this with occasional posts on technology, online content, history, philosophy, evolutionary biology, rock music and such like topics (and many more). (Have I left anything out Prashant??). He goes on to tell us, however, that "that would be a lot of fun, but requires far more time than this entrepreneur can spare".

As someone who has definitely contracted 'blogitis' I know exactly what he means. Still here on IEW he has the opportunity to fulfill at least one of his ambitions. As an intro I am presenting a post of his which I thinks gives a flavour of who Prashant is as well as anything I've seen:

Vegetarian-only buildings in Mumbai causing tension

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has a lead article on vegetarian-only buildings in Mumbai:

A number of buildings, old and new, in the wealthiest precincts of this teeming city (Mumbai) of more than 12 million are going (sic) vegetarian and are enforcing an unofficial ban on meat eaters.
...
When ancient asceticism meets up with modern real-estate markets, the result can cause some heartburn.

In Bombay, however, there is also a small-but-influential minority of strict vegetarians. Many are prosperous traders, diamond merchants and property developers originally from the neighboring state of Gujarat, home of Mahatma Gandhi and some of India's most exacting vegetarians. Many are adherents of Jainism, an ancient faith based on the principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence. India has about 3.4 million Jains in total. The observant don't eat meat, eggs, or root vegetables, such as onions or carrots, that have been ripped from the soil.

My take:

1) Contrary to what the WSJ may say, vegetarian-only buildings in Mumbai are not a new phenomena. Many buildings have been vegetarian-only for decades, going back to pre-World War II.

2) As a libertarian, I'm all for letting people do as they wish in the privacy of their homes, as long as they're impinging on other people's freedoms. Based on that logic, I see no reason why an individual or a group of individuals should not set up vegetarian-only buildings.

After all, as the Journal reports

Vegetarians are often willing to pay a premium for an environment in harmony with their religious beliefs and no-meat lifestyle. "There's an excellent market for vegetarian buildings," says Sunil Bajaj, a Bombay broker who endorses the concept. "It's as simple as having a nonsmoking area. People want pure veg areas, also."

Well put. All that these vegetarians in Mumbai want is the freedom to live in a vegetarian area, and are willing to pay a premia for doing so. What's wrong with that?

3) While the Sanjay Narang story (about how he was allegedly forced to close down his restaurant because of harassment from the residents of the building) is disturbing IF true, it's also plausible (as the article narrates) that there just wasn't enough traffic.

4) Not surprisingly, the Shiv Sena neo-Nazis have stepped in (the Sena is a regional Hindu nationalist party that carries out a lethal combination of thuggery and extortion under a garb of Hindutva and Maratha pride). According to one of their leaders, Pramod Navalkar:

"This nonsense (sic) will not do! If I come to know of new vegetarian buildings, I'll send the occupants Bombay duck."

Would love to know what Mr. Navalkar and his worthies deem nonsense -- the freedom and liberty to follow one's beliefs in peace, or the Sena's forcible foisting of views (a la the Taliban)?

Full disclosure: I'm a Jain, and I have several relatives in Mumbai, most of whom live in vegetarian-only buildings. None of them has ever tried to convert a non-vegetarian to vegetarianism, overtly or covertly.
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I (Edward) have only two things to add.

Full disclosure 1: I don't read the WSJ, never have and (never say never) probably never will do. From where I'm sitting it's full of crackpot ideas. We Brits are definitely eccentric, that's why we like cricket, not baseball (rounders?) and read the FT. This is probably one of the few topics left were I really have no difficulty agreeing with Krugman.

Full Disclosure 2. I have a strong and secret affection for Bombay Duck. Chicken Tika Massala may now be the official national dish in the UK, but my hankerings normally drift towards the poor old 'pato'. This is simply a silly and romantic association from my past. In the late sixties, as a poor and hungry student at the LSE I regularly used to drift over to India House to line up for the brilliant subsidised staff lunch, where pride of place once a week went to this local 'delicay'. Be that as it may, I wouldn't want to be forced to eat even my favourite meal by anyone, and certainly not by Shiv Sena. I'm with you Prashant: long live (pragmatic) libertarianism. Under the paving stones lie the beach etc etc.

Don't Get Tangled in the Spaghetti Bowl!

Returning to an earlier post from Kaushik on the world after Cancun, it seems the poorer and weaker states will inevitably be the most prejudiced. This is indeed a tragedy when you think of all the energy expended by the anti-globalisation lobby in derailing the Doha round, purportedly to help the very people who it now seems clear could suffer most.

What is a bane for the WTO looks like turning into a boon for airlines and hoteliers. Negotiators will be racking up the air miles for years to come as they criss-cross the globe to complete a raft of regional and one-on-one market-opening deals which have sprouted like mushrooms since the collapse of World Trade Organisation talks last month in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

To their supporters, bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) help shore up the multilateral trading system by spurring laggards to tear down barriers or suffer slower growth in trade and incomes than more open economies. "Our experience is that all three tracks or roads to opening up markets are valued and not opposed to each other," Mexican President Vicente Fox said on at a two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

To their detractors, however, FTAs are a second-best solution that create what Columbia University professor Jagdish Bhagwati calls a "spaghetti bowl" of conflicting rules which distort trade flows at the expense of a single set of WTO-policed regulations.Detaching officials and lawyers to negotiate FTAs also leaves less time and energy to devote to WTO talks, critics say. But perhaps the biggest objection to two-way deals is that poor states are likely to be left in the cold. That would make them two-time losers because it is they which stand to benefit most from new global rules to lower barriers to their exports.
Source: Times of Malta
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Branding India

Reuben sent me this interview with N.R. Narayana Murphy and Santosh Desai. The interview comes from Business Today and I've put it on site. The principal argument is what India lacks is image: a brand. Obviously this is part of the picture, but the other part which rears its little head from time to time: infrastructure. Like in the airports. Its a good thing to have the image, but its kinda handy to have a the reality to back it up too.

The world's second-most populous country, the sixth-biggest in terms of land mass, and home to one of the largest pools of engineering talent. Yet, Indiaremains a global pygmy, with just 1 per cent share of the world trade. The good news: things are changing, and for the better. The "land of snake charmers" has given way to a land of code jocks; Indian generics are flying off shop shelves in the US; a Mercedes or a Ford actually sports at least something Indian under the bonnet; and a cheaper, more effective back-office in Gurgaon is just a phone call away from Georgia. Slowly, but surely, India is going global.



The bad news: its pace sucks. Primarily because there is no national blueprint for globalisation. A Ranbaxy or an i-flex happens because of the dreams of a few. Can a billion people be taught to dream and execute on their dreams? Possibly not. But can we create, first, a need and then an agenda for globalisation? Absolutely. It is with this objective in mind that BT decided to launch a series on "Taking India Global". Periodically, BT will bring together industry thought-leaders to brainstorm on issues central to globalisation. We kick off the series with a debate on Brand India-as seen by US, the Indians, and them-everybody else outside the country. Does it exist? Do we need one at all? What should it be about? And who is responsible for creating it-the government, industry, individual companies, or simply individuals?

Exploring and seeking answers to these questions are two well-known, but diverse, personalities. Infosys' Chief Mentor, N.R. Narayana Murthy, who has built a global it services brand in Infosys, and Santosh Desai, President of McCann Erickson India, a strategic thinker and a man who helps companies create powerful brands. The face-off moderator: BT's Associate Editor, Vidya Viswanathan. Welcome to the first face-off on Taking India Global:
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