Media can keep secrets ! Sadly only about themselves !!!

The Nira Radia tapes are probably the best kept secrets since the secrets of the Emergency. And the parallel is that on both occasions the reason for the secret was that the media did not cover the events. During the Emergency it was because of state censorship. This time around it was due to self censorship.

Nira Radia is and currently the past tense is probably more applicable, the head honcho of a Public Relations firm, one of the most successful ones in India. Her company represents several corporate including India’s largest, the Tatas and Reliance Industries, the Mukesh Group. Ms. Radia was being investigated and her phones were tapped for several months in 2008 and 2009.

Several tapes containing her conversations with various well know personalities, including Ratan Tata were leaked and it was picked up by a few non leading media houses. The mainstream media chose to ignore it. Unfortunately for them, the power of viral social marketing took over and the tapes reached a large section of connected India via popular sites like Facebook and Twitter.

We would like to believe that our media has finally matured and is exercising self restraint in order to promote the national good. Think again. The censorship has nothing to do with maturity. It’s got to do with self preservation. Two iconic personalities of the fourth estate, the highly visible Barkha Dutt and the suave Vir Sanghvi are 2 of the players who figure prominently in these tapes.

The first time these tapes surfaced was sometime in May 2010. And some attention was drawn only in early November when an Outlook article,  highlighted the event. And then the cover-up. Both the media personalities communicated through their immense reach their side of the story.

And they both managed to do what they do best. Tell a story, convincingly. Barkha Dutt, in her defense on an NDTV talked about how her integrity could be questioned, whilst failing to adequately address even 1 of the allegations satisfactorily. Vir Sanghvi through his website, http://www.virsanghvi.com gave an interesting defense.

I spoke with several people and what’s interesting is that not 1 had actually heard the tapes. And therein lies the cover-up. Not one of them had heard the actual tapes. Since I’m not a journalist, I shall not take the freedom that Barkha and Vir regularly do to indict and accuse people on the basis of allegations and rumors. I’ll leave it to you to hear the tapes and decide for yourself, whether the 2 are guilty or the poor martyred souls, they currently claim to be.

As of now, these recordings are available at:
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/some-telephone-conversations

Not sure how long they will be available. No matter what conclusions you reach, the one conclusion which seems to be rather obvious is that the media refuses to apply the high standards they’d like the politicians and the rest f us to follow, do not apply to them. In other words, Practice what the media preaches, Not what they practice.

Indian Workforce – Hard working or Hardly Working ?

One of the oft repeated things I hear at general conversations is how hard working Indians are. And all of it revolves around how much time we spend in office. Since my current experience is restricted to the IT field , I’ll use that industry as an example.

Most Indians especially in the IT industry claim to put in 12 – 15 hours of work every day. That adds up to a massive 60 - 75 hrs every week even assuming a 5 day week.  And this is way above the average Western weekly hours of between 40 and 45.

However when we compare productivity, using definable measures as an output we fare very badly even if we do not factor in the additional hours. In other words, we produce less in 60 - 75 hours as compared to what is produced as a definable measure. We decided at our organization that this issue was serious enough to investigate. And we came across several very interesting observations. Whilst these observations are based on our workplace, I think it may be applicable across the IT vertical and in all likelihood in other industries too.

To measure the total hours spent at office, we used the existing system of biometric login / logout. We have 1 hour of flexible breaks for tea, lunch, et al and these were automatically discounted from the total hours spent in office. We had asked people how much time they spent in office. And then compared this number with the actual results. The perceived time spent at office after deducting 1 hour of breaks was 12 hours. The actual results showed that the average was under 9 hours. And this was the first observation. We tend to overestimate the time we spend, and hence reach erroneous conclusions about our hard work.

This still did not explain the significant productivity differential that remained. Especially so as we believed that we were as competent if not more so than our counterparts. And as the world believes as smart, if not smarter. And hence if there were to be a skew in results, it should have been in our favor. And wanted to find out more.

We decided to start measuring actual working hours. We selected a random set of people and decided to measure hours spent at their desk and away. The results were shocking. Of the average 10 hours spent in office, an average of 3.5 hours were breaks. With some examples of as much as 4.5 hours. An example of the timings will throw light on the pattern.

09.30 : Walk in and login
09.40 : Keep bag at desk, start PC, login to intranet and go for tea / breakfast
10.20 : Return to desk
11.20 : Go for tea break
11.40 : Return to desk
13.30 : Go for lunch
14.40 : Return to desk
15.50 : Go for tea break
16.20 : Return to desk
17.30 : Go for tea break
18.00 : Return to desk
18.50 : Go for snacks break
19.20 : Return to desk, logout of intranet, pack stuff
19.30 : Leave for day

The above shows that there were 6 breaks taken. The total hours in office 10 hours. Total time used in breaks a massive 240 minutes or 4 hours. Time at desk 6 hours. Of these, an additional average of 1 hour was used up in personal calls, the traditional Indian chit chat, bathroom breaks, and a myriad of small but unconnected activities. Leaving just 5 hours of work.

With costs constantly rising, especially HR costs, our competitive edge is dramatically reducing. The Philippines have already overtaken us in global BPO outsourcing. Unless, we as a nation especially our youngsters wake up to the realities of life and stop asking the only question they currently do, which is “What’s in it for me”, but start asking “What’s in it for them”, where them being the outsourcer companies, our utilization globally will drop. And we would have lost yet another golden opportunity to be the workforce for the world in IT, as we have earlier in finance, shipping and aviation.

Bottom line, let’s work less. 9 hours in office is sufficient. But work productively for a full 8 hours. Hours that we get paid good money for.

Obama's India Visit. Impressive ! Very Impressive !!!

Obama came. Saw, And conquered. The minds and imaginations of the young in India. He did what not many Indian politicians had done. Speak with the people. Answer their questions. With apparent sincerity. And at the end of the day thats what matters. Perceptions.

The US President changed the pattern of a typical head of state visit starting from Delhi and decided to start at Mumbai. He stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel. And visited 2 institutes. One school. And one college. And thereby lies a tale.

President Obama landed with Michelle onboard Air Force 1 on the afternoon of November 6. His first stop, Mani Bhavan, a musuem on Mahatma Gandhi, often quoted as his hero. He stayed at the Taj Mahal hotel, the venue of the Mumbai attacks. And the hotel my Dad spent uowards of 50 years at.

The next day's trip started with a visit to Holy Name school, where he celebrated Diwali with the kids. The kids showcased several dances and managed to get Michelle to dance to their tunes. But that wasn't surprising. She's quite a sport and enjoys dancing. The shocker was when they managed to get Barack on the floor and made a valiant attempt to shake a leg. And before I forget, Holy Name is the school where I and my siblings went to school.

After that, he visited St. Xaviers College for a town hall like interaction with college students from St. Xaviers as well as several colleges around Mumbai. And you guessed right. My brothers and I attended Xavier's. And Obama thereby confirmed beyond any doubt that he has great taste.

I'm assuming the 300+ students were special and achievers in their colleges. The interaction started with a speech by Michelle. It was followed by what Obama called a few words, but ended up being a 15 minute speech before throwing the fllor open to questions. Interestingly, he chose 6 random students and managed artfully to seeem to answer their questions whilst talking about everything he wanted to whilst skirting the specific questions. However what was amazing is that everybody who saw the intearction believed he did a great job. Surprisingly nobody seemed to notice that the questions remained unanswered.
 

During Obama's opening remarks, here is what he asked. I want you to consider three questions I have for you - questions about what the next 20 years will bring.
1. First, what do you want India to look like in 20 years?
2. Twenty years from now, what kind of partnership do you want to have with America?
3. How do you - how do each of you want to make the world a better place?
Although he gave rather lengthy explanations. I'd like to try and answer those questions in 1 line each.

1. I'd be happy if in 2030 we have a India where the BPL (Below Poverty Line) population is under 5%, literacy is at 95% and our ranking in the corruption index is a low number.

2. An equitable partnership, unlike today which is less of a partnership and more of a 1 sided relationship.

3. I'd like to see a world where the gap reduces. Between the haves and have nots. At all levels. Nations. States. And most importantly people.

Obama ended his trip in Delhi and enthralled Parliament by saying all the right things. Which summarized meant very little. But then isn;t that what politics and statesmanship is all about ?

Diwali - Festival of Lights

Friday was Diwali. And the celebrations go on. Today is Bhau Bheej, a day when brothers visit their sisters and sisters give them gifts. I've asked my sister to courier mine.

Interestingly not too many people know what exactly we celebrate during Diwali. So here's my attempt at education.

Deepavali or Diwali, popularly known as the festival of lights, is an important five-day festival occurring between mid-October and mid-November. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes.

The name Diwali is itself a contraction of the word "Deepavali" a Sanskrit word which translates into row of lamps.Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil.

During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.

Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps).

The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance, although the actual legends that go with the festival are different in different parts of India.

Business people regard it as a favorable day to start a new accounting year because of the festival's association with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. And since we are great followers of tradition, we too celebrated Diwali at the office with a small traditional puja. And since it was a holiday only die hard WA'ites came. And I do hope that some day we can show them our gratitude in a meaningful way. For now, a zillion thanks and a sincere hope that this Diwali and the coming year will be the best ever. Filled with lots of joy, happiness and fun. And lots of Lakshmi.

As usual, someone else summarizes the significance better than me. And I'm a fan of not reinventing the wheel. Here's my favorite version from a Times of India editorial.
"Regardless of the mythological explanation one prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple - and some not so simple - joys of life."

What's a blog without an opinion. And I have a thought. This year especially, there was huge decoration and lights all across Mumbai and I assume India. It was looking majorly lively, beautiful and happening. And tons of money was literally burnt. With firecrackers that makes a lot of noise. Causing noise pollution and further dirtying already dirty areas. My suggestion and I practiced it this year, is a compromise. Lets do the lighting and utilize the money we spend on firecrackers, in giving light to those not as fortunate as us. That way not only are we being nice to the environment and ourselves but celebrating the true spirit of Diwali.

My wife Ivy, who's a pulmonary physician insisted that I add a couple of lines about her patients. Many of her patients are asthmatics and the air pollution is so bad that they are unable to breathe. The luckier ones who can afford it leave the city and go to their villages where they can breathe fresh air. Her appeal, "Please don't pollute the air. Lets all breathe easy and have a healthy Diwali".

Have a great Diwali and a wonderful New Year.