India, China and Outsourcing

First of all, let us first define what we mean by outsourcing. Outsourcing is getting your work done by someone else who can do it in a cheaper and better way. Now when it comes to outsourcing, the first geographical location that hits our minds is India. India, which has traditionally attracted most of the services outsourcing projects, is currently churning out engineers at the rate of approximately 4 lacs per year which comprises the majority of its skilled workforce. If we are talking about Asia another destination that has caught the attention of everyone is China. China is considered to be the hub of manufacturing. China’s economy is the second largest in the world after United States when measured on the Purchase Power Parity. With the growing influence of China on the world stage, it is considered to be the next IT destination but there are some of the factors that stand against the country and give India an edge.

The key factors that are worth mentioning when we talk of offshoring are:
1. Abundance of technically skillful labor force.
2. Low cost workforce.
3. Quality of service.
4. Regulatory environment.
5. Robustness of infrastructure.
6. Knowledge of English language.
7. Time zone attractiveness.

Now India has tremendous advantage in terms of these factors. Not only that, since India has been doing well on the offshoring front, it has got the knowledge of how the projects are handled and it can use this knowledge as well as experience in taking an active part in the designing stages of the new projects. Another important aspect is the emergence of KPOs where India with its intellectual capital can show its capability in areas like research, designing etc. This is something that China does not own. China is relatively new to this kind of situation. Moreover, China lacks on account of English skills, Mandarin being the local language, and western business practices. But there are some factors that favor the rise of China and they are:
1. Liberalization of Government Regulations.
2. Growing middle class.
3. Large-scale investments in technical education.
4. Vibrant economy.
5. Availability of cheap labor force.

Chinese, over the years, have shown themselves to be hard working, competitive, and dedicated, as a result of which they are able to overcome any odds by dint of labor. China’s Government on the other hand has chalked out a massive program on primary education with focus on training in English. So if we see the overall picture we can be very sure that China can definitely prove to be a threat to India in the near future and India must raise the bar in terms of providing quality services to maintain the current trend in offshoring.

The Class - Erich Segal: A Review

Have you ever read a book that has the undefined power to take you through a journey even when you know that you are not a part of the theme but still feel the happiness, agony, frustration that the characters go through? That is what makes this work special, yet awesome and that is what you call the class in real sense.

Written about The Harvard class of 1958 (though fictional), Erich’s story circumscribes around the lives of five main characters who enter Harvard as children and exit as men who defy all the obstacles to become the heroes of the class of 1958. One peculiar virtue of Erich’s writings has been his mesmerizing way of defining his characters be it Love Story or be it Doctors (I haven’t read others) and how these characters, being special in their own, capture the theme of the story as a unit. The story talks about Danny Rossi, who breaks away from his father, to transform himself from a musical prodigy to an icon that the whole world bows when he takes the stage. There is Ted Lambros, who spends his Harvard years as a commuter, ascents to the top and finally achieves what he always craved for: tenure at Harvard. Then there is Jason Gilbert who is born as a hero, lives his life as a hero and also dies as a true hero. George Keller, the Hungarian, enters Harvard barely knowing the intricacies of English language but masters everything to reach a place where everyone aspires to be but only a few dare. And lastly, Andrew Eliot, who could not satiate himself with his entity and purpose of life, eventually finds solace at the end.

A good story cannot be but a striking balance between the ups and down of the life. And this is where Erich Segal has proved himself time and again. This reveals itself from the fact when Andrew writes in his diary “I guess he just didn’t know how to be happy. That's the one thing they can't teach you at Harvard”. Although all these men find whatever they ever desire, one thing they ultimately realize that there is one more thing that is above success, above all and that is happiness and it is priceless. The people get so much blinded by success that they forget that there even exists a word in the dictionary called success and that is what the author has tried to convey to his readers, and to this world. Another interesting feature that I could make out is Erich Segal’s ability to involve real events like war, elections etc and playing fictionally with the real characters that have stood out in the history, which makes this novel all the more real and less fictional and that is what enthralls the readers.

In my opinion I would juxtapose this book with all the other must reads because it truly justifies what we say in literal sense “vicarious thrill” of reading any book.

Must Read Books

• Ambedkar: Towards An Enlightened India by Gail Omvedt
• India In Turmoil by Ved Marwah 
• India Since Independence by Bipan Chandra 
• India'S Struggle For Independence by Bipan Chandra 
• Contemporary India: Economy, Society, Politics by Neera Chandhoke, Praveen Priyadarshi 
• India's Foreign Policy Since Independence by V P Dutt 
• Foreign Policy Of India by V N Khanna  
• Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India`S Foreign Policy by Rajiv Sikri
• The Sikhs by Khushwant Singh 
• The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
• Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
• The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
• To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
• The Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh
• It's not about the bike - Lance Armstrong
• I Dare - Kiran Bedi
• Doctors - Erich Segal
• The Class - Erich Segal
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• The curious incident of the dog in the night time - Mark Haddon
• Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
• Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
• Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

The Power of Inference

Few days ago I got a chance to watch television (as I hardly watch it) and as a matter of fact it had to be some good news channel or the sports because of my inability to tolerate all those saas bahu serials. As I was playing with the remote, I happened to stop at one of the news channels exploring the elections. Now when I say elections it has to be something pertaining to our popular political parties. It was fun watching the way the channel was portraying the drama with all the sound and light effects that will put to shame even our film-makers. The target-obviously the category of people which doesn’t have the potency to ‘infer’. There were so many things one could infer out of all that drama which might impel someone to not to vote. But we hardly do that. And I reckon that is what the problem is with most of us Indians and that’s why we don’t see one political party coming out successful election after election. The reason: because they don’t read between the lines and because they take what is in front of them as true. They might know that all that glitters is not gold but they don’t comprehend what it means. I would say, another inference problem.

The next issue is ‘who is to blame for this?’. Frankly speaking it is the people themselves who are to blame but the major proportion of it goes to our education system. From the moment a child becomes a student, he is enrolled into an endless loop of theoretical education. He assumes every written word in the text book to be a fact and starts memorizing it. Now this will always create problems because a person can remember a certain fact only to some extent, the longevity of which depends on the number of times he comes across the same fact again. That is why most of us still remember 1 plus 1 is 2 and tend to forget history dates. But then you’ll ask me is there any logic behind why 1 plus 1 is 2. I will definitely say no. The important point here is that we need to be selective and shrewd as to what needs to be assimilated and what needs to be inferred. And if this inference thing is not practiced at a younger age, then it creates problems later on and that can have a good (I mean bad) impact on your decision making. The decisions that you take when you are someone’s son or someone’s daughter doesn’t matter much but certainly do when you become someone’s father or husband or employee or employer. Because then you are answerable for all the good and bad. Schools should be aimed at exploring one’s mind. I don’t think many schools out here in India are taking any pains to develop a child’s brain. And for the same reason, a few private organizations are coming up that cater to this specific need. But then if you are to send your child to some other organization specifically for this, what the hell schools are doing. The only solution to this problem is when an individual takes the initiative to conjure.

The consequence of this not-inferring-things is that some other people are reaping benefits for your impotence. If you are able to infer you will be able to eliminate most of the options and be amongst the really-required ones. And I guarantee the life also eases out a bit as you can decipher most of the crypted situations in your daily life. There are many people who know ravi goes to temple but only a handful of us ask themselves as to why ravi is going to the temple and what will he do over there and that explains why most of us are ravis and only a few of us - einsteins.

Excerpts/ Quotes

• Blessed are those who are not afraid to admit that they don't know something. (Zahir - Paulo Coelho)
  

• Our true friends are those who are with us when good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives. (Zahir - Paulo Coelho)

• I guess he just din't know how to be happy. That's the one thing they can't teach you at Harvard. (The Class - Erich Segal)

• I din't lose. I just haven't won yet. (The Class - Erich Segal)

• That doesn't make me inept. It makes me fallible.

• Learn what a magician knows. It's not magic anymore.