Indian cuisine is among the best there is in the world. Personally , its my favourite and also of most Indians all over the world ( naturally!! ).
American food is ...the less said the better.
So , how come its the American companies like MacDonald's , Pizza Hut , Dominos etc making the most money in the world ? What WERE the Indian entrepreneurs doing ?!!!!
Indian companies need to look hard at this aspect of the economy.
The food ( recipes , ingredients etc .. ) was already there.
The knowledge was already there about how MacDonalds and other companies made it big .
But no Indian company even seems to have tried.
Ultimately , its Ruffles and Lays all over the country selling chips which Indian companies could have. McDonalds invaded and conquered without really bringing in anything much new. Pizza Hut and Doninos introduced pizza , but also the concept of take-away food was revolutionized.
Untimately , its old McDonalds , Pepsi , Dominos and the CocaCola company making aall the money. Where are the Indian restaurant chains ?!!
Well ...its not too late. I think its a GREAT opportunity to grab. Everything is availble. The Indian fast food space still has room for new-comers and so does the desi equivalent of "Olive Garden" and "Red Lobsters" . I only hope someone starts it sooner than later. If you want ideas, just make a trip to the U.S and see for yourselvees how it is done , or contact me :)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Introduction
India is growing. and growing fast, and it feels absolutely fabulous to cheer her on. But everytime I go to India , I am overawed by the number of people there who think that India has caught up with the rest of the world and some think India is actually AHEAD of the USA! Of course , most of these people have seen the world only through the eyes of Bollywood, which I must say , is the biggest influencer of Urban India.
My heart is with India and I would love to see changes in it for the good. Hence I can't bring myself to congratulate India for whatever it has achieved so far. Not yet. In fact , it could be too dangerous for India and Indians to think of India having achieved its goals and reached international standards etc ...
At best , India has made a start at development and has decades to go before reaching the levels that America , Western Eaurope and some East Asian countries have reached.
With these series of blogs, I intend to highlight some aspects of India's progress and which areas have scope for growth and improvement. I intend to show this scope as an indicator to anyone attempting to contribute to India's progress. So if you're a social worker, a business man , an NRI wanting to invest in or go back to India , or just a person who has an interest in India , you should find something useful here.
These blogs are not meant to be a criticism of India's development, although the means I adopt is that of showing the gap between other richer countries and India. Since I will only be comparing India to coutries like USA or Singapore, it is but natural that the gap will be huge and India might sound to be an underdeveloped country. However, it is with only this knowledge that we can move ahead . If we close our eyes to these gaps , we can only remain stuck in the sand.
My heart is with India and I would love to see changes in it for the good. Hence I can't bring myself to congratulate India for whatever it has achieved so far. Not yet. In fact , it could be too dangerous for India and Indians to think of India having achieved its goals and reached international standards etc ...
At best , India has made a start at development and has decades to go before reaching the levels that America , Western Eaurope and some East Asian countries have reached.
With these series of blogs, I intend to highlight some aspects of India's progress and which areas have scope for growth and improvement. I intend to show this scope as an indicator to anyone attempting to contribute to India's progress. So if you're a social worker, a business man , an NRI wanting to invest in or go back to India , or just a person who has an interest in India , you should find something useful here.
These blogs are not meant to be a criticism of India's development, although the means I adopt is that of showing the gap between other richer countries and India. Since I will only be comparing India to coutries like USA or Singapore, it is but natural that the gap will be huge and India might sound to be an underdeveloped country. However, it is with only this knowledge that we can move ahead . If we close our eyes to these gaps , we can only remain stuck in the sand.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Transport : Rapid Transit or Public Transport
Public Transport : This secion should start with a tip of hat to Mumbai having once of the heaviest suburban transport systems in the world !!! However, it too suffers the same safety problems that the Railways all over India face. It occupies precious real-estate in Mumbai . An underground metro would have been more helpful.
Apart from Mumbai, there is hardly any other city which has a pubic transport system that can be considered to be of international standards. Calcutta has the metro , and Delhi is getting its own. Now , lets start the comparisions. New York has had a subway system since 1904 and has more than 450 passenger stations. I could go on and on about smaller cities like San Francisco's BART , or other largers cities of the world like Singapore and London. However , in short, we are at least half a century behind the developed world in this regard.
HALF A CENTURY ?!! Why do I make such a statement ?!! Because , we won't be on par with the developed world unless cities like Pune , Bangalore , Lucknow , Ahmedabad etc ... also have a rapid transit system of their own. Underground Metros would be the right way to go about it . It will talke a lot of investment. But it is needed and is the solution to a lot of problems ranging from road pollution to slow commute and vanishing real-estate.
Apart from Mumbai, there is hardly any other city which has a pubic transport system that can be considered to be of international standards. Calcutta has the metro , and Delhi is getting its own. Now , lets start the comparisions. New York has had a subway system since 1904 and has more than 450 passenger stations. I could go on and on about smaller cities like San Francisco's BART , or other largers cities of the world like Singapore and London. However , in short, we are at least half a century behind the developed world in this regard.
HALF A CENTURY ?!! Why do I make such a statement ?!! Because , we won't be on par with the developed world unless cities like Pune , Bangalore , Lucknow , Ahmedabad etc ... also have a rapid transit system of their own. Underground Metros would be the right way to go about it . It will talke a lot of investment. But it is needed and is the solution to a lot of problems ranging from road pollution to slow commute and vanishing real-estate.
Transportation : Rails
The Great Indian Railway is almost as great as it can be. The current Railway Ministery led by the colorful Lalu Yadav has the machinery working at almost optimum efficiency. The largest Rail network in the World has increased its capacity by almost 50% in the last few years , and runs at full capacity these days. Whereas earlier , a person had to make reservations for long distance travel months in advance , the chances of getting a reservation at the last moment are also pretty high . Travel has become more comfortable with more AC 3-tier cars. Most long distance trains have a pantry car and fresh food is available. These ameneties were not imaginable in the 1990's.
How does the long distance railway compare with that of USA ? Its FAR bigger and much better utilised. It has a MUCH greater responsibility of providing affordable transport to people of all economic classes.
How does it compare to that of Germany and and other parts of Europe ? Here the comparision gets a bit tougher . Eurorail is FASTER . And Eurorail is CLEANER . EURORAIL is SAFER.
Indian Railways need not get much faster now. The important goal achieved by it is to transport people from one place to another at affordable costs. Faster train systems might be huge investments and the cost will need to be shared by the commuters who might not be able to afford it. Faster long distance travel can be achieved by air and more and more people can afford it these days.
However , there is scope for cleanliness in the Railways , and more importantly there is need for safety. It gives me great heart-burns to read of a train accident in India. Plus , I do know there are hundreds dying on the tracks every month. Steps need to be taken to avoid Railway crossing at all costs. I can't imagine seeing a person walking on the tracks in the US or Germany. Generally the rail tracks are out of bounds for pedestrians. The same needs to be done in India .
We also need to avoid freak accidents of over-enthusiastic youth hanging from the doors, or getting on and off running trains. The train bogeys need to have doors that shut completely before the train starts. This will need more investments , but should be worth it if the number of lifes lost comes down.
As for cleanliness , from an outside point of view it does look like the train stations and the trains themselves are in an immense need of cleanliness , simple logic tells me this aspect is really not as important if the users of the Railways are okay with it. However, I strongly feel that safety measures in Railways as well as Roads should be given utmost importance.
How does the long distance railway compare with that of USA ? Its FAR bigger and much better utilised. It has a MUCH greater responsibility of providing affordable transport to people of all economic classes.
How does it compare to that of Germany and and other parts of Europe ? Here the comparision gets a bit tougher . Eurorail is FASTER . And Eurorail is CLEANER . EURORAIL is SAFER.
Indian Railways need not get much faster now. The important goal achieved by it is to transport people from one place to another at affordable costs. Faster train systems might be huge investments and the cost will need to be shared by the commuters who might not be able to afford it. Faster long distance travel can be achieved by air and more and more people can afford it these days.
However , there is scope for cleanliness in the Railways , and more importantly there is need for safety. It gives me great heart-burns to read of a train accident in India. Plus , I do know there are hundreds dying on the tracks every month. Steps need to be taken to avoid Railway crossing at all costs. I can't imagine seeing a person walking on the tracks in the US or Germany. Generally the rail tracks are out of bounds for pedestrians. The same needs to be done in India .
We also need to avoid freak accidents of over-enthusiastic youth hanging from the doors, or getting on and off running trains. The train bogeys need to have doors that shut completely before the train starts. This will need more investments , but should be worth it if the number of lifes lost comes down.
As for cleanliness , from an outside point of view it does look like the train stations and the trains themselves are in an immense need of cleanliness , simple logic tells me this aspect is really not as important if the users of the Railways are okay with it. However, I strongly feel that safety measures in Railways as well as Roads should be given utmost importance.
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