Saturday, August 19, 2017

What is America?





I am sure this question have been asked many a times since the most recent Presidential elections ended. Answer to this question was lot easier to explain before the current administration came to the power. Now, answering this question in the midst of nationalist chants is understandably, very difficult.
For me America is not only a country, it’s an idea. An idea of freedom, an idea of achieving the impossible, an idea of giving opportunity to all, an idea of no one is above the law. One does not need to have grown up in America in order to appreciate what America is. Unfortunately, the greatness of this idea has lately been tarnished to achieve small time political gains. America is too often criticized for its actual and perceived shortcomings. But critics seem incapable of appreciating America’s exceptionalism including its multiculturalism. This was the brilliance of the founding fathers of this great nation. They understood very well that freedom, (both political and economic) was the fundamental element of a successful nation. They gave us a Constitution that would allow the American people to pursue and achieve happiness, irrespective of their background, and in the process build a nation that would flourish to become a beacon of hope throughout the world.
Seems like the events of the last couple of months have made America a prisoner of its past. But whether you are from southern states or western, whether you like country music or hip hop, America is more than anything a place where people believe in freedom. They feel like they have the power to make their lives better and impact the world around them. That’s real freedom… the ability to decide what you want to make of your life and the opportunity to go out and do it.
As the summer ends and political elite is busy igniting another crisis, we should remember and be thankful for the freedom which we so often take for granted.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The Ambani's




The grand spectacle that is the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) annual shareholder meetings have always been like a big fat Indian wedding. 40th in the series was no different. Dhirubhai Ambani started in Naroda in 1967 with the philosophy of ‘Think Big, Think Different, Think Fast & Think Ahead’. Thanks to this thinking, RIL has been a beacon of India’s private sector progress since last four decades. 

Dhirubhai’s greatest achievement was that he showed Indians what was possible. With no degree from any exclusive schools and no family capital to bank on, he achieved what the elite sahibs of New Delhi could not- he built a modernistic, profitable, global enterprise in India. What's more, he detached millions of middle class Indians from depending on crony state socialism and brought them to the world of can-do capitalism by convincing them to load up on Reliance stock.

The 40th meeting of RIL shareholders was celebration of the four decades of success and steady progress. Mukesh Ambani – first born son of Dhirubhai, following in his legendary father’s footsteps went over the company’s performance and gifted JIO to India. It’s not surprising that the company that launched the equity culture in India is disrupting the telecommunication landscape by giving aam aadmi access to an affordable high speed internet…a whole lot of it. 

Among many things, Mukesh shared a video paying homage to his late father. One noticeable element about that 30 minute video was how subtly, in RIL style, Anil Ambani – younger brother of Mukesh, didn’t appear in a single clip. It seemed like Dhirubhai only has one son. It’s true that after the split between the two brothers, Mukesh is scaling new heights every year, on the other hand Anil is selling his entities to pay off his corporate debt.  

So how is it that since 2005, Anil’s personal net worth is depleted to one tenth of Mukesh’s? Does this proves that Mukesh was ‘right’ in asking for the control of the combined RIL entity as a first born son? From this 12 years of separation, one think I can say is that Mukesh creates trends & Anil waits for them. Following 12 years might be different but for now, thanks to Mukesh, a JIO customer is surfing the web at high speed for peanuts. Mukesh, can at last say that he has changed India. And when you are Dhirubhai’s son that is what is expected of you*.   

*Own ‘non-market moving’ stakes in RIL & Anil’s entities.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Happy 70th Independence Day




This independence day I will be celebrating it with my new office colleague. Even though we both are away from our motherland, we both share the same sense of belongingness to our homeland. We both want a nation that is far far away from violence, we want our kids to go to better schools, elders to get better healthcare facilities, youths to get better employment opportunities, families to get better environment to live in. We don’t want our future to be the prisoner of our past. We want religion to bind us together and not be the reason for separation.
This independence day, we both will have our Gulab Jamun…and eat it too, although at different times. My colleague will celebrate on 14th and me on 15th!!
India and Pakistan, both will celebrate their 70th Independence Day in next few days. 70 years of hostilities from both governments, 70 years of family separation, 70 years of violence on both sides in the name of nationalism.
This might be an opinion of an aam aadmi, but I think this 70 years has shown that the Two-Nation theory was flawed. The unnatural geographic division based on religious backgrounds has failed. Understood, the situation in British India was hostile but a united India might have been better equipped to deal with those problems. Partition only multiplied the problems by two. Both countries remain crippled by the narratives built around memories of the crimes of partition. But in spite of that, it is important to remember that the division of what is modern day India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh, is chillingly unnatural. Remember, the communities that were divided in 1947 had coexisted for almost a millennium.
This independence day, I wish we celebrate our independence from British and not from each other.