Posts from — February 2009

One of my college friends from India lives in California and years ago, started a magazine for Gays and Lesbians from India and South Asia, called Trikone.  I just exchanged emails with him about how Rupert Murdoch and News Corp‘s, Star News channel in India chose to censor the pro-gay words by Sean Penn in their Asian broadcasts and especially in India.

Laws making homosexuality illegal in India were passed by the British rulers in the late 1800s and remain on the books. But in recent years there is a vibrant movement centered in Mumbai (Bombay) and supported by eminent intellectuals all over the country to overturn these Victorian practices. Ancient Indian culture tolerate gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and other variants. The prude rulers from foreign lands left behind more than cricket, English and an admiration for “light skin”.

Here is what noted gay writer Sandip Roy had to say for the Huffington Post. Coverage in mainstream American media of this event has been light, but here is a story from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Clearly Rupert’s people in India were afraid that some traditional elements in India may react negatively to the words. But as I said in my book on India, Mr. Murdoch, claimed at the Millken conference in Beverly Hills how he was happy with the legal situation in India and how he had taken two lawsuits to India’s Supreme Court and won both times. Mr. Murdoch, your people who lead Star are letting you down. India can tolerate mention of gayness. In fact its mention might even boost your ratings. Please ask your men to show some spine.

Why does a movie made for a mere $15 million, with a cast unknown in the West, a locale unfamiliar to Western eyes, and 1/3rd spoken in Hindi (not English) manage to sweep the Oscars.  Yes it was a very well-made movie, but so were several of the other contenders.

Here is my  take. In these challenging times when the most capitalist major country in the world is turning “socialist” without uttering the words, when we learn that leaders in business and economy mis-spoke and mis-directed ( remember the “mental recession” comment from former Senator Phil Gramm last July), Slumdog Millionaire is a breath of innocent fresh air. Here is a protagonist who is simple and not cynical.  At a time when the graduates of top business schools have taken us the down the tubes,  Slumdog is the perhaps the ultimate reality show; we can see the lot of someone whose life is definitely worse than our own (as Western residents).  Jamal takes a lot a sh*T (literally and figuratively) but goes on to inspire us. Slumdog is a movie for the times. It may not have done so well in good times.  I am not surprised that it had early trouble getting a distributor. Thank God that Fox Searchlight had the vision to take the risk.

What about the impression of India that Slumdog creates? Many in India have are inflamed or at least embarrassed by the conditions of the slums as depicted in the movie. Well, dear reader, the residents of that Mumbai slum actually have life better than perhaps 700 million Indian who survive on a mere $2 per day. Most live in rural India.  I travel to Mumbai often and most people who live there came from somewhere else.  Even among the poorest Mumbai residents whom I have spoken to, I have never yet heard anyone tell me that they are sorry they moved there or that would be happy to move back to their home town or village.

India has now arrived on the world stage in all its glory, warts and everything. Sure Tata and Reliance are world-class Indian companies, each in their unique way. Sure Indian-born Laxmi Mittal is one of the richest men in the world.  Sure the United States supported India is a unique nuclear power agreement that broke 36 years of nuclear isolation.

But as a free society, India is mature enough for the world to look at any aspect of its existence.  Brutal movies such as The Godfather, Gangs of New York, and Chicago, did not make the world think more poorly of America.  India need not apologize for the slums. I disagree with those that talk about Danny Boyle creating “poverty porn“. If you fly into Mumbai during the day, you can help noticing the slums of  Dharavi as you land. If you spend any serious time in India, you can’t escape the evidend of the poverty and squalor. But things are getting better. Hiding them from Western eyes is not only impossible it i also counterproductive.

My company publishes a newsletter about international trade with India/China called “Globalization is Great”. Slumdog is the a triumph of globalization. Brits and Indian working together create a movie distributed by an American studio. It is a triumph of religious integration. AR Rahman, who won two Oscar the music and songs in the movie, was born a Hindu but converted to Islam. The female lead, Freida Pinto is Christian (in a country where just 2% of the population follows that religion). The film is distinctly British in its flavor, as 1983 Best Picture winner Gandhi was. But it does not talk down to India, the former British colony.

I am all for Slumdog and am happy that it won all the awards that it did win.

So far, I haven’t written about the November terrorist attacks on Mumbai on this blog.  But I was active in other ways. Fox Business TV interviewed me on their first “Money with Breakfast” show on the Monday after and the Hollywood Reporter carried another interview with me.  My message about the tragedy was hopeful and defiant. ” The Cafe Leopold where the attacks started is already open and I intend to visit it in a few days.”

Over 700 million Indians don’t earn enough in  a year to pay for one night at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, the facility where the terrorist held out for four long days. Yet it is an icon that most Indians can identify and identify with.  It is a symbol of pride and perhaps of the struggle against colonialism (it was built when India was under British rule and many desirable locations were not accessible to “dogs and Indians”)

I was  travelling in India for most of December and when the Taj and Oberoi hotels re-opened around Christmas it was headline news on all the television channels and print media.

The CEO of the company that owns the  Taj Hotels chain  (which are part of the Tata group of companies) is American, Raymond Bickson.  He was recently featured in the New York Times, on the subject of the iconic hotel. Here is his story as told to bestselling author, Perry Garfinkel. I highly recommend that you read it to get an insight into the spirit of India.

In my own book on Business in 21st Century India, I note the unique traditions of the Tata Group (socialist in character, capitalist in form) and their long commitment to charitable causes and to the welfare of their employees. So readers should not be surprised by Bickson’s coment that “Families of the 15 Taj employees who died will be paid their deceased’s salaries for the rest of their lives, as well as all medical benefits and education for those up to age 24.”

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)  into the United States dropped by 5.5 % in 2008 compared to the previous year.  In China FDI rose by 10.7% in 2008. An article in the Economist today show that Brazil and Russia had increases of 17.5% and 20.5 percent respectively. Topping the list of FDI increases among major economies is India.  Of course China is still ahead of other countries in absolute numbers of investment dollars flowing in. But the trends are worth noting and may be accentuated in 2009.

Another large source of incoming money in Mexico, China and India is “remittances” about $25 billion per year. These are funds sent by expatriates; most often expats working in developed countries such as USA/UK or in the oil rich Persian Gulf nations.  Remittances to India are not expected to slow down this year, according to another article in the Economist.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, chooses to visit Asia for her first foreign trip. Not Canada, the neighbor to the north. Not Mehico the other member of NAFTA. Not the staunch European allies in Nato in Europe.  Hillary’s first visit is to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.

Despite  being derided by Candidate Obama, as the “Senator from Punjab” (for her and Bill’s affinity to India, Punjab being one of the most prosperous Indian states), despited being loved by Indians and Indian Americans, Secretary Clinton is skipping India for “scheduling reasons”.

The India Expert is not offended. The US-India relationship has matured so rapidly. President Obama has shown maturity in a) knowing how to pronounce Pakistan b) not including the divisive Kashmir issue in Richard Holbrooke’s mandate in that region and c) reaching out to Indian Americand and Indians early in his Presidency.  There will be time enough to visit India in the near future.

In the meantime Boeing and Pepsico and Belkin and more companies continue to do grow business with India.

But here’s an article by a China expert, who thinks that Mrs. Clinton made a mistake in skipping India. Gordon Chang  writes in Forbes.

“Clinton’s most important scheduling mistake is not that she’s going to China, however. It is the stopover that is not on the itinerary. If she wanted to go to Asia early in her tenure–and that is a generally sound strategy–she should have reserved time for New Delhi.

“India shares values with the U.S. as well as strategic goals. The relationship is promising, and there is much to discuss. The secretary of state would be surprised how much she could advance relations with the Indians—and how much progress she could make with the Chinese if they saw her talking to the nation they fear the most.”