Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

‘How a Chai-wallah came to occupy 7RCR’ : the Leadership Story of the Modi Campaign

India’s social architecture is changing. India’s demographic dividend is finally paying up (a term popularized by Technocrat Politico Nandan Nilekani). This 9 Phase atrociously staggered election was punctuated with every nuanced characteristic of the Idea of India whether its is caste, religion, jingoism, and all the varied characters which would befit a Bollywood multi-starrer. This election leveraged Social Media to the hilt and the poll where 24×7 news TV made a resounding comeback (really entertaining coverage to admit must add at Times Now and CNN IBN). The BJP ran a very detailed 360 degree communications strategy with a technocratic precision with the on the ground hardware interface of the Sangh, The oratory prowess and the charisma of Narendra Modi vis-a-vis a quite non-verbose (pun intended) Manmohan Singh and rather amateurish Rahul Gandhi (demonstrated aptly via his inadequate interview with Arnab). 

In Delhi, where i currently live i was constantly bombarded with images of a strong Narendra Modi at the Bus Stop, Metro System and even on the radio the commuter is not sparred with the emotive communication with the tenor-theme of ‘Inflation Escaping and Development Coming in to the Country’. It was myth making sound-byte by sound byte. Manufactured Consent building via the media discourse is the hallmark of this communications campaign. To a certain extent this was an intelligent media campaign with respect to the flawed and disastrous ‘India Shining’ Campaign where boastful noise crowded out the message of the growth story post the Kargil War.

The media campaign was presidential carved around the twin heads of Leadership and to a shade lesser the prospective narrative of development. Both the themes reinforce one another. A strong leader can deliver the vision of development with force. The nuances of a 56 inch chest, Bangladeshi infiltrators, taking Mamata di head on are all symbolic of a masochistic political thought. Young India is raging high on hormones. It appreciates the brash, not the weak projection of the leftist intellectual class representative of the National Advisory Council. The ‘In the Face’ media narrative of the NaMo Campaign resonated well with the urban youth as they were all enthused with the proactive message rather than the emasculating, deafening silence of the UPA dispensation.

The narrative was constructed through a series of interviews with media honchos such as Arnab Goswami. Modi gamed the interview with him unlike the Rahul Gandhi one which TMC Leader Derek O’Brien called it a ‘Kindergarten Interview’. He has deftly put the issues of the long flogged horse of Secularism and minority community apprehensions regarding a Modi Government to the backburner. It is a communications home-run, for sure. How Team Modi managed to thwart the negative 2002 back-story and build a momentum is a Political Branding Case-Study at a Business School.

Whether or not a Narendra Modi Administration is a hit in the long term is a secondary issue, and honestly not the topic for analysis at-least in this post. This soul of this narrative is how a ‘chai-wallah came to occupy 7RCR’ , through the straight forward message of leadership and hope. 

 

Sustainability …

Sustainability is a multi headed creature encompassing Social and Ecological Justice translated in to actionable instruments to deliver a better quality of life. Sustainability has to mesh well within the paradigm of Industrial Capitalism as Environmentalism cannot exist in a void

The past two ye…

The past two years have been the journey of my own personal re-discovery of India, the amazingly complex creature called Hindustan. A Brutal Teacher, a friends friend, a mentor of character. From the Forests of Alwar to the tip of Kanyakumari, Shes been awesome. But i do miss my kopio in Clementi though, albeit sometimes.

Two Years of work life in India

Its all about location Stupid: Gurgaon and its Sociology of Space

I have been a Gurgaon resident for half a year now, which is quite stunning in itself as I thought I would not survive here at all. It is a decent decent place, as I would like to contradict its detractors.  Gurgaon like Navi Mumbai, my quasi hometown is a satellite city originally planned to create space for the working classes to commute to the Central Business District in the morning and drain out the city later in the evening. But these cities have evolved to carve a unique urban footprint of their own with being Corporate Hubs with the signature DLF Cyber City or a Vatika Business Park in Gurgaon. These are all inclusive lifestyle hubs with their customised entertainment focal points as DLF Cyber City has its Cyber Hub with 600 meters of the best eateries lined up from the world over, a Hard Rock Café rubs shoulders with a Thai fine dining restaurant Soi 7 and the Singapore based Wine Company. Eclectic area, pretty women too. Amen.

A similar illustration for Navi Mumbai would be the IT Park Ecosystem around the swanky Vashi Railway Station with eateries, In Orbit Mall and nightlife hotspots  aka Rude Lounge. The Palm beach road resembles Sheik Zayed Road in Dubai more than the spatial landscape of a Nariman Point. The gentrification of Gurgaon and Navi Mumbai is the story of urbanization in India. The upmarket corporate locus Cyber City in Gurgaon is 30 minutes from the International Airport in Delhi and near the south Delhi hotspots of Saket, Vasant Vihar and Greater Kailash. Although the so called Millennium City of Gurgaon has a bad water and electricity issue; the Kohinoor of Haryana grows insatiately in to Rajasthan along the Jaipur Highway (may be because of the lower crime rates in Rajasthan).  Skyscrapers share the boundary wall with a society next door of low height buildings all over Gurgaon. DLF Phase 3 with U Block and Sahara Mall with Chakkarpur in Phase II which gives you a feel of a tier 3 town in India than Downtown Mumbai.  Gurgaon is much for the folks in Chakkarpur and U Block as it is for the Golf Course Road Residents. Local Politician Tayyib Hussein competes with a Yogendra Yadav and Rao Inderjit Singh here for the Parliamentary seat.

The spatial geography of Gurgaon follows the norms associated with Sociology of Space eschewed by Marxist Theorists such as David Harvey and Henri Lefebvre. The capital is concentrated round regions with access to markets and consumers. The money circulating in the global circuit of free market gung ho capitalism is embedded symbolically in the office towers of Gurgaon. Top Dollar Attracts Top Dollar, as simple as that crude maxim. The gated communities of DLF Phase 5 and Golf Course Road exude elitist values of exclusivity and privilege with American Style Suburban Homes. Exit a gated community and you are back to the harsh reality of pot holes which depict the crater of the moon than an urban centre. A light shower and the roads of Gurgaon are a muddy puddle. There seems to be governance disconnect somewhere.

The ordinary chap in Gurgaon drinks at Machan- a term burrowed from Punjabi for an open Attic at a countrywide home. The Machan in Gurgaon is a social institution (positioned next to an office complex at a traffic intersection like the Sector-29 Machan) as one (a lower to middle income working class chap) purchases the booze at the adjoining alcohol shop and get in to sit at an open air eatery where they have a rather mediocre band chugging out even more average fare which I guess suits the musical tastes of the intoxicated patron who wishes to forget the petty office politics. It is an embodiment of all the male stereotypes ringing in popular culture. It is an all-boys club.  The saving grace is the absence of a pole dance platform. The food is palatable, I must admit.

As the Indian Urbanization Story blazes its tracks, the spatial dynamics speaks a lot for the terms of reference regarding social justice.

 

 

Urban Infrastructure- Its about Politics Stupid!

Indian Cities are expanding, by leaps and bounds. The National Capital Region and The Greater Mumbai Region are urban agglomerations which are power centers of our economy. Every second tier Indian City is growing to accommodate the aspirations of the Indian with access to Google and hence the window to the world on their Nokia Asha’s and Micromax’s. Folks from the lower socioeconomic strata take selfie’s on their Chinese made Xylo phones in the Delhi Metro. The Smart Phone is a symbolic totem of an aspiring India and a powerful force multiplier. The Naya Raipurs and Greater Raigad’s are the future of urbanization in the country. The ten odd nodes of the Multi-Billion Dollar Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DIMC) driven new smart cities off a fresh template mirroring the Pudong-Pearl River Delta model of the early 1980’s made China the factory of the world. The DIMC Development Corporation is led by Amitabh Kant, a dynamo of a civil servant which shatters the stereotype of a sarakari babu. Aggressive Visionary Leaders make a world of a difference. Narendra Modi has put the Dholera node of DIMC in Gujarat near Amdavad on steroids with the work progressing on a firm footing.

A BJP led administration from May 2014 would be an enabler for creating urban infrastructure as its voter base is the urban middle class, while in contrast the Congress was welfare scheme oriented as its target consumer oops voter was different.  The Urban Voter is being taken seriously finally with Modi and Kejriwal vying for their vote.  Kejriwal and the Aam Admi Party have been paradigm shifters for bringing the focus back on the urban voter. Prof. Yogendra Yadav from Gurgaon and an Ashutosh from Chandani Chowk would be a welcome add to  debates in the Lok Sabha. The Candidature of IT Visionary Nandan Nilekani from Bengaluru South is a sign that Indian Politics is finally accepting the urban professional.

The Urban voterscape is a myriad canvas of actors.   Gurgaon is about a Chakkarpur and Cyber City equally. The Aam Admi Party has a strong appeal for the urban poor in the National Capital Region and Kejriwal’s antics have delivered them the message that we can have a voice in the Vidhan Sabha too.  Urban Governance is ultimately about equitable access to public services. The Quality of Life has to improve. The Urban ecosystem is complex with multiple stakeholders with different stakes in the game.  Urban India can win only if they vote in the forthcoming polls.

Press the Button, gently.

Muscat Diaries : notes from a sabbatical

I was on a sabbatical for a month, travelled from Gurgaon to Mumbai to Pune and then back home to Muscat for the large part of February. This is my first post in 40 days which is a personal record for me. I needed space, a recalibration in my goal posts and a realization that ones personal journey  is unlike any other.  The moment when I landed in Oman, I felt that I am back home. As I  collected my family visit visa,  & felt wonderful when the Omani Immigration Offer stamped the visa on my last bit of vacant real estate on my passport and my heart experience a calm joy when I stepped out of Seeb airport.  The biggest joy is the joy of being home after two years.

I went to my old college days hangouts of Shatti Al Qurum: the English breakfast at D’Arcy’s Kitchen or a drink at Traders Vic@Inter Con, Muscat is still epic. I met old friends and colleagues who helped me realize that in some places time indeed flows albeit at a slower rhythm.  The accelerated rush like feel of a 30 sec ad film as in Mumbai and Singapore had driven in me a post-modern definition of development. The humanity had a slow death in me in the stock marketization ticker like culture that we dwell in.  A stroll across the Muscat Corniche and the traditional Mutrah Market is not the commodification of culture but a model in how traditions and the western model of progress can exist in fairly east equilibrium.   Infrastructure in Muscat is probably grade one undoubtedly.

How we conceptualize modernity determines the shape that development evolves into. Oman has forced me to re-think progress once again.

The biggest take-away was rather strange- Muscat is still Home, and will always be. Shukran Oman. 

‘Tapri’ Tales: Conversations over Cutting Chai

Tapri can be identified as a humble rambled neighborhood corner tea stall which sells you a smoke, biscuits and snacks. Its significance as a locus of community engagement goes beyond the unimpressive physical confines which it depicts.  This urban street corner joint is a great social leveler in which the office boy interacts with the MD as both share a crackle over a smoke, whether it is a chota gold flake or Rothmans (brands are insignificant as it is the nicotine kick that counts, right?). In aping the west, the Glitzy office blocks are non smoking zones, and even the overseas educated snobs are compelled to share the space with mundane workforce cousins of the office complex.  I do not have a negative bias against smoking as I understand that it is a lifestyle choice as much as a drink at a pub on a Saturday evening.

 Office Gossips and petty plans are concocted over a cutting chai in the five minute post lunch walkabout downstairs.  A node of interactions with peers beyond your office floor; a quick eye to eye  glance with the latest eye candy in the block, adds those microseconds of joy to ones dreaded cubicle slavery.

I do not smoke but I have been a passive smoker over the last few years of my life due to my friends who enjoy a drag. I can sense the kick which esteemed bosses have when they substitute their Cappuccino at Costa for a 6 rupees wala cutting chai. 8% of the cost, 8 times more kick with a chota gold flake.  Tapri as they call the significant social institution in Mumbai sells you poha or samosa for breakfast or a quick bite in 15-20 rupees where a normal meal at a registered eatery will set you back by at least 50-70 bucks (kindly excuse the hygiene levels please). For the invisible urban underbelly that keeps our homes, offices and communities functioning at equilibrium- the tapris are a lifeline in these times of inflation and economic uncertainty.

In Delhi and in general the NCR, Tapris offer a lot more on the plate (pun intended) in terms of the fare they serve. It is cold currently in the height of the winter in Delhi, it serves one eggs, maggi and sometimes steamed chicken dumplings (momos) that makes one warm.  It is a mini eatery on wheels in a way.  The tapri owner is a walking talking yellow pages of the services available in the area. Well, sometimes all kinds of services, which a decent boy next door really does not need to know off.

The pulse of a community can be gauged from frequenting the tapri, whether it is the sentiment over Arvind Kejriwal dharna at Rail Bhawan or Katrina Kaif in Malang.  I was pleasantly shocked that the tapri next door sells the Indonesian cigarette Godam Garam and it pretty popular I have unscientifically observed during winter. Although the barely literate tapri owner is aware that it is an ‘imported’ cigarette, it is the embodiment of how globalization has reached the urban classes in India.

The joy of a cutting chai, pani kum or strong tea cannot be equated with the inorganic finesse of a CCD.  Truly a lot more happens over a chai 🙂

 

Urbanity : tale of a guy next door through globalization

This initiative of words is an attempt to celebrate the ordinariness of a boy next door, to break the myth of the super achiever and to quite revel in the constant stream of consciousness called life. My work also attempts to make sense of the post colonial, post risk world that we reside in with multiple mega forces that impact cities. Urbanization and Globalization are terms which we read or hear from self proclaimed pundits every day but what does it mean to a normal guy  in the cubicle making a living when interacting with the meta structures of global governance. It is my en-devour to operationalize these vague jargon’s through my personal journey via Muscat, Singapore, Mumbai & Gurgaon with other places making a special appearance.  The deeply challenging personal negotiation with my multiple identities is the backdrop, Writing for me is a deeply meditative experience.

  An autobiographical narrative from a first persons perspective will be candid, engaging and straight up. In this season of the Aam Admi, a guy next door shall unravel an intricate web of ideas unearthing cities, communities, breaking down phenomena into meaningful meaning. A story of the city, with all the sacred chaos.
 
Urban Democracy with Digital engagement and Sustainability with all its various nuances will be explored at a individual-society relationship level. In this meaning making initiative, I hope you would join me as i attempt to move beyond conference papers and taking blogging to a next level.  My book will be published online, if i do not find a publisher. Well I am not a Ivy League or IIM alum. Only those folks find publishers in India.
 
 

Write a fresh script

Blessed New Year Folks! A Big Thank you to all my friends who have been with me through my writing journey over the last three years. Last Year , which ended yesterday was certainly Baptism by Fire (made me grow up), so many moments of self doubt and fighting inner demons that felt me clean enough to start off on a new slate. But as I reflect, there is one break through idea that comes through.

New paradigms require different operating systems

We encounter challenges, when our inner operating system is not up to the mark vis-à-vis our functional environments. As we are biological systems, we evolve. Evolution is slower when we cling on to the past dearly. The lessons of the past are precious and hold valuable lessons. But establishing the present based on the past is where we use an old processor to run a new system. New scientific research has inferred that our genes evolve as per the social milieu that we inhabit.  Stress and loneliness are factors are common ailments of young professionals.  These two factors impact performance. It is imperative, that the expectation setting is grounded in reality than myth.  Create a new narrative as the story in the head constructs reality.

As the new year starts off on a prayer driven edifice, my  prayer for this year is simple. Find Yourself on the path to realize the true selves that we truly are.

2014, I will be tough on You. Create a future more meaningful than your past.That is our fundamental calling isn’t it?

The Post ‘Sickularism’ Age is finally here

Today Modi rocked Mumbai. Being a Mumbaikar I felt the energy of Bandra Kurla Complex through the airwaves in far away cold Gurgaon. I felt the gap in Left of Centre Politics in India as well. The syntax can be termed as Leadership which is not aloof. The High Command Culture of Lutyens Delhi was breached earlier this month by a civil society activist Kejriwal. Kejriwal’s politics is very much left of centre especially its economic populism. But there is a difference- Kejriwal’s vocabulary consists of a connect with the urban poor. He won the trophy constituency of New Delhi beating Sheila Aunty by a large margin.  The Aam Admi Party is scripting a new narrative for urban metropolitan politics in this country. Accountability, Inclusive Governance, Proactive Leadership are adjective-verbs that are currently appropriated by the Right in India and now by the Aam Admi Party. The ethos of a strong technocratic Developmental State is the edifice of Modi’s Politics. Raman Singh’s Chhattisgarh uses Welfare very effectively too. The core plank of Congress’s Politics is Welfare centric. I am a supporter of Entitlement Legislations as it is often the last resort of the extreme poor.  But Welfare needs a robust infrastructure to deliver value to the costumers. We live in the era of a Client-State Relationship. The legislations have to deliver on the ground. Ofcourse the lessons of governance are iterative, they take time for the results to emerge on the central dashboard of the media monitors.  The loss in Rajasthan has shown that Welfare is not a magic bullet. Strong Leadership matters in the atmosphere of policy paralysis.

Congress’s other political Killer App is secularism. Unfortunately, this is a pejorative word with a negative connotation. This means minority-ism and vote bank politics. The introduction of the communal violence bill is not the reform legislation that’s top priority anyways. The Lok Pal Act is a victory for the civil society and not for Rahul ji as it was a reactive measure. 

Secularism isn’t panacea. The Politics of Pluralism has a wider appeal. Arun Shourie should take a workshop for the friends from the Left. Regional Leaders are strong leaders. A Nitish and a Jayalalitha ji are perceived as leaders who have a mass base unlike a Scindia.

The Liberal Left has to realise that Developmentalism and Strong Leadership is the need of the hour rather  rhetoric on communalism. Modi and Kejriwal are metaphors for clean and development based politics. The Congress needs more Jairam and Pilot than Gehlot and Jogi.

A Pluralism+Development+StrongLeadership approach. Is it that difficult Rahulji?