Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was in India for a three day visit recently. This was a significant visit as many deals were expected to come through. This prompted me to find more about the current status of Indo-China relation. After doing some secondary research I came to know that even though there are significant political issues such as border disputes, stapled visa for kashmiris, Brahmaputra dam etc., there is a bright side of this relationship. What struck me most was the trade growth between the two countries for last five years and the great untapped potential. The trade growth has been phenomenal between the two countries as it has grown from mere $ 5 bn to $ 45 bn in last five years. This is achieved when the relationship with China has not been on the right side of the equation. India’s concern has been rightly about the large trade deficit it has with China which is at $ 19 bn i.e. staggering 42 percent. To make this trade growth sustainable and beneficial for both countries China will have to do more and open its markets for India. India exports the world quality Pharma products, Tea, Fruits etc. which have not got access to huge chinese markets yet. India, on the other hand, can also take immense benefit from the chinese expertise in plant machinery by opening its power sector. To put things in perspective, China adds 100,000 mw power generating capacity each year whereas India has managed to add only 60,000 mw capacity in last 5 years. The collaboration will go a long way in India’s quest for energy security. China and India constitutes the two-third of the world population and both are growing at the rate of above 8 percent. There is a great opportunity beckoning for both countries to get their act together in leapfrogging to an even higher growth trajectory by collaborating at a much larger scale and leaving the past bitterness behind. If recent disputes are anything to go by, this seems far from being happening.

Optimal Affection

How much affection is good enough? Many would say 'the more the better' but is it really so?
There is also a saying that "You get what you give". My question is upto what extent. Take the example of pampered children. You show more love to them and after a certain point they start asking for things which are really not good for them. If you refuse, you easily offend them and then the care shown by you becomes a weapon for them so that they can stretch your feelings to get those not-so-good things done. Once this method works, they try to deploy this again and again. But after sometime you realize you have set a bad precedent and that demands of not-so-good is turning into worse. You think you should correct this but then it becomes either too late (when you can't really correct the child) or you have to take extra tough measures to bring it to the right course. Both the cases have the potential to backfire your very relationship which you once started to build so lovingly. I think the case is not much different in the case of relationship amongst grown-ups although not upto the extent in children.
So before you give that 'extra' bit of care, love or affection, Think Again. Is it actually going to strengthen your relationship in long term!!?

P.S. Please do comment. Would like to know more perspectives on it.. Thanks

Incredible City

It is almost a month since I landed in Mumbai- A city of dreams as many call it. I have to admit it was my long standing desire to visit the place and see it for myself. This had developed over the years since my childhood with various bollywood songs on the city "ye hai mumbai nagariya...." "Mumbai se aaya mera dost....." etc. Viral marketing also played its role as many people told different things about Mumbai. As one of them said "First six months you will not like it but if you can survive this time without disliking it you would not want to leave this place" "You can't get in a local train for the first time and even if you could, getting down at the right place is very difficult" and many more. The curiosity was built enough.
As soon as the plane started coming down I tried to peek from the window pressing the person sitting at the window seat, the first look at it makes one thing clear. There are either tall buildings or sprawling 'jhopparpattis'. A sort of contrast which became starker when I actually started watching it more closely from ground. This city generated waves of thoughts in my mind during my stay.
The kind of crowd and rush I saw at this place was unimaginable to me until I saw for myself. The situation which is called packed for a train in many parts of the country is undefined for travelers as they keep pushing and keep entering in the stuffed spaces. The kind of indifference in people's face is amusing. These are not only indifferent faces but also the stressed out fatigued faces. People move like robots in a systemic manner with a very serious look at their faces - be it rich or poor. Barely saw anyone smiling, talking and laughing in the train or stations. It seems some kind of gloom is spread over the city. Something didn't look normal.
One hand, the kind of poverty and hardships of people you see from a local train. Small stuffed places with many people staying, home surrounded with garbage
On the other hand, the tall towers, flats worth crores, malls, Mercedes, BMWs etc.
The major difference between Mumbai and other cities is that the difference is much more apparent here.
I could not ignore the glaring scenes of height of richness and depths of poverty in one sight at so many instances and with so much frequency. There are so many poor people, beggars passing by closely. But people here move so unperturbed and apathetically with the misery around, probably because they have become used to it or because they don't have time in this fast paced life of the city to stop, look around and ponder.
This forces the thought-where are we heading as a society. Are so many of our society members so bad that they don't deserve even a humane living standard in front of super gifted/talented millionaires who get all possible comforts of life?
Few other issues in the city are lack of space for one to take a walk with the family, children to play and other multitudes of problems which can be associated to the poor plan of city and overpopulation. A look at a love spot (bandstand) in the city indicates that even the couples seem to love each other fast thinking they might not get the time or space later!!
Definitely, a city of dreams -dreams which trigger dissatisfaction at what you have, dreams which trigger unhappiness, dreams which are endless, then a tiny fraction of dreams which actually gets fulfilled.

However, there is a positive side of the city.
The sheer variety of people from different cultures, states or faiths is amazing. May be this is the recipe which helps creativity foster in terms of lyrics, paintings, movies etc.
In terms of safety and treatment of women, the city is much better than our 'National Capital Region'. Even though women are more liberally dressed, eve teasing incidents are much lesser. Given the kind of population density (you get to understand the literal meaning of the word) and the severe infrastructure issues the city is moving and growing, that's Incredible.

Letter to Bihar CM

Respected CM sir,

Congratulations for achieving the great turnaround results for Bihar as being the second fastest growing state of India. I am immensely proud of being a Bihari and had always been even while it was falling behind other states. I hope you will be feeling satisfied.

My appeal to you would be to take steps to eradicate the social evils like caste system and dowry system from the Bihari society which has been plaguing it for years. Also, there have been annual flooding, which takes away some of the state's money and puts it behind from the growth path, that should be dealt with at war footing. As you are aware, there are huge human resources in Bihar which migrate to different states for education, job and living. By attracting businesses like IT and agricultural firms, we can retain these talents. A better law and order will bring back people who want to settle in their homeland after being successful in their studies and career.

We need to improve on the standards of our educational institutions. Bihari people spent heavily on the education of their children but unfortunately this money goes out to states with better professional colleges like Karnataka, Tamilnadu etc. If we can improve upon this aspect, we will succeed not only in retaining the students in the state but also helping them bond with the state more intensely and inspire them to work for their state's betterment after their studies.

The tourism is one other sector which Bihar can get benefitted tremendously from, by improved law and order situation. Developing the various tourist spots with better transportation and staying facilities near various heritage sites (a long list of them), state can look for huge potential revenue source.

Let me congratulate you once again for the success and accept my best wishes to carry on this journey which has now started to its glorious culmination. This will help change the once-tarnished image of Bihar and soon people from other parts of India will look Bihari people with respect and aspire to come and work in Bihar.

Yours' Sincerely

Lokesh Chandra Rai

A Proud Bihari