India: Not a Tiger, But an Elephant!

So, during the early days of my MBA, we newbies often used to get worked up about Global Political Economics, a subject taught by an arresting, engaging, inspiring Professor who had had his intellect fine-tuned in the Ivy Leagues - Stanford, Yale, and Cornell.

 

Our Professor often sparked off debates about the 2 fastest growing economies post the 1990s - India and China - the 2 populous giants in the East, who are now supposedly threatening the U.S.A. with sneaky currency depreciations, competitive products and services, joint ventures, the buying of equity in U.S. companies, etc., etc...

 

While the majority of the class admired China for its gumption (to piss the U.S. off, China produces an annual human rights abuse almanac listing all the transgressions of the U.S.A., identical to the one published by the U.S.A. that lists crimes of the same nature, committed by all other global nations), I always stuck up for India, being Indian.

 

But I was driven by more than just patriotism. I was driven by wanting to make an honest appraisal.

 

To be honest, Indians admire China and the other Asian 'Tigers' for seamlessly adopting civil codes and following them in their march towards becoming fully developed countries.

 

For example, my textile manufacturer Indian friend was very impressed by the discipline exhibited by Chinese workers in a Chinese textile mill. Nobody turned or got distracted when my friend was shown around the factory. If it had been India (in the private sector in general, and not in the export processing zones or in export-oriented manufacturing units), my friend would have been surrounded by a group of fawning arse-lickers, righteous union members who wanted to have a word with the visiting Sahib, and plain curious shirkers who would have been happy for the distraction. Some 30 minutes or so would have thus been lost during operations.

 

Another example is my own observation of the cleanliness and sense of house pride shown by the majority in the major cities of China, South East Asia, and the Far East. Perhaps we Indians lack this sense because of the vestiges of the class and caste system...For instance, no one will move the trash until the appointed trash collector comes along to do the job. Similarly, work may be held up in an office because no white collar worker will move a desk/ chair to set up a work area, until the office peon comes along. No one will make coffee for anyone else because it is the job of the office boy at 1030am and 400pm every day.

 

Anyways, several of my MBA classmates were adamant that China would rise victorious in the race because of the very obvious signs of prosperity and advancement that they had observed during their travels to both China and India.

 

And of course, as an Indian, I vehemently defended the order that is found within the apparent chaos in India by giving various explanations as to why India would survive and ultimately win, like the tortoise that beat the hare.

 

All of those reasons can be condensed into the following points - viz.,

                           a. originality of thought (that the Chinese lack - ok, so they copy

                               everything that Americans do, but when did they last come up with their

                               own stuff...?),

                           b. strategy (we are talking long term strategy, ok? India may not

                               immediately respond, but it will happen when the time is right. Yes, I

                               know - a very Indian way of putting it),

                           c. a very high level of creativity (which other country has given the world

                               so many educational concepts, art, literature, and religions?)

                           d. individualism within collectivism (in India, we call this 'Unity in

                               Diversity' ;). It helps us push our individual envelopes while keeping

                               within the bounds of the big picture.)   

                           e. pure stamina and will to survive!

 

People (mainly the engineers and IT folk who were doing the MBA) scoffed at all the above and pointed out that nothing had come of it. I am sad to point out that they are seeing only the material. India is beyond the material. In fact, at 38 years and having seeing my own share of ups and downs in life, I have to say that life indeed is also beyond the material.

But one can only explain this to those who have attained a certain level of leadership, not to all and sundry in linear, defined terms. And for those who indeed seek clear cut proof - one only has to look at the 10-fold growth in India's GDP since 1991, plus the boom in real estate, knowledge and service industries. All this without pathological currency depreciation (except in the last 6 months that has seen the Rupee fall to Rs. 62/ USD, mainly due to the global slump).

 

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to read something in support of my point of view in 'India Unbound', a highly recommended, readable book on the transformation and challenges of India since ancient times and into the millennial age. This book has been written by Gurcharan Das, the ex-CEO of Procter and Gamble India, and also a global literary figure (what a combo - business, philosophy and literature...I think the gentleman got it right!). I reached out for this book because I recognized Mr. Das as the author of 'Larins Saheb' (Lawrence Saheb), a play that we'd been taught during my Bachelor's (English Literature) at Stella Maris College, Chennai.

 

Here are his words on India's possible path forward ('India Unbound', Introduction, p. xix):

 

"The Economist has been trying...to paint stripes on India since 1991. It doesn't realize that India will never be a tiger. It is an elephant that has begun to lumber and move ahead. It will never have speed, but it will always have stamina. A Buddhist text says,

 

                              "The elephant is the wisest of all animals/

                                the only one who remembers his former lives/

                                and he remains motionless for long periods of time/

                                meditating thereon."

 

The inversion between capitalism and democracy suggests that India might have a more stable, peaceful, and negotiated transition into the future than, say, China. It will also avoid some of the harmful side effects of an unprepared capitalist society, such as Russia. Although slower, India is more likely to preserve its way of life and it civilization of diversity, tolerance, and spirituality against the onslaught of the global culture. If it does, then it is perhaps a wise elephant."