Who needs imported goods any more?
"Gosh…if I could buy a tailored suit from Bond Street", I told my brother-in-law anxiously before leaving for a short trip to London. A charcoal black slim-fit suit from the Mecca of fashion was on my mind ever since my college days when I had first read about the place.
"Are you crazy?" he snapped at me pretending to look for nut and bolt that I might have dropped of my brain before making such a wish. "The smart Londoners themselves no more shop on Bond Street. It's hell lot of expensive there. Ask the executives in my UK office. Whenever they visit India, they pack a few suits tailored from Colaba (the south part of Mumbai famous for its posh appeal). It's much cheaper that way without sacrificing style", he added giving another try to find the lost parts of my intellect.
Is it reverse globalisation or is it optimum utilization of resources? Give it any name but the obsession of whatever is 'vilayati' or 'foren' has completed a full circle. I still remember the days when we kids used to feel highly obliged to accept an imported T-shirt or a chocolate offered by our foreign returned relatives.
The appeal of the imported goods is however deteriorating gradually thanks to the advent of globalisation. We have come a long way from an age where self-reliance was the mission of almost every developing and developed nation. In a sharp contrast, today belongs to an era where both demand and competition are no more local. This has necessitated organizations to scout for the cheapest resources irrespective of their country of origin to stay competitive on a global stage. No wonder then that most of the manufacturing and production has been steadily shifting from the western world to low cost destinations like China and India to mention a few.
For instance, four out of every five undergarments sold in the world today are manufactured in China. And, the dominance of Asian manufacturers is not limited only to basic commoditised products. There are several garment producers in countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh that can manufacture clothes according to the designs approved by the studios of big American and European brands. House of Pearls Fashions and Gokaldas Exports are prominent names in India who supply garments to bigger retailers in the western world.
I remember one of my colleagues who traveled to the US with a big shopping list of clothes of international brands which she always craved to buy. However, she could not really shop till she could drop. “Kya kare? (what to do?)”, she exclaimed. “All the garment stores there are flooded with clothes that carry the tag ‘Made in China’ or ‘Made in India’!”
Indeed, the game of low cost production or cost arbitrage as it is known in the business parlance has marred the sheen of imported goods. Next time, whenever you shop abroad, just check --- you might end up buying something manufactured in your own backyard!
Labels: Knowledge-wise
Mumbai locals – As clueless as hell
Is the underground train system (the Tube as Londoners call it fondly) in London ISO certified?
I don’t know the answer. But what I can tell you for sure is that if the London Tube system and our very own local train network in Mumbai decide to race for such a certification then the latter in its current form would lose by a furlong!
And the reason for this has nothing to do with the way the Mumbai local trains carry the herd of commuters or the way they get delayed. Tubes in London are almost equally crowded (to be fair with Mumbai locals, the Tubes carry nearly half less load) and they too face delays.
The reason simply lies in the significance of the ISO certification. The certification is accredited when an organisation or an institution documents all its processes. And, reference to such documents can help someone use the facilities or execute processes without any human help.
The London Tube system scores ten out of ten when it comes to disseminating information about its routes and journey to passengers. Apart from route maps, every tube is equipped with automatic public announcement system, which speaks name of the current station and that of the next one. It also reminds passengers to take care of the gap if any between the platform and the train compartment! Further, it also tells on what stations you can get down to change your route. To simplify this, just imagine that the Mumbai local has a voice system which tells you to get down at Dadar and take the western route if you are traveling from Thane to Bandra.
A staunch Mumbaikar may argue by saying that the local network in Mumbai is fairly complex with three different lines (central, western and harbour). Well, hold your breath but the London Tube is far more complex with as many as 12 lines! And, still a stranger like me can easily travel from one point to another without any human help as long as I can read and understand English…
The point I want to make here is how often do we realize that the systems that we use in India are not fairly documented? Just imagine the kind of pain a stranger to Mumbai goes through while commuting from one place to another. Why can’t we insist for a system wherein every station and every platform and every train compartment is equipped with all the necessary information in the form of display cutouts? Further, a delay in journey or a detour due to overhaul or heavy rains need to be conveyed well in advance both in the train and on the platform.
Of course, there is no denial that locals in Mumbai are gradually getting equipped with public address systems but it is still a long way before these can match the global best-in-class practices.
Labels: Matters of life
Raj Thackeray’s arrest
It would be anybody’s guess that the whole ‘sons of the soil’ saga in Mumbai is more a political stance than an emotional endeavour for the chieftain of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Raj Thackeray. The sad part of the story, however, is that the common man is more or less identifying himself with this politically inclined debate.
For Raj and his 18 month old political party, which is an offshoot of Bal Thackeray led Shivsena, the issue of migrants in Mumbai holds enormous potential to capture the sense and sensibility of the masses. And, he has done a wonderful job at that so far. A look at the national TV news channels on Tuesday 21 October 2008 confirms this.
It was the day when Raj was arrested by the Mumbai police under the charges of instigating his party workers to beat people from other states who had arrived in Mumbai to take railway recruitment examination on the preceding Sunday. His arrest and the subsequent agitation by his followers were telecast by all the leading English and regional language channels throughout the day. Whether or not people across the nation agree to his stand of favouring the sons of the soil, one thing is sure --- it would be hard to find a person in India who watches news channels and who still doesn’t know about Raj.
While this is a political stance fro Raj to snatch away a vote bank from his cousine Uddhav, the son of Bal Thackeray who heads Shivsena, the masses seem to have missed this simple point. A walk around the corner in a busy city area reveals that there are people who think Raj is more sensible and then there is another group which gets annoyed by such rowdism.
There should be no confusion that all this is a political drama. It doesn’t solve the intricate issues that crop up due to the migration of excess workforce in a financially well-to-do part of a country.
