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The Rolling Seas off The Coast of Africa

It has been 3 days now that the sea has been "rough" (an official terminology they use when they give us the daily weather report) and we have been having periodical warnings to be careful when we walk around...

This is midterms time and, needless to say, this weather is not helping much. Both students and professors are seen looking somewhat "green in their faces" while still going in an out of study areas and the dining hall (we are told to always have a little food in our stomachs if we want to feel even a little better).

For the first time during this voyage we wittnesed a storm that we sailed through, with gusty windes, lightneing and thunder and heavy rains washing on board of the upper decks. Most of us watched in fascination as the rain pounded the windows and laughed nervously as the boat rocked back and forth. But there are always some who pay a price for feeling really sea sick :( Those were found even lying on the floor next to their cabin or on the reception area's sofa, moaning: "Let it stop..."

But this is The Scholar Ship and the show does go on! We are not changing the dates of the exams nor the many social activities we have planned. Today, for example, we are continuing the "star wars battle" between staff & faculty's and the students' teams. We, the staff, even prepared a rap song to irritate our opponents with (it is truly awful:) And then tonight the ship's crew has prepared a special talent show for us!

So as we put our "sea legs" on, and learn to use better balance for all activites, all I can think of is the stories we will tell once we finish this voyage of what a "piece of cake" it was to travel by sea for 4 months...

The Seychelles – Our Visit to Paradise

As we sailed away from India, all we were fantasizing about is reaching the Seychelles for the 2 days off we had on the schedule. Visions of pristine white beaches and snorkeling among coral reefs were preoccupying everyone. All we talked about during our communal meal was, “so, are you just going to disappear once we get to the islands? Ha, ha?” We were craving some time away from each other and a chance to be back in nature away from car fumes and honking horns…
Some of the students actually slept on deck so they can get the earliest view possible of our arrival to the Seychelles. The rest ran to the deck when we started approaching the amazing view of the main Island of Mahe, with its tall maintains all covered with greenery and surrounded by calm blue waters… wow…
As soon as we got the “all clear” signal from the immigration officials, we scrambled to get off the ship and embrace even the clean and welcoming port area where a slew of brand new rental cars and taxis awaited us. Like any family (which we have now become), most of us ended up choosing to spend time with each other despite our previous proclamations to the contrary.
I joined a group of students who were hosted by the Victoria Rotary Club. As we got off the jeep, a group of 5 Rotarians arrived to greet us am immediately separated our group of 10 into the 4 cars they were driving to take us on a trip to the Southern part of Mahe, where they said we can have a day of swimming, snorkeling, eating local foods, and just relaxing. Huge smiles emerged on everyone’s faces as we got into the cars and immediately felt right at home with our gracious hosts. Being a Rotarian myself and having a father who has been one for many years, I was not surprised by their warm welcome. However, our students were deeply touched.
Our student coordinator chose a diverse group of students from: Germany, Morocco, Ghana, The US, Mexico and Canada to come to this activity and by that had allowed our hosts to get a real glimpse as to the global spirit of our Scholar Ship. On our hosts’ side, we learned how diverse the population of the Seychelles is, with our hosts coming from Chinese, African, Indian and Zimbabwe roots.
Driving along the winding road by the ocean, we ooh’ed and ah’ed as the turquoise beaches unveiled themselves on one side of it while the green mountains rose on the other side. As it was Sunday morning, we passed small townships and many people strolling in the narrow streets. Some of them where barbequing on the beach with local island music playing in the background in the Seychelles 3 languages: English, French and Creole (our hosts were chatting away to us in English while switching to the other two when speaking among themselves).
When we got to our destination at “Chez Batista’s”, we discovered a beautiful little compound on a secluded beach of an outside bar/restaurant with several bungalows. We all ran to the inviting water as our hosts watched with amusement our sheer delight in washing off the previous weeks’ experiences. The students were laughing and frolicking in the water while I swam and swam as far as I could until I could just float and look at the sky saying silently to myself, “I am so lucky…”
At lunch time, we were treated to a sumptuous buffet of local Island fair from sword fish, to octopus curry, red snapper grill, shredded mango salad, pumpkin salad, bread fruit in caramel sauce, and many many others. We shamelessly went back for more and sat down looking at the water and enjoying a lively chat with our hosts. We learned the story of the place as it was described by the brochure we got (note the English being used):
“In 1984 Mr. Batista Horter started work as a beach boy on AnseTakamaka. Eventuel he only fished for his own, before more and more guests on the beach were frequenting his “private BBQ Grill.” In no time at all the guests were sitting under a sunshade enjoying his fish and coconut drinks. Salat and garlic bred were added to the menue and out of this humble grill a small restaurant was born. Italian guests named the restaurant “Batista” and peu a peu, Batista was a “secret Tip” on Mahe island. Today Batista is considered the number one seafood restaurant on Mahe. Chez Batista’s beach, one of the best on the island, is renowned for great swimming and snorkeling. On some days, the coral banks and colorful fishes are host to distinguished “special guests”, such as Sea Turtles and Dolphins.”
After our lunch, the hosts took out several masks, snorkels and fins and took us on an underwater tour of the coral reef just further a bit from where we ate, by a collection of volcanic rocks dominating one side of the beach. Mid way, when I asked one of the hosts how much time do we have left, the answer was: “As long as you need… we have all the time in the world for you…” Did I mention this was paradise???
Eventually we got back in the cars and were driven to another beach where two of our hors wanted to show us the latest posh resort they helped build on the Island, the Maya Resort. Since the entry to it is fully restricted due to its exclusive status, we came from the beach side (there are no private beaches on the Island) to gawk at the beautiful villas built with volcanic black stone and grass roofs, all with private pools, outside dining patios and beautiful waterfalls amongst them. “This is the life of the rich and famous,” was the sentence I kept hearing in my head as we sneaked a peak. Did I mention that the Seychelles is a place so expensive that a can of coke in a discount store costs $1.5?...
We were whisked away through the inland road to the famous Mission Ruins on top of Morne Seychelles. As we drove through the national park, the hot temperatures of the beach were replaced with cooler ones and a nice mountain breeze. We were watching in wonder as the road climbing to the peak passed by tall trees surrounded by thick vegetation. The Seychelles have a population of only 80,000 with 60,000 residing on the main island. There are almost 100 islands in the archipelago, which makes the Seychelles a global natural treasure.
Standing in the Mission’s monument area (the mission was a school built by missionaries to educate the sons of freed slaves. The Seychelles was at one time a major hub for African slave trading) looking at the beauty everywhere, our hosts sheepishly admitted that they feel very fortunate to live amongst all this serene beauty. By the way, it is very difficult to become a resident of the islands. Many laborers from India, The Philippines and Madagascar work on the islands in the hospitality, construction and tuna canning industries. None of them can remain on the Island. They earn about $250 a month and live in special quarters supplied by their employers. A foreigner cannot buy property on the island either, even though we were told that there have been some major real estate deals by Russians and Arabs from the Emirates in Mahe.
We invited our hosts to come on board the ship on the following evening so we can thank them for all their wonderful hospitality. We were happy when they took us upon our invitation and came to have dinner with us and take a tour of the vessel. It was our turn this time to be proud in our environment and chuckle at the comments: “How do we come and live with you guys?”…

Women Business Leaders in India - Another Study in Contrasts?

I did not expect to have an opportunity to meet so many remarkable women in India who embody the traditions of their country together with a sense of extreme confidence and belief in the important part they play in India’s future. They were all, by the way, wearing traditional saris and projected a great sense of pride in their heritage.
Of course it all started with Dr. Indira, the English professor at the university, who despite her age and fragile frame sounded ferocious and was so very articulate.
Next we met Sinduri who is the granddaughter of Dr. Reddy. She is a very confident young lady who took over this “backend services” business and transformed it from being only a service for Apollo hospitals to one that is expanding to other hospitals as well as new markets. She told us that having family connections is not always an advantage in India yet she feels is part of a growing trend of women entrepreneurs in India. He poise and ease of talking to our students was apparent.
The woman that met us at IBM Daksh, Veenaa Santhanam was the assistant manager of business development. She kept the IBM presentation flowing like a conductor, bringing in people from various departments to talk to us while also managing to maneuver us throughout their facilities without breaking any security protocol all while maintaining a constant flow of information. She answered all of our question patiently and when she did not have an answer, she brought in someone to help. Her efficient manner was a testimonial to the caliber of people employed at her facility.
At Xansa, a company that was started by a group of freelance women working from their homes in the 60’s, we were greeted by Vijayalakshmi Sankar, the delivery director of the company. She took her time to talk to us about the role of women in business and how she has stayed in her company for 9 years because they have treated her right and let her work from home, when she needs to. The call centers we visited all stressed the fact that they provide transportation to and from work and escort women to make sure they are safe. (A lot of the media has been recently preoccupied with the law suit against HP brought as a result of one of their women employees being assaulted and murdered coming home from her night shift). She told us that since 2000, more women are earning more than their husbands and some families are even starting to accept having to move for a woman’s career.
Typically 45 to 50% of call centers’ employees are women. Many did not use to stay in the companies beyond their marriage or left after having their first child. However, companies such as IBM are pushing more women towards management and have 25% women among their leaders.
Finally, BioCon, the biotech company we visited in Bangalore, was established by Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who still serves as its chairman (no “chairperson” here). She is a first generation entrepreneur who was awarded India’s highest civilian award for her pioneering efforts in biotechnology in 2005. She started the company 25 years ago with only $2500 and up until recently took no outside funding! Her unique vision has steered BioCon’s transition from an enzymes company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. Most recently, she has been invited to join the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India. She holds 39% of the shares of her company and the rest in traded on the Mumbai stock exchange. She believes that in 5 years her company will be traded on Nasdaq.
Overall there are only 15% women managers in BioCon and 25% working in R&D. Yet at the lower levels, 49% of the employees are women. This is a high number for India which the company is very proud of.
As I scanned the February 18th issue of India Today, I noticed an article covering a recent survey of youth in India. The caption read: “Family is the defining motif in the fabric of urban Indian youth, more so for women, who look up to their parents and seek solace in their men.” The article calls that “selective modernity” – women in India do want change, but only within the paradigm.

Crossing the Equator - An Initiation...(pictures to come)

Today we crossed the equator. This is a letter we found in the wee hours of the morning under our doors:
To The Puny Scholar Ship ,
This pathetic little vessel, with its passengers and crew of global nomads and vagabonds has dared to cross into my dominion without my permission. This displeases me.
You will halt your progression into my realm immediately – your failure to acknowledge me at the Equator was inexcusable. Further, you will assemble this Pollywog filth for my royal inspection. I will board your ancient and slow little wreck and, with my queen and a company of my most trusted Shellbacks, begin the process of deciding who is fit to remain. I doubt many are up to our Royal standards!
Those my queen or I do not feel are worthy of the title of ‘Shellback’ will be immediately cast overboard where they will most certainly drown, their meager remains food for my pet shark, Tilly.
I challenge you, puny humans, to disobey me! A storm the likes of which you have never seen will befall you. Your leaking old tin can, with its tacky interiors and rusting sides, will shudder and rend under my fury! You will pay dearly should you do not do as I command. You are warned!
Signed,
His Eternal Majesty
Neptunus Rex
Ruler of All The Seas
Emperor of All That is Beneath
Lord of the Most Trusted Shellbacks

Our executive director sent us a memo stating:
“We, the certified Shellbacks, those who have previously crossed the equator at sea, have been ordered by His Eternal Majesty to assist him and His Royal Court in initiating and certifying those Pollywogs onboard to become Shellbacks. “
So at exactly 12:30, while we were eating our lunch, a real ruckus began at the end of the dining hall and sure enough, there was King Naptune and his Royal entourage proceeded by our vessel’s crew hitting drums and using their whistles to alert us to all get up and go on deck immediately!

As we quickly changed into bathing suits or cloths-that-can-get-wet, we ran behind the procession to the deck where were suddenly surrounded by all the OTHER Shellbacks drumming on tribal drums accompanied by their pirate king ghost…

Slowly we climbed the stairs to the upper deck as we chatted nervously among ourselves…”what shall we do? what shall we do…”

I was one of the brave souls who ventured forward, proceeded towards the Royal seat by the pool and…SPLASH! Someone had poured a bucket full of fowl smelling white liquid on my head that smelled awfully like rotten fish! Ouch!!!! THEN I was sprayed ferociously by a fire hose with salty ocean water, AND – forced to kiss a HUGE dead fish!!!!!!!!!!!! With my eyes barely open and the taste and smell of dead fish fresh in my mind, hacking and coughing, I was led to the His Highness and had to KISS his ring!!! How dare they????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND to top it all, they put a color sign on my forehead and made me sign some certificate that could have been my death warrant! What a scandal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blindly I climbed the stairs to the deck pool and jumped in, hoping to get some relief only to find the water smelling further of dead fish………..YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dripping wet, I look over and saw all the staff and students of the TSS marching up the stairs… the poor bastards did not know what awaited them! Heh, heh, heh…….

So there you have it. We are now certified Shellbacks!

I hear that some of us did not dare join the ceremony and could very well be on their way into the bottom of the ocean……………………………

The Scholar Ship Hunger Banquet and Creative Capitalism

From a Hunger Presentation made on the Scholarship following the Hunger Banquet
 Over 2 billion people are now living in poverty (<$2/day) and over 1 billion in ‘utter poverty’ live with hunger (< $1/day)

 Worldwide, out of a population of 5.5 billion, 840 million people live with chronic hunger

 Three dimensions of hunger
 Insufficient availability of food
 Shortfalls in the nutritional status of children
 Child mortality, attributable to under-nutrition

 90 percent of the world’s undernourished children live in just 36 countries, notably low- and middle-income countries, which has resulted in mortality and overall disease burden

 8.8 million people die of hunger-related causes each year

 More than 3.5 million mothers and children under 5 die unnecessarily due to under-nutrition and millions more are permanently disabled by the physical and mental effects of a poor dietary intake in the earliest months of life

 10% of these deaths can be attributed to emergencies (e.g. war or catastrophic weather)
 Most hunger deaths are due to:
 Chronic malnutrition caused by inequitable distribution
 Inefficient use of existing food resources
 Micronutrient deficiencies and/or common infectious diseases, such as diarrhea


January 24, 2008, World Economic Forum Davos, Switzerland: Excerpts from Remarks by Bill Gates, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

“The great advances in the world have often aggravated the inequities in the world. The least needy see the most improvement, and the most needy see the least—in particular the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
There are roughly a billion people in the world who don't get enough food, who don't have clean drinking water, who don't have electricity, the things that we take for granted."

" Why do people benefit in inverse proportion to their need?
Market incentives make that happen.
In a system of pure capitalism, as people's wealth rises, the financial incentive to serve them rises. As their wealth falls, the financial incentive to serve them falls—until it becomes zero. We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well."

" I like to call this new system creative capitalism—an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world's inequities...What unifies all forms of creative capitalism is that they’re market-driven efforts to bring solutions we take for granted to people who can't get them. As we refine and improve this approach, there is every reason to believe these engines of change will become larger, stronger, and more efficient."

"We are living in a phenomenal age. If we can spend the early decades of the 21st century finding approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits and recognition for business, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce poverty in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a passionate effort to answer this challenge will help change the world.”

Apollo Hospitals - A True Manifestation of Indian Ingenuity

As we docked in India, we all rushed to the local Mall to try and get some shopping done before we had to go on our field trip with the students. I, as usual, went to the book store and picked up the local business journal called “Business India”, among others. On the cover of the magazine was the photograph of the chairman of Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Reddy with the caption: “Going Global after 25 years in health service.” How appropriate, I thought. The next day we were going to a meeting organized by the COO of Apollo Hospitals as part of their monthly meetyou.com chapter get together.
As we navigated, the next day, the very congested and busy streets of Chennai, I reminded the students of the copy of the article I gave them that morning so they can scan it before we got to our meeting. I felt the article was a great testament to the creative forces propelling India into a world leader in the area of globalization. The students, however, needed to take an actual look at the company’s main building to believe some of the words, since the route to our destination was froth with the typical scenery of Chennai of so many vehicles amongst droves of people, many of whom were clearly very poor. India, as we learned very quickly, is a study of contrasts. ..
The building we entered was like any other modern building yet in nestled not in a fancy office complex but rather in the midst what seemed to be an old non-descript part of town. Walking inside, however, we were taken to a beautiful conference room and greeted by a young man who introduced himself as, Dr. C.J. Vetrievel, the COO of the company. He projected an aura of ease and confidence that put us all at ease, despite the fact that we were late and the people we were supposed to meet from the ‘meetyou’ group were late too.
Apollo Group’s prospects are considered excellent by many analysts. Citigroup even put out a report a few months ago saying that “Apollo’s superiority in a growing sector with high entry barriers calls for premium valuations.” The founder of Apollo started the company 25 years ago. He is now 75 years old and his 4 daughters have been designated as the team to take over the group’s future. He said in the article: “I have been telling the government healthcare should be made into a priority sector. If that happens, the industry will witness an explosive growth within a couple of years.”
In the article he also talks about an exciting new project that is typical of Apollo’s pioneer spirit. In March of last year, they have entered into a partnership with IBM to set up a giant repository of health-related information to which every doctor in the country would eventually have access. Already 80-90 people based in Chennai are working full time on this project. The first phase, in which 100 hospitals and 1000 doctors would be linked with each other, is expected to become operational in the next 3 months. This will then be scaled up ten-fold during the rest of this year! The project aims to improve healthcare services, map disease patterns and alert the medical establishment about emerging problem areas. Even at an individual level, doctors would be able to make more informed decisions than they do at present. “The superhighway would function as a separate company in which Apollo would clearly have an important role to play.”
The COO wanted to focus his presentation on medical tourism. Apollo has recently hired a high executive away from HCA in the US to seek international investors as well as develop a customer base for Apollo in the United States by appealing to labor unions.
Currently medical tourism is associated mainly with Thailand and covers mostly plastic surgery. India is targeting countries such as the UK for all medical procedures. The UK government, Dr. C.J. told us, Can no longer support the UK’s health care needs that have exceeded $160 billion. Britons are still experiencing long queues in an ineffectual system. So now they are seeking an alternative with an emphasis on quality care. Thailand and India are well suited to meet a demand such as that because in a highly capital intensive industry, their people were able to absorb the technology and learn it quickly. Doctors’ soft skills are there and also many Indian doctors are willing to come back home from the UK and the US.
Currently Thailand and India are offering 15 days medical tourism packages that include 7 days of hospital care and 7 days of vacation all in one package! Pre and post links with home doctors have been established and tele-medicine plays an important role with the use of videoconferencing and the Internet.
Apollo has 4 hospitals that receive overseas patients. Chennai is a heart center with 150 foreigners coming there a month for treatment. The UK is highly supportive of medical tourism since it started developing a hybrid health care system of private and public systems working together.

Vanletine's Day on the Ship - Oh my, Oh My...

From a Janaury 17th Time Magazine article on "The Science of Romance":
"Human beings make a terrible fuss about a lot of things but none more than romance. Eating and drinking are just as important for keeping the species going--more so actually, since a celibate person can at least continue living but a starving person can't. Yet while we may build whole institutions around the simple ritual of eating, it never turns us flat-out nuts. Romance does."
We started the day having to attend an emergency meeting concerning the possible spread of the Norwalk Virus among our community. The virus was brought on board the ship from India and was now spreading. As we were told how we should work hard to contain it, I joked to the students and said “stop having sex!”…
Feeling somber, we proceeded that evening to the dining hall only to be met with a dazzling array of sweets the chef has prepared for as a Valentine’s Day celebration. The students squealed with joy as they witnessed the piles of cakes and chocolate treats and the buckets of ice cream. They went on to pile up their plates and forgot right away about any possible stomach aches that may signal they may have contracted the virus.
As we stuffed ourselves with chocolate, the conversation at each table turned to the party we were having that night. As faculty, we were a bit reluctant initially to go into a students’ party, but then we decided we wanted to join them and, especially, see how they will get dressed! And we were no disappointed…
The students started coming into their student lounge in their finest cloths – boys in suits and girls in sexy dresses - and the place changed into a hip club with pulsating music and many of us on the dance floor.
In the midst of drinking Champaign and trying to keep up with the students’ dancing (lots of salsa mixed with hip-hop), two of our colleagues – Kirsten and Giovanni (The German and Italian lovers from Australia) decided to announce to their students their upcoming wedding. What a reaction! As the students hooted and hollered their encouragement, the shy couple invited them all to become part of the celebration by contributing to the planning of the whole event (I, of course, have already volunteered to lead the Bachelorette party once we get to Cape Town…).
We have truly become a big family!

University of Madras School of Commerce Lecture - or - The "Sudden" Rise of India's Economy

We met with a professor in a conference room where he proceeded to give us a complete 45 minutes lecture with no notes and no interruptions. The students had a bit of a hard time listening to his elaborate analysis with no accompanying power point slides or handouts. He only allowed them to ask questions at the end, so we all tried their best to write down what he said and do the thinking after he finished. Yet, his lecture was very informative and gave an excellent overview that was critical to the understanding of all the next meetings we were going to have.

Professor Ranganatham talked to us about the change process to globalization that India has been undergoing since the beginning of the 90’s. He explained that in ’91 to ’92 a major reform took place in the country’s economy. Previously there was not a major process of change in the country. What triggered this important event was that several major events took place in those 2 years:
1) The Soviet Union, who was a major ally of India, has crumbled which caused a tremendous change in Eastern Europe. India had to start looking for new partners, especially trade partners.
2) India’s foreign exchange position reached a negative balance in ’89-’90 and the country had to borrow money against its gold reserves from the Bank of England in order to continue to run the country.
3) India had borrowed $5 billion from the IMF and was in no position to pay it back at that time, which necessitated an economic reform to take place
4) There was greater emphasis until that time on the public sector that controlled all private initiatives. The 4-5 trillion rupees the government was spending yielded not even a 3-4% ROI. So the manufacturing sector (that was controlled by the government) , for example, was totally failing.
5)
In 1989 Peter Drucker came to Bangalore (where 10,000 people came to hear him speak) sponsored by India’s premier watch making company. The question was asked why should a government-owned watch maker who has been only accumulating losses continue to be a leader in the country? Why should India continue to operate like that? This event made it clear that the country was in dire need of economic reform, which Drucker made a call for.

As a result, a push for economic reform has gotten off the ground which is still ongoing today. Here are some of the key areas of that reform:

I. The legal framework has undergone tremendous change in the last 15 years. All along the economy was labeled as a “controlled” one. There was no freedom for any economic activity. So that is why the reform started with the legal system. Private enterprises had ceilings for capital investments, for example. The law was Draconian, so the government diluted the MIT Act so they can re-state the economic engine. Only the “unfair trade” practices remained. FERA was the second foreign exchange. For everything you needed to be regulated by the government so no partnerships and FDI could take place. Now the Act is called “Foreign Exchange Management Act” and the government can only interfere if there is a breaking of the law. The Ministry of Company Affairs has a CCI that used to decide how much dividend can be paid from companies, what should be the value of the financial investments, etc. Now it all of this is abolished! Companies can raise capital, sell stocks as they please. The legal framework was a major impediment to India’s economic development! Now finally all private enterprises have the freedom to operate as they wish.
II. Capital markets and financial sectors have been formed as well. New institutions were established to regulate the market, like the Security Exchange Board of India. The manner in which capital issues are traded – a few individuals were controlling it but now it is more transparent. Stock exchange in Mumbai has introduced a scripless, ringless and security deposit risk. National security repository has been established and it is fully electronic so all stock exchanges are inter-linked and you can settle transactions instantly. Investors can verify stocks’ real value, so you have full transparency! India now has: VC funds, mutual funds were also expanded considerably. Stock brokerages are no longer held by individuals or families. Now they have corporations and foreign ones can also participate. FII’s are coming in a big way!
III. The insurance sector is also undergoing a reform with pension funds already being privatized. However, no life and general insurance have been privatized yet. The banking sector is privatized now and foreign banks are expanding.
IV. Stock investment instruments have been introduced which are given to banks as a guarantee so the investors do not need to provide “free income” to companies like before. Also, triple options bonds have been introduced into the market.
V. Exports have gone up and revenues of outsourcing have gone up as well but other sectors are NOT doing as well, like, manufacturing, agribusiness and so on.

VI. WTO disputes are huge still! Even though developing countries talk about transparencies, they are still to bring it into their own countries. They protect their own interests. If a trade dispute goes to WTO, many countries cannot face the resources to fight and have no legal way to do this.

VII. Intellectual property rights are a challenge in a country like India where word of mouth is the tradition so there is no way to establish the ownership of knowledge. For example, there is patent dispute right now based on a 1986 article published about a scientific breakthrough that has documented knowledge that has been around the scientific community in India for centuries but with no written records! WTO is currently helping India streamline its patent laws.

VIII. Developing countries are still finding it difficult to find fair treatment in international organizations. However, having negotiations is a good sign because it helps India reach its own consensus base. The most helpful are regional bodies.

IX. Despite all of this progress, there is still a great sense of helplessness in the country since it is very difficult to fight the government. In order to participate in the process, a new Act has been introduced so by paying less than 40 cents, any citizen of the country can now seek ANY information from ANY public institution!

X. Yet 25% of the population is still very poor (note: that number, by the way, keeps fluctuating between 70% to 20% based on whom we talked to) nad public opinion needs to be more mobilized.

We ended up by getting to ask some questions, some which centered on the companies we were going to visit who represented the outsourcing trend to India. And he is what he said:

“The youth of India think that outsourcing is a gift given to them. There is a huge movement in favor of creating BPO’s and Call Centers. This introduced work shift systems and forced women to work at night. Therefore the initial attractiveness is now lost. Most young people consider this industry as a short term employment only. Since no unions are allowed, employees have no protection and there is a lot of stress in that working environment (note: in our coming visits we learned what Indian companies are doing to combat that). With young people working in that industry the power has shifted in their families form the parents to the children. This represents a HUGE social change. Marriages are being postponed and young people’s time stay in the family is reduced. As a result of this, call centers are now moving to smaller towns in search of capable people who are willing to work in the industry.” He told us that he feels China can outbid India on many jobs in the next 10 years unless the political parties learn how to accept the globalization is irreversible.”

He also talked in general about India’s seemingly lead in IT know-how: “ The IT and IT services sector is perceived to be doing great in India but the administration is not fully ready for it. It is NOT part of India’s industry and government yet. Services need to be improved and lots of inefficiencies eliminated. The domestic market has not been tapped. There is a lot of work to be done. But at the university, we have introduced distance learning and this weekend have a number of representatives from African universities coming our university to discuss how they can access courses we are offering online. Laos, there is now a reversal of India’s “brain drain” with many IT people coming back to the country, which is a good sign”

He concluded by answering a question about entrepreneurship in India. He said that in his opinion entrepreneurship initiatives should not come from the government. Just providing training to people is not enough to make them successful as entrepreneurs. Banks are investing in providing training to those they lend money to for opening a new business, the government has training institutes in all states and all major universities have programs in entrepreneurship. Yet the rate of success in the country is less than 14%. “Business sense is NOT found in all students. Very few of them even show an interest in the stock market. “

India's Amazing Leaders: S.K. Venkataraman – CFO, Apollo Group

Mr. Venkataraman came onboard the Scholarship to give us a lecture of Apollo and the Indian Healthcare industry and surprised us by actually giving us 2 lectures – one as a CFO and one as an emerging philosopher/spiritual leader. The combination of the two has left us speechless but in a way summed up the power of India as a nation. The leaders that we met seem to be on a mission greater than themselves and view much of their success in a multi-dimensional manner. Their religious and cultural upbringing in inter-woven into everything they do. Mr. Venkataraman is 48 years old and even though he talks and thinks of money all day long, he said to the students:”Money you make as a consequence of other things. There must be other layers in your life!”

The following are my notes on the 1st lecture concerning India’s healthcare industry and Apollo’s place in it:
Healthcare in India is a $28 to $35 billion industry and accounts for only 5% of GDP (vs. the US which is 13%). The industry is completely fragmented. Many hospitals are run by doctors, not professionals. The doctors tend to sell the hospitals for profit to investors who rarely care about improving the overall system. As a result, India’s healthcare system is still in the 15th century! So the private sector is left to take the initiative to fix the whole system.

Apollo deals with 15% of the Indian market as whole, providing mostly low frequency, high risk, tertiary care. This make their services highly capital intensive; depending on land and buildings as well as new equipment (that cannot be more than 5 years old!).

50% to 60% of people who come to Apollo hospitals pay out of their own pocket. Insurance coverage is less than 1% of the market! Many sell their homes to seek treatment. Most of the public in India does NOT have access to healthcare just like most of the population does not have access to toilets and clean water (he claims that it is 70% of the population, which negates much of the official data we got about India).

For Apollo to set up an hospital, it costs $100,000 per bed (vs. $1 million in the US) and the patient gets charged $200 per day for that bed. This has become a main catalyst for Medical Tourism. It represents 1/8th of the cost in the US, 1/5th of the cost in the UK, ½ of the cost in Thailand, and 1/3rd of the cost in Singapore. 20% of Apollo hospitals’ revenue now comes from exporting medical services. Yet most of their “medical tourists” are from the Middle East and Bangladesh. They are also getting involved in tele-medicine especially in radiology, when the diagnosis is co-authored with a radiologist in theUS.

Another revenue source is pharmaceuticals. The CFO claims that over 1/3rd of the drugs in India are fake, but Apollo is known for being a reliable source of drugs so they have built their business to over 600 drugstores around India. India, he told us, has a large pharmaceutical industry that supplies generic drugs at a fraction of the cost. Apollo also gets very good discounts when buying drugs for their pharmacies, so they have no problems staying competitive in that market as well as very attractive to overseas visitors!

As far as purchasing their medical equipment, they deal with the 4 major suppliers in the world who have special pricing for India, so they have no problem getting the equipment they need for their hospitals.
One of the businesses they are promoting is medical insurance but the problem is that of access. With most of the population being illiterate or semi-literate, they do not understand that they should demand healthcare as a fundamental civil right (like in Western countries).

Apollo is working with hospitals chains, like Tenant in the US, exchanging training and knowhow. However, due to the weakness of the dollar, there has not been a foreign direct investment from them. India now allows 100% FDI in hospitals, and the opportunity is vast since the healthcare system currently resembles the one in the US in the 20’s and 30’s.

Apollo has strong relationships with hospitals in Cuba and Brazil. They also started offering consulting services to lesser developed countries, like Nigeria. They have currently 30 consultants and their services contribute 2% to the total revenues of Apollo. Their expertise is in marrying technology with commerce. When they undertake a consulting project, they usually share in the hospital’s profit and sometimes leave people to run the place for a longer term.

The speaker made a strong statement about the future of India. He said: “We have some of the best skills and minds in the world!” India is seeing a developing trend of professionals, such as doctors, returning to the country. A take-home of a doctor in India, he told us, is higher than the US and the same is happening in IT. So the financial incentives are now there for those people to come back. “There is a comfort in crowds,” he smiled. “We are 1/6th of the world population!”

Finally he told us that there is a big gap in education of hospital administration and management and Apollo is addressing it by setting up their own schools. The problem is that the majority of the population has still to perceive hospital administration as a good career, but that will come. “We are the pioneers,” he concluded, “Someone else will get the credit…”

Second Presentation: Corporate Yoga

The Supreme Lord is situated in
Everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is
Directing the wanderings of all living
Entities, who are seated as on a machine,
Made of the material energy

Man had invented religion. God is in all our own hearts. The longest journey that you will take in your life is from your head to your heart…

The last thing we ever want to learn is about ourselves. What are you? Take time to mediate daily. Spend time with yourself. We always want to fill our lives with activities…
Objectives to Realize:
• Take time out from daily life (sit still for 30 minutes a day and you will find the answers within you)
• Introspect
• Instill a senses of Balance
• Get in touch with yourself
• What are you doing REALLY?
• Get a little rest in the “dressing room”
• Demystify spiritually and remove the veil
• Corporate are countries/kingdoms today

Why can’t we relate to each other when there is only one world or one consciousness? Why can’t we go beyond ourselves INTO ourselves and learn that we’re all the same?

Reflect a bit on your past:
• Birth
• Schooling
• Childhood ambitions
• College – changing goals
• Job – first, second…
• Marriage, children
• Where are you now?

Our thinking levels are very low. We need proof that things exist, even love!

Fundamental Relationships:
• GOD or SELF or ABSOLUTE
• Relatives
• Work
• “From the sweat of the brow shall you earn…”
Knowledge:
• Belief – we act from our beliefs not from knowledge
• Understanding – a man is his understanding!
• Impressions – we are living in a world of illusions
• The limitation of our six senses – what you are experiencing is coming from you; faulty equipment leads to faulty conclusions
• Where do thoughts originate – do you own your thoughts?
• The mind too is an organ – it catches thoughts that are beamed to us universally

Just once a day, clean up your thoughts! You may be catching the wrong ones!
Centers of Existences:
• Physical/intuitive
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Several personalities within us…
• Automatic existence
• Several realities simultaneously exist!
• Time and space can be destroyed at will
• The world, you and God all exist at once

We are all victim of inertia. How do we make my existence as alive as possible so it will not be only a memory or just become a ritual?

Balance:
• As important a concept as gravity
• Equilibrium is an important necessity for dynamic systems
• Consequences of imbalance?
• Mental balance – the key to life!
• The ripples of imbalance throughout society
• Seek balance in – money, work, relationships, exercise, food, boss, subordinate

Leaders should act as centers of balance!

Mr. Venkataraman summed it all up by telling us that he is building a website devoted to “Corporate Yoga” and invited the students to participate if they believed that what he said had merit. “There are 30 of you. If you really believe in this, you can make it 300,000…” he said.

India and Trains - and - What is the difference between India and China?

In a recent book published by Viking called:"How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours", Tarun Khanna writes:

"Indian railway carriages are still routinely crowded with two to three times as many passengers as they are meant to carry, making every arrival and departure a stampede of hundreds of people; a massive surging sea of humanity josling to find their place and bags in the caboos..."

He goes on to compare trains in China and India: "Sleek, efficient, immaculate, and orderly were adjectives that immediately came to mind during my first high speed train ride from Shanghai airport to Pudong...The Nanjing Station resembles a modern airport, not the New Delhi like higgly-piggledy of human activity... Nanjing's modern escalators are in sharp contrast to the dilapidated stairs, often crowded with beggars, that one is forced to climb in New Delhi."

His concludes with the exact thoughts I now have in mind: "Whereas order, harmony and hierarchy have been the constant goals of the Chinese state, India has a proud tradition of pluralism, dissent, and debate. Anyone seeking to engage in a dialoge with these countries must undestand the fundamentally different ideologies and political antecedents of their current practices. They are deep seated and long lived."

While we missed the opportunity to ride the Maglev train in China, we did have a chance to ride the super new and modern Skytrain as well as the subway in Bangkok. And I almost wished we never did it before we undertook our train ride in India...

We took the night train from Chennai to Bangalore leaving around midnight and arriving early at about 5:30 AM, repeating the same trip on the way back. When we arrived to the train station in our bus, the bus driver told us to stay on the bus and wait till he goes to check and see whether the train is in the terminal before we can leave the bus and enter the station (we, of course, did not know why he did that). As we joked about what lay ahead (who will be sleeping in what compartment and with whom), we were given the signal to hurry up and start walking toward the station and the train's platform.

As we entered the station, we felt like we walked into a strange movie scene... everything felt beyond real -- the bodies of people sleeping on the floor in every corner, the terrible smells, the dirty surrounding were a shock. The guide kept pushing us to move fast so we will not be able to look around too much or be approached by the beggars and lepers around. As we half ran with our backbacks facing the front, for fear of thieves, some of the students tried to take pictures mumbling "this is ubelievable, unbelievable..."

Once we found our compartment, we realized we will be sleeping in groups of 8 with people in 3 or 3 bunks above each other (just like in a prison cell). We were given what seemed to be clean sheets and a wool blanket. As the students sat on the bunks trying to absorb their new environement, we kept being reminded by our Indian guide to keep our backpacks under our heads and guard our possessions very closely. Trip to the toilet were a test in holding your breadth so many of us avoided them. As some of our girl students discovered cockroaches crowling out of corners, they began screaming but later on were told that if they turned off the lights and took no food out, they should be bale to avoid them... Needless to say, have AC in the compartment was the only perk... Once everyone fell asleep, I tossed and turned on the small bunk bed getting up every hour to check on the safety of the students. Luckily they were all sleeping and I finally dosed off for an hour.

As the train screeched to a halt in Bangalore, we rubbed our eyes and sleepily walked out only to be, once again, assaulted by the horrible sights and smells of the train station. As we hurried to our awaiting buses, the students started reassuring each other: "that wasn't so bad, was it..."

By the time our field day was over and we got back to another station in Bangalore for the trip home, the mood was less optimistic. Some of the students expressed dread of having to go through the whole thing again. I was somewhat relieved when they ended up being so tired, that they all fell asleep quickly, allowing me to finally grab a couple of hours of sleep...

The final test was arriving to the station in Chennai at 5:00 and having to walk the length of the platform through hundreds of people who were just waking up from sleeping everywhere they could in the midst of filth as stray dogs were wondering around looking for food. Wearily we all eyed them with ah eavy heart. We have just retuned from visiting the gleeming headquarters of some companies in Bangalore, ate a decent meal at a small hotel there and had a nice bus awaiting to take us to our cruise ship... I felt like an alien returning to the mother space ship...

Randon pictures from Chennai