The Indian success story

Another wonderful article on rediff....... by B S Prakash..........

We were speeding on a broad California highway and it was pitch dark early in the morning. Our destination Sacramento, the capital of the state of California was still a few hours away and Paul my American friend in the car suggested a coffee break. Actually more than that since like many Americans he was already hungry even before dawn and was ready to eat.

We came off the highway and soon found a donut shop, or doughnut shop to spell it correctly, ubiquitous in USA and the standard place for a quick breakfast and coffee. I don't know if you like the creamy sweetness of donuts or pastries so early after waking up. Having been brought up on a healthy diet of idlis or upma, I don't, but most Americans seem to like it.

Inside the shop, there were no customers, but two sales personnel, as they are referred to, representing both genders. Both Asians. Living in these parts, one begins to recognise different types of Asians, to discern by look some differences between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, though one can never be sure. But these did not look like Chinese. They seemed shorter, shyer and less assured.

As the supply van which had unloaded a fresh batch of hot donuts drove away, they were heard talking in an unfamiliar tongue with the driver of the van and with each other.

"Which language are you speaking?" I asked with a smile. I am curious and inquisitive in situations like this.

"How many?" one of them replied pointing at the donuts.

"No. No. Is it Cantonese?" I repeated and saw bafflement and irritation on his face.

We had a few more rounds of utterly unsuccessful exchanges like this with the result that I was only learning that these donuts cost 60 cents, while the ones glazed and glistening in the back tray were at $1.29.

Meanwhile Paul who had gone around the corner came in, took in the scene, and told me not to trouble them with my enquiries any more.

"Don't harass these guys with your questions. Don't you know that they are Cambodians with very limited English?" he said.

"How would I know?" I replied.

"It is common knowledge. Donut shops in California are owned and manned by Cambodians. You should know that. It is like the Laundromats being run by the Koreans," he said.

I was struck by this sweeping generalisation about vocation and ethnic origin, though somewhat sceptical. More enquiries and research showed however that there is often a fascinating correlation between who you are as an immigrant American and what you do.

Why are donuts shops run largely by Cambodians? These are simple shops with limited fare, not really like restaurants, but running them is really hard work. Typically the donuts are baked/fried at midnight and brought into the shop by 3 am. A small family can manage the whole operation -- cook, deliver, sell, clean -- and can even buy a franchise for a modest investment. But the most important factor in our story is that this operation hardly requires any English.

Unlike any other customer oriented business based on labour -- laundry or drycleaning, hair-saloons or facials, or as you go up the value chain, groceries or pharmacies -- in the donut shop, you go in, point to what you need and say: 'I want six or a dozen'. Conversely, the salesperson merely has to point to the trays and ask: 'Which one -- this or that' and that is it.

The Indian success story

Silicon Valley Revisited

Thought provoking article on rediff.......

"A year ago, totally new in these parts, I wrote my first rediff column titled Sounding silly in Silicon Valley. It did capture my state of befuddlement then about not only technology, but stratospheric success, dazzling wizardry and the brains to riches story of many Indians in the IT industry which surrounded me in my new job in San Francisco.

A year is a long time in Silicon Valley where today's discoveries in technology render obsolete yesterday's wonders, new business models create stock market sensations or disasters, companies rise and crumble, and millions are made or lost if not in a click, then in a week.

A year is a short time, however, for someone like me untutored in the IITs or the IIMs to truly understand all this. But it is perhaps sufficient to gain some insights. I have no claim to write today on 'Making sense of Silicon Valley', but I hope that frequent visits, many encounters, and professional requirements have made me if not wise, at least less silly. Hence this 'revisit' to decode the current happenings in the Silicon valley, the high technology centre of the world, made doubly interesting for us because of the significant Indian connection.

Yes, one thing is still true from my old article, the Indian connection. Names of Bangalore and increasingly Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon have become if not household at least 'corporatehold' words in the Silicon Valley, just as in the myriad call centers, IT parks and R&D units that now dot the Indian landscape, the names of the local shrines here -- Intel, Google, Sun, and Cisco -- are constantly invoked. Not only the symbiotic link, as the management jargon has it, but there is a growing perception that it is useful to factor India while weighing the future options and opportunities in many areas of high-technology.

One of the interesting questions is: What makes Silicon Valley what it is, a frontier locale for high technologies? The technologies being hatched and nurtured today cover not only IT but increasingly Bio, Nano, Web, and Communications. How did this particular landscape develop as a 'habitat' for technological innovation and creativity? I have been asking pundits."

Silicon Valley Revisited

Joke: Vaccum Cleaner

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of the street. A tall lady answered the door. Before she could speak, the enthusiastic salesman barged into the living room and opened a big black plastic bag and poured all the cow droppings onto the carpet.

"Madam, if I could not clean this up with the use of this new powerful vacuum cleaner, I will EAT all this s...!" exclaimed the eager salesman.

"Do you need chili sauce or ketchup with that" asked the lady.

The bewildered salesman asked, "Why, madam?"

"We just moved in, & there's no electricity in the house!"

MORAL: Gather All Required Information Before Working On Any Project...

MBA Exams.....

ONE NIGHT 4 MBA STUDENTS WERE BOOZING TILL LATE NIGHT AND DIDN'T STUDY

FOR THE TEST WHICH WAS SCHEDULED FOR THE NEXT DAY.


IN THE MORNING THEY THOUGHT OF A PLAN. THEY MADE THEMSELVES LOOK AS DIRTY
AND WEIRD AS THEY COULD WITH GREASE AND DIRT.
THEY THEN WENT UP TO THE DEAN AND SAID THAT THEY HAD GONE OUT TO A WEDDING
LAST NIGHT AND ON THEIR RETURN THE TYRE OF THEIR CAR BURST AND THEY HAD TO
PUSH THE CAR ALL THE WAY BACK AND THAT THEY WERE IN NO CONDITION TO APPEAR
FOR THE TEST.


THEN DEAN WAS A JUST PERSON SO HE SAID THAT YOU CAN HAVE THE RETEST AFTER 3
DAYS.

THEY SAID THEY WILL BE READY BY THAT TIME. ON THE THIRD DAY THEY APPEARED
BEFORE THE DEAN. THE DEAN SAID THAT THIS WAS A SPECIAL CONDITION TEST.

ALL FOUR WERE REQUIRED TO SIT IN SEPARATE CLASSROOMS FOR THE TEST. THEY ALL
AGREED AS THEY HAD PREPARED WELL IN THE LAST THREE DAYS. THE TEST CONSISTED
OF 2 QUESTIONS WITH TOTAL OF 100 MARKS.



Q.1. WRITE DOWN YOUR NAME -----(2 MARKS)

Q.2. WHICH TYRE BURST -------(98 MARKS)!!