Why it is better to be “charming like India” rather than “hot like China”
by neo
In 2004, most of Mrs. Neo’s friends were surprised when she announced that she had broken up with a rather handsome Ganesh and was engaged to marry the very skinny-looking Neo. Yes, they said, Neo was sort of smart, charming and funny, but – he’s so skinny!
It was a brilliant decision by Mrs. Neo – Neo started working out soon after he got married, and the rest is history.
(Single folks are now probably thinking that Mrs. Neo must be thrilled about how things worked out. Married folks of course, know better: There is not one visitor to Neoville that has not heard Mrs. Neo’s 45-minute sob story of how terrible the Neos’ wedding pictures look. Although, encouragingly, yesterday Mrs. Neo did spare the neighbors cousin who just happened to stop by for some sugar. Neo’s frantic silent-begging motions from the other room might have also helped.)
Tongues will always wag, but the truth is that Neo had nothing to do with Mrs. Neo’s decision to dump “part ways amicably with” Ganesh. That was all Ganesh’s doing. As the average reader* will probably agree, haranguing Mrs. Neo constantly about how she was damaging the environment every time she dried her hair wasn’t exactly the best way to soften her up for a marriage proposal.
(* Not that Neo has any average readers – all of Neo’s readers are above average, especially when it comes to patiently waiting for Neo’s next post.)
The breaking point for Mrs. Neo was probably when she came home one day and discovered that Ganesh had entered her apartment using his copy of her apartment keys (oh yes, they had exchanged keys, and almost rings), and thrown out her brand-new Calphalon cooking set – because he felt strongly that “steel is healthier than Teflon!”. Perhaps Ganesh should have done what all sensible men do – wait until after he got married to let out his inner control-freak.
But this post is not about gloating or about pointing out that Ganesh is still single. Nor is this post about the priceless look on Mrs. Neo’s friends’ faces when they see the “neo-Neo physique” – it is about India, specifically India vs China:
Don’t let the make-love-not-pollution liberals fool you – there is an epic competition brewing between India and China. Economic growth is not a zero-sum game, but there is a limited supply of oil, food, water. skilled labor and demand for shoddily cheaply manufactured goods in the world.
At its heart, any bet on India (such as investing in India, or moving to India for career reasons) is a bet that (much like Neo’s shoulder measurements) India’s problems, while serious, can be fixed in the not-so-distant future.
There is little doubt that China is ahead today, and much “hotter” than India right now – but India’s problems are fundamentally different from China’s:
Neo can argue (and is arguing) that it is easier to increase growth and fix infrastructure/governance issues when you have a fundamentally free and a highly educated population (i.e. India) than it is to try and control a repressed and un-free people forever by bribing them with fake economic growth (i.e. China).
Neo’s day job allows him some access to Indian government officials, and one of them remarked to him last week – “the problem with China is that its GDP growth numbers are decided three years in advance, while the problem in India is that we can’t agree on what the GDP growth numbers were three years ago.”
Yes, this is the age of Twitter, and so like most other things in life, the India vs China problem can be reduced to a 140-character bumper sticker: “I may be fat, but you’re ugly and I can diet!.”
Epilogue: Yes, Neo does sound like an Indian fanboy at times. Well, at least he didn’t have to hack through a poor-Cisco-imitation firewall (yes I’m looking at you, Huawei) and risk death-by-being-eaten-alive-by-worms or worse, death-by-being-forced-to-eat-worms just by posting this.
(Disclaimer: No skinny people were insulted in this post. Also, Mrs. Neo now says it is untrue that skinny men are unattractive. It would be nice if Mrs. Neo had realized this 78,344 hours in sweaty gyms and $19351.23 ago).
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- Stop sweating the details and look at the big picture while planning your return to India Image via Wikipedia Mrs. Neo’s friend “Amit” in the Bay...
Agree! Communism does have its benefits – especially when it comes to taking harsh decisions (would India ever be able to pull off the Olympics the way China did?). Having said that, freedom and education hold much more value at the end of the day; and these are the factors that will decide the outcome, say, 10 years from now. Imagine being told by big brother what to see, eat, wear, spit, screw .. *shudders at the thought*
BTW, keeping political factors aside, I also believe we have the competitive edge in the *skills* department mainly because we are light-years ahead of the Chinese in the English department. That’s a major advantage that we have and should utilize it to our advantage!
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Yep – there is also a certain diversity of skills in India, a side-effect of a lack of central planning. I think this makes the Indian economy more resilient to changes – you can find just about anything in India. :)
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Are you really so full of humor in real life ??? or is it just your writing. I keep wondering…
To the point now…you should write a piece on work culture in India. For those of us who are still a little skeptical about moving back…
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Shree – There’s only one way to find out. :-)
Thanks for reminding me about the work culture posts. I’ll try and post my thoughts on it soon!
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Neo: The problems, sorry, differences, are numerous. What’s amusing to watch is how quickly the exporters of democratic values and human rights aid, advise and enable their citizens and businesses in getting a slice of the Chinese market. That is a dichotomy that I cannot quite comprehend. Anyway my next speaking engagement is exactly on this topic & I am seeing much information on this everywhere. Should be fun in more ways than one. :-)
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Shefaly – hope the speaking engagement went well – any lessons you learned ?
And what people say they believe and what people actually do are *so* different. Without this unique feature of humanity, I’d have nothing to blog about. :-)
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Neo
The speaking engagement is some way in the near future. I am a curious sort of person so am bound to learn tons. On the rest – well, that is true.
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Umm lets see –
You’ve saved 5 crores in the US.
You’re well-built from all the sweating in the gym.
You aim to be experiential by getting better at sex (though have to say sometimes it ain’t about acrobatics – missionary works like a charm too)
You’re smart, charming and funny.
Gotta say Mrs. Neo hit the bulls eye :)
PS – China ain’t all about shoddy goods and repressed people. They’re some of the most enterprising folk around and we really cannot hope to compete with them where their strengths lie. Will never happen.
PS2 – It IS true that they’re not making land anymore (well, at least not in major Indian metros). We’re a nation of 1 billion plus and growing…even an apt in the ‘burbs of b’lore will succumb to inflationary trends in money supply and population growth..bit of Econ 101 for the IT Engineer. Do get that mortgage, Bubba Neo will thank you 20 30 40 years later.
PS3 – Dont own a WII OR a Playstation. Yet. :)
Rivetting read. Cheers.
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@sabmayahai
I showed Mrs. Neo your comment about my smarts, charm and wit – and her reaction was (I’m translating from her expression into English) “Well that’s easy to say for someone who doesn’t have to live with you!” :)
In many ways, China is like Dubai on (chinese-made) steroids. Malinvestment, over-investment and the bubble thinking is alive, well and bursting at its seams in China – you don’t have to take the word of an anonymous, charming blogger – read this: http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/108534/contrarian-investor-sees-economic-crash-in-china?mod=retire-planning
However, all of these flaws are with the government – none of this is to take away from the enterprising nature of the Chinese people. Thought experiment: Imagine how much more powerful would China be if it were as free as India!
And on getting a mortgage (as opposed to a house) – I’m “in the market”. If you suddenly see me posting real estate cheerleader posts, you’ll know I bought. :)
-Neo
PS: I see that you’ve mastered the core management principle of keeping the most important information in the “PS”.
PS2: I’m going to go on a limb and suggest that you start your own blog. You already have a good taste in the blogs you read! :)
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So you follow world economic news as well as write a (humorous and attention-grabbing) blog, work in the IT industry in India (guaranteed long-hours), spend quantity time crayon-coloring? with Neo Jr. and take care of the needs of Mrs. Neo.
Your world has 48 hour days? :)
I’m a big China fan. The country can make and sell goods (shoddy or not) for 10% of the price of similar stuff available elsewhere (incidentally those are made in China too, just branded differently). IMO, you cannot beat that kind of price competition. The world will still need everything from plastic clips to Neo Jr.’s and Maya Jr.’s toys to microchips.
BUT no need to take a commenter-who doesn’t even have her own blog ‘s word for it. Check this out.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/11/china-bubble-chanos-leadership-managing-rein.html
For a large, comparatively poor, not very well educated population, such as China’s, democracy may not be the best solution CURRENTLY.
(Not my opinion – words out of the Chinese’s mouth). They are able to build metros in their large cities in the time it takes Mumbai to obtain clearances from Andheri residents for approval to start building a metro line. Greater good for the greatest number.
PS – Mrs Neo should stop and think – if she doesn’t count her lucky stars that she snagged you when she did – you have a whole female following of blog readers who think you’re witty and charming who’d be happy to help her count :)
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Hey Neo. Been loving your posts.
Let’s put it this way. I am moving to Bangalore and this time around I wil start my naturalization process. (I have been to India 4 times now, and I am a white american)
I am not moving to China.
India is crazy, corrupt, loud, dirty, and no one can agree on anything yet at the same time won’t actively disagree with each other.
China is just scary to me. I find the US to controlling, China is far worse.
In the end India will win because it is sane and democratic. China will become democratic before it is over, but India has the advantage for now.
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