Aman Ki Asha! May that day arrive when this border becomes the kissing lips of the beloved.

Mazar-e Mirza Ghalib

The sadness of separation and the yearning to be socially one again still remains quite strong.  It’s a shame that two nations, one big and the other gigantic, sitting side by side remain so distant.  So much to revive, share, and create – culture, economics, creativity, tourism, and a mind boggling variety of food. 

Is it too much to ask? a borderless border, free trade, travel and tourism. 

Came across some lovely emotions expressed by yester year progressive writers while reading “Anthems of Resistance” by Ali Hussain Mir 7 Raza Mir – an IndiaInk Roli Books. 

 Ghalib: 

Voh din aaye ke aansoo ho ke nafrat dil se bah jaaye; Voh din aaye ye sarhad bosa-e lab ban ke rah jayee 

Yeh sarhad doobte taaron ki, ubharte aaftaabon ki, Yeh sarhad khon mein lithde pyaar ke zakhmi gulaabon ki 

Main is sarhad pe kabse muntazar hoon subhe-e farda ka 

 May that day arrive when hatred ebbs from the heart in the form of tears 

May that day arrive when this border becomes the kissing lips of the beloved 

This is the border of the setting stars, of rising suns; This the border of love’s roses soaked in blood 

I, for long, have been waiting at this border for a new morning. 

 Sardar Jafri: 

Tum aao gulshan-e Lahore se chaman bardosh; Hum aayen subh-e Banaaras ki raushni le kar 

Himaalya ke havaaon ki taazgi le kar; phir us ke baad ye poochenge, kaun dushman hai? 

You come bearing the gardens of Lahore on your shoulders; We will bring the brightness of Benaras’ morning 

The freshness of the Himalayan breeze; And then, we can ask one another: who is the enemy?

Attending Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2010

Nasscom Night

Attending the Nasscom Leadership Forum 2010 was an interesting experience.  The conference was well attended by decsions makers from across the globe – specially executives from USA and Europe. The venue (Grand Hyatt, Mumbai) was just that grand and the overall event management was good too.  The food was great and so were the evening entertainment events.

I particularly enjoyed the inaugural speech by the CM of Mahrashtra – as he played the perfect salesman dedicating most of his speech to Mahrashtra being the state to do business in.  The Nasscom team seemed very competent and the senior IT personalities played their part well in making the guests comfortable and in promoting Indian IT.  My special thanks to Mr. Som Mittal, President of Nasscom in specially welcoming the Pakistani delegation to Mumbai. It was very heart warming and was followed by a a very warm round of applause by all the guests.

However, I was not too impressed by the discussions in the the sessions and workshops I attended.  The ”wow” “game changing” factors were not there in the content – atleast not for me.

I also realized that despite the unbelievable, ”in your face” “on the sidewalk” “clearly unavoidable” poverty all over Mumbai, the global executives seemed comfortable being in India and transacting business in India.

I guess safety and consistency in business policy are the key motivators for global players to be in India (not to mention the availability of the talent pool).

Seems like the only (or the primary) hurdle we have to overcome at the moment is to make Pakistan a safe place for foreigners to come and conduct business.

I think we need to take drastic steps to at least immediately make the key cities 100% safe.  Even if we have to cordon off and (electronically monitor or tag) every citizen coming in and out of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad we should do this.

UNDP Human Development Report 2009 – A Regional (BIPS) Comparison

Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report (pioneered by Dr. Mahbub ul Haq) looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well being.  The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as gender or income inequality nor more difficult to measure concepts like respect for human rights and political freedoms. What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being.  Here is how the numbers look for BIPS (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).  Would love to see a discussion analyzing this data and suggestions on how and what we should improve going forward!