Wikileaks and Hiatus

Travelling back to the US for a few weeks. i am following the wikileaks scandal with interest. Contrary to what the news outlets say, i see little of interest in the first tranche of 233 documents: beyond what Ahmedinajad thinks of Berlusconi and the US thinks of Pakistan (we already knew they needed Pakistan but did not trust it), i see little worthy of more than a big YAAAAWN! There were some revelations that Yemen's leaders were letting the US conduct bombings while stating in public that only Yemenis were conducting the raids but nothing significant to affect the big picture.

Now, if we found out that the US is planning to change its Middle East policy or that India will agree to give up nuclear weapons for a seat on the UN Security Council, THAT would be of interest!

Trust Gadhafi to take the first step, however: after the US Ambassador made some remarks about his "voluptuous" nurse, he has been asked to return home.

Our stuff has arrived at home!

Okay, folks, our stuff has arrived at home, intact and is currently being unpacked. I owe an apology to all the officials involved for talking about bribes, i guess. NO BRIBE was given by me knowingly throughout this process!! Many thanks to my attorney friend Mohit Mathur who advised me on how the process worked so i went in forewarned and forearmed about the legal side!

On the operational side, i was lucky that i happened to have the major receipts on hand with me. No one told me to bring them on the day i was supposed to "just inspect" the goods. So i would say that at least some of the bureaucracy or perceived corruption in India is due to the inefficiency and lack of clear information on what documents are needed at each step. Beyond that, the goods sat at the warehouse for about four days in the open (with nothing missing) which should not have happened either. We should have just been able to go home with the goods as soon as we paid the customs duty.

Our goods have not been delivered yet

Our goods arrived in Delhi Nov 3 (minus one TV set, apparently)

Six days later, they are yet to get home. latest excuse: because of the missing TV set, more paperwork delays are needed. (Presumably, we need to make the pilferage even easier).

Not sure what is going on! Stay tuned on the latest saga of what happens when you dont bribe :)

Obama's trip not so bad after all

Okay, i messed up.

Obama's trip was not as bad as we feared. Quite good, actually. Let me do a full mea culpa by reviewing what i had said earlier:

Obama brings:
1. Support for technology transfers
2. Support for a seat for India on the Security Council
3. Plenty of support to Pakistan, with practically no strings attached

Obama seeks:
1. More Indian investment
2. More Indian economic support

So this seems like more of a win-win situation to me. The question is: can India and the US get their tango down on time? China is like a speeding bullet train and is expected to now catch up with the US in PPP economic terms in--get this--TWO YEARS!! Who'd have thought of it?

Obama comes looking for jobs, i leave, following mine

Obama just dropped by Mumbai today. As luck would have it, i get to leave on a business trip back to the US--talk about an unexpected bonus!

For someone who has not been able to create jobs in the US, it is not clear what his agenda in India is. let's do a quick count:

Obama brings:
1. No support for technology transfers
2. No support for a seat for India on the Security Council
3. Plenty of support to Pakistan, with practically no strings attached

Obama seeks:
1. More Indian investment
2. More Indian economic support

Now that's a good way to make friends and influence people. Way to go, Barack!

Check out similar thoughts, from an American point of view on my US-centric blog at http://bipartico.blogspot.com/

India's power situation is many million times better than it was

After 23 years, one thing that is a pleasant surprise is how well the power/generator backup system works. Although only a tiny minority of people have this facility, i am sure, it is still a huge leap forward from where the country was when i left. Every one of my small appliances work and work well, except for a UPS. An expert friend Prasanto Kumar Roy from CyberMedia tells me that i am not getting the right "step-down transformer". i respond to his Greek in broken Spanish and he embarrasses me again by responding fluently. When i get back, i need to Google "step down transformer".

In general, the change in the power situation is significant because there is at least a path for everyone to (theoretically) have access to uninterrupted power. We are a long way off from making power more inexpensive. However, using generators is a retail solution where the government infrastructure fails (yet again). But more on that in future blogs . . .

Nov 3: Our goods arrive in Delhi

Our goods arrived in Delhi today. There was a fear that the shipper would want me to pay more money ahead of time so i spoke to my friend the attorney, who assured me that according to the contract, i only have to pay on delivery.

My next resolution was to make sure i had all the proper invoices for my possessions so there would be no reason to pay a bribe. When the customs officials stated that my goods were incorrectly priced, i provided them with the receipts. No bribes paid. I had the pay the duty in cash and got no receipt but did get an endorsement in my passport. I wonder what that means?

The goods are now in the warehouse. The customs duty was paid in cash. Will everything arrive safely home? Stay tuned . . .

Sept 25: Our goods are announced

Corruption and dishonesty is not exclusive to India, apparently. Today, we have been called by the Indian agent of our US shipper and told to pay the remaining 20% owed to them. Didnt the contract say we pay on delivery? Apparently that is irrelevant.

After a lot of haggling, we agreed to pay about 60% of the amount due. My concern is: if we pay the full amount, what guarantee is there that the goods will arrive at all?

Flashback: August 25. 2010: I pay my first bribe

I paid my first bribe within 4 hours of landing in India. We had a dog that had been brought from the US and the message was that without a $ 4000 bribe ($ 100) he would stay and starve. At 2 am, i don't think i had a choice: i paid the bribe, got jerked around to pay another Rs 600 as the "official" duty and got our dog out.

We were told to come back the next day and get some official paperwork, which we never did. I am ashamed of myself but given the vulnerability and the fact that a living thing was starving, i doubt that i would do anything different under the same circumstances.

When our goods come, i have resolved not to bribe. Let's see what happens . . .

This is a blog about my experiences in India

This is a blog about my experiences in India after spending 23 years in the US. A lot is wonderful, a lot is exciting but a lot of the day to day life is depressingly unchanged. Yet, the general direction is certainly fast forward and, unlike the much shorter lived Prague Spring, India certainly seems to be aggressively pursuing its "capitalism with a human face" and thriving.

The title is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, "The Story of My Experiments with Truth".