India Scorecard

Money is just flowing in. A Billion from Intel, a Billion from Cisco, $1.7 Billion from Microsoft, an ICICI public issue or $1.5 Billion to support the Indian credit bonanza …

For a long, long time, Indians, especially middle class Indians looked at America as salvation. Somehow, they would manage to move to the US, get a job, and life would be hunky dory.

Times have changed, and today, middle class Indians in the midst of this enormous economic boom in India, especially in high-tech, often have better quality of life and easier access to employment than their counterparts in the US, who are living under the threat of outsourcing and offshoring.

With this as the back-drop, recently, my childhood friend Nilanjana, who is now a doctor in the UK, went to launch a mentoring program for the students of our high school in Calcutta. She was surprized by the questions from the kids … as if, nothing has changed, and they still think that America offers that cherished milk and honey, and somehow, somehow, if they can manage to go to America, and settle down, then all will be well.

I don’t read Indian newspapers on a regular basis. This has made me wonder, however, what ideas today’s Indian teenagers are growing up with! Does the Media not report on what is happening? Do their parents / teachers not interpret and explain the world they are about to step into? Or worse yet, do the parents / teachers not understand the implications of the global power shift and economic load balancing in the works?

I know I have readers in India. I would love to hear from you on this topic. Please write.