From Calcutta, With A Frown

Apologies to my readers for not writing for a week. In India at the moment for the annual visit. As usual, taking stock, scouting opportunities, and assessing progress …

Today is a Bandh (strike) in Kolkata, in protest of the Tata Motors small car factory in Singur. Besides the fact that this small car is a bad idea (traffic and energy are both problems), the Bandh of course is a VERY bad idea. A fat, well-nourished politician called Mamata Banerji is on hunger strike. Good for her. Losing some weight may just be what the doctor ordered. Gandhi’s tools are used and abused rampantly in today’s India, needless to say. No progress there.

Yesterday, I sat drinking coffee with an old high-school friend at Crosswords, a Borders-style bookstore and cafe on Elgin Road. Such places did not exist when we were growing up, and thus, there was nowhere to meet, sit and chat. The cafe culture is now a few years old, and booming. They are not Starbucks-style wireless hotspots yet. I am sure that too is coming. Probably, Starbucks itself is coming soon, at the heels of Walmart!

The lack of a CitySearch equivalent service for Calcutta is irritating me endlessly. Hello entrepreneurs – is someone listening?

We had an evening of music, dance and poetry on Sunday with family and friends. One of my childhood friends is a super-talented singer. Yet, she knows nothing about digital recording, selling her music on iTunes, etc. What’s goin’ on with the long tail of ethnic Indian music? Please, someone, tell me you are working on it!

My father is in shipping and on the Board of the Calcutta Port Trust. From him, I am gathering updates on the status of infrastructure development – ports, airports, roads. Of course, the steel industry is booming, with coal and iron ore trading at its peak. Eastern India is limited only by transportation logistics on this front. Backwards states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa should fly soon, with the enormous influx of investment.

Retail and Real Estate, of course, are not just booming but zooming. The only problem with Real Estate as an investment vehicle is an archaic rental law that denies rights to owners, making it difficult to vacate tenant occupied properties readily. This needs to change, because it is a major headache for owners, and I know this first hand dealing with our family properties.

My father needs a private tutor to up his computer skills. I suspect, a lot of older Indian executives are in the same boat. Haven’t seen any offering for this segment so far, but then it is quite possible that it exists. Does it?

Will publish more of my notes later, especially the “open problems”. Ciao for now!