Tag Archives: 印度

Bangalore bombing

Last Friday, 9 bombs set off in Bangalore, killed two people and wounded over twenty people.  I never feel so close to terrorist attack.  I worked in Bangalore for two months.  My colleagues took over my tasks are still working in Bangalore.  According to the news, one of the bomb went off just outside the Forum Mall, which is right next to where I live.  When you have been to places so close to bombing, it seems quite scary.  Everyone I know in Bangalore is safe.  The unlucky souls drafted to serve the Bangalore tour of duty is now getting cold feet.  I guess they have every right to concern about their own safety.

According to the news, the bombing is carried out by a Islamic terrorist group called Indian Mujahideen.  It is a small outfit of the worldwide Muslim jihad terrorist.  It seems no one knows the political agenda of this little known terrorist group.  They are not making any request according to the news.  I don’t see any reason Indian Mujahideen to fight.  India has freedom of religion, Muslim are allow to practice their faith freely.  The Indian government is not oppressing Muslim in any mean.  On the other hand the Muslim are oppressing those who live next to their Mosque by their 5a.m. morning prayer with loudspeaker.

When Indian independent from the British Empire, the Muslim had their own country in Pakistan.  If the Indian Muslim don’t like living among the Hindu majority, they can simply move to Pakistan.  They have no right to ask for more than they deserved by threatening others who don’t share their religion.  If the Indian Muslims think they are oppressed because they are poor.  They are fighting for the wrong cause.  Believing in Muslim is probably why they are poor in the first place.  Think about how much productivity is lost in time wasted for daily prayers.  If they want to leave poverty behind, maybe they should stop reading Koran and start learning marketable skills.

Indian and beef

When I worked in India, I made friends to a few colleagues in the Bangalore office.  They shown me show me around town on weekends and we had lots of fun together.  One of them is visiting Vancouver for work, so it is my turn to be the host and show him the city.  We had a welcome lunch with other team member at Cactus Club today.  This friend of mine is a rare Indian because he eat beef.  He is the one brought me to try the illegal off-menu Indian deep fry beef in Bangalore.  We recommended him to have steak for lunch.  At first he wanted have the steak well done, luckily we stopped him or his steak would be like shoe leather.  It would taste best with medium-rare, but we afraid he may not like the blood juice, so we ordered him a medium instead.  This is his first time travel outside of India, so this is his first time to have a real steak.  He like the steak a lot and complain that he could not find  such a good steak in India.

When I was in India, I told him about my guns and I promise to bring him shooting when he come over.  So tonight we went to shooting range after work.  Due to various delay, we had dinner at McDonald to save time.  It turns out having a hamburger in McDonald is a new experience to him.  The McDonald in India don’t serve hamburger, they only have chicken, fish or veggie burger.  The funny thing is somehow he think hamburger is made of ham instead of beef.  I have to explain to him hamburger is not made of ham.  The name comes form where it is invented, which is Hamburg, Germany.  Other than serving hamburger, our McDonald is pretty much the same as the Indian McDonald.  The next food I will get him to try is sushi.  He still haven’t overcome the idea of eating raw fish.  I guess we should start with California roll then slowly work the way up to sashimi.  It is always fun introducing new cuisine to people from different culture, whether he like the food or not.

Travel story

Tonight I had dinner with an old friend.  I haven’t seen her since I came back form India, so naturally our conversation is about my Indian adventure.  Unfortunately, I forgot the memory card of my phone at home.  I could not show her my Indian pictures.  I can only share my experience in the fashion way but telling stories. We had a great night with lots of laughters.  This incident make me wonder, which way is the better to share your travel with your friends, telling them stories of simply show them pictures.

Showing picture seems more efficient, a picture worthy a thousand words.  However from my observation, it seems people like to flip through the pictures quickly.  They rarely stop and ask question unless something catch their eyes.  I don’t think just seeing the picture will have a glimsy of the context of the travel experience.  They may only get shallow comments like this is beautiful and that is funny.  Take over the control and flip the pictures according to your pace seems not working too well.  Since in an album, you have a lot of photos between the few photos you have story to tell, the next pictures will draw attention away.  Having some physical albums also has an disadvantage of being interrupted easily.   If you put away your album or photo, you might very well leave the second half of your story never told.

Telling a story is more entertaining.  You can extraggerate the real experience, spice it up a little bit.  You can build up the climax to conclude the fun part of a picture instead of giving it out right away when you flip to the next page.  However, some times you want to have the photos handy to show them something that is hard to believe.  For example, I wish I have the photo of two Indian police patrolling the street holding hands together.  That is something really hard to believe.

Outsourcing delimma

In this project, I am supervising 3 team members in our India office.  This week, I am really disappointed by their lack of productivity.  I have assigned them some tasks for the week and they are very behind in completing the tasks.  It would take me two days to finish those tasks my self and I already take the difference in experience into account and gave them a week of time.  It turns out their deliverable is still late, it looks like that will take them another half a week to get to done.  It seems I have over estimated their productivity.  I am quite unhappy about their work.  How can I finish the project on time with these three not performing grunts?

On a second thought, maybe I should be happy about their lack of productivity.  The company should know the gold rule: what you pay is what you get.  The Indians get a 1/4 of my salary, it is quite obvious that they are as good as me.  If they cost much less and still work almost as good as me, then I should start worrying about my job.  Finish the project on time and drastically cut the cost by outsourcing is a mission impossible to begin with.  The deadline is expected to slip.  As long as it is not my fault and there is nothing I could do, I cannot be blamed for the failure.  Failure is the mother of success, as long as we learn the lesson.  I think the lesson I learn from this outsourcing experience is that I should never over estimate the productivity of the Indian contractors, especially the junior guys.

印度遊記(完) – 後感

Taj Mahal

這文章是印度遊記的最後一篇﹐談談我在印度生活了兩個月的感想﹐反思自我與世界的關係。這次印度之旅不能夠算是被迫﹐我有最終決定權可以選擇不去﹐雖然可能對工作前途不是明智的決定。可是更加算不上是自願﹐若果要我自己掏腰包買機票﹐印度大既永遠也不會出現在我的旅遊行程表上。能夠促成這次印度之旅只可以說是機緣了﹐既然要去就不妨來則安之﹐是擴闊眼界增廣見聞的一個難得機會。

公司的設計部要登陸印度﹐趕全球化工作外判的潮流。我這次工幹的最主要工作﹐便是建立印度那邊的團隊﹐培訓新入職的當地工程司。平時在報章雜誌看工作外判的新聞﹐及不上親身經歷這麼深的體會。一般有關工作外判的主流論述﹐多數是評擊無良企業為追求利潤﹐不關心本土員工的福利﹐把工作外判便宜的第三世界﹐剝削當地的廉價勞工。可是當自己置身全球化的一環﹐又不難理解企業外判工作的決定。印度初級工程師人工雖然只是北美的八分一﹐在當地他們已經是有車有樓的中產階層﹐談不上在剝削刻薄第三世界的工人。身在北美隔著個太平洋﹐印度的廉價勞工只是賬目上的一數字﹐我們可以咬牙切齒說印度人搶走我們的飯碗。當身在印度與印度人面對面﹐與他們交朋友時一起吃喝聊天﹐就不把他們當作數字﹐而是活生生有血有肉的人看待。他們也是人也要掙錢養家﹐若他們的工作效率不比我們差太遠﹐我們憑什麼白收十倍的人工呢﹖

工作全球化無可避免﹐略懂經濟理論的人也知道﹐保護主義只是膛臂擋車。若果不想在全球化下被淘汰﹐只好不斷進修自我增值﹐工作價值上升要比外判的成本效益快﹐才可以逃過裁員被搶飯碗的命運。幸好印度的資深工程師和管理人材不足﹐他們的工資也水漲船高﹐現在已及得上北美的一半﹐每年還有超過一成的增幅﹐五至十年內會喪失低成本的優勢。全球化對已發展國家的工人來說﹐可以說是一面雙刃刀。若果工作生產效率低﹐或只是在做低增值的工作﹐一定不可能贏過印度的廉價勞工。可是反過來說即使印度人工八分一﹐請八個印度人卻不能取代一個北美員工。因為人力資源不是計加數﹐八個低工作效率的人一起做事﹐只會把事情弄得一團糟﹐說不定還會出現負生產值﹐要人家替他們收捨爛灘子。現實的情況大慨是﹐會用十個北美員工帶領四十個印度員工﹐用來取代原本的二十個北美員工。對留下來的十個員工來說﹐印度員工是用來增加他們效率的人力資源﹐某程度來說與使用新軟件來增加工作效率沒有分別。只要能夠步上高增值高效率的崗位﹐全球化工作外判﹐可說是令工作回報水漲船高的難得機遇。所以如果有效使用印度的人力資源﹐提高自己增值服務的競爭力﹐是今後最重要的課題。

同樣也在報紙雜誌看過不少﹐貧富懸殊是全球化另一個衍生的問題﹐這次印度之旅﹐也令我有很深刻的體會。去過印度才見識了什麼是真正的貧窮﹐香港那些整天喊窮﹐控訴的社會不公義的弱勢社群﹐簡直是身在福中不知福﹐他們在香港享受的生活質素﹐與印度貧民窟相比簡直是天堂。說實的我也膽子走進印度貧民窟看看﹐只不過是坐新德里去泰姬陵的火車途經目睹。那裏的貧民不要說住有水有電的公屋﹐環境較好的有半幅磚牆鐵皮屋頂﹐其次有骯髒的帆布帳蓬﹐最差的只有樹枝和草席﹐有的房子甚至連屋頂也沒有。貧民窟沒有廁所﹐窮人只好離睡覺遠一點的地方﹐對著火車軌脫褲就地解決大小二便。貧民窟當然也沒有自來水﹐火車沿途經過一個個咖黃色﹐不知是泥水還是雨水的小湖﹐可以看見湖的一邊有一大群牛在洗澡﹐窮人則在另一邊取水喝洗衣服。印度窮人靠什麼維生我不知道﹐不過肯定在旅遊景點行乞是其中一樣。在印度乞丏無處不在﹐管理妥善的旅遊比較少乞丐﹐在地點偏遠管理不善的景點﹐只要有外國遊客出現﹐乞丐就會好像蒼蠅一樣﹐整群出動嗡著他們的獵物。

在香港或北美等發達地區﹐窮人只是社會上一小部份不幸的人﹐ 我們的善心很自然地悠然而生﹐認為我們有捐點錢施捨給窮人。可是對著印度或其他落後地區數之不盡的窮人﹐我們不禁會反問捐錢有用嗎﹖我們有無條件行善的義務嗎﹖正如在旅遊景點遇到的乞丐﹐若果心軟施捨給面前好像很可憐的人﹐其他乞丐看見就會走來包圍著你討錢。就算你派盡帶來的現金﹐也不可能滿足所有前來行乞的窮人﹐倒不如乾脆一開始就不給錢。捐錢行善有像是有錢人義務﹐但那只限於不影響生活質素的大前題下。世界上的窮人多如海裏細沙﹐派錢幫助他們根本不切實際﹐我們可以幫到幾多人。總不成叫人真的學耶穌所講﹐要變賣所有家產分給窮人﹐讓自己也變成窮人一份子吧。可是窮人存在始終是個實在的問題﹐也不可以坐視不理。既然派錢不是辨法﹐讓他們提高生產力﹐以自己能力脫貧﹐故然是一條可行的方案。

可是現實是地球資源根本不夠用﹐若世界全部人也要有發達國家的生活水準﹐那可需要三個地球的資源。若要發達國家人民大幅降低生活質素﹐與窮人分享地球現 有的資源﹐那簡直全是滿口仁義道德的廢話。除非閣下是德蘭修女﹐可以拋棄一切去服務窮人﹐否則就只是偽善的假道學。就算是那些追求所謂社會公義的人﹐他們所 享受的生活質素﹐已是遠超在剷平主義下﹐每個人能夠分到的地球資源。因此唯一結論只有一個﹐問題的核心是地球太多人﹐那些窮人根本一開始就不應存在世上﹐他們是世界上多了出來的人。沒有生產力對社會沒有貢獻﹐只是空坐著吸納浪費社會資源。當然我們不能把窮人全部殺掉﹐一來這是違反人道的罪行﹐二來也會衍生暴力危害社會穩定的問題。不過我們倒可以防止他們來到世界上﹐積極向窮人推行節育計劃﹐免除他們出世一生受苦的悲慘命運﹐亦過減少剩人口對地球資源的消耗。當我想通了這點關鍵﹐就明白應該怎樣捐錢做善事才最有意義。我開始上網找尋有什麼非牟利組織﹐在第三世界致力推行人口控制計劃﹐讓我捐出的金錢和心意﹐能夠最有效地幫助解決世界的問題。

印度遊記寫到這裏﹐想說的話也應該說了﹐剩下的感想經歷太過瑣碎﹐也不知該如何整理下筆。若有機會重遊印度﹐到時再印度遊記續集寫出來吧。如果要我再選擇一次去不去印度﹐我既不自願也不抗拒﹐大慨我還是會說句隨緣吧。我一向對於異國文化沒有很大興趣﹐反正自己的中國文化和西方文化已多到學不完﹐用不著費心去學習其他落後國家的低級文化。不過這次印度之旅倒令我對學習文化有點改觀﹐若沒有其他國家的文化的落後作對比﹐又怎能欣賞到中國和西方文化的高雅呢。