India’s economy will peak in 50 years

India’s economy will peak in 50 years, says Blackwill - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition

In advice to future investors, [Blackwill] added, “There is this subtle temptation that you must avoid, which is to think Indians are like us, the Westerners. Indians speak English beautifully and, arguably, today are writing the best novels in the English language. They are enormously cosmopolitan but they are not like us; they are the beneficiaries of a 5,000-year-old civilisation and culture.

“And that means when you want to do business in India, you miss most of the non-verbal signals in that society. Second, the imperial experience has an effect on India and once some one told me, ‘Bob when you talk about foreign investment, you think of General Electric, we hear that it is East India company.

“So this is something that produces fierce independence on the part of Indians and a sense of being treated with dignity and respect. You need cultural translators if you really do not know the country or are familiar with it.”

Nehru & the root of India's problems

Nehru

India was incredibly unlucky in the leadership she received in the immediate aftermath of Independence. Jawaharlal Nehru was a man with little experience of administration even at the purely municipal level, a rich man's only son who had never been confronted with the need to earn a living, leave alone to provide for a family.

In fact, the root of many -- some would say most -- of the problems we face today are thanks to decisions made by our first prime minister.

It was he who chose to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, a decision he made against the advice of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. It was he who chose to stand by in silence as Communist China invaded Tibet (ironically invoking rights claimed by the emperors) in 1950.

On November 7, 1950, the Sardar wrote to Nehru to challenge the basic assumptions of his foreign policy. 'For the first time in centuries,' he warned, 'India's defence has to concentrate itself on two fronts simultaneously... In our calculations we shall now have to reckon, apart from Pakistan, with Communist China in the north and the northeast.'

But the Sardar was a dying man -- he would pass away a little over a month later -- and Nehru continued unfazed.

The last restraints on Nehru had been removed by the Sardar's death, and now the mistakes started coming in thick and fast. Socialism was enshrined as the official policy of the ruling party at the Avadi session of 1955, inaugurating an era that would stifle private enterprise and encourage corruption. Linguistic states would follow a year later. India's defences would be ignored, leading to decay in what had been, immediately after World War II, one of the best, most professional armies on the planet. Article 356 would be invoked to pull down the first elected Communist ministry in Kerala...

Elements to include in book

Concept Maps/Visualizations
2x2 Maps -
Visual representation of Survey Results
Top 5/10 lists
Checklists
Photos

Virtual Teams

Virtual Teams

Bunch of links on the subject. Some maybe relevant to global work - need to check up on later.

Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema"

Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema"
Tom, you probably have read this "classic", but today is the first time I read it. Kendra, Nacirema is American spelled backward.

The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose.

Medicine cabinet/doctors described:

The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm.

Dentist and toothbrushing described:

In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated as "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber.

The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that these people are so punctilious [6] about care of the mouth, this rite involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.

But my favorite is this description of nurses as " a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers[latipso] in distinctive costume and headdress."