A miracle in India !

"Bankruptcy to Billions - How the Indian Railways transformed" - by Sudhir Kumar & Shagun Mehrotra

Can you imagine a mammoth 100 year old Government organization in any country (let alone India) with 1.4 million employees transforming itself from a near bankruptcy situation to $6 Billion in cash surplus over just four years! And that too without privatization, layoffs or price increases! To cap it all they improved service levels significantly and actually managed to reduce prices (over 40%) for the poorer customer segments !! I am sure that everyone will agree that this qualifies as a miracle.

Well, that is the story of the Indian Railways from 2004 to 2008, and it is clearly told in this book “Bankruptcy to Billions” by Sudhir Kumar and Shahgum Mehrotra. Sudhir Kumar, a Government employee in the Indian Administrative Services was deputed on Special duty to the Minister of Railways (Lalu Prasad Yadav) and played a key role in this miracle story. Keep in mind that India has one of the largest railway networks in the world - daily running 13,000 trains (including 9000 passenger trains) over 63,000 km of routes and carrying 17 million passengers.

How did they do it? For an in depth understanding one needs to read the book. But I would summarize the management strategy as follows:

(a) Re-conceptualizing the Railway’s business - realizing that they are not a monopoly if they see themselves being in the Transportation business competing with buses, airlines, shipping lines for passenger traffic and trucks, ships and pipelines for the freight business (b) Innovation and Asset optimization - running faster longer and heavier trains, coordination and cooperation among the thousands of internal departments (c) Strategic investments for increasing utilization of existing assets by filling gaps (d) Alliances with private companies to meet soaring demand and co-opt competition (e) A deliberative and calibrated approach to make small changes and then learn, revise and scale up in a phased manner.

The book explains step by step on how the strategy was executed and it is an excellent case study of what can be achieved when politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats collaborate and innovate. It is also an example of how political compulsions can be reconciled with commercial objectives and produce a win-win situation for all. The book also dispels the notions that were spread by some in India that the turn around was more though accounting jugglery and just leveraging the vast real estate that Indian Railways owned. Further it also shows that the success was not just by plucking low lying fruits, but by making fundamental changes which should continue to propel Indian Railways forward. I hope that this story is used as a case study for MBA students world wide.

The book has some drawbacks though - the most critical being the lack of visibility in the book, of the key players who achieved this miracle. The team is just mentioned as ‘reformers’ - perhaps the author himself being one of them, was reluctant to project his role. Some more background of the railways from it inception at the time of the British, and its growth since independence, pictures of trains, stations and employees, would have been useful for non-Indian readers. The challenges that the team must have gone through are downplayed - the authors themselves don’t seem to have fully realized the scope and impact of their achievement!

A History of Ancient and Medieval India by Upinder Singh

An excellent reference book on Indian History

This is the most comprehensive and well written book on Ancient and Medieval Indian History that I have seen. Starting from the Stone Age and going up to the 12th century this is an excellent reference book, both for the student as well as for the general public. Well illustrated with color maps, photographs and figures, the book is printed and bound beautifully. Regarding the organization of the chapters let me quote from the book:

"Each chapter constitutes a chronological unit within a larger framework, providing a comprehensive overview of historical issues and details, and constructing profiles of the various geographical regions in the sub continent. The chapter outline provides a view of the broad organization of the chapter. An opening story from a variety of sources serves as an engaging start for the chapter and also presents a strand from the rich thematic core of the chapter's discussion."

I can't put it any better, but can only confirm it is not at all an exaggeration and each chapter looks like an art of work! The links to the early Indian literature, the tools, coins, inscriptions and other archeological evidence, external sources, later scientific interpretations of the evidence, and new directions of research are so well covered in each chapter than one cannot ask for anything more.

The book is expensive (Rs.3,500 in India and over $120 in U.S) but well worth it for the serious student of Indian History. I was also told that the author is the daughter of the India's prime minister, Mr.Manmohan Singh. I have not cross checked that, but anyway all Indians can be proud of Upinder Singh's contribution.

'The Hindus - an alternative history' by Wendy Doniger

A fascinating tale of two stories

Instead of just being a excellent history of Hinduism, this book is also a great book of Indian History. The author traces India's history from the period of the Indus valley Civilization to the the end of the British Raj in the 20th century. And what a story!

Without any bias or cultural hangovers, the author provides a very neutral analysis of the development of Hinduism. However it is bound to provoke lot of criticism - especially from the religious groups. Further the emphasis of the author to the alternative voices (that of the women, lower castes etc) will also raise many hackles. However I found the book fascinating.

One of the most impressive aspect of the book is the in depth coverage of the ancient Indian books like Mahabhartha, Ramayana, Arthsastra and Kamasutra and the influence of these books on each other. The influence of the religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism on one another during the centuries makes very interesting reading.

It is amazing how the author has made what typically would be a dry subject into such an interesting narrative. And once in a while the author's sense of humor surfaces with a very apt witty comment. I enjoyed the footnotes also tremendously - one of the best being Longfellow's poem on King Trisanku.

With over 700 pages, the book is meant for the serious reader. Also a good knowledge of Hinduism and India is essential to enjoy the book. A religious Hindu might find it difficult to handle the analysis of the texts and the actions their gods. But if you are really keen to learn more about India and Hinduism this book is one of the best.

Now for some criticism - the Upanishads could have been covered in more detail; The Mughal period was rushed in a few pages; The chapter on 'Hinduism in America' seemed completely out of place. Ideally the book should have been divided into two - the first part stopping at around 1500 AD and the second part (if really needed - there are many books covering the period since then) from 1500 to present date. The influence of Hinduism on the rest of the world could be covered there (and not just America).

I did not see a mention of M.T.Vasudevan Nair's 'Randamuzham' which is an alternative story of Mahabharatha (and more plausible). The author would have definitely found it very enjoyable and it would have been worth using in some places in the initial chapters. It is written in Malayalam - I am not sure if an English translation exists.

An Indian version (in English) with the poems and quoted texts in sanskrit/hindi would be a great next step for 'The Hindus - an alternative history'.

King Trisanku - Poem by Longfellow

Most Indians would know of King Trisanku whom Sage Viswamitra sends to heaven in his human form and God Indra sends him back. Poor Trisanku gets stuck in between by these opposing forces and lies suspended in limbo for ever. This story has provided the Indian idiom 'Trisanku's heaven' which is more or less equivalent to the English idiom 'Between a rock and a hard place'.

However I did not know about the this lovely poem about Trisanku by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - given below:

Viswamitra the Magician,
By his spells and incantations,
Up to Indra's realms elysian
Raised Trisanku, king of nations.

Indra and the gods offended
Hurled him downward, and descending
In the air he hung suspended,
With these equal powers contending.

Thus by aspirations lifted,
By misgivings downward driven,
Human hearts are tossed and drifted
Midway between earth and heaven.

I saw the poem mentioned in the book 'The Hindus - An Alternative History' by Wendy Doniger; a very interesting book by the way. A detailed review of the book later.

Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga

Fails to impress

I would have liked to say that Aravind Adiga did it again - but unfortunately this book fails to impress. I guess after the awesome 'White Tiger' it would be very difficult for anyone to repeat the feat.

'Between the Assassinations' is a collection of stories set in a small coastal town (Kittur) in Karnataka near the Kerala border. Some of the stories are quite good and shows glimpses of excellence. Mr.Adiga's talent for story telling is obvious, but in this case he has not meshed all the stories together into a full picture. Or maybe I missed the point.

Not a bad book in any way but with the high level of excellence that Mr.Adiga has set with his 'White Tiger' this one does not match up.