Business Standard

Aasha Khosa: Chak de, India!

MY WEEK

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Aasha Khosa New Delhi
Monday
The hangover of Chak de India, that I had watched last night, vanished as I hit the NH 24 and found myself stuck in the notorious Monday morning jam. "This country..." I muttered several times while driving for my assignment, to the CII meet where Indian business leaders waxed eloquent on the Japanese ability to make a difference to virtually everything, from designing mini-cameras to state-of-art toilets. What about traffic jams?
 
Tuesday
It appears we score here. Despite the traffic, I made it to the venue where scribes were to be briefed on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's India visit. The Japanese, surprise, surprise, were late by 10 minutes. Traffic, the local PRO for the Japanese explained. Chak de! Reminded me of the apocryphal story on how Lalu Prasad, the former Bihar chief minister, was told that if Bihar was given to the Japanese for a year, they'd turn it into a Japan. Fed up, he said if Japan was given to him for a month, he'd turn it into a Bihar.
 
Wednesday
Most would envy me today "" I got to dine with some of India's richest and powerful. Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, just passed my table. I thought he looked pale, though my colleague from the business section saw a halo around him. Bad chemistry, I guess. The Japanese and Indians were expected to exchange notes on how to make more money, do more business, and maybe change the world. But only one among the three Japanese sitting on my table spoke. The rest seemed to be enjoying the rice-palak-fish platter without lifting their heads. It was the same all around.
 
A Tokyo-based Delhi-ite working for a Japanese MNC spoke of Japanese work-culture and precision. However, our lad found the Japanese wanting when it came to enterprise and vision. "These chaps just buy small plots of land to set up an industry. But an Indian industrialist is far-sighted enough to buy surplus industrial land which can be sold later for a profit." Chak de! Just then, the talkative Japanese on our table spoke, "India is very rich." The Indians on the table preened, but he was talking of the wide range of fruits and vegetables! His biggest worry, he added, was that cows kept appearing on the road while he was driving. Maybe Abe's yen loans for infrastructure will take care of this?
 
Thursday
Japan, I learn, is the probably the only country in the world to have a government department in charge of "abduction affairs"! The name's a bit misleading since the department's job is really to get back 16 of its nationals abducted by the North Koreans, 24 years ago "" dead or alive. It uses propaganda campaigns and even negotiates with the rogue Korean government to pursue its case. Why doesn't our government show the same vigour in trying to get back our prisoners of war, in Pakistan since 1971?
 
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First Published: Aug 26 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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