Kamla Bhatt Show

Baldev Raj Sharma is one of the countless faces of the new India, where every month 4.5 million new cell phone users are added, and where Internet connectivity is becoming a reality for many people. I met Mr. Sharma, 72 years old, a couple of months ago when I was visiting New Delhi, and he drove me around the city. The first thing he did when I got into his cab was give me his business card. I also spotted a familiar looking black mobile phone peeping from his shirt pocket. I struck up a conversation with him and listened to him talk about the new and changing India, how he uses his cell phone, and how his children send emails on his behalf, and how he is very happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government. Mr. Sharma migrated to India in 1947 after the partition of the country and says he has seen New Delhi grow into a sprawling metropolis. He lives with his four children and his grand-children. He owns a cell phone that he uses to keep in touch with his clients. He confessed that he hits the green button to talk and other than that has no idea how to use the phone. The only regret that he has is that he does not own a home. However, he is confident that one of his children will end up buying a home. This interview was originally published in 2006.

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/vasanthi.jpg)Vaasanthi (http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/AuthorLounge/AuthorDetail.asp?aid=3598) is a writer and former editor of India Today, Tamil edition. She is the author of a fascinating book on  Tamil Nadu politics titled, Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars. Tamil Nadu was the first Indian state and perhaps the first in the world to consciously use films as a political vehicle and medium to spread their message.  Annadurai, Karunanidhi and MGR were all deeply involved with the Tamil film industry for many years prior to being elected to the goverment. In this book Vasanthi  delves into the fascinating world of Tamil politics that has been dominated by two parties for nearly 40 years. In the book she examines the history and the contradictions in Tamil politics and how the DMK came to power and continued to forge a new political identity in the southern state. In Part-I of our conversation Vaasanthi talk about the 2006 State elections in Tamil Nadu. She points out that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's party did well in the elections even though her party did not form the government. Don't write off Jayalalithaa yet she says. She also discusses the current CM Karunanidhi's political acumen and the future of his party. Vaasanthi's first book was called Sirgugal (Wings). This interview was originally published in May 2006. Tune in to listen to Part-2 of Tamil Nadu Politics. (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/2009/03/22/vaasanthi-on-tamil-nadu-politics-part-ii/) (http://kamlashow.com/content/900390/maincontent/mp3/broadband/AliAkbarKhan_KamlaBhatt_page2.pdf)

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/vasanthi1.jpg)In Part-2 of our conversation Vaasanthi talks athe evolution of Tamil politics since independence. Vaasanthi's book Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars is a primer to understand the political contradictions that exist in Tamil Nadu. The book, a collection of essays, begins by looking at EVR or Periyar, the founder of the Self-Respect movement in pre independent India. EVR, an atheist, started an anti-brahmin movement that was against the domination of brahmins at the work place in Madras Presidency. Some of EVR's followers were Annadurai and Karunanidhi, who later broke away and formed the Dravida Kazhagam Party that later on spawned a string of other parties. Tamil Nadu is the first state in the world that used films as a conscious medium to promote its political ideology. Since the 1950s Karunanidhi, Annadurai and others have been involved in the Tamil film industry. The most successful combination was that of Karunanidhi, the script writer, and MG Ramachandran (Menon) or MGR. Today, Karunanidhi and his extended family members have a strong presence in Tamil media including TV / cable (SunTV) and newspapers. It was only in the late 1960s that political landscape of Tamil Nadu underwent a tectonic shift. Until the late 1960s the Congress party had a strong hold in this southern state. But, all that changed when the newly founded party of Annadurai won the 1967 elections. Vaasanthi says that Annadurai, Karunanidhi and others were quite unprepared and their victory came as a total surprise. Annadurai was the first Chief Minister from DK, and for the past 40 years the state has been governed alternatively by: Annadurai, Karunanidhi, MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, and Karunanidhi. Vaasanthi expands on the political contradictions that exist in the state and explains why. In the process of displacing the old social, economic and political order the DK and its various avatars have created a new order that in some ways appears to reflect the old. Probably one of the ironies of the Dravidian movement is the meaning of the word Dravida. Vaasanthi explains that Dravida is derived from the Sanskrit word Dravidum, which refers to the meeting of the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Vaasanthi's first book was called Sirgugal (Wings). This interview was originally published in June 2006.

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/yahoohackdayindia_0172.jpg)Yahoo's Hackday India (http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1454613/)is currently underway at the Taj Residency in Bangalore, India.  There are two types of folks attending the events: the hackers and the info geeks, who are not particiapants but are there to attend the various technology seminars. There are 303 hackers and about 60 infogeeks  participating at this 2-day hackday India (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23hackdayindia) event. An interesting trend this year is an increase in the number of women  participating in the event. The winners of hackday India (http://raghuonflex.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/at-yahoo-hackday/) will be announced tomorrow, February 15, 2009 by David Filo, who is currently in Bangalore. David was also present during Yahoo's first hackday in Bangalore, India in  2007.  He spent most of his time hanging around with the hackers and coders talking to them and observing what the various teams were building. Many of the developers were pleasantly surprised to discover how accessible David was during the event. I caught up with David to talk about the early days of Yahoo!, coding, Bangalore, mobile phones and emerging markets. In this episode David talks about their plans for India and the emerging markets. India is the hub for developing new applications and features for emerging markets like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Philippines. David also talks about Yahoo's mobile strategy in India. Besides business, we also talk about David's favorite Indian dish and what kind of Indian music he prefers to listen. What about Bollywood films? Does he like watching them? Tune in to find out what David has to say. Here are the links just in case you missed out listening to Part-1 (http://kamlabhattshow.com/pdcst/india/david-filo-of-yahoo-part-1/) and Part-2 (http://kamlabhattshow.com/pdcst/india/david-filo-of-yahoo-part-2/) of the interview with David Filo. This interview was recorded in Bangalore in October 2007 during Yahoo's first hackday in India. Technorati tags: David Filo (http://technorati.com/tags/David%20Filo), Yahoo! (http://technorati.com/tags/Yahoo!), Yahoo India (http://technorati.com/tags/Yahoo%20India), mobile (http://technorati.com/tags/mobile), emerging markets (http://technorati.com/tags/emerging%20markets), bangalore (http://technorati.com/tags/bangalore)

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/arjunmalhotra1.jpg)Arjun Malhotra (http://www.headstrong.com/biography.cfm?id=1-64) is the chairman and CEO of Headstrong (http://www.headstrong.com), a US-based IT services company. In the 1970s Arjun along with 5 others co-founded HCL Technologies (http://www.hcltech.com/), which was probably the first Indian IT product company. In 1976 when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak introduced their first computer in Silicon Valley, HCL Technologies introduced its first computer in India. Like the Apple founders Arjun and his friends were in their 20s when they founded the company with very little money and backing. Founding HCL Technologies was almost an accidental event Arjun points out in the interview.  Tune in to find out what else Arjun has to say about what it was like to start a company in the 1970s when there were very few private companies in India.  What was it like to found a technology company in India when there were barely any IT companies or venture capitalists in India? This interview was originally published in Livemint Radio.

(http://www.intentblog.com/images2/Shekhar%20Kapur.jpg) Director/Writer Shekhar Kapur (http://www.shekharkapur.com/) talks about his passion: films. He talks about his early years and how he made the transition to films. Did the fact that his uncles were well-known film personalities influence him? His uncles are Chetan Anand (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025608/), Dev Anand (http://www.devanand.info/) and Vijay Anand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Anand). Did you know that it took him 12 years to make his first film Masoom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoom)? From there Shekhar went to make other successful Hindi films and transitioned into making Hollywood films. We talk about his latest film Elizabeth: The Golden Age (http://www.elizabeththegoldenage.net) starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush that is slated for release on October 12, 2007. You can read about the making of the movie in Shekhar's Golden Age Diary (http://www.shekharkapur.com/goldenage/). Shekhar also shares his views about Bollywood's growth and its future. Why are Indian films not as successful as Chinese films? Tune in to find out. Shekhar is an avid blogger (http://www.shekharkapur.com/blog/) and writes on various subjects ranging from movies and entertainment to new media and poverty. This interview was recorded at the Pan IIT Global Conference (http://kamlabhattshow.com/blog/2007/06/26/iit-alumni-conference-in-silicon-valley) in Silicon Valley in July 2007. Photo credit: IntentBlog Technorati tags: Shekhar Kapur (http://technorati.com/tags/Shekhar%20Kapur), Elizabeth The Golden Age (http://technorati.com/tags/Elizabeth%20The%20Golden%20Age), Masoom (http://technorati.com/tags/Masoom), Bollywood (http://technorati.com/tags/Bollywood), Hollywood (http://technorati.com/tags/Hollywood)

(http://www.nasscom.in/images/tn-kirankarnik01.jpg)In early January 2009 Kiran Karnik (http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/060816c/)was appointed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7818220.stm)as an independent director to the Board Satyam Computers (http://www.livemint.com/2009/01/12015026/Government-creates-a-board-for.html) along with Deepak Parekh and C. Achuthan. Just days before that in a stunning turn of events Ramalinga Raju (http://kamlashow.com/blog/2009/01/08/the-truth-about-satyam-computers-from-ramalinga-raju-indias-first-corporate-scandal/), Chairmand founder of Satyam declared he had faked (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/business/worldbusiness/12satyam.html?ref=business)the profits and revenue for his company. And what was the amount? About $1.04 billion.  Satyam was India's 4th largest IT services company that traded at the Indian, American and European stock exchanges. Satyam's debacle has been dubbed as India's largest corporate scandal (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08satyam.html?hp) and has riased questions about governance in the Indian corporate (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9af0f33e-dd58-11dd-930e-000077b07658.html) world. Raju, his brother and Satyam's Chief Financial Officer are under arrest. In November 2007 I caught up with Kiran Karnik (http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/060816c/), President of National Association of Services and Software Companies (http://www.nasscom.in/Default.aspx?) (NASSCOM) to get his thoughts about the Indian IT industry, the challenges of doing a pure-play product company in India and funding for startups. What is Nasscom doing to act as a catalyst and help innovation and startups in India? Kiran points out that Nasscom is working on creating a $25 million fund to help companies in India. Tune in to find out what else he has to say on this subject. Tune back for Part-2 and Part-3 of the interview, where Kiran (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_28/b3891431.htm) talks about how the image of Indian IT and tech industry has changed over the past 6 years. Listen to Part-2 (http://kamlashow.com/content/600072/maincontent/mp3/broadband/KiranKarnik_Nasscom_KamlaBhattShow_Part2.mp3) and Part-3 (http://kamlashow.com/content/600074/maincontent/mp3/broadband/KiranKarnik_Nasscom_Part-3.mp3) of the interview with Kiran Karnik. Technorati tags: kiran karnik (http://technorati.com/tags/kiran%20karnik), nasscom (http://technorati.com/tags/nasscom), india product innovation (http://technorati.com/tags/india%20product%20innovation), startups in inida (http://technorati.com/tags/startups%20in%20inida), iflex (http://technorati.com/tags/iflex), technology (http://technorati.com/tags/technology), bangalore (http://technorati.com/tags/bangalore), india (http://technorati.com/tags/india)

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/photo_vinod.jpg)Vinod Dham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinod_Dham) is managing partner of NEA-IndoUS Fund. (http://www.neaiuv.com/aboutus.htm) He is known as the Father of Pentium Processor and spent many years working for Intel before branching out to becoming an entrepreneur and an investor. In this interview Vinod (http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/03/interview-with-vinod-dham-father-of-the-pentium-on-a-life-in-technology-and-venture-investing/) shares his thoughts about investing in India and his involvement with  New Path Ventures and NEA IndoUS Fund, which is a collaboration between New Enterprise Associates that has offices in India and the US.  Both were cross-border funds looking for  investment opportunities in India and the USA. Some of the questions Vinod (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4270) answers are: how did he conduct his due diligence of the Indian market? What is the potential for investment in the hardware sector in India? What does he have to say about the world-wide semi conductor market? Vinod sits on the board of Sasken (http://www.livemint.com/2008/11/26003156/Crisishit-Sasken-sees-margins.html), Hellosoft (http://hellosoft.com/webpages/index.html), InSilica (http://www.insilica.com/), Minekey (http://minekey.com/), Nevis (http://www.nevisnetworks.com/), Telsima (http://www.telisma.com/) and Montalvo (http://news.cnet.com/Secret-recipe-inside-Intels-latest-competitor/2100-1006_3-6230748.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news). In December 2008 Vinod resigned (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123055977029539303.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)from the board of Satyam Computers (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5367861.ece) after Satyam's aborted attempt to acquire (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/business/worldbusiness/29satyam.html?ref=business)two infrastructure companies. This interview first ran on October 16, 2006.

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/rajatgupta.jpg)I caught up with Rajat Gupta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajat_Gupta) at the Pan IIT 2007 conference (http://kamlabhattshow.com/blog/2007/06/26/iit-alumni-conference-in-silicon-valley/) in Silicon Valley. Mr. Gupta is deeply passionate (http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/1998/october/global/gupta.html) about health and education (http://www.aifoundation.org/newsroom/GFCarticle042607.htm%5C) and those were the twin topics of this conversation. In this interview, he talks about the connection between healthcare and the economy of India. What is the connection between citizens health and economic growth of a nation? How does poor and bad health of a nation’s population impact its productivity and economic growth? How do you institute good and effective health policy and healthcare in India? What are the the challenges that India faces in the area of healthcare? These are some of the issues that Mr. Gupta addresses in this interview. Mr. Gupta is a senior partner and a former managing director of McKinsey & Company worldwide. Mr. Gupta sits on the advisory boards of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is on the board of trustees of the University of Chicago and is the Chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad. He is Co-Chair of the American Indian Foundation and private sector representative to the Board of the Global Fund for Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis. and is  a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. Mr. Gupta advised McKinsey’s work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Mr. Gupta is a graduate of IIT, Delhi and Harvard Business School. This interview was published on August 6, 2007. Technorati Tags: Rajat Gupta (http://technorati.com/tags/Rajat%20Gupta),India (http://technorati.com/tags/India),Ideas (http://technorati.com/tags/Ideas),Pan IIT (http://technorati.com/tags/Pan%20IIT),MicKinsey (http://technorati.com/tags/MicKinsey),Indian economy (http://technorati.com/tags/Indian%20economy),IIT (http://technorati.com/tags/IIT),Silicon Valley (http://technorati.com/tags/Silicon%20Valley)