Author: Deepak Manjali

Discrimination

As lot of discussion is going on regarding racial discrimination, thought of documenting my feelings and experiences and share it with you. This blog is dedicated to everyone who were discriminated in any form.

I am grateful for having a diverse experiences in life; my roots in Kerala (a state in India), childhood in Telangana (a state in India), education in Karnataka (a state in India), Germany and China, personal and professional trips across countries and cultures as well as being married to a partner from a different faith and region. All along, there were lot of incidents where I was treated differently; in a good way for eg. in Japan, China, South Africa.  In some cases, I was treated differently in a bad, insulting way and intentionally too (across the world), for color, religion, region, food habits…DISCRIMINATION. A few examples are:

  1. During my high school  & college days, I was called names because of my faith by fellow students and teachers
  2. My family was settled in a different state and were asked several times to go back to our home state and a few even challenged us for owning property
  3. In the UK following the July 7th bombing, I have experienced how all the Asian men were treated as potential terrorists by some of the Brits
  4. Being a foreigner in Germany, it was a challenge to get a fair deal while looking for a property to rent/buy

Most discrimination I have experienced is by Indians, in India and abroad. For those Indians who are feeling furious, please keep emotions aside and retrospect rationally.

When I look back, I did feel bad during a few incidents but never carried any hard feelings. However, what made me wonder was, how can one say or do something mean to other humans and be happy inside. I still don’t understand. Best part is that the same people who discriminate others expect a fair treatment, when they are in a similar situation.

Such behavior could be a result of beliefs, fears, prejudices, superiority complex, etc., It is normal to have such emotions/feelings, however it is the reactions based on those feelings, that needs to be checked. Most of the older generation (60+, I might be sounding discriminative here) were not exposed to globalization during their prime years, hence it might be challenging for them to overcome the cemented beliefs. But what is wrong with the younger generations? I do not have s solution, however from what I have seen, I believe such reactions are part of our human DNA, hence cannot be eradicated completely. However we can reduce the incidents and its impact. To achieve that education alone is not sufficient. Key is awareness and to create a fundamental and non-negotiable idea of humanity, thrive towards zero discrimination of any form and advocate fearlessly.

Talking about fearlessness. My daughter shares how some kids in her kindergarten talks about her brown skin and black hair, sometimes even making fun. I tell her that we all are the same but different and no one is superior. Have also asked her to respond back to the kids and say that they are “WHATEVERCOLOR” in the similar tone and make fun if required. Do not want any kid to feel inferior for any reason! Hope, as the kids grow, they will be more informed and will not repeat the mistakes of previous generations. 

Apart from a few incidences, I am blessed to have met best of people across the world. Thank you for sticking along!! In case I have discriminated against someone, here is my unconditional apology.

Let us remember that we all are in the journey of LIFE with same destination. Why not we share all the ups and downs while enjoying the journey TOGETHER.

Bon Voyage!

Boycott – Not a solution

Recently, I was listening to a fight (not physical) between my daughter and one of her friends in the neighborhood. As a result, their birthday party guest list got reduced by one kid, regular gift exchanges will be stopped as well as playing together will be soon be a thing of the past. After a while, my little one backed-off and took a break from her friend and realized how important the friendship is (loss-gain), especially during the Corona times. Following the break they changed the tactic and were ready to reconcile, which they did by apologizing and playing together again. In such harmless exchanges, I do not interfere and encourage my little one to deal on her own and conclude. For me it was interesting to see, how five year olds bring ideas to the table and change the tactics. After such exchanges, a postmortem does follow to understand the thought process and to give feedback as well as to learn.

The above incident has similarities to the videos and messages that I have been receiving to boycott “Made in China” products/services for reasons such as Corona and for creating tensions at its borders. Thinking on the same lines as the kids did, I could not see a gain through this boycott calls. A few lines from my thought process:

  1. In the current landscape where cars, planes, smartphones consists of components from various countries, it is highly impossible to boycott any major industrial country and its goods. The list of items should not stop with just some LED lamps, fireworks & apps, but should include most of the cars including Daimler Benz (10% shares owned by Geely), Apple products (made in China or electronic components are from China), Nike, etc.
  2. Advocating and inciting the public (in some cases for personal mileage) to boycott a country or race, is not the solution. We should look into the root cause. Is it the trade agreements or is it the common people like you and me, who look for cost effective deals, letting companies/governments make compromises. Potential solutions would be to renegotiate the deals or build/create local solutions/products to meet customer expectations. These will not happen overnight!
  3. In my opinion, calls to boycott products from a particular country is same as calls to reduce/avoid foreign workers in Western world (Indian IT engineers in USA). It is both discriminatory and not sustainable in the long run.
  4. Moreover such an action/call can backfire, given that China is a big market for several non-Chinese companies; Porsche, Infosys, Tata.
  5. China is not only primary source for various raw materials but also very cost-effective sourcing destination for various components, which is used by various companies across the world, including Indian companies. Finding alternative source locally and having to reduce the product margins, will not be smart, especially when the economy is struggling to reboot due to the pandemic.

Such a boycott call will lead to a loss-loss scenario in our modern world, again leaving the people to suffer. Let us take a leaf out of little ones and make a smart judgement, while looking for solutions, preferably collaborative ones. It is OUR call!

Pandemie

Like most of you, it is the first time, I have stayed home for such long period of time. Though it was a major change, I got used to it, as there was null alternatives, unlike several options in our phones and computers. “DELETE” has been the mostly used option/key in recent weeks to remain sane from all those hand-washing videos, root cause explanations and remedies. Though I was irritated with most of those forwards (I had an easy way out…DELETE), I was more disappointed to see some influential people, asking “commoners” to stay home and at the same time bombarding with their videos of cooking, work-outs, showing how cool their lives are, without imagining what it means for those commoners to forgo their wages and stay home and stare at starvation, especially in countries like India. Really hope the support provided by the Governments is reaching the people.

There is just too much information out there and to improve awareness, the message needs to be structured and focus on the “ultimate goal”, which according to me is to minimize the casualties, till we have a vaccination. So the privileged ones like us should spread messages and do the needful in our capacities (moral, emotional, help with local/online chores, food and financial) to people who are suffering the most. I can think of elderly, migrant workers, illiterate, foreigners, differently abled and less privileged. In my opinion, Corona virus is with us and will remain, also I have no doubt that we HUMANS will not let a virus win over us and change everything we are used to, though we will be probably following a new set of glocial (global-social) etiquette.

Recently I realized that we have been living for some years with another pandemic which needs more awareness and immediate actions; it is hatred, discrimination and inhumanity. Recently, I have been following the developments in India on Corona and I was surprised to see how so called “journalists” have been spitting venom and spreading misinformation, creating divide among us people during the time of crisis. Surprisingly, no big stars or influential people in the society has condemned that. Kept wondering whether all our souls are mutated with pandemie of hatred. Searching further I got lucky, there are a few brave ones, who focus on bringing the real stories. According to me, journalism like medical profession, has power to create progressive societies, however looking at some of the insensitive journalists, I believe they are doing injustice to their profession as well as to the societies.

Let us thank all the medical professionals around the world for their sacrifices to save us humans from the Corona pandemic. Now we all humans need to reject all sorts of discrimination, misinformation, biases and let us use the most powerful tool we possess – HUMANITY.

Let us help each other to help ourselves. Stay safe!

If interested in unpaid news which puts efforts to bring real stories, please check NewsLaundry .

A (re) visit to Land of Dragons

When my manager was asked to lead the team to perform GENBA at our suppliers in China, I was disappointed primarily for not able to visit one of my favourite countries again. However, my energy with the preparations worked and my manager entrusted the job to me, inside I was like a kid who just won a candy bar at a carnival.

My love for China began when I travelled for a few MBA modules, spread over two years. Its growth story, hospitality, passion and drive among the people as well the food that I would die for, are the things which impressed me the most.

So early October this year, before I landed in Shanghai, was thinking about what changes I expect to see in China; there were so many options to choose from; more high rises, electric cars and increased pollution. But my gut feeling was that there will be some surprises.

Unlike previous visits, this time I spent most of the time in small cities and towns. After travelling around 2200kms within the country, in a span of eleven days, I have realized that there is more diversity than I expected. Be it dialect, food or landscape. But one thing was common everywhere, hospitality; all went an extra mile to ensure that we had no issues, be it mobility, food or stay. They even took time to shows us around after dinners, prioritizing us over their family. Such an extent of hospitality cannot be expected in Germany.

Being from Germany, I was fascinated to see possibilities of non-cash payment systems such as AliPay, WeChat Pay. As I am informed, one can buy from a candy to a house using such payment systems. These systems, which have simplified transactions, have received wide scale of acceptance in the society and making such concepts a success.

As my team and I reached Shanghai for the weekend, I felt the city during the night was darker than earlier. The fancy lights were less to be seen and the lighting at “Bund” is turned off at 10PM (was 11PM back in 2012). This is a surprising and an important change. Surprising as I was not expecting a mighty country which has been spending a lot money to showcase its might to the world, would work to reduce electricity consumption. Important as this could potentially delay the extinction of resources.

Another positive development that I noticed for the first time is that the leftover food at restaurants is being packed and taken home. Irrespective of hierarchical position, food was shared among the team as . This trend is such an achievement for two reasons. Firstly, in countries like China and also India, there is social stigma at upper middle class and above to carry the leftovers home, it can be overcome only as a society together and governments can help the process by guiding with incentives to restaurants or educating value preposition (could take longer). In China I see that the upper layers of the society has overcome the stigma and has accepted the trend for good reasons.

Secondly, as food will be scarce and countries are fighting for agricultural land across borders, for eg. in Africa where European and Chinese are growing crops to feed their citizens back home. In such a scenario, it makes sense to use what we have efficiently, which could potentially push out food scarcity a little further. Hope other countries in the world will follow the path. If required we should not shy away from having a law to reduce waste and save resources.

Being a food lover and advocate of not wasting food, it was good to see that change. I am in the process of making my daughter (4 yrs) understand that there are so many kids out there, who are starving and food that we waste could save or make someone’s life. We all can make a difference!!

Staying with the topic of food, I had a feast for 11 days, enjoying everything that made it to the table; hotpots, Beijing duck, snails, crabs (luckily, I didn’t have to do the dissection), chicken feet, snake, variety of fish and vegetables. Of course, not to forget Qingdao beer, rice wine (@53% alcohol, it was more like spirit than wine).

As it was the first trip to China for the team members, I am glad that I ensured that the team experienced all that the Chinese cuisine and culture had to offer.

Special thanks to all our hosts, who made the trip hassle free, memorable and professionally successful.

Till the next time zài jiàn

Kerala Floods 2018 – Impact of Family & Friends

After having posted about my experiences and observations made during the recent floods in Kerala, I would like recollect how family and friends supported us and would thank them for their concerns, efforts and love.

My lil one: She was cooperative, which made me feel calm and relaxed, which in turn helped me to make decisions, which was less risky for all of us. Even today, when I recall her playing with her cousin at one moment and helping with packing the other moment, I cannot stop smiling and feeling proud!!

Mom n dad: Though my mom was worried and working out her own fears, both mom n dad took the energy to cope with the situation and support. Dad took care of providing options for safe stay, including the one where we finally stayed and organizing groceries. Mom was key in taking care of all needs of my lil angel; feeding her, applying mosquito protection, most importantly keeping her engaged, etc.,.

Sijo & Jincy: As always, they are there, especially during the time of need. He stopped cleaning his house and along with three other cousins (Sanjo, Kiran & Arun), he drove us to Trivandrum airport. Jincy took good care of kids and rewarded them for being good with chocolates.

Sanjo: Went extra mile(s) to drive us through flooded roads to our final station, we choose (Roy chettan’s place).

Kiran: As water started clogging the roads where we were staying on 15th Aug, he drove with my little one and parents in his SUV to his house. He also supported in my struggle to get flight tickets rescheduled.

Mariamma: She was of great support in taking care of little one, which gave me the opportunity to focus on recovery and also spend some “me time” with my boy cousins. She also got contacts to check flight reschedule options and alternatives.

Arun: He was key in organizing logistics, securing belongings and organizing travel. He is a real sakhavu!!

Simi: Her house was the safe station for most of my cousins for 3 days. She along with Davis and daughters, supported us in getting back to normal life.

Joy chettan & family: The whole family were generous and hosted us for four nights. Spent the “darkest” times with candles, prayers and interesting discussion about religion, politics, travel and start-ups. Also Thomas chettan & family made our stay there pleasant. Will not forget going through the “jungle” to repair the water pump….was little scary.

Devassykutty chachan & family: As the water did not enter my uncle’s (mom’s elder brother) house, he hosted his siblings and their kids post floods. Every generation was represented in good numbers and we all had fun (sometimes in respective groups). A day before my return, he cooked local savory (chakkadda) for me.

Jose chachan & family: They have been a great support always and was no different during the crisis. They hosted us and secured our belongings in their house before we all had to leave the house (was our 2nd station) due to flooding. Appreciate their courage and positive attitude during crisis!!

Roy chettan & Beena chechy: They helped organizing flight from Trivandrum to Mumbai without any ifs or buts.

Veera and Ashok Gupta (In-laws): They were regularly following-up our situation, supportive of decisions and were sharing options for support. In addition, they ensured that there was no inconvenience during my short stay in Mumbai and mom-in-law took the pain of visiting AirIndia and Swiss offices in Delhi for the ticket.

Velliappachan (Bro Jose Daniel): Though he was in middle of sorting his own health issues, he was following-up on our well being, was supportive of our decisions and was source of motivation.

Sis & bro-in-law: They were inquiring about our well being and providing moral support, especially to my parents. They also explored various ways to get information and support.

Bro & sis-in-law: Regularly inquired about our well-being and supported parents morally.

Wife: She was worried, especially about the little one. She was in touch as much as possible and also explored various ways to get information. Her efforts with travel agency in Germany, helped in convincing Swiss for a reschedule. She made sure that we did not have any inconvenience, after our return.

Avi & Ajay: They hosted us in Mumbai during transit. Were able to take rest and have some good food.

Appreciate the courage shown and love shared by kids Aparna, Merry, Cathy, Kichu and Ryan.

Concerns and wishes from Franklin, Raphy, Doni, Ushansh, Anuj, Nadeem, Asha, Divya, Niraj, Vikram and Estefania, was very supportive to say the least.

Because of all this support and love, it was easy to come out of the situation quick and strong. Thank you all!!

Our vacation and monsoon of 2018 in Kerala

 

It was 3AM on Jul 31st and my 2 yr 10 months old daughter was lost, as I woke her up. The moment I said that we are flying to India, she was all charged-up and was standing outside waiting for me. Off-course I was excited too, to fly to God´s Own Country, Kerala (India) and my roots.

It was my first time flying alone with a child, though I was confident my little one would cooperate, I was still little concerned; thinking what if she wants to meet mama or go home or just be cranky. However, she behaved so maturely, helping during airport checks, exploring new things at the airports and in the plane. She is definitely one of the best kids to travel with. #bestchild2travelwith

Week 1: After reaching Kerala at early hours, we went to my cousins´ place and caught-up on our lost sleep. Following which my little one was busy playing with her cousins and grand parents. Most part of the first week of our trip, went in visiting relatives, enjoying the food and spending time with my parents and cousins. Our regular guest during the monsoon, RAIN was off-course very much present.

Week 2: Midway through the trip, we were trying to make most of it by doing some shopping, attending celebrations, as well as a sadly demise of a relative (James chetta RIP). Again, RAIN accompanied us everywhere and disturbed our plans a few times.

Week 3: As we were packing our bags and getting ready to return, RAIN had other BIG plans; it rained heavily and continuously for 3-4 days, filling the reservoirs, which already was at its maximum levels. I was wondering, how much water, clouds can store. Final curtains on our return were drawn on Aug 14th night, when water was let out from major dams, flooding the areas downstream, including Kochi airport and surrounding areas. We have been on a move to safer locations from 15th August, moved three stations before settling at a much secure location on 16th August afternoon.

 Observation, Experience & Opinion:

– Most of the population living near the Kochi airport were not expecting water near or in their homes, and when water came, it came fast and most people had less time to react #Keralaflood

–  What I noticed was a show of unity and selflessness. Only thing that mattered was safety of fellow humans and nothing else. Some forces tried and failed to disturb the harmony of the state during this crisis. #ProudToBeMalayali

– Three days without electricity, water from tap and internet, reminded me of my summer holidays in Kerala as a kid.  I am proud that that my daughter accepted the situation (better than I did as a kid), co-operated, enjoyed our candle light dinners and we stayed happy…..happiness is indeed state of mind!!

– Thankfully, we had enough food and fresh water bottles to survive 3-4 days

– Next few days, sound of rain worried me, as I could not gauge the impact and control it

– Air India: Based on TV news, I have been in touch with AI hotline for status and alternatives for flight scheduled from Kochi to Mumbai on 15th Aug. I received an Email at 12:22hrs regarding the flight cancellation. Following my visit to airport office, I contacted hotline again at 15:15hrs, to be informed that AI rescheduled my flight from Trivandrum @ 19:00hrs, failing to reach, will be a NO SHOW (I did not receive any communication from AI regarding the change with flight details). Means, I need to reach Trivandrum from Kochi in 2 hours, which is impossible via road/rail under normal conditions. Some common-sense, communication, fair treatment was too much to expect from Air India, forget the support/consideration during crisis situation #ShameAirIndia

– Thanks to Swiss for rescheduling our flights and getting us back to Germany

– The cause and impact of flood is a point of discussion, sooner we can conclude and realize, better it will be to define steps to handle similar situations in the future. According to me, three factors contributed to what Kerala faced; heavy rains, poor dam management (should have let small amounts of water out much earlier, especially when we had the forecast of heavy rains) and insensitivity of us towards nature (deforestation, sand mining, capturing river sides and reducing the size of rivers) #Savenature

– Response of the Kerala state government has to be praised; the way they lead and coordinated rescue efforts, how they ensured that the relief camps had the necessary things, how technology and social media was used in rescue operations and for communication, how the complete government machinery was used to minimize inconvenience to common man by setting up offices to issue documents/certificates, govt. employees working in relief camps, police guarding the flooded areas. All this with sense of urgency, which was visible on the ground.

Based on what I have experienced and seen, below are a few tips, which might be helpful in similar situations.

  1. Never underestimate the impact, prepare yourself, family and important belongings for the worst.
  2. When relocating, DO NOT OVER PACK; carry few clothes, water, snacks, medicines and secure important documents and mobile phones in water safe polythene/Ziploc.
  3. Empty refrigerator if possible or switch off with doors open.
  4. Let pet animals and mammals free, as they can run to safety.
  5. Do not panic, try to get as much information as possible and avoid flooded roads/areas.
  6. Travel in groups.
  7. Do not recommend all family members take high risk. In such situations, split into groups.
  8. Listen and respect the rescue team and volunteers.
  9. Avoid selfies and do not take stupid risks. #NoDisaterTourism

The inconvenience experienced by me and people around me is negligible, compared to people who have lost their loved ones or life’s savings. Kerala thank fellow humans around the world, Malayalees, rescue teams who worked selflessly, family and friends for all the support, prayers and love. Please do not stop, let us provide more support and love as Kerala recovers!

It was a catastrophe and we all have lessons to be learnt!!

Large Diesel Engines

Early this week, I was hanging out with my ex-colleagues over dinner and they were curious to know, why I am moving from large engine diesel business and my views on future of large diesel engines.

I started answering the later question first.

Diesel engines are here to stay and as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, it will be a shame if diesel is abandoned. However, in my opinion, diesel engines for large applications (eg. Marine, Locomotive, Mining, etc.,) may not see large investments in new technology development (common rail or similar). Reasons are high development costs compared to alternative solutions and also the sales volumes which are a fraction of automotive volumes, does not provide an industry average ROI. Not to mention, the increasing social stigma and the hype around electric vehicles.

Several of leading large engine OEMs are working or already have tested alternative solutions such as gas, dual fuel, electric engines to meet emission regulations. Also, from industrial fairs such CIMAC, I have got the feeling that the companies are pushing the governments for infrastructure spending to increase usage of alternative solutions.

Large diesel engines will still be produced, but with twisted and tweaked mechanical and electrical fuel systems. These engines, will be mostly used in less regulated markets and areas.

From my perspective, car and truck companies should continue improving the state-of-art diesel engines to meet emission regulations. I am sure given the current maturity of the technology combined with sales demand in millions and cost of diesel, ROI for both for customers and OEMs, will be reasonable for few more years. However regulations such as banning diesel vehicles from cities and highly subsidizing electric vehicles, might change my wishful thinking!!

At the end of the evening, I did not had to answer the first question.

 

 

 

 

Key takeaways from Japan

  • Treat everyone and everything with respect.
  • Hospitality of Japanese people is great, if you know them, it is even better.
  • They get to details in all aspects of life: Patience, logical reasoning and not playing superior is key for success in professional dealings.
  • Hierarchy must be valued and respected.
  • My experience is that honesty is very much appreciated and they will not take advantage of it.
  • Discipline: I was surprised to see people stand in a line to get into trains, never seen that in Europe or India (ahh..i know what you must be thinking).
  • Punctuality: Is similar to Germany, all are expected to be on time. Plus minus 5 minutes is acceptable. If not, be ready to inform and apologize several times. Must say, Tokyo metro is the most punctual metro I have experienced till date.
  • Presentation and service matters: Not only in business but also in private spheres.
    • I was impressed how a chef made few sushi for take away in a minute and spent three minutes packing it, so that sushi stays intact even if the packet is tossed around and it looked like a gift. No wonder most of the things are expensive.
    • The food imitation looks so real. (See the pic below)

  • Life is expensive.
  • Space is scarce, at least in Tokyo.
  • Earth quakes are part of life there. Do not panic.
    • Most of the companies and malls have emergency bunkers to save lives.
    • There are mobile apps to warn people about potential quakes.
  • They work hard and long: Most of them spend lot of time traveling to work and back home. No surprise that a few of them try get a nap in the trains.
  • Felt handicapped at some places as my skills in 6 languages did not help.  Translators or some Japanese will be helpful.
  • Japan is a place for some amazing food…at least for a foodie like me
    • Few of my favorites: Miso Rahmen (noodle soup), Japanese curry (different to Indian curry), Shirako (fish sperm bags) and Okonomiyaki (few call it Japanese pizza, unfair though).
    • Tough one: Nattō (fermented beans) but would encourage all foodies to try for the experience.

I am grateful to all my colleagues and friends for making my visits memorable.