Food at the Taj Palace, New Delhi

Food at the Taj Palace, New Delhi
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
Pretty much every recipe for Hasselback Potatoes seems to involve some amount of slicing, like bread, and then working on it with butter and other stuff. In that case, what is this they are serving us at the Taj Palace in New Delhi, where they take an average potato, cut it in half, and insert some mushrooms inside the scooped segment?

The food served at automobile launches is fun. But it needs to be real, no?

New Ford Figo continues to be lunched

New Ford Figo launched earlier today in delhi
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
I know I've already written about the Ford Figo, which was launched in Delhi a few weeks ago, along with lunch. Which the big boss from Ford, Mulally of Boeing 787 fame, did while dropping in for lunch too. But for the life of me I can not understand what this new car from them is all about, unless they sell it for 3 lakhs ex-showroom Delhi.

So here's a photo of the lunch they served, instead.

Toyota Fortuner

My first impressions of the recently launched Toyota Fortuner . . .


Designed to impress, and priced to stun, the recently launched 3 litre diesel 4WD from Toyota at 18 and a half lakhs ex-showroom in Delhi seems to have it all there. Early days on road testing in India so far, though Toyota claims that deliveries have started and there are over 2000 of them already pre-booked, so we should be getting our hands on one soon.



Till then, going by the spec sheet and the track record, what you get is a slightly Indianised version of an SUV that has most of the Far East rocking. For example, we get drum brakes in the rear, and none of the fancy satellite equipment some versions get abroad. But on the upside, we get all the bells and whistles you can think of inside, as well as an 'always on' 4WD on the traction side. Certainly something all you off-road fanatics will want even if most of the time it is all about climbing the pavement outside an ice-cream parlour in your neighbourhood market. Why Toyota have not launched a 2WD version is a mystery, but a little whisper indicated that some amount of production is aimed fair and square at the Armed Forces, who insisted on an always on 4WD option. Which is possibly also the reason that the more fuel efficient 2.5 litre diesel has not been introduced for the Indian market. As yet.



The interiors have three rows of reasonably comfortable seats, with the usual flip flop converting the last row into cargo space, or making a sort of bed along one side. Driving stance is more pick-up than like car, something one got used to in the far cheaper Innova, but then fact remains - the Fortuner is derived from a pick-up (the Hi-Lux).



Trying to look more like the Land Cruiser, the Fortuner from Toyota in India, is looking at sales of 2-4000 per year. At least. At AutoX, we think that a lot will depend on how this SUV does in the rural market, because that is where the country now needs a really tough and reliable but moderately priced SUV. Will Toyota's city based strategy, so far, bend a bit to face the challenge?



Put it this way - if they want to go from 3% to 10%, then they will have to do so. And very soon, too.

Still lives

Still lives
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
On a rainy day, the bread and milk still delivers.

The Chinese have my ocean

The big news in India nowadays has to do with the Chinese. Whether it is about cheap goods from China flooding the market or about how China's economy is going in which direction as decided by who saw which skyscraper where. Or closer to us as seafarers, on how the Chinese fleets are all over the oceans and even how they seem to be taking over not just ship-building but also dredging and port management worldwide. Older seafarers may recall Indian officers working on Chinese ships, training them, in the 70s. when China's international trade, barring some stuff flowing in and out of Hong Kong, was zero.






Fact remains - China is now a major shipping superpower. In all respects. It is also India's biggest trading partner. Though India is nowhere near being China's biggest trading partner, that honour goes to the US. therefore, the world economy can very briefly be descibed thus:- declining America spends wildly and builds a debt while ascending China collects the money - and then saves it in the US. Bit of a mathematical problem there, those who balance a budget will know that the totals don't match. And while economic as well as political engagements grow relentlessly between China and the rest of the world, especially the US, there is hardly any political or other form of understanding between the two governments of India and China, much of the work being left to the media on both sides.






Till the Chinese Army decided to go walkabout in the frozen wastes on our borders. The same borders, which we consider semi-open so that the Tibetans can walk in and out, are considered sealed off for Chinese troops. There is a bit of geographical problem here - the "border" is absolutely undefined as far as markers are concerned in most places, barring natural profiles like rivers, streams, passes and peaks. Troops from both sides routinely get lost or are misdirected by local shepherds who themselves are unable to understand what a border means to them and their sheep or yak - and in such cases, merrily salute each other, sometimes play a game or three of volleyball, and then return back. And there is another issue here - the rivers and streams are very rapidly changing status, drying up or altering course. Or being dammed - naturally or manmade. So, a border in the mountains is about as fluid as a border at sea.






But in recent weeks, the mainstream media in India has gone absolutely ballistic about the latest land and mountain threat from the North - pertaining to the land border that India shares in an uneasy status with China, derived from British maps which the Chinese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge as correct. For example, China claims almost the entire State of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory, as well as maintains not just a claim on parts of what we know as Jammu and Kashmir but also runs roads through it into Pakistan. On their part, the Chinese media (which is state controlled) has not lagged behind in its part either - launching hardliner editorials and reports on a relentless basis. India gives support to the Tibetans, which upsets the Chinese a lot, as it should.






Which is fine. Political borders and nationhood go hand in hand. But are we then, in the larger scheme of things, forgetting the way the Chinese are rapidly expanding their sphere of influence in the oceans and seas? Especially within the oceans that surround India. And account for, to quote this article from TIME magazine written by Ishaan Tharoor, "the Indian Ocean is the thoroughfare for nearly half of all global seaborne trade, and the coastal states are home to over 60% of the world's oil and a third of its gas reserves. Traditionally, India has imagined the ocean as part of its backyard without investing serious resources in its navy — much more goes to an army and air force that are perched by the land boundaries with the old enemy of Pakistan. And that gap between India's maritime hubris and real power has been exposed in recent times by China, which is buoyed by a sense of historical revival — dating back to the days when the eunuch admiral Zheng He sailed his medieval trade fleets to India and Africa, bringing back, among other things, a giraffe."






(full article, worth reading, here:- http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1924884,00.html)






Point this correspondent is trying to make here is simple:- power and prestige do not flow only through the barrel of a gun. Countries have to secure trade also, and nothing is more important for this than ensuring the growth and strength of a merchant navy, in synchronisation with national policies. Which, to put it bluntly, whichever way you want to look at it, the Chinese are currently winning lately. Hands down.






So what's the solution, then?






To start with, the chains on shipping in India need to be unshackled, and preferably thrown away deep and far. Very rapid progress needs to be made to open up maritime training across all segments and levels, especially in regional languages along coastal areas - they can always be taught English simultaneously or later on. Income tax laws on seafarers need to be changed and benefits given along the same lines as given to many other segments - the larger benefits are there for all to see not only by way of remittances but also by way of economic strength.






Next, ship acquisition and operations under a second register or even a Flag of Convenience conveniently controlled from India need to be taken forward on a war footing, the Andamans and other islands make for an obvious choice. Taxation on shipping companies registered in India, a vast and contentious subject if ever there was one, needs to be cleaned up on war footing. And the vast mass of Indians who work abroad for foreign shipping companies, often controlling and owning them, need to be made to feel welcome instead of being treated like so much golden geese.






But most importantly, we in the mercantile marine in India need to do our bit to promote the perception of the Merchant Navy in India. The sheer numbers in terms of trade carried by sea are only one aspect. We have to be able to bring out to the mainstream media as well as to opinion makers how shipping is extremely important for the Nation.






And this can not be done if we treat our ports and ships visiting them as subjects of security threats, thus denying access to legitimate visitors and media, without whose help we can not take things forward. As an ex-shippie who has been ashore for almost three decades now, much of it in the media ashore, I know only too well that access has to be granted to media - both embedded as well as unilateral. How will we get this message across, if we prevent everybody from even knowing what a cargo ship looks like?

Because the Chinese won't wait for us to get our act together. And if we hide our light behind a bush, then we can only blame ourselves if we find the Indian mercantile marine also losing out in the Great Game about to unfold not just in waters around India, but worldwide.






+++






Veeresh Malik

Mercedes E Class launch in New Delhi

Mercedes E Class launch in New Delhi
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
Desserts at the new Merc E Class launch at Delhi's Hyatt.

There also was a car but all of us had already seen it. Called new E Class.

New Ford Figo launched earlier today in delhi

New Ford Figo launched earlier today in delhi
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
This is one of the photos for the Ford Figo launched earlier today in Delhi by Alan Mulally who was on his way to China for the ground breaking ceremony of Ford's 3rd JV there. The Figo is born out of the Ford World Car programme. As of now they are not revealing anything cogent about the technical specs of this car but anyways, if they can keep the price low, then they may have a chance.

the Tata Nano by DC

the Tata Nano by DC
Originally uploaded by vm2827.
Here's what Dilip Chabria wants the Nano to look like, at an added cost of about 70-75k. Judge for yourself. All I can say is this - it could try to look prettier. This was taken at the Carnation/DC joint venture media announcement in Delhi on Monday, 21st of September'09. More photos up at my flick pages http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827


For the rest, this blog now re-invents itself as a convergence attempt. Photos, prose and video. Starting with the Ford small car and new Merc E Class launches in Delhi tomorow, Wednesday 23rd of September'09.

NOIDA statues park

NOIDA statues park
Originally uploaded by vm2827.

A picture is always worth a few thousand words. Here, nothing more needs to be said, though I wish I could have added audio too. Driving past early Sunday morning, one could see the dome on top being covered, wonder what it will be?