What do we call it?

Naming the current global crisis seems to be a 24/7 popular activity. Justin Wolfers in the Freakonomics blog lists out various options

1. The Great Deception: Sounds like a sequel to The Great Dictator and The Great Train Robbery
2. The Great Recession (which unfortunately has been used so many times before, even for the smallest of spikes)
3. Economic detumenscence: I have no idea what it means
   1. Actually it seems to be a spelling mistake by Justin. Answers.com gives a medical definition of “detumescence“: Reduction or lessening of a swelling, especially the restoration of a swollen organ or part to normal size.

Finally, he got some friends of his to give some wacky names and he got “Flump” – to use fashionable English semantic terminology – a portmanteau word for “financial slump”

Recession dinner time

A friend of mine who runs a lounge in Bangalore spoke of how the economic situation is hitting the fine dining places in many of the large cities. Popular hang out places are running 40%-50% – much much below normal. 

In Mumbai, the situation seems to be mixed. Today itself I came back from a dinner at Oh! Calcutta in Tardeo. I was with the wife and the wife’s parents. We had an elaborate meal. We made a reservation in the morning itself. We came in by 8.30 pm and took our seats. By 9 pm, the restaurant was full. Oh! Calcutta does have a reputation for leisurely service. With the restaurant full, the leisureliness became a tad too irritating.

Anyway, the point of the matter is that Tuesday evening, i.e. working day, we have a full restaurant where the average meal for four people is around Rs. 3K. So are people recovering from the economic crisis?

Cut to Toto’s Garage Pub in Bandra. A typical working day night would resemble a Borivili local train. Friday and Saturday nights would resemble a Virar local train. These days, it resembles the early morning harbour line trains. There’s enough place to stretch out horizontally and have your drink, zamindar style.

Of course, for Toto’s the additional hit happened because of Ramodoss’s smoking ban. The smoking ban has significantly changed the usage behaviour of the patrons of Toto’s. Now, half the customers are standing outside in the footpath puffing away. After one puff, customers go in, finish their drink and order one more. Even as the bar tender is preparing the next drink, they are back outside for another puff. And life goes on.

By the way, at Oh! Calcutta tonight, for those who are interested, we had the following

1. Mutton Ryzala
2. Shorshebata Ilish (with bones) – without bones is for the cowards and pretenders
3. Chittagong Chicken
4. Bhaja Platter – an assortment of fried vegetables including brinjals, bhendi, fulgobi and alu
5. Luchi
6. For starters, we had bhetki fish fry and prawn cutlet

For drinks I had Vodka with aam panna (which was interesting) and the wife tried Vodka with tender coconut water (which wasn’t exciting at all) .

Don’t Panic

The reason why The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy sells more than its rival the Encyclopeadia Galactica is because of the words “Don’t Panic” written in capital letters on the cover. The entry for Earth is just two words, “Mostly Harmless”.

Don’t Panic is what I thought of when I made a short presentation to the young folks at IIMB last Saturday. I was at our 10 year old reunion and we were requested to interact with the juniors who were in quite a state given the current situation.

You can see the presentation here. I looked at what strategies the juniors can work on given the current market conditions. In my opinion, I felt the need was to stay focused on their personal development and develop themselves as professionals of their choice.

In times of crisis, it is the professional or the practitioner who becomes key because he or she has the capability to respond to challenges. Instead of looking for jobs, look for becoming a professional.

Some of the inspiration for slides have come from some friends like Mohit, Neelakantan, Dibyo, Shamanth Rao, Mohit Satyanand, Girish Mallapragada,  Deepak Shenoy and many others. Inspiration on the concept of contribution and practitioners has from the I-become Initiative.

There is always a tendency for people to go over the top during such crisis. While most experts feel that the current economic situation is one of its kind and there is as yet uncertainty on when the bottom will really be scraped. Things are likely to go worse from here.

Madhu Menon who runs Shiok and Moss, two fine restaurants in Bangalore, is seeing it every day. The number of guests seems to have come down to a trickle, even on hot nights like Saturdays and inspite of some wonderful promotions that he lined up on his anniversary (anniversary of the restaurant, not his personal).

And news about production cuts, job cuts, salary cuts keep coming every day. In Mumbai, recession coupled with terrorism has added the gloom. Even taxi drivers are asking what’s going on. A poor fellow told me that every day is a like a bank holiday – the roads are emptier than ever, the number of passengers are less, especially from places like Nariman Point and Fountain.

For what it’s worth,  my own view is that there is going to be a big shift in the way we work. As I have put in the presentation, those who deliver value in the form of solutions are the ones who will survive and grow. Those who remain processors will be cast out.

People with thoughts on this are invited to write in and let’s have a good constructive discussion on this.