In Tirur's "Paan Street", the aroma is back. The thaw in Indo-Pak relations has rekindled the hopes of south India's largest betel leaf market. The tongue-tickling leaves of Malappuram's Malabar paan - also called Lanka paan - used to be the first choice of the voracious paan eaters of Pakistan, but strained relations between the two countries had badly affected trade. Now after a painful pause, the leaf is set to regain its lost glory. Every day, around 80 tonnes of Malabar paan are dispatched to Mumbai to be airlifted to Karachi and Lahore. Betel farmers and the merchants of Malappuram district want to forget their bitter past. Many of them had even planned to switch to other crops. Growers explain why the Pakistanis are fond of the Malappuram leaves. "It has got a better shelf life than that of the other varieties. Besides, it has a special aroma and is known for its medicinal quality (it is used in Ayurveda in a big way)," claims P. Prasad of Appayi and Sons, a leading betel merchant of Tirur. "Pakistanis like sweet paan and for that Malappuram leaves are best suited," he explains.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, October 18, 2004

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India as a destination is getting hotter. A survey conducted by the Lonely Planet guidebook has ranked India the fourth most popular destination in the world. Thailand, Italy and Australia occupy the first three places, while New Zealand is fifth. Over 7,500 respondents from 134 countries participated in the online survey which marked Lonely Planet's 30th anniversary year. The participants were predominantly from Europe, North America and Australia. A third of all travellers nominated Asia as their favourite region. Europe followed a close second with 30 per cent. According to the Ministry of Tourism, inbound tourism to India boomed during the winter months with a 15 per cent growth and an additional Rs 3,000 crore earnings in foreign exchange. "Our focus on infrastructure and promotion of India in key source markets has paid off," said Rathi Vinay Jha, secretary, Tourism. "The 'Incredible India' campaign has enabled us to tap source markets like Europe and increase the inflow from there," said Amitabh Kant, joint secretary (tourism).

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, January 16, 2004

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Some of the most successful alumni of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), who are holding top position, have been profiled in a new book released recently. The 135-page coffee table book- 'IIT: India's Intellectual Treasures' - written by Suvarna U Rajguru and Ranjan Pant- will give readers "behind the scenes" look into the prestigious Indian Institutes and the success stories of their alumni. Among others it profiles Mohammad A. Zaidi, Chief Technical Officer and Vice President, Alcoa; Rajat Gupta, former Managing Director of McKinsey; Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems; Raghuran Rajan, Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund; Jeet Bindra, President, Chevron Global Refining and Arun Netravali, former President of AT&T Bell Labs. IITs were one of the first institutions of higher education established in India. Many of its graduates have made outstanding contributions to business, industry and education in the United States and India.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, January 13, 2004

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India needs a framework for global leadership and 20 million overseas Indians should be at the apex as enablers, Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani said here on Saturday. In a multimedia presentation at the plenary session, 'India and the Diaspora: Vision 2020,' of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Ambani said his framework involves four segments of the global Indian society working in a mutually reinforcing manner. The overseas Indians would scout opportunities, represent Brand India, network for Indian initiatives and seed nodes for innovation. "They will help India turn brain drain into brain gain." At the second tier would be the 50 million resident Indians who form the leadership of India in government, enterprise, academics and institutions. "They would be the flag-bearers... They would be obsessed with a vision and the passion for fostering global initiatives and attaining global leadership." At the third tier would be some 400 million young Indians who represent the aspirations of India. "They would be legionaries. They would arm themselves with professional education and hone their skill sets to participate competitively in global manufacturing and service opportunities. They would go beyond business process outsourcing to attaining global leadership in services." The legionaries would go beyond outsourced manufacturing to creating global brands. "They would go beyond contract research to creating new vistas of knowledge. They will help India be seen not as a land of people but as a force of people power." At the fourth tier would be about 500 million Indians in agriculture and allied activities. "They would be the rangers. They would be forerunners of a new green revolution." All that is easier said. Ambani warned that the framework for India attaining global leadership calls for a plan of action. The first action is in investing heavily in science and technology education. Research-led higher education in science and technology, he said, is the crucible for ideation and innovation. The country also has one of the largest educational systems in the world.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, January 11, 2004

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Everyone knows that chicken tikka masala is Britain's new national dish. But a few years back, came an arguably better indication of how staple Indian food has become in the UK. Just before the Millennium, when global breakdown and chaos was anticipated because of the Millennium Bug, the British government's Millennium Bug Task Force suggested that everyone in Britain prepare for the worst by stocking up on two weeks supply of staples. Many explanations are advanced by writers like Shrabani Basu: Britain's long fascination with India, the presence of migrants from the subcontinent, even the suggestion that spicy Indian food suits British palates etc. This may all be true, but there's a practical reason too. Indian food fits well into increasingly hurried lifestyles. Indian food is particularly well suited to being made in advance only to be reheated or at most assembled, using partially prepared ingredients like masala pastes or cooked canned beans. Indian food works because unlike the great classic cuisines like French and Chinese, which depend on the best seasonal ingredients prepared with exacting skill and served at once, Indian food can survive with indifferent ingredients and long cooking or serving times. All this combined to make curries the perfect food for mass production in industrial cookers, which could precisely gauge temperature and then flash freeze and package the food, all ready to be heated up later. The UK may have been the best place for Indian ready meals to make an impact. But it's happened elsewhere too, most unexpectedly in Japan. Madhur Jaffrey, who recently released a book on the food of the Indian Diaspora and its impact on other countries, writes of how amazed she was to see that Japanese supermarkets give more space to Indian-inspired food than to Chinese or Korean.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, January 01, 2004