The problem with airlines...

Pilots declare strike. Management threatens. Pilots go on mass sick leave. Management sends doctors to their homes. Had it not inconvenienced so many travelers, this was just the kind of comic relief to lighten up these gloomy days of recession.

Today's strike aside, most airlines worldwide are headed for a disaster. I think the problem is lack of creativity. Airlines is a boring industry in every aspect. They are highly capital intensive and are subject to several regulations due to safety concerns. Consequently, they are "boxed" within a certain framework with very little room for creativity. Take the safety instructions by the crew before takeoff for example. (It is only Southwest that has managed to break out and the results are there to see.)

Even the names are boring. Jet Airways, Spice Jet, Indigo, Go Air. One would be pardoned for concluding that the law requires airlines to include either Jet or Go in their names. Even worldwide, the names are surprisingly drab. Except for Virgin which has gone to the other extreme, and following in its footsteps, our own Kingfisher.

Contrast it with how IT firms are named. Apple, Sun, Oracle, Google, Adobe etc. Except for Microsoft, no one felt the need to announce what business they are in, let alone where they are from. Whereas for airlines the preferred choice is the nationality of the airline followed by "airlines".

The only way the airlines can come out of their perpetual slump is by hiring a software CEO.

Back with a thud

Not too often, but every now and then, certain events make us proud. Wait, thats too strong. Lets say, we just stop feeling like total losers. The Pokhran tests, Chandrayaan, Bhuvan etc are some recent examples.

They may not mean much to the younger generation that grew up in the relative prosperity of the late 90s, for they already visualized us as an emerging superpower. But if you have grown up in the 80s and early 90s, and experienced the legendary Indian bureaucratic lethargy (or lethargic bureaucracy), such headlines do bring joy and emotion. You wonder if we are finally breaking away from our past. If we really can do more than write code and deal with angry Americans on telephones.

To be honest, our quality was never world class, for we were rooted is the strong tradition of good enough. When asked to choose any two from fast, good and cheap, we inevitably choose fast and cheap. Be it software or anywhere. Clients are amazed by our rapid fast turnaround of deliverables and appalled by their quality. It seems this is more pervasive than what I thought.

Chandrayaan was touted as India's "nano" space project, cheap but highly effective. The celebrations had hardly died down when some defects came to the fore and now the mission is officially dead. Even the celebrated Pokhran tests have come back to haunt us with a scientist claiming the yields were disastrous and others shouting it was "good enough". And Bhuvan is a nonstarter.

I believe these are not isolated incidents but a reflection of our ethos and pysche.