Unsafe India

This morning, I read a horrifying story about a woman being gang-raped in Bangalore. She was reportedly drugged by the taxi driver she hired to drop her to the hotel (because the hotel was full, she had to look for alternative accommodation and it was late at night when this sordid story unfolded).

In the past couple of years, several foreign women tourists have been raped in different parts of India. Sadly, the Incredible India tag the government seeks to promote will surely ring hollow to the victims of such savagery.

Not that Indian women are any safer. The newspapers are full of reports of molestation and rape across the country. There were even reports of gang rape being used as an instrument of vengeance. How many women professionals have been sexually assaulted (and many even killed) by drivers etc.?

It’s all a vicious cycle. By killing girl children, the sex ratio becomes even more adverse. There is naturally a shortage of women and when hormones run high, frustrated men take to rape and assault. I hope we can come out of this rut before polyandry becomes the norm!

Vikram Pandit is the new CEO of Citigroup

For years, Indians have shone as doctors, engineers, professors and even management gurus. And while we had an Indian heading  major US airline companies (Rakesh Gangwal was Chairman of US Airways and Rono Dutta was President of United Airlines in the mid 2000s), the financial services sector in the US has not seen any Indian in the C-suite. But that has changed, with Citigroup’s Board selecting India-born Vikram Pandit as the CEO after Chuck Prince resigned some weeks ago. Chak de India!

Here’s wishing Vikram a very successful stint as CEO of one of the world’s largest financial services conglomerates.