Yes, the earth is indeed flat ..

Last week, I was sitting in my car, standstill at one of the "Bermuda Triangles" of Bangalore traffic on Old Madras Road (you can check the google map on the left), where all moving traffic comes to a standstill for 15-30 minutes, when an epiphany struck me like an lightning bolt.

I noticed a green colored tractor pull up next to me (the picture that I clicked above), and I could make out it was a tractor from "John Deere", the iconic American brand known for their tractors of all sizes. I went to the United States on an H1B work visa in January of 1999, and my first few projects were for "John Deere" in Moline, IL. There were plenty of contractors who used to work there and it was a roaring time for outsourcing and IT contractors. Of course, all good things must come to an an end, the dot-com crash of 2000, ended this and plenty of projects were pulled back in most customers. I then moved on to Boston for my next gig, and life moved on ..  

Most people know of Tom Friedman, the famous New York Times columnist and the author of the book "The world is flat". The basic premise of this book, is that it is a level playing field, and all competitors have an equal opportunity. So, even though, Indian IT outsourcing companies have/are benefitting from opportunities in the US, I see a lot of growth opportunities in India for the very same companies. In a country like India, which still is very much driven by agriculture and only a fraction of them use tractors, I see lots of opportunities for the likes of John Deere, Caterpillar, Monsanto, GE and others. It is the same for Indian companies like Mahindra, which apparently is selling mid-sized tractors in the US !! India, along with China is probably only a handful of countries in the world, which has a market the size of the US for everything, including software developers. I know from experience, when you need to drive adoption like # of developers, # of downloads and you are running short of a million, companies routinely use the great "Indian" rope trick to drive up numbers ;-) Looks like John Deere has realized the potential of India. If it has been able to penetrate a price sensitive market like India, I am hopeful that they will succeed here. I hope someday, we can have Fry's electronics, large bookstores like Barnes and Noble in India too .. Till then, I will try the new Burger King outlet, that has opened in Bangalore and try their mutton burger (which you will not get in the US) ;-)

So, the next time you hear some protectionist drivel, you should tell them about the successes of these companies which is creating more jobs, breaking down barriers and increasing the quality of life. Viva La Flat world !!