Welcome to the SILVERblog

Battling Poverty Through Sport

2011-12-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

Check out this story from ESPN. It is a very eye-opening and uplifting account of one man's use of sport as a means to raise his family out of poverty in India.

Follow this link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=111207/Slumdog

Walker Talent Group has changed

2011-09-20T15:06:00.001-07:00

Walker Talent Group has now become The Talent Studios. Located in Marina Del Ray, we are still the same great company, just with a different name. I can be reached at : jsilver@talentstudios.com

The Grind

2011-06-28T16:26:00.001-07:00

I have officially joined the workforce. I work as an Executive Search Consultant for Walker Talent Group. Please check out www.walkertalentgroup.com and contact me if you have any interest in upgrading your company's most valuable asset: Talent. I can be reached at: jason@walkertg.com

Spring Quarter Book Review

2010-06-09T13:45:00.001-07:00

Please go to my Virtual Portfolio to read my book review. I read Chindia: How China and India Are Revolutionizing Global Business. Click on Spring Quarter Book Review and enjoy!

India: Land of Music

2010-06-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Music is a cultural artifact that spans this entire globe. Every culture has a form of music for which it means many things. Music can be a form of storytelling, keeping ancient tales alive. Music can be a form of entertainment. Music can change listener’s emotions and can inspire. Indian culture is rich in musical history and traditions. The basis for Indian music is "sangeet". Sangeet is a combination of three art forms: vocal music, instrumental music and dance. Over time, they have evolved into very refined and individual entities.

The most notable Indian instruments include the Tablas (thank you Emily), the Sitar, the Shehnai, and the Sarangi. These instruments have been part of the Indian culture for ages and have evolved over time to be used in multiple musical genres. Emily went into detail about the Tabla, however I would like to focus on the other instruments, and how they have found their way into mainstream music culture.

The Sitar’s early origins date back to the 13th century and the instrument has remained virtually unchanged since then. The sitar is most closely related to a modern guitar. It is comprised of a neck (Dandi), a base (Kadu), strings (Tar), and frets (Parda). The sounds that this instrument makes are beautiful and sometimes haunting. Please follow this link to listen to the Sitar. One of the foremost Sitar players from India is Nikhil Banerjee, click here. The Sitar has become more popular over time and one famous band found ways to incorporate it into their music. Check out “Across the Universe” by the Beatles.

The Shehnai is the northern Indian term for a flute like instrument. Its southern Indian name is the Nadaswaram. This instrument can be found on any sidewalk being played by professionals or peddlers. The origins of this instrument cannot be perfectly placed. The Shehnai is a wind instrument that is played with your mouth. The holes in the body of the instrument help to create the sound you hear. It is popular for snake charmers to use this instrument to entertain for a fee. Uslah Bismillah Khan is a professional Shehnai player; here is some of his work. Khan plays the instrument in a classical fashion, and the sound can be compared to the sound Dave Mason made in the Rolling Stones song “Street Fighter Man” from 1968.

Lastly, the Sarangi is an instrument that didn’t become main-stream in Indian music until the 18th century. It is the instrument whose sound is said to most resemble the human voice. The Sarangi is a bowed and string instrument and the use of two hands is necessary to making the correct sounds. A traditional rendition of the Sarangi can be found here. In 1997, the band Aerosmith included the Sarangi in their song “Taste of India”.

Indian musical instruments have had a great impact on the evolution of Indian music, Rock and Roll, and lately American popular music. Today we hear Indian instruments in many songs and now Indian musical artists are making headway in the American music market. Panjabi MC has collaborated with rapper/business mogul Jay-Z in the song “Beware of the Boys”. A.R. Rahman has made a name for himself in America by making the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack a hit with songs like “Jai Ho” and “O Saya”.

I hope that everyone will listen to some Indian music before we head overseas. Music allows an individual to experience the sounds in their own way. I find Indian music to be ancient, mysterious, relaxing, and entrancing. I hope that everyone gets to experience this kind of music and the sounds that these instruments make.

Religions of India Research Paper

2010-04-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

The following is a research paper on three predominant religions in India: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The paper was put together by myself, Fred Peemoeller, and John Barry, all participants in Cal Poly's International Collegiate Business Competition. I hope that you learn valuable information from this paper. Please follow this link to the paper: Jason Silver Virtual Portfolio

The Story of India Questions

2010-04-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

My answers to The Story of India questions can be found by following this link to my virtual portfolio, and then by going to the Story of India page. Thank you and enjoy!

Jason Silver's Virtual Portfolio

Comment to “ I’m a 27th Generation Blacksmith”

2010-03-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

The life of a nomad is clearly tough. In a time of increasing modernization and the build-up of infrastructure in a country such as India, nomads are finding it harder and harder to make a living. They travel constantly, and from the pictures that Cat provided, look more like gypsies and a traveling circus. Their carts are the only thing of great value they posses, other than their own family members. It seems that these nomads are finding less open country to travel, as India becomes a country defined by extreme economic, social, and structural growth. Nomads can live on the income from selling spoons, or performing their entertaining acts, but cannot compete with the speed at which every other social class is climbing the socio-economic ladder. I would think that nomads would be the best people possible to raise livestock, yet their governments haven’t given them the means to do so. It seems as if the Indian government is focused on building up the cities in which most people will see in pictures, movies, and in travel brochures, while leaving the nomads to fend for themselves as they have done so for generations.

Other groups of nomads that I know about include the Bedouins of the Middle East and the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Tibet. Talk about a census count, approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Mongolia’s nomadic people range in the 3 millions. I think that what it really comes down to is that it depends on the country itself. Countries like Mongolia, Tibet, or Yemen are not currently experiencing double digit economic growth. These countries are not receiving billions of dollars in foreign investment. These countries do not have traditional, modern educational systems. There is a lack of basic tools to facilitate socio-economic growth in these countries. India and China have these systems in place, and as a result, they are modernizing and throwing out the traditions and people that once pervaded its land centuries ago.

A Comment to Gold Rush of 2009

2010-03-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

The large purchase of gold by India from the IMF can be quite a shock to people who are not familiar with the ties India has with gold. Through generations of conquests, wars, and political and social change, gold has been a constant. Gold has been used as currency in India dating back thousands of years and has been used as a constant measure of wealth over that time span. This relationship goes even deeper. The god of creation, Brahma, is said to be the one born of gold (Hiranyagarbha). Gold is used in all sorts of cultural and traditional ceremonies from weddings to births, birthdays, and even for offerings to Indian deities. It is so ingrained in Indian society that gold is sometimes willed to unborn children and to those who will be married in the future. This purchase should not surprise most Indians, as one person puts it, “Gold to us Indians is that ultimate love object… not only does it adorn our bodies, it also acts as a good investment… Gold is ancestral”. This affinity for gold will last as long as Indian culture and tradition persists. So when you see all those “Cash 4 Gold” commercials on your TV’s, at least you can be comforted in the fact that a whole subcontinent is investing in gold as well.

Indian Railways making Olympic Dreams Come True

2010-03-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the shout out Catherine! Go Sports seems like an amazing idea, capitalizing on the athletic talent that India has to offer. I hope to learn more about them, and since they are headquartered in Bangalore, might just have to drop in and observe. I think that a country like India has the potential to become a sports powerhouse, yet the lack of financial backing is what is really holding back the progression of their athletes. I have never heard of a system where a business employs athletes to train, while using the threat of full time work schedules as motivation to train harder. This is quite unique and seems like a legitimate way to incentivize athletic performance.

The low output of Indian Olympic athletes has been a trend over the years. In the Summer Olympic Games, in Athens in 2004, India sent 73 athletes, in 2008 in Beijing, they sent 59. In comparison, America sent delegations of 619 and 594 respectively. When it comes to Winter Olympics, it gets even more dispersed. In 2006 in Turin, India sent 4 athletes, and recently sent 3 to Vancouver, while America sent 211 and 216.

Many of the powerhouse sports nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars training and preparing their athletes for competition. This can be due to the social and economic history and development of each nation too. India, as Lindsay mentioned, is a very young nation and as India keeps growing economically, they will have the resources to spend on athletics. This is a great goal to aspire to, but won’t come to fruition for a while; it will take time for India to build up its athletic resources. It should be interesting to see how these athletes perform against the best in the world, and hopefully they can win some medals!

Winter Quarter Original Blog Post : What's Mao got to do with India?

2010-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that the political, social, and economic goals with which Mao Zedong ruled China with from 1943-1976, still resonate strongly today. Except this has nothing to do with China, I’m talking about the Maoist rebels of India. These rebels have been fighting the Indian government for over 40 years, with the newest batch of radical Maoists springing up in 2004. Although these rebels use deadly force to help get their points across, they believe in many of the same ideals that the Chairman himself espoused. These insurgents can be found in 20 of the 28 Indian states and the size of the group is estimated around 20,000. Violence has been ongoing for decades, yet the Indian government and military forces have been unable to put down this “terrorist organization”.

Just as recent as the 16th of February, 24 policemen were killed in an attack on police forces by rebels wielding machine guns on motorcycles and trucks. This attack took place 105 miles south of Calcutta and similar attacks have taken place in the rebel stronghold of Northeastern India. The insurgents and the military forces have been in constant back and forth battles, with each side suffering casualties. These rebels are targeting officials such as military, police, and political figureheads. The Maoists are trying to fight for what they believe in, but isn’t using deadly force just invalidating their political legitimacy?

After learning more about the Maoists, they have certain points that they believe in the following:

• Land to the poor and landless. Later on cooperative farming is to be established on voluntary basis.
• Forest to the tribal people.
• End of the rule of the rich and the upper caste in villages and the uprooting of the caste system. Uproot all discrimination based on gender and religion.
• Seizure of the ill gotten wealth and assets of multinational corporations and their local Indian partners.
• Self-determination for the nationalities, political autonomy for the tribes.
• Establish a state by the poor and for the poor, where the present day exploiters would be expropriated.
• Participation of people in day to day administrative work and decision making. Democracy at the true grassroots level with people having the power to recall their democratic representatives.

The Maoists are mainly comprised of the extremely poor citizens, including Dalits (untouchables) and tribal peoples. They want to ensure freedom and equal rights for everyone, regardless of religion, social, economic, or geographic status. Albeit their cause seems noble, violently killing the people that could possibly help them in the long run seems like the wrong way to act. There have been small instances of violence all around the country, and as we prepare for our trip, every precaution must be taken to prepare ourselves for any and all skirmishes. How does a country like India solve a crisis that has been going on for over 40 years? Is there another alternative to fighting?

I do not want to sound like the harbinger of bad news or the one who is overly worried about security issues; I only want to highlight current events that are taking place in India. I’m positive that every precaution will be taken and that we will be taken nowhere near any form of violence. With that said, I am looking forward to an excellent and safe adventure in India.

http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/who-are-the-maoists-and-what-do-they-want-by-rita-khanna/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35407477/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Research on Global Warming's effect on India

2010-03-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. For the Cal Poly MBA trip, I was requested to perform some research regarding Global Warming and India. My findings can be found on my virtual portfolio. Please use the following link to get to my research paper.

http://sites.google.com/site/jasonsilvervitrualportfolio/

Winter Quarter Book Review

2010-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

For the Winter Quarter, I read "The Elephant and The Dragon" by Robyn Meredith. Please follow this link to the the review, which is in PDF format. Enjoy!

http://sites.google.com/site/jasonsilvervitrualportfolio/

India Trip Book Review

2009-12-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Orfalea College of Business is giving its MBA class the opportunity to go on a 15 day business trip to India this summer. As a pre-requisite to the trip, we must complete assignments related to the trip throughout the academic year. This assignment is a book review of Fareed Zakaria's "The Post American World". I hope you find it enjoyable and informative.

You can access the review by following this link to my Google Virtual Portfolio, then by clicking on the "Book Review" page.
http://sites.google.com/site/jasonsilvervitrualportfolio/

Hollywood versus Bollywood

2009-12-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite activities during my leisure time is to go see movies at the theater. I love movies for their visual, emotional, and artistic impact. The main sources of movies I have seen come from Hollywood, California. Hollywood has been the center of the movie world since the “Golden Age of Hollywood” from 1927 to the late 1950’s, which has persisted to this day. However, Hollywood is not only recognized for its glitz and glamour, its also recognized for the financial impact it has on the world economy. The Hollywood Film Industry churns out on average 520 movies a year, with growth of 1.8% per year. The domestic box office returns in 2008 reached $9.8 billion, at a growth rate of 1.7% from 2007. The international box office returns of 2008, which accounted for 65% of total revenue, reached an all time high of $28.1 billion, rising 5.2% from 2007. Hollywood is not only the heart of the American film industry, it is the center for home movie and television production as well. When you incorporate home movie and television production with the film industry, this Hollywood giant contributes close to $80 billion to the U.S. economy.

Recently, another player in the world film industry has stepped up to challenge Hollywood for a share of the world cinema market. This film industry, which is located in India, is known as Bollywood. Bollywood is known for its theatrical productions that include music, dancing, and singing. This movie hub releases close to 1000 movies per year, double that of Hollywood. However, Bollywood movies have been plagued by poor funding, stagnant story lines, and complacent producers and directors. Starting in 2006, a revolution has taken place to create better movies, which includes a shift in business ideology from a cash-flow to profit-loss. Directors and producers were solely worried about if they could get money to work on their next film, whether or not their current project flopped. Once the industry began looking at movies from a profit-loss perspective, the standard of movie making in Bollywood began to rise. With the Indian economy growing greatly, more and more Indian businesses are entering the movie market by funding higher priced films. These budget increases allow film makers to spend more time in pre-production, cast better actors and actresses, pay them accordingly, and to film higher quality movies.

With the increase in Bollywood’s quality over the last few years, Hollywood has taken notice of the new competition. Hollywood recognizes that Bollywood is a growing force, so much so that some movie houses are creating joint ventures in order to gain capital funding and to work on bigger and better project. One of the most notable collaborations to date has been the merging of DreamWorks, run by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, with one of India’s largest entertainment conglomerates, the Reliance ADA Group. With this cooperation between Hollywood and Bollywood, how much growth can the two movie giants sustain? What will be the impact of these international mergers on the U.S. and Indian film industries? Will Bollywood take jobs (especially post-production) away from the Hollywood due to lower costs in India? These are all questions to consider. For more information please refer to:
• Newsweek
• Wall Street Journal
• Motion Picture Association of America

-Jason Silver

Comment to Lindsay Leaver's "What about Kashmir? (and I don’t mean the sweater…)"

2009-12-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

The debate raging over the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan is now reaching new heights. It is in the best interest of both countries to solve the issue diplomatically, however little is being done because they both are demanding more and more of each other. As of December 2nd, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that in order to reach a peace accord between the two nations, they must settle the dispute over the Kashmir territory. The issue of terrorism has put a new wrinkle into the debate over the region. India will not sit down with Pakistan to discuss Kashmir unless Pakistan agrees to prosecute the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attacks just over a year ago.

We can now draw a similarity between the two conflicts mentioned, in that terrorism is a reality that must be dealt with. Peace will never be reached unless the terrorism stops. The Israeli’s must deal with constant suicide bombings and a Palestinian government ruled by people who seek to wipe them off the face of the planet. India must now deal with a state that harbors terrorists and should not seek to commence peace talks unless the plague of terrorism is exterminated.

Modern Indians are tempted to put their country’s history with Pakistan behind them, but it is impossible to do so with terrorism threatening a possible attempt at peace of Kashmir. It will take time to solve this issue, but once the threat of terrorism is reduced or eliminated, the two countries will be able to sit down and constructively work towards peace in the region.

Comment to Chase Janvrin's post, "To eat, or not to eat; that is the question?"

2009-12-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

To answer Tim’s question, it seems that the most prevalent food borne illnesses in India are diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera. We all know what diarrhea is, and it’s a symptom of the following two illnesses. Dysentery is the inflammation of the intestines that could be potentially fatal if left untreated. Cholera is an infection of the gastrointestinal system, attacking the stomach and small intestine. Cholera can also be deadly if left untreated, but prompt rehydration treatment and restoration of electrolytes is the common treatment.

Enough with the doom and gloom, I want to focus on the joys of eating abroad. This trip will offer an amazing opportunity to become familiar with cuisines that have been around for centuries. I personally love food, and relish (no pun intended) the occasions to eat new and exciting fare. Indian food has normally not been part of my diet, but I think that is about to change. My introduction to Indian food at the few restaurants here in San Luis Obispo has made me a fan.

Throughout my travels, I have made it mandatory to eat street vendor food, in order to feel more like a local. My vendor experiences have only strengthened my wish to consume the food in India. With all the discussion about food borne illnesses, I feel it is important to take every precaution on my end to ensure my food safety, even if that means passing on one sub-par vendor to look for a cleaner vendor option. With that said, I cannot wait to get to India and experience its culinary history and deliciousness.

Comment to Fred Peemoeller's "Is India the next untapped resource for Major League Baseball?"

2009-12-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

I would have to back Will up and say that it is entirely possible for Indians to become the next source of Major League Baseball players. I am an avid sports fan and remember when ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) and Sports Illustrated both reported on this story. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel are listed as pitchers on the current roster on the minor league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The statistics show that both players have played sparingly and with mixed levels of success. It normally takes a few years of development in the minor leagues for a player to be ready for “The Show.” These players are still works-in-progress, so only time will tell if this gamble pays off.

However, India is a country that boasts roughly one sixth of the world’s population, so one can make the argument that with enough money, time, and resources, India could become a hotbed for MLB stars. Many Major League teams invest in training academies and independent leagues in the major baseball nations, so that they can spot talented players early, and then grow them into potential stars. A similar program in India would be the necessary first step if baseball teams were to seriously consider acquiring Indian talent.

The World Baseball Classic tournament is an annual competition that brings together teams from around the world to compete to see which country reigns supreme. The usual suspects like the United States, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Japan are included in the field. While countries such as the Netherlands, Italy, South Africa, Australia, and China are also fielding teams for this international event. This is a testament to the growth of baseball internationally and the ability for a sport that isn’t culturally relevant, to become accepted within a nation’s sports landscape. With this example, it doesn’t seem too far fetched for India, a country with a sport very similar to baseball, to make the transition to next adopting baseball.

-Jason Silver

My First Blog

2009-11-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Jason Silver's MBA Blog. This is my first ever blogging experience and I hope that you all are able to enjoy and learn from the content that will be provided. Keep updated throughout my MBA studies this year and the great trip to India this upcoming summer.

-Jason