Guest guest Posted February 26, 2004 Report Share Posted February 26, 2004 But here's where the story really gets interesting. > JadooWorks has decided to produce its own animated > epic about the childhood of Krishna. To write the > script, though, it wanted the best storyteller it > could find and outsourced the project to an Emmy > Award-winning U.S. animation writer, Jeffrey Scott — > for an Indian epic! > Thu, 26 Feb 2004 12:39:47 -0600 > > Newsletter at http://www.indiacause.com > ------------------------------- > > "How can it be good for America to have all these > Indians doing our white-collar jobs?" Thomas > Friedman asked 24/7's founder, S. Nagarajan. Well, > he answered patiently, "look around this office." > All the computers are from Compaq. The basic > software is from Microsoft. The phones are from > Lucent. The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even > the bottled water is by Coke……………"It's unfair that > you want all your products marketed globally," > argues Mr. Kulkarni, "but you don't want any jobs to > go." > > He's right. Which is why we must design the right > public policies to keep America > competitive……..Because beneath the surface, what's > going around is also coming around. Even an Indian > cartoon company isn't just taking American jobs, > it's also making them. > > What Goes Around . . . > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/opinion/26FRIE.html?th > > By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN > Published: February 26, 2004 > > I've been in India for only a few days and I am > already thinking about reincarnation. In my next > life, I want to be a demagogue. > > Yes, I want to be able to huff and puff about > complex issues — like outsourcing of jobs to India — > without any reference to reality. Unfortunately, in > this life, I'm stuck in the body of a > reporter/columnist. So when I came to the 24/7 > Customer call center in Bangalore to observe > hundreds of Indian young people doing service jobs > via long distance — answering the phones for U.S. > firms, providing technical support for U.S. computer > giants or selling credit cards for global banks — I > was prepared to denounce the whole thing. "How can > it be good for America to have all these Indians > doing our white-collar jobs?" I asked 24/7's > founder, S. Nagarajan. > > Well, he answered patiently, "look around this > office." All the computers are from Compaq. The > basic software is from Microsoft. The phones are > from Lucent. The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and > even the bottled water is by Coke, because when it > comes to drinking water in India, people want a > trusted brand. On top of all this, says Mr. > Nagarajan, 90 percent of the shares in 24/7 are > owned by U.S. investors. This explains why, although > the U.S. has lost some service jobs to India, total > exports from U.S. companies to India have grown from > $2.5 billion in 1990 to $4.1 billion in 2002. What > goes around comes around, and also benefits > Americans. > > Consider one of the newest products to be outsourced > to India: animation. Yes, a lot of your Saturday > morning cartoons are drawn by Indian animators like > JadooWorks, founded three years ago here in > Bangalore. India, though, did not take these basic > animation jobs from Americans. For 20 years they had > been outsourced by U.S. movie companies, first to > Japan and then to the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong > and Taiwan. The sophisticated, and more lucrative, > preproduction, finishing and marketing of the > animated films, though, always remained in America. > Indian animation companies took the business away > from the other Asians by proving to be more adept at > both the hand-drawing of characters and the digital > painting of each frame by computer — at a lower > price. > > Indian artists had two advantages, explained Ashish > Kulkarni, C.O.O. of JadooWorks. "They spoke English, > so they could take instruction from the American > directors easily, and they were comfortable doing > coloring digitally." India has an abundance of > traditional artists, who were able to make the > transition easily to computerized digital painting. > Most of these artists are the children of Hindu > temple sculptors and painters. > > Explained Mr. Kulkarni: "We train them to transform > their traditional skills to animation in a digital > format." But to keep up their traditional Indian > painting skills, JadooWorks has a room set aside — > because the two skills reinforce each other. In > short, thanks to globalization, a whole new > generation of Indian traditional artists can keep up > their craft rather than drive taxis to earn a > living. > > But here's where the story really gets interesting. > JadooWorks has decided to produce its own animated > epic about the childhood of Krishna. To write the > script, though, it wanted the best storyteller it > could find and outsourced the project to an Emmy > Award-winning U.S. animation writer, Jeffrey Scott — > for an Indian epic! > > "We are also doing all the voices with American > actors in Los Angeles," says Mr. Kulkarni. And the > music is being written in London. JadooWorks also > creates computer games for the global market but > outsources all the design concepts to U.S. and > British game designers. All the computers and > animation software at JadooWorks have also been > imported from America (H.P. and I.B.M.) or Canada, > and half the staff walk around in American-branded > clothing. > > "It's unfair that you want all your products > marketed globally," argues Mr. Kulkarni, "but you > don't want any jobs to go." > > He's right. Which is why we must design the right > public policies to keep America competitive in an > increasingly networked world, where every company — > Indian or American — will seek to assemble the best > skills from around the globe. And we must cushion > those Americans hurt by the outsourcing of their > jobs. But let's not be stupid and just start > throwing up protectionist walls, in reaction to what > seems to be happening on the surface. Because > beneath the surface, what's going around is also > coming around. Even an Indian cartoon company isn't > just taking American jobs, it's also making them. > > > ------ End of message ------- > > Thank you. > Mahendra Joshi > http://www.indiacause.com > (India News, NRI Services and Activism) > ___________________ > > Keep informed: Receive IndiaCause NewsLetter > http://www.indiacause.com/IC_JML.htm > > To : > http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/.php?indiacause > (Only if the above link does not work, reply with > subject Remove) > > > Get better spam protection with Mail. http://antispam./tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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