Jugaad

[Dan Goncharoff]

This reminds me of an ad for Peugeot, played in movie theaters around the
time of Slumdog Millionaire, of an Indian "playa" converting his boring car
"into" a Peugeot. Makes more sense now.

DanG

On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 1:15 AM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu>wrote:

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> Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
> Subject:      Jugaad
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>
> What's jugaad? What's to jugaad? Will the noun and possibly even the
> verb catch on in global English?
>
> Anand Giridharadas explains in a New York Times article:
>
> "It is, for one thing, illegal: a truck tossed together, saladlike, in
> the sheds of northern India, beyond regulators’ view. Parts from old
> jeeps are cut and welded and combined with wooden planks to form a
> chassis. An engine commonly used for irrigation pumps is attached.
>
> Actual bells and whistles may be added as adornments, and the wheels
> are painted by hand.
>
> The truck gives India’s village dwellers a cheap ride: 10 cents for a
> half-hour journey with a few dozen others. So compelling is their
> business logic that jugaads have become popular in dowries.
>
> The truck may be obscure, but the culture behind it is now a
> management fad. Jugaad, not as noun but as verb, is suddenly the talk
> of consulting firms like McKinsey and companies like Best Buy in the
> United States.
>
> The slang Hindi verb 'jugaad,' as translated for managers, means to
> make something much like a jugaad. It is to be innovative despite
> scarcity — a winning formula for hard economic times. Management gurus
> cite India’s ultra-low-cost creations as inspiration: the $800
> electrocardiogram, the $24 water filter, the $2,500 car, the $100
> electricity inverter, the $12 solar lamp.."
>
> Giridharadas' article is worth reading in full here:
>
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/world/asia/24iht-currents.html>
>
> Paul Frank
> Translator
> German, French, Italian > English
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> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
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