A Paise for your Thoughts

A new experience

2012-01-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of our two-week Orientation classes. By custom, people want to chill towards the end of a long gruelling two weeks. Trust me, I really dint want to go. But was kinda forced, I can say, in my defence. You know, what they say, how 'good' things in life are painful and boring and 'bad' things in life are so fun and tempting. So, after the presentation at te hotel conference room in Stamford (Stamford is very close to New York City), I went.

This lady was assigned to me. Or I was assigned to this lady. Same difference. However, there were 3 other ladies in the room. They were not overtly busy. Time of day, I guess. So, after the small talk, we get down to business. She asks me to strip. She is sensitive and asks me whether I would prefer to do it privately. There was no hint of any charges for the privacy. Obviousy, it was not a situation I wished my colleagues to see in. I could not see my batch-mates around. Either they had finished their 'sessions' earlier or were in an adjacent room. I looked around. They were all women and all professionals. Like anybody cares, I thought

Honestly, I dint even expect to tell this to you all. But then, you people encourage me to do things I have not done before; write about my experience, don't you. I can not possibly not record a remarkable experience.
While I was undoing my shirt, she was feeling my arms. She saw the shanka and chakra brands on my arms and freaked out. She wanted to know what it was, whether it hurt, if I had it voluntarily or not. She exhibited curiousity as she went about her business. Thorough professional that she was,she was keen to do her job right (no pun intended) and, I suppose, prioritised customer satisfaction. I could not believe I was chatting with this American blonde on my religious symbols while we were doing what we were doing. Really. But I was. I told her how it was a cultural thing, a token of affiliation to a religious group. She then wanted to know if all Hindus were vegetarian; I told her a majority were not vegetarian but most Hindus would not eat beef. It went on... until we were done. As I was buttoning up, I explained how the cow was a holy symbol to Hindus. We revere the cows because we use her milk and milk derivatives so much. We even use cow dung. Hence, we dont kill it for meat.

The chat removed the uneasiness between us. It can get uncomfortable, I mean, what do you talk when she is performing the act. However, it was a breeze. Her loquaciousness mixed with curiosity made it a pleasant experience.

Not in my defence, but one must see it to believe how thoroughly professional these Americans are. First thing into the room, I had to register. Health precaution is No.1 priority. Before we got started, she had a questionnaire in front of her, asking even of any Hepatitis infection in the past. Honestly, I dint know Hepatitis A was an STD until I googled later.

Guess you people were right after all; travelling expands one's perspective of life; of truth; makes us break boundaries. To question our concept of morals. To meet interesting people. Who would have guessed that there could be such an inquisitive vaccine-administering nurse.

Anke Tappida Shankarlal: A review

2011-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Play: Anke Tappida Shankarlal ಅಂಕೆ ತಪ್ಪಿದ ಶಂಕರ್ಲಾಲ್

Language: Kannada
Duration: ~100 minutes
Rating: Avoidable
Troup: Sanchaya

The title (mis)leads one to believe that the play might be light-hearted. This writer learnt, at his expense, that it was not meant to.

The plot is about the increasing goondaisation of public life in India. While, one cannot deny the message, the manner in which it was presented was rather unentertaining.
The huge cast of ATS, the unimpressively named characters (Mr. Mehta, Mr. Singh, Mr. Chowdhury) or the dialogues did little to hold the audience's attention. The plot rambled along for 100 minutes before ending as a Victory of Evil over Good. Comic relief was few and far between and when it was, it was unintended !

In our opinion the play is avoidable, unless you intended to catchup with a long-lost friend and ATS is an excuse :)!

Bengaluru English !

2011-02-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

English in India varies significantly across regions. While much is made about the English that the Malayalee and Bengali speak, little is mentioned about the Bengaluru English that the Kannadiga speaks.

The Kannadiga English is unique. The manner in which the Bengaluru Kannadiga pronounces certain words can distinguishes him amongst most cosmopolitan crowds . Provided below is a sample list where the english word is accompanied by the word as pronounced in Bengaluru.

Principle-Prinicipal

Principal-Prinicipaal

College-Kaalej

Uncle-UnKal

Warm-Warum

Farm-Farum

Circle-Sarcal

Simple-Simpal

Now, Make Sentences !!

The Kannadiga lives life by principals that he learnt at kaalej under the tutorship of his prinicipaal. In winter, he likes to keep warum by eating hot potatoes grown by his unkal at his farum ! That was simpal.

Safar: A rambling journey

2010-09-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Play: Safar

Language: EnglishDuration: ~100 minutes

Genre: Humour (satire)

Rating: Watchable

Troupe: Header and Footer Club, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

We checked out 'Safar' at K.H Kala Soudha on 26th Sep 2010 Sunday. Directed by Vysya Shastry ) who also plays the role of the protagonist, 'Safar' is a play made by the students at IISc.

The story is about a research student (Not co-incidentally, Vysya Shastry is a real-life researcher at IISc) who begins in postgradual research with IISc. The character is overconfident and has a misplaced sense of importance. As the narrative unfolds, reality dashes his dreams and he is all set to turn into just another research Joe.

While the synposys appears grim, the play itself is punctuated by many a laugh. The writer has not spared cricket, Bollywood, spiritual leaders or IISc faculty.Written, directed and played by a closed group, one does not grudge that portions of the play are better enjoyed by the group. The plot is rather rambling but then it was probably intended to capture the life and time of the 'hero'. For an amateur hobbyclub production, the performance was brillant. For us, (me and Sunil) it was welcome to watch the performance of an original script after long time. Presumably, written originally by someone within the club, it was welcome The researchers turn out to be fine artistes too managing off-stage with equal aplomb as onsite. The need for onstage set and props were eliminated by use of an LCD projector. However, one is disappointed with the promotional literature. Even allowing for self-aggrandisement ("Smash hit") the play failed to showcase 'apathy against initiative'. Yet, one does not regret the show, as the performance is eminently watchable. A pity that were very few in the audience who were unrelated to the cast and crew.

P.S I found another blog on the play here.

Chora Charana Dasa: ಚೋರ ಚರಣದಾಸ A review

2010-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Play: Chora Charana Dasa
Language: Kannada
Duration: ~105 minutes
Genre: Comedy (Farce)
Rating: Must Watch
Troup: Natana

We watched Chora Charana Dasa, a play in Kannada, originally as Charandas Chor written by Tanveer Habib as an adaptation of a Rajasthani folktale at K H Kala Soudha in Hanumanthanagar, Bangalore on Sunday. The Kannada play has been adapted and directed by Mandya Ramesh (of Matha fame) and performed by Natana.

The protagonist is a petty thief, Charanadasa.Charanadasa is a professional theif who takes pride in his profession and 'hard work' and a strong sense of 'integrity' and 'work ethic'.

He chances upon a Sanyasi who saves him from the police . Charanadasa takes him as his Guru. He makes four vows to his Guru, that he would never eat in a gold plate, never lead a procession atop an elephant (ಅನೆ ಅಂಬಾರಿ), refuse any invitation to be a king and refuse any proposal to marry a princess. His guru commits him to never to tell a lie, hoping that this would reform Charandas.

Charanadasa's further activities and where it leads him form the rest of the narrative. An interesting storyline has been transformed into a laugh-riot by current satire. The nataka in the political theatre of Karnataka is ready fodder for the satire.

Brilliant performances by all on-stage artists especially the by the person who played Charanadasa and the off-stage technicians and singers make every moment of the drama wholly enjoyable.

Towards the end, the directors steps in and lets the audience choose how the play should conclude ! The interactive dialogue between the audience and the director throws up creative alternatives and has the audience in splits.

The play concludes on a realistic paradox, faithfully to Tanveer Habib and the Bollywood movie directed by Shyam Benegal in 1975 of the same name. Overall, it was eminently watchable, and figures in the top amongst the plays that I have enjoyed the most and recommend to all.
P.S. the background singer was cute ;)

The Builders probably meant, "Luxury envied by Royalty" !!

2010-07-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

The Builders probably meant, "Luxury envied by Royalty" !!

Garden City to Garden State

2010-04-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

In December 2009, my employers, required me to travel to one of our US office . The office I was deputed to is located in a city called East Brunswick in New Jersey on the East Coast, about 40 miles from New York.

I landed at noon on 23rd December 20009 at Newark airport to bright sunshine, and a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius below zero. Having lived all my life in the tropical zone, I found the combination of bright sunshine and chilling temperatures counter intuitive (and till the end of my trip found it difficult to reconcile).

New Jersey is called the Garden state. However, in the drive from the airport, I could not notice particularly green stretches. Probably, it was a name that was justified in Spring.

My visit was right in the middle of holidays- Christmas eve too being a holiday in most parts of USA . Hence, work on day 1 was slack.

My cousin Venkatesh and Aarathi live in High Park , about 9 miles from my office. On Christmas Eve, Venkatesh took me over to their home. Tulsi, their cute daughter, was initially hard to impress but in the end became a friend. As Aarathi, Venkat and Tulsi left on vacation to San Jose , I proceeded to Edison to board a local train to New York. The town Edision is named after ( you guessed it right) the inventor Thomas Alva Edison who had his home and laboratory here for some time. Today, the town has a considerable South Asian population and 'Indian' stores and temples.

New York

A contrast from the idyllic suburbs, New York is a busy metropolis, the pace of activity at the train station reminding one of Mumbai. My cousin Ragesh and his wife Siri met me in New York . We went around the most happening part of New York on Christmas Eve, Manhattan .

We visited Rockefeller center. The place was thronged with tourists and revelers to look at the decorated Christmas tree and skaters celebrating in the rink.

Then, we moved on to the famous 5th Avenue . This street is the fashion district of NYC housing expensive brands. It is also called "most expensive street in the world" for the brands that it houses. The stores in this area have a Christmas tradition of dressing up their large windows for viewing. The fabulous windows were exquisitely made for this occasion, each window competing with another for attention. Some stores dressing the windows in a theme while some were at random. So, after some window shopping ( pun intended), we proceeded, Ragesh and Siri’s home at Stamford , in the state of Connecticut , an hour north of New York. ( the area around New York City - NYC- is known as tri-state area as it spans the state of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut)

Next day, we visited the Empire State Building. Being Christmas, the roads and tourist spots were less crowded. We toured the Wall street, took pictures with George Washington and the Charging Bull near NYSE. Ground zero of WTC somehow figures on the NY tourist’s map, hence, we visited that as well. A walk through the dazzling Times Square was very impressive. To my excitement, I saw signboards of some corporations who till that moment had only been line items in my customer-master excel sheet. The same place, one week later, would host 1 Mn who would celebrate the arrival of New Year by the drop of a single ball at the stroke of midnight.

Having spent the weekend with Ragesh and Siri, I went back to New Jersey to resume work. I stayed with my colleague Keshav and got an interesting flavour of self-service domestic life in America.

For the New Year weekend, I visited my aunt Bharathi’s and cousins at Chicago. Sughosh, my cousin, based in too had managed to time his appearence after a 10 day visit to Germany. We welcomed the year 2010 watching the ball drop at Times square on television and local fireworks and munching cookies baked by Mythili.

On New Year’s day, Mythili, Sumanth, Sameer and Sughosh took me ice sledding. Sledding is popular winter activity. Unlike skating or skiing, sledding requires neither skill nor practice making it ideal for first timers like me.

The ‘sleds’ could range from flat plastic discs to baking trays... just about anything one could sit on and move. Once, one had a sled all one required was a hillock with snow on it. One just had to sit on sleds at the top of the hillock and give ourselves a push. The ride downhill is just as good as the hillock. The one we went to was bumpy in patches. Nevertheless, it was good fun.

The fun part was that once the sleds starts moving the rider has little directional or speed control. All the rider could do was to shout a warning to other sledders in his path !

That evening Alka, Gurudutt, Sanjana and Amrita visited us on their way back home from New Orleans .

The next day was spent sightseeing Chicago City at an outside temperature of -15degrees Celsius. ( by this time, I was well versed in converting Fahrenheit to Celsius and Dollars to Rupees). Chicago, founded in 1833 on the banks of Lake Michigan ( one of the 5 great lakes), had a third of the city burnt down in the Great Fire of 1871. Since then, rebuilding has been well planned activity. The City is home to one of the earliest and some of the tallest skyscrapers.

Jayanth uncle toured us through the Illinois Institute of Technology (Jayanth uncle’s alma mater) and guided us to what was once the tallest building of the world- Willis (Sears) Towers ( now the claim is restricted to only half the world ! - tallest on the Western Hemisphere ).

We took pictures on the banks of Lake Michigan and river view of River Chicago. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago, the place where Swami Vivekananda delivered his “Sisters and Brothers of America ” speech at the Parliament of Religions. I learnt that the Institute has special consideration if you are an Indian and seek to view the place where Swami Vivekananda stood. May be for the members of the Ramakrishna order, it is a piligrimage.

We visited the Michael Jordan statue at United Center , home to the Chicago Bulls, definite a pilgrimage spot for Jordan fans. Then we took a peek at the open studios of NBC new channel. This is the glass-fronted news broadcasting studio, facing the pavement, allowing passers-by a live view of the programming. Unfortunately, there was no live programming when we passed by.

After shopping on 3rd Jan for some after Christmas discounts, I proceeded to travel back to New Jersey from the O' Hare airport at Chicago, said to be the second busiest in the world. A security scare at Newark airport caused a delay of my flight by 2 hours. US airport security personnel were very thorough and this incident had made them all the more so. Little did I know that three days later, when I was traveling back to India , gopichandana smears on my luggage would be inspected for traces of explosives !!!

Soon, it was time to head home. In the end it turned out that there were as many holidays during my visit as there were working days( !!) making the assignment not just fullfilling but very enjoyable as well ;)

While my official work progressed satisfactorily, I was mildly disappointed to have worked in a total desi office in America . I had expected to interact with some ‘american’ Americans. So much for a global workplace !

Post -script

Myths I had about America

1. Every one in USofA speak English

On Board a train, I met a middle-aged lady who (in hindsight) probably required me to move my luggage. But, I did not understand a word of what she was saying and I repeatedly apologised saying that I was having trouble with her accent since I hailed from India. Haltingly she conveyed, " I... no English.... Spanish".

On Board flight Air India, I met this elderly gentleman who could not speak a word outside of Gujarati. As I assisted him with Immigration, I learnt that he owned a couple of motels and was a 'greencard' holder since 1997 !!

2. No Poverty in America

I did find signboards by pavement dwellers begging for food/ money. However, it was not an in-your-face solicitation. I understand that is not unheard of as well.

Panchangam site is back as a blog

2010-03-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Thr same friendly Panchanga people who used to be at Geocities.com/panchangaminenglish. Since, Geocities closed down we have moved herehttp://www.panchangaminenglish.com/ .

We are now in Phalguna Krishna Paksha of Virodhi. They have uploaded, as usual the PDF version of English Panchangam for Vikruthi March 2010 to April 2011. 'Panchangam in English' in roman script. Also, they have uploaded the Kannada Panchanga 'Madhwa Panchanga' 'ಮಾಧ್ವ ಪಂಚಾಂಗ' for Vikruthi.

In additon, they have introduced the Tamil Panchangam calendar for the Greogorian year 2010. This also contains the Panchanga Shravana for the year Vikruthi. This is a new product and covers only the 12 months between January 2010 and December 2010. However, it contains all details that a Panchanga should for each day in that period.

Soon, you will find all the archives of Panchanga(m)s and articles that you could find in the geocities site here as well.

Do write in your feedback to snrao(at)qualitysystems.co.in

As they publish panchangams in 3 languages, you might be wondering that the URL is an oxymoron. But then it is :)

Vikruthi is here !

Vikruthi is here ! Vikruthi Panchang available here.

Gender Exclusivity

2009-12-11T06:25:00.000-08:00

Whenever people talk of gender inclusivity ( people actually talk of 'gender diversity' but since there are not too many diverse genders, let us stick with 'inclusivity') they most often mean the inclusion of women in hitherto men dominated spheres of work.

This in, late 2009, is passe. The march of women at workplace, in India, is slow but sure and is gathering pace to the (pleasant) point of no return. Which is to mean that the world (including corporate world) can choose to ignore women to their own peril.

However, the fate of transgenders in India is deplorable. Disowned by families, and forced to fend for themselves, the national profession for transgenders seems to be petty extortion at traffic signals and railway compartments.

Of course, in some communities, there is a social accommadation in rituals involving trangenders to bless the social function. While this provide a source of livelihood, it does little to bring transgenders to the mainstream. In fact, having the opposite effect - furthering the myth of a transgender's potency to bless and curse.

Society chooses to ignore them, because it is unpleasant to think of them. Anyway if you travel in airconditioned cars and coaches, it is very convenient to ignore them.

No mainstream enterprise hires trangenders. They have no marketable skills. But they are able-bodied and know that society is embarrased by them AND have stomachs to support. Easiest way is to use unpleasantness and extort a price for it.

When will gender inclusivity reach them ?

Karnataka Rajyotsava, not Kannada Rajyotsava

2009-11-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

It is 'Karnataka Rajyotsava' often called Kannada Rajyotsava. But thats exclusive and misrepresenting. Rajyotsava Day is a day to celebrate the formation of the state of Karnataka on the basis of the lingustic demarcation of state boundaries. However, Tulu, Konkani, Sanketi and Kodava belong just as much to Karnataka as Kannada.

It is a Naadu Habba not a Bhashye habba. Incidentally, the Bhashe was instrumental in deciding the naadu.

Nobody clarifies and the misnomer continues.

Jaswant outbursts affect Jaswant more than Advani !

2009-08-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

If Jaswant knew Advani was "at the center of cash-for-votes scam" why did he not expose it then ? Or at least dissassociated with the BJP ?
This is not to justify his explusion for writing a book but then....Grapes seem to be sour.

Sach ka Saamna sucks !

2009-07-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

Sach ka Saama is disgusting. Actually it is the 'celebrities ' who are disgusting but the common platform is the Show and hence my ire on the show.
Before you react, let me assure you, I am no prude. Reality shows are fine. Asking.. um.. err..questions hitherto unasked in public is new but not objectionable on only that ground.

What disgusts one is the trade-off the 'celebrity' makes between pubic embarrasment ( er, I meant public embarrasment which they might equate to fame) and 10 lakhs of rupees. A valid point of view is that the 'celebrity' would not care to bare all for 10 lakhs that he / she might or might not win on the game show. One strongly suspects the consideration of an 'appearence fee'.

There are reality shows and there are other reality shows. Sach Ka Saamna is not a game of skill nor is it a game of chance. It is no beauty contest, nor a popularity contest. It does not test endurance or personality.It is no human interest story. But it is most certainly is entertaining. The kind of depraving entertainment that the dark side of us want to watch. Want to gossip about.

The fig leaf of the show is that it is about Truth. The Government of India's motto is Satyameva Jayete, reminded Siddhartha Basu, producer of Sach ka Saamna.

If only someone would offer me 10 crores of rupees, I would confess to all acts that I have never performed !

Dr. Kalam's visit

2009-05-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited my office this week. In anticipation of the visit. I was as excited as one would be to meet his favourite cricket or Bollywood star. It turned out that I was not the only one.
A role model for the nation, Dr. Kalam is, rightfully, credited with raising the stature of the position of the President of India while bringing the presidency closer to the people- things which had not happened in the 52 years of the Republic prior to his taking over.
Dr. Kalam spoke on the importance of technology and R&D in a nation's development especially that of a developing nation. He was in his elements when describing technically his experience in R&D and contextualizing with the inauguration of the R&D lab.

Then he fielded Questions with a child-like elan, interspersing every sentence with 'ok'. "We have a Mission to be a Developed Nation by 2020. ok? To achieve this we have 3 Projects. ok ?"

The child-like enthusiasm, the inspirational eyes, the infectious optimism make the man. If Gandhi ( Mahatma, i.e) was the Indian of the Century in the 20th century, Dr. Kalam will probably be hailed as the India of the 21st Century.

Not for launching satellites, not for testing guided missiles, certainly not for Pokhran. But for igniting passion into youth, making patriotism less jingoistic more fashionable, for adding altruism to public life but most of all for inspiring a billion people.

Salaam Dr. Kalam

Give a dog a bad name and hang him ! - Chaplain saga

2009-03-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

That is exactly what is happening to the BJP Government in Karnataka. In the Chaplain row issue, film director Hemant Hegde sought to put up a permenant statute ( note Permenant) in in Baindur, near Udupi in coastal Karnataka.

The other important aspectst to be noted are that

Hemant Hegde seeks to use this statue as a prop in a song sequence
Seeks Rupees 30 Lakh from sources to put up a permenant statue
Hemant Hegde has little to lose. He sources money through contributions/donations. He anyway does not live in Baindur to put up with the statue permenantly.

One might, reasonably, presume that the location has been chosen by Hemant Hegde keeping the backdrop to the context of the film ( well, to err on the safer side, I am giving credit to the director).

The local people of Baindur have objected to its installation. The question is "do the local people have no say if a permenant statue is to come up in their area ?"

The controversy begins at the second point that Hemant Hegde claims that Charlie Chaplain's statue was objected to "because he was a Christian". All news channel dutifully carry the allegation and blow up the story in the context of previous events in Udupi District.

The "christian" remark is not attributed to any individual of standing.No names are raised.

Even assuming that someone had made such a remark, it can only be innocous, to suggest that a Charlie Chaplain statue has no relevance to the local area and at any rate he does not hail from Dakshina Kannada /Karnataka or India.

It can be an as innocous reference to , let us say, a foreign personality, as the Greogorian calendar is referred to as the "English Calendar" or Allopathic medicine as "English Medicine".

People of Dakshina Kannada district will probably not consider a George Fernandes or Oscar Fernandes a "christian" nor object to their statues being installed ( of course, in India till Mayawati it was not the culture to install statues of living persons).

Give a dog a bad name and hang him !

Captivating Kathmandu !

2009-02-14T01:54:00.000-08:00

Kathmandu diary
While sitting for my CFA Level 1 examinations, I chose to sit at Kathmandu. Indian cities were not an option considering the sadistic moves of the ICFAI Institute, the naïve (if not corrupt) moves of the AICTE juxtaposed with the speed of dispute resolution in the Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence as practiced in India.
Why Kathmandu ? Because one presumed that being the closest to India ( Gorakhpur to Kathmandu is barely 225 km), it would be the cheapest location to travel to. (On second thoughts, it was not particularly a smart move - I had to travel from Bangalore and not Gorakhpur, but too late - by then I had chosen my exam center)
The rest of the India was not particularly smart either. Some of my 'co-examinees' were from Mumbai ( a closer exam center was in Karachi- 500 nautical miles by the direct sea - a route which seems to fascinate 10 young men in the last week of November). The Calcuttans too came to Kathmandu in spite of the fact that Dhaka is just 245 km away. Chennaiites were smarter – They went to Singapore and Colombo (less popular of the two). They did not have to battle the climate, food or language as much as I had to.
First Flight Abroad !
I was on my first flight overseas ( Ok,ok, This is was not really overseas but international, nevertheless) to Kathmandu from New Delhi. You know, you still have to go to the International terminal, go through Immigration, security et al. reminding yourself that the famous IC-814 operates between the 2 cities that you were travelling currently.

After cavorting the Himalayan ranges, we land at the Tribhuvan International Airport, named after the grandfather of the deposed king Gyanendra (brother of slain King Birendra).
We landed at the Tribhuvan during the load-shedding hours. One was reminded of Lord Jeffery Archer’s comment, last August in Bangalore to promote the ‘Prisoner of Birth’. Speaking of travel in India, Archer likened the Lucknow Airport to Somalian airports 10 years ago. ( Before the aghast audience could protest, he assuaged them by saying Indian airlines like Kingfisher and Jet were the best airline in the world)
Kathmandu is the capital of the fragile secular republic ( I almost said Hindu Kingdom) of Nepal.
State of Affairs

The inexperience of the new government is telling. They have declared themselves secular. To showcase its secular credentials, the government, recently, provided a state budget to help nearly 400 Muslims go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Haj, declared Bakreid a holiday and assisted in construction of a mosque. Some people can never learn lessons from neighbous. Also, in the new-founded patriotism, the secular government ordered the replacement of the priests hailing from Udupi, in Karnataka, at the Pashupathinath temple with locals. (Aside :Is it not a wonder that Udupi priests perform at Kathmandu’s Pashupathinath, Priests at Badrinath are Namboodiri’s from Kerala and the priests officiating at Rameshwaram are from Uttar Pradesh).

The Maovadi ( as the Maoists are locally known) are driving away investment and tourism. The new government has set higher minimum wages driving away investment. They have also begun what Indian media’s latest peeve- Moral Policing- The Maoist Government has stopped nightlife at 11 pm and banned nude dances. If the hippies ever hear of what had happened to their beloved Kathmandu !!

The entrepreneurs are Indian – you will find the ubiquitous Marwadi in most shopping areas- the workers Nepali. Probably, this is partly the reason for the sub-surface angst against ‘Big Brother’ India and at attempts to remove Indian symbols - like the priests at Pashupathinath. Nepal is a nation tottering to its feet. King Gyanendra has been overthrown, the tallest leader Girija Prasad Koirala unwell, (If you are interested GP Koirala is the granduncle of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala) , the Maoist-government is on a renaming binge attempting to erase all history of the monarchy and any traces of Indianness.

The public hold Birendra, the slain King, in very high esteem but hold the opposite view for his brother, the dethroned Gyanendra. The deposed Gyanendra is living in a private residence and the government is moving to convert the royal palace, Narayanhity –which covers over 700 acres in the heart of Kathmandu. For an economy, where tourism is estimated to account for 17 % of the GDP (6% for India 3% for Singapore), the scarcity of tourist guides was appalling. And for that matter the knowledge of locals of the sthala purana – the local history. We visited the Buddhist Stupa and the Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) without as much as understanding their significance. Much of the factfile in this blog on our tourism has been from Wikipedia researched subsequently!!

The Nepali Rupee is pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.6 Nepali Currency for every India Rupee, since 1993. Hence, the local are amazingly quick at multiplying as well as dividing by 1.6 while you struggle with this new Constant at every level of haggling.

The modes of the public transport are the Yayta bus, the ubiquitous Micro and Tuk-tuk.

The Toyota-made Micro is fast overtaking the Tuk-tuk (pun intended) in numbers.
The Toyota-made Micro is maneuverable and comfortable for the short distances in the city if only the staff donot overload it.
A common sight on the streets of Kathmandu was chicken / mutton shops and bars on either side of shrines and temples, something quite unimaginable in the parts of India this blogger has lives in/lived in. Varyingly, different levels of influence of India and China can be observed, i.e. Hinduism and Tibetian Buddhism are on display, in the food, clothing, prayer and so on. The most visible symbol of a Nepali is the Nepali Cap or Dhaka Topi.

Camp Thamel
So much for the state of affairs of the state. Camp: Thamel. Thamel was to be our home for the next 5 days. It is a hub for tourists consisting of all that could be expected in a tourist zone. Hotels ( budget to extravagant), pubs, restaurants, extortionist taxis, Wi-Fi, internet parlours, knick-knack stores, souvenir sellers, mountaineering gear, dance bars, cabbies who turns pimps after-dark et al. Three days were spent studying for CFA exams. I spent some time watching television- especially the channels banned in India – Al Jazeera ( what did you think ? ;)
Sight-seeing
We began our sight seeing day with Boudhanath,,one of the holiest Buddhist sites, located Bouddha, Kathmandu. The stupa's massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal. The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of large populations of Tibetan refugees from China has seen the construction of over 50 Monasteries around Boudhanath.

Legend say that an old woman built this stupa as a mark of respect on the remain of Kasyapa Buddha (Not to be confused with Gautama Buddha, whose birthplace, Lumbini is also in Nepal and hence caused trouble to the movie CC2C)

Then we visited- Swayambhunath. Swayambhunath is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are “holy monkeys” living in parts of the temple in the north-west. However, there were lesser monkeys than what one could find at the hill temple of Lord Narasimha at Sholingur (near Tirutani, Tamil Nadu).

The next stop was Patan, by far the more interesting part of the day. Patan Durbar Square contains the King’s Court, numerous temples ( one featuring both Hari and Hara- a rare combination for Hindu temples, one for Bheema). Here, we found a qualified tourist guide, who would speak in Nepali/ Hindi. Much to my consternation, he would mention the datelines and years too in Hindi, forcing me to seek translation. Patan is about art, temples and myths. After feeding on all three we moved to ‘New Road’ and -pardon the cliché -shopped till we dropped. That evening we headed out to a Casino with enough money in our pockets to pay for return taxi fare. Casinos in Nepal are prohibited for Nepali citizens ! (Quite like Liquor is prohibited for Pakistanis in Pakistan). It was fun to watch for a while, but it is a bore if you ahve no money at stake, quite like the stock market ! And since the in-house entertainment did not pass muster, we decided to call it a day.

Last Day. Headed of to meet an acquaintance of an acquaintance. (For those who know me, it comes as no surprise. Networking is inherent in me). Had to hurry to make it to the Pashupathinath. ( Imagine my ignominy, if my family realized that went all the way from Bangalore and had not visited the holy Temple).

Legend has it that a cow which would not yield milk when the cowherd milked it, used to secrete milk suo motu at a particular spot. When that spot was dug up, a Shiv linga was found on that site ‘Pashu’ pathinath was established.
Took pictures from my phone camera. Got caught by the police. Had to delete the pictures :(

It was time to leave, pay the departure tax and head back home.

Let me conclude this blog with a Nepali PJ ( created by yours truly)
Hum: Why will Nepal not have any thefts?
Tum: Because it is the land of the Gurkhas* !!

After In Love with Lahore, Captivating Kathmandu, watch out for Sing-Sing Singapore !!

In Love with Lahore

2009-02-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

The student Exchange visit of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to Pakistan (under SAFA – South Asian Federation of Accountants) was finally cleared by Government of India in December, to the collective relief of 9 students and many officials. However, the excitement dropped a couple of notches when we discovered that visas had been granted (inexplicably, isn’t it always?) for just 7 days and for the city of Lahore only as against the application which also included Islamabad and Karachi and was planned for 10 days.

Nevertheless, the enthusiasm of travelling ‘abroad’ and that too to troubled neighbour was sustained. To top it, we were informed that our escort officer’s visa application had been rejected and that we were ‘on our own’. An official briefing just summarised the repetitive buddhivada many including my sister, had delivered – avoid contentious issues, DONOT utter K- word.

While PTDC of Pakistan and DTC of India operate the Delhi-Lahore bus, the officials of the home country manage the administration whosoever bus may be plying. ‘Patriotic’ DTC officials charged Pakistani travellers for excess baggage and let us- Indians- off as the monies went to PTDC (as our tickets were booked on PTDC bus). T

he Delhi-Lahore bus is probably the most secure surface public transport vehicle in the subcontinent. One pilot jeep and one escort vehicle of the local Police accompany the bus right through the entire journey on the Grand Trunk Road built by Sher Shah Suri. Additionally, an anti-hijacking commando sits right inside the bus. The journey time of 12 hours provides an hour and a half for immigration and custom formalities on either side of the Wagha border. This requires physical unloading of the luggage for inspection, reloading, and travelling 200 m to cross the border and unloading again for inspection. We were lucky to be delayed just so much as to witness the Change of Guard ceremony (locally called “Parade”). 20,000 Voices rent the air with emotional cries of “Zindabad” just after the Indian BSF and the Pakistan Ranger alternated the words “Hindustan” and “Pakistan”.Throughout the journey our Pakistani co-passengers tried to tell us that Lahore was no different from any other Indian city.

Upon arrival, our tired contingent had a quick evening tour of Gulberg, a posh locality where we were put up, and discovered (to my considerable disappointment) that Lahore did, indeed, look like any other Indian city.The Next morning, a Sunday was reserved for Sight-seeing. The tour was prefaced with security instructions, asking us not to reveal our nationality and always be within earshot of our armed security guard (who was with us 24X7). Our first visit was to the Race Course Park which once served as the Race Course, until the Islamic hand struck and all forms of gambling was declared Un-Islamic and so it came to be a park.

Our next visit was to the Shalamar Bagh built by Shah Jahan (His idea was to bring the beauty of Kashmiri gardens to the plains). An expansive terraced garden with symmetrical entrances, it has marble structures for the artists to perform and a pavilion for the Emperor. The garden is filled with fountains (of Shah Jahan era). The Bagh’s hydraulic engineering is apparently a marvellous mystery to modern engineers. However, the fountains were not working and when asked why, the ball was thrown back at us. Apparently, India has held back the water on the River Ravi and hence the garden is unable to meet its water requirements. Indeed, we did view the Ravi ; all we could make out was puddles of water.An interesting incident happened at the entrance to the Shalamar Bagh. The entrance to the UNESCO heritage site is priced Rs 10 for locals and Rs 200 for foreigners. Our hosts hoped to get away with the Rs10 tickets but the ‘bindi’ worn by a Thiruvananthapuram colleague gave it away and the security guard wouldn’t let until we bought the Rs 200 tickets.The next stop was at the Shahi Qila (Royal Fort). Built by Akbar, it is about 5 centuries old and houses a museum. Here, we discovered that the city was founded by Lava and Kusha, sons of Rama and was named Lahore after Lav (locally pronounced as ‘Loh’). The North Indian festival of Lohri (coinciding with South Indian Bhogi) apparently derives its name from Lahore.

Situated opposite the Qila is the Badshahi Mosque, built by Aurangazeb almost entirely of red sandstone. It is the world’s largest mosque courtyard for outdoor prayers. Amongst its revered exhibits are relics of Prophet Mohammed including his hair (yes, a single strand is well preserved and so is his clothing) Built across the road from these monuments is Minar-e-Pakistan, a National monument celebrating the creation of Pakistan. It has been built on the very spot where a Muslim League Resolution was passed in 1940 to demand a separate state carved out of Muslim dominated regions of British India.At the Shahi Qila, our contingent took a break for tea at a restaurant and I walked into a souvenir-cum-book shop about 50 metres away. I asked the shopkeeper for a map of Lahore city and he demanded Rs 100 placing it in front of me. I, in my broken Hindi, masquerading as Urdu, said it was beyond what I could afford. The shopkeeper asked if I was a student and to a nod reduced the price to Rs 80. I claimed that it was still way too much. He then questioned me if I was from Karachi to which I said “Nahi”. He asked me as to where I was from. Evading an answer I started looking around while he persisted and I was forced to confess “India”. Do you watch Hindi Movies ?” . Relieved, I beamed “Yes” to which came one more poser. “Is saal kisko milega Best actor award ?” Not having much of a clue, I safely said “I hope it is Shah Rukh; He is my favourite”. To which the two persons happily pronounced that Shah Rukh was their favourite as well and shook my hands profusely, sold their Rs 100 map for Rs 40 and sent their best compliments to Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit.Later, we realised that the local cable TV operator, funnily -or is it villainously- named, Mogambo ( In a tragic coincidence, the man who made Mogambo famous – Amrish Puri died that week; Pakistanis too mourned his death) delivered atleast 8 Bollywood movie channels on his own. On the subject of movies, enquires revealed that locales in the movie “Veer-Zara” were not shot in Lahore but probably India itself.

Most of the satellite channels were Indian, even though there exists an official ban on Indian Channels. Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi is a superhit there too, we realised when locals discussed with us the morality of Tulsi killing her sons. Our waiter summed up the situation rather aptly- “Hindustan ko Pakistan harane keliye Bandhook ka zaroorat nahi,sir. Indian films aur Indian TV channels ko bandh kariye; Pakistan ka log pagal ho jayenge, sir.”

We sneaked past Lahore International Airport named after Allama Iqbal, the poet who gave us “Sare Jahan se acha” and the Qaddafi cricket stadium. We visited ‘Food Street’ a Pre-Independence part of Lahore which houses ‘Hindu buildings’. Our hosts were keen that we taste the best of Lahori cuisine but were disappointed because of “your vegetarian problem”. (sic)

The next day onwards our official programme began and we visited a CA firm, a couple of factories, the Lahore stock exchange and Chambers of Commerce. Here, we came across very friendly people chatting with us about “common origin”, dosti and all until Kashmir somehow sneaked in and the mood became sober. We were even surprised that officials of the Chambers of Commerce in Lahore placed priority on political issues over bilateral trade. In the evenings, we went shopping and visited the old Anarkali Bazar (named after a courtesan in Akbar’s court) famed for alleys name-it-and-you-shall-get-it goods and some haggling.

Shops were stocking up really huge kites in view of the February festival of spring-Basant. Pakistan tourism is attempting to make the kite flying season an international festival. When the merchants eventually got to know that we were from India (Our local escort attempted to protect our identity by proclaiming we were from interior Sindh - where Urdu and Punjabi is not spoken) the reactions were mixed. Some of them exploited the tourists and gave us raw bargain while others gave huge discounts justifying that they had to exhibit their goodwill in a tangible measure for Indians to believe that Pakistanis were serious about Dosti.

Symbols of the common sub-continental history were omnipresent. Many of the pre-partition legislations are common to the countries. The Lahore International Airport is named after Allama Iqbal the poet, who gave us “Sare Jahan se acha”. Pre-partition buildings (many with Hindu inscriptions) in older parts of the city are still around. We dined at a restaurant in one such area.

Overall, a tour of Pakistan turned out to be a wonderful experience. One realises that as individuals, Pakistanis are hospitable hosts and wonderful human beings. I, for one, hope to visit Pakistan again. Or as the Pakistanis say Inshallah I will.

This was written in February 2005, published in the New Sunday Express on 11th February 2005.

In Favour of the Media Ombudsman

2009-02-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

The Karnataka Home Minister proposed the Media Ombudsman. We need it now, more than ever.
In an age where there is intense competition from several news channels for eyeballs, editors vie for sensations and create monsters out of molehills, heros out of zeros and vice-versa !
An example of how insensitive TV news channels can be was demonstrated during 26/11. ( watch Al Jazzera's take here and my own here and here).

What better can one expect from a 'contract system' of hiring( hint: They run the widest circulated English language newspaper in the world) The journalist's contract is renewed only if he/ she can produce sensational articles day after day. Who cares for credibility or even readability.

That the Media is protesting against the Ombudsman in the interest of Freedom of Expression is laughable. Read this- NDTV's conduct is shocking.

The Media might criticise the rest of the world. But nobody ought to criticise the Media. This seems to be the media's attitude. And if some one manages to criticise it at all, the response is all too predicatable and irresponsible: Don't shoot the messenger,if you dont like the message.
My foot, the message is fine, Thank you. It is the messenger who is the mischief-monger.

About the Media Ombudsman. The Media is obviously an interested party. And the unscrupulous (most of the Media, is) ones will suppress the voices supporting the ombudsman.
Hence, one should discount Media's own opinion on the proposal. But the real threat is the Media's attempt to obfuscate the issue.

Not long ago, the media forced the Central Government to scuttle a move to bring in controls during an emergency. Apparently because the media has a self-regulatory code. To bolster their argument, they invoke the ghosts of Emergency and Censorship. Seriously, does anyone believe that censorship will work, in this age of blogging.

The bottomline is : We need a Media Ombudsman. The question is:
How, of course, that the Karnataka Government will enforce the Ombudsman is the question ?
Of course, We may never know, since the media is powerful enough to scuttle the Central.

Maybe post-polls some might just have the guts to show the Barkha Dutts of the world their place.

btw.... For those who did not know, the Karnataka Home Minister blogs @ http://www.drvsacharya.blogspot.com

Capital Punishment, yes but no Hangman please

2009-02-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, I met this physician and we began discussing terrorists, deterrents and Afzal Guru.

He had an unique (repulsive, you might say) alternative to the hangman or the Fasi (or the electric chair, if you will) . He suggested that the convict ( I was about to say 'the capital punishment awardee') be killed so that the body is useful to the rest of humankind.

For instance, healthy convicts may be killed such that their eyes, liver and kidneys are transplanted, the dead body passed on to medical colleges for study purposes.

Sounds very interesting.
Let me play the Devil's Advocate.
What about the dignity of the dead ? What about possible human rights violation ?
Well, organ donation is not known to be undignified. Is it ? It is possible that such donation may be without the consent of the convict, but what-the-hell, the capital punishment probably was not !

As to the exact mode of killing, we did not discuss that, but a physician would know how to effect the same at any degree of pain or painlessness.

After I finished writing this, I googled. There have been other thinkers on the subject here.

Is Islam being used ?

2009-01-03T23:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Dalits+threaten+to+convert+to+Islam&artid=YFGSwZb5J/M=&SectionID=vBlkz7JCFvA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EL7znOtxBM3qzgMyXZKtxw==&SEO=

Above are two images from current news.Both of which offers food for thought for society, especially the leadership of the muslim community. Is Islam being used ?

Mumbai Massacre - Al Jazeera take on Indian Media

2008-12-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

In The Listening Post, Al Jazeera, 5th December 2008 this week, the massacre in Mumbai and the difference in coverage by the Pakistani and Indian media. Plus, Turkmenistan and the poor state of its media.

If you are not able to view this video or finding an incomplete frame and want to see the full frame visit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmXBuzcN4EQ A note of warning: The video may not be viewable from a corporate network.

In the few hours that I have watched Al Jazeera English last week, I am convinced that Al Jazeera( too early to declare it is entirely impartial) more professional than the Indian electronic media. No, it is not the official mouthpiece of Al Qaeda. Al Jazeera English is the English language News Channel of is run by the Emir of Qatar and Al Jazeera English is the window to the Middle East for the English speaking world.

Previous Posts by this blogger on Indian media are here and here.

Proud of Security Forces, Ashamed of the Media

2008-11-28T08:22:00.001-08:00

In all the tragedy unfolding over the last <> 48 hours and 3 mins, there is this inescapable, extremely irritating Indian TV NEws Channel which if it had not been dangerous could have been dubbed as farce.

The 24x7 media and all its actors have no sense of proportion, perspective or even shame. If the terror attack on Wednesday exposed India, for the first time (?) since 13/12 vulnerability to identified, unrestrained attacks, it exposed -once again -the hollowness and the frivolity of the Indian news electronic media.

The 24x7 media believes we, the viewers want to know the number of bullets shot, as it is being shot (Wrong ,we dont) that we the viewers, would rather hold our breath when the correspondent thinks up of something to say in between his "aa", " you see", "actually" and "absolutely"s ( Wrong, we would much rather have you read prepared text than ad lib, Thank you) , that we the viewers are fools ( Please, all of us are not fools all the time) and we the viewers will brook no criticism of the media themselves.(Wrong, again)

Sample this:
Ashok Mehta, visibily a retired Army officer, is a guest on Arnab Goswami's TIMES-NOW. Mr. Mehta, ".. This is probably the first commando operation, anywhere in the world, of this magnitude which has been telecast live for 48 hours..."
Arnab ( attempting to interrupt), Umm... er..

Mr. Mehta, "...the Fidayeen squad could not have asked for more. Their purpose was to get the message across and this is exactly what a prolonged televised attack did..."
Arnab, ( attempting to interrupt), " er...Absolutely.. now" ( Notice how 'absolutely' is a useful word for interruptions or time fillers)
Mr. Mehta, "...For the Fidayeen ..Lashkar-e-Taiba or anyone else this project is a grand success"
Arnab (defensive, looking for solace turns to the other panellist), " Surely, we must have a sense of persperctive. Mr so-n-so, what are your comments".
Mr. So-n-so, "For the terrorist, is essential to get their message across"
Now Arnab gets defensive, interrupts " Now is not the time to shoot the messenger, Now is the time to show respect to armed forces. Lets us go across to - (that hapless chap)--Rahul Shivshankar who is with Maj Gen So-n-So speaking exclusively to Times Now." The reality - MajGen was neither speaking nor was it exclusive. He had been accosted on his way out and forced to utter a few words.
Switch to NDTV, the Big Daddy of 24 hours new ,Prannoy Roy ( Big Dhadi, as my grandpa would say) calls"over to Mumbai". Barkha Dutt is on the phone line with a person whose wife is missing for 48 hours. Barkha, ( with such an empathetic voice and face that would put a theatre artist to shame), Mr Saikia, " Your wife is missing for the last 48 hours, It was only 24 hours ago that you had been mentioning that she is missing for 24 hours. How do you feel about it. Is she still missing ?" (bah! Please,Ms Dutt, you would have displayed genuine senstitivity but letting the man alone).

Next, Barkha Dutt (a congenital victim of hyperbole and hand-synchronised animation has a rather unusual guest to interview - Harsha Bhogle. She begins," Harsha, One of the worst attacks, Mumbai is resilent to overcome, is it not"
Harsha -" I am tired of Mumbai being referred as resilient. Why should we be resilient. We do not have to be. Why should innocent lives be lost."
Barkha ( not expecting this reply), "Absolutely. Prannoy, I know you are waiting to ask a question to Harsha. Go Ahead"
Prannoy, (not at all waiting to ask a question rambles) " Harsha is a good friend, we go back a long way. He is so widely travelled. Harsha, Being so widely travelled ( now he has thought up of a question- extempore), what do you think is the significance of this attack on India? " Bah !

Further more, The Breaking news ticker on the newschannels were confusing rather than informing reading..
" Gunbattle ends" and "Fierce Battle On" alternatively.
"Taj Mahal under siege" ( Surely nothing is happening in Agra, is there?)
"More explosions"
"War Rages on" ( Er.. if war rages on, is that a 'breaking news')

And in spite of all this, they still cant get over Bollywood, and hence we have Rahul Bose, Sanjana Kapoor, Mukesh Bhat giving expert opinion on what the government must be doing.

All of the above is everyday affair can be tolerated and we, the viewers,do that, if it had not been for the fact that the live coverage provided by reporters "risking their lives" ( for the record, we the viewers did not ask them to do so) had actually risked the lives of the hostages and the armed forces - by compromising the positions, timings, and other details of the security forces.

Watch this- Al Jazeera English's Listening Post covers the Indian Media coverage of Mumbai Massacre

NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now Accused of abetting Mumbai Terror Attack

2008-11-28T00:59:00.000-08:00

Whether the terrorists are foreigners are not, whether they received local assitance or not is yet to be answered, 24 hour News Channel like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and Headlines Today are clearly assisting the terrorists.

This morning the news channels beamed live footage of NSG commandos being airdropped on the attacked building. Any terrorist inside the building had the enormous advantage of knowing how many commandos were entering and from which position. This was a very specific example. Right from announcing when NSG forces arrived to the number of security forces, the news channels are doing all, in utmost competitive vigour, that they can to keep updated the terrorists inside the attacked building and their accomplices in the outside world with whom the attackers might have possibly maintained contact telephonic contact. Earlier, they had telecast specific footage of crouching commandos up on the Gateway of India providing additional cover in case the fight spills over to balconies or terraces.

The sheer pressure for eye-balls and rivalry amongst news channels is sabotaging the already fragile national security scene. It took all of 40 hours since the first pictures for the Army to 'request' news channels to not beam live pictures. A more powerful government would have ordered the eviction of reporters out of camera range. Anyways that was request was not particulary followed

News Channels have their utility, during times of Emergency, of sending messages about the hurt, the missing and the stranded. If the government is botching up the operations, sure, the people deserve to know, but not like running commentary .

Even if the capture of the attackers is delayed by as much as a minute on account of the advantage that the news channels give them, the news channels are playing an anti-national, pro-terrorist role ( even during peace time, this writer is of the view that several news anchors play a divisive anti-national role)

Is the government so weak that they cannot control media in times like these ?

Hot Groundnut Vendor near M3, Wipro Office, Bangalore

2008-08-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

First Image of vendor selling Hot Groundnuts near M3, Wipro Office

Second image is a close up so you can check out the material he uses to package the groundnuts in !!

Hint : you may have to read upside down :)

If there was no Orkut, would friends wish you on Birthdays

2008-07-11T11:07:00.001-07:00

Wanna check how many people actually remember your Birthday ?

Do this mini-experiment. A week before your Birthday go to all the networking sites - Orkut, Hi-Fi etc that you are a member of and "switch off" the birthday indicator or mark it 'private'.

Wait for your birthday and check out how many actually wish you.

You will get Interesting (if disappointing) results.

Not that birthdays matter, just an index of how people rely on technology so much that they do not care for personal touch

Will Advani be a statesman ?

2008-06-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Television News Channels are predicting the doom of the Manmohan Singh led , nay, prime ministered UPA Government, in the wake of the Manmohan-Sonia's pro-nuclear deal stance vis-a-vis the defiant Left front.

All sorts of arithmetic are being worked out, by television channels, to see how, and if, the Manmohan Singh government. A lot of gyan on 'sacrificing power for national interest of nuclear deal' psephology versus inflation psephology verus other miscellaneous theories are floating around.

If Manmohan Singh, in all his 4 years as Prime Minister has stood by conviction on any issue, it is possibly the nuclear deal with US. Interestingly, the deal was mooted by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government and the deal progressed until the elections intervened and Manmohan replaced Vajpayee.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not oppose the deal in the manner that the Left does. One means that the BJP has no 'matter of principle' objections to the deal. (yes, the swadeshi sentiments and nuclear deal are mutually exclusive) . THe BJP's opposition to the deal is the traditional 'opposition for Opposition's sake'

With elections due in the USA in the next 4 months, a possible change of guard may fade hopes of the nuclear deal irredeemably.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play naughty politics, topple the government and cause an elections. Hell, he does not even have to play politics. Internal fissions within the UPA may cause disintegration.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play the statesman, and emerge a taller politician. He should place national considerations above short-term opportunistic views and endorse the deal.
If Advani will assure Manmohan that the BJP will vote in favour of Manmohan in case of a Lok Sabha vote (atlease abstain) it will further the nuclear deal, Advani will emerge taller and the BJP a party that keeps national interests foremost.

Why Manmohan is persisting with nuclear deal ?

2008-06-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Manmohan Singh is a good man.

The prime ministership was thrust upon him and he accepted it.

Manmohan Singh is an honest man. There have been cases of moral turpitude amongst his Cabinet colleagues but none dare raise a finger against him.

What is the use of a leader of intergrity if he cannot discipline his lieutenants ? Not much, except a stable government.

Manmohan has tolerated, withstood many a disgrace possibly because if he did resign the nation would be in a political turmoil.
HOwever, Mr. Singh does want to leave legacy, his footprints on the sands of Pokhran. He very badly wants to do the nuclear deal and if there is one cause he is willing to go the full length for, then this is it.

Inflation happens no matter what gymanstic he and his cohort perform, Manmohan singh will not be able to leave footprints on sands od time.

Has Devanahalli done It ?

2008-06-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

That is the question. Has Devanhalli done it ? Has Devanahalli done what advisories could not ?

Devanahalli's Bengaluru International Airport has brought the elite to use public transport. The Junta who would turn up their nose and use a personal car or a taxi are now using BMTC buses and Taxipools. Of course, to be fair, new air-conditioned buses are being used by the BMTC. The routes operated cover the city in a broad-brush. The pick-up points are centrally located and have convenient feeder services. Families have stopped visiting airports to see-off or receive relatives.

Another realisation is that the connectivity to the airport is not as worse as it was made out to be (This writer has not visited BIA and this post is based on anecdotal evidence). After the airport was finally thrown open, Bangalore Mirror's (a Times of India publication) much touted Devana yelli ? campaign for better connectivity to the new airport fizzled out. Also, it might proves that if you let people expect the worst and perform better than worst, everyone is happy.

The BIA airport and BMTC together have helped the classes take to public transport. Can this be replicated for the rest of the city ? A mammoth task indeed but the benefits may be manifold.

Mumbai Indians ? duh !

2008-05-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

The DLF IPL conception-to-execution seems to have happened faster than one could imagine. Literally.
This is apparent in the lack of creativity in the way the teams have been named, oops, branded.
There are 2 'royal's in the Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals. Two kings, in Chennai Super Kings and Kings Punjab. The Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore team's 'royal' name is understandable not the Rajasthan team's plagiarism.
However, Mumbai Indians, take the cake. What are the rest of us. Pakistanis ? And it is not as if this team has not hired expatriates.
But then What's in a name ?

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

2008-03-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

As a common man I object to the large scale largesse to the agricultural community.
The measeure will not bring any relief to the marginal farmer in the clutches of the private moneylender, it also disincentivises the farmer who is repaying the loan.

While the government may goahead with the proposal, citizens seek to know who the biggest defaulters.

The entire list of defaulters in the descending order of loan outstanding should be published on a website.

Some of the reforms I suggest are-
All new loans should be granted only to PAN holding farmers.
All procurement should be made from PAN-holding farmers.
Farmers earning more than 10 lakhs pa should pay tax at peak personal Income tax rate for all income in excess of Rs 10 lakhs pa.

Why Bhajii is unlikey to have abused Symonds

2008-01-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

Bhajji is unlikely to be guily to Racial abuse. That ICC's system of jurisprudence is unlikely to take cognizance of that is a different matter.

Why ?

Harbhajan is an Indian Sardar. In the abuse lexicon of Indians, certain zoological species are frequently used. Monkey, Donkey, Dog et al are some of them. We Indians value birth, parentage,lineage, caste, race and hence abusing one of these is considered a good insult.

Having said that, Bhajji is unlikely to have "racially' abused Symonds, because we Indians do not care what race a foreigner is. They are all 'mlechchas'. Had the abused been another Indian, one might have been tempted to assume "racial abuse". After all, we use abuse castes, don't we.

But Symonds is no Dalit and hence Bhajji could not have cared less whether Symonds was native aboriginal or Black. ( am not sure whether Bhajji can pronounce "aborigine")

And about the monkey business, come on, that was a fair comment !

Jab we mate !!!

2007-11-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

While it is interesting to note the mixed use of English and Hindi in modern Hinglish, it can lead to hilarious consequences – like it does when one attempts to read the title for “Jab We Meet” in Devanagiri (Hindi) script.

Notes on that historic Final of the inaugural 20:20 World Cup

2007-09-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Awards ceremony was an anticlimax. One expected to see a majestic equivalent of the Lord’s balcony host the event. All we got was a bare stage and a balding gentleman to give the award away. Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived to receive the trophy in a sleeveless banian. Man, Display some respect, that is the World Cup that you will receive. Woe, it is the Gentleman’s game no more.

Shoaib Malik at the awards ceremony, “I would like to thank all the peoples of Pakistan for their support I would like to thanks all Muslims in whichever country for their support to Pakistan”.

Considering our jubilant mood, we Indians are willing to overlook the rather objectionable remark.

Shahid Afridi at the Awards Ceremony, “I would like to congratulate all the Indian nations…” . Duh ?

Sethu righta… ?

2007-09-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

The UPA government has deservingly received all the flak for the affidavit on Sri Rama. Having said that the Government’s contention that the Sethu is not man-made has to be conceded. The Sethu was monkey-made with a little but significant contribution from the squirrels (remember what Grandma told about how the squirrels have 3 parallel lines running through their back).
The Sethu seems to have suddenly received religious importance. The question as to what religious and cultural significance the Sethu commands begs to be answered. Does one perform Pooja to the Sethu or visit it and offer ‘baguna’. Do people go in sea diving or snorkeling to pay tribute to the bridge that helped Rama cross the Palk Straits.
While religious, cultural and archaeological heritage needs to be preserved, one wonders whether a particular "monument" which was hitherto neglected develops religious value all of a sudden.
If the "monument" has no other cultural significance but for having been created for Rama’s use I do not see much harm in pulling part of it down to put through a canal ( assuming of course that the canal will bring in untold dividends in the area of shipping and the cost and time savings impact on our exports and imports and supply chain). Admittedly, the Sethu is unlikely to yield benefits akin to what the Canal yielded to Panama or the Suez to Egypt but someone in his right mind can be expected to have done his math.
Considering the economic impact on the Sri Lankan economy and the commercial implications on the Colombo port one might hazard a guess as to the likely promoters of the recent "Stop Sethu" agitation. IF this speculation is to be true, it gives re-birth to the charge of being under the influence of a foreign power, except this time it is neither Congress nor Sonia Gandhi.
The DMK has gone on record with its historical belief. The party which fields Periyar to masquerade atheism as rationalism and believes it is blasphemy (sic) to concede to history.
Let us face it. There are far too many points for the Ramayana not to be true.There are far too many temples littered all over the subcontinent right from Ayodhya in the North to Rameshwaram in the South which are evidence cast-in-stone to the story of Ramayana ( giving allowances for minor regional variations). It would be beyond the capacity of any man (x number of years back in evolutionary history) to have conceived of such a complex seamless story without any loose ends and then visit of each of the places and plant the temples as evidence.
The DMK’s man T R Baalu (the faithful follower of Karunanidhi) sees the Sethu as his chance to be immortalised in the Canal. A fair hope considering that there is little else that can be considered his legacy for all the 11 years that he has been a Union Minister. TR Baalu, the lucky MP from Chennai (South) – the constituency where Yours Truly is a registered voter - has been a Minister for 11 of the last 12 years under 4 Prime Ministers in 5 Governments.

Mohammed Haneef has offers to join politics and moviedom

2007-07-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Mohammed Haneef has offers to join politics and moviedom

*The New Times of New India reports on 30^th July 2007:

“Mohammed Haneef, the freed former suspected terrorist landed in Bangalore last night. With the flashbulbs that accompanied his arrival, were new offers.

The Samjawadi Party has invited Haneef to join the party and has offered him a Rajya Sabha seat. Meanwhile, competing for Haneef’s attention are the offers from the Telegu film industry. Says one director, ’I have the perfect storyline which fits Haneef to the T. ‘The wronged hero who had done no wrong’. The heroine too has been finalized. The duo would make an interesting couple - She too comes from a similar background - fresh from behind-the-bars. The songs sequence will be shot in awesome Australia and picturesque Portugal. The movie will be released simultaneously in the two countries apart from India and for the only the second time in recent history, in Pakistan.’

SIMply amazing, no ?

* psst…. This report posted on 29^th July 2007 is fictional (as on date on writing)

The Missed Call

2007-07-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

The Missed Call

One of the ancillary phenomena that arose due to the mega phenomenon called Cellular Phone is the missed call. Yes, The Missed Call.

The uses to which the Caller ID based feature on a mobile phones is only restricted by the imagination of the users.

Friends and relatives, by arrangement, figure out who has got the most favorable Telephone Tariff Plan. This person is given a ‘missed call’ from others whom he calls back. Of course, there are those who give their folk a missed call, and the receiver calls back from a landline, on most occasions at the employers’ expense.

There is the clever set of people who use a missed call to convey binary information. How many of us have said or heard, “Give me a Missed Call once you reach home”. Some of us have used it to convey, “I am waiting outside your home. It is getting late for the movies.”

Did I miss the missed call that is meant to remind the receiver that he/she promised to call.

While a missed call does not generate any revenue nor cost the subscribers anything, it does have commercial implications. I understand that migrant Bihari workers transfer money to their families via the local moneylender through missed calls.

Like the ubiquitous mobile phone, the missed call too has its workplace utility. The missed call that is made to register the act of calling up. Translated that is supposed to mean “I called, but you did not answer the call. Check your Missed Call register for proof.” The objective is to disconnect the line at the first half ring, so that the phone does not alert its owner but just registers the call. The technique is popularly used when the boss asks to be called up over the weekend.

Back in college, one of the favorite sports during class hours was the ‘Missed Call Game’.

The guys would call each other in the classroom at random. The objective of the caller was to generate a “Missed Call” in the phone of the recipient rival. The objective of the recipient was to answer the call before it could become a missed call. The Casino type thrill was that the penalty paid in the game was instantaneous. The prepaid balance would drop immediately if the caller ‘lost’.

Considering that the number of cell phones per classroom was still in single digits then, it was an involved spectator sport with entire benches backing their representative. Now, I guess, it is possibly an evolved mass sport with several rule variation.

And then there is my personal favorite Missed Call that just means ‘I am thinking about you’. Often made late in the evening, when the called party is known to be asleep, it is just to convey to that (mostly special) person, “I am thinking about you”.

Why APJ Abdul Kalam is human after all

2007-06-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Why APJ Abdul Kalam is human after all

Disclaimer :This blog is written by one of the Biggest fan of Dr Abdul Kalam.

APJ Abdul Kalam is a patriot par excellence. Dr Kalam earned for the Office of President high dignity with in India, honour outside the country.

He created that spark in a generation of young Indians. Undoubtedly, he is the best ( for lack of an adjective which best captures all his attributes) President young India has seen. (Old-timers put him in the same league of Rajendra Prasad and Dr Radhakrishnan).

In the various roles that Kalam has played in the last 50 years he has made several sacrifices to serve the Public. But just when he could have done the Supreme Sacrifice he backed out displaying that he is, after all, human.

Why do I say so ?

A P J Abdul Kalam has not, for a welcome change, been a rubberstamp President. He has applied his mind and in all cases come up with a right decision.( See Pioneer article http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~sudhakar/weblog/cache/2004/may/18/whose-inner-voice-pioneer.txt ) This has made him unpopular with Sonia Gandhi who would like to see him retire ASAP.

Bhairon Singh Shekawat is unlikely to act subservient to Sonia Gandhi. Hence, her own nominee is what she will back. As it stands the Prime Minister is a Sonia puppet. One shudders to imagine the state of the nation if both the Prime Minister and President becoming puppets of Sonia Gandhi. In the Electoral College the UPA nominee is likely to win if every one votes as per the party line.

If there is an individual with a real chance of inducing cross-voting by his sheer charm, persona, warmth and commitment to the nation, that will have to be Dr. Kalam.

As he had been persuaded to consider a second term the uncouth Lalus and Sharad Pawars of this world hurt the respectable gentleman where it hurts him most – badmouthing him.

Having served the nation selflessly for a lifetime, Abdul Kalam decided that he deserves a graceful exit ( and rightfully so). He also knows that he is the best bet to counter a Sonia nominee. In the event of a contest, he might win; he could lose too.

Dr Kalam would rather retire honorably than be remembered as a man who wanted another term, contested and lost. In this decision Dr Kalam, we see that you are after all human in your desires.

A supreme sacrifice would be to throw in your hat in the ring. If you win India wins. If you lose, opportunistic journalists and others like Lalu will speak a few ugly things. ( All Indians know that the truth is very different). But, I am sure you appreciate, it is a small price to pay if we want to have hope of thwarting Sonia.

The supreme sacrifice is not that of life. The supreme sacrifice is when one can forego their honour for a much Larger Cause.

Show Ration Card, Get a TV home

2007-04-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

“Ek aam Hindustani ki zindagi mein, line main khada rahen hi zindagi hain…”

.. goes an Airtel ad. It further adds that things have changed and Airtel has changed the scene in the context of KBC.

It was circa 1990s again for me the first Sunday of April 2007 when I stood in the queue at the Public Distribution System.

The young, the old, the professional, the vela, the man, the woman, the housewife and her sister-in-law, the LIG household, the MIG household and the SEC A household all of them stood in the queue at the local municipal school.

I almost thought that the municipal elections were happening but the voter turnout seemed too good to be true. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the Rush was to collect the “free colour TV” which “Dr. Kalignar” led Government of Tamil Nadu was supplying.

My first reaction was that of disbelief. There has probably been no record of a Government actually sticking to pre-poll promises and here I could see people carrying home cardboard dabba.

(You must see it to believe it. Blame it on pazahaka dosham –force of habit- the men and women were carrying it the way they would carry pots of water. The analogy does not stop there- The ladies’ queue experienced the same streetfight that occurs when one of the them fills her pot out of turn from the water lorry)

Disbelief turned to greed when upon discreet enquiries, I got to know that my family was eligible for the “color TV” as well and so I hopped onto the queue with a ration card in my hand. Truckload after truckload of cardboard boxes was unloaded into the building. One by one they were distributed to gleeful citizens.

The queue in which I stood, truly obedient to Murphy’s law, moved slower than the rest. Some were thankful for the TV, others doubted the quality of the televisions (Looking the gift horse in the mouth) few even wondering if there was any television inside the cardboard.

My recent tryst with analysts and analyst reports made do some back of the envelope calculations er, well without an envelope and without numbers.

At the end of the exercise i.e. when all households in Tamil Nadu have a television set or when the state becomes bankrupt, whichever is earlier, every citizen will have access to atleast one television. The Numero Uno Tamil television channel, the No.1 by far will extend its coverage, leadership and logical extension advertising rates and revenues.

Need I say more? I am hurrying to buy the shares of Sun TV.

P.S After waiting for more than 3 hours on a Sunday, the PDS confessed that they had run out of television sets and pleaded with the restive public to be patient till the next week when, they promised, every household will be able to carry home a TV set.

P.S 2 I am as a concession to the political party which will, hopefully, give me a TV which I do not know what to do with am not – piercing the corporate veil of Sun TV, which however has been done elsewhere in this blog.

Of God and atheists - It happens only in Tamil Nadu

2007-01-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

World over, the greatest threat to peace is religion-motivated violence. Be it in the hideous form of terrorism or glorious form of war. It has been Jews versus Christians, Christians versus Muslims, Christians versus Hindus, Hindus versus Muslims.

In such a world of ‘my God is better than your God’ world, lies the province of Tamil Nadu in south India where violence outbreaks between Hindus and atheists.

You read that right. Hindus believers versus (mostly Hindu) atheists.

World over, atheists (born in families of whichever religion) have led a rather unremarkable life. Maybe to break that routine, atheists in Tamil Nadu create a cause and fight for it.

At Srirangam, on the banks of river Cauvery in Tamil Nadu lies the rather venerated temple of Sri Ranganthaswamy. The atheist cult in (Have you heard of an atheist cult, elsewhere in the world) that is the political mainstay in the state decide to provoke the theists by installing the statute of EVR Ramaswamy Naicker, (or Periyar in short) an iconic atheist (In Tamil Nadu, atheism is often confused with rationalism) at the entrance to the temple.

Hindu foot soliders are rightly indignant. However they too succumbed to the temptation of violence. They damaged the pedestal of the statute of a man who once publicly broke idols of Hindu Gods and thereby ‘promoted rationalist thoughts’. Periyar devotees feel challenged. They attack several shrines at different parts of Tamil Nadu so that the atma of Periyar will attain shanti .

And so goes the War in Tamil Nadu. Dharmic (crusade, jehad) for some. Hero-worship (in the garb of rationalism) for others.

Why Mohammad Afzal should get one...

2006-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Pardon Mohammad Afzal.

Not because he deserves it.Clearly, he does not.

When Mohammad Afzal was recruited, he was probably told that he might perish in the mission and should he get killed he would attain Jannath (virgins and all that).If he got arrested and hanged, well he would still attain Jannath.

By hanging Afzal now, we are probably giving him what he wants. Does granting someone what he wants amount to punishment ?

Enough hype has been created by the media. A hanging if it were to be happen would probably even by covered live and broadcast internationally. And produce counter-productive results!Afzal's death by hanging is likely to infuriate and hence motivate jehadis-in-the-making. It might even be cited by terrorism trainee recruiters to promise the Jannath.

Commute the sentence to life-imprisonment. Teach him Yoga, Art of Living. There exists an outside chance that he might be reform. If he doesnot, he will still possibly lead a miserable life and would still not have achieved Jannath.

Cyanide Cyanide…

2006-08-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Cyanide is the first Kannada movie I watched in a cinema in over a decade.

Narrating the journey of the Rajiv Gandhi assassins post-assassination is the only motive of the storyline. The director does a very good job of sticking to it. No moralising the assassination, No sympathy to the Tigers, No venting the nation’s outrage, No comment on Sri Lanka.

The only tongue-in-cheek remark that the movie lastly resorts is the tribute to the Indian Police for having captured (if dead) the ‘terrorists’.

Brilliant acting depict the we-are-expected-to-believe- true events. The movie belied my expectations on one front. The language used right through was Kannada which was obviously not what the Tigers spoke. A judicious juxtapositioning of Kannada and (Lankan) Tamil would have lent more credibility.

The movie deserves to reach a wider audience than Kannada speaking. I wish and urge the producers to give it the reach that it deserves.To its credit Cyanide, unlike most real-life portrayals, does not issue an “its fiction” disclaimer.

Psst.. Post movie we lunched at ‘Grameen’ a restaurant that promised to provide rural amenities in urban areas. (reverse Abdul Kalam!!)

Go paperless

2006-08-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

Lot of talk about E-governance and paperless initiatives. My own suggestion to encourage the janta to go electronic.

As a measure to encourage paperless transactions SEBI should direct Companies going ahead with IPOs and lead managers for a more favourable pro rata allotment ratio in case of over-subscription to the applicants who have applied online. This should be as against investors who have applied on physical application forms.Applying through physical application forms leads to large scale consumption of paper as well as associated cost, time and labour expended in processing the same.

Online application is hassle-free to the investor and relatively easier to process also (I presume) eliminating costs and reducing time for both the investor and the investee company.The SEBI may consider encouraging Online Trading and Online Application and instruct /direct/order the companies to introduce this measure.
The transparency that electronic application brings is the added bonus.

SEZ for T.Nagar

2006-07-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

SEZ in Haryana, SEZ in Gujarat.... Why not SEZ in T. Nagar.

Hey! I am not kidding. I am talking of a Special Economic Zone status for the roads of South Usman Road, Panagal Park and Ranganathan Street. Of course not of the manufacturing kind but of the shopping kind.

Let us look at the compelling reasons

T. Nagar is the World Capital of Hindu wedding jewellers
T. Nagar is the World Capital of Hindu wedding Silk Sarees Shops
T. Nagar -based Saravana Stores is a pioneer in his brand of retailing. (Wait till Wharton hears, it will make it a case-study)

Ranganathan Street is tourist destination for rural-folk. The traffice snarls have to be seen to be believed. The peculiar geography of the area is like no other.

The Big Idea :
.... is after making Panagal Park-UsmanRoad-Ranganathan Street an SEZ,..

to conduct Chennai shopping festival (say, on the lines of Dubai Shopping festival) to attract international shopping travellers
to stimulate shopping tourism into Chennai
to provide opportunity to local outlets to scale up
to allow multi-storey ( and I mean really mulit-storey , 15 floors plus) building to come up with adequate parking and other facilities
a framework for governing T. Nagar traffic and civic service is evolved. Though this is no panacea to the traffic problem a framework with special interest in T. Nagar can be a start
Pedestrain and Parking issues to be addressed by the SEZ
Government may not lose much revenue, because "regular customers" of 'Thanga Maligais' know how much tax is paid.

Think out of the Box !

Free WiFi everywhere ?

2006-07-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

WiFi enabled laptops are gaining popularity but are not yet the standard. But where does one find Wifi hotspots to use them ? College libraries.Er.. Not exacly the most useful of places, considering that the libraries are already equipped with Net-connected computers.

As private players like Dishnet RED roll out hotspots all over the city ( i.e. all over all Barista, which incidentally, is a recently adopted sister-concern) usage really has not spread like wildfire.

One suggestion by a technology-illiterate.

Make Wifi internet accessible at two speeds-

At broadband minimum 256 Kbps at existing rates of access
Free ! at 56 Kbps

Anyone with a notebook should be able to access the internet. (56 kbps may sound cruel but wth it is Free) It is expected that while free Wifi access will bring more notebooks to the coffee table (and hence footfalls), over time this move will put more cash on the table. Moreover, the move if standardised universally will lead to perceivable improvement in sale of WiFi cards.

Free Wifi access is supposedly being provided at the Chennai Central and the Chennai Airport free. The proposed move will make free access at public places sustainable, rather than a burden on the service provider.

Will the evangelical telecom minister take the initiative ?

Chennai Metro - Tragic Comedy

2006-07-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

The idea of this blog , lest you misunderstand, is not to question the status of the city of Chennai as a metropolitan city. That in the era of emerging newer cities, the question may not be totally irrelevant is a diferent issue.

The issue is that of the "panacea" to Chennai's traffic woes, The Metro Rail. Fortunately for Delhi but unfortunately for the rest of India, teh Delhi Metro is a success. Unfortunate for rest of India ??? Stupid politicians ( now,is there an intelligent politician?) donot have the originality to think up unique and customised solutions for each city. Cut-Copy-Paste is all they can understand.

The result is that Chennai will have 4 incompatible systems of rail transport. The Beach-Tambaram line cannot interconnect with the lines to Chennai Central. The MRTS ("Flying Train " in Tamil) donot interconnect with any other suburban rail system. The Ambattur-Chennai Central suburban line will not interconnect with other systems. To add to the incompatibility, the Metro is proposed. The metro is neither metre gauge nor broad gauge, it is standard gauge. It cannot "talk" to other networks even if it wants to. The commuter is expected to travel strictly on routes on any single network only.

The talk of the metro would have been hilarious if they governments did not seem serious about it. Now, it is a tragic-comedy (with apologies to P Chidambaram). But of course, politicians who never use public transport cannot be expected to do any better.

PS Whatever will happen to plans to extend the MRTS ?
Will Park Town -Chennai Central connectivity ever happen ?

Rhyme and Reason

2006-06-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Madhya Pradesh State Government decided to replace 'English nursery rhymes' with Hindi patriotic rhymes. Predictably, the English language media took up the cudgels, opposing, as is their wont, every action by any BJP Government, accusing the party of saffronising ( a word contributed to the English language by the secular Indian press) Education. The BBC made a seemingly balanced coverage talking to urban "academicians" and "educationists". The Times of India played the more-British-than-British card and called the move churlish and emphasised the "importance of English" and in summary called it regressive. (see link below)

This blog believes that the MP Govt. move that has come not a moment too early. Nursery rhymes are meant to,amongst under-5 year olds, encourage speech, vocabulary, creativity while entertainingly engage them in the process.

The "English nursery rhymes" can do no better than the ones in any other language. The great Indian fancy for English has lead to the adoption of the British rhymes.
Many educated people are upset that their favourites rhymes will not be taught anymore (says newspapers). Please,the rhymes touch an emotional chord as we ( yes, it does with me too) learnt it during our blissful childhood and about which all of us (with normal childhoods) are nostalgic. Any rhyme of any other language would do just as well.

Having said that, is it not logical to begin one's education in one's mother tongue as opposed to a foreign tongue, however much it might be globall used. The first words learnt by most children the world over are in their mother tongue, well, except for children of Indian yuppies who find it below thier dignity to converse with their children in the native.With due support to learning English (globalisation, "child's future", "computers" and other 'reasons') it is unfortunate when someone's best language is not their mother tongue ( as it, admittedly, is with this write and his generation (x?) of ppl- blame it on Macualay).Now, for a nation often divided does it not make more sense to learn patriotic jingles as kids and be nostalgic about them when one gets older.
Moreover, most English nursery rhymes are - disaster oriented. e.g. Jack broke his crown, Jill came tumbling; ..bow breaks,the cradle will fall; London bridge is falling down; Humpty dumpty had a great fall,...plucked her nose etc. and don't really have much value except for the anglo-saxon tune recall.

Secular press... Give us a break. There are several things that BJP governments get it wrong. Go after them. If you can't get yourself to commend them , ignore them.

Psst...1.. The British Kindergarten Association of Kindergarten teachers would gladly endorse the MP Govt.'s move if the could hear the accent and tone of the rhymes as taught and as recited at schools proclaimed as "English medium" schools.

Psst..2.. Glad that Hindi seems to have creative writers to churn out KG poems. In Tamil Nadu, translations of English rhymes are passed off, many a time, as Tamil. (Intellectual Property lawyers Alert !). But thats hardly a surprise, for a state which has thrived on the "dubbing" culture.(Junoon effect !)

For news articles which prompted this critique :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5079002.stm
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp?msid=584497758
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1665143.cms
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp

Is Shashi Tharoor worth it ?

2006-06-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

Should India support Shashi Tharoor for secretary-general of the UN ?
Is the fact that he holds in Indian Passport, was educated in India.(st. stephens, as NDTV telecast live) sufficient for India to support the candidature.
He is not from the Government of India, never served the Indian diplomacy establisment. This might be the best chance for a career UN diplomat with an Indian passport to ascend to the position, but his ascension does not assure India of any benefit.

Shashi is , admittedly, vastly experienced in UN affairs and may even be the right candidate for the job.Yet is it strategic for India to have him there ? Is it worth losing negotiating powers on other issues to secure this promotion to Tharoor

S-06 Unreserved Class

2006-05-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam,
President of India

This is regarding the present raging controversy of ‘Reservations’.
Sir, The present system of Reservations has been institutionalised to achieve what is called ‘Social Justice’.The concept of Social Justice has been misused by the politicians to achieve Votebank ends.
The Constitution, when drafted, has taken into account scenario prevailing in 1950.It was probably, in the context of that day, desirable. Subsequently, much water flowed under the Yamuna.
The socio-economic patterns have changed a lot. The two tumbler system, untouchability, barring of entry to temples and many other social evils have been abolished. While ‘castes’ as a social denominator could probably have been a reasonable basis in 1947, today clearly they are outdated. Even if one does not agree to this , one has to agree to the fact that the Mandal Commission was drafted so long ago that, its findings on socio-economic indicators are .today, challengable.
There are many today belonging to castes which enjoy Reservation in Educational institutions and Government employment but who are wealthy enough to not deserve Reservations. Yet, they claim the crutch of reservation, at the cost of a meritorious student.

The Constitution was drafted to aid the so-called downtrodden castes of the society at the cost of the other castes, who are also Indian Citizens and who contribute to the Nation and yet are denied the right to equal opportunity.

While one must admit that the Lower Castes have during the Pre-Independence era has suffered discrimination, two wrongs do not make a right.

Brain Drain
Sir, you are a scientist par excellence and have worked for ISRO and Indian Defence programmes and you have seen many young Indian scientists working for India. I am sure; you have also watched helplessly when brilliant Indian minds go abroad and work for Foreign Governments and even worse, Foreign Space and Defence. I leave it to you to wonder why they left India and what caste they belonged to.
Sir, you are a qualified person to estimate the kind of progress, India would have made if all these persons had been provided opportunity in India.

Brain in the Drain
The immediate impact of Reservations in Higher Education is the dilution of quality of students. An impact of this will be the motivation levels of a teacher. The global reputation of an institution say like an IIT, IIM or IISc is badly affected.
Candidates who have secured seats in premier institutions through quota have been known to commit suicide because they have not been able to cope up with high standards of excellence. Any argument of Social Justice is Absurd here.

India- Education is Revered
Indian society has always revered education in all its forms. Which is probably one reason why Governments in India subsidies Higher Education. Poor Meritorious Individuals (whatever the caste) have utilised these subsidies and made a mark in their career thereby uplifting themselves and their families.
In other societies, say American, State does not subsidies Higher Education. However, they take it upon themselves to provide free and compulsory primary education to every child. Even meritorious students need to pay for Higher Education.
However, our system provided for subsidy and meritocracy resulting in Brilliant output.
Now, the policy of ‘social justice’ will destroy the same. So-called social justice is now Social Injustice.

Votebank Politics
In the face of severe protests, clearly, sir, you can see that the proposed policy of Arjun Singh and Co. is not ideal and not welcomed by most students and large sections of society. In fact refusal to consider some of the alternatives is a clear indication of Votebank Politics practised by Arjun Singh and Manmohan Singh of the Congress Government.

Some of the Alternatives that can be considered are-
Free and Compulsory Education
The arguments of Social Justice and right to equal opportunity have some relevance considering historical backgrounds. However, this can be compensated by providing free and compulsory school (primary and secondary) education. This provides a young person with enough skills to take up a career and earn his bread. Higher Education is no place to achieve Social Justice.
The innovative Finance Minister recently introduced an all pervasive Education cess collecting several hundred crores. This money can be easily utilised for purpose of free and compulsory education to EVERY child in India.

Economic criteria for Reservations
Social Justice is achieved when economically poorer sections of Society are empowered to live a dignified way of life. Poorer sections of society may belong t any caste. The present policy and the proposed policy is CRIMNAL injustice to the poor amongst the castes not entitled for reservation
Stop with First Generation beneficiaries
If Social Justice has to serve its purpose the fruits of Reservations should stop with the First generation beneficiaries. Else it might lead to intra-caste wars.
Limitation on Reservation
Reservation, as envisaged by Ambedkar, was for a limited period. What is the limitation period proposed now?
Sir, Did you check on this before you assented to the Bill?
Right to Equal Opportunities
The phrase “Right to Equal Opportunities” is (deliberately) misunderstood. So-called Activists are raising demands for reservation in judiciary and civil services. You will agree with me, sir that it is the state’s responsibility to provide for a dignified life to all its citizens and the means for them to earn a honest living. However, it is not and SHOULD NOT be the concern of the state to expect or even aim that all denominations of its citizenry should be represented in all walks of life in the same proportion as the population.
Sir, Communities have inherent strengths and weaknesses. It is most often found that communities operate in their domain of strength. That is why, some communities are entrepreneurial, while some are academic, while some other communities may excel in physically-demanding professions. India needs to build on its strength, not weaknesses.

The Constitutional Amendment has undesirable consequences for India and upsets the level playing field.

Reservation in Private Sector
The Government has no moral right to impose quotas on the private sector which began thriving after the Government decided to become less interventionist. This move can hit the core of our competitiveness and lead to flight of capital by FIIs and FDI investors.

President of India – Unique Position.
Sir, we have read that you have assented to the Bill only after seeking explanations from the Prime Minister. Yet, we are disappointed that you have approved the Bill. Sir, please think about the future of India, the merits of our argument and please revisit your conscience.
You, as educationist, as space scientist, as defence expert are in a unique position to assess the needs of India.
You, as President of India, are known to be impartial and known to take decisions where no political party can accuse of as being partial.
You are in yet another unique position. You are, by religion, a Muslim. None can accuse you of taking decision that are favouring either this caste or that caste.
Kindly do whatever is possible to protect the rights of those who have no protection of Reservation. Kindly save India.
I, represent a whole set of young citizens who demand to know. Your response is keenly awaited. We would not mind meeting you to impress on you our concern of the situation whose gravity we believe you know.

Thanking you
Regards,

Pavan N Rao
and other Concerned Citizens

aarakshan , meeslaithi

Labour Leader ?

2006-05-18T04:31:00.000-07:00

The thorn in Periyar’s heart will finally be plucked out,’’ said a Tamil Nadu government order today permitting people belonging to all Hindu communities, with the required training and qualification, to become archakas (priests) in temples.

Periyar was an atheist and a Buddhist. He is well known for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." - Wikipedia

'Thanthai Periayar' man had no faith in God (in all its variants). One wonders what his concern was as to who were the priestly class. As he rabidly propogated "Rationalism" why was Periyar concerned with permitting people belonging to all Hindu communities to become archakas.

Was Periayar,after all, only a labour leader ?

Know your Roots

2006-05-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

The BJP would not have be in the mess that it is had it been careful in retaining its RSS values while taking on modern ones.

The underplayed RSS value of 'One Man One Post' has enormous merit. Had the party followed it in toto, the BJP could have taken the moral high ground in the 'Office of Profit' Controversy.

Goes to show that one should know one's roots before making policy changes.

Reel -n- Real

2006-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Watching on Television the horrid visuals of policemen assaulting medicos , I was reminded of , No Not Jallinwallah Bagh but actually of Rang de Basanti.(click link)
In which case, my intutive self tells me, 'Danger flag is hoisted for' Arjun Singh.

Good Riddance, it will be.

"A Case for Reservations " byt he same blogger http://thoughtpaisa.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_thoughtpaisa_archive.html was set in a different context. The blogger reserves the right to change his views.

Karu..

2006-05-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

During the hard-fought election campaign Shri Karunanidhi had apparently promised not to be vindictive . Karu had gone on record asserting that a "good" government was one which built on the schemes of the old ones and respected teh previous regime.

Cut to after-swearing in. The CM Karunanidhi appoints Syed Munir Hoda , suspended officer, as a secretary on the day the Government took charge. Syed Munir Hoda is charged of acting in a sensitive case without informing the Government.

Surely, The DMK government could not have completed an enquiry and declared him "not guilty " in under a day. Which compels one to ask "Under whose instuctions was the former Home Secretary Syed Munir Hoda acting ?"

Surely, Karu could have been less blatant about the whole show.

Damned if you do, damned if you dont

2006-05-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Question of the day on CNN IBN.
Do you agree that Indian society is guilty of endorsing moral policing ?
SMS Y to agree N to disagree.

Polls are supposed to reflect opinion, not a space to editoralise. Either way, the respondent is forced to concede moral policing is a criminal offence. I suppose Rajdeep Sardesai is an advocate of immoral policing.

Editorialise, Call it a poll , make an hour's show on this basis and make money through SMS. Rajdeep you are a master.

Interesting... MGR legacy

2006-05-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

An interesting titbit most pollsters missed is the fact that this elections ,young electors who were born in the post-MGR era will vote for the FIRST Time.
Will his legacy still hold sway ?
We will hafta wait.

Post script: First half-hour trends foretell a record turnout.

Obit : PM

2006-05-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Await my obituary to Pramod Mahajan , a big hero to me ( Thalivar in Tamil , Guru in Kannada)

The mother of all battles

2006-05-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

The battle royale for Fort St. George is possibly the biggest and bitterest ever fought in Tamil Nadu (as far as bitterest is concerned, mybe even the world). The media, the coverage, the mercenary-campaigners, the sudden shift of loyalties ( to use a corporate managementspeak, HR turnover).
It is make or break for DMK dependent on octegenarian MuKa. Equally crucial for Amma. Vijaykanth seems to be an also-ran. However, there are no popular heirs to either Ayya or Amma.And no one is getting younger. The "go-it -alone' decision of Vijaykanth, apparently foolhardy, may be to lose the battle to win the war.

My fav. line this elections (atributed to Simran): No prizes for guessing loyalties.
Amma is Amma, Baaki ella Summa

Mens Rea - The Dayanidhi Files

2006-05-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

It took the newspapers 2 years to reveal the mystery of the appointment of first-time MP ("nincompoop" as Jayalalithaa would have it) as the Communications Minister in the Union Cabinet when it was prima facie all along.
The denials lack credibility. Dayanidhi ( For heaven's sake, Maran is his dead father's name) does not have the guts to tell the media "Go and ask Ratan Tata" . That is enough proof for me.

Brand IIT

2006-04-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I had to choose whether this title of this blog would be about branding or about politics, then decided- Branding wins.

5 people form a political party. All newspapers carry the news. Several Thousand youth see hope.
All because the the 5 persons went through undergrad at one of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Lok Paritrana is known as the party "started by IITians".I must have received atleast 6 email fwds before I decided on this blog. There are political parties with educated people in them and am sure that all the Executive Council of every major parties have educated people on them.

But IITians must be different goes the unvoiced argument. Almost none of the people who forwarded the email to me knew any of the founders. Yet , a virtual campaign is being run on their behalf. It is attributable directly (and only) to Brand IIT. Would 5 Chartered Accountants receive the same kind of response. Or 5 brilliant engineers from Non-IIT institutions for that matter.

I hate to be pesimisstic when so many young ppl seem to smell fresh hope. But do a bunch of super engineers deserve my vote because they are super-engineers. Performance, Experience, Manifesto Anybody ??

From Scott Adams' Asok to Lok Paritrana, brand IIT rulez.
The developments also goes to show how much the youth are fed up of the existing establishment and the hope that they look fwd to from IIT.(sic)

Is election ka kharcha kaun dega ?

2006-04-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Who will bear the cost of this election ???

Sonia Gandhi , on her own volition, early this month resigned from the office of Member of Parliament. The same lady wants to contest from the same constituency in the by-election caused by her own resignation. Should the bewakoof exchequer foot the bill for the election. This Rae Bareli by-election is being forced onto a nation ,solely, by the actions of Sonia Gandhi. She, should foot the bill from her pocket.

The story would have been different had the Election Commission disqualified Sonia Gandhi and she contests the elections after having resigned from all the other Governemnet of India establishments named after the Gandhi family. In those circumstances, it might have been argued that she had a point to prove.

Will somebody file a PIL ?

Ad India

2006-04-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

However busy one might be, However, close the exams may be one cannot but stop and watch the bees , smell the roses and observe the ads.

Voltas, a Tata brand, has been reduced to play the India card to regain marketshare. What a pity ! SOmebody told me that the little girl actually says "India ka AC. Korea ki nahin" . Poor Voltas. LG, Samsung and Hyundai must have given them hot competition. (Psst : Business Standard says Voltas ahve actually staged a comeback)

E-serve comes up seemingly stupid ads. I learn that they are targeted at University students sitting for Final examinations. Message being that however you perform at the examinations we at eserve are only too willing to hire you. The return of the eCoolie ?.

Interesting , but I suppose that E-serve's ad budget for HR purposes must be greater than its budget for Marketing purposes

No, Prime Minister

2006-03-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

Speak for yourself, Mr. Prime Minister

Mr. Clean Manmohan Singh,
Dear Sir,
Admittedly you owe your present designation to the lady who repeatedly insists on reminding the nation, rather dramatically, that she is in fact a saint. And a little bit of gratitude is definitely good manners, no it is even moral and ethical. Being the Mr. Nice you were bound to make a statement extolling the virtues of the Saint "tallest leader and has a rare commitment to moral values which you do not find in plenty in our country".
Considering your debt to her the reference to your patron saint Sonia Gandhi as "tallest leader" is understandable and one who has "a rare commitment to moral values..." is also tolerable. But what is NOT tolerable is your ingratitude to the citizens of your nation when you uttered "...moral values which you do not find in plenty in our country".

This Country , my motherland, (well you dont seem to think know much about India) has enough moral values and more than all of the Congress Party put together several times over. If your remark were in the context of the Congress Party make that clear or if your remarks were in the context of the political class make that clear.

Whichever context you have made the remark, it does not do India any proud and I am ashamed of your remark, Prime Minister.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/23pm.htm

Openers and Rahul

2006-03-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

Atlast official cricketing wisdom backs me and my Guru Rahul Dravid.

Geoff Boycott, in his felicitation to Rahul Dravid, on the eve of his 100th Test wonders why Rahul does not consider himself to be good enough to be a regular opener.

Because, Geoff, the cricketing critics will not let him. Every time Rahul opens the batting critics will say that he can, at best, be a stop-gap opener. The critics seem to believe that the opening batsmen can only belong to a different species than ordinary cricketers. So, much that when an ODI opener Saurav is not even considered to open Test games.

“Openers are born, not made” the critics seem to believe. There is a constant look. Tons of performance does not seem to convince critics that Rahul Dravid can possibly open the innings.

One childhood-mate of an Ex-captain who was regular No.3 opened for India once and failed. The ostensible excuse was that he was not used to the ‘opener’ slot. Pray, what role would he be handling if the first wicket fell of the first ball ?

Traditionally, thanks to this critic-viewpoint, India has constantly looking to recruit openers for it national team from the regional openers caste.

Admittedly, Opening an innings can be a specialist task. But consider the fairness of pulling out First-class cricketers to meet the like of international speedsters on their debut. Thus went Vikram Rathore, Sujith Somasundar and several others whom history may not even remember to meet Allan Donald, Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh on their debut.

The story will go on…
… Unless RD decides …

Psst : Speculation is that RD asked Saurav to open in Pakistan and ( am not making comments here) Ganguly mouthed “Why me” and Dear RD led by example.
PS: When Irfan Pathan opened in the second innings of the third Test at Wankhede the commentators heaped criticism on Rahul claiming that he was sending bowlers to do a batsman's job and that he must have come in himself. Poor Rahul !!

The Next President of India

2006-03-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

I beleive, like most young people, I have spoken to that APJ Abdul Kalam was the best thign to have happened to Indian Politics in a long time.Old-timers like my Grandad rate him next to Dr. Rajendra Prasad And Radhakrishnan amongst Indian Presidents.Admittedly, I am amongst his innumerable fans and will drop whatever I am doing to listen to his speeches.
Listing out his credentials is not neccasary. Listing out how different President he ahs been is also pointless. . The purpose of this blog is to urge him to have a second term in office. Our dear President has already claimed to get back to teaching after his term. Let su impress upon him that by teaching he will be of use tot eh Science student community but as President he can inspire an entire nation.

A hunch tells me that he will not agree. Maybe a fair decision considering his age and even maybe a personal policy of single-terms.

So, what do we do next. We, teh ppl of India have been truly inspired by a worthy President. Should we risk the arrival of Gadha-Ghoda as our President. The spoof that Indiatimes has created http://people.indiatimes.com/holiarticleshow/msid-1448674.cms is a SUper-suggestion. Lets push for N Narayana Murthy as the next President of India. Why him ? Because he is honest, intelligent, intellectual, International Public Face of Indian Industry and yet earthy in his stands and care for community.
He is already THE ambassador of the most-admired Indian company that he heads. The President of India will be a natural extension of his role.

Remember. A right President can move the nation, the wrong one can stall it.

Questions that I want to ask but dunno whom to ask ?

2006-03-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

Questions that I want to ask but dunno whom to ask ?

The Justice U C Banerjee report claims that ‘of the 250 passengers in the (S -6) coach , 59 died and the rest escaped: “ How could it happen if the entry doors were locked?” (Hindu Edit 7 Mar 2006)

I have travelled by the Indian Railways, predominantly by sleeper class. The Letter ‘S’ is in Railway parlance, I suppose, used as a prefix to denote the 3 tier sleeper. That , I suppose further, makes the ill-fated S-6 a three-tier sleeper coach.

The coaches that I have travelled in South India (Nope, I have not travelled much in North India and not at all in Gujarat) could carry 72 passengers in 3 tier sleepers and much less in higher classes.

The second class sitting coaches, I am told can carry a maximum of 108 ppassengers.

This gyaan begs me to know as to why the coaches that can carry 250 persons in compartment not been introduced in South India. Why Southern Railways must be given such step-motherly treatment. Should not more South Indians travel?

That’s enough of me being selfish. Now, that an “accident” has taken place (Nobody seems to know what accident took place much less how) should not the Railways reprimand itself for building unsafe coached that can carry 250. I forthwith demand the withdrawal of all coaches built and being used that can carry 250 passengers. If that is not done, such coaches must be used all over India so that all Indians can benefit from them.
I demand to know, through, the Right to Information Act the number of three-tier coaches that exist of such capacity.

If the honourable Mr. Banerjee and armchair (air-conditioned, I may add) Editors of newspaper ever travel in a fully occupied compartment meant for 72, and then imagine 250 on board the same compartment…

Thanmaana Singam – Hahaha

2006-03-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thanmaana Singam – Hahaha
(literally, Self-respecting Lion or man of Honour)

The MDMK Chief V. Gopalasamy (now called Vaiko) recently broke off his alliance with the DPA in Tamil Nadu and joined hands with “Anbu Sahodari Dr. Puratchi Thalaivi Amma avargal” one wonder how one can be Anbu Sahodari and Amma at the same time.. but I am digressing.

Of course, in politics , (to quote Jayalalithaa who quoted some great thinker) “ there are no permanent friends or foes”. Fair Enough, except if one bothers to remember, not so long ago, Vaiko had been incarcerated by the Jayalalithaa government for nearly 18 months on POTA charges.

One view ( to which I subcribe too)is that Jayalalithaa needed to break the DPA alliance more than she needed Vaiko herself. The strategy aside, it is hilarious to find a politician make a U-turn. More so when the turn is from Vaiko who had been personally humiliated by the Jaya govt. for being an LTTE Tigers sympathiser.

The most hilarious part comes here. The cries that accompanied Vaiko when he met the honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was “Thanmaana Singam vaiko Vaazhga (Hail Self-respecting Lion, Vaiko)”

The tiger has apparently changed species.

Tch tch Sachin-Laxman

2006-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

If I am not mistaken natural light conditions, in sub continental India during the afternoon can only deteriorate over time. So ,when light was offered to Sachin and Laxman did they have to take it. Could they not, have played a few more overs and who knows a 20:20 like game could have made this Nagpur Test historic.
In case the wickets fell, the batsman could then have taken the “bad light” route. Was it the decision of the duo on the field or had Dravid-Chappel instructed Laxman. Surely, the team management are better tacticians than that.

I am sure no other Indian Captain but for Rahul Dravid would have taken the bold decision to press for victory inspite of the conditions. So, I am flummoxed by the “bad light” choice.

Or am I totally mistaken with the light rule. Is it like if you donot take it if offered you can’t choose the excuse at your convenience.

Psst : In a match in Dhaka, Md. Azhauddin had played on despite pathetic light conditions to win the OD match.

Jessica Lal

2006-02-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

In the Jessica Lal case, raising a petition to the President for a retrial may not help as long as the eye-witnesses donot speak the truth.
The only way to get the eye-witnesses to speak the truth would be to mount pressure on them.
Newschannels and Newspapers can spearhead it by publishing names of the witnesses along with their photographs, occupation and address. They can also do the same for all those who were present at the scene of murder. Media should also highlight all the high-profile "connections" of the accused and shame the persons involved.
The public can then build pressure on the witnesses who turned hostile and appeal to their conscience.
Newschannels soliciting (yes, soliciting) SMSes only fill their coffers.

AOL Silver Jubilee - Bengaluru loses branding opportunity

2006-02-21T02:51:00.000-08:00

The 3 day celebrations of the international organisation Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore was an amazing branding event.

It was Brand Art of Living shining bright and carrying along with it Brand Hinduism, Brand Carnatic music and er…Brand Bangalore.

While the first two were well projected, Bangalore could not achieve what it should have achieved. Before I am misunderstood, let me put it on record that Bangalore and the government did an amazing job in accommodating lakhs of visitors, arranging for their long commute of Jakkur-, yeah overall hospitality was good.
But was it good enough. Unfortunately No !! Bengaluru- the city of the future- lost several opportunities that it are unlikely to knock in a hurry. Two events ,which brought centrestage to Bangalore were happening – The AOL Fete and the Shravanabelagola Jain Mahamastabhisheka.

The ideal scenario would have been if …
the Bangalore International Airport had been ready
The Road Infrastrucure in place
A functional metro/monorail
The Tourism Office going the Full Hog

Now, my idea will make sense if I tell you that most of the 10 lakh + visitors to Bangalore were first-time visitors with enough disposable income to make the trip and more importantly, Senior Government officials of various nations (including Heads of States) who too, in all probability, visiting for the first time.

Airport Bangalore could have attracted direct international traffic. Infrastructure, when flaunted, would attract investment from the high-profile leaders of global industry and government. ( How ? The same logic that says that having better pubs and nightlife attract expatriates and hence FDI. Pious expatriates might want to build businesses in the City of “Guruji”)

Conceded that AerodROMEs are not built in a day but the city could have atleast
Repaired its roads . (Remember the Oct 2005 rains wreaking Havoc)
Cleaned up the garbage on roads that the visitors were likely to pass through
and simply put on its best clothes.

Karnataka could have generated enormous publicity/ awareness about Belur, Halebid and its sites of amazing tourist potential. (Thankfully, Brand Hampi got some prominence but that was thanks to HHSSRS)

The AOL and Gomateshwara shows were ready made opportunities to showcase Bangalore to the world.
Bangalore managed a Just Pass but it failed to reach where it could have.
One cannot really blame Bengaluru for the short-sightedness of its politicians. Does the youngest Chief Minister of Karnataka signal hope or is he too on the wrong side of Chalees.

Joy Gurudev ! Ńośtradamvs Mìstákë ??

2006-02-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s (HHSSRS for short) Big Bash concluded with over 1 million visitors to Jakkur near Bangalore. I was witness to the respect, reverence and adulation that lakhs of people expressed. In twenty five years HHSSRS has won over millions of people in nearly 200 countries. Makes me wonder…
The AOL Foundation (Art of Living, not America Online) expected 25 lakh visitors at Jakkur from all over the world for the silver jubilee extravaganza. Assuming 25 % of AOL members were expected to make it that puts the number of ‘devotees’ (shall we call them) at 1 crore. The Sudarshan Kriya being as effective as it is, one would expect heavy Word-of-mouth advertising. I presume every member will bring in one person every year into the fold (Now, one person a year is not an outrageous assumption). And that every new person brought into the Art of Living fold will continue to induct one new member a year.
Now, I suppose the World population in Year 2050 will be 900 crores (projecting from India now at 100+ crores expected to be 150 crores by 2050).
Given that 44 more years ahead of 2050 and using the higher secondary formula of n(n+1)/2 we find .. Hallelujah… the entire global population constitute the membership of the Art of Living Foundation.

Which begs me to ask the question… Was Nostradmus confused between celestial bodies when he predicted about the Messiah from the East “He will have a name related to the moon” ? (Chapter15 - C.2, Q. 28)

Interesting Links
http://www.otoons.com/osho_nostradamus.html
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/nostradamus/cent2.html

PS for dummies: Ravi = Sun

Rang de Basanti

2006-02-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

Rang de Basanti

Passable

Strictly for those who have watched RdB

For all that pre-release publicity extravaganza, Rang de Basanti turned out to be just passable.

For what did RdB convey. The youth must be willing to lay down their lives for the nation. Fair enough. But no more. Except that MiGs are bad aircrafts and India’s armed forces deserve a better deal.But how did they convey that. The storyline is weak, ie. for teh effect it intends to create.

RdB does not take a stand on corruption. Nor any of the things that contribute to India being a “hopeless” state. An one off-line suggesting filling up of IAS and IPS by determined youth is only just that- an one off line. For the entire hype, one expected the medium to be the message.

The DJ gang had never suffered in life because of “all that was wrong with India” and had even bribed the cops themselves. They weren’t any different to take up the moral high ground and shoot the Defence Minister.

RdB is anti-establishment, not just anti-politicians. RdB does not offer suggestions to the youth, nor does it particularly exhort. The Bhagat Singh-Azad excuse (though admittedly, inspirational) was handy to bring in the religion equation. A narrative (though technologically brilliant) left the audience with a lot of guessing to do.

There have been better movies exhorting the youth- The Tamil flick starring Sidharth- Boys , to put in their mite for the nation – Swades . There have been better movies tackling corruption – Muthalvan (Nayak in Hindi) and Ramana (reasonable inspite of Vijayakanth) and how-can-I-forget Anniyan (Yet to be remade in Hindi) probably my favourite movie of 2005

Nevertheless, RdB is a well-made movie with all actors and actresses (I am still old worldly) putting up a good show. While the Crew got the religion equation right they missed the regional equation. A southie could have been thrown in somewhere, atleast as one of the radio callers. But of course, UTV, the producers, needed Madhavan for the movie to sell in Chennai.

For that heavy Media-budget and the mutual IOUs with NDTV and other brands, the movie was a BIG letdown
Finally, the one line that redeems the movie…

Is par bhi na khaule jo vo khoon nahi vo paani hai

jo desh ke kaam na aa saki, bekaar vo jawani hai

PS. If the media and some ppl still go gaga over .... just goes to tell you how opinions can be influenced with a big Ad budget .

Ms C

2006-02-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Ms. C. I cannot live without her. She marks the start of my day. She is the biggest feature of my afternoon. Oh! I love her. Call it puppy love, if you will but it is no infatuation to have lasted all through pre-teen, teen and now tweens. She is hot (believe me) and my folks like her so. And she really turns me on.

She is not extremely fair. She’s brown. So what ? So am I. And now, suddenly, these people ask me to give her up. Who are they anyway? My family approves of her – hey infact introduced her to me ;) – what else matters. Now, it is not particularly unanimous. My father likes her light; my mother likes her darker. I have always found her sweet (as sweet as two spoons of sugar) andmy granddad, approvingly, calls her “strong”.

“But for you, she is upto no good”, they say. But why, for God’s sake. “Because you are dependent on her.” But, I love her. “Love her by all means” but “don’t be an addict.” “What if you had to travel. She cannot be everywhere. You would be a wreck if you couldn’t find her there.”

“So what should I do ?” asked I. “Deaddict” was the advise. So I did. Today I still love her but can live a life without her. I love Ms C. Coffee.

rompQuaker

2006-01-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Aruna, a young CA student, twenty-something, (it might well be twenty-nothing) gets top marks for initiative.
A Chartered Accountancy PE 2 student, Aruna, took some advise adversely and came up with an innovative idea. Her Accountancy Professor had advised students that, in the run up to their examinations, they had better avoid cell phones as their normal use cause distraction. Fair enough. While one is desperately attempting to ‘tally’ the balance sheet, arrives the double beep. ”Roses are red, violets are blue, my friendship for you is definitely true.” The balance sheet goes out through the window.

That sparked off an idea. Aruna thought up something to make productive use of the ubiquitous mobile phone. She decided to deliver CA syllabus oriented content, everyday, through SMS. 6 subjects form the CA PE-2 (professional examination 2) examination and hence 6 messages originate from her mobile and are sent to over 170 members across Chennai.

But Aruna is quick to be modest. She says she works with the help of friends. She works with a team of 5 ‘contributors’ and 15 distributors. The Contributors formulate the content –no more that 450 characters per subject. She has about 15 ‘distributors’. These distributors receive the message from Aruna and forward it to members on their assigned distribution list.

rompQuaker , as her service is called, is about 6 months old. The service is on 7 days a week except for a scheduled suspension for the examination. This free service while, directly serving only Chennaiites is indirectly reaching all over India, claims Aruna.

Each member forwards it to as many people as he wants to and so it pans all across the close-knit CA student community. A small handheld initiative began impacting her fellow-students.

What Next ? She doesnot know. I suggest she look for a business model to generate a revenue stream. She is not interested. That’s a pity. For entrepreneurship commences where initiative concludes.

Ps. If you want to subscribe to rompQuaker's free service , message to +91 98413 88852

This blog will, at all times, celebrate initiative and entrepreneurship.

A dissertation on Comparative Analysis of patterns in Humans choosing their mate and investors’ behaviour towards stocks.

2006-01-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

A doctoral thesis

It is an uncanny similarity. Which came first ? Relationships or Investing ? There is a weird resemblance between the pattern in which man (including woman *) invests on the stock market and the pattern in which he (including she*) chooses his mate or shall we say- to be politically correct and inclusive- his significant other.

Some investors hold on to stocks because their grandfathers had bought them and had passed it down the generations. (Fair enough. Correspondingly, some men marry within the same family that their father married from. South Indian Mama or Athai’s daughter)

Some investors buy a stock and hold on to it for life. Fair enough, some marriages last a lifetime.
Some other investors invest for the long term. At an opportune moment (when the going is good), they sell-out booking long-term capital gain, now Tax-free. (alimony, did some one say…)

Some investors buy shares for the short term (less than 12 months) ! exit the investment once they see a more promising stock( booking short-term CG, tax only @ 10 %) ! (Pick up- Drop- Escape..)

Some investors are actually speculators. They Buy today sell tomorrow. They don’t even take delivery!!! (One night stand, anybody)…
And some do intra-day trading. That is, buying and selling within the day.
They even sell first and then buy!! (Oh oh !!!...

But every young man better know, that historically it is proven, that long term investments in carefully chosen equities create maximum, enduring value. Short-term gains are just that –short term and are taxed at higher rates. Constant speculation can lead to losses. Even if they don’t, the brokerage shelled out is likely to exceed the gains.

* Intrepretation to the General Clauses Act.

Sania-Kamal Affair: 1 crore involved

2006-01-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

Sania’s one crore affair with Kamal

G. Kamal Vardhana Rao is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP).Over the last 5 years SAAP has spent nearly a crore of rupees in directly supporting Sania Mirza. Today, Sania Mirza is World No. 34 vindicating SAAP’s support her. What does SAAP, a Government of Andhra Pradesh outfit get in return ? “Acknowledgement of its support by displaying SAAP’s logo on its attire”, say Kamal Vardhana Rao.

Celebrity management firm Globosport which manages Sania’s off-court career has restricted Sania’s endorsements to six, each fetching 1.5 crore rupees (per annum presumably) according to sources. Clearly, Sania no longer needs monetary support from SAAP.

Talent spotting and supporting—which is what SAAP has done to Sania amongst others—is not far from Venture Capital. Venture Capitalists spot budding entrepreneurs with visionary ideas and a burning desire to succeed. They take the risk and put their money on the idea, put their money on the entrepreneur and wait patiently sinking more money for the cause if need be. VCs do the same with many promising entrepreneurs, diversifying their risk. Eventually, one of them strikes it big and the VC makes enough money to cover for those who did not.

For every Sania Mirza that a SAAP creates there are others who did not make it so big. It is a risk that SAAP takes and it is its job to promote talent. But when Sania does strike it big should the Government department be satisfied with an acknowledgement.

Not, in my opinion. The VC does not just seek an acknowledgement. He needs a reward, a reward for risk. SAAP need not profiteer, but they can build up their coffers to support the next set of sportspersons who may do India proud. SAAP should have ideally, negotiated a percentage of her earnings; It can do it even now, if the corporate managers of Sania are magnanimous enough.

SAAP can even monetise the acknowledgement on Sania’s attire and sell it to the highest bidder, well, atleast negotiate a reasonable price for it.

G. Kamal Vardhana Rao, please wake up, it is not enough to back the right horse; One must also collect the moolah !

http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/28/stories/2005092809142100.htm

.com to .kam

2005-12-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

From .com to .kam

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=59345

After .biz .info and the second round of domain names after the ubiquitous .net .org and .com, there is a lot of momentum for a separate domain for pornography. Popular nominee (by the Western World) for this honour is the x-rated .xxx

Now is the time for India to move in. It is time for India to assert its rightful (but missing) influence in the world of the internet. India should start campaigning for .kama or (as the Hindi guys might want it) .kam It can only be a fitting contribution by the land of Kama Sutra and a fitting tribute to Vatsyayana. For too long India has had little say in the developments of the internet. It is time to rally around .kama

It would be silly, though admittedly correct, to argue that the allocation of domain would amount legalising and moralising porn. It would be sillier, again admittedly moral, to disassociate India with the development. However, inspite of reports (and protests) to the contrary, the creation of a separate domain for porn seems is only a matter of time.

Indians can take up the challenge. Use email forwarders, blogs and campaign for .kam

P.S: While we are at it we can also take up the case of .kaam for the Naukri websites
Caution: The westerners are likely to counter .kam with .cum

;)

Kaanum Kaanum Nokia

2005-11-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

Kaanum Kaanum Nokia (Missing Missing Nokia)

The New York Times
Chennai Diary
For Our correspondent presently in
Sue Robinson

The International Ecological Footprint Organisation has stated that the ban on mobile phone on campuses would lead to the destruction of 1000 acres of forestland as the ban would force students to use paper to pass comments. It has urged Anna University to reconsider the decision by roping in film stars (not Khu Bush, we are told) for the cause. In a separate news conference,a Finland based research agency has stated that it has made path-breaking discovery that use of mobile phones sharpens the brain and enhances mental capabilities. They further state that the pressure points that are activated while using the thumbs for text messaging activate multi-tasking skills. Empirical evidence supports the claim. Jose, a student of Anna University, says, “I can text message, listen MP3, play Snake and pretend to listen to the lecture, all at the same time.”

Goddess and Communal Riots

2005-11-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

The New York Times
Chennai Diary

From Our correspondent presently in Chennai

Sue Robinson

Actress Khu Bush ( no known relation to the President), a mother of two school-going kids sided with the students, later amidst tears, withdrew her remark. In a related incident in Madurai a place of worship(temple of Goddess Khushbhu , we are told) ) has been attacked. No reports of communal violence yet.

Communal Confusion

News just in that the no communal violence has taken place in Madurai. The majority and minority communities are confused as to who should be offended by the desecrations of the place of worship. Apparently while the place of worship was a temple, the deity was a Muslim by birth. However, certain Hindus have ruled that since the actress in question married a Hindu, she is a Hindu and therefore the Temple is entirely Hindu. However, the Prince of Terracotta, an expert on the Shariat and a member of the All Tamil Nadu Muslim Personal Law Board has stated that as per the Shariat the actress is still Muslim and has further stated that all Muslim places of worship are Wakf property.

The Supreme Court, in New Delhi, has confirmed that a title suit petition for the ‘place of worship’ has been admitted has been admitted. Since the debate as to which community owns the structure is yet to be settled and the religion of the deity is yet to be settled both communities have agreed to wait for the SC verdict before commencing the riots.

Amma, Attire and other stories

2005-11-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

The New York Times

Chennai Diary
For Our correspondent presently in Chennai
Sue Robinson

The hand of the moral police has now struck – the schools. Yesterday, the students of PL school, a Prestigious Public school in Chennai indulged in signature campaigns and hartal outside the schools demanding ‘freedom’ from school uniforms. Vinod, a Class XII student said, “We demand the end of the uniform rule. It is repressive, regressive and unfashionable”, he said. J added, “Young people like us must be allowed to make our own choice.”
R, a class XI student, “Insisting everyone wear similar clothes is insulting our individuality and creativity”. “It is also unequal. Middle school students get to wear short pants”

The All India Women’s Democratic Association supported the students alleging the school administration was Talibanic and claiming that the uniform rule was targeted at girls and it perpetuated the age old discrimination against women in India.

The Palit Danthers of India) have filed a Public Interest Litigation against the Department of Education. The Federation of Students in India (no relation to parties cited by the Mitrokin archives) have stated that they do not support the uniforms in school but would like the students to wear red. The KMD, the principal Opposition party, have said that the FSI suggestion would be acceptable only if the colour code was red and black, and have moved a resolution to this effect.
The AIAKMD government is planning to bring out an ordinance specifying red and black as official cloth colours but only when worn with a white belt. The textile industry has booked the Nehru stadium as the venue to felicitate the ‘Revolutionary Leader’ Chief Minister at having taken the historic decision.

The World School Students’ Conference has also expressed solidarity with the students. The representatives of Pakistan however condemned the resolution.One student in Bihar and another form Mizoram committed suicide to express his solidarity with the student community.

The Amritsar- Lahore bus

2005-10-09T03:45:00.000-07:00

Atlast, the Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to have a Lahore- Amritsar Bus service. This should have actually been the first bus service between India and Pakistan and not an afterthought after the Delhi- Lahore bus.

Believe me, the Governments of India and Pakistan have ensured that the busses between the two countries are the safest surface transport journey’s possible, well except George Bush’s convoy maybe. So, the Delhi- Lahore bus is accompanied by the 2 jeeps of local police, yeah, one in the front chasing away other road users and another at the back, right through Delhi, Haryana and Punjab journey of 8 hours. Beyond Wagah, the Paki police do the same for a mere half an hour until the destination Lahore.

The city of Amritsar is abour 30 minutes away from Wagah. An Amritsar- Lahore bus will require a lot less commitment of manpower for security purposes. Ideally, this should have been the first bus to have been launched. Everybody who wants to cross into Pakistan pools into Amritsar and board the bus. Everybody who needs to visit India (for legitimate purposes) may pool into Lahore and embark at Amritsar and head to whichever part of India they have their business/ family in. Existing Super deluxe busses between Amritsar and Delhi can take Delhi bound travellers to the capital.

The GoI will save a packet on security costs. Did I mention an anti-hijack commando sits inside the bus with a loaded automatic? The poor guy can do more runs Amritsar- Wagah in a day than Delhi- Wagah.

Intelligent Sardars of India

2005-09-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Recent tabling of the ‘Action Taken Report’ on the Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 Sikh riots sparked off a number of questions.

An infant, when the late PM was killed and the riots happened, a synopsis of what happened, as I gather is this:

1984 and thereabouts.

Sikh ‘Nationalist’ Terrorism on the rise. Militants take refuge in the Golden Temple.
Iron Lady orders Operation Bluestar. Sikhs aghast at desecration of their shrine.
Certain Sikh quarters seek revenge. Brainwash Sikh bodyguards of Mrs Gandhi into killing her.
Congress goons use opportunity to loot, kill and inhumanly torture Sikh families in Delhi. Largely believed (also eye-witnessed people claim) G gamily sycophants including Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler have personally orchestrated some of the killings.

1985
Air India aircraft Kanishka bombed by Sikh militants.

2005

Jagdish Tytler is Cabinet Minister. Manmohan Singh is Prime Minister. ATR tabled. Sikh demonstrators ask for trial of Tytler, political parties are more considerate –they seek his resignation. Reluctant Tytler resigns protesting.

The BIG Question.

The segment of Sikh ‘nationalist’ terrorists had enough resources to create havoc in Punjab in the 1980s, ensure the assassination of a Primer Minister, could heartlessly bomb an aircraft of innocent passengers* …

And yet… could not ensure that Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and their cronies learnt a lesson ???

Now, that may explain why Sardars are Sardars are...what ppl say they are

*This blogger happened to know people onboard Kaniskha.

A case for Reservation ?

2005-09-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

It was recess at the B-school and Ram was muttering, “unfair” when Betty caught him. “What’s unfair ?”. “The whole bloody system” said Ram not particularly to Betty and then looked up and Betty saw the agitation in his eyes inspite of his Ram.

“It’s about my brother, Betty. He aspires to become a doctor and had given his Entrance exams. You know he was ranked 200th in the state… “Wow!” exclaimed Betty”, Ram continued as though Betty had not spoken “… and yet he cannot obtain a seat in any medical college in the country.” “Why is that, Ram”, asked Betty. “It is that silly stupid system of reservations. It is so unfair”, said Ram. “Is there no way out” asked Malli (because she grew a jasmine garden on her head) as she and Bhooka (because he always looked starved) joined them at the table. Malli, who had known Ram’s family from childhood, had known about Ram’s brother. Ram’s parents were both doctors and had their own ‘family clinic’ in their hometown. They had hoped that their sons would inherit and continue their practice. But Ram had never displayed any inclination towards medicine but his brother had been sufficiently inspired by his parents to have made it his mission.

“There are many ways out” replied a disgusted Ram “if you have forty lakh rupees”. “My brother scored 98 %, you know, and yet… ” And “idiots who scored less than that get a seat in a medical college because they belong to the right caste”. The rest of the gang had now assembled around Ram. “It is ok, Ram. Your brother is better than most of ‘them’. And we cannot do anything about the system. It is all politics, you know. If it were not for the politics and the politicians, many young men and women would have had entirely different careers.”

Poker (because he was always particular about being politically correct) spoke up, “Ram, we know how your family’s passionate aspirations for your brother’s career. My sympathies. That said, however, Betty you shouldn’t badmouth the system.”

“Are you trying to justify the reservation policy?” asked Malli who could always smell an argument 20 minutes away. “Surely, you don’t think that Reservations in educational institutions are a fair game”, added Bhooka.

“It might not be a perfectly fair system but it is about as close as we have got”, began Poker. “The system of Reservation is meant to aid the students from the downtrodden society. To give them a chance at achieving their potential”.
“Downtrodden hmph! I personally know many people belonging to the so-called ‘backward communities’. They are not exactly longing for the basic necessities” said Betty. “Many are downright wealthy”, concluded Ram

Betty started, “Aiding the downtrodden is fine, Poker but have you ever heard of level-playing field”, aligning her hands and moving them for effect. “The right to equality”, added Malli. “Yeah!” thumped Ram.

Poker, clearly alone, defended, “The right to equality should not be interpreted strictly. It refers to the right to equal opportunities. Ram, if you were to own a car, can I force you to share that with me citing Right to equality. You see, persons from ‘Forward communities’ have certain natural advantages. They come from families which can afford food, clothing, shelter and education. More importantly, theses families value and know the importance of education. In all probability, they are educated families-either conventional school or alternative religious education. Children growing up under these circumstances have a definitive edge over children whose illiterate parents scrap home a living.”

“Ok Ok, Poker ! But you must have seen the parents of SC/ST students during the counselling. They seemed rather well off. That’s abusing the system ” argued Ram.

“If there were persons from backward communities well off, it is most likely that they have been beneficiaries of Reservation.” proclaimed Thalivar announcing his arrival at the table. “The people most of us come in contact with are urban professionals. We live in cities with cosmopolitan lifestyles. The parents that you talked about are beneficiaries of the urban industrialisation or those whose families have benefited from Reservations some time ago.”

“We must understand the historical need for reservation” continued Thalivar. “Around the time of independence, when BR Ambedkar mooted the idea of reservations, they wealthy, the educated and the influential were invariably from the classes which are now sadly clubbed as ‘other castes’. Serious incentives were required to uplift the poorer classes”

“But did not Ambedkar himself seek to end Reservations within 10-20 years” interrupted Poker, relieved that Thalivar could actually be supporting him (but with Thalivar you never knew). “Yes, that’s right. The early idea was to empower a generation of poorer classes and achieving ripple effects” replied Thalivar.

Malli stood up, “If you want to educate the backward castes, give free compulsory education, and if they are brainy enough then they probably will earn high grades necessary to earn them seats in medical and engineering colleges. This business of reserving seats is cruel to others. It is similar to allowing certain athletes a handicap of 75 metres in a 400 m race.”

Poker too stood up, raising his voice, “Malli, you are selfish. It is like insisting that all athletes begin at the Start line when you know that some of the competitors are on crutches” Bhooka calmed them “Cool it, you two!”

Thalivar spoke as though nothing had ever happened, “While that was the historical idea, today, one finds that many students from the backward classes who use the reservation are from better backgrounds and those who actually do not need them.” “Then shouldn’t there be a mechanism by which the sops are restricted to one generation?” asked Bhooka.

“Sadly, there are no such legislative mechanisms. We can only hope such families voluntarily give up the benefits of reservation so that students-in-need from the poorer classes can benefit”, said Thalivar.

“But Thalivar, there are a lots of people amongst the so called Forward castes who live below the poverty line. My domestic help is a case in point. What do they do? They have been designated ‘Forward’ by the government by they are in no way ‘forward’.” spoke Poker.

“Arrey yaar ! You are hitting a same side goal”, laughed Ram. “ Ah.. Well..I did not claim that the system was perfect. I only urged you to stop blaming the system because of one personal adverse experience”, clarified Poker.

“It is far from perfect” said Malli. “It is rather easy to get a fake certificate about their caste and people do it without much guilt. Can’t really blame them, can you?”

Betty spoke, “That’s it! The system is not perfect. It would have been perfect if the reservation is based on income criteria. Castes have never been relevant, have they?”

Ram flared up, “Do you think that a system that encourages mediocrity over meritocracy is perfect. Betty. Can you think of what will happen when students who get in to engineering, not because they are capable but because of their caste or their parents’ low income, graduate and build bridges and buildings. They would probably collapse within 5 years. And about such doctors.. I shudder to even think”

Thalivar started, “Well, the system, admittedly, is not perfect. Nor can it possibly be. India is too vast and too complex for anything to be perfect. Caste lobbies lobby with politicians to recognise their caste as ‘backward’ and politicians being what they are oblige for the sake of a few hundred votes. Then the issue of the neglected ‘forward caste’ candidates who are economically poor. Certain state reserve 69 % of the seats. Now, what kind of an absurd number is that? The system as originally introduced was probably the best possible at that point of time.”

“How is that?” interrupted Betty. “Isn’t economical criteria a more logical and social justice worthy?”

Thalivar answered, “Back then around Independence, India was not as cosmopolitan as you and I see it today. The citizens could be, and also wanted to, classified into castes. People of the same caste generally indulged in similar professions and ended up having similar incomes and similar lifestyles and values. Not that there weren’t any anomalies. A crude comparison would probably be the business segments that are reported in a company’s Balance Sheet. While a given operation can be classified either in its geographical segment or business segment the dominating one is chosen as primary classification. Similarly, if people could be classified into castes and economic status, it was only right that they were classified into castes as it invariably determined their social status. For each person community life revolved around his or her caste. It was so by social consent.”

“Betty, economic standing of families is not everything. The home atmosphere, the values one learns, the competitive edge from having educated parents cannot be disregarded. But today, I agree, circumstances have changed. The system needs a lot of tweaking, over-hauling and fine-tuning, but probably there is no real radical workable alternative.”

Beep Beep. That was Ram’s mobile. He read, “Government recognises new medical college with 500 seats. Chotu will get through after all.”

“Hurray ! that was a happy ending to an enlightening conversation.

Cricket Rules !

2005-08-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

For Context refer link to http://www.blonnet.com/mentor/2005/06/20/stories/2005062000171000.htm

The staff at the Coffee Pub on GN Chetty Road were busy, Thalai
(because he was the Pub-head) was twirling the sign to “Closed”. Thalai shouted at Anna , “Were you hearing what I was hearing ?”. Anna replied. “Yes, with so much interest that I knocked over a cuppa and am now cleaning it. I think China has always been radical but this time he went too far.” Malli (because she always wore Jasmine flowers in her hair) the Pizza dept. girl declared “Of course not. China was right as usual. Have you not observed the number of people who sit in front of the TV sets for hours together?”
”Malli, Lets speak objectively. The crowds that visit our Pub for Giant screen on match days bring in the footfalls to meet our monthly target. Moreover, we all know how you feel about China” said Anna with a wink. China, because he would finish his drinks too fast for Anna to serve, was not Anna’s favourite customer. “That’s what you think, Anna” said Thalai, who knew that the Regional Manager was worried that the “footfalls were not translating into revenue”. “There are people who buy a cuppa for thirty rupees and stay on for the duration of the match in airconditioned thirty rupees per sq feet per month zone. And the RM won’t allow eviction of the customers.”
“Hey!” said Ice (because her name was Aishwarya, silly) of Pasta dept., “but you don’t dispute the loss of productivity. Did you hear what he said about Calcutta?” “Does Calcutta need a reason to stop working” joined Dada (called so because Ganguly was the only cricketer the Bengali had ever cared about).”We Kolkatans – uttered twang perfect – are possionate about cricket, football, Jyoti Basu and celebrations” said Dada proudly. “You know the entire street near my home in Kolkata celebrated Sourab dada’s 56 against Glamorgan last week.

“China confused issues though” resumed Thalai, not feeling like joining the Sourab celebration club much less resume the Saurav or not debate. If cricket is diverting scarce resources away, what about F1. Formula One causes barrels of oil to go up in smoke if not an unlucky car and its driver. And it isn’t even fair competition. If the world wants to know who is a better driver, give them all the same cars and then decide. One guy drives a better car and gets to win all the time.” Anna joined issue, “Thalai, did you know the amount of scientific and technological improvements the F1 rivalry is kindling. Today’s F1 cars may be on city roads tomorrow.”

“All I care is that an Indian has made it to the elite circuit and that’s drawn more people to ask for ESPN at our pub” spoke Ice for the first time, who evidently did not think much opinion about sports. “Ah! That’s a conspiracy by the Formula managers and MNC to get India onto the F1 net” said Dada , who came up with ingenious conspiracy theories. He continued, “ It is like the ‘Miss World, Miss Universe contests conspiracy’ that MNC cosmetic companies fixed to capture the Indian market.”

This time Thalai felt the urge to respond to Dada, who had begun doing the dishes. “But it works both ways Dada. The Tata group, Bharat Petroleum, Amara Raja batteries – all Indian companies with global ambitions – have hitched onto the Narain Karthikeyan bandwagon. Surely India too will gain from this.”

“Hey! We are digressing..” interrupted Anna. Thalai continued, “ The Indian Cricket team not performing well shouldn’t be linked to productivity or economics. It is sad that BCCI is the sole authority of cricket in India but there is nothing one can do about it” rather resignedly.

Dada added ,delighted, “Wicked rich Monopolist or not Calcutta is the de facto capital of World cricket and Jogmohan Dolmiya its Captain. Do you know that he pulled every favour possible to make Kolkata the ICC headquarters but the government apparently declined to give tax breaks. I wonder if tax breaks are so important. Must ask Wafers madam. She will know. She studies taxation and all.”
“She may even ask her Prof and let me know. I have heard her speak high of him”, added Ice while taking an inventory of the milk powder.

“Please continue Thalai. Why do you say that China is mixing issues?” requested Anna. Thalai resumed, “If performance on the World scale is the criterion, even hockey does not deserve to be the national game; Kabaddi is probably apt (if not Gilli Dhanda)

Malli- who was fiddling with a magazine- finally outgrowing the embarrassment of Anna’s comments, began, “It might be that cricket is not a worldwide game and the Indian team not a world-beating side but to ban the game… is no way to respond… An analogy could be what Wafers madam was telling Muscles about Raju who gave up his CA course after being eligible for the Final examination because he thought that he might not secure a rank. It is like throwing it all away. Cricket, in India, is the natural sport for kids and adults. It is a natural conversation –starter and a natural entertainer. India must play up to its advantage, not abandon the natural game.

“I once read that the caste-conscious India preferred a non-contact sport to contact ones and cricket ,naturally, served that brahmincal requirement” added Ice.
“You are right, Moulli” agreed Dada. “China portrayed a rother pessimistic picture. The Indian subcontinent powers the game’s cash flow and India alone accounts for 70% of all cricket related cash flow. What the BCCI should do is to market the game to other countries. It should be done in such a way that foreign masses should be able to understand the game, you know, the way our customers understand F1 or NBA basketball or the way they track and take sides on the English premier League.

“Why do we presume that Indians are cricket crazy” began Ice. “My home is very close to the Chepauk stadium and the Ranji Trophy final match happening there is into the fourth day and there are only a handful of spectators.”

“That is True”, said Anna. “Domestic cricket is perceived to be dull and boring. Why cannot cricket replicate the Premier Hockey League Model, a la NBA in America. Have regional teams- alright we already have them- add foreign coaches to each team and allow two foreign players – al a English County, rope in models- a la Mandira Bedi- to ‘cheer lead’ during the innings break, make a few changes in the ‘Laws of Cricket’ to allow quicker and more tactical games and then market the Indianised game to the world. I am sure that such innovation will bring in money from all over the world simultaneously livening up domestic cricket.

Thalai who was listening to the discussion while totalling up the cash, spoke, “Actually Anna something called Twenty20 is happening. It is an attempt to make cricket quicker and more exciting. Pity is BCCI has not taken the lead.”

“Of course, my league system presupposes that BCCI or any other Apex body will not Control cricket but only facilitate it by acting as a regulator” said Anna. “Companies or celebrity HNIs should ‘own’ the teams. If the teams are region-based then inherent parochialism amongst Indians will lend the required support” casting a quick glance at Dada who had just finished with the dishes.

Ice asked innocently, What‘s an HNI ? Anna replied shaking his head, “High Networth Individual, stupid! One should think that you had never waited on investment bankers”

Thalai got up taking the bunch of keys and proceeding to switch off the lights. “Let’s hope a Kerry Packer comes up in India to turn cricket on its head.” As an after thought he added, “May the system let it work”.

Airports, Seaports, Road , Power and Paisa

2005-08-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Funding Infrastructure growth in India

“India requires Rupees 2,00,000 crores of Investment in Infrastructure”, proclaims Businessworld to “grow its GDP at 11%” and further asks “where will all this money come from ?”

Infrastructure Funding Idea No.1

Tap the Pension bill.

I am not talking about the holy cow of pension Funds. The Government of India has decided to dispense with the perquisite of paying pension to its superannuated (in common parlance “retired”) employees who have joined Government service since 2004. To repeat myself, it means that those appointed in government service after 2004 will not be eligible for pension when they retire. Back of envelope calculations at an average age of 28 per recruit and 58 as the superannuating age reveal a lead time of 30 years.

Circa 2035, the Government of India is likely to begin saving on its pension costs. Can we monetise that saving Now ???

If the Government can float bonds of duration in excess of 30 years planning for its repayment out of the savings of Pension-not-required-to-be-paid, we can effectively monetise such savings right away into the Infrastructure sector.

Most infrastructure projects have payback periods at about 30 years or less while even large infrastructure projects can be completed within 30 years (excluding the National River-interlinking project). Moreover, the beneficial effects of the massive Infrastrucure spend is likely to result in manifold increase in tax revenue which will also prove useful in servicing/paying off the bonds.

Do you have any such Funding idea ??

2005-07-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

Boring Water and Irritated Farmers – A Repetitive saga

Once again the farmers of Kerala are up in arms against the cola company (Now, I forgot which one it was) for sucking away the ground water away form their farms. Is there a solution. Me, the armchair expert believes so.

All cola companies and mineral water companies must be (legislatively) forced to ‘manufacture’ water from desalination units. All non-coastal plants should be shut down or moved to coastal areas. The impact of such a proposal would probably be –

Sea water is in abundance, a few million litres should not really affect he local ecosystem.
Farmlands can ,now, resume farming with ground water as in the good old days (admittedly , it might take a few good showers to bring back the water table, but surely NGos can build water bunds etc.)

Why Companies will complain ??
Because –
Desalination is an expensive process.
The conditions was not part of the FDI agreement blah blah
Capital Costs of setting up the plant is not negligible.

Why the Government must persist ?
Most Cola companies in India are multinationals having relatively easy access to capital and technology.
Costs of setting up desalination plants will remain high as long as industry donot adopt them. Once the cola companies do build up the plants technology transfer will happen, Desal manpower will become available. Desal technology will surely become cheaper in India.
Then, the local municipality can move in and coastal drinking –water starved cities like Chennai probably have their own low cost Desal plants.

Do I want the MNCs to indirectly subsidies Municipalities? ?
Yeah ! That’s what I want. If cost estimates of cola manufacture are half as true as they claim to be it would not cost three rupees to produce one litre of cola. At the same time the cost estimates for producing a litre of water from desal plants while expensive for piped home supply may be comparable, well if not comparable, atleast bearable by cola companies and their wealthy consumers.

Why this proposal may not work ??
1. Lotsa laws need to changed for this. Half-baked guesses by an expert (that’s me !) include Coastal Regulation rules amongst several legislation. And considering the way the Parliament works, it may take such a long time that the ‘affected parties’ may lobby successfully against it.
2. Cola and mineral water may become dearer in hinterland areas while they may cheaper around the peninsula – Law and duties may need to be refixed to ensure parity.
3. Admittedly, Mineral water companies may not have as deep pockets as the Cola companies; they may be granted a few years time to move to the coast.
4. The author of this piece is an armchair expert who has not indulged even in the barest of back-of-the-envelope computations.