Hakuna Matata!

Beyond the shame of Kotla and Eden Gardens.

2009-12-31T07:33:00.003+05:30

Home to the Best team in Test Cricket, at least for now – thanks to the Brits who pulled off a spectacular win over the Proteas yesterday.

The world’s wealthiest cricket administration body, with speculations rife about it planning to relocate the ICC headquarters to Mumbai, to suit it’s to be anointed big boss!

Home of the biggest money spinner in the game so far – the IPL – whose riches even makes the once rested cricketers to pick up their craft and has perhaps ushered in an era of players choosing between turning ‘Pros’, over wearing the national colors.

Home to some of the most decorated athletes in the game – be it a Sachin, Sunny, Kapil, Kumble, Viru or an MSD.

Most important, the craziest of fans and an even bigger TV audience, whose market size and commercial implications can outbid any number of countries put together.

Think of the flip side.

Have you ever watched a match in any of our cricket stadiums recently? Compare the viewing experience in any of our stadia to that of a beautiful Capetown or a majestic MCG or the picturesque Queenstown or the pristine Lords. Agreed, the atmosphere is definitely electric in front of a packed Eden Gardens or the knowledgeable crowd of Chepauk or the equally remarkable Brabourne stadium in our country. But, they are poles apart in game experience.

In this modern era, where a sport is also offered as an entertainment, the experience that is offered to the fans, as an end consumer, is what matters the most. Take the case of a Boxing Day test match at MCG or the great American pastime in Fenway Park or the Yankee Stadium or a ball game at Madison Square Garden – there is much more to the game and it is the magical evening experience that you pay for!

Many of our cricket stadia are nothing but concrete jungles with barbed wires separating the viewing public from the playing eleven. Almost all the stadia – including the big ones like Chepauk and Eden Gardens lack basic amenities, like clean restrooms, hygienic food and emergency safety exits. Given the security climate we are in, you are left to the mercy of the pathetic hawkers, who sell water packets and few unhealthy savouries, amidst the din created by a maddening crowd. Leave alone the fact that, it is a nightmare to even think of finding your car and your way back home through the traffic maze post a cricket match.

Coming back to the facts. Why is it so difficult for the cricket administrators of this filthy rich franchise – whose books are blessed non-accessible for any accounting norms in this country – to provide these basic sporting facilities, if not be the pioneers in game innovation?

As consumers, aren’t we entitled for any of these? But, just like anything else in this country, who cares? As proclaimed by the IPL boss himself last year, a big chunk of the revenue comes from the TV advertisement slots and who cares much about the poor sloths who venture into our stadia to watch the games?

Reason, the so called cricket boards are manned by the same corrupt politicians who rule this country. Many of them are so inept to even to tell the difference between deliveries bowled around the wicket to over the wicket. Not that you need to be an exceptional athlete in your sport to administer the affiliate – a very successful Bernie Ecclestone or a David Stern merit this argument.

BCCI has grown from couple of millions of revenue a decade ago to close to 200+ million now. Where does all this money go and what interest the politicians might have on the game, other than the luscious greenback that shrouds the game. As we saw the day before, the DDCA meeting convened to discuss the pitch fiasco was nothing more than a fist fight we see in our parliament.

What puzzles me more is this? Leave alone the hapless cricket fans of this country, who could only vent out their anger by pulling down banners and destroying the chairs in the stadium, what happened to some of the most decorated cricketers of this country?

What makes them keep mum on this sorry state of affairs of their very own breadwinner? Other than the recent Sehwag spat against the Delhi selectors, an unsuccessful rebel league from Kapil Dev and few occasional utterances from Gavaskar, none of them seem to care much. Why is it so? Who is so Big – the game, the players or the administrators? Why is it not right to question your bosses?

Unfortunately, in a country of our size with such divergence of opinion and with no dearth of issues every day, our memory is so fickle and we learn to move on. Soon, it would be ‘What happened in Delhi?’ It is this amnesia that energizes our politicians.

Silly Nationalism

2009-10-18T19:06:00.000+05:30

So, here is the story of another Indian (by birth) winning a world acclaim and the media and a section of the Indian masses trying to latch on to any iota of 'Indianess' that might exist in Venki Ramakrishnan, to be part of that hard-earned accomplishment of the noble prize winner. Are we in such a drought of an Indian exploit, which makes us cling on to any Indianess in individual achievers across the globe?

Other than the scientific fraternity, who has had the privilege to work with the professor, how many on earth would have really known this individual till the day he won this accolade? Even by the scientist’s own claim, he had visited India very few times in the last 3 decades and that is how much amount of Indianess left in him, after having relocated to the lands of opportunity in pursuit of his dream.

May be as an individual who knows the professor or who has been associated with him or his work in some way, I would celebrate his success. How can the country take credit and be part of the success?

As the scientist himself has said it many times, let us not judge accomplishments by mere awards, for there are hundreds of other scientists who toil under the limited infrastructure at our disposal in our country and who every day wrack their brains to fight the bureaucratic and political tangles within our scientific establishments.

Given that, let us celebrate the individual's Nobel on the merits of his accomplishment as a member of the scientific fraternity and not as an 'Indian'. May be India provided the genes or the few fortunate teachers sowed the seeds of wisdom on Venki Ramakrishnan in his early school days. But, we lost that and continue to lose that privilege with the brain drain of so many individuals who migrated to greener pastures – more rightly so.

For a nation of more than a billion, there is no dearth of silly controversies and I cannot but admire the scientist’s response on nationalistic jingoism - one of the Best I have read to reinforce simple common sense!

What ...?

2009-10-12T20:46:00.002+05:30

This has been the reaction of majority of the people across the globe on hearing about Obama winning the Nobel Peace prize. First time when this news item popped-out in Google, I thought it is the bookies at play and it took me a while to realize what I am reading is in fact true.

Obama himself had to play it down, equating it to a prank played by his daughters. Just few days back his celebrity status was put to reality by the first round elimination of his hometown Chicago for the 2016 Olympics race and now he has to accept, rather embarrassingly, this global celebrity status.

So, what would have made the prize award committee to this decision? Sometimes we do attribute people, for who they are not than who they really are. Perhaps the ghosts of George Bush is still helping Obama, in the fact that the world feels so relieved and celebrating the absence of a Bush and his hawkish coterie to decide the fate of the world!

The conservatives within the US could see this as a conspiracy by the Europeans to weaken the American strategy on the ongoing war and the possible toughening of stand against Iran. Is this prize going to take the commander of the American force more on the path of dialogue than blazing missiles?

Has this landed Mr. Obama with yet another monkey on his back, to engage the world in dialogue than missiles?

What effect this would have on the individual, who is also the supreme commander of a force that is engaged in at least 2 full-blown wars, which are in no sight of end in the foreseeable future. Especially at a time when he is in the midst of a serious deliberation to increase the head count in Afghanistan by nearly 40,000 additional men.

Then there is Iran, the Pak-Afghan border that is increasingly becoming the nerve center of global terror, the missile-shield tussle with the Russians - that seems to have simmered down a bit for now, the ever boiling Netanyahu and a world that is ever turning hostile on nuclear armaments.

Though Obama inherited this foreign policy mess, as an American, the same pair of hands that is going to receive this Peace prize, is not without any stains of blood.

It sure is quite intriguing that the Nobel committee that could not find a merit to award the peace prize to Mahatma Gandhi on 5 different occasions when he was nominated, found a compelling case for Obama, when he hardly had been in the office for two weeks, since his nomination!

There are human rights activists, all across the globe, fighting their life out for causes so close to their heart, while a simple reach out to the Muslim community and much other mere rhetoric by Obama, appears to have convinced the prize committee.

Oh, does this world make sense to anyone?

Anyway, Mr. Obama, for whatever you have done or not done, Good Luck and Yes, you can!

C'mon, cut the ...

2009-08-16T13:28:00.002+05:30

You could not ask for a better juicy spice to add to the headlines on an Independence Day, other than to talk about your civil liberties and freedom being compromised over the incident of how our own SRK was detained and questioned upon his entry into the United States.

What is wrong?

The point is not about the paranoia that has gripped the US since the aftermath of 9/11 and just having a last name that is synonymous with a specific religion drives them to into this extra mode of caution. Perhaps, as it does on some cases, the xenophobia potentially could drive few people go over-board. That is a different issue, altogether.

The point is not that SRK was questioned for 2 hours; our concern was more that he was questioned just like any other normal citizens and treated un-fairly!

It is high time we get over this regal shame of giving this VIP treatment to individuals, even in areas that matter the most, like Security. If the US reserves the right of a harsh preferential treatment on the basis of a last name, so do we. We have an institutionalized preferential treatment based on societal standing that goes too soft on few people. This is going to cause us more damage than we could ever understand.

Seldom we, Indians, like to be frisked or even stopped at the gate by the duty bound security guards. At work places, I have seen the frown on the faces of people walking or driving past the security gate, when the security guard asks them to display their id cards.

Why? Because of the simple indifferent attitude that ‘Who is he to question or stop me?’ But, we do want the Best of protection and security and always look at it as the other people's responsibility. It’s not me; it’s him! Hello! The other fellow is just doing his job and how on earth is he going to know that Your Majesty is above the law - though none of us is not – and you should not be touched?

What puts me off at airports or the work place is not I being checked, but the lackadaisical way in which it is being done, under the guise of preferential treatment to the elite few. I have seen many instances at work places where, just to keep the visiting white skinned babu happy, our people taking the short cuts of skipping or rushing the mandatory security checks on the individual and his physical belongings like the laptop, which he carries.

Added to the SRK incident is the comedy of one of the minister’s comment – “we should do tit for tat”. Please do. Not doing that is the issue and don't spare anyone. There will be tons of people who would be more than happy to be strip-searched, if that can only give them the comfort feeling of being secure.

Who are we to decide who is an icon and who is not? In the absence of it, let us all be equally treated as law abiding citizens.

Treat no one as a ‘Global Icon’ and get over the colonial hangover of being sycophantic.

Swine Contd.

2009-08-15T10:19:00.000+05:30

When I was trying to explain the swine flu basics to my 6 year old son, he immediately asked, ‘Pa, I thought only the big bad wolf is bad and the 3 little pigs are good?’ Yes, may be that could be the reason why we call this as a Swine Flu and not a Pig flu – to spare the poor 3 little pigs!

Though the media appears to have moved away from the swine flue scare and other issues have started appearing in the headlines over the last few days, but the effects of paranoia is still a scare. Fortunately, the good thing I am observing in the media’s stance over the past few days, is one of education and awareness along with the deathometer, they track every minute. But, credit sure goes to them for some of the most informative discussions with people from the medical fraternity from across the globe.

That, I think, is the fundamental issue in the way this crisis was managed by the civic administration. One of the parodies of this information age is our disability to sift out the right information – perhaps the semantic web would fix that. While googling, gives me every bit of information, it does not help me in deciding what is right for me. Perhaps you would soon see information about swine flu awareness appear first in the page rank than the horror stories of the epidemic.

Creating the right public awareness was the most missed-out portion in managing this crisis. The moment, this pandemic showed its color, the government or even any socially inclined pharmaceutical corporate could have launched

a) Full-page advertisement to educate the masses on the basic hygiene steps to be followed

b) Distribute pamphlets to the masses

c) Use the government owned TV channels to communicate, rather than showing the pathetic state of the people queuing up at the despicably few testing centers at our disposal

Sounds too common-sensical?

Swine Panic

2009-08-13T07:41:00.002+05:30

Thanks to the 24×7 vigil and panic show orchestrated by the media, H1N1 is the talk of the town. The whole nation, at least in the metros, is running helter-skelter hunting for a place to take cover from this deadly virus.

Though the government – under the disguise of the feel-good statistics comparing the fatalities of ours to the developed nations – is taking credit for the job done or not done so far, god forbid, think for a moment the reality of our health infrastructure, if at all there is one, if this pandemic is to hit us with little more vigor. I was reminded of the movie Outbreak, where the administration decides to annihilate an entire town, while Dustin Hoffman goes is in hunt of the host. Unlike the Bird Flu, where millions of the poor birds were culled, we cannot cull the humans here when it is proven that the original carrier of this deadly virus, the swine is not the cause now!

For a nation of more than a billion, centers equipped to test this deadly virus is few little, and even there, it is the pitiful state of limited workforce working overtime. Think about their motivation levels! For a city of the size of Chennai, there are just two centers, which can test this virus, and not surprisingly one ran out of the testing kits within hours, on the first day. The government prescribed hospitals is places I pray to God, not visit in my lifetime, or wish even for my worst foes, given the sorry state in which they are.

It is a pitiable site to see patients who are already suffering the viral attack, standing in long beelines. Leave alone availability of proper testing kits, there is no one to offer the commonsensical shelter or a place to sit for those patients waiting in the line. Keeps me wonder what does our civic administration really do?

As we put forth our claim to be on the map of the developed nations and vie for our rightful place among the global leaders or a UNSC seat, it is these calamities that either put us in the right perspective or showcase our ability or inability to manage a catastrophe of this magnitude and scale.

Thank heavens; this epidemic has not spread its wings across our poor villages, which invariably happen to be the chosen one to bear the brunt of any unfortunate calamity, be it drought or floods.

Though it was heartening to know that 3 of our own testing centers are spearheading the global effort to create a vaccine for the H1N1, it might either be too late before the crisis worsens or the deadly virus might have mutated into a more potent form.

N95 was the most searched item in Google by the Indians and when I heard it first, I thought it was one of the recent Nokia mobile phone. This again is a product from one of the most innovative firms in the globe – 3M. Why isn’t there a simple testing kit available for our own citizens? Where are the Indian players and the private enterprise, other than the few pharmaceutical companies? Why don’t we have an Indian version of the mask or Purel to suit the wallets of the Indian consumers?

Are the Indian corporate giants like Reliance, Tata, Birlas, Bharti or L&T driven only by market based economics and focus on myopic business viability in their ventures? How many firms that art part of the Sensex or Nifty could contribute to this nation in a moment of crisis like this? That would be a huge moment of truth for the government to contemplate in their policy decisions, especially at a time when the sit on the table on talks to bailout the sick airlines.

Paying your taxes alone does not exempt you from national duties. It would be interesting to constitute an index based on contribution to nation building and the difference the business enterprises bring to human lives.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram

2009-08-04T19:09:00.007+05:30

Thanks to my recent allure to my camera, recently, I did happen to visit this ancient, but spectacular temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram. I have been to Thanjavur many times, but seldom did I care to visit this historical site, which I have read about a lot in my school history lessons.

Just a couple of hours drive from Thiruvaiyaru on the way to Chidambaram, right on the highway, you have Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Today, this historical place is nothing but a small hamlet by the roadside. Except for the majestic temple, you get to see few petty shops and tiny houses spread across the village.

Thanks to the UNESCO and the Archaeological Survey of India, this temple is now one of the protected heritage sites. The temple premises are so darn tidy with lush green lawns sprawling across the few acres.

Other than the historical significance, somehow the deity has not caught the religious fervor of our folks and no wonder there was hardly any crowd to be seen inside the temple. The day I went, the priest came running towards us, for not to lose the rare visitors and the change that he gets after performing the aarti.Though the main vimanam, looks similar to the Big Temple in Tanjore, it does lack the majesty of the Big Temple and so does the sandstone nandhi. Could not believe my eyes, that all these figurines have survived the travails of over 1000 years!

More difficult would be to survive from the hands of our fellow Indians. Typical of any of our historical sites, many of these sculptures carry the insipid scribbling of the visitors and their names.

If you were to believe that, this place once was the magnificent capital city of the great Chola emperors, right from Rajendra Chola and followed by the Kulothunga Chola, it is extremely painful to believe, looking at the sad state of this town.

Other than the petty shop that sells candies and thirst quenchers, there is hardly any humanity. For the curious buff, I did find a tiny book in the petty shop, narrating the history of this once illustrious kingdom.

Where did we lose sight of our history and heritage? I kept wondering, what would it take for us to attract the crowd towards us and relive our grand past, similar to how the visitors throng the sites of once Roman and Greek might?

Do visit Gangaikonda Cholapuram if you happen to be near its vicinity. You sure will walk down the memory lanes and relive some of the history lessons of your school days.

So far away ...

2009-05-30T08:19:00.005+05:30

Couple of days back we marked the event of six months, since the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai and not surprisingly, the TV media paraded its darlings, Suhel Seth, Shobe De et al, to rant out their frustration against the fact that nothing really has changed on the ground since then. Yes, definitely so.

Caught between the claim to uphold our constitutional rights and our inept judicial system, we have a case that is still being waged against Kasab, when the evidence clearly shows beyond doubt, how he walked around the city spewing bullets. There was also the news on how one samajwadi party MP reportedly has put the brakes on the government from purchasing modern weapons for the Mumbai police. NSG hub in Mumbai and other metros is still far away from reality.

So, all the elite could do, similar to post 26/11, is to vent out their anger on prime-time television, which they are extremely good at. Leave alone the fact that, majority of the Mumbaikars preferred to give the elections a miss and the turnout was pathetic compared to the rest of the country.

That is how much the urban folks care about the polity of this nation and no wonder the Congress was able to sweep the Mumbai constituencies, even as the city is being dealt with one of the most insipid administration, either during the terror strike or the deluge that happens every monsoon.

Do the politicians really care about urban voices? Or, is it the other way around? Do we really care about ourselves, beyond the yells and shout.

Call it the very sorry state of our democracy, we are no way close to reforming the political main stream, which has gotten rot over years of mis-rule by netas of various parties and the dust and slime covering the pillars of our parliament would require a great deal of work to rescue it from the ruins of sheer negligence and corrupt policies of various governments over the years.

Majority of the electorate still do not watch these prime-time talk shows and for them, the few rupees thrown out by a Mulayam or an Azhagiri, or a promise from a Karunananidhi or a YSR, appeals more than even the fundamental bijili, sadak, paani. They are the preferred choice of electorate and the ones who still get to decide whom to send to the parliament, not the urban middle-class from the metros.

Not that the voters of the metros are cared less, but what is cared even more is to sustain and strengthen that ignorance of the huge section of our society, that is yet to reap the benefits of the economic boom, by dividing them on regional and caste lines.

Last election saw few interesting faces in the form of Mallika Sarabhai from Gandinagar, Capt. Gopinath from Bangalore, Meera Sanyal from Mumabi, throwing their strength in the political ring, which so far has been chastised as a show of the unruly, corrupt and irresponsible politicians of this country.

Not surprisingly, all of them failed miserably, except for the few shrewd alignments like Sashi Tharoor, who joined the fray as a Congress representative.

What could have really made a difference in the past six months is for the Mumbaikars to come out in one voice to vote. Given the nightmare they continue to endure in the city, in spite of being the largest taxpayers, they should have given a record turnout that stunned the politicians. That never happened.

It is one thing to sit outside and cry out loud. You cannot clean up a system, unless you are part of it. The more we distance ourselves from the mess, the more it gets rot. It is like the typical urban attitude, when we litter our roads with trash, thinking it is someone else’s responsibility to clean it up. No wonder our roads stink and so does our political system.

As debated on the prime-time television, we are still far, far away in leading a revolution to bring about a commonsensical change that we all dream about.

So far away from me. So far, I just can’t see!

End defunct tokenism.

2009-05-25T20:23:00.007+05:30

It was the first match of the 1987 Reliance world cup between Australia and India and most of my fellow schoolmates were restless, having to miss that game. Some of the backbench bullies in my 11th standard class were already conniving and soon we had the guys walking out of the class and so did I - often at the end of the line. When the head master came out, the boys just would not budge in and finally he had to relent and the school closed for few days. Reason – what else, Sri Lankan Tamils. It is a different story that India lost that game in the last over, in spite of sixer siddhu’s heroics.

Late eighties, in government aided schools and colleges like mine, all we needed was a reason to get few days off and the Tamils issue used to be the noble savior to pull the shutters down. The schools and colleges would close down for few days, as the students would take to the streets protesting in support of the ethnic Tamils and against the atrocities of the Sinhalese.

For the timid few like me, at times, we would not even know the reason behind the strike till we come back home. Anyway, reason mattered less, if that gives you few additional days to play cricket or to get burnt in the sweltering heat, roaming around the streets of Madurai.

Years later, it is a sad state of affairs and for whatever reasons, the Sri Lankan issue has disappeared from the people's minds and Tamil Nadu is strangely quiet these days, over this issue. May be, people lost the heart to stand up for the LTTE after the gruesome assassination of Rajiv. But, the attention is very much required, given the human calamity that is staring at Sri Lanka right now.

The once savior of the Tamils, now with his mobility curtailed to a wheel chair, is busy shopping ministerial births for his kin. Just few months back, Kanimozhi resigned her Rajyasabha seat for the cause of the Tamils. If at all there were a reason to be a renegade, it would be more appropriate right now.

Amma and the usual suspects of the other fringe political parties, who thrived under the guise of the LTTE, have gone hiding and there is seldom any hue and cry over the death of the LTTE leader and his family. All the noises they made during the election time, appear to be a perfunctory effort or rather symbolic.

But, what worries me is this very absence of a concerted effort from the administration of either Tamil Nadu or the Centre over the ominous humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka. The issue is not ideology anymore, it is more of humanitarian. According to UNHRC estimates, nearly 300,000 civilians are living in hellish conditions and the country is thoroughly ill equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude.

Agreed, in some way the determined Sri Lankan Government helped us fight a common enemy and we diplomatically looked the other way when the Sri Lankan Government went on rampage against the LTTE and the Tamil civilians who were caught in the cross-fire.

But, the time to act is NOW. With the LTTE wiped out, why does the Government of India dither with its action plan to save the helpless people? This is the time for tokenism to be replaced with meaningful assistance, to assert our prowess as a regional leader and to show the way for the troubled neighbors.

If this new Government requires a main agenda item, it has to seriously work on the almost non-existent foreign policy priorities towards our neighbors. If you look around, from Pak to Nepal to Bangladesh to Burma to Sri Lanka, we are engulfed in deep trouble across the borders all along. This is going to leave a serious dent on our state of affairs and sooner we realize, the better.

Shame on Us!

2009-05-24T08:56:00.005+05:30

Height of mediocrity and Shame on us!

What could be the first order of mandate for the prime minister and the congress’s high-profile leaders to burn their mid-night oil and sort out? Not the looming humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka where millions are living in squalid conditions, not the worsening economy and rising food prices, not the uncertain state of the millions of youth who would be passing out this year with no jobs given the sad state of the economy, but to settle a feud between members of a family with their insatiable thirst to gobble up power and the money that comes with that.

If there was in me, any part of my self that felt jubilated over the success of our democratic setup and the near overwhelming victory bestowed by the citizens of this nation to a single party, the incidents of the past few days between the Congress and the DMK, over the portfolio allocation has totally shattered that and I can’t but feel depressed over the sequence of events.

There goes a leader of a party in a wheel chair to New Delhi, who till recently was ailing in a hospital and who, one fine morning, given the political compulsions and to appease the Tamil sentiments, sprung a surprise and decided to go on a fast for the Tamils’ cause. This time, the reasoning is not the people of his state or the endangered Tamils’, but to shop around for a coterie of his family members and a bunch of corrupt and inept politicians, dictating terms on what he would like to be offered in the cabinet.

Lets look at the dubious players.

A surface transport minister, Balu, in whose term the golden quadrilateral took a backseat, who mysteriously disappeared during the truckers’ strike, his controversial sethu samudram project in shambles and who became popular when he openly acclaimed the way in which he influenced the petroleum ministry to get subsidized gas for a firm managed by his son.

The IT and Telecom Minister, A Raja, who shot into fame when he got this plum ministry over another family feud and who got popularity over supposedly making the country's exchequer lose millions of rupees by under-pricing the spectrum allocation.

A poet by name Kanimozhi, who was on the political sidelines till her mother got worried about her wealth and the growing stature of her brothers and whose administrative experience would be nothing more than organizing a cultural event by name, Chennayil Sangamam, along with an LTTE sympathizer.

And the most important of all, Kalaingar’s eldest of sons, whose true powers even the father himself had not discovered till recently and who ensured the party gets the seats in the southern Tamil Nadu, and for whom, anything less than a cabinet post would not go well among his fellow gang men. Forget the fact that, he just got acquitted over a criminal case and he has little education or administrative experience to run a ministry like Health, when the country’s health infrastructure is in shambles.

Sure, Mr. Kalaingar and his son have the onerous task at hand to ensure they get the return on investment for all the money that were wielded in open during the elections! He has a larger family, to feed their aspirations and ambitions so that they all leave in peace as he and his political career sets in the horizon.

But, if the mandate were for development and the unquestionable integrity of the person, Dr. Manmohan Singh, what would be a shame on the billions who gave this decisive verdict, would be the rapprochement that is being worked out, compromising dignity and basic administrative standards.

This vote is for the prime minister to break out of the shackles that were put on him during the last term, by people like a Kalaingar, a Shibu Soren or a Karat. It would only be prudent if the Prime Minister and the Congress realize the strength and come to reality of the decisive mandate given to them.

Else, the people of this country have clearly shown how they could go shopping for another alternative in a voice that is as decisive as this time.

Liquor Money to the rescue of Mahatma's legacy!

2009-03-07T08:32:00.009+05:30

Mahatma’s legacy saved – thanks to the liquor money!

What could have been a better anti-climax than the above?

The past few days, another event being tracked as a time-ticking explosive device, is the auctioning of some of Bapu's personal belongings. It all started when one of the news channel aired the news about Bapu’s grandson Thushar Gandhi starting a collection with an intent to buy some of Bapu's personal belongings being put up for auction in the US. Since then, every media channel has been tracking the entire episode so closely.

Soon, we came to know about one Mr. Otis, who supposedly collects these Gandhian memorabilia and all of a sudden decided to auction them for reasons, only he can comprehend. Whatever be the merits of his intentions, to him, this entire episode came as the best possible publicity stunt ever, to be on prime-time television. He, claiming himself to be an astute Gandhian, tried to hold the Indian Government hostage, threw a policy challenge to increase the GDP allocation for the poor to 5%, overnight! I ask, why not more? Or, sponsor his road-shows in some 78 countries (god knows, why 78 and not 79) for the next 10 years, towards promoting non-violence.

If he were a true Gandhian, taking a walk, as Bapu used to do, would have been a better option to spread the message of non-violence.

Enough of spicy masalas on the plate, we soon had a prime-time concoction of debates and exchange of views between the Indian Government, Mr. Otis, historians and few other millionaires offering to buy those items - all in the interest of saving the nation!

What struck me is this?

Have we become so infatuated with a sense of tokenism? Agreed, the iconic spectacles and personal watch, which rather symbolized Bapu himself, are so important, and part of the rich heritage for us to cherish as a nation. Did anyone even care to know the existence of these items put for sale till a month ago? What are we going to do next? Go search for the personal stuff of all our national leaders all over the globe?

We as a nation, have all but lost sight of the very values upon which he based his life on, while we cry amuck about some of his material belongings. If his personal belongings going under the hammer is considered defamatory to Bapu’s stature, so would be the various heinous acts conducted by our politicians and our society, under the very name of the freedom for which he fought his entire life.

Contrary to the simplicity with which the Bapu lead his life, even he would be bemused and amused by the fact that few of his personal belongings could fetch millions of dollars towards whatever nobler cause and by the tale of a liquor baron coming to save his legacy!

Slumdog Part II

2009-03-01T10:59:00.002+05:30

The scheme of operation for a prime-time TV channel appears quite straightforward these days. Put your muscle to fan up any issue or event, create a mass hysteria with non-stop nonsensical coverage of an event and then debate about the rationality of the public reaction to it.

Last night, one of the major TV Channel, debated the entire hoopla about how the creators of Slumdog Millionaire exploited the dark side of the Indian reality and had supposedly served it as 'poverty porn' for the western society.

Their claim is that the movie concurred with the majority of the western nations' perception of India as a land of snake charmers. Agreed, that is the sad reality of predominant western xenophobes, who, still a few years back, used to ask me if I had TVs and A/Cs in India. If we consider that opinion as disgraceful ignorance, so should any of the acclaim they shower upon us, like the Oscars or the BAFTAs.

We should be one of the shameful hypocrites in the world!

If Slumdog favored their opinion about the sad state of affairs of a Mumbai slum, that perception to most extent is also the reality. So, while we take pride and celebrate the accomplishments of a Resul Pookutty or ARR, we denigrate the medium that provided them that opportunity.
But, why do we fail to accept that sad reality? Because, we think, it is no one's business to showcase our miseries, while we hide behind the ugly reality of a supposedly shining India?

Contrary to our claims about India as an emerging power, we are (still) living with a vast majority of our society yet to benefit the fruits of the acclaimed economic growth. With lack of basic sanitation, more than 40% of our population still defecates in the open! We are toping the world hunger index and consistently bad in the corruption index. Whatever political reasons we attribute that to, how can we disassociate ourselves from our responsibility to fix that, for we are the ones electing our in-efficient administrators - if they are to be blamed for the grim reality.

Invariably, any success story in India would be a fight against odds, for life here is a winding road in every aspect, which would bring out specks of these ugly realities, be it our slums, corrupt politicians or irresponsible citizens - us.

Instead of pushing the skeletons under a shining carpet, let’s have the tenacity to face the reality – whoever portrays that- and only that can lead us to fix the maladies one day!

An Oscar, at last !

2009-02-26T07:00:00.009+05:30

From a subtle Dillip to Alla Rakha Rahman, from Jingles to Roja to an awe-inspiring ensemble at the Kodak Theatre, sure has AR Rahman come a long way to hold the much-coveted, if not one, two oscars on his hand. Given our passion towards anything Western, there had been various futile attempts at the Oscars for an Indian, be it from the Satyajit Ray times, Water, Lagaan, and for whatever reasons - to lack of familiarity of the local language or a good marketing theme - no one individual on their own merit could hold that statuette till now. No wonder the media, both video and print, spent a good amount of space to cover the achievement.

Call it a poverty-porn and you could argue that we still needed a portrayal of the typical Indian dichotomy of slums and new age uprising to win the stamp of approval from the West. I still believe the West is not yet ready to acclaim an Asian encore on its true merits, primarily their prejudices to blame.

So, who lead us to the final destination? Did we really need a Danny Boyle and his well-orchestrated marketing machinery, to take us to the ultimate destination or a typical ARR would have made it on his own merit?

Definitely, there are much better singles that have come out of ARR's repertoire than Jai Ho! It is just that, being at the right time at the right place with the right people made a big difference for this unassuming individual. I would definitely rate Ilaiyaraja's tunes in Hey Ram or Anbe Sivam above a Jai Ho. And so would I rate a Chinna Chinna Asai or a Konjam Nillavu or a Nenjinilae of ARR, above a O Saya.

As was widely claimed, it was India's day at the Oscars and never would Hollywood have seen so many Indian faces or its contributions put to enthral what would typically be a show for a western audience. What more was also at display was, the humility and simplicity of this man, while walking the red carpet with his wife or while giving his acceptance speech, that was more obviously less plastic compared to the unrestrained clamor of the others.

If this event marked the arrival of India in a bigger scene, to me, that humility and less extravagance would what keep us right there. It does not matter how high you get or how West you venture out, still there is some fundamental Indianess that would help us firmly footed on the ground!

Kudos to ARR and hope he takes the Indian Music to far-reaching heights.

Welcome Mr. President!

2009-01-22T22:07:00.003+05:30

From the Plantation fields to Pennsylvania Avenue, it sure was an arduous journey for a community and its leader, Barack Hussein Obama, who took oath as the 44th president of the most powerful nation in the world (may be!).No surprise that the entire world is waiting in awe of, how this frail looking individual can stroke his magic wand to ring in miracles and to stroke the confidence, which gets eroded everyday. Credit sure goes to the Americans for they had to make a wild choice of a woman or a coloured individual for the top post and sure they did put to display their free spirit and egalitarianism in choosing Obama over a biblical, rather, less hawkish white. Not sure if any of the European country is ready for a moment like this.

While the world celebrates the ascendancy of a black from the backdrop of apartheid, it is no news to India. While the world talks in length about the transformation from the days of Rosa Parks, our nation does have an exemplary track record in affirmative action and in providing an equitable society. A backward class, a women, a Muslim, a Sikh in Presidency, a Dalit as the Chief Justice, a powerful Dalit Chief Minister and we can go on and on. Not so surprisingly then has been the successful adaptation of our Gandhian metaphor in civil rights movements across the globe - be it in South Africa or the United States.

During the course of the election process, there were some statistics on how the entire world preferred Obama over McCain, if they had a choice of voting. By theory, in a bi-polar setup, human preference could be a factor of true merit of one individual or by a sheer rejection of the other.

Take for example the political situation in Tamil Nadu - it is always one of the better evils among the two dravidian parties - not that one definitely overpowers the other in ideology, performance or governance.
Over the past two terms of ruling, George W has been successful in garnering so much animosity across every nook of the globe, that no wonder such positivity in abundance came in favor of Obama. People had no other choice, but, to welcome Change from a menial, who has landed the country and the globe in a ditch.

Overblowing of this 'Change' trumpet could possibly out-smart Obama himself, for he is treading into territories and acceding challenges which can become humanly impossible for anyone to manage. The legacy he inherits and the environment both within and outside the United States is simmering with issues that are extremely volatile and the expectation is so huge on an apparently frail shoulder.

Two major wars being waged on as of today, a middle-east scenario that is more precarious than before, the unruly brat in the house - Israel - is only making the task much worse over a fragile piece of land, the dire need to conjure an exit strategy out of Iraq - all leaves him with not too many allies across the globe. Sure enough the bullies in the form of Putin and Medvedev would give him some migraine on the missile-shield front, so would Iran. The once 'super power' situation being challenged by a stronger China, and the possible shift of power focus across the globe from a weaker europe, are all realities that he has to confront with. Already there are signs of few grey hair showing up on his head and that could keep him think for a moment - 'What a mess did I get into?'

Internally, the nation as such is confronted by ironies of contrasting proportions. An economy that is sagging down the drain by the day, while a cosmopolitan president spends more than a hundred million dollars for inauguration. Ever growing line of the jobless versus the madness of equal magnitude to buy an iPhone 3G or to watch a star trek thriller. Too much ofa fiscal deficit to surmount versus the Madoffs who still manage to make mockery of the regulatory framework and make wall street look like vegas strip!

As David Letterman recently put it in his Top 10, Obama's new rhetoric could be "Yes we can...or may be not, it's hard to say"

But, history makes us believe that the United States as a nation has put to display their resiliency and enterprise spirit more often and the world(still) needs a stronger United States for its locomotion and expects a change at any cost.

Extraordinary situations mandate extraordinary men. Unlike his predecessor,Obama, who single-handedly ran a campaign with the best of spirit and faith, appears to be the right person for the resurrection.
Hope he can proclaim for his next term - 'Yes, we did!'

Welcome to the Reality - Mr. President!

Resilience may not be a Virtue!

2008-12-06T07:45:00.002+05:30

So, what is different this time other than the magnitude of the tragedy and the targets? White collared elite and Westerners got caught in the ire of the heinous act of terror that ravaged high-end hotels rather than the usual crowded market places. So, instead of the hue and cry from hapless shop-keepers, middle-class citizens and office goers, thanks to the media that has almost converted this national tragedy into 24x7 soap opera, we got to hear the accented voices of convent educated, Versace shades clad citizens, corporate and tinsel horde, who suddenly appear to have every possible solution to root-out the menace of terror.

Our Attitude – the primary culprit!
Bomb the neighbor, shun away from politics, blame the intelligence agencies, don’t pay taxes, kick the bureaucrats – just a few of the solutions offered!
We as a nation, are increasingly shifting our locus of control to factors external to us, rather than looking inwards. It is always him or them and not me or us! External factors do not even mean the forces across the border, be it tasteful or stateless, and seldom do we ever realize that, it is our own Self that is responsible for anything that has happened to us or that is knocking at our doors.

Not a surprise, even a modest and highly sensible person like our prime minister, for obvious political compulsions, could not fall into the trap of pointing fingers across the borders, within hours the incident happened. Not to renounce the fact that, there is every possible reason to believe that it is the forces across the borders that caused this massacre. But, we have been doing this blame game for nearly 60 years with zilch a result.

Even if the neighbor honors our demarche, how assertive is our legal system and our political will to reign-in justice on the culprits?

Now some hard facts.
Think of us measly souls who would do anything to outsmart each other – to jump a traffic light, to venture into the wrong side of the road. Bribe to get anything done - to jump a line anywhere, be it cinema halls, government offices, ticket reservations or even in a temple, to see Mr. God - all in the mad rush to be the First. Be the First to shoot ourselves on the foot and thereby, we have a built a system that now breeds itself on corruption in every walk of life.

When was the last time we willingly offered to wait in a gate to be frisked or to display our id cards for verification? We all want security, but seldom do we realize it is all-pervasive and seldom are we ready to compromise even an inch of the comfort we enjoy.

Whatever security cover we have is merely symbolic. Remember the scenes during the parliament attack, when our poor security guards were fighting the terrorists with guns from World War 1 period. When was the last time we patiently let the security guards examine our baggage at the airport? The metal detectors put up in many railway stations, temples and malls; either does not function or keeps beeping all the time. God knows what they are detecting. Most of us would prefer to give it a skip, with no one forcing us to get thru the detectors.

When have we seriously paid respect to any policeman or security guard on the road or how much pride do they carry on their job? We still carry forward the colonial tradition, where the policeman was used for tasks other than policing – to help the master with his domestic chores. More often, the puny cop thinks he gets paid to get dressed-up and watch the world pass by, from where he stands on the streets.

More happily do we run away from the customs authorities, when we cross the airport or ready with our own payments to make a safe exit? Why are we then surprised, when the terrorists managed to smuggle so much of ammunition into the country? If you can pay, so can anyone! How reasonably possible it is to watch every inch of a coast, especially in a country like ours with so much of porous borders we share with enemies across the borders, which are increasingly becoming unstable by the day.

Look at the way the media reported the entire episode and thereby competing to be the First to disclose the operational procedures of an army, all in the disguise of bringing it live to the people? It was an appalling scene to see even responsible news anchors, emotionally charged up and running around the crime scene, even amidst the shoo-shooing of the security guards at the Taj. That’s how much we respect our Security Guards. Given the economic compulsions of running a successful news channel these days and with TRP Ratings in mind, given an opportunity, the media did not fail to stoop down to these pitiful levels of exploiting the Freedom of Press.

Just paying taxes does not absolve us from all our duties as a model citizen. It is easier to blame others and the system, when we least realize WE are the system and WE shy away from our basic civic responsibilities. Mere posturing alone would not lead us anywhere and we go in circles, waiting for another tragedy that might have already lined-up on our nook.

Post 9/11, it was a lifestyle change for the Americans, to add additional hours to your travel plans, to be ready to open and repack your baggage at multiple places and on the way, one got ready to be strip-searched at the airports. People got used to the painful frustration, all done in the need of a better protection against the enemy, who continues to out-smart us at a faster pace, both in technology and motivation. Agreed, dubiety and austerity in a hospitality industry is a misnomer. But, unprecedented events like these mandate unprecedented changes and we better get used to this.

As being widely acclaimed, Resilience is not a virtue anymore; rather it symbolizes resistance to change. Change from our age old beliefs, lifestyle, comforts and idiosyncrasies. What 11/26 could usher-in from all of us is to look more inwards, to bring in more civic sense and we become more responsible for our own actions, all for one important reason – that is our own existence!

Terror in Mumbai - Shame on the News Media!

2008-11-28T09:56:00.003+05:30

While the media talks in length about the inept handling of the Mumbai Blasts by the Government, Security Agencies and the Politicians, it is high time they put themselves in front of the mirror and reassess the media freedom that is offered in this country, again could be due to the negligence of the politicians running this country.

What we need is a total black-out of the media from the crime scene, atleast till the action is over. Let the men in uniform do their job and let us do our part to NOT interfere in their way by disclosing their strategies. Media camera zooming in to report how the aircrafts are dropping our men in uniform, which building they are using to launch their attacks, which way they are coming. Yeah, what a way to report! "Yes, Mr. Terrorist, I just gave you an idea of where our people are and how you would be attacked. Please take cover"

We hear the terrorists carrying sat phones and communicating with the external world. What would stop them from hearing from someone watching our media, putting in display all the attack plans? The height of disgrace is each media claming it to be the 'First to Report' or 'First to Bring these scenes Live'. Yeah, be the 'First to disclose national secrets' and do your part to fall into the enemy hands. Be the 'First to add to the fuel'.

While the Home Minister shamelessly goes public with his mockery of stats, on exactly how many NSG commandos are sent and when they are sent, it is the time of the media houses to not add to that shame.

My humble request to the Arnab Goswamis, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesais is to, please put on hold your analysis for some time, till our security folks take control of the situation. You have the days ahead to pull up the people and to rant about it in length. Stop claiming to be the 'First' to deliver any news. If you were the 'First', please be the First to prevent such incidents or the First to bring about any revolution against the petty politicians running our nation. That would be of excellent credence and will take your channel to heights that no one can dispute about.

I Went to the Moon, too !

2008-11-16T20:45:00.005+05:30

Agreed, we have joined an elite club of countries that have the capability to launch an extra-terrestrial object in the lunar orbit and we are only one of the FOUR nations to have its national flag set foot on the moon. We have a strong neighbor who just had sent its own men to the space and we need to show strength. Never would I underestimate the hard work that has gone into make such a precision guided mission, a grand success. I do share the passion and delight of the scientists who have worked tirelessly towards this maiden venture, amidst the isolation imposed on us and the restrictions in transfer of technology across nations.

While skeptics question the justification of the millions that is spent in our space adventure, all I would like to question is the relevance of such mission and the application of its results to our citizens.

Thanks to the astute leadership, at least, I am glad that we are seeing some return on investment in a public sector organization, compared to that of the various other institutions that provide a zilch for the government allocations that they get to enjoy every year.

My concern is only on the returns - more than the information on water-bodies that might exist in the moon and mapping the lunar terrain, why not focus on what is more relevant to our country and its people. Decades together, the only weather map I get to see is the INSAT image, that appears in my daily newspaper and some useless statistics that I hear in the state-owned All India Radio, on, which parts of the country received how many millimeters of rainfall and a very generic weather forecast that even my grandma could predict looking up at the sky! Value-add is the key and what is the value addition in the knowledge of temperature numbers from major cities and a very vague prediction of the weather patterns that day.

The monotonous rants of our meteorological weather men who show up their face only on the days it rains hard and that too post facto. We have had numerous instances of the cities getting deluged and office goers and school kids getting stuck in the middle of a storm completely unaware.
Needless to mention the loss of thousands of crores to our economy in the form lost cultivated produce, with unseasonal rains. Better weather forecast and reach of this information to the masses is the key. These are the days of doppler radars, animated weather maps and ever pervasive information.

I have seen in the US, where the local weather man is treated with an iconic status and the time they spend in the schools educating the kids of the nuances of weather patterns.
What we need is change in the priorities of how we spend our money, according to the changing times and needs.

To quote the father of our space program, Dr. Sarabhai himself:
"There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society. "

Importers of 'Bad News'!

2008-10-28T22:00:00.003+05:30

Importers of 'Bad News'!

In this difficult time of market turmoil, if you are an investor with a decent exposure in the stock markets, I suggest you stay away from the business channels, whichever one be it. It is the time for 'Say No to watching Business News Channel' similar to the 'Say No to Drugs’ campaign; for both of them are intended to inoculate the individual from peer pressure and social influences . Yes, it would be a blessing in disguise, if you realize how much of damage these channels and the rants from their so called financial experts can cause.

For the Indian Markets, where I think, anyone having a good skill at the dart boards can anoint himself to be an analyst or where investing in stocks is very much equated to a stroll down the strip in Vegas, no wonder there is so much of bad vibes circulated – thanks to our business channels – thereby contributing so much to the deluge over the past few weeks.

It has reached the stage of a mass hysteria to lead the poor investing public of this nation into almost a bottom-less pit. For the past month or so, it has been raining bad news after another in every form of media and they have successfully spread the fear psychosis among the masses.

Call it the curse of knowledge, to pick up a Behavioral Finance terminology; more than the liquidity crunch or the over-leveraged financial institutions, it is also the information overload that has played a significant role in the market collapse over the past few weeks. If you happen to frequent Market Watch, they pick up the largest of the fonts on their home page to convey the bad news- so large that it can wreck havoc on any decision you might make that day.

These market commentators appear to have forgotten the thin line between being a news anchor and thereby facilitating the flow of news, to becoming an analyst themselves, thereby making over-arching claims that could cause irreprehensible damage. Irrespective of all the disclaimers and disclosures these channels publish, there could be a potential cartel using these prime-time media to their advantage.

While it is beyond doubt that we are going through a difficult time, it is the way in which we have bought into other people's bad news is causing us more damage. We have become the biggest importer of Americanism, which is seen failing even in their own land, right from their missiles to colas to garbage and now - their bad news!

I doubt if it is a question of liquidity crunch anymore and the markets seem to either ignore whatever actions the RBI can deliver or whatever words of comfort the finance minister can offer; the blood bath readily bursts open any band-aid provided in the form of government intervention.

How would you explain the drubbing of some of the blue chip stocks over the past few years? Agreed the beleaguered FIIs are pulling back every buck they can garner from any part of the globe and agreed we are living in a crazily flat world, where, if the greenback sneezes, the world catches pneumonia! But, in these tough times across the globe where the R-word or the D-word are talked about every day with almost a negative connotation, in every developed country, when did the markets start neglecting a 7.5% growth rate and you call that a slow-down? Less than 5% of Indians have direct exposure in our stock market, which many people still perceive it to betting on horse racing and land their hard-earned money in FDs in public sector banks.

It can only be prudent for the investing public to listen to the words of the PM and show some patience, than to get submerged in the illusion of knowledge put to display in the business channels, by the self-acclaimed experts. It is not Armageddon yet and most of us have better things to do in life. Tough times are the best teachers and we will survive this as we did with any other crisis.

For the moment, just Say NO to the business media!

Jet, Set, Down!

2008-10-26T07:50:00.003+05:30

Jet, Set Down!

Last week saw a classic drama of unnerving proportions, which could eclipse any Broadway show, with actors from the corporate, political and social setup playing their role to perfection. Though the end appeared to be a toast, the show did showcase the ability of a wild concoction of a politics and corporate arrogance which influenced the shameful reality of an irrational exuberance, which is buried under rugs of economic growth.

Look at the players, a group of bright tunic clad younger generation of our country, a business-man who till recently has been proclaimed as the czar of one of the growing airlines industry, a politician who is more and more becoming a self-proclaimed alcapon of Mumbai, a shrewd minister who cannot but sit on the sidelines given the electoral implications of this show-piece, a labor minister who by all means is as clueless as a common man in a remote village in this country. All these showmen provided a royal feast to the craving media who, are all set to spice up the any episode in prime-time television boxes.

It all started with a bunch of airline employees given pink slips by their employer and they started making a big hue and cry. Some of the smart ones decided to take their case up with a local political party and what a perfect photo op for its leader, standing beside a bunch of bright lads and lasses. Public and disruptive politics playing in tango is a deadly combination for this country, if at all it is concerned about its economic growth. If Singur was a shame, then what is becoming more common in Mumbai with the goonly behavior of this party is adding insult to that. What empowers them to wield law onto their own hands?

While being on the receiving side for a pink slip is always painful, yet, the whole episode some harsh realities for the young that is being enticed into a fairy-tale ride on the shining India. It is rather unfortunate that there is no safety-net for the working class, be it in the organized or un-organized sectors, in the form of any social security. While the Left considers it politically fashionable to rant against any of the capitalistic moves of the government, it is a shame that they have not spent any hours to bring about any reforms in the social security sector during their association with the ruling UPA for the past four years. Taking up the personal fight on the nuclear issue with the PM was much more enticing than fixing the maladies of the labor laws.

The icing in the cake was the hurried-up news conference by Mr. Goyal himself, who in all likelihood beat the politicians in putting up a dramatic show. Where in the world would a corporate executive be unaware of its managements' decisions? He thereby, set a very bad precedence in corporate governance and social responsibility and thereby causing an irreprehensible damage to the airline's image. Wonder the confidence level of the employees within Jet.

In the end, it was a strong dose of reality check for all of us to decide which path we are heading into – capitalistic or socialistic – or a middle ground. It is high time, the corporate, politico and the working class decide on that or be prepared for a rude jolt like these.

Save the Food!

2008-05-17T08:00:00.003+05:30

Save the Food!
The entire politico went up in unison to decry George Bush when he made those aphorisms on the growing Indian middle-class and their growing appetite - literally - leaving a dent on the global food supply-chain! To many, what Bush said was the quite the obvious, and he did have the concurrence of many economists worldwide who attribute the crisis to the burgeoning demand for food from the developing nations, rather oddly combined with a global supply shrinkage. If not for the tersely phrased Bushism, spare a moment to reason the food crisis and try to relate it to the world around us, especially at a time when the global food prices are at the highest in more than a century. May be Bush should have rephrased his statement to mean, that, it is not the increasing consumption alone, but along with that, the increase in wastage of consumable food that contributes to this global food crisis.

On your next visit to a marriage hall or any party, look around to see how much of food is really left untouched on every plate or the banana leaf - if you happen to be from the South. Or, when you go out dining with your family and order a sumptuous thali, spare a moment to the number of cups of supplements that are thrown away. Or, when you visit a south-indian restaurant, look around to see how many people really consume all the multiple variants of the chutneys and sambhar that get served with the delicious dosas and idlis. If every drop could make a mighty ocean, it is no trivia to infer that every grain of devoured food could turn out to be a pile. This in turn can feed millions, especially in a country like ours which is attracting the global attention for its surging count of billionaires on one hand and still has a big portion of its mass not able to afford one decent meal a day. Every grain of rice and every piece of vegetable that goes into making these delectable, add up. We may lag way behind the western nations on the average per-capita consumption of food. But, I bet, we Indians, could be leading the pack on average per-capita wastage of food.

In this context, it is quite interesting to pay attention to few common practices in the West, where people at the end of a meal, do not hesitate to ask for their ordered left-over to be packed for future consumption and the availability of smart customization of a meal based on preference and measure. Why would the wealthy nations do this? Simple economics - extend the value of the commodity got in exchange for the money you paid plus being a smart consumer - why pay for things which you are not going to consume?

Ours' is a society of certain very amusing parodies. Why would us, brought up in a predominantly conservative mind set, with our elders who with their thrifty lifestyle had always planned to save for the future, not adopt this practice when it comes to our food? There were days when we used to eat our rotis or rice from previous day for their own nutritional values. But, along with the newgen lifestyle cometh our disregard for our beliefs, our own conscious rejection of our age-old value system and a contrarian outlook that takes everything for granted. With newly acquired wealth and money, we feel we can get anything for money, even with a sole idea of wasting it. Somehow, we attach a sense of pride towards having everything fresh. No canned food, except for the pickles, and food Processing as an industry is still at its nascent stages in this country with a significant chunk of what we cultivate going as wastage sans proper storage and lack of transportation logistics.

The sky-rocketing food prices could be a blessing in disguise for us to realize the economics of food over the pleasure of buying food irrespective of consuming it. What we are going through as part of the global food crisis could just be the tip of the iceberg of an impending reality. With agriculture losing its economic value-proposition in many parts of the country, shrinkage of arable lands across the globe, and the decline in the ever miserable lifestyle of the farming community, it is only a matter of time when we start paying little more attention to the food we pay for. If not just for the MTV culture and an hip-hop lifestyle, there is much more to be learnt from the West. If double whopper with extra cheese, pickles and a latte of your size, is the norm in the West, perhaps we soon should start sizing up our meal based on what we can consume. May be we would soon be paying for two idlis with extra chutney and an order of sambar, rather than assuming a plate of idli coming with an array of four to five supplements which we let go the drain. Sambar and chutneys in a sachet more like the sauces could be the order of the day.

Time for some serious thought; we have Save Oil, Save the Tiger, Save the Trees campaigns, why not Save the Food campaign for a change? The days ahead could see the food grain becoming the much conserved commodity, almost on the verge of extinction - at least to a select group of people across the globe.

Judgment vs Experience !

2008-01-15T21:42:00.000+05:30

Another interesting topic of discussion from Jim Heskett. Should grab that book sometime soon and some of the comments were really thought provoking. Here is the link with my comments too. Does Judgment trump Experience?

Bottomline...

2008-01-13T09:44:00.000+05:30

Bottom-line...

Not sure if Sydney ever figured in the conversations of fellow Indians this much. Neither could I recollect a test match being torn apart by pundits across the board. Few questions do linger on why all these happened in the first place.

Why did the Aussies go after Harbhajan? Why do the Aussies think it is a war against India? Things appeared to be on smooth sail with Brett Lee having more fan-following in Mumbai than Melbourne and not so long ago did the BCCI lined-up the Aussie greats of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath for its much touted IPL to rival the ICL. What has changed so drastically that would make the world champions relish a win so much so that they un-gentlemanly ignored to shake hands with the opponent, who was dragging himself out of the arena in sheer disbelief on how life could become so fickle all in a matter of 5 deliveries. Sixteen consecutive wins – alright! But the frenzy that followed after the last wicket was sheer madness – much more than a world cup final victory.

I think, all this ill will and bad blood could be traced back to the T20 world cup. The Aussies just could not believe that some other team could be anointed the World Champions on any format of the game. The win has just not settled on them and neither could they believe that they have to relinquish the exclusivity of a world champion title to some other team. May be call it irrational exuberance, as with any other mass hysteria in this country, neither could they digest the money and the accolades that were showered on the Indian players, post the T20 championship. Remember the comments Andrew Symonds made, when he saw the cavalry of the welcome parade in Mumbai?

To add insult to injury was the reality they had to confront with when the young blood of Harbhajan and Sreeshanth retorted back to their sledging, word for word, during the home series, which again left the Aussies aghast in disbelief that they could also land on the receiving end. “That's weird – are we losing our monopoly?” At the end of the series, did they not forget to extend a cold-blooded invite to Sreeshanth – reminded me of my gully cricket in school days, where we would offer a threatening invite to our next-street boys to come and face us in our own street!

Unfortunately the Aussies missed Sreeshanth and found a good enough sitting duck in Harbhajan, who could have fallen into the cleanly laid trap, set by the exponents of sledging. Credit their strategy and the timing of the incident, when the Aussie captain was getting clueless against reading the deliveries from Harbhajan, he became their victim. It could not have been timed better, when the BCCI and ICC were getting serious against racial slurs, be it a monkey or a donkey or any words that could defy cultural issues.

What about Anil Kumble's comments in the post match press conference? Anil is a gentleman and when he was chosen for the top post last month, I wondered why we are even deliberating so much on a person who would have single-handedly contributed to most of our test wins than anyone in the history of our cricket. He got the exact moment to re-live Bodyline. How frustrated can someone be, to have weathered hours of Aussie torture to score those 45 runs and not a single Aussie turned up to shake hands at the end of the game. It was a shame on the umpires and the Aussie sporting spirit.

Why did the players stay put and why is the BCCI reluctant to act?
Sachin's ego got hit. When the integrity and spirit of most of the Aussie players were there for everyone to see, Mike Procter ignored Sachin, when he was the closest witness on the crime scene. Poor BCCI had no option, but to walk a tight rope with the players and public fury flamed by the media hype (more on that later) and the ground realities that can leave a dent on its future plans with the IPL and Pawar's ascent to the ICC top job. But the truth is - the game of cricket is much more than the eleven players who play. The money, media rights, the economics that revolves around the game these days is phenomenal. No way can the BCCI rain on Lalit Modi's grandeur plans of commoditizing cricket or stuff it on the Aussie players when they very badly had to parade the most glittering of the cricketing elite this April as part of the IPL.

Why does 97% of the Indian public want the team come back?
Media fodder served in the most delectable style by Rajdeep, Arnab Goswami, Sidhu and the junta of ex-cricketers and anyone who had the least association with the game and waiting for a photo op. Nothing much happened on this country to deserve prime-time TV attention than Cricket. Why on earth would you pull in Harbhajan's mom on national television?

Mike Dash, the renowned British historian notes that studies have identified six elements that are required for a case of mass hysteria to afflict a population:

1. "Regional conditions must be conducive" to the mass hysteria's plausibility.
2. "Channels of communication must be available for the reports to spread."
3. "Social and economic stress, as well as a lack of faith in the authorities, predispose people to embrace unconventional interpretations."
4. "[E]very culture has marginal traditions that offer alternative explanations."
5. "A triggering episode often serves as the pebble that commences an avalanche of reports."
6. "[O]utbreaks of unusual manifestations are aided by breakdowns in official control."

Tell me which one of the six was not available for the media last week to fuel the frenzy. Peter Roebeck became the oft-quoted sage of Indian cricket lovers and the media. Did anyone pay attention to what he had written on Yuvraj and Dhoni after Day 3 of the Sydney test? Not to mention the ramblings from Sidhu, whose decibel level is only getting worse after he joined politics – a natural phenomenon, perhaps! Anyone, who did not want the team to comeback, was considered an anti-national. Wish the TV networks display their sample size when they yell out these percentages of truth from their SMS polls.

And, Steve (pitiful) Bucknor?
If there is any live example of a product that is well passed its shelf-life, don’t look further. But, why Steve, when his good buddy Mike Benson was equally, if not more, pitiful? Repeat offence or disgrace? Steve has chased Indian cricketers like one bad omen, right from the days of the 1992 test incident involving Jonty Rhodes’ run-out. If you call Day 5 at Sydney as one bad day at office, then showing Steve the door is such a bad precedence. I wonder the mental state of the two gentlemen who are going to stand in Perth – Assad and Billy! How nervous would they be, given the insane frenzy that may erupt after any bad decision? Let us leave the game to the umpires and the uncertainties add to the beauty of the game and let us not chase the adjudicators with a butchers’ knife.

So, where do we go from here?
Credit to the Aussie media for standing up for the game of cricket and had there be an incident like this in India, not sure how unbiased our media would be to discredit the villains. We are living in an era of make-believe hysterics flamed by the media, where the truth could very well be conjured by clamor.

Credit to the Aussie crowd, who un-equivocally cheered for every one of the FOURs that caressed from VVS’s willow and who all stood-up in ovation celebrating Sachin’s ton. Thank God, the instantaneous cheer need not flow through the media’s SMS poll; else it would have been a different result.

Credit to the Indian players, especially the Fantastic Five, for putting up such a good fight in Sydney, yet leaving the umpiring blunders, it is a shame that we could not withstand four sessions on the final day. You have much larger problems to worry about than a monkey! True, you are the T20 champs, but you also need some good people to play this classic longer version of the game. It is time to tell the young guns that neither would it help to have your heart-throb on the box seat, when your foot moves so nimble on the crease. Not sure if we have enough ammunition left to take the Aussies on the field, especially in the ultra fast wicket laid out in Perth.

Sorry Ricky, for having run your unit like a mob and especially that appeal you made for that catch you took of Dhoni. Hope you frame it up on your porch as a showcase of true Aussie spirit.

Brian Lara’s fascination for the ground was so much that he named his daughter – Sydney. Not sure if anyone in the Indian camp would ever follow suit!

Honor by Compromise!

2007-06-17T09:39:00.000+05:30

Ladies & Gentleman, presenting to you the most likely President of India, Ms. Pratibha Patil! Who? What? Don't feel bad, just like you, many of us were scratching our heads and flogging our memory cells to recollect who this person is. I would most likely believe, so were the majority of the media sirens, who in their constant debate of presidential hopefuls, were delivered a googly, that they were really trying hard to stay on feet by gathering some facts about this women and tried to salvage some videos and pictures from their vaults. This woman sure would not have hit the top of their PageRank when they did a search of their archives.

So, is this really a historic moment (finally!) towards women empowerment in this nation, as being propounded by all the politicians, as we celebrate 60th year of our independence? Even Shoba De could not take so much pride on this occasion, as she cried foul over Pratibha Patil being used as a symbolic gesture, as there was an utter lack of consensus among the UPA partners. Even though I tend to disagree with majority of her comments, this one I could not, when Pratibha Patil appears on all accounts to be a mere compromise candidate at the fag end of heated negotiations among the UPA constituents. What are her advantages? Gender advantage, of course, she is from Maharashtra, a staunch Indira loyalist and, not the least, she is from the Shekhawati community which can put the other likely candidate, the current Vice President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, at some unease.

Who really is Pratibha Patil? Try googling her name and you could find majority of the hits being about her sudden rise in prominence over the past few days. Even most of the details in the wiki seem to be updated later to Jun 14th. A good portion of the comments that flood the web recognizing the concept of a woman reaching the echelons of constitutional authority of this nation also seem to act with a sense of skepticism. That's precisely my point, so much as Shoba De's. I am entirely for women ruling the world, if one can orbit around our planet for so many days and break all sorts of records, why not to fill-in a rubber stamp position in our nation as well?

What put me off is the way in which the women folk got this so called recognition on this particular instance. Look at the names that were doing the rounds and the reasons why they were shot down, before this magnanimous gesture by Sonia Gandhi. Pranab Mukherjee - no we need his excellent maneuvering skills to work around the UPA coalition to somehow sustain two more years in office - even though the toughest component of the UPA - the Left - liked his candidature. Dr. Karan Singh - in spite of his excellent scholarly credentials was too theistic for the Left. Shivraj Patil - no way - too congressy for the Left and others. Sushil Kumar Shinde - in spite of carrying the most trusted brand name among the politico - a Dalit - was even despised by another dalit CM, Mayawati.

There emerged Pratibha Patil, bolt from the blue in the face of near ignominy for the congress, as a gender-based consensus candidate. As if Sonia saying, at least let the congress men have their say in picking someone of the preferred last name and 'see if you can counter this and do so at your own peril'. As a candidate of mere symbolism, where credentials and stature appear to have been so blatantly ignored. Except for the intuitive interview by CPI's Bardhan on CNN IBN, no where did I ever read or hear about the magnanimity of the political parties in planning to recognize the woman folk for the highest ceremonial office in our land. If all we were concerned about was giving the woman folk its due recognition, what has changed in the last four years when we could not do that to a Captain Lakshmi Sehgal?

Agreed, this role at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan itself is more allegorical, so why not utilize the opportunity to showcase yourself as a savior of equality, with the elections just a couple of years away. With all indications of yet another coalition government, why not have someone who can go soft - as characterized of a typical Indian woman folk - when it comes to government formation in another two years. Whatever the reason might be, call me a hypocrite, the way to the top for the woman folk in this nation still happens to as an 'why not?' rather than by pure merit. Playing in the sentiments of the politicians who have mastered these skills of divide, unduly recognize and rule, can only make the case even more dubious. Till that time, I am really not sure if having a Pratibha at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan would be considered the height of acclamation for the woman folk.

Sorry Ladies!

Performance and Pay!

2007-06-12T22:44:00.000+05:30

Another interesting discussion thread on Jim Heskett's forum in HBS, where I was able to voice my views. How should Pay be linked to Performance? I guess more relevant for these Indian times, where every day pay and performance seem to go obtuse, in whatever way you look at it. Some of the really talented individuals get paid zilch, while many of the so called IT Professionals (read hi-tech clerks) of these days seem to rule the roost.

Life Down the Six Lane Highway!

2007-05-31T19:57:00.000+05:30

Life down the Six Lane Highway!

One of the recent addition to the concrete clusters cropping up within the Chennai city is the so called 'IT Corridor' - perhaps one of the dole-outs of the erstwhile Maran phenomena that brought in many of the IT majors to the city, lining up all along the coastal stretch from Adyar up to Mahabalipuram. The erstwhile 25Kms or so stretch of Old Mahabalipuram Road - rechristined as IT Corridor, has in it a plan to lay a six lane divided speedway, weeding through many small townships and as with any other infrastructure adventure in an Indian city, had land acquisition as its primary bottleneck. As one who commutes thru this stretch for the past few years, I had the fortune of seeing this project from its inception and trust me, after so many years of axle breaking travail through all the rubble of the construction work, this is one stretch of the road that certainly lived up to its promises and can leave any visitor to the city agape.

For reasons unknown, the project almost hit a roadblock during the fag end of the JJ's tenure, but got a fresh dose of energy (read funding) as soon as the DMK government took over. Bet, the late IT minister had a big role to play in this shift in gear and a good 5 KMs stretch from Madhya Kailash till the SRP Tools Junction saw its fruition few months back. Hold your awe at the pace of progress, when I say 5 KMs in four years! Let us refrain using relative measures when we try to compare ourselves with Shanghai's rate of progress and unfortunately democracy does not let us bulldoze our own way to growth like our northern neighbor!

There we have now, a well laid out six lane highway with beautifully maintained patch of vegetation along the median, artwork adorning the walls (very creative indeed), futuristic bus shelters, excellent street lights, prettified water fountains, wide cable ducts that eludes the road breaking mafia of Chennai city and what not. But, what caught many by surprise was the grandeur plans to have a US like expressway with exits and ramps right in the middle of a crowded city like Chennai, where the heterogeneity in vehicle composition using the highway, poses a tougher challenge to the survival of any commuter.

The hefty paycheck loaded IT techie trying to zip-thru in his shiny newly acquired MPFI vehicle or a 100 CC motorbike, when all you encounter in front of your bumper is a moped in the middle of the rightmost lane defying to move or an auto rickshaw on the prowl for a potential customer (read victim of day robbery) inching at his own pace. You would have no clue when that guy might step on the brakes. Or, you have the monstrous buses of the various MNCs or water tankers driving in the middle of a lane; you venture near them or try to outdo them at your own peril. The cast does include guys swerving out of the buildings into the rightmost lane or talking on a mobile phone and crazy jay-walkers. Perhaps, what we have in display is a classic irony of 'India Shining' and the 'India Reality' trying to compete, coexist and out-smart each other.

Along with a shift to the six lane highway culture, what we need the most, is a shift in mindset of the people using that as well. More space does not necessarily mean exclusivity or the freedom to rove around as you wish. It also means, you are obligated to share it sensibly with the rest of your community. Many of the folks need to be trained on what lane discipline is; else they perceive the white lines to be yet another art work on black and white adorning the tarred roads.

A six lane road in reality gets shrunk at many places; the left most lane invariably is used at many places as additional parking space especially for the contraptions called share-autos or people strolling along even though there is a well laid out pedestrian walk-way just a few inches to the side, and the occasional junkie driving on the opposite direction to avoid a roundabout U Turn. There are stretches which requires you to cover a good amount of road before you can make a turnaround, and you would see people (read IT professionals) leaping across the median even carrying their bicycles, doing so they risk their own lives, more than saving a stroll. Agreed, it is a design flaw to not think of a foot bridge when you have a majority of your junta going by foot, to not think of a pedestrian sub-way when you have various institutions, hospitals and train stations on either side.

Makes me wonder, are we really ready for life on a six lane highway, when we within ourselves are lazily cramped to a gully living. As we get to enjoy the comforts of new age living offered by the so called economic boom, we need to learn to live by some fundamental principles of civility. To respect each other's space, to abide by the simplest of laws even sans the enforcement and above all to learn to take care of ourselves! If not played by the books, life can get a bit perilous because of the inherent elevated pace at which life goes about on a six lane speedway!

Performance Reviews

2006-11-14T10:18:00.000+05:30

It is the time of Performance Reviews in most of the organizations and Jim Heskett's open forum in HBS gave me an opportunity to offer my views. Amazing to read the perspectives from so many individuals across the globe!

Priorities!

2006-10-07T23:12:00.000+05:30

While the union health ministry continues to deliberate whether it is an epidemic or not, few more corpses gets added to the growing count every day. A stroll in the park may not reflect the true merit, but in how we jockey ourselves under moments of adversities. All we could see is utter pandemonium in the nation's hospitals in the crisis fabricated by the mosquitoes. People sleeping on the floors and corridors, sharing their beds with others and the nation’s health infrastructure is put to task the past few weeks. To the utter dismay, this is the scene in one of the most premium hospitals in the nation's capital, not in a remote nook of the country.

I recently read somewhere that nearly 75% of our health infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas where 27% of our population lives. If, all 75% of our health infrastructure could give is such scenes of gross dis-orderliness and confusion, it is just mind boggling what it would take to give decent healthcare benefit to the entire nation. While we try to take comfort under a perceived 9-10% growth rate, remodeling our airports and infrastructure, national crisis like this dengue outbreak just puts things in the right perspective in terms of priorities, when all we could see is the government health machinery in complete chaos putting in reality an almost non-existent crisis management system. It is time for all of us to put ourselves in front of the mirror and question the credibility of our economic prowess; if there is such! On the one side we claim to have made tremendous progress in the area of science and technology and on the other side we account for the largest count of illiterates and mal-nourished children and people affected by infectious diseases. It is such a common sight in all the metros to have dazzling five-star hotels and IT parks besides the dirtiest slums and waterways in the country. It is amazing to see people spend thousands to live in sprawling residential complexes near dump-yards and waterways infested with the deadliest of mosquitoes. If contagious, infectious and water-borne diseases are so much rampant in the rural areas and the scene in any metro is no different. Disasters keep adding to our jargon – how many people had heard about Tsunami before it wrecked havoc couple of years back. Chikungunya – people initially thought it was a disease that afflict the chickens, soon came to terms with the pain and the mosquitoes that spread those menace as well. The disease left no one – from the working class to the elite – anyone who can be bitten fell in its wrath.

In a democracy, it is the state’s responsibility to ensure adequate public expenditure is on health care system, sanitation and clean drinking water. Despite several growth-orientated policies adopted by the government and while the total government expenditure continues to rise, there has been an unfortunate decline on the spending on the social sector. Last union budget saw the defence allocation increased to a whopping 83,000 crores of rupees while a miniscule of the total GDP got allotted to manage the healthcare needs of a nation of more than a billion. Not that we need to go lite on needs of strategic importance, but the billions that are being wasted in the various scams in arms procurement and the public money that gets burnt in the number of fighter planes that crash these days and the billions that is spent in procuring a refurbished aircraft carrier while majority of the nation languish on basic necessities of sanitation and clean drinking water. Least to mention that each fighter plane can provide real coverage to hundreds of villages from the real threat of mosquitoes, instead of the perceived threat from our enemies wherever they may come from.

A nation where the cricket news tops the headlines in all the news networks and an anjelina jolie, brad pitt visit gets debated at prime time TV, it is high time we shift our focus towards more basic needs that would question our very survival. Needs of rural health care and a sincere effort to bring the poorest of the nation's population under the radar of national fiscal policies are the need of the hour. But, this requires people with vision to break the norms and set the priorities right. A health minister who rather prefers to set straight personal scores against people in his own backyard, fends his way towards the pesti-colass and questions the very basis of a scientific study that criticised the efficacy of the cola giants. While one half of our society keeps guzzling aerated beverages, the other has to satisfy with palm-full of muddied water.

At some point of time, we need to get our priorities right.

2006-09-25T22:01:00.000+05:30

Let the Machines get in!

Last week saw the gap between the Aussies and the rest of the world getting wider as the fellas from down-under relished yet another cup victory. But, what kept me at awe was the continuous fall in the quality of umpiring standards on an equal rate these days. How much of 'human error' is really justifiable in any game and how much more can anyone control his disgust at someone just because they personify the rules of the game? Any human has an off-day at work, but it should come at the basal minimum in any profession for they carry larger stakes than anyone can imagine.

Atleast three horrible decisions in the crucial India-Aus clash last Friday. Sachin was the first victim (though Umpire Benson called him back to the utter dismay of Ponting) to go, when the ball had clearly brushed his shoulder before landing on the wicket keeper's gloves. Inspite of his ludicrous agression, Dhoni was caught of a clear Brett Lee no-ball. Harbhajan's was next, when there was absolutely no semblance of noise to be detected even for the snicko. All those dismissals at crucial junctures of the game. Next to pay the price was Brian Lara in the finals when all the replays clearly showed it was his bat that brushed his pads and not the ball.

Modern games, given their intricacies has a tough go at the refs as well. Every game these days consist of a collective crew. Take Tennis for instance, the chair umpire besides all those line officials. So is soccer or basketball. Baseball has one on each mound. Not that all those games are less wobbly and the decisions had always been human-error free. Fatigue can sure be a factor and why can't the three umpires share the workload and take turns during the drinks break, instead of having one guy staying inert at the pavilion watching the TV monitors. Why can't we give him equal powers to veto any decision made by an on-field umpire. Wire them up - encourage the on-field umpires to work with the guy upstairs. This is not anamolous to any sport. Look at soccer or the NBA or the NFL, the umpires do huddle together to put their collective brains to work before giving out any contestable decisions. Wire up the bowling crease with sensors to detect no-balls. Perfect the hawk-eye and snickometer technologies. Imagine an umpire's chore to watch Brett Lee's foot for a noball and within a fraction of a second, switch his angle of vision to track the line of the delivery for any potential LBW decision.

What is the ICC doing to spruce up the umpiring standards? A nation of billion people cannot even have a single member in ICC's elite panel. Why not a technology revamp for the officiators, which would make their utility better than a coat-stand? Instead, if we want to add a dose of uncertainity to the game all in the name of 'human error', so be it and you can as well go play some chips in Vegas!

Life has it that when human limitations are stretched, that is when machines take over. If that can be true with any aspect of life, why not this sport as well. What are we set to lose other than our own 'ego' to seek help from technology when humans continue to land ignonimously on the erring side. Everyone gets paid at this profession and it is everyone's task to bring some quality to the table. Lets accept the fact of human limitation and not try to seek cover under preserving the sanctity of a non-existant cachet. After all, "the continued opportunity to alleviate human distress is one important motivation for continuing technological advancement." (Laws of Accelerating Returns !)

Noted cricket writer, Neville Cardus had this to say about the umpires "The umpire ... is like the geyser in the bathroom; we cannot do without it, yet we notice it only when it is out of order."

Yes, we sure notice it when it is out of order and we scream about it.

2006-09-24T15:32:00.000+05:30

Time for a Cricket Break ?!

So, yet another ‘chokers' tag and the men in blue are back home, perhaps an early exit would give some of their ‘stars’ more time to focus on their endorsement commitments - be it a pesti cola, or a soap bar or an idiot box. What is wrong in losing? After all plain logic would suggest there can only be one winner atop the podium in the end. Look at the two teams that made it to the finals - a team which is much ahead of the rest of the pack in world cricket today and another, which appears to be on a revival run of sorts ahead of hosting the world cup next year. Perhaps peaking at the right time to make the event next year a very well balanced one.

Already the game is losing out its charm amidst the minnows and the teams at the end of the rung are only getting worser by days. A World cup seems more to be a contest between the same old 8 teams and a bunch of minnows for whom a mere appearance in the world event seems to be a solace than any chance of pulling-out a surprise.

What caught me curious was a comment thrown by Tony Greig in the post-match analysis of the last India-Aus clash. ‘India is so much important to the world of cricket and their early exit is such a big loss’. Of course it would be, leave alone the array of talented batting line-up that once gets clicking can enthral any audience, but more than anything, the economics that revolves around these bunch of eleven and the association they are part of namely the BCCI.

Look at what lies ahead of us. If the BCCI is to be believed, cricket to be played in Malaysia, Europe, the Yankee land, Africa, where not. If you tell me, it is all in the name of ennobling the game of cricket across the globe, I can leave the pleasure of seeing a Malaysia or China at the helm of cricket to my great grand children, when I see the every day demise of the same game in Zimbabwe, Kenya and a Bangladesh. The newly appointed cowboys of BCCI are all set to milk the cashcows to the max and dont be surprised if the national team ends up playing against a Brunei X1, just because the crown king of Brunei wanted to showcase cricket to his son and sent his fat cheque book to Mr.Lalit Modi. Some financials in one of the news channels says, the BCCI would end up burgeoning its coffers by close to $25 million for each such tournament and majority of this money comes from selling television rights.

It is a street-fight between the media houses - ESPN, TEN Sports, Set MAX, Zee and Sahara - judicial intervention is so frequent these days. Anyone with a decent camera and a fat cheque book can get the telecast rights. Don't be surprised with all his clout as the communication minister, Sun TV may join the fray too soon. Where does the money come from for all these channels - advertisements, ofcourse. Right from the pesti-colas to motor bikes to consumer durables all targeted at a market that no one can resist. A society with an ever increasing midddle-class and whose spending habits are making every corporate entity drool over. While BCCI gets busy milking the cashcows, who ensures the quality of the telecast? 5 ball overs are the norm of the day. And the moment a wicket falls, all we get to see is a priyanka chopra. A fast bowler walking back to his bowling mark, squeeze in couple of commercials. Ball getting wacked out of the ground for a six - you get to see a dad trying to fix nuptials for his daughter thru BSNL. Its another story that the commercials have become almost like a mini documentary these days; few of them running to almost a minute. Soon it would time for a 'Cricket Break' amidst a conutinuous stream of commercials.

The TV screen is already cluttered with an animated advt at the bottom, the BCCI logo in one corner, the broadcaster logo in another corner and another advt animation between those two; yes the most important cricketer caught in between all these. Soon you would require a big screen TV, if you really want to watch some cricket or all you might get to see is the score ticker at the bottom and continuous relay of commercials with some cricket in-between.

Look at the number of spectators in these venues; all you could see was empty plastic seats in Malaysia. It was a pitiful scene during the India-WI series as well where the locals clearly had their preferences right and were more interested in seeing the Trinidad & Tobago at the soccer world cup than lining up to the cricket field. For whatever reason, all chennai got to watch on the first day of the DLF cup was a blank screen of Zee Sports. Later I read somewhere that there was a tussle between Zee and the local cable distributor.

So, where is the game of cricket heading inspite of the burgeoning coffers of all the cricketing boards? How much of all this money is used in the name of cricket, leave alone bringing in new nations under the bandwagon, reviving the loosing charm among nations like Bangladesh, Keyna and a Zimbabwe is the need of the hour? Soon, the cricketers may soon wear billboard shirts like the F1 drivers. Why not? They get a chunk of the pie as well. Wonder how much of a loss would it be for the sponsors on a final clash sans India? Tony Greig is perhaps right, it is not Indian Cricket that is so important to the world, but the Indian market that is becoming the cynosure of all these media houses to target their commercials.

2006-07-25T21:37:00.000+05:30

(3 Days) Prince of Kurukshetra !

I had not watched the news headlines the previous night and on the Saturday morning when I saw the news flashing 'Nation prays for Prince - All out effort to save Prince'. I was puzzled and kept wondering who the Prince could be. My thoughts went back and forth and I tried my best to correlate the headlines with all the 'Princes' I had known. I couldn't remember of any of the crown prince either in India or the Middle East who could merit so much of the nation's attention. Could it be the Prince of Kolkata - poor dada, lady luck can't do so much of injustice to him. Could it be the funky pop icon, Prince of Little Red Corvette fame? But, I seldom knew he had such a mad fan following within the nation, who would gather overnight to conduct a mass yagna for his well-being. The Haryana CM, mobbed by a battery of media people, issues a status report on Prince and if I had heard it right, had sought technical assistance from experts in London and Holland! Young turk Navin Jindal, still trying hard to survive amongst the wily old foxes of the congress coterie, is personally supervising the entire melee and begging the media to stay away - more rightly so! An entire horde of dutiful men in the uniform lend their best hands in the rescue effort with mammoth machinery and air force coming to their aid. After few minutes of bewilderment, the news channels came to my rescue with a live report from the action site where a poor young boy by name 'Prince' had fallen into a narrow trench and there was all kinda harakiri over the rescue operation.

Aha, there lies our Prince, some 60 feet down below in a trench - thanks to the closed circuit camera dropped down the hole.

Needless to say, the sensation craving media - all trying to outclass each other - provided a breath by breath account of the incident. I even heard, it was one of the media house that managed to drop a camera deep inside the trench. I am not sure, how much it would have cost them to get this exclusivity of this entire incident. Giving a semblance of national harmony, almost every religious group had special prayers for the young kid. The PM and Sonia Gandhi all had a spot for Prince in their prayers that night. Needless to say it would have been a nightmarish experience for the parents of the poor kid, not just because of the precarious fall but the sudden prominence on the national radar would have definitely put them onto some discomfort. Almost every national daily carried a full-page coverage of the incident the next day.

What took me by surprise was the extent to which we have fallen prey to the sensationalizing of any incident by the media. This used to be a very common phenomena in the US where a kid getting sick eating a school meal would capture the headlines than a million kids succumbing to mal-nutrition or a landmine explosion in Africa. Least to say we are getting over-influenced by western way of living, especially the increasing middle-class society. Who else would have been awe-struck by the entire episode than the people sitting comfy in their sofa, enjoying a good weekend lunch and the entire media feasting their gory appetite of lunch time conversation.

I am not so inane to personally go against the help lent to save a poor life, especially the efforts of our brave men in uniform. But, the attention that was given to this particular instance, while similar incidents are a commonplace happening in so many parts of this country was appalling. How many Princes die of starving in so many tribal belts of this nation? How many kids languish in pain working in tanneries, quarys, restaurants and sivakasis, slogging out more than what their physical structure can allow them to - all in the need to feed their hungry soul atleast one meal a day? The single malady that exists in most of our villages is not just deprivation of food, but deprivation of vital nutrients in the food. What about the kids dying of starvation each day in Vidharbha? Thousands of young kids can barely get one nutritious meal a day or clean water to drink. Let us not lose the trail of the bigger picture while the media feeds us with fodder, minute by minute, with all these sensational stories. Let us not forget the millions of other Princes fighting for their own survival.

Amidst all this commotion was the news that 'Prince celebrated his birthday' in the trench and a mammoth cake welcomed him on the ground.

God save the Prince!

2006-07-21T22:06:00.000+05:30

Its all of us - stupid !

Another ghastly terror attack, hundreds dead, good samaritans help each other, world leaders condemn attacks, politicians make a beeline, issue inane statements and make hefty compensation announcements in the air, blame thy neighbour across the border, media keeps talking till they bump into a more sensational story, 'experts' make their opinions known, almost anyone (m'inclus) has something to say or write and life goes on. But, is it really so?

Least to say, it was apalling to hear the rhetoric made by Mulayam that SIMI does not have any presence in UP or one of his mouthpiece's profess that SIMI might not have perpetrated this criminal act of the Mumbai blast. We as a nation may never learn to live in unity; except for the semblance of harmony displayed in smaller groups as witnessed in the great act of herioism and resileince displayed by the Mumbaikars in the moment of crisis. Leave alone the usual suspicions cast on the involvement of the neighbour across the border, when are we going to learn to lend one common voice in a moment of horror and national calamity. How can we ever fight the pervalence of terror with so much of divergence on the very definition of the phenomenon and the criminals inflicting it? An outlaw like the SIMI gets the backing of a major political party and the reason can only be mandated by the shameful requisites of vote-bank politics. The moment the central government asks the states to crack down on a suspected unit, how can a state government be so deliberate in its backing of the same unit with its ministers openly acquiescing the unit. Doesn't this amount to criminal activity of the same magnitude as the ultras who languished the terror on innocent citizens of Mumbai? This is not the only instance of political partisanship playing precariously on the lives of the innocent lives. The Kerala CM comes calling Karunanidhi all in the need - on Humanitarian grounds - to inquire about the well-being of a convict serving his cause in the jails for his role on the Coimbatore blasts. Where on earth would killing hundreds of innocuous human beings and spreading the menace of terror would demand humanitarian treatement? A forest brigand murdering dutiful officers, besides felling so many tuskers gets exonerated like a patriot. While the outlawed get so sophisticated, we arm our poor guards with antiquated weaponery. The enemy is not across the border - it is right next to us - our impotency to define and stand for righteousness. As long as we let the politicans play the game of selective favoritism in the name of vote-bank politics and create for ourselves myopic policies to remain oblivious to the need for a uniform anti-terror law, we are going to be soft targets for any criminal waiting to wreck havoc on us.

These blasts may not be categorized as acts of terror - it is a war and should it be handled like a war. We need fire to fight fire. Call it TADA, POTA or whatever, there should be one unshakable law that can strike terror on anyone including the politicans - if it need be. Does such dastardly act even deem a defense lawyer, a sessions court that is still trying to express its jurisprudence even after eight years of the cowardly act of the coimbatore blasts, while the poor souls of the frail victims rest in peace? With so much acrimony amongst the various political parties on working towards a national consensus, sans a semblance of it when it comes to the need to preserve their vote-bank at any cost - any such law would get shoved down the drain and god forbid there be yet another terror strike somewhere and we go in circles! What does the so called increased diplomatic pressure on Pakistan going to achieve - what has it delivered all these years? If not to take a cue from the Israelies, we should know how to defend ourselves and protect our soverignity. We need leaders who could show us that way and not try to divide the nation in the name of pitiful power game and shameful vote-bank politics.

Alas, we chose the kings and so our destiny !

2006-06-15T19:49:00.000+05:30

Yeh Dil Mange More !

I have been wondering, if there could be a correlation between the slump in the performance of Dhoni, Pathan and Sania to the amount of corporate endorsements they have accumulated after their meteoric rise in their respective sporting arena. Sania, the WTA newcomer of the year, hasn't gone past the 2nd round in any singles event this year and all she had achieved is to reach the 4th round of a grand slam and win couple of WTA tournaments within her home country amongst a depleted rank of players, besides the desultory wins over players ranked above her. Pathan, one who promised to be the pace spearhead and the much vaunted all-rounder of the men in blue has in the recent past almost mysteriously lost so much of his whiz and confidence. Kumble is not that far behind Pathan in pace, only that he generates it in few hops compared to Pathan’s long and gasping run-up. During the recent Caribbean tour, Dhoni's appearance was more predominant riding a bike in the TV commercials than his stay at the crease wielding his magic willow. True, it is not easy to be a Sania, Dhoni or a Pathan to a billion people watching every move of theirs and to stand up to their expectations and even worse to face critiques who question every single offbeat.

Celebrity endorsement is not new to the Indian masses. Right from the days of Kapil's 'Palmolive da jawab nahin' to Sunny Gavaskar's 'Take the world in your stride - Dinesh Suitings', it sure is a definite pay off for both the parties. No wonder in a buzzing economy with such a wide market audience like India, every corporate entity, especially in the consumer goods arena is fighting its way to romp-in these celebrities with their ability to add a glowing image to their product. The efficacy and institutional advantage of personality marketing is indubitable and what any consumer tend to look for is an instant association of a product with a well-known celebrity and this tends to improve the brand name of the product. The more famous you are, the more you transcend the sport you are in and this lasts a long time as it did with Kapil, Sunny or Sachin. This is the case even with the multi-million dollar endorsements that revolve around either a Tiger Woods, a Michael Jordan or a David Beckam; they had the personality to hold fans in a thrall even when they had an off day. But this can only be true when the marketing centers around a unique personality, like that of Tiger, Mike, Sachin or a Beckam - the list is very short. Gatorade's famous line of 'Wanna be like Mike' was such an instant success story across the US cutting across age groups. The same could be said about Sachin's 'Boost is the secret of my energy' to a major extent, for he stands out and brings-in a larger-than-life role to the product as an individual than just as a cricketer.

But, do we as a nation of pitiful sports achievements react too pronto to confer the status of gods on sports personalities. Put in perspective what a Sania, Dhoni or Pathan had achieved in their forging career to that of a Gilchrist or a McGrath or Pietersen. No question about their potential on what they can deliver and also the immense pressure they need to surmount to handle the unreasonable expectations of more than a billion people. But do we or the corporate world react too swiftly and over qualify individuals pushing them to celebrity status all in a hurry to achieve instant success. Expectations are treacherous - but expectations also get fuelled-in by the hype created by the media and the corporates that go after these athletes dangling the carrots of money and celebrity status - a bit too soon!

It has been good for cricket that we are not anymore just limited to a Mumbai or a Delhi to locate stars. Thanks to the pathans, dhonis and munaf patels, talents are emerging from every corner of this country, battling every odds and adversity in this ever so competitive gamut of getting your way into the playing eleven. The real strength of any individual lies in in how you manage fame and how you handle yourself in this sudden spike of notoriety. Look at the number of products carrying a dhoni or sania label these days. Right from a bath soap to motor bikes, from a carbonated drink to a four wheeler. How much of this quick money and instant famedom would these stars be able to manage in their young career without compromising their faculty?

Time would tell and it would only be a humble wish of any ardent sports fan to pray that these stars shine a little longer. A Sania, Dhoni or Pathan represent more than their respective sport - they reflect the verve and buoyancy of the youth, the new age India. I would love to see a Sania hold aloft a Wimbledon trophy at the same time driving away in a Getz or talk about the fancy couplets in her t-shirt. I would still like to say 'Yeh Dil Maange More' to Sachin for he has not led the nation of frenzy cricket lovers to a world cup victory yet.

2006-06-11T18:54:00.000+05:30

Ideologies, anyone?

With all the news media switching base to the more sensational story of an youth snorting coke and the man who was in centre stage taking a breather at the Saudi; perhaps to take a cue or two from the monarchical way to implement policies of convenience, did anyone realize where are those doctors who were shouting their heart-out against the reservation and the media which had been blamed as the propaganda wing of those anti-reservationists. Of course, life goes on and how long can someone lie down on the streets, drinking mineral water, playing games in their mobile phones while the government had literally turned deaf ears to all their salvo. Instead the nation’s supreme legal institution had to step-in and wag the wand of social responsibility to the agitating doctors and came down heavily on the suffering meted-out to the patients who were caught in this tussle between the pro and anti.

In this entire melee I was thinking why dint the renegade medicos get a patient hearing from a single political party or a celebrity. When Medha Patkar went on a hunger strike against increasing the height of the Narmada Dam, there was the stream of Arundati Roys, Aamir Khans and the communists behind her. Why dint a single political party, be it the pro-forward or the pro-backward class, make its stand clear on where they are with this issue. What made the striking medicos such anti-nationals or untouchables; there were support for their cause from various knowledge champions, but not a single political party or a celebrity from the tinsel world came forward. Even the BJP which is supposed to be the most pro-forwrad than any other, seemed caught befuddled in the loose sand of double speak and had to eat its own words trying to explain their position – if at all there was any. Perhaps ambiguity is the hallmark of politics. This raises the question – can any political party dare to be anti-reservation? It is not just the issue of reservation; take the case of the recent TN government’s ruling to allow anyone – of course, qualified - to be a temple priest. Even here the BJP, a party which is still trying to get its feet wet in the southern states, had to toe the government’s line pushing its ideologies to the backstage or changing it to that of convenience. With the all important UP elections in the horizon and while Mayawati is busy conducting a ‘upper-caste mela’, no wonder the congress and the BJP had to resort to the Mandal way. Sure it is the survival of the fittest in the world of politics.

Is this frailty of the opposition that gives credence to the mission the HR minister has taken up, even if it is anti-constitutional? Political unanimity may not necessarily correlate to constitutionality! Or, is it like populism begins where rational thinking ends. Think of the slew of populist measures that were strewn on the people of TN in the recently concluded elections that defied any basic laws of economics. It was over the sheer strength of one freebie versus the other that the elections were won – rather one idiocy over the other. But, if legitimizing a cause for the mere reason of political survival with pitiful disregard of their ideologies and shameful ignorance of rationality, is the way forward, it soon is going to be a tussle between wickedness versus righteousness and the fruits of what we claim to be our forte, democracy, is going to turn very sour!

May be it is the affluent urban society to be blamed, for they are the ones who continue to shun the elections and alienate themselves from the political clan with a fear of getting dirty, for who care a zilch about coming out and voting on an election day rather prefer to stay indoors comfy in their mansions. Contrast that to the villagers who come out in numbers to be part of the democratic process and vote – it is quite irrelevant whether they have a reason to vote one way or another or they have the mandal or the freebies in their mind.

"The people is a very heterogeneous and confused mass of the wealthy and the poor, the wise and the foolish, the good and the bad. Before we confer on a man, who caresses the people, the title of patriot, we must examine to what part of the people he directs his notice. …if his first or principal application be to the indigent, who are always inflammable; to the weak, who are naturally suspicious; to the ignorant, who are easily misled; and to the profligate, who have no hope but from mischief and confusion; let his love of the people be no longer boasted.” -- Samuel Johnson: The Patriot

2006-05-28T17:14:00.000+05:30

CEO - Chief Evasive Officer !

Not very long ago did I use to take pride, like so many of fellow countrymen, to the fact that we had the rarest possibility of our nation being run by two intellectuals at the helm of affairs. A renowned economist who had brought this country from the brinks of bankruptcy by sowing the initial seeds of liberalization as the prime minister and a space scientist, who with the dream of taking this nation and its younger generation to its rightful place in the globe by 2020, as the president. Both these men won the hearts of so many of us, especially the younger generation, not just for their intellect, but for what they brought in them as 'persons' - mild mannered, unassuming, utterly simple and with the cleanest image that can never be resisted. Something you very seldom find amongst our dodgy politico and in a country which was grappling under the ruckus of corrupt politicians. This very idea of a country being led by a CEO and not a political leader itself took some to sink in and soon got the nod of majority of us - one to lead this country as its chief executive and march it along and another to manage the myriads of coalition politics.

Enough of eulogies, all the recent events in this country, right from the Narmada dam controversy to the burning reservation issue has exposed the limitations of what a CEO who is apolitical can or cannot be able to execute. A Prime Minister who cannot utter a word under the disguise of 'convenient ignorance' while almost every other member of his cabinet in a open coup d'etat has an opinion and not lack the courage to espouse their voices, shows the strength of political will over righteousness. How can a Prime Minister not have an opinion or rather the tenacity to express it while a majority section of his people are taking to the roads disapproving one of his government's policy and the worse of all, getting beaten up mercilessly by the cops, scenes very much reminiscent only of the days of freedom struggle. This seriously gives credibility to the opposition's talk on who really is the prime minister? Is it the same old wine of votebank politics, now masqueraded under the 'clean image' wrapper of an individual? How much authority does the prime minister really have over his colleagues who in all their own merit are the backbone of the party's political base? Be it a Meira Kumar who they cannot ignore for her backward class votebank, an Arjun Singh, an old wily fox of political manipulations, a Shibu Soren or Ram Vilas Paswan or a Ramdoss who cannot be ignored for the sheer arithmetic of coalition politics. How much 'execution' can a CEO like setup bring in without the backing of murky politics? No wonder the PM sans the political leader is mysteriously mute, who pathetically lost in the only lok sabha election he contested and who had to get into the parliament thru back door from a state as remote as Assam.

Chief Evasive Officer - that fits in perfectly as well, for a person who is still held at high esteem for his integrity and who is now caught in the web of clumsy political interlude.

2006-01-14T20:19:00.000+05:30

Mars Chale!

“Towards the end of the century, Indians may participate in the planetary civilization that may result in many resourceful Indians inhabitating Mars and entering the space industrial establishment on Moon”.

Thank you Mr. Prez. Your vision for the future is much more grandeur than majority of the citizens of this country. To quote the great Dr. Sarabhai himself “There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.” Besides designing missiles and being part of the space club, how much of this scientific relevance can be applied to solve the real problems faced by humanity, especially in a country like us with a vast section still deprived of the basic amenities to lead a normal life - take for instance the weather forecasting.

Weather patterns have been on the flip-side for our country this year and call it global warming or the curse of the weather gods, extreme weather let its fury wreck havoc and the victims are thousands of innocent lives plus the material loss, throwing normal life out of gear. Tsunami in the southern part of the country, cloudburst at the city of Mumbai, flash floods at Bangalore and the interminable trail of cyclones that ravaged the state of Tamil Nadu, extreme cold temperatures in the northen part of this country. Seldom did I realize that there is a naming sequence for the cyclones that hit this part of the planet and Baaz, Mala and Fanooz became household names for people who had wondered with awe at the western nations naming their hurricanes Katrina and Rita and had thought of it as capitalistic phenomena foreign to developing nations like us.

I have always had this admiration of the western nations, especially the way in which technology and scientific pursuit had had an influence on their daily life. Weathermen and their detailed forecasts had always been my fascination in the US for I am only used to see female bimbos with their queer smiles reciting the temperatures measurements. This is weather forecasting for majority of the citizens of this country and the only imagery is the tiny map of India from one of the INSAT satellite that we get to see either in couple of national TV channels and few dailies the next day. This is status quo for the past decade or so, while the budgetary allocation of millions of taxpayer money to the department of space and other scientific establishments has only gone up. Not to undermine the count of unquestionable national pride - be it the design of various INSAT range of satellites, our own launch vehicles and the imageries captured by our remote sensing satellites are claimed to be one of the best in the world. Now there is the grandeur vision of building a Chandrayan and our scientific pursuit is all set to go extra-terrestrial. No one can catechize the feats of the ISRO since its inception in 1960s to where we are now with pride. Shouldn’t the next phase be lending more humane touch to our quest and to solve problems that are more native to us?

Weather satellites above us that can watch every inch of this country day-in and day-out or build doppler radar systems that can track any storm and give sufficient time for our citizens to take refuge or a Tsunami Warning System? Streaming animation of these imageries on the information super highway or a dedicated TV channel, and a climateologist educating the masses at time of crisis instead of the ill-informed neophytes creating panic. In Mumbai for instance, had we known the ensuing cloudburst atleast 3 hours in advance it wouldn't have left thousands of people left stranded on the streets for more than two days. Take the case of Tsunami, every news channel was talking about some unusual turbulence in the sea atlesat 6 hours before the real tragedy struck. How many graduates in this country pass-out in meteorological science program and perhaps end-up in an irrelevant IT job? Why not provide this technology to the lesser affluent nations of this region and affirm our super-power status.

Nonetheless, indubitable are our migratory traits - there would be an Indian designing chips, churning-out thousands of lines of code and fixing arterial holes of Martians, some deftly answering in a fake Martian accent, an Indian grocery shop selling from bournvita to betalnuts and a definite Taj restaurant to serve the delectable Indian delights to the outer planets!

2006-01-08T23:02:00.000+05:30

Small is Beautiful!

Christmas time – festivities galore, tranquil weather made the lazy soul in me stay indoors and spend the day playing with my 2.5 yr old son. We decided to build a house with the colorful blocks he got. The model picture had a very nice assembly of a house, swimming pool, play yard, etc. I followed my limited creative instincts and started putting those colorful pieces together and seldomdid i anticipate it to be this tricky. After a full two hours of arduous work, I just managed to put the doors, windows in some place and created a structure! I had no clue on the utility of the various pieces and I just managed to put them together. 'Appa, this doesn’t look like a house!' came the voice and he just squashed those pieces to their ruins. I wouldn’t blame him. I should confess – I did a pathetic job with those blocks.

I guess, I am not alone when it comes to venturing into things that are not in our forte and striving to complete it with lesser concern for the end product. This is the state de affaire of the MRTS project happening for quite some years now in Chennai. What was started off with a grand ambition to alleviate the traffic problems of the city, took its own time to come off the drawing board – not different from any of the state initiated projects. Lesser surprise, media frenzy abuzz, I still remember the days when this project stole the cover pages of every syndicate – ‘Chennayil Parakkum Rayil’ (Flying Train for Chennai). At least the nerve line – the rail tracks on an elevated structure was completed two years back and there is a train running back and forth now and even with very little public buy-in the project continues these days. Except the peak office hours, the toy-like- train runs near empty. Defying the basic logic is the number of cars – three during crowded peak hours and six when the driver is on his own in the afternoon time!

The funniest of all are the train stations themselves; before the train could accelerate and pick-up some speed you would see it come to a screeching halt. And each one of these stations are mammoth concrete structures with elevators, escalators and the grandeur plans for all amenities - to handle the small crowd of people who patronize this. Did someone say private enterprise bring-in efficiencies which the public sector very badly lacks? Looks like someone gave these construction companies tons of steel and cement and asked them ‘Just do whatever you want and keep building something and just don’t stop’. More like the ideology behind some of the public sector firms that Nehru had created with a vision of producing something besides the fundamental premise to ‘create jobs for the masses’. Everyday, I keep staring at the edifice, which is right across the road from my 10th floor office in Tidel Park. Absolutely no structure, no reasoning and no need and their basic premise: Construct, Break and Construct even more! Within a stretch of 2 Kms you would find 3 stations and each one can only beat each other in size. After years of work, the laws of linear progression will only let you believe that the things would culminate soon towards the end result. But, sorry folks! Not here; while people are busy building some portion of the station, few few other portions have become a dungeon and you can see brand new elevators and Kone escalators lying amidst concrete rubble. Whose money is going down the drains and I would be more than glad to meet the architect who designed these ‘marvels’!

What do we have after years of draining effort and material, the basement parking lots were all flooded during the recent cyclone, a very porous roof in most of the places, the stations are located in desolate places that you have to be a film hero to venture into these stations after dark and most of the stations are encroachments rife. The other day after watching on TV the crowded local schools, which were used as temporary shelter for the flood battered chennai civic, I was wondering what would it take to convert these mammoth structures into community kitchens during a time of crisis. But my friend shot it down straightaway saying most of the structure is leaking and the stench from the local Cooum river over which these stations are built would only drive away anyone miles. So, there you go …

But, if not for the pathetic condition of the project, the MRTS could have been a boon to alleviate the traffic ordeal had they linked up the southern end with the existing suburban line near St. Thomas Mount and provide connectivity with the local bus network. That would have provided an excellent coverage of the city along its periphery. A ride from Thiruvanmiyur to Triplicane for six rupees and in 10 minutes! Dream on via roads or with the notorious auto drivers of Chennai. For god’s sake stop building these structures called ‘stations’ for the mammoth enclosure only adds to the shoddiness of the place. All we need is a shelter and since it is in an elevated plane – stairs to climb, a ticket booth (why not vending machines!) and a reasonable parking space.

It'll be a great place if they only finish it! - O Henry

2006-01-07T17:45:00.000+05:30

Here we go again ...

Another Sourav - Dungarpur tango, denials by the mainstay, angry Kolkata fans and to top it all - the delightful fiesta served to the media.

"... he is the worst fielder in the side. He cannot be a role model of a captain."

The most ludicrous of all was the somersault served by Mr. RD himself to the same media to disown whatever he had said with the finesse of a master acrobat!

"Sourav is a tremendous batsman and his off-side play is simply great. His vast experience should help the Indian team in the series against Pakistan. "

Duh!

Honestly, the dimwits here are the fans like you and me who just can't take anymore of these idiosyncrasies of a board official. At least for the sake of Cricket and to its ardent fans, let the media serve a moratorium not to rekindle this Sourav Charade anymore. Enough is enough and let the game decide whether he merits a place in the team or not.

Whether Sourav is the "laziest captain ever" as revealed by Mr. RD or "one of most experienced player" who deserved to be picked on the side, he is in the team and all we care about now is some good cricket that is in store for true cricket lovers - between two sides that are raring to go.

Let us play some Cricket!

2006-01-04T16:43:00.000+05:30

Monsters' Inc !

Feeling dizzy after driving my way back home for nearly an hour in the midst of those monstrous vehicles that swarm the roads of Chennai, especially the IT corridors. My Zen is really out-dwarfed by those goliath vehicles and at times on the busy roads I just keep budging away till I realize that I am inches away from climbing over the curbs or the pathways. It sure is the survival of the fittest or the fattest rather, on the crowded roads of Chennai! Sometimes when I honk and try to take a peek upwards, I can see few faces giggling at me and my diminutive vehicle. Yes, by monster I refer to the buses – most of them are discards from the various travel companies - that are engaged by the IT service companies these days to help their fellow wards reach their abode safely and of course to bring them back promptly to their den at work the next morning.

With every IT company going for their own sprawling campuses at the outskirts of the city, commuting is a big deal and it is a highly appreciated perk for most of the associates who sans that have to live with the teeming roads and regular traffic snarls. But, do we really need such behemoth vehicles? Does the workforce need spanky sleeper coaches to come to work - I have even seen few dozing off during the commute. The people who drive those monsters with utter disregard for every traffic light or zooming their way around in the traffic maze only to the utter dismay of the fellow commuters. 'Celebrating Work' - at what cost? Anyone can venture on their way only to their own peril and the only match for them might be the notorious water tankers that ply the chennai roads in summer. Thanks to the monsoon, even they are off the roads these days and contributing their portion to the margin of safety to commuters like me. Quite recently one of my fellow coworker was fatally knocked down while riding a two-wheeler. It was a case of hit-and-run and the incident had its own silent demise. There were unconfirmed reports that it was by one of the monsters from a reputed IT house. If it had any reason to be true; there would be very few surprises.

Can these monsters be claimed to undermine the firm's corporate social responsibility values? Why not? A firm's CSR strategy goes beyond paying the regular taxes and contributing to some charities. It should be based on sound ethics and core values which firm deeply believes in. If a NRNM and a Premji are looked upon as icons not just in the corporate world, but across the nation, the next step for them is towards fulfilling their societal obligations. Their stature in the society provides them the opportunity to deliver this. Of course there are numerous limitations and constraints in the system and both of them have gone at lengths to talk about it. NRNM's recent outburst against the nations' politico elite was not taken lightly. But, even in the chaotic traffic, if there is one vehicle that does not skip any Red lights, that employs drivers who seldom indulge in any road rage it should be theirs. They should stand out just like the corporate entities themselves. The business is not totally divorced from the rest of the society and with responsible behavior the corporate's role in building an ethical and social environment is highly appreciated by the society. 'Applying Thoughts' - can it be applied here ?

Why can’t the M&Ms and Leylands and Tatas design vehicles that suit our limited infrastructure? Doesn't this qualify to be in the automobile giant's CSR strategy? Why can’t an Infosys or TCS or Wipro procure such vehicles or train their drivers to be the road samaritans? Why not vehicles that run on LNG, why do we wait for a government legislation to impose such controls, instead show the way. How difficult would this be for the NRNMs and the Premjis? Outside stakeholders are increasingly aware of the activities of any company in terms of its impact to the environment and on local communities. Imagine how the firms can leverage out the traffic friendly vehicles they run within the society. Acting in a socially responsible manner does not necessarily quantify as an ethical duty of the company, but something that has a significant bottom-line pay off!

2006-01-02T09:54:00.000+05:30

Uncommon Sense?

In the aftermath of the terror attacks at IISc Bangalore everyone from our own politicians to civic administrators to technology brand ambassadors to the all pervasive media is talking about the ominous threat looming at our famed institutions and some of the economic hubs of our nation. While it is with a glaring anguish that one looks at the way the ugly menace is spreading its tentacles to the relatively peaceful southern part of this country, few can disagree that we can take this as any comforting factor and it is only a matter of time for the terror outfits to strike where it hurts the most.

The day after the terror attack at IISc Bangalore, there were numerous news articles about how the security arrangements at various other institutions and potential vulnerable sites have been beefed up. The Hindu even carried out a news article in its front page with a picture of a security man guarding the Tidel Park – the citadel of the IT folks in Chennai. Few of us who work at the Tidel Park and who had to go through the so called 'increased security' the next few days, could not but laugh at the sight of a solitary guard standing in front of the mammoth concrete structure with a heavy wooden rifle and I think it can fire at the most 6 bullets before a refill! Can you figure out what I am talking about? A single archaic rifle and couple of cops sleeping in a police patrol vehicle parked outside the premises, to protect the tons of concrete and the hundreds of technologists housed in that structure! Vow, that is very comforting to feel safe under the 'increased security'. Did someone say the miscreants used a AK47 or a AK56? Where do we think the poor security guard posted under 'increased security' stand, god forbid a similar strike happening at the Tidel Park? Does anyone still remember the scenes the television channels beamed across our nation when few fidayeen strikes happened at our Parliament house in broad daylight? All our poor security guards fighting with those manual antediluvian guns hiding behind the trees and pillars and still fighting against people who happen to possess the most modern weaponry. Similar scenes in the fidayeen strikes that happened in the picturesque Aksharadam temple couple of years back.

A recent episode in CNBC's Uncovered showed how anyone can freely walk around the campuses of IIT Mumbai and how a locker full of keys was left ajar for anyone to play some pranks. Though it is argued that working under the perceived security threats might hamper the freedom of thought and is against the fundamentals of scientific pursuit, getting elevated to the status of Oxford-Harvard would also mean accepting things on their face-value and not defying the plain simple logic of taking preventive measures. If not converting these institutions into an armed fortress, at least let us not make the existing security or the 'tightened' version of it a mockery of sorts.

Who do we blame for this ineptness? By the way, how much of our hard earned tax-payers money and the GDP goes towards procuring loads of arms to protect our country? With how much pride do we talk about the success of the various missiles that get built in-house or the most modern aircrafts where the government gets to spend billions of dollars? All towards protecting, either a non-existant or a not-yet-struck threat. While no one can question the wisdom to have the most modern armed forces to protect the nation, what about the real threat that lies in our backyard or rather that knocked at our door – yesterday? What would it take to dress-up our humble security men who stand to protect us day and night, with the gadgets they need the most? All we get to see security men with modern weapons is when they run behind our netas or their cavalry!

The other day I was watching on TV when our politicians observed the anniversary of the terror attacks at the parliament and throwing away the regular promises to the kin of the deceased. Majority of which never materialized – that is a different story. If at all any promise or one single deed that can make a big difference to the men guarding these institutions is to provide them with the best equipments to do their job – to fight fire with fire. After all they are putting their life in line first to save ours.

It sounds too common sense – or is it just me who doesn't get it!

2005-12-31T17:28:00.000+05:30

A Very Happy, Healthy and Hopeful 2006 !