Performance Reviews

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!

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.

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.

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.

(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!

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 !

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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!

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!

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!