Honor by Compromise!

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!

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!

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!