Importers of 'Bad News'!

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!

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!

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 !

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...

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!

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!

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!