Bull's Eye

My Mumbai Marathon experience : Part 2

2012-02-09T00:03:00.000+05:30

(Read Part 1 here: My experience: Part 1 )

My feet were throbbing with tiredness as well as the blisters. We went past the Hanging Gardens and turned turned right towards Babulnath Temple. Another 200 mts and I would be on Marine Drive; but the blisters on both feet were pinching me inside the shoes.

You realise the vastness of the drive and it's circularity. When you enter this road, suddenly, you are in the sun, thus far protected by tall buildings. By the time you cross Churney Road station, the sun is directly hitting you in the eye and then you are in the shade again. A little before the New Yorker and Ideal Cafe junction, a mist-tent was set up. This is a pretty neat thing, wherein, even as you run you can go through a tunnel of slow spray of a mist, bringing you instant relief albeit temporary.

3 more km to go! These are the longest miles of the half marathon. At this time, you are mustering every ounce of will to move on. The hamstrings are beginning to talk, the feet are crying for respite, the random sweat bead getting into the eye burns like acid and your head is throbbing. But the crowds takeover. Several cheering squads on all sides representing Radio Stations, The Navy, some charities etc, I pass by even as I look to my right ino the sky to spot a low flying helicopter, probably, carrying media crew.

Beyond the Inter-Continental Marine hotel, the density of spectators build up. And by the time you turn at Pizza By The Bay (erstwhile Jazz By The Bay) crowds takeover. By this time the Dream Runners are flooding the other side of the road, followed by charities and sponsors' volunteers. We hear the loud siren like that of a police van, but really a media bus leading some of the full marathoners. The winners must be already past the finish line, I calculate.

By this time, the milestone markers are cleverly designed to say the distance that is remaining to be covered, rather than the insofar markers which displayed the distance covered. This does play big on the mind, favourably so. You are trying to muster up the last few bars of energy left in you and give it the final push. I hear someone complain there are no water stations in the last two KMs. Fair enough, my mind was elsewhere but the point is valid.

Entering the last turn, the last 600 meters toward Azad Maidan, you eyes are set on the distant clock over the finish line. OK, I can see a digital dance happening on the display. It's definitely broken. I break into a sprint, just so that I can feel I ran with gusto across the finish line. I can feel myself making a big effort, but the output was not as big as expected. Clearly, the energy is waning.

I slow down as I cross the finish line and feel a slight tug in my left hamstring. About time I started slow stretches, I think. My second Half Marathon has just come to an end.

My Mumbai Marathon experience : Part 1

2012-01-22T10:13:00.005+05:30

At Five in the morning of the Sunday, the air in Mumbai was chill. I expected it to feel less colder. I had taken a cold water, maybe 10 C, shower just a short while back.

I stepped into the cab dressed in a cotton crew neck, running tights, loose shorts and running shoes with the Blackberry tucked away in my armband.At that time of the day, it took me about 15 minutes to cover the distance it takes 90 minutes in peak hour traffic.

This would be my second time at the Mumbai Marathon, doing the half marathon. The second time, what helps you is remembering that you have done the 21.09 km before.

As I stepped into the runners' waiting area, the excitement was palpable. There is something about running groups giving tempo shouts, stretching, spot jogging that gets your adrenalin pumped up and puts your mind into the running mode. You want to start running right away, forgetting the pace you have planned. I bumped into Pramod Singh of PGPX (With a target time of 2 hours), who was here with his classmates and then also happened to meet a former colleague. The buzz of the crowd grew into a loud cackle by the time we closed in on 6, the first flag off. I was in the 615 flag off.

As we passed the starting point, I made sure I stepped on the RFID sensor mat. Among the dozens of beeps from the runners stepping over, my starting time too must have got registered. Once the starting point is behind you, the road ahead is pitch dark, as you go in the direction of the Sea Link. Onto the Sea Link, I paced into a brisk walk and looked over my left shoulder. An orange streak of light was pushing its way through hues of grey, black and deep blue sky behind the silhouette of the Mahim/Worli skyline. Sunrise was not far away.

"Mama, should I run for the president" lines by Pink Floyd were flowing into my ears as I crossed the mid point of the Sea Link. Downhill, I resisted the temptation to break into a sprint. At 4 km, it was not the part of the plan.

As we turned onto the INS Strata circle, I realised that the route had been slightly changed this year. They took us deeper into Mahim/Worli and brought us back to Sea Face. By this time, I had started to alternate between a jog and brisk walk. I noticed that many who were doing the half marathon for probably the first time were doing the same mistakes I had committed last year. They had started running at the starting-gun and now they were starting to slow down, getting tired.

By the time we double backed onto Worli exit of the Sea Link, we had covered 9 KM.I felt a pinch in the arch of my my right foot. I realised what it was but could not understand why a blister should form with all controlled factors - shoes, socks etc. Anyway, it was to be only ignored. 12 more km to finish line.As if on cue, 'Shine on you crazy diamond' was beating into my ears egging me on.

As we approached Annie Besant Road, the Kenyan-Ethiopian contingent was seen running towards us on the other side of the road. Such a delight it is to watch them! Like a gust of wind, the 9 athlete group runs together in unison at an average 20 kmph. All of us cheered at the equine squadron, as the media van and bike escort that were following them zoomed past us. Louder cheers followed for the Indian male and female runners.

Crossing the Atria Mall on Annie Besant road, I realised I was falling behind the 4-5 people who had seemed to be sharing my pace. I started jogging a little faster. I was soon discouraged by another pinch under the ball of my left foot and a stronger pinch around my left pinkie toe. We were past the 14 km mark by now.

Two-thirds done, another 7 km to go. Just as we cross the Haji Ali signal, you are reminded of the treacherous climb up Peddar Road, past the Mahalaxmi Temple. I also looked at my hands. They were swollen. When you walk or run at a stretch fluid accumulates in the feet and hands. My feet were feeling tighter in my shoes.

The last 4 miles are the slowest. The Peddar Road incline is the first speed breaker at the 15th km. I decided, I would adjust pace and climb with long strides to miminise the frequency of contact on the ground. I soon realised this would not work for too long. Time for some water. A little girl was offering glasses of water in two hands. I grabbed both of them. I also noticed that as against Worli Sea Face neighborhood volunteers, the Peddar road crowd had placed dustbins to drop used glasses and other trash.The cheers were louder on this stretch as well.

By this time, I guess the crowd realises, the runner has the first thoughts of whether she will be able to complete the half marathon start creeping into your mind. The words and claps of the spectators go a long way in reminding 'you have done well, keep going'. An old Parsi lady who stood on the road divider, looked at me and said something like 'Darling, you look like you ...' Between Akon and the general cheering her words were lost on me. But the man in orange T Shirt, ahead of me and a couple of others heard and I could see they smiled. The Orange T Shirt turned around and looked at my forehead. The lady had probably commented on the salt grains that had formed on my head and cheeks.

As I looked up at the most expensive and the most ugly private residential building in Mumbai. I was thinking "Maybe there is that point where people have so much money that they run out of ideas how to use it well. Or maybe it is just that they have so much more of it, it just doesn't matter to them."

(Continued in Part 2, here: My experience: Part 2)

How do you explain this whacky coincidence?

2012-01-14T02:23:00.001+05:30

"It's just unbelievable; carefully listen to what I will tell you now ", I told my friend as I took my seat behind the wheel. My car had just been hit from behind, but the statistical odds of what had happened had given me a bigger jolt. While the rear bumper was spotless, I was mentally wrung.

I had stopped my car at a traffic light. Then I had felt a push, more than a nudge, less than a crash, from behind. Mentally cursing the driver behind me for the potential paperwork arising out of potential damage caused from this dash, I got out of the car and proceeded to inspect the damage. Turned out it was nothing. But I still had to give a piece of my mind to the guy who had eased his car into mine. He had already been apologizing as I had been checking for damage. Then out of habit my eyes ran over the registration number plate of the car.

What the? As I read the number the second time, I could not believe it. Wasn't this the same number for which I had placed a gate pass request this morning? I had had a couple of official visitors and my workplace needs prior requests for all incoming vehicles. Then the description of the car given to me by Ms. P played back to me mentally; White Ford sedan. We use the descriptions to help the pass-carriers to quickly spot the cars at the gate. This was a White Ford. Out of requirement, I also needed to place the pass request for the driver. So, I knew his name. But what is happening here. This guy and I are in a completely different part of town, late in the evening, and he has to accidentally dash my car! I know this driver and the car simply because I remembered the details from the morning. Ok, I just proved to myself that I have good short term memory and was able to instantly make the connections. But, what are the odds that a person somehow connected to me, but unknown to me, dashes my car out of the blue later that day in a remote part of town? Doesn't Mumbai nest 20 million people or am I missing something?

Stumped as I was by the flood of recognition that was hitting me combined with the realisation that this was among the whackiest coincidences I have faced in my life, I thought I should share the surprise with the other driver too. I was smiling mentally, but frowning on the outside when I said to the driver in colloquial Hindi "Aren't you Ashraf? And haven't you been driving Mr.B all day? Were you following me? Couldn't you have found another car to hit?" He instantly apologised once again (totally unnecessary, I should tell you), but suddenly became silent. I could see the realisation of what I had told him drawing on his face.The look on the face of Ashraf was a sight to watch; not something money can buy.

Letting Ashraf deal with the absurdity of the coincidence, I walked back to my car and proceeded to tell the unbelievable story to my friend.

Can someone explain this to me? While I see no larger scheme behind what happened, I am unable to comprehend the odds of this happening.

PS: Ashraf is not the real name of the driver; for protecting identity I have changed the name
PS: I am a little kicked about the first PS; I have always wanted to write one like it.

It's irresponsible to be pessimistic. Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T03:12:00.002+05:30

While anytime of the day or the year is a good time to reflect upon one's accomplishments and failures, gains and losses, joys and sadnesses, weakness and strengths the end of the year is an apt time as the general spirit in the air aided by sort of unbridled optimism, permits, if not encourages, such introspection. An advantage in taking some time out at the end of the year is that you are sitting at home avoiding traffic going toward not so far locales where annual revelry would be in full swing if not already kicked in. You could do this in a hotel or a resort farther away. But these places are usually priced higher inviting only those 'who are keen to shell out the marked up' fares. So, the introspective exercise might turn out to be an expensive affair.

Anyway, as I sit down and write at this odd hour, unable to sleep for some reason ...

I recall how my year began with doing something new this year. I completed the Mumbai Half Marathon. I did that at my own sweet pace, although, the timing was good enough to qualify me for the 2012 round without worry.

The next month or so was spent in a hospital tending to a close one, not knowing that they will not be coming home and the loss would be there to bear through the rest of my life. While this shook me up, I discovered my capacity to deal with fundamental realities of life. I learned that life's moments need to be seized with gusto, lest it is too late. Say your thanks now, to those who deserve it; forgive those who have been unkind to you, for it is not your karma whether they deserve it or not, but you deserve the peace that comes with the forgiving.

I also discovered the value of values; the value of human relationships. When I needed it, help came from unexpected quarters. It did not, also, come from some expected quarters. What a funny world we live in! We are generally blind to our surroundings. On a different plane, we also underestimate ourselves about how people perceive us. Whatever you think you know, there are surprises in store for you.

I traveled to more new places; a first, traveled below the Equator. I experienced the shorter version of the famed African Safari, briefly lived among a couple of oldest cultures, ate their food, traveled in their local transportation and got a glimpse of the emerging Dark Continent.

I spoke with authority at a couple gatherings and symposiums for bankers and other technology buyers. In my quest for being a better manager and to lead better, I learned more about what works and what does not. A strong balance between efficiency and commitment is necessary to be productive as a team. Striking that balance is the key to success. Something I started last year at work, showed results this year, boosting my confidence. A few others fizzled out, only teaching me that some things are beyond my control and I need to let go.

There is something for everyone on Twitter. I become active and discovered new channels to keep myself curious about some aspects of life. So far, I have not been disappointed, except that I am probably getting hooked on to it.

The economy has taken a dive, globally. There is general dissatisfaction about Indian state of affairs.

But at the turn of the year here's what we need to remind ourselves "We live in times where anything is possible. We live in a world of infinite possibilities. It's irresponsible to be pessimistic". A friend said " I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a good year. Something good is going to happen." Agreed, mon ami!

Welcome 2012! Bring in the goodies and the toughness to deal with the baddies.

Review of The Dirty Picture

2011-12-04T23:38:00.000+05:30

"Can it get any worse when even your enemies have stopped abusing you?" , "Movies are about three things entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. And I provide that entertainment." are just a couple of lines among a few other than resound even after you have walked out of the cinema hall. Barring the few good dialogues, Silk's award acceptance speech and a couple of emotional scenes portraying Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan, most of the script runs like a potboiler replete with double entendres. OK, a 'Dirty Picture' is supposed to be like this, but couldn't it have been more?

Sure the directors and producers might deny it, because it's practical sense to do so, but it is no secret that the movie is based on the life of Silk (Read more about her here) an actor, specifically a siren, from the 70s and 80s who took the southern woods i.e. Sandal..., Tolly..., Molly... etc by storm. The thematic fusion of Bollywood and southern styles seem appropriate to the basic context of the story - soundtrack, garish costumes, make up, dialogue delivery of movies within the movie, song & dance routine, the lyrics that seem translated from a southern film; exception is the Sufiana Ishq song which serves better as a standalone music video. But the storyline itself fails to impress simply because it does not delve any deeper than just a narration of men in the life of a rebellious actor who got typecasted because she couldn't care less than to just strut her stuff to realise her dream. There are probably several dimensions to the mind and heart of an actor like Silk which could have been dealt with.

The movie, as it boils down, is just about Vidya Balan. She 'lives' seduction and oomph in the core thread of the movie and carries it out elegantly. After seeing her performance, it is difficult to imagine any other current actor who could have taken up the role.There is definitely a lot of boldness in there and in not just the skin-show. Who else could have done justice to this role , I am really thinking now, hmmm...

There was a lot of potential in the way the story could have been written, rather then just skimming over a series of men and a chain of events. Maybe they realised it and towards the last 20 minutes when they spent some time on the emotional bonding that develops between Silk and her erstwhile nemesis? Knowing it was Vidya Balan donning the role, they could have stretched a bit and introduced a level to the story rather than leaving it at the pulp fiction level.

Watch this movie if you are a Vidya Balan fan. In my case, I wasn't one, i.e. until now. (Disclosure: until now, I have seen only one of her other movies Lage Raho MunnaBhai, but that was not about her.). Also watch it if you are intrigued by the concept behind the movie, a biography of a siren whose mere presence turned a flop into a money spinner for some movies.

The darkness of Sunshine

2011-10-26T00:06:00.001+05:30

Exploring something new with this poem. Any critique of this vers libre is welcome.

The darkness of Sunshine

Once there was a white rose,

They called her Sunshine,

Reflected the day's glow around,

Said she was a creation fine

She sang, danced, laughed

In the wind; Little did they see,

Inside Sunshine there was darkness,

Which beneath her glow she hid

One day a bee found Sunshine,

She opened up to the bee

He sang, danced and played with her,

Wished he'd set her darkness free

But Sunshine was daunted,

Held on to her darkness tight
Fragile, she felt without it,

Thought darkness gave her might

She drew herself deeper into darkness,

And pushed away the bee

But such was the darkness,

Potent, that it stayed on with the bee

-Gowrish

Remembering Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T23:27:00.001+05:30

Through growing up and work life different perspectives of Steve Jobs kept developing - a great visionary, inventor, entrepreneur, people manager and a contemporary marketer who revolutionized market understanding, product design and innovation. By way of remembering him, here is a collection of my favourite quotes by Steve Jobs on some key subjects.

Life, leading it purposefully and entrepreneurship:

"You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect ehem looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me."

Market understanding and customer needs:

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

"...A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them."

Leadership and people management:

“When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else.”

Design:

"That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

Managing innovation:

"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it."

Personal excellence:

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle."

Death:

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Rest in peace Steve Jobs.

The hunter, the hunted and the observer: Part 2

2011-10-03T23:04:00.004+05:30

(Continued from Part 1: Read here.)

As we were returning from the Hippo pools we decided that we would give it another 30 minutes and then leave the park. I realised I was kind of dozing off in the odd combination of bright sunlight and cool wind, because I was shaken by the excited voice of my guide, "Look there is the gecko you missed the last time". Some gecko, it was a Monitor Lizard full six feet in length, head to tail, with Matrix-green slimy skin. I quickly managed to get a couple of snaps, before it disappeared under the little bridge. I must have gone back to dozing because then I was startled by, "There he is, at last! I am amazed how fast you can go to sleep." We were looking at the back of a Lion about 80 feet away. On the other side we could see a couple of Safari vans silently parked in anticipation of the Simba to do something spectacular.

Calvin had an idea that we should go around the lion and come face to face with him. So, we started the engines and followed a circuitous route down the hill turning left and coming halfway up the hill on a track parallel to our current one. The route was longer than I had imagined because out of the blue we were beside a pond with a hippo in dark pink and grey hide munching away the tall green grass. He looked up at us when we stopped and made a waving gesture with his head. I kept shooting away on my digicam. In a few seconds another Safari van that pulled up beside us. Hippos are shy, I thought, as I saw the giant pink and grey beast turn around swiftly and in a running-rolling motion ease itself into the pond. We backed our car and resumed the little trip up the hill back to the Simba.

Within a few minutes, we were back in sight of the Safari vans parked by the Lion's spot. Somehow thinking that we had to tread slowly lest we disturb the Lion, we parked the car and turned off the engine. Looking out for the Lion walk his way downhill, we realised he was not alone. I saw the Lioness first, crouched in the grass looking intently ahead into the distance. We were just about 40 feet away from the Lioness. Then the Lion emerged behind her in a majestic gait down the hill.

I kept switching between video and still modes on my camera and remembered that this was the stuff that National Geographic shows are made of, isn't it? I could feel the tension in the air, as we realised that the majestic couple was indeed checking out the dazzle of zebras about 300 feet away. "Animals can sense danger, you know. The zebras are not behaving normally as they do," Calvin kept talking. I thought, nothing was normal about this scene, as far as I was concerned. I could hear every little tweet that any bird was making. If I tried harder, I could probably hear the sounds of the zebras. I am certain this natural drama plays out thousands of times around the world every day. But when have I been a witness to it in real life? I was really lucky that this was happening in the little time window that I was in the park.

Hunting is a patient game. We had played it all morning to sight the Simba couple. Now, we were watching these two lay out the ground for their hunt. It was already about 15 minutes since we landed at the scene and the Lion and the Lioness had hardly moved 10 feet. At this rate, the hunt would take some time to end in a kill. Calvin reminded me that we would not have time to go to the Giraffe Park since we had spent more than planned time here. He knew about my meeting and my flight and he knew the sluggish traffic on Nairobi roads. He had been my driver for the last three days. So, I had to agree with him and reluctantly decided to end the observation of the lions.

On my way out, I was so excited, I made a long distance call to let my wife know what I had just left behind. She could not believe it. She immediately decided that I could watch a full hunt when we went to Masai Mara together. So, there it was, a plan to Masai Mara was made. I am definitely looking forward to a longer Safari that would come about in the next 18 months. The Mara's been on our list long enough. We better figure out how to check it off the list.

Until then I have to be like the Simbas, patiently waiting, carefully observing, remaining out of sight yet keeping the goal in sight and swooping down on the target in a quick action.

The hunter, the hunted and the observer. Part - 1

2011-10-02T23:58:00.010+05:30

I saw the Lioness first, as she looked far into the distance crouched 40 feet away in the dry Kenyan Savannah patch. Almost invisible, she had been elusive through the best attempts of my safari driver and me for the last two and a half hours. The Lion emerged about 15 feet behind her, in his majestic gait and crouched about eight feet behind her. Within a few seconds, he stood up and walked up to the Lioness as she continued to survey the dazzle of zebras. Calvin, my Safari driver and guide, let out a knowing smile and said in his Kenyan accented English "She is just trying to spot the fattest one". I said," You mean the slowest one." He replied,"Same thing. Man these zebras are all fat." I looked at my mid-riff and decided that I should not continue talking and instead work on my camera.

While I would have loved to start earlier, we had started off at 7 AM. No time for breakfast, I picked up a couple of small pies and a couple of doughnuts from a supermarket. I bought extra batteries just in case my rechargeable ones gave away. We reached Nairobi National Park at 7:30 AM and picked up our Safari passes. There were three other cars waiting to check in at one of the seven gates that open into the park. As soon as I started wondering whether the tarmac was laid for all of the 100 odd kms of criss cross Safari tracks, the tarmac ended and gave way to hard red and black earth.

The first native of the park we met was an Ostrich. After that they just kept coming - Impalas, the Wild Beasts (Oke, as they are called in Masai), Gazelles, Zebras and dozens of types of birds that I do not know the names of, but they came in all colours. After about half hour we changed tracks as Calvin spotted a Giraffe at a distance. Somehow, everytime we kept getting closer the giraffe changed directions. I never got close enough for my camera. About the camera - I own some of the best equipment for a prosumer of photography. But, this biz trip was put together on short notice and I could not get my Nikkor Lenses (one of them a 450mm effective on the D70 that I own), cleaned. I am the only one I know whose lenses have fungi on the inner element. And since it is rainy season, I was told they would not risk opening it until seasons changed and the dry winter began. So, there I was with a 100 dollar SLR-like Fujifilm S5800 digicam, which had time and again proved itself for street, landscape and macro photography. But, I knew it was a crime or even a sin to not carry to a Kenyan safari the best of the equipment I had. I was counting on the bright sunlight to make up for any limitations that my digicam had. Anyway, c'est la vie.

Everytime we passed another private or hired Safari vehicle, the drivers exchanged notes about what each other had spotted. Even in the open wilderness of the grassland with sparse Acacia groves and very rare clumps of palm trees, it was difficult to predict where a specific type of land animal would be. It was about two hours into the Safari and we were getting eager to see a pride of three lions that we kept hearing about. We even chatted up a ranger with a gun and wearing camouflage fatigues. I did not have the whole day. I had a flight to catch in six and a half hours and a meeting (I know), to attend in three hours. So, we again changed routes.

Shortly, we spotted a tower of Giraffes and since we were driving into the sun, they appeared as tall silhouettes in a light blue background. For a second, it felt like being in Jurassic Park. I had never seen a dozen giraffes together, let alone this close in the wild. We were on our way to what they called the Hippo Pools, where sometimes the lions hung around. While we saw neither the hippos nor the lions, we had a close encounter with congress of baboons (I wonder if the connection between monkeys and the government is a deliberate one). An enterprising guard had set up a small refreshment bar of soft drinks in a shelter near the Hippo Pools. To draw crowds to his little store, he had displayed sun-dried and somehow cleaned up skeletal remains of several animals done to end by the predators. The most interesting and difficult to guess was that of an Ostrich. ( Continued in Part 2: Read here.)

Social network experience and its impact

2011-09-01T16:17:00.000+05:30

Since being introduced into Google+, I have tried to understand the why of what's fundamentally different about it. Google couldn't have created it as just another social portal, as they already have Orkut, which today is a been-there-done-that for most users in my Facebook network.

Android users have several real-time integration benefits with Google+, but for now, let me focus on just the convergance aspect of a social portal. If Facebook is about a Wall, why does Google have Circles? That's where the fundamental difference lies, more than just the terminology. What does this mean to our interactions with the two different tools?

In real life, down to ground level away from the cyberspace, do we consider all friends 'similarly'? We mentally slot people we meet as just acquaintances, friends, like-family, family and many other nuances of relationships tedious to compile here. But what happens when you log onto Facebook? There is one Wall and it is up there for everyone to write as they please and for everyone else to read, even if it is not just 'apt' to share it with everyone. With a Wall on a Network, you are essentially bringing all to the same plane, whether you like it or not. We have accepted this as this is all we got.

Admit it, there are level of friends and you'd like to share not everything with all of them, at the same time, even if eventually you would. Then, there is the local 'circle' (school, college, dorm, special interest) specific language that you'd like to use with the right set of people. But hovering at the back of your mind is the point that maybe others that who do not understand what's being said might not 'get it'. What happens then? Think of what happens when a group within a party starts talking about a specialised topic or event that is of no relevance to others. The group rares out. Sure, a Wall is asynchronous or not 'live' since not everyone is not interacting at the same time. But the behavior is nevertheless impacted since everyone consumes the same content, eventually. There might be self-selection in what one consumes. But the fact that the information or impressions were put out there has some impact on the user who put it there and those who read it.

For example, there are some friends you will let 'take you for granted'. This, on Facebook might mean you will let them say anything i.e. metaphorically speaking, piss on your Wall. The implication of this is wider than just that it is for there for all to see. In two recent examples my friends 'violated' discretion by writing things that were not for public consumption. They might have done that under a misguided sense of humor. You cannot avoid such indiscretions, as much as you cannot blame them for their behaviour. One of them, in an offline conversation, even went on to call me hypocritical for having deleted his posts. I am still not sure what impression the online exchange might have left on others. The fact that this problem even occured is an implication.

Circles solves some of these issues. But is the Circles or Circles of Circles (Extended Circles) the ultimate answer? This is a great change toward the right direction, but not a panacea. When we create our own Circles, we still end up adding A and B who are each known to U, but not to each other. How fine tuned would you make your circles? How many Circles can you manage? I am sure there is a smaller Dunbar's Number for Circles you can manage. Will your network set-up imitate exactly what you have in your mind?

So, essentially, bogged down by lack of choices, what are the users doing? They might be either getting used to the idea of 'sharing it all with all', or using discretion in what they share, so that they at least deliver a 'common mimimum' content to the 'Wall' or 'Circles'. In a sense, therefore, even the best tools today still give us a compromised experience, even if they are, innovative, technically well executed and design-wise state-of-the-art. Another question to consider is, how is this group level behaviour changing us at the individual level as we continue to use the available social tools in current formats? There are more questions than answers.

My bigger problem right now is learning to juggle my time for Google+ and Facebook.

A walk in the rain

2011-08-28T11:02:00.010+05:30

It has been raining in Mumbai continuously for the last two nights. Sometimes a drizzle, sometimes a downpour, but unrelentingly on, the rain has kept at it.

This morning, it picked up pace with much louder pitter-patter. As I looked out beyond the balcony from the cozy living room with the cuppa in my hand I thought about the times, as kids, when we used to play in the rain. Busy life has a way of drawing you away from little pleasures like these. The itch to relive getting soaked in pelting water kept getting bigger.

So, I decided to take a walk in the rain. As if on a cue the rain turned into a downpour. As I stepped into the three inches of water on the concrete road, I noticed people going about their business as usual, on foot. No one seem to be particularly bothered. I was soaked to the core in no time.

There is a natural symmetry that comes with the rain. Water falling from corrugated rooftop sheets create umpteen number of little waterfalls all falling alongside each other, creating umpteen number of little puddles that get washed away in overflowing street water. Nature reminds you that she is all powerful.The underground drains were so flooded, the concrete covers were bobbing up and down in the water gushing from below.

The rain also brings alive sounds new to unaccustomed ears. I stood under a tree and could hear at least seven different water sounds; the pitter-patter of falling rain, the gushing from a water drain pipe into the water bubbling in the drain, water streaming down the street every now & then splashed about by a passing motorbike, slapping of the flip-flops of passers by, drops cracking on an abandoned plastic bag and the harmonic cycle of blobs crashing on to an inverted paint can. On the inverted paint can there was a different sound with every first, second and third drop, only to repeat the cycle of sounds thereafter, making you wonder what must be causing the drops to change size.

I was not the only one that thought a walk in the rain was all fun. There was a quartet of boys from a nearby slum shouting and singing an undecipherable Bollywood number. Two on a bicycle kept goading the other two who were cartwheeling in ankle-deep water. I shouted in Hindi - Are you having fun in this rain? The boys on the bicycle shouted back in affirmation and flashed a beaming smile. I decided to let the camera phone rolled up in a plastic bag in my pocket remain inside. No point killing the phone even for a good shot.

We take some things for granted. We are too careful and protective of ourselves, maybe even a little inhibited. Walking in abandon in the rain offers a little escape from the life we spend ensconced in our cubbyhole apartments. There is a lot more fun in being a part of the rain than watching it from the living room. There is a sense of liberation that comes from walking on the streets in soaked clothing, a feeling much distant from walking down the street in formal wear, watching out for and avoiding every little dirty puddle. I was smiling as passing vehicles created waves in their wake and the water kept lapping up to my shins.

After about an hour, I returned to my building and the security guard was beaming. He must have recognized my game. I thought maybe he was wondering what fun these people find walking soaked in heavy rain, or may be he was remembering his fun days in the rain.

As I waited outside my door, I was wondering what the reaction of my folks would be. My wife opened the door and gave me instructions on how to avoid getting the whole floor wet, including a side remark on washing my feet with Dettol water before getting under the shower.

Then, she asked how it had been. I said that I had had a lot of fun and saw new things. She said she would join me in the walk next time.

Mysterious Four

2011-06-15T01:03:00.001+05:30

Sometimes, it takes a while to see a pattern. And when you see a pattern there is a natural tendency to fit everything that you encounter into that pattern. I am not sure why a string of coincidences should, firstly, cause us to weave a pattern around it. But we do it all the time. Maybe it is natural (like the seasons). Maybe it is thousands of years of mental evolution that has brought patterns to bring comfort to humans. After all, there are festivals aligned to events that no one has witnessed and then there are those that are created by men; the new years day for example, which are directly linked to our annual trip around the sun. In any case, patterns comfort us; trying to find a meaning each time might be vain task. The fans of numerology may shower a satisfied laugh on us, but that's a matter of faith i cannot dispute until i know better. At least, watching in anticipation is very much entertaining. All it takes is a little effort to spot the markers. A small story follows.

This evening i flew back after a long-weekend trip. The number of the flight i took began with a 4 and the remaining two digits added up to 4. I requested for a window seat and was given one on row# 4. I had dinner at the airport, the bill amount was a multiple of 4 . We boarded from Gate #4. I had seen the pattern by now and was watching intently how far this went. We landed ahead of time, as usual it is for this 'sexy' airline, anyway. There was a brief announcement prior to disembarkation that our luggage could be collected at belt #4.

My bag was the first to arrive (not fourth) and i promptly proceeded to the fleet taxi counter. I was assigned a cab whose registration number had digits that added up to 16, square of 4. When i stepped off at the end of the short trip and paid the bill, the amount was a multiple of 16. I walked into our home and did my little routine of bringing the house back up. One of the last things i did was turning the microwave on (better keep it off the 16 amps outlet when away for a few days). This meant i had to reset the clock and while at the exact instant it was 3 minutes past midnight, i thought there was no harm in waiting for a minute and setting the clock to 00:04.

PS: By the way, i did not pay attention to the number of the taxi that took me to the departure terminal, but, i am willing to bet & even lose a few bucks (reasonable multiple of 4) that the number might have been a multiple of 4.

Limitless fun with possibilities

2011-05-22T21:31:00.001+05:30

Two movies that explore similar themes, both released in the same month, make for an enjoyable summer.

A couple of weeks back i reviewed the movie Source Code. While Source Code was about ‘exploding’ possibilities of the brain & mind, Limitless is about the ‘imploding’ ones. Let me explain.

Source Code dealt with the idea of tapping into universal consciousness and an individual brain & mind reaching out to harness that power. In that sense it is ‘explosion’ oriented. Limitless deals with consciousness too, in the sense of a super sense of awareness. A sense that not only makes you see better what’s around you now, but brings alive those mental circuits which are silenced away in the repressed memories, including some that you did not even know you had made, but nevertheless got trapped in the synaptic meshes. Working upon the fact that at any point of time and therefore cumulatively, we harness only a nominal fraction of our minds’ potential, Limitless, based on a novel ‘The Dark Fields’ by Alan Glyn, explores, quite plausibly, what could we really do if we had the power to use the entire brain/mind together. Can the brain & mind really run like parallel processors on turbo charge? If the brain & mind ‘imploded’ in a controlled manner, what would the output be? It’s neatly imagined by the original writer and executed by the director.

The movie itself is finely done. The storyline starts with a narrative timeline which then midway switches into ‘realtime’, but throughout keeps you wondering where this is going, especially about the meta-plot of the direction of NZT and its effect on Bradley Cooper’s Eddie. You can only guess, because this is such a novel theme, you just have to go with the director Neil Burg on ride he is going. The subplots move like a predictable thriller, with a surprise or two thrown in. While Robert De Niro adds style to Van Loon’s character, he is not really shining through. But Bradley Cooper as the protagonist stands out with his performance.

The storyline ends on an open note. So, while i am hardly on NZT, i can still predict there will be a sequel to Limitless. Definitely look forward to it, if there is one.

PS: This is my first Neil Burg. But i just found out that the earlier movies of his are user-acclaimed too. This will be one busy summer.

Movie 'Source Code' is 'intellectually gripping'

2011-05-01T16:25:00.000+05:30

If Inception set me into a tizzy, Source Code had me gripped to my seat, unable to predict how the story would unfold and then it hits you in the face with its concluding climactic surprise. Duncan Jones nailed it, I say.

Let's take a step back and wonder how neatly can you use something as nebulous as Quantum Physics (QP) on us commoners. A lot of contemporary reading about consciousness tells you that 'it' is all explainable, let me add, probably explainable. So, taming QP to make it do things for us is way way ahead of us. But what are the possibilities? That is what Source Code is all about. True, the concept of parallel universes, changing what could be by moving back in time and fixing it, turning the world back from the fork in time it took have been tested in several movies like the Terminator series etc. But, those were meant to shock and awe, at large. So, what did the director and producers do with Source Code? They decided that they would take a different route and leave out the robots and the cyborgs and instead elaborate upon something everyone understands - maybe a Simple Cat not the Schroedinger's Cat. Gripping?

Source Code offers a melange of romance, hope, suspense, thrill, action, a bit of shock as well (when they reveal what or who Colter really is). It's a compelling performance by Jake Gyllenhaal. Michelle Monaghan, as the gentle, kind, lost and want to be found Christina does a great job and lights up the screen for the romantic dimension of the story. Vera Farmiga treading the human and ethical dimension of the movie does a neat job.
Russel Peters chips in too to tell us that life doesn't have to be grim. One could end it with a smile or a laugh.

Source Code is not to be missed.

A new paradise for chocolate lovers in Bangalore: The Chocolate Room

2011-04-04T23:21:00.003+05:30

When you visit a specialist chocolate place you expect to find something new, something that will surprise you. Because, if you love chocolate, then whatever your favourite chocolate grub you still yearn for something new. That's the allure of chocolate. After all it is the food of the gods isn't it; called so, literally, because of the natural ingredient theobromine. No wonder then 'the chocolate room' believes that 'chocolate is good for you'.

As of this writing, the one of its kind in Bangalore, a wonderful place for chocolate lovers, 'the chocolate room' is nestled between and within looking distance of The Forum Mall and Christ College off Hosur Road. The first surprise for you would be that the place offers ample parking for your car or bike, something really useful in that locale and something increasingly rare in Bangalore. So, don't worry about how you will go to the place.

One of the first things you will notice when you enter the chocolate room is the soft and comfy ambiance which is both modern and young. While at the far end you will see a Graffiti Wall and Gifts Window, at the other you will see a counter with exquisite chocolate bites and chocolate thins. The conflated smell of chocolate and coffee wafts towards you as you walk in making you more eager for something chocolatey. As your eyes move around the place, you are sure to catch sight of one of the seven wonders of the world... entirely made out of chocolate!

The menu is interesting and offers you several new ways of eating chocolate like the flavoured chocolate shots if you are in the mood for a quick doze of chocolate. There is a host of options to eat chocolate as a blend or a cocktail, as a shake, mixed with coffee and you will find several options of chocolate served hot and served ice cold, with and without cream. There are several interesting non-chocolate options as well, if you simply want to fill up lightly or cool yourself down with a quick cooler.

If you like chocolate and coffee cold, be sure to try the Coffee Nirvana. I will not spoil the surprise by telling you what they are but be sure to bite into one of those little coffee coloured thingies you will see floating on top. Among the shake options, try the unique Tiramisu; it is sure to leave you breathless with the impeccable Tiramisu flavour. If you have had the cake, it's time you tried something drinkable. Seriously.

If you are someone who likes to mix two fine flavours, you might like strawberry with chocolate. Your tastebuds 'graduate' to a new level with the blend. If you get the drift of what I am saying, go try the Death By Pancake. This is a unique dish I have eaten in a long time.

Here, you can simply relax with a book and sandwich & coffee or chocolate, or connect your laptop or phone to the complimentary wi-fi this place offers and go about your business. The staff will simply take your order, fill it and let you be, attending to you with care as needed.

Like they like to say here, chocolate is good for you, whichever way you like it. You will discover it in the chocolate room.This is a must visit place if you love chocolate.

The journey of life and beyond

2011-03-24T00:08:00.000+05:30

Quoting a poem extract from The Lord Of the Rings:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet.
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-J R R Tolkein

About PGPX and IIMA debuting at #11 on FT.com’s Global MBA Rankings 2011

2011-02-01T08:37:00.003+05:30

On January 31^st, 2011, FT.com released their 2011 Global MBA Rankings (Read Here). IIMA made its debut in these rankings at #11. This is the best ever debut, but more on that later.

When an iconic business school that has, over the last five decades, defined its contribution to the society through leaders who have led big changes in the Indian and international arena debuts on the MBA ranking scales in this manner, there is a lot of surprise. Why? Because owing to technicalities in ranking processes of international MBA billboards, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad never qualified for the rankings before. For the record, no other IIM has qualified, so far.

There is no doubt that MBA rankings recognize the School and not just the Programme. Because the school is what makes the ecosystem for learning; made possible by best in class faculty who do top of the line research, and using tools and pedagogy honed over years of research and student feedback, enable learning in their unique ways. Alumni of the institute keep the flag flying high and attract larger numbers of aspirants to the school. The students thrive in this environment and later as alumni themselves, through their real contributions and progression in their careers carry forward the alma mater’s glory and contribute to it.

In the context of rankings the change began when IIMA started to redefine the IIMA class, in more ways than one, with the PGPX programme. (Read about PGPX here) PGPX, the 1-year full time residential programme, attracts applicants with substantial work experience. A PGPX student, on an average, has 10 years of work experience, before he or she joins the full time residential programme. Additionally, international experience is recommended, though not mandatory. Now, the international MBA programmes in other countries, typically, admit students having about 4-5 years of work experience. Over the last couple of decades, while the IIMs have seen large growth in student numbers for the PGP batches (the 2-year full time residential programme), the classes continue to have substantial number of students with nil or minimal (by international standards) prior work experience. This constitution is what prevented IIMA from getting qualified for the MBA school rankings, all these years. The much needed, much deserved recognition in the world of MBA schools was left much awaited for IIMA.

At IIMA, FT.com ranking was sought since the qualification criteria were met in 2009, when the third batch of PGPX graduated. Now, FT.com ranking process includes a mandatory survey of graduates who have been working for 3 years after completing the programme. But that requirement changed when FT.com clarified that they needed the 4^th batch out before IIMA could qualify. Therefore, the evaluation of the IIMA for the ranking was made possible only in 2010.

The debut of IIMA at #11 is the ‘best ever debut’ (Read the release here) and it is no simple achievement for a business school from India to do this. Right behind IIMA, on the FT.com rankings is Indian School of Business (ISB, Hyderabad, India). They were quick to clarify in their press release (Read ISB's press release here) that it was the PGPX programme that qualified for these rankings. They have enough reason to make this clarification.

But, as should be well understood, the ranking belongs to the entire Faculty, the Alumni, the managers and administrators and students of IIMA who’ve made possible the millions of aspects that go into building an iconic institution. A great way to begin a year when IIMA celebrates its Golden Jubilee!

Digital detox

2010-12-16T01:45:00.003+05:30

Here's what's cool about the latest smartphones: You can do pretty much anything you want to do online right on the phone. No doubt that this has been available for some time, but, now it's only easier and more user-friendly and, in India, definitely affordable by the month. With the new phones emails, Facebook, Twitter and newsfeeds are integral to the basic user interface. As per Dec 2010 statistics, actually, smartphone prices are down close to 50% compared to 12 months back.I am not into gaming and related graphics. But I do admire the fact that so much power is packed in a chocolate bar sized device. Let me talk about how smartphones help me 'remain connected'. Or should I say helped me 'get connected'?

I enjoyed 'remaining connected' for a few months.I was proud to be among the tweeples. In fact, I was measuring my remaining connectedness quotient by the number of tweets I was skimming, number of pages I was turning on the multi-tab Opera browser, the number of tweets I throughput out there myself, checking emails the second they arrived (sometimes also checking whether the webpage on the laptop refreshed faster than the email loaded on my Blackberry), using my phone to follow my favourite photographers, reading friends' blogs, swapping and posting pictures etc. Do you know your Twifficiency score is? I know mine. 'Life is good, eh?'

Then one day, my beloved 8520 slipped out of my hands and fell just 2.5 feet down to the floor. 'No big deal', I thought. My sturdy 7130c had been well tested for impact from greater heights and more frequent drops from my son's little hands. (The joke used to be that I ought to let my son play the 7130c piece so that I could buy a new model. But, ...the...phone...just...wouldn't...die) Anyway, as luck would have it, the 8520 display went ashen and I was told the display module would be replaced under warranty.

I was back with my old faithful 7130c. I thought I would go into the classic cycle of denial, anger,(negotiation), depression and acceptance in the face of my 'recent digital disability'. What about all those unread tweets, all the pages waiting to be read, all the emails I would be visiting after the conversations had died? I expected to be more irritable etc.But, I no more miss 'being connected'.

It began by knowing that 8520 would be out of hands for about a week. So, I jump straight to the acceptance phase. Incidentally, we did some traveling that weekend and my mind got off the phone. When, at the end of the day, I would check my emails, tweets, blogs, etc, much was either not updated and if it was, not relevant at all. Now, not having received my phone even after a month just does not matter. Sure, I still need to see the news at lunch, tea time and just before leaving office. But that's normal. Trying to be the first one to read the news was not normal. Not being under a constant anxiety of being on top of the digital messaging deluge, was a huge relief, magically.

My family is happy to have me back. My son must have thought, as you must be too by now, that I "was nuts, but, whatever, buddy glad to see you without that black thingy clinging to your palm". I am glad to be back.

In the real sense of the term, I am more connected now than before.

PS: Some time back, I noticed an online chat between a husband and wife who were supposedly out for a dinner. They were instead chatting about what they were noticing around them in the eatery; chatting (with tweets) over their mobile phones. You say crazy! I say toxic. Go detox.

Prashant John's first degree take on "our" Second Degree

2010-10-30T21:58:00.001+05:30

Just put down this awesomely funny rendition of 1-year-long-mid-life-mid-career break at IIMA. Prashant, from the pioneering batch of PGPX takes an equilibrised look at the going-ons in the corridors and classrooms of the hot bed of management education that IIMA is. (Note the author's disclaim- this is a work of fiction.)

Having withstood this place and programme two years after Prashant (that makes me an 'X3'), I could relate to the flaps in the ebb and flow of PGPX year that he recounts. I must admit I was following this book before the launch, but somehow lost track of it. I picked it up, on a friend's (another X3, the 'Bandit') reminder, while out for ConneXion 2010 . Being on campus, reliving the times again over a long weekend, had already stirred up memories of my travails from 30 to 18 months ago. On top of this 'Second Degree' came as a 'Red Bull for memories'.

From a 'can't be true, am I here?' to 'what the.., am I already leaving?' the PGPX year passes by in a jiffy, much like a vaccine shot you dreaded as a kid. But, life is fun and life is topsy-turvy at PGPX (not in the same order, though). A deep dive in to the making of aN X-ian is what this book is all about. Prashant has handled the narration in a very touching manner, candidly exploring the joys, fears and dilemmas that every student (including his/her spouse) at PGPX faces.

Every year a little world lands in the New Campus- men, women, little boys and girls, toddlers and their fathers & mothers with their bikes, cars and cradles and sometimes even their maids and babysitters. Every batch has its own set of characters in the play of PGPX that gets produced every year. Like an improvisation (a comedy only to a sadist outsider) plots and sub-plots vary in flavour a little, but the storyline is the same. In several ways, each X-ian is a Prashant and shares his struggles as a student. Prashant the author, though, really knows how to make you laugh.

The book is bound to pleasantly shock those who are aspiring PGPX and at the same time wake from stupor those (the PGPX-ians) who have gone back to the relatively slower life that post-IIMA life invariably becomes.

For PGPX Alumni the familiarity and the "familiailty" this book invokes makes it all the more of a souvenir to keep along side other memorabilia they carry with them. When I got through PGPX admissions, in order to mentally prepare myself for what I was to endure, I read Snapshots from Hell . If you are considering IIMA PGPX, Second Degree is your own customised and in-your-face 'Snapshots from Hell'. Read it.

Inception in one word: 'mindblowing'.

2010-08-22T22:49:00.002+05:30

Inception is simply mind blowing! Christopher Nolan has written and directed one of the smartest movies in recent times; probably ever. The movie is smart not just because it makes you think and pushes the limits of your imagination. It is so because what could have easily become a complex screenplay has a simplified delivery. This is genius.

'An idea is the biggest parasite'. This line took me back to days of allegorical tale telling. A king unable to get rid of an idea in his mind approaches a wise man after all else fails. The wise man advises him that the day the king is able to not think about 'Mangoes', is when he will be cured. Putting an idea into someone's mind (aka inception) was easy, you thought? You have no idea until you watch this movie.

I went with a notion that Inception would be like one of Nolan's earlier films 'The Memento'. I was focussing on the timeline-maze that Nolan had created in that classic 'thinking' movie. Even if I were to unfairly compare the two, the latest one wins by a huge margin. The comparison is not so unfair since both delve into aspects of the mind. The Memento played around with the linearity of time-flow. Nolan 'messed' it up pretty neatly to challenge the viewers. Inception on the other hand is about getting deeper into moments as the story proceeds. As a hobby photographer, I enjoy playing with 'slowing time down' in away a good fast lens can. Inception is a treat for the mind and the eyes.

One, two, three, oh boy, four layers? How did Nolan even think he could get the audience to buy into this plot? How do you keep the audience with you all along? This is where the smartness kicks in. Simplicity is ultimate sophistication. This movie is a fine example of it. I did not even budge through the movie.

Visuals and camera tricks are the key dimensions of smartness of the movie. Awesome scenes keep pushing you in and out of reality pretty artfully with details that would be lost outside the large screen. I must admit I took a shot at watching this movie on a laptop; 16 minutes later I decided that I had to do something and watch this in mega size. A 'smart' decision.

The performances are award winning. DiCaprio plays Cobb, the protagonist dealing with his own mental demons even as he manouvers skillsfully into the minds of the subjects. Supporting him, his 'team' (everyone) delivers convincingly. Music links the layers of this movie. The music paces with the layers, transitions you in and out of them and helps you keep tabs on where you are.

In India, even in a 90 minute movie is given an intermission. Glad that this 165 minute sitting did not have any. Probably, someone up there (producers/ director) drove the condition that there shouldn't be one. Another smart angle to delivering the story convincingly.

Is this movie for real? It's time I got my own totem to figure it out.

Bad strike deal...common man does not endorse it

2010-07-06T00:58:00.002+05:30

Today's Bharath Bandh costed India about 3 Billion USD. This is purely financial cost. I am not sure how FICCI arrived at this number, but, one can be sure that the number is in this range. Just divide India's expected GDP (about a Trillion USD) by the number of working days in a year. Chances are that given India umpteen number of local holidays, the daily GDP number might be bigger than what's quoted. Of course, the economic cost of a Bandh is far higher and difficult to measure.

Anyway, the Bandh has not given anything useful to the Common Man. Isn't it the Common Man for whom this Bandh was called? Sure. Then why did the opposition parties make life tough for the Common Man who just wanted to go to the hospital or tried get to the bank to get some work done on a lean day? More than 70 buses burnt, hundreds of flights canceled, hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, expressways blocked, innumerable vehicles and even police tow-vans pelted and punctured. Whom has this helped? Some famous politicians got locked up. If there were a job fair, such antics would get these people extra stars on their resumes. They, after all, went to jail for the common man, didn't they? They can boast about it at the next election rally.

If rising prices (deregulation and all) of gas, fuel and consequently all commodities is what the perpetrators of Bandh care about, why don't these parties spend some time thinking how can they bring these prices down. e.g. in their own ruling states, can the opposition parties that called for this Bandh, not reduce state-level taxes and help the Common Man? Surely, there are no easy answers to this. But Bandh is also not an answer.

Did the Bandh help all those auto rickshaw and taxi drivers who lost a day's income? I personally know taxi drivers who work 18 hours a day so that they can own-out their cars faster (private branded service taxis with innovative liens/lease contracts). Auto drivers and the independent taxi fellows make less than 300-400 bucks a day after toiling for 12-14 hours. Did the Bandh help these people get more bread on their table?

A couple of night ago, I was at a take-away joint waiting for my order to be ready. It was pouring, with six inches of rainwater flowing on our street. I chatted up the paan-wallah outside the joint. He told me that his paan business is at the worst this time of the year. When it pours, no man comes out.; who will buy paan? He does not endorse this Bandh. (Who will buy paan or cigarettes if there is a Bandh? His paan rots.)

Our Bai's family runs a limited-variety vegetable shop. Her economics is changing. She was telling us that the current turn of events makes it easier on the pocket to eat chicken and mutton more often than vegetables. Nowadays, staple greens cost more than 80 bucks a kilo. Meat, therefore is relatively cheaper. But she fears that their shop's current stock would get spoiled in all the rain and humidity. They cannot risk buying more to stock up for Monday when there would be no supply in the day. Space in Mumbai... do I need to mention the premium it demands? She does not endorse this Bandh.

Point is that the Common Man is hassled by the price rise. Agreed. But he is coping. Political parties have arm twisted their constituents into following the formers' anti-establishment propaganda. Forcing a Bandh will make life tougher for the Common Man. What choice does a street vendor have when the CEO of a large media firm receives threats to ensure that his office building remains shut for Bharath Bandh? Surely, the vendors will keep their shops shut. This is misconstrued by the perpetrators as support for Bandh.

Coming to the main issue; Deregulation of fuel is exactly what we need now. We have been far too much pampered by the subsidised petrol and, especially, diesel. The opponent parties had, about nine years ago, proposed the deregulation of fuel that they are against today. About 35 years ago, through the leanest periods of Indian economy, fuel was completely deregulated. Why then, when we are doing well as an economy, are we fretting fuel deregulation? Keeping the diesel prices low for locomotives, trucks and rest of the transportation industry that uses it is one thing. Buying a second and a third car, diesel one, just because this fuel is available cheaper, has gone way too far. One of the immediate effects of the impending diesel price deregulation will be that people will start thinking about efficiency of their vehicles and their other modes of fuel consumption. The rest will follow.

During the recent wars and the more recent financial meltdown, even the world's biggest fuel guzzlers, the Americans, were brought down to their knees (free fuel pricing regime), trading in gas-guzzlers for fuel efficient cars, older cars for newer cars (Cash for clunkers) etc. Indians are a far more discerning lot(fingers crossed on whether it'll stay that way).

We will find a jugaad for the fuel price and other price hikes. But, bandh is bad.

NID Professor innovates boldly. Nothing else to it.

2010-06-26T00:10:00.010+05:30

Some absurd claims in media (Read here) were brought to our notice by a PGPX co-alumnus of ours (Read here ). Apparently, this news has been, today, picked up by a television news channel also.

It is unfortunate that certain people have misconstrued and consequentially misrepresented the objectives of the course and actions of the professor. Actions of the professor, to be sure, in my experience in this course, were that of "professing"/talking in a challenging manner and demonstrating meditative exercises. And in full earnest, the professor forewarns people that it is not for the faint-hearted, not for any reason (we realise later) except that they will be reaching within to free themselves of their fears & inhibitions.

The course at IIMA (similar to NID's Strategic Design Management mentioned in the media article) is intended to develop a creative mindset. A basic point delivered is that in order to be creative, mental blocks (mostly unresolved notions) need to be overcome. Overcoming baseless notions leads to an uninhibited approach to generating new ideas. With a questioning mindset, our basal fears are identified and this further leads to freeing ourselves of them.

The suggestion that there was stripping or there were even suggestions to strip in the class is totally absurd. At the most the question asked by the instructor is- in a scenario that he were to make a suggestion to strip, how would participants respond? It is a question intended to urge participants to think why they would respond the way they would. It is intended to encourage students to examine the basis of their individual responses. Several such questions are asked that challenge our presumptions about norms, superstitions etc that normally lead to "in-the-box" or linear thinking. The professor takes an innovative approach toward developing an innovative mindset. He brings together nueroscience, evolutionary biology, space science (MFR technology), ancient yogic practices, psychology, modern design theory, innovation theories, management science among others, to provide holistic & experiential learning. It is sad that someone has totally misunderstood this and made a joke out of it.

The contract (touted as 'NDA' by the complainant) itself, by the way, if you understand the professor's purport, is intended as a first challenge- that of signing an undertaking to face the unknown. While we were told that such a declaration is legally binding (blah, blah), one only needs to step above the details to see through the exercise and appreciate the ingenuity of the approach. The declaration -handwriting it & signing it- is intended to drive in seriousness about the course, while challenging your mind and your fears. If you still don't get it, consider what your response would be if a total stranger approached you and asked you to write such a declaration? In daily work life, this is what happens. Someone gives us a creative task and our inhibitions prevent us from thinking freely and understanding the issues underlying any problem. Our solutions are, therefore, based on wrong or narrow notions. How many products don't fail in the market due to bad (sometimes, even stupid) design?

For the record, my experience of undergoing this course was clean and genuinely eye-opening. While I am not speaking on their behalf, I can confidently state that the female classmates of mine were not uncomfortable as far as I could understand and can recall. The course became a hit among those who joined it and was followed loyally. So much so, that a few wives of students joined the course and they completed it (no credits, though!) with full fervour. In the following term, Advanced edition of the course (Call it "Part 2") offered as an elective, again, had a dedicated following.

A set of people has totally missed the point. Correction... a set of people has totally missed the bus on what could have been a potentially transformational experience to them, had they made an earnest attempt to follow the message than throw muck around, over nothing (internal investigations are currently on, states the TV channel).

There might be more to the motive of this complaint/allegation than meets the eye. One doesn't need to have undergone the course to see it.

Breakfast in Bengaluru; Dinner in Mumbai...

2010-06-16T22:03:00.000+05:30

A few years back, if someone had said this, one would think that he is planning a day trip by air. With the Golden Quadrilateral in place, today, anyone one who drives down the distance on a car can make the same claim.

In planning for the return leg of our 12 day road trip, we had budget two days (daylight hours) to drive to Mumbai. Some suggested that we should halt at Belgaum, others said Kolhapur or Karad. These suggestions meant that it was assumed that the distance cannot be covered in a regular ‘day’ and that it is not safe (it still is not for many reasons) to drive at night. We also had a baby in tow and driver himself (me!) was expected to tire out by the time he covered about 700 km, professional driver as he is not.

For the record, I should state that I was underestimating my stamina, since I had in the past covered about 1996 miles (~3200 km) in a 96 hour round trip. But that was in the USA. Knowing the Indian road 700 km in a day seemed like a stretch. Obviously, I hadn't done much (or real) highway driving in India, in the last few years. Sure, the car you are driving also makes a lot of difference.

We set out at 6 AM sharp, in light drizzle, with the intent to make the most of daylight hours and cover the 700 KM in about 14 hours. This meant that we expected to do about 50 kmph in terms of real distance covered given the slowing, stopping, halting and simply trying to but not able to really overtake those cluster of trucks aching their way up ghats.

We drove comfortably, stopped to take pictures, lunch, drinks breaks and even a lay-bye power nap of 15 minutes. We were pretty happy that we reached Karad...but at 5:45 PM! At 61 kmph real speed, cruising mostly at 90 kmph, this is pretty neat. I am sure people with turbojet in their blood would be enthused by the prospect to make this distance in less than 10 hours; perilous as it may be. With a couple of hours of daylight still in sight, we drove on and reached Pune (880 KM) by 8:30 PM (same average even through a small stretch of ghat in 14.5 hours). Finally, we took another 2.5 hours to reach Mumbai (Pune-Mumbai on the expressway is another superb ride), yielding 1000 km in 17 hours. Late dinner in Mumbai meant that we actually saved a day on road. It is another matter that this upset my wife since she thinks I short-changed her by cutting short the vacation. (I know I will pay a price for this someday soon.)

Driving on NH4 is like jet skiing. As of this writing, NH4 is complete from Bengaluru through Pune barring a 15 km bye-pass of Ranebennur, which means you go through the town. One does not mind shelling out about 500 bucks in toll (they call it "road user fee") through the entire route. This segment of the Golden Quadrilateral is very well built and maintained. Some oddities remain- like people and animals crossing roads like they are walking in their backyard, but that’s a reality on every highway in India, no matter how wide or smooth it is and whether or not you pay toll.

The Mumbai-Pune expressway (alternative to NH4) is a wonderful exception to this rule. It is a great feeling driving through gargantuan tunnels (longest is about 1.5 km long) with three lanes and high ceilings, well lit in vibrant orange neon. In fact, watching three lanes of traffic zooming through tunnels in India is a first for me. Truck drivers need to yet learn how to use the Mumbai-Pune expressway. We saw at least five overturned trucks of all sizes- even 10-wheelers- belly-up on relatively sharp turns. Simply, they were just too fast and the guys probably ignored the warnings to slowing down. (There could be an arguable point about designing turns on expressways, but I will give engineers the benefit of doubt on this one)

It is not without reason that the entire NH4 (I am sure rest of GQ as well) carries frequently seen hoardings of the ruling Congress leaders. The GQ is indeed something to be proud of. It has phenomenal implications to the logistics, particularly, road transport industry. Fast road travel implies higher efficiency of transport vehicles; higher predictability through better planning; faster supply chains; development of storage and specialised infrastructure in ‘outer’ locations (where it would be cheaper) and overall economic savings. For personal travel as well, roads like GQ open up a safer option to travel by own cars (or bikes for those who prefer).

Bengaluru to Mumbai on road- all in a day’s work. Hadn’t thought of it that way, until yesterday.

Billions of people, infinite secrets

2010-06-12T00:52:00.000+05:30

I recently stumbled upon this new website titled and tagged 'Six billion secrets- Everyone has a secret. What's yours?'.

This is one of the most interesting websites I have visited of late. The concept itself is tremendously innovative. Sign up, keep sharing your secrets. People comment on your secrets, offering mostly encouragement. People vote for top secrets. Linked to Facebook, people can 'Like It' a secret.(More on this later). People can share it with others by email or tweet about it.

This kind of a website, does have some benefits as I see it. Firstly, this is a great cleansing mechanism. While Christianity (not segregating sub-sects and their treatment) recommends the practice of Confession, which is all about cleansing, I gather from what I read, see and hear, that only the devote Christians do it anymore. For people who still want to confess outside of a Confession Box, this is as easy as it gets. There are probably as many people reading the secrets as are writing or revealing. While some secrets (on the website) have led to words of encouragement or validation through response comments, most are yet to be commented upon. One can also look at this as an open (still anonymous) personal journal. Writing journals is supposedly therapeutic for some people.

Secondly, it gives readers encouragement that 'they are not alone' when it comes to complications in personal life. Thirdly, if the revealer is looking for guidance, the comments from people will probably, get them the help they were shy to ask in person. In any case, if a sufficient number of people advise, there will probably be a heightened sense of relief to the revealer that he or she got the right guidance (wisdom of the crowds principle, in a way), which would not happen if the revealer told the secret only to one person.

It has been interesting to read about the type of secrets being written down. Some are downright confessions, some life changing concerns if addressed, some have tremendous amount of pain in them, others are romantically cute admissions.

However, I could not figure out what 'top secret' means to people. It is clear there is a voting mechanism ("Choose Yes ONLY if the secret really moves you!"). Possibly, 'Like It' votes too fetch some weightage toward top secret tag. But why would the voter say he or she 'liked it'? Is it because it is well articulated? people appreciate 'coming out' with that secret, because it is so deep? Or is it because the secret is moving? If names were revealed, is there potential for most 'damage'? What determines Top here?

But there are several questions that come to mind with such a bold concept.

Would you write a secret here? Even under an assumed name? Would Indians see same value in the website as I would expect Americans, British or other culture people to? I would love to know the real answer to this, as real stats on the website could reveal. As far as I could see, there is no such facility on the website. I would think such information might carry some commercial value to, say, psychiatrists. In the Western developed world, having a personal shrink is a normal requirement. Maybe shrinks play the role that families and large set of friends do not. In some cases, they are the only recourse to situations that require 'medical' attention. Will this website abate the need for frequent visits to shrinks? Why not, because afterll a a shrink, supposedly, does not say anything judgmental, but only guides the 'patient' into revealing their innermost motives, thoughts, secrets in confidence. Sure, one will not be able to diagnose or prescribe meds for what any condition that might get diagnosed by a psychiatrist.

I kept thinking about it and could not conclude. However, one of the "secrets", more of a quote summed up exactly what I was thinking.

It's secret #8067 "Now that I think about it, I'm glad we can't read minds.The world would be a much scarier place."

Check out www.sixbillionsecrets.com

Ode to a Road

2010-06-09T23:08:00.004+05:30

[Inspired by NH17 Goa-Mangalore stretch on the current road trip.
Something was definitely right about this place this time of the year.]

As the mist fades away in reverence to the rising sun,
Shades of green tell on the annual rain-dance that's begun
With the green, not any green but a bright florescent glow,
Dark shades play with shadows of tall trees, in perfect flow

Large trucks rushing past the awakening village & town,
Get mocked by the bullock carts of wet hay light brown
Life begins asimple, on the clockwork of daily routine,
What you saw here yesterday, today's just the same scene

Coastal road this one, teases you with rare cliffs and the sea,
Taking scene away after just a glimpse, like unsure dance of a bee
Meandering road; colorful offshoots,some straight some cower,
Sprinkled among jack-fruit, mango and banyan, lies mayflower

Bedecked elephant cloaked in saffron, green and gold marches,
To the hill where he would bless the crowd by the temple arches
Dew drops fall on the windshield, in a splash, turning to stream,
Reminding me to not lose track of road, not lose my driving steam

As miles roll down under my wheels, each turn alive and fresh,
Brown earth on the shoulder changes color, zephyr becomes windy thresh
As I move down the ghats, gaining speed and swaying on the bends,
I think- this is real, I am here, with nature, there is no pretense

As morning recedes making way to forenoon, waiting crowds behold,
For carriers to take them to their place of work and their life's goals
Sun breaks through the clouds, makes schoolgirls open their shades,
In grey and pink pinafores, mayflowers in hand, such gleeful maids

Envious I become of the offices here, structures overlooking the sea
I work on a sixth floor by a window, but this is where I want work to be
For I have seen sights ante-monsoon; wet fields and blooming trees,
Cruising down this homely route, I have seen even a peacock fly by me

My eyes are fixed on the statue at a distance, rising above the waters,
Temple of the Destroyer, the tall tower, ode to His virtuous powers
As I drive away from the highway, into the little town by Arabian sea,
I wonder whether this coastal road is as beautiful as any road can be.

-MGP

A proud father

2010-05-26T00:53:00.003+05:30

A father so proud, of his little boy
He sees himself, only younger, ah what joy
Those baby eyes, show him once more
Innocence he thought was lost in yore

A little outburst, from a nudge here
His toothless smile, from a tickle dear
Lilting laughter, mellifluous like stream
But boy's antics make his mother scream

Tiny yawns beacon the li'l guy to bed
But his curious mind, refuses to be led
His tired body, yearning to turn in
But racy mind, wins over, won't give in

His grit is unnerving, his strength to see
Moving chair, table and things bigger than he
His curiosity brimming, he opens all doors
Scrambling in and out cupboards, on all fours

Doesn't speak a word, yet, says so much
With his eyes, with his cries and his touch
Oh! that puppy face, when he wants his way
Let alone father, the mountains would sway

Everyday father learns a new lesson
Of life, happiness and abandon
Sees each day how the son grows tall
Even as the he feels his own age fall

Father thinks 'wait my son, don't grow, you'
I'm just getting to know now, can't outgrow you
Wait for me, I am growing, at heart, young and blue
Keep playing, and one day I'll be as young as you

-MGP

Mongoose and snake

2010-03-23T14:10:00.000+05:30

In the era of bite sized entertainment, 'byte sized' if you bring in the digital angle to it, shortness and sports are related at some level.

"Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in The Bible. The phrase, however, found its way into popular jargon when short skirts found their place in international tennis. The phrase now represents the phenomenon personified by Navratilova and her predecessors, Kournikova, Sherapova and their successors.

At another level of shortness, take cricket for example: from a 5-day-long affair to a day long version to the now as-long-as-a-movie format with T20, innovation in cricket has found for it new fans. Cricket has probably also recovered lost fans.

The information convergence led to competition, for the attention of the consumer, between traditional broadcasting media and the mobile & the Internet as media. And the consumer is increasingly drawn toward personalised entertainment. Anyone who has enjoyed the award winning video feeds on youtube (dispite all the garbage that people upload) and other video feeds can tell you why the Internet offers better quality (measured as better value per unit time?) over TV in general. Don't like NGC or Discovery channel in Hindi? Personalise it into English (or vice versa) with digital DTH. DTH is driven by technology, but consumerism (of it) is mixedly driven by need and affordability.

To apply this logic to sports, I think the race for quality content measured per unit time is another reason why shorter formats of games like cricket will revolutionize the way we consume sports-as-entertainment. You personalise the consumption of sports by chosing the format you like best.

A couple of days back, two new IPL team franchises were sold for almost 150% of the price paid for all eight original franchise teams three years back. It's like saying 'two for the price of ten'. Franchise owners know that the IPL wave has only touched the shores of Tier II cities. There is a lot of cricket ground waiting to be covered.

Talking of shortness, the quintessential cricket bat has become shorter!!! "Mongoose" is deemed to become the latest innovation in cricket. Named eponymously for the animal's ferocity, the new bat is 44% shorter on the body, compensated in weight by thickness and in length by a longer handle. Like one cricket commentator was saying, the bat in Mathew Hayden's hands looks more like a club than a bat. And clobbering Hayden did demonstrate a couple of matches ago. Mongoose helped run the meter fast!

If the the five day version of the game is the snake and the T20 version the Mongoose, who will win this match? The match, you can bet, will be much longer than an evening with IPL.

On public etiquette and sycophancy

2010-03-17T00:14:00.002+05:30

Breakneck traffic on hardly busy suburban roads, Honda Civics brushing past caravans of pedal-rickshaws, traffic quasi-police trying in vain to control the flow of automobiles and an off-duty policeman without a helmet trying to cross the road even while the mainstream traffic cruised along... these are what I observed in the first ten minutes in the land of chikan and 'pehle aap - tehzeeb' (etiquette of 'you first').

But the most striking thing was that the city was aglow with blue colored lighting, blue colored cloth hoardings, large posters bearing photographs and symbols of the governing party politicians. Whizzing past statue after statue of the chief minister and mentors of the political party, I could not but wonder how much money was being spent on this mega-celebration. Then we drove past the planned venue for the gala anniversary event where more than a hundred thousand people were expected to assemble in a couple of days. But it appeared as if all the police jeeps in the city had already found parking around the locale.

My driver explained in a careful tone how the administration is spending 'araboan rupayeh' (unimaginably high amount of money) for an anniversary. While farmers and students outside the city make do with just a few hours of power everyday, the city casts a blue stamp in the sky for the passing satellite.

There was one conspicuous stretch of road though that bore absolutely no lighting. Nothing else changed- smooth as glass tarmac, neatly painted traffic-lanes, manicured divider and dedicated, separated pedestrian and bicycle tracks. The stretch was dark with no street lights of any type. The ensuing explanation of the anomaly told me about how politicians' egos function in complete isolation from public safety norms. The particular stretch of road was apparently the dream project the former chief minister. The project having been a success and the current administration being at constant loggerheads with the former, the latter chose to downplay the success of the road by knocking out all lights. Who would dare cross the road here?

Three days hence, we now know that fifty million dollars were spent and a garland made of currency notes worth a million dollars was presented to the chief of the party. Where the money came from is altogether a different question and for the CAG of India to worry. In a state where the number of people living below poverty line is one of the highest in the country, this amount of money given to them, in kind -food and shelter even- would have had a colossal impact on thousands of lives. If caste politics is the name of the game, fine, the party could have still distributed the money to their own voters if no one else. Even that, biased it may have been, would have still served a social cause.

Do the people from the, historically, economically disadvantaged factions, whose cause the party claims to champion and who voted this party to power, wonder why their chosen one did not make better use of the money? Or did they admire the pink garland of grands, thinking all the while that it looked so big and so pretty it befitted a white elephant?

A million dollar currency garland and a fifty million dollar gala is bad public tehzeeb for any leader in any land.

Recalling brand stories

2010-03-07T21:15:00.006+05:30

Brands are like friends, good friends are honest and don't let friends down. This is, in brief, one of the points that Professor Abraham Koshy (
Read Profile ) made in his recent article on ET(Read Here).

Maruti-Suzuki A-Star's is an apt caselet for brand crisis prevention. Maruti-Suzuki's major, even if not the first, recall highlights the sea change in how Indian producers treat their consumers.

But when did Indian brands, let's say specifically, Indian automobile brands become good friends of the consumer?

One of the key effects of our open market economy in automobile industry is that Indian players are no more taking consumers for granted. Faced with powerful peers who are quality conscious, responsible and honest, Indian producers have learned that for them "it 's the right way, or the highway". It was also probably the oft blamed Indian 'chalta hai' attitude coupled with the existence of seller's market for a long time, that had led to manufacturers' propensity to ignore issues that bothered consumers.

In 1999, I purchased Enfield's first aluminium-engine bike called Machismo A350. The bike suffered from noisy valves that chattered wildly. But Enfield did nothing despite complaints and the bike failed miserably. New avatars of the bike emerged a couple of years later, but many were left holding lemons.

Then, take for example, Bajaj Chetak's famous 'tilting of the scooter' trick. Unless the scooter was tilted at a difficult angle, known only to an owner, the fuel wouldn't start flowing. I remember seeing this growing up in the '80s, when scooters ruled, as well as in the mid 2000s, when aerodynamic bikes whizzed past the humble scooter. Everyone knew it was a fuel problem (you did not see it in other scooters, by the way). But Bajaj did nothing, apparently, to fix the problem for 20 odd years. I guess after some time the tilting became an ownership statement, a romantic one at that. And Bajaj could probably get away because of the strong heritage value. A Bajaj scooter offered mass consumer value on which India rode for a few generations.

But at some point in time between the 90s and early 2000s two things overtook the Bajaj scooter phenomenon. First, were the Bajaj bikes, which themselves were a response to the flood of 100 cc bikes that, to name the pioneers, Hero Honda and TVS Suzukis had caused. The second was the shifting consumer preference. Who cared for a technologically stagnant product when there were so many options available? Pick up any auto magazine and see how many pages the bikes table, already written in small sized font, runs into. So, is this one of the reasons why the Bajaj scooter was put to rest?

Today, however, it is the buyer's market. Consumerism, aided by information-empowerment in the background of open competition has helped clean up the manufacturer's act and enabled consumer to 'unfriend' the brands she cannot trust.

In Mumbai, it's all drama ...(Part 3, the critique)

2010-01-20T23:24:00.000+05:30

Continued from the previous posts. First, read here then here.

The two scenes you read are real experiences, down to the details. The same thing happened to me twice in three/four months. It was not in the same place or similar time of the day, almost same nothing, except the trickster's modus operandi. The two points of rendezvous are separated by several miles. Mumbai suburbs are chock-a-block full of hundreds of thousands of cars and millions upon millions of people. What are the odds that this trickster had to run into me, again? What a statistical oddity, I initially thought.

Now that I think about it, there may be a reasonable explanation. After all, what would Levitt and Dubner say? I said earlier that scenarios were 'almost same nothing'. There might have been a reason she asked me for money the first time around. It must have been the car I am driving (my new and as such a popular mid-size sedan). That has to be a key factor.
Think of it this way...

Her modus operandi involves approaching people with a particular profile. On the road, it would be determined by the car people are driving. Also, just to make sure that there is no influence around the person who is approached, profile might also include a key point that the driver is only occupant in the car. And in order to elicit a favourable response, another reasonable filter might be that the driver is not an occupational driver but a self-driving owner. In Mumbai, a good proportion, even if not majority of car owners have a driver.(Sample set being my colleagues, neighbours and people I see on my usual route to work). The universal set is smaller now. This narrows the odds. The way probability works in reality, distribution is a mere estimate, not an actual map of how the events will pan out; clustered, rarefied, regular, whatever, but unpredictable. I seem to have been part of a statistical congregation.

When I told my wife, S, about the first scene she was flummoxed. 'So, why are you telling me this story after many months?' When I told her about scene#2, she could not believe it. 'People will do anything to make money. But, how smart (as in cunning-smart)' was her response.

While we were trying to size the opportunity of the road trick, it dawned upon us that maybe the auto rickshaw driver is a part of the game too. They share the spoils. S pointed out that when someone asks for help like this, it is likely that people will not look for change and will hand over a single bill. If you believe the trickster's story you will give her at least what she needs. If asked for 80, you'll probably hand over a 100. So, at hundred a piece, assuming she successfully melts five hearts, only during busy parts of the day, each month she is making more than, to quote an honest vocation, what an average public school teacher would make.

That's a handsome side business. Exchange a few words and earn quick bucks. The business model must be working and working well, if it is still alive for atleast few months that I witnessed it (could be longer, only I've known it for as long.)

Public mooching is indeed profitable. Any takers? Just make sure you don't fall for the particular auto vixen. (A bit cockily, I might add, say a hello to her if you do meet.)

In Mumbai, there's lot of drama...(Part 2)

2010-01-15T23:54:00.001+05:30

(Continued from here)

Scene#1 Take#2:

It's late on a Saturday winter afternoon in a winterless Mumbai. It is very crowded today as I drive from one point in the suburbs to another. 'When isn't it crowded?' are my thoughts as I pull into a traffic light. Trance is playing on my car music system just as I notice that I am surrounded by autorickshaws.

A face peers out of the auto stopped to my immediate right. The sweet looking girl gestures me to roll down my car window. And I think, 'Don't I know this girl? I am dreaming? This has happened to me before. Is this deja vu?' Mind races back to the last time this scene was played out. Four months back, rainy night, traffic, same gestures... 'Oh, I know what is coming. Damn...my instincts were on the dot! I am glad I did not fall for that trick last time',are my thoughts as I cut the music and roll down the window.

Looks can be deceptive. But I feel a little proud for having judged it right the first time around. I need to get this girl to understand that she cannot get away with it all the time. A meek 'Sorry!' wouldn't have the punch. I need to say it like she cannot forget it for some time. But, I cannot make a scene. If a guy shouts at a stranger-woman (by now, all the sweetness about her has metamorphosed into wiliness) who is asking for help, those around you will likely trash you verbally, or physically, before listening to your story. Then there will be lot of honking from those behind me who are not interested in seeing where this goes. The inanity of the potential chaos makes me think we'll settle it the simple way. I only need to get a point across.

So, by the time she says it, I am saying it in my mind, smile on my face 'Sir, can you please do me a favour?'. My smile widens, as I lift up my index finger and say ' Ma'am, I know what you are going to say. But you have asked me for this favour once before, remember?'. I think she does not recognize me. But, I am sure that she knows that I know. She knows that she has slipped this time. She also probably cannot believe that she has tried to trick the same guy twice. What are the odds, isn't it? There are some things money can buy, but the look on her face was priceless.

Anyway, I am glad I had recognized that confident delivery of the request the first time around. I see that confidence again, when she recovers her poise and with sufficient stoicism, responds with 'OK' and then withdraws into the auto rickshaw.

(To be continued)

In Mumbai, there's lots of drama...(Part 1)

2010-01-09T23:32:00.006+05:30

Called by many names, Mumbai, as a film city, ensnares people's imagination like no other. Does life mimic cinema or cinema mimic life here? In the continuum of what imitates what, the answer must lie only somewhere at the center. You'll find all flavours of life on the street -romance, fantasy, adultery, violence, deceit, drama, comedy etc- as long as you care to step back and observe. When the regular Mumbaikar cannot escape the real virtuality of the city, how can a simple guy like me? Here's are a few scenes from my life in the past few months...

Scene#1 Take#1:

It's late on a rainy evening of an otherwise quiet Saturday. You might have noticed that when it has been drizzling continuously, things kind of quieten down. I am driving alone from one point in the suburbs to another, cutting across several busy junctions. Now, I am stuck at the same signal for the third time that the light changes back to red.

Just as I am cursing the traffic congestion, the autorickshaw that was , directionally speaking, hanging around my five o'clock pulls ahead to my one o'clock. A sweet face of a girl in her early twenties or late teens cranes out of the auto. Her hand gestures to me to roll down my car window. As I see her eyelashes blinking away rain drops, I wonder whether she is looking for directions. But she is in an auto and usually, it is me that goes to an auto for directions, not the other way round. Anyway, my car window hisses halfway down and I wait for her to speak.

She says,in perfect English, "Sir, can you please do me a favour?" I am all the more unsure about what to expect now. "Sir, I do not have money to pay to this autorishaw guy. Can you please give me 80 Rupees?" My mind races. Something is not right about this scenario. Her sweet voice wants me to believe this is a genuine request. Her immaculate private school educated accent tells me she must be coming from at least a middle class home. I cannot make out what she is wearing, but, someone in her position, I assume, must have a cellphone. Even if she does not have one, why doesn't she wait till she reaches her destination and arrange for money with whomever she is meeting? Maybe, she is even going home now. Either way, asking money, publicly, from a stranger, is not a smart thing to do in my opinion. Doing so exposes her vulnerability. Why is she asking me then?

A couple or three seconds pass as I consider all this. My thoughts are interrupted by her voice again, "Sir?". I have to decide whether I want to dig into my pocket or not. Would it be OK to not give her the money? 'Come on fast', I think. I go with my instincts and decide that the straight face and the confidence with which she delivered her request tells me that she is used to making such requests. Maybe she is just wanting to bill her ride on a stranger willing to help. Circumstances do not seem to be dire. So, I just shake my head and say "I am sorry!" and roll up my window. Her face disappears into the auto and I look around to check whether the light has changed. It has not.

In the background of raindrops falling on my car roof, I think about whether I did the right thing. She did seem sweet, after all.

(To be continued)

No Discounting New Year's Eve

2010-01-05T02:00:00.005+05:30

The Christmas to new year's week is usually filled with tension among those who want to put it on sale and those who come to buy it. On one hand are those willing to start their new year with a bang. They will shop till the ball drops. On the other, there are those who want bang for their buck. Bargain hunters will make sure they start the new year with 'new everything' with nothing more than a pinch on their wallet. Then there are those who will, each year, shop one last time before they step into the new year with a resolution to stop splurging altogether. The malls have something for all categories.

The weird thing, though, is if you want to stay at home on the new year's eve, you will not get an offer in just the right places. I was asked to register and sign up for promotions before I could access the downloadable coupons from a couple of top pizza houses in the country. And when I did download them, the fine print did not help my appetite- "This offer is not valid on 31-Dec-2009!" I am trying to recall if this is the case in the United States too. I guess they have special discounts on the turn of the year. Is it because the same chains in India think people here are less imaginative on new year's and would order more pizzas no matter what? Why then pass the opportunity to fill the orders, at full price, from home parties?

Hearing about New year's eve parties is one of the traditional catching up activities you do in the first week. After the first week, it's as boring as talking about last year! Anyway, as you'd have guessed ours was a 'nice' one at home. Sit at home, play with our son and order pizzas at full price; no offers! Don't get me wrong, for a bargain hunter is not really about money. Just like for a kleptomaniac, it is not about the item. Think bigger, it is a middle class value; more like a value game.

But for many the eve went better than they expected it to. For some it almost did. Here are some stories I heard...

One of my colleagues regretted that she and her husband could not go to Goa to one of the progressive trance parties where they ring every new year in. Later, on learning that, this year, the place got busted with a lot of drugs on site they thought it was a good sign of times to come.

Another colleague ushered new year in a resort and for unknown reasons (he thinks it is a case of mistaken identity), he and his wife received more than their share of hospitality. They could not believe their luck when they received as gift a 'three days all expenses covered package at a beach resort'. It was given as a reward for their loyal patronage. But, this was the first time the couple had even been to the city. Would you call that lucky start or what?

You have reason to be happy when you have free couples pass to, I was told, one of the coolest places to be in Mumbai. Named after an exotic amphibian, the place charges a high fee for its new year's party. If all a guy has, to take to the party, is another male friend, then he does not want to use the pass as a couples pass, lest he send out all the wrong signals. So, he should feel luckier that he gets two free passes to cover both the stags. Economically, as one colleague pointed out, this is a loss to a potential couple who could have instead gone free to the party with those two half unused passe. Anyway, this guy lands up and finds himself among TV celebrities and really cool crowd. Or hot crowd as he later corrected himself.

Having the time of his life, he lands up at the bar next to an attractive woman (his description was much risqué). Adrenalin and new years spirits propel him to ask her, harmlessly, if she would like to dance with him. He, however, is faced with the dilemma of answering the question- "How much will you pay me?" Got to give it to the honesty of the guy, unfazed, he replies "What are the standard rates at a place like this? I am new here." 'I charge twenty five thousand' pat comes the reply. Still maintaining his presence of mind and also trying some fishing, if not getting some more free airtime as well as taking a big risk on his reputation or judgement on class (But, no mincing words in Mumbai, they say) he says 'Isn't that a little too high even for today?'. Looks like this woman is ready for anything, she says 'For you I will give a 10% discount!'. That response, to me was simply Manoj T Shyamalan-esqe unanticipated. Tell me if you hear a better one than that in all of 2010!

Like I said, if you are into buying something, there is someone selling it for a discount on new years. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case with pizzas delivered home on New Year's eve.

Flights of fantasy (Sarvé janaahaa Sukhoi-no bhavanthu)

2009-11-26T18:33:00.008+05:30

'Now, wouldn't I like to be the president of India?' was the first thought that came to my mind when I heard our president had completed her first sub-sonic sortie. Atleast, then, I would get to fly in a Sukhoi and tick one of the hundred things to do before I die. Not even those who spend a lifetime in the Air Force get a chance like this.

But, what was the president doing in a Sukhoi in the first place? Is this the 21st century version of the traditional guard of honour inspection? May be it is one of the perks of being a president in a non-federal democracy. I am sure the prez plays a key role of upholding the constitutional processes, but, unless there is an emergency, the president does not need to pull any rabbits out of their hat. So, what do you do after you have settled down in your job? Scale new heights...literally?

But really, what was the motive behind riding a Sukhoi? It could not be a political statement (except help raise Left's eyebrows), no sir. Once in office, our president hardly need make any political manoeuvers unless instigated by a drastic turn of events- man made or otherwise. Officially, there is no obligation to prove geriatric fitness for aeronautical worklife. Maybe there is such a thing as first ladies' and gents' club out there that I am not aware of that is trying to set precedents for presidents.

At the end of the sortie, the president clarified that while she is (now, all the more) confident that women can do it (a Sukhoi-esque task), she would rather the government sorted out the moral and social feasibility of letting women into active fighter-jet airtime combat duty. From what I gathered from an ex-army lady, most countries, India included, are not there yet. So, it could not be about encouraging women into the armed forces, could it? If it is, then it is pretty expensive advertisement.

What could the common man be thinking? While we are blown away by our president's gutsiness, are masses thinking whether they will get blown away to bits in an act of alien cowardice. While lucky officials relish unusually fantastic funflights, do masses wonder where the next meal will come from, will their hut survive the next floods or their fields the next drought? Does the middle class wonder whether Earth is turning lunar the way potholes on roads expand and vehicles jump over metro construction debris as if locomoting in 1/6th gravity? What are all those cabinet ministers, MPs and MLAs thinking about the austerity measures government was insisting upon, oh so loudly, just weeks ago? May be they think they should tweet more often?

At an individual level, there is awe, respect and some green eye here. But seriously, what was the president doing in a Sukhoi? The president, having conquered the G-forces now wishes to break the sound barrier. I hope the voice of concern of the masses reaches the president's ears at the speed of sound.

"Confusious (sic) say: President that break sound barrier, going too fast for its people"

Spook of numbers and names

2009-08-21T21:42:00.009+05:30

Let me first confess that I am posting this stranded at a domestic airport in a city which is usually in the news for being lashed by rains. This time, however, force majeure in The Capital has impelled me to look for something to do for two hours in an airport that has very little to offer by way of anything to do. There is a massage parlour;'Massage, My foot!', I think.

If there were a South East Asian kitchen here, I would have relished each bite knowing very well that the voice that beckons me to the airplane (and always makes the mistake of putting kindness in the wrong place saying "all passengers are kindly requested to proceed toward the aircraft") will not wake up for sometime. But alas, there is only junk food all around. The vending machine has only magazines from God's Own Country (and I am nowhere near there). Thank heavens for little mercies such as wireless broadband.

Anyway, talking about coincidences...

A few months back, I joined a company the name of which shares most of its characters with the name of my previous employer(Note: Each has its own place and brand in the industry and it is a part of my job to make sure my current one shines brighter). The initials of names of the companies are the same. The last building I worked in the last job carries the same name as one of two office building I shuttle between nowadays. Remember, I am talking about two different cities here, my stay separated by a year and a half.

Last year, a new generation of car got introduced and it caught my fancy. Even though I knew very well that I would be graduating in a downswing year, I developed a progressively stronger desire to possess one. My wise wife brought me back to reality. But by then I had already mail-ordered the car brochure to our address in the campus. You can say that the intent to buy the car was established. It was about this time last year. Anyway, in the milieu of hectic job search, all was forgotten. One year hence... I have rented (rented) a home and bought (hypothecated) a new car. Both will 'arrive' next week. Why am I ranting about all this?

Coincidences continue- both the car and the complex that I have rented share a part of the name. But that's not what excites me the most. A couple of days back, my wife just pointed out to me that the 'door number' of the house we are moving into is the same as that we had last rented.(The same one to where I ordered the car brochure).

So, if you get the flow some names and numbers have been chasing me for a year and a half. Somehow they have gotten linked across months and places. It is like being in a continuum of numbers and names across time and space. Some of this has bothering me. For someone who believes in astronomical alignments, this will be a minuscule case study. For someone likes numbers, this is a good example of statistical congregation of sorts. For someone who believes that inner and probably sublime processes of the mind driving man's actions (a la Freud, who said there are no accidental actions?) I am really getting it going, isn't it?

But, darn.. maybe it is just that the airport is getting to me and that I am a little desperate, not having posted in a long time.

Ah, there it is.. the voice "All passengers are kindly requested to proceed toward the aircraft". The kindness of this public address is indeed painful.

Up and down in Mumbai

2009-06-21T15:51:00.005+05:30

Mumbai, the big city of India, teaches you something new every day. The last six weeks have been full of hopes rising up and hopes falling down, traveling up and down, moving up and down and looking up and down.

For the most part of last three weeks, the small talk has revolved around the delayed onset of monsoons. Wiping beads of sweat off their foreheads, people glance up at the sky and shake their heads down in disbelief that rains have beaten them in to the sultry mid-summer. Kids though too happy to go back to school, also probably wonder when it will be called off for a day or two when the waters enshroud the roads and bring productivity of the city down.

My second day in Mumbai was spent learning firsthand the vicissitudes of life on a ‘local’. My local batch mates from IIMA-PGPX had planned a meeting, it so happened, on the day after I landed here. Living with a few relatives until I moved into the company guest house, I was left to figure out how I could negotiate the forty kilometer distance from uptown Borivali to downtown Colaba. The first evening I watched trains at Borivali station cough out people in a hurry and suck in people in a hurry. Two and a half decades back, as a kid, watching trains was apparently an obsession with me. After work, my parents would take me to the nearest level crossing where we would watch trains until they got bored or I stopped jumping with joy, or both. Watching what was going on in the Mumbai local station did not bring up any of those fond memories. Anyway, I had a task to do the next day and my wife’s cousin and uncle had one of their own that day. They had to ensure that their esteemed (tch! tch!) relative was well taken care of and trained enough to travel safely up and down the busy chest of the big city. The next day, while I had no problem getting to Churchgate, on the way back, I learned not to underestimate statements made with respect to the local. I had been warned 'let the Virar local go, you have to take the Borivali local'. But, I thought that warning was too much to be taken seriously at midnight. The Virar passengers take it to their heart that someone would take a Virar local to Borivali when the latter has a train all to itself, last stop Borivali. And they showed this to me the hard way. The carriage full of people standing on each other’s feet, would only allow people in and refused to let me out. (Stepping out and into locals is not how it works in India's city that never sleeps) Jumping out of a train slowing gathering speed, I learned it is never too late (read as never too restful) on a Mumbai local, time of the night notwithstanding.

Lifts, the ones that take you up and down, of all kinds is another thing that one needs to get used to in the Big Apple of India. Tall buildings are not built to impress; they are built to sustain. Sustain the ever growing population of the city that shelters (or not) the fourteen million aspirants and the arrived. But unlike many other cities, Mumbai had learnt many decades ago that it needed high rises. Hence, the variety of lifts in the variety of buildings. The modern one in our office is not always as predictable as the old collapsible-grill kind in the guest house building. The former, though computerized (ahem!) has a mind of its own. Back at the guest house, one has to remember that the lift is not automatic. And this learning did not come to me automatically. One evening, a bunch of kids rushed in shouting ‘wait, lift, uncle, wait’ (or was it ‘wait, lift-uncle, wait’?). I smiled and opened the door. The little people took over the charge of lift operations. They pressed some number and I said ‘Six please’. The little girl did not respond. So, I looked down at her and said ‘Six please’. A little irritated, she looked up at me and said ‘Uncle, this is not automatic. You press Six after we go out’.

Like I said, Mumbai (small or big) teaches you something every day.

"The truth comes out when growth stops"

2009-01-07T15:12:00.012+05:30

It was quite remarkable (yet sad) that just at the start of the fourth class of our course on Corporate Governance -where we were to discuss the article "Directors' new clothes"- the story 'Raju admits fraud' broke. Even before the course started, we were assured by the professor that the Maytas-Satyam fiasco would be a case study in action. Little did we imagine that bigger waves were travelling in our direction. As our professor tagged it, this is nothing short of a "Corporate Tsunami".

Read Raju's 'confession' here

While a rather sad one given the magnitude of the situation- impacting about 50000 employees and hundreds of thousands of retail shareholders, reputation of the offshoring industry at large etc- this is as real time as a case study discussion can get. While learning the processes of the board of directors, it is difficult to believe Raju's claim that no one in the board had a hold on the financial statements. What was the audit committee doing?

The revelations include an overstatement of cash on balance sheets of more than a billion and a half dollars. It should to be noted is that it was cash that was overstated. It is befuddling that they could manage to do that for several years.

Quoting our professor- 'Truth has to come out when growth stops' one must recognise the weight of this statement. Driven by short term growth targets, there is a small (or large?) component of 'catching up with your claims'. In the sense that you provide guidance based on projected growth. You show accrued income based on trust that remittances will follow. But at some points if your financials had reached a level of fiction that is unrecoverable, you have to start losing the chasing game and, then, when the flow of cash depletes as would happen in a slowdown, the litmus changes colors.

While facts ought to follow soon, there is very little left to imagine whether the company could have done this without the support of the auditors.Two-thirds of the assets (cash) never existed? How can you drag that on for years? What were the auditors (a big one too) thinking while passing the quarterly reports? What about bankers who would no doubt be carrying Satyam's annual reports under their pillows?

The showdown has just begun when it comes to India Inc taking a beating on credibility and corporate reputation. While it is true that this could have happened to any company in India, it has happened to one in the IT industry. Barring few notable exceptions in conglomerates in traditional business, largely IT companies were supposed to be largely clean and transparent. This perception comes from the fact that IT companies dealing with US companies or listed in the US need to adhere to SEC requirements and regulatory standards. Additionally, the company had won Golden Peacock in the recent past. Obviously, this again proves that awards do not build public trust and corporate reputation but a past track record of responsible action does.

Is there a systemic issue in how audits are conducted? As SG, one of our classmates, asked of the professor- Given US has failed to put an airtight seal on financial failures, does India have the wherewithal to implement checks and balances in place to avoid such incidents in the future?

What about the risk to Indian outsourcing industry? Given that this question is raised, what will the Government of India do, as in really do about the irregularities in the system?

PS: This is also a test for the logic of 'Wisdom of the crowds'. Some companies (including midcap) whose numbers growth, in the past, have run into public suspicion radar are already being dumped by investors. In the last few hours, each of these companies' stocks have lost about 25%. So, is the market always right? Are there more skeletons in the cupboard waiting to roll out?

Man from Earth

2009-01-04T01:22:00.006+05:30

I want to believe John. I am drawn to the the late writer Jerome Bixby's idea of truth. The movie itself, thanks to director Richard Schenkman, has a Knight Shyamlansque twist that has to be seen to be relished.

The movie starts with a coterie of colleagues pouring into the house of a professor who has unexpectedly decided to retire young. They try to understand where he is going, what he plans to do but cannot go far with it. Instead, based on what the professor first poses as a hypothetical questions- Would you believe if you met someone who has lived 14000 years?- the farewell party turns into a series of discussions that pick your brain. The professor tells them that he is a Cro-magnon cave man and had stopped aging when he reached 35 years of age. Since then, he has been trying to move around, learn and live with the fact. To cover his tracks and appear natural to those around him, he moves on every ten years.

While highly, and naturally so, sceptical about what the professor is saying- first that he is a cave man and then that he has had the opportunity to spend time with historical luminaries with omnipresent fame, the illustrious academicians play along and ask questions. They do this a half out of academic curiosity and a half out of trying to catch John's give away. That they do not succeed in the latter is predictable.

But, along the way in about 90 minutes of the movie very interesting possibilities open up and the fundamental questions get asked. While the movie set itself does not ,mostly, take you beyond the confines of the professor's living room, a part of your mind is racing at the intensity of what is being said. Issues around history, biology, psychology, arts, ethics, morality and faith get raised. A faith shattering revelation has the group divided over the rightness (not validity) of John's 'hypothetical' actions and a theological literist in tears. As he rolls on with his childhood memories, growth and eons of learning thereafter, your imagination runs amuck with scenes of how John's past could have been . The icing on the cake is a poetic end of the movie that works on the psychologist colleague who had lost his wife the previous night.

Like I said, I wanted to believe the story. I was trying to think if I have met someone that could fit into the profile of John Oldman. I think the script has that quality of playing on your innermost desire to know the truth and therefore to wish that John's is a real story. After all it could provide you with a part explanation of the world around you and before you.

Come to think of it, we never really notice much around us. Much less someone who only is trying to remain inconspicuous by purpose. Is John Oldman the quintessential cellophane man; who is our patch to the past yet trying to remain invisible. Moving on as the patch becomes a fix. It is easy to not know a cellphane man.

Is John Oldman representative of the generational cultures? Cultures, traditions and rituals have changed over the ages and they are doing so increasingly fast every few years, nowadays.

How many times has John told his story? Does it always end the same way? Does any one ever believe him? I want to but probably I wouldn't too; it is far too much unsettling to the rational basis of the systematic, yet incomplete, picture of the universe I have in me. But how much of anything do we really ever know?

Does John exist as a periodic reality check to see if faith, in the larger sense of the term, is sustaining? What would happen if he is able to convince everyone that he is indeed who is claims to be? Would the 'rational' among us cut him up to validate his claims? Would the 'faithful' among us test him by fire to see if he is pure and holy? After all in the largely faithless and cynical world of today, would even god not need to pass the test of fire, if he were to appear before us?

I filter movies from IMDB (www.imdb.com) and unless a movie has been recommended highly by someone, I wouldn't watch it if the score is less than 7.0. I noticed that as of this posting, the movie has an 8.2 from about 20000 people. Now, I know why.

Scores apart, this movie will stay with me for quite sometime.

Happy new year 2009!

Review of Cesky Sen

2008-08-26T17:40:00.007+05:30

Saying that the directors, Vit Kusak and Filip Remunda, only intended to pull an April Fool's day prank on 10 million people would obviously be too perfunctory an observation. Pronounced "chess-key sen", the movie literally, 'Czech Dream', is a wonderfully directed documentary comedy on one hand and a reality show on the other. The power of consumerism can be tested in different ways and media's overpowering influence used to make people do things is what the movie primarily tells you.

Two students of Czech Film Academy, by way of their final year project, test the concept of modern consumerism that embodies the notion that a lot of fact is really only part truth when it comes to media campaigning. Their movie is a satirical corroboration to this notion by trying to prove that they can successfully create a 'bubble' out of thin air and make people believe it is real. They do this by conceptualising a hypermarket that will improve the lifestyle of the Czech public with a promise of low prices, great offers and a dream shopping experience. They do this with sponsorships from a top luxury apparel brand house, a media company (who have differences with the directors' motives on ethical grounds but choose to be professional and do the job anyway for the learning it would provide), real market surveys (this part is a small treat for marketing students) with real families and volunteers and before all this even a grant for making the movie from the nation's Ministry of Culture.

The whole process is documented in this film with superb music; a melodious mix of directed music as well as impromptu responses from the public. The 'Hey ho!' is still haunting me as I write this. The music is also a part of the publicity campaign that is both no holds barred 'corporate' as well as replete with double entendres of carefully chosen words- 'Don't bother', 'don't wait', 'don't shop' etc. There is no escaping from the deluge of messages that the dream supermarket ad campaign provides- TV, Radio, fliers, public interviews etc and the public chases the dream to its ribbon cutting ceremony.

In the course of the movie, the directors themselves learn a lot about the science and art behind the marketing promotion of a hyper market. With clothes borrowed from the sponser, they appear in publicity campaigns featuring as the managers of the 'Czech Dream' hypermarket in Prague (whose location they do not reveal till the very end of the campaign). What happens next is an easy guess on most groundsm especially the reactions of the ropable crowd of 'shoppers who meet the surprise'. But some responses from the calm people there are surprising and insightful toward the motives of the directors.

The movie is well cinematographed, even if in 'no glamour, only documentary' style. The music, the script and the natural responses from the unsuspecting participants is quite moving yet funny.The movie was shot, read as the 'dream scam' was played, a few months before the European Union referendum was signed by the people of Czech Republic.The movie aimed to raise questions in the people's mind by brining more people face to face with the need to take a careful look at the national media campaign to vote in favour of joining the EU.

To a marketing student Cesky Sen reiterates that when consumer expectations clash with reality the result is not always pleasant either for the marketer or for the consumer if there is a gap beyond the lattitude of acceptance by the consumer. Like any caricature, the gap is accentuated in the movie. This is a point well made by the award winning directors who have been acclaimed to have a promising future based on the critical success- not sure of the box office success- of their debut venture.

Gatecrashers unlimited

2008-08-01T23:55:00.007+05:30

"Come on man, where will you get this chance again..." by the young-at-heart and fun-loving and older-than-me VM was evidently enough to get me into gatecrashing into an MDP party on campus! For those who know me well, this is not quite how I like to do things. The question of gatecrashing into a party of strangers would normally be out of question.

The second term has been quite a ride. It began with a slow pace of classes. Since the PGPs came back to school after their summers around the same time that our second term started, our profs have been pulled in different directions leaving considerable void now and full capacity later in our class schedules. This has at least helped us catch up on as many as three hard bound books on strategy and leadership that are a part of required reading over and above the course material. At best it given us time to think about what we want to be doing at the end of 8 months.

The roller coaster that the first term was landed us right into a drag pool of water and it took us a couple of weeks to get used to the slow pace. I say this despite having already written a couple of mid terms and surprise tests and innumerable reports. The action started with our place comm asking us to build a wish list of companies that we want to individually consider. That information would form the basis of the efforts that team would spend in its mission to getting us what we want (not need!). Having gone into a pensive mood and out, we have probably been trying to make the best of the time we have around here; the current macroeconomic and political situation of the nation notwithstanding.

No wonder then that talents have been tumbling out of the wardrobes of many people. In preparation of TNite (The traditionally PGP T-Nite has since PGPX's inception included the latter in its scheme), ideas on posters, themes, skits, songs, shouts, music and even nicknames are pouring out for what the batch wants to make an unforgettable week. In that spirit, I have been sketching and painting with oil pastels, something I have not done in the last eighteen years or more. My wife has been getting her hands dirty with camel skin bristles and Camel Oil paint. Quite a cocktail it is when we play 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Shine on' while making pencil marks on the drawing cardboard.

In the midst of all this happy commotion 'normal life' goes on. It being TGIF meant that SP and I spent our evening in VM's room with high spirits and over an HBO (etc.) movie. This goes on till dinner time after which we go to the dining hall and then home (to our families). Today, by the time we finished the movie, it was about 9:27 PM, three minutes before close of dinner. It was raining when we made a 300 meter dash to the dining hall and sprinted up to the first floor.

But in this rush, we did not miss the disco lights and loud music playing in the ground floor dining hall. Seated upstairs we could feel the high decibel bass vibrations. That was when VM suggested that we join the party after dinner. I reminded him that we did not have an invitation. He said that I was missing the point and added what I said at the beginning of this story. If he says," I have done this a hundred times. It will be fun", I can think it is a trap or I can simply believe him. I was almost sure we would invite dirty looks and VM that we would be welcome.

VM was right. During the course of 70 minutes of shaking and moving to the music, we were made to feel that we were indeed welcome and that the last-day-of-MDP crowd was glad to have us fill up their dance floor. A couple of guys from our batch, who joined us, left within a few minutes. Our Cultural Rep, TJ, was aghast at seeing us there. She had been attracted to the music and was there on the agenda of probably striking a deal with the DJ. In any case, our efforts to get her into the crowd were futile. I sweated out the high spirits and cool down the stressed out mind and body. When the DJ unplugged the music system, we thanked the MDP folks for letting us gatecrash. They said they had fun and wished us well for the rest our the eight months at PGPX. Apparently, a month of case studies had done them in and they were glad to be going home.

I totally enjoyed the evening. After all, the best things in life are 'illegal', 'illicit' and ephemeral!

A country, a lecture, a performance.

2008-06-28T02:23:00.008+05:30

The spell broke when my classmates started clapping and I joined in the applause. Today's 'open economy macroeconomics' class had just ended.

Evidently, thirty years before I was born had begun a reforms process in India that did not begin to fructify till around the time I had learnt to walk. Growing up, I had developed a vague sense of how the world and the world of business interacted and why it had not done well in the past and why the economy accelerated around the time when I was in high-school.The process continues, albeit with more steam, even as I come back to college after about a decade of corporate life.

While all this was happening, a set of events that several times shook a nation of a billion. There was another set of events that forced a country going in the wrong (in macroeconomics, right and wrong are opinions based on ideology) direction to do a u-turn, in the process starting an economic revolution that is only restrained by the attitude of the elected representatives and their affiliations to power and position (we get the governments we deserve? What must an economist feel if he knows what to do to correct the wrongs, but is tied down by 'the obligations of his position'? What's popular?) Overall, the events were influenced by 'who ruled independent India', what political inclinations they had, some things that are ingrained deep in a 3000 year old culture that is Hinduism, international power polarities and their subsequent realignment etc. There are several other factors that would seem superficial if explained in a hurry, but they all mattered.

In summary, today's lecture related some of the ideologies that have survived 200 years of political testing, 3000 years of cultural testing, responsibilities and constraints of central monetary authorities, 60 years of post-independence struggles, the interdependence of several macroeconomics factors that every government ought to strive to direct (with as much less interference and marginal cost as possible) with some of the known and unknown facts and political opinions that shaped India's daily life over the last six decades. Basically, everything that mattered to the development of the current fiscal and monetary policies was expertly framed in a lecture that was delivered like a story based on numbers and adjectives. The performance was spellbinding. I recall laughing out of professor's wit and admiring his rhetoric several times.

India got revealed between spoken words, a blackboard and insights of a scholar's mind. Seventy five minutes had passed by in a whiff. The cloud of my thoughts and opinions, though, had taken a definite concrete shape. Wow, so that was what they had been talking about all these years!

We have enjoyed several lectures and many more discussions. But on none of them had we conferred an applause, like as if at the end of a performance. This was a first.

I started clapping.

PS: The professor is a permanent faculty at IIMA. Among others, he has been playing the role of an expert adviser to the central government on some of the key initiatives rolled out in the recent past.

The light at the end of the tunnel...

2008-05-19T02:33:00.006+05:30

Last week a new course on operations started. This course has an acronym which can be easily turned to sound like 'doomed'. Everyone thinks that doomed is what their fate is in grappling with it. In fact, there is a little law that says you are bound to be doomed with it.

The culmination of a week in which a movie played a significant part in-class (did I forget to mention that in the class we saw a short movie on cheetah?), is quite aptly watching a blockbuster at the cinemas. Better still if about seventy adults and children land up at the same hall at the same time. Even better if the movie starts with a C&H comic strip 'What are you doing here? Don't you have homework to do?" Thanks to TJ, our cultural rep, all this was possible last Saturday.

Not having left the campus thresholds for over a week, I was glad I was doing something normal. I am not sure if it was circumstantial, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Iron Man. I thought it would be nice to buy a flying suit, if I could afford one. Impossible is nothing, you know...see the real stuff here.

Coming back to doom, the course requires immense amount of patience and focus (can the two co-exist? We are getting there...) to get through a case. Don't get me wrong. I am not talking about cracking the cases, only about getting through them. So, by Wednesday evening when we were faced with a rather simple doom case that we could solve in an hour, we thought we could hit the bed a couple of hours earlier (say, 2 AM). We saw light at the end of the tunnel. Little did we know that the other asignment with statistics reading was a wolf in dog's clothing. We had to just keep on reading hor hours. By the time we were down to implications of our statistically significant observations, it was tea time in the Chicago.

How do they say that... the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a fast moving train? Yeah, and we walked walked right in to it.

Life is fun(ny)

2008-05-13T19:09:00.008+05:30

Things long forgotten have a way of coming back to haunt you. You might even say it is a conspiracy by higher powers and I am at the center of it.

Why else would I need to fret over needing to literally pen down more than half a dozen pages at my age. I am no 'writer'. My profession and office technology have turned me into a "key-er", as I cannot claim to be a typist either. But industry did teach me the value of expectation management. With a handwriting like mine, growing more illegible by the year, I need to set the right expectations. This is what I did before the exam when I asked Dr.SS, TA for our, 'Customer Value' course, about the role of aesthetics of one's handwriting in a b-school exam. I found it comforting to know that 'she has seen all kinds of handwriting'.

It's not like I have not tried to get into the mode of writing more. I have made considerable number of pages of study notes for my course subjects. But how much of a damage of nine years can you reverse in a few weeks; assuming you even let me be the judge of my own handwriting?

I did pull through the three hour case-based exam this afternoon. I was not sure if I could sit that long. One of the reasons I had dreaded GMAT practice tests was their painfully long durations. Initially, after I landed here, I had to fight the urge to get up from my study table and walk around every twenty minutes. On one hand being a manager allows you to have some amount of exemption in having a low attention span. On the other hand multi-tasking required by a manager's role turns that into an asset of sorts. Anyway,another of those things that come back to haunt you are long duration exams.

I think I am developing, subconsciously, a way of creating fun if I do not find some around me. Would you believe I walked out with my answer paper after the open-book exam? I must have inadvertently (no such thing in Freud's world) packed it with my rather tall-and-broad text book. Once the TA found out that one paper was missing, I walked back into the hall to help them sort the confusion out. I am not sure who was laughing and who was relieved on finding out that it was I who had not turned in the answer paper. Since I had been within earshot and eyeshot of Dr.SS and maybe had demonstrated my integrity (now, how do you like that?) in the past that I did not need to sign an 'undertaking' (I did not know such a thing existed).

Like I said, I am finding that the repertoire of stories is steadily growing. Mr.Freud, would you say I am building one? I am not sure, but I do not think, anymore, that many thing will impossibly not happen to me.

A kind of X-files effect? No, let's say it's the PGPX-files effect!

PS: What the online-statuses are looking like today: LC- "Koi lauta de mere beete hue din"; RR-"toommatooeess...."; AA-"Selling Grade "A" tomatoes";
Yours truly- "No Strategy => POD (point of despair-ity)"

On the wings of time

2008-05-09T17:21:00.010+05:30

We gave three standing ovations to three professors who have either triggered a changed in the way we think or will be instrumental in changing the way we act. The caveat, of course, is that we follow the messages they delivered. As our OB professor concluded in the last session of her course, 'It depends on your choice!". It was touching to bid adieu to the great minds who made cherished our first encounter with the pressure cooker that WIMWI's pedagogy is.

Tuesday marked the end of the first month of PGPX. In this time, we have completed three courses and started three new ones (while a few others will get replaced soon), and woken up to the fact that the first final exam is on the day after tomorrow. But the fun doesn't end.

We started a course with a given name of 'Modeling for Decision'. 'Decision Modeling' would have worked just fine. The given name is causing me to interchange the order of words. Interchanging words can be disastrous as I realized over a post session conversation. Our professor, NR, thirty years at WIMWI and a doctorate in mathematics, has a very sharp mind. Unless we chase his ideas at the speed of his thought, we see that the multi-dimensional ideas he is spewing out are lost on us. He approaches things with cold logic, is famous for being strict in dealing with 'inferior logic' and merciless in repartee; some have been hopelessly embarrassed in class (to be later cajoled).

Over the post-session tea, I thought I was making sense to the prof. until I heard him say 'Have you considered it, seriously?'. Only then did I realise I had referred to his subject as 'Decision for Modeling' (notice that mislaid 'for'?). I quickly recovered thinking about how bad this could get. I conceded to my error and replied that given my un-toned structure, decide that it would be 'illogical' to proceed with modeling.Thankfully the Prof accepted it with a nod and a smile that told me that he was letting me go easy! I am glad I did not speak on the topic in the class.Class participation can wait!

Like "One, Two, three, times a lady", is there 'one-twelfth an MBA'? You wish!

The Big Bang Theory

2008-05-01T19:14:00.009+05:30

Like many of my friends, I was a day scholar at engineering school.I have been told that there had been a part of engineering school (not people, but life) that was not known to me, or for practical reasons out of bounds to me. I am talking about the world of "hostel-ites", as they were called.

Confined, OK, let me add 'by choice', to the palisades of Vastrapur New Campus, I am now a part of a camaraderie of hostelers.I had been variously told that I had missed out one some part of growing up by not living in a hostel. I was not so sure at the time. OK, sour grapes. I now think that the fact that we sit together and debate over 'business decisions' into wee hours of the evening and rub (all) our noses to the ground over frustratingly ambiguous case studies, weaves around us an invisible thread of fellow feeling.Slowly but surely we are building up a repertoire of stories that we will recall in future.

An unforgettable would be that of the Midnight Blast.

Post dinner, bogged down by an 'Analysis of Data' assignment, we were in the abyss of confusedness when, suddenly, there was a "Bang!". In day time, we've heard rare air-gunshots fired to scare away the hundreds of pigeon that think it is their right to deface, with natural elements, the ornate facade and modernistic walls of The Institute. But an air-gunshot in the middle of the night? There was a perplexed expression on several faces that were peering out of different syndicate rooms. On the hallway were PK and SP who had no idea what had hit them. The others were wondering what had come upon these two. It took the duo a few seconds to understand what had transpired. We thought it was excusable for them to be perplexed, since it was as real as it was unbelievable.

Turns out that PK had asked SP for a match and SP threw a butane lighter in PK's direction. PK missed the catch and the projectile exploded on contact with ground causing the big bang. What PK and SP were looking for, not realising all this had happened, was the missing blue plastic lighter. Obviously, neither of them had any background in using ammunition of this kind. So, it took a golden few seconds to understand that the heavy odour was that of sublime butane and the blue pieces of plastic were remnants of SP's cigarette lighter.

A wave of comic relief spread over the present crowd as dawned on them an unpleasant side-effect of playing catch with a lighter. Lighter as SP was of a lighter, our minds were lighter from the monotony of the post-dinner discussion. Somewhat like during the aftermath of the big bang, our ideas started crystalising (read as some progress on the case) all the while shaking our heads at the un-impossibility of what has just happened.

For the record, no one was hurt!

Thank god it's FRAday!

2008-04-25T23:51:00.008+05:30

Imagine you are at sea standing on a balancing ball. You need to jump from ball to ball to make your way to an island, where you catch your breath and rest for a while. Then you repeat the act to reach another island. If you miss a step, you are in saline water. So also, if you take your eyes of your course. There is no looking back. There is only looking forward to the island. Then there are these high-jumps you need to clear sometimes in jumping between balls.

I am not saying there's no fun; I am talking about my trials at Vastrapur. The bouncing balls are the new topics in different courses we need to study everyday.The high jump bars are the tests, sometimes surprise ones, that we need to take. Miss a topic and you will be stumbling over yourself to catch up with what just went past in a blur. The islands are the weekends--the only times you can afford to look back and reflect upon what you did.

One of the balancing balls is a course on customer value (no, they don't use jargon such as 'marketing' here). Here, we are being trained to 'liberate ourselves from the shackles of rationality in order to understand the nuances of the behavior of an animal called customer'-quoting Prof. AK, who's on a mission to change the way we think and will be glad if we went home more confused than when we came in! Now, the fun part of this this that we get to do assignments where we need to look at good looking women with the best skin tones and lovely smiles. That's because we are required to elicit information on positioning of luxury soaps (partly, our choice of category) in India by looking at an array of TV and print advertisements in the category and then write a report on strategic marketing implications of same. Do you want to 'skindulge'?

We sing alleluias when we learn that a class has been deferred and thank gods for small mercies when the bulletin board is bare at 2 PM. For, at this hour the fate of the class, by way of a surprise quiz or not, is officially announced. Of course, you can check your mailbox over wi-lan. But, a notice is a notice.

The Institute expects highest levels of commitment to pass through the year long test of fire that is PGPX. The industry however does not prepare us for anything like this. One needs about eight hours of preparation outside to class to make it through a day having 3 course sessions. Not reading up for the class is like falling short of length at next the bouncing ball. Most of us are going into 'auto mode' in preparation for the next week that has 21 course sessions over six days. There has been some insinuation about a 'catch-up' class on the seventh day. That doesn't surprise us anymore.

"Why does cash flow?" "KASH (F)low" and the curious "positioning cash flow" are all side effects of a grueling episode most of us are going through. We are trying to imbibe the techniques of accounting as a part of Financial Reporting and Analysis. In a matter of four sessions we have covered aspects from the basic principles of accounting to cash flow statement. 'Covered' is a heavy word that includes all of: reading, discussing, applying, testing, frustration and sleepless nights. When you look at people's online chat-statuses, you see the phrases that were mentioned in quotes at the start of this paragraph. There is so much FRAstration that everyone is feeling FRAil around this subject. There is almost a tacit FRAternity of people whose confidence is FRActured by this subject. Oh, Oh, I am doing it again! I might be already too FRA from sanity.

There are ways to cope and then there are ways to cope. I find it comforting to chat up with anyone who is available at the FK tea stall at 1 AM. And I am glad I am not writing a 'reusable Visual C++ component' like one of my batch mates here, MS, did a couple of nights back. Either of these activities is like playing Bricks on the cellphone- stress-busting as well as entertaining. Can you imagine doing this aimlessly in the middle of the week? Where's the time?

Thank god it's FRAday!

Mid-summer night's daze

2008-04-15T23:10:00.004+05:30

Up, after the first splash!

I am not a swimmer. Yet, aided by a life-jacket (yeah, not purist aquaphile) I have previously dived in to cold waters. When you hit the water for the first time, head down, the splash causes you to go in to a state of daze, until the buoyancy bobs you up above water. Only then can you breathe. If you get my point, this blog post is one such quick breather.

For email access, internally (Ah! the coveted domain name in my new email ID) WIMWI uses a SaaS-modelled service of,probably, the most popular email service that also owns the best search engine. So, we have this page that comes up as the inbox and on the left pane is the list of ready-for-chat users in the PGPX batch. The intent of this post is not to familiarize you with the features of our email system, but to enlighten you how a 'productivity' application can become a subtle support system. Let me explain.

The speed at which professors' assistants send updates, the academic reps post the latest twist in the profs' plans and the last minute changes to the make-up classes (you wish these were cosmetic) and the updates we get on assignments and submissions, one needs to be checking his email every few minutes. Else, one is working on expired information.

So, now you should guess that my Inbox page is, well, always open.

What do I see now? There is this gentleman SG, who's right now battling the twists of supply side managerial economics. How do I know that? His current status is "IsoCan't Curves". Inspired by this, I update my current status to 'segMental State' reflecting my state of mind at the maze of jargon surrounding Market Segmentation and Target Marketing. Then there is RR whose status is a smug 'hmmmm'. I am not sure what she is studying. Not sure if he was really sleepy or just bored, SG-Bandit flags a 'Bean Counting is fun, Bean Counting is fun, Bean....'.

As I make my way through the Building Blocks of PGPX, post-supper, I increasingly find that
a. It's already lunch time on the US Pacific Coast
b. My wife is already in REM sleep, probably dreaming that I have retired for the night
c. There still are several users online (green user icons) but deeply engrossed in subjects that while enjoyable, remind us that 'there are no free lunches'. In fact, nowadays, there is very little free time for lunch.

While time chugs along,outside the walls of Vastrapur campus, our Microeconomics Professor (so good that he was brought back from retirement) speeds past the topics at a speed tad less than that of light (If you think I am exaggerating, remember that I am reading marketing!). By the night, we try and run behind this beam encouraged by each others' 'statuses' reminding us that 'we are not alone'. Subtle Support System?

Coming back to the splash: After the first bob, gravity takes over and you go down for many short plunges. Time for me to plunge 'down' into Kotler's maxims.

Go...

2008-04-08T23:45:00.008+05:30

The first official day of the PGPX program '09 started with an inaugural function that included an address by the director of WIMWI (well known institute of management in western India) as we humbly refer to The Institute.

As much as we enjoyed the program that included individual introductions to the faculty, managers of the program and the batchmates, so did our families who 'got an opportunity to understand the framework and learn firsthand about the expectations from the students'. Thankfully the first day only included presentations from supporting functions of the institute, but again did not spare us from prep material for Management Communication modules for Day 1 the Monday.

Day 1 taught us that management communication cannot be perfected. This would be a smug statement unless I tell you that I acknowledge now that some of the practices we knew before can at best be described as 'Corporate Baggage'. So, while critiquing our classmates on their presentations and reviewing the playbacks of the same, much delearning was seen as imperative.

Day 1 was not to end sooner than midnight for we had to dissect the First Case of the year. This was an 'illustrative case', meaning that we would not be graded on it and it would be used to understand the mechanics involved in solving a case. Zealous as we were to take the best shot at it, we chose to ignore the point of diminishing returns and spent close to 4 hours preparing for it individually and in groups. The exploration was interrupted by the Inaugural Dinner with faculty and staff of PGPX.

Now, inaugural dinners are supposedly fertile grounds to look for some face time with Professors and if possible with their assistants. And given that this would be the second only interaction with the professors, some of us thought that we should capitalise on the opportunity. We we can talk with the other students over the next year anyway. At this point I should tell you that some Young Professors, the recently qualified Fellows (WIMWI PhDs) are not much older, if at all, from most PGPX students. Hence, spotting a young professor with a french beard already talking to a student gave us instant joy. Now, one could slowly join the circle and wait for a chance to get into the conversation. Of course, the sensitive approach involved in doing this is not much different from hunting where you could unnecessarily startle the prey. Anyway, the approach was executed and the conversation was initiated. After about four minutes into the conversation a bunch of visiting cards came out of the professor's shirt pocket and made it in to our hands. It is only then we realise that the professor we softened up to was the VP of the company catering for the dinner. We beat a hasty retreat from the deceptive prof!

After that dinner was mostly spent learning the intricate mechanics of sub-prime fiasco from RK, a batch mate.

Get Set...

2008-04-05T23:50:00.005+05:30

Third day, also day minus three, on campus came with a lot of surprises- some pleasant and some otherwise.

The pleasant suprise came in the form of an executive bag with our names and an inscription of the IIMA logo. The not so pleasant one came in the form of twelve spiral bounded proprietary study books and half a dozen text books.The size of the stack made me think that this should be manageable, until I learned that the stack would need to be devoured over the next ten, only, weeks that make up the first term. People were hoping that carrying the books from the office to the apartment would remind us to make time for fitness. We also found out our study groups and got alloted our syndicate rooms, where we will be found most of the times after class hours.

Next on the cards is the selection of representatives as well as committees for various functions that will be driving the batch the entire year. Some of us have taken up the initiative to drive the larger group toward the thinking process for this and set the ball rolling. Those who want to nominate themselves ought to find time to reflect upon their strengths and the roles they want to play.

After much deliberation, at about 7 PM, we decided that we should have a pre-term party tonight. Securing permission to host it in the terrace-lawn, arranging for musical tracks, getting the in-house caterers to make an assortment of pakodas, buying cold drinks, snacks and cake, planning party games and finally setting up the venue with lights and tables was organised with fervour in a matter of two hours. That iPod with a Bose docking station/speaker system is a DJs next best friend was quite evident when the beauty of a system kept pumping high decibal sounds all throught the party right over the chatter and laughter of a the hundred strong crowd.

We just retruned from the party. It could have gone on for longer had the rain gods relented and had we not been required to get ready for the formal inauguration as well as dissect a communications management case study with our syndicates.

This is a sign of things to come. Work hard and party often. The group is seriously considering buying a low-end sound system just for parties over the next twelve months. We will get the ROI when parties happen frequently and we will have parties frequently to get the ROI.

The program gets formally inaugurated tomorrow. Then, it's just "Go!".

On your marks...

2008-04-03T20:03:00.013+05:30

We arrived at the hallowed portal of IIM Ahmedabad yesterday morning. We had for company another batch mate R and her husband M on the 36 hour train journey.We were planning to travel lock, stock and barrel (and hence the choice of a train). But given that we wanted to feel 'at home' at Ahmedabad, our situation could be summed up as 'lock, stock and two barrels'.

For the first time in two decades, I travelled on a rail-trip lasting more than a few hours. So, while the stink and snafu that we associate with Indian railway stations and trains have not changed much, the AC two tier treatment was not bad at all. Chatting up with the electrical incharge of our train, I found out that the trains are apparently much more cleaner and quieter the South of the Cancer line. He associated the regional attitudes and the major ethnicity of the passengers to how clean or otherwise a train is when it cruises into the last station.

Another thing I learnt, during an unscheduled stop, was that, apparently, even if the train were to not move for another six hours, we would still arrive at Ahmedabad on time. The reason he said was that the current time-table had been made keeping in mind a maximum speed of 60 kmph. The reality is that most trains run around 100 kmph on most tracks. So, while most trains could have shorter journey-times, they just don't. Hmm...

First two days here have been all about setting up our on-campus apartment for the rest of the year and meeting many people. The atmosphere is almost like returning to college after a vacation. The reason I say returning and not joining, is because thanks to web 2.0 and collaborative technology we know most of us- have discussed online, emailed each other, have either spoken on phone and/or met several times- before meeting here. So, the ice was broken long back. Only a few who chose so or otherwise remained inactive in our online forum needed any introduction.

The fact that Ahmedabad, as we are finding out slowly, is a hospitable city is making things very easy and simple. I cannot imagine -saying this for all it is worth- travelling in to Bangalore as a student with a family and without a car and at the mercy of auto rickshaw drivers and then finding it this easy to settle down. So far, the auto drivers are not only super-congenial, they are very enterprising. One guy introduced himself at the end of a twenty minute ride and urged me to note down his cellphone number. He said he is mostly lingering outside the campus gates and will be able to service us anytime. Amen! Bangalore auto drivers sit on their backsides and with no hesitation refuse to carry passengers to just any spot. It shows that Bangalore drivers are not hungry enough, if you see what I mean.

After seeing the malls of Bangalore, I will say that malls here are huge. The ISKCON (name owing to proximity to a temple) Mega Mall, is impressively big. Put a Forum and Garuda and some more to get an IMM. And I am told that IMM is not the biggest mall in Ahmedabad. No wonder RelianceMart chose Ahmedabad for launching its Hyper format.

I will be unnecessarily biased toward Ahmedabad, if I do not say a few words about the driving sense in Ahmedabad. For the size of the roads, big, and for the type of roads, pristine, visibly reliable and well lit, the aggressive behaviour of the drivers is confusing. Bangalore suffers from bad roads; here roads are not an issue. I do not yet know where it comes from, but something is not right about the rush.

Anyway, first two days, despite having followed a day and a half long train journey seem conveniently normal. A nice city, a nice campus and a nice feeling.

A pupil's progress

2008-03-26T11:06:00.005+05:30

Five more days to do before I set out lock, stock and barrel to Ahmedabad. The three weeks I had taken off from work have resulted in part success. The aim of the break had been four fold - Relaxation, recreation,reading and regularisation. While I can say that I have made sufficient progress on the first two, the third is where it is in the list- lagging. The obscuring reference to regularisation is with regard to catching up on administrative tasks.

Right now, I think I am at the apex of a roller-coaster, the car is chugging its way to the highest peak. A few days from now, once we arrive at Ahmedabad, the car will be past the acme and then will hurtle down at breakneck speed and everything will pass in a blur.

But looking down (from the peak of the imaginary roller coaster) the feeling is very much like being on a real roller coaster or for that matter more like having taken off, out from the door of a propeller plane at 13000 feet for a sky dive. You have to do it right and land on your feet. And to do it right, you don't want to close your eyes; where's the fun anyway in doing that?

So, let's get it started in here.

A colorful Road Trip

2008-03-21T18:26:00.024+05:30

A road trip typically combines the thrill of driving your own car through countryside and highways with the freshness of seeing rural and natural sights that one gets un-used to seeing in a city. In a road trip natural colors are easy to come by. Here are some colours of Karnataka that that we saw flying around us in the Ghats and along the coastline.

That the Western Ghats are green is common knowledge. The myriad shades of green shone by the tea gardens of Kalasa, Kudremukh and Samse, coffee plantations stretching from Sakleshpur to Mudigere and the sporadic deciduous and rare coniferous foliages sprouting out from deep red mountain soil remind you that tropical heaven is only a few hours drive away from home- the natural red and green.

Green is also the color of hope. The Shiradi Ghat road renovation project gives hope that the Mangalore Bangalore corridor will boost economic growth over the next decade more than what the recently inaugurated railway track will. The 9 inch thick tarmac starting Sakleshpur and the 1 foot thick concrete beams at the hairpin bends are being laid out with deliberation. Making no mistakes this time, the road has been closed to heavy traffic and opened to only controlled private car/light vehicular traffic.

The Greater Mangalore, if you may, area is poised to see amazing growth in the next few years. The infamous, for road accidents, NH17 belt going north from Mangalore is seeing new shades of grey- those of concrete and tarmac laid in the form of four-lane if not six-lane expressway complete with underpass and flyovers. The road will be made safe by itself. Left to man's fancies, however, nothing is safe.

All this, on top of the existing airway, railway will bootstrap the connectivity of the ports and upcoming SEZs with the hinterland. New SEZs for an energy company and several IT companies will lift this town from its tier 2 status to metro in the next decade.

That apart, the blue skies above and backwaters abutting the highway remind you that it is a little too unusual for rains to cause havoc in the evenings. What ought to be pink and blue- the two colors of spring- actually make you think black for the dark evening skies as well as the creeping impact of global warming. Forget that and the white sands of Maravanthe and the aquamarine waters of the sea beyond bring you right back to where we intended to spend one afternoon. Hot, you bet, and sultry worsened by last night's rain.

The legacy of the dynasties remnants of one of which, Hoysalas, we visited at Belur and Halebid ought to carry a bright orange glow. Orange is the color of endurance. That such intricate sculpture work has weathered nature and foreign invasions through the years is a testimony to capabilities and talents of a foregone era. The ornate pillars of the Chennakeshava temple, the hallmark of Hoysala architecture, is replete with the traditional jewellery designs that find their way into contemporary ornaments. The black polished pillars of the Jain Basadhi at Halebeedu even after close to a thousand years reflect the visitors' awestruck faces as if they were built yesterday. The musical notes that can be drawn out from the lightly constructed pillars strike the right chords of surprise.

Looking out for all these colors, we drove out of urban landscape on a Monday dawn, drove through the hinterland and ghats smelling coffee, tea, tender cashew, damp paddy and sugarcane fieldsdown to the hot coastal belt. We drank a lot of tender coconut, locally made carbonated jeera and ginger coolers sun-burned ourselves, sweated out in buckets, swallowed oodles of fresh air, woke up in the mornings to rare sounds of common birds, dug our heels in hot white sands, learned that Kudremukh National Park is replete with vistas of dark green and blue mountains against a pastel blue sky and also learned that exploration of Karnataka by road on our own car is the next best way to do it; the best way is on a bike such as an Enfield.

We returned four nights later content for now but thirsty for more, covering more than twelve hundred kilometers but not tired, intemittently cut off from communications like cell and email but not feeling any bad about it to the home-city happy but not too happy about it.

The colors we saw in this road trip are just a few sprinkles. There is a whole rainbow out there in Karnataka.

Where is the pulp?

2008-03-15T12:39:00.011+05:30

"Where's the pulp? Where's the pulp?" goes the tag line of a fruit drink being popularised, of late. Replace "pulp" with money or even 'reason' and you will know why markets should not rise in the near to medium term. By this, I mean that Sensex will probably not see sustained 17000 to 20000 levels in the next 8-12 months. As of last trading day, the Sensex closed a couple of hundred points below 16000.

Here's why:

1. Technically, at 16000, Sensex has a P/E of about 20, down from 28 at the start of year when record 21000 was breached. Analysts point out that P/E of 15-16 too is justifiable. This means that there is room for bottoming down. This is supported by the fact that 60% of the scrips constituting the Sensex are still trading at a P/E higher than their average 4-year P/E. It may mean they have room for rationalisation.

2. The FM has revised down the projected GDP growth for FY'09 from 'above 9%' to 'above 8%'. Analysts only expect 'more than 7%'.

3. Manufacturing sector has shown negative growth. Down to 5.3% this year, the growth the government says will be close to 11% next year. But there is a big slowdown cloud hanging over that. Given rising cost of imports, at a micro level, profitability will no doubt be impacted.

4. Agricultural output has not stirred any positive emotions while no new provision has been made for prodding agricultural growth. The 60K Cr waiver is not favourable to many or all, but that's another story by itself and it will not put an end to farmer suicides. For FY'08, a recent report forecasted a mere 0.9% growth in food grain output, down from 4.2% last year.

5. The Indian banking sector has only started to publicize its exposure to sub-prime funds.

6. IT sector is still trying to figure out what to make of the recession. But see no upward revision of guidance this year. The Rising Rupee, increase in direct costs and forecasted shortage of talent have already knocked off close to 30% in blue chip stocks. The end of tax holiday in the near future will only squeeze profitability. The flag bearer of 9% growth, services, will be marching only slower.

7. Inflation is rising higher. Already at a 9 month high of 5.11%, this time driven by rising costs (imports), it will be increasingly difficult to sustain operational margins.

8. Rising oil prices will continue to put pressure for an upward revision of petrol and diesel prices in India. But following the recent populist budget, the upward revision would not come by easily. Simply put, it would be an aberration to populist tendencies in preparation for the General Elections. So, oil companies will continue to show deep reds in their books.

9. Infrastructure is not doing that great. Look at the "good for nothing as of now" two 'swank' airports with national records of longest and tallest etc records to their names. Big airports, one already inaugurated, with no way to get to them.Their official launch has been postponed now. Each is an example of priorities that our 'leaders' have. Call the cause technical or political, the impact is economical.

10. Impending general elections may mean no path breaking reforms to bootstrap the above will be taken up now.

In the light of all these, FIIs, especially, hit hard on earnings in the sub-prime era may show faltering confidence, overall, in the current domestic economic scene. The sheen of India Shining episode is getting dulled down by lackluster or almost stalled reforms process.
What about Retail investors? Well, that category of traders or investors has not been driving the index. The recent IPOs have not done well and the market has all but tanked out and is bobbing up and down on a weekly basis. This gives no confidence to a retail investor. They will at best be cautious in putting their money in direct equity.

So, w.h.e.r.e. i.s. t.h.e. p.u.l.p?

Next phase: A thousand suns

2008-03-08T10:01:00.011+05:30

Well into my first week of 'officially' doing nothing, but otherwise doing a lot I can say I have discovered a few things. Foremost among them is the fact that Bangalore does not have that much traffic at all! Surprised? Even I was, because rarely, if ever at all, have I ventured into the heart of the city between 11 AM and 5 PM on a working day.THIS is the time, Bangalore has no traffic at all.

In the process of learning the ropes of Financial Reporting and Accounting from pre-course learning material, at least I have figured out the difference between Expense and Expenditure. Being a layman to the domain, I should say it is no less than a discovery, albeit a technical one.

One of the first things that hits me when I converse with people is my inability to say I work for so and so. A momentary lapse of identity is quickly replaced by the realisation of what it meant before and what it will mean in future.

My break, simply, has started in uncertain times. Overall, there is a lot of grimness about how the events will unfold in the next eighteen months. Indian Banks' revelation on exposure to Sub-Prime Funds, recession fears(? or!) stalking Indian and global markets have started a ebbing phase which will be sustained by impending elections in the US and carried over by elections in India. Bolstering the fears are falling industrial output in Indian manufacturing, sky rocketing oil and gold prices,5.1%-nine-month high Inflation rate in India, 0.6% fall in US retail spending and analyst opinions that US recession could muster enough rubble to match the recession of the twenties.Yesterday's Bear Stearns bailout story is just another nail in the coffin. This is going to be one long year if not a longer eighteen months.

So, while the next twelve months will test a lot of new waters,cause there is bound to be many a storm, on the personal front optimism is rife because behind the dark clouds are a thousand suns.

A chapter closes

2008-03-07T21:47:00.011+05:30

The day that I had been waiting for came; Not 'finally came',it just came.

I started from home later than I had planned for. The current favourite songs were playing on the radio as I drove to work, windows rolled down to let in just the right kind of morning breeze. I also got the favourite spot in the parking lot. So, it’s all falling in place, I thought.

At the desk, it began with opening the mailbox as usual. But instead of looking at the ‘work emails' my attention was focused on numerous responses to my goodbye emails. Only after perusing them did I open the work emails (Oh yeah, even on the last day!). This was followed by chats with a couple of colleagues, who on learning my reason for exit chose to have a tête-à-tête with me. A conversation always yields more than email ping-pong.

My colleagues and managers threw a farewell lunch for me. I had been forewarned that a farewell speech was due. I had only found time to figure out what makes up a good farewell speech. So, with a lot of extempore, I think I delivered a recommended complete speech; after all, it did last about five minutes and I ended it just before they could have begun to lose interest. Anyway, I was keen on listening to what people thought of me. A couple of pleasant surprises came along. You can even say it made my day or my month.

One can never plan the last day to be perfect or smooth. It was a funfilled day but also busy as it could get. I found myself jogging as I shuttled between meeting people, the day's first international conference call, checking on my clearances, getting to the farewell lunch and back, the second international conference call, intermittently backing up my emails that just kept pouring in, taking and making phone calls and surrendering 'company assets' before collecting my relieving letter.

A few people have asked me “Are you feeling sentimental about leaving?”, “Are you feeling sad?” and “How does it feel after so long?” I could only tell them that I have mixed feelings about leaving the current workplace. I am leaving with a little bit of sadness but a lot of excitement and anticipation. (Look for the ‘ship’ in my previous blogpost). May be I gave it enough time to let it settle down in my mind. After all, today marked the end of my 101-day long notice period.

The day that I had been waiting for has gone. Not to be forgotten, but to be blithely put away in that realm of memory where felicitous remembering resides.

Shooting my neck off

2008-03-06T00:25:00.011+05:30

I spent my second last evening at office doing what I like doing most- shooting my neck off! That's just another way of saying that I like setting up my camera on the Monfrotto and shooting away.

I am a huge fan of this campus. When the lights come up and the reflection of each structure is seen in another, it is difficult to stay away from the trigger. Right after sun set, I set up the tools and set out to the remotest corner of the campus. The idea was to capture the splendour of glass and concrete intermingling with greenery, water and light-natural and otherwise.

Ignoring curious looks from people making their way to the company bus terminal, I carried around my camera mounted on the stretched-open tripod. My paraphernalia usually gives an impression that there is some serious work going on. That makes things easier for me, as no one bothers.

And honestly, journalists (by invitation) and cameramen are so common in the campus that one gets used to it. At least once a month, one can spot a bunch of OB vans around the campus. This brings me to an interesting experience, a first for me. Last week, right outside my office building, which is outside the campus, someone from an English language news channel took a reaction from me on the budget. She said I would be on TV 'at 8 PM'. But then I do not get that channel at home. Its sister Hindi channel did not carry me. What do you think...I was glued to the TV. Because never have I been on that side of a camera with a mike pointed at me; for the record, by a good looking journalist. So, unless I was really on TV but missed it, those were five minutes of breath wasted that day.

But you get the picture? Bottom line is that I could work in peace.

I started at around 6 PM, did not care to look at the watch, only made a couple phone calls home to say I would be late and shot around two hundred pictures. I must have walked about three kilometers by the time I made my way back to the main gate. What I did not realise was that it was close to 10 PM when I checked out my 'personal items' on the security register. About four hours? You bet, it was time well spent.

Lest I forget, thanks D for your farewell lunch treat! It made my day.

Separation Blues- The Final Episode

2008-03-04T21:22:00.002+05:30

Three days to go before I walk my last walk out of office gates. Preparing farewell mailing-lists and customising the message for each list is keeping me busy on top of new commitments (believe it! I am sucker for it) at workplace. Meanwhile, getting greetings and goodbyes in return is reminding me that my days here are numbered, literally, "3-2-1".

A colleague who will be joining me at Ahmedabad pinged me to ask how it feels to be so close to the last day. I remarked that the thought is just about setting in and that I do not know how it would feel to wake up this Monday and realise that there is no office to go to.

True, that would be a new feeling. The only time I changed jobs, I worked till the Saturday and joined the current place on the immediate Monday. Sunday had gone in preparing for Monday. Never got time to think that the ship had left the shores in search of new ones, because the new shore was round the bend. This time, the ship is leaving shores seeking new oceans. The ship will not harbour for a long time. What will keep the ship going on is the truth behind-"Good timber does not come with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees. -Williard Marriot".

With such thoughts of optimism and with some realism drilled in by the brewing global economic situation (sorry for swinging from romanticism to pragmatism in the same breath!), I am counting down from 3. Next three days will be a series of review meetings, courtsey coffees, lunch, sign-offs, return-lunch and final sign-off. It will all go past in a whizz. In the midst of all this, I am planning a photoshoot of the campus around dusk. Let's see how that turns out.

Cables and wars

2008-02-07T19:35:00.000+05:30

Idle minds or devil's workshops, whatever you may call ours, but there seems to be some value in our paranoia, after all.

Last week, a friend and I were discussing about the 'yet to be officially acknowledged,by Fed Bank, but already heating up' recession in the US economy when the topic turned to how, apparently, wars have been fought just to revive or jumpstart flagging economies. Naturally, the discussion then turned to what the "Economic Hit men", if you may, would do to counter the stagflation lurking at US shores. It is widely prophesied that the impact of US recession would be minimal or marginal on the growth of emerging economies such as India.

Now, there is theory that wars in future would be not physical ones but more of 'intelligence wars', not in the sense of espionage but intelligence as relates to information and telecom technology pillaring economies. It leads to less bloodshed and, apparently, has more impact toward hampering the sustenance of normalcy in the enemy territory. The Internet, in such cases not only becomes a potential war ground, but an Achilles ‘heel for some economies. It was but natural for us to concur that stagflation and multiple cable damages were too much coincidental.

As far as the internet or the web is concerned, all roads lead to Rome. So, if something big goes down, it will probably slow down the flow of information, but networking technology will sustain the flow (with all disclaimers that apply). Apparently, this logic does not so easily apply to the Suez Canal cables. We were unaware of the criticality of 'these' cables.But looks like were not paranoid for no reason.

Read an article here to understand more about the nature and impact cable damages and to, at least to our surprise, know that we were not just dreaming out loud. Phew!

Einstein's point to ponder: "I am not sure how the third world war will be fought. But I am quite sure that the fourth one will be fought with bows and arrows."

Global B-School rankings: Good news! And then some

2008-01-29T22:10:00.000+05:30

Business school fraternities across India should be proud of the recent development in the MBA world. One of the best Indian B schools, ISB, Hyderabad, a path breaker in several ways has made it to the top 20 ranks among global B schools.Read the rankings here.

This development should add more shimmer to the 'India Inc shining' picture. Global investors are progressively looking at emerging markets for better returns. If experts are to be believed,the sole hope over the next year (with imminent US recession), lies in BRIC and other emerging markets, the only ones that can deliver least 18% returns. This, combined with the fact that an Indian B school has been ranked with the top league should make prospective international students think whether studying in an Indian B school and spending a part of their career in Asia is the way to go. The relative cost of education is low and opportunities aplenty.

ISB ought to be in the top schools list for several reasons, despite being young- the program structure, the composition of visiting international faculty, the corporate backing the school has, international alliances, the placement percentage (100%), and not in the least, the five-star facilities in the campus.

The article in The Times of India, read here, has quoted the methodology of computing the remuneration figure. Apparently, the average salary of $169,000 was arrived at by using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Now, the PPP between INR and USD is between 6 and 8, for such purposes as calculating remuneration and, well, spending power. This means that at ISB, the average Indian Salary is between INR 10.5 Lakhs and INR 13.52 Lakhs using the limits of PPP.

In general, however, the average salary is mostly misleading, for any school. This is because,by nature of average, a few distinguished top grossers will even out (or skew?) the impact of the many more at the lower end of remuneration scale. Median ought to be more representative but again may not comprehensive. But hey, all schools use the same logic, so we are on level ground here.Are we really, if we use PPP? Because, back home, when top schools report highest-salaries, they convert an international 'USD package' in INR by simply using the forex conversion rate, thereby launching the package into unbelievable stellar heights. That's another story altogether.

In any case, using average ,the numbers in other top Indian B-schools would be in similar range viz.IIMs- A, B and C, FMS, XLRI, SPJIMS. Barring IIM-B and FMS, other schools have a new 'international' one year program. The PGPX program at IIM-A and PGPEX at IIM-C for 'students with substantial experience' have reported 'average' INR 25 Lakhs and INR 20 Lakhs respectively. In terms of PPP, this will translate to an average minimum of USD 315,000 and USD 250,000 using a PPP of 8 (Obviously, 30% higher using 6). Like other aforementioned schools, IIM-A and IIM-C have a legacy of about 40 years and a wide international acceptance of their students and do not lack anything; except a five-star living, perhaps. So, why are these schools not in the list? Did they not participate?

This makes me wonder that in these schools, the people who teach marketing to the people who eventually run the businesses of the world ought to know better.So, why are they not telling? In fact, back home, in the more popular 'BusinessWorld' rankings, IIM-A and IIM-B have been only intermittently participating for the last 3 years.Most ranking sheets, nowadays,in India are based on student responses rather than statistics provided by schools and rarely, if any, by industry.

At the end of the day, the bottom line of any business school is as important as the lessons on bottom line they teach their students. ISB's marketing has left no holds barred. An example is the fact that even I, a prospective student of the past, have received an email from the dean of ISB about this successful ranking.

Nevertheless, with this success of ISB, the top B schools of the world will wake up to the challenge of Indian B schools. Congrats ISB!

Update: Read Rashmi Bansal's view point here. Something I noticed: Ms.Bansal's research has used PPP in a forward-count. This post used a backward-count. Hence, a small difference.

Further update: The reason that the other B Schools mentioned herein do not yet qualify at that level is the fact that in their programs, students with zero experience are also included. Programs exclusively for experienced students have not been running for 3 years.

Find PPP Conversion tables here

Why we like Udayan Mukherjee:

2008-01-22T19:02:00.000+05:30

Those who watch CNBC-TV18's 'India Business Hour' and 'Business Center' at dinner time, need no introduction to this smart face (Executive Editor) of the channel.

There have been times when I have thought Udayan Mukherjee (UM) is a super cool dude and times when I have also thought he is self righteous, but never condescending. Well, I am no great judge of people when a one way interaction happens over the Tube and the interaction is scripted and recorded. UM has the mannerisms of a seer, if I may say so. He speaks slowly in a way that the message is understood correctly, chooses his words carefully and during talk shows and interviews, UM is also very patient and under time constraints waits for the point be made by the other party. He displays the depth of analysis, insight and a lot of homework he would have needed and done before meeting the interviewee, a business honcho in most cases. He does not juggle around with jargon, any more than that needed to convey the technicals. Even so much sometimes flies over my head, but that's mea culpa, not the speaker's.

When you see the carpet of security get pulled out from under your feet, you need to understand from someone reliable, why it is happening. I may be exaggerating about the security part, but there is no doubt that I jumped up from my seat when I saw, in my portfolio, the 'blacks' becoming smaller and the 'reds' becoming deeper. Traders worry, investors don't; at least this one doesn't. Fundamental and blue chip investment is a 'horse for a long race', as they say in Indian parlance.

Yesterday, when the bloodbath happened in the markets, I was waiting for UM to speak out. UM said little yesterday about why of it, except the technicals of margin trading causing a bulk of the loss yesterday. Quite understandably, global cues from Dow and Nasdaq were missing, it being a weekend in The States. The cues would be missing today too, Monday being a holiday there. But, later today, surely the US would not go against a global wave of dipping indices?

In India, however, it was another day altogether. Cues from the eastern markets and the growing sense of uneasiness of the (already here? impending?) recession in the US economy and panic selling triggered by yesterday's losses, especially by those with muscle and those with short positions induced heavy selling, leading to the circuit breaking within a couple of minutes of the session opening. Many a fist has been wrung into the palm, many a tear shed and many a brow wiped by millions today. In the second half of a record smashing trading day, Bulls turned around the multitudes of 52-week lows and put brakws on the downslide , pulling the index up from, about -13% to -4.5%. If only, I were more liquid at this point in time, I myself might have added a nickel or two more.

It is at a time like this that one needs to drive home a simple message. One that this more of a reminder of a simple truth than a brainwave. Because it's "Just that our memories tend to be too short and our greed too much." (quoting the last line of UM's article today).Read here, UM's message today.
This article is one of several reasons why we like Udayan Mukherjee.

Nano-voce-philia: Defined as...

2008-01-17T17:14:00.000+05:30

...love of talking about Nano!

I am not a fanatic for the car per se but am for the principle behind it, for the alternatives Nano provides (still saying that it will be a big hot potato to swallow), the fundamentals it will change, utilitarian concept it embodies and frugal manufacturing technology it testifies. But for the record, I must admit that despite my fears about Nano, Nano is all over my mind. Nano is having an 'in your face' effect on me.

Nano is bound to change our lives and the signs are already showing. Here are some samples.

A recent article in the newspaper prophesied about the peripheral,in several meanings of the word,industries that will flourish in the shadow of Nano. Will not cheap (economical) accessories well embellish a cheap car? It also took a shot at how our conversations and attitudes and jargon would change to accommodate the shifts in paradigms that Nano would trigger. You might say I am progressively becoming a Nano-voce-philic (For good or bad, such people as yours truly like talking about Nano!). Now that is a word I made up. Is there a "Nano" word for someone who makes up Nano words? Nana-verbo-philic, perhaps? If you are getting the hang of it and think I am getting carried away, I have made my point.

If the masses get their bread should the 'nouveau' as well as the 'riche' not get their cakes? Dilip Chabbria has unveiled his impression of a car that could buy a hundred Nanos. Pegged at 1 crore, the rich man's space age answer to Nano will snub the masses with its antiNano philosphy. There in lies the irony: For the rich India, an answer to a frugal car is an extravagant car of similar dimensions with little else in common.

The irony also represents the socio-economic divide that has manifested in different forms in different cities. Be it the Bangalore-commons' quasi-despisal of those working in, literally, glass houses that are IT complexes. Opportunism, crime, harassment and verbal abuse against techies in Bangalore, Pune and other cities. It also shows up in the amplified pillage caused by mobs incited by any issue, the damage in which is mosty incommensurate to what one would expect in response(!) to the problem which triggered it in the first place.

Here is a more significant example of how Nano is raising its hydra-head even before it juggernauts onto the road ten months down the line. Read here about how Nano has upset another automobile manufacturer's grand plans. Electrotherm had a big idea of a small priced AutoRickshaw, but Nano would allow none of it. But as you would have read in the quoted article, ElectroTherm has plans of salvaging their project by converting the prototype into one that is electric and at the same time cheaper. Now, that is innovation driven by market forces. How often do we get witness that so closely and in the live?

We are in exciting times in India and, going by the international pulse, beyond. The show has just began. Nano has just entered the building.

PS: Now, would you call me a Nano-blogo-philic for that matter? Apologies to OUP for misusing the poetic license. For, officially, Oxford has done away with hyphenated words.

Fueled by stupidity, we drive nowhere

2008-01-14T22:37:00.000+05:30

An article in today's newspaper talks of certain obscene measures the local goevernment is contemplating in order to 'beat' the traffic woes that bring down every Bangalorean. Let's begin with how well you can recall your car number? Stumped? You will be, when you will need to remember what day it is and match it with the fact whether your car number is odd or even. Am I kidding? Apparently not, according to this article.

This is a clear case of the government trying to pass the buck to the already frustrated commuter of the Silicon Swamp that Bangalore has become. Traveling in your car even on weekends is akin to bicycling through a desert- slow and tiring and it doesn't take you far. After decades of lethargy, lack of planning and conservatism that translated into apathy to infrastructure requirements, the government has given the people of Bangalore what can be considered as an ever-make-shift arrangement around traffic. Caught in the sudden limelight of explosive growth driven by IT and ITeS influx and a never ending scramble between anti-development opposition 'leaders' and pro-development incumbents, the latter fails to deliver anything. Left headless without a government, the local authorities have come up with this stupid solution of letting people drive on alternative days. Some audacity that, taking people of Bangalore for a ride (no pun intended).

But is curtailing people from driving in a city that has no public transportation except bursting-at-the-seams, almost never on time, never ever enough bus system a befitting solution?

Some questions arise. Let's say your car has an even number and an emergency at home requires you to take your car out on a odd-car day. What should you do? Should you be allowed since a life is at risk? How easily can someone not fake an emergency? Would government vehicles be exempt from this rule? If people can be expected to fend for themselves, should the minister not lead the way and travel in a bus?

Why could the government be not thinking of ideas like that implemented in London? Out there, toll zones have been identified and the cars need to pay a steep toll to just drive through congested areas. The presence of technology companies seemed to have made no impact on the retrograde authorities of Bangalore.

The whole plan of alternate-day driving stinks of escapism and will lead to another series of half-hearted attempts to solve the problems that should have been addressed decades ago.

Quality of life in Bangalore in terms of commute is steadily declining with lot of help from the backward-looking attitude and indecisiveness of the powers that be. Impractical suggestions like curbing driving privileges only add insult to injury. Hiding behind the shield of 'it has worked in some European countries' the local bodies seemed to be pleading to be forgiven for failing to come up with practical ideas. This is the cost we pay for throwing out the corporates (PPP) with social-conciousness from the game.

This is exactly when I want to thank Ratan Tata for his Nano. Now, all I need to do is to buy a Nano, get it registered with an even number and I am good to go. I will drive my regular car on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the Nano on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Hush, don't tell anyone about the Nano!

El Nano Effect

2008-01-10T15:05:00.000+05:30

Catapulting itself into the league of world-changing automobiles, Nano has rolled out of the portals of Tata Motors. Unveiled earlier today,apparently, to a roaring welcome, Nano will change India and in a way that will impact us for a long time to come.

With a lot of scepticism about the way this car will change Indian way of life, I had tried to surmise (read here and here) that India and Indians will come under a lot of pressure when this dream car becomes a reality. Saying something to the effect of 'a promise is promise' Ratan Tata has delivered a mean-mini-machine at an unprecedented and mere USD2700 unit price. Any doubts about India's technology around frugal manufacturing will be put to rest today, once the pictures start flashing around the car markets of the world; to be eventually buried when the car proves its performance on the road over the next few months.

Giving an unparalleled 50 Mile Per Gallon (test conditions?) for a petrol driven car with contemporary looks, Nano, will probably capture the imagination, interest and pockets of millions upon millions of Indians and other third-world-ians. At the same time it will set, if it proves true, new benchmarks. I am doubtful about this last part since the basic tenet of Nano has been to be a cheap car; no great shakes about creating a lean-burn technology.

However, the little beauty, on the face of it, has much to offer. Tata's ever expanding dealer and service network will carry this car into the remotest corners of the country. That is a big problem, because this car will also probably spread in the urban landscape like a forest fire. And when that happens, every square inch of tarmac on our narrow deficient streets will cry for mercy and the people behind wheels beg for redemption. Well, that may be a little too dramatic, but the fact remains that if this car succeeds the way it ought to for TATAs to breathe easy and the way it looks ready to, Indian way of traffic management, infrastructure support in terms of roads, bridges and parking space will first collapse, then taking us through months and years of failure, regret and disillusionment, deliver us to something innovative.

I have very little faith left in me about how Bangalore will survive the deluge (just wait and watch) that Nano will unleash. Nano will change our lives by challenging the administration to better itself.

Since road will be so packed, is this the right time to think about a cheap helicopter, may be for for a million rupees or two. Meanwhile get ready to face a huge demand-supply crack in petrol once the millions among us get enticed by the economy-dream-come-true Nano. Small Car.Big dreams.Bigger Pains.

Nevertheless the boldness behind a concept-realised, yet to be tested on road, is commendable.

Watch videos here.

See pictures here.

Tata Small Car Website is here

Big little things

2008-01-04T16:53:00.000+05:30

A non-working day in the middle of the week works like a charm. Doubling the joy, I chose to not work on the first day of the new year,only an optional holiday. How precious is that?

That evening, after a long time, we thought we should ride around the countryside on our bike. It's always a pleasure to ride an Enfield. The drive took us to the Anekal lake and presented us with a carmine sunset over the still shallow waters. Confined to the corridors of Vastrapur campus for the latter part of the year, I think will only be able to look back at life's little pleasures such as watching a painted sky withdraw out of horizon like expensive silk sliding off a dark rosewood table inscribed with glitter. At the end of the clear day, the colours lingered even as we turned our backs and chugged on.

Rolling down the unusually slug (many offices in E-city were not working, we guessed) and therefore pleasant Hosur Road, we made our way yet another time to our deary chinese eating place China Pearl. Finding it too early to sit down for dinner and moreover needing to stretch our legs after a fifty kilometer ride, we decided to take a walk on the street. That is when my wife's slipper broke (Who listens to unsolicited advice on apt footwear for a bike ride?). A little late for a cobbler to be open, we realised, when after hunting down a repair shop found it shut. My offer to replace broken slippers with new ones was gently declined, as there were 'many pairs unused yet'.While S was dragging her right foot along, I was trying figure out how the slipper could be revived for a couple of more hours.

They say something about necessity bearing ideas, but I will qualify it as simple improvisation. An idea sprung up when we were passing by a tender-coconut seller. When I was a kid , I remembered, there was a neat way in which the tender-coconut seller would tie up two tender coconuts by using strands drawn out of the green damp shells of each of those and hang the pair over the bar of my bicycle. I still remember how the knot would survive the bumps on the road and needed to be scissored to be undone. So, there it was- an idea hanging over a pile of tender coconuts. The strands from the green shell of the coconut could be used as a makeshift tie for the broken slipper. The fix would also be inconspicuous. But even as I was explaining to the lady who was clasping a sickle about how she could help us with the the broken slipper, she offered other ideas such as giving us a safety pin. But the design of the fancy slipper would not allow a pin to fix things, so we declined and we went ahead with our idea of stringing up the slipper with the juicy strands. We were good to go!

Dinner was delectable, as expected. We have some favourites which we mix and match with new items on the menu. China Pearl has never disappointed us.

Something strikes me when I think about the evening. The eagerness of the lady to help in the situation is commendable. I do not mean to make a big deal of a safety pin offer. It is the attitude that is in point. I am sure she endures a lot of flack from the street and the public on a daily basis and it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. And here we were talking to her at the end of her rough day explaining a weird patch-up I was attempting on the broken slipper. She was cool and eager to listen. May be, then again, only I do not meet such enthusiastic people so often.

Or am I becoming progressively cynical about people and expecting very little? Then again , may be she values human interaction. How many times do we try and listen to anything a stranger has to ask of us? Thoughts of mugging and mooching ensnare us (I will concede to the part-truth behind this). Technology is a useful raider. It robs us of basic interactions with the lure of productivity and efficiency. How many times do we walk down to our colleagues instead of picking up the phone and getting it done? How many of us know our support staff on first name basis?

Anyway, her help was appreciated and we let her know that.For the records, the slipper lasted till it was retired out to the corner of the shoe box.

I relearned, in more ways than one in the evening, that it's the little things that make life livable.

Separation Blues

2008-01-03T22:42:00.000+05:30

A couple of months from now, I will be seeing the last(For now? For ever?) of the place that was, as is more common in this industry, like it or hate it, second-home for the last six years. Nice! Now, I have said it! I was not concious of how much this workplace might have come to grow on me, even until after I triggered off the workflow of my separation.I did not get a full night's sleep yesterday; and that's when I knew. May be it's coming out now. (Just a nice word it might be for resignation, but the intranet application for this purpose is actually called 'Separation'.)

I do not like the word 'quit', because I am really not quitting anything here. I also do not like the word resign in any meaning of it except that which implies 'give up a possession'. Because, not sure whether my employer saw it that way, all along I took my job and workplace personally. I made many mistakes on the way;but did not stumble upon them again. I travelled to many new places, made many friends and worked with some dynamic managers and, though did not contribute much to them, operated closely with some considered as thought-leaders within the company and outside.

I will miss several things. Foremost among them is the pristine campus that has all the comforts of a resort, if not home. This facility for more than twenty thousand people has two bank branches, close to a dozen ATMs, 5 food courts with more than 35'eateries' of all cusines, a pizza place, an upscale buffet-garden restaurant,two gymnasia, a swimming pool, tennis, basketball and volley ball courts, a brand-store for apparel and accessories, a photo studio and camera shop, a printing shop, a grocery store, a computer store, two beauty salons, two cellphone shops, several travel agencies, a couple of easy-bill-pay centers, a meditation room, a clinic and my hangout- a book store. Apparently, this green campus is home to more than 80 species of birds and more than as many varieties of plant and trees. I am sure I have missed a few things in the list.

I will miss the youthfulness that drives this place. Six years ago, I added to lowering the average age at this place. Today, I am dragging the average higher, but the place has only grown marginally older in those terms. There is at least one major event happening in any given week, making it the most happening place for many people I know. I will miss the sense of comfort that entered me the minute I entered my own 'manager's cube'; my personal fifty square feet.

I will miss the kiss of the spray, on the walk back from the gym, from the sprinklers turned on after sun down. I will miss the reflections of the crimson skies on thousands of glass panes on over fifty architectural expressions. I will miss the silhoutte of the library dome. On a rainy day, I will miss the waves of green-white-and-blue umbrellas with 'Ozone' (an internal eco-club) written on them. I will miss the Fridays that break the monotony of formal wear with an explosion of casual colors.(Out here, we 'boyz' say- No matter what season, here, it's Spring on a Friday).

When passing by Building 1 (quite aptly the corporate block), there would be a mild sense of anticipation of catching a glimpse of a corporate or international digintary or even one of our own IT gurus. Because, rarely have I walked the same ground as a leader whose words and values are sought after by an international audience. Working within walking distance of moguls never become second nature to me.I will miss that sense of expectancy.

I will also miss the inanities of the johnny-come-latelies who fall up from the comfort of their homes in to the comfort of this workplace and then complain about what more they want! I will miss such inanities like I would miss a Peter Seller's movie; something to to laugh back upon.

Of course there are a few things I will not miss and would rather forget, but I am not one to regret.

Simply because, yesterday is not coming back and I have tommorrow to take on.

Review of 'I am Legend'

2008-01-01T16:51:00.000+05:30

Watching deers being chased down Broadway and coming face to face with a pride of lions at Times Square leaves you with a weird feeling. With grass covering the criss-crossing streets and avenues of Manhattan, the ground zero in the movie, one feels breathless at desolate high-rises of the city that we know as one that never sleeps.

The hunter is Robert Neville,circa 2012, the 'saviour' doctor-scientist who refused to leave the quarantined isle for larger than life reasons. He, along with his dog, Samantha, and a few loaded cars tries to maintain sanity in the face of devastation and isolation three years into the aftermath of an experiment-gone-wrong, which blotted out 99% of the human population, all the while carrying out tests to find a cure for the infection caused by KV.

The imagery is no doubt computer generated (CGI) and mostly great, except may be the 'infected human beings' or 'creatures'. The images instantly remind you of the hyper-aggressive men and women of 'The 28' movies (find more here).But this is where the similarity ends. While the goriness of The 28- creatures was a result of the immense effort of make-up artists, the creatures of 'I am Legend' are plastic and viewers can see through the CGI.

The story and the screenplay do not dissapoint you. Pyrotechnics (CGI?) are breathtaking. Keeping you on the edge of your seats, the movie has several chilling moments. Will Smith's potrayal of Neville, especially one dealing with personal loss is commendable. The emotions are touching and the horror real. Learning to create a make-believe 'normal' life, Neville, seemingly starts losing it towards the turning point of the movie. Smith's performance parallels that of Tom Hanks in Castaway. The two roles are collimate in the demands they make on the actors. If there was any doubt before, this movie should put Smith up there in the league of top drama actors. This is a Will Smith movie to the last shot.

The movie is a metaphor for the perils of indiscriminate genetic engineering and of 'man playing god'. The mistaken success of one doctor leading to a legendary quest for finding a cure for it by another makes the movie watchable for the indomitable human spirit the picture encapsulates. The climactic plea 'I can cure you, just let me help you' falling on deaf ears might as well represent the reality of today where man torn between ethics and technological prowess is underestimating downstream impact of his actions on the earth and life on it. There is bound to be some collateral dammage when one man risks his life in consummation of his quest for discovering and defending the cure. It makes him a legend.

The movie is worth a watch. I blame it on the New year's eve that the movie hall was not full(85% occupancy). I see little reason why people with a stomach for gore and scare should not like it. For the imagery and the theme, the movie has been rated A.

2007: A Year of waitlists - Part 3 of 3

2007-12-31T18:02:00.000+05:30

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Those were annoying waitlists. Here are some that will impact life in a big way.

The year began with great expectations to join one of the top business schools in India; in full time business (Exec) programs offered by IIMA, IIMC and ISB; in that order, for my own reasons.

By the time Ahmedabad opened its online applications in April, I was ready to register; was among the first few of 1350 to do so. But the journey ahead would prove to be a long one.

In the next three weeks, I had to complete the forms for IIMC, get recos from across multiple time-zones and send the docket out to Calcutta. "If things have to go wrong, they will. If they do not have to, they still will". Cutting the long story short, my application reached on the day after the last date. Between the time I sent out the application and I was shortlisted to the interviews, I moved back home. In mid-August, the interview happened. It went well, by most standards. Regardless of that, the bottomline was that I was not yet in. I was on the fourth waitlist this year.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad application was submitted and interview date announced. As luck would have it, the interview was in the same location as the Calcutta interview has been. I put aside any thoughts of destiny around the coincidence of interview location. If the interview has opinions flying back and forth , a few moments of laughter and a smiling panel at the end, I think I am allowed to think it went well. But I would not know for another month.

While waiting for the Ahmedabad results, the most practical thing to do was to apply for Round 2 of ISB. ISB application process is perhaps the most technologically mature one, much like that of INSEAD and a couple of tier-1 schools in the US (I have filled my share of recos for a few folks). Every part of the process, including recos is online. It makes life much easier in one way. But automation also requires you to follow the instructions to the T. It would be a cakewalk I had been told, by a friend of mine who had studied at ISB. So, I was taken aback when ISB sent me a regret mail a few weeks after that.

Since then, I have thought a little more about it. What stood out is the fact that I was not even shortlisted for the interview. (Without leading you to any conclusion, I would like to add that later I was to find out that many others with my profile or more experience had been in the same predicament). So, while this did not put me in a waitlist, my being on the waitlist of Calcutta gained more significance. More so because it was a little over a month before the term at Calcutta would begin. Chances were getting slimmer by the day.

So, while I was nursing the regret message and the vacuum of Calcutta waitlist and IIM Ahmedabad results, I started making enquiries about the waitlist mechanisms in the latter schools. It turned out that Ahmedabad waitlist had gotten fully used last year. That was good news, but each year is different. So, I braced myself just in case some surpise were to be awaiting around the corner.

No surprise (not no regret) then, that Ahmedabad put me on the waitlist. Those were undoubtedly the most harrowing days of the year. Much of November was not sweet at all. Fifth waitlist of the year had me in its grip.

No one said life was easy, but one has to be ready. It was I then sent out my scores to INSEAD, the first school I thought about outside India, in such case that the India story did not work out. I had already sent my scores to another British school earlier.I was getting reminders from them about application deadlines. I repeat, those were the most harrowing days of this year.

In the middle of the last week of November when the first set of waitlisted folks were bumped up by Ahmedabad, came the most gratifying email I have received this year, or life maybe? I think I need not say more.

Looking back, all's well. But this has been a year of waitlists, down to the penultimate month. With this, I will end this note, this year, and the waitlist saga.

Wish you a very Happy New Year 2008!

2007: A year of waitlists: Part 2

2007-12-28T21:19:00.000+05:30

If not already done, read Part 1 here.

After touchdown at Miami and arriving 15 hours too late to our 4-Star Hotel, we were in for a bigger surprise when at the swank reception of the hotel, we were told that our reservation stood cancelled. What the heavens was happening?

Earlier, the previous evening, I had called up The Hotel and told them that we would be arriving half-a-day late, and had grudgingly consented that half of our two-night charges would be flushed away. Apparently, after talking to me, the night operator, off duty then, had messed it all up.

Budget travellers have quite a few options in the American travel 'system'. One of them is a service called Hotwire.com. Basically, you provide your budget range for a nightcap and the system sets-up a 'blind reservation' with a multi-star hotel. This means that until you make the payment, you are privy to only the facilities offered at the location; it is not easy/possible to guess the exact hotel they are offering you. But the promise is that you will not be disappointed. We were not.

Such services exist for two reasons. One is the proliferation of e-commerce in tourism makes way for creative business models. The second is the fact that doing this allows hotels to fill rooms for a cheaper rate, especially during lean periods of the year. If you will, it is an effective yield management strategy, much like how airlines sell $25 air tickets. It works well for all hotels in such consortia, since people are allocated hotels in a category ,probably, in a round-robin fashion. It works well for the travellers.

The problem happens when a problem happens. What I mean is that when there is a change in plan, you are now required to deal with two parties- Hotwire.com and The Hotel in this case. I had talked to The Hotel. They never told me I had to talk to Hotwire. But yet, the night attendant confirmed the change of plan.

Two things helped me resolve the quandary. Firstly, when the manager refused to acknowledge the fact that we had called, I showed him the call record on my cellphone. It showed that I had been on the call for all of three and a half minutes.

Secondly, the Hotwire.com services work like an open-market. Democracy is supreme here, since the services thrive on user-feedback, much like e-Bay. A brief mention this fact brought new perspective to things, endingour second waitlist of the year.

Knowing the lie of the land is important for any traveller. Yahoo! Maps and Mapquest are definitely up there when it comes to accuracy and reliability. But traffic patterns are another thing altogether. Then again, Florida is a pensioners paradise, despite the glamour and youth thronging the place. The speedlimits are lower than in other states to cater to the majority senior population. This was something to be expected but came as a surprise to us.

Additonally, the drive through The Keys to reach Key West is on several narrow several-miles-long bridges separating the Gulf of Mexico from Atlantic Ocean. These bridges have long stretches of no-passing zones. All this added up to our reaching the rendevous point of water-adventure cruise at Key West, less than 10 minutes before yacht took off. Thus ended third waitlist this year.

I will end the chronicle of our Florida trip by saying that in the midst of this canonball run, my wife and I had the best time of our life, or should I just say 2007.

The waitlist saga continues in Part 3.

2007: A year of waitlists: Part 1

2007-12-27T16:03:00.001+05:30

This has been a year of waitlists. A turn of a New Year is a good time to recall our escapades, remembering that, while planning anything can be fun, seeing it go haywire and then unravelling the mess and coming out gleaming can be more fun.

It all began with booking tickets to visit Florida. Having taken over the portfolio of managing all our travel plans (and more), my wife booked 'special price' tickets to Miami around 120 days in advance.It saved us quite a few greenbacks and I, though wary of perils of nonrefundable tickets, was optimistic of local weather conditions in future(!). Choreographed to perfection - we even had decided on places for dinner and lunch in Miami and Key West, a couple of months before the travel date- we thought nothing could come in our way (somewhat).

Weather gods, meanwhile, had been planning their own little thingy. Six hours before ETD, our flight to Miami got delayed. Two hours later it got cancelled. 30 minutes later United Airlines dumped us, literally, on to the next day, Friday, morning flight at Six with American Airlines. We left home at 3:45 AM to be there ahead of everyone, only to realize we had undermined everyone else's determination. An hour of hoarse shouting at UA and AA, who kept shirking the responsibility about why we were being treated like a football at FIFA, intensely kicked around, only yielded that everyone was helpless; and we were 11th down the waitlist of passengers who could just make it to the 8 AM out of O'Hare.We had an option of taking the 1 PM confirmed seat. In the face of the fact that we had already lost a night's prepaid stay at a 4 star hotel in Miami, the choice was easy.

Being in the thick of things brought us face to face with how airline companies do yield management. They have a few very important tools to beat the holiday season nightmares. One of them is overbooking. Some passengers cancel out (not a statistical impossibility that) and those tickets are sold at a premium. Some passengers don't mind selling their tickets back to airlines in exchange for travel vouchers at the same time delaying their own travel to any of the next few flights out. Lastly, the most important 'investment', a passenger realizes, is to be on the loyalty programs of airlines. Because, when a flight is cancelled, or when overbooked people are moved around Loyalty card holders make it to the top of waiting lists. I will not argue with that, since if I were running the business, I may just run it the same way.

In the next two hours we would count our chances of getting on that plan a hundred times, confirming with each other, every time the boarding gate attendant announced a name cleared for boarding. We were willing to forgive them for mis-pronouncing our names, as long as we made it on board. Not until Six minutes before the plane doors would close, were we told that we were cleared. That was the end of our first waitlist.

But wait, the story has only started!

2007-12-05T15:17:00.000+05:30

Review of 'Snapshots from hell- The making of an MBA':

Set in the recent past,1988-1990, this book published in 1994 is a very funny, honest and absorbing take on the life of a Stanford MBA student. The author, Peter Robinson, does not spare himself or the college in describing his emotional roller coaster ride of realising his ambition to be a business graduate. With brutal honestness Robinson recounts, in first person narrative, his fears, failures and successes in overcoming the natural Poet (In Stanford lingo, a person who has no significant engineering, mathematical or financial educational background) in him while grappling with the quantitative-heavy Stanford syllabus.

This is a fictionalised autobiography in that the incidents in the story are all true and the protagonist or the observer is the author himself while the names, which could feasibly be changed have been masked. The author admits that 'there was no point in masking popular personalities' and so some of them from his friends' circle or faculty have been retained. Focussing primarily the first year and the summer internship period, Robinson traces his daily life with quotations from his personal journal. The natural flair of rhetoric that the author possesses is quite evident in three places: his pre-Stanford position as a speech writer for President Reagan; Robinson's own journal entries (no doubt written under heavy B-school-pressure) and the wit in storytelling itself.

The book is useful to any b-school student. But, it is especially required to be read by any student who is entering a well-placed or top b-school anywhere, as the philosophy or pedagogy of Stanford (like that of other global top b-schools) is bound to have influenced his or her school's didactics. What make this book timeless are the principles of selection and teaching of Stanford that are only pioneering and not transient, meaning that with time the best practices will only spread globally. The pedagogy and rigor influence a student's life significantly and therefore the experiences are bound to be similar. Today, this is especially true to India because we are witnessiing a globalisation of b-school education here, not suprisingly due to the free-market capitalisation being attempted by India, the growing demand for globally-experienced b-school graduates in Indian mainstream economy and the rise in ambition owing to affordability of quality b-school education. Of course, there are also more than ever Indian students who are able to afford and embrace international business schools.

The reader, especially, if he is in the target audience described earlier will instantly empathise with the author since within the first few pages, the author gives examples of various types of questions and analyses (and answer with diagrams) discussed in the class that added to the latter's misery. The reader thereby gets the benefit of learning about the mindset expected of a b-school student. The author describes with a natural sense of humour, his tribulations in mastering the apparently simple concepts (for the non-Poets) all along doubting his fitment in the Stanford's scheme of things.

During the course of the story, one also gets a glance at the recent history of the school and an understanding of the factors that challenged and led to the evolution of some of the top schools in the US. In the process of understanding the author's student-life, the readers are bound to get satisfactory answers to whether it was all worth it for the author and by extension lead to an introspection of their own motives. Of course, everything is relative and situational and then the book itself is not instructive; but, the subtle impact is lasting.

Wit, honesty and brevity are the key take-aways from Robinson's style.This is an unputdownable book and a must read for all b-school aspirants; an almost 'rite of passage' as I had been told.

2007-11-26T13:48:00.000+05:30

Review of "creEper":

A guy and girl and a box. A narrator, a Sutradhar (puppeteer) and a story. Any which way, the one hour performance of creEper at the Rangashankara ( here) is worth a watch. The narrative style is impressive and the message well emphasized, even if it is not new. The play connected with the audience with its familiar theme of loss of soul in an imploding city with what better example for Bangaloreans than that of Bangalore.

The performance by the two protagonists (this is the entire cast, by the way) was intense at moments but overall touching. The play had its moments of 'I know what you mean' and 'let me finish your sentence' with a third of the audience that comprised of a college-going crowd, and therefore involving them. Because, many of the juvenile fears and indulgences of the young (and some of ours) found their way into the script, which was supposed to look like an impromptu one. The 'extemporary' goal well achieved while trying to tell a story all the while agreeing to disagree on how they would tell it.

The first part of this play, which is based on the 'Vikram and Betal' lore, 'generally screws around with the audience' (as also conceded by the Sutradhar at halftime) as the storytellers confuse the audience with their bipolar approach to narration, confide with them their fears and demons and while not convince the audience, set an open platform to put on it whatever they want to achieve in the second half. One of the story tellers is a rationalist while the other is a sentimentalist and very dramatic, just enough to keep the audience interested and sometimes agitated.

The impact of lighting on a low-key (photographically, one that involved less exposure to light) stage performance such as this is lasting. The shadows added the key ingredient of proxy-characters while the two actors played out their moves on the stage.During some moments of musing by the characters in the story-inside-the-story , one could see the third and fourth characters in shadows. The interplay of characters and shadows aided by the lighting kept me interested throughout the play with eyes and ears overwhelmed by the effect. That way, there was a lot to see in the play.

So, at the end of first half, by when the audience know that the story is about memories, loss and separation of two souls (not two people) born in Bangalore, the story unfolds itself into one that gives snapshots of same experience that could have been had by a middle-class couple at different times in Bangalore. First one at the turn of the 80s decade of the last millennium, another that happened at turn of the millennium and the last one 'yesterday', if not 'today'. The experiences are no doubt accompanied by the dreads that lurk around them. With quotidian samples to indicate the timeline, someone who has lived in Bangalore for, say, even 15 years (if attentive, even so much is not required) will relate to the game played out by the two and catch on to the fears that gripped, or still grip, Bangaloreans in their daily life, because 'people are being ripped apart for everything'.

You are reminded in the end that 'where grows a tree, a creEper grows', leading the audience to the moral of the story (Not so sure about the camelback used in the name). The end is supposed to be full of hope, but the audience is left unsure of it, because the 'rational and detached' narrator herself succumbs to the dark forces. At a very basic level this play could be construed as a reality-check, if one agrees that doing so does not take the juice out of it.

By the way: This article was posted using w.blogger (here), a first for me. I am quite pleased with the result, while I am still confused over whether or how I can include labels from my desktop.

There is no such thing as guilt in politics

2007-11-21T10:44:00.000+05:30

"The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion."-Molly Ivins (here)

"In, out. In, Out." But not quite like how Stanley Kubrik's protagonist in 'A Clockwork Orange' meant it. Still, the desperation shown by the ex-coalition partner of the JDS-led government of Karnataka, BJP, following 'betrayal' from JDS in mid-term is equally vulgar and irritating.

That it did not even pay off - couldn't have expected it to, knowing Gowda Sr.'s long term 'vision' for HDK's political career- was a bigger showdown in the form a un-dream-like seven-day stint of hurried announcements and juvenile excitement following a lifelong pursuit of CM-ship for Yedi; and a regional win for BJP. The BJP high-command concurs that Yedi's was a puerile I-wanna-be-CM display and has publicly accepted that local BJP ownership showed how desperate it had gotten to get the ruling post and in the process lost it all. Isn't it a simple truth that what is easily got is easily lost? After once refusing support, JDS's internal differences (a farce? But a spun-off party by HDK seems to be on the cards. It may be about damage control, it may be genuine. Only time will tell.) led to a sudden rush of support from JDS to BJP, lest public be turned against JDS's untrustworthiness. There is is nothing like guilt in politics, you know? And then came the withdrawal of support when the floor strength was to be tested. But not all hope is lost for BJP. In a wave of sympathy , a mid-term poll is bound to turn tables in BJP's favour.

But for now, the people have been failed. 41 months, 2 broken alliances, 3 turns of governments and lot of development work delayed or (will be) undone. Not the least, is the beating the image of 'IT State' of India has taken.Business relies on political stability and infrastructural growth. Bangalore's NICE and Peripheral Roads, Bangalore-Mangalore train and roads, approach highway to Bangalore's international airport, and a-pothole-for-every-star-in-the-sky waiting seeking attention, the list of things endlessly waiting is endless.

People get the government they deserve. The current jugglery may just be the best lesson for Karnatakans to remember everytime they punch the touch-buttons on voting machines; a lesson they ought not forget, as mid-term polls have been beckoned. The urban population, especially those in IT dominant cities of Mysore, upcoming-Hubli-Dharwad and, definitely, Bangalore have been for long fed up of Sr.Gowda's anti-development antics. It had far exceeded the limits set for devil's advocates who are an essential part of the democratic set-up. Hopefully, all that communication and media penetration in the state would have enabled the semi-urban and rural population into tracking the (un)developments closely and would elicit wise voting choices from them. By now, they ought to know that those who 'betray twice' would be predictable at doing so in future.

A fractured verdict from the state clearly shows that, collectively, everyone thinks that no single party is good enough for the job. JDS, on the dint of its 70 odd assembly seats got the room for arm-twisting its coalition partner BJP. With HDK at the helm and an as-of-then unknown elder son Revanna on the sides, it has been a cannon ball run for the Mannina Magaa, who has been piggybacking on HDK's young-and-progressive-CM image but in the process also frustrated the ex-ex-CM, HDK himself, with his capers.

While it is fair to protect one's progeny's political interests (JDS has been miffed at the criminal charges on HDK made by BJP MLAs when the latter was a sleeping partner and therefore Sr Gowda saw long term risk to Jr's political career in handing power to 'an accusing party'), it is a mockery of public opinion to try and turn a power-sharing arrangement into a puppet show. JDS wants to keep its coalition partner in charge of all but the lucrative ministerial positions for 'all well known reasons' as ex-CM (a circumstantial title accruing from a 'woh sath din' stint at the helm) Yedi has proclaimed to the media. This was a part of the 12 point charter drafted by Gowda Sr. About 20% of Karnataka gave the verdict in BJP's favour in the last election. Is there no regard for that? Why do such charters pop-up 21 months into a ruling term?

The last 45 days in Karnataka have seen drama worthy of an Emmy nomination. Many a dinner has been spent dissecting the convolutions lent out to us by those presiding over Vidhana Soudha. There have been allegations that trunkfuls of money have changed hands and it is known that several resorts have hosted MLAs in forced isolation.Probably, the game goes like- Get them drunk hard. By the time they recover, it would too late or they just wouldn't mind. Horses don't have minds, you see!

Signing off with the hope that people will get the government they deserve! Because, as Aesop quotes, "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."

Side-effects of globalisation

2007-11-02T14:42:00.000+05:30

In the book 'The World is Flat", read short review here, Thomas Friedman illustrated globalisation via scores of, well, global firms, and one of them was Dell Inc. The supply chain intricacies at Dell lent themselves to the emergence of 'Dell Theory of Conflicts'. Like the book, my experience with Dell, albeit post-purchase, is no less speckled with side-effects of globalisation.

The story begins with the occurrence of a problem that turned my laptop into a lemon, defined here. I have been using a Dell Inspiron 5160 for close to three years now.This should tell you that with the basic warranty long expired and without extended or global warranty I am vulnerable. And until recently, I was oblivious to the existence of #M1004. This is the error code Dell-ians see on the BIOS screen after their laptop is 'preventively shutdown to avoid damage due to overheating'.

I saw this error for the first time few months ago,soon after I upgraded the RAM four times over to 2 GB. I was hoping to get more out of my laptop. I was getting more heat out of it, alright! This paralysed my normal usage of the laptop, since the preventive shutdown happened at 70 degree C, which was reached within 40 minutes of operation. Thus began my research on the problem that had fortunately or unfortunately eluded me since the laptop had arrived at my doorstep. Googling #M1004 gave me more than I had expected. Dell 5150 and 1150 were doomed as far as I could see in online forums.5160, though an evolved version of 5150 with 'fixes to avoid overheating' and at least did not 'melt' or 'explode', still suffered from bad ventilation design. More research told me that the motherboard-heat-sink combo were defective and there were class action suits in Canada and the US. Apparently, even the devout Dell-ians were peeved.

Recently I learnt that, since early 2006, Dell had been replacing the defective hardware for free (one time only). Wow and Oops!"Wow!" because the combo hardware costs close to Rs 25K (half the cost of laptop) and it requires substantial commitment from Dell to replace it for hundreds of thousands of laptops sold out of the Inspiron lot. while I also know that from Dell's point of view a case-by-case replacement would be cheaper than a recall. "Oops!" because I m now living in India and my laptop has a US warranty which has expired.

So, I started tracing the steps followed by many to gain temporary or in some cases permanent relief. BIOS upgrade came first. Version 8 of the BIOS cought to optimise fan operation. But it did not help. Cleaning the vents and heat sink was the next possibility. With more research, I learnt to open a Dell Laptop and was amazed at how neatly so much is packed in 1.5 inch thickness (5160 has older design). I stopped short of opening the heat sink assembly. My gut told me that I should contact Dell India and find out what they can do; give me some the minimum coverage at least.

I was surprised by the support Dell gave me. I placed an online request, to which I got a response within 10 hours. As far as the US ownership was concerned, I was told that I could initiate a transfer to Dell India. That would eventually happen, but meanwhile I could run hardware diagnostic tests (I had told Dell India that I am an advanced computer user, hadn't I?). After sharing the results with Dell India, I not only got a phone call confirming the problem but was also , hold your breath, told that Dell would replace the motherboard and heat sink for free!

That I got such good service ought be a side effect of globalisation. Of course, with significant Indian operations, offering service to Indian customers is but imperative. Having made the original purchase in the US probably gave me some edge for getting prompt service; but I have a feeling I would have got it even otherwise. I am saying this based on the fact that last year Nikon India had replaced a defective power module, post warranty, in my digital camera. (They did charge me a service and shipping fee). Nikon USA had at that time made free replacement for cameras within warranty period. Both the pieces of equipment had been widely acknowledged as being defective; in case of Dell, leading to class action suits in North America. But to benefit from an America lawsuit sitting in India?

The ease with which all transactions happened tells a lot about the CRM commitment global companies ought to provide, irrespective of customers' global location. Global companies have to put more effort in giving one face to their brands. They cannot discriminate, because an Indian customer today can be a customer in the US tomorrow or, the day after, one in Japan. American regulatory system ensure compliance to frameworks for resolving to conflicts between sellers and buyers. Be it in the BRIC or other emerging economy nations, buyers are more aware and more enabled, not just by information, read as Internet, but also by the expectations they have from brands. They have the money to buy top brand items. If you are paying top dollar, literally, you deserve top dollar service. This is evident in other popular examples such as the Dell's global replacement of laptop batteries and more recently Nokia's worldwide replacement of certain cellphone batteries.

Hopefully the new heat sink and motherboard will perform better. Whatever the side effect, I am happy Dell customer now. #M1004 anyone?

Transforming India with a Reality Show

2007-10-18T15:13:00.000+05:30

Since the last anniversary - the diamond jubilee - of Indian Independence, readers of a leading Indian tabloid have been cajoled, enthused and shaken-to-be-awakened to the reality of 'Indian system'. Those with sincere (as in willing work full-time) intentions of bringing about a transformation in Indian system have been challenged to come forward and spearhead the 'Lead India' campaign. At the end of a process that was a mix of job-or-B-school-interview and election campaign and which generated excitement a la American Idol with its SMS polls, city-level winners were announced today.

All is good, so far. A company, and quite ably in the publishing and visual media domain, has taken this up. A media firm of its size is apt for this type of initiative simply because it has the muscle and the means to garner sponsorship, information and publicity that the initiative would need. At least someone is doing something about it! With the tabloid's existing readership demographic, the campaign will probably reach the right people who ought to and may care - the youth.

A report card, in the paper today, then stated the next steps of this process. Apparently, the next part of the selection process will be a TV program where in the winners of the city-level competitions will compete in a 'live reality show'. Now, why did I not see this coming?

Reality Show is the order of the day.You give some and you get some. And the media company in questions makes no claims about 'Lead India' venture (that should be the correct term, it is not just an initiative) being a charitable one. No problems with that. It would make no business sense for the tabloid to invest crores of rupees in dedicating hundreds of square inches of advertising space over several weeks to 'jagao' the public about this venture and invite dedicated individuals into this mission.

The keen sense of marketing used behind this is worth noting . They identified the right theme-transform India, they chose the right time- the diamond jubilee, they chose the right medium -a tabloid popular with the youth, and now in a symbiotic operation the group will use print and visual media together to propogate, provoke and prompt the citizens to stand up for themselves and be led by the chosen one. I hope the intentions and the drive can be sustained.

Until a critical mass is reached, any transformation of almost a revolutionary scale is not possible. NGOs and other social activists have been trying to do what 'Lead India' is attempting. The difference is that the former groups' voice did not reach as far what Lead India campaigners have managed to cross (?). So, commercialization (Priyanka Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan are two of the public faces of this campaign) is the way forward. Mass movements require mass communication and today television is no doubt the best mass influencer. The reality show show that will identify the champion for Leading India will probably also find the TRP ratings the network is looking for. After all, we all want India to improve and we all want to have a say in who will do it on our behalf. And if you can involve everyone through their TV sets, it is a win-win-win (sic) for the people, the network and the sponsors.

How for will this go?

Cliched it may be be, but it needs to be said that one needs to have political clout as politicains call the shots at the administrators and bureaucrats. I think 'Lead India' campaign will lead to the emergence of a political party in the next few years, if the initiave- sorry, the venture- finds people's accpetance. One that will have a secular, progressive, anti-corruption based mandate (I can join a party with this jargon!).

While the 'Lead India' campaigners have hit upon a great idea and will probably see it through (over many years, if not decades that it will require), one can almost expect opportunistic businessmen build around this idea to set-up similar ventures to exploit the let's-change-India-weakness of the educated masses and to rake in moolah in the process. It could then become a ropeway for the publicity-hungry and wannabe-but-don't-have-it-to-be publicity mongers. The contribution of such people would be as much as those of item numbers to classical dance.

Anyway, this is a beginning. What seemed like a publicity stunt is increasingly seeming to be a genuine effort to identify true leaders who have it in them; this going by the profiles of those shortlisted. But it may be too soon to talk about the efficacy of the operation.

But will they be able to change India? I cannot say, but I do hope. A reality show may help get the balls if not the hearts to achieve this.

The art and math of tipping

2007-10-15T17:47:00.000+05:30

A tip is a bribe, a tip is a token of appreciation, they deserve it, they are only doing their job, a tip should not be a norm instead be left as an individual's prerogative...these are few of the mixed impressions I heard over a radio channel during a 30 minute drive back from work. For those traveling abroad, I can talk specifically about the States, tipping is not an option but a dimension of acceptance of local norms. Just as you cannot go to an upscale dinner place, some lounges or even the theater (Broadway/off-Broadway) wearing anything less than a 'dress', you cannot get away with leaving just any tip. You will be judged or at least stereotyped.

A recent article in the Economic Times,here, says Bombay High Court has decreed that tips can be shown as a legitimate business expense. This is good in a way since business travellers will be inclined to be more benevolent towards service-providers. Those who lack appreciation for tipping may now do good at companies' expense. I am assuming that the company policies will accommodate this, and why not.

The US thumb rule is that one has to tip around 15 % of the billed amount. As the article points out, one of the contemporary reasons for this norm is the fact that most workers in restaurants are paid minimum wage. But other reasons could be the basic fact that human labor is involved in activities that make up a dining experience. Human labor does not come easy or cheap in the US, given rampant automation again owing to low population levels. You can see this in a drive-through (no tips here), which is a quickie, but is not satisfying as an experience since a human being, typically bearing a scowl, is seen only at the fag end of the process when food is exchanged for money. Additionally, most people who work at just-any-eatery or chains are mostly 'fighting it out' for a larger pursuit in their life, such as education (just one of the many possibilities). Many are also young people in their rite of passage to work life. A combination of all this leads to a greater appreciation, in the basic sense of it, for labor. Hence, the requirement or inclination for generous tipping as you may want to see it.

Much has also got to do with faith, social history and demographic. In an ex-fuedal system or a caste-based system, and to top it in a society where memories of colonial subjugation are still lingering, the 'privileged feeling' of being serviced does not go away easily. Otherwise, why do you need an army of people to clean trays and leftovers at self-service food courts in Indian malls? Patrons do not think that self-service includes leaving a table as clean as they left it (assuming they got it clean). People pay upwards of Rs.200 per head to watch a weekend show at multiplexes, but what they leave behind resembles nothing less than a rampage. Surely, some amount of common sense must come with the ability to patronise an expensive theater.

That on an average Indians are not the best tippers is common knowledge. That 10% of Indians in the US live below poverty line may be a remote consequence of this. If the expat brethren tipped better at the several 'Indian streets' spread across the American geography, the BPL number might slightly improve(several assumptions need to be in place including legal employment). I have seen that Indian restaurants in the US have worked around the Desi resistance to 'proper' tipping by mandating at least 18% gratuity for eating groups of 5 or 7 or more depending on the scale of the place. As it is, this is a norm in non-Indian places.

Tipping is a host's prerogative, but if you are in a smaller group and your host turns out to be a bad tipper, you are in a dilemma whether to disrespect the host by adding to the tip or be unfair to the keen waiter; worse still, if you like the place and plan to come back. I have heard horror stories from friends who have been embarrassed in such situations. One story has the host leaving just a dollar for a $100-odd 'cheque', for an uneventful (read as normal service) dinner at a Thai place in Los Angeles.

Then there is the question of where your tips go. I remember talking to a friendly waiter at the Pizza Corner on Brigade Road. They apparently have a socialist framework for tips. Everything that anyone earns goes into a common box, spoils of which are shared by all at the end of the week. Even if getting a generous tipper is a matter of small chance for any waiter in India, in my opinion, this is a corrupt system, where the inefficient live off the productive ones. At a restaurant, attitude of the servers is what matters and can be easily controlled. So, why should everyone get the same share if some have better attitude than others? This partly why I never tip on my credit card receipt. If the money goes to the cash box, it may not reach the gent or the lady who attended us. Instead, I leave cash behind, hoping it goes to the rightful owner.

To tip or not tip is your own prerogative, but if you will appreciate, as the cliched acronym stands, TIPS are given 'To Insure Prompt Service'.

O' DBC, thou art great!

2007-10-01T11:03:00.000+05:30

Sometimes people tell you. Sometimes you see it yourself, And sometimes you just know it.I know, now, I am really over the hill.

Corner House has been a part of growing up in Bangalore for at least a few decades. People who went there during their days at school and college return to try and capture a whiff of their own youthful exuberance. Well,that may be a tad too romantic for a few. But the fact remains that the place serves an amazing variety of no-frills ice cream based delectable goodies. Boys, girls, men and women, kids and seniors throng these parlours.

We -many of my family and friends- have been enamoured by the sensual pleasure of the creamy, chocolaty and dewy treats of this small but growing chain of ice cream parlours. The pièce de résistance of Corner House is 'Death By Chocolate'. The name says it all. One serving of this sundae is one too many. A couple of scoops of vanilla, two slices of warm chocolate brownies, oodles of chocolate sauce, a few soft sweet cherries and tablespoon of assorted nuts. The simple combination is too chocolaty for even the best fans of chocolate. The sweetest tooths (sic) of the world could be humbled by the deadly concoction that goes by the nickname 'DBC'. Not any kind of preparation can ready you for the DBC. Half-way into the chocolaty binge, you feel you have had enough chocolate for a lifetime. Your pride takes you a couple of spoonfuls further. Your determination takes you ahead a little more and only the strongest can claim to have downed the full serving of the cocktail.

After almost five months, the yearning for some tasty ice cream at the good ol' parlour brought a smile on me and a smirk on my wife's face. Battling a sudden downpour to which even visitors to Bangalore have gotten used to, we drove eagerly towards the local mecca of ice cream desserts. I had not tried my hand at DBC in over two years. The last time I had was during our courtship, when I was familiarising S with Bangalore's hidden charms. S had failed miserably at the DBC challenge. I had had to finish the serving then. My eagerness and determination to overcome the DBC challenge was growing, as we parked the car.

At half past nine, even in a rainy evening, the place was busy. We were greeted by the chatter and laughter that thrives in this place. Surely, people don't visit a dessert place if they have nothing to celebrate, however small. I remembered the many visits to this place even as S was finding it difficult to make up her mind. I kept pointing at DBC even as she kept ignoring the direction of my fingers. But DBC it had to be for me. While S started on her Black Forest and mocha combination, I chatted up with the owner. He asked if I wanted DBC packed. NO! I will have it here, I said pompously. S shook her head in revulsion, when I placed the half-liter bowl on the table.

I will not delve into my scrambles...But a few minutes later I was at the counter asking the tender to give me a lid for the ice-cream bowl he had given me. He nodded and turned around to pick one up. 'I could do this in college, now it is too much' I said shaking my head. A couple of other guys and the owner just laughed. He knows what DBC stands for. He has seen many whimper down to their knees in their fight with DBC. It's a fight they invite themselves too. Only a few prevail.

Earlier, when I was at the counter DBC, a geeky chap in his early twenties had been placing an order for a DBC. The fellow had proudly exclaimed to his friends 'Come on guys, I have ordered DBC. Let's attack!'. I could see this fellow happily winning his challenge today. I remembered such days when DBC would have had a predetermined result; my win. I could have done that then, but not anymore, I thought as I carried home an almost full serving of DBC. A couple of spoonfuls or three and I had had it. I needed help or time or both. This is what I mean when I say that I know I am over the hill.

DBC has taken a new meaning for me- 'Duped by chocolate' or 'Defeated by Chocolate'.

O'DBC, thou art great! I secede.

S had the last laugh today.Yours truly went home sad but wiser.

Review of 'The Invasion'

2007-09-03T14:02:00.000+05:30

A powerful bug enters the world somehow and creates havoc in the US and subsequently spreads to the rest of the world. '28 Weeks Later' and before that '28 Days Later' have previously inquired into the theme of 'The Invasion'.

The similarities between the plots of the movies are uncanny. While the '28' movies had people going irrational and brainsick, the Invasion plot has people going super cool, as in unemotional. The movies are similar in this simple difference. The mobbing of the unaffected by those infected is another similarity.

This first movie, '28 days later' had a shock affect equal to those of if not more than the Texas Chain Saw massacre or Jaws in their generation. The shock was due to the sheer rawness of violence exhibited by those infected by the 'rage virus'. Tracing a group of people on the run, away from the reach of the rage virus thriving inside the victims and causing the latter to go berserk with maddening fury, the film ends with a note of hope.

'28 weeks later' improvised on the open-ended-ness of '28 days later' to evolve situations demanding difficult choices. Would you choose your own life over a dear one's (say, wife's) when in a dilemma? In this movie, the husband exposes his weak side, even as the audience empathises with him in the moment. In a storming twist to the story, there's requital for the wife. 28 weeks later is set in London and the ruined state of the imperial city is well brought out by the set designers. The acting by primarily a UK cast was impressive.

Invasion, obviously, has exploited this theme and combined threads from both the '28' movies into one, but any significant differentiation is lacking. Carol and Ben played by sylphlike Nicole Kidman and poised Daniel Craig respectively fail to show chemistry. While their acting may not be lacking, the plot fails to impress with its predictability. There is nothing new in The Invasion. The background score of 28 weeks later is haunting and permanently associative; much like how one would instantly pick up the notes of X-Files anywhere. The special effects are not great, even if there are a lot of stunts. One can see this cadre of stunts in all variation of "CSI:" and Law and Order. The effects of the bug on the skin have been better shown in the TV series X-files. There's little else to carry home from The Invasion, than a lingering sense of deja vu from 28 weeks later.

There are several loose ends left in the movie. (If you have not watched this movie and {still!} plan to, skip over to the last paragraph. The next one could divulge the plot.)

There is no mention of the deceased astronauts after the space shuttle crashes (a la Columbia). Would this happen in real world US? The epidemic does not raise its head until after a few days. Why is everyone so cool about the crash in the meantime? The virus-like organism apparently affects the genes of the infected and causes damage to the grey matter in their brains. Would such affect be reversible? There is no rational (even quasi-rational would help in a movie) explanation given about how the cure for the virus attack was found. The movie is focused on how Carol is rescued (foresee-ably). It is shown that the mass-inoculation 'drug' is showered down from helicopters. How can this be so simply achieved given that people have natural resistance need to have been affected, in the past, by a particular strain of chicken pox? Kidman is shown to have been waiting for Ben between 11 PM and 3:30 AM. This, even as Ben is supposed to be already in Baltimore. He does not arrive at the pharmacy until after the 4 hours. What was he doing, sleeping, in order to be taken over by the bug? If he could get affected, how does Carol escape the affects of the bug? She is shown have gone into sleep for a similar amount of time.

If one has watched the '28' movies, The invasion will fail to impressive in any way. One can guess there would be a sequel to this movie. I would rather spend my money and 2 hours on the third part of '28 Days Later' than the sequel of 'The Invasion', if there were to be one. 'The Invasion' can be avoided, unless you have sworn to watch every movie by the lead actors.

'Life in a Metro' review

2007-08-22T23:43:00.000+05:30

Full entertainment in the middle of the week. This is how I would describe my experience with this movie.

The theme explored in this movie is not new. Rajat Kapoor's 'Mixed Doubles' dealt with the emotions and feelings related to adultery in married life in a largely comical way. Anurag Basu has taken this a step further in dealing with adultery in married life, in work life and in alternative lifestyles all put together in one story.

The Indianness of characters is very evident from the first few minutes of the movie, starting with Monty's (later we find out, harmless) leching. 'Passing the apartment key' (though I remember this from a Hollywood flick I cannot recall) is another facet of Indianness when it comes to the sheer number of people using the key and the efforts put in by Rahul in managing everyone's 'needs'. The use of a BPO company, where Rahul works, for the background of the movie, may be not coincidental after all, since this group of people is the young upwardly-mobile face of Indian society. Without being judgemental about it, this group of people does have the benefit of opportunity as well as means when it comes to 'enjoying life' as shown in the movie.

The storyline has very intricately woven into it, two complex yet relevant issues faced by young working adults. First is that of that of marriage - a pull between love marriage and the arranged one and the confusions surrounding the choice of a partner. Second is that of hassles faced by gay people in leading their lives
normally. Basu has dealt with them lightly but without losing focus.

I would personally call this a practical film, in that the situations shown in the movie are close to real life. That a parody has been constructed out of multitudes of such situations including that of revival of lost love (Amol and Shivani) demonstrates Anurag Basu's skill in putting together an enjoyable adult movie. Tracing nine intertwined lives leading to a rather preditable ending, this movie entertains with inanities of young work life, lightsided portrayal of insecurities of the youth and gays and significantly the pointlessness of the search of perfect partner by young men and women. Shikha's character balances the film by raising (and partly answering) serious questions about guilt, fidelity and responsibility in married life.

Irfan Khan, playing the ever-eligible bachelor shows class in acting. One moment a lech another a valued friend to Shruti has played his part in style. Konkona Sen Sharma playing the traditional-wannabe-modern-but-confused-30-year-old-bachelor searching for the 'right partner' does justice to her role with her sensitivity; sometimes reminding you of Bridget Jones with her reliance on chocolate. Kangana Ranaut, Shilpa Shetty, Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Sharman Joshi and Shiny Ahuja are memorable.

If a message has to be taken out, then it would be 'reconciliation'- Shikha's with realities of her married life, Amol's with loss of loved one, Shruti's with practicality of finding love and Neha's with recognising love.

Some of my friends who watched this movie stressed on the exploitation in BPO industry. May be they are overly sensitive about the issue. This is a light-hearted movie and aptly certified 'A' since it deals with complex issues appreciable by adults. And this list of issues does not include exploitation in BPO industry, unless I missed by miles the point of this movie. My advise to them would be to focus on the fun element, sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Parting note: I liked the music in the movie and the situational appearance of the band while the story is running. Thanks to 'no running around the trees approach'(director gave no scope for such inanities), I found the songs light and relevant to the story. The music would be quite enjoyable while driving, if you ask me; Silk-Route-ish.

All in all, two hours well spent after dinner!

2007-08-19T23:35:00.000+05:30

Rare encounters of the honest kind

A sumptuous dinner of favourite cuisine was what S and I had needed to make the weekend utile. It had been a tiring day, with the usual weekend capers. Overall, the weekend had been going on well. Having gone to bed on Saturday night, I had no intention of rolling off the bed before propriety demanded it. Thus, a wake-up call at nine on a Sunday morning was unsought. Hoping it would be a wrong call, not needing any mental energies to be pulled up, I picked up the phone to face the voice of a woman haltingly speaking in Kannada.

"Am I talking to..."
"Yes, what is this about..." (Some courtesies are lost in translation)
"Do you live at the address..."
"Yes!"
I was getting more confused than frustrated. Then, she delivered the biff that kicked out any remnants of sleep from my eyes and drooped shoulders.

"Do you know that you have lost your wallet?"

A flurry of images speedily rushed past me. What the ...? What? When? How? The consequences of losing a wallet are new, but not unknown to me. I have never lost my wallet, more out of diligence and the knowledge of pains associated with losing one than out of luck. I have been carrying wallets for at least 17 years. I was already visualising myself making scores of phone calls, going over pages of statements, getting new cards, disputing charges, getting a new license card from the RTO, loss of a few hundreds in Indian currency and the 'just for kicks' carry-ons in my wallet-20 Euros, a ten dollar note and an each of the extinct one and two rupees notes.

As she continued, realisation descended on me that she would not be calling me if my wallet were merely lost. This telephonic transaction was consequent to the occurrence of the logical next step of 'lost', 'found'. OK, then I knew what all this was about.

"Thank you! Can you please tell me where you are calling from?" was all I could muster, still trying to recover from the agnition that my wallet had been, fortunately for me, found by someone responsible.

"We live near your house. I am calling from house number ... on 12th Main". Aha, a neighbor!

"My brother found your wallet last night on the street near your house", she continued,"We tried to call you up soon after, but no one picked up the phone". In blissful ignorance, I had been lolling in the bed for more than 10 hours, while my billfold, which had never before been away from me was being cared for by some stranger.

I threw some water on my face and dressed-up and I was at the gates of this good Samaritan in less than three minutes. I was greeted by a short man in white mundu and a white vest. He ushered me in, even as another younger guy with wavy hair and thick moustache waved to a young lady in a gown. They must have started their day just now, I thought, since she was just wiping off traces of toothpaste from her chin.

I said 'Hi, my name is... I think you spoke to me over the phone'.

She handed me the wallet as I was shaking hands with the others and asking their names. I had guessed by that time that I was with a Malayalee family .

"My brother Anish found your wallet when he was walking past the new apartment building. He said he had seen some labourers around, but he picked up the wallet before they did. He is at the church now. "

I took the wallet and was about to put it in my pocket, when she said "Please check the contents". My gut was telling me there was no need to. Their intention was clear. A wallet had been found, it was being returned. However, there are reasons why people would ask you to do this. It is a reasonable thing to do lest there be disputes in future. I gave the insides of the wallet a cursory glance and confirmed that everything was fine.

"I do not know how to thank you for this! Please thank Anish on my behalf", I urged them. I really do not know how to reciprocate this action. My friends and I have found things in the past - it especially happens with debit cards at the many ATMS in our office campus- and returned them to the rightful. But this is the first time that I have been at the receiving end. Quantifying something as gracious an action diminishes its sanctity. I could not embarrass them with a monetary reward. All I could do was invite them over to our home for a tea and offer help if they needed any in settling down (they had moved in a few weeks back).

In an attempt to pen this seemingly mundane, but quite a significant if you think about it, event , I tried to look for synonyms for the word 'honesty'- as in what I would want to describe what the finder of my wallet did. I find that there is no other single-worded-term that perfectly fits. Truthfulness, integrity, guilelessness, honour- they all come close but are nuances of character not same as honesty. It is definitely something basic.

So, why is it rare?

2007-08-17T15:29:00.000+05:30

Would you buy a OneLakhCar? (Part-2)

What if the OneLakhCar were to become popular?

Nightmare! I am not saying everyone should not have a car. I am just surmising about what will happen if they do. Are were prepared for it at any level? There are several ways to slice this issue. Here are some that came to my mind.

Roads: Indian cities are not built to accommodate so many cars, not so soon at least. And cities like Bangalore, definitely not, with chock-a-block two-lane roads, piled-up four-lane ones. Mayhem will be an understatement for what we will witness. As if autorickshaws are not a menace enough that we need more of such devilish vehicles. Come to think of it, the economy of a OneLakhCar (A Bajaj 3-wheeler costs 1.75 lakhs on road) combined with the promise of a 5-seat capacity, might just mean we will see the end of these reckless rattlers which are nothing but necessary evil. This is probably the only positive outcome of the OneLakhCar.

Traffic Indiscipline: Not all people who drive cars can ride bikes, probably because they never learnt to ride a bicycle (basic reason, reasons of relative safety keeps many off the roads). People who might otherwise not have driven because they could only afford a bike they could not ride, will be more inclined to drive. So, we will see more new drivers. For Indian drivers 'Driving is a privilege not a right' are words lost in the din. One can get a license to drive a car if he has a couple of hundred bucks in his pocket. With such abysmal regulation on who is given license to drive, the potential havoc caused by millions of more car drivers on roads leaves little to imagination.

Parking space and its effect on real estate: Go to the 'downtown' areas in any of the cities and you will notice that we just do not have the space to keep these cars. Even now, parking is not very economical, if available at all. Not just commercial parking, but personal parking too is important. How many of the builders with 600 apartments or more in a compound have actually planned for a car in every family? With such need for parking space, real estate prices will move north.

Environmental concerns: Emission levels will probably be low for a small engine like that of OneLakhCar's but only if the right fuel is used and the car is regularly tuned and maintained. What if adulterated and mixed (for economic benefit) fuel is used? People do it with a 1.75 Lakh rickshaw. Will they refrain from experimenting on a 1 Lakh Car? Pollution control is not as strictly enforced as required, except probably in the National Capital Region.

How will these cars be recycled (they will need to be at some point in time)? Most of the junked cars end up being cannibalised for spare parts (legal only in some cases) or their metal parts being melted and recycled. What will you do with millions of tonnes of composite frames and bodies of the OneLakhCars? Bio-degradable waste is itself difficult to dispose (for reasons of volume), where will we find space to dump composite bodies?

More cars, more green house emissions, more global warming. This outcome was always expected, but the OneLakhCar will only accelerate this process. No, I am not saying people should stop buying cars. Technologically advanced those maybe, but five times as many cars as in India are sold in the US itself. Why should Indians not be buying them? Fair, if India were not per-capita a 9th the size of the US. The thought that one million cars will be sold every year is mindboggling. Current annual car sales in India stand at about 600,000; there will be three times as many cars getting into Indian roads every year, if the TATAs meet their target.

Two-wheeler business will be worst hit, as repeat bike buyers are expected to be converted in to car buyers. Heavy pressure to push prices and costs down will only lead to planned declines in production of bikes and it will be no surprise if other companies too convert their facilities to make variants of the OneLakhCar. Renault has plans to bring out the $3000 car with Bajaj auto (talks with M&M fell through). The Renault car will be probably be more advanced than OneLakhCar in terms of safety as it has a higher tag.

In principle, Ratan Tata's dream of getting a car into every home may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory. The economical car may come at a big price for India in the long run. Rise in standard of living of socio-economic categories, as my untrained-in-economic-theories-mind perceives happens when the affordability of goods increases based on true increase in income to reach that level of affordability not when the level of affordability is brought down to existing levels of income. Commoditisation happens when the latter phenomenon is brought about. In a gimpy infrastructure, only the load on the system increases when commoditisation happens in items such as cars.Were these cars special in terms of environment-friendly technology such as electric or solar, the argument could have been reversed. Apparently, they are not.

Maybe I am being simply too biased against this car for some paranoia I cannot explain. Maybe it will not be so bad after all. Maybe I have not fathomed the adapting power of the Indian system. Then maybe, I am just dreaming!

2007-08-16T18:31:00.000+05:30

Would you buy a OneLakhCar? (Part-1)

TATAs are not blusterers and they have delivered in the past. Making it the 3rd largest player, TATA Motors has 17% marketshare in passenger car segment. Tata Motors has never had it this good in the last few years despite general declining sales in auto industry, commercial included. TATA Ace has bridged the gap of the 'perfect vehicle' for last-mile logistics, with its 1-tonner 'tempo' which is selling like hot cakes. Ace's commercial passenger cousin 'Magic' is similarly expected to set tracks on fire . One last tidbit: in commercial segment, TATAs have a whopping 65% share. Having put them in this perspective, it would be goosey to say TATAs have not read the market.

But in an upwardly mobile middle class, would a 1 Lakh Car be popular?

There are many dimensions one must consider before answering the question. Living in a city and seeing more and more newly-introduced models from Hyundai, Honda, Corolla, GM, Ford and MUL swoosh by on urban roads (I believe there is deep but random penetration in villages too), I have my reservations about this car. Rural market might be the target, but if the OneLakhCar is competing with Maruti800, one must take into consideration that the latter has seen steady decline in sales even in rural markets in the last two years.

When MUL came out with the original Maruti-Suzuki in the 80s, indeed, the objective was to bring home an affordable car for the common man and a 1 Lakh (or so) tag was acceptable at the time. And what a car it was with original Japanese engine and know-how! The bean car brought in a technological leap in auto industry. None of the indigenously built cars could match up to what Maruti-Suzuki offered. Be it size-wise performance, maintenance or economy of ownership. There is little that needs to be said about MUL's success. So, the idea behind Maruti was a noble one, if you know what I mean.

In principle, the intent behind the OneLakhCar seems to be less nobler (for lack of another term). Affordability seems to be the only criterion for this car. Of course, the TATA quality and brand will assure that the car is not made with cheap parts (brand equity based assumption), but price seems to be the only basis for differentiation, something that will not incite enthusiasm in every buyer.

To push down costs, there are bound to be compromises (within the realm of TATAs brand equity). Component manufacturers have invested capital hedging on the success of the car. Metal costs only rising, the body of the car is said to be of composite material rather than steel or aluminium. (This has been done before- the most elegant example being the sexy Corvette. But hey, they may not use the same stuff here!)Unofficial estimates put the margin-to-manufacturer at Rs.5000 per car. Further, based on work done by analysts, having invested Rs.6000 Crores, TATAs have to sell 1 million cars every year (and they plan to) for four years to break even. Is this possible?

Recent announcement that by year 2009, air-bags in new passenger cars will be no more optional but factory-fitted-mandatory, it is worth asking if the OneLakhCar has this cost built in. Or will it only be 1 Lakh ex factory? Costs toward Bharat IV and EURO III norms would no doubt have been built in.

What about the design? Speculation is rife on whether the car will be a Reva look-alike, Mini-Indica(!) or the Lankan MiniCar (a rounded Reva, I found out after some Googling). Whatever it is, on a 600cc engine, one cannot expect a huge frame. Then how will it be a four or five seater? I secede, I am not design-savvy.

There is a growing need for mobility given the changing lifestyles and lame public transport. The culture of using public transportation is slumping for several reasons, affordability not being the least of them. Mobikes and scooties if not cars fill parking lots of colleges and sometimes schools. The average price of mobikes has crossed Rs.50K, and that of high end indigenous bikes is closing in to Rs. 1 Lakh. Relative safety considerations and the aspirational value of a car would thereby sway a first time buyer or a two-wheeler owner toward the OneLakhCar.

So, there is a reasonable chance that the car will be popular since there is a huge market out there. And there is no offering in this segment right now.

(Coming up...what will happen if the OneLakhCar does its magic.)

2007-08-15T15:42:00.001+05:30

6 things that will make India an icon in the next 60 years:

India's Diamond Jubilee of independence is no small occasion. 'Life starts at 60', '60 and sexier' are themes newspapers and other media are enthusing people with. So, what will happen in the next sixty (any other number misses the point) years is a fair question.

We do not like to think about future, as in really think; own much less our country's. This is just the reason why national events incite thought on futurity. I should not miss out on riding this wave lest my daily pursuits subdue my enthusiasm to express what my mind is able to grasp in this festivity.

Enough has been written about achievements of and lacunae in The Great Indian system, but it needs to be noted that India has reached certain high stratum of economy, industrialisation and quality of living. Of course, we (much less all of us) are not 'there' yet, but we have come a long way. Compare with various other countries that have achieved independence with or after India and you will see how much Indian Democratic principles have stood the test of 60 years; all this is given.

To get 'there' and become an icon, there are certain things India needs to refocus on. In my opinion:

1. REDEFINE LITERACY: The current numbers are enough to make us look good in surveys, but they serve no practical purpose. Choosing leaders based on their mandate is unheard of in India. There are a handful of popular, dynastic, and historic political parties in the limelight and rest is all horse-trading. The power to swing numbers lies with the rural and semi-urban population, but majority of it is not truly literate. People we elect are not true leaders. So, what we get as a government is a group of compromised political players. Political debate as a part of election campaign in this scenario is reduced to a farce, not that it even happens. It all comes back to literacy or the lack of it.

2. RURAL UPLIFTMENT: Today, the PM announced a Rs 25000 Crore benefit package for farmers. This is a great gift, if it reaches those who need it. Late Rajiv Gandhi said that out of every rupee allocated to rural benefit, only 40 paisa reaches those who need it. The focus needs to be intensified on inclusivity of the poor into mainstream economy. When the poorest of the poor have subsistence as a daily goal, education, better health and growth lose relevance. Rural health centers and rural school system need to be revamped decentralised for execution (IAS, Civil services, alliances with NGOs).

3. INFRASTRUCTURE: There is nothing required to say here.

4. DEMOLISH RESERVATION not related to economic status: The Gujjar agitation earlier this year is the worst example of what reservation system has become. That apart, the government is not able to explain the basis of the new magic-number 27. Those who need opportunity are not those who belong to a particular caste or tribe, but those who do not have the money to enable them to come within reach of such opportunities. Yes, most of such people do belong to certain communities, but then those who reap benefits from the existing system (the rich among those communities) are not exactly those who need them (your guess). And the current system also marginalises the poor in communities not on the list of beneficiaries.

5. EMPOWER PEOPLE and bring accountability: Right to Information Act is one of the most significant policies India has adopted since that of liberalisation. What is still lacking is the accountability with someone to act on the information that could be sought. Much is also directly linked to corruption. In the lack of a judicio-legal system that is accountable to punish the guilty, there is not much one can expect from administrative perspective; it is a vicious cycle. To begin with, the Home Ministry and the allied bodies should publish annual reports on benefits accrued from ongoing efforts on e-governance efforts etc.-much like what corporates do at AGMs. But who will watch the gatekeeper?

6. ABOLISH REGIONALISM: India can wish forever to be a true 21st century icon in business and global politics and further even to be a part of the UNSC, but there will no realisation of it until regionalism and caste politics (reservation system too) exist. Particularly, regionalism as on lines of national integration has taken big strides since liberalisation (e.g. many techies, students and other migrants from rest of India are comfortable living in Bangalore, Pune or Hyderabad to name a few cities not withstanding specific infrastructure issues), but naxalism with different names is rampant in most states of India. Unless such sentiments are put to rest, India's efforts at becoming an icon will be cheapened.

Given that Indian population is only growing younger, I think India will not need something as draconian as China's one-child-policy for the next couple of decades, so I am not putting it in this list.

The above are high-level themes on which focus is needed. Action-ising them is the need of the hour. And the more literate, technocratic and academic leaders we have sitting in the Parliament House the better. Unless there is greater political debate antedating elections, my sole objective during next elections would continue to be to topple the incumbent as I will continue to have no idea what he has done or others are planning to do.

There is hope, because despite everything India as she enters the 'sensational sixties' is a thriving globalised democratic young nation with an enviable (economic) growth rate.

Be sure to gain more perspective on this subject at Kiran's blog with his post.

2007-08-10T18:21:00.000+05:30

The flip side of organised retailing
"9th Aug celebrated as 'Quit Retail Day'".This day was famously known as Quit India Day (circa 1942). But "FDI Watch India" and "Vyapaar Aur Rozgar Bachao Andolan" have given it their own flavour. Even if this was expected, the creativity and the intensity of the message sent by juxtaposing the two events is surprising.

The biggest fear among those resisting the Indian Retail Revolution is that of loss of jobs or displacement. The 200 Billion Dollar retail industry in India is highly segmented right now. Only 4%, expectedly, of this is truly organised in the way we see Foodworlds, Fabmalls, Monday to Sundays, Ahmed Bazaar (Bangalore), Shopper Stops, Westsides etc which are chains or corporation, sometimes even listed. The number might also include goverment-run Janatha Bazaars. The remaining share includes the gamut of sellers at all levels who are located near your home or street. I am not sure if the Sabjiwala who rings your door bell is counted at all. Nevertheless, selling remains the biggest occupation in India with 11 stores per 1000 persons. This is a huge number considering that China has 6 and USA 3.8. "What will happen to all these people?" is a question that cannot be ignored and is a common refrain today.

In the past, India has seen huge displacements, be it during industrialisation during the early Five Year plans or urbanisation that followed it and which continues today, or the IT and ITes revolution that is gripping youth today. Of course, the challenge of displacement from ITeS is at a different level altogether (acedemia and R&D bodies fretting the trend involving loss of qualified engineers and science graduates to high-paying jobs) while that in question is in a more basic stratum.

But one must not ignore the fact that these changes have happened over the years, if not decades and Retail Revolution will be no different, even if technology enables it to bring about changes faster. In addition to technological enablement, acceptance and inertia to life style changes play a great role in moulding mindsets.

Organised retailing will create its own opprtunities. To fill the boardroom-to-field gap, companies always look for local subject matter experts. Who better than middlemen can fill this gap? Sure, one can follow the principle of 'try to beat 'em, if you don't want to join them', but that is a diffent argument. Contract farming will provide farmers opportunities with ensured income. New job streams are already cropping up what with Retail Sales executive diplomas and Degrees in Store planning making rounds in newspaper classifieds. People With a little sensitivity, interest (or need) and attitude can easily find avenues in in-store salesmanship. With growing organisation in retail will come more back-end operations. Employment opportunities in the bottom layer will see the most growth.

There are other long term effects one can foresee changing the way we live in the next decade or so, as a direct consequence of the type of set-up organised retailing will require. Since food, especially seasonal, will slowly become independent of local climatic conditions (already happening for some items) with perennial supplies planned for and achieved, food processing will gain prominence. Food processing and preservation is what will help corporations maintain their stock levels and meet demands across geographies.

Almost all of us eat fresh produce, today. It may not be so easily available once processed foods become a norm. Canned-everything is what most American families shop for and live on (emphasis on organic and fresh produce is the reaction to this phenomenon). Today, we can find Rasgulla's and baby corn with Indian labels. These cans will more and more commonly hold tomatoes, spinach and carrots to name a few, something that we would find too convinient to ignore. Talk to DINKs and SINKs living in nuclear families and you get a perspective on how consumption of ready-to-eat foods is gaining prevelance.

All these changes are inevitable. How the Indian system adapts to it is the area of concern. India will move forward, urban Indians will move faster. Only a good system-social support, health, judicial, legal- will ensure uniform growth in all socio-economic categories . Government should enforce policies that bring accountability for and quick addressal of genuine concerns people could have out of corporatisation of retailing. Vocational training programs will ensure that opportunities flow equally to all geographies of India and strata of society.

There is little point in being protectionist about the Retail Revolution. Energies need to be focussed on enabling the Indian system to handle the inevitable changes which have the potential to transform the way we live now.

2007-08-08T18:02:00.000+05:30

A case for Organized Retailing:

The Bhart-Walmart Cash 'n' Carry alliance with a 50-50 joint venture arrangement is now official. There are mixed emotions around this announcement with traders crying foul and FMCG people welcoming the move. While the traders will be affected on grounds of relative combined buying power of the duo and consequent fall in their own profitability, FMCG players like HUL are optimistic about the huge volumes this organization will generate.

While doubts have been widely cast on whether Wal-Mart-like retailing would work in India, it is altogether another question whether dewy-eyed Indian players are not already showing ambitions of emulating the US retail behemoth. Subhiksha and Reliance Fresh are only waiting to see the results of their low-hanging-fruit experiments with retail models, before launching off on bigger formats. APMCs in Bangalore protested earlier this week, governments move to amend APMC act to accommodate contract farming. Reliance collection centers in proximity to farmers have already induced a lot of fear in the traders. Indian retailers can play but foreign players cannot? Seems like we are deliberately un-leveling the field here.

While Kerala has announced on national television that it will do anything to prevent Reliance from entering God's own country, new models are being experimented in parts of Mumbai and some towns in Gujarat. In order to beat Reliance at its game, scores of store owners have formed clusters within parts of towns in order to increase their buying power. Each of these clusters will ensure similar formats so that locals in a part of the city get same price, assortments and layouts in all stores in a cluster. On closer look this is nothing but the bottom-up evolution of a chain. If the likes of Reliance pump money from their coffers and roll out store designs from their boardrooms, local merchants are pooling in together to form their own little corporation (co-operative?). If the clusters have a uniform design and operations are directed by a group of cooperative-heads, the personal touch of the local kirana owner is anyway lost. To maintain their cash flows (cooperatives can be assumed to have no huge caissons); the kirana owner's personal credit policy disappears. With the corporatisation of the local cluster (bound to happen), the individual kirana owners will lose their ownership. They would be encouraged to sit and home and count their share of the profits. Whether this model is sustainable, only time can tell.

The current times can lead to germination of Indianised models of organized retailing. It is possible that something innovative may come out of the churning happening right now. Kerala's might be a knee-jerk reaction and in time laws might be amended when the success of oragnised retailing generates happiness in the public in the rest of the country. But, these are early times and it may be several before any such things happen.

Now coming to a basic question...will organized retailing succeed in India?

Firstly, the need for organized retailing will keep the ball rolling. Not as self-defeating a statements as it seems, since India is probably one of the few countries where in one corner farmers kill themselves unable to make profits from their surplus (causing too low selling prices), while people in another die waiting for rations to arrive. FAO has capacity to store, but not the capability to maintain its storages. Public distribution system is a shame, what with kerosene, sugar and grain mafia degrading local distribution efforts. More than 35% of the produce, especially in grains and staples rots and gets wasted. There is a dire need for better mechanism to move food grains from source to destination. Oraganised retailing can provide just this bridge.

Secondly, the prices of commodities can be more controlled with better facilities and distribution systems that will be set-up by the big players. Investments made by such retailers in storage facilities will ensure constant supply of goods, especially foods, throughout the year. Fluctuations in prices (typically, they shoot up in monsoon) will be reduced and more uniformity in price and quality can be achieved. This may not happen overnight, but some form of stability in each of these dimensions can be achieved with a sustained effort of organized retailing.

APMC regime is largely hierarchical. Between the farmer and the consumer, one can expect at least 4-5 levels of agencies or middlemen, who add to the cost of goods- especially grains and fruits. To both the ends- farmer and consumer- there is little benefit. Reliance Retails has set-up collection centers in proximity to producers. One must remember that farming in India is not land intensive as in North America and some other parts of the world. In India, it is labor intensive with large number of farmers owning small patches of land producing, in some cases, largest quantities of fruits and grains in the world. To an average farmer, a reduction in the cost of transportation will make a large difference. So, instead of going a longer distance to an APMC Mandi and auctioning his produce, he would prefer to go the short distance to a predictable-price-offering at a nearby Reliance Collection Center. This ploy may already be smelt by APMCs and they may (being a government-run agency? But, let's give them the benefit of the doubt) set-up their own proximity mandi's or react by providing predictability in pricing, but in the end it will be only competition where consumer and farmer would benefit. This can be third benefit of the organized retail network.

Private sector players, and not in the least foreign chains, have the muscle and the know-how to set-up efficient supply chain systems, invest in forecasting and logistics systems to make 'all that' happen. The crawling and creeping corrupt public system has not done much in this regard in the last half-century of its existence. Yes, the e-governance is just taking off, but the attitudes and motives of those who run the system require a lot of overhaul, before any sweetness can be derived from the e-governance efforts.

Lastly, an economic benefit of allowing foreign retail chains in India is the increase in volume of exports. Currently, Wal-Mart sources about $600M from India. Compare that with USD 27B that China exports to only Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart opens stores in India, the giant's India sourcing would grow multiple folds in a couple of years. And Wal-Mart is only the most significant example.

Flip side of the coin... (Next time).

2007-07-26T18:31:00.000+05:30

Dying from denial:

'Youth dies due to medical negligence'- cried the local headlines in the newspaper this morning. In recent days, infamy has become the doctors' friend , while death is befriending the lesser mortals. And the lower in the SEC-pyramid one is, the lesser are the odds that he or she will cross the average life expectancy of an Indian. The unfortunate death of Shivaraj (Read the story here.) is just another example of how much the socio-economic system is lacking in accountability (what is that!) and social responsibility (ouch, not that nerve again!).

Either some of us keep running into the wrong set of people or it has now become a habit for doctors to act pricey-and-stately for no reason. A smaller example of this- minor in significance but chafing none the less under the circumstances- is that of a relative of ours who recently lost her mother and had to call-up as many as four doctors in vain, before my father requested our family doctor on the relative's behalf, to provide a death certificate for the departed woman. One 'nieghbourhood doctor' refused to even speak on the phone, let alone decline a visit, when called up for the request.

Such callousness as shown at Bowring should not go unpunished, for there is absolutely no reason why doctor should deny service to anyone. One can look at it in several dimensions. As pointed out in the article, there is no legal impediment to providing service. Medical negligence of the popular kind (misdiagnosis, failure to exercise diligence during procedure etc) comes later. One must first ask the question- Can a doctor be punished for providing service. Obviously no! Additionally, there ought to be no economic impediment, at least not in Shivaraj's case, as he was brought into the hospital by his father to a government hospital. In any case, the responsibility of the cost of the treatment in an emergency cannot and should not be the doctor's responsibility. The doctor is expected to skillfully do that which is technically apt in his judgment based on his training. Economic responsibility lies with the patient or his kin as the case may be. Denial of service on grounds of economic status certainly is unconstitutional. There is no evidence of procedural impediment either, because the patient in this case was not a victim of crime. Typically, one requires an FIR or some police report for an unaccompanied or unidentified patient where foul-play is suspected. Shivaraj's case is plainly that of a one-party road accident and moreover the police themselves shifted Shivaraj from one hospital to the other.

Come to think of it, basically, it makes no economic sense for a doctor to behave this way. Thousands of doctors pass out every year from greater Bangalore given the plenteous harvest of doctors from medical colleges in the region. Good doctors might be in short-supply but medical graduates are not. How can a doctor think he can grow by turning away or turning off patients in this demand-supply situation?

That the accused doctors shouted at the grieving party and refused to read the report given by NIMHANS, let alone admit the victim, itself tells that they are not fit to be doctors. Of course, suspension of the doctors has been issued and a 'departmental enquiry' ordered, but this will not help the dead man's family, for whom he might just have been the sole bread-winner. It can be fairly estimated that after having paid tons to get into the medical education-and-profession the doctors will try to buy their way out of the death on their hands. If the case goes judicial, all hope is lost for the survived, who might find themselves in a dilemma to choose between survival and legal (and moral) victory.

Treating this as a second degree murder (their action directly lead to the patient's death, did it not?), the doctors should be stripped of privileges to practice, barred from IMC and made to compensate the Shivaraj's family financially.

This may be an odd case that has made it to page-2 of a popular tabloid, hundreds more may not even be noticed. But this should be made a precedent for other doctors who consider themselves as human gods and take their roles for granted.

After that, the doctors might not live in and patients not die out of denial.

2007-07-17T20:13:00.000+05:30

Games Indians Play

If your mind is running in the direction of the popular transactional analysis book of similar title, you are not too far from the truth this book has to tell you. An interesting take on 'Desis in their own Des' , this is the name of a book by (erstwhile) Prof.V Raghunathan of IIM Ahmedabad.

Most of us would have argumentatively discussed at length, albeit with a pinch of self-righteous exclusivity, about why we are 'like that only' but without questioning why not? When I discussed this book with a couple of my friends, the system came out at the cause rather than the effect, a stance that is opposite of what this book takes. Just so you know the book is not passionate about reformation, but the cold logic of it is bound to leave a whiff of reason on you.

Offering umpteen Indian-way-of-life examples which all of us have lived through, the author sets the context for his analysis of this drama that we play in daily social life (read as behaving as a community). The message is clear- social life is what we fail at. Ironically, while we are, and not without reason, rational individuals, we are victims of our own over-rationalisation. Artfully, Prof VR tells the reader why Indians are some of the brightest somebodies but a miserable community living with their self-created acceptance of norms. He explores Why spitting, relieving,shoving, queue-jumping and many other "-ings" in public that have impacted all but bothered the more reasonable of the lot, are not just hangovers of pre-freedom era, but realities of post-60-year-freedom age.

We may have argued passionately about what can be done to improve it, only to conclude by questioning how much can one-in-a-more-than-billion person's action change the system.It is this 'what can just one do' premise that Prof.VR skillfully counters through the applications of Game Theory to social life. Taking the uninitiated reader through basic of GT, the author pushes it to the next level by explaining work done by various award winning elite researchers in applying GT to real-life situations and war strategy (Life in India is a big fight? Touche!). Then taking the book to its logical crecendo, Prof VR guides us into his perspective of what strategis in social life can reduce dissonance in person to society transactions. A small relief that I had been not wrong in playing this game right myself.

The intent of the book is quite clear, to give a logical basis for the Great Indian Drama and then, atleast, telling the reader that his action can indeed make a difference. Again, the intent is just to educate the user of the option he has to keep in mind the 'larger good' while deciding his next action. Author leaves it at that and makes no lofty pursuasions for a better India.
It is possible that the book will be read by a portion of the reading urban community. Even if they, if not already, start following the 'tit for tat' strategy in life ***in its true spirit***, I think my life will be a little easier, and so will theirs from my point of view.

I would recommend this book. At 150 pages you can breeze through this hard-bound book over a Sunday afternoon. The other 25 pages comprise bibliography, but has some interesting extracts too. The language is concise and the author makes his point quickly and crisply. A foreward by Mr. Narayana Murthy is an added shine for NRN's fans given that his writings are rarer than his speeches.

2007-05-09T22:55:00.000+05:30

Fast Food Nation

"If economy in the last part of the 20th century depended on how internet redefined the way business is done , economy of the 21st century would be based on how businesses bring a balance between their profitability and amorality."Erich Schosser makes this assertion toward the end of his book 'Fast Food Nation' a tome about the dark side of American fast food culture.

This very engrossing book by Eric Schlosser is unputdownable. The book came out in 2001, but I read it recently. Ironically, I first saw the Indie movie 'Super Size me!' which was based on the findings of this book, and which drove me to buy this book from Amazon.com after failing to find it in several bookstores.

In this book, Schlosser has very interestingly told the story of evolution of American fast food industry and everything else associated to it. Startling the uninitiated, facts keep rolling out page after page while the author assesses the social, economic and emotional impact of current or recent practices in the food industry. Touching every aspect of the fast food revolution, the book skillfully relates the inhuman practices in slaughter houses and rendering shops to policy making over the last several decades.

The author uses real stories of ranchers and potato growers in the USA and elsewhere to make his point about how industry consolidation has impacted smaller 'farmers' and how discouragement of unionisation and deskilling of food-processing has led to the sorry state of workers involved. From there the writer goes on to illustrate the link between deskilled processes using unskilled immigrant labour and the spread of food risks from unhygenic ground meat. Schlosser also touches upon the challenges and risks posed by use of animal protein to feed poultry and cattle. In the 2004 reprint version that I read, more content has been added acknowledging the impending threat of 'mad cow' disease or BSE.

Some sections on how fast food is flavoured and colored provide insight into the huge yet less known industry that synthetic and 'natural' flavouring has become. Trivias such as those about what goes into the likes of Dannon Strawberry yogurt (almost a staple to me at the time of writing the draft) are especially suprising. These sections also provide light moments to the reader, even if it is disturbing to know that the term 'natural flavours' does not really mean that.

Schlosser also examines the international proliferation of American fast food giants, notably KFC and McDonalds and the impact of their practices on local economies and cultures. The lure and influence of fast food and pop-culture is exemplified in the episodes recounting the establishment of McDonalds in different countries. One of the qoutes by Den Fujita, the billionare who brought Mcdonald's to Japan is quite memorable and encompasses in it adoration, blind or otherwise, and the aspirational value of fast food in developed and developing countries alike.

Coming back to the qoute at the beginning of this passage- Schlosser raises the evergreen question about the role played by indutry leaders in shaping the ethics of doing business. The clout of giants makes them easy influencers on shaping of accepted processes and human resource policies.

Whether the power weilded by companies like McDonalds will be put to enhancing only the company bottomline or also be used for betterment of industry workers at large is something that only time will tell, Schlosser concludes.

2006-09-29T16:36:00.000+05:30

Airplanes don't have windows...

Airplanes don't have windows that can be opened. This deep realisation came about on a late-nighter from Chennai toBangalore on Air Deccan. About 50 of us houseful on (ATR) propeller-driven aircraft were feeling like being inside a sky-sauna. It was a perfect picture except that we had not asked for it and we did not like it.

Escape from Chennai-heat was ephemeral as I relised when I dashed into the plane. For the uninitiated, there is free seating on Air Deccan. And I was beginning to pride myself at the unapparent agility I had displayed to get myself a seat-near-emergency-exit-with-more-leg-room; for the second time in two days. 'Outside is better' is rarely something a person from Bangalore says about Chennai weather. But even before people had begun to settle down in their seats of choice or of compromise as the case may be, I could hear several voices hollering the hapless stewardess. 'AC costs money, man!' I heard from a far corner.

Let's call her just 'S'. It was written all over her face that S had had a long day, and I don't mean just the multiple hops her plane had made since her day had begun. A hint of grit that she had done this before and could take one more of this was evident in the confidence with which she told us that the AC was not working efficiently 'today'; and that things may get better when we would be airborne. She had come by our seats to brief us about the special instructions we needed to know as the people guarding emergency exits. It was then that we had not-so-subtly hinted that we were uncomfortable in the heat.

One hour is all I need to get through with- I was telling myself when the reading lights went out! Anticipating panic, 'S' made a quick and rather brave announcement that the lights would come back when the 'jets were started' (I was too uncomfortable to corroborate the relevance of jet to a propeller plane). But my thoughts were drowned in the roar of the propeller, which told me I was closer to Bangalore by 1 more minute. I was already imagining that it would be cool in Bangalore at 11:15 PM when we would disembark from the hottest thing on earth or hovering over it.

I was also looking forward to the refreshments that I could buy onboard. 'Simplifly' air mag says that the on-board refreshments business is an alternative profit stream for AD . I am OK with the markups on water and juice they sell. But as luck would have it 'S' started from the far end. (Damn Murphy's laws!). She was also interrupted by a gentleman who had to visit the loo. 'S' had to backtrack the cart to let the gentleman through. She started again and then had to backtrack again after he returned. My deep interest in this charade was driven by the fact that I was growing thirstier by the minute; my discomfort validated by a white gentleman who had bravely kept his jacket on until now and who had decided on giving up. Obviously, a lot of people needed refreshments and it only made my wait more agonising. In the middle of all this, the evil side of mind pondered on whether this entire 'NO AC' situation was a conspiracy to sell refreshments. No, too long a shot, forget it!-I silenced the dark angel.

Again, what do they say about great expectations? I was to find out soon when S handed me a bottle of Chota Bisleri and a tetra pack of 'B Natural Guava juice'. 'Can I please have something cold?' I asked 'S'. She said she had a Pepsi can. It was a little cooler alright, but I did not want to dehydrate myself any further with a soda, so I chose to be natural. Practising to drink without breaks helps, you would have realised, had you seen the rapidity with which I gulped down the 330 ml of water, followed by another 200ml of guava. That certainly helped. Refreshments also seemed to have had a general good effect on the crowd and specifically shut up a specially grumpy gentleman who had started to work on his sandwich.

It was then I began to think about the whole lot of work AD has to do to salvage its reputation. They have a rather beaten up status on the timeliness dimension. A cover story on Business World this month was elaborated on the challenges AD faces as a low cost airline. Despite everything, they currently have a PI of 95% on-time 'within 15minutes' and 88% on-time 'within 1 hour' of planned ETD. My experience with ETD of AD would probably be commensurate with the former and I have no complaints.

But can you imagine a plane with no AC? It is just a sausage of vacuum-sealed metal in the sky boiling on the inside (And that's no exaggeration!). When someone later sarcastically repeated AD's new punch line 'Have you flown with Air Deccan recently? It's WOW!' (it is also written on the uniform of AD staff) I was thinking about the cheekiness of their other tagline 'No one can, like Air Deccan!' Notice the comma in that tagline? If they don't act soon, they may have to drop the comma!

2006-09-22T18:18:00.000+05:30

Gandhigiri and related aspirations:

Someone sent us this link and we were expected to be awed by the 'working phenomenon' that is Munnabhai. 'So soon?', I wondered. The movie is not even 3 weeks old and I have not even been revealing the plot to people afraid that I may not be able to do it justifiably.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep212006/national1813552006920.asp

(The following assumes you have read-up the page in the link.)

Gandhigiri is becoming fashionable now that the movie is still in the theaters. Let me correct myself there. Talking about Gandhigiri is becoming..blah…. There is a whale of difference which any anti-Gandhian too would see.

Khadi used to be fashionable too(still is? I can’t tell). Gandhigiri’s giving TRP to the news-starved TV broadcasters and to the gift-hamper-mongering radio stations in whatever little or big way it can; and no doubt well-deserved accolades to the director, producers and the unforgettable duo.

In any case, the Lawyer and Magistrate have only admired the unique way in which the inspiration from the movie was realized. Admiring any of us can do, because it will get us into conversations and get us audience for raving about the movie and the good-hearted-goons. I too have gotten excited ‘Oh did you see it? What did you think about it?’ responses on phone and outside it when I said I had just seen the LRMb movie (And before that ‘Oh really…you haven’t yet? Why not?’ ). But that’s where it stops.

Because the minute anyone is nice to someone who breaks the queue or jumps the line in traffic, spits outside your door (aah! this one's a classic from the movie), grabs a seat in the company bus, stamps your foot or leaves the used plate in the food-court table, she/he’s labeled a ‘Gandhi’. And that is not in the most admirable senses of the term. ‘Naïve’ will probably come close to what they mean. 'Jobless' will follow.

If you believe in the ‘Tipping Point’ theory by Malcolm Gladwell, it will do well to wait till the point is reached because then it will then become inevitable for us to join in.

By the way did I miss reading what the magistrate/Lawyer/police inspector plan to do to clean up their acts after being so pleasantly amazed at the ‘Munnabhai’ phenomenon, or did they not say anything about that? See what I mean? It's fashionanable to only talk about it.

Are there some places where Gandhigiri will not work? Like counter-terrorism for example?

As for me, I am not going to delve into thoughts of joining the bandwagon of Gandhigiri. Some things are best left to others, especially here; because if everyone becomes a Gandhi, life's small and big transactions will become easier for me to negotiate. But, if I started doing it myself... (No way! I need a two-minute nature break; even the thought of it is scary.)

OK I am back.I will wait for the Tipping Point to be reached. Hail Gladwell!

2006-06-13T11:47:00.000+05:30

'Life is silly. It is just that we make a great deal of it.'

This was something my manager recalled yesterday, reacting to
the death of a colleague of ours. A relative of his had remarked similarly when the latter lost his sister to sudden illness.

I did not know this colleague, but the silent reactions of several of her 'batchmates', some of them in my team, were palpable. The fact that she was only 23 is as unfortunate a dimension of loss as the circumstances under which she lost her life. With her team, she had been to Shivasamudram waterfalls about 90 KM from Bangalore celebrating a project party. We get this opportunity to celebrate on company's expense once a quarter and to avoid monotonous parties, sometimes some short trips are planned, which this time brought her to her water
grave. She lost herself to the, rather furious at this time of the year, rush of the water. The surprisal of how she lost everything to the water fury is but a scary thought. The body was found only few hours later with help from locals.

It brings back memories of my cousin brother who became, a few years back, just another casualty statistic on the Mumbai-Mangalore highway. He was a Sales clerk for TVSS and was
riding his mobike between stores when a speeding bus hit him from behind. The impact catapulted him into air and he landed on his head, crashing on to parapet of a bridge. He was taken to a hospital with a cracked skull and twelve hours later he was gone. That he had a helmet resting on the tank of his bike offered no solace.

My manager recalls how he sees warnings such as ' Twenty people have already lost their lives. Do not be the twenty-first. Do not get close to water' and how people conveniently ignore the
silenced voices. It is easy to forget that one can have a brush with fate when one least expects it. Several cliches about safety only surface when accidents happens to people. When the incident is forgotten, so are the vows of safety people would have taken in reaction to the accident.

I cannot swim, at least I am not trained, yet I pride myself to be an 'aquaphile' if you know what I mean. Have I been just lucky or was there something else I did that has protected me?
I like thrills so I went skydiving. I liked that and the offer so much I did it again. Sometimes, I find my mother's, and of late sister's, fear for escalator silly. Am I been silly in doing so?

From extreme to the mundane, dangers that we flirt with daily ought be consciously weighed. It is easy to take life for granted. At least as long as I am writing this and you are reading this, let us remember that we get to live only once.

2006-05-17T15:13:00.000+05:30

Da Vinci Code encrypted:

A supposedly great performance by Tom hangs and Audrey Tautou in which, as Ron Howard the director put it, the two are absolutely involved in the characters and could not have been better cast. A superb story (I am on the fence as far as whether it is true) which has survived controversies that it ran into for interpretations of the symbolism left behind by a master artist, and which introduced me to Dan Brown's writings. Alas, this is not to be seen by the Indian public sooner, because the government thinks it is too controversial a topic and some Indian Christians are already up with their guns and all.
The movie has been shown in Italy, around where a lot of the story is based. It would be just for people to think that their religious symbolisms and plausible evidences have been misinterpreted to show that a lot of Christian religious history, from the first AD has been all wrong. But has the Christian world, outside India, not taken it with an open mind? Is this what differenciates the 'modern us' from them, an open-mindedness about everything, especially culture and religion? Why does Indian Christian community have to feel threatened by the movie? If the damage had to be done, it already would have been, simply because the 'teaching' of the book has reached the people in the book that was released a couple of years ago. Since it is an English movie, which is at the least thought-provoking, one can be guess that people who go to a theatre to watch it will not take things on face value.
Evidence or the lack of it can hardly shake thousands of years of faith in people. The recent trends in Indian society might suggest that, say Hindu, youth are not religiously inclined in the sense that they are not knowledgeable of the rites and rituals of the Hindu ceremonies. But does that mean they stop believing in Lord Ganesha citing lack of proof, or stop believing in Lord Hanuman questioning evidence of his being?
Indian Christian community has been probably the most open-minded group of people in India in several ways. Looking at the intelligent and smart Indian Christian friends I have, I am of the opinion that their faith will not budge even an inch, by the revelations encrypted by Da Vinci years ago or propagated by Dan Brown and others recently. So, what is bothering the people who are protesting against it? The masses will not see the movie in all probability, and the educated man will not fall for it. Orthodox families may not even watch the movie even if labeling it as sacrilegious.
Then why the unnecessary publicity which will only give mileage to the promoters of the movie? And what is dearer will be in more demand. So, be ready to see pirated discs flood the market; another demon to be killed. In today's connected world, people will even pay and watch an movie online (download/streaming/whatever). So, how far will the protesters go to curtail the screening of this movie anyway?
On an equally significant dimension of this issue is that the choice of watching movies is being taken away from the people. This has been an issue from times immemorial. Movies that are usually R rated are reduced to the level of G by the time they are released in India. Why does a movie like 'Water' by Deepa Mehta not allowed to be shot and screened in India? Is it because it reflects the conservative perceptions of many who think this is not how India should be portrayed? Why should a set of middle aged if not old conservative people decide what the country should see? Given they ought to be on the panel for several good reasons, can the representation of liberals not be increased in the panel.Especially, when it comes to foreign movies avid movie watchers are at an utter disadvantage. Why are songs like 'Sarkhailo Khatiya, 'Kaantaa Lagaa', and many others recently, passed while scenes which depict contextually relevant nudity in foreign movies clipped. In my opinion such racy songs leave the same kind of impression a nude scene does. At least people cannot hum tunes of scenes that censor board clip.
In a democracy, there ought to be public debates before any decision that affects a good number of people directly is taken by the government . Let there be an equal number of conservative and liberal experts in an televised discussion and let them clear out their apprehensions in public. Let there be an 'ombudsman' who can preside over these discussions and make official observations. We may start becoming a mature developing society rather than being 'headmastered' by a censor board and conservative factions.

2006-05-15T13:40:00.000+05:30

The World is Flat by Thomas L Friedman

I just finished reading this book on globalisation (phase 3.0 as Friedman names what is happening now) that I picked up about two weeks ago, after its new and expanded paperback version was released. The book is striking, not because it has made any predictions or cracked theories but because it has described what has happened in recent history, in an unbiased,lucid and interesting way.

Notwithstanding the fact that I am a novice to the subject of macroeconomics and the forces that shape the business world, I found the book to be extremely informative, relevant and revealing of the concept of globalization and what happened to bring this around. Friedman has made this a narrative in first person and explained the whole idea through many stories and discussions with business leaders, interspersed with the insights and interpretations of a world class multiple-Pulitzer-prize winning journalist.

'While I was studying at college' and when Friedman says ' while he was sleeping' many levellers came up that made the ground for developing countries flatter in which to play. He then goes on the explain the way several countries, India and China primarily, have adopted new technologies and economic policies to make leaps in the global trade race.

Being in the IT industry myself, I am able to relate to a lot of what Friedman has said about how the industry has been able to work, what with the abundance of English speaking skilled youth and the obvious time zone advantage of India. In the process of reading this, I could draw parallel to the theory of Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. There had to be in place several of the right things before China and especially India could take advantage of this and attempt to tip the scales. Anyway, that is not anywhere the main point of the book, but my own little observation.

In an unbiased way, Friedman has also churned various aspects related to outsourcing (as I am able to appreciate now, it can only be called 'right-sourcing' in today's world), and explain how outsourcing can be beneficial to the Americans, despite their natural and understandable dissent.

Based on facts again, Friedman has also tried to make his case for how religious and ideological politics have worked to the disadvantage of several nations (like Pakistan, Arabian states and many sub-Saharan states) and why if they refuse to change, there can only be more disparity these societies will feel from the other economies and societies that have opened themselves up.

It is worth reading how Friedman has tried to depict the impact of right kind of parenting on the future course of globalisation especially for the Americans. It may give us Indians a wee bit to be proud of the way our culture and society pressures push us to pursue the best of educational options.And now suddenly it seems OK that , even if only in this context, we went through it and are going through it. Well, this can also be argued against, but that will not be here.

This is an unputdownnable book, and a must read for anyone interested in the recent history of the world.

2006-05-08T12:03:00.000+05:30

Red hot chilly:

Radio Mirchi (RM), a welcome entrant to Bangalore's music-starved skies was featured in TOI today. The article, tucked away in page 3 of the main paper, basically said that within 1 week of official launch, the radio station had a listnership of 33% compared to the locally bred Radio City (RC) at 21%. The results were gathered from a 240-sample cartrack survey which involved asking drivers of cars at traffic lights about the station they were listening to at the time. The survey was conducted by IMRB and sponsored by...Radio Mirchi! Isn't that 'sakkath haat magaa' ?!? So, much for the article.

Anyway, there can be several reasons for this rise is popularity. One, the station itself is new (locally) and there is definitely going to be a sampling stage, where people are try to check out the 'hot'ness (sic) claimed by the station. You cannot base your survey on the data collected in this period only. Secondly, the station also comes well timed in mid-summer when people are always looking for something new to cool them down; a hot channel included. But there are some things that set RM away from RC that we're are used to listening through awfully dragging urban driving and traffic jams.One, it has a very local touch. A lot of RJ-ing is in Kannada, a move welcomed by locals who have to crave to listen to Kannada on a Hinglish radio channel that has been RC. Also, Kannada was introduced on mostly because of some demands made in RCs infancy. The quality of 'sound' (a less significant factor) on RM was superior I found with the same settings on the equaliser of my car radio. The mix of songs is also pretty nice, but one misses English songs on RM.

But I guess that is where RM stops on the favor scale. RC is way mature when it comes to concepts built around RJs that have become more familiar to Bangaloreans than their own neighbours. Sunaina, Darius, Rohit J and Barker and others have adapted well to the local tastes. Not only has RC well tuned their program schedule to match the vagaries of a Bangalore day, it also has introduced programs to give fillip to the local talent, which can be found in abundance. Compare the night time program schedules- RC has an all-international rollout after 9 in the evening as against an-all-Hindi-oldies broadcast on RM. Personally, I am not into the latter after a long day and a dinner.

RM has immature RJs, as they seem to have, taken the term 'youth' literally by
inducting green RJs who talk like they are talking only to school and college kids and also people with low wit. RM's RJ script seems to be a bit immaturish - what with the 3-hour-long tele-call-in themes on 'ways to kill mosquitoes', 'ways to talk your way out when busted copying at an exam' etc. That their fetish on mosquitoes only invited stupid responses is a an ode to RMs imagination.(I did not switch on 93.3 that evening).Long way to go before people of Bangalore are convinced that RM is' all about 'More Dhak Dhak, Less Bak Bak' (their toungue-in-cheek claim).

RCs till my preferred channel though I'd rather not end up with two similar channels. It may take sometime before genre-specific channels come up. Right now they cannot be sustained (unless paid, like Worldspace), especially since the local demand is greater for regional (read Kannada and Hindi) and Indy-pop-bhangra-etc Bollywood-type music.

Nevertheless, the need for more FM channels and more competition among Bangalore's two main channels is 'sakkath haat' right now.