bringing up children today in today's world is definitely not child's play. when i think back to my childhood days (which is too far back for comfort) it seems as if i had a fairly easy time growing up and had a ball while at it! (some people might remark here that it definitely shows in the way i've grown up... and not in a generous sense :-) ).
let me list out a few things that starkly bring out the differences between our own childhood and that of our kids today -
1. i learnt to swim in a 'nalah' or an irrigation canal, where a friend taught me how to breathe and stay afloat. we used to have a whale of a time during our vacations where a group of enthusiasts used to travel on our bicycles to this nalah next to the empress garden in pune. i was in the 7th or 8th standard/grade then.
my son started his swimming classes right from his play school days. he agonises over it, refuses to let go of his floats and kick-board, knows all about various strokes, and takes a shower before and after he's done with the swimming session.
2. i used to walk to school and back with a gang of neighbourhood friends. i would look forward to school each day just for this walk. each day used to be a new adventure. and then when i reached secondary school (6th standard/grade) we used to drive our bicycles to school. which gave us a whole new sense of freedom!
kids go to school by the school bus and i doubt if most would ever ride their own bicycles to school.
3. i never attended any hobby/activity classes till my 9th standard/grade. i used to be part of the school choir and was also on stage every year for plays, dances, choir-singing, etc. once we got back from school our time was occupied with completing our home-work and playing scores of games with all the neighbourhood friends.
kids today attend all kinds of classes almost every day of the week. these include music (instrumental & vocal), dancing, chess, karate, swimming, art, etc.
4. during our summer vacations we used to travel to someplace within india or to our own native place (where my parents were born). we used to travel second class, bear the brain-sapping summer heat, and reach our destinations grimy and smelly. but the journey would always be memorable and fun! (i never travelled in an aircraft till i was 23.) and all the local travelling at these places was usually by whatever public transportation was available.
kids nowadays usually vacation abroad. travelling by flight is fairly de rigeur, even within india. public transportation is largely avoided.
5. toys and books were rare luxuries which we got for some special occasion like birthdays or doing well in an exam. (similarly, eating out was a rare treat!) we climbed trees, made up our own games, caught fish in bottles in nearby streams, made mud-castles, got wet in the rains, ...
most kids today have more toys than they can remember. eating out with friends and family is a very frequent phenomenon! they play games on their x-box, don't play in the mud or get wet in the rains, have never climbed trees, easily get bored in spite of all the games/toys they have, ....
don't get me wrong. i am in no way advocating that we deprive our children of all the good things they are getting exposed to.
but i somehow can't help feeling i had loads more fun when i was my son's age. do you feel the same? any answers why? and i feel, we ourselves are to blame... do you agree?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
mumbai local - II
i got the overwhelming go-ahead from innumerable people which prompts me to continue with this series. and if you think i am going to share more details of the numbers, you can think again :-)
--------------
many non-mumbaikars might wonder why any sane person in their right senses would want to inflict such torture on themselves and willingly contribute to the 'Super-Dense Crush Load' (SDCL) by commuting in local trains everyday?
no, its not mass-masochism! it just happens to be the most reliable way of commuting across the two linear stretches of mumbai city (known as the central & western lines). let me give you an example of what i mean.
just last week i had to attend the wedding reception of a friend, in a suburb called kandivali, which happens to be the next station to malad (which is where my office is located) on the western line. i left office at about 7 pm and all i had to do was cross over from malad west (all of mumbai is divided into west and east as bifurcated by the railway tracks) to kandivali east. the distance which is about 3-4 kms should have taken me all of 30-45 mins by road, given the rush-hour traffic. well, i walked into the reception at 9.15 pm! give me the SDCL any day!
coming back to the rule book of local train travelling in mumbai, here goes -
1. if you are a male traveller, never make the mistake of travelling by the ladies' compartment. you will most probably be told off by the ladies and some might even pull the alarm chain to stop the train and have you hauled off by the local constabulary, who would only be too glad to do the needful, if only to earn a few additional rupees from you!
2. if you are a lady traveller, never make the mistake of travelling by the gents' compartment. you would most propbably be told off by some of the men for doing something as rash as this. (it is not exactly a pleasant experience to experience the SDCL, even if all the men around you are paragons of virtue and are ignoring the fact that you are a woman in their midst!)
3. during rush hour (which happens to be almost any time of the day) when the train (especially the virar fast) pulls into the terminus at either end of the suburban line, wait at some distance from the door and allow the people scrambling in to such in and grab whichever vacant seat is available. you should also try getting hit by flying hands, elbows and office bags.
but at all other stations in between, you should allow the people to alight first before you allow yourself to be swept in by the crowd. (the trick is to position yourself such that you enter at an angle to the door; else if you position yourself bang opposite the door you will only get swept away by the alighting crowd leaving you with little chances of boarding the train).
4. at each station the train halts at, you should remember to get in or out only from the rear-half of the door (which is demarcated by a vertical bar for people to hold on to). the 2-3 men/women standing in the front-half will just not budge if you are trying to alight or get in.
5. if you have to alight at a station you have to start inching towards the door from the previsou station itself. you keep asking the person ahead of you if they would be alighting at the next station. if they are not, they will automatically make way for you till you reach the person who will be alighting at the next station.
6. if you are travelling in the second class compartment you can ask the 3 people seated on the seats to squeeze in and perch yourself on the edge of the seat. but if you are travelling first class, you don't do that. even if you do try, you will only get scowled at!
7. if you are carrying a bag, you can ask the persone next to the overhead luggage rack to help keep your bag on the rack. nobody ever refuses.
8. and if you have dozed off, somebody will shake you by your shoulder to wake you up once the train arrives at the terminus. and most people around you will nod and smile understandingly.
9. an altercation in a second class compartment could end up in blows while in a first class compartment it usually ends up in loud vocal fights. but 9 times out of 10 the situation is defused by the other travellers who will ask both parties to cool off.
10. it is acceptable to ask a fellow traveller for a sip of water (if he is carrying a bottle) or his newspaper if he has finished reading it. very rarely you will be refused.
11. and it is completely acceptable to sing aloud if you are travelling in one of those compartments which has a group of singers. these singers usually travel together by the same local every day. you get a choice of bhajans (devotional songs) or film songs.
so that was my own version of the survival guide for mumbai suburban train travel. if any of you have more tips to contribute please send in your comments.
(in some future posting i will also list out some of the major benefits of suburban/local train train travel in mumbai!)
--------------
many non-mumbaikars might wonder why any sane person in their right senses would want to inflict such torture on themselves and willingly contribute to the 'Super-Dense Crush Load' (SDCL) by commuting in local trains everyday?
no, its not mass-masochism! it just happens to be the most reliable way of commuting across the two linear stretches of mumbai city (known as the central & western lines). let me give you an example of what i mean.
just last week i had to attend the wedding reception of a friend, in a suburb called kandivali, which happens to be the next station to malad (which is where my office is located) on the western line. i left office at about 7 pm and all i had to do was cross over from malad west (all of mumbai is divided into west and east as bifurcated by the railway tracks) to kandivali east. the distance which is about 3-4 kms should have taken me all of 30-45 mins by road, given the rush-hour traffic. well, i walked into the reception at 9.15 pm! give me the SDCL any day!
coming back to the rule book of local train travelling in mumbai, here goes -
1. if you are a male traveller, never make the mistake of travelling by the ladies' compartment. you will most probably be told off by the ladies and some might even pull the alarm chain to stop the train and have you hauled off by the local constabulary, who would only be too glad to do the needful, if only to earn a few additional rupees from you!
2. if you are a lady traveller, never make the mistake of travelling by the gents' compartment. you would most propbably be told off by some of the men for doing something as rash as this. (it is not exactly a pleasant experience to experience the SDCL, even if all the men around you are paragons of virtue and are ignoring the fact that you are a woman in their midst!)
3. during rush hour (which happens to be almost any time of the day) when the train (especially the virar fast) pulls into the terminus at either end of the suburban line, wait at some distance from the door and allow the people scrambling in to such in and grab whichever vacant seat is available. you should also try getting hit by flying hands, elbows and office bags.
but at all other stations in between, you should allow the people to alight first before you allow yourself to be swept in by the crowd. (the trick is to position yourself such that you enter at an angle to the door; else if you position yourself bang opposite the door you will only get swept away by the alighting crowd leaving you with little chances of boarding the train).
4. at each station the train halts at, you should remember to get in or out only from the rear-half of the door (which is demarcated by a vertical bar for people to hold on to). the 2-3 men/women standing in the front-half will just not budge if you are trying to alight or get in.
5. if you have to alight at a station you have to start inching towards the door from the previsou station itself. you keep asking the person ahead of you if they would be alighting at the next station. if they are not, they will automatically make way for you till you reach the person who will be alighting at the next station.
6. if you are travelling in the second class compartment you can ask the 3 people seated on the seats to squeeze in and perch yourself on the edge of the seat. but if you are travelling first class, you don't do that. even if you do try, you will only get scowled at!
7. if you are carrying a bag, you can ask the persone next to the overhead luggage rack to help keep your bag on the rack. nobody ever refuses.
8. and if you have dozed off, somebody will shake you by your shoulder to wake you up once the train arrives at the terminus. and most people around you will nod and smile understandingly.
9. an altercation in a second class compartment could end up in blows while in a first class compartment it usually ends up in loud vocal fights. but 9 times out of 10 the situation is defused by the other travellers who will ask both parties to cool off.
10. it is acceptable to ask a fellow traveller for a sip of water (if he is carrying a bottle) or his newspaper if he has finished reading it. very rarely you will be refused.
11. and it is completely acceptable to sing aloud if you are travelling in one of those compartments which has a group of singers. these singers usually travel together by the same local every day. you get a choice of bhajans (devotional songs) or film songs.
so that was my own version of the survival guide for mumbai suburban train travel. if any of you have more tips to contribute please send in your comments.
(in some future posting i will also list out some of the major benefits of suburban/local train train travel in mumbai!)
Monday, February 12, 2007
mumbai local - I
would you like to live life on the wild side? rough it out for a while? try out some dare-devil stunts? you can experience all these and more and you don't even have to travel too far (well, at least not if you are a mumbaikar - a mumbai resident)!
no, i am not talking about bungee-jumping or hang-gliding or fighting the leopards from the sanjay gandhi national park bare-handed. all you need to do is travel by the 'mumbai suburban train' during peak hour!
you have led a secluded, deprived life if you have been to mumbai and have not travelled by the 'local' as the suburban train is called by the locals.
but first let's put things in perspective. to give you a sense of what i am talking about, let me share some statistics from some credible sources here.
"Along with its neighbouring suburbs, Mumbai forms the world's sixth most populous metropolitan area with a population of about 25 million. According to the BBC, Mumbai is certainly set to outstrip Tokyo as the most populated city by 2020."
(source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai)
"Bombay suburban services are run by CR and WR. Both run many hundreds of trains every day, and carry around 6 million passengers a day, roughly evenly divided between them. CR services connect the eastern suburbs to the city, whereas WR services connect the northern suburbs to the city. [4/02] CR runs around 1090 services daily, whereas WR runs around 980 services. Supply has not kept pace with the demand, however, as the number of passengers grew about 2.5 times as fast as the capacity of the system through the 1980s and 1990s."
(source - http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-metro.html)
"Due to its extensive reach across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and its intensive use by the local urban population, overcrowding has grown to be a compelling problem (4,700 passengers are packed into a 9-car rake during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of 1,700). This has resulted in what is known as Super-Dense Crush Load of 14 to 16 standing passengers per square metre of floor space.
(source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Suburban_Railway)"
you might think that commuting by these trains every day is a horrifying experience. but for the seasoned veterans (viz. the season pass-holders) the daily grind actually is an uplifting, spiritual experience of sorts!
and if you are a first-timer, and for a moment lets assume you actually managed to overcome the panic gripping you when you actually see the 'Super-Dense Crush Load' of people, and you actually manage to get into the train (maybe you actually changed your mind about getting in but then you got swept into the train by the rush) you will very quickly realise that there are some unwritten golden rules that everybody follows. and the sooner you learn them the better the chances of your surviving the trip! (and till then you stick out like a sore thumb even though you don't have enough leg-room to place both your feet squarely on the floor! not to mention that you, and not just your thumb, end up feeling sore all over after the trip!)
so here's my own short & sweet rule-book (or survival guide) on how to commute by the local and live to tell the tale!
but i'm running beyond my self-imposed 'post length' here. so i'm going to have to share these 'life secrets' with you in my next post.
p.s. other 'travel-war veterans' among the readers here are requested to send in your list of rules so that i can filch them and include them in my list :-)
no, i am not talking about bungee-jumping or hang-gliding or fighting the leopards from the sanjay gandhi national park bare-handed. all you need to do is travel by the 'mumbai suburban train' during peak hour!
you have led a secluded, deprived life if you have been to mumbai and have not travelled by the 'local' as the suburban train is called by the locals.
but first let's put things in perspective. to give you a sense of what i am talking about, let me share some statistics from some credible sources here.
"Along with its neighbouring suburbs, Mumbai forms the world's sixth most populous metropolitan area with a population of about 25 million. According to the BBC, Mumbai is certainly set to outstrip Tokyo as the most populated city by 2020."
(source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai)
"Bombay suburban services are run by CR and WR. Both run many hundreds of trains every day, and carry around 6 million passengers a day, roughly evenly divided between them. CR services connect the eastern suburbs to the city, whereas WR services connect the northern suburbs to the city. [4/02] CR runs around 1090 services daily, whereas WR runs around 980 services. Supply has not kept pace with the demand, however, as the number of passengers grew about 2.5 times as fast as the capacity of the system through the 1980s and 1990s."
(source - http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-metro.html)
"Due to its extensive reach across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and its intensive use by the local urban population, overcrowding has grown to be a compelling problem (4,700 passengers are packed into a 9-car rake during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of 1,700). This has resulted in what is known as Super-Dense Crush Load of 14 to 16 standing passengers per square metre of floor space.
(source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Suburban_Railway)"
you might think that commuting by these trains every day is a horrifying experience. but for the seasoned veterans (viz. the season pass-holders) the daily grind actually is an uplifting, spiritual experience of sorts!
and if you are a first-timer, and for a moment lets assume you actually managed to overcome the panic gripping you when you actually see the 'Super-Dense Crush Load' of people, and you actually manage to get into the train (maybe you actually changed your mind about getting in but then you got swept into the train by the rush) you will very quickly realise that there are some unwritten golden rules that everybody follows. and the sooner you learn them the better the chances of your surviving the trip! (and till then you stick out like a sore thumb even though you don't have enough leg-room to place both your feet squarely on the floor! not to mention that you, and not just your thumb, end up feeling sore all over after the trip!)
so here's my own short & sweet rule-book (or survival guide) on how to commute by the local and live to tell the tale!
but i'm running beyond my self-imposed 'post length' here. so i'm going to have to share these 'life secrets' with you in my next post.
p.s. other 'travel-war veterans' among the readers here are requested to send in your list of rules so that i can filch them and include them in my list :-)
Sunday, February 04, 2007
i'm an englishman in new york!
i'm an alien, i'm a legal alien
i'm an englishman in new york
these are the lyrics of a song by sting. these words came back to me recently during a discussion with a friend (who was not born in india but whose fore-fathers/mothers were indians about 2-3 generations back). she mentioned that even though she feels uncomfortable with the crowds and the noise and the pollution in india, she still feels home when she is in india. she feels safest when she is in india. she doesn't feel she is an alien.
another good friend recently visited pakistan and was also in islamabad on work. his older relatives, when they knew he was going to visit islamabad, had asked him to visit certain places that they could remember of when they were still living there. now my friend was born in india and had never been to pakistan before, but he mentioned that visiting this place of his fore-fathers was an emotional moment for him.
my wife and i get asked often, especially when our friends coming visiting from abroad, why we did not choose to emigrate to some other country. when we looked at this question and analysed what we truly felt about it (beyond all the obvious answers like 'india is today the true land of opporunity' and that 'we can afford a much better lifestyle here than in any other place in the world') we realised that the one single most important reason was that we did not want to live anywhere we would feel even remotely like an 'alien'.
now i can understand people like me (and i am sure there are many of you who feel similarly) feeling so strongly about this. i think it could be explained by the fact that i was born and have been raised on concepts like patriotism, pride for our country, etc. but what i cannot understand are the feelings that my friends were talking about!
1. do you think if i spent enough time in a foreign land i would be able to overcome the 'alienness' that i believe i will feel?
2. do you think that after a few generations the individuals born in another country will slowly lose their 'indianness'? would india only be a vague notion in their minds but a place they would rather avoid visiting or moving to?
i am sure many of you who read this posting are either first/second/nth generation indians living in other countries. i would like to know your 'take' on this. and i am sure the others would also like to know. so please send in your comments.
i'm an englishman in new york
these are the lyrics of a song by sting. these words came back to me recently during a discussion with a friend (who was not born in india but whose fore-fathers/mothers were indians about 2-3 generations back). she mentioned that even though she feels uncomfortable with the crowds and the noise and the pollution in india, she still feels home when she is in india. she feels safest when she is in india. she doesn't feel she is an alien.
another good friend recently visited pakistan and was also in islamabad on work. his older relatives, when they knew he was going to visit islamabad, had asked him to visit certain places that they could remember of when they were still living there. now my friend was born in india and had never been to pakistan before, but he mentioned that visiting this place of his fore-fathers was an emotional moment for him.
my wife and i get asked often, especially when our friends coming visiting from abroad, why we did not choose to emigrate to some other country. when we looked at this question and analysed what we truly felt about it (beyond all the obvious answers like 'india is today the true land of opporunity' and that 'we can afford a much better lifestyle here than in any other place in the world') we realised that the one single most important reason was that we did not want to live anywhere we would feel even remotely like an 'alien'.
now i can understand people like me (and i am sure there are many of you who feel similarly) feeling so strongly about this. i think it could be explained by the fact that i was born and have been raised on concepts like patriotism, pride for our country, etc. but what i cannot understand are the feelings that my friends were talking about!
1. do you think if i spent enough time in a foreign land i would be able to overcome the 'alienness' that i believe i will feel?
2. do you think that after a few generations the individuals born in another country will slowly lose their 'indianness'? would india only be a vague notion in their minds but a place they would rather avoid visiting or moving to?
i am sure many of you who read this posting are either first/second/nth generation indians living in other countries. i would like to know your 'take' on this. and i am sure the others would also like to know. so please send in your comments.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
comments unplugged - II (thanks to the gujjus!)
the posting on 'thanks to the gujjus!' generated some interesting comments, including a list which outdid mine! i am posting it here for the benefit of the others who might not have had the fortune to read it earlier. (which basically means they were too lazy or did not know that there is a mechanism here to put up your comments! :-) )
---------------------
nani said...
Holi - played all year round. their sense of direction & control over force is fantastic. do a survey & we will realise how amazingly low the 'strike rate' is despite the ubiquitousness of the streams of the blood red fluid spurting out of trains, from double-decker buses, from speeding scooters. how many times have our worst fears come true and even a drop of blushing-red juice diverged from the jet to leave a love-bite on your Arrow white? to date, i ve only had my right foot baptised once. not a bad performance at all. so what if a red carpet has never been spread for my entry, the red walls have been sprayed.
Design - those 'mera shirt bhi sexy' patterns. only those allow your eye to unmovingly concentrate only on the backless choli walking alongside & nothing else.
9:40 AM
bindu said...
Gujjus truly have put forth an example of spirit and tolerance
-they have faced worst of situations of flood, earthquake, disease outbrake and many more
-The pioneer Dhirubhai Ambani also not to be forgotten
6:18 PM
Reema said...
I would credit them with the gujjuization of other cuisines - the indian hybrid mexican food, chinese bhel!!!(has to be of gujju origin) idli chilli dry - the shiv sagar menu is full of such delights!!
Also i don't think Mc donalds would have come up with a fairly decent vegetarian spread if it weren't for this breed who are known to eat out so frequently. The literally brought the Big Mac to their knees when they first entered India.
10:50 AM
Anonymous said...
A few things I can enumerate:
The Gujju cult -
1. Anyone (guys, especially...) who is seen playing pool inside a dimly lit UV pool parlour, wearing an oakley's dark goggles, Orange coloured Old Navy sweat-shirt, Sea-blue faded Diesel denims & brown leather belt with a Bull-shaped-buckle, Nike trainers in orange and blue, 'Just FCUK it!' - branded cap in dark blue, a Tissot watch, chewing an original Wrigley's Double Mint is most probably a brand ambassador 'Gujju'
2. Seedhe palle ki saree is a traditional Gujju way of wearing it where the 'palla' is brought forward over the right shoulder (in usual cases, unless one is a lefty) and the 'pallav' / palla can be showcased in the best possible manner
3. Himesh Reshamiya: We all love to hate him but can we ignore him???
4. The MSU of Baroda: My alma mater. Had it not been for this famous institution, we would not have seen legends like Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, our present President APJ Abdul Kalam (who is an alumni of my department - Physics) and International models like Nethra Raghuraman (Dept. of Psychology)
5. Narendra Modi: He's been superb as far as promoting Gujarat and its welfare is concerned
6. The people of Surat: Got plagued, then woke up to make it the cleanest city
7. Dry but not high: For being the only state where you can't get high on alcohol...legally!
8. The-perpetually-irritating-yet-so-easy-to-understand-and-learn-language
9. The sexy & intelligent Nandita Das, the daughter of the famous Oriya painter and an intellectual Gujurati lady
10. Indian movies which thrive on Gujju family, lifestyle, culture and heritage: Kal ho na ho, Dollar Dreams, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, to name a few. Not to forget our daily soaps on TV
11. Calling even one's spouse as "Bhai" or "Ben"
12. Majority of kirana / departmental shop owners are Gujjus and 72% of Mumbai-ites are Gujjus
13. WHile they are notorious for their sweet food, one must try their kathiawadi cuisine - hot & sweet... it's different and I love it!
I would call this section: "Romancing the Gujju!". Truly they are the EVERYDAY PEOPLE!
Aradhana
11:10 PM
subir said...
intriguing comment "Gujjus truly have put forth an example of spirit and tolerance".
Spirit, yes. I am told that in spite of inhibition, McDowell sells more spirits (no beer please) in Gujarat than other states.
Tolerance!!!! can we have a break?
9:30 AM
---------------------
nani said...
Holi - played all year round. their sense of direction & control over force is fantastic. do a survey & we will realise how amazingly low the 'strike rate' is despite the ubiquitousness of the streams of the blood red fluid spurting out of trains, from double-decker buses, from speeding scooters. how many times have our worst fears come true and even a drop of blushing-red juice diverged from the jet to leave a love-bite on your Arrow white? to date, i ve only had my right foot baptised once. not a bad performance at all. so what if a red carpet has never been spread for my entry, the red walls have been sprayed.
Design - those 'mera shirt bhi sexy' patterns. only those allow your eye to unmovingly concentrate only on the backless choli walking alongside & nothing else.
9:40 AM
bindu said...
Gujjus truly have put forth an example of spirit and tolerance
-they have faced worst of situations of flood, earthquake, disease outbrake and many more
-The pioneer Dhirubhai Ambani also not to be forgotten
6:18 PM
Reema said...
I would credit them with the gujjuization of other cuisines - the indian hybrid mexican food, chinese bhel!!!(has to be of gujju origin) idli chilli dry - the shiv sagar menu is full of such delights!!
Also i don't think Mc donalds would have come up with a fairly decent vegetarian spread if it weren't for this breed who are known to eat out so frequently. The literally brought the Big Mac to their knees when they first entered India.
10:50 AM
Anonymous said...
A few things I can enumerate:
The Gujju cult -
1. Anyone (guys, especially...) who is seen playing pool inside a dimly lit UV pool parlour, wearing an oakley's dark goggles, Orange coloured Old Navy sweat-shirt, Sea-blue faded Diesel denims & brown leather belt with a Bull-shaped-buckle, Nike trainers in orange and blue, 'Just FCUK it!' - branded cap in dark blue, a Tissot watch, chewing an original Wrigley's Double Mint is most probably a brand ambassador 'Gujju'
2. Seedhe palle ki saree is a traditional Gujju way of wearing it where the 'palla' is brought forward over the right shoulder (in usual cases, unless one is a lefty) and the 'pallav' / palla can be showcased in the best possible manner
3. Himesh Reshamiya: We all love to hate him but can we ignore him???
4. The MSU of Baroda: My alma mater. Had it not been for this famous institution, we would not have seen legends like Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, our present President APJ Abdul Kalam (who is an alumni of my department - Physics) and International models like Nethra Raghuraman (Dept. of Psychology)
5. Narendra Modi: He's been superb as far as promoting Gujarat and its welfare is concerned
6. The people of Surat: Got plagued, then woke up to make it the cleanest city
7. Dry but not high: For being the only state where you can't get high on alcohol...legally!
8. The-perpetually-irritating-yet-so-easy-to-understand-and-learn-language
9. The sexy & intelligent Nandita Das, the daughter of the famous Oriya painter and an intellectual Gujurati lady
10. Indian movies which thrive on Gujju family, lifestyle, culture and heritage: Kal ho na ho, Dollar Dreams, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, to name a few. Not to forget our daily soaps on TV
11. Calling even one's spouse as "Bhai" or "Ben"
12. Majority of kirana / departmental shop owners are Gujjus and 72% of Mumbai-ites are Gujjus
13. WHile they are notorious for their sweet food, one must try their kathiawadi cuisine - hot & sweet... it's different and I love it!
I would call this section: "Romancing the Gujju!". Truly they are the EVERYDAY PEOPLE!
Aradhana
11:10 PM
subir said...
intriguing comment "Gujjus truly have put forth an example of spirit and tolerance".
Spirit, yes. I am told that in spite of inhibition, McDowell sells more spirits (no beer please) in Gujarat than other states.
Tolerance!!!! can we have a break?
9:30 AM
Friday, January 19, 2007
life without a maid!
one of the greatest luxuries we, those of us living in metros in india, have are the maids/ ayahs/ domestic help that we are able to hire to help with a wide range of domestic chores.
this army of people (the service providers) are a critical part of the daily lives of all nuclear dink/disk/dimk families. (no, i am not saying rude things about these families. these terms only stand for 'double income no kids', 'double income single kid' and 'double income multiple kids'!)
a good measure of how important these people are in our lives is the extent of trauma/ chaos they manage to inject in our usually-busy lives by their mere absence! life gets thrown completely out of gear the day they decide to play hooky. even our respective work-places don't get as badly affected by our absence. (maybe that tells us something about our respective value in the scheme of things!).
and on those days that we have to make do without the services of these people, we suddenly realise how dependent we have become on this luxury. i am also amazed at the energy levels of these people since they manage to do these chores in at least 3-4 homes each day. i get pooped after washing dishes after one meal!
btw, i am speaking so passionately about this topic because we are currently going through a lean phase without a maid. and i've just finished washing up after dinner!the mood at home these days, especially in the mornings, tends to be grim or 'on the edge'. (i firmly believe that communal prayer can work miracles. and i'm hoping you would pray that we quickly find a replacement maid! my prayers for personal salvation and global peace can wait until then.)
and this is the reason why i never ask my wife the question - 'who is more important to you - the maid or i?'. i am mortified that she will give me an honest reply!
this army of people (the service providers) are a critical part of the daily lives of all nuclear dink/disk/dimk families. (no, i am not saying rude things about these families. these terms only stand for 'double income no kids', 'double income single kid' and 'double income multiple kids'!)
a good measure of how important these people are in our lives is the extent of trauma/ chaos they manage to inject in our usually-busy lives by their mere absence! life gets thrown completely out of gear the day they decide to play hooky. even our respective work-places don't get as badly affected by our absence. (maybe that tells us something about our respective value in the scheme of things!).
and on those days that we have to make do without the services of these people, we suddenly realise how dependent we have become on this luxury. i am also amazed at the energy levels of these people since they manage to do these chores in at least 3-4 homes each day. i get pooped after washing dishes after one meal!
btw, i am speaking so passionately about this topic because we are currently going through a lean phase without a maid. and i've just finished washing up after dinner!the mood at home these days, especially in the mornings, tends to be grim or 'on the edge'. (i firmly believe that communal prayer can work miracles. and i'm hoping you would pray that we quickly find a replacement maid! my prayers for personal salvation and global peace can wait until then.)
and this is the reason why i never ask my wife the question - 'who is more important to you - the maid or i?'. i am mortified that she will give me an honest reply!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
remembering dates!
even though most of my most critical events/memories/priorities in life revolve around food, this posting is not about the edible kind of 'dates'! nor is it about the encounters/rendezvous with members of the opposite sex. (actually nowadays you never know; it could even be with members of the same sex!).
here i am referring to dates on the calendar which help us mark the passage of time and keep reminding us that time is 'a fleeting' (and that i am getting older)!
i am amazingly bad with dates. and i mean gloriously, amazingly bad! i have yet to come across someone who is as bad as i am!
my wife was convinced that i don't remember most dates because i didn't give these people/events enough importance. and before you get any ideas, its not because i have forgotten her birthday or our anniversary.
i think the problem runs much deeper than that. i think it is similar to the problem my wife has with directions (i will wax eloquent on this in another posting, but that's assuming i get dinner at home tonight ;-) ).
now coming back to my chronic problem, i am just not able to remember dates for specific events. people think i am a very insensitive person when i tell them that i don't remember the birth dates of my parents, my siblings, my closest friends, etc. given this state, they take pity on me (or are too disgusted with me) and don't expect me to remember sundry anniversaries. but i am sure they would look at me more kindly, when i inform them that there were at least 2 occasions, that i remember, when i forgot my own birthday!
this problem is accentuated by the fact that my wife can remember dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) for all her extended family members and her friends. and to top it all, she also remembers these dates for all my family members and some of my friends too!
after almost 10 years of marriage, my wife has slowly begun to believe that i am not faking this problem and has begun to accept this quirk as a in-built defect in me. we have now arrived at a kind of tenuous understanding. i depend on her for all these dates. she doesn't expect me to remember any. (i guess she feels glad that i at least remember our anniversary and birthdays of the immediate family members.)
life is much better now. i don't feel as guilty or horrid as before. i guess the trick is to not only accept these problems and surrender to someone you can trust, but also to convince people that you are not faking it or that you are not being just plain lazy!
but i sometimes wonder if there is anyone else out there who has a similar 'quirk'. do you? i don't mean 'do you wonder?', i mean 'do you have any similar quirk'?
here i am referring to dates on the calendar which help us mark the passage of time and keep reminding us that time is 'a fleeting' (and that i am getting older)!
i am amazingly bad with dates. and i mean gloriously, amazingly bad! i have yet to come across someone who is as bad as i am!
my wife was convinced that i don't remember most dates because i didn't give these people/events enough importance. and before you get any ideas, its not because i have forgotten her birthday or our anniversary.
i think the problem runs much deeper than that. i think it is similar to the problem my wife has with directions (i will wax eloquent on this in another posting, but that's assuming i get dinner at home tonight ;-) ).
now coming back to my chronic problem, i am just not able to remember dates for specific events. people think i am a very insensitive person when i tell them that i don't remember the birth dates of my parents, my siblings, my closest friends, etc. given this state, they take pity on me (or are too disgusted with me) and don't expect me to remember sundry anniversaries. but i am sure they would look at me more kindly, when i inform them that there were at least 2 occasions, that i remember, when i forgot my own birthday!
this problem is accentuated by the fact that my wife can remember dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) for all her extended family members and her friends. and to top it all, she also remembers these dates for all my family members and some of my friends too!
after almost 10 years of marriage, my wife has slowly begun to believe that i am not faking this problem and has begun to accept this quirk as a in-built defect in me. we have now arrived at a kind of tenuous understanding. i depend on her for all these dates. she doesn't expect me to remember any. (i guess she feels glad that i at least remember our anniversary and birthdays of the immediate family members.)
life is much better now. i don't feel as guilty or horrid as before. i guess the trick is to not only accept these problems and surrender to someone you can trust, but also to convince people that you are not faking it or that you are not being just plain lazy!
but i sometimes wonder if there is anyone else out there who has a similar 'quirk'. do you? i don't mean 'do you wonder?', i mean 'do you have any similar quirk'?
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
my most memorable childhood moment!
what's the most memorable/embarrassing/traumatic experience that you have experienced in your childhood? what makes you cringe/grin even today when you think about this experience?
one such experience, and a funny one at that, that i remember is the time when i decided to single-handedly dismantle my bicycle.
we used to drive our bicycles to school. these were nothing like the fancy bicycles that you see today. they were just plain, functional cycles; but for us they were our hot-rods! and then occasionally (not as often as our folks might have liked us to), we used to get down to some serious cleaning up of our bikes. this meant a couple of hours of washing and polishing and oiling over a weekend.
during one such cleaning session during the summer vacation, i decided to do a more thorough job than usual. i had recently acquired a second-hand set of tools including spanners, screw-drivers, etc. i decided to dismantle my bicycle. i followed a very simple guideline - i unscrewed every possible screw or bolt that i possibly could. i was amazed at the number of parts that go into making a simple bicycle.
after a couple of hours of satisfying labor i had an impressive pile of parts including ball-bearings, screws, nuts (not including the writer), pedals, wheels, spokes, chains, handle, seats, etc. i then meticulously cleaned each and every part which took up a good part of the day.
finally when it came to putting the cycle back i didn't know where to start!
that's when a wave of panic slowly starting engulfing me. try as i might, i couldn't, for the life of me, figure where all these hundreds of parts were supposed to fit. after a couple of hours of trying various permutations and combinations (i trace my dislike of probability theory to this event in my life) i finally accepted defeat.
i then put all the parts into a few large grocery bags, borrowed a friend's bike (of course i couldn't tell him why i needed his cycle) and pedalled away furiously to my favorite cycle-mechanic shop. i handed over the bags and with a rather sheepish face asked him to build me a bicycle. he thought i was pulling a fast one on him, but that impression changed very quickly when he incredulously perused the contents of the bags. he was very amused when i narrated what had happened.
but i was not at all amused when i realised that i had to shell out an amount which was significantly more than what i would have had to pay my mechanic for a 'special' cleaning of the bicycle. but i took comfort in the fact that i was among the only one among my friends who had touched the very heart of a bicycle!
------------------
do you have a similar childhood/teenage experience that you would like to share?
one such experience, and a funny one at that, that i remember is the time when i decided to single-handedly dismantle my bicycle.
we used to drive our bicycles to school. these were nothing like the fancy bicycles that you see today. they were just plain, functional cycles; but for us they were our hot-rods! and then occasionally (not as often as our folks might have liked us to), we used to get down to some serious cleaning up of our bikes. this meant a couple of hours of washing and polishing and oiling over a weekend.
during one such cleaning session during the summer vacation, i decided to do a more thorough job than usual. i had recently acquired a second-hand set of tools including spanners, screw-drivers, etc. i decided to dismantle my bicycle. i followed a very simple guideline - i unscrewed every possible screw or bolt that i possibly could. i was amazed at the number of parts that go into making a simple bicycle.
after a couple of hours of satisfying labor i had an impressive pile of parts including ball-bearings, screws, nuts (not including the writer), pedals, wheels, spokes, chains, handle, seats, etc. i then meticulously cleaned each and every part which took up a good part of the day.
finally when it came to putting the cycle back i didn't know where to start!
that's when a wave of panic slowly starting engulfing me. try as i might, i couldn't, for the life of me, figure where all these hundreds of parts were supposed to fit. after a couple of hours of trying various permutations and combinations (i trace my dislike of probability theory to this event in my life) i finally accepted defeat.
i then put all the parts into a few large grocery bags, borrowed a friend's bike (of course i couldn't tell him why i needed his cycle) and pedalled away furiously to my favorite cycle-mechanic shop. i handed over the bags and with a rather sheepish face asked him to build me a bicycle. he thought i was pulling a fast one on him, but that impression changed very quickly when he incredulously perused the contents of the bags. he was very amused when i narrated what had happened.
but i was not at all amused when i realised that i had to shell out an amount which was significantly more than what i would have had to pay my mechanic for a 'special' cleaning of the bicycle. but i took comfort in the fact that i was among the only one among my friends who had touched the very heart of a bicycle!
------------------
do you have a similar childhood/teenage experience that you would like to share?
Friday, January 05, 2007
thanks to the gujjus!
i'm going to try my best to not be my patently rude self and to try be as nice as possible in this post :-)
have you ever tried to imagine the world without the 'gujjus' in it? (a gujju is the shorter version of gujarati who is a person who hails from the state of gujarat in india) i tried, and i suffered something close to a panic attack! imagine a world without gujju food!
it is said that mallus (malayalees, people from the state of kerala) are spread all around the globe, but i think gujjus beat them hollow. there's a joke which says that if you land on the moon you would most probably find a mallu tea-shop. but what they don't tell you is that it is a gujju who rented out the space to the mallu, lent him the money to set up the shop and also sold him the tea bought from another mallu's tea estate!
here are my top 10 contributions by gujjus to society at large :
1. gandhiji (mahatma gandhi; or 'bapu' of gandhigiri fame, for those of you who might have forgotten!)
2. the ambanis
3. gujju food - undiyo, shrikhand, chhundo, dhokla, thepla, etc. (have you ever met a gujju on a journey without packed food? their food parcel is usually the biggest piece of luggage they would be carrying!)
4. dimple kapadia
5. the stock brokers in mumbai
6. creating a huge demand for vegetarian food in most parts of the country especially at most of the popular tourist places! (i would credit them for the the 'only veggie' pizza hut in mumbai too!)
7. dandiya nights
8. amul (the mallus might protest and say that it was kurien who was instrumental in the amul movement! but do you think he could have managed anything close to this in kerala?)
9. backless cholis.
10. freddie mercury of queen fame(his parents were parsis from gujarat)
do you have any additions to this list? i'm sure the others would like to know.
have you ever tried to imagine the world without the 'gujjus' in it? (a gujju is the shorter version of gujarati who is a person who hails from the state of gujarat in india) i tried, and i suffered something close to a panic attack! imagine a world without gujju food!
it is said that mallus (malayalees, people from the state of kerala) are spread all around the globe, but i think gujjus beat them hollow. there's a joke which says that if you land on the moon you would most probably find a mallu tea-shop. but what they don't tell you is that it is a gujju who rented out the space to the mallu, lent him the money to set up the shop and also sold him the tea bought from another mallu's tea estate!
here are my top 10 contributions by gujjus to society at large :
1. gandhiji (mahatma gandhi; or 'bapu' of gandhigiri fame, for those of you who might have forgotten!)
2. the ambanis
3. gujju food - undiyo, shrikhand, chhundo, dhokla, thepla, etc. (have you ever met a gujju on a journey without packed food? their food parcel is usually the biggest piece of luggage they would be carrying!)
4. dimple kapadia
5. the stock brokers in mumbai
6. creating a huge demand for vegetarian food in most parts of the country especially at most of the popular tourist places! (i would credit them for the the 'only veggie' pizza hut in mumbai too!)
7. dandiya nights
8. amul (the mallus might protest and say that it was kurien who was instrumental in the amul movement! but do you think he could have managed anything close to this in kerala?)
9. backless cholis.
10. freddie mercury of queen fame(his parents were parsis from gujarat)
do you have any additions to this list? i'm sure the others would like to know.
Friday, December 29, 2006
my affair with the television!
i am a confirmed tv addict. ask my wife (she's an authority on this. she's actually the highest authority on most things at home! and i'm not saying this just because she reads my blogs! :-))
we have not had a tv set in our house ever since we got married and moved into our own house (i.e. from sometime in 1997. and for my own sake, i hope i got the year right!). we both decided that if our marriage had to survive we would have to do without a tv set at home!
why do i call myself a tv addict then, you ask?
i used to be the kinds who could sit up and watch hbo till the wee hours of morning every single day and then manage to go college/office the next day, albeit much later than what you would call a 'decent' hour. even now when i sit facing a tv set i realise that i have not managed to kick the habit even after such a long hiatus. i have absolutely no sensory perceptions of the entire external world; my jaws slacken; i cease to perform whatever activity i am performing, no matter how critical or interesting and stare at the screen with awe. even if it is an ad for super-absorbent diapers playing for the umpteenth time!
and i also am guilty of, if you are a stickler for technicalities, what you might label as, 'cheating in marriage'. i catch up on all my tv viewing when i am travelling. i sometimes end up watching 3-4 movies back-to-back especially if the next day is a non-working day. and if the next day happens to be a working day, i severely restrict myself and watch only 2-3 movies. (but before any of you get any ideas of squealing on me, i have already confessed to my wife!)
till we had kids, people who visited us used to be amazed about the fact that we didn't have a tv set at home. some even thought it abnormal and wanted nothing to do with us, in case they caught the bug too!
and now that we have 2 kids there is this constant barrage of advise, that we are at the receiving end of, about our 'no tv' status. there are many people who also have kids who feel it is a very healthy idea since the kids are not glued to the 'box' throughout the day. and there are an equal number of vocal representatives from the opposite camp who believe that our kids are being deprived of some very valuable inputs during their formative years. (and i am sure they are not referring to the 'k' soaps, or the wrestling mania, or the raunchy music videos on most of the channels!)
so i've decided to put this up for inputs from the 'discerning, mature, balanced readers of my blog with a world-view' (i hope all those adjectives do the trick!) and see which way this debate swings.
so do send in your comments. the world is waiting to hear you! (well, at least i am.)
p.s. yes, i do miss tv the most during the world cup season (football & cricket) but that also gives me an opportunity to drop in and bond with friends in the neighbourhood; who are also grateful for my presence since it gives them an excuse to play the graceful host and not get told off by their wives!
we have not had a tv set in our house ever since we got married and moved into our own house (i.e. from sometime in 1997. and for my own sake, i hope i got the year right!). we both decided that if our marriage had to survive we would have to do without a tv set at home!
why do i call myself a tv addict then, you ask?
i used to be the kinds who could sit up and watch hbo till the wee hours of morning every single day and then manage to go college/office the next day, albeit much later than what you would call a 'decent' hour. even now when i sit facing a tv set i realise that i have not managed to kick the habit even after such a long hiatus. i have absolutely no sensory perceptions of the entire external world; my jaws slacken; i cease to perform whatever activity i am performing, no matter how critical or interesting and stare at the screen with awe. even if it is an ad for super-absorbent diapers playing for the umpteenth time!
and i also am guilty of, if you are a stickler for technicalities, what you might label as, 'cheating in marriage'. i catch up on all my tv viewing when i am travelling. i sometimes end up watching 3-4 movies back-to-back especially if the next day is a non-working day. and if the next day happens to be a working day, i severely restrict myself and watch only 2-3 movies. (but before any of you get any ideas of squealing on me, i have already confessed to my wife!)
till we had kids, people who visited us used to be amazed about the fact that we didn't have a tv set at home. some even thought it abnormal and wanted nothing to do with us, in case they caught the bug too!
and now that we have 2 kids there is this constant barrage of advise, that we are at the receiving end of, about our 'no tv' status. there are many people who also have kids who feel it is a very healthy idea since the kids are not glued to the 'box' throughout the day. and there are an equal number of vocal representatives from the opposite camp who believe that our kids are being deprived of some very valuable inputs during their formative years. (and i am sure they are not referring to the 'k' soaps, or the wrestling mania, or the raunchy music videos on most of the channels!)
so i've decided to put this up for inputs from the 'discerning, mature, balanced readers of my blog with a world-view' (i hope all those adjectives do the trick!) and see which way this debate swings.
so do send in your comments. the world is waiting to hear you! (well, at least i am.)
p.s. yes, i do miss tv the most during the world cup season (football & cricket) but that also gives me an opportunity to drop in and bond with friends in the neighbourhood; who are also grateful for my presence since it gives them an excuse to play the graceful host and not get told off by their wives!
Friday, December 22, 2006
delhi vs. mumbai - III (the final chapter)
in this posting i share my two-bits about people. and i also attempt to cover the topics suggested by some of you.
8. people - its finally the people that define a city. and this is where we see most of the stark differences between the mumbaikar and the dilliwala.
a. clothes - i've noticed that the average the average dilliwala (especially the ladies) are much better turned out than their mumbai counterpart. even if a tad louder than my taste, the delhi youngster is wearing trendier clothes (most often branded) and accessories.
in mumbai - you wouldn't be surprised to find youngsters wearing some casual jeans and t-shirts unless they are going out for a party or occasion.
b. attitude - the average dilliwalla on the road is a lot more aggressive than the mumbaikar. he is louder, brash and pushier.
but the mumbaikar is a survivor. and when push comes to shove, they stand by each other. (remember 26/7?) the mumbaikar is a lot 'cooler' and has a more easy-going take on life. but don't let that fool you. you will find the average mumbaikar fairly sharp, professional, and a no-nonsense person.
c. ostentatiousness - no guesses here :-)
the dilliwalla loves spending and showing it off. with flashing pink neon strips added on, just in case you missed the new 'big' car. 'big' is the operative term here. everything is usually bigger in delhi as compared to mumbai - bigger cars, houses, television sets, bigger appetites, and bigger egos!
d. connections - do you know any dilliwalla who is not connected to someone, somewhere (where it matters). its almost de rigeur to know someone if you want to get something done. and the 'something' is usually something 'not exactly legal or according to the book'!
e. fine arts - delhi has a much stronger theatre culture among the people than in mumbai. and you will also find more artists, writers, poets, etc.
but in mumbai you will find a lot more music appreciation than in delhi - be it classical (carnatic or hindustani), light (ghazals), rock/pop/jazz, western classical, etc.
and finally in mumbai you have bollywood. that you just can't beat!
that about sums up my very own biased version of the difference between the two great cities.
for me the verdict is very clear - give me mumbai any day!
what's your vote?
8. people - its finally the people that define a city. and this is where we see most of the stark differences between the mumbaikar and the dilliwala.
a. clothes - i've noticed that the average the average dilliwala (especially the ladies) are much better turned out than their mumbai counterpart. even if a tad louder than my taste, the delhi youngster is wearing trendier clothes (most often branded) and accessories.
in mumbai - you wouldn't be surprised to find youngsters wearing some casual jeans and t-shirts unless they are going out for a party or occasion.
b. attitude - the average dilliwalla on the road is a lot more aggressive than the mumbaikar. he is louder, brash and pushier.
but the mumbaikar is a survivor. and when push comes to shove, they stand by each other. (remember 26/7?) the mumbaikar is a lot 'cooler' and has a more easy-going take on life. but don't let that fool you. you will find the average mumbaikar fairly sharp, professional, and a no-nonsense person.
c. ostentatiousness - no guesses here :-)
the dilliwalla loves spending and showing it off. with flashing pink neon strips added on, just in case you missed the new 'big' car. 'big' is the operative term here. everything is usually bigger in delhi as compared to mumbai - bigger cars, houses, television sets, bigger appetites, and bigger egos!
d. connections - do you know any dilliwalla who is not connected to someone, somewhere (where it matters). its almost de rigeur to know someone if you want to get something done. and the 'something' is usually something 'not exactly legal or according to the book'!
e. fine arts - delhi has a much stronger theatre culture among the people than in mumbai. and you will also find more artists, writers, poets, etc.
but in mumbai you will find a lot more music appreciation than in delhi - be it classical (carnatic or hindustani), light (ghazals), rock/pop/jazz, western classical, etc.
and finally in mumbai you have bollywood. that you just can't beat!
that about sums up my very own biased version of the difference between the two great cities.
for me the verdict is very clear - give me mumbai any day!
what's your vote?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
delhi vs. mumbai - II
in my previous post i had started this series of comparisons between the national capital and the financial capital of india. i had identified some parameters including 'infrastructure', 'public transportation' and 'power'.
i had promised to cover 'work ethics', 'people', food', 'water', and 'academics'.
i got some mails/comments asking for some parameters to be included - real estate, girls, mms scandals, and the night life. well, i am not sure i would be able to do justice to these subjects but i will bravely attempt them.
4. work ethics - mumbai scores way over delhi on this parameter. mumbaikars are a far more professional bunch when it comes to work life. in fact you could call them professional to the extent of being 'cold'.
its a pleasure doing business with mumbaikars across all walks of professional life; be they people from a corporate, a public servant, a shop-keeper, a service-provider, an artist/entertainer, a laborer, a maid... almost whoever!
its quite a different story in delhi. and i'd rather not get into the details. most of the people i came across, especially in the government sector, ran some parallel business which obviously took priority over work. the most popular side-businesses omcluded travel agencies, car rentals and trading in tyres.
5. food - you can't beat the chaat that you get in delhi. and the sweets. the sheer variety and sinful taste are just unmatched. the options available in mumbai are but poor cousins. i love the hot 'gajar halwa', 'rabdi jalebi' and 'masala milk' you get during winter.
but for the carnivores, the choice of sea-food is far better in mumbai.
delhi also doesn't have the ubiquitous 'udupi' restaurant which you'll find on almost every street in mumbai. nor can you find a respectable 'vada pav' anywhere in delhi.
6. water - i don't know if you have noticed, but you just can't do without a bottle of mineral water in delhi. the regular 'potable tap water' is hard water in most places. and the mineral residue in the tap water creates havoc with the sanitary-ware in bathrooms and toilets.
and mumbai has the glorious sea. the beaches can be cleaner and less smelly. but then you can't beat the uolifting feeling when you are pass by marine drive, or worli sea-face or band-stand or any of those roads adjoining the sea-face and you can see the sea all the way to the horizon, in all it's glory.
7. academics - this is one area where i would humbly doff my hat off to delhi. students have far more and much better choices in terms of schools and colleges. and most schools in delhi have, what i consider very basic & essential, but sadly lacking in most mumbai schools, - playgrounds!
the quality of faculty and the academic rigor also happens to be far better in delhi than in mumbai. and i have noticed that students in delhi tend to be a lot more focused on education with most of them planning to do post-grad courses or research, etc.
but in mumbai, most students look at education as a chore to be completed so that they can get a job and start earning. i think more students in mumbai are working part-time jobs along with their education than their delhi counterparts.
------------------
i'll cover the last few parameters (including the most interesting one - people) in my next posting.
as always, please keep your comments and suggestions coming in.
i had promised to cover 'work ethics', 'people', food', 'water', and 'academics'.
i got some mails/comments asking for some parameters to be included - real estate, girls, mms scandals, and the night life. well, i am not sure i would be able to do justice to these subjects but i will bravely attempt them.
4. work ethics - mumbai scores way over delhi on this parameter. mumbaikars are a far more professional bunch when it comes to work life. in fact you could call them professional to the extent of being 'cold'.
its a pleasure doing business with mumbaikars across all walks of professional life; be they people from a corporate, a public servant, a shop-keeper, a service-provider, an artist/entertainer, a laborer, a maid... almost whoever!
its quite a different story in delhi. and i'd rather not get into the details. most of the people i came across, especially in the government sector, ran some parallel business which obviously took priority over work. the most popular side-businesses omcluded travel agencies, car rentals and trading in tyres.
5. food - you can't beat the chaat that you get in delhi. and the sweets. the sheer variety and sinful taste are just unmatched. the options available in mumbai are but poor cousins. i love the hot 'gajar halwa', 'rabdi jalebi' and 'masala milk' you get during winter.
but for the carnivores, the choice of sea-food is far better in mumbai.
delhi also doesn't have the ubiquitous 'udupi' restaurant which you'll find on almost every street in mumbai. nor can you find a respectable 'vada pav' anywhere in delhi.
6. water - i don't know if you have noticed, but you just can't do without a bottle of mineral water in delhi. the regular 'potable tap water' is hard water in most places. and the mineral residue in the tap water creates havoc with the sanitary-ware in bathrooms and toilets.
and mumbai has the glorious sea. the beaches can be cleaner and less smelly. but then you can't beat the uolifting feeling when you are pass by marine drive, or worli sea-face or band-stand or any of those roads adjoining the sea-face and you can see the sea all the way to the horizon, in all it's glory.
7. academics - this is one area where i would humbly doff my hat off to delhi. students have far more and much better choices in terms of schools and colleges. and most schools in delhi have, what i consider very basic & essential, but sadly lacking in most mumbai schools, - playgrounds!
the quality of faculty and the academic rigor also happens to be far better in delhi than in mumbai. and i have noticed that students in delhi tend to be a lot more focused on education with most of them planning to do post-grad courses or research, etc.
but in mumbai, most students look at education as a chore to be completed so that they can get a job and start earning. i think more students in mumbai are working part-time jobs along with their education than their delhi counterparts.
------------------
i'll cover the last few parameters (including the most interesting one - people) in my next posting.
as always, please keep your comments and suggestions coming in.
Monday, December 18, 2006
good bye to SM
sunil mehta, vice president -nasscom, died of a heart attack on saturday (16th dec 2006) while on his way to work. this posting is my way of saying farewell to him.
sunil (SM as he was popularly known) was my first boss. i had joined infac (the company that he founded along with sv) as a complete raw green-horn in 1990. i had no clue of professional life and to make things worse, i had no clue of what i wanted to do in life. and infac was just taking off and things were very exciting and the pace was frentic.
it was a feast and a great learning experience to watch sm go about building the place from scratch. he was tough and stern when required. but he always made me feel useful. he inspired the whole team with his quite, efficient and professional approach to work.
he also made it a point to give personal attention to individuals, even if it meant discussing things which had nothing to do with the job. i distinctly remember sm having a chat with me one evening about my progress in preparing for the mba entrance exams. he patiently discussed the various alrenatives i could look at and made me feel a lot more confident about myself after the session.
and to a large extent, i owe my decision of becoming an entrepreneur to my stint at infac and to sm in particular. i wouldn't hesitate to say that, in this aspect, he was my role-model.
thanks sm, for coming into my life; for inspiring me to get to where i am and for being a wonderful human being!
sunil (SM as he was popularly known) was my first boss. i had joined infac (the company that he founded along with sv) as a complete raw green-horn in 1990. i had no clue of professional life and to make things worse, i had no clue of what i wanted to do in life. and infac was just taking off and things were very exciting and the pace was frentic.
it was a feast and a great learning experience to watch sm go about building the place from scratch. he was tough and stern when required. but he always made me feel useful. he inspired the whole team with his quite, efficient and professional approach to work.
he also made it a point to give personal attention to individuals, even if it meant discussing things which had nothing to do with the job. i distinctly remember sm having a chat with me one evening about my progress in preparing for the mba entrance exams. he patiently discussed the various alrenatives i could look at and made me feel a lot more confident about myself after the session.
and to a large extent, i owe my decision of becoming an entrepreneur to my stint at infac and to sm in particular. i wouldn't hesitate to say that, in this aspect, he was my role-model.
thanks sm, for coming into my life; for inspiring me to get to where i am and for being a wonderful human being!
Monday, December 11, 2006
delhi vs. mumbai - I
this one's going to rub some people the wrong way! (all views expressed here are the personal opinions of the writer and may or may not necessarily be a true reflection of reality! but here goes, nonetheless.)
the comparison between delhi and mumbai is one of the oldest debates known to mankind and will continue till doomsday with neither side willing to budge an inch. i'm not surprised there are numerous blogs on this topic.
what i'd like to do is compare the two cities on certain parameters based on my personal experience.
1. infrastructure - delhi beats mumbai hands-down here. and that's a bug-bear which most mumbaikars hold against delhi. there's always a lot of animated debate in the media about the revenue contribution by mumbai to the centre as compared to delhi and the proportion of funds that gets allotted back to the city.
2. public transportation - the metro is something mumbai is aspiring for. but apart from that, public transportation is far better in mumbai. 'best' buses and the 'local trains' are more reliable and safer. (ask any lady in delhi if she would travel alone in a bus or train in delhi after 8 pm.)
even the taxis and autos in mumbai score much better. they are, by and large, reliable, relatively more honest and its unlikely that they would take you for a ride, literally and figuratively.
3. power - the situation in mumbai is threatening to get worse. but the situation in delhi is much worse with no signs of any significant improvement in the near future. one expects the capital of the country to have adequate power. the state government just doesn't seem to manage to fix the 'power pilferage' problem.
in my next post i will cover 'work ethics', 'people', food', 'water', and 'academics'.
do let me know if there are any other parameters that you would include!
the comparison between delhi and mumbai is one of the oldest debates known to mankind and will continue till doomsday with neither side willing to budge an inch. i'm not surprised there are numerous blogs on this topic.
what i'd like to do is compare the two cities on certain parameters based on my personal experience.
1. infrastructure - delhi beats mumbai hands-down here. and that's a bug-bear which most mumbaikars hold against delhi. there's always a lot of animated debate in the media about the revenue contribution by mumbai to the centre as compared to delhi and the proportion of funds that gets allotted back to the city.
2. public transportation - the metro is something mumbai is aspiring for. but apart from that, public transportation is far better in mumbai. 'best' buses and the 'local trains' are more reliable and safer. (ask any lady in delhi if she would travel alone in a bus or train in delhi after 8 pm.)
even the taxis and autos in mumbai score much better. they are, by and large, reliable, relatively more honest and its unlikely that they would take you for a ride, literally and figuratively.
3. power - the situation in mumbai is threatening to get worse. but the situation in delhi is much worse with no signs of any significant improvement in the near future. one expects the capital of the country to have adequate power. the state government just doesn't seem to manage to fix the 'power pilferage' problem.
in my next post i will cover 'work ethics', 'people', food', 'water', and 'academics'.
do let me know if there are any other parameters that you would include!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
being vegetarian in india!
being a vegetarian in india is a piece of cake (the eggless variety, of course)! i didn't realise how easy it is to be vegetarian in india as compared to other parts of the world till i started travelling.
here in india, whichever part of the country you are in, you will find enough choice available to you for vegetarian fare. even if you don't find a 'pure veg' restaurant you will find enough options on the menu even in a non-vegetarian restaurant. (for those of you readers who are not from india or have never been here, these are how the regular restaurants are classified!).
in india, we also have regulations which require all packaged foods companies to clearly color code their product with 'green' and 'brown' dots on the packaging to differentiate veg and non-veg foods. in many restaurants you will find separate kitchens or separate vessels, cutlery, etc being used in deference to the sensibilities of the vegetarians. (the vegetarians in india, i have come to realise, are very well taken care of!)
but the moment you set foot outside the country and you realise how different the world out there is as far as this distinction in culinary choice is concerned.
in most parts of asia vegetarian dishes include fish or egg. some places even do not think anything wrong in topping your vegetable fried rice with fried shrimps, shredded pork or a fried egg.
you can't even walk into a mac-donald's and hope to grab a quite bite like you would do back here in india. you will not find a single veg item on the menu there, except for the sodas and the ice-cream. while in india almost half the options on the menu are vegetarian. (i think it was a smart move on the part of mac-donald's to cater to local tastes!)
most of the people i meet and interact with in places outside india wonder how i survive as a vegetarian because they cannot think of managing it in their own countries. thats when it struck me that in india we have so many different choices and cuisines and there are so many different ways in which the veg dishes are cooked with all the myriad ingredients. a vegetarian doesn't ever find it challenging or boring to be one in india!
and i don't know if it is completely true, but i believe that even the non-vegetarians in india do have 'pure veg' meals more often than they have non-veg meals. and in indian we also have many occasions and festivals where non-veg food is avoided.
i believe that 'vegetarianism' which has ingrained itself as a value in our collective psyche (even if we don't adhere to it) has strong cultural and traditional roots. its as deep and strong as our value for the divinity in ourselves and others around us - don't we all touch the other person with our fingertips and touch our foreheads when we accidentally kick or brush our feet against them? i think our sensitivity or appreciation of vegetarianism is also as deep-rooted!
p.s. i think india must be the only place in the world where pizza hut has a 100% veg outlet. (the one at marine drive towards chowpatty. i am not sure if there are any more of them.)
do you have any interesting stories about food that you would like to share here?
here in india, whichever part of the country you are in, you will find enough choice available to you for vegetarian fare. even if you don't find a 'pure veg' restaurant you will find enough options on the menu even in a non-vegetarian restaurant. (for those of you readers who are not from india or have never been here, these are how the regular restaurants are classified!).
in india, we also have regulations which require all packaged foods companies to clearly color code their product with 'green' and 'brown' dots on the packaging to differentiate veg and non-veg foods. in many restaurants you will find separate kitchens or separate vessels, cutlery, etc being used in deference to the sensibilities of the vegetarians. (the vegetarians in india, i have come to realise, are very well taken care of!)
but the moment you set foot outside the country and you realise how different the world out there is as far as this distinction in culinary choice is concerned.
in most parts of asia vegetarian dishes include fish or egg. some places even do not think anything wrong in topping your vegetable fried rice with fried shrimps, shredded pork or a fried egg.
you can't even walk into a mac-donald's and hope to grab a quite bite like you would do back here in india. you will not find a single veg item on the menu there, except for the sodas and the ice-cream. while in india almost half the options on the menu are vegetarian. (i think it was a smart move on the part of mac-donald's to cater to local tastes!)
most of the people i meet and interact with in places outside india wonder how i survive as a vegetarian because they cannot think of managing it in their own countries. thats when it struck me that in india we have so many different choices and cuisines and there are so many different ways in which the veg dishes are cooked with all the myriad ingredients. a vegetarian doesn't ever find it challenging or boring to be one in india!
and i don't know if it is completely true, but i believe that even the non-vegetarians in india do have 'pure veg' meals more often than they have non-veg meals. and in indian we also have many occasions and festivals where non-veg food is avoided.
i believe that 'vegetarianism' which has ingrained itself as a value in our collective psyche (even if we don't adhere to it) has strong cultural and traditional roots. its as deep and strong as our value for the divinity in ourselves and others around us - don't we all touch the other person with our fingertips and touch our foreheads when we accidentally kick or brush our feet against them? i think our sensitivity or appreciation of vegetarianism is also as deep-rooted!
p.s. i think india must be the only place in the world where pizza hut has a 100% veg outlet. (the one at marine drive towards chowpatty. i am not sure if there are any more of them.)
do you have any interesting stories about food that you would like to share here?
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
elevator pitch!
it's very interesting to observe how people interact with elevators/lifts in their daily lifes. it ranges from the bizarre to the inexplicable and even outright hilarious! i believe these actions clearly reflect our personality, as well as our attitude towards life in general!
the sceptic - this person will walk up to the elevator and press the 'call' button, irrespective of the fact that there are about 5-6 people waiting before him and that the button is already lit up indicating that someone has already done the needful! i guess he assumes that all the the others assembled there love to stand around all day and watch the elevator doors opening and closing.
the hyper-active - this person will not stop at pressing the button like the sceptic. he will continue to keep jabbing at the button every 30 seconds or so. i'm sure the people around feel safe that he prefers to jab at the button, to keep himself occupied, than jabbing at them!
the aggressive - this person takes the cake! he will lean on the button continuously. i suspect he believes there is some correlation between the amount of pressure exerted on the button and the speed with which the lift moves!
the zombies - these are the ones (i'm one of these) who, after summoning the lift, keep staring at the floor indicator with such intensity as if some great truth is going to flash on the screen!
the hummer - this person is a chronic type who will keep humming some inane, obscure tune in a patently off-key fashion and somehow believes that the others cannot hear him. i am sure they do the same whenever they get into any closed cubicle space, whether its at their work-place or in the bathroom.
the starer - you've seen this one. and many of us also do this every time we get into a lift. we stare directly ahead at the door as if nobody else exists around us. we keep staring, with sudden interest, at all the minute details and intricacies of the door. and if there is any 'politically incorrect' graffiti on the door, we stare right through it as if it doesn't exist at all.
so which one are you? or are you a type which i have not listed above? do tell :-)
Monday, December 04, 2006
comments unplugged!
the posting on 'my fascination for plastic' generated some 'interesting' and insightful comments from friends and strangers. i wanted to share those with you so that i don't feel guilty of depriving you of some wholesome entertainment and a good laugh! but what strikes you and stays with you at the end of the day after reading these comments is the 'truth' that they convey. (thanks guys, for these comments. please do keep posting them in the future too!)
--------------------------
Booyakasha said...
Remember the timeless line from "The Graduate"-the future is plastic!!
---------------------------
Zhen said...
When we travelled to Holland, I insisted that we have a bucket (they call it a pail) and a mug (pitcher) in the bathroom. I simply don't get the satisfaction of a bath in a shower!!!
I also believe that we Indians who have higher comfort levels in the 'Indian toilets' should insist in big companies to have separate INDIAN toilets rather than suffer the discomfort of climbing up on the toilet seat and balancing critically on shoes!
Also, I have stopped being ashamed of dunking bread/biscuits (they call it cookies) in tea because that is how I like it.
Everytime, I have a 'hi-fi' dinner abroad (or with some Indians who consider themselves always 'abroad' even if all they have ever had is a trip to Nepal), I moisten a napkin and clean my hands with that; I just don't seem to get a clean sensation unless I wash my hands with water.
I have more, but let us do it at another venue...!
--------------------
nani said...
i hate plastic smiles though.
--------------------
Anupam said...
Oh, I think of innovative ways for the mug in the toilet. I found one perfectly-sized plastic water jug in my hotel this time, which served the purpose very very well (I am not talking about bathing).
Usually, I simply manage with mineral water bottles!
And when it comes to the long haul flights, when you have fewer resources to deploy - especially when the flight attendant informs you that all they have are 150ml mineral water bottles, and nothing bigger - you got to be a lot more creative in those aircraft toilets! Unless you have done prior preparation, those paper cups above the sink will have to suffice ! It takes a lot more time to do the chore, but it does serve the purpose finally.
And regarding the plastic bags, and the hierarchy in their usage and also in the choice one exercise when giving them out, I could not agree with you more Guru !!! It's ditto with me - all of it !
Sometimes, when I am changing apartments, and I am forced to throw away stuff, it pains me to throw away those beautiful bags from LifeStyle, Shoppers Stop, etc. which I have been saving for some big occasion that never came !!
-----------------------
--------------------------
Booyakasha said...
Remember the timeless line from "The Graduate"-the future is plastic!!
---------------------------
Zhen said...
When we travelled to Holland, I insisted that we have a bucket (they call it a pail) and a mug (pitcher) in the bathroom. I simply don't get the satisfaction of a bath in a shower!!!
I also believe that we Indians who have higher comfort levels in the 'Indian toilets' should insist in big companies to have separate INDIAN toilets rather than suffer the discomfort of climbing up on the toilet seat and balancing critically on shoes!
Also, I have stopped being ashamed of dunking bread/biscuits (they call it cookies) in tea because that is how I like it.
Everytime, I have a 'hi-fi' dinner abroad (or with some Indians who consider themselves always 'abroad' even if all they have ever had is a trip to Nepal), I moisten a napkin and clean my hands with that; I just don't seem to get a clean sensation unless I wash my hands with water.
I have more, but let us do it at another venue...!
--------------------
nani said...
i hate plastic smiles though.
--------------------
Anupam said...
Oh, I think of innovative ways for the mug in the toilet. I found one perfectly-sized plastic water jug in my hotel this time, which served the purpose very very well (I am not talking about bathing).
Usually, I simply manage with mineral water bottles!
And when it comes to the long haul flights, when you have fewer resources to deploy - especially when the flight attendant informs you that all they have are 150ml mineral water bottles, and nothing bigger - you got to be a lot more creative in those aircraft toilets! Unless you have done prior preparation, those paper cups above the sink will have to suffice ! It takes a lot more time to do the chore, but it does serve the purpose finally.
And regarding the plastic bags, and the hierarchy in their usage and also in the choice one exercise when giving them out, I could not agree with you more Guru !!! It's ditto with me - all of it !
Sometimes, when I am changing apartments, and I am forced to throw away stuff, it pains me to throw away those beautiful bags from LifeStyle, Shoppers Stop, etc. which I have been saving for some big occasion that never came !!
-----------------------
Saturday, November 25, 2006
are you a man or woman?
this was a very fascinating question i heard ages ago. but before you start getting strange ideas about me, let me clarify.
this question was popped at me during a spritual/philosophy discourse i was listening to.
the question went something like this - when you are in deep sleep, are you a man or a woman? are you hindu or muslim? are you fat or thin? fair or dark? young or old?
and if your answer is 'yes', then it only means you were not in deep sleep :-)
and if your answer was 'no' to all of the above, then what or who are you?
any answers, anyone?
this question was popped at me during a spritual/philosophy discourse i was listening to.
the question went something like this - when you are in deep sleep, are you a man or a woman? are you hindu or muslim? are you fat or thin? fair or dark? young or old?
and if your answer is 'yes', then it only means you were not in deep sleep :-)
and if your answer was 'no' to all of the above, then what or who are you?
any answers, anyone?
Friday, November 24, 2006
my fascination for plastic!
i think we must be the only country in the world where majority of the population are so fascinated with plastic. and i don't mean 'plastic money'!
look around you, and you won't need to go beyond your own house, and you'll know what i mean.
i don't know about you, but i still collect plastic bags. i just can't bring myself to throw away the plastic bags which you get when you buy almost everything ranging from clothes to food to jewellery and more. i firmly believe that some of these bags, especially the ones from high end stores, have been designed for you to collect and reuse. and being seen carrying these bags is almost like being seen wearing some designer clothes! ok, maybe thats carrying it a bit far, but i'm sure you will agree that we do have some kind of class hierarchy associated with the bags we collect. we would not want to use certain bags for some chores which we believe are far below the status of those bags. we would also not want to give away certain bags when we want to give some stuff to your friends/neighbours/relatives to help them carry it; unless you wanted to impress them in the first place, of course!
and i am also the kind who still feels that there is something very basic missing when i use the bathrooms when travelling overseas. i miss the ubiquitous plastic bucket and mug in the bathrooms. and in these places you don't get them even if you wanted to buy one. trust me, i've tried! unless you were living in an indian neighbourhood! and i realise that it is again a very indian phenomenon. (could those of you living in other parts of the world like the us and uk tell me how you manage life without these critical appliances in your bathrooms?)
and to be brutally honest, i have, on more than one occassion, been tempted to buy some of the plastic plants and flowers and trees that you find in our part of the world. its the picture i get in my mind, when i think of my wife's reaction when i walk home with one of these fascinating creations, that reins in my enthusiasm. but i am convinced that there are millions of people out there, my brothers and sisters with like tastes, since there are tons of such plastic macrocosms being picked up from the shelves across the country.
so there, i feel much better now that i've got that off my chest! you should also try this sometime!
do you have your 'plastic' stories you'd like to share?
look around you, and you won't need to go beyond your own house, and you'll know what i mean.
i don't know about you, but i still collect plastic bags. i just can't bring myself to throw away the plastic bags which you get when you buy almost everything ranging from clothes to food to jewellery and more. i firmly believe that some of these bags, especially the ones from high end stores, have been designed for you to collect and reuse. and being seen carrying these bags is almost like being seen wearing some designer clothes! ok, maybe thats carrying it a bit far, but i'm sure you will agree that we do have some kind of class hierarchy associated with the bags we collect. we would not want to use certain bags for some chores which we believe are far below the status of those bags. we would also not want to give away certain bags when we want to give some stuff to your friends/neighbours/relatives to help them carry it; unless you wanted to impress them in the first place, of course!
and i am also the kind who still feels that there is something very basic missing when i use the bathrooms when travelling overseas. i miss the ubiquitous plastic bucket and mug in the bathrooms. and in these places you don't get them even if you wanted to buy one. trust me, i've tried! unless you were living in an indian neighbourhood! and i realise that it is again a very indian phenomenon. (could those of you living in other parts of the world like the us and uk tell me how you manage life without these critical appliances in your bathrooms?)
and to be brutally honest, i have, on more than one occassion, been tempted to buy some of the plastic plants and flowers and trees that you find in our part of the world. its the picture i get in my mind, when i think of my wife's reaction when i walk home with one of these fascinating creations, that reins in my enthusiasm. but i am convinced that there are millions of people out there, my brothers and sisters with like tastes, since there are tons of such plastic macrocosms being picked up from the shelves across the country.
so there, i feel much better now that i've got that off my chest! you should also try this sometime!
do you have your 'plastic' stories you'd like to share?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
here's one way of ending corruption!
i was introduced to anil bokil in an article written by sandesh kirkire (ceo of kotak mutual fund) called 'abolish all taxes and kick out corruption'. this was a revolutionary idea proposed by anil bokil and i was intrigued enough to get more details from his website - http://www.indiathesuperpower.net/
some of the startling facts mentioned in sandesh's article include :
- the fact that less than 3% of india's population pay taxes.
- the fact that mumbai's population is 1.2 crore but has only 17000 taxpayers with income above Rs.10 lakhs.
in this context the article mentions the proposal suggested by anil bokil which seems deceptively simple and is definitely 'out of the box'. what it does achieve is getting you to think and wonder if there is a catch in it somewhere.
the key highlights of the proposal are :
- abolish all taxes in the country except import and customs duties.
- remove all currency notes above Rs.50 denomination from the system by asking all holders of this currency to deposit it in the bank.
- make it mandatory for all transactions above Rs.2000 to be done through the banking channel, i.e. through cheques, or credit/debit cards.
- introduce a flat transaction tax of, say, 2% on every transaction in the banking system in the recipient's hand.
- such tax amounts recovered to be transferred daily to the central government, state government, municipalities in a pre-determined proportion at a fee.
- cash transactions of a lower value not to attract any transaction tax.
some of the implications of this proposal are :
- reduction in actual tax paid by tax-payers; but increased tax collection by the government
- tremendous pressure on the parallel economy which thrives on the large denomination currency notes (ever wondered why you do not see the Rs.1000 denomination notes?)
- huge growth of the banking industry - higher deposits; rise in banking transactions; easier accessibility to funds for lower credit borrowers; cheaper sources of finance for the rural economy.
- fall in inflation since taxes/duties make up a huge component of prices of all goods/services
- resultant growth in demand for manufacturing sector
- complete removal of the entire bureaucracy managing the tax processes; also huge savings of time spent on tax management by corporates and tax payers
though this proposal sounds fantastic there are many questions and issues it raises :
- the parallel economy would move onto other foreign currencies like dollars
- the banking system would need to be geared to handle this enhanced role; it would also need to be able to reach out to a much wider audience than it does today
- even though funds would be available at lower rates it would not necessarily translate into credit for the farmers and lower credit rating borrowers; such segments which today depend on the cash economy would be starved of any funding
- the huge inflows of liquidity into the system (especially in the beginning when cash is converted into bank deposits) would put upward pressure on inflation
- government spending would still not necessarily become more accountable or efficient
- and most importantly - 'where is the political will to carry through such a revolution in the country'?
but what you cannot deny is the simplicity of the idea, and the fantastic scope of the vision behind this proposal.
i believe that with this proposal mr. anil bokil has at least suggested some solutions and has made me sit up and think. and that, in my eyes, is far better than my just griping about the problem of corruption!
do you have any similar, 'out of the box' solution to this problem?
some of the startling facts mentioned in sandesh's article include :
- the fact that less than 3% of india's population pay taxes.
- the fact that mumbai's population is 1.2 crore but has only 17000 taxpayers with income above Rs.10 lakhs.
in this context the article mentions the proposal suggested by anil bokil which seems deceptively simple and is definitely 'out of the box'. what it does achieve is getting you to think and wonder if there is a catch in it somewhere.
the key highlights of the proposal are :
- abolish all taxes in the country except import and customs duties.
- remove all currency notes above Rs.50 denomination from the system by asking all holders of this currency to deposit it in the bank.
- make it mandatory for all transactions above Rs.2000 to be done through the banking channel, i.e. through cheques, or credit/debit cards.
- introduce a flat transaction tax of, say, 2% on every transaction in the banking system in the recipient's hand.
- such tax amounts recovered to be transferred daily to the central government, state government, municipalities in a pre-determined proportion at a fee.
- cash transactions of a lower value not to attract any transaction tax.
some of the implications of this proposal are :
- reduction in actual tax paid by tax-payers; but increased tax collection by the government
- tremendous pressure on the parallel economy which thrives on the large denomination currency notes (ever wondered why you do not see the Rs.1000 denomination notes?)
- huge growth of the banking industry - higher deposits; rise in banking transactions; easier accessibility to funds for lower credit borrowers; cheaper sources of finance for the rural economy.
- fall in inflation since taxes/duties make up a huge component of prices of all goods/services
- resultant growth in demand for manufacturing sector
- complete removal of the entire bureaucracy managing the tax processes; also huge savings of time spent on tax management by corporates and tax payers
though this proposal sounds fantastic there are many questions and issues it raises :
- the parallel economy would move onto other foreign currencies like dollars
- the banking system would need to be geared to handle this enhanced role; it would also need to be able to reach out to a much wider audience than it does today
- even though funds would be available at lower rates it would not necessarily translate into credit for the farmers and lower credit rating borrowers; such segments which today depend on the cash economy would be starved of any funding
- the huge inflows of liquidity into the system (especially in the beginning when cash is converted into bank deposits) would put upward pressure on inflation
- government spending would still not necessarily become more accountable or efficient
- and most importantly - 'where is the political will to carry through such a revolution in the country'?
but what you cannot deny is the simplicity of the idea, and the fantastic scope of the vision behind this proposal.
i believe that with this proposal mr. anil bokil has at least suggested some solutions and has made me sit up and think. and that, in my eyes, is far better than my just griping about the problem of corruption!
do you have any similar, 'out of the box' solution to this problem?
Monday, November 20, 2006
how corrupt is the mumbaikar?
for those of us who live in india, especially in cities like mumbai, corruption is something that we see all around us. in fact it is almost a way of life; the fuel which seems to keep the city going. it is so strongly established and deeply ingrained in the psyche of the common mumbaikar that you wonder if most things would ever function without this all-pervading corruption! :-)
not for one moment am i claiming that everybody is corrupt and that there are no individuals untouched and untarnished by this scourge. but such individuals are more the exception than the rule!
and i have noticed that corruption is the greatest equaliser in our city where everybody from all strata of society have to make their offerings to this modern-day demon with an ever-increasing appetite.
and the corruption juggernaut is so amazingly well-organised and functions like a smooth well-oiled machine. i can not think of any walk of life which is not touched by the long arm of corruption (it most definitely reaches far beyond the 'long arm of the law'!)
let me list some of the places which seem to be so completely sold out to corrupt practices that it seems to have become the norm.
1. rto - have any of you readers ever managed to get your driving license or got a duplicate copy of your rc book in the recent past by going through the regular channel? i think the regular channels have long been sealed with over-grown weeds and thick cobwebs!
but mind you, you could never approach the rto officials directly and attempt to bribe them! that would be unpardonable and you could serve time because of attempts to bribe a government official.
there is a network of 'rto agents' who will get you a driving license or any similar such document for a fee, part of which feeds the entire rto bureaucracy in a very well-organised manner, with the money (rumored to be running into crores) reaching up into all the levels within the rto, all the way to the top. (i honestly don't know where the top is!). and for a fee you could get a driving license even if you didn't know your left from your right! i mean, what does that have to do with getting a license?
2. stamp duty/ deed registry office - this is another place where you could end up running in circles for days without getting anywhere close to registering your document/agreement if you want to buy or sell any real-estate! all the real-estate deals that i have come across, have had to use the 'services' of the friendly neighbourhood 'agent' who manages to move through the registration office as if he is the lord and master of that place! but you must give credit where it is due! they manage to get your registration process completed in the shortest possible time. and i am told that the amount of money the officials here make if far more than they could hope to make in the rto office. here too the money apparently moves all the way to the 'top'!
3. but the award for the most corrupt set of people i have ever come across goes to the customs department! i am told that many of the officers have to pay a hefty amount of money as bribe to get posted into this lucrative department. for the official it is now a matter of recovering his 'investment' and making a neat margin without over-exerting himself in the process!
i had to pay a princely sum of 1000 rupees for bringing in 'commercial' quantities (as defined by the customs officer) of some shawls which a friend had sent with me to be donated as gifts to some senior citizens! but he didn't want to dirty his hands and got a constable on duty to do the disagreeable job on his behalf. the constable told me that he would get a 10% cut and the rest of the money is shared by the officers all the way to the 'top'! he also confided that the daily earnings of the officers ran into tens of thousands of rupees!
4. the saddest form of corruption i have witnessed is the 'hafta' or weekly bribe paid by the street vendors in mumbai to representatives of various agencies including the municipality, the local police, the local don, etc. the vendor has to pay his share of hafta whether his business has done well that day or not. and in spite of paying this 'protection money' they are not assured of any protection when there is a drive by the local municipal ward to clean up the footpaths of the vendor menace. the truth is that these drives are just subtle reminders from the officers at the 'top' to keep coughing up the 'protection money'! the only protection this bribe provides to the hapless vendor is from the people who collect the money!
so whats the point i am trying to make here? that we must fight against corruption? that we must learn to accept it as a necessary evil which oils the wheels of bureaucracy?
i think corruption in society is a reflection of our own greed and selfishness! i think corruption will thrive and will always be present as long as we continue to opt for the easier way in life!
i think corruption in some way is also an unconscious, social mechanism of rationalising the disparities that exist. for example, the government would like to offer free or subsidised services to society. but corruption ensures that the beneficiaries have to finally end up, directly or indirectly, paying more realistic prices for the services they use. (most often they end up not receiving the services at all!)
no that doesn't justify corruption. i think there's definitely some lesson in here about proper governance, but i can't see it! can you?
not for one moment am i claiming that everybody is corrupt and that there are no individuals untouched and untarnished by this scourge. but such individuals are more the exception than the rule!
and i have noticed that corruption is the greatest equaliser in our city where everybody from all strata of society have to make their offerings to this modern-day demon with an ever-increasing appetite.
and the corruption juggernaut is so amazingly well-organised and functions like a smooth well-oiled machine. i can not think of any walk of life which is not touched by the long arm of corruption (it most definitely reaches far beyond the 'long arm of the law'!)
let me list some of the places which seem to be so completely sold out to corrupt practices that it seems to have become the norm.
1. rto - have any of you readers ever managed to get your driving license or got a duplicate copy of your rc book in the recent past by going through the regular channel? i think the regular channels have long been sealed with over-grown weeds and thick cobwebs!
but mind you, you could never approach the rto officials directly and attempt to bribe them! that would be unpardonable and you could serve time because of attempts to bribe a government official.
there is a network of 'rto agents' who will get you a driving license or any similar such document for a fee, part of which feeds the entire rto bureaucracy in a very well-organised manner, with the money (rumored to be running into crores) reaching up into all the levels within the rto, all the way to the top. (i honestly don't know where the top is!). and for a fee you could get a driving license even if you didn't know your left from your right! i mean, what does that have to do with getting a license?
2. stamp duty/ deed registry office - this is another place where you could end up running in circles for days without getting anywhere close to registering your document/agreement if you want to buy or sell any real-estate! all the real-estate deals that i have come across, have had to use the 'services' of the friendly neighbourhood 'agent' who manages to move through the registration office as if he is the lord and master of that place! but you must give credit where it is due! they manage to get your registration process completed in the shortest possible time. and i am told that the amount of money the officials here make if far more than they could hope to make in the rto office. here too the money apparently moves all the way to the 'top'!
3. but the award for the most corrupt set of people i have ever come across goes to the customs department! i am told that many of the officers have to pay a hefty amount of money as bribe to get posted into this lucrative department. for the official it is now a matter of recovering his 'investment' and making a neat margin without over-exerting himself in the process!
i had to pay a princely sum of 1000 rupees for bringing in 'commercial' quantities (as defined by the customs officer) of some shawls which a friend had sent with me to be donated as gifts to some senior citizens! but he didn't want to dirty his hands and got a constable on duty to do the disagreeable job on his behalf. the constable told me that he would get a 10% cut and the rest of the money is shared by the officers all the way to the 'top'! he also confided that the daily earnings of the officers ran into tens of thousands of rupees!
4. the saddest form of corruption i have witnessed is the 'hafta' or weekly bribe paid by the street vendors in mumbai to representatives of various agencies including the municipality, the local police, the local don, etc. the vendor has to pay his share of hafta whether his business has done well that day or not. and in spite of paying this 'protection money' they are not assured of any protection when there is a drive by the local municipal ward to clean up the footpaths of the vendor menace. the truth is that these drives are just subtle reminders from the officers at the 'top' to keep coughing up the 'protection money'! the only protection this bribe provides to the hapless vendor is from the people who collect the money!
so whats the point i am trying to make here? that we must fight against corruption? that we must learn to accept it as a necessary evil which oils the wheels of bureaucracy?
i think corruption in society is a reflection of our own greed and selfishness! i think corruption will thrive and will always be present as long as we continue to opt for the easier way in life!
i think corruption in some way is also an unconscious, social mechanism of rationalising the disparities that exist. for example, the government would like to offer free or subsidised services to society. but corruption ensures that the beneficiaries have to finally end up, directly or indirectly, paying more realistic prices for the services they use. (most often they end up not receiving the services at all!)
no that doesn't justify corruption. i think there's definitely some lesson in here about proper governance, but i can't see it! can you?
Thursday, November 16, 2006
has the internet changed your life?
tons of newsprint and billions of data-bytes have been used up detailing the impact of the internet on our lives.
when i think about it, i realise the impact in our own personal lives is so immense and so pervasive that very often we are not even aware that we are experiencing one of the benefits of the internet.
the internet (and the more popular 'world wide web') is a phenomenon that we have witnessed in our own lifetimes and is something that has touched all our lives in some form or other.
let me list out some of the benefits of the internet that i have personally experienced. i am sure you would be able to add to this list. please do so and lets see how many diverse benefits we are able to come up with!
1. communication - do you remember the time when we used to write letters (i mean the handwritten ones!) to our friends and relatives all over the world? and i also remember wincing at the cost of sending a birthday card by courier to a friend in the us.
the internet has changed all that, and how!
today i can not just write instant emails which i can zap to a mailing list, but i can also talk to friends and even see them through a web-cam. and all this for free. i can send virtual cards for all occasions for free. some sites also remind me of birthdays/anniversaries for all the people (including my own!).
2. business - in my line of work the internet allows me to sit in office and get information on new markets that i would like to enter, i can identify business partners, i can contact potential clients, demonstrate our solutions and make presentations, send proposals, send and receive payments, etc. all this through the internet.
our software team is able to do product implementation, provide support by tracking the functioning of the application at client end and fix problems without having to move out of our office premises. all through the internet!
when i am travelling the internet allows me to keep in touch with office, clients, my team and my family on a real-time basis. i am also able to keep in touch with all the news through the net.
3. collaboration - i personally know a few medical cases where my friends and the doctors sent across all the test results and images across to doctors in the us or other countries who in turn have sent it to a network of other specialists and have got advice on the best course of action to adopt. all this through the internet and without spending a single rupee.
4. entertainment - today i am able to use the internet to download/share/swap music, videos, films, books using sites like napster, limewire, etc. and this has had a tremendous impact on the media and entertainment industry. (no, not because of the fact that i am doing this, but because such services exist and are being used extensively!)
what i've found even more fascinating is the phenomenon of MMOGs (massively multiplayer online game - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game) where millions of people across the globe are playing online games where they take on 'avatars' and interact with each other in virtual worlds. i've never tried my hand at these but i can imagine how addictive they can get.
5. social networking - here i would include all the sites focused on dating, online communities, matrimonials, jobs, etc.
i personally know at least 5 people who have married people they have met through the internet, including a friend who married a bulgarian! if that doesn't count as significant social impact of the internet, then i wouldn't know what does!
most of the hiring that we are doing in our company today is through the services offered by various online job sites.
8. finance - when was the last time you visited a bank branch? i haven't been to one for almost 8-10 years! haven't ever felt the need to go to one. almost everything i ever needed, i could manage through the atm, phone or the internet.
i can pay for transactions online, i can send money online, i can request for a cheque book online, etc.
i can even (if i had the money :-) ) do all my stock market/mutual fund investments online and keep track of these investments online!
9. travel - one of the biggest benefits of the internet i have personally experienced is in the area of travel. i can plan my trip online, do all my train and flight bookings online (and get much cheaper fares), pay for them online and even do hotel bookings online.
10. charity/ religious activities - now i can make donations to various charities online, i can book poojas at key temples online, and even do online darshan!
11. information - there's more information out there than i can handle in my lifetime. my wife was able to help my son with his project on bears thanks to the internet with most of the credit going to google.
i found the lyrics to some of my favorite songs (which i couldn't decipher when listening to them) on www.lyricsfreak.com.
i believe we are experiencing only the tip of the iceberg here. in the near future, during our own lifetimes, i'm sure the internet will be impacting our lives in a far greater manner than we can even imagine!
when i think about it, i realise the impact in our own personal lives is so immense and so pervasive that very often we are not even aware that we are experiencing one of the benefits of the internet.
the internet (and the more popular 'world wide web') is a phenomenon that we have witnessed in our own lifetimes and is something that has touched all our lives in some form or other.
let me list out some of the benefits of the internet that i have personally experienced. i am sure you would be able to add to this list. please do so and lets see how many diverse benefits we are able to come up with!
1. communication - do you remember the time when we used to write letters (i mean the handwritten ones!) to our friends and relatives all over the world? and i also remember wincing at the cost of sending a birthday card by courier to a friend in the us.
the internet has changed all that, and how!
today i can not just write instant emails which i can zap to a mailing list, but i can also talk to friends and even see them through a web-cam. and all this for free. i can send virtual cards for all occasions for free. some sites also remind me of birthdays/anniversaries for all the people (including my own!).
2. business - in my line of work the internet allows me to sit in office and get information on new markets that i would like to enter, i can identify business partners, i can contact potential clients, demonstrate our solutions and make presentations, send proposals, send and receive payments, etc. all this through the internet.
our software team is able to do product implementation, provide support by tracking the functioning of the application at client end and fix problems without having to move out of our office premises. all through the internet!
when i am travelling the internet allows me to keep in touch with office, clients, my team and my family on a real-time basis. i am also able to keep in touch with all the news through the net.
3. collaboration - i personally know a few medical cases where my friends and the doctors sent across all the test results and images across to doctors in the us or other countries who in turn have sent it to a network of other specialists and have got advice on the best course of action to adopt. all this through the internet and without spending a single rupee.
4. entertainment - today i am able to use the internet to download/share/swap music, videos, films, books using sites like napster, limewire, etc. and this has had a tremendous impact on the media and entertainment industry. (no, not because of the fact that i am doing this, but because such services exist and are being used extensively!)
what i've found even more fascinating is the phenomenon of MMOGs (massively multiplayer online game - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game) where millions of people across the globe are playing online games where they take on 'avatars' and interact with each other in virtual worlds. i've never tried my hand at these but i can imagine how addictive they can get.
5. social networking - here i would include all the sites focused on dating, online communities, matrimonials, jobs, etc.
i personally know at least 5 people who have married people they have met through the internet, including a friend who married a bulgarian! if that doesn't count as significant social impact of the internet, then i wouldn't know what does!
most of the hiring that we are doing in our company today is through the services offered by various online job sites.
8. finance - when was the last time you visited a bank branch? i haven't been to one for almost 8-10 years! haven't ever felt the need to go to one. almost everything i ever needed, i could manage through the atm, phone or the internet.
i can pay for transactions online, i can send money online, i can request for a cheque book online, etc.
i can even (if i had the money :-) ) do all my stock market/mutual fund investments online and keep track of these investments online!
9. travel - one of the biggest benefits of the internet i have personally experienced is in the area of travel. i can plan my trip online, do all my train and flight bookings online (and get much cheaper fares), pay for them online and even do hotel bookings online.
10. charity/ religious activities - now i can make donations to various charities online, i can book poojas at key temples online, and even do online darshan!
11. information - there's more information out there than i can handle in my lifetime. my wife was able to help my son with his project on bears thanks to the internet with most of the credit going to google.
i found the lyrics to some of my favorite songs (which i couldn't decipher when listening to them) on www.lyricsfreak.com.
i believe we are experiencing only the tip of the iceberg here. in the near future, during our own lifetimes, i'm sure the internet will be impacting our lives in a far greater manner than we can even imagine!
Friday, November 10, 2006
at the end of the day, we're all driven by selfishness!
if you think about it, every thing we ever do, right from the moment we wake up till the moment we drop off into the sweet world of deep sleep, is driven by our own selfish desires.
i cannot think of a single thought, word or deed that is not driven by some 'essentially selfish motive'.
even the so-called altruistic actions that we perform and social service causes that we associate with are finally driven by some deep-rooted selfish desire in us. we feel noble/good/proud/useful/less guilty when we do such selfless activities. we often firmly believe that we have absolutely no personal agenda in performing such activities. but if we look deep within ourselves and are honest to ourselves we realise that we always do have some personal motive, some rub-off.
you may say that there are some relationships which are not based on selfishness. and the most popular oft-quoted example, of course, is that of the the relationship between a mother and a child. the argument is that the mother does things for the baby without expecting anything in return. i mean, how could you expect anything in return from the baby? but if you ask a mother, she will tell you that she too gets a lot from the baby; and that her actions for the baby too are driven by purely selfish (maybe not as selfish as wanting that irresistible diamond solitaire you've been eyeing, but selfish nonetheless!) motives. these motives could be as basic as the sense of satisfaction or fulfilment; or as far-fetched as wanting to be seen as a wonderful mother by the people around her!
ok, now the pertinent question is - is this bad? is being selfish a bad thing? (i know those are two questions, but they actually mean the same thing!)
in our society we are brought up to believe that selflessness is a far nobler state of being, something that we should ideally aspire for. but the problem is that there doesn't seem to be a practical, sure-fire way of achieving that. that's assuming first that you are convinced that selflessness is the way to be!
so how do we reconcile these apparently conflicting scenarios?
i believe the best thing for us to do is to work towards selflessness and try do the few 'selfless' activities that we do with as much sincerity as possible. my view is that it is far better to be doing some social service or working on some noble cause, even though you may be doing it for some purely selfish reason, than not doing anything even remotely selfless!
i firmly believe that slowly over time we will start widening the circle of beneficiaries for our actions and genuinely start becoming selfless in our day-to-day lives!
---------------------
p.s. i must add here that the above observations do not apply to the great masters in our country who rose far above their 'selves' to a much higher plane of consciousness where they no longer operated on the 'plane of selfish motives' like us. they had risen so high that any action they performed automatically benefited a much wider circle of people beyond themselves.
their lives can be inspiration for us to try bring, in our selfish way, some selflessness in our own lives!
i cannot think of a single thought, word or deed that is not driven by some 'essentially selfish motive'.
even the so-called altruistic actions that we perform and social service causes that we associate with are finally driven by some deep-rooted selfish desire in us. we feel noble/good/proud/useful/less guilty when we do such selfless activities. we often firmly believe that we have absolutely no personal agenda in performing such activities. but if we look deep within ourselves and are honest to ourselves we realise that we always do have some personal motive, some rub-off.
you may say that there are some relationships which are not based on selfishness. and the most popular oft-quoted example, of course, is that of the the relationship between a mother and a child. the argument is that the mother does things for the baby without expecting anything in return. i mean, how could you expect anything in return from the baby? but if you ask a mother, she will tell you that she too gets a lot from the baby; and that her actions for the baby too are driven by purely selfish (maybe not as selfish as wanting that irresistible diamond solitaire you've been eyeing, but selfish nonetheless!) motives. these motives could be as basic as the sense of satisfaction or fulfilment; or as far-fetched as wanting to be seen as a wonderful mother by the people around her!
ok, now the pertinent question is - is this bad? is being selfish a bad thing? (i know those are two questions, but they actually mean the same thing!)
in our society we are brought up to believe that selflessness is a far nobler state of being, something that we should ideally aspire for. but the problem is that there doesn't seem to be a practical, sure-fire way of achieving that. that's assuming first that you are convinced that selflessness is the way to be!
so how do we reconcile these apparently conflicting scenarios?
i believe the best thing for us to do is to work towards selflessness and try do the few 'selfless' activities that we do with as much sincerity as possible. my view is that it is far better to be doing some social service or working on some noble cause, even though you may be doing it for some purely selfish reason, than not doing anything even remotely selfless!
i firmly believe that slowly over time we will start widening the circle of beneficiaries for our actions and genuinely start becoming selfless in our day-to-day lives!
---------------------
p.s. i must add here that the above observations do not apply to the great masters in our country who rose far above their 'selves' to a much higher plane of consciousness where they no longer operated on the 'plane of selfish motives' like us. they had risen so high that any action they performed automatically benefited a much wider circle of people beyond themselves.
their lives can be inspiration for us to try bring, in our selfish way, some selflessness in our own lives!
everybody was once a stranger!
if you think about it, every person you know today was a stranger once! every person you know from the day you started becoming concious of yourself as different from the people around you, from the day you became aware of your own identity, was a stranger to begin with.
and this is true whether the person is your best friend, your spouse, your relative, your acquaintance, your colleague, your teacher, almost everybody you can think of.
even your parents were strangers as far as you are concerned till you became aware of them and accepted them as your parents. (how do you know they have not adopted you and raised you as their own child?)
the only people who do not start as strangers from your perspective are your own children. you know them from the moment they are born. you don't need to be introduced to them, you don't need to get to know them and start accepting them within your circle of 'known' people. they become part of your life from the moment they arrive. no, they become part of your life even before they are born!
your child is not a stranger to you as much as your reflection in the mirror is not a stranger to you!
do you agree, my friend-who-was-once-a-stranger?
and this is true whether the person is your best friend, your spouse, your relative, your acquaintance, your colleague, your teacher, almost everybody you can think of.
even your parents were strangers as far as you are concerned till you became aware of them and accepted them as your parents. (how do you know they have not adopted you and raised you as their own child?)
the only people who do not start as strangers from your perspective are your own children. you know them from the moment they are born. you don't need to be introduced to them, you don't need to get to know them and start accepting them within your circle of 'known' people. they become part of your life from the moment they arrive. no, they become part of your life even before they are born!
your child is not a stranger to you as much as your reflection in the mirror is not a stranger to you!
do you agree, my friend-who-was-once-a-stranger?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
i'm amazed at the investors!
my job requires me to travel around a bit, including overseas. now before you start saying 'wow' wistfully, let me assure you that this is not exactly the kind of travel that you would be enamored about.
i travel to a lot of third-world countries (the politically correct term is 'emerging economies'). these include places like sri lanka, thailand, philippines, indonesia, etc. i don't know about you, but my image about these places was very different from reality. i assumed that these places are worse off than india in terms of infrastructure, amenities, living conditions, standard of living, etc because of the fact that they are much smaller than india. but i was quickly disabused of these notions.
one of the first things you notice in any of these countries is the airport in these countries. and i completely agree with the phrase that 'first impressions count'. the airports at singapore and hong kong are, not surprisingly, very, very impressive. but what is definitely surprising is the fact all the other countries i mentioned above, no matter how small, have far more impressive airports and facilities than the key indian airports at mumbai and delhi.
right from the moment you step out of the aircraft you become painfully aware of the differences. right from signages, to baggage handling, to help & information, to transportation services, to staff, etc.
but stepping out of an aircraft in mumbai or delhi for an indian is such a depressing experience.
let me take the example the airport in my home city, mumbai. to be fair, i must mention here that the customs and immigration facilities in the mumbai airport have improved phenomenally. its far more efficient and speedier than it was a couple of years ago.
but once you step out of customs you feel like you have landed up in some jungle. there's absolute chaos all around. and the worst of the lot are the touts who are trying to catch hold of unsuspecting people and make a quick buck by offering you taxis, hotels and whatever else they can push at you. and the police obviously are nowhere in sight. there's no clear planned demarcation and signages for visitor areas, car drop and pick-ups, public transportation, etc.
and even if you do manage to extricate yourself from the crowds milling around the exit gates and reach the taxi/auto stand you still have to deal with the unique specimen of the indian taxi/auto driver who will measure your worth based on your luggage and the distance you want to travel. and they would always assume that it is their god-given birthright to charge you a fat premium because you happened to have just returned from a trip overseas! and, of course, the assigned policeman is very considerate and is studiously involved in something far more interesting at a safe distance so that your negotiations with the driver are not disturbed!
and once you manage to arrive at some understanding with the immovable mountain and sit in whichever mode of transport you chose, you then get to see the first sights of the great city of mumbai. and that's when you realise that the depression you experienced at the airport was nowhere as bad as what you are felling now as your vehicle navigates through chaotic traffic, slums, beggars, children defecating along the roads, foul-smelling gutters, etc.
now what does all this have to do with investors i mentioned in the title, you ask? well i always wonder what my reaction would be if i were a foreign investor visiting india for the first time to evaluate the investment climate and opportunities here? i shudder to think of the first impression created in such an investor's mind based on the experience of the airport and the ride from the airport to the hotel. i am surprised that most of them do not want to turn and head back home.
it speaks volumes about the companies, the people and the markets in india that the investors continue to flock and pump money into our country inspite of all the drawbacks. but there's so much more to do. and so much of it depends on the will of the government and the attitudes of people.
some of you might say that the focus of our government should not be in improving infrastructure in metros and cities to make india an attractive destination for foreign investments but in removing poverty in the villages. the money that flows in as investments into the country could also flow into the villages, but for that we need a government which works honestly to make this happen!
but all said and done, i still feel restless when i am away from india for some time and its a strange mix of gladness and pride and comfort i feel when i finally land in india. and i realise that i would rather be here than any other place in the world! i look around and i see the energy, the enthusiasm, the confidence, the buzz, and most importantly i see the hope of a new and better tomorrow in the eyes of people!
do you also see what i see?
i travel to a lot of third-world countries (the politically correct term is 'emerging economies'). these include places like sri lanka, thailand, philippines, indonesia, etc. i don't know about you, but my image about these places was very different from reality. i assumed that these places are worse off than india in terms of infrastructure, amenities, living conditions, standard of living, etc because of the fact that they are much smaller than india. but i was quickly disabused of these notions.
one of the first things you notice in any of these countries is the airport in these countries. and i completely agree with the phrase that 'first impressions count'. the airports at singapore and hong kong are, not surprisingly, very, very impressive. but what is definitely surprising is the fact all the other countries i mentioned above, no matter how small, have far more impressive airports and facilities than the key indian airports at mumbai and delhi.
right from the moment you step out of the aircraft you become painfully aware of the differences. right from signages, to baggage handling, to help & information, to transportation services, to staff, etc.
but stepping out of an aircraft in mumbai or delhi for an indian is such a depressing experience.
let me take the example the airport in my home city, mumbai. to be fair, i must mention here that the customs and immigration facilities in the mumbai airport have improved phenomenally. its far more efficient and speedier than it was a couple of years ago.
but once you step out of customs you feel like you have landed up in some jungle. there's absolute chaos all around. and the worst of the lot are the touts who are trying to catch hold of unsuspecting people and make a quick buck by offering you taxis, hotels and whatever else they can push at you. and the police obviously are nowhere in sight. there's no clear planned demarcation and signages for visitor areas, car drop and pick-ups, public transportation, etc.
and even if you do manage to extricate yourself from the crowds milling around the exit gates and reach the taxi/auto stand you still have to deal with the unique specimen of the indian taxi/auto driver who will measure your worth based on your luggage and the distance you want to travel. and they would always assume that it is their god-given birthright to charge you a fat premium because you happened to have just returned from a trip overseas! and, of course, the assigned policeman is very considerate and is studiously involved in something far more interesting at a safe distance so that your negotiations with the driver are not disturbed!
and once you manage to arrive at some understanding with the immovable mountain and sit in whichever mode of transport you chose, you then get to see the first sights of the great city of mumbai. and that's when you realise that the depression you experienced at the airport was nowhere as bad as what you are felling now as your vehicle navigates through chaotic traffic, slums, beggars, children defecating along the roads, foul-smelling gutters, etc.
now what does all this have to do with investors i mentioned in the title, you ask? well i always wonder what my reaction would be if i were a foreign investor visiting india for the first time to evaluate the investment climate and opportunities here? i shudder to think of the first impression created in such an investor's mind based on the experience of the airport and the ride from the airport to the hotel. i am surprised that most of them do not want to turn and head back home.
it speaks volumes about the companies, the people and the markets in india that the investors continue to flock and pump money into our country inspite of all the drawbacks. but there's so much more to do. and so much of it depends on the will of the government and the attitudes of people.
some of you might say that the focus of our government should not be in improving infrastructure in metros and cities to make india an attractive destination for foreign investments but in removing poverty in the villages. the money that flows in as investments into the country could also flow into the villages, but for that we need a government which works honestly to make this happen!
but all said and done, i still feel restless when i am away from india for some time and its a strange mix of gladness and pride and comfort i feel when i finally land in india. and i realise that i would rather be here than any other place in the world! i look around and i see the energy, the enthusiasm, the confidence, the buzz, and most importantly i see the hope of a new and better tomorrow in the eyes of people!
do you also see what i see?
Saturday, November 04, 2006
why are the trains cleaner down south?
i know this posting is going to sound controversial and offend some people.
but its just another theory that i have, and i couldn't resist sharing my views with you. i mean, what choice do you have? :-)
i believe there is a strong correlation between the levels of cleanliness in our trains and literacy levels in different regions in our vast country.
i have been fortunate to have travelled by trains from pune and mumbai to most parts of the country including kerala, tamilnadu, karnataka, andhra pradesh, uttar pradesh, west bengal, gujarat, delhi, punjab, himachal pradesh, madhya pradesh, etc. and of course within maharashtra.
i have noticed a clear correlation between literacy levels and the levels of cleanliness in trains!
the trains going to or originating from states which have literacy rates higher than the national average tend to be cleaner than the trains to/from other states. therefore as a general rule the trains down south tend to be cleaner than the trains up north. do you agree?
i have come across mails earlier which tell us that we are fairly hypocritical when it comes to cleanliness. we are paranoid about cleanliness within the four walls of our homes but don't care too much when it comes to civic cleanliness.
these mails also remind us of how we are very particular about littering and using dust-bins in foreign lands while not giving a second thought to dropping the candy wrapper (or gutkha pouch/ cigarette butt, etc) on the street/pavement in our country.
but i think this is not completely correct. its a very small proportion of such people who tend to do this. i think most people who have a basic understanding of civic sense (and i firmly believe its not to do with literacy alone) are equally careful about civic cleanliness, whether they are in the country or travelling abroad.
i think, in the final reckoning, its got to do with your attitude towards your surroundings. the sense of responsibility and sensitivity that you demonstrate when you realise that all the amenities around you are meant for the general public, including you.
if this sense of belief is not deeply and strongly rooted in you, you could be easily shaken and disheartened when you see the law-enforcers and custodians of public property themselves breaking these same laws with impunity!
i think the way you and i can make a difference is by ensuring that we do not demonstrate such hypocrisy in our conduct and also ensuring that we educate the people we can in our circle of influence!
lets start with ourselves and clean up our country!
but its just another theory that i have, and i couldn't resist sharing my views with you. i mean, what choice do you have? :-)
i believe there is a strong correlation between the levels of cleanliness in our trains and literacy levels in different regions in our vast country.
i have been fortunate to have travelled by trains from pune and mumbai to most parts of the country including kerala, tamilnadu, karnataka, andhra pradesh, uttar pradesh, west bengal, gujarat, delhi, punjab, himachal pradesh, madhya pradesh, etc. and of course within maharashtra.
i have noticed a clear correlation between literacy levels and the levels of cleanliness in trains!
the trains going to or originating from states which have literacy rates higher than the national average tend to be cleaner than the trains to/from other states. therefore as a general rule the trains down south tend to be cleaner than the trains up north. do you agree?
i have come across mails earlier which tell us that we are fairly hypocritical when it comes to cleanliness. we are paranoid about cleanliness within the four walls of our homes but don't care too much when it comes to civic cleanliness.
these mails also remind us of how we are very particular about littering and using dust-bins in foreign lands while not giving a second thought to dropping the candy wrapper (or gutkha pouch/ cigarette butt, etc) on the street/pavement in our country.
but i think this is not completely correct. its a very small proportion of such people who tend to do this. i think most people who have a basic understanding of civic sense (and i firmly believe its not to do with literacy alone) are equally careful about civic cleanliness, whether they are in the country or travelling abroad.
i think, in the final reckoning, its got to do with your attitude towards your surroundings. the sense of responsibility and sensitivity that you demonstrate when you realise that all the amenities around you are meant for the general public, including you.
if this sense of belief is not deeply and strongly rooted in you, you could be easily shaken and disheartened when you see the law-enforcers and custodians of public property themselves breaking these same laws with impunity!
i think the way you and i can make a difference is by ensuring that we do not demonstrate such hypocrisy in our conduct and also ensuring that we educate the people we can in our circle of influence!
lets start with ourselves and clean up our country!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
one man can make a difference
most of us usually feel that there is not much change in society that we as individuals can bring about. we blame the system/government/bureaucracy/lack of infrastructure/lack of time for our 'inability' to make any significant, meaningful contribution.
but its amazing how one man with vision and inspiration can make a big difference and a significant contribution to society!
today i happened to read the brochure of the 'parivaar education society' and was not just thoroughly impressed but also deeply touched and humbled.
i was introduced to parivaar through my wife who's an iim-kolkata product (read on to know why this bit of info is relevant). she is a regular contributor and used to keep trying to share details of parivaar with me. i only had a vague idea about what it did. it was only after reading the literature today that i realised the scale of the work being done. i would like to share some of the details of this institution with you and would sincerely implore you to check it out for yourself at www.parivaar.org. (most of the info that follows is reproduced from the brochure.)
parivaar was started by an iit-kharagpur and iim-kolkata alumnus, vinayak lohani (1991-93 batch) who was inspired by the teachings and ideals of sri ramakrishna paramahamsa and swami vivekananda. he did not take up final placement on campus and instead decided to dedicate his life to the upliftment of homeless children. parivaar's motto is to provide 'home, family and future for homeless, family-less children'.
starting in january 2004 with just 3 children in a small rented building with almost no financial resources, there are currently 204 children at the parivaar ashram at bakhrahat (quite close to the iim-c jokha campus). a facility is now under construction to accommodate almost 500 children!
the children admitted into parivaar ashram are destitute/homeless/family-less and are from categories like orphans, street/pavement dwelling children, children of critically/terminally ill mothers (with no father or other family support), abandoned children, children from rural areas and also from red-light areas. the children are admitted at a very young age (3-8 years) and they come with no educational background. they are then trained in the ashram to get them admission into a quality formal education school.
since parivaar works for total rehabilitation of the children, it provides everything a child needs including food, clothing, education, recreation, etc. parivaar focuses on the all-round development of the child, including physical, emotional, intellectual as well as spiritual growth. parivaar works with the idea of providing support to each child with a minimum commitment of 12 to 15 years, right from their kindergarten stage till he/she grows up and makes good in life.
parivaar has been fortunate to have many contributors (over 350 iim alumni itself). (you can contribute through their website where details are provided.)
vinayak could have become a successful professional like most of us. but he chose to do something far nobler, and something much bigger in life. and according to me he has achieved far greater success in life. how many of us can claim to have positively contributed and changed the life of another human being?
what i also appreciate about his model for the organisation that he has founded is that he has very clearly established the spiritual principles that seem to be inspiring and driving the ethos of parivaar. he very openly acknowledges the spiritual support that he receives from the ramakrishna mission. as part of their spiritual development, the children are exposed to pranayam, dhyana and a 'sanskar siksha upadesh' session which includes imparting teachings on moral and spiritual lines. they have a prayer hall with images of sri ramakrishna, mother sarada devi, and swami vivekananda. they celebrate the anniversaries of these saints.
but vinayak has clearly established parivaar as a non-spiritual organisation with no formal, direct involvement of any of the above-mentioned spiritual organisations.
and thus he has managed to achieve a wonderful balance between the secular and the spiritual and managed to beautify the lives of so many deserving children.
i only wish there are many more such vinayaks who get inspired and create many more such parivaars across our country. and that could bring about a revolution - an educational, spiritual and nation-building revolution!
but its amazing how one man with vision and inspiration can make a big difference and a significant contribution to society!
today i happened to read the brochure of the 'parivaar education society' and was not just thoroughly impressed but also deeply touched and humbled.
i was introduced to parivaar through my wife who's an iim-kolkata product (read on to know why this bit of info is relevant). she is a regular contributor and used to keep trying to share details of parivaar with me. i only had a vague idea about what it did. it was only after reading the literature today that i realised the scale of the work being done. i would like to share some of the details of this institution with you and would sincerely implore you to check it out for yourself at www.parivaar.org. (most of the info that follows is reproduced from the brochure.)
parivaar was started by an iit-kharagpur and iim-kolkata alumnus, vinayak lohani (1991-93 batch) who was inspired by the teachings and ideals of sri ramakrishna paramahamsa and swami vivekananda. he did not take up final placement on campus and instead decided to dedicate his life to the upliftment of homeless children. parivaar's motto is to provide 'home, family and future for homeless, family-less children'.
starting in january 2004 with just 3 children in a small rented building with almost no financial resources, there are currently 204 children at the parivaar ashram at bakhrahat (quite close to the iim-c jokha campus). a facility is now under construction to accommodate almost 500 children!
the children admitted into parivaar ashram are destitute/homeless/family-less and are from categories like orphans, street/pavement dwelling children, children of critically/terminally ill mothers (with no father or other family support), abandoned children, children from rural areas and also from red-light areas. the children are admitted at a very young age (3-8 years) and they come with no educational background. they are then trained in the ashram to get them admission into a quality formal education school.
since parivaar works for total rehabilitation of the children, it provides everything a child needs including food, clothing, education, recreation, etc. parivaar focuses on the all-round development of the child, including physical, emotional, intellectual as well as spiritual growth. parivaar works with the idea of providing support to each child with a minimum commitment of 12 to 15 years, right from their kindergarten stage till he/she grows up and makes good in life.
parivaar has been fortunate to have many contributors (over 350 iim alumni itself). (you can contribute through their website where details are provided.)
vinayak could have become a successful professional like most of us. but he chose to do something far nobler, and something much bigger in life. and according to me he has achieved far greater success in life. how many of us can claim to have positively contributed and changed the life of another human being?
what i also appreciate about his model for the organisation that he has founded is that he has very clearly established the spiritual principles that seem to be inspiring and driving the ethos of parivaar. he very openly acknowledges the spiritual support that he receives from the ramakrishna mission. as part of their spiritual development, the children are exposed to pranayam, dhyana and a 'sanskar siksha upadesh' session which includes imparting teachings on moral and spiritual lines. they have a prayer hall with images of sri ramakrishna, mother sarada devi, and swami vivekananda. they celebrate the anniversaries of these saints.
but vinayak has clearly established parivaar as a non-spiritual organisation with no formal, direct involvement of any of the above-mentioned spiritual organisations.
and thus he has managed to achieve a wonderful balance between the secular and the spiritual and managed to beautify the lives of so many deserving children.
i only wish there are many more such vinayaks who get inspired and create many more such parivaars across our country. and that could bring about a revolution - an educational, spiritual and nation-building revolution!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
what's wrong with our temples?
hi folks!
i'm back after my vacation - which was a mix of visiting friends, some family functions and a vacation. (check out the pics at picasaweb.google.com/ckguruprasad/TripToKumbakonamSwamimalai)
after visiting some dear friends in chennai, we joined a bus-load of relatives for some serious temple-hopping to celebrate niru's mama's sashtiapatha purthi (60th birthday celebrations). we started with the shiva temple at chidambaram (www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/chidchid.html) followed by the vaitheeswaran temple along the chennai-mayavaram route (www.vaitheeswarankoil.org/index.htm). this was then followed by the amritaghateswar-abirami temple at tirukkadaiyur (www.chennaionline.com/toursntravel/placesofworship/thirukadaiyur.asp) where people perform their 60th, 70th and 80th birthday celebrations. we then finally went to the karuvazhakarai amman temple which is near mayiladuthurai.
contrary to my belief, we had a great time visiting these temples. and we had loads of fun travelling to these places, mainly because of the intense card games in the last few rows of the bus!
but there was one thing which kept bothering me throughout the trip. some of the temples we visited, especially the old, large, grand ones were very poorly maintained. they were smelly and dirty and the priests and workers did not seem to be in the least bit bothered about the state of affairs all around them. the only enterprise and enthusiasm they demonstrated was when they could spot some opportunity to make some additional income from the visitors and pilgrims.
and these temples rake in crores of rupees every year through donations, hundi collections, pooja fees, etc. but most of this money is apparently siphoned off by the corrupt officials on the boards of the temple and devaswom trusts, most of which are government controlled. a paltry amount makes its way back to the actual running of the temples.
and then i paused to think. correct me if i am wrong, but i have not come across a single old/big/important church, mosque, gurudwara or fire-temple which is treated so shabbily and maintained so poorly. i am not being communal here, but i wonder why is there such a stark difference? is it sheer indifference or apathy among the hindu populace? or is it because of lack of a central controlling body? or lack of pride in our temples? or maybe our faith in our gods is so powerful that we believe that the gods will perform miracles and clean up the unholy mess at the right time?
but then i also think of some of the beautifully and meticulously maintained temples run by organisations like the chinmaya mission, the swaminarayan sect, etc.
and then the answer became quite obvious. the difference is the pride and devotion instilled among the care-takers and visitors of the temple by the vision of one man/group/organisation. if only some of the political leaders/ temple board trustees
could provide that vision!
i'm back after my vacation - which was a mix of visiting friends, some family functions and a vacation. (check out the pics at picasaweb.google.com/ckguruprasad/TripToKumbakonamSwamimalai)
after visiting some dear friends in chennai, we joined a bus-load of relatives for some serious temple-hopping to celebrate niru's mama's sashtiapatha purthi (60th birthday celebrations). we started with the shiva temple at chidambaram (www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/chidchid.html) followed by the vaitheeswaran temple along the chennai-mayavaram route (www.vaitheeswarankoil.org/index.htm). this was then followed by the amritaghateswar-abirami temple at tirukkadaiyur (www.chennaionline.com/toursntravel/placesofworship/thirukadaiyur.asp) where people perform their 60th, 70th and 80th birthday celebrations. we then finally went to the karuvazhakarai amman temple which is near mayiladuthurai.
contrary to my belief, we had a great time visiting these temples. and we had loads of fun travelling to these places, mainly because of the intense card games in the last few rows of the bus!
but there was one thing which kept bothering me throughout the trip. some of the temples we visited, especially the old, large, grand ones were very poorly maintained. they were smelly and dirty and the priests and workers did not seem to be in the least bit bothered about the state of affairs all around them. the only enterprise and enthusiasm they demonstrated was when they could spot some opportunity to make some additional income from the visitors and pilgrims.
and these temples rake in crores of rupees every year through donations, hundi collections, pooja fees, etc. but most of this money is apparently siphoned off by the corrupt officials on the boards of the temple and devaswom trusts, most of which are government controlled. a paltry amount makes its way back to the actual running of the temples.
and then i paused to think. correct me if i am wrong, but i have not come across a single old/big/important church, mosque, gurudwara or fire-temple which is treated so shabbily and maintained so poorly. i am not being communal here, but i wonder why is there such a stark difference? is it sheer indifference or apathy among the hindu populace? or is it because of lack of a central controlling body? or lack of pride in our temples? or maybe our faith in our gods is so powerful that we believe that the gods will perform miracles and clean up the unholy mess at the right time?
but then i also think of some of the beautifully and meticulously maintained temples run by organisations like the chinmaya mission, the swaminarayan sect, etc.
and then the answer became quite obvious. the difference is the pride and devotion instilled among the care-takers and visitors of the temple by the vision of one man/group/organisation. if only some of the political leaders/ temple board trustees
could provide that vision!
Friday, October 20, 2006
there's this other theory i have. this one also might sound a little whacky. but if you think about it, it will start making sense to you too! (i think it would. but if nobody agrees then i might have to agree with your opinion about me being whacky :-) )
take the colour 'red'. why red, you ask? and why not, i counter! actually that's the first color that came to my mind. its also the title of a beautiful song by chris rea from the album 'espresso logic'!
but we're drifting. coming back to the point i am trying to make here. lets take the colour red.
you have been taught since childhood that a particular colour that you see is called red. but is the colour you see actually red? isn't it possible that the colour you see is not the same colour as i see? you might actually be seeing the colour red while i am seeing the same thing as a deep shade of green! but i have always associated this colour with red because that's what i have been taught since my childhood. so the shade that you see and call red is actually a different shade that i perceive but i too call it red. so though we both call it by the same name we are actually perceiving two completely different things. so our experience might be completely different but we call it by the same name.
now this can be extended to almost everything that we experience around us - colors, shapes, sounds, taste, etc. in fact all sensory perceptions would be victim to this confusion of definition.
you might say that even though our sense organs might perceive things differently, the instruments that we have created to measure the phenomena around us would not have such problems. each measuring instruments would measure the measured object in exactly the same way as another similar instrument. while that might be true, it still is a human being who is observing & reading the results and interpreting it. and that is where the subjective element again comes in.
so though the measured numbers are the same to both of us who are observing the phenomena, the actual observation might still be completely different. and yet we would still agree with each other about the observation because both of us believe that the other person is seeing exactly the same thing that you are seeing. so when both of us see the colour red as a certain measurement of wavelength of electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum (wavelength interval of the colour red is ~ 625–740 nanometers and its frequency interval is ~ 480–405 TeraHertz) we are actually seeing two different colours and calling it red!
is this possible?
if that is the case then the possibilities of confused definitions are mind-boggling! i might actually be seeing a monkey when i look at you and i have always labeled moneys as 'human beings'; and you actually see a donkey when you see me and you always labeled donkeys as human beings! how's that just for starters?
maybe you can come up with something wilder! ;-)
take the colour 'red'. why red, you ask? and why not, i counter! actually that's the first color that came to my mind. its also the title of a beautiful song by chris rea from the album 'espresso logic'!
but we're drifting. coming back to the point i am trying to make here. lets take the colour red.
you have been taught since childhood that a particular colour that you see is called red. but is the colour you see actually red? isn't it possible that the colour you see is not the same colour as i see? you might actually be seeing the colour red while i am seeing the same thing as a deep shade of green! but i have always associated this colour with red because that's what i have been taught since my childhood. so the shade that you see and call red is actually a different shade that i perceive but i too call it red. so though we both call it by the same name we are actually perceiving two completely different things. so our experience might be completely different but we call it by the same name.
now this can be extended to almost everything that we experience around us - colors, shapes, sounds, taste, etc. in fact all sensory perceptions would be victim to this confusion of definition.
you might say that even though our sense organs might perceive things differently, the instruments that we have created to measure the phenomena around us would not have such problems. each measuring instruments would measure the measured object in exactly the same way as another similar instrument. while that might be true, it still is a human being who is observing & reading the results and interpreting it. and that is where the subjective element again comes in.
so though the measured numbers are the same to both of us who are observing the phenomena, the actual observation might still be completely different. and yet we would still agree with each other about the observation because both of us believe that the other person is seeing exactly the same thing that you are seeing. so when both of us see the colour red as a certain measurement of wavelength of electromagnetic radiation within the visible spectrum (wavelength interval of the colour red is ~ 625–740 nanometers and its frequency interval is ~ 480–405 TeraHertz) we are actually seeing two different colours and calling it red!
is this possible?
if that is the case then the possibilities of confused definitions are mind-boggling! i might actually be seeing a monkey when i look at you and i have always labeled moneys as 'human beings'; and you actually see a donkey when you see me and you always labeled donkeys as human beings! how's that just for starters?
maybe you can come up with something wilder! ;-)
Saturday, October 14, 2006
my wife and i finally saw 'lage raho munnabhai'! i am not sure it is oscar material, if you were to comapre it with movies that won the best foreign language film award, but we had a blast watching it.
the funniest line in the movie was when circuit beats up someone and then asks him to get so that he can sorry to him! what made it extremely hilarious was the cool way in which the dialogue was delivered.
there was one loop-hole i found in the picture, i don't know if i misread it. correct me if am wrong. there is one part where 'lucky singh' calls for a press conference to prove that munnabhai has lost his head and is seeing visions. there in the conference the psychiatrist proceeds to prove that the 'bapu' that munnabhai is seeing is his own mental projection. he demonstrates how munnabhai's bapu can answer only those questions for which munnabhai already knows the answer. he does this by producing a list of 3 questions which bapu cannot answer because munnabhai himself does not know the answer!
but my question is - how did the psychiatrist know that munnabhai did not know these facts in the first place? he was not the one who provided all the other facts in the first place!
i couldn't come up with an answer. could you?
the funniest line in the movie was when circuit beats up someone and then asks him to get so that he can sorry to him! what made it extremely hilarious was the cool way in which the dialogue was delivered.
there was one loop-hole i found in the picture, i don't know if i misread it. correct me if am wrong. there is one part where 'lucky singh' calls for a press conference to prove that munnabhai has lost his head and is seeing visions. there in the conference the psychiatrist proceeds to prove that the 'bapu' that munnabhai is seeing is his own mental projection. he demonstrates how munnabhai's bapu can answer only those questions for which munnabhai already knows the answer. he does this by producing a list of 3 questions which bapu cannot answer because munnabhai himself does not know the answer!
but my question is - how did the psychiatrist know that munnabhai did not know these facts in the first place? he was not the one who provided all the other facts in the first place!
i couldn't come up with an answer. could you?
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
what is it about us indians and road sense? many people label our behaviour as 'road rage' but i don't think that this term describes it completely.
i mean, picture this - you're driving along on a single lane road with a single lane also for oncoming traffic with no road-divider separating the two streams of traffic, but obviosuly.
you suddenly pull up since the vehicles ahead have stopped moving. and you notice vehicles lined up ahead as far as eye can see. now you fret and fume and curse the antecedents of whoever has caused the pile-up and throw in the weather, the politicians, the traffic police and the local municipality for good measure.
and then while you are waiting for the vehicles ahead of you to start moving you notice that some intrepid cowboy has decided to drive his auto-rickshaw/car/taxi/tempo/van/whatever in the next lane which was traditionally meant for only oncoming traffic! but then who's following the niceties here?
and suddenly, like the rats following the pied piper, a long line of vehicles zip along behind the leader in crime, with this firm belief that the afore-mentioned leader would have miraculously found some secret path ahead which would lead them all out of this jam into instant 'traffic nirvana'! within no time you have two serpentine columns of traffic facing each other on both sides of the road, resembling batallions lined up and facing each other for some unholy war!
this is approximately when some members of this frustrated, frazzled fraternity believe that the incessant blowing of their horns would clear the way ahead through sheer decibel power. there is obviously no such unfolding of events, much to their dismay!
what never ceases to amaze me is not the creation of such log-jams, but the fact that, eventually, they manage to unravel themselves. i wonder how that happens because none of the characters in this story budge from their seats to contribute to the unravelling.
and the amazing thing is that most of the people who created the problem in the first place or worsened it were hoping to save time but extricating themselves from the jam. but they only end up spending much more time in the entire process!
i have also noticed this irrational urge (even the author admits falling prey to this urge) among usually-sane drivers suddenly displaying blood-lust whenever some pedestrian (read jay-walker) is stepping off the curb to cross the street before your vehicle reaches him/her. the driver suddenly leans on the horn and accelerates lustily and feels some perverse satisfaction when the pedestrian starts and retreats to the safety of the footpath while the vehicle roars ahead only to stop behind a vehicle or at the stop-light just a few feet ahead!
i am sure you would have many similar examples to narrate!
why do well-educated, peace-loving, rational individuals resort to such self-defeating, irrational, almost violent actions like this?
if you were excepting some answers or theories to this phenomenon at the end of this piece, then i must disappoint you. i have none... but maybe you do?
i mean, picture this - you're driving along on a single lane road with a single lane also for oncoming traffic with no road-divider separating the two streams of traffic, but obviosuly.
you suddenly pull up since the vehicles ahead have stopped moving. and you notice vehicles lined up ahead as far as eye can see. now you fret and fume and curse the antecedents of whoever has caused the pile-up and throw in the weather, the politicians, the traffic police and the local municipality for good measure.
and then while you are waiting for the vehicles ahead of you to start moving you notice that some intrepid cowboy has decided to drive his auto-rickshaw/car/taxi/tempo/van/whatever in the next lane which was traditionally meant for only oncoming traffic! but then who's following the niceties here?
and suddenly, like the rats following the pied piper, a long line of vehicles zip along behind the leader in crime, with this firm belief that the afore-mentioned leader would have miraculously found some secret path ahead which would lead them all out of this jam into instant 'traffic nirvana'! within no time you have two serpentine columns of traffic facing each other on both sides of the road, resembling batallions lined up and facing each other for some unholy war!
this is approximately when some members of this frustrated, frazzled fraternity believe that the incessant blowing of their horns would clear the way ahead through sheer decibel power. there is obviously no such unfolding of events, much to their dismay!
what never ceases to amaze me is not the creation of such log-jams, but the fact that, eventually, they manage to unravel themselves. i wonder how that happens because none of the characters in this story budge from their seats to contribute to the unravelling.
and the amazing thing is that most of the people who created the problem in the first place or worsened it were hoping to save time but extricating themselves from the jam. but they only end up spending much more time in the entire process!
i have also noticed this irrational urge (even the author admits falling prey to this urge) among usually-sane drivers suddenly displaying blood-lust whenever some pedestrian (read jay-walker) is stepping off the curb to cross the street before your vehicle reaches him/her. the driver suddenly leans on the horn and accelerates lustily and feels some perverse satisfaction when the pedestrian starts and retreats to the safety of the footpath while the vehicle roars ahead only to stop behind a vehicle or at the stop-light just a few feet ahead!
i am sure you would have many similar examples to narrate!
why do well-educated, peace-loving, rational individuals resort to such self-defeating, irrational, almost violent actions like this?
if you were excepting some answers or theories to this phenomenon at the end of this piece, then i must disappoint you. i have none... but maybe you do?
Monday, October 09, 2006
someone once told me (or maybe i read it somewhere, i don't remember and it doesn't really matter) that the male of the species is the more attractive/colorful/etc. look at peacocks, elephants, panfish, etc.
but whoever arrived at this conclusion obviously did not take homosapiens into consideration! i personally believe that it is just the opposite among human beings.
why else do women models adorn more hoardings and magazine covers than male ones? but when animals are to be used in any picture, not necessarily for endorsing a brand, it is usually the male of the species which is used. have you ever seen a pea-hen being used instead of a pea-cock in any picture?
doesn't prove my point?
ok let me try present a word-picture of a very common phenomenon that all of you would have experienced at one point of time or the other. which irrefutably proves the point i am making.
imagine a couple walking along a beautiful promenade, as couples are usually wont to. they are chatting about things that couples usually chat about. now to avoid confusion lets label this couple as Couple A. now imagine another couple, lets call them Couple B, approaching Couple A from the opposite direction. as they get closer and are about to cross each other what do you think happens?
ok let me try describe it. and what i'm about to describe, i believe, is a universal phenomenon!
man-A looks at lady-B and for now lets not get into what man-A is thinking about her. man-B in the meanwhile is doing likewise with lady-A. but now it gets really interesting. lady-A is looking at lady-B and lady-B is also looking at lady-A. and chances are their thoughts are running along one of these courses -
1. she's fatter/slimmer than me.
2. the dress does/doesn't suit her. it think it will look better on me.
3. the chain/ear-ring/bracelet/etc looks cheap/expensive.
4. her hair is/isn't cut well.
5. why doesn't someone give her honest feedback about her dress/hair/make-up, etc.
but then i'm drifting from my point! all the parties involved in this example are looking only at the ladies! point proven, case closed!
but whoever arrived at this conclusion obviously did not take homosapiens into consideration! i personally believe that it is just the opposite among human beings.
why else do women models adorn more hoardings and magazine covers than male ones? but when animals are to be used in any picture, not necessarily for endorsing a brand, it is usually the male of the species which is used. have you ever seen a pea-hen being used instead of a pea-cock in any picture?
doesn't prove my point?
ok let me try present a word-picture of a very common phenomenon that all of you would have experienced at one point of time or the other. which irrefutably proves the point i am making.
imagine a couple walking along a beautiful promenade, as couples are usually wont to. they are chatting about things that couples usually chat about. now to avoid confusion lets label this couple as Couple A. now imagine another couple, lets call them Couple B, approaching Couple A from the opposite direction. as they get closer and are about to cross each other what do you think happens?
ok let me try describe it. and what i'm about to describe, i believe, is a universal phenomenon!
man-A looks at lady-B and for now lets not get into what man-A is thinking about her. man-B in the meanwhile is doing likewise with lady-A. but now it gets really interesting. lady-A is looking at lady-B and lady-B is also looking at lady-A. and chances are their thoughts are running along one of these courses -
1. she's fatter/slimmer than me.
2. the dress does/doesn't suit her. it think it will look better on me.
3. the chain/ear-ring/bracelet/etc looks cheap/expensive.
4. her hair is/isn't cut well.
5. why doesn't someone give her honest feedback about her dress/hair/make-up, etc.
but then i'm drifting from my point! all the parties involved in this example are looking only at the ladies! point proven, case closed!
Friday, October 06, 2006
i have this theory about parallel universes. you might think its rather warped, but i obviously think not.
i remember learning long, long ago in school that the human eyes are capable of seeing colors only between a certain frequency band. similarly we've also learnt that we also hear sounds only within a certain frequency band. and we are told that other animals can see and hear colors and sounds even beyond these frequencies. now this must be true for all our senses - sight, smell, taste, sound and touch.
this means that we are experiencing a part of the universe/world around us while there definitely exists another part which we do not experience. and just because we do not experience it does not mean that it does not exist! so we could say that we exist at one plane which we experience and there exists one or more other planes that exist which we are not aware of! or to put it differently, we experience a sub-set of the universe and we exist (or at least we believe) within that sub-set.
ok, now here's the hypothesis/question. is it possible that there is an entire universe existing parallely with our universe which we are not aware of, which is beyond the scope of our experience? and is it possible that there are 'beings' in those planes which may or may not be aware of our existence?
i agree that we have devices which are able to measure signals beyond those of human perception. but just like the limitations of our sense organs i believe these instruments would also have a limited scope of 'perception'.
imagine, there must be another 'being' sitting here next to me and chuckling at these conclusions that i am arriving at and another one sitting next to you reading this with you :-)
i remember learning long, long ago in school that the human eyes are capable of seeing colors only between a certain frequency band. similarly we've also learnt that we also hear sounds only within a certain frequency band. and we are told that other animals can see and hear colors and sounds even beyond these frequencies. now this must be true for all our senses - sight, smell, taste, sound and touch.
this means that we are experiencing a part of the universe/world around us while there definitely exists another part which we do not experience. and just because we do not experience it does not mean that it does not exist! so we could say that we exist at one plane which we experience and there exists one or more other planes that exist which we are not aware of! or to put it differently, we experience a sub-set of the universe and we exist (or at least we believe) within that sub-set.
ok, now here's the hypothesis/question. is it possible that there is an entire universe existing parallely with our universe which we are not aware of, which is beyond the scope of our experience? and is it possible that there are 'beings' in those planes which may or may not be aware of our existence?
i agree that we have devices which are able to measure signals beyond those of human perception. but just like the limitations of our sense organs i believe these instruments would also have a limited scope of 'perception'.
imagine, there must be another 'being' sitting here next to me and chuckling at these conclusions that i am arriving at and another one sitting next to you reading this with you :-)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
for those of you who do not know, i am a mallu. but except for having been born in mallu-land (or so i am told) i have had no major exposure to mallu-land. i did my entire schooling in pune and then college education in mumbai. even my accent apparently doesn't give away my mallu origins.
but, without sounding parochial, i find mallu-land a beautiful place. and i look forward to each visit there, official or personal.
ok, now apart from maharashtra i also spent a year in shonar bangla (kolkata, to be precise). and i was amazed to see the similarities between kerala and bengal. here're some that came to my mind -
1. both states are coastal states with very similar weather and the country-side looks very similar. people also dress very similarly - whites, dhoties, plain cotton sarees, etc.
2. the staple diet in both states is rice and fish.
3. politically both states have a strong communist base.
4. people declare strikes at the drop of a hat! both states have a strong labor movement.
5. both states have high literacy rates.
6. people from both states are football lovers.
7. the women in both states are strong & assertive. women's emancipation must be the highest in the country in these two states.
8. the people in both these states see themselves as the protectors of culture and arts in the country. they have a very high opinion about themselves. very high percentage of national award winners in art/film/literature come from these 2 states. most of the art films in the country emerge from these 2 states.
9. people of both states are devi worshippers - bhagawati in kerala and durga/kali in bengal.
10. people from both states have a large migrant population working outside the state. i would even go to the extent of saying that people from both states do very well outside their own states!
any more similarities you know of?
but, without sounding parochial, i find mallu-land a beautiful place. and i look forward to each visit there, official or personal.
ok, now apart from maharashtra i also spent a year in shonar bangla (kolkata, to be precise). and i was amazed to see the similarities between kerala and bengal. here're some that came to my mind -
1. both states are coastal states with very similar weather and the country-side looks very similar. people also dress very similarly - whites, dhoties, plain cotton sarees, etc.
2. the staple diet in both states is rice and fish.
3. politically both states have a strong communist base.
4. people declare strikes at the drop of a hat! both states have a strong labor movement.
5. both states have high literacy rates.
6. people from both states are football lovers.
7. the women in both states are strong & assertive. women's emancipation must be the highest in the country in these two states.
8. the people in both these states see themselves as the protectors of culture and arts in the country. they have a very high opinion about themselves. very high percentage of national award winners in art/film/literature come from these 2 states. most of the art films in the country emerge from these 2 states.
9. people of both states are devi worshippers - bhagawati in kerala and durga/kali in bengal.
10. people from both states have a large migrant population working outside the state. i would even go to the extent of saying that people from both states do very well outside their own states!
any more similarities you know of?
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