Misodelhism?

miso- or mis- pref. Hatred: misogamy
Delhi [(del-ee)] City in north-central India. The nation's capital
ism /Izem/ Pronunciation Key –noun a distinctive doctrine, theory, system, or practice

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Working with the above definitions, the title is tantamount to a doctrine about contempt for Delhi. A meeting with a few friends of Rishi (of the right sidebar fame) and the impression they carried prompted me into writing this. Let my start with a clarification that I do not hate/dislike Delhi. As a city, it just disturbs me!

I think Delhi is hard on a new-comer not in the Bombay kind of a way. Bombay absorbs you, passes its nervous energy, frenzy, activity to you even before you realize it. Delhi on the other hand is like a hurdle. Either you cross it or you are stuck clueless. In my case, I just stumbled at the hurdle. Even after having spent 17 months cumulatively over the last few years, I still feel that Delhi culture refuses to assimilate me.

The city has a lot going for itself. Delhi has the best infrastructure in the country. I think it has a rich historical heritage. I doubt any other Indian metropolis can come close to Delhi’s historical heritage. Delhi has a cuisine that people around the globe would swear by. Delhi has sirifort, IHC, Auto Expo, Metro and everything else that could make life convenient. Lutyens Delhi is close to what a perfect city would look like. It does give you the heady shot of power. The moment I’d be able to put my name on a small piece of land out there, I would know that I have arrived in life. Delhi does have arguably the best CV amongst Indian cities. However, the party for Delhi has been spoiled by the Delhi culture. People outside Delhi seem to carry a far from good impression of Delhi. The in-the-face aggression, grab-what-you-can-get mentality, short-tempered high-pitched-expletive-laced conversational tone do put you off. It is tough to ignore them in your day to day existence. And on a continued basis they are such a pain in the rear that you are sore all the time.

Over the last 9 years, I have lived in Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bangalore. I think Delhi has the worst professional work ethic. It is difficult to take your colleagues at face value. The old hierarchical school is still strong in the city. The PSU culture of strong hierarchies pervades the swank interiors of most MNCs in Delhi. Another disturbing aspect of life in Delhi is the avowed hostility against women. I doubt any woman would dare venture alone in most parts of Delhi after dark. Gawking openly is an integral part of the daily ToDo list of the Delhi male.

Dilli-dilwalon-ki! One gets to hear this epithet from the Delhiwallahs all the time. I am yet to experience the warmth of this heart. I have found that a linguistically challenged Chennai can be warmer than Delhi. To allegedly the most exhibitionist of Indian Cities, I would recommend slightly subtle display of material wealth.

Sans the types I have written about, Delhi rocks!

The Jargon Trap

This is based on an actual conversation that I had with a friend of mine who is an equity analyst with a European bank and with an illustrious academic career. The following conversation beautifully illustrates what the two years at B-school and Corporate world do to most people!

Friend: I was off to Vietnam on the weekend

Me: Wow! I get to travel to the sambhar-vada shop round the corner on my average weekend and you go to Vietnam. I am so envious!

Friend: No need to be envious. You travel more often. So it evens out!

Me: WHATTTT! If these two are comparable, why do not you, the humanoid leaky cauldron, include your innumerable number of visits to the loo! Anyway, bidesh brabhaman ki manyata humesha se hi desh bhatkan se jyada rahi hai!!

Friend: Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam are not strictly bidesh

Me: When did you visit Nepal and Bhutan?

Friend: Nepal when I was 3 yr old and Bhutan was a second-hand visit through YYY and a few batch mates at the IIM in the eastern part of the country

Second-Hand visit!!! A jargon definitely worthy of the stereotypical jargon spouting MBA. Another one lost to the jargon trap!

Pride and Shame

Two days with two emotions. Indian sports have just managed the same. Pride because the Indian cricket team won the first test in South Africa. Not pride actually, but some semblance of respect after the pathetic performance in the 50-50 format. But definitely pride for the compulsive cricket follower. The last cling-able strand of hope. Laxman has his feet moving, Dada had a good comeback, Tendulkar is back on the front foot (Seems to be in good nick. Just needs a big one). Bowlers are doing great. Zaheer has matured, Sreesanth has the aggression of the untamed and Kumble is the seasoned hunter. The optimists need no more reasons to remain interested in the rest of the test series. We do secretly believe that team India stands a chance in Caribbean 2007. But that is a secret, so sussssh!

Shame. If the cricket episode was shame converted into pride. Santhi’s failure to clear gender test was exactly the opposite. She (?) was the toast of Tamil Nadu as she won the 800m Silver medal at Doha. Apparently authorities at Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were in the know on this as Santhi had failed to satisfy the railways on this very issue. Interestingly, gender testing has been discontinued at International athletics. The test is conducted only if a fellow competitor complains of foul play. If someone who ran a race along with Santhi could sense this, how can Nagarajan, Santhi’s Coach at Prime Sports academy, claim innocence on this?

Anyway, Pride is a difficult emotion to come by in Indian sports. There are a lot of promising sportspersons but more often than not their sporting careers meet a sad end. Professionally, a clerical job with the railways or the Indian Airlines is not the best fallback option as well. I had set-out to cover one pride and one shame. With some more blabbering on Indian sports it would be one shame too many. Hence, the stop!

Making World A Safer Place

Today is one of those days when it requires no effort to write. Life gives you all the material with the dressing. George W Bush, the outgoing American president, has learnt his lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq. Learn more about his attempts to make world ever safer place and combating the nuclear threat from North Korea. Imaginative, eh! Another feather in your hat, Mr. Bush!

For the too lazy to click types, some excerpts from the news item:

In a novel effort that targets the lifestyle of North Korea's President, the Bush administration wants to make it tougher for him to buy iPods, plasma television sets, Segway electric scooters and more.

There would be no more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles, even personal watercraft such as Jet Skis. The ban would extend to musical instruments and sports equipment.

I know! You feel safe already! Americans, you can sleep tight. President Kim is not getting any more i-pods to attack you with!

Pandora's Box And My Second Life!

Internet 2.0 is here. I read about it sometime back and thought that it was another of the management jargons that we, management types, inflict on the unsuspecting world. But things are changing, and at a speed that I feel that my adaptation rate would increasingly lag the internet rate of change. This is another indication that my generation is growing old but I will whine about that in some other post.

Collaborative content, participation, personalization and stronger virtual identities have become a reality and an ever increasing number of users are hooked onto the net like never before. I recently sampled two websites which got me very excited. Pandora and Second Life delight you beyond expectations. I am not much of a virtual person but these things have got me!

Pandora is a music genome project. It is a personalized radio station cum DJ cum music club. You can choose the artist/band/song that you like. It will play that song and other similar song/band. You have the option of rating that song and the band. The song list would dynamically change on the basis of your ratings. Also, it would give interesting nuggets of information on the songs that you might not have heard. Your feedback will also be a feed to other users who have similar tastes in music. It is almost like a friend re-commending to listen to a particular song when he hears that you are crazy about a particular number. You can try Finetune too. It is also a great site though Pandora seems to have a better collection. Another great music site is Musicovery. It allows you to choose a mood and it plays the songs accordingly. You can choose the time period and the kind of music along with the mood. The song selection is very neat!

Second Life (SL) is a rage on the net. It has 1.5 million users. It has all the attributes of massively multi-player online role playing game (MMPORG) and yet it is not one because of the freedom it allows the residents. You can choose what you want to be on second life. Linden labs manufactures and sells land. You can buy your piece and start your own commercial activity. The 3D world of SL has been created by its residents. There is chaos, competition, creativity, racism and love in this life as well. It has blogs, newspapers, night-clubs, marriages (!!) and everything else that exists in the real life. A lot of companies have opened their stores in second life to reach out the geekier of their consumer set. 20th Century Fox organized a premier for X-men III in second life. Other companies that exist on SL are Addidas-Reebok, BBC, Dell, MTv, Reuters, Sun and Toyota. SL is an indication of what future holds for us. Businesses have another channel to take care of. But the sociological affects of SL would be clear only after sometime. After all, though the world is virtual, the emotions are real! So do check it out!

For the time strapped and the ones not inclined virtually, I would suggest StumbleUpon. It is a tool that helps you stumble upon interesting sites on the net. It is almost like a treasure hunt except for the effort. The content stumbled upon is of exceptionally high quality. If you have any area of interest, you will simply love it.

Tauba-Tauba

Tauba-Tauba is the hit song from Kailash Kher's last album. Apart from the catchy beat and the raspy voice of Kher, what works for this number is the video. Do catch the video on YouTube if you have not seen it till now. I like this video so much that even though the song has faded away from the music channel and public memory, I get this strong urge to write about it.

To me, this video mirrors life closely. One does not value what one has. Or more often, does not realize that he has something when in possession of it. At the same time, one craves something that is out of reach. Insomniacs realize the importance of sleep only after their painstaking effort of spurning it away start yielding results! Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Why? Same old desire for what you cannot have. This lust pervades every aspect of life; be it a job, an address, a car, love or the state of satisfaction. Humans develop this trait when they are fairly young. Have you ever noticed a child raise hell for a particular toy in a toy shop? Notice a trifle longer and see the child forget the existence of the toy as soon as he exits the shop with the toy.

Perpetual dissatisfaction with the conditions of existence is a state we are condemned to. We are like dogs chasing their own tails! Anyway, let’s get back to the video and away from my pathological view of life. The story of pursuit for a certain someone has been told very well out here. I think one has to be extremely lucky to sidestep a predicament of the type so colorfully depicted it in video. The generally accepted phrase for this side-stepping is falling in love. The complimentary set comprises of people who are tired of this entire exercise. So they opt out of the system by choosing the next available solution. Since, so many people do it, would it be reasonable to assume that this is better than remaining in an unsolutioned state? Moreover, does Compromise make the world go round?

Follow-up: In Defense of reservations

After this post of mine, I have received a few reactionary mails/phone calls from people I know. Some were of the opinion that this is the nailing evidence they were looking for. Now, they can proclaim my insanity to the rest of the world. And a few (a couple to be exact) comments on the blog as well.

So here comes the rejoinder to the previous one.

There is a difference between ability and accomplishment that we are very familiar with. Ability is a necessary condition and not a sufficient one for accomplishment. Accomplishment demands abilities be nurtured and the right opportunities come by. If you read my essay again, you would realize that my call is not to "gift" accomplishments. All is ask for is equal opportunities and an assistance with educational development. I do not think I am asking for too much. After all, education is now a right of Indian citizens.

One can ignore the reality and say that backward castes are equal. Equal on IQ? Yes! But on everything else, they lag by generations. There is a strong case for disturbing this order that has crystallized over centuries. When a state espouses Equality for all its citizens, it signs up for reducing inequity where it exists. It is not there to maintain status quo. I believe reservations at least attempt to undo this state of inequity which some want to exist unto perpetuity. As I have said before, I am against the (ab)use of reservation by creamy layer or the repeat usage of reservations.

In the interim, the GOM (group of ministers) have decided that they would propose amendment in the constitution to allow creamy layer to benefit from reservations any number of times. Ram Vilas Paswan says that both of these is integral to bringing social justice to the masses! It is this block-headed logic of most politicians that disallows even a logical person to see merit in reservations. But there are sane voices as well. Sachhar committee has recently released a report that Muslims are worse off than the backward castes in many places. Saifuddin Soz (Minister for Water resources) went on news with the statement that his children should not benefit from reservation if it is extended to backward Muslims. We need more sane voices on both sides of the table.

In a Democracy, it is important to ensure that inequity remains at its state of equilibrium. The Maoist and Naxal eruptions across the country are an indication of the undoing of this equilibrium in the country. High social inequity is a precursor to most separatist movements. Inclusive policies like reservations are required to combat this. Let us not act like the kid whose favorite toy is being given to someone else! The final policy on this should be inclusive. It should sound fair in the word and execution. Tough task? Yes it is!

Yeh Kya ho raha hai!

Last fornight was one of the darkest periods on news. While I believe that life has made me increasingly numb over a period of time, incidents of last fornight make me feel as if I have been dragged through a cactus field. Want to write about a lot of things but have been low on energy, time and the motivation.

However, you should read and explore the following news items:

1. Khairlanji Dalit killings
2. Kidnapping of Anant Gupta
3. China staking claim on Arunachal Pradesh
4. Government proposing constitution amendment to allow creamy layer to continue to benefit from reservations
5. Yet another case of pavement dwellers being run-over
6. Ram Jethmalani tries his hand at character assasination of Jessica lall

I can go on for hours on each of these. However, I have decided to keep mum because of the paucity of time and the fact that it would emotionally drain me out. I will allow you to undergo this test of numbness.

Nostalgia...

It happens when you flip through the old photographs, re-read old mails and letters (remember them?). It happens while listening to a forgotten song. Like the song that was playing in the background when you saw a certain person last or when a certain set of events happened. It happens when you pass through a city that you had lived in and is not more than an airport/railway station/bus-stop for you now. It also happens when you are inside a now dilapidated building that you thought was huge but somehow seems to have shrunk over the years. It happens when you walk across a hedge that was once very familiar now not-so-familiar. It happens when you see the sun setting. It happens when you see the sun rise. It happens when you hear the rain falling. It happens when the loo (the one in Hindi) batters your face. It happens when you are talking to an old friend and realize that things have changed. It happens when you are talking to an old friend and realize that things have not changed. It happens when you watch Dil Chahta Hai. It happens when you hear a laugh, it happens when a tear trickles down slowly. It happens when you see a see a cassette titled “Super hits 1992, 1993.” It happens when you smell a particular perfume. It happens when you look at a scrawl that was your hand-writing once. It happens when you look at a sketch that your mom has preserved over the years. It happens when your Dad shows you that useless souvenir that you had bought for him on some trip long time back. It happens when you look at the year that you had put on the right hand corner of the second page of a book. It happens when you look at the rotting rubber on a cycle’s tires. It happens when you spot the location of some place on Google earth.

It happens. It happens more often these days. I meet friends and we discuss things that happened sometime in the past and things that are happening to people we had known in the past. Suddenly, past seems to be this treasure chest that has been filling over the years. And to quote a line that I heard somewhere, so much has happened that I find it difficult to believe that I was a part of all this. So at times I look back and I wonder. I just wonder!

Mere yaar ki Shaadi!

It is very unbecoming of a cynic if he admits the sudden feeling of contentment caused due to something that happened to someone else! But that is precisely what I intend to do today. I know that it is utterly shameless of me to do so but true to my cynic self, I do not care!

A close friend got married today. Not with the usual paraphernalia that is associated in marriages across the world. Marriage is a big social event for everyone including the pygmies, civil-war torn factions, oppressed or oppressor communities. No Sir, this one was no social event. Unless, of course, it were being conducted under Dhara Ek-so-chaumalees.[1] So this friend of mine who is neck, eyes, every-strand-of-hair-on-his-scalp deep in love has eloped with the lady of his life. The marriage documentation happened today at the sub-registrar office, Jayanagar 4th block. The bride and the groom were blue. I think they kept forgetting that they are supposed to breathe. Three witnesses (trivia for the enthusiasts: they need three witnesses to endorse the marriage) were all smiles because it felt so cool - aakhir dost log court marriage kar rahe they - also because the first half of office was washed away in this exercise.

The lady at the desk looked at us. Mistook the witnesses for the bride and the groom because of their cheerful faces. I had to quickly intervene and address the situation. The agenda was set for only one marriage. Soon we had five forms staring at us in the eye. Trust me, this court marriage thing requires more work of the witnesses than the Bride & Groom. Finally after filling the address, pin code and due endorsements from the witnesses some fifteen times over, we were asked to wait outside the office. I took out my camera to click a couple of snaps but was asked by the bureau people to put it away. They do not allow you to click photos inside the premises.

The bride started crying. The groom was so very tense. Two of the supporting star cast i.e. (Saket and Raghu) took off to get some frooties so that moonh-mitha can be done. Soon some office boy took us downstairs and we were parked outside the office of sub-registrar for about half an hour after that. I thought that this was an indication that the government machinery required some grease to get moving. We quickly huddled together to decide on the appropriate number and the color of gandhijis that should exchange hands. It was decided that Tarun should carry minimal funds inside the office so that he can proudly proclaim our collective bankruptcy. Surprisingly, the registrar did not ask for anything. Surprise to those who are new to the business of bribing/greasing palms.

Soon we were asked to go upstairs to the processing room. Poornima (Witness #2) used this chance to pinch the photos of TG and Shanu off the notice they had put on the board some 2 months back. Tarun took about 15 minutes to scrutinize the spelling of the names on the certificate. And then came the silent killer from the auntyji behind the desk, "Where are the sweets?" Yes even the gang of four sidekicks wanted sweets. But the sweets out here were just a guise for the grease that we discussed in the previous paragraph. So TG took out the purse and handed over a mutually acceptable amount which was promptly exchanged for some "Army Day" coupons (Rishwat - deshbhakti ke saath!!!). One coupon for each Rs. 50 contributed. What a neat way of accounting the daily collections! I was amazed by the simplicity of the idea. Staff members are given a stock of these coupons in the morning. Every evening a count is run on the remaining coupons and the collections should match 50 times the decrease. Also the collections person is different from the person controlling the coupons. Nice control systems in place as well.

Anyway, we came down and clicked a few photos and came back to office. I have not had such a beautiful start to a day in a long time. Here’s wishing Tarun and Shanu a blissful life ahead. Indeed a happy day!



[1] An act of law that prohibits congregation of more than 4 people at public places. Usually imposed during curfews

A 'Pawar'ful Push

Of all the senseless blabbering that one is subjected to in the name of breaking news, a news item on the behavior of the Aussies after the ICC Champions Trophy final caught my attention. There has been a lot of discussion and action on this subsequently. The most amusing one was a donkey painted in yellow and green (representing the aussie jersey) with Damien Martyn written on him. Apparently it was forced to bleat and the NCP activists felt avenged with this version of the ace batsman. Sharad Pawar played down the entire episode and blamed it squarely on media sensationalisation. Ricky Ponting has subsequently offered to apologize (If Cricket Australia feels the need for it!)

I do not think that Ponting’s offer is enough. Anyone who has seen the footage of the nudge would vouch for the fact that it has to be a strong push. Pawar was made to turn unwillingly by 90○ and move by 6-12 inches. After all, Pawar is a heavy man and almost as tall as Martyn. And Ponting gesturing before the trophy was handed over was also in bad taste. Why would an Australian player push the BCCI president and a minister in the Indian government is beyond me! I cannot even start to imagine the furore if Ganguly were to do this in Australia (I doubt anyone else can do it). Few years back there were reports of a pitch drunk Shane Warne urinating in the swimming pool of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay. Aussies have been accused of racist behavior in the past. Perhaps, the racist bent of cricket in Australia is the reason why we are yet to see a single aboriginal or a player of non-Australian origins in the Australian team. This incident is just a continuation of the racist spite that the Australians have brought to the cricketing world. Is it a surprise that Umpire Hair is also an Australian? Few years back, Shane Warne had launched an attack on Ranatunga. Ranatunga referred to Australia being the place where English criminals were exiled to. He alluded that this is at the roots of the Australian culture.

Anyway, whether the Australians like it or not, the sub-continent is the future of cricket. Plain economics, cricket in the sub-continent means serious money. Why else would you have Michael Vaughn, Flintoff (Both Kingfisher), Lara (MRF), Sarwan, Ponting, Chanderpaul (Seagram) and Bret Lee (Timex) mouthing inanities in the name of commercial endorsements? Or why else would cric-info move its corporate headquarters from London to Bangalore? It would be a good idea for the Aussies to do away with the racial garb while there is time. After all they might pay with lost advertising contracts. Money matters! And Messers Ponting and Co. are smart enough to be aware of that!

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Just after I published this, I got an update from Fox news. Money does matter!

Bolo Bolo Na!

This thing has happened after a gap of 8 months. Just love this song. Every once in a while, you come across a number that you put in loop and hate it everytime it ends. This is one such song after Kailash Kher's Diwani. This year has been good for the indian music but is gaane main kuch to alag baat hai

Of Existentialist Angst

I think existentialist angst is part of growing up. It is the second teenage that no one told us about. While in teenage, we could take solace in knowing that everyone else is also suffering. And there were a lot of other distraction - strong hormonal activity, career related anxiety and a thrill associated with the wonderful discoveries that you make during that time. Teenage triggered the first massive disillusionment wave. But we traded one set of illusions for another. It was just a transition from one comfort zone to another. Social support structure for a lot of people changed from family to friends.

One is slightly befuddled at the sudden discovery of existentialist doubts. An unexpected guest at an inopportune time! A forced realization of the recto absurdum of human life. A cheap freebie handed over by life. Something that cannot be put to use or be thrown away. Existentialism has been richly chronicled by philosophers and authors like Satre, Kierkegaard, Camus, Kafka and others. My personal favorite is Camus (Recommended reading: The Outsider, The Plague and The Myth of Sisyphus). Kafka is also good with The Trial and Metamorphosis. Regret the digression. This is the journey of your own. An overwhelming majority of our age is on this journey. The soul searching and the hunt for the meaning of life are there for everyone you know. Different people have different triggers. Loneliness, soured relationships, job-dissatisfaction and other random events account for most people. People manage it in different fashions. This ailment plagues everyone but there is no panacea for this. We should stop waiting for that ultimate high. It is not coming. Personally, I believe that a certain level of dissatisfaction is healthy. I think this is again a classic case of wrong expectation management. Our parents/influencers-main thought that if they make us do a certain set of things, we would have better lives than them. So they drove us in a particular direction. Meanwhile, our expectations from life soared! We thought that this is an engine that works at more than 100% efficiency. It does not. Its time that we accept this and move on! Probably life is just a mrig-trishna!

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Thought I would end-up there. Mrig-trishna is such a beautiful word to end such a note. Mirage sounds so inadequate as compared to it. But as usual, I have this urge to add qualifiers. This problem bothers the Atheists/Agnostics more than the believers. Believers have their doubts but take refuge in the belief that their god has planned all this for them. Some of them actually believe that this is a big conspiracy (plan) hatched to increase their proximity to god. As for the acute non-believers, Only God can help us ;)

In Defense Of Reservations

From all the protests, dharnas, gheraos, online petitions, PILs and the PILs that did not happen, there seems to be a general understanding that reservation is killing meritocracy in India. I have read some hilarious posts on reservation being posted on my IIT and IIM e-groups. The common refrain being greater reservation translates into the death of meritocracy in India. It is generally accepted that the reservation policies are biased against the general category population and treats them in an unfair manner. People across different walks of lives have been polarized, more against than in the favor of reservation.

For the purpose of this discussion, let me define the concept of reservation. Reservation is the policy which earmarks seats/positions etc for population from the under-privileged sections of the society. Everything else would be under the implementation of reservation.

I am of a strong belief that affirmative action is required in any society. One needs to involve and uplift the under-privileged in any society. I think there is a general agreement that reservation on the basis of economic indices is acceptable. I believe there is no other mechanism of implementation of reservation. However, it is difficult to achieve. The National Information Center does not have an economic profiling of the population. Further, given the enormity of the Black economy in India, the income tax returns are a big joke. They cannot be used as an indication of economic state of a household. One option that we have at hand would to initiate a giant data collection exercise that profiles the population. But how do we do it? Beats me! Also, even if some methodology is developed it would be good 15 years before we are good to roll-out such a plan.

In such a case of acute data deficiency, should any affirmative action happen? People are so emotionally embroiled in this that the most probable answer I expect to hear on this is an emphatic ‘NO.’ However, I will dwell for some more time on this. In most factories or work places, data non-availability is a common issue. We all use heuristics or a thumb-rule to solution such problems. The best heuristic available in this case is the caste. The so-called lower castes have higher incidence of poverty on an average. Hundreds of years of oppression show on their economic and physical conditions. It is easy to compare them with the Deltas and epsilons of the “Brave new world.” The society has to support them to get onto a level playing field. The present situation is totally biased in the favor of the upper castes. The upper-castes are economically better off on an average. They have a better social support structure. They are in a so called virtuous cycle of prosperity. And the lower castes stuck in the vicious circle of poverty. Just to clarify, I am talking of the average case here. The one-odd cases exist and I am not denying their existence.

Merit is another placard used by the people who oppose this. Merit is not intelligence. Merit is intelligence coupled with social and educational conditioning. I am sure that most of us would have met smart mechanics, odd-task runners etc. and can vouch for the fact that intelligence is not the bastion of the well-offs. Should a probabilistic event like the family of birth be allowed to dictate a person’s life? Should a person be held accountable for the fact that someone centuries back labeled his forefathers as Shudra?

Of course, creamy layer and repeated usage of reservation should go away. For e.g., there was this person at IIMA whose father was a senior IAS officer. This person had been educated at the best of schools. Managed to secure admission at one of the best Arts colleges in India using reservation. And used it again to gain access to IIMA. There were numerous other cases as well. I think there should be a cap on the number of times reservations can be used in a person’s lifetime. It should definitely not be used as a season pass. These are the days when a reserved category candidate uses it for education, job, promotion and his kids as well. I think this repeated usage of reservation by a certain section antagonizes the people who oppose reservation apart from the belief that they are the ‘meritorious’ ones.

And we desperately need reforms in the education sector. Yes, this problem needs to be attacked at an earlier stage in life, preferably at the schooling stage. But this problem needs to be attacked at all stages. Top-down and bottoms-up. But at the top, we need to increase the supply by building better quality institutes so that the pie does not shirk for any section of the society. Something needs to be done urgently here.

I have to have one dedicated paragraph on doctors. Why are they so vocal about their opposition? This is a supply side constraint playing havoc with the futures of innumerable doctors. It is now a part of conventional wisdom that a doctor with just a MBBS degree is not better than a quack, atleast in cities. Villagers are anyway overjoyed at the sight of a bonafide doctor. So doctors invariably have to take up a post graduation. On an average a doctor spends 3+ years after his MBBS before entering a PG program. Some who opt for tenure in villages spend even more. The central pool of seats available for PG in reputed colleges is as little as 2 in Lucknow if you want to specialize in cardiology. Just imagine the fierceness of competition for these two seats. Most of the doctors do not even apply to any other PG course once they secure admission at a college. My doctor friends dreadfully recall the days when they had to go through this tense phase of their lives. When the states brought up the applicable reservation limit to 51%, most of the colleges dedicated about half of their PG seats to the central pool. So that the number of available seats to the general category students do not decline drastically (Central seats being out of the preview of the act then). The new bill brings the Central pool of seats into the fold as well. Just to illustrate, the 2 Cardiology seats in Lucknow comes down to one!!! So you can only imagine the anguish of this set who naturally feels cheated after spending a considerable time of their life to this cause.

But there is one aspect of reservations that I just cannot come to terms with. The political ramifications of reservations make it impossible to have a good execution. Even at an acceptable state of equality in the society (which itself can prove to be a can of worms), no politician would ever have the courage to roll-back reservations. After all, vote-bank politics has no space for extreme logical steps.

The advantages of reservations outweigh the flipsides. We need to ensure that there is a good implementation policy. There should be checks and controls on who is benefiting by the policy. We should also have a stipulated review frequency. At the breach of every such time interval, an iteration to improve the policy and framework should happen. And to Arjun Singh, I urge him to usher in educational reforms at the school level and better infrastructure at institutes of higher learning ASAP!

The turning of tides

I think that I should do away with my cynic hat. A friend recently told me that cynicism and I do not go together. It is more like party shoes on me. May be I would take her advice.

However, the reason for this sudden epiphany is a small feature in the recent issue of Outlook (October 30). There was this article on David Godwin coming down to India and picking the budding literary talent in India. For those who tuned in late, David the person who has been credited with the discovery of Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and Ben Okri (all Booker prize winners) amongst 60 others. His agency finds the right publisher, price and other terms of engagement for authors. David Godwin Associates boasts of authors who have churned potential classics/chart toppers many times over.

On his recent trip to India he picked up another author – a certain Anuradha Vijayakrishnan. While I skimmed through the article, the name kept coming back to me. It sounded very familiar. Somewhere down the line, the article said that Anu is a banker based out of Chennai. Yes, of course, I knew her. And most of the people based out of the Citibank CHR (Club house road) office would know her well. She was the AVP from Cards Credit policy team. It was so wonderful to learn that she managed to preserve her passion all through the years. At this point in time, I am of the opinion that it takes a lot to keep that inner flame burning. Though this sounds nothing less than magical to me, I know that it would have taken a lot of effort and pains from her end to get to this point. I think many of us at the quarter life crises of our lives can take heart in this.

Anu, Congratulations! Wish you all the very best with your future as a writer. Hope to see your book on the stands soon!

Collective Wisdom of the last three years

The last three years have helped me transform into a cynic. The following gems were produced during the golden age of my cynicism i.e. before I left Chennai for Delhi. This post is dedicated to the brotherhood of the OICs at the Bank.

1. Life is a struggle against the mediocrity of your own
2. Being simple is the most complex task that you would come across
3. Tomorrow will be as bad as today
4. When in the line of fire, Lie low!
5. Good advise is never appreciated if given out of time
6. A kick in time, saves nine
7. Anticipation is worse than constipation
8. Planning life is like taking the bull by its horns. Doesn't work!
9. Hard work is 99% perception and 1% perspiration
10. Independence in highly undervalued when you have it!
11. Never ever give more information than sought
12. If you knock at the wall in place of the door, you will hurt your knuckles
13. Rumors are always more interesting than people!
14. If you don't seize the moment, someone else will!
15. If its too good to be true, Wake up!
16. Unhappiness is directly proportional to the happiness of the residual world
17. Change is easy as long as it is for someone else
18. There is less good in this world than you think
19. The best mood to finish important tasks is last moment panic
20. Life is a coin biased against you!
21. Life is a lemon and I want a refund
22. Two and two make five with appropriate amount of alcohol or insanity
23. Irritation is the first pedestal to success
24. Boredom will get you sooner or later
25. Habit is the strongest narcotic
26. Like Thank you, Hello and Hi there, goodbye is just another word

Adding more, June 2011

27. Life is more twisted that you think it is
28. Hair today, gone tomorrow (More applicable for Men)
29. Only groups can be more tyrannical than real life tyrants
30. Why simplify when you can obfuscate
31. The tribe of stupid is for real and there are more of them than you would think

Daastan-e-Seelampur

In Animal farm, the Pigs used the Sheep as propaganda tools to change the accepted viewpoint. I think propaganda has always been used to change perspectives. Common consciousness has short memory that can easily be influenced by events of immediate past. Anyway, in a world where the cognizant lack the courage and the courageous are devoid of the critical eye, the muscled (politically or monetarily) will always be able to use propaganda to their advantage.

A dyed-in-the-wool propagandist drama is being staged in Delhi these days. Well, some people would of the opinion that the city is always the center of all propagandist noise in the country, but the nautanki that has some relationship with the title irks me a lot these days. For the uninitiated, let me give some background. Delhi had a master plan. A master plan for a city divides it into zones where residential, commercial and industrial activities can be conducted. This division is natural because the infrastructural needs of the three are very different. For e.g., a residential area would need schools, parks, playgrounds and an industrial area would need different power distribution set-up etc. Government has a differential tariff card for amenities like water, electricity etc. depending on the approved usage. You get the picture, this is to ensure that a city grows in a controlled manner and life remains comfortable for the citizens.

The First master plan of Delhi was the Delhi master plan, 1962. It had prominent architects on the team and a team from the Ford Foundation assisted on the same. It served the city well for a while. It was to be re-visited as and when the needs of the city changed. What happened after this was a classic case of perverse incentives bringing down the house!

Delhi grew. Immigrant population soared. There was a need for new residential and commercial areas. The earmarked commercial complexes outlived their utility. The highly entrepreneurial Punjabi-Sindhi-Marwari Lala used this opportunity to set-up shops in residential areas. Local population was happy because their needs were being served. Traders were happy as the initiative paid-off. The babus in DDA, L&DO etc.[1] were happy because this created a strong stream of under-the-table income. Thus, the haphazard growth continued. Meanwhile Malhotra commission re-viewed the situation and released a report. The Delhi master plan 2001 was also created. However, they fell well short of what the city required. Soon, we had a situation where the major markets in Delhi were in residential areas (Lajpat nagar, GK, South-Extension). Many houses doubled up as offices/shops/showrooms. Almost every Delhi house in North Delhi has a 3rd Floor which is illegal or the plot coverage area exceeds the legal limit set by DDA. But who cares? As long as the right pockets were being warmed, everything continued unabated.

But the Judiciary had a view-point on this. Oft criticized judicial activism has had a very positive role to play as far as Delhi is concerned (CNG, Re-location of Polluting units). So sometime last year, Supreme court ordered sealing/demolition of un-authorized construction within the city limits. It was all pandemonium in Delhi after this. The isuue-strapped BJP setup started crucifying Sheela Dixit’s government. Soon Congress joined the bleating exercise denouncing the apex court’s decision. After a lot of fragmented protests and bullying the MCD officials in-charge of sealing, the Delhi trader’s association decalred a bandh in September. This show of solidarity had the tacit support of the youth wings of the Congress and the BJP. Protests turned especially ugly in Seelampur where four people were killed and 78 others were injured. Stone pelting, arson and other disruptions were also carried out successfully at various other locations by the traders. Supreme Court put a stay on all sealing till Oct 31st. But just when the sealing was to be resumed, another bandh was declared. This time the political establishment was very vocal in the support. There were threats of burning down the entire city! All this arranged courtesy some poor helpless traders! Thus, this hand-in-glove propagandist nexus of trader-politicians almost had us believing that the present unorganized state is the possible optimal solution to the problem.

But why am I feeling bad? So many traders would rejoice if their encroachments are legalized! Who am I to point fingers? I do not even live in Delhi anymore. I used to live in Delhi and realized the pain that the city faces everyday due to this thoughtless usage of its space. Common man does get affected. Every residential area is infested with shops. The roads in the residential areas are narrower because of the encroachments by the traders. There is an acute problem of electricity theft and power outage. The residential transmission lines were never capacitized for commercial usage. Noise and pollution levels are high. Delhi citizens contract the most exotic of diseases. The in-the-face Delhi aggression of Delhi has been accentuated by these factors. The common man of Delhi does feel constrained for space. He would be glad to get rid of the immense nuisance value created by years of mismanagement of Delhi’s space. But the poor guy lacks the voice, forum and wherewithal to bring this up anywhere. After all, all this is nice to have and the Delhites have become used to their existence.

But after the disruption of the recent bandh, the pressing need, I presume, is to just get going with their lives. Work, shop and eat as usual. I agree that DDA never implemented the master plans. Even the 1962 master plan envisioned 75 large scale commercial centers in Delhi. Till date, DDA has managed 9! But resorting to populism is surely not the correct answer. Sound policies and bad implementation, a story oft repeated in our country. Here’s hoping that someone will have the sense to look beyond the short-term and we would have a capital befitting an emerging superpower!




[1] DDA: Delhi Development Authority
L&DO: Land and Development Organization

The India Growth Story - Did we miss the bus again?

A mail from a colleague in the office started it all. He was on a trip to the south-east Asia and had a lot of wonderful words to say about Korea and China. Enclosed:

______________________________________________
From: ABCD
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:24 PM
To: WXYZ
Subject: RE: KARNATAKA BUNDH ON 04.10.2006

In korea right now..
I tell you this much - SEAsia is definitely the sleeping dragon. Here is my first hand feedback.
Just wanted to let you know how amazing china is. I was in the southern part of china in a city call Xiamen and then today I am in Dalian which is in the northern part of China

I cannot describe how beautiful china is. The airport in Xiamen is actually better than most of the airports in USA. It is as big as the dallas airport and far more pretter. The city is so clean that it is incredible. At nights all buildings have lights on it so it looks a lot like time square.xiamen is famous for it's pearls and of course I did some shopping for my wife cheryl as I need to score some BIG time brownie points.

The food is fantastic. Quite spicy and tasty. I have become very good at handling chop sticks. !! Most of the food is seafood. Big prawns, lobsters, crabs, eels, squid. Did not like the eel and squid but the prawns were great.

I left Xiamen today where I was for 3 days and reached DALIAN.. Dalian is in the north of China. We had to go via Beijing where I was there for 3 hours at the airport.
Dalian is even better than Xiamen. The roads are like the I-35 (in texas), the airport is even better than Dallas and there are so many shopping malls around that it is incredible. Dalian is a lot more expensive than Xiamen. Very upper class, got a lot of money and the people are actually tall, fair and very very pretty/handsome. Very unlike the chinese inthe other parts of the country. Almost like we have the punjabis and kashmiris from India who are from the north.
I was staying in this 5 star hotel called the Shangri-La. I enjoyed eating prawns every day !! And I have become very very good at the chop sticks. I can actually pick one grain of rice at a time and eat it !! Even my colleague from Malaysia was very impressed by my ability. I have even picked up a few chinese words, but the language is very very tough to understand. Each province has a different type of dialect (meaning they speak chinese, but it sounds different) just like how indians who speak hindi in bombay is different from the hindi spoken by the people in delhi.

Today I am in Korea. September 27th

It is shameful that India's infrastructure is so crap.I can tell you this. India will not stand a chance with china within the next 5 years as it is the perception of how easy it is to live and work in a country that will eventually attract foreign investment more towards china. The only saving grace that india has today is that english is widely spoken and there is still the communist threat that will deter full force investment in china.

Just landed in Korea, today, I am telling you INDIA has a lot to catch up on !! Korea, is also well developed. Infrastructure is also amazing but the main difference is that korea is very expensive. China is going to kick ass in the next 5 years. If the overcome the fact that english needs to be widely spoken, india is doomed. Korea is as expensive as japan. Intrestingly enough, korea has perfected the art of 'copy-cat' from japan but I guess at a lower market price.
Korea is a blend of the old and the new. I am staying in an absolutely amazing hotel called 'the shilla' which is gorgeous. But the funny thing is you walk away about 1 km from the hotel, and you find the old korea, just like india garbage on the road, hardware shops selling stuff, woodwork stuff, cutting wood, small baniya type shops, you feel at home with the exception of the language. Funnily enough most koreans in hotels, shops speak good english which is probably why they ar doing better than china.

The hotel room rate is around 200 $, tell you this it is worth every dime. The view from the room the service, is incredible. I called today to ask why the room is so hot, I had three frigging people come.. One the assistant manager, the techincan and the servie person. They took apart the vent, looked at the filter and cleaned it and apologized for the dirt. Could not see a damn thing. Can you imagine this type of service in India ??. They would have told us to take a flying f....k.!!

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Am not disclosing the name of the colleague here. I solicited the opinions of a few friends on this. Milan had lived in HK, Shanghai and other places and he was the first to respond.

Milan's take:

Yaar you would have guessed my answer.

We have not missed the bus. In fact we have taken a bus but it's among the last buses to leave. Apan is die hard optimist.

Waise, this fellow's description of china/SE is quite like the way it is. And nothing is exaggerated even if it seems to be. For example, even Shanghai's main square is as beautiful and hep as NYC's times square jaise isne likha hai. Dono jagah mein koi khaas fark nahi hai. Even the bloody roads are major great just like US the way he mentioned. I didn't go to texas but the roads everywhere across the 4-5 states in US that I saw similar to Chinese. Airports are GREAT. The cities are really first world-ish.So basically, in short China/Korea win hands down in infrastructure. Bus that's it.

English to unke baap bhi nahi catch up kar payenge hum se. It doesn't take 5 years to catch up English yaar. It shud be measured in generations. Chinese have just started teaching English compulsorily to kids. But even that is very very basic. Like alphabets and pronounce few words. Basically, I'd say it wud take at least 2 chinese generations for their English to come up to par. Pur opitimist me thinks tab tak we would have rectified a lot of our problems. Fir Chinese know angrezi or not would not matter.

Secondly, my impression having stayed in China was that it's golden cage kind of thing. No democracy. Ekdam bakwaas. Only one candidate contests, who is nominated by the central govt. General junta is not eligible for contesting elections. General kuch bhi karte hain. Govt. protests are crushed ( Tianenment sq, journalist recently whose name 's surrendered by yahoo china recently etc.) . Dreams have a limit there. Too big businesses become controlled by govt I'd rather be a middle class Indian than a rich Chinese.

Korea/Japan bahut hi tech hain yaar. Pur theek hai koi to aage hoga hi. Ismein khamkha pareshan hone wali baat hi nahi hai. Hum ab chal chuke hain. And we are gaining confidence. Even politics is changing slowly. RTI act has not been curtailed. Reservations implementation is staggered. High profile guys are being arrested. Service level in India is poor but not as poor as it used to be. idhar sons of middle class fellows can dream of dreaming. And know what , Chinky's are shit scared of India's ability in IT and English. Aur saare continents mein apan bolbala hai maloom. Bus only people who don't respect Indians in the world are Indians.

Kul mila kar, I would have shared ABCD's implicit displeasure but its so eighties and so pre-liberalisation. I think we have not missed the bus but have taken one.

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Vaibhav also reacted in a similar vein

Vaibhav's take:

No doubt that China has improved a lot in the past two years in terms of infrastructure, but if you look at the other aspects of their growth, things are not as rosy.

For example, economic disparities in China are way higher than they used to be 2 decades back. There are continuous protests from farmers whose lands have been grabbed in the name of industrial development. Coal mining accidents claim about 6000 lives every year. China may have some clean cities but as per a recent survey, 7 of the top 10 most polluted cities are in China. Apathy towards environmental issues had led China to a situation where significant proportion of their population is facing fresh water scarcity. Imagine 1.3 billion people with limited fresh water.

Having said that, it would be unfair to not give credit to China for its fast paced economic growth and world class infrastructure. Democracy has its pitfalls and China has been spared those owing to the political set up that they have. However, it has also stymied the growth of private enterprises and entrepreneurship culture (I think gujjus and marwaris amongst us can pat themselves :) ). If China has state directed development, India has a host of business houses driving the growth that it has seen.

In the near term, the biggest impediment in India's growth is its infrastructure or the lack of it. Agreed that IT and IT services are not as dependent on infrastructure as manufacturing or industry (they dont have to use ports, highways, basically no problem of managing logistics). However, until and unless India improves its overall infrastructure, it would be impossible to prosper as fast as China. A country as big as India can not grow entirely on the back of services. Secondly, for long term sustainability of this growth, social equity, health indices and education levels have to improve. China has got a headstart but I think our democratic setup, entrepreneurial culture and English speaking population should help us reach our rightful place. Like Milan, I too believe that we have taken the bus..


And what follows is my view:

Pessimist that I am, I do believe that we have missed the bus. However, the good part is that there is an intent to take up the journey [unlike in 80s and early 90s when we gave up and industrialists acted as heroes of Greek tragedies]. So while there might not be the bus, we have hired a truck/auto etc is there are people making a move!

All the problems that we think are impediments in China's growth plague us even more. Around 40% of our population is functionally illiterate. We continue to spend progressively lesser amounts on education and public health (as a % of GDP). Infrastructure is non-existent. Reports from trusted sources are that Jakarta and Ho Chi minh city sport better infrastructure than Delhi, the city with undoubtedly the best infra in India. We manage to scrap the bottom of most of the rankings anyone ever cared to publish - Roads, Ports, Water, Power, Housing & Sanitation, you-name-it. Water riots are very common in India (Though the well-heeled are not affected). Disparity in wealth distribution has increased over time. It reflects in the increasing petty crimes across the country. It is an accepted hypothesis amongst economists that petty crimes are a good reflection of the disparity in society as in most cases they are prompted by economic necessity and not by pure malafide intent. And people do die of starvation in India (The number compares well with the Somalias and Rwandas of the world)

Security situation in India is week. Country is more volatile than ever. Naxalites, communal tensions, terror attacks, caste-based flare-ups are no strange words in India. We have grown up with them and probably have become numb to them. But they are here and they do pose serious threats to any sustained growth. Every time any of these occur a lot of potential investors are scared. An excellent point-in-case would be Gujarat, an state that was growing at excess of 10% growth rate & an the leader in FDI in the mid 90s has stumbled to 4-5% since the riots and the other natural disasters hit it.

SEZs, the commerce ministry's show-baby, are being touted as the big land-grabbing scam. Capacity build-up in Power remains a chimera, we will continue to lag behind demand in a big way. We do not have an energy security policy (Just read the present one, its available online). Corruption pervades all levels of life in India. There is no running away from it. Though I am of the belief that there might have been some merit to it during the license raj, it is a big albatross round the neck now. There are more road-blocks on the road than the road itself.

Nobody (Not even Sharad Pawar) gives a damn about agriculture. Productivity is just a notch above the african counterparts. Farmers prefer to gulp pesticides than to see the end of another crop cycle. No social security/support mechanism exists for these hapless souls. Bank credit is still scarce - a soodkhor mahajan still manages to lend at high rates of 50-60% here. The interest suckers are in the city as well. (The citifinancials and gemonies lend at 40-50% to the sub-prime segment)

We as a country have scant respect for rules (which secretly I believe works to our advantage), productivity losses due to this urge of cutting corners are huge, especially so in the unorganized sectors. If China sports the 7 of the top 10 polluting cities, we have an equal number to add in the top 20. Ahmedabad was recently rated the most polluted city in Asia!

With all the bad news, we still have a chance. Yes, the culture of entrepreneurship is there. We have the highest entrepreneurs in the world as a proportion of graduating population. Does the number indicate a lack of opportunities as well? We have the best telecom framework in the world. Tariffs are almost the lowest and policies the most robust! Services have shown progress that nobody would have dreamt. The money multiplier effect would take its time to set-in but the goodness will definitely spread.

We have the intent. We have the confidence. Not the bus though, we are perched on one of those CNG autos that the Delhi drivers can drive haplessly at speeds of 70kmph. I just hope that the road blocks are removed in time!

Meanwhile, pay taxes and hope that it is used for something better than Lalu's next daughter's wedding!