My experience and my scribbles

Anna will lose the battle against corruption (at least in BBMP office)

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

Anna will lose the battle against corruption (at least in Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike - BBMP or the city corporation or even city Corruption if you wish)It is indeed my judgment at the moment; however I may stand to be corrected in the days to come. I recently purchased a property in Bangalore and had to pay a “service fee” (if you don’t prefer to call it bribe) to the tune of about 12000 Indian Rupees. This is despite all the documents in order and no confusion whatsoever. Since it was a once in a life time affair I kept quiet wearing an Anna cap. Recently Mr. Sadananda Gowda (Chief Minister of Karnataka) was in the press stating that the whole system is being computerized and it will be tout free. Getting khata would be online and easy to procure. How I wish that he runs around these offices and officials who exactly know how to irritate you without moving the papers for you and make any such comment to the press. Trust me computerization is no solution to the problem and touts are entities who only mirror the not so honest officers in the government offices. They envy your buying property and anything more. It is one of the most corrupt offices that I have seen so far in Bangalore and am sure that the story across the other cities in India is no different.

I think Anna’s campaign should not only focus and aim the leading corrupt politician but aim at the corruption at the grass root level be it Group C or Group Z officers or clerks. I urge that Anna take Bottoms up approach and am sure he will see quick wins. The dirtiest layer is hundreds and thousands of corrupt officers who make money in the name of people at the top of the pyramid. I wanted to get my Khata done on my own since the agent wanted 12000 Indian rupees as his service fees while the prescribed fee was about 5250 Indian rupees. Since I have quit my job and have no other worthwhile pastime I decided to pursue the Anna way of anti corruption. I hope that I will win my battle one day or succumb to corruption. Sorry Anna if this is not what you dreamt of and surely Mr. Gowda it is not all that easy to get your own Khata unless I am one of the corrupt politicians.

Act 1 Scene 1 – Day 1
Since I was wearing my Mala for my shabari mala, I went into the local BBMP office to get my khata application form. Seeing my austerity the clerk politely refused to entertain me and said he was out of application forms, possibly his fear of the God and this deity in particular. He asked to return back after many days. I cannot understand that these application forms are priced, cannot the system with online application form or the forms being distributed free of cost. I am doubly sure that the clerk did lie to me whist he wanted an extra fee for the application. This is potentially where the corruption chain starts.

Act 2 Scene 1- Day 6
I return after my yatra and meet the same clerk and he says that he has no stock of the application forms for over 3 months now and advises me to visit the nearest BBMP office to get one. Soon I get out to the nearest BBMP office to get the form. The plain / blank application form is under lock and key whilst the most important original documents are lying in the open in the BBMP office. You do not special arsonists to set things on fire. A simple match stick without any planning could do the trick. Milestone 1 achieved!!! – Application procured

Act 2 Scene 2 – day 8
I return back to my designated BBMP office to submit the papers whilst the clerk fumingly looks at me in utter dissatisfaction and orders me to get the original sale deed which he knows very well is with the bank. So he drives me away asking me to get the copies notified. I ask him politely to let me know the DD amount and he breaks loose stating that the Revenue inspector would deal with those matters whilst the agent has a published book that states the prescribed fees. I leave the papers at another Xerox owners shop who offers to get the papers notified for a fee of 10 Indian Rupees per page.

Act 2 Scene 3 – day 9
I get the notified copies (thanks to the notary), who never has to see the originals to certify a true copy. I submit the papers and it is accepted with so much of dissatisfaction. The clerk tells me that I could leave. When I enquire when do I get to know the amount that I am to pay the commissioner (legitimate fees). I was rudely bundled off saying next week.

Milestone 2 Achieved!!! Application submitted and accepted

Act 3 Scene 1 – Day 16
I return to the clerk promptly as advised after a week and then he suggests that I speak to the clerk sitting right across him. The new clerk recalls my case with vagueness as though it occurred in his previous birth and tells me to meet the designated clerk who would calculate the fee for me. The clerk sits across the table. I wonder how many days and bribed notes do these men require to move papers that can fly on their own? I am still surprised to understand where the touts have got a role to play when the officers are insincere and negligent. As always I am asked to come again the next day with a broad grin

Act 3 Scene 1 – Day 17
Since I have quit my job and am determined to get this done without bribing people and without the help of a tout I reach the office to locate the revenue inspector and he is away on inspection. The clerk’s much localized native looks give me a feeling that he will let me run around many more times. When trying to locate the inspector I had to offer my salutations to the new clerk who in his amnesia does not remember me, my case or my file and with too much stubbornness he opens the file and tells me that he has executed his piece of work. The other clerk is sitting idle talking about the global welfare and his table has no papers to clear. After a long wait he stands up and stuffs the pillow into a cupboard, under lock and key and throws me off like a fly at home. The jobless clerk leaves on his smoky bike for some on duty work!!!

Act 4 Scene 1 – Day 20
I reach the office at 1230 hrs to see what can be done next. The clerk tells me that the inspector is away and the documents need his blessings and comments. I was determined to wait for him and told the clerk that I would wait for him politely. After a short wait I become restless and run back home for mom’s lunch. To my utter surprise the clerk calls up home to tell me to rush to the BBMP office since the revenue inspector is in office. I was in no mood to let go of the food but the khata was more important and I rushed to the BBMP office, to see the inspector in his desk. When I meet him, a though gentlemen and polite by all means asks me to get the papers. I reach the clerk and tell him that the big boss wants the papers – BOOM all the papers and files reach him in a second. He reads through the case file with all the time and made some comments in Kannada – transaction language in Karnataka. Looks like it was all done. I reach the clerk and he tells me to see him after 3 days.

Act 5 scene 1 – day 25
I reach the clerk in his office after 5 days (2 grace days). As always doesn’t recognize me. I remind him that I was there to collect my Khata. With a not so happy face he looks at me and reaches to the cupboard keys and fetches the file. I see the crispy document right on top. As always the clerk started gesturing me for some courtesy and I was speechless and had to oblige since I had saved a lot of money already with my running around. I give him a small fee (without any receipt) and happily run home with the Khata.

Moral of the story – you can get the work done as long as you are stubborn not to pay and to comply with the right activity. But would someone who travels to office in mad Bangalore traffic for over 6 hours each day have any time left for all this running around? Why should one visit the office so many times? Why should we move the files between desks – is there a workflow that needs greasing with some green bucks? Or are they just sadists who want to see your patience levels? All said and done the Gandhi dreamt of is nowhere in sight and the India Anna dreams of could be nice little early morning dream that may remain fresh in your memory till you see something more eventful in reality.

Up in the air

2011-08-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

Up in the air – is what most of consultants go through. (I am talking of true consultants who are in the serious business of consulting). It is also true and amazingly depicted in the movie Up in the air by George Clooney.

Am no sucker for movies must have been almost a decade since I watched a movie, to be précised the last movie I watched in a movie hall was – The Lion King. Surprisingly a senior colleague of mine was pestering me to watch the movie Up in the Air and I decided last weekend to check it out. It is not easy to see such good movies for free on youtube or such sources. However I could see a bad copy of the movie on one of the hosted sites. It is a very well thought and made film is what I can comment in simple terms.

It is amazingly true I would second the thoughts of Clooney when he says that Asians have mastered the art of travelling. In reality too it is true that they clear the security checks in seconds since they travel smart and effectively. I would put myself in the same class and thanks to such hectic travel that makes you a thorough professional. I am sure soon I will be able to take a new role in the aircraft cockpit, that so much of flying actually teaches you how to fly. So simple that I try to wear such convenient dress that do not need belts , and I have given up on the wrist watch, partly due to the security checks in the airports. The wallet and mobile phone in the laptop bag, laptop out in the tray and no coins in the pockets. So much of travel I have given up on wallets. Travel simple with a few trousers and shirts and get them laundered if you are staying for a while. Very profound statement – less luggage more comfort. And trust me - It is indeed true. If there are checked in baggage you spent at least 20 minutes in excess waiting for your bags. This is true of Frankfurt – one of the busiest airports in the world.

People around you including your own colleagues, friends and relatives think that you are so surrounded but the reality is other way round- being a global nomad one would have isolated himself so much from his very identity that not much of him is left in him anymore. Thanks to the world becoming flat , the global companies find ways of hiring cheap labor and India is a country of choice and it is almost default if it is IT consulting. They can grab you from your Indian location (read Indian salary) and get you billed or billed you at Western rates. All this for a Big Thank you and few dollars or Euros that is given as Per diem or sustenance ( pittance) allowance. The consultant neither makes money for his absence from the family nor does he make any money for the solitude. Let’s face it - India is still a poor country (relatively) and 40 dollars a day makes sense to the Indian who works in international soil. All this he gets billed at least 20 – 30 times higher and the top line of the companies are met. I will leave it to companies to argue that the policies are the best in class and these rates are based on international research. Let’s imagine for a moment , in brief, what if there is an embargo on services and does the world looks even more flatter???

The irony of the whole argument is that some travel enthusiasts love being on plane and hotels, collecting miles and miles and more miles. All this at the cost of family and family bonding or for being debonded from the family and most importantly one’s ownself. I was recently invited to a western colleague who was Up in the air as much as me. He had a kid around 3 years and when it was time to retire to bed , the hostess – my colleague’s wife suggested that kid wish good night to Dad – the kid in her routine reached for the phone as her usual practice when her Dad was at home right near her. Beat that? Such is the life and the price one pays for being Up in the air. Thanks to the mobile companies and wireless telecommunication that made this possible.

At a global economy scale and grand scheme of things that we all operate in , related topics the world being flat has really helped the globe at the cost of Individual family and personal life. So how can this be bettered? You will hear your HR business partner talking at length on work life balance and possibly your boss crib at the end of the year that you could have done even more and even better . It is so simple – read it as balance your life on work. I wonder how my married senior peers manage this life in and out of airports and hotels , unless their family life is so badly ruined that they find solace in being out. I love when my friend says working is give and take – He explained that the more you give the company wants to take more out of you!!!

What the whole environment misses is the fact that you could have been in Egypt during the revolution on a consulting assignment or in Libya on an assignment or on ill fated airplanes that never made a safe landing . In the recent past I have seen and heard very young colleagues die in their thirties and forties… The fast life also makes it possible for fast deaths. Typically companies save all the money on your medical insurance and the policies remain as a policy. The value of consultant in air is valuated in a few thousands of dollars of insurance and some dollars as your corporate allowance.

Some street smart consultants use their personal credit cards as well to make some additional loyalty points while missing the point. I have been travelling for the decade hoping that I make a career and I have realized that after a decade neither have I made a career nor a family. Trust me it is not an easy situation to pose smiling for pictures at leaning tower of Pisa when your family is edging in a similar fashion. Your dogs can’t recollect your sniff anymore and when you come home on the fly back (what a wonderful policy companies have) the security guard , at your commune or the building, keeps you waiting for your family to recognize you and advise him to let you in. So the other important lesson I learnt is never surprise your family by arriving abruptly for you may wait endlessly to get to your bed…

The reality of the consulting job is that is it is as responsible as a life saving doctor. It is as satisfying as a doctor’s day when he is able to save a patient’s life. You have mastered the art of reasoning, presenting and also solving problems or creating problems in some cases. Companies don’t fly you for nothing for they know you are a talent (when billed) and just another resource (when salaries are paid).people in the organization can talk of service based pricing mechanisms whilst service based or even more travel based salary is a taboo. It is indeed rewarding when you see a customer smile , the COO and the user at the end of the chain thanking you for your service in resolving a problem and they remain more connected to you than your own family. These jobs let you travel around the globe more than you in your own house, teaches you to taste the global foods while you yearn to have the house lady cooked food, your corporate banker in host country knows so much of you while your personal banker cannot recognize you, you learn so much of international festivals and are seas across for your own Diwali or Thanks giving, You know so much on global news and yet you don’t know what ever is happening in your backyard. If you are smart enough you will make a few more dollars fudging bills and having an extra peg at the cost of the customer or the company and I guess life exists beyond these, if it does and if one could ever see it.

What is even more interesting is when people up in the corporate ladder make wonderful strategies and power point presentations. The irony would always be the fact that these leaders , lonely morons, would have never faced an irate customer or faced the heat of hostile customers. They never travel crampy economy class in aircrafts, and neither do stay in apartments with no kitchenette or laundry machine, never do they have to travel when someone is unwell in the family and they can come home on a surprise visit to wish their ladies a happy birthday. Even worse is that even though they don’t understand technologies that drive such companies for salaries (unbelievable salaries) and most of them exit organizations on the grounds of compliance. This is the integrity heads of organizations exhibit and even worse is they get hired in the market again for a bigger salary, possibly it is the order of the day that the rival would hire this head. Simple self Ego Massage or more so intellectual ______________ what ever you want to fill in the blanks.

Can we still run the race and be no rats? I guess the answer to this lies with the individual. I guess one needs to decide for himself and make his own life better and not at the cost of some customer sitting thousands of miles away. His smile is not any worth of it when your own family is in tears. Parents seeking the company of their children, wives seeking their husbands and vice versa, children seeking the parents by their side to groom them and take them out for a weekend restaurant dinner or breakfast are all happy land scenarios and not reality anymore when the world is flat.

All said and done , I am waiting for my million miles credit to my Frequent flier program. I am not sure if my travel miles can help me reach my family members.

The Troubled Indian Skies

2009-08-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days where the air line tickets used to be waitlisted and passengers at mercy or to be honest at no mercy of the national carrier. Kudos to the private airlines that have changed the way we travel today with dignity. The passenger gets his due respect with younger and smarter crew both on board and on ground which makes air travel truly exciting. I was home watching when the FIA announced a day of no flying on the 18 August 2009 and again a classic example of how media started exploiting the situation to grab some prime time news watchers. To the best of my limited understanding with a brother who flies a leading airline, never was there any demand by the private airlines for any bail out package unlike the national carrier. I am still unable to understand why the news channels are getting it wrong and missing the point? The news channels in India managed to get this point out of context as in the previous cases.

Pointing the airline charges that are invisible to any of us are charges like handling charges, navigation fees etc. The private airport operators are the decision makers and believe me there is nothing international about the Bangalore International Airport Limited and am even the airlines have started wondering why should they be paying such phenomenal fees for services that are no better than what they used to get with the earlier airport. I would look at a rational with more private airports available and then let the industry decide where they want to operate out from.

The birth and consolidation of Indian skies started as early as late 90’s when we saw a lot of airlines closing down NEPC, Modiluft, East West airlines but Jet and Sahara stood the test of time. I am sure that there must have been a lot of understanding with the Government agencies and Aviation regulators on Indian Skies that kept them alive. It is certainly not easy and I must appreciate Jet for defining standards on Indian skies. With these airlines coming in we have a choice of price and an option to fly on time with better food served on board and pretty looking people ready to assist you. I do some international travel and have flown some of the best carriers and would still prefer Jet for the service and the customer focus they have. Somehow Air India is never my choice be it National or International since they manage to goof up every single flight with issues consistently. May be with rattan Tata given a free hand this almost dead airline can be revived for the country’s sake and Tata’s sake. The arrival of Kingfisher was indeed a threat to jet since Kingfisher truly pampers the passenger in more than possible ways. Not many of us know that Vijay Mallya had started the first scheduled air taxi operator named UB Air as early as 1990 with Dornear – turbo prop aircraft types , which was also the same aircraft type that then the troubled Vayudoot had. It was just the fact that Vijay was a way too ahead of his peers and the airline did not see the light of the day. I am also given to understand that he holds a license to fly and takes keen interest in this new formed business of his and he is passionate about this business besides his interests of profit maximization.

The fact of the matter is simple just now the taxation needs rationalization and uniform rates on all aviation related activities. The media is dubbing it way beyond what the airlines are asking for… may be it is time that media is also warned and or penalized for producing and misleading informative or rather misinformative acts that could panic the airline employees, travelers and virtually the entire industry that depends directly or indirectly on this,. The taxation rationalization was to be achieved as a part of GST (general and Service Tax) that has been long pending by the Government of India and for strange reasons Government is still not inclined in uniforming these requirements that can propel a nation. The case is no different with other industries such as Fuel, automotives, electronics, consumer products , liquor and tobacco and more. So why is the differentiation? And just to give a pan subject topic – Bangalore residents have a very high cost of living which is not seen and understood by the Income tax act of India which still states that bangaloreans are entitled for a 40% of House Rent Allowance (HRA) as compared to metros where one can avail 50% benefit. Is this not irrational? Why is the government keeping deaf and blind to such issues like many other such issues? Don’t you think it is time to revisit all our old and ready to be scrapped rules which were good enough when they were formed and hold no ground any more. This could be an eye opener for various other topics.

The fact of the matter remains that only crying babies get milk and crying sectors fall in the same lot. Not that I am in favor of airlines getting any benefit more than other industries but may be we are still not equipped to fly in this country and we should rely on the unreliable maharaja… Am not sure if that would be my call .

Ilayaraja - The Musical Genius

2008-11-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

Those were the days when the technicians of the film capital of south were on strike in the year 1991. The movie had to be shot not many options left with movie makers no matter where they recorded it or in fact it was even viable and acceptable if they could have done without the music at all. The Music director did not want to record in the neighboring state capital Bangalore since there were some disasters whenever he recorded in Bangalore so it was decided that they would proceed to Bombay – now Mumbai to record a few songs. It was Sunny studio in Juhu where the dates were booked. Mumbai generally boasts of music and sound quality and truly so they were good. This never meant that no one could be better than him. Soon a request was passed through Kuldeep Singh ( one of the best music directors in Mumbai ) to some of the musicians for recording dates and all the string players (violins, Violas, Cellos) were summoned and there was panic in the financial capital since it had never been a history that so many musicians were sought for a single floor of recording. Truly so Sunny looked too small – for those of who have seen Sunny it would be the size of a classic movie hall in India (I am not talking of the current day size of multiplex screens). Soon the brass section (trumpets, bugle players) were also in panic. Instruments not very commonly used double bass, oboe players were also summoned. There was rave in Mumbai all about the to be recording since it was to be seen how three rows of strings would be managed by a music director from Chennai – then Madras. Soon the day of recording arrived when the music director was the first one to be present in the recording theater. He is an early bird generally and buffers time for his prayers in the studio prior to recording and as usual most of the musicians turned in late (none of his musicians are ever late back home and there are instances when he has managed an entire movie without those late comers). Soon he was distributing the notations scripted on by him in pencil. Not many of them had ever seen anything like this before since most of the music directors never understood notation writing, with due regards to each of them, because they were not used to those professional approach since it is and was out of practice. The notes broke a few knuckles in the studio and one could hear a few unhappy expressions from the mixing console. Soon the song was recorded and as soon as it was recorded there was a long pause and an unknown sense of happiness, satisfaction, surprise with a did I do that? Did I play that? in the air. The musicians clapped like a bunch of school kiddos. It was their appreciation to the musical wizard – Ilayaraja. It must have been hard for them to comprehend that a small man dark in complexion could not throw around air with a battalion of people around him and a simpleton dressed in dhoti and a kurta could make them produce such wonderful notes from these musicians – many consider it to be a day of their birth in the musical world.

He is a perfectionist. His career has spanned for over 30 years now and has seen many generations of movie makers and yet he was able to produce music that were distinctively his own. I remember Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia was thrilled playing for Ilayaraja’s Nothing but wind. He is not a musician who would play for any one in the country unless he was above his stature of music. But am sure he had his tough times with this man in the recording sessions but it was always in true spirit of music.

Raja would walk into the screening studio for the movie preview and watch at the soundless movies. He would have his harmonium next to him – this piece of instrument is not a very sophisticated or branded one but an old and unbranded one. He would be gently tapping all the while and mind you he does not like to be bothered even by his family for anything. He is a karma yogi as I see him. Soon you can hear some pencil scribbles harshly on the notation papers and the music is ready. He may not even in walk into the recording but the team would sweat their blood in producing complex music that this maestro would have casually scribbled. He would have literally written scores of three part harmony effortlessly (three part harmony is supposedly complex form of music arrangement and he would have always had musicians playing his tunes live under a roof unlike the present days of recording). He would have generally struck theme music with a unique combination of some keyboard tones that even his keyboard player – Viji Manuel (the finest of keyboard player and who would have been the owner of the instrument) would have never known of. It is said that Chandrashekar, his guitarist, had to play for almost 16 takes before the song Ilaya Nila was recorded,(although everyone thinks Sada was the one who played the) or Prasadji would have rehearsed a few hours prior to playing on tabla or Napolean would have come with options on his flute, mind you these are the finest musicians on earth and it is not very easy to please this maestro when he is on the job. You just cannot get away unless what has been scribbled is produced in your instrument and then he would have dished out a great song that any of us would be hearing late nights and spoiling ones sleep. I know one could have sleepless nights when in love but when you are in love with his music it is always sleepless nights listening to his music. The way he would have managed the grand western orchesterazitaion with Indian context lyrics and tunes that always take you to lush pastures in south of India. It is an amazing fusion of music that none can even ape in this current day setting and technological advancement.

What is very unique about this five foot plus maestro is that the music he would have scribbled on his papers would be a perfect fit by feet length of the movie when the re-recording would be on. His success would also be attributed to his team of dedicated musicians who are in real terms his family since most of them have been with him for over 30 plus years now and have churned out music which others can only listen.

I regret at times that he must have been born elsewhere, where his music must have been on a platform unparalleled. But I am selfish and may be so were the Indian gods who would not have let him elsewhere.

Anup Jalota – Bhajan Samrat had a few instances to share with me on a casual lunch on. He was sought for his dates for a private concert in Chennai by Kuldeep Singh during his Peak season, not that he is not in his peak now. But those were the days when he had no time for himself and he agreed for this special request since it was from a very special person in Mumbai film industry. On the day of the concert Anupji and his musicians were driven to T Nagar in Chennai into a huge bungalow and it was the day the maestro had to chosen to listen to this maestro. The stage and the evening were set for Anup Jalota to churn out his Music for the maestro and his wife who were happy sitting on the floor through out the event. Soon the maestros exchanged notes on music, which obviously had no language and needs none but those vibrant notes. By the end of the day, the event lasted almost the whole night, when raja played some complex western compositions and some of the bhajans and devotional numbers he had composed for Ramana Maharshi.

Blessed are the singers such as S P Balasubramanyam , S Janaki , P Susheela, Yesudas , Chitra and many more singers who have sung for him. They have lived in the blissful years singing the very best of the Maestro’s very best years of composition. There would not be a concert of Suresh Wadkar when he would not have performed – Aye Zindagi. His music did take people by surprise and are very musically the very best.
Ilayaraja a name that can ring sweet bells in your ears. (born June 2, 1943 as Gnanadesikan) is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist. He is a gold medalist from Trinity College of Music, London has composed over 4,000 songs and provided film scores for more than 800 Indian films in various languages in a career spanning more than 30 years. He is based in Chennai, the fourth largest city in India and the centre of the Tamil film industry.

Ilaiyaraaja was born into a poor rural family in Pannaipuram, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India, as the third son of Ramaswamy and Chinnathayammal. Growing up in a rural area, Ilaiyaraaja was exposed to a range of Tamil folk music. At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe headed by his elder step-brother, Pavalar Varadarajan, and spent the next decade performing throughout South India. His brother Varadarajan used the group's music to promote the ideals of the Communist Party of India. While working with the troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical setting of an elegy written by the Tamil poet laureate Kannadasan for Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.
In 1968, Ilaiyaraaja began a music course with Professor Dhanraj in Madras (now Chennai), which included an overview of Western classical music, compositional training in techniques such as counterpoint, and study in instrumental performance. Ilayaraja specialized in classical guitar and had done a course in it with the Trinity College of Music, London.

In the 1970s in Chennai, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as a session guitarist, keyboardist, organist for film music composers and directors such as Salil Chowdhury from West Bengal. After his hiring as the musical assistant to Kannada film composer G K Venkatesh, he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in the Kannada language.As G K Venkatesh's assistant, Ilayaraja would orchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh. During this period, Ilayaraja also began writing his own scores. To hear his compositions, he would persuade Venkatesh's session musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their break times. Ilayaraja would also hire instruments from composer R. K. Shekhar, father of composer A. R. Rahman who would later join Ilayaraja’s orchestra as a keyboardist.
In 1976, film producer Panchu Arunachalam commissioned him to compose the songs and film score for a Tamil-language film called Annakkili ('The Parrot'). For the soundtrack, Ilayaraja applied the techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which created a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. Ilayaraja’s use of Tamil music in his film scores injected new influence into the Indian film score milieu. By the mid-1980s Ilayaraja was gaining increasing stature as a film composer and music director in the South Indian film industry. Besides Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films, he has scored music for Hindi (or Bollywood) film productions such as Sadma (1983), Mahadev (1989), Lajja (2001) and Cheeni Kum (2007). He has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Gulzar, Kannadasan, Vairamuthu and T.S. Rangarajan (Vaali), and film directors such as K. Balachander, K. Vishwanath, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Balu Mahendra and Mani Ratnam.

Ilayaraja was one of the early Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music. This allowed him to craft a rich tapestry of sounds for films, and his themes and background score gained notice and appreciation amongst Indian film audiences. The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by Ilayaraja’s methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles.

By virtue of this variety and his interfusion of Western, Indian folk and Carnatic elements, Ilayaraja’s compositions appeal to the Indian rural dweller for its rhythmic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnatic ragams, and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound.
Although Ilayaraja uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion. The Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam illustrates:
"Ilayaraja would look at the scene once, and immediately start giving notes to his assistants, as a bunch of musicians, hovering around him, would collect the notes for their instruments and go to their places... A director can be taken by surprise at the speed of events.” And truly so Mani Ratnam would have experienced of the same.

Go Slow - Men at work (read as Go – Slow men at work)

2008-08-03T23:45:00.001-07:00

Bangalore is in a phase of infrastructure development and thankfully this has been happening irrespective of the fact whether there was stable government or not. We still claim that we are the IT capital of India with such poor infrastructure and I am not sure if we will be able to retain this position in the years to come. Biggies like Infosys, Biocon etc are already looking at other choices destination and in all fairness it could be our neighboring states.

What irks me is the fact that all subway and the storm water drainages are being repaired just at a time when monsoon is round the corner. This will ensure that none of the digging works can be in peace. I know of some roads which I will draw your attention to. The road opposite to Town Hall does not look like some infrastructure development. It looks like the mining department has taken over from the road making team. The deep hole in the road has reveled more stones and endless water flowing in and the team of workers is missing as always. I do not know when it is likely to be completed.

The road from Padmanabhanagar through JP Nagar has been closed for some time now and why is it that the government and its associated members plan all such work when it is about to rain and pain. As it is our infrastructure is choking and to top it all these bad roads can only make the situation worse.

The roads per say in Bangalore have over the time hit their all time low. The traffic police is still unable to manage the 2 kilometer stretch on the road connecting BTM layout to Hosur road. This only adds to the pollution, fuel wastage and poor facelift to the ailing city.

In all fairness I would like to read all the signage posted in most of the places as Go Slow – Men at work as GO – Slow Men at work!!!

So near yet so far!!!

2008-07-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

The BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited) is finally open after much hype and resistance from various people in the community. I have been privileged enough to fly more in and out of the BIAL in the airport in the recent past. I was in fact one of the few takers of air route for a short distance flight in the initial days of BIAL just to check the new airport. Truly – I second Vijay Mallya’s thoughts that there is nothing international about the airport. The teething troubles are hardly from being over for BIAL!!!

Frankly for a frequent traveler or should I say a global nomad like me the airport did not mean much. The airport looks and is also in true sense a small airport and there is nothing to compare it to any international airport. I am sure that the existing airports in other cities have much better and cleaner toilets than BIAL. Where did we fumble? Did the Karnataka government build something that could have been viable in the past. I realize from my discussions with some aviators that this airport still cannot support the A380. In fact I find on a busy night it finds itself in clusters to support a couple of B747 and may be an A330 and a B777 at the same airport.

The baggage clearance is not a wee bit effective, let alone the ground services. So what is the whole idea of this so called international airport? There are more vents for the miscreants to create nuisance. I am not sure if it is true in any other international airport where the tower is out of the airport campus. Is it technically safe and secured as well? The tower is the heart and brain of any airport operation. But I find it too vulnerable in BIAL.

Now coming to the services offered. Many flights still do not get the privilege of aerobridge. So you can expect people pulling pushing the elevator carts and you will still manage to lose time. The international immigration counters are no better either. It is still the same old non passenger friendly staff in the counters. Outside the airport the taxi hawkers still hunt for you… The chaos persists in spite of efforts, if any, by BIAL. There are no takers for the Volvo buses either. I have never found a bus that can take me to the closest area where I live so it is always taxi zindabad

He public address system is as harrowing as it could be. This is not what was planned in Zurich – then why did BIAL plan something like this for Bangalore? The public toilets are a must visit in anybody’s agenda – they are truly so very public. There are no signs of the cops in the airport campus still. Are we still in a start up phase with teething problems after over 3 months of operations in Bangalore? There is no map in the airport either ways it was wise since there is no way to get lost in this tiny airport. It is time that the aviation fraternity wakes up and also wakes up the government which is sleeping with a not so international airport.

The drive to the airport is no more pleasure. The so called stop free highway is for sure a distant reality. I hardly find cops on this stretch of the road but I can find a whole lot of cattle and livestock on this road with no one to man them. The traffic and lane discipline is missing as always….you encounter more signals and stoppages than one can think of. The road stretch near to UAS (University of agricultural sciences is no good either). The shocking news that I hear the metro could possibly be ready by 2013 is definitely no good news either. So what did we achieve in the bargain except spending public money in a national waste such as BIAL

Dabbawalas of Mumbai

2008-06-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

My friend Harsha , who is back from London on a project break, asked me this morning casually to know what happened to my BLOG – since I had nothing much to write over the past few months. This was enough for me to get back to some web logging. Thanks Harsha!!! With inflation growing and not much of work in office I decided to put together some collaborative ideas of one of the most envious business perfection model from India. I am sure other countries also have something similar to boast as this but I still consider this very unique. I am sure that this can also allow us all to get more inspirational opportunities at our respective homes or even at work place for that matter of fact. That’s also interesting to note that all organizations boast of Knowledge management which is something no one wants to share since their dependability from the organization reduces over a period of time. The reason being very humane – Why lose the strategic advantage acquired over a period of time? But this is highly impressive and inspirational

MTBSA – Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers association, If you ever happen in to be in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) and ever traveled in local trains you would realize whom am I talking of - the Tiffin box carriers, the name most synonymous with six sigma. Universities such as Stanford, Harvard and premier institutes such as IIT and IIM, product companies such as SAP, Oracle etc are spell bound to see that these people have some amazing practices. I would call them Local Best Business Practice since these models may not yield the same results if replicated globally but the fact of the matter remains that this organization and its stake holders have mastered and perfected their core competencies over time. But yes the six sigma model cannot be easily replicated and this organization has it in its very existence.

Descendants of soldiers of the legendary Maharashtrian warrior-king Shivaji, dabbawalas belong to the Malva caste, and arrive in Mumbai from places in Maharashtra like Rajgurunagar, Akola, Ambegaon, Junnar and Maashi. They believe in employing people from their own community. So whenever there is a vacancy, elders recommend a relative from their village.(this could be equated to an employee referral that organizations say is a relatively new form of recruitment) The working or operations model is that of competitive collaboration. Here nobody is an employer and none are employees.

Business goal / objectives – Third party Logistics Provider. Collect Tiffin boxes from the customer’s house and deliver the same to his work place at lunch time and post lunch collect from the work place and return the Tiffin box at his residence. Sounds very simple eh!!! But I must also share a profound statement that some one once told me. It is very easy to develop complex solution but very complex to develop simple solutions.

The work force of over 4500 partners of success, can deliver 200,000 packages within hours using 120 year old efficient logistics system. This is the statistics that could best represent the dabbawala’s. The word "Dabbawala" in Hindi when literally translated means "one who carries a box". "Dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical tin or aluminium container), while "wala" is a suffix, denoting a doer of the preceding word. The closest meaning of the Dabbawala in English would be the "lunch box delivery man". Though this profession seems to be simple, it is actually a highly specialized service in Mumbai which is over a century old and has become integral to the cultural life of this city. The concept of the dabbawala originated when India was under British rule. Many British people who came to the colony didn't like the local food, so a service was set up to bring lunch to these people in their workplace straight from their home. Presently, Indian business men are the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the services provided are cooking as well as delivery.

Some more statistics

History : started in 1880
Average Literacy rate : Class 8 or 8 Grade of schooling
Employees / Partners : 5000
Number of Tiffin boxes : 200,000
Number of transactions : 400,000
Time : 180 Minutes
Six Sigma performances : 99.999999
Cost of service : 200 INR (@ 50 $ a month)
Total turnover : 500000000 INR
Unique feature : the service provider has never been on strike

A BBC crew filming dabbawalas in action was amazed at their speed. "Following our dabbawala wasn’t easy, our film crew quickly lost him in the congestion of the train station. At Victoria Terminus we found other fast moving dabbawalas, but not our subject... and at the destination, the lunch had arrived long before the film crew," the documentary noted wryly. So, how do they work so efficiently?

They have some code of conduct which is Discipline – no alcohol during work hours, besides uniform and Identity establishment with I cards, with a lean leadership profile in the top to manage the deliverables. It is very much in agreement with an old and wise saying - "Too many cooks spoil the broth".

In the dabbawalas' elegant logistics system, using 25 km of public transport, 10 km of footwork and involving multiple transfer points, mistakes rarely happen. According to a Forbes 1998 article, one mistake for every eight million deliveries is the norm. How do they achieve virtual six-sigma quality with zero documentation? For one, the system limits the routing and sorting to a few central points. Secondly, a simple color code determines not only packet routing but packet prioritizing as lunches transfer from train to bicycle to foot.

In short MTSBA would in its own form use network design, information, transportation, inventory and warehousing. Explaining the major features of the dabbawala’s supply chain management, the association which has given presentations at IIMs (Indian Institute of Management – A premier Management Institute in India), Stanford University and George Washington State University among others, said: “Zero percent reliance on fuel, zero percent use of modern technology, zero percent investment, zero percent disputes, 99.99 percent performance rate and 100 percent customer satisfaction.” It is not very often that some one gets such a remark.

Each dabbawala is a shareholder and entrepreneur. Dabbawalas are divided into sub-groups of fifteen to 25, each supervised by four mukadams(elders or supervisors). Experienced old-timers, the mukadams are familiar with the colors and coding used in the complex logistics process. Their key responsibility is sorting Tiffin boxes but they play a critical role in resolving disputes; maintaining records of receipts and payments; acquiring new customers; and training junior dabbawalas on handling new customers on their first day. Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries: the service could not exist otherwise. The process is competitive at the customers' end and united at the delivery end. Each group is also responsible for day-to-day functioning. And, more important, there is no organizational structure, managerial layers or explicit control mechanisms. The rationale behind the business model is to push internal competitiveness, which means that the four Vile Parle groups vie with each other to acquire new customers.

The model has been appreciated by IIMs, leading SCM IT enablers, Prince Charles, Sir Richard Branson and most importantly Mumbaikars (Mumbai fellow Citizens) and this is a service purely for the people of Mumbai , by the people of Mumbai and to Mumbai

Logistics is the new mantra for building competitive advantage, the world over. Mumbai's dabbawalas developed their home-grown version long before the term was coined. Their attitude of competitive collaboration is equally unusual, particularly in India. The operation process is competitive at the customers' end but united at the delivery end, ensuring their survival over a century and more. Is their business model worth replicating in the digital age?

You can access the group's info on http://www.mydabbawala.com

Dont Quit

2008-03-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

When things go wrong as they sometimes will

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill.

When funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit.

Rest, if you must, but don't you quit

Life is queer with its twists and turns

As everyone of us sometimes learns

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out

Don't give up though the pace seems slow -

You may succeed with another blow

Success is failure turned inside out -

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems so far

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit

It's when things seem worst that you must NOT QUIT.

Sonu Nigam – a Singer for you and me

2008-03-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

Sonu Nigam(a leading playback singer in singer in India who songs for movies, music albums, concerts) – a name as familiar as the current Indian music. He is one loved equally by boys and girls, young and old, thin and fat, handsome and not so handsome…. I guess I have covered almost all forms and shapes of the music lovers. I have been following Sonu Nigam ever since he used to sing the Rafi ki yaadein for T series under the section 52 of copyright act.

He is a singer par excellence with a great quality and texture of voice that has matured with time. While in Denmark picked up this album called classically mild. The music by my friend Deepak Pandit is sheer creativity. I am a great fan of Maestro Ilayaraja. Lamha lamha is a sure tribute to the maestro. Suratiya is also very close to the Maetsro's style of composition. I must also mention the very special works on the piano and the melody that Deepak has created in the scores for the album. Good music in this empty domain after long long years. It made a lot of sense to me when walking across the pebbled streets of Europe. I was so close to the situation I was in. For those of you who do not know who Deepak Pandit, he is the violinist who is a permanent member of Ghazal Shahenshah Jagjit Singh’s team. Deepak is a wonderful violinist who is very different from many other violinists contemporary. He is also a great percussionist and a wonderful keyboard player. His bass on the keyboard would make the best cueists on bass a run for money. Deepak has been arranging some of the best music that is being churned out of bollywood and a wonderful human being.

Now coming back to this album – it is a must buy if you are into some quality music listening. I would recommend Lamha Lamha track for the sheer experimentation that Deepak and Sonu have rendered. It is one of those tracks that don’t happen very often. The second interlude with guitar and vocal swaras (notes) is amazing and translates to a world of its own.

I was only looking forward to Deepak composing some 3 part harmony with viola and some cellos. It is something he must definitely try and produce something in that area. The album is not something that you may want to listen by the fly types. It has a lot of serious inputs and some sheer hard work and some great sound nuances.

Sonu Nigam singing classical is definitely known. His vocals have been now refined due to the training. The last I heard was that Sonu received guidance by Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khansaab, remember this name…. he is the very same legendary who tutored A Hariharan. I am sure that he is a perfect tutor who can add the finishing touches to a vocalist. It is a pity that Sonu is not getting soulful numbers to sing in the movies off late. He must make a genre of songs for his own self. I only expect that Sonu would churn out some great music going further. My only advice is that – though he looks a lot more handsome, charming and dashing than many of the bollywood heroes, he concentrates on his core competence – Music and not to deviate into acting etc.

Deepak – compose some awesome ghazals for some great singers like Sonu and some more singer from whom we would like to hear some good ghazals , Vinod Sehgal , Ghanshyam and more of these…

In short Classically mild is a must buy and definitely by all means worth a buy. and last but not the least - very good lyrics that complements the music and the whole design. You can possibly listen to the album in this link http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/pop/s/album.7688/

Punjabi Noodles

2008-03-08T05:59:00.000-08:00

Vegetarian Indians for sure have a tough time in the globalization. I agree what Thomas Friedman say that “ The world is Flat” but yes there are exceptions. Being a vegetarian one does get to a real big challenge other than work when you travel abroad. Vegetarian food – I mean food that is not salads and fruits.

It is not true that all non vegetarians can manage – in fact I found a few of my non vegetarian colleagues also have tough time with the local food. The reason being the preference of taste.

I prefer to carry my kitchen if it is a slightly long tour. For sure I have no problemo living on Salads and fruits for a month or so. It also lets me get back to the more human shape. Else it is a unwanted bulge above the hip and below the chest – I mean the pot belly. I cant fully blame it on myself when in Europe. It is so cold that you cant even venture into the streets, actually a reason for more sleep in the cozy quilt.

I managed to carry a lot of grocery and paid a premium for extra baggage on Lufthansa – they were being so professional that they wanted to charge for every kilogram of the excessive baggage. Anyways we had not much of a choice but to yield into the pressure since it was still cheap for some food that we could relate. It is not very strange that you might land up grazing at the food not knowing whether it is vegetarian or not and many a time if it even edible or not.

But I manage a not a so bad kitchen – I leave it to my colleagues and friends who are still alive after my food. The kitchen included all spices and herbs from India. Most importantly the savior MTR brands of ready to cook and some Mama specials and some that I learnt living out of the suitcase. It is nothing short of crisis management. The reason being you may always want to save every penny and make use of it when back home….

A quick description of the food that I managed over a week of so included moong dal khichdi, vegetable raita, khakra dal, gajar ka halwa, Punjabi noodles (never heard of them???? I will describe a lil later) , aloo poha, sambar, Channa masala with Tortiallas and Hamburger buns, masala upma and more. The following weeks would see rice sevai, semiyan upma, pal payasam and more.

Noodles is generally Chinese origin but in India , in the not so authenitic Chinese joints, you should not be surprised to see a few curry leaves, hara dhaniya, and more Indian ingredients and I prefer to call that Punjabi noodles. I love to add some paneer (cottage cheese) garam masala, sabzi masala, may be some soya sauce, dhaniya powder, jeera powder, green peas, baby corn and actually all the vegetables that you could think of. A hint for recipe all leftover vegetables would be the best ingredient for the best Punjabi noodles. Try them with some Maggi instant noodles and my assurance that you would like it more than Hakka noodles…. What Munna Bhai are you listening???

Living with ERP

2008-01-31T22:14:00.001-08:00

How does an organization benefit from ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning and not Excellent Rugby Player)? It is the fact that any organization wants to get the most out of its current practices and also move towards a better tomorrow with the Global Best Business Practices. In fact all organizations are commonly ERP driven in today’s environment. Let alone the ISO and their business specific standards that they always achieve to be in the race. Many of the ERP already talk of the GBBP integral part of their existence. They have some standard templates that one cannot deviate from and truly so they are indeed the best practices that any organization could possibly adapt. Now the reality is the question is that can an organization readily embrace all these practices and align with the Global practices over a period of time? The answer may be Yes and may be a No in all cases, since one cannot chose to live with it and without it. The ERP actually allows flexibility but also is very rigid, in most the cases the business users find alternate way to manage their business without much of a bother and not even the deviation from the preset goals of the organizations. Is it the business or the nature of the business or the natural instincts of the business users that allow one to manage such unperceived practices? It is possibly the lack of impact of being in an ERP driven environment.

The answer is the most unexpected – many a times it is the fact that the consulting companies could not have dug into the real matter of the fact or the business never envisages the reality of the issue. The business always is excited to adapt to something new but with a hidden resistance, and mind you this is the catch. Is change management the issue? In many cases it could even be the fact – organizational readiness or sometimes even the leadership, some times quality and proactiveness of the consulting companies and sometimes even the project management. It is a well known fact that the most crucial part of the organizational success is vested in change management and the attitude to anticipate the changes. The general tools and remedy could be training and detailed probing in most of the cases.

The gap analysis is generally a brave attempt to resolve all the gaps in the process of Business process reengineering, without increasing Scope, time and the cost of the project. A simple solution of a GAP could be a special operational procedure, but in most cases you would notice that the business organization intends to find solution to Business problems through IT, which is nothing short of a disaster. I would like to go with the product companies here – if any such requirement ever exists we are sure that the product company would support them – a simple instance could be the much complicated tax system or the excise in India. To me it makes more sense to manage the business related issues in a simple business and logical manner and then IT enabling the same. People do like automation and it is a nice thing to happen with the transaction intrinsic ERPs but automation cannot bring about productivity. It is like wanting to have babies without undergoing the labor pain!!! It makes sense to decide to encompass the most productive and statutory oriented pieces of the business into IT and the not so important ones can always co-exist with the IT as current business practice and a lot depends on the consulting organization to convince the best results that they would stand to derive from.

Traffic Tamasha

2008-01-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

It is a practice that I travel at a speed of 12.5 Kms an hour on a normal working day at @ 0730 Hrs in Bangalore to my office. It is a pity that I see (many a times I don’t see) the flip side of Bangalore traffic police during my travel time . The cops are either not to be found at the busiest intersection or they are found trying to make some quick bucks from the early birds who err. One of the most painful arterial roads in Bangalore – the stretch from BTM layout to Bellandur cross roads have very few cops all over to man the traffic. It has a whole lot of people who man the traffic and they are not cops. How is it possible? See it to believe yourself. The traffic can flow here from left and right and no intervals… And the reality to the jam is not the volume of traffic but the way it is manned. I am sure Bangalore is no match to the volume of traffic in either Mumbai or Delhi and why is it such an impossible feat for the cops to manage this?

We take an hour and a half to complete a stretch of 1 .2 Kms and the reason for such a jam was unknown to any of us. We could always blame a politician for such causes and defenitely not when there is no government in place in Karnataka. I saw an ambulance trying its level best to manage the way out but after a few minutes the lights were turned off in the ambulance possibly the patient passed away!!! Thanks to you all cops and my fellow citizens.

I find it a criminal waste to part with over 30% of my salary to the income tax department and the government and I find it unacceptable to part with 50% of my time to the Bangalore Traffic jam which is not very interesting either. The reason is that there is no synergy between the cops, the PWD and other civil bodies. Beware of the BIAL all you frequent travelers!!! We are all in for more trouble there.

Is this the city we all want to live in? which has more problems and very few convenience and no solutions. The stretch that I was referring to has erring BMTC buses, always errant Auto rickshaws, never to be seen cops, affluently erring office mini buses and fleeing away with attitude of the call centre and BPO cabs. I am not sure if the traffic police even has time to see / review this. The road from BTM layout water tank to silk board. The road from Silk Borad to Bellandur Road has two lanes or Lorries loaded with sand and other construction material 24/7 and it is unbelievable that the cops are not party to it…

We as citizens can only help the cops and here in Bangalore and the saddest part is that the cops are not reachable to citizens at all. There is no official website for the cops which allow the citizens to interact with them and share their views for the improvement of the situation. In fact Bangalore is the only city in the world which has disproportionate traffic jam to the traffic we have. Information technology is not the solution to this problem – in fact it is simple intelligent thinking that can reduce the problem by half and a great deal of problems reduced by citizens participating I would be glad to help the cops if they need assistance in participating for a pilot project where I can assure success. To ensure success we need more citizens volunteering with the greasy system we live in – it could be one last effort from all of us.

Finally I reach home at 2115 Hrs i.e. my speed is almost 8 Kms an hour. Is it really such an unmanageable situation that we all are in? If need be let the cops seeks assistance from experts in the country and of all people lets get Kiran Bedi involved and say that the citizens are not quiet and we can participate in improving our own lives…

The roads for sure need some maintenance and better flow of traffic. The corporates need to participate and most importantly we need the cops to manage the traffic at the moment of truth and tell the world that they are capable as well.

The extract of this BLOG was published in Bangalore Mirror on 18 April 2008 Bangalore Mirror is a 48 page supplement published by Times of India.

You could also refer this link on msn: http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1641318

Bad roads can boost country economy!!!

2008-01-02T21:00:00.001-08:00

Can you believe that the bad roads that you and I use in India is actually boosting the economy of the country. I am sure you must be gaping at the statement but may be a small analysis would let you agree with me.

It is a pity that the statement is true to the best of my observations. Strangely and bad to be true that most of the roads especially the ones near signals are always bad and can hardly be repaired due to the traffic flow that we have at most of the time – be it day or the night. This ensures that the roads are laid and re-laid (most of the time on papers) so often that all the road making vendors are paid by the government. That means even Government is privy to this whole thing. Needless to say there are a lot many people getting richer in the whole process other than the road making vendors - You know whom I mean….

This also means that there is more fuel that is consumed. Bad roads and bus stops in very close vicinity can ensure a traffic jam for nuts (and obviously for no genuine reason) and more fuel being burned by all the vehicles. This ensures that we buy more fuel and the oil pool and the revenue there of is ensured to all the players. How can I forget the mention of mobile phones. We use pool car facilities to ensure that we save on the fuel and more. Generally every one is either busy SMSing or calling their beloved ones in such pool cabs. In fact it is the best activity that all Indians are glued to these days when we hit the roads and this includes the drivers as well. No wonder why mobile telephony is a big hit in India. This ensures that the spectrum is widely used and the service providers are counting their way to the banks with a big brad smile.

Obviously with such jams and unwanted traffic crowding the pollution is sure to hit all of us. This means that the hospitals and the doctors are taken care of for a situation. A series of tests and some medical economy is on its way. Am sure that most of the generation suffers from pollution and bad air. This ensures that the cops also earn some quick bucks from all of those who err due to restlessness on the road. I would do no justice if i dont mention of the restless drivers who start being no monkey with their vehicle horns .

The most important aspect is the vehicle manufacturers and their spare parts manufacture which account to the automobile boom in the country. The bad roads also have a hidden agenda – more frequent repairs and replacement of some parts of your vehicles. This means that you replace your parts more frequently than you ought to and the spares life cycle management is much faster than you expect – may be we can invest in the auto sectors of market as long as the government promises not to give us better roads.

The combined result of all these factors is that I travel six hours in a day to work for 8 hours in the office – a reason for travel not so well justified.

Am sure by now you would accept the fact what has significantly contributed to the diversified boost of the country’s economy. What to look forward? The new international airport in Bangalore and am sure this is just the curtain raiser for what we Bangaloreans are in for.

To talk, shmooze and communicate

2007-02-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

Well all of us yap, rap discuss, orate, spiel, mouth, troll, bark, babble, lecture on various aspects in our every day life. Well the whole point of all these idioms are to communicate. How often do we do that and how often are we successful at this?

It makes no sense to talk all the time; I guess it makes more sense to communicate. Communication need not be always a talk, it could be gesture at times, even a smile or pat at times. Many a times even one’s silence would communicate a zillion things. Communication can be silent as well and yet effective. It could be just talking to the table in a meeting expressing ones displeasure of discontent or disagreement over the topic. It so happens that an effective manager communicates well.

How does one learn the art of communication? Well I guess the answer to this lies in the same question as are managers born or made? I really wonder if there are any books that can teach one or rather if any one has picked up communication by reading books at all? I have more often seen that either one communicates or one does not. It is a very clear status of Yes or No. An effective communication can make the other set of the participants clear the entire thought process.

Not to name any one, I happened to be privileged to work with some one who made a lot of din in the name of communication and yet there would be nothing from his end to communicate. The communication meetings would be noisier than a fish market yet none would be communicating. In fact all of them were always found talking in such forums. He preferred to talk it out all the time and his communication was an utter disaster. Many a things were undocumented, rough and non corroborative. He was a little too loud and possible sounded rash and harsh as well. He would often communicate things that he never meant or things that were never his intent. To add on to it his looks and native touch to the Indianized regional English would make others burst out in laughter at the most serious discussions.

He would never want to communicate to the clients, team members or even to management on what the facts were. I guess it would have made his life easy going and happy as well if he were to pick up these things. I remember one of my professors in the campus who often stated that use the space effectively to communicate. He would not prefer to be a dead log when he would lecture in the classrooms but move around the entire class room and all over and make sure he used every inch of the class room space. He would always move use his hands in gesturing, facial expressions all in order to communicate effectively.

It is also nice to KISS – I mean to Keep It Short and Sweet. The professor’s skills were nurtured by his education and the most enviable company of other fellow professors in premium business management schools of the country. He would be polite, low and yet make his point quite clear and understandable to others while the other person was louder than any one else and yet hurt every individual’s feelings in the forum.

I guess it also forms a part of the X factor. It is indeed a league apart when one can communicate and more so when one can communicate effectively. It needs a lot of passion, deep sightedness, thoughtfulness, effective decision to make an individual communicate effectively. It is of prime importance when one is managing and leading a bunch of people. Else he could be similar to monkey king of the clan.

The secrets of communication would for ever remain with the ones who have this art and science in them. You would often see your boss saying a NO in a very polite manner that would have made you think that he meant a YES or your wife would have said a YES and yet you would have construed that as a NO. There can be distortion in communication based on the circumstances one is in, or more so situational. But the very purpose that differentiates human beings from other animals is our communication skills. Animals do speak their naïve language so do we but we could also communicate.
To sum it up I would not want to term this as a soft skill but rather a trait in a person.

The great Indian Rail trick

2007-02-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

Hey hang on!!!! If you think I am referring to the great Indian rope trick, you are mistaken. The similarity between both is the fact that both of them need to be perfectly orchestrated else it will result in a flop show.

It was my latest adventure with the Indian Railways and this time it was in Chennai. I was at least an hour ahead of scheduled departure time. I had planned to travel by Lalbagh Express. Chennai station can actually boast about the highest number of touts on a normal day as well. Trust me the regional flavor of Chennai cannot be aped by any other metro in the country. But the incident that was to unfold is no different across the length and breadth of the country where Indian railways operates. I must complement the Railways for maintaining standards across with such uniformity. This is in addition of some non performing lazy sleeping staff in the ticket counter and the stinking railway toilets that Indian railways is striving hard to maintain uniformity. Not even to mention the food on board.

Now coming back to my adventure, Out of the 10 plus odd counters that were meant for the current bookings (polite way of stating counters for unreserved tickets) – take a bet that you are sure to fine at least 4 of them ( on an average at least 40 % of them) closed for various reasons. The reasons need some explanation form the rail(ing) people. This adds to the confusion but that’s how the rail tickets value chain and the supply chain system works. Mind you the endless serpentine crowds on a weekday, though I can understand the crowd on a weekend. They also vend tickets to the touts who would yell the destination aloud and make some express or super fast money. I am sure that people starting from the counter clerk to the cops on duty all have a cut in this revenue model – else there is no justification for such acts. Chennai has a very own regional flavor – ladies counter for tickets. Bingo!!! No prizes for guessing that’s the modus operandi. These women are the touts who would buy tickets and sell them at a premium costs for you and common man gets mugged time and again either by the railways or the touts.

There are policemen and police women who can do nothing but yell at commoners like you and me. They pick up all young looking men and women on the pretext of baggage check and (man) handle them mercilessly for the want of some money (may be their own super fast service). But I am sure that there are a lot of such illegal components that get on the Indian rails.

Finally after 45 minutes of painful wait it was my time to the ticket counter to get my tickets. Our friend, the ticket vendor – clerk, moved away from the Charles Babbage invented and use computer , perhaps, without realization that I had to board the train that was scheduled to depart at 1545 Hrs to get a safety stock of the pre printer empty ticket roll. All this when he had more than a hundred still waiting to be printed on the printer. I appreciate his early warning senses that could have cost my travel back home. Finally after a quick gossip and all lazy movements he decided to return to the window and print my ticket at 1546 Hrs for a train that was scheduled to depart at 1545 Hrs. The saga is far from over. He had no clue if the train had departed or not. I preferred not to imagine the plight of elderly citizens or the physically challenged ones. The clerk wanted me to tender exact change for my ticket though he was sitting on a pile of small change. Nevertheless I told him to keep the change and I was still glad that I got my ticket – let alone the train.

I reached platform number 4 and to my utter surprise found the heave metal train in pound and flesh. I was glad and not too very surprised. Invariably the platforms are a destination away from the reservation counters for the reasons best known to the railways. The compartments were not as crowded as I had thought them to be. I could actually gauge them by the crowd on the platform as well. I saw our next railway friend – Mr. TTE on the platform, actually he was no better looking than the touts in the reservation counter. I requested him to allot me a seat in the AC Chair car – if there were any available seats. He was kind enough and asked me to meet him at an appointed coach in the train after an hour. Mind you my journey from Chennai to Bangalore was no more than 6 hours. I am sure he was not favoring me a seat by allocation in a coach with empty seats for which I would cough out my money to the Indian railways and some to the TTE as well. That lets me wonder why people can’t be graceful in this country.

I do not like the manner in which the TTE was behaving with the passengers and the passengers were pleading him as good as a court judge who would pronounce the verdict any moment. The fact of the matter was that there were ore seats vacant in the AC chair car than the people who were requesting the TTE for a seat allotment. It also had some foreign travelers. I am not very sure that they would carry home good memories of the Great Indian Train travel. Frustrated with all these activities I mustered enough courage to travel by the ordinary Chair car after consulting the reservation charts outside the stinking toilets of the non AC coaches. The other TTE was not the one who was in the AC coaches. I was supposed to pay an additional 15 Rs to the railways as confirmation charges. I handed over a 100 Rs note to him. He returned me a change of 70 Rs and a big broad smile for the rest of the money that he was supposed to give me back.

Can’t the functioning style of the Indian railways improve at all? I appreciate the railways Minster’s visit to the top business management schools and lectures that he delivers there. I would suggest that at some point in time that all these politicians be taught by people who endure all the pain in travel. It is a pity with such a poor infrastructure what are we aiming at? May be the government should open the rails to private operators well and see the vast change that can come in from the private operators as much as the Indian skies have witnessed.

Are Managers made or born???

2006-11-19T04:12:00.000-08:00

The argument goes on and this is as old as management itself. Who is an ideal manager and what are his responsibilities and his style of managing things? I must share this experience with you all. In manufacturing the most popular strategy is Just in Time (JIT). Organizations across the globe have benefited in this management model. However one of my senior colleague out of his experience said in a client discussion that we would follow SHIT strategy. This put me off, for a consultant of his stature using some low vocabulary words but the reality what he intended was Some How In Time (SHIT). There is the paradigm shi(f)t in the strategies that we adopton the time horizon.

I have been wondering as to what makes a manager successful. Is it his team and project driving capabilities? Or is it the way he manages people who drive the assignments or projects he is into? Or is it the sub-ordinates who make the manager successful? The answers are many. How much do B schools contribute in the making of managers and how much of them is imbibed? So will case studies and other teaching and class room sessions help? I doubt one can definitely master the definitions and more in such learning but can he be receptive to all such imbibing at all?

I have had a few managers over the last few years and have noticed some common features between them. A successful manager, whom I wish not to name, let me work at peace and let us manage our things on our own. However he was a godly figure for us, though he was just a few years elder to us, he managed us efficiently and effectively. He did not come from any B school nor did he come from any great organization. On the contrary I had an opportunity to work under a few managers as well, who boasted of the organizations they came from, the projects they managed and still with very low effeicacy and at times over effectiveness. This poses another question to you should a manager be efficient or effective? The over all team morale and the team spirits play a very crucial role in the whole process.

I found the second set of managers were definitely the subject matter of discussion for all his juniors and team members in the coffee / pantry in office or in the lunch / snack time or even for that matter his discussions get carried over to their homes. Trust me the family will easily identify the manager at their very first unintroduced meeting. The lessons learnt at this stage is that how not to manage people this badly. So what is a manager’s responsibility? Is it just bossing around? Or is it to walk that extra mile for the people whom he manages or the people who let to be managed? I guess a soft approach in today’s world is the key for his success. It is said, very true indeed, that when an employee quits an organization he has quit his Manager – that’s the prima facie. This certainly means that we need not live in a static world and all are welcome to growth dynamics , be it career and monetarily. Who would teach them the art and science of managing? In true sense Management would be just pure and personal complex equations with people.

A manager should let people adapt and grow to and in the ever-changing organization and people environment. The transition between organization / projects / roles or any such reassignment , is always the worst in any individual’s career. The transition needs to be smooth, warm and welcoming. I even wonder if the erring managers know where their short fall is? The manager feed back is always a tight slap on such managers and they have a very natural tendency to take such comments and feedback at a mighty personal level. They keep eyeing for an opportunity to score it out with his own people who are an invisible part of his success. Managing is not just managing client billing, on time delivery, endless meeting and never-ending bossism. It is more about being a learner and a great counselor and being a guardian angel. Times have changed when a manager could have been Authoritarian. Not so when people can actually choose their jobs in the present day scenario. These managers need to be groomed prior to their grooming their juniors. Many a times people under such managers mess up their career and personal lives. This style in today’s world gives room for gossip and a little more than that. Generally one tries to ape his manager in many an instances under given circumstances. The manager tends to forget or take notice of the changing environment when he was a sub-ordinate and today as a manager. It is very critical to assess ones own self with the changing times and act accordingly. These managers hold the key to people retention and not salary and perks.

So the debate can continue if a manager is made or born...

Teachers, Parents , leave those kids alone!

2006-11-19T03:43:00.001-08:00

It is strange what children get to learn in schools! They carry so much on their backs (bags) and yet know so little. Computers have made them better at reasoning and logic, but weakened their knowledge of mathematics. It is crazy! We have killed the child in them by trying to make them better persons.
I keep wondering how tiny, bug like autos accommodate a dozen or more children (half inside and remaining outside). Does anyone realize the risk that we are exposing these future citizens to? Do school authorities, parents or the police take notice of this? I remember seeing a child squashed in his seat, with children standing, sitting and sleeping on him. It was a pathetic sight.
The situation in schools is no different. There is more number of children than seats or benches in classroom. There are some schools where there are no desks at all. Who will check such problems in educational institutions?
Schools have become mere reserve banks. Education needs to be given more attention. To buy an admission application you have to wait in a queue that is only slightly longer than the cinema hall. Then you end up paying fees equivalent to your salary and thanks to Mr. Finance Minister, because he wants to tax us.
It was tragic to see children die in the accident at New Delhi last year. And more recently the school bus tragedy at Nagarbhavi (in Bangalore) was ghastly, as was the incident at Mangalore. Anuj Kapri, my friend perished in the same accident. The institute did not even convene a prayer meeting for him.
Do we need this kind of excursion at all? Are parents prepared to lose their children or take such risks (picnic or no picnic)? Statistics show that youngsters below the age of 25 form a sizeable portion of accident victims.
The days of Vidya-daana (charity in education) are no more. It is the day of Vidya–dhana (money for education).
Let us forget the children for a brief moment and see what the elders have learnt? Send children in already packed buses, or in a hazardous contraption called auto. Insists that ‘my child performs better than the rest!’
The scene at ones office is no different. People sit in car basements, converted into air-conditioned cubicles or offices. Little so they know about the health hazards involved.
Which authority will check into this? And we talk of GDP, IT and everything under the sun and stars. You toil day and find a job – in a typical employment scenario – where the wrong person gets the right job, the one you were qualified for! In such instances you are either over utilized or never utilized. I think Mahatma Gandhi who said that "at work one must emulate all the three monkeys simultaneously. Don’t see, hear or talk nonsense". Unfortunately he forgot to say "leave your hearts and sense of justice at home, when you go to work. It irks me, to see someone being paid huge sums of salary to check his mail and do personal business in office time. We don’t encourage fine arts, sports or Human values. The "child" in every individual dies.
To conclude I must quote"Mere dil ke ek kone mein ek masoom sa bacha, Badon ki dekhkar duniya, bada hone se darta hain"
This article was published on March 26 , 2002 in The Asian Age.

It was a shameful day after 60 years of Indian Independence!!!

2006-11-19T03:43:00.000-08:00

It was a shame to see the Indian politicians on the television screen on the Independence Day. It was more shameful to see this situation of India after 60 years of Independence – the politicians and bureaucrats who rule the country . I was a little bemused when I was watching the news channel on the Independence day when the MPs were quizzed about India’s history and they did not know the basics of Indian history or at the least the basics of the Independence struggle. It was really one of the most shameful moments. It would make any of rethink on the basic eligibility of the Indian Politicians and more.

The elected members though look rogues, it was least expected that these Members of Parliament at least know the colors of the national flag and more so in the order. I found it very disgusting and embarrassed when some of the MPs did not even know the order of the color of the flag when questioned. One of the distinguished members said (shamelessly and thoughtlessly that it was order of colors in the national flag were Green, White and Saffron). MPs for sure would be hoisting flag, travel in cars that bear the national flag and visit lot of local and national government institutions that have the national flag hoisted all the time in their respective buildings and yet could not figure it out for the camera and the nation watching it. I am sure that these are basics like one breathing. You don’t need to remember how to breathe and similarly you don’t even need to remember the color of the tri color and their significance. These things can be learnt or rather be taught, the hard way, to these sitting honorable members of parliament. I am sure that the nation should not dismiss this as a joke but actually punish these jokers for such a national insult.

In the real light of the same things imagine how well he would know his constituency that he represents or he hails from. These money making machines, as I would prefer to call them, would never be bothered to know about them. It is a pity that these clowns are the elected representatives. Can we evaluate what were the qualities that make them elecatble. They actually seem to be dead weights of the society, however there are exceptions.

Many of the honorable members of the parliament did not know the poet who wrote the national anthem and the national song “Vande Mataram”. They did not know what was Mahatma Gandhi’s full name. I am sure that many of the lot would not be able to recite the national anthem, though many of them are illiterates. A little further would also let us know their basic GK. I am sure that they would not even know how many states constitute the Republic of India and yet they would be fighting and leading marches for the need of independent states.

Let us take stock of the rude reality of the Indian Political environment, It is sad that all jobs and all other work eligibility criteria have a certain basic minimum education requisites and strangely the highest posts of the nation do not have any basic requirements. In fact the prime ministers in the past have neither been elected nor have been the voted choice of the nation. Is it time that the Indian political scenario is revamped. I would also want them to have retirement age in fact may be 45 or 50 for them. This would ensure that we have only able and healthy representatives of the state. It is strange and at times a little uncomfortable sight to see a prime minister who cannot walk or a minister who is sick and ailing. How do we change this out look of the political environment? Many of them have more criminal records than political achievements to their credit. I am sure that the Election commission needs to take a note and judiciously exercise their executive powers. I am sure that the time is ripe to clean up the ailing and greasy Indian Political scene. It just needs the right and able person to revamp the whole scene (with due regards to all senior Political leaders). It would be fair and just on our parts to use the rich experience of these leaders as advisors to the Government and able young and energetic Indian Leaders.

When would this all end and these people be real representatives of true India. Imagine the situation when these people would also be the ministers in the cabinet. Little uncomfortable – isn’t it? In fact the most irritating moment was that some of the quizzed politicians were either ministers or people who have held very high posts in the Indian ministry. I am sure that with the changing Indian face we are sure to bring about a willing change. Kudos to the media for being unbiased in this case – for sure. Good work!!! Highly appreciated.

Food for thought

2006-11-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

It was quite some time that I had traveled long distances by train. I decided to cut off from my project work, against all odds, to get back home for Diwali – The festival of light and Joy. Quite against the current trend where many organizations were pushing their staff to fly the low cost airlines our organization decided to let people take the trains. Well it is an organizational decision and one has very little to say in this regard.

The train I took was a weekly train from the tiny town of Bilaspur to Bangalore. The train was a little too slow. It takes more than longer time to reach the destination. But it was still fun to travel by the clean coach and the not so clean linen that was provided to the Air conditioned coach travelers. It did not have a pantry but the coach was equipped with a mobile charger, well something to think about!!!

The train runs through the states of Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh before entering the territory of Karnataka. The train runs through civilizations actually. It runs across Godavari – a river, Ramagundam - power plant city, barren and dry land and most interestingly some of the very best of cultivating lands in Andhra Pradesh.

The trend in living is that people are adapting to IT jobs like never before. The coach had a lot of Software professionals who would possibly hang around their company I cards on their necks during travel and some luxurious ones surf the net on Wi-Fi technology and cleaning their mailboxes. We don’t see people taking to the Civil and Administrative jobs and the normal jobs at manufacturing segments as well. Let alone the jobs in agriculture. Most of us are desperate to get out of India for good and earn a better living – and may not be so good a livelihood. Looks like we are all heading towards an era of consultants. But the big question is who will work if every one turned out as a consultant? India is a progressive nation and truly so even a poor farmer does not want his lineage to be in the farming business.

It is indeed nice to see the sons of soil working in new dimension jobs and alleviating them from poverty and may be it was not so nice to see one as the prime minister. But the question is that who will cultivate for all of us? I don’t see the big private giants getting into agriculture. I hardly see anything being done for this noble profession – but for the ministerial speeches for elections and days of national importance. Owing to difficulties many farmers switch to becoming petty traders and some to daily work in industries and the others drowned in poverty end their lives. The zamindars continue to own lands and make their laws of the land in this hi-tech country today.

The whole country sees huge movement of people for Diwali and then we realize that the travel industry rings huge sales in these seasons. How can we also care for these farmers who toil the hardships of scorching sun and tormenting rains for the produce? Rains or no rains, fire and any other calamity affects these brethren community which expects poor returns from the society it serves. Do we have any moral responsibility to the society we live in? It would not be before long that we would actually start producing computers and microchips from the farms. But we would lose the tillers in the progress that we all achieve. Can this sector also have some investors and benefit reapers. Can the giants of business get into this sector and provide employment, better machinery and aid. Can we have the likes of Narayana Murthy in the field of agriculture???

Rickshawalla

2006-11-19T03:24:00.000-08:00

He yells by the name Radhey Radhey in the small serpentine roads of Vrindavan. Radhey the consort of Krishna is the name that paves way for these hard rickshaw pullers. He smiles while smoking his beedi in the hot sun. He lives on a simple samosa or a kachori and may be some poori and bhaji for his lunch. His life is very similar to that of the rickshaw that he pulls all his life. The rickshaw needs as puller so his life needs passengers. The small money he earns everyday is something would help him pull his family all along. It is the smile that I admire and their readiness to work when some people oversized board their carts.

I was in Vrindavan this summer to be there at the Bankey Bihari temple - a temple of high religious significance and Krishna. The hi-tech cars can’t reach many of the gallis (small roads or more so walkways) but you are sure to reach these gallis with a humble rickshaw. It is also called as a hand cart. It is the only way of commuting no matter how rich or poor one is. Mind you they are not greedy at all, while they have a pre fixed rates to meet their interests and motivate them all the way, for the strain and the hard work under the sun they pull your weights all over the bad roads and let you reach the destination in comfort. Though it was slightly scary for me to travel in these rickshaws. I felt a little uncomfortable to see someone pulling my weight and that of my friend who accompanied me. I am sure the nostalgia of rickshaws in Vrindavan is as pristine as Krishna himself.

The story of the hand cart pullers in Kolkata is no different. They pull you all the way amidst the modernity that boasts of trams, cabs and some wonderful flyovers. This is reality India - A country where fast cars overtake these hand pulled carts. It is this segment of people who work for a square meal everyday. They bow down to all our weight and negotiation skills. It is fun to travel in them though but the ground reality is that he pulls to meet his end that day and that very minute. They live such a small life and dare not dream big for they live a month with their family in a few hundred of rupees in this inflated world. At times I am sure they would have to let go of their meal for the want of money. How does one rehabilitate them and make them productively independent?

They are such simple people with truthful smiles all the way and they are willing to let you travel amidst narrow roads, raining climate and even the scorching sun. He sweats his way to get that money that one has assured him. These are the most vulnerable lot in the society we live in and one could blame them as a thief, money swindler, Mataal (drunkard) as called in Bangla, in Kolkata. It is indeed nostalgic but as a progressive state we have a responsibility to our fellow beings in this country.

These are the people who move the children with utmost care and affection to their school and back. They care for our near and dear tots. The children also look up to them and I would not be surprised if Rabindranath Tagore could have been inspired so highly by the kabuliwallah. They also have ethics in their line of business where some of them offer a free ride to the old and some to the pregnant women. It is indeed a lot to learn from them in our lives. It is still their self respect that lets them work in a dignified manner rather than taking up to any notorious way of living. I am sure that they are as honest as each of us and may be they defer the taxes and pay all the huge interest to the money lenders for their living and some for their vices. It is the pace of life that we overtake such principles I am scared of, it is the morality that we may compromise in the bargain of progress and we might lose these hard workers in the race of Tortoise and Hare.

I must conclude with Vikram Seth’s verses from Beastly tales

“Once of twice upon a time
In the land of runnyrhyme
Lived a hare both hot and heady
And a tortoise slow and steady”

As we all know that the tortoise wins the race and yet the reality in this world is that thus the hare was pampered and rotten and the tortoise was forgotten.

MY USA EXPERIENCE

2006-11-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

It is @ 8 PM and still looks like 3 or 4 in the evening. It is quite different than our place… but a few thousand Kilometers away life changes as much as the culture. So far and yet so good!!!!

It was a big mess in Mumbai. Spoke to the Thanki’s (my brother’s in-laws) and advised them not to come over though Mrs. Thanki was keen in coming over to the airport to see me off. The other reason for me to avoid and discouraging people to see me off is that I feel very sad about departing. I was very much aware of their travel to Amsterdam not as much as the confusion that I was headed for. The inter airport shuttle took longer time than expected in Mumbai. I was flying by Northwest airlines and by the time I boarded the flight I was exhausted. All that I know was my seat and I slept so instantaneously that I never realized when the flight took off. (I am certain that IC air hostesses are much younger and…u know). There were a handful of old grannies just dying to serve passengers and running away from their grave… he he…

The aircraft was old and looked scary It was a Mc Douglas the DC10 kinds with an engine mounted on the tail of the aircraft… but Amsterdam was great and was a pleasure to land in there at @ 0630 Hrs local time and realized that my flight was at 1420 Hrs in the day so had a long time and I never knew what to do…It is the sex capital of the globe and u get everything duty free and free of duties in there….but then there were so many duty free shops that sold everything from wine to women(this certainly is a lot of exaggeration you know)… well I could not see the sex streets in there ….it was great all that one needs is Dollars or should I say Euros to buy and have the pleasure of owning them. I quickly shat in the airport toilets since the doors had no latches and u never know who would want to peep in when… bad deal…

Soon I realized that I was just 15 minutes away from my departure time and here they don’t expect you to board the aircraft hours before the departure, very unlike India. And the aircraft took off and I was on air across the seven seas far far away from all I knew, you all and to a land where I knew none but for Uncle SAM. I slept well and there was a very pretty girl sitting next to me and I was already asleep even before she started a conversation, if she had dreamt of one. And time passed with munching of those funny tasting munchies and some bitter orange juice that was served to me. And I never knew when the time passed and It was time to land when I realized that I had not used the toilet soon I went ahead to use it and realized that the aircraft was about to land and rushed back to occupy the seat next to Tanya (the pretty girl , next to me) zipping my trousers. And I was there in USA the fantasy land for all Indians. It is quite a place nothing fabulous that I observed in the first two days.

I had not packed any of my Indian eatables for my survival there and hence had to scout for Indian grocery shop and bought a lot of Indian stuff. Being a strict veggie is a problem, unless and until one decides to live on fruits and some baked edibles. The reality is that one can lay hands to almost every kind of foodstuff in here. I was in our company HQ in Farmington Hills – a real cool pace away from all the typical US life. It was more of a home coming for me. I could see a lot of like tongued people in all Indian restaurants enjoying whatever was being served. The food was great!!! And believe me any price is worth for the crispy Poakoras and the Masala Dosas (or the pancakes as my CIO prefers calling a Dosa). Days went by and my job kept me busy and I was glad that I had so much to learn and the sad part none to teach so you learn the hardest way.

I was invited and constituted myself as a permanent invitee for all Indian parties from the office circuits. There were two advantages of these parties. First and foremost I could see a lot of Indian families and the second most important factor that we could carry home the food for a couple of days. Cooking was not a bad deal for me at all but it was not so great to eat what one cooks. East or west moms are the best. I realized the sheer brilliance of her Rava Dosa and Onion sambar and could smell it a few thousand kilometers away from my kitchen in Bangalore. The weekends were hectic with the clothes and all other weekend activities. I preferred not to do any outing and stay indoors. It was a great place. I could afford to sleep sometimes the whole of the weekend and enjoy my sleep that I had missed for quite some time by then.

Being glued to indatimes.com was another great feeling and I felt that I was kept abreast with what happened back home and my BLOG. The Olympics performance by India was not a feel proud factor and Uma Bharati’s arrest kept all of us busy with enough stuff to discuss in our coffee breaks which happened more frequently in the office.

Soon the days are gone and I am to head back home to the land of corruption. But India still is a place or possibly we are more used to a life like this out here. I long to go back to Farmington Hills on a long vacation and with my family.

The Newzy News…

2005-10-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have never been a TV buff till very recently I was posted on a project in remote India. The only source of entertainment, other than fancy mobile phones, was the television. Like anybody else I do a lot of channel surfing , which of course would turn off my other colleagues who used to join me in the television watch feat.

After months of careful and detailed analysis I realized the best and watchable channels were the Animal Planet, Discovery channel and of course any of the news channels. The news channels in particular take away the cream from the animals on the other channels. This obsession of mine was not well cherished by my colleagues, am sure though they never voiced it out.

Off late the breaking news flash is very disturbing and sometimes they make no sense as Breaking news at all….. Many a times I find that cricket is the topmost headline for the day. Be it Ganguly’s captaincy or Sachin’s injury. I keep wondering if the news is made or created because of such events. The other most frequented topic would be rape in Delhi. I guess we could have a dedicated channel or a section to cover issues, which I am sure, will have its own viewers. Sometimes the news channel go beyond reporting and creating news. And news channels love to gig into all the fights be it between Gill and Dhanraj Pillay or be it Greg Chappel and Saurav Ganguly. I was a little taken back when a popular news channel carried headlines that India and Sri lanka fight today… actually I am sure that there are news that are of much higher priorities. Not that India is a very sporty country else we would have not been returning home empty handed from the Olympics. The media is also a little too very excited about cricket. I am sure that media needs to be unbiased and treat sports and sports related news just they way they should.

It is often felt that the media bloats issues beyond comprehension. The repeated telecast of the disturbing video clippings and repeated discussions do make me wonder if the country has so much time to spare on the analysis of the same. Now let me complement the media as well for some justice being done in many cases where the problems fall into the deaf ears of the Police or politicians or the courts. The sting operations are great and have become a regular news item. But does the sting operations really yield any output at all other than the people on the television screen. I only wish that there were more justice. Had justice been the criteria I am sure Tehalka would have been a fortune 500 company. But the reality is a little too different. I was last given to understand that one of the reporters is still behind bars and where does the case stand?

The public simply loves filmy gossip. People are more curious about Karisma and Sanjay Kapoor’s patch up than their own family lives. I can’t even imagine the amount of privacy intrusion by the camera in to someone’s personal life, be it a celebrity or not. The kind of questions posed by the reporters are so embarrassing that no one might even want to hear such questions let alone answering them.
More than this the media also venturing out into obligating justice to people. Be it a case of ragging or otherwise. It also proves the facts little more in-depth. The social justice prevailing in the country today. Full points to the media in self managed justice. But somewhere down the line media is also overdoing the whole story a bit. I wish that this was well balanced and the contents in the news were well balanced.

Cricket, lies, Sex, money, gambling and more…

2005-07-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

It is funny game 13 men on the field with two umpires and 2 bats and a single ball , a huge field and millions of people to watch the same. Well – with due regards to the game and the action of sporting I personally feel it affects the productivity of the people across the globe and in particular a country like India. It does make way into a person’s life and is a fever that you cannot escape.

Over the years I have been seeing people in and out of the teams and the politics in the team. I guess to be in the team one needs more than just performance. It is game of fame and shame today. There are episodes of betting, match fixings etc, which leaves someone like me with no more interest in the game.

The episodes of match fixing with Kapil Dev crying on television left me wondering as to who was lying about the whole episode? Was it Dev? Was it Manoj? Or was it the media that was trying to explode the dirt under the carpet. It went much more against a person like me when Hansie Cronje openly accepted and confessed about the match fixing. (at least he was a truthful person) Azharudin was finished because of this…But none of the Indians commented or accepted the crime and guilt. Jadeja’s case would still be a mystery to me…

What is the whole equation then? Is it more than just a game of men, ball, bat and wickets? Yes! Of course it is all about the people and their expectation, which they do not know, is being traded on. Is it worth the emotion we invest on the game of cricket? I guess it is not – not any more.

I am not talking about the present day cricket alone. Bodyline cricket, which had enough substance to be televised. There were instances of people like Imran Khan tampering the ball and sagas of stories about the ball and bat tampering. There were instances when the umpires were booked as well.

And all weird stories of Ian Botham and more. Well the whole issue is money. And there is no sporting left in the game and then why should one promote a game such as this at a cost and a scale as huge as crores of rupees, The politics has crossed the barriers of the game and has made a cognizable entry into the administration of the game as well. The current BCCI drama is just a citation. Just look at the hours of number of people who waste in this whole episode. However the media is happy to see the gossip and grapevine selling – selling for big sums of money. I know that there can be no smoke without fire…I was quite shocked that the country was immersed in the cricketing action when thousands of armed forces lives were lost in the Kargil episode. The Cricket matches were more triumphant to the countrymen than the victory on enemies. (I will definitely want to talk about the episodes of Political Kargil in another environment)

Lets look at the other aspects of the game. What has anyone done back to the society? The players charge appearance fees on top of all their endorsements to grace a public function for a genuine charitable cause. Then where is the charity angle to the whole instance? I feel that I can score better 0 than that of people in the game or any one else at much remuneration. And the new talents are sabotaged in this glamour industry – I would not be surprised if there are issues like lies, sex and money coming out of the coffin if one were to explore the reality. There is no charity that I get to see from these Billionaire cricketers except for their visit to some orphanage for a tee-wee photo session. If these people wish they can change the fate of the nation and a deserving nation like ours. I am sure most of them are tax defaulters as well… then why encourage such a sport with all such erring people – people who err even in cricket.

I would fervently hope to see people talking about this on this forum and I would value your feedback. I know it is too controversial a start on the game but I feel that I can’t hold this to myself anymore. It is no revelation of the game and the inner side of the game, it is just restatement of my understandings. It is all about facts and restatement of facts with due regards to each one of them in the game. (I personally wish
to call it a game and not a sport)

The sport in the game is dead , long live the action of sporting…

Furnace Life!!!

2005-07-04T08:27:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I penned down something. I have been absolutely tied up with my project-ending phase in Mumbai. Things are steadily hectic and busy than ever before. I did get an opportunity to get back home from my last schedule to catch up with my personal work though.

I was asked by the Associate Director of my company to head off for a short-term project to a place called ‘Korba’ on the last day of my project in Mumbai. This is a place around 250 Kms from Raipur – the capital of Chattisgarh. I have never been to this part of the country through out my life. I realized that this place is not been well connected by flight or by train from the major cities of the country. The national carrier flies from Mumbai and from Delhi on an almost daily basis. The pain is when I return home. I have to fly to Bhubaneshwar and then back to Mumbai or head off to Nagpur – Mumbai – Bangalore. The other option is to fly from Nagpur to Mumbai and then Bangalore. Strangely enough this place still is not invaded by plastic cards and ATM except for the one from SBI.

Traveling from Korba to Nagpur is an experience that I am yet to experience. But traveled in the hot sun from Raipur to Korba. I am sure to get opportunity buy all modes of transports from here back home to Bangalore. The temperature was close to 46 degrees when we arrived in Korba. For a moment the car was like a pressurized cooker and I thought it might just explode due to the heat. Frankly that was one my fewest instances in life when I thanked the inventors Haviland Carrier for inventing Air conditioner.

It is just about 10 hours journey by train from here to Kolkata but one flies to either Mumbai or Delhi to head off to Kolkata. It is the same case to Bangalore or many other cities in the country.

This place is interesting in many aspects. I am here on a short-term project for a major metal company and realized the fruits of disinvestments. The company has made remarkable profits and has turned around. But there are possibilities of development. There are no ATMs in this town though there is a huge banking opportunity. There are not many restaurants where one can go out often to eat. There are huge catering opportunities. The leading national dailies reach us after 48 hours. The heat is so bad that there are hardly any activities in the day. Even the birds and animals are scared to venture out. The life out here is very much routine based. There are not many things that one can venture into from this place. There are jungles around the place but we were able to catch glimpse of foxes and Hyena in the township though we spotted none in Jungle on our visits. Snakes frequent all of lizards - miniature crocs, co-dwell, us with Indians out there.

The local labor class is a kind of pain in the neck; they work as casual laborers or on contract with the major companies and have a trademark of striking the administrative buildings on a more than regular basis. They hang around the office gate endlessly in the hot sun on their frequent Hartal (strike) and Rasta Roko Andolan (block the road activities) and I must admire their patience and perseverance that they can afford to burn themselves in sun. It was a record strike today that we were locked in the office for almost 11 hours from the noon.

The beauty of the place is the fact that due to heat people cover their faces with thin cotton cloth just letting enough places for the eyes to peep. Hence it becomes all the more difficult to gauge the participants of such a strike. The place is kind of sultry even with the AC on. And this possibly makes you hungrier than ever before in one's lifetime.

The fact of the life is people earn better money than any of us in the metros. Their expenses are so much lesser than any one else obviously the company and the people in this company are richer.

It is fun to see the metallic oxides getting converted to molten metal and then finally cast in various shapes and sizes. Then these get converted to either rods or sheets of the metal. Well one gets to realize that most of us live very comfortably than those in the furnaces making these metals for us.

What a shame!!!

2005-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Saurav and the boys managed to lose a winning game
Everyone is playing for the fame
May be for the few match watching dame
Though the excuse is lame
And more so for the individual name

The country boasts of Irfaan
And a bunch of boys from the barn
Yet are of no match to the likes of Warne
Looks like we have to a pitch a few more to darn

Whom do we blame?
The selectors and the players for the excuses that are lame;
They threw the oldies off the game
And soon we realized the new comers were the same

It used to be a game of fun
With the loss of a lot in the pun
Can’t ever forget the bread and bun
in the stadium, under the scorching Sun...

I have lost the interest
With the game and players having lost their trust
Where fixing the match has become a must
Sex wine and women at the game for lust.

Once or twice upon a time
We had some great time
With a few victories at some point of time
After all it was not a crime!!!

People expect too much of ERP

2005-07-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am relatively young both in terms of age and experience to ERP and best business practices. I wonder if many of the companies even ever follow anything that is recommended as best business practices. This is more so for the reason that they really do not want to follow them since this would limit or rather restrict the scope of the business that they are into.

ERP implementation is interesting. Interesting in the sense it is all there and they know it better than the team that implements. After all the business and process owners know their business and processes the best. And here is a team that suggest them what they ought to do and what not. People think that ERP team is like any other software group that sits in high-rised buildings and air-conditioned offices chatting with their friends (both boy friends and girl friends) and emptying their mail boxes, spending endless times in meeting over the same old unresolved issues and deciding their plan of action for the next meeting. They also indulge themselves in weekly status meetings, action plans. Task register and many such unknown things that seldom help the organization. The learning experience is fabulous, I must say that!!! People in support jobs actually do a lot of cleaning the Mess!!! And their understanding of erroneous tweaking of the ERP tool is better than the implementing team. (Any days!!!) If I must be saying that politely. Unlike that in implementation people work in factory environments till late in the night and become a part of the client themselves in pursuit to deliver best or at the least better business practices on the system…

The ERP systems are used to increase productivity and reduce all the activities that do not construed themselves into best practices. The idea of ERP implementation is the very fact that the ERP system is customized to suit the business needs of the organization. Many a times the tweaking of the system is so bad that the very purpose of the system is defeated. People use their own non-customized transactions or programs that by-pass the recommended best business practices. Then what is the use of ERP???

For E.g.: SAP is supposedly one of the best ERP tools available in the market. Though priced a little too high it is one of the very few tools that is so well integrated to suit the needs of a given organization. But many times people use their own way handling the information or Data. There is many a kind of quality and system audits , such as SOX audits in the USA, made by leading auditing groups but the loophole is never brought to a closure. It is rather left open in many of the instances… the gap is sometimes wide open when the ERP tool is interfaced with some other application which is home grown…

What makes such huge organizations buy them? Spend so much of money in them? The fact of the matter is that whenever a company moves into ERP the organization and its big-heads expect almost everything to be derived from the system. They even take this to be part of the automation / computerization processes. The users expect all the data to be automatically populated. The users shy away from the transaction and precision that the ERP works on. In fact I have found myself as a counsellor rather than a consultant explaining the merits and demerits of such a practice. But I wonder how much of these do the users understand at the micro level they exist in.

More so the managers also expect the impossible out of it. The catch, I guess, lies in the change management and the training that would be and needs to be incorporated along with such tweaking which rarely happens in this industry. I guess many companies have started focusing on this areas and I must say that all companies in the support environment are bringing about a great relationship in this process over the years. The customers also seem to be enjoying such complicated and integrated tools and reaping benefits like never before.

I also wish that these ERP tools are more user friendly and easy to understand, which of course is a very big ask keeping in mind the kind of integration involved. Nevertheless it is still a new avenue for the Indian companies and I am sure that the dawn of the new era would be a world of best practices.

Ways to improve Mumbai traffic

2005-07-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sounds ridiculous but I guess mumbaikars should give it a shot to see if it can help them. I no great consultant to do that but I guess the Government of Maharashtra can hire some great planning consultants and make Mumbai roads safe and Jam free instead of Free Jams.

I find that the traffic jams are more often happening on a less genuine reason.

Use pool cars. This not only saves fuel but also reduces the need for parking space, which is a problem in any case in a place like Mumbai, and also less on pollution and fuel consumption.
Remove all bus stops close to traffic signals, bridges and all possible traffic clogging avenues.
Penalize all autos that keep waiting for passengers near bus stops
The roads near signals need to be clean so that there is no traffic slowing down near the signals. These are the very critical during peak hours of the day.
All traffic signals be automated and there a timer on display so that people can plan better.
Fine all people who cross their signal lines – half the time this is a problem that jams traffic even when your signal light is green.
The traffic regulation needs to be sensor and or time based so that the inflow and outflow is managed according to hours of the day effectively.
Roads definitely need improvement
Fine all the cops who are found corruptive.
No parking on either side of the road during peak and non-peak hours of the day.
All road expansion and improvement activities in the night hours only.
Bar all trucks and lorries other than those essential in the day.
All garbage collection at night.
Not both sides of the road not to be repaired / expanded at the same time which reduces the road area by more than 50%.

These are some of the thoughts that struck to me off hand and I sure that if each one of us follows some of them we will contribute greatly to the improvement of traffic in a significant manner.

All of you all are welcome to give your ideas and ways of bettering the traffic.

Air India is no more flying with the Maharaja (Ah!!!)

2005-07-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

I have always wondered the straight and simple reason for Air India not being successful. In fact small airliners give a tough run to Air India for their money.

I decided to fly home by Air India midnight flight with a sprained calf muscle. The sector was Mumbai – Bangalore. I decided to fly Air India only for the fact that I could reach home right in time for early morning Diwali celebrations. Actually I have stopped flying with Indian Airlines long ago. I was dropped at the airport by my brother’s in-laws and I was to check in and to my utter surprise and shock the time taken to check in was over 30 minutes. The check in counters were over crowded with staff than the passengers and they were in their own and impolite world. I am sure no one traveling overseas or even domestic would take such a treatment lying low. Finally with great difficulty I conveyed the fat plump lady that I was looking for a rear window seat. She smiled at me. (I thought she knew what I meant) and she allotted me a seat in the front and the aisle (which I realized when I boarded the aircraft and especially when the aircraft was all empty). Possibly they were such people who don’t understand what you request for.

The scheduled departure was at 0135 Hrs on 11 November 2004. All went fine till 0120 Hrs when there was an announcement by a gentleman stating that the flight would be delayed by an hour or so. I am sure that the guys would very well know the delays and they in all their fairness announce this well in advance so that passengers can plan (how to take their ordeal). Nevertheless I was very patient still.

In fact till then I had never flown with Air India. After all this delay we were on board., the whole crowd was traveling home to surprise their respective families for Diwali and nothing else since it is always cheaper to fly Air Deccan or fly the apex Fares with any other airline. I was welcomed by a very homely looking lady in her Saree and uncombed hairs. I felt at home – should I say that or possibly she was just too tired.

I went in politely and calmly to locate my seat and it was 35C (the aisle). A girl or may be a lady ( let me be generous) was on 35C and I reminded her that she was on my seat. She said that she was flying from London on the same seat and I was shocked… nevertheless it was Diwali time and supposed to be a festival of joy. I decided not to precipitate the matter further and went up to the homely Air hostess to resolve this issue and she redirected me to another flight purser. Well I realized soon that I was in a government run air taxi. (They make you run from pillar to post) and that man who had a non-descript hairstyle was rude and kept standing across the seat till the lady pulled her boarding pass to show that she was the owner of the seat. I wonder what concentration he had when he also flew all the way along with her from London. And they brushed the matter away stating that it was a computer problem. I was so furious by then… I work as a part of a technology advisory services of one of the world’s top 3 consulting firms and here he tells me that it is a computer error??? How ridiculous and actually a little stupid too. In fact I am very much aware of the fact what Jet Airways did - To ensure accurate and efficient reservation systems, Jet Airways tied up with and are co-hosted with SABRE - one of the world's best reservations systems in the aviation industry. I wish I could offer free technical and non- technical consultations to this sick airline. Finally there was no attempt to cool off an irate passenger or no effort to position him better or even to upgrade him. I was let alone to decide my course of action on board.

Finally I realized it was of prior importance to me to let the aircraft take off and fly home and not a day to fight and crib. The aircraft was on its way to take off and the air hostess conveniently forgot to serve me the welcome drink of a tetra pack apple juice. In fact I had to demand it all the way. I even asked for some pain relief spray and to that she replied that they had no first aid on board. How shocking??? I am yet to recoup from the shock that the airliner did not carry a first aid kit!!! My brother who is a commercial pilot has always told me that there would be a first aid kit onboard. And the flight was on air and we were on our way to Bangalore. The snacks served on air were the typical soggy chutney sandwich and the most uninterested stuff.

The staff was in no way friendly or caring. I am sorry to be rude and the staff was definitely not one of those looking pleasant and caring as in comparison to Air Sahara or Jet airways. Neither was the staff pleasing to look at. There was no feeling that one was on an international flight. The private operators make u feel cared for the money you pay. I guess Air India needs to take a lot of lessons from other airlines and manage themselves if they plan to survive in this business and call; them Maharaja.

I cant imagine the plight of international travellers on this airline and the way they would be on board with such unfriendly and uncourteous staff.

The saint of Kanchi in the jail of Vellore

2005-07-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to face the rude reality that said the Shankaracharya of Kanchi was arrested. That was yet another diwali bang after the one from Uma Bharati’s In one of my earlier assignments

I was privileged enough to visit the tinsel town of Kancheepuram. The sansthan is a huge and mammoth one. Money sprawling with religious activities and social hub was a splendid sight. it speaks volumes of the faith people have in such places of religion. The earlier pontiff was a much more revered icon. It was under his clout that the Shankara math in Kanchi redeemed its recognition. He was the biggest icon in the spiritual and religious circle. He was deemed as the reincarnate of Adi Shankara. Times have changed…I would like to state this instance of Chandrasekhar Saraswati meeting Mahatma Gandhi. The out come of the meeting was the fact that the pontiff always wore Khadi kashaya (saffron – pontiff color) clothes on him after the meeting. Such was his simplicity and such was the impact that a great soul could have on the other!!! It reminds me of a sanyasi in Karnataka who shed saffron clothes for a girl and married her. It was during his pontiffhood that Jayendra Saraswati vanished from the Math and later on returned back to the math.

The pontiffhood denies the sanyasi’s from normal man’s life (which involves all the mortal pleasures of life). It was rumored that he was somewhere in Coorg and was later on reinstated into the math. What happened is a mystery? Is he being forced into the sainthood? Well the mystery would possibly unfold itself soon. His reinstation has lowered the pontiff’s hierarchy as well. I have heard people graduating from grihastashram (familyhood) to sanyasashram (sainthood). I leave the people and their followers to justify their reasons since none other than them can justify the same.

Not before too late he was the focal point of the Ayodhya issue. But what happened was the fact that there was no outcome. This task of his definitely deserves laurels. He volunteered to resolve the issue, which many pontiffs’ would have withdrawn them from. It was a worthwhile task that he undertook. The fact and the ground reality could have even been mileage and publicity. Well I am being hard, harsh and rude but I guess it is all my unbiased feelings. The murder mystery has been in the air for some time and the fact of the matter remains that what really conspired for killing someone in the temple premises. The fact could have involved issues something more than money may be in the reality. I am surprised that someone at his stature enjoying the political, non-political and all business would not have ventured into such an act and I fervently hope that justice prevails and religion does not turn out as business instruments.

It is indeed unfortunate to see and hear the fact that a religious head being jailed. The media either glorifies people too much or just throws them to docks. They even misinterpret and mis-communicate things which might just blow out of proportion.. the media should act as an informer and not as an influencer. The same media was out lashing him on all probable theories and what not!!! The other angle that I may even want to cite is the fact that sometimes the police has no sufficient evidence and the act of arrest takes place. The arrest does not really conclude anything, actually it concludes nothing at all. But the fact is that the cops need to do their job more diligently and seriously since the people they are (man) handling are no small commoners like us but they are the ones who control and influence a lot many things that I and you never are able to see. More so beyond this is justice and the court. I know that the goddess of justice is blindfolded in order not to differentiate people and I fervently hope that the goddess of justice is not blind!!!

The Maha (rashtra) Politics

2005-07-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well well well, true to the name the politics in the financial capital of India was BIG enough, dramatic, exciting (not as much as the Nagpur test) and not many in the country benefited through bookies on this event. It looked all set that Shinde was to takeover the state again. It was actually a miniature replica of Manmohan Singh being appointed as the prime minister - a situation very similar to the national level. The name that popped out in the end was that of Vilas Rao Deshmukh. What made the party choose him. Mysteries close that of Veerappan’s death - should I say that?

What difference can Deshmukh make??? I am new to Mumbai and Maharashtra (obviously). Correct me if I am wrong. The whole city is with such construction, which always looks like never ending to me at this very moment. There are a whole lot of flyovers that are just in the air and not ready to use due to litigations, payment delays and possibly any reason that you can think of. The travel (travail) through the SEEPZ is such a painful experience that one would never want to remember it. I do see such a huge effort by the local authorities or the construction company. In fact I was quite (and) baffled to see just one man standing under a flyover in SEEPZ and involved in the construction. But this is true…. I guess he was working on the flyover issue and hopefully he would be able to complete the work as soon as he and the government can. The plight of roads with potholes looks like potholes with road in somewhere where between. I am into ERP practice and see that Mumbai is really the happening den of such implementations. SEEPZ a name that rings all the software bells in your ears is absolutely in such a mess. There is no proper approach to the place. May be the chief ministers should visit the other parts in the country to realize the special incentives that the so-called export promotion zones derive. Or may be they should be called at the peak hour to for an inauguration to know the plight of a common man (not a conman).

Lets get back to the game that ended a couple of days ago. Shinde had to be positioned in a strategic manner that he is both in the game and yet not a player. The best thing to do in such a situation is either make them Governors or may be in some cases even the President of the country, if the position is available. I wish that people in such position exercise their powers rather than just being a mere political protocol.

In fact I remember the entire dissident team of Deshmukh’s earlier cabinet and party were virtually kidnapped to Bangalore and the then chief minister and de-facto chief minister SM Krishna and DK Shivkumar were entrusted the task of satisfying them all. I am sure that wine, women and money would have flown in abundance to satisfy them. They were all housed at the Sanjay Khan’s resort that serves all purposes and at times even a political crisis of another state. Yet they could not hold Deshmukh as the chief minister. Then what made the party think that he is the right choice? May be Pawar (Power) forced them to make him the chief minister of may be he was the best choice under such circumstances. Lets look at the Karnataka politics as well SM Krishna was replaced by Dharam Singh. But to any of us there is hardly any difference between either of them. We still suffer for betterment of roads, power (I mean electricity), education and all basics.

What if Shivsena had shed their political manifesto and supported congress externally? Or what if vice-versa was true? Hard to even imagine now. Pawar would have had no bargaining at all. But in any case the reality is Pawar got a deal both at center and the state as well. In fact he is in much more a strategic position that ever before. (Despite his poor health). And yet he is talking of free power to farmers in Maharashtra!!! Well let’s see if they stay for 5 full years without changing faces and names in the Hotseat and if the farmers get free electricity or it just lies in the manifestos.

What’s coming up in my next BLOG is Jayalalita saga….

An evening with Anup Jalota and Pankaj Udhas

2005-07-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

It was an evening with Pankaj Udhas and Anup Jalota in Chennai on September 26 2004. I have been in Chennai for almost a year ever since I have shifted my base due to professional reasons. I was happy in Bangalore though-

Anup Jalota a name synonymous with every Hindi music listening person in India. Yes!!! I am proud and fortunate to confess my associations with him. I was introduced to AJ by a pal named Jitesh. Jitesh is a Shahgird – student of AJ. AJ is a great person as such. Never did I realize that he was such a down to earth person. He was absolutely calm and cool when we meet him. I mean that he was not disturbed by intruders at his room. That’s quite unexpected of a celebrity like him. I kept wondering what made him Big??? I guess I knew that when I saw this composed and calm gentleman waiting for us in his room. He was so warm and his warmth spread to people all around him. He was in his jeans and a white T-shirt when we met him. We proposed to lunch out in a Mexican restaurant in Bangalore and he willingly agreed. The rest followed- media and publicity.
He sang all my requests and I was a celebrity none less than him since he readily agreed and sang all my dream numbers. I was privileged to access him on his cell sending sms and other jokes. He responded and still responds. That’s some simplicity I see in him. I started proposing business deals with him though nothing materialized for no mistake of ours.

I have been a keen follower of Pankaj Udhas before I shifted to being a fan of Jagjit Singh. Pankaj was a cool cat and a very soft spoken person. They were truly a complementary match. He was absolutely splendid as was his voice. (makmally – silken) In fact AJ said that – which is actually true- that PU has the highest number of hits for masses and he also added a word of caution that one needs to mature to follow JS.

But between the two of them there was lot of musical fireworks on the stage in Chennai. It was truly a great evening when two stars sang for a cause such as CANCER. It was a house full audience at music academy and all possible traffic jams in that crowded street of RK Salai in Chennai. They presented some of the very best chosen numbers though neither of performed any of my requests. Possible the mood was very different. I am sure more concerts will follow soon… and I am just now penning my personal experience with AJ. Will post them soon.

Reasons (not) to marry

2005-07-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

I am surprised to see why men and women look at marriage the way they look at it.

My friend Amir Tuteja was in India recently. He is well grown rich guy educated at Harvard’s. I could not comprehend what the wordings on his T- shirt. It read “I was born intelligent – education ruined me”. Nevertheless that was still not a reason enough to get married.

Amir stays at Farmington Hills in Michigan, US. He works for an IT firm and finally decided to marry. (Not because he works for an IT firm though). I have been working in my office late night listening to some ghazals of Jagjit Singh; most of them are very philosophical, when Air boldly announced his dream and desire to get married. He decided to catch up with some of his friends (some married and the rest not so married). On the destined day we caught up with Tuteja one of the most crowded pub, to discuss his plans of the marriage and furtherance of the same. After all, it is a good deal to learn from other’s mistake. Either ways I have been under tremendous pressure to get married when some words of wisdom showered upon me.

Some factual statements as they look like is making me wonder if I should repeat the same mistakes that every married man does.

Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, suffering
It is not true that married men live longer; it only seems so (after marriage).
A man is incomplete before marriage, after that he is (completely) finished.
Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage, the "y" becomes (so) silent.
Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor's Degree and the woman gets her Masters.
A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?" And the father replied, "I don't know, son, I'm still paying for it."
Not all men suffer, after all some choose not to marry.
WIFE meant Wonderful Instrument for Enjoyment little do they realize that it is Worries Invited For Ever.
Marriage is not the only way to happiness, there are much cheaper means

These are the statements recorded of some men who are married happily or happily married. This bears no relevance to men who are married or more so to men who plan to get married.

Finally after all these words of wisdom - i lost touch with Amir. I am sure that he returned back to Farmington Hills but am not sure if he got married.

(All this in a lighter side of life) sorry Amir.

Chennai Autos

2005-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Autos are a trademark of India. Apart from spotting these 3 wheeled Indian wonder on busy maddening Indian roads they also have found some position in Hollywood movies such as Bond – 007 movies.

Chennai is the best place for the auto havoc across the globe. My suggestion would be to avoid these vehicles for two reasons
The bargain (los) ing you need to do with the auto driver.
The speed he takes you around.

Chennai autos are all rear engine ones and the drivers as carefree in their most natural form of evolution. They have no problems idling their time in their respective stands under a hoarding of their local politician or a cine star smoking a beedi or gulping a polythene pack of water in the scorching sun. But these messengers of heaven would not settle down to carry their prospect customers for a lower fare. It is a day/nightmare (as I would prefer to call it) to be with these men who can actually drive (you crazy). They never seem to be happy about the final figure settlement. They would casually start off with a discussion stating that the petrol prices are soaring and they hold the Bush and Saddam Hussein fight responsible for it. But the reality is that I never get close to my destination in this discussion.

Finally after a lot of haggling with a frown the carrier driver agrees to take us through to the place. I keep wondering why an auto needs a meter that never works or over works for him. So this conversation always is better so that you are pardoned of the guilt of the difference. And you realize, after all, that the fare was not a fair deal. But then he keeps asking for a landmark about the destination just to make sure how good your knowledge on the local lie is. I told him that my destination is away from the bridge. He promptly popped out his questions that if it was the street on this side or that side of the bridge or on the bridge…. And we were at least half an hour’s distance away from my reaching point.

Soon at the sight of a petrol bunk he jumped off the road into the bunk almost bumping into all the vehicles around there. He was so restless and wished that the way was wide open for him. Unfortunately he forgot that many were from his own auto land. I kept wondering how these tiny buggy monsters were created ever at all. Their shape let them travel all around the world at ease and rush through any kind of traffic with their screechy horn that comes in various pitches, pitching right enough to deafen your ears.

They tend to be very blissful mobiles when on road without passengers but turn out to be disastrous with men on board. Believe me my first trip in the local auto was very similar to the front seat roller coaster experience in Disneyland. In fact it was so near to that experience when the auto I traveled splashed all the water on the road. I guess we could not ask for any more excitement than this.

Actually I paid a little lesser to arrive to Chennai than the auto (Un) fare. But to avoid embarrassment I picked up an auto to reach home (in all fairness in one single piece). In fact the cops have realized this position of the traveler in Chennai and encouraged the pre-paid auto booth that actually lets the bargain happen when you plan to pay and get rid of the monster and its monstrous driver. They are actually above all laws and rules. In fact he ran over a couple a chicken on the street and missed a couple of children before we could reach our destination, not knowing if I was destined at all to reach my destination at all. I wondered if seat belts were in the offing from the seat manufacturers??? That would actually have prevented me from going into the road past the driver and the windshield during my travel.

The bargain I never understood as to who the real loser was? Was the auto guy at loss or was it me ??? well I guess it was a kind of win-win situation for both of us on board.

My IIM Days

2005-07-04T08:08:00.001-07:00

It is almost 10 years since I quit college and much more than that since I quit studying. I have realized that once a person starts earning money his focus on money and career only. It is funny though that it is momentary excitement then. But soon I realized I progressed nowhere in career when I saw all my friends and batch mates progressing in life in tangible measures. One fine morning I decided that I would start studying and soon I started off. I started earning for studying. All of a sudden my motto of life was education and academics from money and entertainment.

I never was in a premier institute all my life neither did I premier in my academics. I was an average guy all my curriculum – nothing exceptional at all. But then as time passed by and maturity crept in me I realized that being exceptional was a not a big ask at all and hence I decided to be the best in the lot. I have been with books for over 6 years now qualifying myself in something or the other and suddenly realized that I was not too old to study though I was a little uncomfortable sharing the same bench with a young and studious batch mate though.

Never did I dream of being in IIM but I was fortunate to step into the knowledge house of business learning and being amidst management gurus in June this year. It is “The best – amongst the B-schools in India”. I always wondered as to what made the students from these institutes amongst the very best of them. Actually they excel. I keep wondering if it is the education or is it they by themselves. Anyways I would deeply want to acknowledge the fact IIM does mould them.

I was there in IIM Kolkota (the city of joy) as a student with my back sack and it was a back to school feeling. It was a land of strangers for me since I knew neither people nor the place. But that was short-lived since I made a whole lot of friends starting from my Professors, room mates, batch bates, hostel house keepers and the plants and trees and all inanimate things at the IIM Campus.

The memorable day started with my being in the class room of IIM and Prof Rajan Das was driving the orientation of the course and the curriculum. The course was as interesting as the main course of the lunch served at IIM. But the problem was too much of luxury in the class room , AC etc puts you to sleep when you are supposed to be attentive. I keep wondering if I am too old to learn things now!!!

Soon all the unknown faces were known and a part of my life. We decided to explore Calcutta and headed off to the park street on a rainy evening. I know now why all the young men and fashionable women (need not be young) hang around that place. We also had dinner at “Peter-Cat” a place worth a try and we promptly did the essential negotiations in any Indian metro , which is the one with autowallas or taxiwallas. We always do that to reach home since the campus is out of the city limits.

In campus life is different amidst the learners and the learned. There is much to learn out of the books and off the books and I guess that is precisely what these institutes do. They gear one up to all these hardships of life soon. The teachers are all out of the book kinds and they are more of friends than professors. They in true sense profuse and profess business and management.

I could hardly distinguish the day and night out there, it was equally busy and hectic both ways. A nice place in short –IIM Calcutta. We soon turned ourselves into the hostel life studying late until nights and making the very best of the time, money and resources one has and one can spend on. We partied as we did make progress in our dominant skills too. And the distance or barrier of learning and understanding started being marginalized.

We are being assigned project works and presentation. I remember in my early college days the project work would only comprise of getting hold of something that is readily available from the seniors and change a few details and represent the same in the college. I am sure that all the lecturers knew that as well. I remember my OB professor in IIM, Prof Vidyanand Jha, was not very happy about the projects that I selected and said he was not convinced, at all. I felt bad though but I had sleepless nights wondering ro explore means and or a project work that would meet his requirement (but his view was that a project meet my requirement more than his) and a after a few sleepless nights I discussed another topic with him. It did ring good bell to my ears as he approved!!! The goals were set and the time frame was also set. As I started working on the project I realized that the outcome was a surprise element as a contrary to my expectations. This is what he had advised me!!! That is a piece of learning for me.

Now I am far away from the camp-buzz but yet IIM and Calcutta are close to me.

More on Campus days to follow soon.

Jagjit Singh – Beyond Time

2005-07-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Ghazals and Jagjit Singh (JS as his inner circle fondly calls him and “Uncle” as his close members call him) are possibly inseperable.

Uncle has blended himself with time and changed the audiences’ taste along with him. He also proved new equations to Music companies. At a time when music industry is dying and piracy thriving people still listen to unpirated versions of his music.

Jagdish Kapri – an all time close associate if JS is a good friend of ours. A fantasy of my life time – JS singing for me… why not? I guess it would be any JS fan’s dream. JS concerts are very different from all other musicians. His concerts – are not shows as Uncle corrects, very rigidly or firmly, when people address his concerts as shows.

I and my brother set our way to Mumbai to meet my Music God – JS. Mr. Kapri picked up the phone and spoke to Uncle with utmost affection and we could see the intimacy they shared. And soon his son Vriksh drove us down to Pedder Road- Uncles’ residence. I had dreamt a lot of his life style and his life as well.

Soon we arrived at “Pushpa Milan” – The apartment where uncle resides. It was a huge apartment in Mumbai and that area – a visibly posh enclave and in no time we arrived at the maestro’s residence. I had dreamt of lot many things about him and his life style. Vriksh somehow did not seem to be excited about the whole idea of meeting or being with JS. I was in cloud nine…my brother was also excited definitely though not as much as I was. There was no name plate on the door. That was a shock to me!!! Soon we knocked on the door and I was expecting a servant to open the door but the master opened the door. He had just been up from his bed I guess. He was in his banian and pyjama!!! Hair undone and in a half sleepy mood. I never expected to see my Music God that way. He is a tiny man though but he is the biggest of all people in my life to me. He recognized Vriksh and let us in and I was spellbound to the extent that Vriksh and my brother saw the JS halo in me and I had no words. I could never believe that I could ever be in that intimate physical distance from the Maestro.

His voice dug the ground since he had just woken up. People know what range is JS vocals at and he was busy humming and his riyaz started. He was busy with his morning session of riyaz. No prizes for guessing he is number one because of his riyaz. At this age he still does riyaz and instructed me to learn classical music. He always voices it out in every possible occasion on the importance of learning classical music. His riyaz continues till he is satisfied. He does attend his telephone calls and all other activities including answering the door bell during his riyaz. He is not as complex as his soulful ghazals are. Generally one tends to think that he is singing straight with out much “Adakari” – classical rendition with all the gamakas / gayaki is an easy task but to sing like him straight is much more difficult.

His mastery in singing is more evident in his riyaz. His sole haunting vocals with a grand tanpura amidst the noisy traffic of Mumbai makes a difference. He is able to cast his spell on any of us without his musicians. He sings Bhajans, Dadra, Thumri, bandish and all classical stuff through out his riyaz and after a few hours he is ready for the day. We listened to him for hours and realized that I was lost in his music when he decided to have a shower and head off to record for Gluzar saab at Western outdoor.

More to follow….

Woh 11 Din

2005-07-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

Woh 11 din…

It was 11 days of Hockey feast and feats in Bangalore starting from April 6 –16, 2001 and 2002. Being a part of organizer during these 10 days is a different feel. Though the game lasts for 11 days our preparation for the tournament started from January in the last two editions. Sponsors withdraw themselves for 2 reasons.

1. Hockey
2. Year-end

Still life has been fun!!!

No regrets!

After all who gets to conduct single handedly such a great tournament? I am talking of 2 editions of All India Sri Raghavendra Itigi Memorial Hockey Championship for U & I Champions Trophy that was organized in the years 2001 and 2002 and the promise was to run the tournament for years to come.

Times have changed ever since the first tournament was conducted. It is cash crunch all over the globe and our company was in the globe as well. And recession and pink slips all over the country as well. I still wonder how the tournament was went successfully without a pinch in a country where hockey is not patronized. There have been no salaries for employees across various software companies including ours. Well it is personal interest and money how anybody can question the utilization of any such personal issues. As long as the game is encouraged it is a great thought. Hats off to the Itigi family who did the tournament over the years…

Let us set aside all basic issues of the tournament and stick to the thought process. The print media and the local electronic media was absolutely sincere reporting each day and every day. May it be sunny or be it raining these guys were there. The photographers and cameramen / women were equally dedicated. Their expectation was as close to 0% from the organizers during the tournament.

The year is past and the current edition of the tournament postponed. I have quit the U & I but I have not been able to quit hockey in these years. I keep wondering if I will ever be able to quit the game. The website I started and cherished and nurtured against all odds in the company died in front of my eyes and I was helpless. People called me from across the country (from whom I sought favors for the tournament and some from whom I never sought) enquiring about the tournament and I have no answer. We had a continuous stream of mails coming to us and I used to find time to respond to each of them. There have been days when I have sat late through the night to respond to each one of them. We covered the world cup and the site was alive and kicking and I even felt that we would have made it a site for hockey. What happened to all the promises??? I keep wondering as to what went wrong? Can they ever be set right???

These 11 days were great and memorable days for us (and will continue to be memorable for us in the years to come). Though our bosses never uttered a word of appreciation or even for that matter of fact never even thanked me and my team. KSHA (Mr. Krishnamurthy and the gang thanked each one of us who actually put the show for Hockey, well some players, sponsors, guests of honor and the media personnel appreciated us for the decent job that the team put up). Our spirit was Mr. M P Ganesh and all the staff of SAI (Sports Authority of India) who were interested in the game and nothing but the game. Their spirit is as always “never say die” and would let us work even in the late hours of the day and night in the hot sun and rains both the years. We were at the helm of affairs running from pillar to post for sponsors and press coverage and put up with all the inconveniences and practically every single aspect that was concerned with the tournament. Our motto was to see the game reviving back. Though there were no spectators for the game we could never sit back and watch the game ever in the last two years. And here is a day there is no tournament to watch!!! I feel sorry for the tournament.

The last edition of the tournament turned violent and we guys were in the middle of the stadium, which was plastered with sponsor’s banners, running for cover. We saw all bottles flying around the stadium and that was when I realized that our life was as miserable as the players. I wish to thank the media, ex players, distinguished guests and sponsors who called to enquire about our well being (since the match was being broadcast live on Doordarshan). Though the media brushed the whole issue under the carpet for the game I could not have brushed my life for the game. I am glad to be alive and writing these memories of the game.

Amidst all these we decided to go hockey way ourselves. I got to be closely associated with each one the players and the media guys during these 11 days. They were religious about the game, possibly as religious was their attitude towards Indian Cricket. On the day of Ugadi 2002 we decided to have a simple match which had all rules barred between the umpires and the media personnel. It was a tuff fight against who were active versus well-grown potbellies. But the match was different in many aspects. Each one of us was there at sharp 0800 hours. There was no fuss or reasoning unlike the players. We changed ourselves to the game outfits and soon we were on the field playing the wonderful sport. The only difference was the fact that we were 8 of us as against 5 on the National / international umpires. Frankly I was using the hockey stick for the first time. It was fine. Unlike Cricket this game chews up all your energy running and shouting. The umpires were brisk and fit, very different from us. Soon we heard the 1 half whistle blown and we realized that the Umpires had scored 4 goals as against 2 lucky goals by us. It was fun to be with Vijay Michael Raj – Deccan Herald, Mageshwaran – Indian Express, Sunil – ETV, Siddaraju from PTI, Ravi from UNI self & Dayananda from U &I Group. It was a welcome break for all of us from the usual routine arranging affairs and we had a decent audience to watch us as well. We hardly knew what strategy to adopt???

The pain and agony players went through recently during their stay in New Delhi revived the days we spent with the players and the game and provoked me to share these thoughts with you all.

May hockey live long in this country…

Revisiting RK Narayans Malgudi

2005-07-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Having been an ardent reader of RK’s writings I never expected that I would ever get an opportunity to visit all that RK had seen in his Malgudi. There are a lot of versions about Malgudi itself. People in Bangalore said that it was a fusion of MAL-leshwaram and Basavan-GUDI. Having visited Mannargudi, Alangudi and other places in Tamil Nadu I felt that it was a marvelous creation no matter how he did that.

The pyols of the house as described in “Waiting for the Mahatma” were still there in each and every house of the village that I could visit. I could virtually see his character “Sriram”, “Raju Guide”, “Sawminathan”, “Krishna” and some more of them alive in the town. How I wonder did he ever think and take notice of the intricate details in the town and his characters that bring life to them and you tend to start living with them. The character’s visit to the local hotel, which displays everything from Poori to Bombay Halwa, was kept in the glass cupboard to attract the customers and some flies of course. The “Sarayu” which forms the lifeline of Malgudi did exist in the form of barren riverbeds such as Kaveri. There was not even a drop of water in the river. I kept wondering that RK was a little more than imaginative or rather did not expect the new characters such as the chief ministers playing with the water for votes.

I felt that I was the hero that RK had created (in every writing of his). My breakfast (RK’s recommendation) – those hot fuming Idli’s and the oily vada with small onions in sambar with Onion chutney and not to forget the coconut chutney on a banana leaf that RK always described and used to wash them down with a Tanjavur Degree Filter Coffee. Believe me RK must have been doing all these things himself otherwise these intricacies would not have been described with utmost perfection. The kitchen in the restaurant still wears a smoked up look and the restaurants had no uniformed waiters but men with their choice of dresses mostly waiters wore dhoti from which one could read out the menu of the spilt over delicacies served in their restaurants.

He could not have thought of the suffocating cyber dens as well since it was not existent. Though the cycle rickshaws still exist and the noise making small buses, which fumed and noised equally polluting and the conductor pulling out a bunch colorful tickets from his hand. The bus carried tirelessly people from the nearby town to the heart of the big town, where there was a New Bombay store which till date sells the very best and newest of things in a small tinsel town like Malgudi. The small meter gauge trains were also busy making their passage up and down the nearby town and cities. The railway station lacks all the glamour of the present day railway stations in the metro cities. You still find the smoky diesel loco pushing and pulling a few carriages to a station which has a small store as that of Raju guide and some Raju guide like character reading some old news paper and stacked magazines which he would generously wrap his saleable on. These shops also displayed an array of colored aerated water, which gives the international brands a hard run. The train would carry some school children, astrologers (like the one in “An Astrologer’s Day”) besides travelers like any of us and all other kind of people endlessly. The station wears an antique look with old tiled roof and the simple old men who take their roles as Coolie looking for a city man and with his luggage they would also see a ten rupee note or more sometimes. The stations were no different than the ones that we would have seen in television serial “Malgudi Days” by Shankar Nag. I am sure that Shankar Nag could have nothing better at that point of time to bring RK’s ink on paper to blood, pound and flesh on the television screen.

The policeman would be standing around the corner of the road which had intersection of 4 roads. He would be smoking a beedi and joking with the local shop keepers and would let no traffic erring cars and mopeds without a fine of a pack of beedis or lunch. The fine would depend on his requirement precisely. He had a broad moustache that would have made even Veerappan jealous. He had smeared sacred ash and vermillion on his forehead and dusted his face with talcum powder. He would man the traffic across the small lanes of this town. My visit to the temples found that there was hardly any change since the day he wrote them. The only difference was that I was from the IT industry that was all set to change the face of an organization in terms of its Enterprise Resource planning, which co-existed in a small town such as Malgudi where the Hero was always a teacher or a school drop out. I even wonder till date why did his hero always have to be little less read. Be it the case of Raju guide or Sriram. May be he wanted to reach the common man or it was a mere depiction of the normal Malgudian those days.

In fact whenever I started reading RK’s writings I could see that he must have experienced every single thing and could pen so real that we could virtually get into Malgudi. The waiting of the common man has changed to the likes of Jayalalitha instead of Mahatma Gandhi since it was election season during my visit. Election wears a festive look as much as their local festivals. The people would always talk of the rains and politics in the train or buses whenever and wherever I traveled or wherever there was a crowd of people. RK’s train ticket inspector always wore a coat of non-descript color. I guess the color is still non- descript. The train would puff and stop in a small village, which would have small platforms where half the train would be parked out of the railway platform with dogs slumbering in the platforms. The train passengers were just commoners excepting a few foreigners who would be on an exploration trip of India. The local children have the same amusement at their fair texture and the dress, which the western women wore in particular. They would only giggle at them and pass by with resumption of their local gossip. There is always an endless list of vendors in these local trains who sell everything from baby cucumber to red chillied potato wafers hand packed in polythene.

All betrothals and marriages were no private ceremonies and were a part of the entire village, which had the schoolmaster, post man, police men, local politician and even the stationmaster other than the family folks. On a visit to nearby temple on a Sunday noon we found that a whole bunch of people in the temple corridor with the bride and bridegroom’s family discussing their marriage plans with the elders of the town. The priest was no less a GOD as the people revered and looked upon him for all such occasions. These occasions also saw the local Muslim and Christian families playing a great part in the village union. The kids were all around the place shouting and crying their way to glory on the huge temple sand bred walkways. The arrival of the priest saw a lot of gifts exchanged between the families and his reciting the sacred chants satisfied the families. I wonder what did he chant … but he was loud enough to be heard amidst the din made by the herd of children hanging on the temple pillars and some playing around the temple. The gifts included shining colorful sarees for the bride and white dhoti and shirt material for the groom along with all fruits and sugar candies, dates (which attracted the children’s attention and the flies equally).

My Dad thought that I would be going places being an ERP consultant. He thought that I would be going across the longitude and latitude of the world but my current project took me to the laterals of India, which would not have been possible otherwise. People equate IT to high raised buildings and Air-conditioned cubicles with engineers (mostly young) wearing bright color T-shirts and some semi casual dresses and racing against time on jets with lap tops to meet their deadlines. But the case was slightly different in our case. The pressure of meeting deadlines was the same but without the jets but the local car, which would fume and smoke no lesser than the town bus.

The jerks of the car on the road were similar to those on the Tonga that RK’s characters traveled. The roads have not changed ever since the creation of Malgudi. Even the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Sadak Yojna has not made roads of the people of towns like Malgudi. Most of the roads (all roads wore a serpentine look with narrow roads winding and unwinding like a snake) would raise a cloud of dust whenever our car passed. In fact some of the children used to follow the car noisily screaming some toddle words on those muddy roads while their mothers would come out of their not so fashionable houses to keep a watchful eye on their children.
Every road resembled the Kabir Street and every extension was like Lawley Extension. I could see some of the jack fruit vendors and the salted nut vendors and the local shopkeepers who were interested in the local gossip and litigation which brings some sense of happiness on their faces. I could spot the children of these hamlets so similar to Sawminathan, who was called Swami by his friends but my friends called me SAM. The children still carried notebooks and a slate with multi colored slate chalks in their grocery bags (not back sacks) to school. The children wore colorful dresses and the girls had oiled pleated hair with colorful (oiled) satin ribbons making it look like a gift-wrap knot. The girls still wear long skirts and also carried their tiffin with some rice snacks in them. The local school had a vendor outside their premises who sold colored candies, green unripe mangoes, and small dotted guavas along with a host of other eatables. They are possibly unaware that they have all been adequately described in his tales by RK. There was no news of cricket in the air though I had heard about Rs. 4000 crore on the bet for the India Pakistan friendship series. The priorities in a town like Malgudi were as localized as they were.

The streets also had a few old women with tonsured heads (who were widows) walking to the temples and chanting shloka and the verses of Geeta and Ramayan wearing a white or a sand colored cotton saree. The barbers still visited them at their residence to give them a tonsure and would charge them a full 10-rupee note for the service. The Temples were old, gigantic and lacked all the luster and pomp color that attracts people in the town and their offerings. A 5-rupee note is enough to let the priest offer you personalized services at the temple. However the Navagraha temples (temples in honor of Nine Planets) near this town were on par with the temples in the cities with the priests and middlemen taunting you for pooja and their fees.
Vegetable vendors would cry their way out to sell their share of vegetables and the corner of the road opposite to the bus stand had a clock tower, which is not a tenth of the high raised buildings of a metro. These Clock towers are huge and big landmarks in each of these towns. In fact it is the hub of all the activity in a town like Malgudi till date.

The town also has a post office almost thatched and old postman who was an eternal part of the town and the resident’s communication. He seemed to know every one by name and face and also knew most of the villager’s personal matters. He used to keep staring at us till the day he spoke to us and we briefed him of our mission. He was no ordinary visitor or government servant. He was a family member of these families that sometimes stayed as far as 5 kilometers from the city to whom he used to deliver their communication and read the communication for most of them. He used to travel the distance using a rusted old bi-cycle with a rusted bell and a head light that I never saw glowing till we left the town. He also carried telegrams at times bringing all the happy and sorrow news with him and Money order to the aged people sent by their children from where ever they were. He is treated with utmost respect close to a scholar and treated to cool buttermilk or pot water in the hot scorching summer days.

My twenty-one days of ERP implementation passed as fast as reading RK’s work. I came happily and gleefully back to city to wake up to the rude reality of my life where I had to visit office with a tie and fighting with the local autowallas on the fare and had to sit in these high raised building smiling unwillingly at my bosses. There was a total contrast to the town I was for the last twenty days to the metro that we live in. This was a God sent assignment for me since I could come close to my writing which I had almost given up due to my new profession that I have taken, leaving me with no time to write and ponder. (May be sometimes ponder and then write…)

Beach to Tambaram

2005-07-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

It is quite (quiet) an experience traveling in Chennai by the local train. I have been used to the local train in Mumbai due to my previous assignments there. It used to be deal before it turned out an ordeal. But I realized how to deal with an ordeal like this. I must say it’s not just a deal!!! The travail (travel) would be no less a feat than many can add to their achievement list in their Curriculum Vitae.

Chennai trains are a class apart from the ones that I mentioned. It is one of the very few places in India that the meter gauge electric locals co–exist with the broad gauge ones. I take the train to my work place in MEPZ from Beach.

The trains are generally less crowded since the train is always crowded from the other direction is always crowded. These small little miniature monsters carry people from one part of this waterless city to the other seamlessly. The thirst is never quenched!!! You find on board people of all colors, shapes, sizes cast and creed. This cultural confluence is phenomenal. In fact you find some vendors minding their business all the way 24/7. I do tend to transact with them buying some pea nuts in the evenings and I know a lot of people quench their thirst and hunger with a baby cucumber in the day dressed with chilly powder and salt combo. Not a bad idea in the scorching heat all the way.

The train has some permanent on board (bored) members like me and some new entrants each day; everyday, or should I say not so fixed travelers or may be travelers in a fix. I, like many others, have a monthly pass that lets me travel this destination of mine at an economical (I would rather say econo – comical) journey. It also carries some blind men and some no so blind as well seeking financial assistance. There are some vendors who sell a lot of varieties at economical prices. The evenings are more colorful with bands of men, women and children who sing old filmy songs / some devotional numbers singing with a harmonium (Baja) with a non - descript pitch and not so easily understandable wordings but for sure some catchy old tunes. I get bored listening to them so often but I wonder what keeps them motivated to sing the same day after day and train after train??? I always wonder if they travel with a ticket ??? How much is the railways losing through them… and I always tell my mind to brush aside such thoughts.

Now coming back to my train journey mostly people occupy their designated places / seats and I am no exception. Honestly I tend to be upset if I find someone else occupying my seat in the train. But in spite of this monotony people are scared to exhibit any friendliness… nothing more than a smile, which is by default.

The college going men have more fun and are always caught unaware of their so called formal environment around them. They are busy with their gossip about their fellow female classmates mostly so if not always, and some young men are even good at mimicking their tutors. It is fun all the way. (Except when the train passes on the Saidapet (stinking) bridge noisily. I wish the Railways do something to attract more travelers by closing that huge gutter. In fact there exists one near Bandra (Mumbai) stinking as badly as this one. So Chennai is not exceptional.

The train wears a dusty and dusky look when compared to the locals abroad which is maintained spic and clean. The train wears a much duller look when the lights are on. It is so dull that it puts you to sleep. I wish the Railway authorities could brighten up using better interior colors and some bright light. The beggars and the vendors may be permitted to remain as they also contribute to the GDP. Mr. Man Mohan Singh and Laloo may not mind them at all. Actually at times it is these vendors who are the saviors in some long distance journey since some trains have no pantry on them (Udyan express – Bangalore – Mumbai – Bangalore) is one classy example.

Well if you think I am cribbing about the railways, you are mistaken. I know the rich tradition railways has, it has been a silent catalyst in the freedom fight movement and has had the unique privilege of having ferried the very best of human beings ever produced and has been at our service for over a 150 years now with some old compartments as rich as its tradition.

I still prefer a train to a bus since it offers me the luxury of private toilets (though has a unique, distinct and characteristic toilet stink). It is nostalgic and to be honest more comfortable than the either of the bus or air. In continuation of my likingness to the train I still travel by the Chennai local to my office. Amidst much gala and fanfare the train arrives at the Tambaram Sanatorium and I know that I need to alight down. When I detrain I realize that I am not and was not alone. There is whole bunch of people who alight at this stop in the morning. Actually it looks nothing short of an army of men trying to crusade the barriers and invoking a change in the way business is ever done. There are a couple of major IT companies in MEPZ and I work in one of them. When we march it also gives me a feeling of unity. I wonder how United would Railways and the Ministry of Railways feel…