Lalu Yadav meets HBS

A couple of days ago I watched on the news something that I would call the most memorable one liner of the year. And of course it came from none other than the inimitable Lalu Yadav.

He was meeting a contingent of students from Harvard B School who were eager to learn how he had managed to turn around the Indian Railways...

At the end of the session someone in the audience asked him sth about the internet or the world wide web( or sth to that effect) to which he replied :

"Dubloo Dubloo (ww..) Babloo ka Bhai Hai... "

I was rotfl ...

Science or Democracy?

Imagine the following situation: It's armageddon. All hell has broken loose, the world is about to come to an end. In his sympathy for the lot of his creation, God descends from the heavens and tells us that he shall make a last ditch attempt to save us. But by some divine whim, he decrees that in his future exiestence, man is only allowed to have only one of the following: science or democracy. Man must choose and keep only one of both.

I have baffled myself over this question over the last couple of days and predictably enough i do not have an answer. I do not know if there is a satisfactory means for arriving at an answer to questions such as this. I mean if man can claim that he has achieved anything substantial in the period of his existence on earth, I believe it can be attributed to either of these two things. Science has changed our lives and taught us all we know about ourselves and the world(and beyond). But democracy has defined our success as a civilization as opposed to the failures of the generations that have preceded us. How are we to choose one over the other?

If we choose science and let go of democracy, we'll slip into chaos. Lawlessness will prevail or we shall go back to the days of repression under dynastic rule, subject to the whims and fancies of a few.

If we choose democracy and let go of science, we are doomed to remain ignorant unto eternity, with no hope of moving forward as a species.

I once read an excerpt from a book by Bertrand Russel, in which he argued that scientific knowledge is useless, even dangerous without the sense to apply it correctly. He essentially implied that our emotional quotient is perhaps as important and indispensable as our intelligence quotient. Man has achieved great feats and shall continue to do so armed with science and tools of scientific enquiry, but if science is not guided by good sense and applied positively, we may soon face annihilation.

So maybe questions such as this one are among those which have no answer. You or I may have an opinion, but I am loath to believe that anyone can claim with certainty that any one argument is more rational than the other. In fact as humans I think we should be happy that we are confounded by such questions. It only means that we are mature enough to fathom the importance of both science and democracy. For once maybe,no answer is a good answer.

Dangerous Trends

Over the last couple of years, India has experienced phenomenal growth. The Sensex has moved to all time highs and has made experts euphoric about the future. Thanks to a global surge the economy is growing at a whopping 9%, although those levels are less likely to remain sustainable in the event of a global slowdown triggered by an American recession. In any case India has a great growth story to tell in the coming years.

But what’s worrying is the socio-political drift in the country. Politicians are talking dangerous. Well, what I or a certain section of society sees as dangerous may be welcomed by others. But the Indian political horizon is changing fast by any standards. At the centre of the storm is the very controversial issue of social justice. Well, social equity is certainly a goal for all democracies, yet the way you implement it may make or break you as a nation.

What India is trying to implement and what I find most alarming is ‘Equity by Brute Force’. This essentially means that the Indian state is trying to be an external, artificial agent of change in one of the largest and most diverse demographies in the world.

When you undertake forced change on such a grand scale there are bound to be repercussions. For one, the changes that are being proposed are politically motivated. We would all be kidding ourselves if we said we didn’t know that our leaders are trying to score votes with a certain section of society.

I do not stand for social inequity; I only believe that it cannot be brought about by artificial means. In the 21^st century, the only way of raising people out of poverty and backwardness is through an agenda of economic liberation.

Our politicians need to facilitate poverty alleviation by creating an atmosphere that will allow wealth generation to flourish. The state should not be a direct agent of change. It should allow the forces of Globalization and Free Trade to shape Indian society.

To be more precise and forthright, instead of bickering about reservations and the cost of implementing them, our country should invest resources in building infrastructure (read roads, power, telecom) that will facilitate and attract investment. I believe it is this investment that will liberate the backward sections of society by trickling down to the lowest levels.

When Income levels rise across the board in all sections of society, people will value education and go after it with all the resources that they can expend. This, I believe will create more lower caste scholars than any reservation programme in the world.

Another dangerous trend is the criminalization of politics. Well, individuals may argue that this has been around really long. But the effects felt now shall be greater than ever before. Because now, more than ever before India needs a transparent system of governance to assist in the economic boom. Any factor that destabilizes transparency and security in the country will eventually slow us down-something that we cannot afford at this point in time.

The conflict between the legislature and judiciary has spiraled almost out of control now. It is not a matter of coincidence that the judiciary has moved forward to reign in the excesses of a corrupt legislature. But then, the judiciary cannot go on and on. Who is to say this wanton wielding of power will not corrupt the judiciary? (Remember what Acton said?)

Well, what we need is a more accountable legislature, not an overactive judiciary. Of course, they ought to go hard at crime, but beyond that the legislature needs to make itself more transparent by ensuring that it keeps out criminal, manipulative elements in the first place.

India is at the crossroads. Where we go from here will define us in the next decade. We can either grow into a strong, secure democracy with a wealthy populace or a failed state where economic chaos is the norm. These are interesting times.

Microcredit and Woman Power

This year the Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to a guy closer to home-Mohammed Yunus from Bangladesh. What’s his claim to fame? Well, for one, this guy went ahead and revolutionized banking in a predominantly rural Bangladesh. How did he do it? Woman empowerment silly! You know... the age old idea that women manage money better than men and all…well, he put it to practice.

By championing the cause of Microcredit and lending with a bias towards the fairer sex, Yunus ensured that the money loaned was spent well. It’s an established sociological fact that when women are entrusted with the budgetary strings in a low-middle income scenario, the benefits that result for children are far greater.

According to Yunus, the women were initially reluctant to try out the new schemes, and yet when a small group came on board, the rest of the community followed suit (the guy attributes this phenomenon to the jealousy that ensued, the others simply wanted to copy the women who had succeeded in the credit experiment).

So what’s the lesson to be learnt? (Well, apart from the fact that in some areas women are, unfortunately clearly better) India would do well to emulate this credit model at the rural and BPL levels. Initially in our country all banks have been reluctant to lend in rural areas because of the poor repayment history there.

When banks were nationalized, officials were forced to lend to rural masses, knowing fully well that they would never see their money again! That was more about politics and socialistic idealism than economics, but I guess, now that we’re over the dark ages of banking, it’s time banks considered the lucrativeness of the rural demographics in our country, while carefully placing money in the right hands. You see, it’s all about Woman Power.

P.S. The author is a male and does not happen to be a feminist.

Some people i admire

Well, there are some people I really respect. For what they've achieved and believed in..for the things they've stood for, the causes they've championed or simply the attitudes they've carried. I believe some people are clearly far ahead of the 'average human' when it comes to tapping human potential. now believe me that's a fairly loose idea...for one all of us may be endowed with different abilities and potential and then all of us have different tendencies to apply these abilities. to demonstrate what i mean by the latter part of the previous line, here's an example...arguably 2 of the most inspring leaders in history have been Gandhi andHitler...they only chose to wield their leadership for achieving completely antagonistic objectives.

One guy I have tremendous respect for is Tiger Woods. He's the top guy in a sport that's predominantly white. He's a young kid excelling in a sport that's perceived to be an oldies game...he had all the odds stacked up against him and yet he went ahead and conquered every great frontier in golf.

Then there's Lance Armstrong. This guy epitomises sheer zeal..an unending zest for life and a commitment to winning..there's just so much to learn from him.

And yes, other people who strike me as amazing include: Bill Clinton(defamed though he is, this guy has loads of charm), Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs....the list goes on as i discover that so many people have led extraordinary lives that we ought to learn from..

here i am

i deserve applause...yes there are at least a thousand others on campus who do too...we've been through our most gruelling exam schedule till date and survived!! the last six days were one hell of an experience..well now it's time to get back home and catch up on some much needed sleep...you have to be around to see how sleep deprived individuals behave..well, i've got great hopes for this vacation..as always..plan to enjoy to the max...just hope it turns out great..

Life without TUV

A couple of months ago, the '8' key on my cellphone went dead. It simply refused to respond to any magnitude of force from any physical object. The result: I'm living my life without 8. I can't dial phone numbers with an 8 in them(apart from those in my phone book). To make matters worse I can't type in any T's U's and V's on messages.
So what do I do? Well, I type in hybrid language. Hinglish to the rescue. I try and substitute some of the words with their Hindi equivalents(provided the equivalent contains none of the 3 taboo letters)
And in cases when even that is infeasible, I simply misspell, hoping that the person on the other side has an IQ fit for the MENSA and that by some divine providence he/she'll get what I'm trying so hard to say.

Well, this entire process is frustrating to say the least :p ..... the whole problem has affected me deeply-- I often find myself trying to kill me, having been totally psyched out at being deprived of my T's U's and V's. Life feels incomplete(incomple_e). Exis_ence is a bane. How long does des_iny wish _o torment me? (HAD to use a 't' there ;) )

Of Senile Generals and Stone Ages

The honourable military dictator of Pakistan claims he has been in the "Line of Fire" all his life. Cheap publicity stunt? Retirement booty collection? Who knows? and yes, when it comes to incredible people like the general, who cares?

The book has shot up to the top 20 on Amazon's bestselling list. Partly on speculation about what the man has claimed in the book and partly on a desire to get a perspective on what self-righteous dictators think about the rest of the world. So what does General Pervez Musharaf do in the book? Well, he does what he does best---lie. That's right. Anybody worth his salt, having read the book would confirm with a squirm on his face that the goddamn book is a pack of lies.

The General has made ludicrous claims that the Kargil infiltration was in response to Indian activity on the border.... that the whole operation was a 'victory for the Pakistani army'. Perhaps the most deliciously inappropriate claim made in the book is that the Americans promised to bomb Pakistan 'back to the stone age'. Well, maybe they did, but I guess, it wouldn't exactly help Mush to antagonize his good friend Dubya at this point in time.

All said and done, more was said than done. The book is probably a flash in the pan that will interest people for a few months because of the General's good PR. But what after that? Well, maybe Mush should answer that.....

Sleep Issues

Whenever I come home from college one thing changes dramatically:my sleep patterns. I start sleeping like I've never slept before. I'm not used to afternoon siestas so my sleep's always concentrated in the nocturnal hours. But then once I hit the bed at night...there's no telling when I'll be up. I just seem to sleep on and on and on....like there's no sunrise or morning or a world outside of my bed.
And yet in college one tends to stay up late--because that's when all the fun is.....watching movies late into the night is a favourite pastime back on campus. I am really unpredictable when it comes to sleep. Friends have caught me sleeping while they're still talking to me...in the middle of a movie....at times when everyone should be up and studying for an exam the next day, I invariably doze off.
The best part is when friends wake me up and talk to me- they borrow stuff from me or come looking for something....and when they ask me the next day I remember nothing of the conversation....almost as if my body was operating on auto-pilot after been shaken out of deep slumber.
Six for a man, seven for a woman and eight for a fool: they say that's the number of hours of sleep you need depending on what category you belong to. Well I guess, you can only apply that rule to people who follow a definite routine in the first place....not to dimwits like me who do not have a functional biological clock. I can never go to sleep saying for sure when I'll be up. Any number of alarms are just a waste of energy. I simply turn them off and go back to sleep. The interesting part I never remember switching off the alarm! It's only when I test the alarm later to see if it's working that I realize I must have turned it off.
One of the greatest challenges that faces me today is to work out a consistent sleep pattern. To set my biological clock working. It's a daily fight for me. It's tough and leaves me frustrated and disgusted with myself more often than not. It's been so long that I've tried and failed to work out my sleep issues.....

Krishna on my mind

Janmashtami was more than a week ago. But I have Krishna on my mind. Here is one character that has always enamored and fascinated me with his unique persona.

Krishna is a God from Indian Mythology and yet there is something human(e)ly mystic about him that probably makes him a shade more accessible to mortals than ‘any other’ God. Krishna’s attitude towards life and the way he lived it is truly incomparable and has a certain ‘coolness’ about it.

Not for him the perfection and self-righteousness associated with the Gods….not for him the idealism and utopianism associated with sages….This dude stands for practicality. He believed in doing what needed to be done and achieving what needed to be achieved. He just didn’t care. On some level, he emphasized the ends more than the means; although this certainly cannot be interpreted as his tolerance for wrongdoing. After all, his greatest battle on earth was against evil.

Krishna knew how to bend the rules. That’s what made him stand out. He could be larger than life and yet have his feet firmly set on the ground at all times. He is someone that the masses could instantly connect with, that hot chicks could carelessly flirt with…..and yet Krishna’s divinity shone bright, leading millions on the path that he had laid out for them.

This guy was someone who could operate on different modes all through life—he could be playful, pensive, assertive and amiable ….and he could shift gears between modes at the drop of a hat. He’s the same bloke who sneaked into his mom’s dairy for a helping of curd, but he also sermonized to Arjuna on the philosophy of existence.

He is the subject of one of the most important books in human history-the Gita; he’s a source of inspiration and devotion for millions across the globe. The message he carried rises above religion-he’s probably larger than Hinduism in his appeal to an overwhelmingly large number of people. All said and done, Krishna is by far one of the most intriguing concepts of Indian culture.

Krishna is a fountainhead of strength, of courage and conviction for many like me…..he shall continue to occupy a special place in my conscious and sub-conscious—he’ll always be on my mind!!

Indian = ?

I once sat down to wonder what being an Indian really means....maybe I had just too much of free time...but nonetheless, the thought seemed important to me, and soon I was asking myself why I hadn't raised the question before.
What is that one thing(or more than one) that holds the fabric of indian society together? I mean, we're all so different and yet we have a lot in common to bind ourselves as fellow citizens of the same nation. Is it our culture? naah...that varies faster than latitude in our country: there's hardly anything in common between the culture in ladakh and nicobar now is there?

Is it our politics? probably not..we have more political parties and ideologies than the Sheikhs have oil wells. It's not even the food...you can't boast about a great meal without a helping of butter chicken in Punjabi style and yet, even garlic is taboo in some parts of the country.

Maybe it's Bollywood that binds us together(what with all the song and dance and general psychedelics)...

Maybe it's something more serious...like democracy or our commitment to it....maybe it's our constitution and all the nationalist paraphernalia(the flag, anthem and all)....
But all said and done...you've got to admit that it's a special feeling...something that comes straight from the gut....where else in the world would you not think twice before pissing around the next street corner...
So Indianness = complexities that not many people understand. It's engrained in the DNA of your brain....it's part of you without you realizing it on a conscious level.....
We're all Indian----right up to the bottom of our hearts!!

Hyderabad Diary 2

Hyderabad embodies the duality that India stands for in the world today:the juxtaposition of the new rich and the dilapidated old. So where you have the latest retail chains and urban spaces, you also continue to have the long forgotten bylanes that breed the spirit of India.

Old Hyderabad is as conspicuous by its architecture as by its sights and smells. You have the towering Charminar that stands as a sentinel of the traditions and history of the city....the adjoining market that has been where it is since ages....and the people who, though traditional, have learned to move forward with the times.

When you're in Hyderabad, what hits you from out of nowhere is the pathetic condition of the traffic. People seldom follow rules and sometimes it beomes a free-for-all on crossroads. The city would have been so much better had its people maintained discipline on the road. For a changing city, I am sure this too is bound to change.

Hyderabad, the city of Nawabs is also the city of the software majors.....of the Telugu film industry and the delicious biryani. Like most of the places in India it is full of culture and yet...has a contagious freshness about it. As I flashback on the week I spent back in Hyderabad, there's one thing for sure....I'll always carry the memories that it has left with me.

Hyderabad Diary 1

When you go south of the Tropic of Cancer in India, you might as well expect to find hot, sultry conditions awaiting you. At least that's what I expected of Hyderabad. But I was pleasantly surpised otherwise. The place was remarkably cool for this time of the year.

So what's special about yet another teeming metropolis in a country of the teeming millions? To the people who live and work in the big cities-nothing. But to someone who hails from a small town-a lot. I was amazed by the manner in which Hyderabad is at the forefront of almost everything happening in the country. But people there told me that the place was no longer as happening as it used to be, ever since a change in government in the state. And yet, Hyderabad, to me was in stark contrast to the sleepy township that I come from.

The city is certainly one of the IT hotspots in the country, and often competes with neighbouring Bangalore for IT related investments. But, unlike Bangalore, Hyderabad is also a city that is steeped in antiquity. A place that has, through the centuries, learned to strike an intricate balance between its glorious past, rebellious present and a future full of possibilities.

Secunderabad, Hyderabad's twin city, separated from it by the majestic Hussainsagar Lake, is rather special because of the large expanses of Cantonment Areas there. These areas, habitated and maintained by the Indian Army are the epitome of excellence in civic planning. Lush green acres, dotted with Victorian buildings for residential and administrative blocks-that's the typical geography of this area.

More about Old Hyderabad in the next post....

College life....past, present and future

It's been two years now......Halfway through college and I decide to do a little flashback...put all those days in retrospect. There have been days of elation, revelry...and days of desperation. I've had the good times and of course, my share of tough times......There are ways in which college has changed me, and there are so many other ways in which I remain the same.

The fact remains that these days have brought some of the best times I've ever had.....so many more pals, so much more fun, frolic,excitement and what have you.... it's been as they say: 'the time of my life'. My college has a great spirit-a unique one. It's one of the oldest educational institutions in the country and more often than not such places tend to have a culture of their own. When you come in, you become part of the family and join in the BIT experience....whether it's cursing the administration, enjoying the scenic beauty of the place or simply whiling away time around the canteen...

What I like about this place is that it's constantly on the move.....not in a manner visible to anyone, but discreetly...people are moving ahead all the while. Exploring new ideas, changing old attitudes, adding to their personality and constantly gaining in the whole process. You may not be at the forefront of a revolution to realize that you are changing...and yet you are!

I would much rather have preferred if my college was not as sleepy as it usually looks....laid back and quiet like a place isolated from the world: physically but not socially. This particular quality of the place leads many people to believe (incorrectly I contend...) that there's nothing going on around here....

All these days have flown by like a dream....classes, exams, parties, fests, arguments.....and yet there's something that tells me that I haven't even seen half the fun yet.... There are so many things left to be done...and just two years to fit them in....challenging, but exciting all the same. And so as I laze around at home, wondering what the next two years of college might be like, somewhere at the back of my mind I know that amazing times are ahead!!

I have a dream.........reloaded

I have a dream….
A dream that one day my nation will stop spitting on its streets,
That one day all the institutions of this country will magically free themselves of the malaise of nepotism…
That justice shall not be denied to the parents of the next Jessica Lall…

I have a dream that my country will stop dividing itself…..
That my countrymen will stop multiplying themselves….
And adding to the endless list of national woes…

I have a dream that India will never again talk of banning The Da Vinci Code,
That we shall instead focus on real issues and ideas
That one day politicians will get the spine to stop appeasing their vote banks….and retract the quota system…..

I have a dream that some day in the future every Bollywood movie will be a work of art and not just a scene by scene copy of Hollywood flicks….
That one day Aishwarya Rai will tend to her attitude problem….

I dream of a day when roads will be better…..when clean water will not be a dream for half a billion people….
When India will stop watching inane Saas Bahu soaps….

I have a dream that one day I will stop blaming people like I just have….
That I will wake up trying to change things ……
And start with myself……………

Will the real Marxists please stand up?

The ‘Left’ in India is probably facing its greatest identity crisis ever. So who are the real ‘Leftwallahs’? Is it the ‘Karat’ and stick brigade….the kind that vehemently oppose any trace of development at the centre or the Buddha-Bhadralok brigade that does to Kolkata what they would not have the government do to the rest of India. So is this a case of double standards on the part of the third largest political group in the world’s largest democracy or just ideals and ideology gone berserk?

On the one hand, Mr. Karat goes on record to say that the government should not privatize airports and on the other his colleague on Alimuddin Street promptly congratulates Praful Patel on the Mumbai and Delhi airport modernization and urges him to do the same for Kolkata…..so is the left playing its cards real crooked or is it suffering from multiple power centers (something that the central government is often accused of)

Obviously, one faction of the left has to be wrong….because both these factions have completely contrary visions for the country. One of them clearly wants the country to go to the dogs…..what with their constant attempts at sabotaging every reformist move that the liberal face of the government tries to make. Someone please tell Mr. Karat that the Jurassic Park ideologies that he advocates today have been abandoned by the very countries that formulated them in the first place.

Everywhere in the world, communists are converting…..in China they are the biggest propagators of free market policies and reformist ideologies in the world today……There is nothing communist about the communists in China today…except of course their name. These people have long realized that in the best interests of their people, they must make their country and their governance and their markets competent enough to survive in the world today.

In the sixty odd years of our country’s democracy, the left has done nothing but retard growth in every step of the way. These are the people that caused the biggest stock market crash in Indian History a few by demanding that stock brokers be taxed. Even on the matter of reservation….they had nothing to say on the main issue….only that ‘creamy layers should be kept away from the quotas’ ……In the name of the Lord, what do these people have against the rich? If Communism is to be believed then it does not matter if you work eight hours a day and are a PhD from Harvard or if you work eight hours a year and are nothing from nowhere. Because to them everybody should have the same amount of prosperity/poverty.

Someone rightly said that communism is a means of redistributing poverty…not redistributing wealth. These people will definitely make sure that everyone becomes equally poor.

The Left has a habit of choosing for itself the most convenient position in every situation….this is just why they are maneuvering the UPA government from the outside. They do not want to participate in the government because that would make them accountable to the people of their country.

And now, after so many years, we suddenly get to see a face of the Left (read Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) that is just so……well…..Right! So is the ‘common man’ not justified to ask: “Will the real Left Front please stand up?”.

The death of promise....

This week the nation watched with baited breath as a man held back death...fought for his life incessantly as a warrior thrown into a losing battle. Pramod Mahajan died this week and with him another bright star of the country's future passed into oblivion.
Inspite of the many allegations and controversies that the man was neck-deep in, one could hardly miss the fact that this was one of the most progressive and confident faces of a dying institution....the Indian political system. Here was a man who came closest to representing the dreams and aspirations of the youth of the nation.

I still remember the first time I saw the words flash across the screen of my television set: "India Shining". They said it was a bogus claim...that India was never shining, but groaning under the burdens of poverty and destitution....Mr. Mahajan was accused of hurting the sentiments of the languishing millions by claiming that India was shining.

Well I do not know what the facts on the ground were at that point in time, but I can certainly speak for myself....I know what India Shining did to me......
India Shining instilled in me confidence and pride of living in a nation that was on the move...I knew there were people left behind, but I also knew that they would be taken along subsequently;we had embarked ont the journey of a thousand miles...we had moved forward on the path of progress confidently and with belief in the abilities of a great nation that would decide its destiny by making a tryst with technology.

But apparently there were people who felt otherwise...there were people who felt that India should take a step back and go back to its old self where there was no disparity.....because everybody was conveniently poor. Well, in the end it was these people that had their way....it was they that decided that India was not shining.....but they kept missing the woods for the trees, thinking there was no fire because there were only sparks that flew around...no flames. So they doused whatever sparks had been there.
For me, Mr.Mahajan was a hero....he was a man with promise....promise for a better future....a future which envisioned a developed India, a technologically advanced and confident India or as he said....a shining India.