My thoughts on Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.

I was eagerly waiting for BHTB(Buddha Hoga Tera Baap) for two reasons. Reason 1. I have never seen Mr Big B(aka Angry Young Man aka AYM) in a full fledged hero role in a theater. Reason 2. I wanted to see if Mr Puri Jagannath (PJ) could handle AYM with the same flair as he had done with Mahesh Babu in Pokiri.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it works big time. AYM is a complete product and we know he can handle any kind of cinema. The big question was with Puri Jagannath(PJ from here on), the main reason being whether the transition to Hindi would still keep the punch(I would prefer to call it rawness) in his dialogues alive. I must admit that the dialogue writers did a commendable job. The Puri touch was there. That for me is the biggest plus of this film. Big B needs no introduction and even if this movie goes on and becomes a blockbuster, nothing much will change for him (except that he will still remain the only superstar in the industry by a distance).
            What this film does do is to catapult Mr.PJ into the big league. In the past couple of years, we have seen southern directors and southern style of film making, making a mark in Bollywood. Ghajini, Wanted, Dabangg to mention a few. It is important to remember that Mr PJ made, the mother of all mass entertainers, Pokiri. That was mastery over this kind of filmmaking and Bollywood didn't yet experience it. Personally, I don't put Murugudoss and Prabhu Deva in the same category as PJ.  So with Ghajini or Wanted, the essence was there but the class was missing. PJ brings it big time with BHTB and looks like he is ready for the next level. I thought he hit the glass ceiling with Pokiri and though he continued making movies in the same vein, he wasn't at the same level Pokiri. To make the transition to Hindi was a challenge to him and probably that is what has spurred him to hit his peak again.

    Another important point to take note of is the length of the movie. It is under two hours and for this kind of film making, anything more than that would hurt the tightness of the product. It was smart to stick to a shorter running time. This movie also could have done without a song, but this being an ode to the Big B,  a medley of his popular numbers could not be avoided. The background score would have been better and its high time PJ gets this aspect right.

Last but not the least, the southern directors know better than anyone about making movies with superstars.

Maaya'Jal'.

If you thought this was about "Maayajal", the one stop entertainment destination in Chennai, you got it wrong. ( I should be dumb to think that everyone knows about Mayajal in Chennai, including non-Chennaites.)

This is about the Maaya cast by the TV channels about the psychlone "Jal". Yes, this cyclone cast a spell like no other on the psyche of the people. Nobody wanted to move ot of their houses.
Imagine what would have been the coverage they would have had given if there was a Tsunami brewing up. 'Jal - Em Maaya Chesaave' (translates to 'You weaved magic' in English, 'Kya Kamaal Kiya' in Hindi). We should seriously think about adding captions to cyclone names too.

I am still not sure as to who I should blame for the amount of negative propaganda that was given to this cyclone. Did the meteorology department guys get it all wrong or was it an order from the government to the news channels to create as much panic as possible or was it
just that the media went overboard as always?

It was a great job by the government to evacuate as many vulnerable people as possible to safer areas. The sea levels had risen and it was only wise to move people to higher grounds. At the same time, giving false reports that the sea had eaten into the land by 100 feet or more
was plain ridiculous. They would have a villager stand in front of the camera and ask him to admit the same. Why wouldn't he do it? He would want the world to know his plight. Afterall, whether the sea advanced by 30 feet or 100 feet, he was the one who was affected. And
these guys were busy 'making' news.

"Winds at 120-140 km/hour. Rain up to 25 cm. How worse can this get? Lets have a look at the history of the biggest cyclones in AP so far.
November is the month of cyclones. " - These were the headlines that were dished up.

The most shocking part was the complete lack of information on what routes were functioning and what were not? In this day, in this age, it is just not enough to say that a canal was breached or that a river was overflowing its banks. The highway numbers, the places between
which the roads/railways are pliable/non-pliable, alternative routes, safe zones- this is the kind of information we expect. Moreover, it is the job of the government to furnish this information to the media houses and have this information scrolled or displayed regularly with
frequent updates. We need to create hope not panic. The government should also take to task those media houses which indulge in fear mongering, especially during crises and disasters.

I had to undertake a bus journey from Vizag to Chennai. According to all possible reports, I was heading right into the center of the cyclone when it was supposed to cross the coast between Ongole and Chennai. I called up the bus operator quite a few times to make sure if
there was any change in the bus schedule. Every time I called him, he replied in the negative. I understood why when I reached Chennai in the usual 13 hours from Vizag. The roads were wet, but there wasn't the kind of downpour and havoc that was predicted by everyone. More
importantly, the bus operator had the first hand information of how the highway was doing. They don't tell you this in the news channels.

The bus operator was surprised to see that there were empty seats in a bus to Chennai, that too after the Diwali weekend. He spent about 15-20 minutes cursing all the news channels for the kind of hype they created for a cyclone. People canceled their tickets because they were
misinformed, not because there was any apparent danger. And, I guess the bus driver really wanted to prove the media wrong. He covered the 400km odd stretch from Vijayawada to Chennai in less than 6 hours. This never happened in any of the umpteen number of times I traveled from Vizag to Chennai.

Finally! One for Tendulkar's critics.

As far as Tendulkar's critics are concerned, the team needs him only when he is playing in the 4th innings and/or the team is in deep trouble. One thing is they don't understand the definition of "team". A team needs every player every time.


A failure is a failure. If the pass mark is 45, anything less than that is a failure. The problem with critics is , if you get 30 , they would say u could have at least got 44. If you get 44, they would say "you still didn't pass". You pass and they say "u need to get 100". You get a 100 and they say "nothing great".

It's true that he hasn't done well enough in the third/fourth innings, but there have been enough matches where he has been involved in important partnerships that won us the games. And then, no one has done better than him for India when it comes to setting up a total in the first innings. It is simply ignored. All these people want is a tough situation for India.


They want to see India in trouble so that they can see if Tendulkar will succeed/fail. This is not criticism. It is sadism. And being in the SW services industry I can guarantee that one Tendulkar(or for that matter anyone) can never ever achieve excellence in delivery. All he can do is guarantee a delivery. Excellence goes for a toss. This applies to all teams.

A van in my way.

What is convenience?

A van gets blocked by a herd of cows. The driver of the van is restless.So what does he do? Stop his vehicle bang in the middle of the road even when he has quite a space left between him and the herd. Why does he stop? Since he wants to take the lane in which the vehicles are coming in the opposite direction and thus get out of the jam.

What is anger?

The feeling that i get when I am the one driving behind the van and avoid an accident as the van stopped abruptly right in the middle of the road, only to realize later that the van driver wanted to take the other lane.

What is eagerness?

The feeling that I get when I figure out that the van would join my lane just a few meters in front.

What is satisfaction?

The feeling that I get when I get right beside this driver and let him know what I thought about what he did by hurling all possible expletives.


What is this?
Incredible India. Incidents like these make me think what would have happened if I had a loaded gun with a silencer.

Ro-Lax

Laxman and Roger. Yeah. I want to put them in the same category. Simply because their grace is unparalleled. They are a joy to watch. They are legends. Legends , not just because of what they have achieved, but because of the number of genuinely jaw-dropping moments they have manufactured. When these two atheletes are playing, it is so difficult to take the
eyes off from the happenings.

What they see is a canvas. A canvas that by itself paints a background and asks these artists to provide the details. More often than not, they succeed in creating masterpieces.

What is not visible to the naked eye is the sketch they create; for often in
sport, the end result overshadows the amount/quality of effort. Because they are such good artists, so gifted, they so effortlessly abstract the sketch they design. Sometimes they don't really need a sketch to finish things off, but more often than not , they try to make one. Where
most see strategies, they see patterns. And when they lose, that is to say, when the painting isn't completed, they are just not sure whether they needed a sketch or it was better to be totally abstract. It is a struggle within.

If we forget the fact that there is a contest to be won, how much more can we
enjoy the offerings of these extraordinary men. At the same time, the results they have produced with the crafts they own, which are a rarity and considered antiquated in most sports these days, are astonishing.

No artist in this world has/had finished all the paintings that he started.

Touch? no no no

Well, looks like my definition of touch is a little different. I am talking about touch phones here or touch devices.

I classify touch as anything that requires me to just touch and do nothing else. I dont want to use any other sense organ. Hence, according to my definition, most of the so called touch phones, touch players dont belong to that category at all, as most of the times I have to see things to do things. And as I keep writing this article, I think about touch phones for the blind and here are a few sites I stumbled upon.

http://www.concept-phones.com/cool-concepts/btouch-concept-touchscreen-mobile-phone-blind/

http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/06/15/touchphone-for-the-blind/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/googles-phone-apps-for-the-blind-and-everyone-else/

The last one in the list above has this line - "They hope the technology will also be useful to anyone who needs to operate a phone without looking at the screen, like drivers.". I love this one as I feel the need for touch the most while I am driving. With the current phone/player I have, I can change the volume, change the song without looking at the phone. I would like to do a lot more but, like being able to select different playlists, change the equaliser settings - all this without a look. No wonder that normal people would flock to use such applications/technologies.


Warning - It is not safe to have our hands do something other than driving when on the road and music in our ears makes it even more unsafe.

Neither are the warnings going to stop nor are the number of 'touch' devices that are going to be manufactured.

Wimledon!!! A poem...errr an attempt at a poem

dawn of a new wimbledon,
forever federer's burden,
where roddick's been thrice undone,
nadal's and hewitt's lost den,
with british hopes is the air laden,
rain ridden but the court hidden,
who will have the run so golden,
at the world's greatest grass trodden!

Wait lists @ b-schools.

I am not a fan of the b-school admission process that is widely followed across India. In this post though, I want to talk about one particular aspect of the admission process : Waitlisting.

I am not sure whether the concept of "waitlisting" someone for admission is an age old practice or something that has come up in the recent times. What I am sure about though, is that I am not at all amused by it. I agree that the institutes, in their own right, should be given the opportunity to waitlist a certain number of students so that all the seats get filled up incase some people dropout. But there should be a reasonable limit to the number of candidates that can be waitlisted.

What is the point in waitlisting 100 candidates, if there could only be 20 seats which these candidates would need to fight for in the order of their waitlist? One could argue that there could be 80 seats available to the 100 wait listers. As far as I know, that would be the case in case of a pretty badly managed b-school.

The candidates struggle for months together to put up a decent showing in the exam. After they attend the interviews, only two options should be infront of them: either in or out. Waitlisting(the third option) creates more confusion, more speculation and more pressure to deal with. The process can be improved. Institutes should publish the number of waitlisted candidates who were cleared for admission in the previous years. A mean should be taken for all those years, then the standard deviation should be factored in. All these details must be made public. This will make things far clearer for the aspirants, as they can right away know whether there are patterns they can find in the waitlist process. If there are consistent patterns that have developed over the years, the individual will able to find out what situation he is in. Instead of being totally dependent on the institutes or wading through scores of posts to find information in various forums, this will make life much easier for the aspirants.

For all this to happen, the b-schools must know that they need to serve their customers(in this case students) well. Just because they are the gateway to 6 figure salaries and a royal life, they should not think that students will flock to them. Add to this the fees they are changing and one will know why they need to improve their standards on this front. Amazing how the guys managing these schools view the applicants.

"We care about you only if you are in". Wouldn't that be a valid statement about our b-schools? If it is indeed valid, then they are doing plain business.

I have one more point to make. When there are candidates who have already been waitlisted but not offered admission the previous year, do these institutes need to have an admission process for all the seats again? Why dont the waitlisted people get a look in? What has changed in one year that these people need to take the test again and go through the entire selection process? Why do they need to prepare for months to get a decent score in a test in which they have already done well(unless anyone personally feels the need to improve)? If they have got through the interview process, got waitlisted but not offered an admission, they could be called up to the interview process directly next year(provided they are available) .

I dont think waitlisted people are treated with respect. They are plain "bakras", exposed to the vagaries of the wills of a few hundred people before them in a list. If they dont make it through, they are exposed to the vagaries of a probably entirely new system. I am okay with being rejected in an interview. Something was wrong and they did not want me in.
The problem is education, top class education. When it comes to good institutions-good education, one is ready to risk everything. We accept everything to be a part and parcel of the game. We simply forget that there are a few rules that can be changed to make the game better, more fair to everyone.

"If you are so busy running a race for so long, it is time you take a break and find out if the race is really worth running. The problem could be you or the race itself."

The world that is Hyderabad.

Are you from Andhra Pradesh? If so, it should not be a surprise if Hyderabad is supposed to be the center of your world. Am a Telugu guy working in Chennai and whenever I tell my non telugu friends that I am going home, most of them quip if I am going to Hyderabad. I am from Vizag, a place with a population of more than 20 lakhs(census 2001) and hell a lot of public sector industries. I am quite comfortable working in Chennai and I dont like people telling me to look for opportunities in Hyderabad(If there are opportunities, so be it...but why just Hyderabad, why cant someone talk about Bangalore to me?). Why should I be in Hyderabad? I am as much at home in Chennai as anywhere else . Most of my telugu friends who go to the US for higher studies tell me that they are generally asked if they are from Hyderabad. So bad. Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India, the rice bowl of India(Hyderabad doesn't produce one bit of it-no fields there) and there should be something more than just Hyderabad to it.
The point is just not about Hyderabad. It is about the state of Andhra Pradesh and the state of things there. Hyderabad has been and is being projected as the biggest thing in the State, the place to be, the happening one and what not. I think every sane mind in the country knows that the reason why politicians want a separate Telangana or do not want a separate Telangana is because of the amount of money that is present in Hyderabad. Guntur, Krishna, the Godavari districts, Visakhapatnam are all big places. Why weren't these places ever seen as fit for the kind of development that Hyderabad has been witness to. Its been a total policy failure of successive governments and finally we see people holding the state to ransom for just one place.
The question is not who it belongs to or who it should belong to. The question actually is : "Why did we need to think about belonging at all?". Why weren't nodal centers for business and service sectors developed in other parts of the state, when there is a constant supply of skilled labour in most parts of the state. Also, the ground conditions in Hyderabad are generally more turbulent when compared to other regions in the country and the reasons for it, we know, are obvious. In such a situation, instead of projecting the "thriving in the turbulence" as a quality of the city(which is undoubtedly true), things must be done to mitigate the level of problems that could arise out of the possible turbulences. It would have been common sense not to invest so much in one single such place and that too when the region that plays host to this city itself is relatively very underdeveloped.

Look at Maharashtra. Mumbai without doubt is its shining jewel. But hasn't Pune built up a reputation of its own? Look at Karnataka. Bangalore is where the big daddies are, still; dont the IT companies have a sizeable presence in Mysore and Mangalore? Come to Andhra Pradesh and for ages we have been hearing of Tier 2 centers being developed. There are a few in Vizag, but that I have been hearing since my college days. And these days, I find most of the tier-1, heavily staffed companies(TCS,Wipro,Infy and CTS) building bigger and bigger facilities in Chennai. Things are not that rosy anymore. What came to the fore more than anything during the recent Telangana crisis, is the lopsided development that Andhra Pradesh has seen in the areas of infrastructure and business creation. Different parties have been party to it in different ways. It is time we saw the bigger picture and made equitable development a serious concern. And afterall, the center of the world is where it is. Not in Hyderabad or Vizag.

Jai Hind!

CAT??? what is that???

Take your pick


Comprehensively Abandoned Test(no one wants to take its scores now)
Corroded Aptitude Test(its time to rest or suffer the rust)
Computerized Anarchy Test( the less said the better)
Convener's Ambition Test(coz the CAT convener was hell bent on getting it computerized)
Court's Adda mein Test( now that a PIL has been filed)
Colossally Aberrant Test( it wasnt a test really, more an aberration)

Feel free to add more!

Publish Post

how cat results will look this year

How will the cat results look like this year?

100% - lucky fellow
99% (got previous cat questions)
99%(did not get previous cat questions)
99%(after retest)
99%(extra time)
99%(less time)
99%(without retest)
99%(did not take the test)
caught on cam(naughty)
cheated
disqualified

Time to educate

Time to educate

There is chaos everywhere or chaos is being predicted everywhere. Or is it just a figment of my imagination? A year since I have written my last public post, a year since the same day last year, a year in which I have exercised little control over what I needed to do. Time to get back in shape.( I am looking pretty good in the mirror though). Time to wrest control. Not surprisingly, I find that I am not the only one who needs to take stock of things. It is everyone of us. Wondering how? Continue reading.

Look at India. I thought there were enough things that were out of control and penned down quite a few articles and spent a few sleepless nights on how to get these in order. We have a new problem now. New states. I dont want to talk about what you are already reading in the newspapers or watching on the TV. Why is it that we have this fad for creating smaller tastes....errr...states. Not much difference between the two words you see. A state is a matter of taste. You like it, you stay with it. You dont like it, you ask for a better one. But the problem is, you might not get a better one than the one you have right now. So you need to make do with what you have. This is exactly what people have to understand. Alas! you can't educate a mob . You can't placate them with logic. What can we do then? Yield to their tastes? Create new states?

This is what we can do: Educate children. Poor guys, all over Andhra Pradesh, dont know why they get a holiday. They dont know why states are being divided, they dont know why public property is being torched, they dont know why they cant go out of their homes, they dont know why their freedom has been curtailed. It is these people who need to know the most about these issues for the simple reason that they are the ones who are going to face the consequences of the actions that will be taken in the next few years. Schools need to take up the responsibility of making children know as to why states are created, under what conditions can a state be divided and what are the advantages or disadvantages vis-a-vis creating a state. It is no more enough if children just know the number of states and the capital of each state. I would rather say that it is not at all essential to know what the capital of a state is, when you dont know why the state is there in the first place. They need to be told how a few independent MLA's could impact the result of a election if the state is small. They need to be told how creating new states without proper reasons will end up pumping more money into the hands a of a greedy few and how the situtation of the people will still remain the same if not worsen. They need to be told that a state can be divided,, only if it is a governance problem, but not when it is a problem realted to the lack of implementation of government policies.

As the educated elite, we have tied up ourselves so miserably that we can only sign online petitions to change things. I am not sure if anybody is bothered at all to pay attention to the petition.We dont vote or we dont want to vote. We stay in places which are away from our voting homes. Neither do we get holidays to go to our hometown and vote nor has the government implemented any facility that will enable us to vote when we are out of station. We are in a situation where we can only watch things unfold on umpteen news channels and rant and rave about them in online forums. I hate myself for being able to write this but not being able to do anything about it. And when I dont do anything to change the situation, the whole purpose of all that I have written is defeated. ( I have done something though- signed an online petition...dont blame me...cant do more).

PS: Just heard Ramadoss is thinking about splitting TN. Luckily for Chetan Bhagat, all this wont have an impact on the title of his latest book : The 2 states. His problems were different.

Action plan

Its high time a Federal agency is set up to deal with terror. No Central
-State fighting in there. The set-up could be something similar to the
railways. Establish different security zones and be pretty sure that each
of the security zones would be able to cater to two states at any given
moment.

Starting from the south. One common zone for Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But
dont have it in Chennai or Trivandrum. Chennai is too far from Kerala and
Trivandrum is not that near to whole of Tamil Nadu. Pick a spot somewhere
in the south central of tamil nadu and establish a security unit there.

Populate the security unit with Marcos, NSG and whatever is
required.Importantly, this place should have a runway for planes to
take-off. Similarly, we must need to find a place somewhere near the
andhra-karnataka border to set up a unit for AP and Karnataka. Follow
similar patterns and have zones in the entire country. Don't make the
mistake of having only one unit in the North-east. Thats not an easy
territory and its better the same logic is followed there too. It would be
even better, if a unit is dedicated to each and every state. Why should we
think of costs at the cost of our safety and security? This is not an IT
company. Its the country at stake.

Now, all these security units will be under one central command.
Something akin to our armed forces. Whether the government stays or
changes, these units would remain in place and the command would change,
say, for every five years. All major decisions would be taken by the
central command. When crises, such as Mumbai arise(which in first place
should not happen), irrespective of what any government says, it is the
duty of these people to take stock of the situation and do the needful.
The state government will merely be a cooperating agency.

And how long will we have such a structure in place?-As long as Pakistan
is unstable, as long as afghanistan is unstable, as long as Sri Lanka is
unstable, as long as naxalism exists in our country, as long as there is
room for religious fundamentalism in our country, as long as there are
caste wars-which pretty much means that we cannot do away with this
structure in the next 15-20 years.

Your ideas on this are most welcome.

Just Something!

I generally pick up a topic and write on it. Thats my style. These days,
its not happening so. Writing on a specific issue has become very tough for me. That is why
this particular piece of writing may not focus on any particular issue. This would be more
like a fluctuating hockey match. Staying with hockey, we have won the Silver Medal in the
Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament that was held in KualaLumpur(Malaysia). A Silver Lining in the
gloomy skies that have cast over our hockey. What if the saying was "Every cloud has a
golden lining."? Would we have won the gold medal then?

What about my writing style? Well, that would be a nice topic to discuss. My
primary aim is to take up a topic, dissect it and conclude it. Any good writer would try to
do the same. But, I want that what I write would make for good reading too. Good reading in
the sense? Hmmm!!!! How can one say that a topic makes good reading? Why am I posing so many questions? There are different kinds of people and as a result reading will be of different
kinds too. Some people won't read at all. Some people will go halfway through and dump the
rest. Some people would skim the surface, looking for any statistics or names they would
like to find out. Some people would read anything because they just love reading.

I try to write in a way that makes the reader feel that I am talking to him.
Thats a very difficult art as quite a few people would know. Just writing for myself is not
my aim. If it would have been that a lot of articles would not appear in this blog. It
becomes important that I come up with the right kind of analysis because I try to write on
important issues. When writing on important issues one must demonstrate a certain level of
knowledge and responsibility. That is because, when an issue is important; it affects almost
all people. As a result, it is easy to offend their sensibilities. So, the issue must be
addressed in such a way that the right thing is brought out first.There is a small catch
here. I am talking about not offending most people's sensibilities and putting the right
thing forward. The latter one must be the main aim of the article, not the former. The
simple reason being that the majority of people may not always be right. So when the
majority may not be right and if an effort is made not to hurt people's sensibilities, then
grave injustice will be done to the topic in discussion. It is like walking a gilt-edged
sword. It is probably more tougher because they say "A pen is mightier than a sword". The
pen is mightier means that the edge gets thinner and writing tougher.

All readers may not be gifted enough to grasp the entire essence of the
article. A sentence may be pulled out from somewhere and quoted totally out of context. A
writer's job is so difficult.But, ultimately the truth must be brought out. The essence
needs to be there. Justice needs to be done to the point in discussion. And when one relates
all this to today's newspapers, we can judge for ourselves as to how far away from the truth
we are. Editorials are the only pieces of writing where such seriousness can be seen. The
rest of the newspaper is never at the same level.

I would like to conclude by saying that it is far easier to write about anything that comes to mind. Even that is not that easy.

First Impressions

Different cities have different ways of welcoming the visitors.I have been a native of one city-Vizag and a regular to another-Hyderabad. Now, I may become a regular to another city-Chennai. If Vizag welcomes you mostly with green fields and mountains and Hyderabad with rocky hills n shrubs, Chennai's welcome is spectacularly unnatural.All along the track one can see that filthy black liquid,slums and garbage. My dad and me were arguing as to how worse could it get? My dad said filth in the railway zone would be the area of Central Government.But I replied "What if people living on the other side of the track, ie, the state government area dumped the garbage into the railway zone, i.e central governement area?".So as you can see, If at all there would be an effort to clean the area, the first issue that would need to be resolved is -Who will clean it? Center or State? Who will own up the responsibility? is it possible at all?-'more questions than answers'. The lesser you think, the better. This said, it may not be Chennai's undoing, just because the railway lines do not bank on some natural beauty, Chennai should not be considered a place bereft of beauty.

The railway station is a gem. I have seen enough stations in all parts of the country,but Chennai ranks as the best. Second comes Vijayawada(I mentioned this because I always thought Vijayawada was unbeatable.). Chennai's is big and organized and at least at the first sight it gave me a very good impression, what with first class waiting facilities at least for a few passengers. It looks more modern,spacious and very accomodating. I wasn't that lucky though. I did not find any accomodations at the station and so had to rent a room in a nearby lodge.

On the way to the lodge, I come across another gem. The Municipal Corporation Building( The Ripon Building, established 1913.) Buildings such as this, built in a victorian style, have a definite aura about them. Though we missed looking at it in the morning, we were chilled enough in the afternoon to discuss as to whether we can build structures with such an aura and magnificence these days.

While I was still drooling about this building, I came across another big one. This one was the Southern Railway Headquarters' building. This was a giant too. Walking along I found a placard which said that this building was endowed with the facilty to harvest rainwater. Immediately, I was made to wonder whether it also had a facility to harvest salty water. This was because a guy was busy urinating near the building premises. Just a minute before, when my Dad wanted to take a little bit of rest after a long walk by sitting on the compound wall, I told him it wont be right to do that. But when compared to urinating in the premises, I suppose sitting on the wall is not that big an offense. Next time I myself will try to sit on the walls of such big places if need be.

This is my first account of Chennai and all of this is a description of some 6-7 hours spent in this place. More is sure to come.

PS: When we dont know the language of a place we may look like jokers, but thats "okay" as long as we are getting things done.

check it out!

This is not an article I have written, but I would wish a lot of people thought about things the way in which they were in the following article. Its something related to economics.

http://specials.rediff.com/money/2007/oct/25sld1.htm

Correction? Necessary?

I mentioned in an earlier post that it was too early to burden Dhoni with captaincy. It looks as if I am being made to eat my words. I wont like losing out, but me losing out means Dhoni captaining the side well in the coming series against Australia and Pakistan. Thats what matters more than my earlier post losing value. I would not mind to make a correction.

Public Transport System

The TATA has vowed to bring out a car that would cost only Rs.1 lakh/- as early as
possible(i am not familiar with the exact date). Is it a boon or a blessing? What I think is
this-

The isntantaneous reaction of anyone after coming to know that a car can be bought for 1
lakh rupees would be this. " Oh my god, a car for just 1 lakh. Good bikes cost somewhere
around 40,000 and double that price and u get a car. Loans will be easily available anyway.
So buying a car wont be that difficult. I will go for it."

There is a burgeoning middle class in the country and this is the market that this intended
car would try to capture. And if this car looks ok n is also good on mileage, the higher
class wont mind going for it 2. This is all economics and economics is not what i want to
focus on here. Think of the environment. Think of the kind of traffic that is present on the
roads of major cities these days and think of the size of the roads. Think of the congestion
more cars will cause to these already "no place more" roads. If roads can cry, they are
already crying and we still wanna go and beat them. If this happens, it wont be the roads
that would cry anymore, it would be us.

I mean, does India need more cars on its already small roads. Now itself, there is the need
to make more use of Public Transport rather than individual transport. Why does one single
person drive to his office in a car, when he can easily squeeze into a small space in the
bus or a train or some other public transport? One less car on the road and a little less
congestion. Suppose 60 people stop driving their car to office and all get into a bus, 60
cars less on the road. How much congestion would that release? And this is not that
hypothetical. It can be done.

What about the difference in the pollution that 60 cars would cause to the level of
pollution a single heavy vehicle would? What about the amount of fossil fuel that would
saved from being burnt? Yeah, a public vehicle would not drop us right at the work place, it
would not save us time and it is so horrible to travel in buses or trains etc. But the thing
is we complain too much. A lot of people are least bothered about the environment around and
see the future as their bank balances or share holding values, while the actual feature that
needs to be thought about is the environment around. India is rated at number 104 in a
recent survey conducted on living conditions(includes GDP,environment care,pollution levels,
quality of live etc).

Crude Oil prices have touched 84$ a barrel(at the time of writing this one). And we still
want to import more and more oil. We keep importing. It hurts the economy to import so much
oil and I dont know how much more it hurts because of the subsidy policy the government
follows.
This is because the crude oil rates have kept rising higher and higher and here the price of
diesel,petrol n related commodities has been kept constant. We protest vehemently if prices
are increased. We dont actually see how much can be saved if we use public transport instead
of private. Instead we tend to use our vehicles even to travel half a kilometer. I heard
that people in China are made to ride bicycles to workplaces if their workplaces are less
than 5kms from their homes. This might be a rumour, but 2kms might be reasonable. Cycling
2kms everyday,a very good exercise for the calorie and fat conscious modern generation.

All of this said, I must also mention that the public transport system that exists now in a
lot of places is not at all upto the standard. I dont think any government has an agenda on
making people use mass transport systems more by spelling out the troubles and perils of
mass use of individual modes of transport. If such an agenda is put forth and pursued,
results will be there to see. But we the people have got so used to the concept of
luxury(people who have money) wont be able to digest it. Traveling in buses n trains is a
prestige issue to lot of people and it will be. Coming to ground zero is the need of the
hour. After all....its like this...a single bike projects a certain kind of status symbol, a
small car a little more, a bigger car even more, 2 cars, 3 cars and so on. And now I doubt
if what all I have written is possible at all? Well, make me the CM of AP or PM of India. U
will find out.

Gamble

Indian Cricket's Biggest Gamble

Rahul Dravid has given up his captaincy. He would have gone to the depths of his soul to find the best possible answer to the situation he was in and he took a decision that was very right to him. Now, the selectors have to make a decision that is very right to Indian Cricket, that is to appoint A NEW CAPTAIN. The next series we have is against Australia (a seven match one day series). If I were the selector, I would take a gamble. I would bring back Sehwag into the team and make him the captain. Dhoni is captaining the 20-20 side, but I think he was appointed only in vision 20-20. Its too early to give him such a big responsibility. Think about Sehwag,forget his batting. For all we know that he has a very cool head on his shoulder, he is experienced, he loves throwing back punches to the opposition, very attacking. Some qualities that would help him as a captain. And he is exactly the kind of player, on whose batting captaincy will show no effect. He has no qualms. What if Captaincy galvanizes his batting? We will find better options once sachin, dravid and saurav plan to retire. We should not deny that Sehwag's bad form has led to a crisis in our batting. He's a solid hitter when in form and with the series against Pakistan(300 against dem) and tour of Australia also coming up, where he has done well last time, he definitely needs to be given a look in. If he gets in form, he gets into the test team. He will provide us with another opening option and that too an attacking one. And lets not forget his bowling, he is not that bad. Infact, he is good. So assuming I am the selector, I am gonna give Sehwag one final chance. I will get him into the team and make him the captain. If he does well in the one-dayers as a batsman at least, dat will be gud enough for the moment. We should not be expecting to win the series against Australia, so its enough if Sehwag bats well. Sehwag is the only possible double solution to the problem. Any other solution would be appointing separate test and one-day captains.

If Sehwag doesnt do well, well "better not think about it".Its not that difficult to imagine, ain't it?

Laws are not the way to contain 'Outlaws'.

After the two blasts that rocked Not Only Hyderabad But the rest of the country, it is high time the so called security agencies swing into "extreme" action. In my article I have pointed out that the security mechanism in place is no where near the desired level. Hyderabad blasts are a further testimony to the fact. One doesnt need to be a RAW specialist to say that the internal security problem is slipping out of our grasp. The core area of this article though is "do laws act as a deterrent for terrorists?".
For me laws and terrorists are universes apart and drooling about laws to curtail terrorism is plain bull shit. Terrorists have plain disregard for anything and everything thats not a part of their agenda. If they were really afraid of the laws and really are, so many attacks would not have taken place. Their aim is to create chaos, make their point and pave the way for a society they think would justify their living on the earth. And they are least bothered about their lives, their motive is to get their objective across to everyone around. Bhagat Singh was never worried was about his life. He bombed an assembly and surrendered. His sole intention was to drive his motive across to the whole nation. Terrorists are of the same brand. " They live or die, but they wont let their ideology die." So laws would do nothing. I mean laws are to punish people who have made crimes. Whats the use of punishments or sentences after a terrorist attack has taken place. The main issue is to be able to prevent such attacks. We dont need any special laws to prosecute people who kill so outrageously or support these killers. If caught they can be jailed and senetenced for life. That is not a big deal. It is how we prevent these attacks that is important.

Terrorists arent educated in the proper way. Their education only leads them to destruction. So to eradicate terrorism proper education needs to reach everyone. That is the only way out. So on one hand we need a new and efficient system to crack down on terrorist cells and on the other we need to see that the right education- an education that envisages a society where everyone have to live together and promote nothing but peace-percolates down to the lowest strata of the society. Its so because terrorists always see something more than the nutrition value in an apple. They will also think as to how the apple can be used to serve their purpose. They will tell you "apple is not just for eating." Ha Ha.

As long as you and me arent made part of this anti-terrorism drive or at least as long as you and me dont feel a part of this drive, we wont be able to guarantee a safe life for ourselves.


PS: Dont complain that i write too much about this particular issue, u wud have realised that more than anything, this will be the biggest menace we need to contend with.

A salute to all the Hyderabadis for their remarkable spirit!