Jamming It

It was not so long ago when a high-beam light from a truck blinded me completly as I was driving back home in the night, I was telling my friend that it is just not the infra-structure that is going to help Indian road conditions. It was indeed heartening to see the Indian Prime minister touching upon the same subject. It would not be an exaggeration if I say, with the exception of Mahatma Gandhi no one in Indian politics had ever talked about uncleanliness, bad traffic and such problems. For one they themselves do not seem to have taken notice of these problems and obviously the other is such talks may never fetch any vote. Having said that Manmohan does not seem to be an exception among the Indian politics who comes only with half-baked solutions or suggestions - Dr.Singh talks only about courtesy !

Look at the numbers - 10 % of accident deaths in the world occur in India. Indian roads may be as dangerous as a terrorists-inflicted areas in the world ! we can drive only at an average speed of 30 Km per hour in city roads (when there is no traffic) and 65 Km per hour in highways. Compare these against the numbers in developed countries - America and Germany - they cross easily 60 Kms per hour in city roads (when there is no traffic) and 95 Kms in a highway. The second statistics may seem innocuous but has significant implications - one is that we lose precious time and more importantly people have to spend twice the time on their roads meaning cities cannot grow beyond a point !!

To me three things jams the Indian roads - Poor Infra-structure, poor law-enforcement and poor road sense of the drivers.

It looks like there is a misunderstanding that roads are the only infra-structure required !! In bangalore I find instructions to follow lane discipline at several junctions but I do not find any lane markings. With no buffer lane to turn right, I do not think enforcement of lane discipline would ever be possible in congested areas. Signal markings, traffic signals (of course with proper power supply ! In Bangalore, the electricity department switches-off the power to traffic signals due non-payment of outstanding bills), lane markings, buffer lanes, parking lots, zebra crosses, road dividers, anti-skidding roads at junctions, anti-glare arrangements, Proper exit and entries

from and into the highways all form a part of infra-structure. It would not be a bad idea if the Public Works Department engineers and traffic police are sent to developed countries to learn some basic skills.

The other day in Indira Nagar 12th Main junction, a police officer was just watching signal jumpers. I can see a ray of tranquility in his face. There is hardly any traffic enforecment in many parts of India and certainly not in Bangalore. In my home town Madurai the police pockets a simple 5 rupees for every traffic offence. Looks like police have given up hope on bangalore traffic. (I should say their one-way ideas are working good !). The idea of parking enforcement has never been there in India. Truly speaking the enforcement should start from issuing driving licenses. I believe the driving should be made a subject in schools and colleges (E.g. two wheeler in schools and four wheeler in colleges). This way Educational institutes can help judge driving skills of a person. Otherwise few RTO offices alone can not judge the driving skills of such a big population and ensure a safe roads in India. Other than issuing license there are several other areas the adminitration should concentrate. In my opinion improper parking, jay-walking, signal jumping, improper use of head-lights should also be controlled to improve the roads. I am sure these are being taken up traffic police in cities, but only during month ends - may be they have to show numbers to thier bosses ! A good amount of traffic fines can be given as a commission to policemen who collected it. And of course, a decent enforcement system would require a computerised and networked system that keeps the records of history of drivers !

Well, road sense is something that should be inculcated from young age. I could not think of a way other then parents and educational institutions owning up this responsibility. As a driver one should respect other drivers, the pedestrians and traffic rules (sounds like a sermon). As a pedestrian please do not the cross the road like you walk from your kitchen to bed room !

Self Pity

"Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"? To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over -- 5 crore children start playing tennis, 50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup, I never asked GOD "Why me?". And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?" Happiness keeps u Sweet, Trials keep u Strong, Sorrow keeps u Human."

Might sound a bit too philosophical but I like it. When you are hit by strange things self-pity is something that drowns you completly. One of my freinds used to quote the same thing from the writings of Mother (Pondicherry Aurobindo Ashram), which I should say in the past kept me away from getting self-pity.

The Graduates

The other day, the Infosys chief Narayana Murthy talked about dearth of quality output from engineering colleges when he was addressing a convocation gathering. In his speech he quoted a Mckinsey report that claims that 75% of the engineering graduates are not good. I was not surprised.

In my personal experience, in the last few years, I have interviewed about 100 fresh graduates for recruitment and was able to make offers for not more than 7 people! Just the other day a computer engineering graduate, who has spent 3 years in learning just computer science and engineering aspects of the same was telling me the assignments that he was asked to do in the college – he spent 6 months in learning Macromedia flash player and another six months in how to create dialogue boxes Visual Basic.

A graduate specializing in computer science learning about how to use Macromedia flash player is really demeaning the purpose of the course. I feel that the people that design computer science courses do not have the fundamental understanding of the subject. Otherwise why every college in Tamilnadu include Java, Visual basic, oracle and such stuffs in the basic curriculum?

There do not seem to be any immediate threat as the Indian software services companies, those that absorb the major portion of college graduates, are focusing only on the cost proposition to their customers. They would feel the pinch when cost of operation in Bangalore starts matching with that of cities in United States, which it would very soon. That would be the time they would be forced to address the value proposition to their customers. You cannot offer value to your customers with out having quality professionals in your organization.

Quality Software professional at a lower cost is an important ingredient for the success of Indian software industry. There do not seem to be any coordinated effort from AICTE to address this problem. It would not be a bad idea for the vice-chancellors of the universities to focus on designing the courses they are offering in the right way than to designing and suggesting the wardrobes for the students!

December Diary

Looks like so many things have occurred since I posted last in my blog !

The event of the month was that Amitabh Bachan’s discharge from the hospital. The mainstream newspapers and news channels were feeding the public with hourly updates on his health from the day he was hospitalized till the day he was discharged. My friend who is a doctor in Bombay told me that even doctors attending Bachan came to know about his condition only through media! This was just a small service rendered by the media to the “grieving” nation.

I was in Sabarimala when politicians of Tamil nadu were fighting over who hosted Bill Gates better. I am sure the real people of this land have no faith in any of their “leaders”. They have faith in God for which they do not mind doing anything – they can climb-up the hill for several miles in scorching sun or severe rain, they can hurt themselves by piercing iron rods in their tongues. Is this the faith that makes people of India live in peace even when their leaders are hopelessly useless; even when the system is grossly misused; even when their genuine needs are overlooked; even when their sweat and blood are sucked by the political class? (Do I sound a bit too anti-establishment?)

It was indeed interesting to notice that $7.5Bn invest has been committed by various multi-national companies in India ! Hope Deve Gowda continues his eternal nap and does not play any spoilsport. We will soon be a developed country – but probably we need to hide deaths due to caste differences and deaths in relief camps.

The speaker of the parliament, otherwise a strict man not allowing any irrelevant issues being discussed(by the way, why Somnath gets angry only with younger members but not with the seasoned oldies in the house?), was open to discussing Ganguly's omission from Indian Cricket team! I was just wondering who would answer the questions of those agitated MPs and ministers from Bengal! Never mind, Kiran more had the answer why Ganguly was included for Pakistan series just few days later - "Selection committee can be futuristic only when it decides to dump someone". Well, that was not his answer but everyone's interpretation. Being ridiculed by the public, this perennial jumping primate took revenge by forcing Ganguly to play Ranji trophy matches!

Our lawmakers have found a gadget that scares them the most – the camera. The inventor of the camera would not have dreamed that his gadget would threaten lawmakers of the most populous and biggest democracies and leave them sleepless. BJP has found a knack of misbehaving when the camera lenses are open. There are not even many actors in that party; it leaves me wondering how do they achieve this fete?

It Looks like Narayana Murthy is training his guns against the “humble farmer” after the later was humbled in the local elections. In every opportunity he gets, Narayana Murthy has been taking dig at Deve Gowda.

Sad story of the month was the killing of Dr.Puri, Mathematics professor at IIT Delhi. Poor professor was killed by pakistani terrorists! But for people such as Kuldip Nayyar "such events" should not affect the "peace process" with Pakistan. Indian Prime minister was shocked - obviously he can only get shocked and cannot do anything more than that. Who knows, probably he was planning for seeking public pardon for this killing ten or fifteen years down lane. I am sure we all will watch Cricket match with Pakistan unashamed in next few weeks. We have thicker skin!

The next day after the attack, it seems newspapers were in a dilemma whether to cover Amir Khan’s second wedding or the terrorist attack. After all Amir khan is marrying only for the second time in last 14 years and I believe they had a genuine dilemma.

The last I heard (or read) was that the government (read, the finance minister) was contemplating stopping the pension for people aged above 75! Wow! This finance minister is indeed innovative - he hits where it really hurts most!!

I want to add a lot more, as the last month was really a happening one – resignation of disgraced Indian external minister, politics over stampede deaths, India winning the Cricket series against Sri Lanka, Uma Bharati’s expulsion from BJP, Super-floods in Tamil Nadu, Bomb threat in Parliament. But I am trying to curtail my habit of writing too big articles.

With all these happenings around, the New Year was born amidst a wonderful music of silence for me! I really enjoyed those moments!! Happy New Year to all!!!

Rain, Media and the Government

Rain, Media and the Government

It has been raining heavily in Tamilnadu for over 6 weeks. The Nature’s fury for the second time in less than a year in the same part of the world, which just recovered from a deadly Tsunami, does not seem to attract any attention of the media or that of the government at the center.

I am amused to see the lack of coverage in the national media, both print and TV. There was no coverage when Srirangam was besieged with water a month back. The 24 hours news channels that hovered around an astrologer’s home to witness and telecast live his “predicted” death just a few weeks ago were not found when the southern city of Trichy was inundated. The news of flooding appeared 24 to 36 hours after it actually took place. It seems, the print media was so busy tailoring stories about Chapel’s middle finger and how “pawar” game got introduced into BCCI.

The response of the government in the center was even more frustrating. Only after five-dozen people died when a bus got flooded they understood enormity of the situation, it seems. Till then there was no relief package was announced though the state government was requesting for it from third week of October. No national leader including those from BJP or congress visited the people that are stranded. However, the home minister did visit the flooded area in helicopter.

Contrasting what is going on now with the response when parts of Maharashtra and Bombay experienced unusual rainfall by middle of this year, I feel that government’s double standard is getting exposed. In fact only after people raising such points, Manmohan Singh woke up and announced the initial relief package (Incidentally it is Rs 500 crores, the exact amount that was announced when Dr.Singh visited Bombay after its worst ever rains).

At this time I am not able to conclude anything just from these sequences of occurrences, however I feel, it is not helping in boosting the much-needed confidence of people, so that they can recover from yet another natural calamity as soon as possible.

An Interesting Quote:

Can a leech do maths? ... instinct tells you that this bloodsucker can no more "do maths" than it can play the trombone. This is a superficial view born of the bogus assumption that maths requires a mind (Editorial, New Scientist, 20 June 1998).

Found in the Net.

Bhagawat Gita

If you can read Tamil and understand, do read an article by Jayamohan:

http://www.thinnai.com/ar10070414.html
http://www.thinnai.com/ar1014041.html

This article appeared in www.thinnai.com last year in response to DMK leader Karunanidhi's attack on Gita. It is a long one take time to read. Do post your comments.

Note: if you have problems in opening the page please copy & paste the link in your browser's address box

Shalu

The rain had just stopped. we had just finished our dinner. It was already ten in the night. I stepped out of my home. It was a drizzling night. Hardly anybody was on the road except occasional passing by cars.

"Let us walk. A long walk would take us to the beach", my friend insisted.

I agreed.

"That was the summer I first met Shalu", I opened up.

Probably the name should have pumped up her curiosity. She glanced at me and I knew she wanted me to continue.

"I was seven by then"

"Yet another childhood story? How many more you have got?, she quipped

"Myself and my friends were enjoying the school vacation", I continued.

"Summer in your home town is very harsh right?", she asked.

"Indeed, It was a scorching sunny day. We were playing some game on the shade"

"It was just about two'o clock in the afternoon Shalu with her mother walked nearby our home. Her appearance attracted me a lot. By then I did not know that we were going to name her Shalu"

I could see that my friend was getting more curious.

"Shalu was hardly a feet tall from the ground"

"She was a nice little lamb born just a week back", I answered her unspoken curiosity.

The road to beach was turning to its right. We approached that big tree. The place was dark and the moon was attempting to come out of the cloud covering.

"The mother was initially a little scared about me when I tried to lift her kid. But she eased out soon"

"I lifted shalu. Shalu sat comfortably on my folded hands. She was looking extremely bright!"

Light from a speeding car got reflected on my friend's dark shiny hair.

"Shalu's furry hair had not developed any curl on it yet and she had a bright white hair with no trail of any other color in it".

I continued, "Her eyes were bright and dark"

"I touched the tip of her ear lobes. She had a tender ear lobes. She must have felt tickled. She moved her ears around"

"Is it your favorite pastime activity”, my friend asked me in a teasing tone wiping out the rain droplets from her face

I smiled at her and continued.

"I spent nearly 3 hours with her on that day. She went back home. After she left we named her Shalu"

"Did YOU name her?"

"Yes, it was my choice. I don't know why I chose"

"Shalu stopped by our home everyday in the evening. I used to take her to our garden. She liked the tender leaves of the mango tree. Shalu's owner didn't worry too much about she coming our home as we fed her everyday!"

"Am I boring you", I asked my friend

A gentle breeze fluttered the tree. The tree showered the rain droplets. We got wet and we had to move from that place.

"Days passed, Shalu was becoming like her mother - lots of dirt accumulated on her body. I decided to give her a bath. I took her to the well in our garden"

"Let us walk fast. Drizzling is getting stronger", told my friend and started taking quick steps.

"She could not understand what I was about to do. I could see some fear in her eyes. Shalu probably had the first bath of her life - with the long garden hose I sprinkled water on her. She started enjoying”, I continued my story.

I had to pace myself up to match with my friend.

"Months passed, Shalu started eating a lot. She was growing. She was still visiting our home"

"Shalu did not show up for few days. Diwali was just a week away. I was very busy preparing the crackers list and was planning how to celebrate it."

"On the day before Diwali I realized that I had not met Shalu for more than 10 days! Myself and my dad was going for last minute shopping."

"A strange scene startled me. I saw someone dragging Shalu"

"Dragging? why?", my friend asked in a probing manner.

"A rope was tied to her neck. Few meters away was an open butchery "

It started raining heavily. We started jogging back home. We both got completely wet.

It was raining heavily and we could not hear each other much. "Did you do something for her?", I could hear my friend asking me.

I did not answer. In about two minutes we reached my home.

"We need to cross the butchery to reach the shop. As I was approaching close to the butchery, Shalu saw me. She tried to reach me. Her voice was with full of fear”

We just reached back my home.

“She entered the butchery. She was getting dragged even more forcefully"

"I was walking right opposite to the butchery. A guy inside poured a bucket full of water on Shalu. Shalu was just shivering. She did not know what was going to happen. Shalu's eyes were filled with fear which was not unfamiliar to me."

"Shalu started crying loudly. Her voice was very desperate. We just crossed the butchery by then.”

“I didn't want to look back. Shalu's voice was mellowing down. Few yards later I could not hear her voice".

My friend looked at me into my eyes. I could not quite understand the expression.