Bistromathic

I've noticed a rather interesting lack of co-relation between cost and selling prices of stuff in our typical markets. Take the case of juice. One would assume that a firm selling packed normal juice will price it at some level, and the same firm takes normal juice, add some sugar to it and sells that too will price the 2nd one a bit higher due to added cost of sugar.
That is at a logical guy would think. However not so in practice dear. The leading juice brand prices the non-sugar version a lot higher.
Similarly if I buy normal plain white polished rice I assume it will have some price lower than the same rice, not polished and all. after all polishing u have to remove a part of each rice grain and few other things which cost time and money. So one fine day i decided that unpolished rice is healthier so I'll try that.
Now I'm a guy fond of good things in life and an used to buying top of line stuff. So I thought yippy, since I am now buying something that has lot less work being done on it, should be reducing my expenditure too. Healthy body and healthy bank balance.
At least that's what I thought. But this lousy rice costs more double than the exceedingly premium priced polished rice! Reminds me again of that "Bistromathematics. The most powerful computational force know to para-science." concept!
Indeed the guy was prescient. The price of goods in store depends not on costs but on perceived demographic. It seems in India, someone who want to eat healthy must be someone willing to live longer and hence must be stinking rich! So if you want just x- you have to pay more than to have x+y.
Soon I see the emergence of a new entrepreneur who buys polished rice, painstakingly colors each grain brown and sells it for only 50% markup. Color manufacturer happy, the entrepreneur happy, and I get to eat tastier rice!

Thoughts at the begining of the Year.

What a week. First we have the the party with less than 4% of popular votes holding up the nuclear deal, subverting critical reforms in pension, insurance sector in parliament, perpetuating violence on citizens of their own state (see Red cadres beat central forces ) for over 6 months now. Many peaceful protesters at Kolkata Film festivals were arrested, following which the 'intellectuals of the city then heart warmingly stormed the police headquarters and freed them all. The first act was legal, the 2nd (technically) not. The first act saw arrests, the 2nd will not.
On the other hand we have the UP government which gave up on key reforms on agricultural sectors after some protests that turned midly violent and which ironically forced spectators entering a cricket match between India and Pakistan in Kanpur to remove any black items of clothing including socks! Apparently this was to prevent any black cloth waving as a sign of protest during the match, protest against the UP government. So peaceful protest (assuming there were such plans - none that i heard of) is banned but if you are violent the government will be willing to harm 600 million poor farmers to save 10 million of you - just remember looting and arson are your friends in Indian politics.
Witness what happened in Gujrat and the number of orchestrators punished as yet ( no I am not talking of low level arsonists here but the planners)? Think how many of 1984 riots have been punished? How many of Mumbai train blast, Hyderabad bomb blast, Coimbatore blast perpetrators have been brought to book? What about the Kashmir victims? The victims in Northeast?
I recently read about the stories that won the Ramnath Goenka awards for journalism 2006. Some of the pieces coupled with my own observations recounted above and earlier posts are frighteningly leading me to conclusion that the nation of Gandhi actually listens to only violence which the political classes and executive reward while peaceful protesters are arrested, raped, killed.
I remember a friend who was in one of India's top civil services resigning and leaving for abroad. What he said than was that we Indians are a nation of the savage. I then thought that it was the reaction of a poetical mind to harsh realities. As I am realizing now, he just had seen much more of the system.
Its a sombre thought to start the Indian new year.

Updated 16 Nov 2007 : In the end all are equally bad. I agreed with Budhadeb's argument that population must move away from agriculture into industry. To that extent what happened in Nandigram (West Bengal) - probably a legitimate protest against land being acquired too cheap was turned by politicians into a movement against industrialization.
Instead of explaining to people why industrialization is necessary the ruling party decided to send its armed cadres to kill the opposition - not the argument, but the arguer itself! And the CM justifies the killing saying that its fair to retaliate against opposition! How is this different from the argument toted out for the Gujrat riots which we all condemn none so harsh as the left. How is it different from argument of terrorists - someone harmed me/my faith so i'll kill the next school gathering?
And how can a ruling party send its own people to "rescue" a locality and ask police to sit out for weeks while people are killed/maimed/raped? No doubt both sides of the divide were armed but how can the 'state' sit out? And if it does, how can one not then understand groups who say to hell with the state - lets get on our own and if it means killing few or many its OK. Is it not the same argument that the CM is making?

Pakistan Crises - An opportunity for peace?

"A crises is a terrible thing to waste". Pakistan as we all know is in deep crises. Reports indicate that the Pakistani army positions on Indian border is at its lowest level ever . Pakistan state is battling the hydra headed monster of fanaticism it so carefully cultivated as a matter of state and to an extent social policy, and from the looks of it, the fight is not very favorable to the state at the moment.
My estimate in around 2004 was that Pakistan in its current form may not survive till 2050. It seems I was too sanguine about its longevity. But can we in India really feel happy about it? Paradoxically for India, it may be our best interest to ensure that a state that keeps hatred for India as its raison de etre, survives as a state. Do we really want to govern NWFP on our own. Given our own problems with Minorities do we want to add to it? Do we want to be fighting this monsters on the Hindukush range on our own?
My guess would be not. So how can we help Pakistan survive. If we offer support directly, the social conditioning of the nation will ensure that the Jehadis get more popular support! My take would be - offer a deal to the Pakistani army. In return for lower deployment of troops on Pakistan's eastern border, India reduces its troops on India's western border. That will give a much needed rest to the Indian Army. At the same time, strengthen civil policing in the border states, especially J&K. As the example of Punjab shows a determined, well training civil police can tackle insurgency better. Army is a sledgehammer - indispensables to break down iron but not very fine to chisel. We will also lower our own operational costs due to troops reduction.
Concentrate on purging the ISI cells in India while the Pakistani state battles on its western border. My own experience is the Indian and Pakistanis are very friendly to each other in foreign streets. There is a genuine warmth in our social interactions. But when it comes to the same people in subcontinent, daggers are drawn. A large portion of blame must be taken to the cultural conditioning that ingrains hatred of India in average Pakistani. The school textbooks there perpetuate the same litany. Pakistan will do well to realize that hatred always comes back to haunt those who profess by it. As a part of lowering of tensions with India- which they must if Pakistani army is to survive the current crises, such institutional hatred needs to be gotten rid of.
India meanwhile can contribute by offering better trade terms to Pakistan. Both our countries are large agricultural producers. There is no reason why we cannot trade to mutual advantage. Once trade links are better average Pakistani will get to cultivate a more friendly image of India. Peace in the reason can transform our nations. But will we take the opportunity?

Appeal to the Indian Prime Minister

You have served the country to the best of the abilities and I believe with its best interest at heart. Now that you know that something that you worked very hard for and know is in India's best interest, is being killed by ignorance, malice and incompetence. You also know that the same chance may never come again to allow gaining fuel, technology and strategic ties with those who matter.
Then is it worth to be remembered by posterity as someone who oversaw and tolerated the murder of a one in many lifetimes chance? Resign and retire gracefully. Let those who snatched defeat from jaws of victory to quote a cliche be the ones burdened by it in history.
After all national interest cannot be smaller than short term political interest, or is it?

Moments taken in

Buckling steel, sparks flying inches away from your face, countours of the road, maniac screaches of brake on wheels, the snap of muscles, rebounds of helmet off the road, horror on the face of the lady on sidewalk, dazzling circles of traffic lights.
Moments away from death, you feel so alive.

Getting books to pupil

Recently watched a debate on CNN-IBN about effectiveness of government programs on the state of social sector in India. In the midst of all the usual politicians calling for caste based quotas in private sector, Industry complaining about governmental restrictions, government quoting %age increases in budget as proof of progress came something that I think is one step that can actually help
Sunil Mittal of Bharti was mentioning that his firm is opening 200000 schools across India in mostly villages. While our SUV riding poor politicians might claim otherwise the fact is that most of the caste related distinctions are real issues in villages where group have to fight for meager resources. What can lift people out of the misery called villages is good educations and as survey after surveys indicate, government schools are simply not delivering.
If private firms can ensure that they have quality schools at village levels we can see that in another 10 years a lot more trained talent is available to industry. Agriculture simply cannot provide living to 60% of our billion strong population so this is an urgent demand of times. What can put a spanner is if government insists on quotas in teacher recruitments. If the argument of quota demanding segment is correct that the lower castes are not getting education because of bias or whatever we evidently cannot have enough trained teachers from the disadvantaged sections (if we don't have students from those sections how will we have teachers? ).
So if we don't get so shortsighted to put such spanners I can see maybe a million schools opening that provide quality education where the real disadvantaged sections of population lives and is denied opportunities. Modern education will not only provide job skills but can transform attitudes. I suggest the government gives incentives to industry to set up such schools. Something like if you spend 5% of your income to setup and operate schools you can deduct 5% from your taxes. Since the government will have to spend money on schools anyway and money comes from taxes, such an arrangement will not lead to any net revenue loss in long term. However what will happen is that instead of government directly running schools where as per an earlier PM's own admission only a meager portion of actual spend reaches the intended poor, the private sector can be held to a lot more stringent criteria.
Let their be a committee of educationists/NGOs/private sector participants who can evaluate the schools as some sort of a board. Only those schools which pass a certain level of quality accredition can claim tax exemption. Industry will have a stake in ensuring that the output of schools is good because we do have a severe talent crunch. The courses can be more vocational which should work for a large majority of rural families.
Its only by such direct action that we can achieve our potential. Let the work begin.

Murdering Mahatma?

I wanted the sesquicentennial post to be some light/frothy piece but alas no inspiration. Meanwhile the theme of increasing violence as a social phenomena has been making rounds to TV too. CNN IBN recently did a feature called "Murdering Mahatma". Since its the month of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, I thought it appropriate to blog on the same.
First I think the program got it wrong. While Gandhian nonviolence credo I think refers more to non violence as a political tool i.e. the political approach should be non-violent and I do not think its really that much on the crime side which is what the program focussed on. Sure there should not be any crime and Mahatma emphasized on virtuous living. But surely a rape victim taking a knife and attacking the rapist in the act cannot be termed as Murdering the Mahatma which I thought the program argued!
So is non-violence really a philosophy when faced with a violent crime? Sure, when British army fired on peaceful assembly in a stadium (after sealing on exit routes) as far as I know, no one really turned and attacked the soldiers. Its a crime but again the soldiers were really following orders howsoever wrong. I think its again political violence countered with non-violence. But should I follow the same philosophy if a gang of dacoits enter my house, brandishing weapons with intent to hurt. If I have a loaded gun in hand and decide to use it, is it really murdering Mahatma?
While there might not be easy answers, I believe non violence is not about not offering violent resistance in face of hostile bodily harm. It is about not making violence a tool to achieve political or personal goals. And to a large extent Indians have followed the logic. Many of our protests while not being completely free from violence by and large do not make violence the center piece of policy.
What then explains the rise of violence which I paradoxically agree to in the beginning paragraph? I again come back to the theory of a failing state. The program interviews people who said that if they catch a thief they will beat him up. The reason was in the interview itself. Many said they will resort to violence because the culprit will not be otherwise punished. And its a very valid fear. As an ex Supreme court chief justice said once - justice late is justice denied. We had this case where an IAS official was killed by a mob supposedly incited by the sitting MP of the area. The court recently pronounced death verdict on the MP for the crime. And it came after 13 years of the act. 13 years when life imprisonment in India is of 14 years duration! When such a high profile, widely covered in media case takes 13 years to settle just think of a poor helpless person trying to get justice.
I've heard opinions that sometimes lawyers decided among themselves to drag a case longer since that gets more fees. And its not hard to imagine. So we can easily assume that if its a poor person, justice will not come easily to him or her within the span of a life sentence! Is it wonder that the people will want to settle scores on streets at the moment of crime itself. Combine the delay with so many cases (I covered em in some earlier posts) where the courts have pulled up prosecution agencies for botched probes - often deliberately botched posts and its even easier to assume that justice may not always come and when it comes its usually very late.
For me, the fundamental reason for a state to exist is that it provides guarantee of life and liberty. So if the same is not being made available to all, then is state really relevant? If not then why should i play by its rules? That I think is what is prompting so many cases of public taking law into its own hands. Its a telling point that most of such cases occur in places where its generally acknowledged that the state has not done well to keep its promises of crime control and safe life.
What then is the solution? One which come to my mind is to set up more courts. But merely setting courts will not help if the mechanism to administer justice is not improved and is perceived to have improved. And a key to improving the trust is to restore confidence in authorities. It doesnt help when sitting or ex MPs and sometimes cabinet ministers are convicted by courts for extremely serious crimes. Therefore I suggest we have special fast track courts specifically setup to handle cases against senior government official and all elected/nominated members of various legislative bodies. There should also be a separate investigative and prosecuting agency not under direct control of executive but maybe under a parliamentary committee along with maybe some public citizens (a judge/bar council/press council/ etc). Make it mandatory to wrap up a case within 6 months. All cases against such people and found to be prima facie admissible by a magistrate be mandatory referred to these.
All it proceedings should be in public domain and not hidden behind officials secrecy acts.
Once the custodians of public trusts are swiftly punished for any shortcomings public confidence will trickle back.
Next step, reform of criminal justice system for all. Only once the justice becomes really impartial and very swift will the state again become relevant. Only once that happens will public stop acting its own judge, jury and executioner.

Forging PAN Indian identity thru soft power

Another run of Indian Idols comes to an end with a victor crowned. While many lamented the rather limited talent of singers coming to the fore, this particular series will be known for another reason.
For a change the 2 finalists were not from main stream India and seen by most - which is essentially the North/West and South of India. Rather both of them were from East - One from Darjeeling which a part of Bengal still has its own identity and the other from very East Meghalaya. TV news channels were reporting a lot on how it has fired up the people of North east to finally see one of their own occupying national centre stage. There were reports that the usually very estranged Garo and Khasi tribes of Meghalaya for once united in supporting a guy from the state. This is a very healthy sign.
I personally watched Indian Idols rather very infrequently. From what I heard from most was that the candidate from Meghalaya was the most talented of the lot though I personally preferred the voice of the Darjeeling hero (and mind you I say the voice not the singing talent). Well one show is not fair to pronounce judgement on someone but most of friends were holding the Meghalaya guy as the winner for many weeks now.
What might have happened is that the usual bane of such shows strike and maybe people voted on ethnic lines and Bengal is a very large state. On the other hand, winning a show is also about preparation and lets face it, when its just two finalists, both of them will have great talents. So a song selection and that one day can make fortunes. Lets hope that indeed that was the case in which case Meghalaya will not be disappointed.
It was good to see politicians for one realizing something. The final had clips showing the prime minister and the chairperson of the ruling coalition meeting the two finalists to wish them well. This is something I saw for the first time and I think it was significant. For both the finalists to come from North East (and lets face it the favorite was the Meghalaya guy) it was as much an endorsement of the fact that india is slowing coming into its own.
Many say that the unifying factor in India are cricket and Bollywood. Its a thought I can readily agree with. There might be a lot of hostility between ethnic groups within India but Hindi movies and Cricket does fire imagination across India. It is this soft power that is often neglected by most Indian policy makers. Thus it was heartening to see the top policitos realizing this importance and were seem to wish the two. I only hope this will encourage other NE Indians to come forward for such. If we look at it, i remember no cricketer from Northeast. There is Bhaichung Bhootia who is quite a superstar but in football, a game not that main stream in India. The only noteworthy actor from NE India has been Danny Denzopa and he too is old now.
By encouraging more people to come, especially into mass media from NE (cricket takes too many facilities to begin showing results) we can ensure that not only NE guys start seeing them as a part of a PAN Indian identity, it will also make them more familiar to the rest of India. Ignorance of our own brethren from East is a blot on the rest and it can only augur well for the future of India if the same is rectified early.

Surreal Moments in Life

A friend answering a buzz on his mobile
F:Hello
Stranger on the other end: Who are you?
F: Whom have you called?
S: My daughter gave me this as her number a week or so ago
F: Well she gave you a wrong number, I've had it for ages.
S: Can you hunt for her in Pune?

Another that happened to me once.
* Phone buzzing *
Me: Hello
S: Sir are you looking for a job change
M:Only if its good.
S: Thank you.
- end of call-

Some Laws of nature

1. The moment you get to a song you really like, either the phone will ring or some urgent work land up.
2. Finish the work and replay the song and 1. will happen again
3. The most diligence demanding mail clarifications always land up on Friday around 5.
4. The only time in the day you'll open comic.com is the time the boss's boss decides to pay you a visit.
5. Come out of the door in undies to drop the trash and the auto lock on the door will mysteriously engage behind your bare back.
6. The moment that hot babe in the hangout joint look at you with a smile, it will turn to laughter as you slip on spilled coffee and then get up to realize the trouser seams are off.
7. Give a girl a fish and u feed her for a day.Teach her how to fish and she forms a worker's union
8. Traditional dress day is only celebrated in firms which have no employee hailing from some primitive tribe. (I wouldn't mind attending one in some Brazilian firm )
9. Hit delete by accident and it NEVER fails to execute successfully.
   

Crisis is a Terrible thing to Waste

"a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. It makes unthinkable changes suddenly possible." from “For the Soul of Mankind” by "Melvyn Leffler" as reviewed in the Economist. What a beautiful way to sum it up.
Indeed all this current fracas about the nuclear deal, the Adam's bridge (Ram Setu in popular lingo), the globalization issues, the mess in education sector. All these are an excellent opening to debate our thinking, break free from the shackles of mindset evolved over 1000 years of war fare and conquest by foreign invaders.
The current resurgence of national confidence has a lot to do with liberalization ushered in, in response to balance of Payment crises of 90s. A crises that changed the course of modern India. We had an erudite philosopher Prime Minister than. Not always the most clean of our politician, Mr Rao must be given credited for putting right people on job and shielding them from interference. Always a mark of a great manager. I personally appreciate what he did for our economy.
Where he failed in the same vein was in handling the Ayodhya Babari masjid crises. The events of 93 were a crises, they were also a great opportunity to solve the issue once and for all. And he failed miserably.
I think the same crises -opportunity stares in the face of the current government. Will Rao's protege - the current prime minister and more importantly the real power behind the ruling party seize the issue and act in real national interest is any body's guess. Thinking long term I'd say even lose the next election but if you act in India's real interest ( and the government knows it better than I, being privy to much more facts and opinions than I a mere private citizen), the people will elect them in the next round or so.
The growth momentum is there and as more and more people are lifted out of poverty and ignorance they will realize the consequences of actions sooner than later. So in long term, an informed practical approach should pay well.
There are real risks though. While most Indians proudly proclaim that Indians are the most philosophical, most liberal thinkers in reality we are rarely so. Look at the modern times where the protests are almost always violent involving forced 'bandhs' or actual violence. So the opportunity will not be seized without making hard choices. But then we need to overcome adversary by force of will.

small things all

Some string, a cardboard box, a ball, a puppy
endless joy

Making Government Footprint more Welcome

Continuing from the last blog post idea, I feel one way to citizens feeling more empowered is to reduce the government arms to people contact. Remember its the attitudes which set the tone of the interaction and we are a nation have severe attitude problems.
Recently I paid by municipal taxes thru an online bill pay facility of a bank. I never received the tax demand but thankfully Pune municipal corporation has a website that allows you to search and view taxes to be paid by you. Assuming that was not the case I would have had to go to the municipal office. Find out where to go (interaction 1), find out my outstanding taxes (interaction 2), go and pay the taxes (interaction 3). Any of these 3 places could have exasperated me. However the online governance ensured that I do not have to waste a leave and saved a lot of time for me. That makes me feel better about Pune Municipal corporation.
Now many people - especially in government employee unions will complaint that if we make everything online where will the employees go. An argument that makes me as a tax payer angry. Does the government feed me if i get unemployed? As for municipal facilities? well half the city doesn't get municipal water (tho it pays local taxes), my housing society has its own security, if I get ill chances are I'll go to a private hospital because i do not 'trust' the government hospital to always treat me well and yes I can afford to pay for private hospital so maybe its good cause the 'sarkari doctor' has 1 less patient to see so (s)he can see another poor patient. But lets take the union's argument and assume that it is every tax payer's duty to sustain living for those who cleared a government employee recruitment exam. Can we than reduce government and still not unemploy them?
I think we can. The problem is that the government is missing from areas it should be in and is too much into areas it should not be in. Do we need a thousand tax collectors when by automating system we can do with hundred? While Pune traffic police complaints that the traffic is a mess because they have too few people? Why not take those 900 tax collectors and make them traffic policemen?
Villages don't have medical facilities because medical graduates don't want to live in a village which has no worthy school, no electricity and what not. Government still posts them and most of them go to villages only on paper. Why not take the biology graduates in government and below 25 years of age and give them an offer. Government will train them on its own expense to be a medical practitioner (RMP) provided they spend 10 years living in a village. After 10 years they are free to do private practice. Now the question is 1) what will keep them in villages and 2) do we have enough colleges to train them?
My answer to 2) is, do we really want to make them an MBBS doctor? Really how much treatment can a village dispensary do? Better idea is to open maybe 20 colleges across India that trains them to give medicine for common stuff like malaria, dysentery, family planning, taking blood samples and all, preserving them well and sending them to district laboratories for tests. Also to identify when things are beyond their competence and send them to city hospitals.
For 1) Make the village panchayats responsible for ensuring the RMP is actually in the village. If not they must report it to the district. And make Panchayats answerable for any issues arising out of non-reporting.
This is a short term solution. In longer term, a real issue is that village kids can't compete with most city kids and become doctors or engineers because the village schools are terrible. Instead of trying to get them into medical/engineering colleges through quota when they do not have the skills to compete with fellow classmates during course and bring the overall interaction quality down, why not have special schools. Do we really need MBBS in every village? Have colleges that take them for 3 years and train them to handle normal medical/engineering needs. Have PG courses that can make some of the more promising ones MBBS should they care to after doing maybe 10 years in villages. Since these are not MBBS they are not allowed to practise in private merely in dispensaries. Some will argue this is a class distinction. My answer is that given a choice between being unemployed and becoming a looked up to member of a village many village kids will jump at this opportunity. And it will raise standard of living in villages.
Similarly involve private sector. Have electricity bills/municipal bills available online. Whats stopping a bank from sending an officer to a village once a month with a laptop and a mobile net connection, collecting money and paying the bills online given the payer a receipt then and there. The villagers don't have to come over to some place, stand in line to pay and there is no additional charge. The bank can charge 2 % to the tax authorities for this service. The man power reduction in tax collection will be more than 2% in costs so net collection goes up. Meanwhile the tax collector becomes a teacher/police/doctor or some such more skilled guy.
True some will crib at having to leave a cushy job in a city with a lot of potential to harass and earn illegal money. But government jobs are not about that right? They are so that people can serve people.
Its a win win.

Is India relevant for Indians

I have often wondered what makes us so full or road rage, so ready to slash and burn at the slightest opportunity when in a mob. The key thing is that we do so when we are in a group. While I have no answers I will make a guess!
I think its the 'system'. It makes people feel so impotent in normal life that given an vent, they all erupt. Look at our government offices. A visit to any is a soul wrenching experience. Pan stains on walls, rude staff. It does not matter to the clerk (or the corner constable of police - the lowest rung) that the person he is talking as if the other is some lowly life form is probably talented enough to be his boss' boss' boss had he or she wanted.
It does not matter that the staff gets his salary from what the visitor pay as taxes. In short, the 'babudom' makes citizens feel 2nd class. We are a flawed democracy. so given an oppurtunity we descent into mobocracy. Common man knows that he can't really fight against the system and win. For the simple fact that given everything else, it will take 15 years for the court process to end. Who wants to spent 15 best years of life in courts? This leads to apathy and that in itself is a root of many ills.
Now I understand that any solution short of a revolution will be tough to get. After all in order to reform babudom and politics, the initiative will have to come from the top as well. But the top has lot more to loose in reforms than the bottom. Power is the most powerful aphrodisiac.
Courts in India are perceived to be free. But then even if free, in order to fight the system in courts you need a powerful prosecution arm. But the police have probably the worst public image among all government arms. And the reason are not hard to see. Just observe how a policeman (any policeman) talks to a common man - alone on a street. It will give you an impression of a ruler to a serf. But thats only the tip. Its a reflection merely of an institutional behaviour. What is our conviction rate? How many perpetrator of high visibility terrorist acts have been punished. When they have been - the top rung is almost entirely never caught, the middle and lower run get convicted in like 15 years. And as a recent columnist in Outlook pointed out, that too happens only when a Hindu- Muslim thing happens!
Take the well publicized case of a son of an IAS officer in Central government being killed. The accused are some family members of a sitting Member of Parliament. The case is dragging on for so many years. This when the person killed has a family who is a member of the power elite. If the accused are guilty the family of the dead has been denied justice as yet. If the accused are not, they have been denied justice for so long, living under shadow.
If such a high profile, under the media glare, case takes over 10 years to come to a logical conclusion just image what happens when a common man is involved. Assuming the police investigate with talent and impartiality ( both of which at least in public perception are extremely rare) it will still be longer than a decade wait! So the common man looses faith.
This is probably why terrorism is spreading roots. Why Naxalites are gaining control over such a large portion of India. Because for so many people the state has ceased to exist. When that happens what stops a person from defying the state? While I hate civilians being harmed (that is after all the definition of terrorism) for those which no help from state in defending life and liberty, it will cease to matter. And that is what seems to be happening.
An attack on police will cease to awaken people because for them its merely an armed wing of a state that just extorts taxes from them and does nothing in return except oppression.
Its a danger sign and we stop to look at it thinking that the problem will go away. The only way to fight this menace is by making state relevant. Improve the police, improve the governance. Make people proud of being an Indian. I once read that when US celebrates its 4th of July- the citizens celebrate not the state. In India, its the state that celebrates and not the citizens. If we are to stay as a nation, we have to correct this.

Language as a Weapon

Language as a weapon? of mass subjugation? Language is one of the crowing glory of human kind. A unifying force for communities, it also is one of the more divisive factors in our cultural life. Look at the French - English rivalry. or closer home the hostility to Hindi in south? Why does mere choice of language strike such emotional chords? Maybe it has to do with language being the ultimate symbol of cultural heritage. Where language is not merely the communication tool for cultural ideas, it IS a cultural expression itself.

Language serves to stratify societies. Listen to Prof Higgins expostulate the same in "My Fair Lady". Or more recent times read 1984. An interesting idea there. When we think, we think in a language. So What if certain words (symbolic of ideas) are simply not there in a language? What if state ( or society) prevents us from introducing such ideas in language terms. Will over a period of time we see a gradual withering of such ideas?

Forms of language serve to differentiate people. English court had French as the official language for quite a while. Mughal Durbar in Delhi had Persian as the court language for long. It took an Amir Khusro to evolve Urdu - a mix of Persian and Hindustani (the language of the masses) to bridge the gap. Hindi Channels today strive to maintain the Allahabadi Hindi as the standard bearer. It took an AajTak to popularize a much more eastern Bihari style to Hindi to differentiate itself from the traditional elites and posture itself as a channel for the masses. So its obvious that linguistic abilities can serve to stratify societies even where the language is otherwise common.

Jacques Derrida in his theory of Deconstruction mentions how language is a barrier to communication. When communicating through words we are slowing our thoughts down to the flow of the words. Mind which is so much more capable of faster action is essentially slowing down. Hence language itself is sometimes problematic. If we extend the same to inner thoughts - While we may not be saying anything, is the mind slowing down while thinking because we 'think' in a language. Will thinking in way devoid of language be much faster?

Reasons Reasons

Just heard about this job application where the dude mentions - I wanna search for a girlfriend in ur country as a reason for applying to the job.
Cool. Wonder how many such offbeat reasons can be quoted for applying.
Common ones I can think of it -

1. Commuting to this place is so much easier.
   
2. Ah my favorite eating place is right across the street from you
3. Mmmm the receptionist!

More esoteric ones could be

1. God spoke to me and told me to go forth and make common cause with "your firm"
2. Numerologically my name and yours just match
3. Boy you are an incompetent bunch. My rapid rise to top is assured.
4. My girlfriend is banned from entering your country. Hallelujah
   
5. Doctors have prescribed complete break from work
   

... I'm thinking of more

Help - WMD proliferate

Meetings, it almost enlightened me as to why the typical nerd was also supposed to be perpetually high on some or the other substance. How else could one survive the ordeal unless semi in Nirvana land?
Given the rapid proliferation of these ways of mass discomfort - WMD in corporate culture we the sanity lovers need to come up with ways to hit back. Having been in places where sometimes meetings were scheduled for over 8 hours and no this was not a sales department but the hardcore tech one, and even now where WMDs often demand over 5 hours on many working day per day, I've been thinking-(that too on a Monday. Yeah I know its not something that I have done in many years but frankly this is a crises scenario. As a result of moving those massive brain levers here are some caffeine empowered techniques that a (non PH)-B should implement to reduce the WMD quest of lessor minions.

1. Auction of meeting times. People are given certain amount of 'currency' to buy meeting minutes. A 10 minute meeting of 10 people? Sure that'll be 10*10=100/- currency. You can do without 5 or your original list, thought so too, hand out 5*10=50/-. You can do it in 5 min? sure that'll be 25/- plz.
2. And yeah, your last meeting overshot by 20 min. The attendees have had half the person rate times 20min deducted for spending time in meetings. System is auto-claiming their deduction from you. so you need to hand in that currency too.

Such an approach I'm sure will see a significant reduction in WMD proliferation. Then it may be possible for folks to actually get some time in the day to get the work they were supposed to get done done.

My beloved Mr Yechuri discussed Nucleared deal

I thought enough of nuclear energy discussion but then when an argument is being stopped by quoting motives, I got into a debate mode. My favorite handler of words Mr Sitaram Yechuri in his column in Hindustan Times gives his own views on how Lefts opposition is being decried not because of reasons but because of prejudice. Point taken, a rational debate should be based on reasons so lets take his arguments and discuss.

"any attempt to cap India’s nuclear strategic capabilities will immensely benefit both China and Pakistan. Who, may we ask, is vigorously pursuing this Indo-US nuclear deal which, we are told, will limit India’s strategic capacities...". Interesting argument. "We are told" by whom? The very same Left. You make an assumption, prove a premise on the basis of that assumption and conclude that the assumption is right! As per my earlier writeup, the deal enhances our strategic capabilities by 1. allowing for nuclear technology know how. While this should not be transferring bomb technology, there are other engineering capabilities, safety training that will help. By creating opportunities for nuclear scientists to get jobs we'll get more talented people taking up such studies. Currently most end up being code monkeys in IT.

He rightly mentions that India is electricity starved. He also makes the oft quoted argument that our current nuclear electricity percentage is 3 percent of total which will go upto mere 6 percent in 20 years due to this deal. What the argument leaves out is why its only 3% today. I can think of 3 reasons.

1. We do not have the technology to build bigger/better plants and not enough engineers to maintain a lot of small plants.
2. We do not have access to enough fuel to generate more
3. We made a conscious decision not to build plants

Evidently its not 3, and Mr Yechuri does not say that it is. For if it was the whole deal needn't be signed. Which means its some combination of 1) and 2). And both imply we need to import technology And import fuel. Alas both cannot be imported unless India signs up NPT and gives up the very loved strategic option or by signing the deal. If opponents of the deal can get us both without either, lets welcome that option.

"Further, is nuclear power cost-effective? On the contrary, it is the most expensive option.". Agreed. But there is also an economy of scale. France gets most of its electricity from nuclear plants. Which brings down costs. That however is a part of the story. Even with scale the nuclear power option is the more expensive option in short term. In short term. Fossil fuels are limited and especially oil, gas only a little less and prices are continuously rising. Further more, oil supply is nearly at peak and so its not that we can increase our consumption to 5 times and get adequete supply. I do not have the link right now but I read that already some gas based plants in India are running at sub optimal generation level because gas supply is not adequate. Further any reliance on unstable Mideast for oil is a strategic dependence on an unstable region. We depend on others for oil or for uranium its still a dependence.

Other thing is environmental impact. "This year’s floods according to the United Nations, are ‘unprecedented’ in human memory.". Most climate scientists blame global warming for sudden climatic changes and fossil fuel usage is the biggest culprit. Mr Yechuri's solution to a problem is the solution that is creating the problem in the first go.

"Huge commercial orders running into thousands of crores of rupees for the purchase of nuclear reactors would be placed on the US." .... "Is India then actually going in for this deal to bolster US economic interests?". So is this the real reason for Left's opposition if not 'instructions from abroad'? Well the logical argument is that you buy technologies from whoever has it. I'd say if the government is smart it will diversify sources. France is an obvious choice. As is Indian private sector which can soon learn the ropes.

"If the same amount of resources were to be spent on generating power through hydro, thermal, gas, clean non-renewable and solar electricity, India’s energy augmentation would be many times higher.". Admirable. Dams require a lot of land and displacement of people. Is Left recommending that such massive forcible land acquisition happens? Solar is great but is it commercially viable as a regular source of power? Where in the world has it happened. And how does the cost compare to the nuclear energy generation cost. Ah no figures there because they'll contradict his earlier arguments about cost reasons for avoiding nuclear energy. Thermal energy we tried once in south, alas our power plant sunk in the sea!

The rest of the argument gets into joint exercises and multipolar world and what not. I'm too sleepy to talk about it now but its already discussed in earlier posts.

"Any alignment with US imperialism to impose unipolarity will dissolve India’s distinctiveness in world politics. This is precisely what the Left seeks to prevent in the interests of India and its people.". So is the opposition to the deal because its with US and we cannot align with them to ensure multi polarity or is it because the deal is bad?

In short I find again Mr Yechuri's reasoning contradictory. Given my very high regards for his intellectual calibre, I can only speculate on reasons. But I for once am not convinced that the deal is not in our national interest.

Updated: Sept 20th.
Hindustan Times has this rather good analysis on need for Fuel supply diversification. It always gets my goat that our self serving politicians want India to live by their ideals (assuming that the arguments are really born of ideology). How I wish they work to make India live on its self interests rather than some arcane or popular ideology. Reminds me of all those years where we fought wars in ways that ensured an honorable defeat rather than a dishonourable win. The kings won their glory, the people had they women raped, wealth looted and liberty crying in chains.

Rich and Vengeful.

Last few days were all full of angst at the politics happening. This week is for a change cool and Sunny. In keeping with the theme, here is another rather interesting item on ABC news chronicling the wills of the rich and vengeful. I even love the heading. Good read for a slow day.

Sample a few gems of wills from the article:

"To my son, I leave the pleasure of earning a living, which he had not done in 35 years."

Or: "To my daughter, I leave $1,000. She will need it. The only good piece of business her husband ever did was to marry her."

It proves that the rich and sometimes famous can also have a sense of humor even if it rebounds as a Greek Tragedy on some of the people in their lives.

What was that?

Chinese government bans reincarnations screamed a headline on MSNBC. Closer reading revealed that the law prohibits spirits from choosing a new body only if the spirit and bodies are both outside China!
Talk about extraterritorial jurisdictions. This goes beyond even carnal world. Behind the farce is a serious issue of decimation of an entire civilization at the hands of totalitarian politics. Reminds me often of those Calvin and Hobbes strip that often bemoan our behaviour.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists in this Universe is that none has tried to contact us"
--- Bill Waterson in Calvin and Hobbes.