Amitabha's Blog

Kishori | Apathy in Aiims | Photos India | - hindustantimes.com

2011-08-03T12:35:00.000+05:30

Kishori | Apathy in Aiims | Photos India | - hindustantimes.com

And people in our country makes billion dollar homes, billions squandered away in scams (list unending) and we talk big nos for our GDP and IIP growth ... what a dichotomy of a nation's growth story ...

Freedom of Creativity in Qatar

2010-03-09T16:37:00.000+05:30

The last few weeks the various media forms have been agog as to how MF Husain will be giving up his Indian citizenship for Qatar’s and now about his decision to return the Indian passport.

Mr Hussain for all his creativity chose to paint the Hindu religious figures in the buff and I wonder what stopped him from using his liberties with religious figures of his faith or other faiths of this world. Or why did he never seek the liberty with people from his known and close proximity. I doubt if depicting a much revered Hindu Goddess in a sexually pervert and derogatory posture can be a case of artistic liberty.

A pool of our so called intelligentsia has been ranting about how we Indians are becoming less tolerant about artistic and literary liberties and how Hindu extremism is rising. They miss the point that Hinduism is actually not a religion but it’s actually a way of life. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma (a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law"). Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. Among its roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India, and as such Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion" or the "oldest living major tradition". Hinduism also happens to be the most accepting faiths of the world. The history of the Indian Subcontinent is ample proof to this. There are examples in abundance when the Hindu religious characters has been misused as motifs for labels of alcoholic drinks, lingerie, as well as swimwear during fashion shows. It is because Hinduism is overtly tolerant faith and does not propagate aggressive behaviour declaring Jihads and Crusades.

I personally, feel relieved that we do not have Mr Hussain playing truant with our faith, in our country and disturbing the already fragile peace. As for all the liberty activist, my heartfelt request would be for them to travel to Qatar, alongwith family and friends and avail of all the artistic liberties of Mr Hussain!! And I am eagerly waiting to see the instances of his artistic liberties with members of the royal family of Qatar! I am sure he will not disappoint!

A Busy Hiatus in New Delhi!

2010-02-27T11:40:00.000+05:30

Many of you might be wondering how can a hiatus be busy when it is supposed to be a break from the daily humdrum of life. The daytimes were extremely hectic because of work while the night was a period of gastronomic binge to take away all the tiredness!! And what more does a Bong need when you serve him meat in its purest form.

Am just back from 12 long and hectic days in New Delhi and am still unwinding from the after effects of conducting an event like DEFEXPO 2010. DEFEXPO is a biennial, International Exhibition, held under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Defence. The event has grown over the years and the strategic importance of India in defence circles is amply demonstrated with the number of participants and the countries vying for space. This year me and 2 of my team mates were entrusted with the responsibility of executing the entire event right from the planning till the curtain dropping! And a marvellous experience it has been bringing all the diverse teams from various location together, planning to effectively use a 8000 sq ft stall space and standing your high ground amidst the global giants in the business, and the logistics of it all. We made a big impression by showing three live, frontline Weapon Systems made by L&T. And the faith in L&T was demonstrated by the number of high level dignitaries, right from the Defence Minister to a flurry of Admirals and Generals. It was ten 12 hour days, spent mostly standing, but a time worthily spent.

The icing on the cake, however, was the gastronomic binge that Delhi provided alongwith temperatures dipping to almost single digits on a daily basis!! The first day was Nathu's at Bengali market with an array of chats, chhole bhaturas, tikkis, lassi and sweet. And all this at an excellent value for money. We also discovered a chain of stores called "Sandoz" which specialises in kababs and everything meaty. One of the stores was close to our hotel and hence became our dinner joint. Run by a sardarji, they make the kababs fresh for you and what a heavenly flavour. So our staple dinner menu was variety of kababs and roti. One of our group suggested that we should avoid gravy as it has lots of spices and therefore just rely on plain, burnt meat. And what a marvellous meaty experience it has been! I have rarely experienced such fresh and succulent meats here in Mumbai. And all this was topped by the brashy warmth of the Delhi-ites which is incomparable.

It is now back to work and am still unwinding, but looking ahead to a visit to Delhi!

The Sunday Gastronomic Binge

2009-12-16T10:32:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a "heavy" Sunday!

For the last week I have been thinking of having some good grilled Pomfret and the local sellers are exorbitant at Rs 120 - 150 for 2 small pieces. And thankfully we have a foodie in Anu, who resides in SoBo (South Bombay!). So asked her to try and see if she can get some good catch from the whole sellers at Crawford Market. She informed on Saturday that she could get a good load of Pomfrets as well as medium to large sized prawns.

Sunday morning started with our usual round of fresh & crispy home made dosas with coconut chutney. And finally our "fisher woman" arrived with the promised fish load. After putting in a few hours of effort through the day, our menu of Sunday was a gourmand's delight.

The lunch comprised of Peyajkoli (fresh & crispy version of spring onions) lightly sauteed with slivers of potato (Aloo Peyajkoli bhaja in Bengali) - courtesy my wife, Dr D; a yum dry preparation of duck eggs with baby potatoes (courtesy my mother, flown down from Kolkata!!); and "simple" Bengali style prawn curry by me. And we had our lunch the typical Bengali way - at 1500 hrs or 3 pm!!

The dinner was much simpler (numerically!!) and had Grilled Pomfret and "meaty" fried rice.

My tryst with FB and my venture at teasing my friends following me on FB, resulted in continuous messages and updates through the mobile, expressing friendly anger and consternation at being swamped with menus. With messages coming well past midnight, led to the wife commenting at midnight: "these networking sites and the mobile has taken away the slightest privacy"

For all those who would be keen to experiment with the palate, you can get the recipes on the hyperlinks.

Spoils of the Red Bastion

2009-11-04T15:55:00.000+05:30

Last week I had visited Kolkata on an official trip. In fact, a week before that I was in Kolkata for vacation. Nothing unusual in it. But what made me think of this post was my experience last week and the Rajdhani hijacking incident by the Maoists.

The Communists are supposedly a believer of equality and grass root growth / elevation. They are also the one who bandied about with the term "bourgeois" from the late 60's onwards (when they were not in power). They took over the reigns of Bengal in 1977 and continue to rule Bengal. But it appears that their days are now numbered. You talk to any Bengal / Kolkata resident, and in majority cases, you will see the disgust glaring. I carry the notion that they are a group of utter hypocrites and having no connection to the reality of the 21st century. Over the years, they have decimated the industrial prowess that Bengal had and they have broken the backbone of the famed Bengal education system.

The Rajdhani hijacking incident 2 weeks back is a testimony to the fact that they have "lost it". The Maoists in the 60's were part of the Communist movement and broke away only in the late 60's. The current rebellion of the Maoist is against the years of neglect and deprivation of the most common facilities due to a human being, from a democratically elected government. The fact that the protests have turned violent and barbaric is a testimony to the utter disregard of the people in power to pay heed to the common man. This coming from the Communists is much more surprising.

The other incident is far more interesting and a personal experience. During my official trip last week, I had to visit a large Govt PSU organization. When I first visited this organization more than a year back, my colleagues cautioned me about the work culture and the pathetic status of utilities. Initially I brushed them off as overzealous criticism but was proven wrong. During the lunch hour, my host asked me if I would prefer a working lunch. He then went to the pantry and told the “old, scrawny” pantry man to give a lunch. The scornful look and the cornier reply can be only displayed and not described! The Bengali readers would understand when I draw an analogy to Manoj Mitra in one of his scornful looks and one liners in any of his shows. The working lunch part was more interesting – 4 slices of bread, a mango cut into cubes, a cucumber and 2 rasogollas. I remember my working lunches whilst serving in the Indian Navy – a 4 course affair, all miniaturized to make it convenient to eat. In my current organization, we generally go for pizzas / sandwiches with a coke. Hence, it is definitely nice to know some more variety! But what was a shocker was not the menu, but the way a pantry guy can have the audacity to reply back / question a senior staff member. This was early 2008. Cut to 2009 Oct and I was visiting another office of this largely spread organisation. During my visit, I had to wait for some meeting scheduled post lunch. Unfortunately, the coordinating officer was away and could not arrange for lunch. So I took the chance and requested the pantry guy in this office (expecting it to be different) for some lunch. It was the most blunt and rude refusal that I had ever heard. On trying to be more cajoling (remembering all the tactics of subordinate management!!), I was met with the blunt explanation that there is no helping hand and he does not have time. And I backed off. It was then that me and the driver set out for our quest for some decent place to have food and it ended after travelling almost 10 kms. Many of you may be thinking why I am making such brouhaha over some lunch. The point is ATTITUDE. When you have a location immediately surrounded by ghettos and shops selling beef, and you invite people from distant places, the minimum one can do is arrange for some basic utilities of food and drinking water. The apathy and boredom is distinct. When one has to tell “No”, one can do it in a nicer way than to give a rude reply. Years of immense clout and power of trade unions has led to a situation where a person today has no positional authority when it comes to disciplinary issues. So what have we ended up with? Have we made the working class “heard” or have we created a vortex of indiscipline?
The red bastion continues its run. God knows how long we have to continue on the "bungee jumping" drop to inefficiency and apathy!

Birds of the same feather flock together

2009-09-16T01:15:00.000+05:30

These days the gaps between my posts are increasing by GP (geometric progression). The items of interests are many and equally significant are the points in mind. But probably the laziness, domestication and professional pursuits are more dominant than the literary pursuit.

However, one topic which caught my amused attention is the current penchant of the privileged members of the society to shun the privileges. The biggest limelight seeker is the ongoing debate on austerity. The Govt has advised that the MPs should lead by example and hence shun public display of wealth. Whilst avoiding display is fine, what happens to the stashed away stuff, is a question no one is going to answer. Two of our ministers were staying in 5* hotel suites for more than a month and paying to the tune of Rs 1,00,000 per day. They clarified that they were staying on their own funds. But they probably has a huge stash of funds, though they get paid paltry amounts as MPs.

But what is interesting is the way the entire political spectrum has come together to protest against the Govt request. There are raging debates on the news channels. There are news pieces all over the media regarding how the political leaders are taking austere measures / against austerity measures.

But the most interesting is the kind of stupid logic that the opposition politicians, including the Communists, are putting forth justifying there travelling first class by air. This reminds me of an old saying in bengali about the communists. It is said "nenin nebu kheto na" (Lenin never used to have lemons). The reason was that Lemons were an expensive fruit in USSR. But it is said that he used to wear dresses made from the best and most expensive fabric and imported from Europe. This was a satirical take on the hypocrisy of the Communists. The current debate and the logic is similar.

I was watching a debate on this issue on one of the leading english news channels of the country, the other day. Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, a CPIM MP, said on TV "We are not dictated by the Govt. We are under the orders of the Speaker. Hence, Govt dictums are not worth enough." The BJP MP, Rajiv Rudy, on the same debate was talking such gibberish logic, I could not comprehend what he was saying. And the Congress MP, Manish Tewari, contended that if the compere gets him permission, he will hereafter travel in the cargo hold!!

But some of the nagging questions / issues in my head are:

Collateral expense (a la collateral damage): While travelling by economy is fine, what about the expense for security, vehicles, mass deployment of security personnel etc. Does anybody check the expense that these MPs and their cronies do on account of electricity, water and telephone? Does anybody check the amount of money spent on maintaining and redoing their plush bungalows in Lutyens Delhi? Not to mention their porpoerties in their constituency!
The other point that is poking me is more factual. In a study of the total expense, it has been found that the total expenditure on travelling is 0.01 - 0.02 % of the total expense. Probably the total travelling expense would be akin to that of a large corporation.
But why this sudden austerity in travelling only? Why is not being implemented as rule rather than an advisory for a year only?
Why are we not curbing on the unnecessary security apparatus that is used for guarding people like Mulayam Singh and Behenji Mayawati?
What are we doing to curb expenses on the fleet of vehicles that is used by Govt babus and in many cases smoothly diverted to use by family and spouses? The maintenance of such vehicles and the fuel expense would be pretty significant.

These are all patchwork solutions and probably gimmicks! As someone said "these are all but band-aid solutions". Nevertheless, lets enjoy the hypocritical debate and the news items. We are being fed items on how Rahul Gandhi refused special cutlery onboard the Shatabdi express and how Sonia Gandhi flew economy, how the External Affairs minister is travelling by commercial flight and spending 4-6 hrs more in transit. We also now know that some miscreants pelted stones at the train Rahul gandhi was travelling in and it hit coaces C4, C5, C6. But Rahul was in coach C3!!!

What a circus! Am I sounding cynical ...... let me know.

Happy to help you - Vodafone

2009-07-29T10:03:00.001+05:30

Got this in the mail today from a friend ..

"The 99 Club"

2009-07-23T11:46:00.001+05:30

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day the King came upon a Servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the Servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The Servant replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a Roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies." The King was not satisfied with that reply.
Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted Advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the Servant's story, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired. The Advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is place 99 Gold Coins in a bag and leave it at this Servant's doorstep." When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many Gold Coins!
He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 Coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last Gold Coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 Coins!" He looked everywhere he could, but that final Coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that Gold Coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th Gold Coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his Advisor's help, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."
He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra "1" telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.
That's what joining the 99 Club is all about."

Experience & Expertise

2009-07-21T10:02:00.000+05:30

Came across this small piece a few days back:

The error of youth is to believe expertise is a substitute for experience.
The error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for expertise (in IT, social networks and latest gadgets)
When Experience & expertise work together towards a common goal, great things can be achieved.

An interesting article by Sam Pitroda

2009-07-16T14:19:00.000+05:30

The Magic of teamwork

View more documents from Amitabha Ghosh.

Exercised my franchise

2009-05-01T05:30:00.000+05:30

Whoah .... we finally exercised our first vote today.

A school in our neighbourhood was the nominated voting centre and our Company gave us the day off after lunch to enable voting.
It was a simple process and hassle free. A counter to check your name on the list before you enter the voting room. Details checked and sent ahead. You enter the nominated room. A person checks your identification, checks the master list, sends you ahead. The next person takes your signature on the register, applies the voter's ink (an indelible mark on the middle finger to ensure one does not re - vote) and sends you ahead. The next person activates the electronic voting machine and directs you to the voting counter where you exercise your vote. And its done. The whole process took us less than 20 mins.

Yippeee!!!

Pursuit of the Franchise

2009-04-29T10:04:00.000+05:30

Me and wife have finally been successful in getting ourselves registered as “voters” for the current parliamentary elections. But the pursuit of this goal has been long and interesting .

Our pursuit of the franchise started way back in 2003. Being in the Armed Forces, we were sent forms from the Headquarters in New Delhi. Everyone had to fill up the forms and send them back for taking up with the Election Commission. A part of it was to be sent to your representative in the hometown. We did all that, my father went to the local electoral office and tried to register our name, but nothing happened. The entire exercise turned out to be a damp squib with lot of wastage of precious government money and bales of paper and of course increasing the carbon footprint drastically.

Inspite of the uselessness, the incident triggered my father to continuously pursue me to get myself registered as a voter and get myself an EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card or the Voter’s Card). While he started on the primary premise that it is an important and valid identity proof, I countered that my Armed Forces Identity Card and Passport was good enough. He was smart. He changed his tack and chided me no end that being a responsible citizen of the country I cannot afford to be lackadaisical about something as important as exercising my franchise. His efforts came to a peak when the West Bengal state election machinery swung into action in 2005. Forms were taken, couriered to Mumbai with clarifications and important places to be filled up marked in pencil. We (me, my wife and sister) filled up the form, prepared the certificates required and sent it back. My father dutifully deputed my mom to deposit the form. The photo clicking session was on in phases and it coincided with our visit home. So I had no option but to visit the local school which was the epicenter of activity. One old, typically Bong Govt babu saw my slip and asked me to go to someone else. The next babu saw the slip and gave me a thick bunch of papers and directed with the well known gruffness “find out if your name is there”. After scanning a few sheets, suddenly I spotted my grandmother’s name followed by my parents and sister. But the list didn’t have me or my wife on it!! On pursuing it with the babu regarding how everyone but we are there, we had this interesting conversation:

Babu: Why are you trying to register now when you are 28 years old?
Me: I have been studying outside and have been serving in the Armed Forces since I completed my studies. I tried registering for the postal ballot last time but nothing happened.
Babu: Then if you have not felt the need to register to vote in the last 10 years, why are you bothering now. Go to the district headquarters and try your luck there.

I was flummoxed. But I was not cowed down. Next I went to the District Headquarters and it turned out to be an experience in being shunted from one desk to another. And that was enough for me to give up any attempts to exercise my franchise.

Cut to 2008.

NGOs and groups have been highly active and I came across the mass campaign by Tata tea – Jaago Re. Registering on the website was a cake walk with the exact address for form submission provided on the electronic form generated by the website. With all proof documents, photographs and the forms, I went to the designated office. People were courteous and helpful. The form was accepted, another guy checked it out on his computer database and gave me the relevant ID nos and it was done! I was still skeptical as the last couple of weeks my searches on the Maharashtra Election Commission website was coming to naught. And then yesterday I saw that my name was there. So yippee! We are finally going to vote. And we are excited.

Those of you who think the pursuit has ended are a little mistaken. Our names have some hilarious errors. My name has now my father’s name as my middle name and it is going to be an exercise to convince that we do not use our father’s name as our middle name. My father in law has been changed from Subhendu Bhusan Dasgupta to someone called Subhendu Ghosh and my wife has now become Devasree Subhendu Ghosh! Ofcourse getting this corrected would be much easier. Thanks to technology and changing mindsets.

So let’s go vote and be part of the choice!

Taking Stock - Oindrilla

2009-04-28T13:40:00.000+05:30

Its a year now that there has been any post on Oindrilla’s blog which was set up to chronicle her birth and growing phases for the huge group of Uncles & Aunts, Grandparents, Grand Uncles (& Aunts) and cousins spread all over the place. Days have been zipping past with us and not leaving enough time to chronicle the happenings on a regular basis. She has been growing fast (very fast I guess) and too many things have been happening. And therefore definitely busy to get back to blogging. Hence, I thought about shifting our experience chronicle to the main blog.

Just after we were back from our Durga Puja holidays (Oct 2008) Oindrilla made her first steps to interact formally in the external environment. She had to start playschool from 10^th Nov 2008. It started with visiting the studio and getting her mug shot clicked!! In fact we also had to get ourselves clicked for her school records. The Playgroup it appears has given her a much needed outlet for social interaction. She had her first sports day on 14th December. She participated in the "Mother Daughter race". All spirited, at the starting line, when the referee blew the whistle, she was bored to her gills and not keen to walk. After a few pulls, she reluctantly strolled towards the finishing line!

Jia became 2 in Jan 2009 amidst a big birthday treat for herself at the local Pizza Hut outlet. The major anomaly of the birthday party was that there were only 6 kids and 26 adults in attendance. On the family front, apart from her parents, she had both sets of grandparents, grand uncle & aunts, and a set of great grandparents too. The organizing guys never had such a scenario and had a tough time thinking of games to arrange to include elders!! But overall we had a blast. Once most of the guests had left, she and her friend Sharanya kicked off their shoes and ran amuck all over the place. And the aftermath was a bout of fever, coughs and cold for a few days. But with grandparents available to pamper her and use their innovative grandma’s medications alongwith the usual prescription meds, she was back in action in no time.

The other significant event was the Annual Function of Jia’s school. It was held at Gadkari Rangayatan – a cultural hotspot of Thane, the venue for theatres (plays) and such events. She had been showing her dance moves to us quite often but we could never make out what it was all about. They had a group dance to the rhyme “London Bridge is falling down”. Have a look at the video. One of the groups (senior class) also had a dance number against Rehman’s Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire). And then we realized the reason as to why she always broke into a jig whenever this was playing.
So now we have a smart lady, who is highly decisive in when and what she wants to have. Ofcourse, she is mostly on a dietary binge these days with lot of juices and less of solids ;). She is attracted to Tom and Jerry & Ben 10 shows on Cartoon Network. She also knows Ben’s “Granpa” and asks for “cartoon” whenever the TV is on. So all this has made us both, highly innovative cooks (to cater to her variable palate) and innovative excuses like “Ben has gone for dinner” or “Tom has gone sleepy”.

It is fun to experience the daily surprises and the wonderful challenges of parenting. Hope to be more regular in putting posts now that the blog is on the main site.

Amazing Team Work 2

2009-04-17T20:30:00.000+05:30

Amazing Team Work

2009-04-17T20:29:00.000+05:30

Office Stress 4

2009-03-26T20:51:00.002+05:30

Office Stress 4

2009-03-26T20:51:00.001+05:30

Office Stress 2

2009-03-26T20:50:00.002+05:30

Office Stress 1

2009-03-26T20:50:00.001+05:30

Men Can't Cook?

2009-03-26T20:44:00.000+05:30

Youngest Piping Engineer

2009-03-26T20:40:00.000+05:30

The Soldier - Forgotten or Unwanted?

2009-03-03T14:55:00.000+05:30

Gallant Soldiers Die Differently!

2009-02-21T11:23:00.000+05:30

This is an article I recently received from someone .... the topic though obviously spoken about repeatedly almost to the point of sounding cliched ... but nevertheless something to ponder upon ...

Gallant Soldiers die differently!
Karan Kharb

It is often said that in democracies people get the government they deserve. What is even truer is that they also get the quality of security they deserve. Is there a difference in 'loss' and 'sacrifice'; 'sympathy' and 'pride'; 'innocence' and 'valour'? We all know there is a qualitative difference and the value of 'commission or omission' in performance becomes vivid and clear in events involving high risks.

There should therefore be an appropriate qualitative difference in the Nation's way of conveying its gratitude or sympathy through grant of honours and awards for the sacrifices and assistance to bereaved families.

Here are a few points to mull over:-
1. Innocent Casualties..
Hemant Karkare and his 'Quick Reaction Team' of ATS encounter experts - eight of them in a police Qualis - were surprised, waylaid and butchered without being allowed to use their weapons by two terrorists on prowl in Mumbai on 26 November.
• In this case Hemant Karkare and his team were not aware of the danger lurking on them and therefore they were surprised.
• Their lack of training did not allow them to anticipate and react with operational swiftness.
• The poor quality of weapons could be questioned only if any of them had tried to use whatever they had. Going by their stance, it was unlikely that they would have used MP-5 or AK-47 even if they had these weapons on them.
• Prior to commencing their move, the leader had apparently not carried out analysis of the situation at hand; no quick plans or operational drills seemed to exist; no instructions passed; no contingencies visualized.
• Unfortunately they do not appear to have been vigilant on their way. Given the situation they were reacting to, any professional police officer would be prying for tell-tail signs or traces of the terrorists loitering in the town.
• Much like the hapless unfortunate 187 civilians, they fell to terror bullets most innocently. They deserve our deep sympathy and heartfelt condolences.
• Whereas there is a crescendo in media hype about their heroism, not a word has been said by anyone about how they 'fought heroically.' Sorry to state the harsh truth that they fell due to their inaction and inadequacy of combat readiness.
•
• We pray to God to bestow eternal peace upon them and grant fortitude to the bereaved families they have left behind. Their families, friends and everyone who knew them shall reminisce their gentleness with fondness! They deserve our care and compassion. Hopefully, correct lessons will be subsequently learnt after the Mumbai Police carry out a dispassionate case study of the happenings.
2. Unsung Heroes.
Capt AK Singh, a daring young officer of 51 Special Action Group (NSG), led his team into the Oberoi Hotel. He zeroed on to a room at 18th Floor from where the terrorists were throwing grenades. He closed in towards them risking his life without firing to avoid killing innocent occupants, if any and, after making sure there were only one or two terrorists in the room, he kicked open the door and lobbed a grenade. Almost simultaneously, the other terrorist threw a grenade that came in the way of AK Singh charging in to kill or capture the surviving terrorist. The hostile grenade burst almost in the face of the Commando Captain giving him multiple injuries. He fell unconscious but not before wiping out the terrorist. A number of splinters have been taken out of his body by the doctors of ' Bombay Hospital ' but they could not save his left eye through which a splinter tore through to embed itself deep inside. No TV channel, no newspaper reporter, no politician, no Shiv Sena………. Not anyone even from the Oberoi Hotel management has had the courtesy to visit this real hero who dared and indulged in deadly duel and combat killing the deadly killers.
3. Supreme Sacrifice.
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan arrived with his team at the most crucial site where the savage bloodbath was already on. Unlike Hemant Karkare, Sandeep was fully conscious and aware of the magnitude of danger to the innocent civilians entrapped inside and to himself.
• He knew where the terrorists were, how much damage they had already caused and what devastating potential and unhindered shooting spree they were on.
• Like a professional, he quickly studied and analysed the situation and visualising the gravity of the risk involved, he ordered his team not to come forward until he silenced the terrorist shooting from behind cover.
• Since saving innocent lives was the most important part of his mission, he did not enjoy the freedom his opponents in shooting and bursting grenades at will. Yet he chased them..
• He valiantly pursued the terrorists until he fell in the gun battle that ensued. His team quickly followed and, after some tough hide and seek drama, they neutralised both the terrorists in an engagement that saved the remaining innocent lives in the building.
• Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan gave his life but saved many others. He knew what he was facing and yet he dared. This was a sacrifice with a difference which invokes not sympathy but pride and inspiration; courage and dedication; honour over safety. His death triumphed over an evil; choosing to die differently for a cause, Sandeep immortalised himself!
Major Sandeep Unikrishnan's valour will continue to inspire many soldiers, commandos, constables and civilians. We are proud of such gallant soldiers in our Special Commando Forces and our Armed Forces who always step in when those who run the administration or Prashashan routinely during happier times beat a quick retreat and become invisible leaving the police and the army to deal with the dangers. Their brief? 'Retrieve the situation and make it safe and cool enough for me to resume my bureaucratic control.' No accountability, no risk and yet all pelf and perks served on and under the table!
The upsurge of popular outrage against the politicians as a class is not misplaced. But in this rage public is missing the wood for the trees. What is role and accountability of those who call themselves CEOs of the cities, towns and districts – the magistrates, the Babus, the Brown Sahibs? They must answer some tough questions too.
The soldier today, alas, is not being treated with the love and esteem he deserves as our saviour.
Sadly, quite often he is insulted – look how:-
• Our media and TV viewers go euphoric over a sixer by a cricketer and eulogise him. Chief Ministers and governments lavishly shower crores of rupees on such players.
• Abhinav Bindra wins a Gold Medal in Olympics and gets Rs 3 Crore plus a host of high value commercial ads and bounty rolls on booming like a snow ball.
• India's economy, security or international standing is not least affected even if we lose hundreds of such medals and matches. But can we afford to lose one Kargil or Mumbai to our enemy?
• Lives lost by ticket less riff-raff illegally travelling on roofs of train or in fires in illegal colonies get rewarded much in the same measure as our soldiers who sacrifice their lives fighting to save us.
Think over and compare the value of Rs 5-10 lakh for a soldier's supreme sacrifice against the most triumphant cricket player or a pigeon shooter at Olympics! Do we deserve the selfless devotion to duty and sacrifices of our gallant soldiers and commandos like Sandeep? Don't we owe our soldiers a little more love, honour and respect than we do to our sportsmen and entertainers?

Bailouts and Subsidies

2009-02-16T13:27:00.000+05:30

Mail o Mania

2009-01-12T10:45:00.000+05:30

This is a mail going around these days and definitely makes for interesting reading.

This mail is about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors. Sending it for your knowledge.

The Global Islamic population is approximately

1,200,000,000

ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:

1988 - Najib Mahfooz

Peace:

1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1990 - Elias James Corey
1999 - Ahmed Zewai

Economics: (zero)

Physics: (zero)

Medicine:

1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad

TOTAL: 7 SEVEN

______________________________________________________________

The Global Jewish population is approximately
14,000,000 FOURTEEN MILLION

Or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:

1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World

Peace:

1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin

Physics:

1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Bu! rton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charle S Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger

Economics:

1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel

Medicine:

1908 - Eli e Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abra ham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis

TOTAL: ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY NINE !

The Jews are not promoting brain washing the children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims!

The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is not a single Jew that has destroyed a church. There is not a single Jew that protests by killing people.

The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.

Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel 's part, the following two sentences really say it all:

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel' quoted by Benjamin Netanyahu

"Even as a great rock is not shaken by the wind, the wise man is not shaken by praise or blame" said by Buddha

I am Indian, India is my country ........

2008-11-01T12:25:00.000+05:30

All of you who are currently reading this post, might be very much into the happenings in the Financial Capital of India over the last few months as well as happenings in some of the states. Last few months I have made me rethink on lot of issues and perspectives and I thought why not write a post on them. And so here I have collated my thoughts over that last 3 days of Diwali break and trying to put them into logical sentences.

The media - print and visual has been agog with news about how one regional political leader in his bid to gain popularity is stoking fires of regionalism and sons of the soil issues and damaging the basic ethos of our pledge in school - "I am an Indian, India is my country; All Indians are my brothers and sisters ......... " I dont know if they take that pledge in school these days and if they do, does it have any importance at all. How can one gentleman say that if one has to stay in a particular state, he/she has to learn and live by that language, job preference is to be given to the localites and local customs are paramount. That is what rankles my conscience, my thoughts. Are we living in a dictatorship / Autocracy? What happened to India's plurality? The last few months has seen mindless violence and brutality towards the poor north Indian migrants (taxi drivers, roadside snacksellers and rickshaw drivers). One needs to look at this issue in the right perspective. Why and how did members of a particular community occupy certain professions (at the bottom of the social pyramid) in such a widespread manner. What were the local leaders and their cronies doing all this while? It would not be difficult to see it from the concepts of demand and supply and a vibrant democracy.

I have also observed a strange analogy between Bengal and Maharashtra. In Bengal, one would find the migrant labourers as Taxi Drivers, manual rickshaw pullers, civil construction labourers and porters at the railway station. Maharashtrians as with most Bengalis, like to earn their two pence, live a peaceful life, enjoy their fish curry & rice, and indulge in cultural pursuits (read theatre, music and art). Both the communities (the city dwellers) are not much attuned to hard manual labour. And probably thats where the so called "migrant" workforce filled up the gap. One would however need to consult a historian and anthropologist to find out the real reason.

But what is worrisome is what happens to people like us. Both me and my wife's parents have been in professions mandating them to travel to obscure places across the length and breadth of the country. We grew up in those places; different friends, different languages, different cultures, different food habits and different people to people warmth - assmilating all in the path of our growing up. My basic education was in an Institution which did not believe in religious and economic distinction. My higher education took me to a Southern state - staunch in its culture and warm in its embrace. My first profession as a soldier did not have any regional & religious identity. So what am I? Or what are we? Are we not sons of the soil? Which "Soil" are these leaders actually talking about here? There is now a raging National Issue. Central leaders creating pressure against the current regional activism; Pro regional lobbies creating anti pressure and the story goes on.

Its important that the common educated man realises that we are being stupid by being conned and its not the leaders. They are a smart bunch of people who knows that we have stopped thinking collectively, ethically and straight. The Marxists in Bengal stopped the teaching of English Language in school till Standard 6. The common refrain was again "cultural degradation". But surprisingly, the children of these leadres were all going to reputed convents across Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta). I was agahst at seeing the Govt textbooks of Standard 6 teaching the student the basic alphabets of English. That was the mid 1980s. Cut across to 2008. Another state, another leader has raised the issue of regional identity. The children of such regional leaders though vouch by the international schools with astronomical fees. Some of them are also high profile real estate business men. A pertinent question that one should look into is how many of these real estate tycoons have actually contributed to something as socially relevant as "affordable housing" or any other socially relevant issues? Our infrastructure is not at all comparable to other countries of the BRIC nations, our healthcare system is relegated only to the cities and we have an education system which has almost nil practical utility. We are still harping and aiming at 8-9% GDP growth. How much of this growth really touches the 70 % of population which constitutes the have nots?

It leaves me all afraid. No regional identity as such and no political support existent. What do I give little Oindrilla (my daughter of 20 months) as legacy? Where does she stand in this divide of caste, regional identity, and religion identity? My caste has no reservation; I am not in my own linguistic region and I am not a religious minority. And neither do I have the financial muscle to send my daughter to the well heeled International schools, where the fees runs into lakhs of rupees per annum.

Are we paying a price being an educated, hardworking and nationalist Indian and not regional in mentality? India is not about religion, caste and region. India is about Oneness - the oneness of spirit and oneness of being together. I will hang on to the hope that things will change. We will be the change. Little Oindrilla will grow up here and grow up fine. If everyone of us starts thinking of being the change, we can bring in a revolution - a la KAIZEN (the Japanese concept of individual incremental change bringing in revolutionary change). Lets all ask for it.

Bouquets, brickbats and "no comments" welcome .....

India - A Developing Country: An Interesting Anecdote

2008-10-31T17:09:00.000+05:30

An interesting anecdote sent by a friend .. albeit an old one and many of you would have read this

An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ' Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter. Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay it's retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later....

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere
in India ,

. ..AND

As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers........India is still a developing Country

A poem to Madame President

2008-09-16T20:54:00.000+05:30

Someone sent me this poem written by an Army wife ... an ode to the life she has embraced ... after all the brouhaha over pay and perks for the Indian Soldier and the 6th Pay Commission recommendations: (Even if you have read this before, it is Worth a second read)

Dear Madame President,

Should I severe the ties that are almost a decade strong?
Should I chew my words and call my decision wrong?
Should I return the trousseau that my mother chose?
Should I turn all the festivities into an affair morose?
Should I go and tell him that I love him no more,
Shattering him again and making his heart sore?

Whose fault is it, dear madame, that I decide thus?
Would you say that it's personal and I should not fuss?
Nothing, my dear lady, is personal about a soldier's life.
For when has he thought of his mom, dad, kid and wife?
He, whose only call is the call of honour, forgets what he was
And becomes what he's forced to be- a number among the Olive Green mass.

He demands nothing and goes about in silence.
Drinking and smoking, when clouds of desolation grow dense.
His mother awaits him and calls up time and again,
He switches off the phone to avoid that voiced pain.
His friends ask him to come (along with two Black Labels)
And see their plush houses and read therein their success' tales.

His wife will wait for months to get some surgery done
As, in that dilapidated SF, caring enough she finds none.
She would remember sadly her starry-eyed days
When what attracted her was his gallant ways.
Never did she realize, that foregoing her Doctorate in the UK
All she would get is this battered house, stale ration and his meager pay.

He was no less – in fact, better – than some now white-collared ones.
Only, he thought romantically as one of Mother India's sons,
And chose the call letter from IMA, among several others,
And avowed his commitment to his land and his brothers.
He did push ups, while his colleagues abroad partied
His cousins wore designer labels, while he a 'combat' dirtied.

He is unlikely to accompany his wife to that family function
Where she goes alone and starts crying from the junction.
'Coz how would she face her friends and cousins and siblings,
Who would judge her attire, and other material things?
She never was a hedonist, but now she feels the pain
And curses the day when he ceased to remain 'sane'.

For what else is this, if not utter insanity?
That he sacrifices his dreams at the altar of others' vanity.
He sleeps in trenches along with his boys,
And yet unable to buy his kids' favourite toys.
His kids are born and brought up in his absence
And he kisses their wallet-ed photos in silence.

For the first time, he demanded a share of what he deserves:
An agonized plea to the heads of the land he serves.
The petition goes from table to table, round and round
And he stands still, awaiting good, as if spellbound.
Someone, then, accuses him of hedonism and greed
And lists what he gets, and how it surpasses his need.

He feels cheated and in humiliation decides to take the call
To hang his starred uniform, once and for all.
But will he be able to carry through this decision?
After all, it was he who chose a Permanent commission!
When he decided to join, he overcome all resistance,
But when he decides to quit, he stands a bleak chance.

Why should I, then, be a fool and marry another?
Who, like his band of brothers, will find me a bother!
Why should I let go of my dreams to fuel his self-destructive fire,
When the nation that he serves will find no time to light his pyre?
Why should I, along with him, bear the burden that others discard,
And sacrifice all I have to be called an 'emotional retard'?

Why should I not confront him and say-
'I don't want to marry you because you cant say nay
What your seniors orders, even if lay here dying.
I don't want to spend my life waiting for you crying.
I get hurt to see the attitude of the unsympathetic crowd
To ensure whose sleep, your commitment is clear and loud.

They begrudge you, your little pay hike,
This would enable you to buy your coveted bike.
Who weigh your life in an imbalanced scale,
And choose to ignore the path of hardships you trail.'

This is how every young lady, who is in love with or betrothed to an Army officer, is bound to feel in the wake of the uncertainties surrounding the 6th pay commission. The ladies serve the organization in their own way WITHOUT being on the payrolls. They leave their careers and individuality behind to become a pillar to their men folk. With transfers every three years, forced separations and agonizing civilian apathy, the ladies are forced to limit their horizons. Does it not make sense, then, to shun the Army personnel altogether in the marriage market?

Pardon me for my sarcasm.

My dear madame, I entreat you on behalf of thousand others to look into the welfare of our men in uniform. They demand nothing but a share of what they truly deserve. The delay in declaring and implementing the revised pay recommendations for the forces is taking its toll. Being the Supreme Commander of our forces, it is in your purview to safeguard the interests of those who serve this nation unconditionally. Above all, being a woman you are likely to understand the sufferings of the families. I would refrain from using jargon and end my plea with folded hands.

Thanking You.

A soldier's betrothed

To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods?

'Our Gods and Soldiers we alike adore,
At the time of danger, not before;
After deliverance both are alike requited,
Our Gods forgotten and our Soldiers slighted'.
- Francis Quarrels.

An Interesting Article

2008-07-18T15:36:00.000+05:30

An interesting piece by Jhoomur Bose in yesterday's Hindustan Times (17 July '08).

From the blog cabin - Some papas don't preach

The bloggers' world is abuzz with stay-at-home single dads (and beleagured moms) who are sharing more than just pictures of their kids in the buff

SOME PARENTS have a strange habit of clicking pictures of their babies in the buff. With the Internet and blogging, a few parents are also putting up those pictures for all and sundry to see. Either there should be legislation against allowing parents to click naked pictures of their kids, or some sort of age of consent where kids have a say in whether the world should see those pictures. Parents need to be told that 2-year-old Ratan's picture showing his little wee-wee is really not funny when said Ratan, now 32, brings home the girl he wants to marry.

If Angelina Jolie's newly popped-out twins are sending the paparazzi in a tizzy to get that first shot (pray why, aren't all newborns red and wrinkled?), elsewhere dad and art critic of Australian newspaper The Age, Robert Nelson, is in the middle of a media blitzkrieg for publishing naked pictures of his six-year-old daughter Olympia in the Art Monthly's latest issue. While he initially denied the pictures were sexual, an essay written on Polixeni Papapetrou's blog (polixenipapapetrou.net) seemed to say otherwise.

Perhaps Nelson needs to learn about parenting from parents who blog, who, despite sharing regular insights on everything from baby poo, nappy rashes and when-to-weanthe-baby, don't put out naked pictures of their infants. While mommy bloggers come in all ages - from the to-be mommies, new-mommies to wish-I-wasn't-mommy-becausethe-tots-turned-to-teens - the daddy bloggers seem to be singularly of the same ‘type'. Most are new dads, who stay-at-home and try to be funny . Some succeed.

Some of the daddies rue the time they were single, a few are single and trying to juggle babies and booties, while others are plain preachy . Writer, blogger and divorced single dad David Mott invites voyeurs to his blog and offers stories, tips and expert advice "in an age of online dating, friends with benefits, hookups and booty calls" on Dad's House (dadshouseblog.com). While he recommends a beach vacation as the best family outing, he also supports tantric sex. "Cooking is sexy . Reading is sexy. Tantric sex is sexy. It's the fast-food guzzling, sports blathering, selfish lover sorts of men who are unmanly," says David, supporting the cause of men-wholike-gourmet.

Reading through some daddy blogs shatters the myth that it's only women who ‘think' babies all the time; men do too! However, unlike most mommy bloggers, the daddies use more humour. Consider the issue of baby names for instance. Greg on Daddy Types (daddytypes.com/) suggests using drug names for babies for originality . "Aren't Paxil, Ambien, and Cialis kind of cute names? Tramadol, Klonopin and Zyrtec, not so much."

Advent & Exodus

2008-07-11T15:36:00.007+05:30

The month of June 2008 has been really amazing for US (me & Debs) personally. It was good news galore.

The month started off with a very close friend of ours – Milind & Pallavi blessed with a son, Aryaman on 9^th June. Though we wanted to be there on the D Day, we could only visit Aryaman last weekend. Here is a snap of Aryaman in his sleep mode. Amongst our friends, we are waiting to see if he develops to be as crazy as Milind, or does he grow up to be like his mom. I would place my stakes on the former.

This was also the month of my birth and hence it was a period of celebrations and wishes. Debs, my wife, says that she has not seen a person as unique as me. I have birthday celebrations on two consecutive days. I was born at 0047 hours of 13^th June. My mom made it a point to celebrate it on 12^th probably because it was Friday the 13^th that year. But officially it continues to be 13^th of June. So it is good fun with an annual confusion session amongst some of the well wishers as to when to wish me. In fact, Debroop asked this year “what is the favoured day this year” lest he is late in wishing me.

Then was the arrival of Aratrika. A very old and close friend of ours, Parijat & Gargi, was blessed with this wonderful baby girl. The wonderful human beings that they are, Aratrika could not have got better parents. We haven’t been able to visit her yet but are itching to go to Goa on a short holiday, just to meet her.

And the month was topped with the icing of Shreya. Shreya Kalra was born in the distant district of California in the US of A, to Piya and Vipin. Shreya is the only person younger to Oindrilla in the family. We are all waiting to see how they interact – East & West!

The month of July has started with the flavour of exodus. One of my closest friends, Hiren, left for the Americas. Hiren J Patel went to US for his higher studies after his engineering. His brilliance was supported by the fact that he went to Johns Hopkins on a full scholarship. But cranky that he is, he did not do his PhD and went working. I met him when he returned to India to do his MBA and by extreme providence, became my room mate at SP Jain. Post MBA he joined IBM solely for the purpose of staying with his parents at Pune and refuted quite a few highly enticing offers. Rarely have I met a person of such simplicity and genuineness. Down to earth, simple, fun loving and ultra cool. We have shared many a personal moment and thoughts during our one year together and he is someone very close. But probably India was not for him. He got married to the love of his life, Kruti, who is based in US. His love story is interesting (he says it’s like the movie “Hum Tum”) but will talk about it later. He left yesterday to answer the calling of his heart & mind. I, for one, will definitely miss him. Here's a snap of Hiren with Jia.

And today we have got a hot potato of an exodus! One of our very reliable team members of our already stressed out small project team, Nikhil, put in his papers. Nikhil joined us about a year back, fresh from his Diploma and with all the josh and spirit of learning. He has been selected for doing his graduate studies in Engineering. Ofcourse one cannot attribute his resigning to a poor manager, but it will definitely be a loss to our Project which is today in the throes of the first assembly. Nikhil is an example of the youth of today. Smart, fast on the uptake and ready for the grind. He has been a highly sought after team mate and will be missed greatly.

I only hope that the session of exodus does not continue in the spirit of the advent.

Cheers and best wishes ……

Great Service Is a Choice

2008-06-27T23:19:00.000+05:30

This is an article by Harvey Mackay, an American businessman and columnist. Mackay is perhaps best known as the author of five business bestsellers, including Swim With the Sharks (Without Being Eaten Alive), Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, and Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty. He is one of America's most popular business speakers and also founder, Chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, whose story he tells in anecdotes sprinkled throughout his books

No one can make you serve customers well. That's because great service is a choice. Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.
He handed my friend a laminated card and said:

'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest,
safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'

Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustratedand USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called 'You'll See It When You Believe It'. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.''

'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.

'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

The Globaliser

2008-06-27T22:58:00.000+05:30

This was a piece sent by Commodore SK Iyer, my one time and perhaps most respected boss and a very close friend (I dont know if I can call him that because of our chronological age difference. But I dont have any other term more apt). The piece was written by one Capt Ganesh. As a precursor, he adds "U may add/ substitute Iyengars / vermas /acharyas /john /irfaan /raos etc."

FAMILY AND OTHER GLOBALISERS

When, I wrote a book titled Towards Globalization. I did not realize at the time that this was going to be the history of my family. Last week, we celebrated the wedding of my daughter, Pallavi. A brilliant student, she had won scholarships to Oxford university and the London School of Economics. In London, she met Julio, a young man from Spain. The two decided to take up jobs in Beijing, China. Last week, they came over from Beijing to Delhi to get married. The wedding guests included 70 friends from North America, Europe and china.

That may sound totally Global, but arguably my elder son Shekhar has gone further. He too won a scholarship to Oxford University, and then taught for a year at a school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Next, he went to Totonto, Canada, for higher studies. There he met a German girl, Franziska. They both got jobs with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, USA. This meant that they constantly traveled on IMF business to disparate countries. Shekhar advised and went on missions to Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Kyrgystan and Laos. Franziska went to Rwanda, Tajikistan, and Russia. They interrupted these perambulations to get married in late 2003.

My younger son, Rustam, is only 15. Presumably, he will study in Australia, marry a Nigerian girl, and settle in Peru.

Readers might think that my family was born and bred in a jet plane. The truth is more prosaic. Our ancestral home is Kargudi, a humble obscure village in Tanjore district, Tamil Nadu. My earliest memories of it are as a house with no toilets, running water, or pucca road.

When we visited, we disembarked from the train at Tanjore, and then traveled 45 minutes by bullock cart to reach the ancestral home. My father was one of six children, all of whom produced many children (I myself had three siblings). So, two generations later, the size of the Kargudi extended family (including spouses) is over 200. Of these, only three still live in the village. The rest have moved across India and across the whole world, from China to Arabia to Europe to America.

This single Kargudi house has already produced 50 American residents. So, dismiss the mutterings of those who claim that globalization means westernization. It looks more like Iyer-isation, viewed from Kargudi.

What does this imply for our sense of identity? I cannot speak for the whole Kargudi clan, which ranges from rigid Tamil Brahmins to beef-eating, pizza-chomping, hip-hop dancers. But for me, the iyer-isation of the world does not mean.

'Iyer domination.' , It does not mean Iyer submergence in a global sea. It means acquiring multiple identities, and moving closer to the ideal of a brotherhood of all humanity. I remain quite at home sitting on the floor of the Kargudi house on a mat of reeds, eating from a banana leaf with my hands. I feel as much at home eating noodles in China, steak in Spain, teriyaki in Japan and couscous in Mororcco. I am a Kargudi villager, a Tamilian, a Delhi-Wallah an Indian, a Washington Redskins fan, and a citizen of the world, all at the same time, and with no sense of tension or contradiction.

When I see the Brihadeeswara Temple in Tanjore, my heart swells and I say to myself, 'This is mine.' I feel exactly the same way when I see the church of Born Jesus in Goa, or the Jewish synagogue in Cochin, or the Siddhi Sayeed mosque in Ahmedabad: these too are mine. I have strolled so often through the parks at Oxford University and along the canal in Washington, DC, that they feel part of me. As my family multiplies and intermarries, I hope one day to look at the Sagrada families cathedral in Barcelona and Rhine river in Germany and think, ' These too are mine'.

We, Iyers, have taken a step towards the vision of John Lennon:

Imagine there's no country,
It isn't hard to do.

Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too…..

My father's generation was the first to leave the village, and loosen its regional shackles. My father became a chartered accountant in Lahore, and uncle become a hotel manager in Karachi, and we had an aunt in Rangoon.

My generation relaxed the shackles of religion. My elder brother married a Sikh, my younger brother marries a Christian, and I married a Parsi. The next generation has gone a step further, marrying across the globe.

Globalisation for me is not just the movement of goods and capital or even..... of Iyers…… It is step towards Lennon's vision of no country.

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one…

… I hope one day you'll join us.
And the world will be one.

have you guessed the author of this selection.. .

Shaurya - A review

2008-04-05T08:28:00.000+05:30

Last night we went to see the movie Shaurya. Since I first saw the promos on TV, I always wanted to see this movie. Perhaps the wish was also to do with being an ex-Fauzi.

The movie has an impressive casting - Rahul Bose (one of my favourites) as Maj Siddhant Chaudhary, Deepak Dobriyal (as Capt Javed Khan), Kay Kay Menon (Brig Pratap), Jaaved Jafferi (Maj Aakash Kapoor), Minissha Lamba (Kaavya - the journalist) and some surprises - Sabrina Lal (sister of Jessica Lal) & Amrita Rao.

The movie starts with a rainy midnight Army Combing Operation in a village near the LOC. What striked me was the way the scene was shot - matured and real time way. One could here the radio conversation staccato in a subtle volume and the fizzy screen as it should be when shot in the night. The act ends with one of the team members shooting at point blank one of his colleagues.

The movie is the story of Capt Javed Khan, an illustrious and promising Army Officer, highly motivated and intelligent, convicted of fratricide. Its a parallel story of two friends, Maj Siddhant (Sid) & Maj Kapoor (AK). Sid is the high adrenaline type and is forever into bungee jumping and para gliding while AK is the calm & cool types. Its also a story of Kavya, the Kashmir correspondent for Dainik Bhaskar, a small town high strung individual. AK is posted to Kashmir and given the prosecution responsibility of Capt Javed and Sid persuades AK to convince his would be father in law (a colonel) to swing his transfer too, so that he can stay with his friend. Sid is made to represent defence which he definitely not likes. What was a little difficult to digest was the ease with which "transfers are swinged", postings made and happy go lucky without any worthwhile work. This just does not happen in the Armed Forces and the JAG branch. However, the subject being different, this does not affect the viewer much.

The major part of the film revolves around the legal wrangles, tribulations and twists in the case. The friends land up in Kashmir with adrenaline pumping pursuits in mind and a view to close the "open & shut case". But obviously that doesn't happen. Sid is pulled into the case and this takes one through the characters of Brigadier Pratap (the CO of the area), the victim's (Maj Rathore) wife (Amrita Arora), Capt Javed's mother (Seema Biswas) and the problem of fratricide and communal bias that we harbour so deep in our minds. Kay Kay Menon's performance is extremely powerful and fantastic. One would love to hate him for his brute determination, willpower and acerbic tongue. That shows his strength of performance. One would remember Deepak Dobriyal as the jilted groom in Omkara. This guy comes across as one with amazing acting skills and probably would be worth watching out for. His silence coupled with the intense look and conviction stood out across the movie.

I would suggest one to see the movie. Its a little intense & serious and not for one searching for adrenaline pumping make believe action, a la Race. I guess the DVDs are also available on Moser Baer for Rs 49! Check out.

Continental Dinner

2008-04-02T08:30:00.000+05:30

I am back to writing after a long hiatus. Hope I can stay attached for sometime atleast.

Last night, Debasri, my wife wished that she wanted to have a continental dinner and both of us being self professed gourmands, I could not refuse. As such preparations are my area of responsibility (apart from donning my Chef's cap - the invisible one, on weekends), I embarked on it with gusto. And I use my cooking sessions as an effective therapy from whatever little stress I have in life. The problem was my wife's wish came at 1830 hrs and we don't run a restaurant where the basic ingredients are all ready for the customer's wish. So I started Googling and searching for recipes on the net & in the cook book collection we have, to discover a fast track roasting recipe and found that the fast track recipes were too bland. The apparently good ones required few hours of marination. So finally after reading through quite a few of them, decided to do a modified creation of mine. And it surprisingly turned out well and got a well sounding "yumm" from wifey dear.

The recipe goes like this:

Ingredients:
Roast Chicken

2 Chicken breasts
A large tomato
A medium sized onion
5-6 large cloves of garlic
1 or 2 green chillies (Depends on how spicy you like it)
Oregano
Chili flakes (If you have. Giving it a go is also fine)
1.5 tbsp of Soya Sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp thick curd (avoid the water absolutely)
1 egg (Whisked nice and fluffy) [I liked it, but one may avoid it too]
Salt to taste
Port / Any red Wine

Grilled Vegetables:

Carrots
Capsicum
Cauliflower
Green peas
French Beans
Onions
Tomatoes

Garlic Bread

Brown Bread (as it was readily available at home) (A lady suggested me to use French loaf as they taste mightily good)

Process:
Chicken: Blend Sl 2 to 5 in a mixer and take it in the mixing bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients and beat it nice till well blended. Add the chicken breasts (do not forget to pierce the chicken pieces well by using the fork like a shovel:) ) and leave it to marinate in the refrigerator. About 2 hours does good justice to the marination.

Vegetables: Cut the vegetables in medium sized pieces except the onions and tomatoes and put into boiling water with salt. Par boil the vegetables and drain and leave it in a sieve. Cut the onions & tomatoes into thick rings and keep it aside.

Take the drained vegetables in a baking dish, add salt, pepper and oregano. Add a dash of butter (health conscious denizens can use olive oil / veg oil) and mix it nice. Put the bowl in the microwave and use the combination mode (grill + micro) for about 7-8 mins. Check the vegetables for the right softness (if still uncooked, run it for some more time) and keep it aside.

Onions and tomatoes: In a flat pyrex plate, grease the base with a tsp of oil. Arrange the onions on the plate and add small drops of oil / butter on each ring. Put the plate in the grill (high rack) and run it for about 4 mins. Turn the rings and again run the grill for about 3-4 mins. The onion rings are ready. I did an experimentation to put a few drops of wine on the onions when it was left with about 2 mins of grilling. It gave an interestingly sweet taste to it.

On the same plate, arrange the tomatoes in the same process and grill it for about 3 mins on one side only. I would suggest the onions and tomatoes being grilled separately as tomatoes get done very fast and a little more heat render them pulpy.

Bread: Take the required amount of cheese in small bowl. Mix it with oregano / pepper and garlic paste / well crushed garlic. Apply the mix on the bread (ofcourse on one side) and keep the bread aside. I would prefer to do the bread at the end as else it turns soggy and cold. After the chicken is done, arrange the breads on a high rack and grill it for about 4-5 mins.

Roasting the chicken: Pre heat the convection mode of the oven to 22o deg C. Arrange the breast pieces on the high rack with the bony side up. Brush with oil and put it in the oven. Cook it for about 15 mins. After it is done, take the rack out and turn it upside down and put it back in the oven for about 12 mins. Once done, take it the rack out and pour a few tablespoons of wine on the chicken (generously) and grill the chicken for about 5 mins (this gives a burnt heady smell to the roast).

Arrange everything on the plate and serve! This is how it looked when I did it:

An Antithesis

2007-07-16T11:46:00.000+05:30

This is an antithesis by Prakash Kumar. Prakash is a good friend and my classmate from my SPJIMR days and an erudite scholar. He is a financial wizard, a very well read man and a deeply informed personality. He has around 9 years of experience in handling international power plant projects in US and Europe. Currently he is with Infosys and exploring the IT industry in the field of Enterprise Solutions. He has been writing frequently on his interest areas like economy, Finance and other issues. He had mailed me this antithesis in response to my latest post on the infrastructure woes:

Amitabha, your blog has erudite contents and exemplifies the need for infrastructure development in India. What's so new about it? The urban lifestyle of living in London and working in Tokyo has engulfed our society at large and migrants like us continue to flock the already burdened metros and tier-1 cities. Let's accept it, cities like Delhi, Mumbai etc can only hold that much. It's a geographical, biological or you call it whatever – but it's a natural constraint limited by space. It is little the civic infrastructure of the city or management of municipality or higher offices of chief ministers can do much about it. It's not about covering up for the laxities they are showing in the existing projects but prima-facie even if these projects like a fly-over here and an underpass there cannot give a lasting solution to the perennial problems faced by commuters in these cities.

The soil structure of metropolis Mumbai is different and is loose in nature. Metro rail project which is a huge success up north will be expensive and time consuming proposition. Yet this is one of the possible via-media to bail the city out and very rightly the project is at its nascent stage in Mumbai. Sitting in a corporate office it is very easy to blast out civic authorities for being shortsighted in approach and lethargic in action but drainage is a bigger problem whose roots lies in explosion of population in these cities. Mother of all problems in India – is and will remain the population and if a lasting solution has to be reached it has to be tracked down to the population menace rather than finger pointing a hapless Chief Minister who happened to be in the States when deluge hit Mumbai. In a Bollywood blockbuster one guy becomes Chief Minister for a day and does wonders are good fairy tale stories while let's accept it ground administration is not as easy as it is meant out to be. It is fair to say that the babudom and netaland is by and large corrupt but because of some tireless working individuals the system still works. And it would be utopia to believe that corruption do not exists in other areas.

As citizen of this country if we as individuals are taking care of our duties to do our part rather than be complainants to way of life there is a chance that situation might improve. Tax evasion is one of the largest in this country (income tax excluded) and size of parallel economy is unknown. Regional politics has taken over in which nationalist ideas like a national highway or inland river integration goes for a toss. These are the meaningful measures which are required and not stop gap arrangements. We as a citizen should not forget that the leaders whom we are bickering about are the one we have elected or have chosen to use the voting day holiday to go for a day out rather than go and vote. The voting percentages in cities like Delhi and Mumbai and in fact in major cities are one of the lowest.

Comparing to developed countries is a waste of time because for the simple reason that the population of city in developed countries remains under check. In cities like New York and LA where it is not in check traffic snarls can be equally worse. Still those cities when there is really an incessant raining are marred with frequent floods and sometimes rain related disaster are much worse than what is made out to be. I have remembered myself being stranded in Levallois office in France without Power for good 6-8 hours post working hours because of one such incident.

Government has long opened infrastructure power and inland roadways to FDI but investment is limited because some of the MNCs who want to do business are really putting such clauses in the contract which makes it untenable. MNCs still stick to there big margins which makes them loser in projects which are being funded by ADB and WB as they call for international competitive bidding. Govt has already altered the infrastructure development policy by removing draconian clause like preference price for local contractors like BHEL but still the L&T's and the Siemens are not coming up with their own contribution towards a better India or if they have, the contribution have been left a lot to be desired. Additionally, rehabilitation issues are not an easy nut to crack as we have seen in case of Singur and Nandigram.

Time has come up to do a micro-management of the ailment by looking at factors like population, uncontrolled urban migration, policies and investments and address them one at a time. Let's build our own India.

The Road That Never Was!!

2007-07-12T17:28:00.000+05:30

It has been a long hiatus from since I stopped writing on my blog Back to School. Time has been just rapidly gliding by with relocation, ceremonies visits and finally bidding adieu to Kolkata for restarting our household in Mumbai. Ofcourse the fact remains that life now is almost a roller coaster with juggling office, home, wife and daughter! And amongst all this, it is needless to say that writing definitely is on the back burner. But last couple of weeks some issues has been gnawing at the back of the mind. High among them is the infrastructure woes that the common man is subjected to daily.

It’s quite often that one reads in the Mumbai dailies that the Chief Minister or the Commissioner, MMRDA or other persons of concern, speaks about making Mumbai Shanghai, Paris and you name it. Last week the MMRDA Commissioner said that he is for levy of some duties on car users as is done in Paris and London. The honourable CM just came back from a trip to US (to garner investment) and was away during the deluge 2 weeks back. And as usual after returning from the Big Apple, the message is being bandied that “heads will roll”. I was one of the many who had to return home from office on the Saturday 30th June showers. How I miss carrying my camera or having a camera phone on that day. It would have put any decent fellow to shame to see the state of the roads across one of the costliest neighbourhoods of the suburbs. The road has IIT Bombay and Hiranandani skirting its two sides. It also is part of the famed JVLR, a World Bank Development Project. The project has been on for ages now and am sure is much beyond any schedule that the project would have set out with. A flyover near the Powai Lake is in the middle of a construction for the last two years and has been left as it is just before the monsoons. It now resembles a huge cavern and in the time of a deluge, God save the one who gets into the middle of it. A flyover further down is in a far worse condition. The approach road is today totally devoid of any paving and is one huge crater. The drainage holes (all of about an inch in dia) have been provided almost 6 – 8 inches above ground, thereby making a flyover puddle!! I am sure none of you would have ever imagined that water logging can happen on a flyover. Atleast I for one did not imagine. And hence on the fateful Saturday while navigating home, the most precarious situation was on the flyover. The Municipal Commissioner commented in the following week that the drainage system is not geared up for the deluge. It’s good for few tens of centimetres of rain but not for few hundreds of millimetres. I remember seeing news items that stated that the famed JJ Flyover (one of the longest at 2.6 kms) had water logging too!!!

I travel everyday from the L&T Campus at Powai to the Eastern Express Highway. If one leaves office after 6 pm, one can be assured of inching traffic for atleast 4 kms across the length of Powai. Mornings are much better till about 8 am. Thereafter the traffic starts graduating from metres to inches!!

So all this really made me do a little analysis on the web. Everyone talks about charging the traveller as in the developed countries and professes from the “high seat” that the commuter should use the public transport. The first question arises here is will the high and mighty lead us by example. And taxation comes only when the infrastructure is provided. When there is a crumbling infrastructure and the babus have made their part of hay without doing anything worthwhile, what levies does the commuter pay and for what. And since the latest example for levies is Paris, here is some data about the French roads:

Area of the Country (Sq kms, in ‘000) 551.5

Well-maintained roads 952,600 km
Country tracks 600,000 km
Super-highways 11,000 km
National highways 40,000km

Speed Limits (Car & Trailer)
Built-up areas 50 kph
Major roads outside towns 50 kph
Motorways (non toll) 100 kph
Motorways (toll) 110 kph
Motorways minimum left lane 80 kph
Motorways in rain 110 kph

And here is data of roads in India:
Total: 3,383,344 km
Paved: 1,603,705 km
Unpaved: 1,779,639 km (2002)
Area of the Country (Sq kms, in ‘000): 3287.3

Speed Limits: Anybody’s guess!!!!

A look at the world data tells us where we are:
Data Source: World Bank, CIA, Press Reports
The point is not to berate or belittle my country. It is to tell these high and mighty administrators to stop comparing and emulating the west and do something worthwhile as per ideals. We can never play “catch me if you can” as by the time we reach where they are today, they would have gone much ahead. Those who are interested can read an article by Omkar Goswami in the Business World issue of 7th July. It’s available online too (and free).

2006-03-10T00:16:00.000+05:30

The Howrah Bridge (Kolkata)

2006-03-10T00:15:00.000+05:30

Vidyasagar Setu (2nd Howrah Bridge, Kolkata)