India, the global economy's idiot savant

Today's Economic Times carries an interesting preview to an article to be published in October 31 issue of the Fortune magazine. Some excerpts (full article here) -

"Bad government and inadequate infrastructure " prevented India from matching China's economic growth although both nations started reforms in early 1990s, the 'Fortune' magazine said on Friday. Slow disinvestment of PSUs, high tax rates and lack of labour reforms also came in the way of India attaining the same pace of growth as its Asian neighbour, the Hong Kong-based magazine said in an article to be published in October 31. Comparing India and China, it said "China's economic miracle was achieved by getting the basics right... India, by contrast, is the global economy's idiot savant. India flubs the obvious stuff." Though India and China had the same per capita income in early 1990s and started economic reforms at the same time, Fortune said "per capita income in China is more than twice what it is in India, and China takes in 12 times as much foreign investment."

Otherwise, Fortune was all praise for India's capability of producing hundreds of thousands of brilliant engineers a year, software houses managing complex data across thousands of miles for the world's most sophisticated clients. "India has world-class business leaders and, unlike China, solvent banks," it said, adding "yet, India flubs the obvious stuff."

I can't agree more to the Fortune article. Recently Infosys Chief Mentor, Mr. Narayan Murthy appeared on the BBC show, Hard Talk. Here is one relevant blurb from his interview -

Q. Well let me ask you, about the growing global competition. How do you think are you going to deal with the Chinese threat?
Murthy - At present India is at least five years ahead of China because of knowledge of the English language, then the project managing experience of Indians.

Q. But China has something which you have acknowledged that you don’t. It has a government that can deliver infrastructure, roads, communication. If the Chinese want something, the Chinese government can deliver it. This government cannot.
Murthy - We have been discussing with the leadership at both the state and the central level that India has to run faster to maintain the lead it has over China. I think in terms of higher education and talent availability, India has a decent advantage.

I hope our politicians and bureaucrats would listen to people like you and act quickly.

Q. If you can look ten years into the future do you think India will be in the lead when it comes to global technology?
Murthy - India will continue to lead as long as our politicians, bureaucrats, corporate leaders and academicians realise that we have to work harder and smarter need to do things with a sense of alacrity, we need to create better physical infrastructure, better education infrastructure.

Q. And if you do not....
Murthy - Then I don’t think India will have the position that it has today. There is no doubt about that. All these advantages will disappear like dew on a sunny morning if we become complacent, if we don’t act with alacrity.

There, Mr.Murthy has said it. India certainly holds a decent advantage when it comes to English proficiency or technical skills for that matter, but now that new competition is growing after seeing the Indian success, we are losing our edge fast. Unless the state comes forward to provide the worldclass infrastructure these firms want and deserve, India can't carry this edge for long.

But then we've politicians like Deve Gowda, who can't pull themselves up from the petty politics they spent their whole life in. Bangalore, which is the leader when it comes to the Indian IT revolution, is suffering badly because of the tussle between Gowda and the ex-CM SM Krishna. Gowda is acting as a roadblock to various projects which were started to improves the city's infrastructure.

Gowda again!

Gowda spews venom against IT men.

Bangalore, October 26: Using India’s premier IT show platform, former Prime minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday launched a fresh offensive against a section of IT sector, accusing them of carrying on a "whispering campaign" to destabilise his party’s coalition government with Congress in Karnataka. Attending the ‘Bangalore IT.IN 2005’ changing his earlier plans to skip it, Gowda charged that a section of the tech sector started the campaign within two or three months after the coalition came to power that IT firms were leaving Bangalore because of infrastructural woes.

As the chief guest at the four-day event, Gowda accused a section of IT sector of creating a ‘negative impression’ about the coalition government that it was not giving priority to infrastructure in Bangalore and started a "whispering campaign" that it firms were leaving the city.

He can't understand the basic funda that the best way to get back to the accusing companies is to actually provide good infrastructure! But I guess that's too much to ask, so here he is - ranting and panting against the entire IT industry.

Countdown tag.

Raj has tagged me (thanks buddy), here it goes -

10 Favorites:
Favorite Season: Deep winters. I enjoy the chilly mornings, pink days and early evenings. Ah.. you should be in Jaipur to enjoy winters! Those fat Jaipuri rajayi. Steaming kadhi & bajre ki roti - eating this by the chulha on the terrace .. yumm (going Jaipur in Nov. end, should be great!).
Favorite Sport: I used to play Cricket and I did well as the goalie of our wing's Football team. Enjoyed both equally. As for watching - Cricket, definitely.
Favorite Time: Lunch time. I get out of office to haunt M.G. Road area, often with my camera. I rebel in me gets the kick out of getting outta office during working hours :) and the foodie in me is just happy to be along. I've been eating alone since Nandu left for Mumbai, but I've started to enjoy it actually :).
Favorite Month: February - salary in 28 days! Plus I was born in February, but that doesn't count now as no one gifts interesting stuff once you grow up :-S
Favorite Actor: No one could be such favorite to me that I'd love every movie of his, but I liked most of 'em by Jim Carrey, Jackie Chan, Al Pacino. Bollywood has very few "actors" (loadsa stars tho') and I like Irfan most among them (he too is from Jaipur, I believe).
Favorite Actress: I was drooling after Cameron Diaz in The Mask. Like Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore too.
Favorite Ice Cream: Dry fruits, rum-n-raisin.
Favorite Food: Chhola-bhatoora, Pizza, Rajma-Chawal.
Favorite Drink: Apple Juice, Mango shake, Coffee.
Favorite Place: Bed.

9 Currents:
Current Feeling: Jobless. And irritated because of insomnia.
Current O/S: Windows XP.
Current Windows Open: Firefox (tabs - Cricinfo, Blogger, Orkut, IMDB), Winamp, Wordweb.
Current Drink: Nothing.
Current Time: 3:05 AM
Current Mobile(s) Used: Samsung R 220. I have been using this thing from the last year in college. Never felt like buying a new one, it serves me well.
Current Show on TV: I assume this means current favorite show. I like "The Great Indian Comedy Show" and "The Great Indian Laughter Challange/Champion". Watch "Super Sale" often & "KBC-2" if I hit it while surfing.
Current Thought: Lata Mangeshkar is great! ("Aayega aane wala" is on the winamp)
Current Cloths: Why saaar?! Anyway, dark grey t-shirt with three-fourths made out of a jeans I scissored recently.

8 Firsts:
First Nick: Chotu, still prefer that parents and relatives call me that. Since I was the youngest among all the cousins, they named me Chotu - so they tell me.
First Kiss: :-S
First Crush: Aishwarya Rai in her "donate eye" ad. I was totally hypnotized by those green things. Can't care less now, but the crown goes to her.
First Computer: Bought in second year in college. P III-650 MHz I guess.
First Vehicle I drove: I was perfectly in love with my BSA Hercules MTB till I was promoted to Bajaj Sunny. I learnt driving four wheelers on a Police Gypsy, of course. I drove all the way to Dhaulpur from Kauroli, highest point of my driving career. Now I'm all out of touch and rusted.
First Job: Oracle.
First Movie I watched on Pulse Global’s print: What is pulse global print?! Anyway, I guess my first movie in cinema theater would be Jeeva (*ing- Sanju Baba at his dopu best) in Hanumangarh or perhaps Mard (*ing AB) in Anoopgarh. Aah.. it was Jeeva.
First Pet: We had a Pomeranian, Bobby, in Hanumangarh. I've first memories from that place only, but I'm positive it was the first pet we had. It was a great dog, I still bear a bite mark on my thigh. Just love dogs, till recently we had 2 pomeranians at Jaipur. Both of them died and my mom is not keen on getting another pup, I so wish she does.
First Shave: Towards the end of XII.

7 Lasts:
Last Chai (Tea) : No Tea for me, thanks.
Last Movie: The Truth About Love (horrible stuff!).
Last Time I Drove: This evening Jha and me went to the super-market.
Last Time Shaved: Yesterday evening.
Last Web Site Visited: http://www.imdb.com
Last Software Installed: Neat Image.
Last Pill I Had: Took lozenges for sore throat this evening.

6 Have You Evers:
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Traffic laws, yes. I've been fined 3-4 times.
Have You Ever Been Drunk: Oh yeah. College was fun!
Have You Ever Climbed a Tree: Many times, during childhood and afterwards.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Nopes.
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire or Bomb Blast: No. But we lived quite near to parade ground in Bharatpur and they used to fire there sometimes during parades and stuff, but I guess that doesn't count.
Have You Ever Broken Anyone’s Heart: Towards in end of my graduation, my B.Tech. project guide looked a little broken hearted. I never asked him about it though, so I'm no 100% sure.

5 Things:
Things You Can Hear Right Now: Chicane - Don't Give Up. An aeroplace taking off, distantly. Key clicks (?!)
Things on Your Computer Table: Umm.. I'm "working" on a laptop and the table is cluttered with books, pens, wires. My wallet & mobile is also there, somewhere.
Things on Your Bed: Quilt, pillow, one pair of shorts and another of pajama, "The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman", my bag.
Things You Ate Today: Rajma-rice in lunch (wasn't the best I've had) and in dinner lauki ki sabji with roti.
Things in Mind: Why am I not sleepy? Why didn't it rain today, when I took day's off? Office tomorrow.. shuxx!

4 Places You Have Been Today:
Kund, Indiranagar - was closed.
Vishaal restaurant - for lunch, was horrible.
Supermarket.
Cafe Coffee Day, Garuda Mall.

3 People You Can Tell Anything To:
I, me, myself.

2 Choices:
Black or White: Black.
Hot or Cold: Cold.

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die:
There are many things of course, but if it has to be just one thing, it has to be travel the world over, perhaps atleast 5 times.

So there you go. If you have read till here, kudos to you! And if you are cussing about what a waste of time it was - it should console you to know that I spend almost an hour behind this (and still no sleep :-( ).

Old Politics vs New Economy

Former PM Deve Gowda has stirred the hornet's nest this time by blaming Infosys Mentor Narayan Murthy of making nil contribution towards the international airport in Bangalore. He further accused IT firms, and named Infosys, of grabbing land belonging to "poor,humble farmers" (link). Murthy, of course decided that enough is enough of this and resigned from the chairmanship of the Bangalore International Airport Limited. Further, Infosys provided the detailed account of all the acquisitions, removing all doubts about land grabbing. Gowda perhaps didn't expect that tables will turn on him like this and is now forced to eat the humble pie.

Shekhar Gupta has done a very interesting analysis of the whole issue in his column in Indian Express (Old Politics vs New Economy) -

This is no clash of personalities or egos. In a reforming Indian economy, this is our first experience of an inevitable clash, between old politics and new economy. Our traditional old politician was at peace with the old economy, where the businessman depended on him for licences, quotas, permissions and clearances and then, to protect him from the extortionist inspector raj and finally, to keep the taxman and other likely raiders off his back. The new economy businesses need none of that.

The IT ministry came up before our political class thought of even setting up an IT ministry. The political class has never quite accepted this. Given half a chance, it would have tried to "rectify" this, by bringing the regulation and restrictions into the sector so that it could somehow acquire discretionary powers. That it can do no such thing, given the iconic status the new economy has acquired, its capacity to generate wealth — and jobs — and the international recognition it has achieved, must be galling for the practitioner of old politics. This is just the sentiment Gowda is reflecting. The mutually comfortable arrangement of the old economy was underlined so profoundly by the late Dhirubhai Ambani in an interview to T.N. Ninan (then at India Today) with his immortal "I will salaam anybody" quote. So dramatically has the situation changed today that both his sons would tell you they no longer need to call on anybody in Delhi for anything.

That is not the equation politicians of Gowda's generation relish. They are loathe to cede the power space to the entrepreneur like this. They still see the businessman as the archetypal "sethji", or "lala", who has to wait outside their door and pay their personal and political bills. The new economy has demolished that paradigm. It needs almost nothing from the government, except decent infrastructure wherever they are based, and some land which, in our country, is still either controlled by the government, or must be acquired by it. This is the one power old politics still has and this is what Gowda has seized upon. Hence the attack on Murthy is to do with real estate — his motivation is to grab real estate and make profits in it ("at the cost of the poor farmers") rather than expand an enterprise that will create more jobs, wealth, taxes and prestige.

But I would reckon Gowda is too shrewd not to know this won't work in the long run, that nobody, even the most destitute farmer whose behalf he pretends to speak on, will buy any of this. Fifteen years of reform may not have drawn out all of the socialist venom in our systems but they have brought about enough change so that it is no longer so easy to paint a Murthy, a Tata, a Premji or an Ambani as mere capitalist usurpers and to turn the jobless millions on them. The new India loves and cherishes its entrepreneurs (capitalists?) more than it trusts its politicians.

Gowda is now wallowing in his own isolation and irrelevance and taking his frustration out in a totally lost cause (for himself and the old politics he personifies) on the one man the rich and the poor all adore and the one industry the right and the left of our politics both love, and woo desperately. So here is my final argument and prediction: another hall-mark of our old politics was the cynical realism of its practitioners. It's a matter of time before this truth dawns on our youngest former prime minister as well and you'd see him cutting his losses and back-tracking, if only the Congress would stay firm.

I think Gupta has been spot on in his analysis, but it might take some time before the vacuous politicians' bluff is called by the voters. In a democracy where a vote is as cheap as a bottle of alcohol or few hundred rupees, phoney leaders are bound to get elected. Moreover, since Gowda dons the cloak of Robin Hood to fool the voters (I'm here to save you from evil capitalist designs), his predominently rural vote bank would hear only his side of the story. The contribution made by Murthy and likes are not as explicit as ones *claimed* by the Gowdas. It's really ironic that Gowda must accuse Infosys or other IT firms of grabbing land; here in Bangalore one hears quite often about the land grabbed by Gowda and his sons!

Raj offers a solution to the immediate problem - bump off the old politician (There is a Sunny Deol hidden in this fella, believe me!). This is perfectly inline with one theory I studied in the single psychology course I took - frustration leads to physical aggression (By the way things are going on his blog, I feel very soon we'll have India's, perhaps World's first Online Supari Center, with a totally different meaning to "hit-count" :) ). Jokes apart, the solution lies in the enlightenment of the masses. They should understand the implications of making an ill-informed choice while voting. But then they too have to choose the least evil among the evils. It's all a vicious cycle and leaves me staring into dark abyss everytime I try to think about it.

Politics in crisis.

(Left: Pakistani side - waiting for a meal. Right: Indian side - waiting for relief.)

Somini Sengupta writes for The New York Times (full article) -

Calamities of nature do not just test the capacity of a state. They can also offer unexpected opportunities for political craftsmanship. Take India. The government has announced that it needs no international aid to recover from the Oct. 8 earthquake. Indian officials say that they are able to care for their own, and that tents are coming from private producers and the Indian military. It is too early to tell whether India, which seeks a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, can go it alone. Certainly there is anger in Indian-administered Kashmir among people who have been forced to build their own tents out of the wooden beams and tin sheets retrieved from the rubble of their homes. In short, India has been anxious to portray itself as a giver, rather than a receiver. "What we can manage on our own, we do," said Hamid Ansari, a retired Indian diplomat. "There's a certain sense of self-confidence that we can manage it and, let me say, a desire to signal that you are capable of managing things on your own."

Pakistan's approach has been exactly the opposite. Hit a whole lot harder by the Oct. 8 quake - its official death toll stood at 42,000 on Tuesday- Pakistan has appealed for worldwide help and allowed foreigners to travel to its side of Kashmir and to the traditionally well-guarded pockets of North-West Frontier Province, the two areas that suffered the greatest damage.

Tavleen Singh retorts strongly in Indian Express (full article) -

I write today from New York where the New York Times has a picture on its front page with a caption that conveys the impression that all is well in Pakistan but on the Indian side relief has not reached victims. "‘In Pakistan, Awaiting a Meal; in India, Awaiting Relief", said the caption under a picture of Pakistani victims in Balakot eating a meal. The New York Times correspondent who wrote it was impressed with Pakistan's relief efforts and disapproved of India because the Indian government had refused international aid. "‘In short, India has been anxious to portray itself as a giver, rather than a receiver."’ Implication: how dare India get so uppity.

I am not usually chauvinistic or overly patriotic but confess to being irritated by the unfairness of the attack on India in one of the world'’s most respected newspapers. In the face of such a terrible tragedy you would imagine that at least the Press would stay away from playing petty politics. But, politics appears to be the name of the game for everyone. When India offered aid on day one it appears to have been a political move since the government has been unable so far to provide tents for our own victims. This is outrageous considering that the Army alone should be able to supply tents in sufficient numbers.

When Pakistan refused India's help but asked instead for helicopters unmanned by Indian pilots we see evidence of more politics at play. And, when Kashmir'’s separatist leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq complained on almost the first day about the lack of response from India Inc we see more politics at play. When terrorists continued their murderous attacks, last week, it was again a matter of politics (we are still alive and killing) and when they distribute relief it seems also to be a matter of politics. Then, we have the politically connected vultures in Srinagar already contacting businessmen in Mumbai to alert them about big pickings in the reconstruction process.

The Kashmir earthquake exposed South Asia at its worst. It exposed the basic lack of compassion on the part of those who rule us and it exposed the hopelessly inadequate infrastructure that most Indians and Pakistanis are forced to suffer because our governments have been too busy spending money on war machines. On the Indian side it is outrageous that journalists and TV crews should have been able to reach remote villages before relief did. And, outrageous that even after last December's tsunami the government has been unable to put in place a disaster relief mechanism that goes into immediate effect in a crisis. The requirements are always the same ' medical assistance, food and shelter'— and yet every time disaster strikes we see the same hopelessly inadequate response. And, the same resort to empty gestures. What is the point of the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi "‘rushing"’ to Kashmir if they cannot ensure adequate relief?

India is right in refusing international aid. We do not need it. We have more than enough supplies of medicines, food and tents. What our officials lack is the ability to respond quickly and compassionately to a crisis. And this shames us time after time after time.

Tavleen Singh hit the nail in the head when she derived the implication of NYTimes article - "How dare India get so uppity". This is not the first time I have seen western press biased against India. Perhaps India, out of pride or a planned political move, underestimated the gravity of the matter and refused the aid, but to imply that everything is alright on the Pakistani side due to international aid is ludicrous. As I understand, the hilly terrain in PoK is inaccessible to such an extent that the aid hasn't reached many areas till now (Balakot is not a part of PoK, it's quite accessible & well connected). But for the jehadi militants working in the area, who worked hard to help the victims, no aid has reached those areas.

But as Tavleen pointed out, the blame has to be put on Indian government too. Why isn't there a decent crisis-management plan? Why does it take us so long to help and rescue the victims? She summed it up well with - "What our officials lack is the ability to respond quickly and compassionately to a crisis."

10000 cross!

Time to pop champagne! After my photoblog, its the turn of this blog - "Lies, damned lies & blogs" have had hits in excess of 10000 now.

Keep coming back and keep contributing to the hit count.

Welcome to Bangalore!

The airport road flyover (under-construction!)

Google Earth, the latest toy of every netizen, has decent coverage of Bangalore - the silicon valley of India. God bless Bangalorian at BBS Keyhole forums who has made an extensive set of placemarks for Bangalore. It has almsot all the major landmarks covered, including important roads, junctions, railway stations, malls, hospitals, etc. You can get the placemark file from this location. If you still haven't installed Google Earth, take it from here.

Original Cannibal Jokes

Q. How to identify a cannibal girl?
A. By hair (in her teeth).

Q. What is the dual competition called in Cannibal land?
A. "Your flesh or mine".

Q. What's most famous game show in Cannibal land?
A. "Who wanna be my dinner?" & "Survivor".

Q. The most popular band dish in Cannibal land?
A. "The Boneless Boys" & "The Spiced Girls".

At the Right Place @ the Right Time

Indian team's camp is kept at National Cricket Academy, which happens to be at a walkable distance from my office. This afternoon, I took my camera along to the stadium. The doors were closed and I climbed the 10 ft high fence to catch a glimpse (I shouted their names too, no one returned even a glance). I didn't have the best seat in the house, so the pictures have a blue rod obstructing the view. Never mind.

In the first image we have (L to R) Chappell, Sachin, RP Singh, Yuvraj & Gambhir. Second image - Tendulkar & Chappell. Third - Dhoni bats as Harbhajan looks. Last picture - Sachin, Murli Karthik, Pathan (bowling) & Harbhajan. Click on the images to see a bigger version.

And lastly, the wall-

I pulled that autowala (in Khaki dress) up! I never knew I can climb this tall a wall, leave alone pull people up :). Thanks Mom for all the Dabur Chavyanprash!

Lies, damned lies and fake blogs

If you are following the latest controversy that has hit the Indian blogsphere, "Lies, damned lies and fake blogs" would be a familiar phrase to you. If you don't know what I am talking about, please check this & this, Amit Varma & Desi Pundit are following the events closely. I just wanted to make it clear that my blog (Lies, damned lies and blogs) is not involved, as of yet. When I named this blog, I was as clueless as any parents would be to name their newborn. I took the inspiration from the cliche - Lies, damned lies and statistics. The name isn't particularly relevant to the blog - I don't post truck loads of just lies - but I still like it. It sounds sophisticated, without giving any hint about the content at the blog :).

As for the controversy, I haven't yet made up my mind. I have been watching it from the fence though. From the outside, it looks as if the institute is flexing muscles to swat the small publication and the sympathetic bloggers. The ugly turns could have been avoided though and the institute & the students seem to be the culprits here. If they felt their reputation was defamed by the deeds of the magazine, they should have taken the matter to the court and produce the proofs the refute all the claims made by the magazine. Abusing the editor and coercing an MNC to take action against their employee, the blogger, is petty and downright condemnable.

All that ends well..

He hated festivals. And this was Diwali - the mother of all festivals in India. He was grumpy all day. He hated the lonely feeling, the empty office, the view of happy people on the roads, the noise of crackers - almost everything about it. He was miffed by the exuberating TV presenters, the news channels showing the happy people from different cities, the radio jockeys who just couldn't stop playing Diwali songs - the feeling kept coming back that no one cares for him!

It was another lonely day at office. None of his friends or people around his cubicle were present, they had all gone home. Lead-footed, he entered the empty lift. Two security personnel entered the lift one floor below. One of them, visibly the senior, was looking as if he wanted to say something - he was too depressed to notice, of course. As the lift hit the ground floor, he exited first. Just then the security guy spoke, "Happy Diwali, sir" and offered a warm handshake. The other security guy did the same, a little less warmly though.

He was feeling better as he entered the parking lot. His day had ended with a smile.

A Landmark Achievement

How cheap is it to boast about the hits on one's blog -- duh.. like I give a damn!

My photoblog - A View To Kill - finally crossed the 10000 hits mark . It started on our Pune journey in December '04. I clicked many snaps with Jha's Canon Powershot S1. Pretty soon the photography fever gripped me big time! I started the photoblog on 7th April, 2005 and till date it has about 190 pictures. I was using Jha's camera till recently, then I bought myself a Panasonic DMC Lumix FZ-20. Both the cameras are really very sophisticated pieces of machinery and have satisfied me immensely.

My skills have shown considerable improvement too. The genuine interest in the art drew me to read online tutorials, see other's work and appreciate the fundamentals of photography. While I have experimented a lot with my camera in my room, I enjoy outdoors much more. Partly because, I don't have any lighting equipments or many interesting subjects to shoot indoors. I still feel I've covered a very small area, which I good because this feeling always keeps me on the heels for interesting pics.

Ah.. now, the trick to get there - I have reduced the visibility on the photoblog to just one day per page. So if someone browses through the pictures, that many hits are added to the count . And changing my homepage URL at orkut from this blog to my photoblog has contributed decently.

Finally, if you haven't already paid a click - its the best time to browse through my pictures and comment too, if you feel like it. Appreciation is welcomed & criticism is invited.

Some of my recent favorites -

Wear the old coat and ...

Dear Rupa,
A gift for folding the bed?
Sandeep,
10/10/83

Not the most elegant inscription perhaps, it still thrilled me to see the same at the first page of the old copy of Shame - Salman Rushdie, I bought from Blossom's recently. Just think of it, I was born in February '82 and when Sandeep gifted the crisp new copy of the latest Rushdie book to Rupa, I was just a toddler of 18 months in all. The book also has an aged bookmark which says - "Love is ... sharing a book".

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book", so they say at Crossword, but I have found out the opposite to be a more exciting option :). Let me remind you of the french cinematic classic - Amelie. There the protagonist - Amelie - finds a box tucked behind the tiles in her apartment which has stored memories of a boy for many decades. She finds the fellow, who has aged to his salt-n-pepper hair, and returns the box to him. Old books, with personal inscriptions, notes & names make me feel the same. Like Shame, I've quite a few used books with me - some of them have some words underlined (to build vocabulary, I suppose), some really old ones have brownish pages whose edges shade off gradually, many have names written on them - all of them carry a small bit of the characters of their old owners.

Another good thing about this - and I have no shame to admit it - I save good money by buying used books. I have discovered a few used book stores by now, but the one that beats them all hands down has to be Blossom's. They have quite extensive coverage of topics and authors. You can find technical books, books on photography, classics of Shakespear, verses of Keats - books on almost everything under the sun. They keep new copies of latest books as well and even the prices are a tad lower than other bookstores, but it is a good idea to check first with the street vendors for the pirated copies of the latest books. But the collection with those guys is very limited and quite often I have been disappointed.

If you happen to be in Bangalore and books interest you, you must pay a visit to Blossom's. Its located on the Church Street, just opposite to Three Quarter Chinese/ Ameoba Sports Bar. I have the Google Earth placemark for the place with me, just drop a mail if you want it.

Fury

Monday, bloody Monday. He took out his bike and took the longer route to the office. It was long but here he has more of the "drive time" and wastes less time in traffic and at the signals.

He felt detached and wondered if everyone felt this way. He had always felt detached. When he had triumphed and people were joyous around him - he couldn't believe his own achievement and the moment passed in front of his eyes like a movie. When tragedy struck, he got into denial and forced himself to believe that nothing happened - sitting on the fence and watching, uninvolved. Even insult could not get him interested in his own life - his subconscious mind consoled him at every single one of his grave failures that it happens to everybody! He had spent his life as if he was a scooterist waiting at a railway crossing, for the thundering train to pass - he was waiting for his life to start. He wasn't pitying himself, he just didn't seem to care. What was the leading emotion in his life?

--Screech-- ! An autorickshaw had jumped the signal and was now in front of his bike, awkwardly - not able to proceed any further, not moving back. "Madar****" - he cussed instinctively. The driver didn't bat an eyelid. Then he noticed two mousey, precocious school girls sitting at the back of the auto, gawking at him in astonishment. He revved up the engine and got moving. His ears were burning red with rage.

Encouragement Needed.

Middle of the week, we talk about cricket!

In a Cricinfo poll last week, 49% of those who voted said that Zimbabwe should be stripped of their Test status, with 38% advocating a similar fate for Bangladesh. About 26% thought both should stay and Kenya should be brought in. 27% people believed that test cricket should be divided into 2 tiers while about 48% advised that performance benchmarking should be made the basis of awarding and relegating the test status. Almost two thirds of the samples didn't believe in restricting the test status to a limited number of teams.

The contrast between the super charged Ashes series and the SL-BD & Ind-Zim test series was stark. While Ashes brought back the glory to test cricket, the other two series were plain boring like most of the Bollywood movies. The results were clear even before the start and the tests were interesting only from a statistician's point of view. The debate about stripping Bangladesh & Zimbabwe off the test status raised it head again after such lackluster performances from these two teams, again. Bangladesh has played 40 test matches till now and has recorded win in only 1 till date, that too , you guessed it! - Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was well on the path of gathering momentum after the debut in 1992, but most of their established players were forced to leave the country due to the political fiasco in the nation.

Country	Debut	First Test Win (Test#)	First Series Win (Series #)
India	1932	1952 (25)	1952-53 (9)
New Zealand	1930	1956 (45)	1969-70 (31)
Pakistan	1952	1952 (2)	1955-56 (4)
South Africa	1889	1906 (12)	1905-06 (6)
Sri Lanka	1982	1985 (14)	1985-86 (8)
West Indies	1928	1930 (6)	1934-35 (5)
Zimbabwe	1992	1995 (11)	1998-99 (16)
Bangladesh	2000	2005 (34)	2004-05 (18)

So how much water does this argument holds against these minnows? As the table above shows, almost all of the test playing nations had to wait for a while before getting a firm grip on the international turf and register a win. But have we spared them a bit too many chances? Bangladesh might not have won against any other test playing nations, other than Zimbabwe, but they have certainly shown improvement. While the team performance is still poor, some brilliant individual talents have made their mark in the international scene. Batsman like Ashraful & bowlers like Murtaza and Rafique are capable of getting place in more than one test playing teams. Their success at the international scene might give the gen next a hope to compete with the best, just same as Kapil Dev's success inspired next generation of fast bowlers in India. The onus lies on the Bangladeshies too. They must show improvement in every tour. Defeat is not a matter of shame, not learning from your mistakes is. They should take the story of Sri Lankan success as their inspiration as strive to do better.

How much a two-tier system help these minnows? These teams need the exposure to top class team most and the two tier system will take away their chances for the same. The argument in favor of two tier system are on the line of having more competitive games. The matches between these minnows and big teams are absolutely no shows. But if we see like this, the domestic cricket in India doesn't attract much public attention, the stadia are mostly vacant. So should we discontinue those tournaments also? No! Not only the weaker teams but many other test playing teams are plagued with the lack of competent bench strength. The problem lies with the substandard domestic arena. The mediocre players pile up runs against poor bowling and the blunt bowlers shine against unimaginative batting. The result - these players are grossly unprepared for the international arena! The two tier system will never let the weaker teams be competent enough to compete with the best.

ICC must pay attention that the domestic cricket gets adequate attention by the corresponding cricket boards. I suggest that during English and Australian summers, along with the local counties, second string teams from other nations - bunch of talented players needing the exposure - should be allowed to compete in the Pura Cup and the County Season. Not only this will help them understand the rigours of the international cricket, it'll also raise the bar for their own performances. If ICC has to expand the circle of cricket, such steps are most required now.

Postsecret

Taken from http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. Amazing stuff!

The wonder that was Mahatma

Today is Gandhi jayanthi. Father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on the same day in 1869. It is just another day, with a tinge of sadness on missing on a public holiday, today being a Sunday. I'm sure many more Indians feel like me. Through out my schooling, we kids took this day just as another holiday. But for some miniscule changes in the routine (no liquor at shops, etc.), it's very tough to notice the difference. How many of us observe 2 minutes of silence at 11:00 AM?

For our generation, Gandhi was already mythologized. I was born after 35 years of Gandhi's assassination. Whatever I gathered about the legend was from legends only. Not having the fortune of having him in our times, our generation was fed on the pre-digested impressions about the Mahatma. Text books, Newspapers, Magazines, Films - all glorified him in the same way Gods and ancient mythological heroes are applauded. In facts, it amused me greatly to know for the first time that my grandfather and Gandhiji were present at the face of the Earth at the same time (I was very young then). So, this glamourizing distanced Gandhiji from me and immortalized him as a God, not a great man but God.

I myself didn't make many scholarly pursuits to know more about the man - Gandhi. Time and again, some movie, some play, some writings about Gandhi would stir "public emotions" and news channels would hold debates over them - I used to hit the button on them. Then, I stumbled upon a article written by Swagato Ganguly for TOI dated 01-OCT-2005. I tried finded it on their site and on http://epaperdaily.timesofindia.com , all in vain. Finally, I took a picture of it and uploaded it (available here). It presents some sound arguments against Gandhi's principles. Some excerpts:-

If one takes the principle weapons that could save Indian children - modern medicines, high incomes and education (particularly female literacy) - Gandhi was ambivalent about last two, and decidedly against the first. When Kasturba was dying, Gandhi would not allow doctors to administer penicillin to her. The incident is usually cast in a heroic mould by hagiographers, but it is reasonable whether this would have been Kasturba's uncoerced choice in the matter.

It carries on criticizing Gandhi's take on education, charkha & village economy model, Gandhi's thoughts about the textile industry. The article tries to find the root of every present day problem in a philosopher's idea who is dead half a century ago. Interesting! It ends with -

Six decades into Independence we should be able to look our national heroes in the eye, warts and all. The problem is not that we are irreverent towards our founding fathers; the problem is that we are not irreverent enough.

Update: Found the article on TOI website - The God That Failed. Another article appeared in today's TOI - Gandhian economics is relevant.