Vineet Observes!

Should I pursue, or should I peruse?

2005-12-17T20:34:00.000+08:00

The report is due in six weeks ... I know something about the topic ... there is so much more available on the Internet waiting to be googled ... Should I start writing, or should I search? ... Should I pursue, or should I peruse? ...

Three weeks to the due date ... perusing was just so irresistible ... I still have not written a single word ... but that is okay ... I know more about the topic ... should I start pursuing now ... may be just a little more of googling wouldn't hurt ...

One week to the due date ... report is still half-baked ... I am confused ... is word limit strict ...how much do I believe the validity of similar reports google found for me ... and then the writing ... my god, it takes forever ... is this the correct usage ... does this word have a synonym ... may be I should google again.

Six hours to the deadline ... my report is , well, almost complete ... not quite ... did all the Google-acquired knowledge make the report better ... I hope it did ... who knows ... but did the report not ask for a personal perspective ... did I think enough on my own ... is what I am writing really me ... I hope ...

One hour after the deadline ... what a relief ... the report is finally done (just in time) ... what a wild scramble in the end ...

Should I have perused less and pursued more ... can some wise man tell me where was the right boundary ... I hope the answer is not "peruse enough, then just pursue" ... that I knew all the while.

Sure you wanna think "out of the box"?

2005-11-07T16:46:00.000+08:00

Poor guy got a zero for the absolutely hilarious yet correct answer! All because he thought "out of the box".

I got this over the email today. I was reminded of an anecdote from many years ago.

A friend of mine, a very smart student, got the following question in an exam: In a classroom, there are 40 rows of students, and each row has 4 students. How many students are there in the class? My friend did 40 X 4 = 160, thought for a while, and changed the answer to 40 + 4 = 44. When asked by the teacher on why he made this mistake (which incidentally cost him a healthy 5 marks), he innocently answered, "How can a classroom accomodate 160 students? Our class has only 45 students, isn't it?".

My friend lost 5 marks because he thought, well, "out of the box".

Are you sure you still want to think "out of the box"? May be you want to keep in mind which side of the question paper are you on, i.e., are you setting the paper, or solving the paper?

How real is Reality TV?

2005-11-06T15:18:00.000+08:00

Reality TV seems to be the in thing on American TV these days. So many TV shows show "real people" (not actors) participating in some games or competitions as they would in real life, and not according to some pre-decided script.

Cynics argue that the shows like The Apprentice, Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, The Bachelor etc. are all staged. I don't think that is true.

However, what we are shown on TV is, well, thankfully, an edited version of what really happened. And how a video clip is edited can change what appears real about the reality. The editor has a lot of flexibility in changing the sequence of events. The editor can emphasize some portion at the expense of another. Then there is overlay of music and background commentary, captions, punctuations to allow commercial breaks etc.

I realized the power of editing recently when my father and I edited some home-videos that we had captured from our hand-held camcorder. Trimming from a raw video that was about 4 hours in all, we created 3 movies of a combined length of about an hour. In the process, we added special effects, captions and music; we chose clippings that we both felt were important; we re-arranged some of the clippings; we merged shots from different places---all for the sake of maintaining a coherent and crisp video, but distorting reality all the same!

So, next time you tune in to a reality show, remember is it just that: a show. But then, have you ever wondered, what is real anyway?

Indian bats score big runs!

2005-10-31T03:34:00.000+08:00

There is a good reason for Indians to cheer every time Andrew Flintoff, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, Jacques Kallis or Sanath Jayasuriya, like many other famous batsmen, dispatch the ball to the boundary, even if they did so against the Indian team. Do you know why? Because the weapons of mass destruction in their hands have been crafted in India (mostly in Meerut or Jalandhar).

India-made bats and cricket gear accounts for almost 90% of the global market. Just like Taiwan is the hub for computer hardware, India is the hub of choice for cricket gear. And just like the hardware manufacturers of Taiwan, Indian bat makers are likely to stay in the background, leaving global brands like Gray Nicolls, Slazenger, GM, and Kookaburra to capture peoples' minds and imagination.

In what reminds one of the colonial days, albeit in the reverse direction, India imports English willow (the raw material), converts them into top quality bats (finished goods) and exports them to the overseas market, the biggest one being England.

What about the Indian stars? Don't we see only corporate logos like MRF, Britannia and Hero Honda, on their bats. Well, that is all thanks to the corporate deals that the players have with these brands, thanks to which, bat makers have to stay out of limelight. But that also means there is a market for cheap bats with fake stickers which children emulating their stars like to own!

Indian bats rule. Most teams use them. There is one team that is an exception? Any guesses who are they?

============

Acknowledgement: Inspired from an article in "The Outlook" dated October 24, 2005.

Are you sure about your gender?

2005-10-28T09:07:00.000+08:00

We have to fill up so many forms for so many things. Generally, it is a mundane exercise.

Sometimes the forms do somethings to make filling them a bit lively.

I came across a form today, where there was a standard question about Gender. The options were: Male, Female, Unknown. Any takers for unknown??

There was another form a few years back that asked a question ''Father's gender''. Thankfully, there was no option of ''Unknown'' there.

Let us see the Mahatma more objectively

2005-10-23T03:06:00.000+08:00

While it is widely acknowledged that Mahatma Gandhi made the Indian freedom struggle a mass movement, how successful he was as a leader of the freedom movement is often hotly debated. He is blamed for having aggravated the communal and caste tensions, for having been stubborn and unrealistic at times, for having applied different yardsticks of morality for the British rulers and the Indian masses, for not having supported other leaders whose ideologies differed from his, for having caused partition etc.. He is also criticized for having promoted outdated and flawed economic ideas (see for example 'India Unbound' by Gurcharan Das). There are also those who just like to tear him apart for all kinds of (mostly unsubstantiated) reasons and ridicule him.

On the other hand, there are those who just like to glorify him, portray him as the one who single-handedly drove the British away, as one who had answers to all the problems and one who was always correct.

Whoever is extremely bent on either side, I think, misses the whole point.

Extreme critics, though often armed with historical data, fail to realize that with the benefit of hindsight, new patterns of thinking emerge and anybody can be criticized. The Indian society is, and has been, an extremely complex one. Had it not been Gandhi, it would have been some other leader with his/her own set of eccentricities and strategic mistakes, or may be a different sequence of events, that could equally be criticized. This is not to look down on the other leaders of the freedom movement, but just the simple fact that nobody is ever free of criticisms.

As far as ridiculing him goes, I think the perpetrators just lack the humility to see that this man was no five-minute shot to fame story; he commanded the love and respect of millions, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, Indians and foreigners, in a time when there was no Internet, no mobile phones, no instant messaging etc..

Those who overly glorify him end up taking the very essense of his being---his intimate connection with the people he led---away. They take him from the realm of human to super-human and make his message look obsolete and irrelevant to the ''real world'' that we live in. They miss the simple point that it was the world that made him Mahatma Gandhi from Mohandas Gandhi; he himself detested the title of Mahatma.

Now that it is already about 60 years since we won independence, I feel it is time we moved on. Let us try to see the essence of his being and see how we can apply his message today. There is a lot that this frail old man said and did which is relevant today and will always stay relevant. Always valuing an individual more than an institution, he said and illustrated so many simple straightforward messages which can help us enhance our personal effectiveness. And when seen in context with the ongoing developments in the world, they can very well form the basis of some social level policies too.

Let us move on by seeing the Mahatma more objectively. And that means, neither outrightly rejecting him, nor blindly following him.

Why Mahatma Gandhi inspires me?

2005-10-15T08:24:00.000+08:00

To some, Mahatma Gandhi was a saint. To some, a politician. To me, he is an unsurpassed inspiration. He was a manager who could get things done; he was a leader who led by example and connected to every member of his team. More importantly, he was a sensitive and caring human being.

Nowadays, it is common to debate whether Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology is still relevant. To me, the core message of the Mahatma is that of introspection and self-improvement. No one is born perfect. No society is free of evils. The best one can do is to sincerely try and improve oneself. And in trying to do so lies one's deepest happiness. This message, in my opinion, is timeless.

I am a researcher. In that capacity, Bapu's life and ways hold a special significance to me. He listened to his inner voice and pursued his passion with utmost dedication, without bothering about anybody's approval. He did not shy away from using unconventional methods (like the spinning wheel, textiles, or salt) to drive his point. He addressed problems that were not glamorous, but surely of high importance, for example, the need for proper sanitation in the villages of India. He understood the value of experimentation, and that of verifying theory with practice. He practiced and preached self-censureship. He focussed on depth in content, yet simplicity in presentation.

In fact, throughout his life, Mahatma Gandhi illustrated several downright practical messages which, though arising from a deep spiritual plane, were packaged such that they were simple to understand. I feel his genius lay in conveying the complicated in a simple way. Reduce wastage, make wise and judicious use of time and money, maintain transparent accounts, practice self-control, realize the importance of customer, control anger, fight lust, maintain good physical and mental health, seek and practice truth---these were some of the many practical messages of the Mahatma. And he practiced what he preached. That is what made him so unique.

Dietmar Rothermund, in his book, An Economic History of India, says: "The practical features of Gandhi's life and work are forgotten by those people who only see in him the saintly 'Father of the Nation' whose picture adorns innumerable walls. America one invented the cult of the self-made man, but if there ever was a truly self-made man it was Mahatma Gandhi". This self made man will always continue to inspire me.

Some interesting quotations

2005-10-13T00:10:00.000+08:00

This morning, I read the following in The Economist: "Not all that is famous is important, not all that is important is famous".

So true!

Another quote that I liked very much is "Accent and eccentricity are always found in others". I read this in The Reader's Digest a few years ago.

Remarkable how these quotations pack a deep message in a matter of a few simple words.

Lalu and the Indian Railways

2005-09-21T13:49:00.000+08:00

"Lalu doles out the Prasad for the common man", declared the Economic Times when the 2004 Railway budget was declared and no hikes in the passenger fares were announced. 14 months later, the September 26, 2005 issue of the India Today reports about Lalu's railways in an article called "On the Fast Track, Believe it or not". The title gives it away. The article is full of praise for Lalu for the way he has spearheaded the transformation of the railways to a more efficient and profitable organization than it was a few months earlier.

Indeed, part of the reason that the railways is doing well is because two of its biggest customers, namely, the cement and the steel indutries, are doing well. Also, some schemes (though the article does not say which ones) launched during Nitish Kumar's days (Lalu's predecessor) are only bearing fruit now. Still, the article argues, Lalu's role has been commendable.

First of all, the article argues that freezing the passenger fares, though populist at face value, could well prove sensible from a business view too. This is because, firstly, the highway infrastructure is improving; and secondly, the low-cost airline market is picking up. In presence of these trends, if railways were made increasingly expensive, they may actually lose customers, especially those at the top of the ladder. Lalu's idea is to make better use of the resources elsewhere and not burden the passenger directly.

Within a month of taking charge, it is said that Lalu paid a surprise visit to a goods train near Patna. This trigerred more such surprise inspections in the other parts of the country. An offshoot of these surprise visits was that the freight carrying capacity of the wagons was increased, though the article does not explain how exactly that was done. From what I infer, the situation was that the trains were carrying more than the earlier prescribed capacity, but the railways was not gaining anything as those things were being illegally transported, without paying the necessary tarriffs. Now, with the increase in prescribed load, I guess the railways can charge for all that it actually carries. It is reported that trains now are carrying about 8-16% more load than earlier, adding capacity, and hence increasing revenues. Other achievements in the freight sector include the reduction of the turnaround time of wagons from seven days to 5.5 days and an increase in the loading/unloading hours from 8 hours previously to 24 hours now. All these factors have been profitable from the railways point of view.

New measures have reportedly been initiated on the passenger side too. Officials at the level of the Divisional Railway Managers have been given the powers to reallocate the coaches as per the demand. Thus, coaches can be removed from trains that run vacant seats and be attached instead to trains that have been having a long waiting list. Previously, more senior officials could take such decisions, presumably making it a slow and non-responsive process. Being able to allocate the berths ``on demand'' reduces the ticket cancellation events. It is reported that every day, the railways returns about 8-10 crore rupees for cancelled tickets! Another innovative scheme being worked out to reduce cancellations is that people on the waiting lists could sometimes be upgraded to the higher classes. On an average, 53% of AC I, 38% of AC II and 22% of AC III seats are empty, whereas the occupancy for the sleeper class is about 112%. Thus, moving some randomly chosen customer up from the sleeper class to the AC class could potentially prevent the ticket cancellation, while also increasing the customer goodwill. What I am not sure, and the article does not mention, is how the railways intends to handle the practical problems that such an arrangement might create: "Why is it that his ticket was upgraded to AC while mine wasn't? Did we not pay the same fare?". Another enhanced facility that is coming the passengers' way, slowly but surely, is the feature of e-tickets. Currently this is available only on a few trains. The railways are also planning improvements in the railways enquiries, which it is planning to outsource.

Laloo is also said to have completely revolutionised the catering and the parcel businesses. Let us take the catering for example. Previously, the contracts were based on an application-based system, and the rates used were completely outdated. Now, the railways have moved to a bidding-based system. On Kalka mail, for example, an annual catering contract could be won for about 5-lakh rupees. Now, with the application based bidding, the same contract goes for Rs. 83.60 lakhs---an increase of 1575%. What I did not understand is that if the cost of the catering contract has gone up, the cost of the food on-board the trains should also go up. If I am not wrong, the meals are included in the tickets for only a few trains. So, in effect, this will raise the passenger fares---thus going against the minister's original philosophy. Anyways, this bidding based system has also been introduced to the parcel business and the food stalls on the stations; as expected, there has been a massive profit there too.

In short, railways looks to be in a good shape in Lalu's hands as per the India Today article. I have not done any more research to hear any counter views. But reading this India Today article, I was so pleasantly so surprised that I decided to summarize it here. Any comments?

Do something for the country

2005-09-11T14:16:00.000+08:00

A 12-year old cousin of mine once asked me, "Do you know why ours is a poor country?". Just as I was preparing an appropriate response for this yet-to-be-teenager, she prompty provided the answer: "Its because people like YOU (high emphasis) leave the country and go out, when they should be doing something for the country". Convinced that she had done her bit, she peacefully continued with the game of chess that I had been playing with her when this conversation took place, and showed no interest in my comments on her question.

My cousin's crisp analysis of the situation was obviously simplistic. Yet, I found it intriguiging. Not because I felt it was correct, but because that is exactly how I used to think when I was her age. Somehow, that is just the way we see things at that age. But now I realize there is a lot more to it. In fact, I really wonder what exactly does it mean to "do something for the country".

Akash is highly qualified. He works for XYZ corp., a multinational headquartered abroad, and oversees the country operations. Is he doing something for the country? Or how about Jumman chahca who, in his home-run restaurant business, employs ten people? How about an author settled abroad but with a keen understanding of the pulse of the country? An editor of a regional newspaper? A film-maker? A sports person? A scientist? A primary school teacher? A farmer? A police officer? A soldier? A housewife? A shopkeeper? Who, just who, is doing something for the country?

My answer is, perhaps confusingly, all and none at the same time. All, simply because each one's actions contribute to the overall functioning of the system through a complex web of give-and-take interactions. None, because exceptions aside, all have been driven by a "micro-optimization" program through their lives and have settled for the best they could do for themselves and their family. Fair or unfair, some ended up big and some small. Some prominent and some obscure. Some inside the country and some outside. That is the way the world is.

Coming back to my cousin's observation, I now believe that the best a person can do is to not do harm to the country to the best of his/her understanding and conciousness. Other than that, if one is committed to his/her profession and responsibilities, then he/she is "doing something for the country". Doing something for the country is not just about getting out there in public, raising objections about the wrong-doings of the government, mobilizing public opinion, possibly contesting elections as Mr. (or Ms.) Clean, and overhauling the system. That job is best done by film heroes. Ordinary mortals can make do with lesser aims, and still "do something for the country".

Why pursuing a PhD no longer appeals to me?

2005-09-07T07:25:00.000+08:00

The title of this post should immediately make it clear that at some point, I strongly considered pursuing a PhD. But I no longer feel the same enthusiasm. So what has caused this change? Here I try to crystallize my thoughts.

First, a bit of background. I am 28, and I recently finished my part-time Master of Engineering (M.Eng) program by research. I have been working in the area of wireless communication networks. My M.Eng thesis received some extremely positive reviews from my examiners; I have also accumulated a few publications to my name through these years. I do feel good about both these facts.

One chapter ends and a new one starts. Now that my M.Eng. is done, "what is next?" needs to be answered. In one way, the answer should be obvious. A PhD. from a good place, since I have always been a good student with excellent academic results, I like research, I am inspired by great researchers, I like to learn, I am academically inclined, I like to teach and can do that well, blah blah blah. In fact, that is what I have been told by a lot of people and exactly how I thought till about a few months back. PhD it was, the only question was the discipline. I (obviously) considered engineering---communications and networking in particular; and then for a short period, economics---mainly to diversify, or try something else, something close to people and society, as I would say then.

In the last few months, my thinking has been changing. Discussions with people and my own reflections on research have made me re-consider what I had felt had been the most obvious choice for me: pursuing a PhD. There are several reasons. None of these reasons completely explain the situation on their own, but taken together, they do. Let me point the reasons out:

1. I already have the research experience, thanks to my M.Eng. research, which was largely unguided, independent and borderless at start. So, a PhD will be, in terms of experience, similar to what I have already seen. The atmosphere might make some difference, but I really doubt it can be too much of a difference.

2. Given my nature and liking, I am attracted to theoretical problems which will have, or have had, a profound impact on the way the knowledge in the field has shaped. Thinking on these problems does whet my appetite for intellectual satisfaction. But then, that is not enough: a researcher needs to publish. In theoretical problems, breaking new ground is not an easy pursuit by any measure. To say the least, it can be a slow-process, almost a lifelong commitment. In fact, a real handful do what can be considered truly ground-breaking. Most other researchers assimilate, follow-up, tweak, put in perspective, combine, and see some new trends or lines of reasoning from each others' work. Personally, I do feel greatly inspired by creative thinking seen in good research papers, but I feel I should see that appreciation in perspective. Being able to appreciate great music is necessary but not sufficient a reason for one to try to become a musician!

3. Related to the significance of publications also is the third reason. My first hand experience tells me that at least some of the problems that researchers work on are products of imagination (theory for the sake of theory), not of one mind, but several minds, clever ones indeed, all motivated with a common need to publish! As much as I do not want to work on such problems, I also do not fancy putting myself in competition with many others who, in my eyes at least, will be pursuing and solving shallow imaginary problems but publishing nevertheless. There is really more to life than chasing research publications!

4. I like to learn, but which subject do I really like? After much thought, I conclude that there is something fundamental about knowledge and learning, regardless of discipline, that I get thrilled about. Thus, I get equally interested and inspired by engineering, economics, mathematics, computer science, biology, history, psychology, or even political science for that matter. Going deep into a specific topic is pleasure to the grey-cells, but getting an all-round exposure to a wide variety of ideas too is a pleasure for me.

5. I equally (as much as thinking about academic subjects) enjoy working with people and managing them and I do possess leadership skills. This is one aspect of my personality that has been acknowledged by many people (most importantly myself) at every stage of my life so far. So, do I want to confine myself to the boundaries of a university, work long hours on a specific academic problem, interact with a small set of people with a similar background---basically, live the life of a graduate student as epitomized in these four words: department, apartment, advisor, Budweiser--- when I could be getting some other kind of experience that would be enjoyable in its own right?

A researcher-turned-entrepreneur once said that PhD theses mostly deal with interesting problems that are not necessarily important while making a successful business involves dealing with important problems that are often not interesting (to researchers). That pretty much sums up my reasons for feeling doubtful about pursuing a PhD. I think I should get some new experience; work on problems that are important---those that also require strategizing and acting, though perhaps not at the same depth as an academic problem; broaden my horizons; and hone and actively use my people and general management skills. There is no reason to believe that one does not get opportunity to tackle difficult problems outside of research. Research can well be an attitude, even if it is not a profession. The one thing that I do feel very much pinched about, I must admit, is that if I do not get a PhD., I cannot teach at a university. I hope there will be other avenues to teach ...

A more important question that comes in for me is, "Okay, so no PhD. But then what?". Some say that if I say "bye" to research and academia (by not pursuing a PhD), I need to brace myself for the corporate world by getting an MBA, as that will not only be a tangible stamp but will also teach me the much needed business knowledge and get me the right kind of network. Some others say that I already have the skills that an MBA course can teach, at least the soft skills that is; the specific knowledge can be picked up as I go along. They also argue that with an M.Eng degree already under your belt, I must come across as qualification crazy if I were to go for an MBA now. Do you have any suggestions?

What a contrast

2005-08-25T09:20:00.000+08:00

On 16th August 2005, The Economic Times was edited by none other than the corporate wizard Vivek Paul. The newspaper chronicled the history and achievements of India Inc. from 1947 till 2005. The newspaper exuded optimism and confidence about the prospects of the corporate sector in India, and indirectly about the future of India on the whole. The overall tone of the newspaper did leave a good taste, I must say.

Later in the evening, I happened to be driving through a street at Ludhiana, a city in the northern state of Punjab. It was about 11 pm in the night. There were at least 500 people sleeping on the pavements---practically any spot that could be occupied had been occupied by sleeping humans.

What a contrast that was! The Economic Times that morning reported the salaries of executives in the corporate sector running into crores of rupees and made optimistic projections about the future; and now, right in front of my eyes, I saw human beings---fellow citizens---having not even a proper place to rest for the night.

To an optimist, this will be of no concern. "Prosperity will percolate eventually", he will say. I tend to buy that, though how long it might take to percolate is something that eludes me. But generally speaking, it certainly seems to be a better deal to create resources than to distribute poverty. In the prior case, some will have more, may be much more, than the many others. But it is these some who will evetually lift the many others out of poverty. This reasoning appeals to logic; only time can prove its correctness.

India --- a sort of a dream

2005-08-16T05:30:00.000+08:00

One question that I often get asked whenever I visit home (India) is how it feels to be back. The question comes packaged in several ways. For example, "This chaos and filth on the streets must be frustrating you completely, isn't it?", or "I am sure you do not feel at home here anymore, do you?" or "Do you also have an upset stomach soon after landing like my nephew who comes back once every two years?", and so on.

So how does it feel to be back home? Well, to say the least, it feels very good and certainly, I still feel very much at home. It is true that I have lost touch with many a things. Yet, I have gained something that I much cherish. And that is a sort of perspective, a perspective that allows me to put whatever I observe at home against the backdrop of the developments happening around the world; to reflect on how the world outside might perceive things that are happening here; how other people elsewhere might respond in similar situations; how I, if asked about something by a foreigner friend, might want to respond; and most importantly, a perspective that makes me think that a number of our problems are there due to the sheer size, diversity and history of the system that we are dealing with, and not due to any particular deficiency on our part as a population. In fact, generally speaking, I have come to believe that we Indians are not that different from the other people. We share the same dreams and aspirations, hopes and fears, likes and dislikes as other people. Yet, our country is unique. Ours is a country where two citizens may not even find a common language to talk to each other; where the education and prosperity level does not seem quite right for the democracy, yet democracy seems to be the only glue that can hold this collossus together; where opinions and theories about everything abound and flourish, with or without the substantiating facts. Yet, we continue to live on and progress in one way or the other. To borrow Sulman Rushdie's words from his novel "The Midnight's Children", India is a sort of a dream. That is precisely what fascinates me about my country, and that is precisely how I feel whenever I come back home---a feeling of being part of a massive dream!

Freeways --- the Indian way!

2005-08-15T09:10:00.000+08:00

Some recent advances notwithstanding, India's highway infrastructure is generally regarded as abysmal. Perhaps rightly so---it depends on what you compare against.

Recently, I undertook a 300 plus km road journey from the capital New Delhi to Ludhiana in Punjab. The journey was along the Grand-Trunk (GT) road which, in this part of the country, has been renovated significantly. Today, the entire highway is 4 (2 by 2) lane, with space for road shoulders on either sides; the road condition is generally good, allowing travel at reasonably high speeds without interruptions; there are eateries/petrol stations all along the way, which, besides their usual business, provide a welcome relief for passengers by housing reasonably clean toilets; and vehicles pay toll to use the highway. Yet, the highway looks no where as "jazzy" as the Malaysia's north-south highway or a US interstate freeway. While the highways in the developed world are exclusively for vehicles that pay the toll, on the GT road, I noticed bi-cycles occupying the road shoulder. I believe they would have reached the roads from the sides which are not very strictly guarded. Then, highways in the developed countries usually by-pass the cities and towns---one exits the highway to enter the towns and cities. By contrast, our pay road occasionally ran right through the cities and also had to accomodate traffic lights once in a while. Our bus-driver even took a U-turn on the highway and drove about 500 m in the wrong direction! Now that happens only in India!

Oddities at first sight, it was these observations that made me think. Perhaps this is a reasonable model for developing the highway infrastructure in our country: Develop four-lane pay roads along the existing national highways by widening the existing roads and without excessively curbing the avenues for entering the leaving the roads midways (between the toll stations) for entry/exit from/to the villages en-route. This no-doubt somewhat hinders with the free-flowing nature of the traffic, otherwise possible on high-speed highways. Nevertheless, the speeds allowed by such highways are clearly higher than the old roads that we have had, thanks largely to the separation of the traffic flows along the two directions. More importantly, it is cheaper to build such highways than extensive networks that countries like the US boast. Secondly, it gives everybody, including the one who can only afford a bi-cycle or a bullock-cart, something to reap from this investment. Yes, they do not look as majestic as those in richer countries, but then, who cares. They are freeways in another sense, in my opinion more suitable for our needs.

Come on Bollywood, stop being copy-cats!

2005-08-08T07:20:00.000+08:00

Last night, I watched a recent Hindi movie from Bollywood. The movie started off well and I was enjoying it. However, just about 40 minutes into the movie, I realized that the core plot of the movies has been taken from an English (Hollywood) movie that I had seen a few years back. This was nothing new in fact --- perhaps I should have expected it right from the start of the movie.

Why do our directors and producers shy away from working on original concepts and plots? Is there a dearth of new ideas for good stories at home? I certainly do not think so. Not in a country of a billion people who speak hundreds of different languages; who bring with them layers and layers of culture and history; and who, by very nature, like to relate to stories of their own almost all the time. So why do our movie makers have to look westward and steal plots, sometimes even entire scene sequences?

Come on guys, be daring and original. We do not want copy cats.

Starting this blog!

2005-08-06T13:51:00.000+08:00

Starting this blog is a matter of great excitement for me. There is an almost non-stop fountain of thoughts going on in my head at all times. The prospect of getting them aligned and crystallised as I publish my blog is wonderful. But figuring out what to write here is quite a task. I used to keep a diary; I still maintain a rough log of what I do at work but, unlike this blog, they are all for my own consumption.

So, as this blog grows and hopefully takes a life of its own, what will it represent: me? Well, may be not. At least not completely. Perhaps more like a filtered version of my observations and thoughts. May be that is good enough. Afterall, am I, in the eyes of the world, anything more than some filtered version of my thoughts?

Hi everyone!

2005-08-06T13:40:00.000+08:00

I observe the world. I think about the world. Yet I think hard only when I write. So here the observer in me writes!