The State of Kerala's Highways

Route: Kattipuram – Edappal – Kunnamkulam – Guruvayur (~40km)

A steady drizzle greeted us when we disembarked at Kattipuram. Between the five of us, we had as many pieces of luggage, one umbrella and not the slightest idea of where the exit was. Luckily, the only other person on the platform happened to be a lady in a blue sari, holding flags and a signal beacon. Soon after she waved off the train, this railway official not only helped us reach the platform but also summoned a taxi to take us to Guruvayur (40km, Rs. 520)

It was an interesting drive from Kattipuram to Guruvayur. The driver, Ravi (098.955.64524), went blazing into the dark night, one hand on the wheel and the other holding a mobile into which he updated his friends on the amby’s latest coordinates.

The roads were not as bad as NH-17 but we wondered aloud about the variations – why were some stretches so terrible? Why did some stretches spilt into two levels separated by a wicker fence? Curious passengers were just what the doctor ordered for Ravi. For the rest of the journey he was telling us about the hazards of corruption, politics, mismanagement and road engineering in Kerala.

A Malaysian company had abandoned the Kattipuram-Guruvayur road construction after its representative committed suicide over non-payment of dues. The PWD had refused to pay because the road had not been completed within the contract period. Why? – because water distribution pipes had been laid alongside the single-lane roads and relocating these pipes required the cooperation of another government department – the Kerala Water Works, which did not have the money or the resources to do the job.

Soon after the suicide, PWD contracted a local company to finish the job for Rs. 76 lakhs. The job was completed “as usual” and when the rains arrived, the roads promptly got washed away.

That was Ravi’s version. What was the real story? Here is some more information from Abhishek.

This road was a part of the Rs 16.32 billion Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), inked in 2002. Out of this, Rs 3.88 billion was funded by the state and the rest came from the World Bank. The work started in April 2003 and was supposed to be completed by April 2006. But, the project, which was to be completed in four phases, had come to a standstill in the first phase itself, with only 30 per cent of the work completed. Time and cost overruns had spiked the state's share to over Rs 2,000 crore.

The KSTP project was conceived in 2002 in the midst of a fiscal and infrastructure crisis in Kerala. Motor vehicle traffic on Kerala's roads had been rising annually by 13% since 1990. However, 70% of the State Highway roads remained single-lane (3.8 meters wide) roads and the rest were merely dual-lane roads (7.0m) with limited shoulder space.

WB agreed to lend GOK a loan of $255 million with the understanding that GOK would contribute around $81 million on its own.


The Kattipuram-Guruvayur road was part a 127km section contracted to PATI-BEL JV for Rs. 213 Crores (Rs.1.7 Cr / Km). PATI Bel is a joint venture between PATI of Malaysia and Bhageeratha Constructions, Kerala. The departed soul - Lee See Ben, was the chief project manager of this project.


…………………………………

Interesting points:

• Maintenance: Less than 70% of Kerala road network's annual maintenance needs, which are estimated at $50 million, are met by the PWD's slim budget
• Accident Rates: Kerala is also infamous for one of the highest accident rates of any state in India at 2,500 deaths annually. Loss of life and property cause an estimated loss of $100-200 million per year, or the equivalent of 1-2% of Kerala's annual GDP
• Highly indebted State Govt.: For the past decade or so, Kerala's government expenditure had outstripped its revenue both in absolute size and growth. While total revenue grew annually during 1993 -2002 at 11%, total expenditure grew by 13%, taking Kerala's fiscal deficit from 1.4% of GDP in 1993 to 4.5% of GDP in 2002. Faced with an over-stretched revenue base, the government took on additional debt to finance this deficit. But, at a debt/GDSP ratio of 32%, Kerala's debt burden was considerably higher than all of the southern states (AP, TN and K) as well as the Indian average of 24%. On a per capita basis, Kerala carried Rs. 7,414 of debt, placing it in significantly more danger than the next worst southern state, AP, at Rs. 4,724 and the Indian average at Rs. 4,996.

Coorg: Land of Coffee, Cardamom and Cariappa

Date: 26-28 September 2007
Route: NH-48 - Mangalore-Bantwal; State Highways through Mani-Puttur-Suliya-Sampan-Madikeri


Mangalore has a small airport perched on the bulldozed hilltops of Bajpe. Just after spending four hours at Mumbai’s swanky new domestic terminal, this one looked very pedestrian - an entry, a large hall, two conveyor belts, two ‘tourist –taxi’ counters and the exit.

A prepaid taxi to Madikeri costs Rs. 2100. Rather steep for 165km but not if you consider the fact that few drivers want to risk their lives, limbs and axles on this road. It was a long, stomach-churning ride. We were told that it would take five hours but a few miles after Suliya we found a long traffic jam in a reserve forest area. A truck overloaded with timber had sunk into a pothole and a Mallu crew was busy trying to dig out the wheels and haul it out with another Tata 5-tonner. We waited for 45mts and then decided to squeak past the mess. When we finally reached Madikeri, it was past 10:30PM – we had been on the road for nearly eight hours!

Mahindra Kodagu Valley looked lovely at night. Pathways laid with neat stone slabs and recessed lights, smartly dressed bellboys, a beautiful naalukettu foyer, cheerful staff (mostly locals), a smooth check-in and a quiet ride in an electric golf-cart to Jujuba - our cottage overlooking the rain-soaked hills.

MKV was much larger than the Mahindra Club property at Binsar. Spread across 33 acres, this resort had eight cottage complexes (170 rooms) named after flowering trees (Phalsa, Masaul, Carandas, Barbadas, Amla, Jujuba, Kakum and Lakoocha). A recreation room perched atop a hill overlooked coffee and cardamom plantations, a swimming pool, an ayurvedic centre, a jogging pathway and an adventure-activity area. It had a good restaurant serving buffet breakfast (Rs.170/head), a shop selling coffee, snacks and mementos. The resort employed over 300 staff and claimed that it was fully booked for the season. If that was true, there would have been around 700 people around but it was so spread out and multi-tiered and that it never seemed crowded.

We spent the morning exploring the facilities – recreation room (TT, caroms, chess, artwork), the jogging path, the swimming pool and photographing large butterflies and dew-laden spider orb-webs. In the afternoon we went for some local sightseeing. An MKV bus (Rs.150 pax) took us on a well conducted tour to Abbey Falls, Gaddige mausoleum complex – a set of three Islamic style tombs, the Omkareshwar temple and, finally, to Raja’s Seat, a place from where the local rulers watched alleged traitors and criminals getting tossed off a cliff while enjoying the sunsets.

Back at MKV by 6:30PM, I spent some time browsing some coffee-table books on Kodagu history. The Coorgis fought wars for the Lingayat kings Muddu Raja (1680s) and Doddaveerappa (early 1700); got slaughtered for opposing Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan and found their salvation in an alliance with Robert Tayor (East India Co.) against Tipu in the Battle of Srirangapatnam (1799). Soon after Chikkaveera Raja’s death, the British annexed Coorg in 1834 and turned it into what we now know as the “Scotland of the East” and the “Land of Coffee, Cardamom and Cariappa”.

It was a strange story of a martial community that never had a king of their own. Their customs, traditions (ancestor worship, sacred groves), language and architecture point to strong links with the Nairs of Kerala. It seemed quite likely that they migrated upland from the nearest port cities of Cannanore and Telicherry in Kerala. Wonder if some conclusive research has gone into these links.

The town itself was unimpressive. You would have expected a town dominated by army veterans would have some semblance of a neat cantonment. Not so. It was sad to see statues of Field Marshal Cariappa and Gen. Thimmaya looking down sternly on another ramshackle urban sprawl.

We returned to Mangalore in an Indica. The vehicle from Machaiah Travels (092.433.93238) was a lot smoother and faster than the antiquated amby that had brought us to into the hills.

What is Leveraging?

Simply put, leveraging is borrowing to invest. The most familiar use of leverage is using a mortgage to buy a home. In return for a down payment you receive funds to purchase an asset that would otherwise be too expensive. The hope is that the home will appreciate in value, and when you sell you will be able to realize a profit over what you bought it for (including interest payments).

There are several ways in which markets can expand:

• By selling to hitherto closed markets (India, China)
• Through higher productivity- producing goods and services more cheaply
• Globalization - shifting production to low-cost countries
• Opening closed sectors for pvt companies - entering govt. domain of utilities, infrastructure, education and health
• Increasing levels of consumer debt

It is the last one - increasing consumer debt – where leveraging plays a big role.

Leverage can be created through options, futures, margin and other financial instruments. For example, say you have $1,000 to invest. This amount could be invested in 10 shares, but to increase leverage, you could invest the $1,000 in five options contracts. You would then control 500 shares instead of just 10.


Most companies use debt to finance operations. By doing so, a company increases its leverage because it can invest in business operations without increasing its equity. For example, if a company formed with an investment of $5 million from investors, the equity in the company is $5 million - this is the money the company uses to operate. If the company uses debt financing by borrowing $20 million, the company now has $25 million to invest in business operations and more opportunity to increase value for shareholders.

Economics & Self-Interest

I have been ploughing (slowly, painfully) through Amartya Sen's "The Argumentative Indian". A related wiki search led me to an interesting clip:

The absurdity of public-choice theory is captured by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen in the following little scenario: "Can you direct me to the railway station?" asks the stranger. "Certainly," says the local, pointing in the opposite direction, towards the post office, "and would you post this letter for me on your way?" "Certainly," says the stranger, resolving to open it to see if it contains anything worth stealing.
--Linda McQuaig, All You Can Eat

Clearly, he was making good use of pejorative rhetoric and sophistry (deceptive reasoning). But one question led to another and here is the days collection of interesting terms:

PUBLIC CHOICE THEORY studies the behavior of voters, politicians, and government officials as (mostly) self-interested agents and their interactions in the social system. It is the use of modern economic tools to study problems that are traditionally in the province of political science.

POSITIVE ECONOMICS sometimes defined as the economics of "what is", whereas normative economics discusses "what ought to be". It focuses on facts and cause-and-effect relationships to identify a problem or suggest how a system could be improved by changes in rules .

RATIONAL IGNORANCE: Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any potential benefit one could reasonably expect to gain from that decision, and so it would be irrational to waste time doing so.

PUBLIC GOOD is a good that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable. Consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce the amount of the good available for consumption by others;

BUDGET-MAXIMIZING MODEL argues that rational bureaucrats will always and everywhere seek to increase their budgets in order to increase their own power, thereby contributing strongly to state growth and potentially reducing social efficiency. This is an influential new stream of public choice theory and rational choice analysis in public administration inaugurated by William Niskanen, in 1971.

RENT SEEKING occurs when an individual, organization, or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic and/or legal environment rather than by making a profit through trade and production of wealth. Eg,: A farm lobby that seeks tariff protection or an entertainment lobby that seeks expansion of the scope of copyright.

Container Ships and Indian Ports

A fwd from DM on the Emma Maersk set me wondering – If ships carry 90% of India’s export-import volume, how much do the containers carry? How do our ports compare internationally?

According to IPA data (2005-6), Indian ports carried 4.7 million TEUs last year, of which nearly 60% went through JNPT-Mumbai (2.6 m TEU). This port has a draft of 12.5m and so the largest ships that can get here hold up to 5,000 TEUs (panamax).

To put things in perspective, here are the numbers for China – just the port of Hong Kong handles more than 22m TEUs annually. Four of the top ten container ports are Chinese.

Two critical factors affect the economies of ship operations – operation costs and time. On both counts Indian ports lag far behind the international benchmarks. In Hong Kong it takes eight hours to unload and load a ship; Indian ports take an average of 3.4 days (78 hours!).

Increasingly, global shipping lines are going for ships that can carry more than 7500 TEUs. A BRS-Alphaliner report says that 150 such ships have already been ordered, in addition to the 40 already in operation. By 2015 vessels with 12,000 TEUs (Suezmax) and 18,000 TEUs (Malaccamax) will become common. And India, with its strategic location and 7600km coastline will get only “feeder” ships and higher costs per container :(

And here are the vital stats of the lady from Denmark who is rewriting the rules:

• Length - 1,302 ft (397m)
• Width - 207 ft (56m)
• Net cargo - 123,200 tons
• Engine - 14 in-line cylinders diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
• Cruise Speed - 31 mi/h (50kmph) – special silicon paint reduces drag and saves 317,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of diesel per year!
• Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (stated capacity is only 11,000 TEUs)
• Crew - 13 people
• First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
• Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Ports capable of hosting Emma - Suez Canal (Egypt), Gothenburg, Aarhus, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Algeciras, Singapore, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas and Felixstowe.

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Note:

50 Largest Container Ports, 2004: Four ports handled more than 10m TEUs annually – all in the Far East

Top 20 Container ports, 2002

Phronesis

An interesting new word.

In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he distinguishes between two intellectual virtues: sophia and phronesis. Sophia (usually translated "wisdom") is the ability to think well about the nature of the world. Phronesis ("practical wisdom") is the ability to think about how and why we should act in order to change things, and especially to change our lives for the better.

Some related insights from a presentation...

- six abilities that constitute Phronesis -

1. to make a judgment on goodness;
2. to share contexts with others to create ba / shared sense;
3. to grasp the essence of a particular situation / things;
4. to reconstruct the particulars into universals using language / concepts / narratives;
5. to use any necessary means well to realize concepts for common goodness;
6. to foster phronesis in others to build a resilient organisation;

Philosophy is more important than technologies. Such things as money and technologies are just means to serve people...There is no meaning to a technology if it does not consider people at the basis of it. What drives a firm's growth is philosophy...A true technology is a crystal of philosophy.
- Souichiro Honda

Joking is very difficult. You have to grasp the atmosphere of the ocassion and the opportunity. It exists only for that particular moment, and not anywhere else. The joke is in the timing and it doesn't work at any other moment...To joke is to understand human emotion."
- Suoichiro Honda

"Strategy is a creation of events. Quantify you objectives as much as you can. And develop a story to crystallise the numbers by specifying by specifying the beginning-middle-end story
structure."

AASTHO & Institution Building

MoSRTH is making a serious effort to improve highways in India. Having had some success with the GQ, it now aims at introducing expressways linking important cities. As of now there are hardly any in the country. One links Ahmedabad - Baroda and another is the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. There is one coming up between Delhi and Gurgaon but this one is just a disconnected set of seven flyovers; it lacks the most basic characteristic of an expressway: access control.

But hey, we're on the learning curve and one agency that the experts look up to is AASTHO. An odd sounding acronym for Indian ears but it stands for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association whose primary goal is to foster development, operation, and maintenance of an integrated national transportation system.

Experts talk about AASTHO with a degree of reverence and awe; of how they have institutionalized continuous learning; of how they incorporate the latest developments in technology and accidents-data to create

Today I came across a sampler - – “Guide for Development of Rest Areas”.

Everything is measured and studied – safety, cost-benefit, motorist safety. First a Systems Analysis is used to determine existing and future needs of the overall system. This includes – traffic volume, annual usage survey data, spacing intervals.

Interesting tidbits:

• On rural inter-state highways, absence of rest areas results in 52% increase in shoulder-related accidents
• Reduction in drive fatigue accident rates due to the rest area is 3.7%
• Well designed, well maintained rest areas create a positive image for state motorists; enhance quality of life for residents; promote tourism;
• USC 111 prohibits commercial information at travel info centers or rest areas
• Spacing between stopping opportunities – 100km (60mi) or one hour
• Exterior lighting – affects physical safety, loitering / criminal activity, “inadquate lighting makes travelers feel unsafe when stopping. Characteristics of major options –
• Mercury vapour – blue-green light; fair color; poor cost efficiency
• Metal halide – white; good color; moderate efficienc
• High-pressure sodium – yellow; poor color; good efficiency
• Low-pressure sodium – yellow; very poor color; very cost efficient

When will IRC grow up to become an AASTHO?

Sunglasses

Safilo, Marcolin, Marchon, and De Rigo, produce the vast majority of the world's sunglasses. These are all a cluster of family-controlled companies in the mountainous province of Belluno in Italy. The biggest of them, Luxottica, had sales of €4.7 billion ($5.9 billion) last year.

Brands owned by Luxxotica:
- LensCrafters, America's biggest optical retailer, in 1995
- Ray-Ban, acquired in 1999, (43% of wholesale sales)
- Oakley, a California-based maker of sunglasses
- ILORI - a new retail chain for ultra-fashionable (meaning very expensive)
- Lucrative contract-licences from Burberry(British fashion house), Polo Ralph Lauren (American), Tiffany (American jeweller)

Sunglasses are the third-fastest growing category in luxury goods after shoes and handbags. Newly rich Russians, among others, are buying such items at hitherto unthinkable prices. Hermès makes a $140,000 handbag and Montblanc sells a pen for $700,000. So, why not persuade folks to spend $10,000 on a pair of sunglasses?

Economist, August 2007

First Bridge Across the Niagra

Problem - How did they build the first suspension bridge across the Niagra Falls in 1848?

Constraints - The waters are too rough; the narrowest point is a gorge that is 800m (244m) across. You need to get the first cable across but a boat crossing is not feasible; the distance is beyond the bow-and-arrow range.

The solution? A kite-flying competition!

The engineer, Charles Ellet Jr. announced a prize of $5 for the first person to fly a kite across the gorge. A young boy named Homan Walsh won the prize. His kit string was used to pull a cord across, which was followed by an iron-wire cable and then steel cables, until a configuration strong enough was put together for building a suspension bridge!

Bridges over the Niagra

Doodles for Sale

230807

Fine art puzzles me… What exactly differentiates juvenile doodles from the work of an accomplished artist? Why would anybody pay millions to buy a page pulled out of a scrapbook? What deep thought inspires an artist to create something? How on earth does a curator decide to choose one doodle over another?

Whatever be the inspiration behind a work of art, I was mighty impressed by the way Amitava’s work was presented at Gallery Espace, last week. You opened the glass entrance so see an array of square pillars in jet black, each mounted with a perfectly framed drawing. All the drawings were beautifully framed in black, red or a plain wooden finish.. Entire walls had been painted black or overlaid with handmade paper to give each section a different mood.

The drawlings themselves looked rather monotonous. My eyes could barely distinguish one piece from another – they all looked like careless doodles with a bit of space set aside at the bottom of the page for a signoff -- “Amitava…Bhimtal 2006”…”Amitava Paris 2003…Yangon 2005…Peru..”. Some of it was ripped out of a drawing book; others had just thick horizontal lines drawn on European newspapers or magazines and a few were carefully drawn on expensive handmade paper.

Perhaps these were simple tools to express complex thoughts; yet, it was the presentation that was completely extraordinary.

Movies 2007

1. PYAR KE SIDE EFFECTS 190107
   
2. THE ENGLISH PATIENT ..... 210107
   
3. GURU (Mani Ratnam)........200107
4. CHOKER BALI (Rituparno Ghosh) ...........270107
5. WATER (Deepa Mehta).....290107
6. RAINMAN..................................010207
7. OPEN SEASON - animation............050207
8. MONSTER'S BALL.........................070204
9. REAR WINDOW (Hitchcock).......................110207
10. CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD ...............
11. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF ...........................220707
12. RAINCOAT............................................... 230207
13. CARS - animation ............................260207
14. EKALAVYA..................................... 030307
15. BETWEEN STRANGERS .............. 130307
16. KHOSLA KA GHOSLA ..................090307
17. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA ........310307
18. TRAFFIC SIGNAL (Madhur Bhandarkar)......030407
19. THE NAMESAKE (Mira Nair)................060407
20. THE INCREDIBLES - animation..............160407
21. KUNDUN (Martin Scorcese)....................240407
22. BHEJA FRY...............................260407
23. HONEYMOON TRAVELS
24. BOYS DON'T CRY....................
25. ROBOTS - animation ...............
26. MARCH OF THE PENGUINS...................
27. LAST KING OF SCOTLAND...............070807
28. METRO (KK Menon, Konkana Sen)..............
29. OVER THE HEDGE- animation .......................120807
30. SHOOT-OUT AT LOKHANDWALA.......... 290807
31. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS ................. 020907
32. CHAK DE..........................................041007
33. ORU ARABI KATHA (Mal.; another classic by Srinivasan... a firebrand communist ends up as a laborer in capitalist Dubai)......021007
34. ORE KADAL (Mal. -- Mamooty the economist and a vulnerable housewife)....061007
35. PATHER PACHALI..... (Bengali, S. Ray)..........101007
36. BHOOL BHULLAIYA (Hindi; Priyadarsan's remake of Manichitrathaazu)...131007
37. LAAGA CHUNARI ME DAAG (Hindi; Benaras babe becomes callgirl..)...081107
38. OM SHANTI OM (Hindi; a case of mediocrity exceeding hype)...091107
39. THE TAILOR OF PANAMA (Eng; A tailor spinning yarns..surprised to see 'Harry Potter')..111107
40. TAXI No.9211 (Hin; slapstick by Nana Patekar & John Abraham)
    
41. FIRST WIVES CLUB (Eng; yawn..)...011207
42. 36 CHOWRINGHEE LANE (Eng; Loneliness and the elderly... dark, sad movie by the Shashi Kapoor family - Jennifer Kendal, Kunal, Sanjana..)..021207
43. LAKSHYA (Hin; podgy teenager returns to boot-camp after being rejected by his girlfriend. Some good shots of highaltitude warfare...syrupy but good movie by Farhan Akhtar)...071207
44. DHAMAAL (Hin; Hilarious movie - esp Javed Jaffrey's role as Manav)...081207
45. JOHNNY GADDAR (Hin.; Damn good crime thriller by Sriram Raghavan)...091207
    

Yamagata

I have never seen Yoichi Yamagata so happy and ebullient. He had his son beside him and his first major exhibition was going to be inaugurated today evening. His son, an upcoming photographer specializing on African wildlife, had joined him yesterday at Delhi.

YY pulled out the latest copies of his portfolio from his Tumi-bag and passed them around. His son stood by, smiling awkwardly - he was obviously uncomfortable in an office setting, dressed in formals when he’d rather be tramping through the savannah. He had the built of a soldier - square shoulders, a trim tummy, and muscled arms that spoke of a thousand bruises and insect bites.

The exhibition at IIC is titled, "Sketches from Madhya Pradesh, India". It had been arranged almost an year ago after a chance meeting at Sanchi between YY and an artist named Kalicharan Gupta. Perhaps it is incorrect to say "chance meeting" because such meetings are quite routine for a person who never steps outdoors without his sketching-kit. He loves being on the streets with complete strangers, drawing them out of their shells with pencils and watercolors.

I admire him for his ability to fill every spare minute with what he loves doing. His son too has caught on to this wonderful attitude – he works as a ‘wedding photographer’ in Japan from Sep-Dec and uses the money to fund his passion for photography.

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Exhibition at IIC Annexe, Delhi from 11-19 Aug.2007; 11:00-19:00hrs

Yamagata-junior’s website – www.goyamagata.com

Laya Gana Madhura Lehari

I can’t remember the last time I sat through a concert, listening to music that gave me goose bumps.

On Thursday, I got an invitation to “Malhaar” , an event organized by ICCR at Kamani Auditorium. It was the promise of a flute recital that drew me there but the programme started with a percussion ensemble by T R Dhandapany.

I had never heard of TRD, so I was grateful for the brief introduction on his concept of “Laya Gana Madhura Lehari". A golden-yellow curtain then floated up to reveal three podiums on the stage. Set against the dark curtains, each of 12 musicians looked like gems in a Jewellery showcase. At the centre were the Mridamgams played by the maestro with his son D. Karthiknarayan. On the flanks were the artists handling Tablas, Ghatam, Phakawaj, Dholak, Kanjira, Morsing, and the Violin. All were dressed in whites except for the vocalist who was in bright purple.

Drums always surprise me. Once the rhythm gets going I find it very difficult to believe that such music is coming from mere mortals. I close my eyes and see an angry ocean and waves crashing wildly on rocky cliffs, tossing ships around like matchsticks; armies rushing headlong into battle; a nuclear explosion in time-lapse…and I open my eyes to see people I would not recognize on the streets. Unremarkable, slouchy, portly folks with glum faces that reveal no trace of the talent they hide within.

This performance was slightly different. Whenever the artists played in single or in pairs, the others would mark the rhythm with hands and fingers that played out a dance of their own, marking the talas. Eyes would sparkle and big grins would welcome every innovation or difficult patch. Every now and then a pair of dancers would float in for some Bharatanatyam and Kathak. I found the plump Kathak dancer particularly unbearable for his silly grin and the way he tossed about his hands like a rag-doll.

Anyway, the music was great.

“Lost” in Delhi -- Villagers from Maharashtra

30th June 2007

On Delhi’s roads, we are no philanthropists. We are perhaps as thick-skinned and stone hearted as the folks in the next car. Yet, we fell for a trick that left us lighter by a thousand bucks!

Having lived here for a few years, we recognize the regular beggars and conmen at traffic crossings. As a rule, we never give alms to able-bodied adults; or to the Saturdays-specials -- saffron-robed Babas who walk around with the sooty “Shani” cutouts dunked in oil tins. We know that the Rajasthani tribal women walking around with babies are a part of a larger, profitable enterprise that is perhaps heartily endorsed by the traffic cops.

Our rule has its exceptions, of course – we cannot bear to see children and the elderly who go about shivering on winter nights and on scorching afternoons, hawking assorted toys, flowers, books and glossies.

Usually, the moment we stop at a red light our mental barricades go up. We become deaf to the tapping on the windows; we glare and shout at beggars who make a show of wiping our windscreen with their scratchy rags. We sit pretty in our middleclass A/C cocoon, eyeing the outside world with a mixture of nonchalance, disdain and pity.

So if this is the usual scene, what is the new trick?

You are some distance away from Nehru Place - the nearest traffic crossing, stopping by the roadside to pick up some ice cream. Someone taps on your window. You turn to see a tired, lost, weather-beaten face; eyes that are on the verge of tears. Is he seeking directions?

You roll down the window a bit. “Please don’t mistake me”, he begins the well-dressed man in Marathi-Hindi, “I am not a beggar. My name is Gajendra Shinde and I am from Paladi-gaon near Pune. I was on the train to Haridwar with my wife and daughter… yesterday night all our luggage got stolen.” He pauses, and adds shame facedly, “ We now have no money for food, or to get back home..”.

My eyes turn to see the wife and daughter step put of the shadows. The woman clearly looks like she has been transplanted out of Marathwada to Delhi...the sari drape, nose-rings and bangles. The daughter is around 10 and looks like she would collapse any minute from hunger and exhaustion.

I roll up the window and wait for my partner to return. She is better at reading people. It is sweltering hot outside; Delhi is going through the hottest week of the year. You remember the reports on rural indebtedness and of farmers forced to commit suicide. You remember your Ayah from rural Aurangabad – an amazing lady who helped raise your first child. You know how Delhi treats its women and Maharashtra is far so away...

My wife returns with the ice creams. We consult and ask more questions – How come you are so far away from the station? How long have you been wandering like this? It already late evening - what do you plan to do now?

The answers are very convincing- “Somebody told us to go to Deshbandu College where there are students from Maharashtra…we’ve been roaming around since today morning…nobody is helping us… Haridwar is out of question now, we just want to get back to the Station and take the first train back home…the tickets for us would cost about Rs. 700”


Our hearts melt like the ice cream on the dashboard. We know how it feels to be lost in a strange place. In an unprecedented move, we end up giving them Rs.1000 – a neat round-figure for the train tickets, bus-rides, food and wish them a safe journey back home to Paladi-gaon.

We bask in an afterglow for a while but it soon evaporates. At a friend’s house, small talk on traffic delays turns to other miscellaneous hazards. “Something crazy happened to my colleague at CP yesterday”, we are told, “she was starting her car at the parking lot when a family from Maharashtra approached her…”. Our hearts, still floating in the ‘milk of human kindness’, now sinks.

It turns out to be the very same story – and, perhaps, the very same family. A rural family headed to Haridwar, stolen baggage, a hungry daughter, nowhere to go…and a thousand Rupees down the drain. Then again we hear the same story from a cousin in Chennai.

We still wonder – how could they feign so convincingly? Was the little girl starved deliberately to make the whole performance such a convincing act?

All shades of doubt were erased last week when another “lost” Maharashtrian couple approached us near the Saroniji Nagar market. But now we are better prepared; our thick hides have been reinforced by a stronger dose of cynicism -- It has been an expensive lesson after all!

Infosys – 25th Annual Report

Excerpts

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood”

- Daniel Hudson Burnham, Visionary Architect

A few 'major lessons' learnt by N Murthy:

Aspiration is the main fuel for progress. Aspirations transform a set of ordinary individuals into extraordinary achievers. They provide the mental and physical energy for people to convert plausible impossibilities into convincing possibilities.

An enduring value system based on openness, honesty, integrity, fairness, transparency and excellence, helps raise our confidence and the confidence of customers in the company. It gives courage to handle tough situations with confidence, and sacrifices become easy and natural.

Our experience has demonstrated that respect and dignity, challenging work and a promising career growth path are more important motivators than just money. People want to part of a defining moment that transforms the society and the world. Emotional energy is an invaluable asset for a corporation.

Performance leads to recognition. Recognition brings respect. Respect enhances power. Humility and grace in one’s moments of power enhances the dignity of an organization.

Leadership by example is, perhaps, the most essential instrument to encourage youngsters o demonstrate commitment and dedication towards any cause. Role models are powerful catalysts in raising the confidence, enthusiasm and energy of an entire generation.

An environment of openness, meritocracy, speed, imagination and excellence in execution are the five context-invariant and time-invariant attributes for the success of a corporation.

Progress is possible only if we measure improvements in every dimension of our operations and take timely corrective action.

Openness to new ideas encourages the youth; shunning biases and using data in every decision; and learning and adopting good practices from other cultures help a company become more confident and effective.

Global benchmarking has helped us emulate the best companies in the world in specific attributes, and in some cases, improve upon them to serve our customers better.

Staying relevant in a changing market and creating greater impact on customers are the only means of strengthening our relationship with clients. Innovation is an important instrument for this. Proactively obsoleting our own innovations by widely disseminating them creates good incentives for employees to continue innovation.

Following the best practices of corporate governance attracts the best investors. Investors understand that every corporation will go through lean days. Bringing bad news to investors early and proactively enhances their trust in us.

It is better to focus on growing the wealth pie of every one of us rather than focusing on how to preserve it for a few.

Profit is just an opinion. Real wealth is cash in the bank. Cutting our coat according to the cloth is the surest way to be financially strong.

Ships are safest in the harbor, but they are not meant to be there. They have to sail long and hard and face stormy seas to reach the comfort of a desirable destination. Hence, progress requires us to take calculated risks and make bold moves.

Corporations must reach out to the society if they want longevity. It is important to build a fund of goodwill among the people.

……………………

Voltaire’s much –celebrated statement:

I disapprove with what you say, but I will defend till death your right to say it.

......................................

You Raise Me Up --- Russel Watson

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up….To more than I can be.

There is no life – no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up….To more than I can be.

You raise me up ...To more than I can be.

Schooling & The State

The Economist has come up with an interesting article this week, supporting the use of vouchers for improving parental choice for better school education.

"Few ideas in education are more controversial than vouchers—letting parents choose to educate their children wherever they wish at the taxpayer's expense. First suggested by Milton Friedman, an economist, in 1955, the principle is compellingly simple. The state pays; parents choose; schools compete; standards rise; everybody gains."

Despite opoostion from the educational establishment there is increasing evidence to show that it works. Columbia is distributing the vouchers through a lottery system while in Sweden, the government pays the parents for educating their children wherever they choose. Both methods have shown a significant improvement in quality and access to education but has also proved that "those who work in state schools are just like everybody else: they do better when confronted by a bit of competition."

It makes you wonder about school education in India…about the controls imposed by a paranoid bureaucracy and rent-seeking politicians; about state schools that exist only on the bureaucrat’s files; classrooms without teachers and children without books.

Ludger Kuhnhardt

Tehelka 28 April 2007
Ludger Kuhnhardt - German Economist and India-tracker Professor

"The key to China's success is that Euro 600 billion worth of investment has been made there. This has been the biggest peaceful re-allocation of financial resources in world history. This has happened because investors felt that the Chinese would be able to accommodate to the rules of global corporate business. India has some distance to catch up."

"...broad-based manufacturing is the only way to get jobs, which will be able to generate purchasing power in the hands of the poor... it creates and nurtures a middle class."

"There are so many ground realities in India.The key is not to confine yourself to populist demands. There is a gap between those who speak for the masses and those who are the masses. Populism and radicalism are a danger in every democracy... In terms of diversity, India is comparable to the EU...this produces friction and lack of efficiency, and often very contradictory processes of decision making or revision of former decisions..."

"...during the last 300 years India and China have ended up with a lot of poverty. The two biggest countries in Asia used to run run 50% of world trade between 1500-1800, which went down to 5% as a consequence of colonization and semi-colonization. Both are now making a comeback and have cornered 15-16% of world GDP together. This trend will continue..."

On WTO & Poverty - "You cannot just push poverty aside, blame others and be insensitive if anybody addresses the issue. In the past, Indian elites either tried to shy away from the issue or denied it, attacking the west for its mistakes, instead of turning poverty into an opportunity for the country. You have to develop people instead of throwing them aside or putting them under a cloud. The same mechanism applies to India's relationship with the WTO. It is one thing to influence the WTO, or to help manage it and another thing to just blame it. You must empower the poor by giving them purchasing power, which means giving them jobs...I think the right way to deal with globalization is not consider it as a UFO from Mars, but seeing it as a technological, instrumental, functional basis of our living together."

Meet Mr. L. Dorsi

Last week, a minor disaster made me search for a better understanding of the term “muscle pain”.

Early one morning, I was lying belly-down on the floor, doing Yoga when my daughter – a preschooler - ran up from behind and jumped on to my back shouting, “Hello, Papa-Camel!”. She was referring to a little game between us and, at that point, I made the mistake of humoring her. I continued to exercise with her sitting on my back, playing the wobbly, giggly baby-camel.

I had forgotten all about this until I woke up the next morning with a strange pain on the left side of my lower back. It felt like somebody had quietly pushed in a small knife -- and left it there. Any movement of the body that needed the cooperation of the left leg or left arm resulted in a shooting pain. Ditto for rising from bed, turning and leaning back.

I’ve been acquainted with Mr. Backache but this fellow was quite different. He was completely localized and stubbornly resisted balms and ointments. He didn’t mind my sitting upright, driving or even my walking back home with a few kilos of groceries slung on my right shoulder. But the moment I tried to use the left side, he gave that little knife an exquisite twist...

The Web tells me that his name is Latissimus Dorsi. He is a “large, flat, dorso-lateral muscle on the trunk, posterior to the arm, and partly covered by the spinotrapezius on its median dorsal region”. Function ? “to pull the limbs dorsally and caudally (towards hind side) ”. Great.

So how do you persuade him to get rid of his knife? The answer is simple – bed rest. Nothing else works, actually. Just go to bed early and let your body clear up the mess you left behind --it takes about three days.

Now I’m almost ready for the next camel-ride… :)

-----------------------
Links :

A straightforward illustration of back muscles

...and the not-so-straightforward stuff from Wiki

Technorati Profile

Ja-Panning for Gold

I have been an unabashed admirer of many things Japanese, especially their sense of aesthetics and attitude towards teamwork.

Recently I was dredging my memory for some childhood inspirations. One of the first memories that floated up was of our time in Hyderabad – the 1970’s - when my elder brother was fascinated by Bruce Lee, Karate and Kung-fu. He once told me about a Karate master in Japan called Yamaguchi. This old man had so perfected his art that he could, with one stab of his fingers, break through the shell of a tortoise and pull out its innards.

At that point of time I thought more of the master's fingers than of the poor animal that lost its protection, and, perhaps life.

Sometime during the early 80’s, in Kerala. I was rummaging through my grandfather book collection when I came across a small story in the Reader’s Digest. It was about a Japanese gardener who specialized in growing Chrysanthemum flowers. His flowers were so beautiful that news soon reached from the royal palace that the Emperor himself would be coming to see them.

As soon as a date and time was confirmed, the gardener set to work. One by one he started cutting and removing flowers from his garden. Hundreds of flowers were destroyed and by the time the Emperor arrived, there remained in his big garden just one chrysanthemum flower. “Why did you remove all the flowers here?” asked his friends. He replied, “Since the Emperor himself was coming to see my Chrysanthemums, I did not want him to be distracted by anything less than the most perfect, exquisite flower in my garden!”

I have sought the original story on the web, in vain. While I was on Google, I searched for another story that had made a deep impression; one of sheer grit, determination, self-control and dedicated to the Team. I had once taken a clipping from the 'Illustrated Weekly of India' sometime in the 1980’s; it was the story of a Japanese gymnast.

The details turned up instantly. The name of the hero was Shun Fujimoto who had participated in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Here is an excerpt:

"After severely breaking his knee during the floor exercise, Japan's Shun Fujimoto ignored his injury as long as possible, knowing such news could shatter the confidence of his teammates.

The injured gymnast continued on to the pommel horse routine, miraculously scoring a 9.5 out of 10. He then faced the rings, which would be his final event of the day. Shun performed extraordinarily, ignoring the inevitable consequences of dismounting from eight feet off the ground. Upon completion of his routine, he hurled himself into a beautifully executed triple-somersault dismount.

When his feet hit the floor, the pain sliced through him like a knife, but he kept his balance. Gritting his teeth, he raised his arms in a perfect finish before collapsing in agony. He was awarded a 9.7, the highest score he had ever recorded on the rings.

After winning the closest gymnastics team competition in Olympic history, Shun joined his team at the podium to receive his gold medal, and he did it without assistance."

What is it that gives ordinary mortals super human sensibilities and strength? What are the socio-cultural ingredients, the schooling-methods, the training and conditioning that encourages – or demands – a relentless pursuit of excellence?

-----------------------------------------
Reference:
Shun Fujimoto - a pioneer in taking one for the team (photo attached)

Official Website of the Olympic Movement

How Sweet!

Sugarcane is just a variety of grass. I love to dig my teeth into them but whatever else I knew was pretty basic – the slave-trade once thrived on it; to cultivate this crop, thousands of indentured laborers had been shipped from India to the West Indies - including the ancestors of V.S. Naipaul.

But what is story behind the jar of sugar that sits on my kitchen shelf? I knew next to nothing until I read today morning, a paper written by Harish Damodaran & Harvir Singh, titled “Sugar Industry in UP: Rise, Decline & Revival”,

Harish works with the Businessline and specializes on the Agri-Business sector. In his articles he never intimidates you with arcane formulae and statistical analysis. The approach is WYSIWYG - simple and direct , and this article was no different.

It looks at the topic in three parts –Historical Evolution; 1990s and After, and Socio-Economic Impact. Here are some pearls –

· If it were not for a protectionist colonial government, there would have been no Indian Sugar Industry. In 1932, an ad valorem duty of 185% effectively blocked sugar imports from Java. Within five years sugar factories shot up from 29 to 137!

· During the License-Permit Raj (1960-80), the cooperatives in Maharashtra surpassed UP. And then, in August 1998, the industry was full de-licensed. Distance between mills reduced from 40km to 15km; Economies of scale - new factories to have minimum capacity of 2,500 tcd; Dilution of “sugar levy” – govt share reduced from 45% to 10%…they could now sell 90% of production to open market

· Two international developments also helped: skyrocketing oil prices and the forced phase-out of subsidies on sugar exports by the European Union (EU). Big producers like Brazil started diverting sugarcane to Ethanol production.

· In 2005-06, India produced 19.26 million tones of sugar. UP topped the list at 5.7mT, followed by Maharashtra at 5.1mT

· Production: A typical mill recovers about 10 tonnes of sugar from every 100 tonnes of sugarcane that it crushes. 30 tonnes of bagasse and 4.5 tonnes of molasses generated as byproducts. The bagasse can produce power and the molasses, alcohol.

· Sugar one of the few industries that is completely energy self-sufficient and not dependent on coal or other external fuel sources.

· Thanks to more efficient boilers, for every 30 tonnes of bagasse, there is 8-9 tonnes surplus available for mills to sell -- especially to paper and particle-board makers.

· One tonne of cane makes 100kg of sugar. In addition, it also produces 100 units of power and 9.9 litres of alcohol. Thus Sugarcane yields not just sugar, but also alcohol, commercial energy and paper. As well as fodder for cattle and buffaloes.

· Water-guzzler? Not really. Sugarcane, requires 8-10 irrigations, compared to say, 4-6 in the case of wheat. But then, cane is typically grown over 11 months, whereas wheat is only a 4 - month crop.

· C-4 photosynthesis: Sugarcane uses a more efficient solar energy-deploying mechanism for capturing atmospheric carbon-dioxide and water and converting into starch matter or sugar / biomass. This is unlike rice, wheat, groundnut and several other plant species that employ the less efficient ‘C-3’ photosynthetic pathway.

· A modern sugal mill today generates direct jobs for 700-800 people; irrigated cane crop gives a net yearly return of Rs 18,000 to Rs 24,000 per acre.

Decoding The Budget Documents

Every year, the Budget Session is a grand jamboree played out on Raisina Hill. It is also a time when the security guys go hyper; North Block is sealed – cameras and mobiles are not allowed inside. On the first floor, extra guards hover around the bronze Nataraja, keeping a sharp eye on the FM’s room.

When finally put together, the Budget documents look like a sibling of the Delhi telephone directory – fat, colorful, heavy and full of fine print. Only the numbers here connect you directly to the lives of 1300 million people in India.

This is an attempt to understand what all the fuss is about.

Under Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India (GoI) has to be laid before the Parliament (Lok Sabha) w.r.t every fiscal year (1st April—31st March). This statement is called the “Annual Financial Statement” and this AFS is the main Budget document.

AFS shows receipts and payments of the Government in three parts – (1) Consolidated Fund of India, (2) Contingency Fund of India, and (3) Public Account of India.

1. Consolidated Fund: Contains all revenue received by GoI, loans raised and recoveries from loans granted by GoI. All expenditure comes from this fund. Nothing can be withdrawn without an authorization from the parliament.
2. Contingency Fund: To meet urgent, unforeseen expenditure pending authorization from the Parliament. It is an imprest (loan/advance) at the disposal of the President. Corpus – Rs.500 Crores
3. Public Account: Wherever GoI acts as a banker (Public Provident Fund, Small Savings, etc.) the money is kept in this account. This money does not belong to the government so Parliament authorization is not required for payments. This account also holds money from the Consolidated Fund, earmarked by the Parliament for specific projects (mid-day meal scheme, road dev., primary education, etc.)

The Constitution requires the Budget to distinguish expenditure on revenue from other expenditure, so we have two heads (1) Revenue Budget, (2) Capital Budget

1. Revenue Budget: Shows revenue received and the expenditure met from this. Revenue comes from taxes, duties levied by the Union, and also interest and dividends earned. Revenue Expenditure mainly goes for normal running of the Government – paying salaries, repaying loans, grants to states ---- mainly stuff that does not result in creation of assets.
2. Capital budget: Shows capital receipts & payments. Here the receipts from loans raised by GoI -- from the public / foreign banks/ market loans; recovery of state loans, through RBI. Capital expenditure mainly goes into creation of assets (acquisition of land, buildings, machinery, equipment etc.)

Article 150 prescribes how the govt accounting is to be classified so that it can be understood by the Parliament and by the public. Loan repayments and salaries of certain senior officials are exempted from the vote in Lok Sabha – this portion is shown as “expenditure charged” to the Consolidated Fund, separately. This process is called “Appropriation”.

In all, there are 10 documents, some in color coded binding and the others just copies stapled without much ado:

1. Annual Financial Statement of the Central Government for 2007-2008: The main document, containing details of Consolidated Fund, Contingency Fund and Public Account

2. Demands for Grants: Estimates of expenditure from CFI requiring a vote of approval from Lok Sabha under Article-113.

3. The Finance Bill, 2007: Completely relates to taxes – its imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation (under Article 110-1). Over a 100 pages of nothing but amendments.

4. Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill, 2007 (Purple): This is the key to the Finance Bill. All those terse amendments are explained under various heads, like “Measures to plug revenue leakages”.

5. Budget at a Glance 2007-2008 (Green): A brief on receipts (Rs. 680,521 / $162b) and disbursements (ditto); broad break-up of expenditure – Plan and non-plan; allocation to sectors / ministries / departments. This is the place to look for all those deficits –

· “Revenue Deficit” – revenue expenditure over revenue receipts (Rs.71,478 Cr / $17b)
· “Fiscal Deficit” GFD – (revenue expenses + capital expenses + loan repayments) less (revenue receipts + capital receipts) = Rs.150,948 Cr / $35b)
· “Primary Deficit” = GFD less Gross Interest Payments (Rs.8047Cr / $2b)

6. Expenditure Budget 2007-2008 – Vol-I (Blue): Revenue and Capital disbursements totaling Rs.680,520 Cr ($ 162 b) to various departments and estimates of each under Plan and Non-plan:

· Non-Plan Expenditure – All expenditure not included in the Plan. Could be either Revenue Expenditure or Capital Expenditure; partly obligatory (interest payments, pension charges, statutory transfers to states & UTs); partly for essential functions – defense, internal security, external affairs…. The total is Rs.475,420 Crores ( 69% of total Ex, $113 b). The biggest chunks go towards interest payments & debt servicing (33%, $ 37 b) & defense (20%, $22 b)
· Plan Outlay – Distribution of resources as agreed in the 10th Plan. Covers various projects, programmes and schemes; to states and UTs. Total – Rs. 205100 Cr (31%, $48 b)

7. Expenditure Budget 2007-2008 – Vol-II (Orange): Covers schemes or programmes spread across various sections, ministries and departments.

8. Receipts Budget 2007-2008: Details of tax and non-tax revenue receipts, capital receipts; arrears of revenues, deficit indicators, statements on Small Savings Fund, revenue foregone, liabilities, guarantees given by govt., etc. The total money coming into the Consolidated Fund of India is Rs. 2,379,312 Cr ($ 566b) -

· Revenue Receipts = Rs. 583,647 Cr. ($138b), of which Tax Revenue is – Rs. 548,122 Cr. (94%, $ 130b of which $33b goes to the State’s), and Non-Tax Revenue – Rs. 177,975 Cr. ($ 42b). If one includes the excess of disbursements over receipts - Revenue Deficit – of Rs. 71977.8Cr ($17b), the total RR becomes Rs. 655,625 Cr ($ 156b)
· Capital Receipts = Rs. 1,795,665 Cr ($ 427b), of which the total internal debt of the central govt. is Rs. 1,733,533 Cr (96%, $ 412b); External Debt is Rs. 17,451 Cr (1%, $4b)

9. Statement on Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 – This Act places certain obligations on the Central Govt.; any deviation has to be reported to the Parliament.

10. Key to Budget Documents (Pink)

Soon after the Finance Minister presents these documents to the Parliament, along with his much awaited “Budget Speech” (peppered with some mandatory couplets & slokas), the Opposition and the Media swings into action. The numbers are analyzed threadbare, criticized, debated, written & talked about for weeks on end.

It is a relief to discover that some effort had gone in to make the Budget easier to comprehend. Some big question linger, though -

· If the Budget Receipts add up to $ 566b, how is it that the total Expenditure Budget is only for $ 162b?
· What explains the mismatch of figures for “Budget 2007-2008” in Annual vs. ‘Budget at a Glance’?
· In CFI, net External Assistance is shown as Rs. 17,451 Cr (1%, $4b) but in BaaG it is just Rs.9111 Cr ($2b) – why?

Direct To Home - From The Geostationary Orbit

Last Sunday an Indian satellite sitting 36,000 kms away kicked out the cablewala from our home. Perhaps its too early to say whether Tata-Sky is more dependable than the neighborhood cable-TV network but as far as technology goes, I’m truly impressed.

When I flick the remote now, there is a time lag before a picture appears on the screen. This might take some getting used to…but I guess that’s not bad for signals that go up and down 36,000kms!

I was also impressed by the way Tata-Sky is managing this whole operation. The advertising is neat; they have smart people on the customer-service lines; and the installation process is perhaps the best I have seen from a mass-media company.

We called the customer service line last week. A couple of days later, on a Saturday afternoon, a delivery boy came up with the Set Top Box (STB) kit and collected the payment; Rs. 2999 plus Rs. 550 for scratch-card worth three months of subscription (wonder why they call it “free”). The installation Techies turned up the next day with the dish assembly kit, coaxial cable roll, a portable TV, the contract docs and assorted tools.

Since the dish is installed on a roof that belongs to somebody else they first get you to sign a form that doubles as a no-objection certificate. They then clamber on to the rooftop along with the STB kit. As soon as a site is agreed, an extension cord is rolled down 25m to the ground floor to activate the drills. Once the base is screwed down, a compass and an inclinometer is used to fix the dish at 160 degrees South-East at an angle of 56 degrees.

The parabolic dish assembly has 20 components, including some unfamiliar things like “flanged nuts” and “AZ-EL brackets”. But the critical thing here is a device called the “Feedhorn” or the LNB (Low-Noise Block-down converter). This one picks electromagnetic waves from INSAT-4A and shifts the signals from the downlinked C-band (3500 MHz) and/or Ku-band (~11 GHz) to the L-band range (1600 MHz). The final Radio Frequency output from the STB to the TV is at 470 MHz.

The transformation of TV antennas has been quite amazing. Just until 10 years ago Directional Antennas dominated our rooftops. Aluminum rods shaped like stylized fishbone pointed towards a TV transmission tower in the city. When cable TV arrived they were left to the crows and pigeons or to some scrap-dealer interested in carting it away. The cablewala ruled for a decade. His roof had the biggest dishes; he decided your “bouquets” and charged as he pleased. His coaxial cables were strung haphazardly across streets and buildings, adding to the mess of overhead MTNL telephone lines and power cables. Where are these fellows now? They seem to have quietly disappeared into the night with their ladders and crimpers.

The old black coax cable has been tossed out; a new white one is in. The range of services and options certainly surpasses whatever the cablewala had to offer. But is the system durable? Can the dish & STB survive the heat and dust of Delhi? Will the entry of Reliance make the DTH industry as price-competitive as the mobile industry?

In any case, if this is the future, I like it :-)

Bangkok Notes II: A Day Well Spent

If your enthusiasm to explore Bangkok is stymied by a shortage of time; if you prefer tramp alone through the underbelly of a city rather than endure the robots that organize conducted tours, please take a look at Wikitravel’s “One Day in Bangkok”.

http://wikitravel.org/en/One_day_in_Bangkok

I found it very useful. The itinerary takes you through the medieval districts of Rattanakosin, through its winding canals to gleaming golden pagodas; through the touristy sites along the Chao Phraya River, for a grand finale at the legendary pubs of Patpong.

At Wikitravel, Jpatokal covers quite a lot of action for one day. But if you have the enthusiasm you can actually squeeze out much more – especially if have at hand a copy of Nancy Chandler’s quirky, hand-painted guide-map.

My day started at Sukhumvit Soi. I walked out of my hotel, past Cowboy Soi to the BTS Asok station. A 100B rail pass goes a long way and my first ride took me from Asok-Sukhumvit through Nana, Phloen Chit, Chitlom and Siam to Ratchathewi.

Jpatokal’s directions are perfect – you come down from Ratchathewi, cross a small bridge across the Saen Saep canal and hop on to a boat speeding westwards. The canal is murky & narrow but is wide enough to let two boats through. They have plastic curtains to protect you from being drenched by boats speeding past in the opposite direction. But unless you stand and look over the sheets you are likely to miss interesting sights along the way - Jim Thompson’s House (the Yank who made Thai Silk so famous), Bo-Be Market, the back-streets and the towers of Siam business district.

There is no point asking the boat guys for a ticket to Golden Mount terminus. The local name is something else. So just buy a 10B ticket and get off the boat when you are nearest to a large golden pagoda.

It’s a nice view from the top of Golden Mount aka Wat Saket. Thousands of brass bells chime in the wind and you get a nice overview atop Rattanakosin of the urban sprawl of Bangkok. From here, instead of taking a taxi I walked all the way to the National Museum, the Grand Palaces and Wat Po.

The pavements are wide open and there are plenty of refreshment stalls along the way. There is a nice bookshop at the Democracy Monument circle – this is where I picked up my Nancy Chandler Guide, and some Thai instrumental music CDs.

Despite all warnings I fell for a tout - a smooth-talking fellow just outside the Museum. I was reading the map to get my bearings when he approached me with the friendly nonchalance of a passerby. He assured me that everything in Bangkok shuts down for a lunch break and that I could use time to see how his ancestors lived in the “real-original” city across the river. He even haggled fares with a tuk-tuk driver but when I reach the boat station at Phra Pin Klao, a mammoth white boat lay waiting on the quay for gullible Firangs. Dark windows, tables set for a 2000B lunch and no sign moving across the river. I hurried back to the museum and found it wide open -- no lunch break.

The museum has around seven sections in different buildings so it takes a couple of hours to see everything. Unlike the museums in India, everything seems to be manned by student-volunteers. It’s nice to see them in their bright yellow-T’s, explaining intricacies of Mekong-delta art & architecture. Other students are busy restoring old paintings and copying intricate motifs. The Museum café is a good place to grab a coconut ice cream.

From here you walk past Thammasat University – a hotbed of all those angry student protestors you see on TV – to the Grand Palace area. This area is jam packed with tourists. After visiting the Emerald Buddha Temple and a couple of palaces, I got a bit tired of the crowds and all the gold and grandeur.

A walk along the peripheral walls of the Palace leads you to Wat Po where you have a large reclining Buddha. Interesting… especially those 108 auspicious symbols on his 20 feet wide “feet”. But a more practical place to visit at Wat Po is the Massage School. It is tucked away in the rear, at the end of an elaborate Chinese garden dotted with statues of hefty warriors glaring down at you.

The school is sparse – a reception counter, and a hall lined with about 20 cots. The students – again in yellow-Ts - start the massage after a few minutes of deep prayer. A 30-minute ‘dry-massage’ for 250B is worth a thousand grand palaces! The pier at Tha Tien was not easy to find. It sits on a rickety wooden platform; tucked away behind shops selling spices, dry fish and mementos. The Chao Phraya River Express boats take you on a cool, breezy trip downstream, past Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and new hotels to Tha Oriental (N1). This pier is rickety and partially flooded but once you are on terra firma, the road leads to straight the Oriental Hotel.

I did not find anything distinctive about the Oriental or its “famous Bamboo Bar”. Five-star hotels are just the same everywhere… the same immaculate uniforms, artificial smiles, spotless floors and obscene price tags. There is so much more character on the streets.

Back on the streets, I helped myself to some steaming hot street food, ambled through some malls, explored Patpong and got back to Sukhumvit sometime after midnight, thanking Wikitravel for a day well spent.

Books 2007 - The List So Far

December 2007

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John Le Carre



Travels With Fish - Y.S. Gopinath
A gastronome's hilarious adventures through Cairo (aubergine=betingan), Jerusalem (Felafel, Tabbouleh, Challah bread), Bhusaval (Bharit curry by Leva Patils), Sydney, Liverpool (Scourse accents & Beatles trail), Chicago, Paris, Firenze (Florence), Kerala (Vaiduryam=Chrysoberyl; 'Syrian Christian Coconut'), Bangkok (chasing the ingredients of a perfect Green Curry - galangal ginger, Kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stems).
Memorable.


November 2007

Doraemon - AaAa Nobita-kun
My first all Japanese book. Laborious reading but worth the trouble.


September - October 2007

The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
A tough one...the language is simple, though. The section on China-India was absolutely fascinating; beyond the 'argumentative Indian' thesis, most of the book is a rehash of lectures delivered in recent years.

August 2007

The Jaguar Smile... A Nicaraguan Journey - Salman Rushdie


July 2007

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Two little boys in inter-turmoil Afganistan - honorable Hassan the poor Hazara and spineless Amir, the master's son. A great story that got goofed up in the end with a bollywood-ishtyle action ending..

May 2007

My Name is Red- Orhan Pamuk
Shekure, sweetheart, I miss you! :)


April 2007

Who Moved My Cheese – Dr. Spenser Johnson
A bestseller built on metaphors. The story of a maze and its four inmates - two little mice, Sniff & Scurry and two Littlepeople, Hem & Haw. They all want to enjoy Cheese. The mice survive on their instincts but the Littlepeople paint themselves in a corner with false hopes and fears coming from their ‘superior, complex’ brains.
Ultimately, survival depends on two key questions – “What would you do if you were not afraid?” and “Can you imagine yourself eating New Cheese?”. Very Vedanta.


The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono
I found this book perched on a shelf at People Tree, Sansad Marg. Apart from the title, what attracted me to this book was its beautiful woodblock prints. It is also a quick read – in fact I read this sitting atop a flight of stairs at Jeevan Bharti Building – a sunny, breezy place overlooking the Banyan trees of CP.
Set in the inter-war period of Europe, It is the story of Elzeard Bouffier, an old man who stays by himself in a remote, barren region of Provence, France, devoting his life to planting trees.

The Namesake – Jumpa Lahiri
So-so. Guess the hype around Mira Nair’s film got me carried away. Reading this book seemed like the rail journey from Delhi to Trivandrum – mostly long and boring with short spurts of good writing. I liked the parts that covered Ashima’s longing for her Kolkata home; Gogol-Nikhil’s introduction to Maxine and her parents; the beginning of Moushumi’s infidelity (restaurant dinner, Bengali waiters) – but the rest of the book is a big yawn.


March 2007

The Overcoat – Nikolai Gogol
A short story --- so it doesn’t really fit in here. I had started to read Jumpa Lahiri’s “The Namesake” and since the entire novel is built around Gogol’s story, I had to read this first.
Story of Akakii Akakievich Bashmachkin, a poor government official in St. Petersberg whose life revolves around copying official documents. The Russian winter drives him to get a replacement for his tattered overcoat, which, in turn transforms his dreary life. Great story…No wonder Gorky said, “we have all come out of Gogol’s overcoat pocket!”


Only The Paranoid Survive – Andy Grove
Makes you wonder at Intel’s ability to “turn on a dime”. But I guess everything ultimately boils down to that nebulous thing called Great Leadership. Would a lesser general have nurtured a culture of constructive confrontation? Would he swallow his pride to admit that he had to learn something anew?
The book is a bit dated about the Internet but the analogy of “riding through the Valley of Death” is timeless.


Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
Gregor Samsa, an overworked traveling salesman wakes up one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a bug…incredible story – nightmarish, complex, bizarre and, well, Kafkaesque.


Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
This was course material last year for a cousin at IIT-Delhi. A smart idea -- its just the sort of book that can trigger a good discussion among teenagers about growth pangs, sexuality, relationships and other assorted dilemmas.
The story of Kath, Ruth & Tommy, students from Hailsham - an institution that ‘breeds’ clones who (which?) grow up to be “Carers” and then “Donors”. Vital organs from the donors fuels medical scientific research; but the society that benefits from this is in denial about their being normal people..


How to Speak & Write Correctly – Joseph Devlin
A peek into the past…an Anglo-Saxon’s view of English language 200 years ago. Sample – “There are many hybrid words in English...In Asia it follows the British sway and the highways of commerce through the vast empire of East India with its two hundred and fifty millions of heathen and Mohammedan inhabitants”…
Wonder why this one figures in the Top-100 downloads from Gutenberg.


February 2007

Light on Yoga – BKS Iyengar
More of reference manual…made on the premise that a good book is better than a bad teacher.
I have benefited immensely from Pranayama and this book was needed to get the theory right. Every winter, for the past five years, chronic Sinusitis had given me breathing problems and sleepless nights. I had tried everything to get rid of it – Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda…nothing had worked. It is such a relief to discover that simple breathing techniques could help solve difficult problems!


Autobiography - Benjamin Franklin
I liked this giant for his honesty – he admits to be being a prodigal son and a selfish brother; to sleeping with whores and attempting to seduce best friend’s wife. But the “Errata” in his life has been overshadowed by his achievements as a pioneering printer, inventor, businessman, diplomat and politician.
The autobiography does, at times, seem disjointed – critical parts seem missing; his most celebrated achievements are left for others to write about. It is also difficult to believe that he had no personal opinion about slavery or about the Indian Wars.



January 2007

The Pursuit of Excellence – M V Kamath
Maybe the good columnist should stick to his columns. The book seems more like a half-hearted collection of quotes and borrowed themes than a pursuit of excellence. Disappointing.


Chronicle of A Death Foretold – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Amazing narrative! A slaughter is about to take place…the whole village knows about it. The only person who is taken completely unawares is he victim himself.

Bangkok Notes I : Suvarnabhumi International Airport

Fasten your seatbelts...this is where we touchdown with all our superlatives.

The name Suvarnabhumi - Sanskrit for "Golden Land" - is a name chosen by the Thai king, after a mythical kingdom in SE Asia. The airport officially opened on September 28, 2006, taking over all flights from Don Muang. Built at the cost of Baht 155 billion ($ 5b / Rs. 20,000 Cr; 60% JBIC loan) over 40 years the airport has 2 parallel runways (60 m wide, 4000 m and 3700 m long) and two parallel taxiways to accommodate simultaneous departures and arrivals. It has a total of 120 parking bays, of which five can accommodate the Airbus A380.

Designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, it has the world's second largest single building and airport terminal (563,000 m²). It has the world's tallest control tower (132.2 m). The plot of land occupied by the airport covers about 8,000 acres (32.4 km²). This place is BIG.

The numbers don’t quite prepare you for what is actually on the ground. We landed there at 6:00AM and the first thing you notice is large, open water tanks that hug the runways – a technique perhaps, for draining the low-lying Nong Ngu Hao (“Cobra Swamp”) on which the airport was built.

As you approach the terminal large tubular structures come into view – roofs that look like a cross between a caterpillar and billowing holiday tents, but from inside it looks like a delicate silken canopy. Beneath the canopy, a long corridor, moving walkways and escalators take you along large paintings of the Buddha, to currency exchange counters, passport control (immigration), and baggage ramps and then on to the arrival gates.

The driver took a good 20mts to get his car. He must have had to walk a long way – the airport has parking capacity for 402 taxies, 807 limousines and 262 buses! It takes about 30mts to cover the 26km drive to the city. Normal taxi-fare is about Bh200.

In the departure area, the first few gates are exclusively for business-class and for domestic passengers, and the rest, for ‘normal’ international passengers. Check-in area is laid out in 24 rows (A-W), each with 24 counters. Once you’re relieved of your baggage, you can climb atop the observation loft to get a bird’s eye-view of the concourse. The loft itself is not a comfortable place – its hot (air rises!) and has no seats. Kids love to sit on the floor, gaping at airplanes but most adults shuffle out within minutes.

If you want to grab a bite and some beer, it is better to indulge yourself at the Family Store in the check-in area. Once you walk beyond the Airport Fee counters (Bh500), and passport control, the world belongs to King Power Duty Free. Here you can gawk at fancy designer outlets and their absurd price tags; you could lounge in a bar or surf the net; buy liquor, gadgets, mementos and Thai chocolates (“Buy 4 get one 1 free!”). Its unusual but in this departure area, there are no announcements for departing flights and unlike at KLIA the charts are small and are not well placed. So most passengers tend to huddle near their departure gates to avoid the risk of becoming lost explorers and "no-show" passengers.

In the middle of the concourse sits a sight that is bound to astonish folks from India. The centerpiece of this entire airport is a tableau representing Samudra-Manthan – the Churning of the Oceans. I have never seen a scene from Hindu mythology represented in a modern setting, on such a grand scale. Thai versions of gods and demons pulling at a dragon-like serpent (Thai Vasuki?)while Shiva dances atop mount Mandara smiling benignly at international travelers and their flashing digicams.

As I stepped out of this airport I thought of what awaited us at IGI airport Delhi, and winced. When will we roll up our sleeves to build infrastructure that is truly world class?