Interesting Articles - January 2008

Face Value: Physiognomy & Success (The Economist, 24 Jan. 2008)

"Psychologists spent much of the 20th century denigrating the work of 19th-century physiognomists and phrenologists who thought the shapes of faces and skulls carry information about personality. However, recent work (Dr. Nalini Ambadi, Tufts University) has shown that such traits can, indeed, be assessed from photographs of faces with a reasonable accuracy."

Market ups and downs are normal for capitalism - Meghnad Desai (Times of India p20, 31 Jan. 2008)

"...we do not like stories which are dominated by random events. We see a conspiracy unless there is an elaborate causal story of who did what and when...Something similar happens when we encounter theories of who runs the world, who controls global capitalism...It is hard for people to believe, as Karl Marx did, that societies and even modes of production are self-organizing systems which no one ‘runs’ but which are run by a sum total of infinitely many decisions we all take. Some of the actors are big and others small but no one is big enough to buck the system or small enough not to make an impact."

"Last fortnight has proved the truth of that insight. On the one hand, American multinationals admitted that they goofed up big time. Merrill Lynch, Citibank, Bear Stearns and others lost billions of dollars in a market which they thought they knew and dominated. They have gone cap in hand to various sovereign wealth funds, which are by and large Asian. So the Kuwait, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Chinese funds will own large slices of American multinational banks."

Sovereign-wealth funds: Asset-backed Insecurity (The Economist, Jan 17th 2008)

"Sapped by the subprime crisis, rich-world financial-services groups have been administered nearly $69 billion-worth of infusions from the savings of the developing world in the past ten months...sovereign-wealth funds...are now worth about $2.9 trillion...they will be worth $10 trillion by 2012...Although sovereign-wealth funds make up only 2% of the world's $165 trillion-worth of traded securities, they have a lot of firepower: more equity than private equity and more funds than hedge funds."

"Kiribati, a Pacific island country that mined guano for fertiliser, set up the Kiribati Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund in 1956. Today the guano is long gone, but the pile of money remains. If it manages a yield of 10% a year, the $400m fund stands to boost the islands'GDP by a sixth.

"A broad, politicised hostility to foreign direct investment would come at a high cost. Such investment spreads financial capital, know-how and technology. It helps the world economy adjust to imbalances and gives countries stakes in each other's prosperity."

Mumbai Morning

A quick, one-day visit to Mumbai after a long time. At 6:00AM the city was still waking up...

"Yakuruto!"

Yakult was launched in India a few weeks ago and my Japanese colleagues are all excited about it. On D-day, the company sent us all some free samples - tiny plastic bottles filled with thin, sour liquid with a slightly synthetic taste.

A few days later their direct marketing network was in place and two young girls started making their sales calls thrice a week. My first surprise was that the tiny 'sample' bottles were were no different from the actual bottles -- these were the standard size! It contained no more than 65ml of the liquid, and yet, this was exactly what my colleagues were so ga-ga about.

At first the Yakult-lady had the unprecedented privilege of selling her bottles inside the office. When this was rolled back to the reception desk, the Japs would drop whatever they were doing, head to the reception and come back gleefully with a few five-packs cradling in their arms

What's so great about this fermented milk drink? It is supposed to contain the Shirola strain of Lactobacillus casei which is allegedly good for your digestive system. But I guess conditioning is the key. It is something like our notions about Horlicks or Boost, neither of which has any significant nutritional value, but then nostalgia is a fine marketing tool.

NK recalls his childhood in Hiroshima and of times when the family could not afford to buy this drink (Yen 35 now), so it used to be a great treat to receive it while visiting friends in the neighborhood. Now he buys about 20 bottles a week and his kids are likely to grow up with fond memories of "Yakuruto" in India. The cycle continues, and the company prospers.

Yakult is sold in 28 countries and has diversified into pharmaceuticals (Campto anti-cancer injection). It is listed on the Nekkei and the company owns one of Japan's major baseball franchises, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. In India the drink is manufactured by Yakult Danone India PL at HSIDC Food Park, Rajasthan.

I am not sure if the product will succeed here. Indian consumer's like me would rather have a Mishti-Doi - at Rs.8 its a lot more filling than three gulps of Yakult. If only Mother Dairy would send them around with young girls in bright uniforms...

NSD Theatre Utsav 2008

Yesterday we saw a wonderful play directed by I.G. Mini.

NSD is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and it has been a bonanza week for theater lovers in Delhi. Since kids are not permitted inside, we had been waiting for weekends and for help from baby-sitting friends to be able to be able to catch at least a few of the performances.

On Saturday we discovered to our dismay that most of the plays had already been sold out, except for few in regional languages. One of them was a Malayalam play directed by I.G. Mini titled, “Life, Festival and Death”. A play based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “The Trail Of Your Blood In Snow”, about a stormy mallu love affair that blew over in Paris. An affair scrutinized to death by the TV news-journalists, gossip mongers and movie directors.

The venue was “Bahumukh” which is perhaps one of the most intimate theater spaces within the NSD campus. Intimate because the hall is small (~60-seater) and the audience sits on floor-level seating at the periphery, within touching distance of the performers.

When we entered the darkened hall, the stage had been marked into three sections. On the right side, a temple soothsayer (a Theyyam artist) sat with his assistants in an area lit by oil-lamps; the center was occupied by a rowdy, garrulous bunch of card players and on the left, a simple bamboo frame had been raised to represent space of two lovers.

The narrative moved with the spotlights – starting with the card players and their irreverent banter, and as the focus shifted to the lovers and the soothsayers, the rowdies transformed themselves – in the same hall, with their backs to the audience – first into purveyors of the New Media – over-enthusiastic TV reporters in formal suits, shooting of their mouths off and then turning up at a wedding function dressed in spotless mundu-shirts. The soothsayers groups would magically transform themselves into a parody of a TV-request-show in which the hosts dressed in loud clothes spoke in anglicized Malayalam accents, flirting absurdly with an unseen audience.

The acting and set-coordination was brilliant. Only the ending was rather too open-ended – the ‘movie crew’ introduced themselves, sought some talk-show type feedback from the audience and then disappeared into a door marked “Bar is closed” for a wild dance party.

The audience waited for while, and shuffled out when there was no sign of the actors returning. We too left left wondering if the memorable performance could had a less enigmatic ending.

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Production: Host-O-Theatre, Nayyattukunnummal, Mm Paramba PO, Calicut, Kerala
Cast: Rajan, Balan, Pushpa, Haridasan, Hareesh, Lalu, Hareendranath, Prabhat, Kabani, Mini
Scenography: NG Roshan
Direction: IG Mini
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New Year In East India

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Memories a train journey to Puri, Konark, Chilika Lagoon and Kolkata: 29 Dec., 2007 - 7 Jan. 2008 -

SECOND CLASS CHAI

I was bored of sanitized airplanes and curtained AC trains. They robbed me of the joys of traveling - the smell of earth, window panes clear of tinted glass , of the wind rushing through your hair and of the unique camaraderie of train-travellers.

When an opportunity presented itself for long-distance, second-class travel, I grabbed it with both hands. Last fortnight , finally, I found myself in S2 compartment, upper-berth no.64 of Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express. I thought the 1866km rail journey would be simpler than the 3010km-3-day ride to Trivandrum. But I had really underestimated the crowds, and the hazards of traveling during the peak of winters, next to rattly windows that were no match for cold winds.

My coupe had eight berths for eight persons but it was occupied by about 20 passengers who kept shuffling in and out with bribes for the TTE's. I had also forgotten to carry a shawl or a blanket so I spent my nights chattering my teeth, and my waking hours combating free-riders pouring in from eastern UP and Bihar.

Since a human wall prevented me from moving away from my berth, I spend most of my time with a Le Carre (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and by trying to keep track of the steady stream of vendors, hawkers and beggars who kept walking up and down the busy aisle. Here is a sample of the sales-pitches:

• गरम समोसे बोलिए!! (Samosa vendor)
• दोनो हाथ कटे है बाबूजी, एक रुपिया गिरा दीजिए! -- आप लोगों से भीक मांग-मांग के खा रहे है!! (beggar)
• आ...Dip चाय!! (tea vendor with sachets)
• आ...गरम-गरम गुलाब-जामुन! Tasty रस्गोल्ले!! (Vendor - gulabjamun, rasgollas)
• आ..ई..गोरी-गोरी राम प्यारी चाय!! (spicy milk-tea, served in clay cups -- very common from eastern UP onwards, till Orissa border)
• नए साल का कलेंडर, मेंहदी बुक, SMS jokes, कहानी, चुटकुले!! (book seller)
• पैदा-वाला मथुरा का पैदा!! आगरे का मशहूर pettha !! (sweet vendor)
• आ-ई- Miranda! 7-up! Fruity! पानी बोत्तले! अमुल कूल! (soft drinks)
• आया lemontee!! (Lemon-tea)
• Aaa-- सौप, सौप बोलिए!! (Soup seller)

But the first prize certainly went to an enterprising tea-vendor who went about loudly proclaiming that he was selling Bilkul बेकार चाय!! (absolutely useless tea!). People were charmed by his spunk and cheerfully reached out for their purses to buy an honest cup of train-chai!


PURI

This place is unique. It is one beach along the eastern coast where you can see the sunrise and sunset into the Bay of Bengal. The Golden Beach is one long, congested promenade lined with strangely named hotels (Hotel Swimming, Hotel SUV!); hundreds of vendors (seashells, handicraft, balloons), and stalls (fish fry, peanuts, chops, chaat, alcohol, chowmein and candyfloss).

The skyline is dominated by a ferris wheel, located next to a large cremation ground. So, as you ride the wheel at dusk, you also get to see the metaphorical wheel of life -- thousands of people enjoying themselves on the beach; old folks sitting silently, listening to crashing waves and children playing in the sand while dead bodies burn at Swargadwar cremation grounds just across the road. Eerie.

One evening we rode a cycle-rickshaw to the Jagannath Temple. Winding through the narrow lanes was like rolling back a thousand years through a time-machine. Once inside, I stood gaping at the stupendous shikhara, trying to differentiate the thousands of stone sculptures from the Rhesus monkeys that had made it their home.

Inside the main temple, crowds took a life of their own, surging and swirling like whirlpool, pausing to catch a glimpse of the famous saucer-eyed, abstract wooden statues of Krishna, Balarama and Subadhra. The large images seemed a good 30m away and I wondered why they were spaced so widely that you could see only one full figure at a time. Were these the same images that were carried in the famous Juggernaut - rath yatra?

Was it true that the temple originally was a Buddhist stupa housing the relic which is now in Kandy, Sri Lanka? Was there a link between the eight-spoked sreechakra perched atop the temple, and the buddhist dharmachakra?

Memories that linger those of old ladies selling lamp-wicks; lovely rounded clay vessels full of gleaming white rice being sold as prasad along with other curries from the massive temple kitchen; young security personnel directing the crowds, sometime with a whack from folded palm-fronds, and of tiny shops outside the temple, selling fresh mounds of Jeebe Goja sweets.


KONARK TEMPLE


This place is as touristy as you could get. I always thought the sun temple was among the oldest in India. Not so. It was built only during 1238-1264 after the Jaggannath temple in Puri. During this period, Angkor Wat was already ready; it was less than a century after the destruction of the great university at Nalanda; Genghis Khan had just overrun most of Asia and Marco Polo was on his way to China. And yet, nobody really knows much about how Konark was built or why it was abandoned to sand dunes.

Emperor Akbar's courtier, Abul Fazal (1556-1605) visited Konark during his travels and noted - "Even those whose judgment is critical and are difficult to please stand astonished at its sight". That point is still valid today.

The surviving structure is only the porch of the temple - the Jagamohana. The tower or shikhara was over 60m high - almost as high as the older one at Jaggannath but it had been built of poor quality Khondalite, so by the time Europeans had marked it as the "black pagoda" - a landmark for merchant ships sailing the shallow Orissa waters in the 17oo's - it had already collapsed.

The sculptures are a completely uninhibited portrayal of the daily wonders of everyday life - amorous couples, war elephants, capital punishment, fond farewells, formal portraits, sexy babes, elephants, a giraffe(!), foreign emissaries, flowers & trees.


I found it rather strange that there was not a single sculpture of a turtle or a sea fish among the thousands of figures. For a temple so close to the beach, how could the artists ignore thousands of turtles that have been nesting along the Orissa coastline for millions of years ?

CHILIKA LAGOON

It was a lovely drive to Chilika, about 40km from Puri. Migratory birds, quaint villages, sprawling paddy fields, a shop selling south-Indian "Itili-Dosa" and the fringes of a 100-sqkm lagoon.


We made the mistake of hiring a tourist boat from Orissa tourism (Rs.900 for 3 hours), which had such a noisy outboard engine that we barely got back with our eardrums intact. The sight of a few Irrawady Dolphins and Fresh masala-prawns at Sea-Mouth compensated for this but the private boats are a better option any day. They are cheaper, more spacious and far less noisy.


KOLKATA

The only new thing I did this time was to visit the Kalibari Temple. Finally, after I got past the crowds and queues, it was a major disappointment.

For a temple that gives its name to Kolkata city, it was rather poorly maintained. The sanctum was like a garbage bin strewn with all kinds of trash - rotten flowers and leaves, plastic packets, broken coconuts and glitzy paper; the walls had been caked with grime and cobwebs hung on the fans.

The Kali idol was larger than I had imagined, with red eyes and a long gold-plated tongue. It was barricaded inside an ugly metal cage and presided over by fat, loud priests who apportioned darshan-time according to the size of currency notes they received. It is certainly not a place I would visit willingly again to reach out to the almighty within. Give me a village temple in Kerala any day. Or better still, a few moments on a beach, a mountain or by a forest stream.

Movies - 2008

1. Taare Zameen Par (Hindi, Priya-Kolkata, 020108) - Amazing movie, wonderful performance by Darsheel Daftary
2. Manorama Six Feet Under (Hindi, 080108) - Vague movie, pathetic acting
3. Salsa (090108) - certainly a lot better than Manorama...
4. Volver (Spanish, 020208) - Penelope Cruz as single mom, Raimunda
5. Mithya (Hindi, 160208) - a damp squib
   
6. Rendition (JL-471, 250208 - Arab American terror suspect & distraught wife
7. Koi-Sora (Japanese, 050408) - love story interrupted by cancer - very bollywood
8. Always-2 (Japanese, 050308) - a great sequel
   
9. Chalti ka Naam Gaadi (Hindi, 190308)
10. Sunday (Hindi, 200308) - Ayesha Takia date-rape-drugged (Rohypnol)
11. Oceans Eleven (Eng., 210308) - Interesting...
    
12. Black & White (Hindi, 220308) - Prof. Gilani's story? suicide bomber in Shahjahanabad
13. Oceans Twelve (Eng., 220308) - Dubious sequel...
14. No Country For Old Men (Eng.) - the many uses of a captive bolt pistol..
    
15. Bhoot Nath (Hindi) - kids loved it
16. Vantage Point (Eng., 150608) - shades of Kurosawa's 'Rashomon'
17. American Gangster (Eng., 200608) - Amazing Dzl Wsgtn
18. Omohide poro poro (Jap., __0608) - My first Anime by Miyazaki / Gibili Collection
    
19. Iwo-Jima kara no tegami (Jap. - "Letters from Iwo Jima," __ 0608)
20. The Happenin (Eng., ) - MN Shyamalan overdone..
    
21. Shaurya (Hin., )
22. Amir (Hin.) - Incredulous but good...
    
23. The Bong Connection (Ben-glish, 180708)
24. Michael Clayton - (Eng., 250708) - 'the truth can be adjusted'
25. Kaze No Tani No Nausicaa (Jap. 260708) - 'Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind' - Amazing anime
    
26. Chi to Chihiro no Kamikakushi - "Spirited Away" (Jap. 020808); Miyazaki's best so far...
    
27. Tonari no Totoro - "My Friend Totoro" (Jap. 090808) - Brilliant! No wonder many of Miyazaki's (Gibiri Collection's) mascots come from this production.
    
28. Turn of The River (Eng.) - Didn't understand much...
    
29. Company (Hindi, RGV) - An ex-commando infiltrates the underworld and freely communes with the police on his mobile...a big let-down.
    
30. Tenku no Shiro Raputa - "Laputa - The Castle in The Sky" (Jap. 160808) - More of Miyazaki's facination with quaint European towns, pirates and flight (this time, a whole kingdom)
    
31. Rock On!! (Hin-glish 060808) - another good one by Farhan Akhtar
32. Mononoke Hime - "Princess Mononoke" (Jap. 130809, Miyazaki) - now this was tiresome...
33. Hauru no Ugoku Shiro - "Howl's Moving Castle" (Jap. 200809, Miyazaki) - Very original - the very idea of a castle with bird's feet! :)
34. A Wednesday - (Hindi, 210809) - Solace to the "आम आदमी" angered by terrorist strikes...damn good.
35. Kurenai No Buta (Jap. 041008, Miyazaki) - "The Crimson Pig / Porco Rosso" - Like Porco's crimson seaplane, the story too sputters to a start, cruises some distance and then out of ideas towards the end. Disappointing.
    
36. Quantum of Solace (English, 08112008) - Well, a Bond movie has to be seen. So what it doesn't make any sense whatsoever?
    
37. Dostana (Hindi, 06122008) - Yuk.
    
38. Ghajini (Hindi, 27122008) - Somehow, all the heroes & villains seemed completely unaware of the existence of a weapon called the Gun...
    

Books - 2008

The list so far...

1. Nihon No Tsubete - (Japanese-English)
2. Freakonomics - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner - Curiosity and the hidden side of everything... I particularly liked Sudhir Venkatesh's research on the drug-mafia.
   
3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky - Inside the mind of a murderer... amazing book.
   
4. The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman - Lots of interesting observations but does not match up to the hype.
   
5. Discussion on Youth (Vol.2)- Daisaku Ikeda (Soka Gakkai) - It's worth reading just for the first chapter, were Ikeda discusses his love for books.
   
6. Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh - I love the way he weaves history into his stories. But how long can I wait for the rest of the alleged "Trilogy"? What will happen to Jodu, Kalua, Raja Halder, Ah Fatt and Serang Ali?
   
7. India's New Capitalists - Harish Damodaran - Despite having seen this book evolve from ideas and rough drafts to a hardback, it is amazing to learn how different communities have coped with the changing times, and of the long shadow of British colonial policy over the current socio-economic landscape in India. Meticulous piece of work.
   
8. Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres - I'd never heard of a Greek Island called Cephallonia and now, after seeing it through the eyes of Dr. Iannis and Kyria Pegalia (and Google Earth) it seems such a familiar place. A beautifully written story that weaves together mythology, romance, history (WW2, civil wars) and music. And yet, the ending seems pathetic and out of tune. The movie version is apparently much worse.
   
9. Foreign Devil - 30 years of reporting in the Far East - Richard Hughes
   
10. The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga -
    
11. Norwegian Wood - Harui Murakami -
    

Khybar Tabesh

Dr. Khyber Tabesh, a colleague & friend got killed today morning in Kabul.

Bad news has a way of catching you completely off-guard. This one popped up on my screen as an email from Ali Khan Yousafzai. "SAD NEWS" warned the subject-line and the brief message went on to say that we could post our condolences to Khybar's office in Afghanistan.

The matter-of-fact, almost routine tone of the message was as shocking as the news itself. Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated last week in Rawalpindi. Today another 25 people had been killed outside Lahore High Court. Was this yet another explosion, yet another futile death in Kabul? It was as if the fundamental questions had ceased to matter - how did this happen? when? why would anybody want to kill a gentle doctor??

Sitting here is Delhi, all I know for a fact is that at this moment, there is a cold room somewhere in Kabul where corpse awaits burial. It is of a person I knew just a few months ago - I had shared meals with him, cracked jokes and walked with him the colorful lanes of Sukhumvit Soi in Bangkok.

It is also the frame of a man who broke down in tears the day he passed out of Kabul Medical University, grateful for being spared the fate of those who opposed the Taliban. He had worked as an interpreter during the bleak years, helping visiting journalists with their horror stories.

When I asked him if things were looking up back home, he had said, "Well, things are improving...I guess its better to be a slave (to America) rather than be the slave of a slave".

He loved to tell everybody about how he helped Kabir Khan with the bollywood movie, Kabul Express and of his rapport with the Indian actor John Abraham.

He reminded me of characters in Khaled Hosseini's "Kite Runner"and of everything that could once again be grand and glorious about Afghanistan.

It is a pity he is no more with us. I have no idea who or what killed him. But his death certainly diminishes hope for a sad country.

Self-Cleaning Glass

This photo was a revelation - an answer to a problem constantly faced by car drivers during the monsoons. When you are driving through rain, wind-screen wipers and air circulation can deal with raindrops and fogging but what about the rear-view mirrors? How is it that this mirror looked like half of it was wiped clean?

Photocatalytic Technology has the answer. Half of the mirror is coated with compound that is abundant in nature - Titanium Oxide. For a long time now, TO has been used as a white pigment in paint, cosmetics and food additives,. Now people was warming up to its uses as a photofunctional material. Compounds that are perfectly functional and yet, do not harm the environment.

Useful properties & applications: -

• When TO absorbs ultraviolet light, any organic dirt or grime on its surface is decomposed through a process called photo-induced decomposition. Perfect for coating glass windows in high-rise buildings.
• TO surface has an affinity for water (photo-induced hydrophilic effect). Buildings coated with it decompose organic dirt under sunlight (UV light) and are easily washed away by rain.
• On a TO surface, water spreads into a thin film and does not form droplets -- a very useful property when used on automobile glass and side-mirrors.
• Combining TO with a safe anti-bacterial agent such as silver and copper makes a material with high anti-bacterial properties when it is irradiated with weak UV light from regular indoor lighting. Very useful in hospital emergency rooms and senior-citizens homes.

(Source: JJ Environment Report, Oct., 2007)

Chanel, by Chance

I was stalked this week - by a perfume.

An unusual smell that kept reminding me of a weekend shopping trip; it kept coming back time and again – while working at my desk, while driving to work, through meetings and during my lunchtime, until I got back home in the evening.

It took a while for me to realize that the culprit was a Parisian creator of olfactory promises – Chanel. On Saturday, during a visit to a local mall, I had loitered towards the perfume section while waiting for the shopping to finish. The whole floor looked radically different from my last visit; previous occupants of prime-space had been shoved to the periphery and the center was now occupied by a few eye-catching, black & white, dramatically lit Chanel counters.

I must have been immediately identified as a potential sucker – just as I was wondering why the famous No.5 bottles were displayed like crown jewels, a salesman sided up, “Looking for something special, sir?”

“Uh?”, I mumbled something about being just curious and was about to slink away when he quickly offered to show me around. The fellow looked sincere and affable, without a hint of superciliousness. He introduced himself as Al-tamash. Yes, a namesake of the sultan who once ruled North India from his citadel in Mehrauli. “It means 'Leader of Men’, and is often mis-spelt as Illtutmish by ignorant historians”, he said. Bonded instantly by the love for history and etymology, I asked him about the hype behind No.5.

The Leader smiled and took out a bottle with a flourish, sprayed the contents on a strip of white paper, waved it in the air and passed it to me. I took a whiff and immediately felt hungry. Not a reaction worthy of classic perfumes but how could I confess this to the Leader? My thoughts went to Pavlov and his dog. Perhaps my mind associated the floral smell with formal parties and weddings where the food and drinks were just around the corner.

Having found an eager student with a hungry expression, Al-tamash proceeded to introduce me to something called Chance. “This one is special”, he said, “It is floral, spicy and woody depending on which of its ingredients makes an appearance - hyacinth, white musk, pink pepper, jasmine, vettiver citrus, iris, and patchouli.”

Patchouli! That rang a bell - hunger all forgotten, my mind now wandered off to a little shop in CP that sold perfume oils in tiny bottles. I remembered being interested in a bottle of patchouli – an interest that was quickly extinguished the moment my eyes met the price tag.

Al-tamash told me that each bottle cost over Rs. 5900 - hardly surprising considering the brand-building effort involved. He told me the difference between eau de toilette and perfumes. Toilettes are cheaper but they contain only a fraction of the active ingredients, so you need to spray copiously for the same impact.

I was introduced to a few more perfumes and I dutifully tucked away the paper strips in my pocket notebook, and removed them as soon as I got back home. But the brief encounter seems to have given my shabby dog-eared scratch pad the airs of Coco herself.

Family Saga: Keemuree le Appachi

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Keemuree’le Appachi has always had a special place in our childhood memories.

During the summer holidays, a certain trio collectively known as DinuDooniVijoo used to go tramping around all over Thrikodithanam, looking for fun, fighting boredom -- clambering up assorted trees; raiding cupboards for upperis and squash; spotting turtles & snakes in the pond; wading through streams trying to catch little fishes called Mannathukanni (മാനത്തുകന്നി : eye-to-the-sky); hiding in corners, waiting for forbidden ice cream-candy vendors; looking for bicycles on hire and new places to explore...

The neighbors were, of course, wary. In the entire locality, if there was one place that always welcomed the brats, it was a house just across the paddy fields -- KeeMuree. The was an abbreviation of Kizhakke-Muri (കിഴാക്കെ മുറി  or literally `Eastern-Room`) with reference to the erstwhile location of the original family mansion.

A genial, friendly old lady always invited us in. She would open her cupboards and treat us to home-made jams and allow us to stuff our pockets with all the upperi  we would carry. On the day we were to return to Hyderabad, she would turn up with a big bunch of bananas and say, “Remember me when you gobble these in the train! - one for each station!!”

Reminiscing is what we were doing yesterday evening. That was when one Ammavan (അമ്മാവന്‍: maternal uncle) came up with this amazing story about KeeMuree, and I just thought of repeating it here for the folks who may not have heard it. It has all the ingredients of a thriller - friendship, violence, secret love, impossible journeys and dramatic reunions.

The story begins with a rather oddly named school in Thrikodithanam, - the Vocational Bias Secondary School, better known locally as “Ookkan-Bayaas”. It was a private institution built in early 1900s by a person named Kuttan Pillai, who made his fortune as a Surveyor for the princely state of Travancore. Pillai's local influence and standing was directly proportional to his wealth.

One day, Pillai found something missing from his house and his needle of suspicion fell on a brash teenager in the neighborhood – Appukuttan of Lakathekkethil. There must have been some previous grievances as well, so Pillai had Appukuttan hauled up by the police, who promptly proceeded to beat him black and blue.

Appukuttan had a very dear friend named Prabhakaran Menon of KeeMuree. Prabhakaran was tall, strapping, athletic lad of 15 or 16, and deeply in love with Apukuttan’s sister, Bhavani. The friendship between the boys was known to all and sundry but the romance with the sister was a well-kept secret and both the families were completely unaware of it.

When Appukuttan returned home after his ‘treatment’ at the police station, Prabhakaran was absolutely furious. He swore revenge and within a few days he ambushed the owner of Okkan-Bayaas and let him have it. It is said that Okkan-Pillai got such a trashing from the teenager that he barely escaped with his life.

Prabhakaran ran away from home the same night – staying back only guaranteed trouble from all quarters. He traveled by bus and rail to Madras in a few days, and from there he boarded a steamer to Malaysia. So in circa 1937, when Bhavani began refusing marriage proposals one after the another, the secret came out wrapped in an ultimatum – she would either marry Prabhakaran or not get married at all.

Bhavani then started her long wait for news from across the Bay of Bengal. Pressure from the family kept mounting for a few years until one fine day an acquaintance came up with news of our hero in Malaysia. Prabhakaran had found a good job in Penang and wanted his sweetheart to join him ASAP. He was unable to come to Kerala for getting married, so he sent forth an audacious suggestion – could Bhavani join him in Penang?

To somebody who had never stepped out of Thrikodithanam without an escort, Penang was in another universe. Her family objected vehemently but she was adamant. She had to go. Immediately.

Appukuttan volunteered to take her to Madras, from where she traveled alone by ship to Malaysia. A week or two later, she landed in Penang where the grand reunion was quickly followed by the marriage ceremonies. Bhavani now became KeeMuree le Appachi  (`Appachi` അപ്പച്ചി = father`s younger sister).

Soon after he returned from Madras, Appukuttan too ran away from home and joined the British Indian army. A few years of active service during WW-II and he returned home one day to get married. It is said that he was so smitten the pretty bride that he decided not to report back for duty. The government did not take kindly to deserters and soon Thrikodithanam was swarming with police & army personnel, as well as local bounty hunters.

Appukuttan went into hiding. He kept changing hideouts and disguises; rarely ventured out of dark granaries, lofts and sacred groves during daytime. Children knew that he was somewhere around when food disappeared from the kitchen and books vanished into thin air. The hiding continued until 1947 after independence, when the new Indian army decided not to trouble men who had deserted the British.

Prabhakaran & Bhavani visited Thrikodithanam every few years; laden with wonderful gifts for everyone at home: ball-point pens, perfumes, watches, dresses, nylon umbrellas and gadgets.

Soon after their two daughters were born, life got progressively tougher in Malaysia under the “bhoomiputras”. So the family moved back to KeeMuree in the 1960s and life shifted gears into settle for a more sedate, predictable pace.

Adventure on high seas and foreign lands gave way to harvesting paddies, banana's and mulberries - and to pampering skinny brats on the prowl.

Islamic Finance - Sukuk?

What is Islamic Finance? If Sharia prohibits lending of money based on interest, how will bankers survive?

This paradox disappears when you’re sitting on a pile of petrodollars. When you have financial assets of more than $500 million, expanding at 15-20%; when global banks vie with each other for your funds, you’d better take a closer look at Islamic Finance!

The religious view is that receiving high rates of interest on money lent to a poor debtor violated justice. Underlying this precept is the view that money was something that symbolized economic value and was significant only as a means of preserving that value. Therefore true value was preserved only if it was invested in real assets. So, under Islamic finance, transaction in real assets is based on sharing of profit and loss between the lenders and the borrowers.

This may sound Utopian fact is that there is a growing market for innovative instruments offered by Islamic finance. Some of them are –


Murabaha: Similar to installment sales contract

Istisna: A variation of Murabaha applied to housing loans

Ijara: Corresponds to a lease agreement

Musharaka: Similar to investment trust;

Takaful: A kind of casualty insurance covering capital transactions in banking, securities and insurance

Sukuk: ‘Islamic bonds’ mobilizing funds from a large number of investors


Thanks to these innovations, Malaysia now has the largest Islamic financial market in the world, surpassing Bahrain.

In the 1980s repatriation of petrodollars through the London market became a catalyst for the formation of the Eurodollar market. In 2004, FSA-UK starting pushing aggressively for repeat performance for a piece of the IF cake. Japan too is jumping into the fray using JBIC.

Restriction imposed after 9/11 have diverted money flows from USA to illiquid infra projects in the Persian Gulf through IF. Now the emerging market in India is attracting the attention of Islamic petrodollars...

I guess it all goes to prove yet again that IF there is a will, there is a way!

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Ref.: T. Maeda’s note – “A Strategic Approach to Islamic Finance”; JJ 10/07]

NOTE - 10th September 2008
According to the Economist (04 Sep. 2008), Islamic assets under management now stands at $700 billion. S&P thinks this could go up to $4 trillion. However, the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has objected to Sukuk in its present form as it contravened Sharia principles. This could lead to problems...

Interesting Excerpts -- Nanotech, Black Color

Nanotechnology: A little risky business (The Economist, Nov 22nd 2007)

In the past few years the number of consumer products claiming to use nanotechnology has dramatically grown—to almost 600 by one count....Some nanotechnology products are applied directly to the skin, as cosmetics and sunscreens. Titanium dioxide is commonly used as the white pigment in sunscreen. When it is ground into nanoparticles it can still block harmful ultraviolet radiation, but it allows visible light to pass straight though, which means modern sunscreens can appear completely transparent, while offering the same protection as the old white stuff.

Many products are now embedded with silver nanoparticles. At such small sizes, silver can have antimicrobial properties. Silver nanoparticles may come in handy wherever you want to kill germs—for instance, in things as diverse as children's dummies (comforters to Americans), teddy bears, washing machines, chopsticks and bed linen. Hence nanotechnology can be used in food production, most often as nanoparticles of silver in food-preparation equipment. The food industry is also trying to restructure ingredients at the nanoscale so as to include particles of trace metals in food supplements and to produce less-fattening foods.

Research on animals suggests that nanoparticles can even evade some of the body's natural defence systems and accumulate in the brain, cells, blood and nerves...Half of the atoms in a five-nanometre particle are on its surface, which can make it many times more toxic than expected by weight alone.

Carbon nanotubes have been used for years in industry. They have been embedded in materials like plastics to increase their toughness and provide electrical conductivity for components that are electrostatically painted. But it remains unknown, for instance, if they can enter groundwater when the products that contain them are dumped or broken up.

Painting it Black (Japan Journal, Oct., 2007)

For long, the color was a secret symbol of virility and power. Along with gold, it was the most favored color among warlords, the prime example being Oda Nobunaga (the first warlord to unify the nation), who refused to dine off anything but the blackest of lacquered tableware. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries women blackened their teeth, initially to emphasize their sexuality. Later, during the Edo period (1603–1867), wives dyed their teeth black as a sign of unavailability (a Japanese version of the wedding ring), though in many cases this served as the ultimate turn-on—much of Edo pornography (both art and literature) features black-teethed wives in the throes of ecstasy. Women drew the line when it came to dress however; black was too ceremonial, heavy, and laden with male aesthetics/subtexts.

The black boom of today has its roots in the revival of Japanese charcoal (sumi - 炭). Once the most ubiquitous of household supplies, Japanese charcoal (used not just for fuel but also for medication and as a purifier) had given way to mass-produced, high-tech products...

Taxes and Domestic Airfares

In a few sectors Indian domestic airlines have been offering tickets for Rs. 5,. But even for the cheapest tickets, you actually end up paying more than Rs.2500 extra for taxes and surcharges. Now, what are these extra charges?

Jet fuel accounts for 40% of the operating costs for domestic airlines; the domestic industry spends about Rs.7543 Crore on fuel bills. With the latest hike, the additional costs/ticket is Rs. 2025/ and the break-up is something like this:

Fuel surcharge = Rs. 1650/-
Congestion surcharge = Rs. 150/-
Passenger service tax = Rs.225/-

Also aviation fuel is much more expensive in India - 70-90% higher than international rates. At Delhi it is Rs.47,444.14/kiloliter and at Mumbai it is Rs.49,061/kiloliter.

The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) estimates that the rates were brought closer to international rates, it would result in an annual saving of Rs.2496 Cr. ($624m).

Why the big difference?

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Source: P.R Sanjai, LiveMint, 1 Dec., 2007

Diarrhea and Rang De Basanti

Today was the final evaluation of a bilateral initiative – the Project for Control of Diarrheal Diseases. The collaborative project had been launched in 1997 between the National Insitute of Cholera and Entreric Diseases (NICED) Kolkata and the International Medical Centre of Japan.

Now, ten years down the line, it was time to take a hard look at how the project had fared. An external evaluation team had completed its work and a presentation was organized at ICMR Delhi. The results were interesting – a two-hour session packed with data, PDMs, LogFrames, and somber speeches... interrupted every now and then by a peppy Rang-De-Basanti ringtone from the chairperson’s mobile phone.

The ringtone was irksome; completely out of place but it did not dilute the seriousness of the problem at hand.

Diarrhoeal diseases kill millions children in India every year – 35.4/1000 live births (Apr.2007) . It is the single largest cause of “infant mortality and morbidity in Third World Countries”. Since its victims are mostly brown and black kids living in third-world hovels, it naturally gets only a fraction of the money that goes for medical research.

WHO requires all countries to report data for only three diseases – cholera, plague and yellow-fever. Few actually do. But, of the three, it is cholera (and allied diarrheal diseases), that can easily be controlled through hygiene and sanitation. This is an embarrassing, inconvenient fact.

So embarrassing that many countries refuse to divulge data. Bangladesh perhaps loses more kids to cholera and enteric diseases than any other country but its officials like to pretend otherwise. Even Thailand too does not disclose data on diarrhea mortality fearing, perhaps, a negative impact on its booming tourism industry.

In India the data is patchy but it is there. More importantly, it is willing to do something about the problem and share whatever it learns. It is an open-mindedness that is born from the friendship of two researchers who met 40 years ago in Osaka, Japan.

Dr. Y. Takeda and Dr. N.K. Ganguly, met on an exchange programme and both grew to be formidable administrators and researchers in their respective countries. Persuading governments is a lot easier when you’re at the top, and that is exactly what Takeda and Ganguly as heads of IMC and ICMR respectively.

It has been a very productive friendship. Apart from sending scores of leading scientists, training hundreds of Indian counterparts and building an International Diarrheal Disease Research Centre at NICED (Rs.85 Cr., 1996), it has persuaded a large number of talented Indian researchers to stay back and seek solutions to a local.

But how to you measure success of a project like this?

A common symptom of diarrhea is “loosies” which, if left unattended, quickly dehydrates and kills children. But the causes are many –


* Bacteria (Vibrio cholerae, shigella, E.coli, aeromonas…over 2500 species)
* Viruses (Noro-virus, sapo, astro, rota, adeno, pico…over 400 types)
* Parasites (hookworm, ascaris, E.hystolytica, etc.,)

So the first step is to identify the buggers, and then to be ready with trained personnel and cures before a pandemic strikes again. This is exactly what NICED has been trying to do – identifying hundreds of strains (Etiology), producing anti-sera for each of them, archiving strains, and training hundreds of scientists.

The training helps create a surveillance network and producing the antisera locally helps save a lot of money – in the world market, 1ml costs about $200! Another measure is the impact of path-breaking medical research – over a 100 papers has been published since 1997.

On the whole, things seem to be on track. Now, if only the chairperson would switch the mobile into silent-mode...

Himba Girl

I just loved this photograph by Go Yamagata:


Himba Girl's Gaze

Small Enterprises and Patronising Bureaucrats

"Put the boy and girl in the park and walk off -- whether they make it or not is not our business!"

This was Mr. Jawhar Sircar's take on government intervention in foreign collaborations for private enterprises. Mr. Sircar is the Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), a flamboyant satrap who oversees an 'empire' of 13 million micro and small enterprises employing over 40 million people in India.

The numbers are deceptive, of course. The government has no direct control over the enterprises. Each MSME represents an entrepreneur struggling to survive amidst all sorts of constraints and often, the local government itself is one of the problems.

Infighting amongst government departments is another. MSME's turf is constantly usurped by DIPP, an arm of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Both claim to be patron saints of all small enterprises.

What are small enterprises? In terms of investment ceiling for plant, machinery or equipment (excluding land & building), the present definition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is as follows:

Micro - >$62,000 (mfrg); >$25,000 (services)
Small - $ 60,000 - $1.25m (mfrg); $25,000- $0.5m (services)
Medium- $1.25m - $2.5m (mfrg); $0.5m - $ 1.25m (services)

By this new definition, MSM enterprises account for $33b+ in exports, 6% of GDP; 45% share of manufacturing output and 40% share of exports.

Annual credit flow to these enterprises is $9.5 billion from PSU banks; $ 3.5b from other banks (foreign, Sidbi, SFcs..) and $3b from 'Emerging Sources (VC/PE, ECBs, Factoring etc.,).

Given the socio-economic imperative presented by the numbers it is not surprising that we have full fledged government departments and ministries to support this section. But are they actually effective? How much do the government officers really know running small-scale enterprises? do they really care about the rough and tumble of cut-throat competition?... I have my doubts.

Design, Style and Functionality

I was catching up with some of last weekend's columns when I came across an interesting piece by Shoba Narayan (TheGood Life, Mint-Lounge), titled, "Where Style and Functionality Converge".

It was a nice update on some contemporary designers:

Naotsu Fukasawa: A recluse who designs everything from hi-tech gadgets to toasters and plates, through his company Plusminuszero. His designs follow Louis Sullivan's dictum, "form follows function" -

His objects don't simply take up space; they don't shout and scream for attention. They simply recline in soft repose and wait for you to discover them...Take for instance his sole bag - a large bag with a canvas shoe-sole bottom that makes it perfect for resting flat on the ground.

Neil Foley in Bangalore - the 'Jellyfish Light'

Lokus Design, Pune and its sleek furniture for Jindal Steel.

Design Direction, Pune for award winning medical equipment, as well as bio-degradable sandals called. "Solemates".

And Kerala's Kumbham range designed by K.B. Jinan, a social activist and designer who is helping revive the traditional terracotta craft.

Hyderabad & HICC

Sometimes you turn a corner and come across something completely unexpected. This is what happened to me this week at Hyderabad.

We had landed from Delhi to participate in an international conference. The venue was called Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) - it sounded grand but drivers from the largest rental-car company in Hyderabad had no idea where it was located.

We strayed for over 5km in Cyberabad before somebody insisted that the venue was actually inside a barren looking trade-fair area. We had been turned away from the gates earlier by guards who told us that nothing was going on inside. There were no signboards or banners anywhere to direct the 1500 people expected to attend the event.

As it turned out, HICC was inside the trade fair area, tucked away deep inside, behind Novotel - a 5-star hotel. Being one of the many exhibitors, we had to enter the large building from the rear, and once inside, the signs were not too encouraging. In a massive hall, people were still creating a podium for an event that was to take place within two hours. The exhibition area was barren, except for a few workers trying to fix electricity connections for the stalls.

Within an hour the scene was completely transformed. Thousands of chairs had been arranged, the podium had become picture-perfect and the sound and lighting system were functioning flawlessly. Obviously we were at no ordinary venue.

I learnt later that HICC was developed and owned by a joint venture between Emaar Properties PJSC, Dubai and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. Managed by Accor; world's largest hospitality business operator. It was conceived, designed and created to handle small meetings of 50 people to large scale events for 5000 people. The convention centre formally opened just last year, with the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention on January 7th 2006.

The large pillar-free internal hall (6,480 sq. meters) could be partitioned into six halls in an open capacity, holding up to 400 tables in Banquet setting and 6000 in cocktail. The pre function foyer area exceeded 6500 sq meters. The Centre has mobile operable walls, which when expanded accommodates up to 5000 people. The mobile operable walls were soundproof, built in the US and had been covered with Teak and Silk.

On the third and top floor of this complex were exclusive board rooms that remained on 24-hour stand-by. From here you could look through the sheet glass windows and see all the signs of a booming economy - construction of apartment complexes, hotels, and highways in areas surrounding Kukatpally.

The complex was manned by around 200 personnel in neat, color-coded uniforms (black for housekeeping, white for F&B, officers in suits). One of them confided that a few weeks ago, Schneider Electric had booked the entire hotel & HICC for five days and paid a total of Rs. 29 Crores!

He also added with a tinge of pride that the only thing Indian in the entire complex were the carom boards in the staff club!

Prepaid Cards in Japan

Multi-purpose prepaid travel cards embedded with an IC–chip is taking Japan closer to cashless transactions.

There are over ten IC chip car makers in Japan and all of them use Sony’s FeliCa technology. IC cards can store a wealth of information and up to 16 separate servicee applications can be read and authenticated in 0.1 seconds. The leading ones are -

Suica-card: Launched in November 2001 by JR (Japan Railways) East, serves the Kanto area, including the Tokyo-Yokohama conurbation. This is a contactless prepaid card that triggers automatic deduction at the ticket gates. An E-money feature added in 2004, allowing payment at vending machines, station kiosks, and shops around stations. 20 million in circulation, usable across 18,500 retails outlets. Service is also available on mobile phones from the bid three carriers – DoCoMo, AU and Softbank

Pasmo-card: The latest rage. Launched early this year by a consortium of over 100 train bus and subway companies across Kanto region. Goes with a catchy slogan, “Densha-mo, Bus-mo, Pasmo”. 3 million cards were sold in the first three weeks..