We can but Cry

The decision on the hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru would have to wait for at least two years with the government deciding to clear one mercy petition every month in chronological order. The mercy petition of Afzal Guru, who has been awarded the death sentence by the Supreme Court in the 2001 Parliament attack case, is the 22nd on the list of 28 cases pending before the government of India. Home Minister P Chidambaram is believed to have asked his officers to put up one case to him each month on which he will take a decision and send the government’s recommendation to President Pratibha Patil. Chidambaram is already said to have conveyed the government’s recommendation to the President this month on the first case on the list. The one recommendation per month rule, however, would not necessarily result in one mercy petition getting accepted or rejected every month as the President was entitled to take as much time as she desires to either accept or reject the government’s recommendation.

This denotes why we will never become a great power. Here is a person, who was instrumental in a savage murderous attack on the highest seat of democracy in our country, Parliament to destabilize our country. He has been given a fair hearing and pronounced guilty by the highest court in the Country more than 3 years back. And our Congress Government, who professes to root out terrorism, is pussy footing saying he will be treated like any other ordinary criminal in the death row. WHAT A CRYING SHAME? What kind of messages are we sending out to terrorists? That they can attack us with impunity and then enjoy a nice 15 years stay in our jails at OUR TAXPAYERS MONEY? This has got nothing to do with natural justice. This is pure cowardice on the part of the Government, who thinks that hanging Afsal Guru shall displease the muslim community, not realizing that every single person I spoke to from that community is critical of his attack on the parliament and want him to be hanged as early as possible. Cry my beloved country! Cry.

Ulkadal revisited

My student and good friend Rao reminded me on friday that of late I am going down the memory lane with my blog posts. There is no specific reason for this. The chain of thought was triggered by a dream I had of my college days.

I took a decision to let bygones be bygones when out of the blue a very nostalgic film from late 1970s was shown on the malayalam channel Surya TV.

Most of the younger generation might not even remember the name of the film 'Ulkadal' and wont be able to understand why such a slow paced film should have been a hit. But the story of a PG student Rahulan ( portrayed by Venu Nagavalli ) and the late Shobha, playing a coy Reena, a christian girl doing her undergraduation, is a classic. It took me back to an era where the boys and girls were not as brazen as they are today. The love being developed with a look here, a touch there - the intimacy born out of, not physical attraction, but simple mental compatability. And the settings so natural with hardly any background score, apart from the 3 or 4 haunting tunes with the chirping of the birds being the only decipherable sound otherwise. Step cut, bell bottom pants, sarees with high neck blouses and not an iota of indecency. All these made the film one that brought nostalgic memories. The talented Shobha, who died so tragically after an affair with cameraman Balu Mahendra a few years later, has emoted beautifully with sadness, fear, happiness, love, affection fleeting through her face in a short span and contrastingly Venu Nagavally going through the whole film with a deadpan, indifferent face. Finally, the songs. What melancholic tunes! Pure poetry starting with 'Ente kadinjool pranayakathayile' that talks about the lost teenage love, to the lovely duet 'Sarabindu malardeepa nalam neeti' and the award winning 'Nashta vasanthathin thapta niswasame' - a treat to the ears.

I sat through this film after nearly 25 years and I could remember many scenes as if I saw it yesterday. Such was the lasting impression I had of this film. Quarter of a century later, I was able to live through a period of my life where I became a man from the dreamy eyed teenager.

At the end of it all, it left me with a tinge of sadness. A pleasurable pain that hurt the corner of my heart.

Of journey men and their small battles

I am crazy about sports to a fault. I used to play Cricket fairly well, and am comfortable with any racquet game, be it Tennis, Badminton or Table Tennis.

I had the fortune of having been associated with quite a few national sportsmen who had become coaches in their respective discipline while doing MBA. There was Muraleedharan, the badminton coach who later went on to coach the Indian National Team, Victor Manjila, the friendly Football international who retired recently, E J Jacob the Physical Education Director, Ashraf, the Athletic Coach who has since taken a doctorate and last heard was in Germany and many others. They all stayed in staff quarters siutated around our hostel. Most days we meet at the tennis court to play tennis. For everyone other than Jacob, tennis was not their first choice sport, but they did play, at times clumsily. But one thing I noticed was their competitive nature, mental toughness and the will to win at any cost. The lazy Palghat boy learned mental toughness and the winning habit from them in those clay courts. A lesson that has stood me over the next quarter of a century.

We are all obsessed with the Tendulkars, Federers, Schumakers, Kakas, Tiger Woods of this world. We love to watch the supreme talent on display. But at times the real flavour of sports happens at lower levels. Of journeymen teams and players playing out of their skin at the preliminary rounds. The victor at best gets a chance to proceed to the next round, where they get whipped by a superior team or player. But, they still spill their blood and that is what makes sports so splendid to watch.

One such match was between USA and Egypt in the group stage of the Confederations Cup being played in South Africa. Both of them had a remote chance of going through to the semi final, provided Italy lose to Brazil, which they did. USA, the underdogs played brilliantly and scored 3 precious goals that was just sufficient to take them to the Semi Final. Not that Egypt played badly. It was a very absorbing game. Despite being 3-0 down, all Egypt needed was to score one goal to qualify for the semis, which they couldnt. That USA went on to break the 36 game unbeaten record of Spain in the Semi Final is another story. Likewise, no hoppers South Africa played a vintage game against the fancied Brazil in the other semi final and with a bit of luck would have beaten them. They held Brazil goal less for 88 minutes, and only a last ditch effort, brilliant free kick from the tricky Daniel Alvez, separated the teams in the end. But South Africa was so organized that they frustrated and harassed Kaka, Robinho, Fabiano no end and the coach Dunga was visibly showing his anguish. Despite being a hard nosed Brazil fan, I had to admire the brilliant game plan of South Africans, coached incidently by a Brazilian,Santana.

But what triggered this post was a terrific tennis match I saw on Friday between Marin Cilic of Croatia and Tomy Haas of Germany. Haas won the first two sets, but Cilic hit back to win the third. Haas recouped, had 2 match points in the 4th set. Cilic, a towering 20 year old, served powerfully and took the game to the tie break. He survived a mini break, won 6 points in a row and tied the match at 2 sets all. He broke Haas early in the fifth and was leading 3-0. Haas was being hustled and was getting irritated by the minute. He could barely stand on his two feet. The sun had long since gone down. The scoreboard lights started becoming brigher. Haas was being almost counted out when he got us at the count of 8, held his serve, then broke Cilic and then held his again. Tennis was of the highest quality, with winners being hit on both flanks by Cilic and Haas coming up with some wonderful volleys. Both players did not give an inch. 3-3 became 4-4, then 5-5 and then finally on the 4 hour mark Haas nervously held his serve to level the match at 2 sets all, and 6 all in the final set, when play had to be called off due to darkness. There was drama, character, outpouring emotions, fantastic shotmaking, heavy serving, vociferous croatian fans and the silent brooding German Camp. Remember, this is only a third round match. It is a pity that they have to come back tomorrow to finish this match. I would have accepted both of them as winners if I had an option. There are no losers in such matches, the sport wins. It is matches like these that separated men from boys. Those in the Centre Court were privileged to watch tennis at its best and I am sure the very few who saw it on television like me will remember both the players fondly in the days to come.

Newsroll

Scrap Board Exams for Class 10 - HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. He also plans to replace the Percentage system with percentile system - Finally, finally we have a minister who is thinking in the right direction. If he is able to pull this off (I am not sure about this as the 11th admission is one of the times when private schools make a killing by way of donation. Or is this a way of sending a signal to the Private School Management to fill in the Congress Party coffers???). For now, I would like to give the benefit of doubt to the Minister. This is indeed the way forward.

Air India to be a low cost carrier domestically - I am not sure about the efficacy of this move. The core competencies required for running a profitable low cost carrier are high productivity, lean organization, no flab, high level of customer orientation and a highly motivated staff. I dont think Air India qualifies on any of the above parameters. Low cost airlines have a different culture, which is miles away from what Air India has. The guy who came up with this idea need to have his head examined.

India faces monsoon failure- This is bad news. Already the economy is in doldrums and the last thing you want is a bad monsoon. Government is almost bankrupt and they are just not in a position to face the crisis, economic and food related, that will be caused by poor monsoon. Rural spending will be badly affected, so will the consumer goods industry. This is a bad omen.

An unforgettable day 25 years ago

Having had my School and College education in the sleepy, lazy Palghat whose people are harmless and helpful to a fault, I was planning to do MBA in 1984. It was not easy to get admission to MBA those days. MBA was being offered only in Cochin University and Calicut University, with a total of 25 seats in Cochin and 15 in Calicut, making it a total of 40 for the whole of Kerala. Taking away the reserved seats, Calicut had only 7 seats for students from the unreserved open category. There was a Management Aptitude Test lasting 3 hours followed by a Group Discussion for the selected candidates and then a Personal Interview. 50% weightage was given for the Degree marks and 50% for the entrance Test/GD/Interview.

After the interview was over, we were told that the results would be published on the notice board on 31st October 1984. My father was an Executive Engineer in Electricity Board (KSEB) in Chittur, Palghat. The KSEB lorry goes regularly to Calicut, 140 kms away, to replenish the materials in the store. Since University Campus is on the way, I hoped into the lorry, carrying a pocket transistor, for India was playing Pakistan in Pakistan that day. We left at 5 am and I reached the campus by 9 am. I was thrilled to see my name as the first (and I got a damned good University Merit Scholarship for qualifying first - a princely sum of Rs 20,000, which more than covered up my tuition fee and hostel fee for 2 years ). I was on top of the world, for getting a MBA admission, even in Calicut University was an achievement. The alternate option was to join for Post Graduation in Physics or English with future looking bleak. Back in 1984, there were hardly any career choices, unlike today. I waited at Ramanattukara for the lorry to come back, hearing on the transistor India batting against Pakistan. Since there was no telephone at our home, I had no way of calling up father and tell him the good news that I got into MBA.

Suddenly, the radio started blaring out soulful shehnai indicating the death of someone, but there were no announcement. Lorry came back and we started our journey back. We saw people forming small groups on the road side. The radio was still silent but for the music. We stopped en route for a cup of tea and heard the first whispers that Indira Gandhi was probably assassinated. We sensed trouble, and made haste to Palghat.

The situation outside was getting ugly by the minute. Agitated Congress workers had started blocking the traffic. Shutters were down. People were talking in sotto voce in huddles. Deathly silence hung in the air. My driver was getting worried. The lorry was full of expensive Electrical materials, for which he was responsible. We reached Managalamkunnu, when our luck ran out. The Road was blocked. Left with no option, we parked the lorry safely in the local electricity office. We were hungry and thirsty. The time was around 1 in the afternoon. All the hotels, tea shops and even the petty shops were closed. We had no idea how long we will have to wait till we resume the journey. Some good samaritans of the electricity board brought some food for us from their home. It was the most delicious meal I have eaten ever.

I had no way of intimating my parents. By 6 pm, I had taken a decision. I started walking. It was still about 80 kms to my home. I walked a while, then I will get a local transport like tractor or motor cycle or a jeep which will take me till the next road block, again back to walking. It was a bizarre and crazy journey, that lasted till 3 am, when I finally stumbled into my brother's friends house in Palghat, still 15 kms away from my home. I was tired, fatigued, famished and on the verge of collapse. I decided to stay with him till situation calms down. Next day, by evening when it was safe for us to drive, he took out his Vijay Scooter and dropped me at my home.

I still remember my father sitting, with absolutely no care in the world, in his Easy Chair on the portico, writing cross words. He looked up, saw me and said gruffly,

"9 Across- Dead End"

I looked blankly at him.

"3-2-3", he said indicating the blank columns

I replied automatically, " Cul-de-Sac"

Saying that, I walked in, turned my head at the top of stairs and told him,

"By the way, I got my MBA admission"

Saska Panchiska

I was a young college student once, doing my Pre Degree Course (+1,+2) and then the Graduation Program at Government Victoria College, Palghat (1979-1984). We were a group of 17. A good majority of that gang had studied in BEM High School in the same class from 5th to 10th standard. In the College, we took different groups for PDC and had different majors in our undergraduate program. But we were good friends, with multitude of talents and varying personality. I could hardly remember any two of us fighting over the 5 years we were in GVC.

We were politically aware, sports crazy, fairly good in studies and generally considered to be a joyful, harmless group. Our political ideologies were different, from those who were neutral to SFI activists, KSU activists and even ABVP activists. Come college election time, we worked tirelessly for our friends irrespective of our political affiliation.

We were from different backgrounds. No one asked anyone what his caste was nor the size of his pockets. All of us will go to the canteen and eat to our hearts content. At the end, we will ask how much the bill was and one of us will go around collecting money. We all contributed whatever we had. There were some who didnt have any money. But it was never an issue. Others understood and covered up for it. Neither they nor the others had any qualms about it.

Ours was a mixed college with a strength of 4000, with an equal amount of girls and boys. The society was much more conservative those days. But still the group had its own share of love affairs, which were either encouraged by others or silently disapproved. But we had our own unwritten rules. Sisters of any of the group members and the girl classmates of any of the group members were out of bound. They were to be treated with kid gloves and the group was a sort of protector to all these girls, whether they wanted the protection or not.

We were the typical, lazy, ambitionless Palghat boys with hardly any care in the world. There were some good artists in the group. Jaju was a good cartoonist, Vijayan was good in mono acting, all of us had a fondness for reading, some dabbled in poetry and others just looked on with the affection only friends can have for one another.

One day, sitting on the covered well near the Pre Degree block (our head quarters for most of the day as we picked and chose the classes to attend-we spent more time outside the class than inside) someone hit upon the idea of Jaju drawing cartoons on big sheets of paper and displaying in the entrance to the stair case and of course in front of the girls room. Jaju was good at drawing, others supplied the money, ideas and the caption. We needed a name for it. We threw ideas back and forth but to no avail. Then someone blabbered 'Saska Panchiska'. It was a meaningless word, but it got stuck. Every day, students looked forwared to see the new cartoon from Saska Panchiska. We ran it for nearly an year and discontinued during the final year when we had weightier things in our mind like improving the first year papers and getting a degree certificate.

We were good friends who only wished good for our friends, even today. There was no malice, no jealousy, no inferiority complex. We rejoiced when one of us got a windfall, while we cried when someone had a bad day. Life was so simple and uncomplicated then.

After the graduation, we all moved away. Some joined the Banks, Jaju got into the Advertisement field, some like Vichan took over the family medical distributorship, Shaji and Diwakar went abroad, one or two took up the legal profession and one even became a share broker. It is sad that I have lost track of most of them, but I do have fond memories.

Why am I going back down the memory lane? What triggered these fond memories? With a start I realised that this June marks the 25th year of our graduation!! How time has flown!!

Budget thoughts

The Budget 2009 is around the corner, delayed due to the elections held in April-May. The Budget, in its current form, is redundant. It is a mere projection of the reveues and expenses. It also is a forum for outlining policy guidelines.

Much is made of the relevance of the budget and its approval by the parliament. What it does not tell is that once presented, everyone forgets about the budget. There is no accountability, as year after year there is a huge mismatch between the projected figures and the actuals..

Congress is in a spot of bother this time around. The wasteful expenditure committed during the last term (like the wider coverage of NREG that has only helped to line the pockets of chota netas, the pay commission awards and the much publicized Rs 60,000 crore farm waiver which was deftly spread over till 2011) is coming back to haunt them. Nothing much has been done on fiscal prudence. The deficit, which was brought down with great difficulty to 2.5% of GDP, has been allowed to raise and is alarming at 6% plus, and still climbing. P Chidambaram has taxed the nation to the full, with hardly anything left to be taxed. Hence, new revenue generating opportunities are limited. With economy slowing down, it is obvious that even the existing tax collection will not be achieved in the coming year, while the non plan expenditure has been raising steadily. With country facing deflation, industrialists ( the biggest beneficiaries of Government largesse ) who have funded the election campaign will definitely take their pound of flesh. Thus while Government would dearly love to increase CENVAT from 2.5% to at least 3.5%, it is unlikely to do so. There is also pressure to increase the limit of IT to put more money into the pockets of the consumer. However, successive governments have repeatedly ignored the salaried class immediately after an election and this is likely to continue. You can expect some serious policy announcements pertaining to Infrastructure development. The government has at last woken upto the benefits of quality infrastructure, but we are decades away from achieving it. However, any step in this direction is welcome. Exporters are clamouring for sops (undeservedly I would say. We, as a nation, had to pamper exporters once because of the poor BOP, but since the situation is different now, we should tell the exporters not to hide behind government doles in order to be sustainable). Reduction in subsidies is not on the cards. What is on the cards are definitely more social sector spending. But how are we going to finance all these things? One way is to sell the family silver - Disinvestment. Money raised out of selling assets should go for constructive spending. It will be a pity if it goes to cover revenue deficit, which is unproductive. The second route is to raise money through debt financing. Congress is a past master at this and had brought the country to bankruptcy in early 1990s by adopting this route. It is likely that they will have to resort to this, for simply there is no other option available.

In short, what this means is that there will not be much outlay for development projects but more panic reaction to cover revenue deficit. This will be a pity, as a recession is the right time to invest in development projects so that we are ready when the economy enters the boom phase. But then, visionary planning has never been the forte of our politicians.

Safe and unsafe

I have heard many Indians crib and bitch about Kuwait, where they make a good living. Whenever someone has asked me the question 'How do I like Kuwait?', my reply is always " I always learn to like the country I live in". Happiness is a frame of mind. If we look for pretty things, we will find only those while if we go on looking for defects, we are susceptible to finding only faults.

A recent survey on the Safest Countries to live in the World, Kuwait comes a creditable 42 nd. Here is an extract from the report " In the most unstable neighbourhood in the world, Kuwait is an oasis of calm, and is ranked 42nd by the index. Considering that Iraq, the most dangerous place to live in the world, borders Kuwait, this achievement is no mean feat. Kuwait is regarded as one the most progressive Arab states and scores high in education and material well-being".

Incidently Oman comes in much higher at 21st and Qatar follows immediately.

Sadly, India is at a lowly 122nd amongst 144 countries evaluated. We need to introspect why the country that gave Ahimsa to the world, is quite unsafe.

Key to Success and Happiness

As a blogger, I have tried my best to be original. But at times, I do come across some genuinely good write ups that is worth sharing . The one on success and happiness by Bud Caddell is one such. Read on...............

We can’t determine how to make enough money from the things we want to do, and do really well. I’m constantly surprised at what can be monetized. And on the web, there’s a market for almost anything. But this problem requires you to rapidly iterate your positioning and the type of clients you serve. Often, we’ll get transfixed on a single direction early on (because we’re desperate to solidify our business) and we’ll miss our chance to radically experiment with the market.

We’ve found things we want to do, and can be paid for, but we’re not the best game in town. Mediocrity is not a sustainable strategy. Being able to recognize your own weakness is a profound strength, and acting to improve what you do is key to any kind of long term growth and stability. Find the best talent and steal them. Learn how your competitors run their businesses, and copy what works.

We’ve come across things people want us to do, that we do well (or at least better than the competition) that we really don’t want to do. This is perhaps the most fatal trap for any business I’ve worked in. These are the sirens calling you to shipwreck. You’ll hemorrhage your best people, you’ll stop loving what you do, and you’ll lose the passion that built your business in the first place. Start saying ‘No.’

Though the above pertains to own business, the principle can be applied to any profession. I have been comfortable with all the shaded areas which overlap, except one - How to monetize What I do well and What I want to do. I have been very poor on this, leading to people taking me for a ride and my feelings being hurt. I know of many people who just cannot say 'No'. If you want to be succesful in life, you have to learn to say an emphatic NO. Others may not like it initially (and many dont like me on this count), but in the long run they do come around and appreciate your stand. Finally, nothing is more important than doing enough to handle the 'Learning to do better' portion. Here is where your fundamental attitude comes into play. Take care of this and you will go far in life.

Dissecting the T 20 loss

So why did we not make the Semi final in T 20 WC?

We followed a disastrous policy (something England has been doing in one day circuit for nearly 20 years with absolutely no success) of cramming the team with bits and pieces players who can 'bat a bit and bowl a bit' but who in the end doesnt do either. If India thinks that it can win with the Yousuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Rainas of this world, then they should have their head examined.

As I told someone after the first super 8 match against WI, we wont reach Semi Finals because we are short of 2 quality batsman and definitely 1 quality bowler in the 11. A batting line up -comprising of an out of form Gambhir, a happy go lucky but talented Rohit Sharma ( a rookie for all purpose, who is a good finisher but should never have been sent in as an opener ), a scratchy Raina at No.3 ( who is far from being a Dravid or Laxman), Yuvraj (under utilized in this tournament), Yousuf Pathan ( at best a good No.7 , but definitely not an India No.5) and Dhoni (yet to overcome his confusion as to block or bang) - is enough to bring a smile on quality international bowlers faces. One might say many of them had done well in IPL. True, but one has to remember that most IPL teams had at least 2 bowlers out of 5 who were the weaklings and of just first class standard. There were easy pickings there. And saddest was that, we just didnt have anyone to replace should the above 5 fail. The reserve batsman was Dinesh Karthik. I dont have anything else to say.

If you look at the bowling, Zaheer was not fit , Ishant was off colour, Irfan opening the bowling at 130 kmph was fodder for class batsmen, Harbhajan has forgotten how to turn the ball and take wickets (all he does is fire it in), RP Singh added teeth to the bowling when he came back and India decided to bench its best bowler Pragyan Ojha who was a revelation in the tournament. God only knows why Jadeja was prefered over Ojha. In fact both should have played at the expense of Ishant. This tournament has been about spinners - Murali, Mendis, Botha, Ven de Merwe, Saeed, Afridi.

What we lacked was Class in both batting and bowling. We sorely missed a batsman of the stature of Tendulkar or Dravid who can hold the innings together ( the best performing batsmen are Kallis, Dilshan, Sangakkara - none of them big hitters ). The team selection was based on first selecting those who the management feels cannot be dropped - Harbhajan, Zaheer, Raina, Ishant, Yousuf Pathan - and then filling in the rest of the team.

I have been reading many articles about India's defeat. But no one mentioned the pathetic keeping of M S Dhoni. As a keeper he was a disaster and a liability. His leg side collection was woeful (remember the last ball of the England innings when he couldnt collect a Bhajji wide and then Yuvraj let it go for 5 wides? And we lost the match by 3 runs). Any decent keeper would have collected that not so wide ball. Dhoni dropped catches, was not in position to collect the throws (most of the time he was at least 3 -5 meters away from the stumps when the throw landed on his gloves and I noticed at least 4 occasions when hilariously he accepted throws by keeping both the pads together and allowing the ball to thud on to the pads. Why hilarious is because I remember doing it in my young days as a Wicket Keeper during Coaching Camps. The coach was so riled that he made me run around the Victorial College ground with my pads on till I fell down due to fatigue. That cured me of that disease once for all. Is Gary Kirsten listening?. Contrast this with the keeping of another Captain. Sangakkara is outstanding behind the stumps. He has been faultless keeping upto the wicket to Mendis and Murali. Also, I saw him keep up to medium pacers to prevent batsmen from stepping out and his glove work was breathtaking.

Who will win the World Cup? I would stick my neck out and predict that Srilanka will. Their middle overs bowling has been great and they ooze with class in batting. Only thing that could stop them will be Gayle getting stuck on them in the Semis.

Couple of days off

A touch of flu (no, no. not swine flu), painful throat, irritating cough, antibiotic hangover - all these mean a blank mind

Be here in a couple of days

From Chanakyaneethi

Be content with what you have already got as wife, food and income. But don’t ever be content with your knowledge, self-improvement and charity.... Chanakyaneethi

There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth...... Chanakyaneethi

(In this context something else comes to my mind. I read somewhere that 'People are greatful to you for NOT what you have done in the past, but what you can do for them in the future'. Many a time we forget this and comment how a particular person has been ungrateful to you despite you helping him in the past.)

Vouchers for School Children

In my post 'Of intentions and reality checks' dated 11th June 2009, I had lamented about the continued ignoring of the Primary education in India. I had also suggested that Government pay Rs 1000 per student per month who is stuying in Government Schools.

Now, columnist Swaminathan Ankleshwara Aiyer in Times of India, who is known for his out of the box thinking, thinks on similar lines. He talks about giving vouchers instead of cash, but the idea is the same. It is also heartening to note that a pilot project has been on in Delhi.

You may read the article here,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/SA-Aiyar-An-open-letter-to-Kapil-Sibal/articleshow/4653435.cms

Karaagre..........................

Everyone wants their day to be good. People do believe that the first thing they see in the morning has a profound influence on the day ahead. It is this faith that has people setting up 'Vishukkani' on the first day of the year. I had written about Vishukkani in an earlier post on April 14th.

Even in western countries people talk about 'getting out on the right side of the bed'.

It is not possible to choose everyday what one would like to see first in the morning in this era of global travel. But there is a simple alternative. Before you open your eyes, hold both the hands together and open the palms in front of your eyes and view it first in the morning. I am sure you would have seen many people do this, but why do they do this. As is the normal case, not many know. If you ask them, they will just say 'it brings luck'.

The real reason can be found here,

'Karaagre vasathe Lakshmi

Karamadhye Saraswathi

Karamoole thu Govinda

Prabhathe Karadarsanam'

Translated it means that Goddess of prosperity Lakshmi resides in the tips of the hand, Goddess of knowledge/learning Saraswathi in the middle and the God who protects Mahavishnu (Govindan) at the base of the hand. Hence, looking at your hands in the morning is akin to saluting the trio. In short you are acknowledging that you need money, knowledge and divine help (protection) for your day to be successful.

More logically, looking at your own hands in the morning helps you to focus, remember the gods, have faith in your abilities, reminds you to do good things which will result in good tidings during the day.

Of intentions and reality checks

Our PM has launched an ambitious (read 'full of hot air') plan (sic) to alleviate poverty in 100 days. Let us try and dissect it.

Even as the world struggles to find a way out of the recessionary vortex, India is thinking of keeping it blistering growth rate from flagging. And the prime minister has already made it clear that a 'mere 7 per cent' growth would be wholly unsatisfactory - Even the IMF and World Bank has put Indias projected growth rate for the coming year @ 4%. Our PM wants > 7% when he has messed up the economy during his past tenure. We can understand a politician talking hot air like this, but we expect a more realistic projection from an Economist PM.

'There are about 27.5 per cent existing people below the poverty line, it is a matter of deep concern and it is our solemn duty to do everything possible to see that this poverty comes down and comes down steeply in the next five years so that within a single generation we should get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions and millions of people in our country,' Manmohan Singh said. - Haven't we heard this before? - the (in)famous 'Gharibi Hatao' slogan with which Indira Gandhi won the national election in 1971. 38 years after that MMS is parroting the same lines. Intentions are good, but pray tell me PM, how the hell are you going to achieve this. As usual he is silent on this. If he thinks that giving away wheat @ Rs 3 and extending NREGS to more districts is the answer to it, he is sadly mistaken. The low priced wheat will be looted and diverted as the Congress led Governments have systemmatically destroyed the much lauded Public Distribution System over the past 2 decades and even the Camptoller and AG has pointed out that the leakage is NREGS is close to 85%. No action has been taken to plug this leak. The NREGS is a way to allow panchayat party functionaries to make money. The poor doesnt get anything. The records of the Congress led Governments at State Level on implementing NREGS is pathetic. It is actually the opposition led Governments that have done a stellar job in states like Bihar, MP, Orissa.

Financial sector reforms and divestment in state-owned companies to save the cash starved economy are in the pipeline - The reforms he talks about in the Financial Sector, like opening up Insurance Sector, and allowing Pension Funds to invest in Stock Markets, are precisely the policies that led to the Global Financial Crisis. The money obtained from divesting the state owned companies (much overdue) would go to meet the spiralling non plan expenditure and to curtail revenue deficit, instead of reinvestment that should kick start the economy.

The issue of black money which was an election issue will be dealt with. The government has promised steps to bring back black money in tax havens - Again the Congress stand on the money stashed in Swiss Accounts is public knowledge. Fat chance they will change their stand on this.

Inclusive growth combined with fiscal prudence will be the mantra that the new United Progressive Alliance government will follow - This is another cruel joke. Successive committees have pointed out the spiralling non plan expenditure, and P Chidambaram had promised at the beginning of his earlier term to bring down deficit to 2.5%, but instead he allowed it to shoot up to 10%. Read my earlier post on ministries. First thing MMS can do to practice Fiscal prudence is to sack half of his ministers. Let the clean up start from there. Will it happen? no way.

The government also plans to set up a National Council for Higher Education in the first 100 days of its rule to create an autonomous education system - Laudable. But you will notice that the focus is on self financed higher education. We have seen what happened when unscrupulous elements in the society got involved in the education system fleecing students of money with hardly any improvement in the quality of education. Congress has belatedly realized that there is money to be made from this sector. No doubt higher education in India needs urgent surgery and any development here, as long as it improves the quality, is welcome. But, what about something more crucial? Primary Education and the poor state of Government Schools. This continues to be ignored. A simple solution could be to pay Rs 1000 per student per month (to be put in a bank account) who is studying in any government school and fill up the vacancies of teachers on a priority basis. This will create jobs and the payment can be linked to 80% attendance. Like the mid day meal scheme, this will serve as a huge incentive for the parents to send their children to school. This will not even cost a fraction of the subsidies we are giving to the rich industrialists and rich farmers.

Only Kamal Nath has made the right noise so far. He has promised to build 35000 kms of 6 lane traffic in 5 years and that is something the UPA was guilty of putting in the backburner during its last term. Being a no nonsense go getter, the surface transport ministry is in safe hands and we can expect some visible improvement in the years to come.

Government has been pretty silent on Energy Security. What is strange is the silence on setting up Nuclear Energy Plants on a warfooting. I though that was the reason why MMS pushed through the Nuclear Deal with USA by making it a prestige issue. The silence is damning.

Of ministries and ministers

Bloated Cabinet and Council of Ministers have been a bane for a long time now. The blame was put squarely on the coalition politics where numerous stakeholders had to be accommodated. To do this, many ministries were segmented, again segmented and finally fragmented. This resulted in the country having no coherent unified policy pertaining to certain vital sectors. There is another flip side to this. Each ministry means a Cabinet minister, a minister of state, secretaries, under secretaries ........................ office assistants, drivers, bloating up non plan expenditure while not serving the interest of the public in any manner. One thought that with Congress having a reasonable number of MPs in the Parliament, the PM (or Super PM) would do something to integrate many of these ministries, but to no avail.

The nation needs an integrated approach to development. What we do not want is Ministers putting a spoke on policies that has an impact on the concerned sector.

Let us look at some classic cases. One would have thought that Transport, whether it be through air, water, rail or road should be under one umbrella. No way. We have a Railway Minister, a Road transport minister, a Shipping minister, and a Civil aviation minister. Forget about any improvement in freight or passenger traffic facilities. Let us thank god that there is no pedestrial footpath minister. (On this, I cannot for the life of me understand why the hell should we have a Railway Budget at all, presented to the Parliament. By the same token we should have a Civil Aviation budge, road transport budget etc.)

The most critical stumbling block in India's economic growth is Energy security. But the situation is laughable. We have a Power Minister, a Coal Minister, Petroleum Minister, Non conventional and renewable energy Minister and apart from this the Atomic Energy comes under the PM. When Farook Abdulla was given Cabinet Rank for non conventional and renewable energy Ministry, people in Kashmir made fun of him saying he has been given the ministry for Gober Gas. It would be funny but for the fact that it is such a sorry state of affairs. The collective effort of all these ministers is reflected in the end result. A good part of India is without power and the 6-8 hours power cut, even in national capital, is a norm rather than an exception. Industries are using petroleum based captive gensets to facilitate uninterrupted production which results in higher cost of inputs, making our products non competitive in the global markets. But hey! who cares? As long as the ministers and babus have their feifdom, it is fine.

We have an Urban Development Minister and another Minister for Urban Poverty Alleviation. What does the latter do? Clean the slums? And what does the former do? Seal unauthorised constructions. Is it any wonder that our Urban infrastructure is bursting in seams?

With Industrialization a key focus area for the economic growth, one would have thought some sense would go into this critical sector. No way. We have a Commerce and Industries Minister, a Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, a Minister for Steel, another for Textiles, one more for Food Processing, yet another for Chemicals and Fertilizers, and finally one for Micro, Small & Medium Industries. Whew!! It is a miracle the manufacturing sector is growing at all. It will take an industrialist 2 years to figure out which ministry does his unit belongs to.

I stopped analysing the portfolios at this stage as it is mind boggling.

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Qualities needed in a student

Ancient Indian philosophy erudiates that a Student needs the following 5 qualities to excel in his studies,

1. Dyantrishna (thirst for knowledge)
2. Gurushraddha (faith on teachers)
3. Sadatatparta (readyness to learn all the time)
4. Ekagrata (concentration)
5. Dheyaprerak (Motivated towards goal)

The teachers role at the higher education levels are very limited. He should be more of a facilitator and should confine to showing the right path to the student. Acquiring knowledge has to be done by the student on his own, in his own way. It should not be spoon fed on him.

This is fine when the student possess all the above, or at least some of the above, qualities. When the student lacks the above, then the teacher should concentrate on developing the above traits in him rather than limiting to teaching the subjects.

In the end, it is the attitude that matters.

Titbits

Sharad Yadav threatens to consume poison if women's bill is passed ............... (Mr.Yadav, don't tempt us with such sweet thoughts)

UPA's target: A slum-free India in 5 years ................. (When will we abolish rhetoric and accept that we have to aim at achievable objectives? By the way what happened to the PMs claim that he will eradicate poverty in India in 100 days if Congress is voted back to power???)

Rs 15,000 crore Maharaja has sought a bailout package of Rs 14,000 crore from the government as Air India is likely to post a loss of around Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09. ................... (Why the hell are we hanging on to a crumbling, lousy, anti Indian National Airline, avoided by any Indian flier like a plague? Let us divest it as early as possible. No more tax payers money for this inefficient white elephant)

Democracy and votes polled

145 MP's out of the 543 elected in the recent Loksabha elections won by polling LESS THAN 20% of the TOTAL ELECTORATE in their Constituencies. This means that either the balance 80% either voted against him or did not vote for him. And we claim that our MPs represent the majority opinion, when in fact reverse is the case. Likewise Congress which won 260 odd seats polled only 27% of the VOTES POLLED, which means that they have secured only 16% of the TOTAL VOTES in India, and they rule the country. Something is definitely wrong with our democratic set up!!!

Parallels between GM and USA

The 100 year old General Motors filing for Bankruptcy is a warning signal to the United States of America. You might ask 'This is obvious is'nt it?'. But not in the way I look at it.

Why did GM fail? Many reasons. They were the number one car maker in the World till 2007. They were big, no, they were huge with production and brands spread across the Globe. They had the volume, economies of scale, followed the best of the management practices (when I was doing my MBA in 80's GM was the Company we looked up to to learn Management, one of the reason I yearned for a GM vehicle and finally bought an Envoy in 2009) and was cash rich. But they got mislead by their invincibility. They were arrogant. They thought they were infallible. They did not read the enviornmental and industry signals, or they feigned ignorance. The world was screaming for economical, fuel efficient cars, but GM made bigger, heavier gas guzzlers. The US and Canada operations were becoming untenable due to high cost of inputs, mainly labour. And more importantly it is now clear that years of collecting bargaining has left GM with a retired workforce of 400,000 employees in US & Canada alone who had to be paid pension. Each car made in these countries were costlier by $ 1500 due to this factor alone (this is a warning signal for Indian Government. The pension bills of Govt. employees is becoming too hot to handle. A need for pruning the Govt . sector is long overdue). Instead of restructuring to become a leaner and meaner organization, GM became bloated. They did not see them losing their core competence. People used to buy GM because they made the best cars. Not any more. Toyotas of this world made better quality cars at lower prices. The GM was becoming non sustainable. The push towards ultimate demise started almost a decade ago. Then a combination of factors like Spike in oil prices, recession, credit crunch, higher unemployment, changing consumer tastes, environmental issues, liquidity crunch gave GM the shove and it hurtled towards bankruptcy. This means that the Company will be restructured with Govt. taking over more than 60% of the shares. But for all practical purposes GM's dominance is over. How the mighty have fallen?

What has this got to do with USA? USA, as a country, is in pretty much the same position as GM. Big, living on past glory, not taking into account the Global signals or chaning scenario, losing its core competency of dollar supremacy, carrying the burden of an inefficient high spending unproductive population, losing its military might - well US is in trouble. They used their market size and the consuming power to subjugate export oriented countries in Latin America, Far East and even China. Not any more. It was amusing to see the US Secretary of Treasury to go to China recently to assure China that their trade surplus kept in US as Treasury bonds are relatively safe. The oil producing countries have been raising murmurs as to why the trade should not be in a currency other than Dollar. They were shut up using the military might of US (remember Iraq and the real reasons for the war). But defeat in Vietnam, the loss of face in Iraq and the disasterous adventure in Afghanistan has taken the sheen off US military might. USA just cannot win a war against lowly opponents despite all their sophisticated weapons. The bully is not so mighty after all. Dollar is in deep trouble. Three trillion dollars deficit, global pressure on US Dollar is pointing to an economy that is hurtling towards a calamity. USA has lots its core competence in the Agriculture (highly subsidised), Industry (cost inefficient and poor quality) and Services (again cost ineffective and having to outsource) industries. There is nothing to fall back on other than bluff and bluster. The moral high ground USA had on being the high priest of Capitalism and free market is also gone. The financial system on which USA built its global aspirations has lost its credibility. It wont be long before the smaller countries start taking pot shots at USA. They will start chipping away. Dollar is on a very weak wicket, propped up artificially by exporting countries, but it is becoming difficult as the days go by. USA is in trouble, big trouble economically and strategically. The signs are ominous. Only thing is that while GM could run to the bankruptcy court and to the Government to bail it out, USA has no place to go as a Country.

Sauce for the goose...................

I am surprised at the double standards that is prevalent, not amongst the Western Countries alone, but even amongst the Indians.

Foreign nations are quick to point fingers at India and even tick of Indian PM publicly (as France did on an assumed isolated attack on Churches), or hang us to dry on minority bashing at the first rare instance. But we have not heard one peep from anyone of substance when Indian students were attacked recently in Australia. The tom toming was that whole Australia is not racist, but these are isolated instances, though everyone knows that Australia is one of the most racist of countries and have a poor track record in this matter. Now even the Indians in Australia, instead of taking the Australian Government for task, have been soft pedalling asking everyone to give more time to the Australians to sort the issue out. What noble sentiments!! This when a few of the students are just out of ICU, having been brutally beaten by racist thugs.

Both Pakistan and Bangladesh has been systemmatically eliminating Hindus over the decades and no one raises their voice in support of this minority. Tamilians in Malaysia are facing the brunt now. But then we have our own Kashmiri pundits who have been driven out of J&K as part of ethnic cleansing and our Governments turn a nelson eye to it.

What is sauce for the goose is definitely not sauce for the gander

Even the United Nations is not immune to it. Srilankan Tamils dying is no great shakes. It is not genocide nor is it a war crime. There is a report that Ban Ki Moon knew about the high casuality numbers PRIOR to his visit to Srilanka, but kept quiet and feigned ignorance. There has been no condemnation from UN as has been the case with Sudan or any other country. After all, who bothers about a few thousand innocent tamilians?