A lump in the throat, a tear in the eye and a mood of melancholy

Today happens to be a very private one for remembrance.

A day I lost a part of my life 5 years ago - My father.

He would have appreciated this blog where he to be alive and would have been a vociferous critic of it too. He always set the bar very high for me, though he was baffled why I was not ambitious as he was. My laidback attitude was in complete contrast to his relentless drive towards success.

How a sensitive, art loving, fragile and dreamy Pisces son and a bull headed, hard nosed, practical and down to earth Taurus father ever got along so famously is a mystery by itself. Maybe the opposites attract and gel well.

There are lots of him in me and I suspect towards the end of his life there were a lot of me in him too.

I imbibed lot of hobbies from him - reading, music, astrology, a love for sports and crosswords.

I did my duty as a son to him and more while he was alive, and as he used to say, he had a great innings before he decided to get out.

So there should not be any cause for sadness on his 5th death anniversary.

Then why do I have a lump in the throat, a tear in the eye and a mood of melancholy on this day?

Stray news items

PM and Peters Principle - A nice take on dnaindia. http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_pm-and-the-peter-principle_1278246

Schumacher makes sensational return to F1 (albeit temporarily to fill in for the injured Felippe Massa) - This is great news for a die hard Schumi fan like me. Formula 1 lost its sheen when Schumi quit, the other drivers not even upto scratch when compared to him. Its immaterial whether he wins or not ( he may not in all probability as Ferrari hasn't been competitive this season) but what the heck, something to look forward to.

Indian President and PM are now all set to also acquire 12 swanky and secure helicopters for VVIP travel - At tax payers expense obviously. Oh! the kind of sacrifices we make to pamper our unworthy leaders happy. And why should 2 people have 6 helos each?

In a no-holds-barred attack, Anil Ambani today landed an emotional punch on elder brother Mukesh, accusing him of trading their father's 'vision' for 'corporate greed'.- Guys! grow up and wash your dirty liner in your backyard. The citizens of the country has absolutely no interest in two juveline, spoilt kids fighting with each other. This is getting more tiresome than the Paes-Bhupathi bash.

ISP outage - no blogging

Internet problems at work on account of upgradation of services by the ISP (Why cant they do it on Saturday?)

Anyway, no blogging today.

Wisdom of Indian Management

It is a tragedy that while we have a rich heritage of Management thought that was specifically developed for Indian psyche, our B-Schools and Corporates blindly follow the more materialistic Western Management philosophy, which is skin deep to say the least.

The Indian management philosophy clearly makes a distinction between the 'subtle and intangible' Subject and the more 'concrete, visible and tangible' Object. While the West stresses a lot on the tangible aspects, the emotional Indian is more in tune with the Subjective side of it. This is manifested in our dependence on the Third Eye or the eye of the wisdom. It transcends everything that is tangible.

We attach more importance to integrity, fearlessness, courage, social awareness, vision, purity of mind,truth - all of which are subjective, subtle and intangible. For us these are as important as the materialistic things like money, materials, data and other tangible items. One might argue that, of late, we are attaching greater importance to these of late but that is only in the metros. Majority of India is still untouched by it.

While our body and the panchendriya are objective, the most important thing the 'Athma' or the soul is highly intangible. For indians, athma comes above everything else. The skilled manager stresses on the panchendriya while the wisdom/knowledge based manager uses the latter. Hence he is more valuable.

The West is just discovering the value of Knowledge based economy. We were practicing it 5000 years ago and there is so much literature on it. But, we as a nation, dont do anything to uphold and propagate our ancient wisdom. And it is such a tragedy.

My Dear Herbie

Though we were totally 3 siblings- brother, sister and me, the youngest- we always considered ourself 4 in the family, the fourth being our dear dear Volkswagon Beetle Car.

The Bug was such a part of my growing up that I cannot even imagine it is no longer in the family. The car was lemon green in colour with a air cooled rear engine. It was a 1960 model with a nice number KLD 7525. We bought it from Dr.Raghavan in Vadakara in 1972, when father got a promotion and was about to leave Vadakara. Prior to our buying it, we had seen the gleaming car with chrome plated bumpers taking Dr.Raghavan around on his house calls in Vadakara. In the days of Ambassadors, Fiat and Standard Herald the VW was a traffic stopper. For the childless Dr.Raghavan, the VW was as close to a child as he ever had. He bought a 1966 model VW and suddenly the dream car was available for sale. Father had to use up his entire savings of 17 years - Rs 17,000, a princely sum those days for a 12 year old car.

It was our first car and for a 8 year old boy, it was the high point of his life. I can still vividly remember the long journey from Vadakara to Palakkad as also the attention it drew when father took me to enrol in the school. The VW remained only one of its type in Palakkad for more than a quarter of a century. Most of the people of that period knew my father, who was the Executive Engineer in the Electricity Board, or even me, but even if they cant remember either of us, all we had to do even today is to mention our VW and their face will lit up.

Maybe I tasted the benefit of being different from my VW. The car, made famous by the movie in which it is the main protagonist called HERBIE, was instantly recognisable from a distance or even from the sound emitted by the more noisy air cooled engine. From 1972 to 1978, my job was limited to sitting on the right hand side seat (it was a left hand drive car) and shifting the gear rod when father pressed the clutch. That was my initiation to driving. I longed to drive the car and envied my brother who was 8 years elder to me and who drove it around with ease. Being an old car, it had its own share of breakdowns and prolonged spell in the Workshop where Ramachandran mama fondly molly coddled it back to the road. Mama, who owned the workshop, genuinely loved our VW and used to welcome it like a prodigal son whenever it made its customery visit to his garage.

It was the summer vacation of 1978. I had just finished my 9th standard when I was travelling on the Chittur - Kozhinjampara road with my father on the wheel. The road is sparesely travelled but ran through some of the most beautiful paddy fields you can see. But it was summer time and paddy fields were barren. The heat was oppressive as it was around 3 pm on a April afternoon. Suddenly father pulled over and asked me casually 'Is your leg long enough to press the clutch fully?'. He had watched me play around with the stationary car behind the steering wheel the past few days. I said 'Yes, almost'. " Good, then come over and sit on the drivers seat". So saying he opened the door and casually walked to the passenger side. I slipped behind the wheel. He got in, and said only this " Drive". Remember, it was an open road, not even a ground and I had never tried driving in my life. I was a puny 38 kg lean boy of 14. I didnt need a second invitation. This was what I have been waiting for the past 6 years. I put the car in the neutral, started it, pushed the clutch, shifted to first and released the clutch as if I had done this all my life. The car started with a jerk and then stabilized, with the wheel a little wobbly. Since the Engine was in the rear, the steering of a VW Beetle was very very light, even lighter than a power steering. I still dont know how I did it nor do I understand the confidence (foolishness) of my father, but it was as if I had been driving it for ages. The car felt so much an extention of me that first time, and since.

I drove without licence for 4 years, taking father around most of the days in his official duty after coming back from the school in the afternoon. Everyone knew I was driving without a licence but no one cared those days as father was well known. And 'Swamy's son basked in his reputation. Since that day in mid april, I was the charioter to my father. We must have driven more than one lakh kilometers together. He, always sitting on my side , with his hand loosely over my backrest. If I am slighly careless in driving, he will gently press my shoulder with his fingers. That was my signal to buck up. We discussed everything under the sun on those drives - from politics, to sports, to career, to books , to family issues, to abortion to gossips to advice. The VW was a mute spectator to the unique bonding the father and son had. I am sure without the VW and all those kilometers on the road, we would never have become so close.

When I turned 18, I applied for a Driving Licence. Father had a word with MVI Chandrasekharan Nair. He called a AMVI and asked him to take the test of me. The AMVI, a short dark guy, was pissed off as he just didnt like the fact that I had come with a wasta. He gruffly asked, 'Which is your car?". When I pointed to the VW, his eyes lit up. He jumped into the passenger seat and asked me to take off. He made me drive 25 kilometers all the while crooning about the car. When we returned he remarked 'Ha! I always wanted to travel in that car'. Then with a flourish he signed my license papers, not even bothering to check if I could drive a two wheeler properly, for he was supposed to take the test for both.

I created an uproar in Victoria College when I took the car while in my Pre Degree 2nd year (+2). Those days only 3 of us had a scooter or a bike, and forget car. You can imagine what my feelings were taking a foreign car to a mixed college having 2000 girl students.

The Car had many nicknames coined by onlookers. It was called 'mootapoochi' meaning 'Bug', the locals called it 'Aama Car' meaning the tortoise and to the next generation in our family it was just the 'Thatha Car' - 'Grand fathers car.

By 1984, I moved out of Palakkad and the VW also started feeling its age. Ramachandran mama died and his son did not have the passion to find ingenious solutions to the problem like mama had. Getting spare parts became a problem. Once I travelled 48 hours to Delhi to have an armature rewound. As years rolled on, father retired, and with me moving out, the VW also slowly entered the retirement phase. It spent more days in the house car-shed than on the road. Father reduced his driving after he had a heart attack. For some bizarre reason father had the car repainted dark blue, and for once he didnt consult me. I was aghast at the change and could never accept it. It was as if a part of me had broken off forever. Maybe the Car also didnt like it. The next 3 years, it was idling in the porch before one of my cousins, who was a leading truck operator, took a liking to it and asked father to sell it to him. We could never bear to sell the car. Since the boy was so eager to have it, father gave it to him as a gift. It was lifted to one of their trucks and was shipped to Mumbai over road. I never saw my beloved car again.

Since then I had the fortune of owning so many cars - Ambassadaor, Tata Estate, Maruti 800, Lancer, Mazda, Dodge, Grand Marquis and GMC Envoy. But I never had a sentimental attachment to any one of them like I had for my dear Beetle.

Maybe father knew, for within a year of the Car leaving our house, he breathed his last. It was a double whammy. It was as if a huge part of me was torn away from me, leaving fond memories that evoke a small pain in the corner of the heart once in a while.

A tribute to our brave soldiers on Kargil Vijay Diwas

The blog pays homage to the martyrs of Kargil War on the 10th anniversary

No amount of words can compensate for the lives of the brave unknown, unsung soldiers who defend our difficult borders against enemy intruders

This excerpt shows how the war was waged - "The 1999 military success had been hard-fought, at considerable human cost, as the Army had to win back the icy heights of Kargil, Drass and Batalik after Pakistan’s army units occupied high bunkers abandoned in winter. The battle was literally uphill all the way and Indian commanders had to use World War II type tactics of sending wave after wave of soldiers up the hills to overwhelm the intruding Pakistanis. The hand-to-hand fighting and movements in difficult terrain saw some outstanding acts of gallantry even as Pakistan denied the involvement of its regular troops. Once the Pakistani positions were overrun, Indian troops recovered mounds of evidence of the involvement of units like the Skardu-based Northern Light Infantry"

We owe them all we can

Jai Jawan!

Will I see India stand up and be counted during my life time?

A small US Airline behaved irresponsibily to an Ex President and a fine human being, violating protocol and we are still not able to stand up and be counted.

Even small neighbours like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal cock a snook at us and meddle in our affairs. Not a peep from our Government.

A rogue neighbour has been sniping at us regularly by promoting terrorism and we continue to pamper them by dissassociating the terror angle from composite dialogue. Also we allow them to tar us with the same brush of encouraging terrorism in Ballochistan. Our Prime minister signs a statement to this extend and even the Foreign secretary has admitted that the document was badly drafted. But no responsibilty has been fixed and no heads have rolled.

A arms supplying nation, big but in desperate economic trouble, needs the arms supply agreement with us more than we want them. But we allow them to demean us by acceding to their request to monitor the end use of the arm. What a crying shame? But no one is held accountable.

A serious crime was committed on 26/11 and we, as a nation, instead of solving the crime ran from country to country pleading our helplessness in dealing with terrorism. This despite we being a victim of terrorism for more than quarter of century. We still do not have either a deterrant capability or a flying squad to go surreptuously and take out training camps across the border or a programmed response. What a tragedy!!

We are a soft state. Will I see India stand up and be counted during my life time? I doubt

The bigger internal threat

The Nation is facing a much bigger security threat from the Maoist. The naxalite phenomenon, as represented by the Maoist, is not new to India. They follow the 'annihilation line' as propounded by Charu Majumdar, which in short means 'adopt a line of killing the opponents' whoever they are. Initially, the killing was limited to cruel feudal landlords who were exploiting the landless farmers. Later, they got so taken in by the taste of blood that they started killing whoever they felt were not sympathetic to their line.

The Naxalism/Maoism is not new to India. They have a bloody history dating back to mid 1960's. The naxal movement was largely confined to West Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. I clearly remember the terror they struck in Kerala in my school days and even had friends who were fringe members of the movement. There was even an incident in Kongad in my home district and suddenly the terror was too close for comfort. Most of the naxalites in Kerala were highly educated, intellectual rebels. They were idealists, who resented the inequalities in the society and were attracted by the ideological ramblings of the naxal leaders. Since they abhored the society, they chose to revolt. Though the movement weakened in Kerala during the late 70's, the undercurrents were felt in the Calicut University Campus ( a breeding ground for the movement ) when I was doing my MBA. Many of the Kerala naxalites gave up the annihilation line, and some like Ajitha continued her struggle against injustice through means more suitable for a democracy. Higher education levels, more awareness, more job opportunities, higher wages for labourers, demise of feudal landlords and the state moving away from an agrarian based economy to a services based one killed the movement in Kerala. The Andhra movement also slowly faded away.

But with many parts of North and North East India lacking in development, with people driven out of their homelands by greedy industrialists and government, low wages, abject poverty, gross inequality, rich becoming filthy rich and a pan south asian network active, the CPI (ML) slowly started attracting more and more people in these impoverished region. The porous borders and the success tasted in Nepal, where the Maoist overthrew the monarchy, and active support from neighbouring intelligence operators who saw a vehicle in Maoists to destablilize India and a shockingly apathetic Indian Government who turnd a blind eye to their atrocities - all contributed to the Maoist movement suddenly taking on gigatic proportions.

Today, 40% of India's Geographic area is under their control. 25% of the 600 districts are Maoist controlled. The Governments writ dont run in these places. They have popular support -either genuine or out of fear. Successive Governments, both at the Centre and State level, have not done anything other than paying lip service and sending a few paramilitary forces to tackle them.

Maoism cannot be tackled through counter insurgency operations. They are experts in guerilla warfare and their terrain is ideal for it. The troops dont stand a chance as the area to be monitored is vast. The long term solution is to educate the population, do geniune governance that improve the infrastructure and livelihood of people so that they dont feel a need to turn to extra constitutional authorities like Maoists to solve their problem. This has to be tackled politically at the grass root level. But none of our political parties have cared to do ground level political work. They sit in their ivory towers and be guided by high commands who dont know the ground realities. Neither do the Government.

We are in for a violent future.

Samaya Daanam

One day a person was walking on the streets of Bandar, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. One look at him showed that he was a man of integrity.

He suddenly heard a boy weeping. On queried the boy told “My father died recently. We are three brothers and our Mother is jobless. I am the eldest of the children. I dont know how to feed my family as we are very poor”.

The person thought for a while; he wanted to help the young boy somehow. He said “come with me” and took him to the local Bank. He convinced the Manager to to train the boy on some useful work in the Bank. The boy turned out to be quite diligent. Since the Bank Manager refused to give salary during the training, the person gave money to the boy from his own pocket for two months. The Bank employed him in the third month on finding him quite suitable and the boy thus had a steady salary.

The person who helped the boy was none other than “Dr. Bhogaraaju Pattaabhi Seetaaraamayya“, a great freedom fighter. Though Seetaaraamayya could have just given the boy some money and consoled him, as most of us will do normally, he didnt choose to do that. Instead he spent his valuable time, the boy for two months after he has worked hard, made the boy learn to stand on his own legs and did true help to the poor family. The wise always said that “Samaya Daanam” is the greatest Daanam.

As Confusius said, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime"

Poor Governmental Decisions that will have long term impact on the country

Too many disturbing signals from the Congress Government headed by Manmohan Singh (well! really, it should be Sonia Gandhi)

First, we had the abominable goof up in Egypt in the bilateral talks with Pakistan where India surrendered meekly to Pakistan, allowed terror to be delinked from the composite dialogue and agreed to include Balochistan in the document. It is really a foreign policy disaster and in one sweep, the victim has become the accused. For that alone this Government has to be sacked compromising the national security.

Second, we signed an agreement to buy arms from USA but consented to have an end user inspection by US. This virtually gives US a veto over how these highly expensive equipments can be used. The Navy chief saw the danger in this and even the babus objected. But Government paid scant attention to both, over ruled them and signed the agreement. Again a meek surrender to a rapidly declining super power. Even small countries like North Korea stand up to USA and cock a snook at them, but we, the emerging superpower, are totally spineless.

Third, our ex President A P J Abdul Kalam was frisked by the staff of an American Airline against protocol and standing orders. The ex president is not just another person, he is an icon. Instead of reading the riot act against the Airline and pulling out their license to operate to this country, we have meekly filed a FIR on a charge that may incur the Airline a fine of $ 200,000. Also note that the incident took place on 24th April 2009 and the Government is reacting a full 2 months later, AFTER the media broke the news. There is no way the Presidents security detail would not have filed a report on the day. Would the Government have behaved like this if the person involved was Sonia Gandhi or her children or grand children? Though, I am personaly against ANY VIP being given special privileges, Prof Kalam deserves everything that he is entitled for. This is the same government which didnt give him a decent house to live in and made him live in a shabby guest house for 4 months after he demitted the office. It is because foreigners feel India is a soft state that even a low level staff of their airline is getting away with such brazen acts. The airline has not even apologized till now and have taken a hard stand. Can you imagine how any other country would have reacted to this? The security people would have raised hackles and the plane would not have been allowed to take off. THAT would have sent a strong message. We are a SOFT STATE. There is no pride in us being an Indian.

Fourth, we are heading for a major disaster on the Agricultural and Food front. With monsoon failing, we may lose 30-40% of our yield during the Kharif season. With demand-supply delicately balanced, this will result in a major food shortage. The Agriculture Ministry is virtually comatose. Or maybe rubbing their hands in glee as they sense an opportunity to import food at high costs, which means the ministers and top officials can make potfuls of money through kick backs.

Hit, Kill and Run

A spoiled brat of an Arms dealer who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, drove a BMW in Delhi in 1999 recklessly and mowed down 6 pedestrians, including 3 policemen on the pavement. Then he did not stop, drove away and using his servants systemmatically destroyed the evidence of the accident (one should call it murder).

The case came to trial. The defendant systemmatically influenced the witnesses and even the prosecution lawyer by bribing huge amount of money which was caught on camera.

Then what happened?

Well almost nothing!! The High Court gave the least possible punishment after 10 years, that too 24 months (the guy had already spent 22 months in jail. how convenient!).

The honourable court said, it was just 'an accident' and not a 'homicide'. No problems if he ran away, destroyed evidence or even bribed witnesses.

There used to be a saying in Kerala long ago, "If you have Rs 1000 and the lawyer ullooran (i dont remember the exact name) you can commit any murder"

In today's world, if you have lakhs of Rupees and social contacts, you can buy even the judiciary and walk away scot free.

What a fall for our country!!!

Rs 950 crores to support a private airline owned by a super rich guy???

Kingfisher Airlines owes a total of Rs 9.5 billion to three state-run oil marketing firms as on May 31, the oil minister said on Monday. But the government has not made any move to encash bank guarantees to Kingfisher to recover the dues, Murli Deora said in a written reply to a question in Parliament. The carrier owns Rs 5.99 billion to Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, Rs 3.14 billion to Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Rs 373.6 million to Indian Oil Corp, Deora said. The dues of Kingfisher, as of other airlines, had started accumulating from the current fiscal year, when jet fuel prices soared on record high crude oil prices, he said.

Now if you want to know, Rs 9.5 million means Rs 950 Crores. That is 950 crores of the tax payers money that is not being paid by Vijay Mallya, one of the richest guys in India.

Just imagine how many new schools can be modernized using this 950 crores ? How many hospitals can be spruced up?

Why should the tax payers bear this for the sake of a private airline owned by a super rich guy?

Something is wrong somewhere!!!

There are proverbs, and then there are proverbs

Proverbs are supposed to be unquestioned wisdom, passed down from generation to generation. But some of these proverbs contradict each other, confusing the readers;

While we say 'Actions speak louder than words', how do we justify 'the pen is mightier than the sword'?

We are told to 'Look before you leap', but at the same time we are cautioned that 'He who hesitates is lost'. Confusing eh?

'Cloth makes a man' contradicts 'Don't judge a book by its cover'.

Did we think that this anachronism will change with time? Then "The only thing constant is change" , while in the same breath we say "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

If you thought it is getting bigger, you might be tempted to say "The bigger, the better", but I contradict it with "The best things come in small packages".

Let us 'Cross our bridges when we come to them'. Oh! how about 'Forewarned is forearmed'.

Totally confused I thought it better to be silent for, 'A silent man is a wise one'. Then I remembered 'A man without words is a man without thoughts'.

I give up!!!!

Floating Triveni!!

How is this for innovation?

Kerala recently saw the launch of a floating super market on the Vembanad Lake—to cater to the needs of those living on the Kuttanad backwaters in south Kerala's Alappuzha district. The state-owned, red-and-white-painted supermarket, called the Floating Triveni, has stationery, toiletries and provisions stacked on its shelves. Open from 8 am to 6 pm, it is manned by a staff of eight people

The floating supermarket stops by various boat jetties in the area (where transport by boat is a norm than an exception) and has been widely accepted by the consumers and caters to nearly a million people in Kuttanad. The mall will soon deliver home appliances like washing machines for those who place an order. It will also have a computer room, for children to play computer games. Customers have been given a mobile number, using which they can contact Triveni and book items in advance. The supermarket will announce its monthly schedule in advance to enable customers to be ready when it eventually visits the backwater near their houses.

The Kerala State Cooperative Consumers Federation Ltd (Consumerfed), the apex body of consumer cooperatives, which owns the Rs 50-lakh mall, sells at less than market prices. The Floating Triveni offers an additional discount of 2% to promote sales. Scheduled castes and tribal customers can avail of a further 3% discount. Twenty people can come on board to do business at a time. At the click of a button, the inventory and sales positions are accessible to Consumerfed officials.

Considering the novelty of the backwater-cruising, island-hopping supermarket, Consumerfed has written to the Guinness Book of World Records, seeking its imprimatur that would float Triveni before the world's eyes. – (Source & Pictures – Courtesy Outlook Magazine)

I remember something similar to it being tried out by the Co-operative outlet in Coimbatore, Chinthamani, in early 1990's. Of course, Coimbatore being a land locked ares, Chinthamani couldn't use boats, but rather remodelled a Bus and stacked it with provisions. The bus used to follow a specific timetable and be at different housing colonies once a week at a specified time slot. Chinthamani those days had a great reputation for quality and affordable pricing. I have no idea whether this system exists even now, I guess not.

The bus concept can be a great one to do some rural marketing for our Retail marketers.

Last of a magnificient generation is no more

The inauspicious Karkataka Masam dawned with the sad news of the demise of Smt. D K Pattammal, the doyen of Carnatic Music.

She was the last surviving member of the trinity of female musicians who broke all barriers and created a niche for themselves - the other two being M S Subbalakshmi and M L Vasanthakumari. D K Pattammal was the first Brahmin woman to sing a concert on stage at a time when it was taboo for women from the community to even sing in front of friends and relatives at home.

Though M S Subbalakshmi attained more fame due to deft marketing by her husband Kalki Sadasivam and M L Vasanthakumari's style more pleasing to the ears, D K Pattammal undoubtedly stood head and shoulders above them for sheer jnanam, technical perfection and vidwat.

Those who have once heard her baritone voice ( an anachronism for a female singer) will never forget it.

I was exposed to her magic one saturday evening is Rani Seethai Hall in Chennai way back in 1989. She was sick even then, and had to be physically lifted to the stage by 3 people. She could barely stand. As a young man of 25, I was skeptical as to how she could sing when she could barely stand. But once she sat on the dais, she was totally transformed. She gave a masterly performance of pure, unadulterated classical carnatic music for nearly 3 hours. I became an ardent fan there and then. For the next 4 months I was in Chennai during my probation period, I used to scan the newspaper for announcements of her concert and was lucky to have the privilege of 2 more top class flawless concerts. Unfortunately, I didnt hear any more since then as my professional commitments took me elsewhere.

Apart from her musical achievements which saw her being conferred the Padma Vibhushan amongst many awards, DK Pattammal was famous for her ability to teach music. She was one of the foremost Guru's of her genre and had under her tutelage her own brother, the redoubtable D K Jayaraman, who prematurely died at a younger age in 1990's. It is rumoured that D K Pattammal never really recovered from her brothers death.

Palghat Mani, the grand master of Mridangam, had an aversion towards female singers and would never play for any of them, with the sole exception of D K Pattammal, whom he respected immensely. The mutual respect ended up in their children getting married to each other, and the offspring of that marriage is the famous Carnatic and Film Musician, the highly highly talented Nithyasree Mahadevan. Nithyasree learned under her grand mother. Though Nithyasree has not taken after either D K Pattammal's or D K Jayaraman's singing bhaani, D K Pattammal can rest in peace that her lineage is in safe hands.

The soothing singing of D K Pattammal is still resonating in my ears. What stood out for me was the intense devotional mood DK Pattammal was able to create. It pierces the soul and elevates you to a totally different plane.

With D K Pattammals passing away, what we are seeing is the end of a magnificient generation of singers who learned their craft much before audio system came into existence.

Her death creates a vaccum that cannot be filled.

Let me in my heart sing a silent 'Mangalam'

(P.S: If you are interested to know more about her, you may read her interview in Frontline a decade ago - http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1616/16160670.htm )

Indian Army - Feeling neglected, ignored and sad

I have always lamented the fact that we, as a nation, are not proud enough of our Country. If we had been, then we would not have sat back and mouthed platitudes when surreptuous attack after attack was planned and executed by Pakistan using terrorists on India. Nearly 9 months on, India has not done anything on chasing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. Kasab was only a pawn in the larger scheme of things. And the Government is treating Afzal Guru as just another death sentenced prisoner, rather than a hard core terrorist who dared to attack the paramount seat of our democracy - the Parliament.

Now, partisan politics has resulted in the Country not even remembering or celebrating the victory achieved by our heroic soldiers in the difficult terrain of Kargil a decade ago.

India beat back a determined Pakistan attack in a war that lasted two months in 1999. 530 soldiers were killed and more than 700 injured. With government deciding not to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this victory (purportedly because it happened during the BJP regime), the armed forces feel let down and are downright dejected. Already there is considerable disenchantment amongst our soliders on the latest pay commission awards and government deciding to ignore the one rank-one pension demand.

The Congress Party MP, Rashid Alvi said he saw no reason to celebrate the Kargil victory. "Kargil isn't a thing to be celebrated. The war was fought within our territory. We didn't even come to know when the Pakistani army crossed over and built bunkers inside our territory. It's only the NDA which may celebrate," he said. If Alvi's views were shocking, former minister of state for home Sri Prakash Jaiswal couldn't even remember when the Kargil war was fought and won. Asked about Vijay Diwas, he wanted to know when the day was celebrated.

Ironically, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is away in France to take part in the 220th anniversary of the Bastille Day in Paris. But neither he nor any senior government official has time to participate in the 10th anniversary of the victory over Pakistan in Kargil. No major official functions have been planned. The day falls on July 26th and is celebrated as 'Vijay Divas' by the Army. The political leaders and the powers that be have given it a go by.

Our Army, since independence, has played a stellar role in defending our Country from threats, internal and external. Unlike our neighbours, our army has never had political ambitions. They have carried out their task with a professional dignity silently and diligently. The sacrifices made by unknown jawans ensures that we enjoy the freedom, which we take for granted. We need to remember their sacrifices by remembering them at every single opportunity. That should be our way of saying 'Thank you' in a grateful manner.

They are not asking for the moon. All they are asking the rulers and us is a little understanding, empathy and recognition of the sacrifices made by them.

It is not too much!!!

Palindromes and Pangrams

Do you know what is a 'Palindrome'

It is a word or sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward.

Words - civic,radar,refer, tenet, malayalam

Sentences - 'Was it a car or a cat I saw?', 'Never odd or even'

A 'Pangram', on the other hand, is a sentence that contains ALL the letters of the alphabet.Interesting pangrams are generally short ones; constructing a sentence that includes the fewest repeat letters possible is a challenging task. However, pangrams that are slightly longer yet enlightening, humorous, or eccentric are noteworthy in their own right.

The best know Pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog" and another one is "Six javelins thrown by the quick savages whizzed forty paces beyond the mark"

NO to Meetings and Committees

I have a thumb rule for greater effectiveness in the workplace.

1. SCRAP ALL MEETINGS
2. WHATEVER HAPPENS, DO NOT FORM A COMMITTEE

In my 22 years of professional life, I am yet to come across a meeting that has resulted in positive decision or even decisions at all. Most of the time, it is a platform for people (read the head honcho) to sermonize as to what is his philosophy. The amount of time that goes into preparing for a meeting, the endless presentations and the limited outcome is a curse in more ways than one.

If you do not want to take a decision, then the only thing to do is to form a 'Committee'. Last heard the Government of India had more than 100 ministerial committees 'looking at' various critical issues facing the country and the economy. Most of these committee were formed in 2004-2005 when MMS took charge the first time around. Well, 5 years on, they are still 'looking at it' and worse, additional committees have been formed to review the recommendations made by the previous committee which will be put up to the Cabinet which in turn will form another committee to suggest action to be taken that will be reviewed by another committee to....................................... I hope you get the gist.

Want to get things done? Find out who has the decision making power, go to him directly, sit on his neck and get your work done. I do, and hence my success as a professional.

Back tomorrow

Tired, irritated, feeling a bit down......... shall be back with a post tomorrow

Electricity, TV Serials and Reproduction

We get many WTF ( What The F**k) statements from our politicians everyday. But this from Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Health & Family Welfare minister takes the cake.

Health and Family Welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad believes that the best way to curb India's population growth is to electrify villages, so that couples spend their time watching TV instead of indulging in activities that can increase the country's already excessive population."In olden days people had no other entertainment but sex, which is why they produced so many children. Today, TV is the biggest source of entertainment. Hence, it is important that there is electricity in every village so that people watch TV till late in the night. By the time the serials are over, they'll be too tired to have sex and will fall asleep. Then they won't get a chance to reproduce. When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do but produce babies," he said, addressing a function on World Population Day on Saturday.

If you think that he was making this remark in a jocular fashion, then he dispels that notion with this follow up statement, "Don't think I am saying this in a lighter vein. I am serious. When light will reach (villages), 80 per cent of population growth can be reduced through TV," he said

If I were to extend his logic, then there should be a population explosion in Kerala, where power cut is a norm for the past 2 decades. And pray tell me how many kids did the (Not so) Honorouble Minister produce during the last 3 years when he moved to Delhi from Kahsmir, for as I understand there is 8-10 hours power cut in Delhi?

I imagine he proposes to introduce a new bill in the parliament creating an exclusive FPPS (F**k Prevention Police Squad) fully armed with Eveready Torchlite. The objecive of this very important arm of our police department will be to peep through the windows of all households whenever there is a powercut or if there is no electricity and to shine the torch in the bedroom. That will prevent higher incidents of f**king in this country.

WHAT AN IMBECILE!!!!

Gavaskar turns 60 years old

India's original Little Master Sunil Gavaskar turns 60. One of my sporting idols, Sunny became a successful writer, administrator, commentator and cricket spokes person in his post retirement years. Despite the public image of him as a self centred cricketer who is traditional in outlook, Gavaskar, in fact, is very articulate, carries no baggage from the past, is very analytical and forthright. The interview by Ayaz Memom, published in http://www.dna.com/ is worth reading and worthy of an elderly statesman of cricket.

For many of my age group, Gavaskar was Indian Cricket and they will be able to appreciate this interview much more. If I were to tell you that I once travelled 48 hours in a second class sleeper compartment from Palghat to Delhi just to see Gavaskar bat, you will realize the passions he arose in a teenager. For us, citizens of a sporting nation starved of success, Sunny's greatest contribution was that he instilled the concept of self-respect in us. He showed us with his bat and actions that we, Indians, are better than the white skinned foreigners like English and Australians, who used to look down on us. He changed Indian Cricket for ever. He put some character and spine into the team. It helped that he was the first of the post independence born Indians. There is an attitude and generation change between those born before and after 1947, like there is between those born before and after 1980's. The change he ushered in was for the good. In fact, one can say that till Gavaskar, we were playing amateur cricket in India who played for the love of the game, and he turned them into a bunch of professionals. And that is no mean feat.

Some of his observations about T 20, Evolution of the game, Sledging, Life, Health of Indian Cricket are spot on. Read on..............

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/interview_sunny-at-60-there-are-two-things-i-would-have-definitely-changed_1272587-all

Profit Centre Based Governance in India

The current Administrative and governance system followed in India is out of touch with reality. We inherited an archaic system from the British, whose only objective was to control the whole of the country from a single point. Initially, when India got independence, the need of the hour called for a strong Centre.

But times have changed. The need of the hour is more devolution of power. And I am not talking about Panchayati Raj as it is practiced today. A growing country of India's size just cannot afford to have a Centralized Plan thrust down the line.

We need to have a radical rethink in terms of having Profit Centres. When we talk of profit, I am talking about economic, social and cultural profit. We need to identify thousands of profit centres across the country and ask them to produce budgets, which then can be compiled at various levels. In short, I am calling for a bottom up planning than a top down one, but with a focus on profit.

If this can work for giant global MNC's, I dont see any reason why it cant work in India.

For example, each village can be a profit centre, ditto a District as a whole. Air India, Railways, Power Plants, Sports Authority, Educational Institutions, Municipal offices , why even the Prime ministers office should be a profit and cost centre. We need to take out of our mindset that profit is a dirty word and that we can make investments without an IRR of at least 10%, plus the social and cultural returns.

Your thoughts on this are welcome

Rain check.............

A rain check on some top headlines a while ago..............

What is the progress on the mammoth swindle case against Ramalingam Raju? Where has the money gone? How much of it has been traced? What is the status of the case against him? Why was the auditors of Satyam, PWC not penalised and debarred?

How many other than Kasab has been brought to justice on the 26/11 heinous attack on Mumbai? And why not? Are we waiting for Pakistan to take action agains the perpetrators? What is the Plan B if (and certainly) Pakistan were not to take any action? Who were the local support for the terrorists in India? Why is no effort made to identify them?

We had a major food scarcity last year? What have we done to ensure that such a situation doesnt arise again?

Every monsoon, Mumbai is waterlogged? What has been done to avoid a recurrence of the situation this year?

What happened to the murder accusation against the husband of Pratibha Patil, the President of India? Whatever happened to the money she and her family were supposed to have swindled?

What about the thousands of crores of black money stashed in Swiss Banks? Are we doing anything about it?

A Damp Squib

The much awaited Indian Budget 2009 turned out to be a damp squib.

The expectations were raised because it was felt that the Government could take some risk after a comfortable victory in the last general elections and are no longer scared of the veto of the left parties, who were blamed for blocking major reforms. Believe me, I am not sure our reforms has worked wonders as many claim to be. The divide between the rich and the poor has widened. The so called trickle down effect of the reforms is yet to be felt by the lower levels of the social structure. And any reform which excludes 60% of the population is not worth it.

It was a known case that the Government was in a deft spot having been profligant during the last 2 years. Quite a lot of social sector spending was announced but defered to the subsequent years. This grandstanding has come back to haunt the Congress, as they sincerely hoped not to return to power and expected someone else to bear the cross of their spend-thriftness.

I am not against social sector spending. People say that this money goes down the drain and nearly 85% is siphoned off. The alternate they say is to divert this money to the business sector in the hope of increasing productivity which will lead to better job, pay etc. But the money spent on social sector spending is very small compared to the sops given to the industry and business. And these two have taken all the benefits without actually achieving what they were expected. In short, money spent on the poor and the businessmen, both end up creating a few fat pigs in the economy.

Increased rural spending is welcome. But nothing has been done to take care of the leakages in the system. For want of that, the return on spending will be meagre.

Nothing has been done to reign in the fiscal deficit which is at a whopping 6.8%. India got out of the debt trap it found itself in the late 80's and early 90's with great difficulty. It is precisely the policies followed by MMS Government since 2004 that created the debt trap in the first place. This Government is spending big, really big - but not in the right areas and not through the right channel. The PSU's continue to be a drain on the exchequer. Admitted, it is not the right time to disinvest as that would tatamount to distress sale, but at least Government could have indicated a time line for the disinvestment plan. 9% growth looks extremely unrealistic, 6% should be what we end up with. When the world comes out of the recession, all the bail out packages will create a highly inflationery economy, and we will not be isolated from it. It would have been prudent to initiate steps to control the expenditure and bring down the fiscal deficit now itself.

Some of the Congress ministers gave the right sound bytes on a direction change. Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Veerappa Moily to name a few. But old habits die hard. Pranab Mukherjee prefered to take the status quo route on almost all issues when the need of the hour was some out of the box thinking.

We, as a nation, need to debate how we are to move forward in the coming decade. There has to be a political consensus. Unfortunately lack of tolerance of dissenting voices, absence of debate, a culture of indifference and a clear failure of leadership is proving to be our bane.

Pranab Mukherjee, who sought and got the Finance Ministry, could have created a legacy for himself by breaking the convention and paving a new path. But he choked when it mattered.

With Indian economy relatively better off compared to most of the countries in the world during this decision, this was a golden opportunity to grab the bull by the hone and race ahead of the pack. But we, as a country, again abdicted our responsibility.

Great Countries are not born, they are built brick by brick

SONY WALKMAN Saga

SONY WALKMAN is 30 years old. This was a path breaking product that brought the concept of mobile music to the market place. Akio Morita, the then CEO of SONY, in his book 'Made in Japan' tells us how the project was pursued single mindedly despite every one scoffing at the idea of a miniature, portable music system. This is also a classic example for explaining the Product Life Cycle. Music lovers of this genre who use iPod and MP3's may recoil at horror having to use the bulkier Walkman, but to us owning a Walkman when we were in the college was the ultimate. There is nice report on Walkman which I read recently. It is worth excerpting salient parts of it for your sake. It is interesting to note the way products were designed those days, the slow market penetration, the reason for branding, how technological changes have led to obsolescence and a how a company's fortunes rose and fell with the success of a single product.

Thirty years ago Sony launched the Walkman, a gadget which revolutionised the way people around the world listened to music but has since been overtaken by an icon of the digital age – the iPod.

The July 1, 1979 rollout of the portable cassette player helped transform the Japanese company into a global electronics powerhouse. Sony sold 30,000 Walkmans in the first two months after its launch, and 50 million within a decade. Three decades on, however, Sony is struggling against rivals such as Apple, which has enjoyed immense success with its iPod music player. Times have changed since Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara sketched out designs for the Walkman by hand. "Back in my days, we had to draw product designs on paper," Kihara told in an interview in 2006 after his retirement. "I would close my eyes and imagine our products. I would imagine joggers with Walkmans to see how the hinges should move or how the products fit into the lives of the users." Sony co-founder Masaru Ibuka came up with the idea for the gadget on one of his overseas trips, during which he used to listen to music on existing tape recorders that were too heavy to be considered truly portable. The initial reaction to the Walkman was poor. Many retailers thought that a cassette player without a recording mechanism had little chance of success. That changed, and today total sales of the Walkman have reached 385 million around the world, including newer digital models that use flash memory.

Sony says it chose the name "Walkman" partly because of the popularity of Superman at the time and the fact it was based on an existing audio recorder called the "Pressman." It initially planned to call the machine "Soundabout" in the United States and "Stowaway" in Britain, but changed its mind after hearing that children in Europe were already asking their parents for a "Walkman". The name stuck, and in 1986 it was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. For people who have grown up with iPods, Sony's original gadget can leave something to be desired. They include 13-year-old Scott Campbell who was asked by the BBC to swap his Apple gadget for a vintage Walkman for a week. His friends, he said, "couldn't imagine their parents using this monstrous box." It also took him three days "to figure out that there was another side to the tape." "I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette," he added. Sony has tried to repackage the Walkman in recent years with new versions, including one that looked like a jelly bean, with some success. It sold seven million Walkmans in the year to March, up from 5.8 million the previous business year, a company spokeswoman said. But it has failed to pose a serious challenge to Apple, which sold 100 million iPods in less than six years after its launch in 2001, making it the fastest selling music player in history. Sales have since topped 200 million. Sony is hoping its new touch-screen X-series Walkman will revive sales of the gadget. For many observers, the success of the iPod illustrates the way Sony has lost its golden touch in recent years, failing fully to exploit the opportunities of the Internet and the digital age. As well as losing its lead in portable music players, Sony's PlayStation 3 has been trumped by Nintendo's Wii as the top-selling home video game console. Sony announced in May its first annual loss in 14 years and warned it would stay in the red this year. Chief executive Howard Stringer has vowed to meld the company's strength in electronics with its games and movies. He is also slashing 16,000 jobs and axing about 10 percent of Sony's manufacturing plants.

Genius!

THE GREATEST TENNIS PLAYER OF ALL TIME - ROGER FEDERER!!!

What an epic final!! 16-14 in the fifth. One's heart goes out to Andy Roddick, the loser. But it is all about Roger Federer, reclaiming the number one spot with his record breaking 15th Grand Slam.

The match was no nerve racking that I am still not out of it and suspect I will go into a post wimbledon depression.

For now, let us just be happy that we were born in the era of the greatest tennis player of all time.

Wisdom of yore

Our forefathers were wise. Many things that they did automatically and as routine had deep meanings.

My grandmother always asked me to eat slowly and never to rush while eating. When queried, all she would say was that it is not good for health. Research has since shown that it takes about 20 minutes after the first morsel for the brain to get a signal of being satiated. Hence, if one were to eat fast, there will be a tendency to eat cram up more food than required, which is undesirable.

If someone shows a flash of temper, she would ask his wife to put less salt in his food. We used to make fun of her when she said this, but now we know that Sodim in common salt tends to increase hypertension, which automatically leads to lose of temper.

If we go to a house where death has occured, then we had to take bath outside the house, soak the dress, change to fresh dress and then only enter the house. This is basically to ensure that germs that are invisible around a dead body that can be harmful is not carried into the house. A good precaution.

Also one wont even get a cup of coffee without taking bath in the morning. Again this is basic hygiene, which we dont follow these days.

Media bias

One of the thing that was held against the affluenct in India pre independence days were that they were totally subservient to the British.

The situation has not changed much. Today, our media crawls when asked to bend by Congress party. Their ability to conveniently give a positive twist to anything Congress does is amazing and disgusting.

Let us just take the last few days for example,

The petrol and diesel prices were hiked yesterday, just 5 days before the Budget is to be presented to the parliament and just a day before partliament is to convene for the Budget Session. With annual budget around the corner, it was blatantly unethical and totally improper to announce such a hefty hike. First, there is no imminent need for this. Oil prices are still around $ 70 and has been so for the past 2 months. I laughed when one media said, the 'small price hike'!!!. Rs 4 out of Rs 40 is 10%, which is not 'small' by any means. No peep about the unethicality of the whole issue. The Government should have announced this in the budget, but then that will take the sheen off the budget, wont it? What a fraud?

Much hue and cry has been made of Indian Students getting beaten up in Australia. A report yesterday mentions that during the past one year more than 50% of the 54 students died in Australia were Indians. These students are not Indians who have got Australian citizenship, but Indian nationals with Indian Passport. One would have expected one of our external ministers or the minister for Overseas Indians to travel to Australia and sort this out. No way! Or one would have expected the Government to read the riot act to the Australians. No way! It doesnt matter to the Government if a few Indians are bashed up overseas. What a shame! No other self respecting country will behave like this. They would have sent a fact finding team, taken up the matter with the Australian Government, put pressure on them on some other front, issued a travel advisory against visiting Australia and would have banned immigration to Australia till situation cleared. This would have hurt Australians badly as Education is one of their major foreign exchange earners and Indians constitute a good 30% of the overseas students. The media which has been overboard about these attacks is very very silent on the action taken by the government (or rather the action NOT taken by the Government).

Couple of days back a Union Minister was accused of influencing a HC judge to grant bail to two accused. See how muted the response is from the media on such a grave issue. And finally, yesterday a Congress MP in Andhra Pradesh slapped a Bank Manager in front of TV cameras and the issue is being buried under the Carpet.

Compare and contrast this with the importance given to non issues pertaining to BSP, BJP, CPM and you know what I am talking about.

Some news headlines revisited

Some news headlines..................................

Supreme Court sends notice to Mayawati asking for an explanation for erecting statues of her worth a few hundred crores across UP - What the hell? I wouldnt ever dream of erecting my worst enemy's statue in India, for within a couple of days crows will shit on the whole statue. I recoil in horror whenever I see a Gandhi statue which is covered with crow shit and not been cleaned for ages.

Saina Nehwal, the badminton champion is better than Sania Misra, says Prakash Padukkone - Definitely. Sania Misra was a media creation who made hay while sun shined. Saina has definitely achieved more and is definitely a world top 5 player in the making. It is a pity that the media has tended to ignore her achievements totally.

Legalisation of homosexuality is an attack on Indian religious and moral values," over a dozen prominent Muslim religious leaders said in a statement - Polygamy isn't I presume???

Union Minister calls up a Madras High Court Judge to influence him in giving anticipatory bail to 2 accused in a marksheet forgery case - How can the minister be so stupid to make the call himself or is it that he is so arrogant that no one can touch. It must be the latter, for the minister in quesiton, Raja, was someone whom MMS did not want specifically in the cabinet due to corruption scandal earlier, but was forced to accept by MK and Sonia. Now we know what Ministers do for a living and why no work gets done in their ministries.

Police in metros to get Choppers, says Centre - Well! I presume they mean the other chopper, the one with sharp edges used to cut meat, and not helicopter, for our police force wouldn't know what to do with a Helo. But then there are always the politicians who will end up using it.