Gingeritis

I was at our local grocer recently. I do not generally typecast people, but the Oriental lady in front of me had in her basket one cabbage, one onion, two bulbs of garlic and a 4x6 piece of ginger. Her total came out to be about $3.50 but she did not have cash and our grocer does not take credit/debit cards below $5 so the cashier asked her to get something else. She searched around and finally settled on another 4x6 piece of ginger! Her total was still a few dimes short of $5 and so she brought it up with, hold your breath, another 2x6 piece of ginger!!! It was at this time that my eyeballs, which were bulging out, fell to the ground. Is this what ginger kids grow up to be?

Somebody answer the phone

I always wonder what the Indian Consulate does. It is supposed to have two purposes. One, it is supposed to be of service to Indians settled in that country. And two, it is supposed to interact with the country where it is set up with regards to giving visas or creating a positive impression about India.

I do not see the Indian consulate doing either in the USA. Well, the process of getting visas has been outsourced, which should reduce their workload and give them enough time to, amongst other things, pick up the phone. I have tried to call the Indian consulate in Chicago and the ofice of the Consulate General of India in New York many times today. I tried to reach different divisions in the hope that atleast one of them would pick up the phone and respond to my query. My hopes were in vain. How can the Consulate serve the Indian community if it does not even pick up the phone or reply to emails. I guess the reason the visa process was outsourced was not to reduce cost, but to ensure that work got done. What sort of an impression does that give to the rest of the world..................well wait, maybe it does get across the Government message........thats India.............Incredible India!

indian visas outsourced

I just found out that the process of giving an Indian visa has been outsourced to some private company. What is the job of the Indian consulate in that case. Is this the security promised to our countrymen? A private company whose sole purpose is profit will decide who gets an Indian visa?

No confidence motion

I raise a motion of no confidence against the Congress Government. I have my reservations about the way it has handled the current crisis, especially its refusal to show any spine. It has refused to pass strong anti terrorism laws (yes we need POTA back - it is not anti minorities, it is anti terrorism) and is using strong language (and language only) against Pakistan to please the common civilians.

Their recent bickering with the Tatas (telling them that it was insufficient security by the Taj that caused this) has shown how responsible they are. How can you expect a hotel to protect itself when the government could not protect it or the rest of the city. How could 10, 20 or a 1000 more CCTVs in the Taj have helped anyone other than the news media covering it. CCTVs can be shot at. For all you know, the terrorists would have taken control of the monitoring room and run amok.

But all of this is not the reason I call the motion of no confidence in the Congress government (both at the state level and at the Center). My grouse is against the statement by AR Antulay and the reaction of the Congress party to it. A dozen terrorists come into the country, carry out the most ghastly terrorist attacks ever and target and kill some our top police officials. At this time, a minister in the Government (without checking out the facts or talking to the Home minister or prime minister) makes a statement in the press questioning if Hindus fundamentalists were behind the murder of Hemant Karkare?

Dear Mr. Antulay, lets check some facts. You seem not to be concerned with them but here is what was reported in the Indian express well before you made your statements.


http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Witness-account-of-Karkare-Kamte-and-Salaskars-death/392181/

According to the constable with them that night, Saluskar, Kamte and Karkare were going to Cama hospita because they heard that a fellow policeman was hurt there. Now, you being a politician would probably have run away form the spot where a fellow politician was injured and, therefore, find it surprising that our brave policemen went in that direction.

You have questioned, Mr. Antulay, who sent Mr. Karkare to Cama hospital and whether he was sent there by the RSS/BJP/any of their organizations. Well, it may be news to you dear sir, but it is your own party which is ruling, both in Maharashtra AND at the center. Who else could have commanded him to go there. Do you think our police officers are stupid, as you want us to believe, to go somewhere based on random phone calls.

At a time when we expect our politicians to bring the nation together, this statement is not just divisive but a betrayal to the nation that has given you so much. The reaction of the Congress party to this treason was not a vehement rebuttal but support ("what is wrong with his statement" - Digvijay Singh and "to err is human" - Manmohan Singh). Why is the Congress doing this? The same old reason........catering to vote bank politics. Trying to seem pro-Muslim. Well, dear Grand Old party of the Indian polity, its time you woke up. Apart from the few fundamentalist Islamic leaders that have sided with you, I am sure that all our Muslim brethren see through this divisive plot.

The time has come for India to uproot the Congress. Rise my countrymen, brothers and sisters; Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, let us show the Congress the door to reform. They have sold our country. Lets kick them out and regain it.

Galli cricket

We played cricket this week in the 3 foot wide corridor in our house. That too well past midnight! Playing cricket is always fun but it has been a long while since I played the box/galli version. Hitting any of the walls directly was out, as was a one bounce catch. Two consecutive body hits was out. We had a fielder in the restroom, one right behind the batsman and one in a khopcha near a room. Our bat was the box of a laptop keyboard. As you can imagine, scoring runs was very difficult, especially with the searing spinner that the track was. Therefore, a bat hit was a run. Crossing half pitch gave two runs while crossing the bowler gave a boundary. 5 runs made a half century. But it was fun and therefore, with it, we started the Sheetz Premier League cricket championship.

I welcome you all to join us in continuing the Sheetz premier league. You can enter your team by submitting the entry to any of us.

Mumbai congestion charge

I visited Mumbai a couple of months ago and feel it is getting too crowded for its own good. There will be a time, not too far away, when the benefits of living in MUMBAI will be outweighed by the horrific traffic.

Now before all you pounce on me, let me tell you, I love Mumbai and will do so till my last breath (hopefully). However, like every city in the world, it needs to keep evolving and getting better and I do not see that happening. There is too much pollution and traffic in Mumbai. This increases the time to get to work for everyone and thus their total exposure to pollution. Add to this the fact that Mumbai is the biggest market for cars and the booming real estate market (more people = more cars) and we have a catastrophe waiting to happen (without even thinking of the Nano).

Therefore, I propose a simple solution. Charge every private vehicle entering Mumbai (say beyond Matunga) Rs250 per day. Taxis, buses and all public vehicles will be exempt from this fee. Vehicle owners living within this zone will get a discounted rate. This charge will only be applied during weekdays from 7 am to 9pm. This will reduce the traffic, pollution and congestion in Mumbai and make it a healthier city to live in.

What I propose is not a novel solution. It has been implemented successfully in London and residents are happy with it (for more information go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/6722.aspx or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge). How do we enforce the congestion charge. Well, in London, they have people register their cars and pay in advance or on the day they drive into London. All cars are tracked as they enter the city by cameras. Drivers are warned that they are entering the charging zone by big white boards with a red C on them. Think this is 'impossible' in India. Well, guess who is running the system for the Brits - its Mastek, an infotech company based in Mumbai, India. This proposal will take a huge initial capital input but isn't Mumbai worth it all? And if we do not want a huge initial investment, we could just have old fashioned toll nakas (booths) at the entry points. This will slow down traffic but traffic should get thinner and therefore, it will still be faster than now.

The next part of the argument against this charge is 'but our public transport system is stretched as well'. I agree and before we move to this system, we would need to upgrade our public transport a bit. Moreover, the money we get from the congestion charge can be used to make major improvements to our public transport.

Think about it. Since the Government limited the transfer of profits from the electricity distribution side of the BEST to cover the losses on its transportation side, the BEST has been making a valiant effort to change from a public service to a profitable organization. However, this has been at the cost of us, the consumers. Some routes have been cancelled, others have seen their frequency reduced. The end result. Horribly packed buses. Once the BEST gets money from the congestion charge, it can become a service again. The reduced traffic will also mean a faster commute (the average speed of a BEST bus is presently 13kmph) and cheaper transportation (better speed = better mileage/average). The money from the charge can also be used to invest in the suburban railways, the subway or even the skybus. The possibilities are endless.

I have been thinking about this for a while now and have mentioned it to quite a few friends and family. They think, with certain reservations, that this is a good idea and its time has come. What do you guys think?

After all, isn't this what we have always been longing for - a Clean Mumbai, Green Mumbai.

The room choses you

My old room mates moved out this summer and new ones moved in. At that time, I figured that the first two guys in would choose the two largest rooms.............well it did not work out quite that way. The first room mate chose the second largest room. That was understandably a result of the room ddecorations left there by the previous occupant and we shall not ddelve too ddeep into it. However, it is the second choice that stupefied me.The second guy to move in, Narendra, chose the smallest room. That was confusing till we realized that it wasn't his choice at all...............it was the room that chose him. How did we realize that? Well, it was pretty obvious that the room enticed a certain breed of people. The late risers (coz its the only one with no direct sunlight. These people need to love yoghurt, cook well, drink often and have a certain independence around them...............they need a personality you can define only when you see it. But then, it (the room) begins converting those people into health freaks of the highest order. Both Ishmeet, its previous occupant, and Narendra got bitten by the health bug on moving in. Both started eating a lot healthier (one gave up pizza, strictly, and the other oily stuff). The nutritional label on the package became more important than its contents. The health conscious stuff in our house exploded. They both became regular and long visitors of the gym.

Well, maybe I am just paranoid.........but then maybe not. We will just have to wait for the next occupant to know and then the room could fund a PhD for a phychic science student.

Contingency planning

A contingency plan is one that gets you out of shit. Well, in the US, they have a contingency plan for all but shit. Let me clarify. Our toilet started overflowing today and there was almost nothing we could do. There was no mori or water outlet on in the bathroom floor and the flush did not have a tap which we could close off. No contingency plan!!! Well, we just pulled up the ball valve in the flush and have it hanging by a ruubber band. Our good nights sleep depends on that rubber holding through till the morning when the repairman comes along.

Cuil addendum

My last post got me thinking....................do celebrities also search the net for sites about themselves. I admit, I have a propensity to google my name every once in a while......just to check what employers also see ;). But, do you think a Paris Hilton searches for "Paris Hilton sex tape" or a Mohammad Asif for "Mohammad Asif drug scandal"?. After all, they are a lot more narcissistic than we are right? What do you think?

Cuil - Not so cool

I read last week about the new search engine cuil (pronounced cool). Started by an ex googler and her husband, it is supposed to have a bigger search database than google. So, I had to try it out. I tried it out just like you try any new search engine. I searched my name in it. It gave fewer sites than google and missed out a lot of honorable mentions including my own website.

My review: Not so positive

Now I knew people would question as they would call it, my narcissistic methodology, so I used another experiment. I tried to search for 'cuil review' on google and cuil. Google gave me what I wanted. Cuil did not. Here are print screens of the experiment.

Cuil results for "cuil review"

Google results for "cuil review"

So my non technical review on cuil.................Giving a plate full of cooked rice to someone asking for a chocolate cheesecake does not make you a better restaurant.....................similarly in search, u gotta be relevant, not big.



PS: I know a lot of you will be asking me questions about the methodology but I consulted and found out that Kingsley had also used the same method to test..................i guess it is from a famous paper and is the globally accepted method.

Did not touch gator - No longer an issue with me

I was in New Orleans a month ago and went to the swamp where they take you on a tour, get you up close with some gators and even let you touch them. Our tour guide told us that gators are not as dangerous as crocs. A few of us touched a gator. I missed him as he swam away. We saw quite a few gators on that trip including one called 'Big Joe'. Now normally I would not recollect a persons name, let alone an alligator name a month from 'meeting' him fleetingly. However, I just read about the boy whose hand got bitten off by an alligator. The alligator, 'Big Joe' was caught and gutted to get back the kids arm which was then sewed back on. Now I do not feel so bad that I did not get to touch that gator............yup its a bit selfish but as Ross would say, thats all fine after you have had a 'near death experience'

At home on the 4th of July........almost

Teju and I went to the 4^th of July Boston fireworks display. It was a lovely night with great weather, a good dinner at the Cheesecake factory and some amazing fireworks as apparent from the videos below. But that’s not the purpose of this blog.

That day, Mass Ave in Boston was packed with people. As we walked towards it, we saw trash cans overflowing and a generic lack of order and thought, “This is what happens in any place with a lot of people. Its not our fault that CST or Kurla station is not clean……. Its just impossible to manage”. We got a nice spot to watch the fireworks thanks to a couple who were bored of it and walked off, presumably to the loo. When we started back, there was a sea of people, a lot more than when we reached there. A lady was shouting out loud from a platform, searching for her kids. People were walking down Mass ave ignoring the cars and the cops. There was, in a way nothing anyone could do. Human nature was taking its own course, or so we thought. Lots of people were amazed and taking videos (and so did we) but to us, this was an evening at Kurla station. We, felt at home.

We walked on to our car, using all our garnered skills to reach there in record time. And that’s when the difference struck us. We reached from the parking lot to the interstate in under 20 minutes. A big achievement. There were no traffic snarls. No people trying to cut lanes to get there faster. No disorder in traffic except Stop signs being ignored, but I guess that was acceptable then.

We realized that there was discipline in the whole system. Maybe, it was there since this was a one off incidence. Maybe people will lose it if it becomes a daily occurance. Maybe, it is because America has a car culture and we do not. But then, maybe, just maybe, it’s a discipline they have and we lack. And this is the maybe we need to focus on to improve.

There are difficulties and some things cannot be changed but disciplined traffic moves a lot faster. Quite often, cutting lanes, going straight from the right only lane or creeping before a signal changes helps the ones doing it but then it hampers the pace of others.

As I think back, I realize that though the trash cans were full and overflowing, most of the trash was next to the cans. I am sure all of that would be gone by the 5^th of July. The first thought in many minds on reading this would be ………damn the BMC (or your local body). The one that should come to mind is damn us. We are the ones polluting the area and making it difficult for the cleaning staff to do their job.

The problem is seeped into our culture and is location specific. I have seen tons of people who will walk for a mile to find a trash can when abroad but not a couple hundred metres when back in India. Does that mean that we as a nation are followers? If everyone throws trash on the roads lets do it as well…………if everyone pays money to get stuff done, lets do it as well. If that is the case, dear educated people, let’s lead the way. Let us change the habits of the country. If we lead, others will follow.

Always throw trash in bins. Think of the rest of the traffic before cutting someone or taking a left from the rightmost lane. Tell the next person you see littering to not do so. I do it all the time. They may smirk or laugh at you behind your back but if one in 100 is changed, we have one more leader.

I realize that I have diverted a lot from the topic but there is one more random thought that I can link to this post. The time has come for us to give good news stories to 24 hour channels. Let us provide them with stories of people fighting corruption, cleaning up the neighbourhood and solving water problems because they seem inept at finding these. In a month in India, I saw stories (oops sorry the story of) Aarushi Talwar from the viewpoint of everyone form her father to the cockroach in chief of the household atleast 25 times. Is this news? I found out a lot of stuff about what is happening from random sources. I request the news channels to please be relevant or we will become just like America by copying their bad habits not the good.

So the moral of this ping pong ball story is – Lets rise up to the level of the US not fall down to it.

The North South divide

Nope this is not another post about the North South divide in India……its about the attitudinal difference between the North and the South of the USA. I drove down to New Orleans, LA for a conference recently and was amazed by how green the south was. I was even more amazed when I saw a bridge traveling parallel over a river. It was then that a colleague, who had done her undergraduate education in Alabama, told me that the South is a lot more nature friendly than the north. Whereas in the North, they cut off trees to build roads and develop the infrastructure, in the South they try to avoid it. Interesting, I thought!