tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-282682632024-03-07T11:14:36.734+05:30ChepookaChepooka stand for Nonsense in Russian. So thou art forewarned.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-69049666672737671532009-08-09T18:00:00.002+05:302009-08-09T18:34:22.584+05:30leavexYou have I am sure heard of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_%28word%29">eureka moment</a> which was I bet embarassing for our dear old greek scholar. Well during our usual meandering water cooler conversation at office we i guess collectively struck on our own rather more useful eureka moment. Thankfully we were in office attire so even if we did run around it would be mistaken for some stressed out people at work and overlooked as normal behaviour ;). Anyway now back to the eureka topic, or rather the title of this post. The concept is a leave Exchange system sort of like your Sensex. You always find there are always these two categories of people the haves and the have nots. I am talking about Office Leaves not money, in which case I am yet to find the contented haves :). While some people seem to have spare leaves, or in our office terminology earned leaves which they can take, in abundance while others always suffer due to shortage. The system of Leavex is an exchange wherein both these sects gather and decide to trade on leaves. In offices like mine wherein they have policies that dictate that if u have more than a limit of accumulated leaves they just expire :(. Given such an apparent loss in value we decided that its quite a pity to let such a precious commodity go to waste. Rather what we could do is to let people who have excess of such leaves to sell it in an open exchange so that they can actually encash the same and provide it as a valuable resource to those who have leaves in shortfall. I am not sure if a lot of you guys out there had a similar idea but the concept seemed quite useful to proclaim to the world. What started out as a water cooler conversation turned out to be quite a discussion on further extending this concept. We wanted to see how to value this commodity called Leaves. Should we term one day's leave as the potential salary loss if we did not have the leave and had to take a loss of pay. Sounded like the ideal value for a leave. However the whole idea of a free market was to value a leave in terms of what the buyer would be willing to pay in which case we should value the leave that we have based on the potential loss it could cause to the buyer if he did not have the leave in his hand. So If say a peon were to sell his leave on the exchange and the Ceo of the company were to buy it then probably the leave would have to be evaluated on the basis of potential loss of salary for CEO for one day rather than the potential gain of the peon in having this extra leave with him. Interesting concept huh? Would definitely like to here more comments on t his concep and see if we can develop it further.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-67229061399288388522009-08-01T13:34:00.006+05:302009-08-02T13:59:14.565+05:30RevivalWell well,<br />Its a rise from the ashes for this blog. Somehow I guess this blog got dead and buried and in a general sense of speaking its harder to revive something than to create something . So here is an attempt to go where I havent gone before which is to shake that laziness and actually get busy with my fingers :).<br />Lets start of with analyzing <a href="http://jollyjaya.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-ticket-please.html">this post from Jaya</a>, regarding seeing Movies and eating alone.<br />I guess I am quite the opposite and cant disagree more with the idea of doing either of these things alone.<br />The thing about watching movies alone in the theatre is that it seems quite a point less exercise to go all the way to a theatre alone to catch the flick. Seems like I might as well rent out from the nearest library or try and get a sneak peak free online with the resources at your disposal (Hope the cops that read this blog are dumb enough not to understand what I am basicaly trying to say rather than just hint ;)). Somehow I feel that going to movies in a theatre is more than just watching a movie and is rather a social gathering and a place for probably some post movie autopsy by the so called "experts " including yours truly :). It would also serve as a getting in touch outing on the weekend with friends with whom you want to stay in touch, but really who are we kidding, there is nothing really to talk about half the time :). Somehow can never see the point of going alone to movies.<br /><br />As for eating alone well I guess I have done that quite a lot of times but still cant quite place even once when I was comfortable with it. In fact everyone of the times I was just trying to gulp food and get it over with fast. More than possibly the fears of other staring at me I, think it again relates to what I had mentioned earlier which is again that eating seem to be for me a social gathering where both silence and conversation are both a part of the comfort routine of eating together. Seems to somehow give u a bit of a loser feeling.<br /><br />With this I hope there are many more such incorrigbleramblings to come forth and the revival is a full fledged continuance. Heres to more such ramblings.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-34624857544337147232007-03-03T00:11:00.000+05:302007-03-03T00:12:40.284+05:30Ingestion and Egestion : The fundamentals of survivalLife in Russia is turning out to be quite an adventure... The major factors I guess has been the harsh climate and paucity of english speaking individuals. There are so many things different from India..I am reminded of the asterix comics (dont remmeber which one) wherein every subsequent race said the other race was crazy...I guess it started out with the syrians accusing the assyrians crazy then the assyrians branding the gauls crazy and so on and so forth...anyway as I was saying the russians are crazy(in a different way)...for starters the steering wheel is on the left side ala american way.. thankfully the voltage is still british at 220 volts.. for switching on the lights u have to switch them 'off' or atleast thats the off position in India...Our first biggest challenge was trying to get accustomed to the use of the proverbial tissue paper :)...yes u got it right.....try as I may i really cannot appreciate the cleanliness achieved through tissue paper.. In fact both me and my friend were so uncomfortable with the use of tissue paper that once we shifted to an apartment we just made a make shift plastic container out of the water bottle.. i am reminded of the scenes outside mumbai suburban rail network:)... the crude make shift containers substituting for 'lottas':)..yeah we had our own 'lotta' to solve our discomfort wth the tissue paper..First challenge successfully surmounted ;)..Now that the problems with egestion was solved next came the problems with ingestion i.e. food...this seems to be one of the biggest challenges abroad anywhere i guess...and if u are vegetarian..God save You :)...The challenge was quite interesting in a sense i had to convey a vegetarian choice of food..given that it is a rarity.... to ppl with whom there is no common language of communication..quite an iffy challenge( guess i will soon be a champion in dumbcharades...cant wait to beat all the young college turks at thier own game) ...for doubters i guess u should try it out :P...anyway this i guess it has been one of the primary motivators for learning russian..at least names of food items...Within a few days of hotel stay we shifted to an apartment near to the office..It was a reasonably furnished apartment.. but this led to the next big challenge namely 'Cooking'.. Now ppl close to me would know that my exposure to cooking barely even covers Maggi, and Boiling Rice..which would have been ok if at least the friend with whom I am sharing an apartment did know something.. but then i guess that would have been asking for too much.. So me and and my nearly equally ignorant friend launched ourselves into the culinary journeywith next to zero knowledge but with full enthu (after all its a matter of survival :)).. I can tell u that everyday is a new learning experience...The thing abt cooking i guess is that there is not too much theory but its all practicals:) i mean there is gnerally no way of conveying if anything is cooked...its just that 'u know' if something is cooked or not...Not too much of an exact science if u ask me..This i guess bring us to the next question. Is cooking really a science or is it an art...In fact this was one of the interesting debates that me and my friend while trying our hand at cooking :)...We even decided to categorize cooking into various activities and guess what we came to the conclusion that cooking doesnt involve too many activities as such but more of a monitoring job.. Its a constant overseeing job rather than u actually havinbg to do anything.. I mean more often than not its ur resources like heat, oil etc which are the actors.. u just have to ensure that all the interactions between the resources are just right..Now this act of monitoring resources and getting the results is but an all too familiar name for us MBA grads i guess...ergo Cooking was categorized as a Management Activity.. So there after another terrible day of cooking exploits (well actually lets just say we were hungry enuff to appreciate our own cooking) we came awa with a brilliant conclusion cooking is a mini management degree in itself...A brilliant research work for a night spent at cooking if I may say so myself.. But after this surmise our initial question still remains unanswered i.e is cooking an art or science...By this time we had finished our cooking exploits for the day.. so we decided to investigate this question for another day.. but for the uninitiated there is still a huge debate going on abt whther management is an art or science...So the jury is still out.. do watch this space for the results...I hope to update this space soon with more finer insights abt rudimentray tasks and strong opinions abt toilet manners :)<br /><br />ps: I have a pic of our lotta... in case u do need a reference model;) lemme knowSudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-63809711583661080962007-02-24T20:13:00.000+05:302007-02-24T20:21:25.526+05:30View From my Hotel<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBf7l1AkkYR6iYZJjEbk1cEWOZl1PRAn63smxoSqYIjV8BKQV3N7AktFdvxa2gW2Mt2sif5W8pKnKWmeiu0HDu9iIv3MzESFoKWqamBZ6YwX3ULZlgtE47DrpkNjKlIWxzPW7/s1600-h/DSC00840.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5035113149793908306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBf7l1AkkYR6iYZJjEbk1cEWOZl1PRAn63smxoSqYIjV8BKQV3N7AktFdvxa2gW2Mt2sif5W8pKnKWmeiu0HDu9iIv3MzESFoKWqamBZ6YwX3ULZlgtE47DrpkNjKlIWxzPW7/s320/DSC00840.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHsFNTqaIA3FoY5obRggsprdCK9haASXMVDSsfSzbsWmro2wB_RYbNSQOC4_MM53Jo_3A9-CQa1Sjsy2iYsO1s4bFMyarJNHwkhraPxkdUzt8G56b-dtvfySAf0V3sVMhEdLWQ/s1600-h/DSC00839.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5035112711707244098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHsFNTqaIA3FoY5obRggsprdCK9haASXMVDSsfSzbsWmro2wB_RYbNSQOC4_MM53Jo_3A9-CQa1Sjsy2iYsO1s4bFMyarJNHwkhraPxkdUzt8G56b-dtvfySAf0V3sVMhEdLWQ/s320/DSC00839.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-67873728975735431002007-02-19T15:10:00.000+05:302007-02-19T15:16:08.177+05:30As Tense as all the trips ! Part II!The flight to Dubai was spent pretty peacefully..in fact the moment the flight took of both of us slept of... I for one dint wake up untill the announcement came that we were abt to land in Dubai in a short while.. This got me all excited..Emirates airlines has this really good in house television where we can actually be privy to what can be observed at the cockpit..pretty neat i thought.. also there was another video channel which gives the flight directions... the topographical map etc.. A cool feature..especially for a first timer in emirates...I was trying to see if I can see the Ship like hotel (burj-al-something) from above but no such luk..not sure if there is any construction like that anyway....Dubai Airport had pretty neat construction... no pictures of the airport though...trust me to have actually checked in the camera :(...anyway although we were awestruck by the airport ... everything wasnt as smooth...how could it be with the kind of luck that we were having...we had some problems while boarding the flight..coz amazingly a couple of indians and we had our passport being taken away for some stupid excuse like scanning (is it coincidental that only Indians were faced with this problem?...worth thinking abt)..anyway that incident apart we boarded the flight for moscow...there were a couple more indian students ( medical....pretty obvious..eh) travelling to moscow along with us..really dint strike much of a conversation coz I wasnt feeling that alrite ( this is more of an understatement.... i had sharp pains shooting in my stomach periodically and i was struggling with this ailment throughout the trip) guess it was to do with predominant travelling in a sitting posture....my friend sampled a bit of the cuisine served in the flight and completely lost his apetite...a rude welcome to the world of bland uncooked/semicooked european food:)...I for one had food as the last thing on my mind...struggling with my stomach ache...We taxied into mocow at arnd 2:00 p.m. moscow time.. Temperature outside was announced as -16 degrees...This really had me all excited.. I had my jacket with me and the gloves...thought i was ready for battling the cold...all arnd me ppl were gearing up... for the battle with jackets et all...from the flight we there was an aero bridge connecting directly into the airport..The way open for barely abt 3 seconds...Just for three seconds we were exposed to the cold of -16 degrees... for the first time in my life...The experience completely knocked the wind out of us.. we actually could not speak for a minute..completely taken aback by the coldness..everywhere arnd it was ice... and even the runway was covered with ice..on hindsight a great job by the pilot to land smoothly in the runway..too numbed by the cold to evenr notice the skills displayed by the pilot..At the immigration, we faced our first hurdle..A commmunicating challenge..none on the officials knew english..and they asked some queries..we had no clue as to what they were asking.. Fortunately there was somebody from the client side waiting for us at the airport wo talked to the officials and clarified as to why we were in Russia braving the cold :)..Moscow airport was a bit of a letdown... Dubai airport set too high a standard :)... The client representative handed us the ticket for our Next Flight from Moscow to a lil known place called Ufa some 1200 kms from moscow.. In most countries that would be a formidable distance including India.. but not in Russia..where the trans siberian network takes eight looong days to complete its journey!!!.. We had to kill arnd five hours at moscow airport...Dint even think abt venturing out in the numbing cold...Killing time at the airport..is a bit of a bore...My friend was browsing thro our ticket.. and thats when we got a real rude shock.. the ticket was dated for the previous day.. most of the stuff (meaning all the literals) was in russian but thankfully the numbers were the same as english numbers... and clearly the date was for the previous day...another adminsitrative goof up...We wanted to confirm our fears... but then communicating in English is one of the biggest challenges.. we did find out a person at the informative desk who had a semblance of knowledge of english who confirmed our fears... The person also direct us to the counter of the airlines where we can try to get the date changed provided of course tickets were available for the day of travel..Luckily Tickets were available...After a bit of contemplation we bought the tickets 1033 roubles each... pretty decent price i guess for a distance of arnd 1200 kms.. at short notice..<br /><br />The security check at moscow is pretty rugged process... We had to take out even our shoes and get it scanned...Boarding the flight to ufa in the cold would now be our next big challenge... We had to go out in the open and board a bus which would take us to the flight..no aero bridge this time arnd...This time though we were better prepared.. We had all our winter gear on us.. including thermals, monkey cap and gloves....The prepapration though barely seemed like anything...I mean it was as if we were stark naked in that cold.. Made me think that what was civilization doing in this extreme temperature... again we were way too shocked by the cold... and completely speechless...and to top it all since the airport did not have any buildings nearby it was actually a lil windy....Finally boarded the flight to Ufa.. By now you would have guessed how i spent time in the flight..yeah u guessed it right...completely knocked out.. dint even know when the flight took off... in fact when i woke up the flight was actually taxiing to a stop in a wilderness which i later came to know as Ufa at 2 o clock in the morning local time.. There was no runway and as far the eyes could see everywhere it was a thick blanket of snow..the pilot did quite an amazing job once again... We got out of the flight.. to a temperature of -2 degrees and more windy conditions...boy we were getting used to the conditions pretty fast :)...We boarded the bus and ater a few monutes the bus stopped at some gates...It seemed a lil strange coz i couldnt actually see any airport beyond the gate..we found out that the gate was exit out or the airport and we actually had to wait outside in the cold in open windy conditions till our baggage arrives..imagine our shock...Cold is an understatement to the feeling that was engulfing us during our wait.. for the baggage..Einstien Theory of relativity worked with perfection.. and it seemed like we had to wait till eternity till our baggage came along.. We were trying to keep ourselves warm by walking in cirles( quite an exercise given the fact there was thick feet of snow all arnd) and rubbing our hands and for the first time without cigarettes i was letting out smoke from my mouth like a chimney...Me and my friend were distinctly feeling the cold more than anyone else and this was partly because ppl there were used to it i guess.. and then partly because i guess our equipments for preparing us for the cold wasnt really that great as what is available locally, which is what everybody arnd was decked with.. Finally after the wait till eternity the baggage arrived...and we quickly grabbed ours..thankfuly our cab was waiting for us and we quickly got in.. back in the comforts of the heated car...Finally we reached our hotel and were just abt ready to hit the sack for some more and much needed sleep..this time in the proper posture...but then our day and the string of bad luck was not to end so soon :)... we reached the hotel and got to know though our resevrations were for the day but the check in time is usually 12 in the afternoon..the time in UFA was three o clock in the morning..The ppl at the reservation who thankfully knew english said that at present no rooms were empty and we would have to wait till 6 in the morning for the rooms to get empty... All we could was kill time at teh 24 hrs cafe at the hotel.. till then..Although we did have tea at the cafe...the caffeine content was not enuff.. and i again went into deep slumber in a sitting posture.. finally my friend awakened me at six in the morning and said the rooms were... immidiately we grabbed the keys and hit the sack for a much needed rest...Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-43307269015706885242007-02-12T20:10:00.000+05:302007-02-12T20:11:55.229+05:30As tense as all the trips! partIThe trip to Russia is gonna be one of my most memorable trips due to so many innumerable reasons not the least of which being that it is my first official tour... The takeoff of the trip was filled with so many uncertainities for starters.. Firstly we were supposed to leave on thursday early morning from chennai and we were in our office on wednesday morning in hyderabad still not sure whether we would actually make it. The reason being that the visa was supposed to be processed on wednesday at Chennai Consulate and obviously without which there would be no possibility ofthe trip..So the morning in offfice was spent on worrying whther the visa processing would come though and whether we would get confirmation on it before catching our flight to chennai at six in the evening...We got word on the visa only by around 1 in the afternoon from chennai and it was that among the three of us destined to make the trip one of our visa was rejected due to some administrative goof up..So myself and nvr were supposed to make the trip.. And now started the running arnd...first for collection of forex which seemed to take till eternity for approval and availability and boy was it a long drawn process coupled with problems with availability of cab to drop us at the airport in hyd..so by the tim we left office it was 4 in the evening...came home and suddenly u find that the last minute packing necessities rarely ever gets over in a minutes...it became quite a long drawn process given my lapses in memory.. and by the time was done with eveything and ready to take the cab the time on the clock read 4:50 p.m. The distance between my home and the airport with the least traffic would take arnd 20 mintes..and as luk would have it encountered heavy traffic on route..but not just that there some more bad news coming.. my friend to whom i entrusted the responsility of getting my jacket from his home to the airport..however my friend equally blessed with poor memory had but obviously forgotten it..now u might be wondering whats the big deal with just a jacket being forgotten...however we are traveling to russia where the day time temperature is -16 degrees !!! I have lived all my life in te trpics and even my vacations have not been spent at any temp less than 10 degrees...so u can imagine its gonna be quite an experience and on the way to airport i find out that the my friend who is just abt to reach the airport say that he has forgotten it ( I bought this damn thing just for the trip on the previous sunday for the specific purpose of battling the cold in russia).. anyway then we decide to call another friend to take it from my friends place and deliver it at the airport..while i am biting my nails trying to figure out whether i would reach the airport in time or the jacket or neither...finally i do make it to the airport..the time on the clock 5:30..to find out that i am the last guy to check in and the boarding announcement has just been made.. however my jacket is yet to arrive so I requested the guys at paramount to give me some more time to wait at the entrance to take my jacket...however the traffic as usual messes up things and the final announcement of boarding has just been made Ground flight attendant asked me when is my next connecting flight from chennai..which is thankfully after quite some time at arnd 3:30 in the morning the next day and this time luck was in my favour and paramount was flying one more time frm hyd to chennai on that evening at arnd 9:00p.m. The attendant promised to deliver the jacket through the next flight operated by paramount..so with a quick exchange of phone nos and a lot of trust i boarded the flight to chennai..spent the entire flight duration abt hundred things whether my friend who is supposed to get the jacket will hand it over to the attendant trusting him and then further will the attendnt actually come good on his promise and will paramount cooperate for the delivery of the jacket on the next flight...so many complications..Landed at chennai collected my baggage and tried to talk to some authorities there and explain my problem...(In all these complications I had to basically rely on my friends phone as my phone did not have balance and could only be used for recieving purposes and that too due to roaming in chennai will not be possible)... As luck would have it my friends phone conked off due to low battery when we landed in chennai... anyway all though the authorities there seemed really busy promised that they would get in touch with me once the jacket arrives.. again a quick exchaneg of nos...so with more tense moments to come we waited at the airport for my jacket to arrive..In the meanwhile had my dinner and my friend got his phone working and we finally we had a communicating device (cant imagine a life without cell phones)..as luck would have it again the flight to chennai was delayed by half an hour and by the time it came to chennai at arnd 10:40...there was shift in duties at the airport and the paramount authorities to whom i talked to were no longer on duty.. so i got in touch with the person on duty at the airport who of course is completely unaware of the situation.. I called up the attendant at hyd and he reassured me that he had sent it by the next fight and i had to wait to see if it arrives at the conveyor belt as no one else seemd to have a clue....luckily it came through..there now at least i had my jacket ( means of survival in extreme cold). We trudged along to the international airport which thankfully was adjacent unlike in Mumbai..and guess what we find out that the flight is delayed by around one and a half hours.. we practically slept of at the airport after running arnd the whole day..The airlines guys( emirates) had arranged for snacks for everyone but we were in no mood to eat basically slept at the airport... finally began our trip to Moscow via Dubai...<br /><br /><br />More tense moments in Part II...contdSudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1162034391711843662006-10-28T16:47:00.001+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.806+05:30Choices...are they an illusion!!I was recently talking to a colleague of mine..and invariably most of my casual conversations somehow revert to movies..well i was discussing with him about the good old days when there was just the monotonous doordarshan and no other choices in terms of channels... now i know u must be wondering ..what do i mean by the GOOD old days..surely arent we better off with the vareity thats available to us...Most of the times i am pretty sure we are better of with the plethoras of channels that we have at our disposal for our viewing pleasure..but certain times i am a lil disillusioned by the choices...for example i remember we used to have in dd the weekly once english movie in dd metro..which me and my dad would religiously watch and i would end up somehow sleeping halfway through..but i loved them for what they were..the rare times when i founf myself privy to english it was a real thrill to watch english movies more like a coup that i pulled off :)..also there were these regional movies that used to be shown on sunday along with subtitles...It really used to be fun to see movies in so many different languages which i really dont get to see anymore.. Sometimes I feel that inspite of dd having just two channels were able to cater to viewing pleasures while at the same time not making the idiot box addictive..but then if u ask me do I watch doordarshan now at all...well u gotta be kidding doordarshan is for losers who dont have choices :)...i have felt the same kinda disconnect nowadays with radio as well..for example i really got hooked on to radio when i was in tenth..loved listening to fm air 107.1 especially the limited times when english songs were being played.. I remember that cyrus broacha did an amazing job in a program called 'chaar baje band baje'..u guessed it right it was at four in the evening :)..then later on when i was in chennai during my engg days i used to listen to 107.1 fm religiously between seven to nine..which is when english songs would be played but u know through those four years i could slowly see degradation of the quality of rjing..which increased with the plethora of private channels coming up... In fact now in mumbai I think there more than 4 private fm channels...and if u ask me none of that have manged to differentiate themselves through their sound (a bit like the himmesh reshamiya songs...cant recognize one from the other ) i mean if it wasnt for the constant jingles airred in the channelse reminding us what (as in which frequency/channel)we were listening to we would never know. I remember it was not the case be4 I distincty remember 92.5 fm airing only english which metamorphosed into a mix of hindi and english songs...but atleast the kinda songs that they aired had a distinct flavour to it making us instantly recognise the frequency to which we were tuned into even if the radio jingle did not comeup constantly..however now its not the case, its the same content in every radio channel in mumbai...maybe it was due to maket compulsions..but i still fail to see the point in not differentiating oneself from the competitor...i somehow felt that AIR with just a single fm channel had enuff vareity and managed to pack in all kinds of songs from hindustani to rock and from carnatic to old hindi classics the entire works throgh time slots...this leads me to the point behind this post which is that <strong>sometimes choices suck!!!</strong>Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1161601616655667222006-10-23T15:48:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.747+05:30Cricket Coverage...Crazier by the DayI still remember those insane days when I used to get up at the crack of dawn (well actually be4 that)to see the world cup unfold in australia. Boy how things have changed since then. India still has that special place for cricket its the king of all sports as far as India is concerned.I used to watch those prematch and post match analysis as if the analysis could just change the results of the game or at the very least help me interpret the game better as if the game was as much a puzzle as the <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik's_cube">Rubik's Cube</a></strong> (which i have never ever got to solving and to think some people do it blindfolded...really makes me feel miserable). Now I am not saying the analysis was earth shattering or something like that but at least it used to captivate one's mind (there is one more thing i seriously want to know does richie benaud never age..he has been channel 9's correspondent since well pretty much since the time i remmember watching cricket take place in australia..and the bugger looks the same!!!). <br />Nowadays things are totally diffent. You have a bimbo who well basically chooses to both reveal her skin and her ignorance about cricket, So much so that you are not sure whether to mute the televesion or laugh at the fact that cricket has been made a mockery. Now dont get me wrong of course i like oggling at the bimbo, surely thats what tips the ratings of the show up.. In fact i believe SEt max has quoted that it has radically changed the kind of audiance who tune into the game, it proclaims to have got the game closer to women!!(of all people I thought they would be the last to tune into cricket because of a revealing bimbo but well times have changed and the closets are being emptied :D) And to add to the bimbo you have somebody called Sidhu and his wonderful quotations. He is definitely talented and well uses every opportunity to display his talent with all those flowery quotations which will definitely put any English Man to shame but sometimes you just cant handle it.. I mean give me a break I have had enuff of these ridiculous quotations (maybe its partly due to the fact that I cant quote for nuts :)). To top it all we have some stupid tarrot card reader trying to predict who is gonna win...(and she doesnt stop at it she predicts everything from indian economy to the prospects of mandira bedi's next movie)..imagine how simple things would be if just on the basis of some bimbette taking out a card things could be predicted...but the tarrot card reader is very smart now. She doesnt commit to anything does she? She just hints at prospects of the game and states some chances of one team winning so that she can never be caught in the act of actually predicting what happens...real cheapster if u ask me and she is not even good to oggle at :)<br />So if u ask me as viewer what would i like to have...well i think a bit of mix of the old and the new i guess...i mean sidhu is adorable with his quotations if only he knew the meaning of the word <em>limit</em>. And by all means do have the bimbo..no harm ever came from oggling at the bimbo :) but lets just limit her contribution in the discussion :) and atleast cut the tarrot card reader..btw i believe u can definitely make cricket more insightful and entertaing by having the right kind of presenters...for example Geoffrey Boycott's commentary are both entertaining and insightful at the same time... But then all I can do as an individual is just use the remote when things become unbearable to hear :)<br /><br /><br />p.s.: I think that woman commentator is also aweful and we need to change her.. Maybe we should try some female like the way the channels found Harsha bhogle (somebody who would have hardly played cricket and at the same time can capture the audience completely)Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1157980940484697372006-09-11T18:44:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.604+05:30SEZ's may turn out to be a farce after all!!The supposedly 'WISE' have prevailed in the democracy run within the parliament...now we are to possibly have more and more SEZ with no real cap on the number allowed. We are aping China on the path to success as much as possible. Shouldn’t that make us happy...I am not so sure and so are a lot of people like me including our bumbling PC :)....So SEZs are supposed to bring in its path rapid growth and at the very least a spurt in real estate. The other good thing is that SEZs are supposed to cut the bureaucratic red tape which has been one of the sore spots in India's rise towards development. They are supposed to cut the babu's fiefdom into shreds and help the business function with as little intervention from the government as possible.. Incidentally as cited in these articles (by <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1973646.cms">Swaminathan Aiyer</a> and <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1973651.cms">Gurcharan Das</a>) the most important sore points of doing business in India are the red tapes bound tightly by the bureaucracy...However in spite of all this I am not very sure we are going in the right path, I am apprehensive that SEZs while <em>possibly</em> leading to rapid growth when <em>rightfully</em> used might build greater divides between regions which come under it and those which don’t. Thereby it increases the already skewed development path that India is following. I believe that ultimately SEZ would tend to work in favour of the very BABUs whom we are trying to cut to size as they still are in positions to grant favours to specific private enterprises towards reaping benefits of these SEZ. Although everyone would like to make money on a real estate boom but the bubble may soon burst if it is not supported or protected through solid means. I believe that if the intent was to give industrial growth in any region a spurt then it should be looked at in the right perspective. Lets try to uniformly reduce the bureaucratic red tape. This would help in genuinely boosting the growth of industries rather than providing short cuts in limited regions. I believe that instead of providing a cure to the root cause of our inability to attract more industries we are trying to address it superfluously and allowing industries to prosper in certain regions. This may prevent naturally advantaged regions (post removal of as much bureaucracy as possible) to be left in the lurch in its bid to attract the most favored industry. This will only perpetrate inefficiencies (which are skewed but are still real) which may prove to be costly to India in the long run.<br /><br />Of course we can still live by the Keynesian philosophy ‘In the long run everyone is dead’Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1154935451436076072006-08-07T12:42:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.536+05:30Mumbai is the RUdest City..yeah Rite!!My mom had recently come back to India after a short visit to USA. As usual whenever u come back from such a place there are always those inevitable comparisons between India and uncle sam's country. My mom referred to a very interesting incident. There was a physically handicapped person waiting at the bus stop. The bus arrives at the bus stop. However there is no way that this person can get into the bus. So the driver stops the bus. Get out and removes a plank from the bus and places it over the steps, assists the person into the bus. Again he removes the plank puts it in the bus and gets back into his seat.This whole process would have taken him about a minute. Yet the driver takes out the time to actually help the person out without even grumbling for once. Now the question is if there is a possibility to see such a kind of scenario in India. On the surface of it u would not think in a city like Mumbai anybody would have the time to spare for helping another person let alone a bus driver.However things work differently here in India. The driver is not expected to help them out. Its any passerby who can give a helping hand. I think what is so great about Mumbai or any other city in India for that matter is that all one needs to do is to ask for it and u are helped. In fact as I write this I can actually visualize the person in difficulty being helped by absolute strangers when the persons requests for help. People here cannot develop a snobbish attitude. I think its partly to do with the fact that it doesnt matter to which ever social class you belong you need to travel together sandwiched in packed compartments with hardly air to breathe. Although this is one of the mosty uncomfortable ways of travelling but the feeling of oneness is imbibed in such a kind of atmosphere. Also in case of a natural/manmade calamity people volunteer to help rather than u asking for it. That is the sign of oneness that u can see in a city in India. I think if u wanted me to trade between routine courtesies and such spontaneous oneness...give me oneness anyday...I think thats why the RD survey seems so phoney. They were just the wrong parameters to judge a city. Also what I believe is the biggest pull off of that survey was to qualify New York (of all places) as the most courteous city. Comeon guys you must have been really high while conducting that survey. Dont mistake me,I am not saying that Mumbai is the most courteous city around but all I am saying is Mumbai received a raw deal.<br /><br />To think I really used to like this magazine a lot!!<br /><br /><br /><br />p.s.: I read this book called Maximum City by suketu Mehtha (its about Mumbai). I believe its a must for people living in or have lived in Mumbai.Its all about things which you dont want Mumbai to be associated with and yet things which are as inseparable as any part of Mumbai.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1148278059126387692006-05-22T11:32:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.422+05:30An alternative to the deadlockAn Alternative Suggestion<br />I was discussing at home about the issue of reservation and what can be done. One possible solution did come out. In America and some other countries graduates have to undergo service in military compulsorily for a period of time.There is a woeful shortage of teachers in primary schools in rural India. I sugest that maybe the government can bring out something like a compulsory stint of a year as teacher for graduates at primary school in all remote corners of rural India before they take up employment or higher education anywhere. This way this will result in reasonably good teachers being present all the time in primary schools not having the infrastructure. Thereby ensuring a whole generation of poor ill equipped children benefit rather than very few students who can actually gain acces to higher education. Here looking at the Govt's policy i am remimded of a story abt the queen (govt) who said if the poor cant get bread (good proper school eucation) give them cake (reservation in higher education). I am aware like all suggestions this suggestion will have flaws but i am sure we can work things out. Also this will be a major face saving solution for the govt because this will be on the lines of affirmative action which the govt is clamouring on. This not a new practice doctors have a period of rural stint because they practice medicine anywhere else. I am just extending the idea. I think the youth of India can spare one year of their life for upliftment of the downtrodden. What say?<br />UR thoughts and suggestions of improvement are most welcome.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1148073352588072412006-05-20T02:35:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.370+05:30My two cents on reservation..I recently read a mail regardng reservations and the need of reservation.The author had deliberated on various issues. The author first questioned the various unfair non meritorious practices that were being practiced in India. One of them being the right to inheritance which is very debatable issue and i think we need to look at how other countires have dealt with the<br />right to inheritance but then one thing that i have to say is that inheritance comes from forefathers. It is a right to enjoy thier property. I believe that they should compulsorily decide to whom the property should be provided. When they have not made thier intentions clear it is always ambiguous as to who should inherit the property.<br />Anyway the next issue it talks about is employment through references. I believe that this a practice not only followed in India but all over the world. It is understandably so due to sheer economics. It may not be economically possible in certain cases to conduct open job interviews, and companies rely on references.<br />However all these seem to be issues which can be separately tackled and i belive that one cannot justify anything based on other incidences. The consequences of an action alone must justify why it should be taken. Its justification can never come externally.<br />Next the author talks about the south indian states which have done very well for themselves when they have enforced reservation. Again it seems to be empirical evidence. In fact it may have been equally true that those states may have done even better had reservations not been exercised. It is debatable because there are no hard proofs but empirical economic parameters to support the arguement.<br />Finally the author questions the very definition of merit. This is very important question. Are marks true reflection of merit. I guess we all know the answer to this question is a definite and emphatic no. Secondly there certain cases wherein jobs are handed out to persons who maybe unfit for the job but just merely based on appearnces. Again this is very true.<br />However my question is considering the present situation in India its more or less marks that are considered as quasi merit indicators and when that is the case it becomes an all important issue to be addresed.<br />Finally I believe the author has posed certain strong arguments in favour of a systemic change. I am with the author in this one becuase the author has decided to address the root cause of lack of equal opportunities persisting in india. What is the most important and urgent need of the hour: free and good quality education should made available to all. I think it is through reforms in primary and secondary schools that we can support and bring on an even keel a large number of downtrodden masses irrespective of their caste background. I think the Government has side stepped this issue and has focused on reservation in higher education which is hardly the need of the hour. I believe that for the really downtrodden masses to take advantage of the current sops being proposed there are certain fundamental pre-requisites. That is passing through primaryand secondary school with the intention and ability to read further. This I am afraid is lacking among the majority of the downtrodden masses. I think here is where the government needs to focus. However this would actualy involve educating the majority of the downtrodden and thereby possibly enabling them to take intelligent decisions when it comes to voting which is not what most politicians want.<br />Anyway the point is people have to stand up now and ask pertinent questions to the government. They should ask the government to reveal the number of dropouts at high school level among the people for whom reservation is being sought. It is these numbers that will tell a different story. Secondly how many of those who are qualified and willing to study beyond high school are really downtrodden among the castes for which reservations are sought. The people will also have to ask the government about the exact nature of the usage of funds obtained as education cess. By how much has the dropout rate been curbed in independent India in the past fifty years. What is the justification for the progress made in eliminating dropouts at the high school level? These are certain questions that the government needs to answer before they go in for the policy of reservation in higher education. If at all after answering these questions the government still finds it favourable to provide reservation, then there should be justification of the percentage of reservation(the persentage should not be arbitrarily determined but on the basis of really deserving candidates) and a concrete plan on ways and means of phasing it out in the years to come as reservations have always been only a short term solution. Also it has to submit before the people ways and means of protecting the system from abuse where in undeserving candidates try to get reservation meant for only the downtrodden and not the creamy layer among the castes. I believe all these questions need to be answered before we can even implement a reservation policy.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28268263.post-1147873664390639372006-05-17T19:15:00.000+05:302006-10-28T16:47:03.249+05:30A new ventureWell I have decided to take the plunge into the world of bloggers. Now i am a major rock fan so in rock speak if i were to say i would have to say <span style="font-style: italic;">Blog on. </span>Here's a toast to my future ramblings.Sudarshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04443828537271036627noreply@blogger.com2