God or Dog’s own country

My cousin married a Russian and visited Chennai. Our society, like our habit is very reluctant to ‘change’. It does not allow someone to be in his/her own way. A student who meticulously mugs up & scores 99.9% is appreciated while it looks down someone who fairs poor in studies & pursues his/her interest or ambition outside the school curriculum. School topper or college topper at the age of 16, a salaried job in a top notch IT company, arranged marriage at 26 years, own house & children at 30 years are some of the unwritten ‘standard operating’ model. A person departing from this model will occupy the hot seat of all speculations especially in family functions like marriages. Some of my cousin’s close relatives though initially not very happy about his love marriage started realizing the true essentials of a happy engagement which is (a) A boy and (b) A Gal. Religion, language, nationality etc is of no relevance and they are just ‘add ons’ to a married life.

We received her with a warm welcome. We showed her the glassy skyscrapers, grade separators, Air conditioned buses in Chennai. She in turn enquired more about the slums, cattle & people on the streets, may be, hangover from the Oscar winning movie which showed this country in grim, poor light. She asked me to describe the inequality in India in a nutshell. Im taking two scenarios to describe this which I could not do when she asked:

1. My friend Srinivas is not a happy man because of his kid ‘Adithya’ (‘H” silent). He checks his fortune driving his “Fortuner” at every sight of a petty shop in Navi Mumbai. Unfortunately, he could not find even a single ‘Air filling station’ for his kid’s bicycle. His earlier suggestion of a motorized cycle was turned down by ‘Adithya’. The plan B of tubeless tyres is yet to materialize. He lives in an integrated township which has Sauna, Jacuzzi, Spa, Acupunctured walkway, a multiplex, school, mall, tennis court, swimming pool but nothing satisfies ‘Adithya’, more than a joy ride in his cycle. Adding fuel to fire, his service lift often breaks down and Srinivas has to carry the cycle to 15th floor, which overlooks the sea. Though this may help Srinivas to bring down his BMI below 30, he is more than happy to pay Rs. 45,000 for a comprehensive weight reduction program in VLCC.
   
2. My maid’s neighbour VelMurugan is not a happy man. Not because his house, which his family was occupying for generations was bull dozed by the government to give way for a new ‘Multi Level Car Parking’. Not because he was relocated (of-course forcefully) to a place called ‘Semmencherry’, 30 kilometers away from his erstwhile house thus losing his job and livelihood. Not because of his wife who keeps complaining about the drunken men in their locality, poor sanitation, water & overflowing sewage, overshooting monthly family budget; It’s because of his one and only son ‘Tamil selvan’ (Read Tamil as Tamizh) who profusely cries as his old cycle tyre with which he plays is lost in the transit! Also he could not meet his old pals with whom he plays Gilli on the street overlooking the Cooum river!

For people like my cousin’s wife, the real estate development in India might sound weird. The real estate in India is more ‘investor’ driven rather than end user driven. (The government may even give tax exemptions for these real estate developers under SEZ provisions since they engage in rendering service outside India). The inclination towards foreign investors is perhaps the reason we find more Posh apartments and villas in a country where significant junk of the people are lower class or below poverty line. The government spends crores and crores of money in relocating people from slums to make India ‘slum free’. On the other hand due to migrations towards metropolis and lack of housing for these economically weaker sections, more slums are being formed.

The real ghost towns are not just in China but also in India. This is because in the so called new age ‘integrated townships’ the apartments are mostly vacant since the owner lives in developed country like US or Singapore and parking their deposits in developing country like ours. But for India’s facebook account if the status has to become ‘Developed’ all we need is an ‘inclusive’ REAL growth.

-

Hari

Endhiran- Titbits

From the desk of a KamalHassan Fan: The anxiety of watching the most hyped and most expected movie of the year “Endhiran- The Robot” the next day made that night sleepless. After watching the movie I was speechless. Each and every frame of this movie has been carefully crafted and with a whopping budget of 150 crores this movie has all ingredients to keep the cash registers ringing. Im not going to write a review but here is my ‘TAKE’ on this movie:

I never imagined a Rajni movie without punch dialogues & ‘Kuthu’ Pattu. This movie does not have single scene on the superstar’s mass image & star value. The superstar deserves a standing ovation for accepting a run of the mill character without giving a damn thought to his image. There is no introduction song & even the intro scene is straight forward!

This movie has raised the bar & sets new benchmarks. The younger heroes like Vijay, Ajith who are into image trap & fight for the superstar status by giving filthy ‘masala’ movies one after the other should take cue before they are thrashed down by the audience.

The theme is global. The director has purposefully avoided regional specific scenes. Prima facie, good commercial strategy! The location includes Marine drive, Bandra-worli sea link to give pan India feel.

The second half of the movie has too many animations & the CG on the climax goes little overboard. A little pruning would have done wonders.

The audiences were either engrossed in the movie or not in the position to take sides (Good Vs bad Rajni). Surprisingly they remained a silent spectator and within 5 minutes the whistle sounds subsided.

Rajni has performed some fabulous fights & the chitti dance song in which he dances like MJ are definitely a treat to eyes.

My friend told me that this movie is loosely based on ‘En Iniya Iyandira’ a famous fiction written by Sujata. But for the writer’s help Robert would have been a machine without battery. AR Rahman’s music won’t stand the test of time.

I spent 100 bucks for the 3 hour movie. Definitely price worthy. I will give thumps up with my punch ‘REPEATU’

Dot!

Go for IT or ‘GO’ for IT?

When I told that my neighbour was an IT commissioner, my friend was quick to ask, 'Wasn’t that a strange designation? I know Program manager, Team manager but how is this designation ‘commissioner’ going well with the customer?’ I clarified to him that ‘IT’ can also mean ‘Income tax’ and not just ‘Information technology’. Such is the power of IT (Henceforth mean only ‘Information Technology’) that every young Indian identifies the word with software companies.

I met my friend after a long time. The person who was once roaming around the ‘agraharams’ of Mylapore with a six yard dhoti was seen wearing a ‘Tommy Hilfiger’ T-shirt & a low waist jean. The boot actually weight lifted him by 3 inches with the Woodlands logo clearly visible. With the sign of prosperity - the tummy and a French beard he addressed me ‘Dude’. His transformation has been phenomenal & no wonder why every graduate wants to join an IT company, whatsoever his/her specialization is.

When Texas Instruments started in late 80s, no one would have guessed that the IT offshore market would cross $50Bn someday. Currently, 4% of our GDP & one fifth of our total exports are contributed by IT industry. Close to 2.5M Indians are employed in these companies, which translate to 1.25 crores direct dependency. (assumed for 1 earning member, there are 4 dependents). Over $12Bn of the total offshore revenue comes from BPO & going by the logic of $24K average realization per employee, the total dependent population of BPO comes to 26 lacs. When one talks about India’s growth story, the reference to IT/ITES is inevitable. The boom here propelled real estate, retail, tourism, automobile, travel/transportation, financial sectors thereby creating a multiplier effect.

This industry is growing but will India continue the momentum & retain its pie?
The US government has increased the Visa fee. Mr. Obama has started threatening the companies which are outsourcing jobs about the withdrawal of tax benefits. The Ohio government recently banned outsourcing. Though this may not have a significant financial impact in the short or medium term, one cannot rule out the psychological effect of these protectionist trends since US geography contributes more than 60% of Indian IT company’s revenues.

Only few years back the word ‘Bangalored’ meant job outsourced to India. That’s coz India remained the top outsourcing destination for the world. Today we have several countries like Brazil, Philippines, Mexico, and Vietnam which are giving stiff competition to India. Take for instance, China! The Communist government declared 20 destinations as outsourcing hubs & declared IT as their priority sector. Considering the aggressiveness the Chinese shows, we cannot really rest on the advantages which we naturally inherited like language, work culture etc. In a recent analysis, Gartner has mentioned that India’s share in outsourcing may reduce to 60% from the current 80 – 90%. Indian IT Company’s buzz word today is ‘Near shoring’. All major Indian IT biggies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL already has near shore facilities in places like Atlanta, Romania, Polland where they are planning to recruit significant number of natives.

Leave alone the external factors, there are internal hiccups too;
(a) The cost of doing business in India is increasing!! The projected salary increase in India this year, as per Hewitt’s report, is 11.6%. Assuming, India continues the growth momentum for the next 15 years and assuming the salary increases around 10% YoY, in 12 years time we will not have any wage arbitrage between India & USA (On an assumption that US salary will increase by ~3% YoY during this period). In 3 years time, Philippines will become the preferred outsourcing destination than India. Though some may cry foul that the working population in India is much higher, the prospective or ready talent availability remains a challenge; thanks to our poor primary, secondary education & poorly implemented reservation policies. This again increases the hiring and training costs for the companies.

(b) The government is piggy backing on the removal of SEZ benefits citing irregularities (as though none of the other government schemes has).

(c) It is estimated that the total population in Indian cities by 2030 will be twice the size of USA. But still we do not know what ‘infrastructure’ means.

(d) We also have naxalism, terrorism, red tapism in abundance. Corporate scandals like the one happened in Satyam create a negative impression on our moral or ethical practices & integrity.

Are we approaching the dark or is it just a temporary cloud that’s …. Only time will tell what it holds for this sunrise sector. …..

Ever hoping,
Hari

Hop ON & Hop OFF in Chennai MTC

It was a usual day, usual office but unusually I decided to use the public transportation. It was not a bad idea, but due to the fact that I was forced to use it since my ‘high command’ took the car, I was rather infuriated. I was in office formals with a backpack. The images of jam packed chennai MTC buses, ‘open to sky’ bus stops, rusted seats traumatized me. The ‘Baby Nagar’ bus stop was just 10 mts walk from my apartment and the bus stop was, in reel sense, an excellent handwork of the state ‘Public works department’.

The MTC has introduced several AC VOLVO buses in major routes and I’m habituated to count the passengers inside these buses whenever I happen to see them. I saw a Volvo bus (Route 570 towards CMBT) approaching and I thanked my stars for saving me from an otherwise horrifying experience.

I got into the bus and to my surprise it was full, barely a seat or two left unoccupied. All the passengers had a quick look at me, not sure whether they do this profile screening on all boarding the bus. The conductor came to my seat (In Chennai, these people stick to their designated work place, usually near the exit gate & the passengers have the responsibility to collect the tickets) & addressed me ‘Sir’. Awe struck by his politeness, I physically controlled myself from falling off the seat. The window pane was huge and chennai looked really sexy through the lens of these Volvos. They played some nice melodies, sans those honking noise the journey was pleasant and refreshing!

Most of the Volvo patrons are youngsters who either lost themselves in ‘Iphone/Ipod ‘ or seen baffled with their gal friends. MTC should have done aggressive marketing of their AC services as an alternative for personal vehicles. They should fully utilize their ‘Global positioning system’ by providing the timetable through SMS or internet. Making them as Gen Y’s style symbol would have made these services a huge hit. The profits earned from these services can then be used to subsidize the ‘white board’ (normal) services.

I had to get down near ‘Race course’ junction since the bus took a detour from the ‘five furlong road’. The reality struck me immediately and I was completely drenched in sweat within minutes, thanks to the hot & humid climate. I trekked on the pavements. The air was filled with odor from the overflowing sewage, people were seen jumping, rowing on the stagnated pool. The ‘Kai Endhi Bavans’ (Road side food shops) were busy selling their ‘mid day Thali’ in the same vicinity. An auto driver was seen negotiating the rates from his prospective customer in his own style. One drunken man was crossing the road, swinging, cuddling his co-drunker. A group of middle aged people were coming out of ‘Guindy railway station’ most likely returning home after their shift.

This is India and this is Chennai. Behind the huge shopping malls and commercial skyscrapers there lies my society. This bus ride helped me to reconnect with my society. I travelled by foot thinking about what did I ever give back to my society. The reduction of carbon footprint on that day was the smallest contribution though!

Yours,
Hari

Ten Teething reasons why I should quit?

On a serious note, this has to be read with a ligheter vein

Interviews have become difficult to crack, I mean exit interviews. Thanks to acute talent crunch and ever increasing hiring and attrition costs, Indian companies are coming with divine ways to control attrition. Some of them give hefty salaries & provide stereotype targets with psychopath bosses. Some give moderate salary and provide the luxury of sitting on bench. (Few may not allow this option to perish) Some make a balance between Salary and work.

I decided to quit my company which falls under the last category. I decided not to face any humiliation from my boss, super boss and HR manager. Hence, I listed down issues which I believe none of the HR manager can retaliate. Some of them are given below:

1. My office websense (firewall) blocks Facebook and Naukri site thereby depriving my fundamental right.

2. My mobile phone with 10MP camera & 4GB memory is not allowed inside the ODC (Overseas development centre) due to security reasons. I was dismayed to note the double standard policy of my company which allowed the security team to install the CCTV!

3. There is no gender diversity in my process which has only male employees. I was embarrassed to face questions on 'oomph quotient' from my clients.

4. My office laptop does not recognize Blue ray/movie DVDs. The system even crashed once when I tried to copy Rajnikanth’s Sivaji from my pen drive.

5. My office bulletin board has no information on new releases.

6. My office has a 1000 seater cafeteria which does not serve liquors/cocktails. There are training halls but there are no party halls. The party animal within me has already gone on a “LTA”.

7. My office is just 5 km away from airport but 50 km away from the city. I need to commute in a non air-conditioned taxi daily. Since our nativity to the place where the office is located is questionable why don’t they provide the guesthouse accommodation within the same campus?

8. I could not doze off properly even during a good 'full meals day'. My office system has an admin controlled screen saver which says 'Work, Don’t stare' if my mouse is untouched for a minute. Worse, the screen saver scrolls in bold yellow 'DO NOT DISTURB. PRINCE HARI IS SLEEPING' if the mouse is untouched for 2 minutes.

9. My company follows US timing, US holiday, bill the customer in Dollors but pay us in Indian Rupees. Damn!

10. My office is situated in a Tropical place (Chennai). But the dress code is so strict that the tropical wear is not allowed inside the premises.

Im sure the reasons mentioned above can be appreciated by every Independent young Indian of the New India. The president of United states, Mr. Obama once spoke of shipment of jobs from Bangalore to Buffalo. Mr. President, ask the Indian IT companies when will they start treating their employees like holy cows !!!

Hilariously yours,
Hari

Tamil Culture & women- Are we talking about Male Chauvinism here?

- Hari

My office colleges were unusually giggling that Friday. It stimulated my curiosity but I hibernated it till lunch break. On the lunch table, I began the conversation and it soon killed my curiosity.

Ms. Sanghamitra who works in our bay has come in western attire was the news.

'What’s so special in that?' I asked my colleagues; After all she is wearing a shirt & trouser.

'We all thought Sanny (That’s how the client address her) is a perfect disciplined Tamil women. Am heartbroken since I always dreamt of a well cultured Tamil girl as my gal friend’

‘Who said that wearing a shirt & trouser is against Tamil culture & what’s wrong in that?’ I asked

‘Hari, come on. Gals during Tholkappium times were not wearing Kurtis & shirt. Don’t tell me. These people spoil our culture’- said Krishen.

Krishen alias Venkatakrishnan’s statement shocked me. Krishen is a Brahmin Iyengar who does Santhiyavandhanam three times a day despite his UK work timings. I was under the impression that the travel he undertook to UK for the transition work would have transitioned his ideologies since his thirunamam was missing from his forehead ever since he returned.

‘As per Hindu religion you should not travel abroad since travel across sea is forbidden. Why did you take that’, I was quick to ask this.

‘Are you seeing Sanny, coz this question is of least relevance here’ he smiled at his own joke.

‘It is. If you are not following your religion, you can’t expect them from others’.

‘Off course I follow. I perform Santhiyavandanam thrice a day & the transition travel was simply unavoidable. Anyways, religion & culture are both different. Im talking about her culture not about her religion’- Krishen looked serious.

I was in no mood to preach anyone but my mind was comparing religion & culture and the reason we guys, are concerned about culture especially when it concerns the opposite sex.
In IT industry parlance, Culture is nothing but the SOP (‘standard operating procedures’) for human life. It defines, what to do and what not to do. In a way, it is a subset to religion since religion too talks about individual discipline.

The culture has evolved over the years depending upon the civilization of the mankind and it should keep evolving as change is inevitable. So what holds good in a particular period may not hold good forever. In India, Khadi is (was!) a traditional wear which are handspun/hand-woven clothes suited for this climatic condition. Ever since we had an overdose of westernization we even started wearing blazers which are killer clothes for Indian climate. We (Men) had the exposure to westernization first. We also felt driving a two wheeler, travelling in a crowded bus is easier with trousers than with a ‘dhoti’ or ‘lungi’. Trousers soon replaced our traditional wear. After breaking the religious and cultural barriers we are seeing the present day women challenging us in every sphere of life. Some are bold and confident to shift to western attrire & some are reluctant to the change, may be on the fear of losing their cultural virginity and societal blackmails.

A 60 year grandpa wearing short & T-shirt jogs in a park and no one complains. His wife who usually jogs with a sari & canvas (!), attracted more eyeballs when she came in a ‘chudidhar’ on that blue moon day.

I browsed a Tamil daily which showed a group of gals wearing Jeans, shorts & trousers hoping near a shopping mall. The male journalist who must be a custodian of Tamil culture was bashing at these gals for spoiling the ‘Tamil’ culture. Few pages later, I saw photos of few actresses in a compromising posture. The daily carried the title 'மனம் திறக்கும் நடிகை XYZ'

In our office, as part of anniversary celebration, the employees were asked to come in traditional wear (I dunno who invented this weird idea!) They also gave list of wears which were allowed. We had a choice of Pyjama Kurtha and sharwani! It’s obvious, women were left with no other choice except Sari. The next day we had a haughty laugh at those gals struggling with their Sari.

I hate being called as MCP but is there a gender bias here? Are we using the culture as an excuse? We have grown seeing our mom & sister as ideal women. Our present day super women who love economic independence & socio-economic status have given the moms of housewife era a decent & silent burial. They are matured to choose their life, job, Partner. Do we need to preach them how to dress & about the 2000 years old cultural values? Let us give them a break!

Indian demo’CRAZY’

- Hari

August fifteen: The very mention of this date immediately brings the joy of (a) Public holiday (b) Television special programs (c) Discounts on our favorite outlets. Give us 2 more minutes, and we will realize that its Independence day within the stipulated time. We celebrate this day because our country became democratic after centuries of colonial rule. More than six decades since independence, I use to think, whether we are enjoying the fruits of democracy in the right way?

India became the largest democratic country, as the definition goes the government of the people, for the people and BY the people. Nehru travelled across country educating people that they had to choose their own leader. Dr Ambedkar drafted the constitution, which best suited the country at that time. The constitution allowed even the illiterates to contest elections since the majority of the country's population was uneducated. This yielded the desired result since most of our current politicians/leaders are uneducated while the majority of the country's population is educated, atleast in terms of average literacy level.

Our leaders post independence had a vision on how to make the country progressive when the majority of the population was clueless. Today, the reverse has happened.
Democracy allowed every citizen the right to follow his own religion, faith, language. Today we have innumerable religions, caste, sub-caste thus requiring the need for caste based census after six decades of independence (!). The growth of number of castes, linguistic politics might have surpassed the growth of the GDP of this country itself.

Dr Ambedkar spent several thousand hours in drafting the constitution of this country. Today, we have several laws, which if indexed can run more than the constitution of this country. Yet none of the law is implementable in its true spirit since abiding a law defeats the very purpose of democracy.

Six decades of self ruling, we still have problems of illiteracy, social inequality, poverty, unemployment. Though the change is happening, this transition process is very slow.
Some of the reasons that are plaguing India which I could think of:

Politicians & political system:

Indian politicians are known for corruption and unethical practices. Politicians shift parties, loot public money, encourages short sighted policies, woo voters with freebies and most importantly fool the people. Our politicians are always in corruption spree & famous in spreading corruption in all the fields without any discrimination. Some of the famous scams are Coffin box scam, cattle feed scam, Bofors Scam, Spectrum scam & the list goes on.

The political system does not allow the common man to take public cause easily. One has to join a public party & by the time one gets elevated as minister or nominated for ministership, he/she gets soaked in the old age surpassing the retirement age. Running the political party is as costly as running the country itself & naturally the first job is to reap returns from the investments already made. The complete lack of accountability from the politicians is something which irks the fellow citizens more than the corruption. Nobody takes responsibility for any manmade disasters like terrorism.

There is company law which regulate companies, there is SEBI which regulates the market. Why don't we have an independent governing body to regulate the political system & politicians?
We should lay down professional ethics to be followed by the politicians while in power. In this way, those who throw mikes can be thrown out of power for the indiscipline act. There should be a training academy which trains & certifies the aspiring politicians. A person can contest election only after being certified in this academy. Minimum education qualification like arts or science degree should be stipulated. One should possess adequate knowledge for planning & to convert plan to action.

Babus:

The Hindi speaking clerk who has little knowledge in english is known as Babus. In Indian context, we refer Government employees as Babus. When British was ruling India, the creamy layer of the population who were given education in English medium was offered Government jobs, which ensured high pay package (comparatively)! The British framed several rules which were bureaucratic and used it to suppress Indians. The same bureaucratic rules are even now used by our Babus & they continue to suppress our fellow people. Many countries in the world has reformed the way government works but India sadly remain in the stone-age era. Several foreign investors have been highlighting the 'Red Tapism' issue but any attempt of reformation leads to flash strike in the name of democracy jeopardizing the entire government.

A visit to any government office & one can see half or full bald clerk, sitting on a teakwood table, with loads & loads of file completely engulfed in the dust coming out from those decade old files. Their punctuality & productivity were duly rewarded by promotions, which are based on seniority. The periodic Dearness allowances is given for their 'Dearless' behavior.

There are several people friendly policies which has gone haywire, credits to our babus. The present government's flagship program 'National rural employment Guarantee' (NREG) scheme was declared success since the wastage in this scheme was only between 20 to 40% (On the estimated $8b spending on rural schemes, 20% would mean Rs. 7200 crores. Wow!) The total wastage in PDS scheme (Public distribution scheme) was astounding 73%, which must be an unofficial Guiness book of world records.

It's tempting to write so many ideas, well, nothing is going to happen in our democratic country.

Judicial system:

Over 3 million cases are pending in India's 21 high courts, and an astounding 26.3 million cases are pending in subordinate courts across the country. At the same time, there are almost a 250,000 under-trials languishing in jails across the country. Of these, some 2,069 have been in jail for more than five years, even as their guilt or innocence is yet to be ascertained. This has been revealed by home ministry's department of justice, under a Right to Information Act. While this is the scenario, our Lords and My Lords goes for a summer vacation. (Wow!) These cases were pending not because of shortage of lawyers. More the duration of cases, the more the money they make.

Justice delayed is Justice denied. The judgment for the Bhopal Gas disaster which killed around 25000 people was delivered in June 2010, nearly 25 years after the tragedy at the ratio of 3 deaths per day. By delivering judgment imprisoning the culprits for 2 years, the court has done the unjust.

Why don't the governments insist deadlines for closure of cases & give ceiling on number of adjournments? The judgments can be fed into the computer and most of the regular cases can be disposed by using artificial intelligence. Why not e-judgment?

India has strong moral values and was once considered as the land of 'dharma'. The justice is not a synonym of dharma since the justice is based on a particular law. In most of the cases, the justice is a mere pronouncement of the underlying law & if the law itself is unjustifiable, the judgment does not deliver the 'dharma'. Most of our laws are obsolete and needs to be rewritten based on changing times. Recently, the criminal law on 'Rape' was suitably amended in order to remove the gender bias. But this has to be done more proactively.

People:

All the politicians, Babus, are not made. They are from the people. Our tolerance & carelessness is also responsible for their actions. Evading tax, Vote for Money, offering bribe are some of the serious blunders while disposing the garbage on the streets/roads, disseminating religious information in public places, causing pollution, driving recklessly or drunken driving, damaging public properties, encouraging child labor in domestic help etc are some of the common mistake which we never realize as mistakes.

Democracy is the government by the people. It is THE PEOPLE who is responsible for the success of democracy. It should not go the saying in Tamil 'Kurangu Kayil Poo Malai' If we act as a responsible citizen considering the national interest it WILL make the difference. Won't they?

- Hariraam