Democracy is overhyped

Living in India I've heard the "we are the largest democracy in the world" slogan over and over again. This line has been beaten to death by everyone. The fact that the statement hold mainly because we are the largest country in the world by population doesnt seem to bother anyone using it.

Anyways today I heard about Ian Murdoch joining Sun Microsystems. For those who dont know Ian is the founder of Debian and is a strong leader in the open source communicty. He leaves the FS to joing Sun as a person who would guide Sun in its open source manouvers. In his recent interview with a tech site he clearly states that the reason why Debian lost out was because of a democractic process. This process though theoretically ideal leads to a lot of dilly dallying and in most cases a lot of time is lost for useless purposes. I am totally in agreement with this fact.

Take for instance the case of Linux and Linus Trovalds. The main reason why there is a good and steady stream of work in the linux kernel is because come what may it is Linus who decides what is going to be put in or left out. Ofcourse the so called community exists but there is noone who would dare question Trovalds. When push comes to shove Linus Trovalds has always won.

Coming back to the topic of democracy. As in the above cases I think that democracy has its merits but like any other form of governance has its limitations as well. It can be used as a tool to further the cause of the people and many a times in India it is used as a tool by the rich and the corrupt to further their own agendas. Take the case of the problems faced by the Tatas in Orissa and West Bengal where unnecessary delays are being faced by a project that could very well change the entire social and economic map of those regions.

Or for that matter take the case of the past 60 years of Indian Independence. The theory that India should be ruled by a dictator for its inital few years of Independence has been debated bt many of us and usually shunned. Indulge me for a few minutes and consider if such a thing were to happen. Yes there are many pitfalls associated with it but just consider it for a moment. Using a strong leader we could have anhialated many of the evils that plague our society. Corruption for one could be rooted out with enforcement of extreme punishment. Civic sense and order could be bought about through the use of a stronger police force, giving them more powers. A strong sense of community and nationality could be inculcated into people all across India. This would lead to the weeding out of anit social, criminal and even terrorist elements otherwise hidden in our country. The possibilities are endless. Yeah democracy is great and all but some restraint needs to be imposed, afterall we are simply a higher breed of animals right.

Yeah yeah the caveats are huge as well. But well you need a high risk portfolio for maximum gains in a minimal duration right?

And the Mayhem Has Begun...

Everyone who knows me, knows that I don't count cricket as one of my favorite sports. To be a bit more abusive I would say that I wouldn't count it as a sport at all, I would list it as a game along with scrabble and karaoke or charades. Now this would be considered totally shrink-worthy behaviour for an Indian and it may be diagnosed as life threatening too.

It is hard to ignore the fact that this game is somewhat of a religion in this part of the world. The people out here are fanatics and will hold huge prayers for their team so that they will bring back the 2007 World Cup. There again since there are only 16 teams playing this World Cup I think the use of the term World Cup out here is bit aggressive.

But yeah one of the good things that comes out of this mayhem is the tides of contests, cool offers, and sometimes some great advertisements on the telly too. Take a look at this fantastic Nike ad that sweetly sums up what cricket is all about in India. The sweat, passion and the magical road-side camaraderie that the game brings. So from my side Good luck to the Indian team. Win the cup or give us all the ad money back.

There goes my chance to win the google blogger cricket contest.

Healthcare Crisis

Unfortunately for me I have had to visit quite a few hospitals and clinics in Mumbai over the past 8 months. But fortunately the good lord made sure he kept me company and all went well. Really appreciate it big guy.

This brief encounter with the health care industry has left me with a dry throat, after all the yelling and screaming, and made me a supporter of euthanasia as well, for god forbid I have to depend on these people to keep me alive. So let me get started

1) Cleanliness definitely is not paid as much attention as it deserves
2) Professionalism is absolutely absent
3) Doctors are still considered kings and well they act like emperors doing just about whatever they wish
4) Lack of transparency. The patients are not informed about why medications are being given and why treatments are continued for extended periods.
5) The nurses in most places are truly under trained and sometimes downright incompetent. And to have to trust your lives in these hands is a tall order to place on a patient.
6) Earlier the best thing about hospitals was the awesome food that they provided. I think that too doesn't exist anymore.
7) Total lack of coordination between the health services and the insurance companies.
8) No accountability at all for these so called doctors of life.

We hear a lot about the next wave of medical outsourcing that is hitting India. I wonder how come foreigners, especially these Americans, manage in these sordid conditions. I guess they sallow a bit of their pride and Americanisms considering the low costs. But well give me a bottle of sleeping pills any day instead of a room in any of these hospitals.

Oh there is a silver lining to this dark cloud to. Low costs, great doctors (if you are patient enough to find them). So I hope the dark cloud shrinks in size soon. I ain't getting younger anyways:)

Who is this "aam aadmi" ?

( aam aadmi is desi parlance for the common man)

Come elections or come budget time there is all this blabber by these politicians about how the "aam aadmi" is being given special focus and how all the policies and decisions being made are so good for him/her. My question to these nuts is who the fuck is this aam aadmi?

I am a middle class salaried citizen of this country. We as a class contribute the largest towards the GDP via direct and many a times indirect taxes being levied on us. We often face the brunt of reforms and market adjustments, of changing governments and re-elections, of bad policy decisions and illiterate ministers. If anything needs to be solved its the middle classes are made the scapegoat.

Now I am not questioning the contribution and the existence of the impoverished classes of Indian society. But how come I (read middle class salaried employee) am never considered for during the budgets or elections. Why am I not taken into account as as being a victim in certain cases.

Why aren't there any special sops for me once in a while. Is there no benefit of being a law-abiding tax-paying citizen here? I don't get the respect of the law-makers or the help of the law-enforcers. I need to be in long queues everywhere and travel by the overcrowded public transport. My cooking gas bills are consistently increasing and electricity bills cant even be questioned. I am enjoying low telephone and broadband bills but I cant seem to ever afford a good car and even if I can I am scared of the unstable fuel prices, paltry roads and the maniacs driving on them.

Nowadays even when I take a so called low-budget airline flight I pay a surcharge on the ticket that's even more costlier than the damn ticket itself, as a landing tax, fuck just keep me in the air and give me a parachute.

So even if I don't qualify as an "aam aadmi" please stop fucking my life up and give me some respect. I think I've paid my taxes towards earning some of that.

read I/we as middle class, law abiding, tax paying citizens
the colours are intentionally upside down... symbolic to the topsy-turvy state of affairs

Oh Oh Oh

if there's something i've always wanted to do
it would to take your minute or two
minutes spent just being with you

maybe making you giggle or making you smile
making a fool of myself just for a lil while
anything that would bring a smile to your face
coz thats the only thing that could be as good as god's grace

doing anything... anything at all
just to make you recall
those few moments spent with me
those few moments that lasted an eternity

Congratulations Tata Steel

Hats off to Ratan Tata and the guys out at Tata Steel for bagging Corus. Hope you guys make it worth the investment.
-Loyal Shareholder

Technorati Tag: Tata Steel, Corus

Diagnosed but not Treated yet

Continuous partial attention is that Linda Stone has called it and HBS's HBR has even put it up as one of the breakthrough ideas for 2007. I know exactly what she is talking about and am proof that the phenomenon is not US centric at all. This flat world funda keeps biting me in the ass again and again. Well now that I know what I've caught can Linda please tell me how to control it?

Technorati Tag: HBR

Desi Airlines - A Comparison

Previously I had made a comparison on some of the airlines that I had an opportunity to travel on. Recently I tried out a couple more and here are my inputs

7. Air Sahara

Kudos

Loads of reception isles
Have started giving out low fares as well
Pretty airhostesses
Quite frequent flights
Decent connectivity overall

Cribbs

Announcements are very loud, especially for a late night flight they should be banned
Food couldve been better
Didn't SMS that my flight was delayed
Seats were kinda crampy. I was on the window seat and my head was hitting the sides:)

8. Indigo

Kudos

Have their check-in counters over with Jet Airways in the swanky new terminal
Annoucements are made in a polite and low sound way
Pretty airhostesses
Superbly designed shuttle buses
Brand new A320s
**Probably the smoothest landings I've experienced in years

Cribbs

Number of announcements went a bit high
Not too many options for purchase of food on the plane, just some peanuts and the like

Technorati Tags: AirSahara, Indigo, India,Airlines,Indian,JetAirways,Kingfisher,GoAir,SpiceJet,AirDeccan

Croma Store Mumbai

Location: Juhu. Between Amitabh Bachan's bungalow, Mithibhai's Girls Hostel and PVR Cinemas. Close to Arogya Nidhi hospital.

I have visited the Croma store out in Juhu a couple of times and am totally impressed. This TATA enterprise shop is totally awesome not just in the merchandise and the prices that they offer but also in the service that is provided as soon as you step in. There is a sales guy or gal nearby who you can shoot some questions at and they help you out with whatever you need. If they don't have it they are co-ordial enough to suggest alternatives as well. Best of all is that they don't mind suggesting a cheaper product if that is what suites your need the best. They claim to have a fantastic after sales service which thankfully I haven't had the displeasure of needing yet. But with the experience thus far I would be really disappointed if that did not live up to expectations.

Now that's what I call being treated like a valuable customer. I wish these guys success and hopefully more stores all over the place. Lets get the hedgehogs who have monopolised the electronics market with shoddy service and once sold you and the product are forgotten techniques.

Croma Juhu
Vasundhara Cooperative Society
CTS No 194
Off Village Juhun JVPD
Mumbai 400049
Tel. No. 67103333

Monks and Ferraris

Desi Funda

Got another book covered while frantically travelling between Mumbai and Delhi during the end of '06 and start of '07. "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" - Robin Sharma. I really liked the book and what the author had to offer in terms of how we should be living a more fruitful existence. But what struck me most was how he managed to gel the aura of eastern world philosophy, mythology, religion and culture, or ethos if you may, and relate it to the life of an average American or for that matter any average, middle-class, middle-aged guy or gal anywhere in the "flat world". Really interesting read and this coming from a me, guy who really hates reading the self-help motivational type books.

2006 for tech

It has been a wonderful year for the tech companies in India. There have been a long list of M&A's combined with a record splurge of investments by various venture capital groups in the India scene. The hot property of the moment seems to be online travel sites, animation and a little bit of Web 2.0 as well.

Check this out for more details

Looks like 2007 is gonna be a killer year for the Indian entrepreneur sitting either in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai or any other nook and cranny of the Indian subcontinent. Best of luck to all those daring guys and gals.

To beginning afresh

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. -Chinese proverb

For all of you out there with a long list of new year resolutions and laundry lists of things to get done in 2007. Hope this proverb boosts you up. Have a glorious year ahead.

Anil Ambani's thirst

Anil Ambani has been on an acquisition spree ever since he and his brother Mukesh split the Reliance empire in two. With his vast kitty and ofcourse reputated name there seems to be no lack of investors ready to finance his interests, the latest of which is the Hutchison Essar stake of 67% in Hutch. Hold your seats for this one. The valuation of that stake is said to be to the tune of $17-18 billion which when converted to rupees is a healthy 75-82,000 crores.

The stock market in India is highly overvalued, pushed upwards more by market speculation, emotional sentiments and a "we have a great future" attitude. That said there seems to be no justification for a telecom company to be valued that high especially since there has been no market consolidation at all before. There are no clear leaders and there is ample opportunity for each player to compete and get a larger share of the Indian consumer pie.

Just for the record the margins in which these companies are playing the telecom game in India is ridiculously low, waging wars more on finding a larger consumer base rather than capitalising on the already exisiting consumers that they have. The mean ARPU (average returns per user) in urban India is around $7 while that in rural India is around $3.

Considering all this wouldn't it be wise for Reliance telecom to use that kitty that it has for acquistions on better infrastructure etc and grow organically rather than get into a bidding war with international conglomerates who are looking for a growth pill from the emerging markets? And considering that the bidding is supposedly starting at the $17billion mark and will definitely move upwards, it would end up being more valuable that RCOM itself. Atleast on this case I think Anil is trying to bite off more than he can chew here.