Making choices …

I was reading today’s Economic Times and article in the Education Times supplement caught my eye.

It spoke about the different kinds of bans Educational institutes enforced on their students. The surprising thing here is that these educational institutes were not schools but were graduate and post graduate level courses or as they refer to them in the US undergraduate and graduate level courses.

This article had an ending that provoked thought (and hence this article).

One of my favorite words in Hindi is ‘vivek’ which means the ability to discern good from bad, is not something one is born with rather something that comes with experience. Where else would we get this experience if not in school? And by enforcing rules for behavior, dress, interaction between sexes etc. with a fervor that would put puritans to shame we are systematically ensuring that this next generation that comes out of college, and into this real world with NO experience of making choices.

Why do I say that? School is a mini laboratory, a controlled environment where we can make choices, experience the results and understand the choices that get rewarded and the ones that get punished thus creating a model of how the world works.

A Strict enforcing of rules means – a student’s choice is made for him or her. Thus when they enter the real world, they do not have a internal model by which they can validate whether the choices they make are good or bad and that is the biggest failure of higher education – Great schooling but no education. I guess Mark Twain knew what he was saying when he said “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education“.

Read about this article on excessive control in Indian colleges and institutions on higher education – here.

How do some people get passion into their work everyday?

I am not even sure if I am asking the right question. Should the question be – why do some people feel more passionate about their work than others?

 However, I am not worried about the question – rather I am curious about the answer.  I want to know what is that secret ingredient. I wan to know how to cultivate it – not just in myself but in others.

What do I know about people who bring passion to work?

I have seen some of these ultra passionate people at work. They share a few common attributes -
a) they are driven
b) they are sure of their goal
c) they know that if something does not work there are 10 other things to be tried out
d) they don’t give up or take no for an answer

How do we cultivate these attributes in people? More importantly, how do I cultivate it in myself?

I am working on that and will keep the world updated with my experiments.

Don’t your friends always manage to surprise you?

My friend and colleague for over 3 years. Well we were colleagues for nearly 7 but we worked closely together over the last 3 to 4 years. I knew she loved her music. She would be listening to her i-pod, or worry what she would do if she ran out of space on it or if she had to give her i-pod for servicing but I never knew that she sang so well.

What do I mean? Please hear my friend at her audioblog – http://musicalwatts.blogspot.com and be treated to some beautiful renditions in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. Yes! she is a polyglot too.

Wooohooo! Way to go Ajitha.

What does that say about me? I have great friends. Aren’t you glad you are my friend.

The force of a billion dreams …

Shahrukh Khan in his advertisment for ForceIndia – the formula 1 team from India uses a beautiful line – “I want the world to feel the force of a billion dreams”.

 Unfortunately the last year – Australia did not felt the force of a billion dreams rather it crushed them by defeating India by over 300 runs.  Tomorrow we play them again. and I entrust my dream with the Indian cricket team and hope this time round it is not crushed.

At this point I would like to stress my personal belief – it is not the result that matters rather how the game is played. Play well and then if you lose – well you won’t feel any regret that had you done better the result would have been different. My dream for the new year – to try harder and have fewer regrets.

Your 1 in a billion dreamer …

Subway – Indian edition …

Everyone who has eaten at a Subway or a Quizznos for that matter will know intuitively that we start at one end – starting with selecting the bread, cheese if one so desires, veggies of choice or meat if it is to be a meaty sandwich. Subway did not serve toasted sandwiches initally. Quizznos did that and created a dent in the market created by Subway but that is not the point of this post. This post is about the assembly line I have described above.

In the US where I had been to a Subway many times over – there was no segregation in the lines. There was 1 line and you selected to eat either veggies only or a meat of your choice (chicken, turkey, beef etc.). In India there are 2 lines – 1 for a veggie sub and another for the meatier one. This may not mean much but is significant in an Indian scenario as vegetarian eaters tend to be very strict with the usage or more importantly the separation of cutlery being used. Thus through this separation of queues – the person handling the meat is different from the person handling the veggies.

The other change which is important to note is the localization of the menu. The veggie option in the US had only 2 entries – a Veggie delite (without the pattie) or a Veggie Patty Sub  (with the patty). There were  more options available  – with Paneer Tikka, Veg Shammi and Veg with a Aloo patty. The meat sandwiches too had some local flavors but I am unable to talk about those as I had not focussed on that part of the menu.

I loved the changes Subway initiated to fit into the Indian market place. I would love it if they took a page out of the Indian operation and introduce these local versions to the globe.

Now that I finished my tribute to the Subway – I would like to thank my friends for their constant support. Without their support I would not find it in me to log my thoughts for the world to read. Thank you and do continue to read this work in progress and keep commenting.

Sayonara! for now

What do I write about?

I have not blogged for ages – over 3 weeks now and my reasons are as follows - 

a) I did not have much to write about - there were many events that happened in the public space – a serial bombing in Uttar Pradesh, a public stripping of an adivasi woman in front of television and news camera crews in Assam, violence on the streets of Calcutta - events that shocked the nation, events that assaulted my sensibility and hence good blog fodder but I was simply too caught up with my life and changes happening in it to blog.

b) Nothing much was happening with my life – well as you can see I have invalidated that claim in my previous point. I have quit from my previous job and am right now in that lovely phase of being between jobs – enjoying a quiet time at home with my parents and friends and just not motivated to blog enough.

c) Test cricket – not the 3 hour 20-20 variety, not the 1 day version rather the 5 day version. None of the non-cricket playing nations can understand how can a game be played over 5 days and still end up without a clear result. A test match has 3 possible outcomes – victory, loss or a draw. I have just finished watching 2 test matches (10 days of play) and have to add – it is slow and arduous but unlike most sport that last between 1 hour and 3 – this game tests skill and attitude specifically perseverance and the ability of a team to rebound from setbacks thus mirroring life to a certain extent.

d) My current reading as well as my to be read lists.

Considering all this – I have to conclude – my claim of not having enough fodder to blog is all humbug. Rather I have the unenviable task of beating inertia by attempting to blog regularly and build enough momentum. My friend keeps quoting from Robin Sharma’s The Greatness Guide – on how maximum energy is required to break away from the Earth’s gravitational pull (in this case my inertia to not blog).

!Hasta la vista! (for the spanish as well as google challenged – it simply means “see you later”)

A late post – about Dashera during Diwali celebrations

I hadn’t been to a Ram Leela in many years and this year I wanted to make the best of being back home. I went to the Ram Leela on the 10th Day – Vijay Dashami and watched the final episode of the Ram Leela. Ravana had lost all his generals in the fight leading to the 10th day. He calls his son from the under world to come to his aid which he does to his misfortune as he is killed by Hanuman.

Finally Ravan is the only powerful asura left in Lanka. He takes up arms against Ram. Ravan and Ram fight long and hard and to Ram’s consternation every head he cuts off – another comes right back up; any wound he inflicts on Ravan – it heals. Vibheeshana, Ravan’s brother has teamed up with Ram and tells the lord that Ravan has a pot of nectar in his belly and cutting off the supply from this pot of nectar is the only way to kill him and thus Ravan is lost. His weakness betrayed by his own blood.

 Once Ravan is killed in the play he has many dialogues before he finally moves to the other world. During that time the effigy if Ravan is lit and we are treated to a fire works display. This was a 3hour spectacle and I paid Rs 10/- for all this. It was paisa vasool (total value for money in hindi). I have made this video - 3 mins long of how the effigy was lit and the ensuing fire works display. Enjoy!

I will write about my Diwali very soon.

Some random thoughts …

I absolutely had to write this post.

 JK Rowling and her distributors – Warner Bros have moved the High Court of Delhi against a puja pandal.

The puja committee has been asked to present itself to the High Court and explain the use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holders. This pandal committee has been asked to pay Rs 20 lakhs / or Rs 2,000,000/-.

This injunction has not just been issued against the misuse of copyrighted material rather it is against conducting the puja itself. The timing of this injunction is what makes this entire episode less than funny – as Puja is the equivalnet of a Christmas in Kolkatta.

What makes it ridiculous – pandals are run by small committees of local residents who want to host the goddess’ (or god’s) stay. Funds are raised through contributions from local residents. I am trying to imagine how a pandal committee would raise the funds necessary to meet with its copyright violation obligation …

Read more about this interesting news item over here … http://in.news.yahoo.com/071011/20/6ltr5.html

My take – The issue is valid – this would easily be seen as a violation of copyrighted material. Warner brothers own the rights to Potter merchandizing and have decided to flex their muscles. What do they stand to gain – in my opinion – nothing significant except for a lot of bad press. Let us ask ourselves – What is the size of the merchandizing market in India? Does the pandal committee make any money from setting up a pandal? If they make money from creating this edifice – then they are guilty of piracy if not just copyright violation.

What could Warner Bros & JKR done differently? They could have approached the pandal and decided to contribute to the festivities and got positive mileage out of this event.

There is a lesson in this somewhere – but I just cannot find the right words for it … can you help me?

Kirket ka waqt hai, bhai!!

It is cricket time my brother. No I am not discriminating against my 1 known woman reader and her legion of bollywood fans. I speak the truth. India won the T20 world-cup. It was totally unexpected and I saw that match and can still remember how long and how hard I cheered when Misbah tried that totally unnecessary hoick over fine-leg.

 It was great to receive this winning team but the outpouring of love onto the streets of Mumbai (I was stuck in traffic for nearly 2 hours on the way to work) was uncalled for. It is sad that there has never been such a reception for Vishwanath Anand – and believe me he has played far more consistently than our cricket team – so much so that we (indians as a class) have taken our unpredictable form into cognizance and describe ourselves as “mercurial”.

 Anyways, long story short – we now have a series at home with Australia. In this series we will play 7 one day matches and I am not sure of how many test matches.

 Test matches are played over a duration of 5 days and it is one of the few sports where 3 results are possible – a win, a loss and a draw – i.e. at the end of 5 days you did not reach a binary outcome.

The one day version is faster than the 5 day version – but still too long for the consumers of “the here and the now”. It takes almost 7 hours to complete – that is a full work day has been sent to the dog-house. To get a sense of how long that really is – this times world cup took 57 days to conclude.

In contrast a T20 match concludes in 3 hours and will never exceed 4 hours of playing time(excluding any stoppage for rain). This world cup was concluded in 2 weeks or just less – isn’t that something …

 Coming back to the series of 1 day matches – it is a 7 match series. The 1st match was washed out due to rain; the second one conclusively by the Australians; we need to win 4 out of the next 5 matches to win this series. Considering present form my most optimistic assessment of this series is a 4-2 India loss. I feel optimistic that we will win atleast 1 match – but that is really my optimism speaking.  We did not win the last match because we were beaten by superior strategy and strategy execution. This is one of the areas where our team needs coaching – on how to get more consistent and play at a high level constantly.

Selectors!! please get us a coach – and we will be indebted to you.

- A cricket lover,
“A”

Should India have a two-party system?

We the people of India keep comparing our system of government with that of the other large, successful democracy - the American one.

The two big questions that keep recurring in such discussions are -
a) Is the presidential form of government better than a parliamentary system
b) Is a two party system better than a multi-party system

I will try answering the second question in today’s post -

The US political landscape while essentially a two party system does not mandate any candidate to have to belong to either of these two parties to become part of the electoral process?

There has been a 3rd alternative that has never really been “viable” but always thought to be a spoiler / the skew factor in what would otherwise be a simple 2 legged race – remember Ralph Nader of the Green Party in the 2000 presidential race? There are independent candidates in America too.

Thus to think that there are only 2 parties in the US is incorrect. What is correct is however that 2 parties dominate the election land-scape. One of the reason these 2 parties continue to dominate the voting landscape is because of the resources at their disposal. Over these years they have built efficient systems to raise funds, to build networks with voters and for information dissemination. Thus for any party to survive and grow against such well entrenched opposition they would need to have access to similar sources of funds, similar networks of individuals and so on. Hence it is becoming increasinly difficult for a third party to become a true alternative. The current alternatives to the big 2 parties are local and not national phenomena.

 In India the political landscape is dominated by 2 parties – the Congress and the BJP. These parties have alliances at the state of regional level where regional parties have a more relevant message. It has been observed that regional parties are having a greater say in national politics and this is because they provide a greater draw in local political races.

 Today we have a situation where we can create a new political party because we feel that the existing parties don’t quite represent us and this is a great freedom. We are not part of a system that creates barriers of entry to new political parties and stifles their growth. Freedom is about having the power to choose and having the ability to choose an existing political party or form a new one is something we enjoy today and since when did we start giving up our freedoms?

Proponents of the 2 party system do point out that a 2 party system is inherently more efficient than a multi-party system. They have pointed out that because people are not able to form splinter groups and factions there is a chance of more stable governments.  I am not an expert on governmental efficiency or stability but will definitely endevour to find measures for these parameters and evaluate the performance of either system of government against the same. Can you help? Do comment.

Cheers,
-A