India Investigated: An Inside Story

Is AFI stupid enough not to recognize Sunfeast marathon?

2010-05-17T12:32:00.000+05:30

I am preparing in full swing for the upcoming Sunfeast Bangalore 10K marathon. I heard a buzz about Athletics Federation of India (AFI) claiming this marathon to be interfering in Indian athletes preparing for Commonwealth games.

How on earth, it can be an obstacle in the athlete's preparation? May be on moon, but not on earth. :-) In fact, it is a great opportunity for everybody to practice more and extend the limits. Let AFI not give recognition to this marathon, I am running coming Sunday with full spirit.
Run, Bangalore, Run!

Things I love about Pakistan

2010-01-17T16:18:00.002+05:30

This sounds like an irrelevant act of ignorant writer. But, yes, you read it write, I am writing about stuffs I love about Pakistan. Before going into detail, I would prove why it is relevant to this blog. We, as a nation can't grow until we have a healthy relationship with our neighbor specially Pakistan. Even if we hated, shouted at, condemned and fought with that beautiful country, we can't deny the fact we both grew up in the same shared neighborhood. This is similar to the experience when we fight with other neighborhood children during adolescent age, follow our different career paths in teen age and meet each other at a society function in our middle age once we are settled, would you go and start that childhood fight again. No, probably you will go and shake hand with that person with whom you had a terrible fight during the time when you both were growing up.

Coming back to the topic of this blog, I like Pakistani landscapes (Valleys in Hindukus mountains are heavenly), Pakistani language (it sounds like our Punjabi), Pakistani girls (they are as beautiful as Indians), Pakistani music (we all know Sufi music, Adnan Sami, Jal band) and the list is as big we can think of us. Pakistan is as vivid, as colorful and as incredible as India.

My Dream for India series: Urban Transport

2009-05-27T18:56:00.002+05:30

One of the fanciest dream of urban transport for me is Delhi Metro. I know this is not the best urban transport in the world but that is something we can look upto for benchmarking our progress in developing urban transport in other cities. I was astonished to see the efficiency and people's behavior at metro stations in Delhi.

Recently I read an article on Urban transport in Civil Society Magazine. It was a comprehensive analysis of various models of urban transport ranging from Metro train to Bus Rapid transport , Walking pathways to Paris' cycling system (Velib)
I dream of an Integrated system comprising of Main Metro train, feeder shuttle service running at a regular interval from various parts of city and picturesque garden pathways connecting rest of the city. I wish to see everybody using public transport when in public. Once we make city transport system very much efficient and cost-effective, then there will be only a small number of cars.

No more traffic jam, no more road-rage, friendly people at public places, happy and productive 300m urban Indians. Oh my god, मेरे भगवान ... I want to live this dream before I die.

Why do I feel privileged to be born in India?

2009-02-16T02:30:00.000+05:30

I feel privileged that I am born and raised in India is because it's made me the fighter, not just a survivor. It kind of equips you with things. You don't necessarily need to come from a poor background. You can even come from a middle class background, but the point is that you will travel with people along your life's journey and you will hear their stories and that will enrich your life.

India is a place only for tough people. People who can't stand the fast pace of the country won't survive in it. There is a very prominent and a very strong dream every Indian sees and that dream is to rise out of all the adversity and to make it on your own, to have something that you can call your own.

To get even the smallest space in India that you can call your home is so difficult and people strive and work hard, they literally work day in and day out just to make enough money to buy a home. If you're born with that kind of a fighting nature, it'll equip you for all kinds of hardships.

You might not have a car or a motorbike and you'll be forced to travel in crowded trains. People are literally on top of the trains on the outside. That kind of situation is only meant for people who will not complain and who aren't weak. They will get on the train and then when they know their stop has come, they'll push everyone out so that they can get out of the train.

Train is just one face of that toughness required in daily life, you survive in India, you can rule the world.

How did Indian civilization survive longest in history?

2009-01-17T00:30:00.000+05:30

India, as a cultural package is notable for its antiquity, continuity, assimilation, diversity and refinement and is wrapped in one unmistakable package: survivability. The reason of continuity in the Indian civilization in comparison to Greek, Roman or Egyptian civilizations is because the foundation principle is to sit together calmly and think deeply on the issues humans face in their life while other civilizations were busy doing warfare and conquests on neighbors. The best emperors in India were Asoka and Akbar and both expounded the path of unity in diversity and they created golden ages in India. Even in the modern world, India has never attacked another country first.

I am waiting for the day when majority population in India realizes this fact and then we will have another golden age as Indian civilization has had in past.

Why an average Indian is not a competent professional?

2008-12-16T00:30:00.000+05:30

We can boast of our civilization as one of the ancient one. We can describe Indians as a breed of very intellectual homo sapians. But if we look around at an average Indian, he doesn't look competent enough to match with rest of the world's standard. Here, in this post, I tried to investigate into the reasons of this harsh reality of Great Indian Dream.
- One of the prime reason is 2 hundreds years of brutal British raj. This hampered psychological & physical growth of generations on Indian. I blame British for world's most brutal crime in the history.
- Even after independence, there was a lack of proper professional training for average Indian.
- There is widespread lack of self motivation towards improvement. If there is no supervisor around, we tend to be relaxed.
- Before economic upheaval, most of the jobs in India were government jobs. These jobs were of permanent types and there was not much relation between performance and promotion.
- Indians, specially in rural areas have lazy attitude.
- Widespread poorness forces people to focus on more life-concerned areas first rather then competency and professionalism.
- Insufficient Infrastructure is also a major factor. You can't expect a worker to be very productive if he reaches to work after 2hrs of traffic.

My Dream for India series

2008-09-22T19:29:00.001+05:30

I don't want this blog to be a dump of India related news, rather I would like to see it as an emblem of years of my thoughts about my great country in my conscious and subconscious mind.
This series will comprise of all my thoughts how I dream about India of the future. Nobody can see the future, but we can work towards a better one. And the best way to predict future is to shape it. Great countries are not made in one day by handful of people, it takes lots of effort for centuries or at least decades involving millions of people, I am just doing my part.

Mega event Organizational skills in India

2008-08-04T17:15:00.001+05:30

After the grand opening of 2008 Beijing Olympic, a dream came to my mind - Organizing a bigger event in India. India is going to host 2010 commonwealth games, but development efforts are not very encouraging. Are we not yet ready to organize such events, mega events?

That's not true! In fact, no other country is even close to the level of competency we have achieved in organizing mega events. No, I am not being chauvinist, I am just being realist. Look at this - Kumbh Mela 2001, was the largest religious gathering on earth that brings together an estimated 20 million people on a single day. I read through a book in the library today called "Idea that have worked". In one of the essay in the book, Alok Sharma tells us about the two years that it took to organize the Kumbh Mela. The mammoth tasks involving hundreds of kms of roads built-up, hundreds of extra trains from Indian Railway, thousands of telephone booths and toilet installed by municipal corporation and effort of more then a lakh volunteers.

After reading this article, one can get the impression that we Indian don't lack any megaevent organizing skills, we just don't get that as a practice. Also, there is a lack of publicity or advertisement. If there was such a mountainous effort in 2001, why am I reading this in 2008. That shows the lack of public awareness spread about this. We should tell the world about this great endeavor. Only then, world will recognize that we can also organize these events. Hopefully, we will win the bid for organizing Olympic games in 2020.

Why we are the way we are!

2008-06-23T11:21:00.001+05:30

Why are we a nation individually so smart and collectively so naive?
This is the question which keep blocking my thought process at one time or the other.

It may be the effect of 150 years of colonizations which made us more not-so-community oriented.

Indian Education System

2008-01-03T16:29:00.000+05:30

Education is the basic block of social infrastructure of any country. I personally feel the need of social infrastructure uplift in our country. To realize that, we need to start from the base of societal behavior i.e. education.

I still remember how as a child, my thoughts were made inclined towards patriotism and social causes in my school. But not all the school provide that touch of social awareness and moral values which are necessary for a communal stability. Although a lot of things are already in progress, I see a big scope of improvement in Indian Education System.

Zoho Online collaboration tools for start-ups

2008-01-02T15:28:00.000+05:30

Online collaboration is the new thing in, and some of the free but effective online tools for ideation, collaboration and reporting are giving a scope of entrepreneurship.
Some of the innovative Google tools can be a booster for your small start-up, to name few I would suggest
* Google Desktop: for effectively managing your new employee's desktop.
* Google Custom search: for providing a customized search experience on your website.

But I am particularly impressed by Zoho.

Onsite Insurence Company for medical Tourism

2008-01-02T15:27:00.000+05:30

When medical tourism comes into my mind, I always think about making it a success as Information Technology in India. One of the way to achieve is to collaborate with American and European Insurance companies to treat their customers in India at a price which will be a win-win situation for all the parties involved.
But this is something we need to convince others to do tasks in our favor, then why not we start an insurance company here in India which will have offices in western countries to get customers; but instead of covering them to get treated there, we will ask them to come to our preferred hospital partner in India and get a world class treatment at a fraction of price.
Insurance Company, Anyone?

Rural Entrepreneurship: Inviting everyone on the development train

2007-10-31T20:13:00.000+05:30

How can India maintain her growth rate at 10% for the coming 50 years?
Answer is simple! Involve everyone, every student, every farmer, every worker, every non-worker and even every tribal man. We just need to make them realize that they also do it, they can start their own business.

My approach behind this revolution is rural entrepreneurship, it's different from social entrepreneurship. Rural entrepreneurship is to teach rural people being an entrepreneur. Teach them to start small business, run them and earn their livelihood and eventually employ others.

I am not asking you to do social service. I think this model of rural entrepreneurship can be profitable because of the economy of scale. Why am I talking about rural? Can't this model be applied to Urban India? My motive behind addressing rural market is huge estimated impact on Indian economy and your profits. Cities are better saturated then rural areas in business, that's why my plan is to target rural areas.

I am in initial stage of developing this business model and need all your suggestions. I will also keep updating this blog with new ideas.

Related story in Economics Time- Make_everybody_part_of_growth_story

India, China & Russia: A comparitive study

2007-06-04T11:45:00.000+05:30

Today, I was exploring Google Answers about India, China & Russia. There is a very interesting question about these economies. That guy is asking some fact sheets about economies of these countries & the reason why should anybody invest in India, china or in Russia. The answer given by the expert is quite positive about India, that why I considered to write about it.

You can read the complete answers here—

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=779987

Upcoming Bollywood movies: Indian creativity

2007-06-01T20:32:00.000+05:30

Well you might argue about the reason of posting posters of bollywood movies here. Let me clerify- I am posting them here, because I love Bollywood in the same way I love everything related to India. Bollywood & it's music is the lifelines of Indian.

Victoria no 203

Jodha Akbar

My Bollywood Bride

Great Indian Scientist!

2007-05-25T19:51:00.000+05:30

Today, I came across a bizzare joke about Indian scientist.
It show how we Indian manipulate the words & prepare alternative for doing nothing.

The joke goes as follows-
After digging to a depth of 100 metres last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

So, not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 metres and headlines in the US papers read: 'US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibres, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians.

'One week later, the Indian newspapers reported the following: 'After digging as deep as 500 metres, Indian scientists have found absolutely nothing.They have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology.

This sounds bizzare & funny, but it has a deep lesson for us, the Indians.
Rather then playing with the words, we should concentrate on widening our horizons & working on competency to gain competitive advantage, so that don’t need to play these tricks for discovering nothing.

India: The great Democracy

2007-05-22T19:59:00.000+05:30

Yesterday night I had a long debate with my friends cum flatmates.

Topic: none, theme was SYSTEM and condition of India. We started with my comment that gandhi nehru today are responsible for mess we see around (same as most of youth). Then we moved on to democracy and Indian system. He said people have taken democracy in wrong sense that's why we are in mess.

That's my opinion. I does not say gandhi nehru did wrong in kashmir or what ever .... But they did a blunder in defining democracy to Indians. Democracy does not mean you can do what ever you wish to do and you are free to create what ever non sense you wish and still claim that's your birthright. No. Democracy does not mean there should be welfare of weak. It does not mean everyone is responsible for everyone else. NO, not at all. In fact, major feature of democracy means 'Everyone in a democratic country is equal.' Now don't misunderstand that it means that you must have wealth of a rich person because you are equal to him. But it means when comes a time of opportunity , you both are equal and person who deserves more in terms of capability will get it. Democracy does not recognize special treatment to anyone, weak or strong. It does not recognize reservations. It only recognize equal rights and equal opportunity.

Blunder which we Indians did was: Divide of country. No I am not talking about 1947's great partition. But I am talking of division of states on basis of languages, division of people on basis of reservations, division of classes by recognizing different classes. I am not saying that deny the truth, that ours is poor country with many under privileged people. What I am saying is, don't pity them and give them what they does not deserve. Rather give them what they deserve, equal opportunity. That's where we have failed. We made reservations, created differences. It can not serve a good purpose because, if you give Rs. 100 to beggar you give him an opportunity to change his work and take his status above. But when you keep giving them, that's reservation and that way he will never leave begging (it's a easy way out) and will never rise.

We divided our country on basis on language saying that it's democracy and we must respect will of people. Hell with it !! Democracy means keeping society's interests over individual. That division divided the country. Every state is fighting with each other, every bengali feels he is different from bihari. Assami feels rajasthani is from some other world. Sense of being Indian and working for betterment of country is lost. They work for local welfare, as that's possible. Fighting over taxes, water... How can we move forward we can't even see in same direction.

To make a democratic system work, simple funda is to think about welfare of ourselves but not on cost of others. If you wish to be first run faster then everyone else but don't block others. Because everyone must have equal chance of running. If you loose don't cry that you are under privileged , because you had a even chance, shout and fight for that "Equal opportunity". Work for your welfare and country will progress because it's country made by citizens. One must work in a field where he is best at and enjoys most, because that's where you can return most.

Move forward now, learn from past ,rectify mistakes..... Making mistakes is human. But not learning from them is animal. Make people aware and fight for right. You will loose because of system may be. But still that's for good. Everyone should fight in their best capability.

Oh yes, system. We often hear now nothing can change. India will not change. System breaks you down. You can not win against system. Really ? Is this the case. Well very true that you can not change the system by shouting or from outside. If you wish to clean a room you have to come inside. But that does not mean that be an IAS officer or a politician ,all I am saying is do whatever you wish and you are best at. Let it be doctor ,engineer, C.A. ,business man, IAS, politician anyone. But never give up against evil without a fight. You may have to give up eventually but at least give a fight in what ever way you know. If even that's not possible then make sure that you don't' block a path of man who is fighting for right if you can't help him. System will change because we make system. Our politicians understand weaknesses of democracy ,they understand us. This power of understanding is used against us, but just imagine what will a man with same understanding but on path of right can do ? What lalu really works for country ? That's when system will change, you have to understand democracy, you have to understand yourself, means PEOPLE.

Change has started, just don't block it if you can't help it moving forward. India is changing because it must change, CHANGE FOR GOOD. We must show an example of great democracy !!

A DEMOCRACY IN TRUE SENSE.

Great Indian Wedding

2007-04-24T18:16:00.000+05:30

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, one of Bollywood's best-known screen couples, married in a traditional Hindu wedding

Indian weddings are very bright events filled with ritual and celebration.
It is not a small affair, often with 400-1000 people attending (many of whom are unknown to the bride and groom).
The traditions vary across religion, caste, ethnicity, language, region, etc.
Modern marriages are moving from arranged marriages to love marriages.
Traditional Indian Weddings are generally structured into Pre-wedding ceremonies, in wedding day ceremonies (consisting of the Baraat, the Varmala and the Phere) and the Vidaai.

Great Indian God: Lord Krishna

2007-04-13T20:17:00.000+05:30

Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari ) is a deity worshipped across many traditions of Hinduism. He is usually depicted as a young cowherd boy playing a flute (such as in the Bhagavata Purana) or a youthful prince giving philosophical direction (as in the Bhagavad Gita).

Most commonly within Hinduism, Krishna is worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu, who is considered the Supreme God by the Vaishnava schools. Within Gaudiya Vaishnavism Krishna is worshipped as the source of all other avatars (including Vishnu).

Krishna and the stories associated with him appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions. Though they sometimes differ in details reflecting the concerns of a particular tradition, some core features are shared by all. These include a divine incarnation, a pastoral childhood and youth, and life as a heroic warrior and teacher.

Indian is my Religion

2007-04-09T17:37:00.000+05:30

No other country in the world embraces the extraordinary mixture of ethnic groups, the profusion of mutually incomprehensible languages, the varieties of topography and climate, the diversity of religions and cultural practices and the range of levels of economic development that India does.

The sight two years ago, after the awe-inspiring experience of the world's largest exercise in democratic elections, of a Roman Catholic (Sonia Gandhi) making way for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be sworn in as Prime Minister of India by a Muslim (President Abdul Kalam) in a country more than 80% Hindu has affirmed, as nothing else could have, the shining example of Indian pluralism.

Following picture depicts the same.

Indian is my Religion

India home to most billionaries in Asia

2007-03-09T19:53:00.001+05:30

India did it again.
India became home to the most billionaires in Asia, pushing Japan back to the No. 2 spot, according to Forbes magazine's 2007 rankings of the world's richest people.
Lakshmi N. Mittal, the London-based steel magnate who spearheaded the takeover of European steel maker Arcelor SA, was the richest Asian -- and the world's fifth-wealthiest -- with a net worth estimated at $32 billion, the magazine said.
India added 14 new billionaires since last year to bring its total on the list to 36 with a combined wealth of $191 billion, Forbes said, contrasting sharply with the 400 million Indians who still live on less than a dollar a day.
Japan's 24 billionaires had an estimated combined net worth $64 billion, according to the list, while Hong Kong came in the third spot with 21 billionaires, and China was fourth with 20.

Only five Americans were in the top 20 that included three Indians.Ranked third and fourth richest in Asia were two Indian brothers, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, who split their father's business after months of feuding in 2005.Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance
Industries is largely focused on petroleum and petrochemicals, was No. 14 with wealth totaling $20.1 billion. His brother Anil, whose diversified business interests include telecommunications, power generation and finance, ranked 18 with an estimated net worth of $18.2 billion.

Exotic Kerala

2007-03-01T19:54:00.000+05:30

These are some pictures from Kerala (One of the most diverse state of India)

Great Indian Heritage

2007-02-27T19:52:00.000+05:30

Indian Heritage in Pictures

The Ant & the Grasshopper Story

2007-02-27T18:25:00.000+05:30

The Ant & the Grasshopper Story

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool
and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The world is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhanti Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights
of the grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) . Opposition MP's stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala
demanding a Judicial Enquiry.CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty
among ants and grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter. Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Institutions & in Govt Services.
The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and
handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV. Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers still die of
starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ... As a result loosing lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshoppers,
India is still a developing country..... .

Can any one dare to bring India out of this clutches...