My Views

India against Corruption - are we moving from democracy to oligarchy?

2011-04-08T01:17:00.000-06:00

The level of corruption in India has reached unimaginable level. So, it is quite natural that the youth has rallied behind Mr. Anna Hazare and team in their drive against corruption.

But, the rhetoric that I hear in the video clips makes me to think about a few things, first, yes the politicians in our nation is really corrupt everyone knows that, but you think that the bug stops there? Aren't others equally corrupt?

Former CJI Justice (?) Balakrishnan is not a politician, ex-CVC Thomas is not a politician, Shaid Balwa is not a politician, all the IAS / IPS officers who are being arrested for having crores of rupees are not politicians. Your Thalisdar who will not give you your certificate without a cutting or the doctor who gets the salary from the government hospital but visits you only on his clinic is not a politician.

So isn't it a bit scary that we are proposing to set up an all powerful authority who can dictate as to how things should be run in this country? what is the guaranty that corruption will not reach that small group? Remember it has reached the CVC and CJI. Yes, there is a provision that cases against the officers of Lok Pal will also be tried by the lok pal and action will be taken within 2 months, but will that actually work? I am more skeptical because of what we see in real life. One of friend who is a practicing advocate told me once, that it is tough to prove medical negligence in many case as not many doctors, if not none, will be ready to depose against another doctor. What if the same thing happens with the members of Lokpal?

In democracy we at-least have an hope that we can change things in next election, but in an oligarchy we don't have that hope either. So, I think instead of getting emotional about the whole issue, we should actually be debating on what should be there in the proposed law, the debate should be a nationwide one.

Yes, it will delay the passing of the bill, but its better than having a wrong bill.

Fast justice is good in Rajinikanth movie, but in real life, I guess slow and steady wins the race.

Why Facebook is over valued

2010-10-26T21:35:00.004-06:00

Recently there was a discussion in a forum on the valuation of FB. At 33 Bil and around 165 PE, I strongly believe, FB is over valued, especially given the fact that they have very little room to grow in terms of number of users, I think FB has passed its best.

But there was an interesting point that came up, FB is not just an SNS, its more of a platform now. I would like to agree to that point, but still there are some limitations that are inherent in FB's design.

1. CTR for their text ad is so bad, around 0.1% is what I hear and I have personally seen 0.15%. This is mainly because of one reason. when i am using a search engine for info, I am more likely to click on an ad that is relevant to me search, as I am looking for info. In an SNS, I dont go to get info, instead I go to check on what my friends are doing. So I have enough things that are attractive to me in that page rather than a small text ad in a corner of my screen.

2. Though it is true that FB is now more of a platform, not sure how much they earn from being a platform and does that revenue actually justifies 33 Bil valuation.

3. Last year, in its main market, US, FB has grown by around 32%, but they have grown by over 100% in non US market, this means that their net marketable user base has come down by 39%. This is not good news for FB as they will not be able to find enough inventory to deliver to the non US users.

4. The search capabilities of FB again is not up to the mark. I am sure they are trying to perfect their search algorithms, but they have a long way to go in that.

So, as per my opinion, its not going to be the privacy by the CTR that is going to be the Waterloo for FB. Lets wait and see...

Color Color what color...

2010-01-18T15:39:00.003-07:00

People who use Facebook should have noticed recently that many of the ladies were updating their status with one word color. Thankfully my job was keeping me busy the whole of last week, so I didn't actually knew what that was?

This weekend I was talking to a friend of mine who said explained me the concept behind it. I went back to FB and saw few of the updates and the protest for those updates.

First I should I agree that there is a noble intention behind this, creating awareness about breast cancer. But the problem with such en mass adoption of these campaigns is that they tend to actually lose the cause for which it was started and gets hijacked by personal preferences.

I happened to see a few update "Sexy Pink" - I know Pink is a color, but not sure if this is a variant of it, "Laced" - I have not heard of any such color, did any of you?

Having said that, when you look at the bigger picture, we should actually thank for that someone who actually started this viral, and actually made many people to start thinking about, breast cancer.

This blog is dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness.

M K Gandhi

2009-10-03T08:19:00.004-06:00

Of all the people who have people who have inspired me I would rate Gandhi at number two, next only Lord Krishna. He is a man lived what he preached. However, this blog is not about the greatness of Gandhi, enough is already written about it. I wanted to share my views on the way we treat Gandhi Jayanthi.

Gandhi lived a life of a karma yogi and declared work as the best form of worship, so I feel odd to see that we are celebrating his birth anniversary as a lazy holiday, not to mention the liquor that we stock on Oct 1st as Gandhi Jayanthi is a dry day.

Shouldn't we come out of these hypocrisy and start commemorating Gandhi in a more meaningful way? Shouldn't we stop our political correctness about Gandhi as to who should own his legacy and who should not?

In my view the answer is "YES".

Marriage of the New age

2009-07-26T16:15:00.005-06:00

Last weekend, I got the shock of my lifetime. I was talking to my friend he said "... I got my divorce awarded last month..". What .... Divorce.... you mean Divorce? I thought that this guy is joking, as he is capable of it... It actually took me a week to digest the fact that he actually got divorced.

The D word is of course not a bad word, we do see all the stats that says number of divorces are in the raise in India. But this is the first time that it has happened to someone who is so close to me and the way I reacted remained me that I am still a typical Indian middle class man by heart.

The worst thing in this case is that this guy has filed for his divorce within 3 months of his marriage. Which literally means that the marriage should actually be declared null and void. This irritates me more. All I wanted to know if you don't want marriage, then why in the gods name should you agree for one. I understand the amount of pressure that our parents put us under. I have personally undergone that. But in what way dose that justifies your decision to destroy another person's life.

I don't say that we should be compromising for everything, I too subscribe to the view " Zid karo... Duniya badalo...." but does that means you breakaway from the core of our culture? The success of the institution of marriage is what Indian culture is known for, if we start breaking that away, then we are left with nothing. I understand divorce if it happens after a period, when both of the parties understand each other and decide that it is better to call it off, but a divorce application in 3 months... I just cant understand.

These new age marriages are just another reflection of the fact that we are yet to appreciate the difference between "Modernization" and "Westernization".

The Colonial fixation

2009-07-17T14:14:00.002-06:00

Being here in US for a couple of years, has given me this opportunity to observe the US working Indians from a close quarter. What surprised me is that how a few of them, should I say many of them?, actually think that they belong here even if they are here only for a few months (in some cases days).

They way they dress, their accent, their attitude everything changes from east to west (literally). Recently I had a chance to talk to Mirza about this. Mirza, who in spite of being in US for 15 years still speaks like a typical Hyderabadi, did his higher education here and he was sharing his college experience, how guys who land in hawai slippers not just change to sport shoes within months but also start looking down on other desi from India.

I started thinking a bit more into it, what could be the psyche behind such behaviour from some our compatriots ? In what way the culture of west is better than that of India ?

Is an extension of colonial fixation? Are we still not out of it?

Buying farmland abroad: Outsourcing's third wave

2009-06-21T15:26:00.000-06:00

I belive India should also start outsourcing the farm land to secure our future..
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13692889

The Hype of new generation in India

2009-06-03T15:03:00.000-06:00

After the success of Congress party in the recent election, the trend of passing on the baton has gained momentum in Indian politics. Karunanithi has made his son the Dy CM of Tamil Nadu and now Mulayam has made his son the leader of SP in UP.

I am not sure of Akilesh, but being from Chennai myself, I dont have any big hope on Stalin. The least you expect the better.

From being a party that was against the Dynasty rule in congress, DMK has now officially become a part of Karunanithi's family property. Rajdeep was mentioning in a discussion in IBN that DMK now stands for "Delhi Money for Karunanithi".

India needs a change, Tamilnadu needs more of it, enough of jumping between fire and the frying pan. High time we start thinking of something new and sustainable.

India's new government

2009-05-31T19:46:00.002-06:00

I was reading this article in the Economist, I feel ashamed, as a tamilian, for the way DMK acted in the entire episode. When will things change for tamil nadu.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13754077

The Quiet Revolutionary

2009-05-31T19:33:00.000-06:00

http://www.newsweek.com/id/200051

What happens in Vegas

2009-05-31T18:27:00.003-06:00

I was in Vegas last month, for the first time. One thing that surprised me was the statistics that around 350+ marriages happen in Vegas every day. I am still not able to co relate the "Sin City" and "Most Favoured Marriage Destination"

Especially for an orthodox guy like me understanding this is far from my reach. I was talking to a colleague of mine, she said that she got married in Vegas and the belief here is "What happens in Vegas, Stays for ever". I cannot see this as anything more than a superstition, a superstition of a modern times.

I am yet to understand the logic behind it, if you can please help me understand it.

Miles to go before we sleep......

2009-04-11T10:05:00.004-06:00

After a few "Non Politician" breeds came out to contest this years poll, and a fewer of them deciding to go independent, the discussion is on if these non politicians can provide a "sustainable" alternative to the "street smart" politicians who will do anything to stay in the race. There is a opinion that these independents will not only fail to win, but they will set a wrong precedent, and this will affect the decision of other professionals who are considering politics. Even a friend of mine, in a reply to my earlier post, endorses this view.

So I was pondering on this, and why dose even great administrators find it hard to win in a general election? Is our Indian electorate is too corrupt that they will vote only to those who pay them for their vote? Will the failure of these few professionals will demoralize others?

After a lot of pondering, and a lot of discussion with my friends, and of course a lot of reading and watching some debates, I understood one basic fact that is key to the success, be it in corporate world or in politics. "Change doesn't happens overnight". Being a change consultant myself, I know how tough it is to bring in a change even in an organization. As Newton states in his Law of Inertia, people tends to be in their current state unless acted upon by a net external force. Especially in India, the "Chalta Hai" attitude is very prevalent and we don't want to change, even if it is a change for better.

Any person who wants to win over these billions of people cant do it over night, or one election. It is a long process, it might take years, it might take decades, to win over, the hearts and votes of the Indians. How many people can wait for so long to do what they think is right. How many people will continue to think that they are right when others don't subscribe to their views again and again. How many of us have the perseverance to stay in the race.

Especially, our generation is the fast food generation, we want everything fast. For us, waiting one year for increment is a long wait, so we jump companies in 6 months. Do you think we can stay put for years and decades for achieving our ultimate target.

The Mumbai attack has made many people started thinking about the "State of our Nation". Its a good beginning. But taking a plunge into politics and thinking that we can bring in an immediate fix to the problem is by all stretch an unpractial thinking. And I dont think the great minds like Capt. Gopinath or Meera Sanyal would be thinking of such a quick fix now. This journey is like a Marathon. Every marathon has to start with one step. This Marathon has just started, "Miles to go before we sleep".

This has to be like a Olympic torch run, if they want to pass on the torch, let there be some one who can run the distance before passing it on to another one. The most important thing is that, the fire in the torch should be on all the time.

The way the world behaves decides the way an ordinary man thinks, but, the way a true leader thinks decides the way the world behaves. Hence, the failure of these few brave front runners might affect the way a few people think, that is in fact good for our nation, we don't need herds to be in the politics, as Meera Sanyal says in the blog "It used to be said in Jawaharlal Nehru’s time that such was his charisma, if even a lamppost stood in the Congress’s name, it would win an election. Today, we have no Jawaharlal. But we have many lampposts". The failure of these brave hearts will help us get rid of new lampposts from entering the politics. So, for those who are ready to play the long innings, this is the start that will go in the history of our nation as a start that changed our nation. As a start that made India a super power. Be happy we are alive to witness this start.

Jai Hind.

End of paper

2009-04-09T12:36:00.001-06:00

I recently read an article on Fortune.com by Michael Copeland titled, 'The end of paper' and was delighted. It just reaffirmed my thoughts in terms of the direction I predict the industry will take. The article sums up just how you may be reading your newspaper or your book on an e-paper device in the near future. A sleek, lightweight, portable e-reader is slowly becoming an attractive alternative to the hardcover tomes. The excitement, for me, is around the rapid pace at which this transformation is taking place.

Several companies, including giants like HP, Fujitsu and startups such as Polymer Vision, FirstPaper and Plastic Logic are developing new versions of e-reader addressing the limitations of the current devices available in the market. The new e-readers feature larger screen, wireless connectivity, longer battery life, and touch screen functionality for easy navigation. In short, the e-reader is all set to take…well…reading to a completely new level.

Not only does it come packed with a host of advantages, the e-Books are a cost-effective, durable way to go. What we can look forward to in the near future is flexible display technology that will allow you to fold your screen small enough to slip into your pocket. Apart from Plastic Logic, other players including HP, LG Display and Polymer Vision are working on developing their own versions.

Though e-book sales are still a small percentage of sales compared to print sales, I believe we are closer to the tipping point than ever before. The signs all indicate that we are going in the right direction. Publishers need to be aware of all these advancements and be ready when e-sales take over from print. They need to experiment and see how best to make their business models work in the electronic world.

On another equally uplifting note, we will have more trees thanks to e-books and perhaps do more than our bit for global warming.

Micro Finance, is that my next stop?

2009-03-21T11:58:00.001-06:00

Recently I was reading an article on Microfinance in India. I am really impressed with what it has to offer. For a guy who come from the "Lower Middle Class" I can relate myself to the success stories that I was reading. I know people who get loans at 3% a month from the money lenders, and I am bet my head that they will return in without fail even it mean selling their own lives. Not because they are afraid of the harrasments from the money lenders more because of the fear the Indian middle class has on what others will think.

I am seriously thinking about what I can do in this. I know for sure this will change the life of many people. Guys, if you have a suggesion or if you want to join me in changing someone's life, please drop me a word.

Welcome Meera Sanyal...

2009-03-21T10:49:00.002-06:00

Meera Sanyal, ABN Amro's India cheif is contesting LS poll from south mumbai (http://www.moneycontrol.com/mccode/news/article/news_article.php?autono=389781&special=mkt_topnews). After years of talking finaly some action from the corporate world. I am not sure if she could be able to make it as she is pitted against "big shots" of indian politics like Milind Deora, neverthless its a good begining.

Folks join me in congratulating her.