Question by the "COMMON MAN" : How weretched do I have to be?

This is in response to an article that was sent to me by a friend.

The article mentions the following:

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"The hard reality of this country is that we are living in two Indias. One is for the rich, who matter, and one is for the poor, who are invisible," said Ashok Agarwal, a lawyer who runs Social Jurist, a group that litigates education cases on behalf of the marginalized sections of society. "In India, you can use the poor for your benefit. He should cook your meals, wash your utensils, scrub your clothes, but when it comes to doing justice for the victims of other bombings, there wasn't this level of outrage. When poor people were attacked, the country wasn't suddenly insecure. This is a fundamental injustice, and it has led to authorities ignoring attacks."

Mumbai, with more than 14 million people, is India's most populous city and has often suffered tragedy. In 2005, monsoon flooding killed more than 400 people in the city in one day, and the main victims were the poor. One Indian media study found that a fashion event got more local coverage than the flooding, which affected many slum dwellers. Mumbai is home to Asia's largest slums.

Although India's economy is booming, poverty runs deep. Nearly half of all Indian children are clinically malnourished or underweight, on par with the rate in Bangladesh and worse than in Ethiopia, according to UNICEF. Even as the economy has grown by up to 8 percent, child malnutrition has declined only one percentage point, to 46 percent, in seven years, according to a 2007 National Family Health Survey, part of a government report.
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This article defines a common man with a bar that is too high. As per their definition of a common man, I would not be a common man. A majority of AIDers would also not be common men (or women).

The article says that train bombings only affected "really poor people", and in saying so, it completely ignores local realities. What, really does the article think a middle class individual is? I remember traveling to college everyday in a second class compartment in Mumbai with 10-15 of my friends. I too may have been dead if the attack were on my compartment. My mom missed the 1993 blasts by a hair's breadth. I was significantly pained by the developments of July 26th, when Mithi river combined with rains lashed the city. Several of my friends lost their apartments with everything in it. Some of my colleagues had friends who died saving lives. Articles such as these do not do justice to the individuals mentioned above. I agree that media attention for the Taj attack shows how high-society damages are being considered very important. But at the other end, it is also fashionable to highlight only the "completely helpless". There is someone in the middle who always loses out. :)

This someone in the middle is the householder who owns a scooter (If he has a car, he is in pretty bad shape, since he is too filthy rich), has a mortgage on a flat (If he owns one, hard luck - the Govt should be doing nothing for him), two kids who go to school, and a job (or two) that consistently lets the family meet ends. The family tries its best to save, it is conscious of society, but its consciousness is either directed towards religious charity, or it is very busy in maintaining a tight ship. In the worst case, the consciousness is overwhelmed by the feeling of "Every man to his own - no one is helping me, so why should I help others.". This someone in the middle is often ignored by the media and establishment.

But then, why am I writing this email to you, and not to someone else, maybe the editor of the Washington Post. This brings me to the real grudge. I have always been outraged that our establishment exhibits callous behavior when common people die. It's reaction to the parliament attacks has been significantly different from say, the July 26th rains in Mumbai, Bihar floods, 1993 bomb blasts, Bhopal tragedy, the train bombings, and for a host of other issues. However, I also have a grudge that this person in the middle is systematically ignored by NGOs as well.

It is neither right, nor necessary for most NGOs to stick to this definition. Of course, the poor appeal as poster ads, but in the long run it is very damaging if the NGOs seek holistic and sustainable development. The issues of a middle-class individual - "access to clean water, decent roads, honest establishment, honest livelihood, nice education" are very much in line with those of "the poor". One blame that can be placed on the middle-class individuals is that they are not (yet) 100% desperate for these resources, and have not (yet) extinguished the facilities at their disposal to guard families from a lack of resources.

I have held a household in India now only for about 3 months. In these short 3 months, I have begun to learn why it is very difficult for the so called middle-class to sustain themselves, and why they find it extremely un-realistic to help others. Few examples:

1. I have acquaintaces who hold top jobs, and would in no way fall under the category of "opressed". Their kids receive education in a decent school amongst several other "decent" ones. The student teacher ratio is 1-60. The education he gets is nowhere close to marginally good, let alone ideal. The civics and moral science class is a heap of rubbish. What, then is the position of NGOs here?

2. I had been to the police station recently. It was incredible to note the level of apathy meted out to the ordinary police by our establishment. For the kind of facilities provided to them by our Govt., the work they do is amazing. I can only imagine what they would be able to do if someone were to ensure them security of their families and decent living condition. This police, alas will also fall below the bar of "the common man" who should be helped.

3. Several flats in Bangalore have to purchase bottled water. It has come to be accepted as a norm. The ground water is horrible. The middle class has not been told that this is sub-standard living. They will continue buying water because they do not know any alternative. I do not know if there is any solution for this.

4. Teachers in private schools do not get paid the salary they have signed up for. Almost all work for peanuts, while parents dole out significant amounts by way of fees.

There are several instances where the "middle man" always loses out and no one even likes to comment about it. Presumably, he has the ability to help himself. The latter is alas, just a presumption and very far fromt he truth. I would go further to say that if we do not help these individuals, NGOs and politico-social organizations (like Governments) are losing out on a large support base. If we can provide them with some simple assistance, some semblance of social responsibility in their daily lives, they can potentially become a sustainable force that will ultimately assist social development. This "person in the middle" has incredible resilience, the ability to help himself, and the intent to help others. But he needs assistance. The person is regrettably always ignored in the cross-fire between "high-society" and "marginalized"...

I guess if I had to summarize this in one line, I would put it as follows:
"How wretched should I be to get help from your hands?"

BTW, for those who know me better, I am not going to stop the current activities I am involved in. This entry mentions what I think is in-appropriate ethics on behalf of various establishments. I will continue my current work, and strive to create gradual changes.

From the callous IT capital to the in-secure financial capital.

I happened to visit KR Market (Bangalore) yesterday. And was it a beautiful experience. A few images are attached for review.





Muck and dirt was about 1.5 to 2 inches thick on the ground and it was impossible to walk from one side of the bus-stop to the other. We saw a small family with a husband-wife, and a baby struggle to negotiate the dirt, and the oncoming buses to reach the footpath, and catch their bus.

My family often prefers to take public transport. It is not that we cannot afford an auto or a car. My whole family just feels that it is more prudent to take advantage of public transport when available. So, there we were - mother, father, and myself negotiating through what is a major metro transport hub of our "IT capital". Not once did we feel out-of-place in that location (Dirt, muck, heat, rain, and population is a part and parcel of our country), but all three of us agreed that it did not have to be so bad. This bus-stand has been by far the worst my family has seen; it is not so bad even in our village.


BTW, my post about muck in KR Market may seem to be quite disconnected with the goings-on in Bombay... Quite the contrary, I see that the same cause is responsible for something as simple as a "dirty bus station" and something as esoteric and complex as "national security". There is no dearth of blogs pointing out the reasons for various "ills". These observations [1, 2, 3] make for interesting reading regarding the latest security fallacies in our nation.

We have loosened our Govt. on several small issues, and now it is effecting more significant areas of public space. Callous attitiude by everyone has always killed people or at the very least, made an average Indian citizen lead a pathetic existence. This cancer has now become so significant that the threat to our living is very direct and obvious.

My Bombay Bleeds

The city I grew up in.
The city I walked my way to school, college, and to life...
The city I love.

The early settlers who built it out of the sea prospered from its bounties as a natural port. The later businessmen benefited from its location as a central hub, and established rich industries. Ordinary folk recieved in Bombay a sea of opportunity that gave them prosperous lives. Authors, artists, and musicians got in Bombay a base to reach out to millions accross the country.

Bombay graciously served as the host of several pre-independence struggles. Tilak died in her arms (He gave her the "Ganesh Chaturthi, and the Pandals"). Bombay also hosted the self-serving divisive politics of many an individual who callously benefited from her largesse. Bombay burnt in 1992-93 for a Masjid-Mandir political struggle. Bombay provided herself as a "show-piece" target for terrorists; she served as the venerable host for several of their senseless acts. On 26th Nov 2008, the world saw how vengeful some of her guests were.

This city has helped several people, and in helping several find their destiny, it has begun to bleed. Who will now help my beloved city?

Bombay has always welcomed everyone. But, who would welcome Bombay, with all of her responsibilities?

Will Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, or any one else take her place? Will they please stand up next in line to recieve the numerous accolades, and the associated risks?

Or will there be a day when the risks will die a permanent death, and only accolades remain? I wish that this would be the case.

Till that day, my love - continue to bleed. And we will bleed with you.

Events in Bombay

I called one of my close friends who is living in Mumbai. She lifted the phone, I asked if she and some of our other friends were safe. Once the brief confirmations came through, I ended the call saying: "My stomach feels uneasy, I cannot talk."

We grew from 2 to 3....

On November 5th 2008, we were blessed by a beautiful girl. I hope that she will be a fine citizen of India.

Excerpts from "The Intellectual Scene in Post-Independence India" by Sh Gurumurthy

Summary of an entry from Shantanu's blog Building the Indian Mind - Brick by Brick. The entry contains excerpts from “The Intellectual Scene in Post-Independence India“ by Sh Gurumurthy. I would strongly recommend folks to read that article. It is very long, but it makes for very good reading.

Background: India before Independence
Let us see the pre-independence background, the intellectual content of India. See the kind of personalities who led the Indian mind Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhiji, Tilak- giants in their own way....


The symptoms: India immediately after Independence

... Let us look at post Independence India. The persons who led post-Independence India were also trained in the same freedom movement. They went to jail, but they were not rooted in the intellectual content of the Freedom movement!


Secularism: A Reversal and perversion of the Indian mind.

And now, coming to what the position is today. Everything that drove the freedom movement- everything that constituted the soul of the Freedom movement, whether it is the Raamaraajya of Gandhiji or Sanaatana Dharma as Nationalism of Sri Aurobindo or the spiritual patriotism of Vivekananda or the soul stirring Vande Maataram song, came to be regarded not only as unsecular but as sectarian, communal and even as something harmful to the country.

Thus, there was a reversal, a perversion of the Indian mind. How did it occur? Today, the intellectualism of India means to denigrate India. There are mobile citizens and there are non-citizens deriding India, go to the Indian Airlines counter, you will find people deriding India. Go to the post office, they will deride India. Go to the railway station, they will deride India. It is the English educated Indians” privilege to deride India....

When I was talking to an audience of Postal employees in Madras, in the GPO (a majority of them who heard me were women). I told them the basic facts about the Post Office. I said it is one of the most efficient postal systems in the world, one of the cheapest in the world, one of the most delivery perfect postal systems in the world. For one rupee, you are able to transport information from one end of the country to the other....

....Somebody writes the address in Tamil and it gets delivered in Patna! It gets delivered to the Jawaan at warfront! When I completed my speech many of the women were wiping their tears. I asked why are you crying, I have only praised you. They said, “Sir, this is the first time we”ve been praised, otherwise we”ve only been abused!”....



Demonising India: Projecting a negative image.


This enormous intellectual failure, to the extent of being intellectually bankrupt, did not occur over night, it was no accident. There is a history behind this enormous erosion. And I told you about these mobile citizens, what they have done to us. Every country has problems. There is no country without any problem. Are you aware of what is one of the most pressing problems in America today? It is incurable according to the American sociologists; even American economists have begun to agree with them. American politicians are shaken, one third of the pregnant women are school going children. And mothers mix the anti-pregnancy pill in the food without her knowledge everyday.

But this is not the image of America. The image of America is a technologically advanced country etc. etc. Ours is the only country where the mobile citizens of India have transformed the problems of India into the image of India-its identity.

Go to any country and the same negative stereotype is echoed that India is suffering from poverty and malnutrition. India has no drinking water. Indian women are all burnt. If they are married, they are burnt, if they are widows, they are burnt. See the image that has been built about this country. Who did this? The English educated Indian.

..... “Mr. Gurumurthy”, she said, “Mr. Carter is not around, anyway, I can spare seven-eight minutes for you.” I said three or four minutes of your time would do. Even before I could start, she said, “Mr. Gurumurthy, we don”t have funds, we will not be able to help” (laughter from the audience). I replied, “Let us assume you have a hundred billion dollars, how much will you give me? One billion? One million?” She kept quiet, “I don”t need your money. I came here to discuss whether community living is an answer to disputes. I have come to discuss this because you have suggested electoral means to resolve problems in communities which have no damn idea of what an election is; whether community living is an answer because you don”t what that means. She sat and discussed this with me for two hours. This is the image we have projected that anybody, who comes from India, comes to beg. Ordinary Indians did not create this impression; educated Indians created it. This is the work of civil servants, NGOs. Christian missionaries during the freedom movement created this. .....

Indian Politics: Weaknesses and Pitfalls

....Instead of politics restructuring caste, caste has restructured politics today. Political parties are talking only in terms of castes. Has any Indian intellectual come to terms with caste? You must understand caste if you want to handle the Indian society. You cannot say that I want to have a very different kind of society. You have to handle the Indian sentiment, the Indian tradition, Indian beliefs. You can’t clone a society of your choice in India. Social engineering has failed everywhere; the masters of social engineering have given up the communists- whether it is sociologists or economists you have to accept a society as it is…But, Indian leaders and intellectuals, till today, keep abusing caste. They don”t know how to handle caste.

...... And what happened in the case of secularism? In India, any one who is not a Hindu is per se secular. In the year 1957, just 10 years had passed after the Muslim League demanded and got the country partitioned, the leader who voted for the resolution for the partition of India was Quazi Millath Ismail, (who was leading the same Muslim League on the Indian side), the Congress certified that the Muslim League in Kerala is secular and hence it can associate with them. The Muslim League outside Kerala is communal with the same President! Three hundred and fifty crores are spent today for the Haj pilgrims out of the funds of secular India every year. No one can raise an objection.

At least I can understand why politicians don’t want to do that because they want the Muslim votes. But, what about the intelligentsia. What about newspaper editors and journalists? And academicians? None of them speak out. The reason is that we have produced a state dependent intellectualism in India. We don”t produce Nakkeerans anymore, our intellectualism is a derivative of the State and the State is a derivative of the polity. And in turn the polity is a derivative of the mind of Macaulay and Marx.

Marx on India

....Many of you may not be aware that the kings in India had no right to over the lands, which came under the jurisdiction of any panchayat. Whether it was Emperor Ashoka or Bhagavan Sri Ramachandra, the rule was the same. It was changed only during the British rule under the Ryotwari system, even the Mughals could not change it. It was also found that family communities were based on domestic industry, with the peculiar combination of hand-spinning, hand- weaving, agriculture etc. which gave them a supporting power.

The misery inflicted by the British on Hindusthan is of an entirely different kind and infinitely more intense than what it had to suffer before civil wars, invasions, revolutions, conquests, famines all these did not go deeper than the surface.

But, England broke the entire framework of Hindusthan, the symptoms of reconstitution are yet to emerge clearly. This loss of the Old World without the emergence of a new order imparts a particular melancholy to the present misery of Hindus and Hindusthan. Marx goes on to say that the British interference destroyed the union between agriculture and the manufacturing industry. Suddenly he remarks that the English interference dissolved this semi barbarian, semi-civilised community. ....

Labels: Tools for stultifying important debates

.... A multireligious idea, a multireligious living, a multireligious culture, a multireligious fabric or a multi religious structure was unknown outside India. There was usually only one faith and no place for any other, not even for a variation of the same faith.

Fifty six thousand Bahais were butchered in one hour in Tehran! They believed in the same Koran, in the same Muhammad, the only difference was that they said that Muhammad might come in another form again. That was their only fault and they were all butchered.

But we have no such problem. We can play with God, we can abuse God, and we can beat God!

If I say that monotheistic religions have had a violent history, and the reply will be “you are communal.” But this is exactly the same conclusion that a study in Chicago revealed, probably, the only study on fundamentalism conducted by anybody so far. This fundamentalism project brought out five volumes each volume about eight hundred to nine hundred pages. The conclusion they have reached is that, “Fundamentalism is a virtue of Abrahamic religions. It is not applicable to eastern faiths at all.

What about the Indian intellectuals? Day in and day out, they keep abusing us as fundamentalists, communalists, that we are anti-secular and it is being gulped down by everyone including those from the IITs and IIMs, lawyers and police officials, journalists and politicians. Look at this intellectual bankruptcy. ....

An inner revolution: The much needed change

We need a mental revolution, an inner revolution; we need to get rooted in our own soul. There is a missing element in India today and it is this. That element has to be restored otherwise Indian intellectualism will only be a carbon copy of Western intellectualism. We are borrowing not only their language and idiom but we trying to copy the very soul of the West.

.... Consider for example how thirty years before there was a question whether Tamil Nadu will be a part of India or not. The Dravidian parties have taken over the mind of Tamil Nadu. It had virtually ceased to be a part of India. And their attack was aimed at Hinduism, the moment you attack Hinduism you attack India. This is a fact. Neither politicians nor intellectuals nor academicians realised this. But, the ordinary people did. Just three religious movements- the Ayyappa movement, the Kavadi movement and the Melmaruvatthur Adi Para Sakti movement- have finsihed the Dravidian ideology to a very great extent. It is only the outer shell of Dravidianism that remains today. Tamil Nadu has been brought back successfully by Ayyappa, Muruga and Para Sakti, not by the Congress or the BJP or any other political party.

How many people have intellectually assessed the depth and the reach, the deep influence of religion over the people? A paradigm shift in a study of India would be an intellectual approach to this subject. Or consider for example its influence on economics. Many of you by now would have studied economics in some detail. Take a look at the society in India and compare the figures for public expenditure for private purposes, which is called the social security system in the West. 30% of the GDP in America is spent for social security, 48% in England, 49% in France, 56% in Germany and 67% in Sweden. This private expenditure is nothing but what you and I do by taking care of parents, our wives and children, brothers and sisters and grandparents, widowed sisters and distant relatives. This expenditure is met by the society in India.

And there is no law in India that people should do this. We consider it as our dharma. A person went to a court and demanded a divorce from his father and mother. The American court granted it saying that the only relationship that exists between two persons of America is their citizenship. The law in America recognises no other relationship … In the year 1978, an interesting incident occurred in Manhattan. There was a power failure for six hours. Manhattan is in the heart of New York where you find the UN building, the World Trade Centre and the head quarters of many multi-national companies. One third of the world”s health is concentrated in Manhattan. Within six hours, hundreds of people were killed, robbed and assaulted. We don”t need electricity to behave in a civilised manner. How many intellectuals in India have ever articulated from such a sympathetic approach? We have only tarnished the image of this country. We must be ashamed of this.

Conclusion

... Sri Aurobindo used to always look at a mystic called Kullachamy (Subramanya Bharati has written a poem about him). He used to behave like a madman, wandering here and there, throwing stones … One, day he came near Sri Aurobindo, lifted his cup of tea and emptied it in front of him. Then he showed the empty cup to him, placed it on the table and went away. Sri Aurobindo”s friends were angry and wanted to chase him, Sri Aurobindo stopped them and said, “This is the kind of instruction I had been expecting from him. He wants me to empty my mind and start thinking afresh.”

That is my appeal to you.

Some comments on Shantanu''s blog...

Shanthanu has a blog about current affairs in India. He revaled his identity and it makes for interesting reading:
http://satyameva-jayate.org/2008/10/30/who-is-b-shantanu. I am mirroring some comments that I had written there.

@ Sanjeev's comment: "I completely detest anyone who claims to live first for their country."

I agree and disagree with this. There is a time and place for every shade; Life is gray scale, binary only looks good on circuits. I agree in the sense that there is no place for such feelings while designing policies. When the seeds of our political structure were being sown, the predominant frame of thought was "Country first". The shadow of such feelings has lead to a very shabby framework in terms of accountability, remuneration, and electoral process. For example, "Country is first for every politician, defence person etc etc and hence they will be expected to work for peanuts". On the other hand, if we completely let go of "Country first" feelings among all citizen, you run the risk of creating a loss of reference for the common man, and a geographic disconnect. There is a necessity to have "Country first" feelings among every citizen. We need to get to a stage where every citizen believes that country first is equivalent to creating a better tomorrow for himself and his family.

@ your comment "you can help by becoming financially independent"

It is nice to suggest/recommend financial independence before an individual gets into politics. However, it is very dangerous for political parties to allow someone to work for them for free. Parties and policies have to draw strict lines of what is voluntary and what is not. Else sooner or later there will be a day when the free-loader will be driven to an ulterior need. Remuneration, accountability, and punishment go hand in hand. If I am self-sufficient enough, there will be a day when I will not perform. To quote from the niti-shastra "Discontented brahmanas, contented kings, shy prostitutes, and immodest housewives are ruined."

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Assam blasts, MNS issue

Read in the Times of India about the serial blasts in Assam. I have included screenshots of some of the pages in the pdf at this link. What have we come to....

Several articles talked about the Assam blasts.
The front page:
Assam serial blasts kill 66 9 Blasts In 30 Mins

Page 4:
City Assamese stunned at the scale of attacks

Page 13:
"‘Ulfa could have been wiped out’ Army Slams Flip-Flop Policies Of Govts In Tackling N-E Militant Outfit"

The Govt. has been handling this issue with loose gloves. This attitude has been there for several aspects, for example with handling of the MNS activities in Mumbai... The MNS issue is much smaller in scale, but the symptoms are same.

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Articles about the MNS-sponsored "terror" in Mumbai:
Front page:
"Slap NSA on Raj, says Union cabinet"

Page 2:
"Father of dead UP man rejects state’s offer of Rs 2 lakh"

Related to a statement made by the father of the UP resident who was thrashed on a local train. Id suggest reading the entire article for the more interesting tidbits anout why he was beaten up, and why the Govt. offered the compensation.

"Patil takes on Lalu, Nitish Kumar"

Page 3:
"MNS mayhem: CM, dy CM under fire"

"Rly’s window angle may weaken its case: Lawyers"
The title does a good summary of the article content; it is lamentable that several authorities want to push issues under the carpet instead of finding the real solution. The article on ULFA extremists also speaks about a similar attitude regarding a different problem (Page 13): "‘Ulfa could have been wiped out’ Army Slams Flip-Flop Policies Of Govts In Tackling N-E Militant Outfit"

There is an article that throws light on how the Govt. can also be very efficient in tackling sensitive issues. Page 4 "Last two shrines on Santa Cruz Rd to be moved"; This one is about the success of MMRDA in moving shrines that fell on the link roads that are being developed. The shrines belong to different religions, and going by the article, the organization has been able to work across religious sentiments.

Page 7:
"Marathis are our brothers, says Rahul Raj’s father"
Rahul Raj is the dude who hijacked a bus at Kurla in Mumbai on Monday this week. By the looks of it, he got a heroes welcome in Patna. To quote the article:
"Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and PHED minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey represented the state government at the cremation, which was also attended by Patna MP Ram Kripal Yadav and hundreds of others. The bier was carried by Rahul’s friends, even as the district administration had arranged a flower-bedecked truck for the purpose."

Page 18, editorial article:
"Not Yours Or Mine"
The article is about how Mumbai and its spirit is being damaged by political parties which are trying to look for short term gains. It quotes a policeman saying: “Mumbai kisi ke baap ki hahin hai”.


There are also two half-page ads about Indira Gandhi; in essence a tribute to her martyrdom. One ad is on the 4th page by the "Ministry of Information and Broadcasting" and another on the 13th page by the "Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, and Department of Higher Education". The money for this has probably come from the respective Govt. bodies.

“No Fridge”

So, I have been living without a refrigerator for the past few weeks. And I buy vegetables once a week and cook at home every day. A few friends asked me how I manage to keep things fresh. The following pictures show how it went; I had taken the first picture on Monday when these vegetables were purchased. The second image is from Thursday; one of the carrots has gone bad, but most of them are all right. The third and fourth images have been taken on Sunday. How to do it is shown in images 5 and 6.


Day 1: Monday


Day 4: Thursday



Day 7: Sunday.


Solution: A wet cloth.


For the skeptics among us, please recall the local bhaji-waala… Do you remember any refrigerators lurking away in a corner of their shops? Oh yes, one very intelligent friend pointed out that they have these cooling units at their homes where they store the veggies. Very innovative; I presume the units are capable of storing some 20-30 kilos of vegetables, and the thela-waala runs a very profitable business by paying for electricity in their shanties. Dudes, ever notice the gunny bags and the big wicker baskets? Wonder why the bags are perennially wet, dark and not dry. Put one at home with a tomato or two in it and you would know why.

Several vegetables and fruits are naturally capable of staying fresh for at least a week on their own. They only need to be draped over with a wet cloth for the time period. I am not suggesting that one should replace their refrigerators. I am not a fanatic Greenpeace activist. However, I would prefer to use technology when nature may not work; like making ice for your Patiala peg :). I also believe in eating fresh vegetables, and absolutely hate the “fridge stink” that tends to stick onto veggies.

BTW, a wet cloth does not work for everything. For example cracked coconut, or ginger. I am sure there are ways to keep them fresh for a few days without the use of a refrigerator. When I find the method, I will post it promptly. In the meantime, I have found a possible solution for keeping milk fresh. Figure below:



Keeping milk fresh: The most popular approach at Shekhar’s farm.

Then, the diesel ran out

Last night, we had a power cut for more than 4 hours; generators kicked in at 8:00 when the power cut began. At about 12:00 or so, diesel ran out in our building. By 1:00, diesel ran out in a neighboring building. Several flats in Bangalore have a generator system. I wondered what would happen if there was an extended power cut for a much longer time and diesel ran out at more places then today.

A parallel can be drawn to the lack of order, lawlessness, and other aspects in our country. Folks having resources have resorted to creating their own “backup” systems to stay away from these drawbacks. Some friends live in other countries to escape these problems, creating their own little India’s; others use their power or wealth to bypass the correct process; still others crib and refuse to participate in their civic responsibilities. I wonder what they would do when the problem overflows their systems and the “diesel runs out”.

BTW, there is another aspect about people creating their own little India’s; they think that other cultures are a piece of shit. I guess this is part and parcel of every “way of life” out there. North American and most of the West in general thinks that “urban, consumer-driven, sex-based” lifestyle is the best representation of a free, developing world. India, well for most parts it thinks that the place is the epitome of ethics. The West pishes its lifestyle by way of foreign policies and IMF/WB. The latter groups behavior gets reflected in the personal lives of each Indian. This can also be extended to the behavior of a regular “Desi” – Each family will want to stick to their own little India’s, Sri Lanka’s or Pakistan’s. A closely related point is raised in the movie "Khuda ke Liye"; It is a Pakistani movie with a strong message.

Industrialization, and the role of Asia....

Was reading up on cars, looking for reviews of the Tata Indigo Marina, and ended up reading quite a bit about the nano. The following article had an interesting take on how Asian industrial revolution must take place:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df2d7wp6_18d5ptm3t7

Excerpts of some comments on the article are below:

"Kristina: It is a question of whether Asia is lured by the West's highly charged, fully saturating consumer culture or is able to redefine economic drivers in terms of Asia's own traditions. India's heritage is so rich: The real innovation would be if that culture could inspire a new economy that is unburdened by all the mistakes and excesses of the West's industrial age. To a degree, it's already happening with the sharing and/or renting of computer and phone time within small Indian communities. "


"Shbhatia: If Asia was left alone in the 1600s, it would probably still be society of peace loving, meditating, spiritual folks searching for the meaning of life, with nature keeping the population under check, in harmony with the environment. The problem is, anything that is sensitive to others, is deemed as weak by the West, and one thing that West does not know is to leave something alone. East is evolving much in response to the West and hence the correlation between the socio-economic models and the innovation patterns."


PS: I have reproduced an article here, and do not know the copyright issues involved; If a reader knows that it violates a copyright, pleae let me know.

What India needs...

This post is related to an email exchange with a classmate from Engineering College.
The post is here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df2d7wp6_0cz8qhngm

BTW, before anyone gets bright ideas - I have the utmost respect for all our leaders. Especially Mahatma Gandhi. I just think that the current era needs someone like Patel more than Gandhi. I am also skeptical of finding a Gandhi. If our generation creates a Gandhi, I would be surprised, but very pleasently surprised. Waise, आजकल दुनिया में आत्माओं की कमी है, महात्मा कहाँ से मिलेंगे; There is a dearth of souls in this world, from where will we find a "great" soul.

IT or MIT: Information Technology or Mis-Information Technology

A friend sent me a blurb about section 49-O. There are lots of emails circulating that 49-O is a section where people can tender a -ve vote and thereby cause a re-election. The emails are simply forwarded by individuals who do not bother to verify facts.

The bad part of it is that it is called Information Techology, and it can also spread Mis-Information. This is not true just in the context of rumors, it is happening in professional circles as well.

My office has a comprehensive system to process payments. I have not yet recieved rent, salary, or any other payment for the past several weeks. The "system" does not have the ability to tell HR when these payments will be made. Due to reliance on computer-driven "IT" systems, HR cannot pick up a phone and ask the relevant department when a particular payment would happen. They have to send an email, register a ticket and wait for a confirmation. :)

All the same, IT has significant advantages if people use it carefully. This mis-information in part could be because of human nature. For example, we spread rumors very easily without thinking of consequences. Information Techolology has made it all the more easier to do it. Similarly, most IT systems are designed to be air-tight, take control away from the human, and put the onus on software. This arises out of mistrust of the human's ability to do the correct thing.

Some corrective action may be taken by casual internet users themselves. If a false claim is made on a blog/email, we should at least think of letting the author know. Of course, this centers around wether one has time or not. :-D. In fact, I myself could be wrong about certain things. Feel free to comment.

PS: The erroneous blurbs on 49-O are here:
http://erasmus-in-india.blogspot.com/2006/07/rule-49-o.html
http://cybi.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/1961-election-rules-section-49-o/


The real story may be found here:
http://rastrindia.googlepages.com/rs
or better yet, here:
http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm

Tuition center work at Bangalore

A report that I prepared on the tuition center for AID-Bangalore:


http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df2d7wp6_1hd5rbvfg

Had an exciting time teaching kids in a tuition center at a slum in Bismillah Khan Nagar near Jayanagar. Will be doing this every Wed from now on.

Hero Thunder MTB.

I finally bought a two-wheeler, and I am liking it. The bicylce is a Hero Thunder MTB, all aluminium, light weight, Shimano Tourney 3X7 = 21 gears, Full Aluminium mudguards. It is very nice. I had to fit in a carriage to carry my laptop. The bike itself was around 6.4K and with VAT, a dynamo light, bell, carriage, and lock it came to around 7K. I purchased it from the Madiwala RR Cyles.

The Aluminium carriage was significantly expensive, about 600 bucks, so I went for an iron carraige taken from a hero hercules. It is heavy, but I can live with it; The bike itself is very light weight. Bicycling in Bangalore involves negotiating an obstacle track with boulders, dividers, and short stairs in buildings. The weight makes it easy for me to pick the thing up. It also is very fast and responsive. The bad part is that it bounces a bit on bad roads, but that happens to every bike without shocks.

I had tried something with shocks earlier; they do stop some jerks, but are not all that useful. Also, picking up the bike, having a full-metal mudguard, and carriage is critical for me. Shocks do not give us that, though the new Hero Octane can apparently come with full alluminium mudguards. With rear shocks, the frame is slightly inconvenient to lift the bike for a long time. The Atlas Ryder is available with front shocks, but somehow the MTB felt lighter and better.

The gears are flawless and behave as expected. Their true nature may be evident after a few months of use.

The build quality of the bike could have been better. Reflectors on the pedals have plastic screws, and one of the reflectord broke off within a day of riding. The front reflector also broke, but that was bound to give away some day. It is best to have reflector stickers all over the bike.

The dynamo is self contained, very functional, and does what it is supposed to do - Let the guy coming from the opposite direction know that there is a bicycle somewhere in front. I would prefer to have a dynamo that has a lot less friction, and is more silent, but maybe I shall have to build it myself. I do not know of a place in India that will sell high-quality ones. A few sites with details about dynamos:
http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/dynamo.html
http://www.freelights.co.uk/
http://pilom.com/BicycleElectronics/Dynamo.htm

I ride about four Kms to work each day - ST bed layout Kormangala to Forum. It takes about 15 minutes to bike. It is less than the time taken for my colleagues on cars, motorcycles.

I went to Sudhir and Arathi’s place last night. Met with JD (Jaideep), Ilango, his wife Jeeva and had a very nice time. I bought a brand of vodka called Shark tooth from the Total mall. Very good quality and 750 ml at approximately Rs. 350 is pretty reasonable. Slept at Sudhir’s place for the night and left for Vijaya and Harish’s house at about 10:30 AM.

Today, Vijaya called me home for lunch. I took bus 331 from HAL to BTM, got down at Jayadeva hospital and took a rick to get to their house from there. It was an 11 rupee ticket to get to Jayadeva hospital from HAL. The rick from Jayadeva/Shopper stop to IIM incidentally was 20 rupees. From Vijaya’s house (IIM) to Shoppers stop it was 5 rupees. In an auto, each trip seems to be four times as much, or even more than that.

At around 3:30PM, Harsha picked me up from Shoppers Stop and we went for the
AID meeting at Guru Moorthy’s house. The meeting went very well. Later in the night, I and Harsha left for dinner and then went to a friends’ house. We had planned to meet Dwiji’s father, and discuss urban building violations. Talking to him showed how deep the rabbit hole goes, and how one mans fight can very quickly turn into a wall that seems unsurpassable. Senior Guru told us how people could buy flats without checking proper documentation and get into trouble. He also indicated how landlords are penny wise and pound foolish. For example his next door neighbor who is filthy rich, converted a residential property into a commercial zone. After getting commercial property conversion, he extended his building beyond the approved plan. When other residents complained to officials about the flouted building rules, he first reacted callously. The Govt. finally caught up with the act and ordered demolishment, and the rich guy is now holding the feet of other residents. There were many other cases he talked about where the ending was not very pretty. He suggested that I collaborate with IofC-Bangalore that is interested in these issues.

One part of me says that if people wish to flout Govt. rules, there should be a method of letting them do it. In fact, if commercial establishments were totally disallowed in residential areas, one would not have the local grocer, or any other neighborhood stores. These establishments which are often within walking distance are an extreme convenience in India. There should also be a way by which illegal constructions would be disallowed from participating in any Govt support, or would need to pay a very high premium to avail of such prices. Govt. could also sponsor a system similar to the policies that Income Tax dept. uses to let people convert black money to white; for example illegal constructions can be regularized by paying 10% of the property value as maintenance charges per annum. Their water etc could also be more expensive.

In any case, an aspect that Indians ignore is that when we become corrupt for short term gains, the problem gets back to us very seriously. I realize that it will be very difficult for me to operate in an urban scenario where there is increased apathy of the law. Corruption exists elsewhere too, but in rural areas it is possible to live clean. Apathy towards law seems comparatively lesser in rural settings, where people are more relaxed. Maybe it is a better setting for me, I do not know as yet.

Young country

Dwiji and Sudha helped me move my stuff around today. We met near Raheja complex at around 2:00, and he took me around collecting my stuff. Bags from BDA complex, Kormangala; Cylinder from Jyostna's sister; stove from Sitaram. My house has been setup with halpe from family and friends :-D.


We spoke at length about urban issues in Bangalore. Sudha suggested that the chaos is a part of a growing, young nation. Chaos was an integral part of New York city, Seattle was burnt to the ground and a new town had been developed on top. In fact, remanants of the old city with its' lawlessness are now a tourist attraction in modern downtown Seattle.

Just got an apartment

Ok - I have an address in Bangalore.

All white, including payment of brokerage. I open the window and see a sky. Regulars in Bangalore know what a luxury it is to see something other than concrete 4 feet away from your apartment window.

Nice 2 BHK, includes backup power, 24 hour water, gym, and the rent aint too bad.

Sick, without a co-pay

Being sick sucks...

Have a temperature that see-saws between 99 and 101; Went to a doctor today. This is probably the first time I have paid for a doctor in India with money I have earned.
It was 100 rupees for the visit, and approx 100 rupees for the medicines.

For the same thing in USA, it would have been $10 co-pay. The actuals would have been between $200-400. A significant part of the cost is towards paperwork and the manpower associated with the insurance, administrative and legal overheads. A few interesting articles on overhead costs in the US health system: 1, 2.

An extract from this blog: "UnitedHealth Group (UNH) had a “medical loss ratio” of 81.73%; i.e. for every $1 million of premiums that it took it, in spent 81.73% (roughly $817,000) reimbursing claims. This left it with with a little over $183,000 to cover advertising, marketing, underwriting, salaries, etc.—plus profits for investors."

Warangal - Laknavala cheruvu

The locales in Warangal are very beautiful and the bounty of nature inescapable. Today we visited Laknavala cheruvu or Laknavala Lake, a beautiful land-locked water body with lazy, green islands strewn in between. The lake has suspension bridges to one of the islands, and several jetties on the bridge and along the lake end. There was a boat tied to one of the jetties, and it would have normally been made available to the general public. During our visit, the district collector was also scheduled to make a visit to the area, and the boat had been reserved for his use.





On our return drive we encountered buffaloes returning from grazing, huge numbers of them. It did not seem likely that our tiny vehicle could not negotiate the bovine traffic, and we waited around for solace. Along came an APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) bus, and we got right behind it. The buffaloes could ignore our puny little 1000cc alto, but there was no way the very capable representative of APSRTC could be ignored. Incidentally, the buses are labeled on the sides with the words “palle velugu”; which means “village light”. The buses here are divided into a few categories: palle velugu that stops at nearly every location on the road, Express that has a few stops between major cities, Deluxe, Super deluxe, and Garuda. Garuda are volvo buses that travel between major cities and do not take any passengers between the start and destination stops. I use the Garuda buses between Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Train ko saaf rakho.

I am visiting Warangal this weekend. Will spend a few days with family and return on the morning of 4th.

Public transport in India is very evolved, and is probably the most affordable mode of transport the world over. It may not have a lot of fancy bells and whistles, but it does the job. I left Bangalore by volvo at around 8:00 PM Friday and got to Hyderabad at around 9:00 AM. Jyostna and I travelled from Hyderabad to Warangal by the satavahanam. I and Jyostna boarded the train at 3:30. We had reservations; our seats were 136 (aisle) and 137 (middle). Josu sat at the aisle seat, I adjusted myself in the center, and then there was one Mr Raju, a person in his late 40s at the window.

There were these kids with their mom and an elderly person who could have been their grandfather, or someone similar. There was an entourage of 3-4 men in their early 30s to 40s accompanying this family. There was a very stylish dude in the entourage wearing a body hugging off-white tee with "57" written in "chocolate brown color cloth", and "USA" on the back. Tight jeans, large dark glasses that were desperately trying to go from the 70s to the 80s. He was talking about the "East Coast" like he owned the place. They bought ice-cream. The vendor asked "How many". Stylebhai says, "enni vunnayi, ivvu boss, andariki". Vendor obliges; stylebhai takes each cup, opens the lid, puts a spoon in it, and gives one to each family member. The last family member refuses icecream. "ido, ii ice-cream vaddu". Vendor: "Open chesaaru kada sir". Stylebhai uses harsh language, cribs a lot about the icecream not being good etc, but it kinda fizzles out and he pays up. The youngest kid collects the empty cups from them and throws it out of the window. The train left promptly at 4:15, the right time.

I and Jyostna contemplate over events of the past few minutes. I lean over to the kid and tell him in the most calm and nice way "child, you threw those cups out of the door. It is not the right thing to do, we should not make our trains dirty, railways has provided a dustbin; we should throw it there". Many passengers around us heard me, the mother chideed the kid. A few minutes later Josu and I start eating an orange. We peel it into a plastic cover. This young couple in front of us order coffee. Coffee done, the dude is throwing the cup into the usual place - the train window. I catch his hand, take the cup from him, put it in our plastic cover. "That is OK, if it is not easy for you, I will throw it in the dustbin". The dude is totally embarrased, takes the cup back from us and does the obvious. Unfortunately, I have to do the same thing again to one another individual who just finished eating his dinner, had dumped his food tray on the tracks, and was ready to throw a paper out. He has an explanation: "It is only a small piece of paper"; his age: probably 45-50.

Mr. Raju then got up, he just had a coffee. He crossed all of us, went to the dust bin, and came back. The uncle who was with the kids dropped a banana peel on the floor. He lifted it with care, and the kids used the dust bin. I do not know if they will continue to be clean in their other journeys.

Anal about tax.

There is a larger context to why I am being so anal about this tax business. This is not about tax; this is about finding the right way to do things in the country. The act of not paying tax has large scale implications. One must not evade tax without thinking about those implications.

We should pro-actively understand the law, even if we do not follow it. My larger goal is to identify what is wrong; why is it that people find our Govt. to be expensive. Maybe roads or pipelines should not be made by Govt., people should do it directly themselves. Look into Freedom Team of India (FTI) for some more thoughts on policy issues.

Apartment - not done yet.

Yesterday two landlords had assured me that they are OK with giving out PAN numbers and sticking to white money. They spoke too soon, and after some "consultations" gave me several options today:

1. Pay some of the rent towards the flat itself, and rest of the money could be for furnishings, fittings etc.
   This is clearly illegal; tax law says that furnishings etc are part of “Rent” and cannot be separated from taxable component. I have web-links to prove this. I will do no such thing, and I am sure HP will not agree to this. My answer to most landlords about this is that they should speak directly with HP about it.
2. Give us a check for the 16.99% tax that HP will deduct at source.
   I wonder why the tenant should be responsible for tax that the landlord is required to pay by law. My company cuts my salary at source. How would it look if I ask the company to pay a part of my income tax? Thankfully, reasonable people have not suggested this, and when others said that, I simply smiled and kept quite.
   A point to be noted here though; sales tax at shops is passed onto customers. In legal terms however, it appears that rent is considered as income earned by the landlord, and a tenant is not liable for tax. Also, HRA is not completely tax free.
3. Can HP ignore the part of cutting TDS; we will do our own taxes?
   From my understanding, it is a mandatory requirement that TDS should be performed in a CLA. Maybe there is a clause out there that will let you get around TDS. If that is legal, let me know.
4. Do a direct person to person lease without involving the company.
   First, I have too many financial commitments coming up due to which I cannot spare the money for security deposit. Second, I can borrow from savings, family, friends, and HP will also give me an interest-free loan. Third, I will not use the second option mainly because you would use the person to person lease to avoid tax. I am more determined to insist on a CLA now. If it is of any solace to the numerous landlords out there, I also pay more tax if I go through company lease.
5. Why dont you pay Rs 10,000 as the white rent, and Rs 5,000 in cash. After going through points 1 through 4, I do not think a reasoning needs to be given against 5.

Most landlords have classic lines: “The system is like this only son. The Govt. has done little for us, they waste our money. You are thinking from a US perspective. We are already being assessed for Income Tax.” But people often fail to realize that tax evasion has huge cost implications. Let us consider a locality that has 200 rental premises. Further, if each one of them is priced at rents of Rs 15,000 and none of them pay tax, they evade about 2.5 K per month, or in conservative terms 20K per landlord per annum. This translates to about 40 lakh per annum in one locality. If one takes an estimate for 10 years, at a reasonable 3% simple interest rate, not counting inflation, the figure is nearly around 700 lakhs. Now let me ask; does it cost 700 lakhs to maintain roads, pipelines, electric network for 200 homes over 10 years. Even if we get conservative and take one-thrid of the cost (~250 lakhs), it still is a lot of tax evaded for 10 years. And even then it does not cost 250 lakhs to maintain a place that has 200 homes. Honestly, when landlords evade tax, they lose a lot in the long term.

You may think that the tax is not justified given the facilities provided. But I ask each landlord out there - It has been maybe 5-6 years since you are renting your property. For how may years have you honestly paid your tax on property/income earned on property? The Govt. has to get some money to start a project. Would you goto a car dealer and tell him: I will give you no money and you give me a car. If the car works for a year or so, I will pay you the cost.

Yes, you are being assessed for tax. But to provide an army at the border, build non-urban/non-obvious infrastructure (dams, ports, Indian embassies, roads between cities), the Govt. needs money. True, the Govt is corrupt, our representatives go off on expensive, unproductive trips to Japan, Australia etc. But evading tax is not the right way to fight such mis-governance. Do your duty, and then fight for your rights. India exists because we pay our income tax properly. Paying one type of tax does not discount you from other taxes. If you would not even do that, then maybe our neighboring countries are better places for you.

Solace on the apartment front

I think the apartment search has come to an end. I found two people today who were ready to give out their PAN card numbers. They are going to give me a final replay tomorrow, but it does appear that it will be all clear.

Met Harsha today; it was nice. Also found out that Pulkit from HP is big time into AID.

Chiru’s political party was launched last night. It appears to me that the party would die as a whimper. Agreed that Chiru is a really great actor, has a huge fan following, and n excellent social network. However, he is not taking a stand (either good or bad) on any issues of importance.

The Kosi River in Bihar overflowed. Its course changed by 120 Kms and moved east. I am prompted to write to Mr Sarma who had earlier talked to me about connecting rivers. In these kinds of disasters, a project like river linking would be disastrous.

Landlord: I will not pay tax

I have been looking for apartments for the past week. Santosh had been showing me a few, and I had short-listed some options.

There was an owner whose house I really liked, but we were still haggling over the rent. I nevertheless give him my lease papers, ask him to fill it up over the weekend. I call my landlord on Sat to discuss the rent, and he tells me very reluctantly, “Sorry Surya for going back on our word, but it seems that my mother-in-law cannot give you her PAN card number”. I am like “Hmmm – OK, I will enquire with my office whether they need PAN card; they should let me know by tomorrow for sure”. “No Surya, I will need to know before 4:00 PM”. At around 2:30 PM on Sunday; there was no way anyone in my office would be around to give an official answer. I enquired around with a few friends in the same position, and am told that the companies do not ask for landlord’s PAN card. I call X back within half-an-hour and tell him “I have asked my colleagues and they did not need a PAN card”. This was wrong; I should have stuck to my stand that my office will tell me only the next day. I was ignoring the obvious – no matter what my friends say, my case could elicit a totally different response from the office. At the office the next day, I find out that of late, HP has made PAN cards mandatory for lease processing. Folks avoid paying tax totally by not giving their PAN cards. I was expecting some form of evasion among landlords, but the extent and lack of awareness/acceptance that it is a crime was slightly surprising. Think of a dude who has 40 plots all around Bangalore, and he never submits a PAN card number while giving out rental accommodation. He is making a TON of money and not reporting shit in income tax.

Mr. X is a really nice guy; if you talk to him you would know he is very reasonable. It is very likely that 16.99% tax deduction at source is a significant hit on their income. It is very likely that his mother-in-law has only that property, and that is her only source of income. Just then, I had a glorious revelation; if this were the case, she would get back all her money after filing for tax returns. All 16.99% of it would be given back to her; she will not lose any income. I could have explained all this to X; I discussed this at length with my folks, wife, and in-laws. Dad tells me that we file taxes for each piece of land, even the one in Ongole that we have not seen for the past few years. Mom says that it is likely several landlords will not agree to give me their PAN numbers and I will never get a reasonable apartment in my life. Dad disagrees.

I call Mr. X and tell him “Sorry sir, my office has asked me for a PAN card”. He is deeply shocked, understandably so – I should not have told him otherwise the previous afternoon. He mutters some discontent towards me, but I cannot help it. I am undecided now. I could pay him the entire 1.5 lakh security deposit out of pocket and take his house. He (Or rather, his mother-in-law) will in all likelihood not pay any tax. In all likelihood, several other landlords do not pay tax. Yes, our governance sucks, but we suck equally hard. If there were a contest in lollipop eating (Or a more raunchy contest based on ones’ ability to suck), the Govt. would come up toppers, but Indian citizenry would not be far behind.

I should probably send a letter to each landlord I know, urging him/her to file property taxes correctly. I will definitely write to Mr. X after I settle in. But how many different topics will I need to write about, and to how many people, to say that citizenship of a country comes with its rights. The right to being on a road has the responsibility to obey traffic. The right to own a house has the responsibility to obey housing law. The right to shit comes with the responsiblity to clean up after. If you do not meet your responsibilities, sooner or later your backside will not be very pleasent :). Light banter aside, this is precisely what is happening; Indian citizenry are being increasingly penny wise and pound foolish.

Driver, gaadi chalaao

I returned from Hyderabad today. Oh, how nice it felt to be driven by someone else for 1200Kms instead of sitting behind a steering wheel. True, driving is a nice pleasure and visiting places in a personal vehicle can let you explore a place in a better way than being driven around. But it sure is nice to have the option of being driven. Also, you leave a lesser carbon footprint by using public travel. I went to visit my in-laws in a Volvo bus. These things of German origin have emerged as current rulers of Indian roads and the premier name in public road travel. Indian road conditions have been completely overcome; pot-holes, rash drivers, un-pliable weather, everything is nullified by the great suspension, beastly horsepower, and well balanced interiors.

BTW:
Auto from Kormangala to Whitefield: Rs 173.00
Taxi cab from Whitefield to Kormangala: Rs 540
The ability to make calls and write an article while on the road: Priceless.

Driving my car-in-law at Hyderabad

Aug 23 and 24, I was at my in-laws. My maavaiyyagaru bought a car recently. We spent some nice time at the Tank Bund – it is a huge water reservoir in the heart of Hyderabad. We were driving down on road XYZ… I was behind the wheel; I had been behind the wheel for quite sometime now (Man, why did I agree to take the wheel in the first place). I came by an intersection where there was little traffic, but it had become chaotic. If the traffic had observed signals, it would have been much smoother. But no, everyone was rushing in irrespective of whether there was a red, green, yellow, black, blue, or some other god-forsaken light at the signal. Only if people would have waited for their turn, there would have been no congestion at that intersection.

Earlier that Saturday at around 8:30 PM, we were at a junction opposite a restaurant called “paradise” in Secunderabad. The 4-way intersection is quite busy, with people coming in from all directions, obviously not obeying the traffic light. I had to take a right. I waited for the light to change twice, but the prevailing mob traffic would not let me through. I begun to agreed with my in-laws that patience would keep me at the junction forever. Next time the light went orange, I continued to push forward, got myself into a position where I blocked the traffic on my right hand side. The next time around, I was able to make the turn. There was considerable honking, but I made the turn before everyone else. There was another guy who made the turn with me. He was a chap who turned out to be a tad bit more patient than me. He had waited for the third signal, and avoided considerable headache for the traffic on our right.

I surmised with my in-laws that there is little driver training in the country. I admit that driving in the US is downright boring and has too many rules. But the disorder in our country is equally appalling. More so, because the Indian driver can easily do better at following traffic. Only fools and short-sighted individuals can stand behind the façade of population and say that population is what causes current disorders in traffic. It is our lack of patience at following rules set by other Indians.

Laun-DRY

Rs 120 to wash 3 days of laundry. Does it take a lot of effort to wash, dry, and iron 2 लुन्गिस, three underwears, three T-shirts, and one formal shirt? I don’t know. But it certainly seems to be a lucrative business for the businessman and an expensive consumption for the consumer. Nevertheless, I am never going to have my clothes washed at the guest house. It is too pricey, even with the priceless feeling of wearing Jockeys that have been neatly pressed and probably starched.

CLA or HRA???

CLA is Company Leased Accommodation; a perk where the company signs the lease on your behalf, pays for the rent, security deposit, and maintenance. Of this, the rent is deducted from your salary and you have to pay tax on either 20% of your annual income or your rent, whichever is lesser. HRA is House Rent Allowance, where you can claim tax exemption for a part of your rent. I do a few back-of-the-envelope computations and determine that it is financially better to opt for HRA than for CLA. I end up paying double the tax in CLA than in HRA. However, paying the security deposit and dealing with maintenance is not a headache that I want to take when I am new in the country.

HR activities and apartment search

HR activities in the office; yawn!!! My apartment search is not going anywhere. वैसे, I am a stingy desi dude; will not spend half of my pay cheque on rent.

Jogging in Bangalore

At 3:30 AM on the 19th, I suddenly woke up. Jet lag sucks. There was nothing great on TV, and I hate watching it anyhow. I know I cannot sleep now. This is anyhow better than waking up in the middle of the night. I watch some crap on the TV for an hour and just shut my eyes. I stay groggy till about 5:30, but I am definitely not sleepy after that. I finish off my ablutions, and decide to go out. I usually like jogging, but some friends had advised that street dogs and road conditions in the “third world country” are not conducive to outside activities. I gaze out into the street through my balcony, and see several folks walking in sneakers. I decide to take my chances; at the very worst, I will have to take a rabies shot; my insurance would hopefully cover it. Mp3 player ready, stopwatch, driving license, dad’s visiting card, and 50 rupees in a plastic cover. I head out. There were a couple of dogs at the first junction; I got apprehensive but continued to step forward. They did not even look at me; guess they had better things to do. The weather was pleasant and there was little traffic. But the little traffic was definitely very rude. There were a couple of stray puppies crossing the road and this dude in a car was honking his butt off. It is 6:00 AM asshole; have some sense and drive around the dog. Buses would fly down the road like it was a runway. On the whole it was not too bad, but driving sense is biased against the pedestrian. Also, the roads were OK, there were nice stretches with footpaths. But at some points along the way, there were huge potholes, really huge potholes. With the driving sentiment, and some of the potholes, you had to be a little more conscious about your surroundings than in the USA. But it was not very difficult.

I reached office at around 10:30 AM. An agent met with me at 1:00 PM, and we saw some apartments. He drove me around on his Hero Honda splendor motorcycle. He knew broken English, some Telugu and Hindi, so we could communicate. The person Santosh was very punctual; in fact everyone whom we met on the way was particular about time.

Arriving in Bangalore

The day was uneventful, but very nice. The airport was very efficient – there were 20 immigration counters and it was done in about 2 minutes. There was no special line for Indian citizen and other people. In US, you have separate lanes categorized into citizen, green-card holders, immigrants, and asylum seekers. The baggage arrived right on time. Large, nice trolleys with brakes were available free of charge. I had to pay three dollars at the Portland airport for a luggage trolley, and the elevator was broken there. In Bangalore, an airport rep was available at baggage claim to help passengers with loading.

I had four large bags; the customs guys asked me for a valuation. I was not carrying anything of a real value except for one computer and was expecting that it would be waived because you are allowed one laptop. I only had this computer, a five year old camera and a two year old camera. And there was also the Transfer of Residence (TR) law – When one has been outside the country for more than two years and is returning for employment, duty on household goods is waived.

The customs person asked me for the contents a carton box I was carrying. It was my desktop computer. They looked at me like I was some kind of an idiot to lug a box around. The look almost meant: “Dude, you should be able to buy a computer in India. I have seen laptops before but this is lame.” I agreed with him, but it had all my data on it, and it would have been difficult to get hard disks alone. It is a pain to re-assemble and get everything to work nicely. Also, about 8 years back, I knew exactly where you could purchase good computer parts in India but now I had no clue. He then said duty bharnaa hogaa. I pointed out the TR case; I was returning to India after 8 years for employment. They informed me that TR can be availed of only once – I was shipping some of my material from the USA and would have been able to avail of it either at the in-land port, or at the airport, not both times. I did not know this rule, but it seemed like a lame rule; it takes about 3 months for shipping to arrive. It is difficult not to be without a computer and some essential belongings for so long.

Now came the valuation part; I had assembled the computer myself about a year ago, and did not have receipts for the same; but it was definitely less than the allowed duty-free amount of Rs 25,000. I also offered that they open up and verify the contents to see the value. They were not really interested in doing that – the state of my luggage did tell them that the contents would be quite lukkha J. The customs person asked me for a valuation and I said maybe around 5-600 dollars. They quipped that combined with the cameras the value could be more, maybe around Rs 30,000. I kind of agreed, but pointed out that these were all really old and that you are allowed one camera and camcorder in any case. I was told I would have to pay duty on about Rs 5,000. I decided, oh well – let us pay up, but as a last-ditch effort showed them how old the cameras really were. They kind of shrugged and decided that I was a pretty reasonable dude. They figured it would be best if we did not include the cameras in valuation and put it down as Rs. 24000. The whole process took about 10 minutes, and the customs people seemed very reasonable. This was a significant improvement over my first experience at Bombay in 2002. I was a student then, and was returning after 1.5 years. I had significantly lesser luggage at that time, but the customs guys took me into a corner and clearly asked for ghoos. They agreed that a valuation was not necessary, but to enter my motherland, I had to give them something for chaai pani.

Compared to that pothole, this was a freeway. In fact, except for my first visit to Bombay, all my trips to India had been very smooth. I had traveled through Bangalore once before and twice from Hyderabad. I was stopped by customs only once, and even then they let me off after examining the goods. These folks asked me additional questions, but they were only doing their duty.

I came outside into the lobby area; the new Bangalore airport is a nice steel, glass, and concrete structure. I could see everything going on outside and the sense of space was awesome. It was very neat and people were very informative. Not that you needed information, there were nice boards in three languages. I looked around for an STD/ISD booth; there was none. I asked and the guys said, “That counter, coin-phone sir”. He pointed out a couple of yellow colored coin-drop phones. The counter itself was for something else, two ladies sitting behind computer screens. The boxes were operated by AirTel and it said – “Lift phone. Put coins. Dial number.” I had to call home and let my wife, parents, and brother know that I had arrived in one piece; Two STDs and one ISD. BTW, the box only accepted one rupee coins. I dial a number and get 20 seconds to talk to Hyderabad. “Namaste Mavaiyyagarau. Aaa hello Prakash, jeravaa safe gaa”; put a coin, “Yaa, smooth gaa cheranu, anta cool.” Put a coin. “Tell Jyostna, please call my parents antaa…”. Run out of coins. “Kulasaa kada” was spoken into a blank phone. This was not working. Got some change from the lady behind the counter. Her main job was something else, but she did give me the change. I asked if ISD would work, she smiles and says – “It works sir, but only four seconds per rupee. Sorry sir, but we do not work for AirTel. No manual booth here.” Great!!! J The standard STD/ISD booth was so much better. It did not look as nice as the yellow box, and the operators were sometimes grumpy. However, it was better than the yellow box in some aspects.

I got out of the lobby; there was a nice steel structure where chauffers were leaning with placards for visitors. Two or three large driveways were available for loading and unloading. I saw a placard that read Dr. Surya, HP Labs. The chauffer was in a nice white uniform, better dressed than me. How I hate to wear formals and especially tuck a shirt; it is totally inappropriate for the climate. Right now the weather was pleasant, but this guy probably has to wear the uniform through summer. He took my trolley, got me to the car. Chevy Malibu; Nice. Wood finish; Very nice. J

I get to the guest house. It is a 4 bed duplex bungalow with very nice people. Yes people; for most corporates and countries are the most important assets. Gajendar, Rajesh, and two another chaps. All four were from Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa.