Words...and words

Bombay: Transport Infra in 2011 (Part 1/2)

2011-01-11T01:25:00.000-08:00

An update is due on the post I wrote about the transport projects expected to be completed in Bombay in 2010. Here's the list I made last year and the status of each project at year-end:

5 Flyovers/Elevated Roads

Hindmata Junction (inaugurated)
King's Circle (partly open; expected to be fully open by May 2011)
Lalbaug (scheduled for completion in May 2011)
Sahar Airport Elevated Road (quite delayed, will not be opened in 2011)
Suman Nagar (quite delayed, will not be completed in 2011)

40-45 new 12-coach rakes (trains) for the suburban network (34 were delivered, 16 more expected in 2011)
Rail bridge between Mahim and Bandra, with an additional pair of tracks from Santa Cruz to Mahim (bridge completed, status of tracks unclear)
1000 buses for BEST (all delivered)
Terminal 1C at the Santa Cruz domestic airport (inaugurated)
Monorail between Jacob Circle (Lower Parel) and Wadala (delayed, likely to be completed in 2011)
Second carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link (commissioned)

Bombay lost its status of hosting India's busiest airport to Delhi because of lack of space for expansion. The international airport terminal continues to be modernised and is expected to be ready by 2013. Most significantly, ending years of uncertainty, permission was granted for the construction of a new airport in New Bombay. But it will be atleast 2015 before it becomes operational (how the airport will be connected to the city is all too unclear).

The most crucial element of the city's transport system, the suburban train network saw some improvement. The number of services did not rise much on the Western line, but the conversion of many trains from 9-coach to 12-coach increased capacity by 7-8%. Services increased on the Central and Harbour lines too, though I am not aware of the exact numbers. The conversion from DC voltage to AC voltage (expected to improve speeds of the locals slightly) began, a process that will take 2-3 years to complete. The extension of local train services to the far northern town of Dahanu was not realised, and might not happen in 2011 either.

Roads remained in their sorry state, not helped by the plentiful rains this year. Work continues on the series of flyovers on the Eastern Express Highway and the remaining two flyovers should be opened to traffic by May, as noted above. The Eastern freeway (a 4-lane road along the eastern seaboard) is still another two years away, and work on the Worli-Haji Ali sea link has not yet begun. Among the east-west links, the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road was finally completed. The Santa Cruz-Chembur link is yet to see light of day though. Three other flyovers in the western suburbs (Milan Subway, Barfiwala Lane, Jogeshwari station) are likely to be delayed beyond 2011.

Two long-planned transport projects stubbornly refuse to take off. The Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) is an orphan, with neither the MMRDA nor the BMC really interested in even starting a trial run. The latest announcement is that a pilot might be in place by Feb-end, but I remain sceptical. The water transport project, supposed to provide boats for passengers along the western and eastern coasts, remains a bone of contention between the MMRDA and the MSRDC. Both agencies keep vying to implement the project, but no one is actually doing any visible work to bring it to fruition. I wonder why the MSRDC (Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation) is even involved in a water transport project.

To follow in part 2: Metro, Monorail projects. List of projects expected to be completed in 2011.

Pedagogical Joke

2010-11-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Last year I spent the better part of a week reading Keegan's "The First World War". Today I came across this summary in 'Eastern Approaches', The Economist's blog on eastern European affairs ("If WWI were a bar fight"). Quite succint, and accurate :)

Germany, Austria and Italy are standing together in the middle of a pub when Serbia bumps into Austria and spills Austria's pint. Austria demands Serbia buy it a complete new suit because there are splashes on its trouser leg. Germany expresses its support for Austria's point of view. Britain recommends that everyone calm down a bit.

Serbia points out that it can't afford a whole suit, but offers to pay for the cleaning of Austria's trousers. Russia and Serbia look at Austria. Austria asks Serbia who it's looking at. Russia suggests that Austria should leave its little brother alone. Austria inquires as to whose army will assist Russia in compelling it to do so. Germany appeals to Britain that France has been looking at it, and that this is sufficiently out of order that Britain should not intervene. Britain replies that France can look at who it wants to, that Britain is looking at Germany too, and what is Germany going to do about it?

Germany tells Russia to stop looking at Austria, or Germany will render Russia incapable of such action. Britain and France ask Germany whether it's looking at Belgium. Turkey and Germany go off into a corner and whisper.

When they come back, Turkey makes a show of not looking at anyone. Germany rolls up its sleeves, looks at France, and punches Belgium. France and Britain punch Germany. Austria punches Russia. Germany punches Britain and France with one hand and Russia with the other. Russia throws a punch at Germany, but misses and nearly falls over. Japan calls over from the other side of the room that it's on Britain's side, but stays there. Italy surprises everyone by punching Austria.

Australia punches Turkey, and gets punched back. There are no hard feelings because Britain made Australia do it. France gets thrown through a plate glass window, but gets back up and carries on fighting. Russia gets thrown through another one, gets knocked out, suffers brain damage, and wakes up with a complete personality change. Italy throws a punch at Austria and misses, but Austria falls over anyway.

Italy raises both fists in the air and runs round the room chanting. America waits till Germany is about to fall over from sustained punching from Britain and France, then walks over and smashes it with a barstool, then pretends it won the fight all by itself. By now all the chairs are broken and the big mirror over the bar is shattered. Britain, France and America agree that Germany threw the first punch, so the whole thing is Germany's fault. While Germany is still unconscious, they go through its pockets, steal its wallet, and buy drinks for all their friends.

I only disagree with the part about America. If the US hadn't delivered the final blows, Germany would have been the only person left standing at the end of the brawl.

Stories from the 1940s

2010-10-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading two very interesting books. "The Storm of War" is Andrew Roberts' superb history of WWII. Roberts is opinionated, but backs up his conclusion that "the real reason why Hitler lost the Second World War was exactly the same one that caused him to unleash it in the first place: he was a Nazi" with good arguments.

In "Churchill's Secret War", Madhusree Mukerjee investigates the role of the British Government in causing the Bengal Famine of 1943. Churchill hated India and his chief scientific adviser Lord Cherwell was an extreme racist. Together, opposing the repeated pleas of Secretary of State for India Lord Amery, Viceroy Linlithgow and Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army Lord Wavell, they delayed and denied modest but vital grain shipments to India that could have prevented a famine that killed atleast 3 million. In one dramatic moment on August 4, 1944 Lord Amery responded to a familiar tirade by Churchill against Indians by comparing him to Hitler! In a British War Cabinet Meeting, no less!

Of all the interesting - and depressing, relating to the famine - revelations in the book, the most prominent for me were the financial arrangements between the UK and the Indian colony. I somehow imagined that all war-time material requirements from India would have been obtained for free by the British. But there actually was cost-sharing, with the British government promising to pay the Indian government an agreed proportion of the costs after the war. Indeed I realised that my grasp of colonial Indian macroeconomics is extremely poor. Next stop: an economic history of modern India :)

Fork in the road

2010-05-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today I watched some episodes of "Malgudi Days" on DVD. I don't really remember watching any specific episode on TV during its original/second airing (I must have been 7-8 years old), but do have vague memories of watching the show, and of course, liking it.

By and large, my exposure to the world of Hindi TV withered during the 2000-2009 decade. The last Hindi TV show I watched regularly is probably the soap "Kahin Kissi Roz" during my last year in engineering college, in 2004 or 2005. On the other hand, during the same period, my consumption of Hindi films has held up very well. In fact, during the last couple of years, I hardly remember watching any new English film (either on the big screen or on small screen).

My point? I think that the quality of Hindi films has improved significantly during the last decade. Each year there are atleast 4-6 excellent/very good movies and another 7-8 decent/watchable flicks on view. Perhaps there is a higher number of good Hollywood films (ignoring for the moment films in other languages), but 10-15 good movies annually works for me. I don't even need to explore other sources to get an adequate movie-fix. With TV, the situation is reversed. I watch so much English language TV for entertainment (British and US) that I hardly feel the need to surf to the much vaster array of Hindi channels on offer.

I wonder why the two industries have moved in different directions. Bollywood manages to produce interesting offerings like "Dev D", "Bheja Fry" and even "Bird Idol" (a new animated movie aimed at kids), albeit amidst a sea of mindless junk like "Tashan" and "Blue". Hindi TV offerings never seem to rise above the ubiquitous soaps and reality shows. Both ultimately cater to the same broad market. If Bollywood has multiplexes to showcase a "Dor" or "Manorama Six Feet Under" to a niche audience, then television producers also have the medium of umpteen niche channels to showcase their talent. Both industries have received plenty of funding (there have been dozens of Hindi entertainment channels launched in the last few years; unfortunately each one has produced the same fare). The fact that I watch Hindi films almost to the exclusion of Hollywood offerings eliminates the possibility of me being completely "westernised" to the point of not being able to appreciate modern Hindi TV programmes. I have no ideas about the reasons for this phenomenon. But I do regret not having a cause to follow any Hindi television show, since none is on par with "Gilmore Girls"or "Psych" or "Hustle".

Squandering a bonus?

2010-04-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

The ongoing 3G spectrum auction has already (as on Apr 24) raised a minimum of almost Rs 32000 for the government. The auction for wireless broadband services will commence after the end of the 3G auction. The total revenue now likely to be raised by the two auctions should touch Rs 50000 cr. That's 15000 cr more than the Rs 35000 cr that had been pencilled in while preparing the FY11 budget. A cool Rs 15000 cr of bonus revenue! And yet, I am sure that "better" uses will be found for the cash than reducing the central government's deficit of about Rs 380000 cr :(

An observation about the auction. The country has been divided into 22 geographical circles for bidding purposes. At this point in the auction, Bombay and Delhi (approx population: 2 cr each) are being bid for at Rs 1080 cr each. Bihar, with over 13 cr people, is currently attracting a bid of Rs 34 cr. Is Delhi's 3G market really worth almost 250 times per capita more than Bihar?

Will probably post once more when the twin auctions are completed.

Defending the indefensible

2010-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

The First Amendment of the US Constitution reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

In one sentence lie most of the rights a liberal state accords to its citizens. Freedom of speech has been particularly strongly respected in the US. Two recent happenings illustrate this high protection.

The Economist reported this week upon the Senate by-election in Missouri ("Congress shall make no law..."). One of the fringe (really fringe - he polled 23 votes in a previous run for Congress) candidates has been broadcasting nauseating hate speech (e.g., “Jews control the media”) on radio. Since he is a candidate for public office, all his tirades are considered political speech and granted complete protection under the First Amendment. Radio stations have to accept his adverts and cannot censor them.

The NY Times reported the US Supreme Court's decision today to declare unconstitutional a federal law banning the sale of videos depicting cruelty to animals ("Justices Void Law Banning Videos of Animal Cruelty"). The videos in this particular case were dogfighting videos depicting dogs being forced to fight each other. Other horrors meant to be prohibited from sale under this law include depraved allegedly sexually arousing movies called crush videos, depicting women inflicting pain upon and even killing various creatures with their bare feet or high heels. The Court held however, in a 8-1 verdict, that the law was too sweeping and ran afoul of the First Amendment.

I find myself agreeing with the outcomes, howsoever depressing, in both cases. Freedom of expression is too important and too valuable to sacrifice in the name of preventing useless junk (India TV) or personally repugnant and abhorrent behaviour (hate speech - unless it is immediately inciting criminal behaviour). In the case of the dogfighting of course, the actual practice remains banned, and there is a good possibility of a much more restricted and specific law passing muster.

I think that India has not protected freedom of expression as vigorously as we should have. The merest threat of adverse social reaction leads to books being banned ("Satanic Verses", Lane's book about Shivaji), movies not being screened ("Fire") and people being harassed (Actress Khusboo's remarks about pre-marital sex lead to 22 cases being filed against her, being dismissed by the SC only 5 years later). Hopefully, as the years pass, the courts and legislatures will strengthen the effectiveness of our equivalent of the First Amendment - Article 19(1)(a).

Changing relations

2010-03-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Prepared a simple chart today tracking the per capita income (PPP terms, in current USD) of India relative to those of China and Pakistan in recent decades. It is rather deflating to recall that till as recently as 2006, India had a lower per capita GDP than Pakistan. But downright stunning to be reminded that China only overtook India in 1991 and Pakistan in 1996! Imagine Pakistan, by some accounts "the most dangerous place on earth" (here and here), not long ago being richer than two aspiring great powers of the 21st century :)

Note: Chart based on IMF data. The data-points from 2010 to 2014 are based on IMF projections made in Oct 2009.

Hauling out the last catch?

2010-03-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) conference in Doha, Qatar has gotten off to a bad start with the proposed bans on trading in bluefin tuna and polar bears being rejected ("U. N. Rejects Export Ban on Atlantic Bluefin Tuna". NY Times, March 18, 2010).

I don't understand Japan's thinking. It's the biggest consumer of Atlantic bluefin tuna and has an obvious interest in ensuring that the fishery remains sustainable in the future. The tuna are imported into Japan and there should not be any fishermen's lobby seeking to prevent its livelihood being cut-off. Is Japan choosing to not reduce/suspend its tuna consumption now, even if it means being entirely deprived of it in 10-20 years time? Strange, for a country which has preserved its environment better than most (Chapter 5: Ecological Strategies of Tokugawa Japan, The Unending Frontier, John F Richards) :(

Pricing to decongest roads

2010-03-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

On most Sunday mornings, I go to a nearby theatre to watch a movie. Some years ago, parking on the road along the mall housing the theatre was free and I always took my car. Later, a parking charge of Rs 20 was introduced. I continued to use my car. Some months ago, the charge was raised to Rs 30. I stopped using my car (mostly), and now take an auto for the journey. There's thus atleast one less car taking up precious road space on Sunday morning. Classic market forces at work - as the price of one good (private car parking) increases, users will switch to a substitute (using autos/taxis or trains/buses).

Given that road space is a very scarce resource in Bombay, and that it is very expensive to create further supply of this resource (flyovers can't be built everywhere), the only solution is for the price of the resource to go up. Parking charges (on designated roads, rather than dedicated parking lots) should ideally go up to a minimum of Rs 100 or so, to really deter the unthinking use of cars in Bombay. Of course, public transport services like buses and trains should be augmented and improved in tandem.

Bombay Time!

2010-03-06T02:56:00.000-08:00

Had a lot of spare time at work today (as usual), so was browsing various articles online (as usual, again!). I made a fascinating discovery.

Now, of course, Bombayites get the benefit of 40 minutes of daylight saving, since local time is behind the standard time, resulting in relatively late sunrises and sunsets. Once upon a time though, Bombay time was actually 40 minutes behind IST. Bombay had its own time zone, separate from that of the rest of India, for about half-a-century from 1905 to 1955! [I assume that Bombay here refers to Bombay Presidency of British India and Bombay state of independent India, rather than to the city].

The story is very interesting, and related here.

Further clicking brought me to the Project Gutenberg website, where this document seems to show that "Bombay Time" was one of the originally designated time zones when these were created in a global accord in the 1880s (search "Bombay" in the linked url). And Bombay was the only city that had an entire time zone named after it. Good ego-stroking for these less glorious days!

Response to rebellion

2010-02-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

This week's Economist (Feb 18) runs a very critical piece about conditions in Manipur ("State of concern"). The article cites that hundreds of insurgents are killed in that tiny state (pop in 2001: 23 lakh) every year, claims that police and paramilitary personnel are being awarded gallantry medals for conducting extra-judical killings and worries that a quarter of the population is unemployed.

All these are extremely serious and troubling allegations, especially when they are published in a magazine as reputable as The Economist. India has of course long held to the principle that no part of the union will be allowed to secede, come what may. While an olive branch is always held out to rebels who renounce violence and agree to refrain from demanding independence, and plenty of concessions are held out as rewards to them, the Indian state has never flinched from employing whatever force was necessary to subdue any rebellion. Despite the inevitable abuses that will occur in any counter-insurgency campaign, I think that India has always displayed systemic sensitivity towards addressing any genuine grievances of the local populace (obviously, since they are citizens). Even in the Kashmir valley, after the egregious blunder of the rigged 1987 state election, despite the complicating factor of the extensive involvement of foreign intruders; the late 90s and the present decade have seen locals being successfully encouraged to participate in the democratic process, human rights violations being addressed and prosecuted more and more and a semblance of normality returning.

This article claims that this is not the case in Manipur. The government is happy to let the security forces rule the state with an iron grip, while the economy stagnates and ordinary citizens suffer, it says. I don't know what to make of it. Indian newspapers don't cover Manipur (or much of the rest of the northeast, for that matter) in detail, so I can't verify the accuracy of the broader picture the article has painted. But Manipur is not under President's Rule atleast, and as far as I know, the government was popularly elected with a decent turnout of voters.

Art for a Layperson

2010-02-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

I went to a western classical music concert yesterday (the showpiece being Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony). I have zero knowledge of classical music; in fact, I have zero knowledge about any form of music. Couldn't even tell which sound emanates from which instrument. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the performances by the 75-80 person strong orchestra, further reinforcing my view that good art can be appreciated even by the uninitiated (knowledge can enhance the appreciation, of course).

Bombay: Transport Infra in 2010

2010-01-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a short rundown of all the transport infrastructure Bombay should expect to be completed this year:

5 Flyovers/Elevated Roads

Hindmata Junction (already inaugurated)
King's Circle
Lalbaug
Sahar Airport Elevated Road
Suman Nagar

40-45 new 12-coach rakes (trains) for the suburban network (43 were delivered last year too)
Rail bridge between Mahim and Bandra, with an additional pair of tracks from Santa Cruz to Mahim
1000 buses for BEST
Terminal 1C at the Santa Cruz domestic airport
Monorail between Jacob Circle (Lower Parel) and Wadala
Second carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link

I might have missed a few flyovers, I suspect. The rate of infrastructure addition is much less than that of Delhi, of course, and possibly lags even those of Bangalore and Madras. But in the last two years, a visible momentum has built up, with the sea link and the domestic airport being the most conspicuous (albeit elitist) examples. I expect 2011 to be a banner year for progress with the commissioning of the 1st line of the 1st phase of the Bombay Metro and the extension of the Jacob Circle-Wadala monorail to Chembur. Then progress will become inexorable, like in Delhi after the completion of the early stages of its metro. After a rather dreadful 2000-2009 decade, 2010-2019 might just see Bombay's transport rejuvenation :)

The Reads of 2009 - Part 2

2010-01-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

Here's the second half of the list:

Collapse, J Diamond (June 7): Yet another engaging and thought-provoking book by Diamond. Here, he explores human societies which collapsed to the point of annihilation or experienced significant degradation of material standards. I found the story of the Viking colony in Greenland especially touching. The underlying warning that the global human society might be hurtling towards the abyss is of course terrifying and sobering (most surveyed societies collapsed rather rapidly after attaining their peaks).
The First World War, J Keegan (June 7): Keegan's masterly account of The Great War is very readable. I was most impressed to discover how the lead up times required to mobilize conscripted armies and bring them to the borders, coupled with the fears of each army that the other might strike first, led to an inexorable momentum from the Habsburg Archduke's assassination on June 28, 1914 to the declaration of war by Britain on Germany on Aug 4, 1914.
The Second World War, J Keegan (July 12): Expectedly insatiated, my next read was Keegan's history of the Second World War :) Since the duration, dynamism and scope of this war is much more than that of the First, Keegan has used an interesting structure to contain the book's length. The account remains comprehensive however, and very illuminating. The big surprise (for me) here was learning how German communities in central and eastern Europe were ethnically cleansed out in the wake of the Wehrmacht's retreat and defeat, in grim payback for the Nazi regime's horrors in the Eastern theatre.
Sophie's World, J Gaarder (July 17): A gift from a friend. I love receiving gifts that invite me out of my ordinary boundaries to explore new interests. In this novelised history of philosophy, the protagonist Sophie receives just such an invitation which leads to a curious adventure and a surrealistic ending. It's not a bad book, but think that I would have appreciated it more had I read it as a teenager.
Dialogues of Plato, Plato (Aug 22): Sophie's World kindled my interest in philosophy, a subject I have generally avoided (apart from Betrand Russell's "Unpopular Essays" and "Sceptical Essays"). This is a collection of five of Plato's dialogues: Apology, Crito, Phaedo (the triad giving an account of Socrates' trial and execution), Symposium (a discussion about love) and Republic (an exposition of the ideal state). While the text is brilliant at times, on the whole, I was not impressed. The arguments are often more sophistry than logical, I think, and the only thing that made me finish the book was the knowledge that the author has been read for over two millennia by people much smarter than me.
India's Partition, edited by M Hasan (Aug 22): This book took me back to the Indian freedom movement, a subject I hadn't touched for 4-5 years. It's a good collection of essays, chronicling the development of the two nation theory in the 1940s, though making for grim reading as Indians moved haphazardly towards the most grizzly massacres and ethnic cleansing in our history.
Mughal Romance, C Verma (Aug 22): A compilation of some romantic, some lascivious and some tragic stories in late medieval India. The book is poorly edited and replete with typos, but couplets by the likes of Khusrau and Firdausi (and stories like the one about the octogenarian Sultan of Malwa, who had 16000 damsels in his harem!) make it worth a read.
Remarkable Creatures, S Carroll (Aug 22): The author has presented short narratives about the exotic journeys made by explorers and scientists which led to significant biological discoveries like Darwin's (and Wallace's) discovery of evolution by natural selection. It's a good read, striking a good balance between readability and informativeness.
The War of the Worlds, HG Wells (Aug 22): I like this classic science fiction novel, even though it makes for slightly laboured reading at times. The author's understanding of the likely manner in which we might encounter intelligent alien life (in the form of a violent invasion) strikes me as essentially correct.
Empires of the Indus, A Albinia (Nov 14): After "City of Djinns" last year, I bought another travelogue written by another young Brit in South Asia. And this narrative of the history (and prehistory) of events along the mighty Indus river does not disappoint. From its mouth near Karachi (and stories of post-Partition Pakistan) to its source in Tibet (prehistoric rock-painting cultures), with Afghan Taliban in between, the author's journey in space and time is a compelling read.

So this was 2009. Pretty good, on the whole :)

The Reads of 2009 - Part 1

2010-01-29T05:04:00.000-08:00

Continuing last year's start, I will again list down the books I read in 2009. Like last year, the list is in roughly chronological order, with the dates in parentheses being the dates of acquisition, though there were enough books that were promoted out of turn. Since I read 20 books last year, and my descriptions are not very succinct, I have divided the list into two parts. Here's part 1:

Eccentric Seattle, JK Pierce (Sep 1, 2006): I finally finished this book, gifted by a friend who lives in Seattle, last year. It is a light-hearted collection of stories about people and events in Seattle's century-and-a-half long history. Some of the essays make for enjoyable reading, but on the whole, the book is more suitable for those who live or have stayed in the city.
Being Indian, P Varma (Jan 13): I first saw this book three years ago in the hands of a friend. The book is an examination of modern Indian society, highlighting national characteristics at odds with our self-image (eg., Indians are extremely hungry for power and status). The thesis is not scientific or very analytical, but nevertheless intriguingly persuasive, and left me thinking for much of the year.
The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium, G Durrell (Jan 13): Durrell is an author recommended by a friend. This compilation of short stories ranges from humorous to downright spine-chilling. Overall, a wonderful read.
Abraham Lincoln, GR Benson (Jan 15): This is an old biography of Abraham Lincoln, and I certainly did not expect to find a volume like this in Jodhpur. I am mesmerised by the resolve shown by Lincoln when facing the gravest peril to the US in its history. His determination to not let slavery spread any further, but of not letting the union dissolve, was surely a major factor in the forging of a stronger nation, giving it the necessary iron to lead the world in the 20th century.
Victory in Bangladesh, Maj Gen L Singh (Jan 15): From America's darkest hour, to one of India's brightest (post-independence). This chronicle of the 1971 war is essentially military in scope, and much too densely written. Yet it remains informative and was a good start to a year in which I read much about warfare.
The Mughal World, A Eraly (Feb 7): This is the third book by Eraly that I have read. The Mughal World is a chronicle of life in the great empire: in the royal harem, in palaces of nobles, in towns and villages, during war marches. It is more downbeat than I expected it would be, but meticulously researched, no doubt.
Wonderful Life, S Gould (Mar 8): The late Stephen Jay Gould was a great essayist, with a knack for presenting lovely anecdotes and trivia even while expounding on a larger idea. This is probably his most famous book, surveying the fantastic Cambrian Era fossils found in the Burgess Shale in Canada. His thesis about the supposed "explosion" of life plans during this period is very controversial and I am inclined to disbelieve it. Regardless, I strongly recommend reading this book and this author.
The Forgotten Man, A Shales (Mar 8): I suspect that this history is a fringe narrative of the Great Depression. Decidedly right-wing, the author rails against the repeated bungling by the government all through the way during 1929-1939, and espouses the gold standard. I am sure a more balanced (and more accurate) view is available elsewhere. But I enjoyed reading this anyway, especially the account of the trial of a small chicken wholesaler in New York harassed by the government's National Recovery Administration (a price and standards fixing commission).
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, E Lefevre (Mar 8): This is a must-read for anyone engaged in trading in the financial markets. A witty and insightful account of the rise and fall (more than once!) of a trader in the US during 1900-1930. However, non-traders will probably not be able to fully appreciate the psychological sub-terrain, especially its repeated evocations of instinct guiding trading decisions; or identify with most traders' persistent inability to stick to their self-set rules.
The Fall, A Camus (Mar 23): I got introduced to this author when a friend gifted me "The Outsider". I really took a liking to that book. This novel is nowhere as good, but I think I will continue reading Camus and his melancholy outlook of the human condition.

Next post...part 2

Happy Republic Day!

2010-01-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

Here's to our republic, the latest addition to our old, very old palimpsest of a nation, founded in the most trying circumstances, written off by many at different points in the last 60 years, but even with all its flaws and failings, still enduring and flourishing. I feel privileged to inherit the legacy of a commitment to freedom and equality of opportunity. I remain amazed and ever grateful to our founding fathers for placing immense faith in the humblest of Indians, by boldly granting adult franchise to an impoverished, exploited and uneducated electorate. While this blog will often remain sceptical about big government, I sincerely hope that 60 years hence, Indians will look back to us and say, "these guys managed their trusteeship of our republic and our nation as well as the founders did."

Review: Plans for the Next Ten Years

2009-12-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

Two years after I initially composed this list, how have I progressed? Not very well, I'm afraid. First of all, I've added two cities to the list - Athens and Istanbul. In 2007, I visited Singapore and Sydney. In 2008, I visited Norway. It was a really enjoyable vacation. but did not contribute to ticking off any places on this list. This year I have been to China, but not to either Beijing or Shanghai. A vacation to Egypt last month yielded Cairo.

So, 11/42 done and 31 remaining. The finishing date has definitely been pushed back to Dec 31, 2017. Next year...will try to see Vienna and Prague, or Tashkent.

Asia

Bombay (done)
Tokyo (done)
Hong Kong (done)
Delhi (done)
Singapore (done)
Beijing
Shanghai
Tashkent
Seoul
Baghdad
Damascus
Jerusalem
Istanbul

Europe

London (done)
Berlin (done)
Paris (done)
Rome (done)
Vienna
Copenhagen
Moscow
Prague
St. Petersburg
Athens

N America

New York
Boston
Los Angeles
San Fransisco
Chicago
Miami
Toronto
Vancouver

S America

Rio de Janeiro
Beunos Aires
Lima

Africa

Cairo (done)
Johannesburg
Durban
Cape Town
Nairobi

Australia

Sydney (done)
Melbourne
Perth

Excessive expectations

2009-12-31T01:10:00.000-08:00

Andhra Pradesh governor ND Tiwari has been forced to resign following a sting operation that caught him having sex with 3 women. I support his sacking, but only because Mr Tiwari is alleged to have asked for sexual favours in return for an illegal allocation of land. Otherwise I believe that public officials should be allowed to live their private lives in peace. It is nobody's business but that of their family and friends. Public officials should be competent, not saints.

Views on Capital Punishment

2009-12-29T03:49:00.000-08:00

David Brooks is an influential columnist who writes for the New York Times. Each year, he lists his favourite essays. This year's selection can be found in two parts: here and here.

Among the many well-written and thought-provoking essays that Brooks has listed this year is an article in the New Yorker about Cameron Willingham, who was executed in Texas in 2004 for burning his three daughters to death by setting fire to his house ("Trial By Fire"). But as the moving essay poignantly narrates, the prosecution's case was almost certainly flawed, and an innocent person might have been killed by the state.

I am opposed to the death penalty. But I clearly recognise that the case for the other view is very strong too. There are two main justifications for the use of the death penalty in a liberal society:

Deterrence: This rests on the claim that inflicting the ultimate punishment for sufficiently heinous crimes acts as a deterrent for would-be criminals. I am sure there has been much research conducted into the matter, though I am not aware what the consensus/majority view is. But in theory atleast, this is an empirical argument, and can be settled by data. Obviously there is the example of the contrast between Western Europe, which does not impose the death penalty, yet avoids much violent crime; and the US, which executes hundreds of people every year, yet has a much higher violent crime rate. I also think that what matters much more than the degree of the penalty is the certainty that a crime will be prosecuted promptly and justice will be delivered.

Justice: The second reason for instituting the death penalty is that some people simply deserve to die for their crimes. I certainly agree. Terrorists who attack civilians, serial killers, rapists, child molesters all probably deserve to lose their right to live. But just because someone deserves to die does not mean that society should kill them. Gandalf in Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' says, "Many that live deserve death. And some die who deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice...Even the wise cannot see all the ends." (Book 4, Chapter 1). I believe that liberal societies should unilaterally adopt the principle of the state not killing anyone (except in self-defence), deserving or otherwise. I realise that this is a point of principle, and there can be those who believe in other principles.

Opposed to these arguments in favour of the death penalty is the point made about the irreversibility of the punishment. The essay above highlights exactly this issue: despite the realisation that Mr Willingham was wrongly convicted, nothing can be done to bring him back to life. Most people would agree that this is the gravest objection to the use of capital punishment; recent use of DNA evidence in the developed countries has shown that the miscarriage of justice while convicting people occurs far more frequently than is acceptable.

[There is also a more prosaic argument about the use of the death penalty imposing higher cost burdens on policing and prosecuting functions (due to the higher burden of proof required, greater number of appeals, etc). On the other side is the occasionally cited fear, in India atleast, about criminals escaping if they are not promptly hanged. I can only say that it must be a weak state indeed that would not have the confidence in its ability to keep its captives imprisoned indefinitely, if it chose to do so].

Truly Distinguished!

2009-10-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

What a lovely sentence reported in this NY Times article printed on October 12! ("A Question of When Dishonesty Becomes Criminal")

(The appeals court decision affirming Mr. Black’s conviction, by Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, contained perhaps the best judicial digression of 2008. Discussing a so-called ostrich jury instruction, Judge Posner paused to say that ostriches do not in fact bury their heads in the sand. “It is pure legend and a canard on a very distinguished bird,” Judge Posner wrote.) [emphasis added]

New Set of Books

2009-08-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

Went to Landmark today and bought 5 books. Unless I purchased so many on that one day in Tokyo in 2006, this is the most number of books I have bought at one go. As always, the topics are varied. There's HG Wells' "War of the Worlds", a book about Mughal romance, one on India's Partition (not the one by Jaswant Singh) and one tracing the history of the geologists and biologists whose explorations led to the exposition of the theory of evolution by natural selection. I also bought Plato's Dialogues (Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic). This was the direct result of a gift I got from a friend in July - Sophie's World, a history of Western philosophy in the form of a novel.

Hope for happy September reading!

Lost causes

2009-07-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have read some military history this year (prominently about the war for the liberation of Bangladesh, World War I and now World War II). I also read a biography of Abraham Lincoln which obviously spends a lot of time on the US Civil War. I hope to read more about the Civil War as well as the Cuban missile crisis and the US War of Independence in the future.

The Civil War is truly a tragic tale. I cannot but help feel some sympathy for the Southerners. Their cause, the defense of the right of states to perpetuate slavery and their right to secede from the Union, was wrong, but the sacrifices made by the Confederacy were immense - 5-6% of the white population (Sources here and here) and an astounding 18% of Confederate white males aged 13-43 died in the Civil War (Source here). Their devotion to the cause was sincere. I recall the scene from Gone with the Wind when Scarlett comes back to her devastated farm and crazed father in the aftermath of the war. She is worried about her financial future. Her father asks her to not worry since they have many bonds. "Which bonds?", she asks. "Why, Confederate, of course!", her deranged father replies, in a line which moves me everytime I think about it.

Then there's the story of Robert E Lee, the famed southern general. He was serving with the Union army when war was about to break out. President Lincoln offered him the command of the whole army. Lee was opposed to the idea that states could secede from the union. He was not much in favour of slavery either. He probably understood that the chances of the South winning were slim, since its population was only a fourth that of the North, and its industrial capacity not even a tenth. Yet he choose to join the Confederate Army, after Virginia, his state, had joined the Confederacy. A tale of honour and loyalty, I think.

Diplomatic immunity?

2009-07-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

How difficult is it for a 329-word statement to be screwed up? On July 16, India and Pakistan issued a joint statement after a meeting of the prime ministers at the NAM summit in Egypt. The brief statement contains two sentences that, quite rightly, created an uproar in the press and Parliament:

"...Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas."

"Action on terrorism should not be linked to the Composite Dialogue process and these should not be bracketed."

Together the statements reflect a seemingly self-inflicted body blow to India's longstanding positions vis a vis Pakistan. For over a decade now, India has explicitly demanded action by Pakistan against terrorists based in its terrority as a pre-condition for bilateral talks to progress. And India has denied any involvement in the Balochistani separatist movement.

The inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement obviously implies Indian acceptance of its involvement in the province's separatist movement, or atleast that of elements operating from Indian soil (why would the Pakistani PM discuss information about threats in Balochistan to the Indian PM if this information had no connection to India). Obviously India did not and does not intend to accept any such hypothesis, as the government later clarified. Why then was Balochistan mentioned in the joint statement?

The second statement seems to accept that the bilateral dialogue between the two countries can continue even if there is no action by Pakistan against terrorists who have attacked or are intent on attacking India. The Indian government has since claimed in Parliament that the sentence actually meant to convey that Pakistan must take action against terrorists, whether or not the bilateral talks proceed. If so, someone has to work on their penmanship.

That someone is the Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, it seems. He and his Pakistani counterpart were the only officials involved in drafting the statement. In an article in the Indian Express ("Joint statement: After the blooper, a bizarre assumption"), Coomi Kapoor says that Menon initially dismissed the concerns about the obvious lacunae in the joint statement raised by Indian journalists in Egypt. "The secretary suggested arrogantly that journalists did not understand English and could not comprehend what was there before them in black and white," she says of his conduct in Egypt. Later, he conceded to Parliamentarians that the statement was poorly drafted ("These things happen, what can we do?" Coomi quotes his excuse).

It is amazing that such a short statement could have been messed up so badly, that too by such a high standing diplomat. He probably won't be given the boot, especially since his removal will mean public acknowledgment by the government of his blunder. But for a country with ambitions of global influence, these self goals will make the already difficult climb up the league tables even more so.

Eclipse chasing in Surat

2009-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

I made a short trip to Surat yesterday/today. Really short. Took a bus to the city late last night, reached there at dawn, was back in Bombay by train by early afternoon.

The purpose of my excursion was to view the solar eclipse, which was going to be visible from Bombay as well, but only partially - Surat was in the path of totality.

There are two aspects of a total solar eclipse that make for really interesting viewing - the sight (through eclipse glasses, of course) of a dark circular disc encircled by a bright ring as the moon almost covers the sun, and the transition from daylight to darkness and back to daylight in a matter of minutes. The cloud cover of the past few days made it extremely unlikely that I would be able to see the sun eclipsed, and so it proved to be.

But I experienced the other effect very vividly. Around 5:50 am, dawn commenced. By 6:15, it was quite bright, despite the dense clouds gliding in the sky. Then it began getting darker. Unnoticeable at first, the effect soon became clear. By 6:25 the sky was totally dark. For 5 minutes, night had befallen again. It is an amazing experience. Since my bus had reached Surat late, I went through the entire experience sitting in its front cabin (thankfully, with very large and clear window panes). Almost as soon as it began, the total eclipse was over. By 6:35 the sky was normal again. It was my first experience of a total solar eclipse, though not the last, I hope :)

Not much else to report from Surat. I was impressed by the series of flyovers that connect the city centre to the national highway via the "Ring Road" (One, a really long one, is still in the process of construction). And the design of many of the shopping complexes (shops lining up on each floor with a balcony-type passage connecting them) reminded me of Ahmedabad. Is it a Gujarat thing?

Democratic process

2009-04-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

One of the funnier ways of preventing the passage of a bill through parliament. From the April 18 issue of the Economist ("Trois strikes and you're out"). The bill's aim is to curb internet piracy by blocking persons who repeatedly download copyrighted content from obtaining broadband internet connections.

"But on April 9th, in a surprise vote, the lower house of France’s parliament rejected the law. Only 15 members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, which wrote the bill, turned up for the final vote, which is usually just a matter of procedure—both houses of parliament had already approved the law’s main elements. At the last moment a group of Socialist members rushed in to oppose it, resulting in a 21-15 defeat. According to Libération, a French newspaper, the Socialists had hidden behind heavy curtains [emphasis mine] in the entrance to the parliamentary chamber."

Hiding behind the curtains - hilarious!

Report card 2004-2009

2009-04-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

The largest elections in history begin tomorrow. What do I think about the performance of the government about to be replaced, or reelected?

Like many, I was mightily surprised by the victory of the Congress 5 years ago. That vote made me lose most of my faith in the opinion polls conducted by the Indian media. I was pleased with the outcome, though I disapproved of Manmohan Singh becoming prime minister without being elected to the Lok Sabha.

Good

First, the good. The most significant achievements of the government were the enactment of the Right to Information act (RTI) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREG). The RTI has made government more transparent and has made it easier for the citizenry to hold governments and bureaucrats to account. As an avowed partisan of small government, I have misgivings about the NREG. However, designed in a manner to essentially transfer cash to the poor, it is probably the best poverty relief scheme that we have. It seems to have been setup such that there is some local accountability to mitigate leakages.

The nuclear agreement with the United States almost brought down the government. But Singh deserves to be commended for sticking to his guns, ensuring that India's nuclear energy programme can be kickstarted after stalling due to lack of fuel. The behaviour of the BJP with regards to the treaty was disgraceful.

The government continued the work done under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan begun during the previous government's tenure. The massive investments in this endeavour are correcting a historical wrong and will hopefully give India big dividends in the medium term.

The railways did unexpectedly well under Laloo. I give him credit, if for nothing else than atleast not interfering too much with the technocrats. Also implemented was the Value Added Tax. It was put into progress by the Vajpayee government, but actually implementing anything in India must be given credit :)

Bad

The list of the bads is not long, but has had more impact, unfortunately. The UPA government ruled during a period of unprecedented prosperity. In the five years from April '04 to March '09, India's GDP grew by almost 50%. Tax receipts went up from 1.9 lakh crore in FY04 to an estimated 4.6 lakh crore in FY09! Yet the government ran a deficit in every single year! Subsidising oil and fertilizers, maintaining the army of bureaucrats and waiving farmer debts (often granted in the first place because of government mandated priority sector lending) all wasted significant sums. The resulting debt burden is pushing up interest rates and making it difficult for the private sector to obtain affordable funding. And of course, the government's return on the borrowed funds will surely not be enough to prevent future generations being burdened with additional taxes or inflation.

The highway building programme pushed by the BJP was neglected and it consequently stalled. So was the case with divestment of government stakes in PSUs. Internal security suffered as city after city was subjected to multiple terrorist attacks, and all the government seemed to have were mere words and a home minister who always made sure his clothes were clean and ironed. The Naxalites have been bolder and more destructive in the last five years too, it appears. The constitutional right to freedom of movement for every Indian citizen was allowed to be attacked in the streets of Bombay as the MNS threatened migrants, while both the state and centre looked on in silence.

Overall my impression of the government is that it acted when it should have sat pat (not spending the burgeoning tax revenues, for example), and became a mum spectator when the situation cried out for action (not improving intelligence services and policing even as the Naxalites and Islamic terrorists kept attacking rural and urban areas respectively). Too many wasted opportunities :(

Hope in rural India

2009-04-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal has published an article about an example of improving economic conditions in rural Bihar. In my head (I do not know if statistics corroborate this or not), rural Bihar and Orissa are the economically most underdeveloped regions of India.

The article ("India Defies Slump, Powered by Growth in Poor Rural States") focuses on a community called the Mushahar (literally, rat eaters) which it claims include rat meat in their diet to survive. It documents how recent government initiatives to spread education and provide public infrastructure are improving the lives of people. The full article requires paid subscription to read, but I'll quote an excerpt here to give its flavour.

"As the sun came up on a recent day, a group of Mushahar gathered round a water pump to wash clothes. Later in the morning a long line of Mushahar children made their way up a mud embankment and, in a profound departure from community tradition, headed to primary school.

The government has repaired the school's roof in recent months, hired a new teacher and added an extra bathroom to provide privacy for girls. Even so, the school doesn't have chairs or desks, so students sit on empty grain bags and write on a cement floor covered with dirt.

Each day, a group of government-hired Mushahar, known as "motivators," roust children from their homes and escort them to class. Motivator Phulwanti Devi, a recent and rare Mushahar college graduate, says she battles parents almost every morning to release their children from farm work.

"We tell them, 'It will improve their future,'" says Ms. Devi, 25 years old.

"They reply, 'We don't see that you have such a good job.' I tell them: 'I have a diploma, and so I can get a better job. What about you?'"

Still, Ms. Devi and other motivators say attendance at the school has grown. Teachers say about 150 children are enrolled. On a recent day, the motivators rounded up about half that many."

The article also claims that according to the Bihar Institute of Economic Studies, the number of people migrating out of the state dropped 27% in the 2006-08 period compared with 2001-03. Such articles give me hope - if Bihar can progress, India must be on the right path.

Newspapers and worldviews

2009-04-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

In 8th standard, I read an essay in a school text book on "intellectual rubbish" by Bertrand Russell. Simply put, this placed me on to the path of serious reading. But more on that some other time.

One of the methods recommended by Russell to avoid becoming too caught up in a bubble of views echoing one's own was to read a variety of newspapers with different editorial opinions. An excellent idea, I think.

In the 'international' (dominated by western countries, but just about international, I warrant) sphere, I read three newspapers regularly. The New York Times (NYT) is left-of-centre, the Economist is libertarian and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is right-wing. All three are excellent newspapers, of course, in terms of their quality of reporting and writing. As for their editorial stances, I am closest to the Economist. But reading the NYT Op-ed pages reminds me that there are perfectly reasonable people who actually support trade unions, and scanning a WSJ editorial passionately arguing against inheritance taxes gives me pause for thought. Reading all three definitely helps me to appreciate the range of opinions that can be held by people smarter and better-informed than me, though I may still choose to stick my own ideas.

I wonder whether I can do so for Indian newspapers as well. For many years, I have been a regular reader of the Indian Express (IE). The quality of journalism is very good, though the writing leaves a lot to be desired. As for the editorial side, I often agree with it, but there are regular disagreements too. I just have not been able to get used to any other newspaper, mostly because the frivolous element so dominates them. But as for worldviews, I suspect that most English newspapers (in Bombay atleast) have more or less the same opinions - broadly socially liberal, but too anti-poor (see an earlier entry about how I think that pro-middle class is actually a euphemism for anti-poor). For me to implement Russell's suggestion, I would have to graduate to Hindi or Marathi newspapers. I have tried some Hindi papers, but their quality is simply not good enough to persuade me to read them regularly. Maybe I should take to reading the CPM, RSS and Shiv Sena papers, though I really suspect their quality.

Population: A worry no longer?

2009-03-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

Actually, I do not have a definite opinion regarding the answer to the question of India's population and its sustainability, though I have stated my preference here. This entry is more in the nature of a public musing. According to the 2001 census, India's population was 102.8 crore (cr). We are poised to overtake China in 15-20 years. Everyone agrees that India is bursting at the seams. So why my title?

Two years later, we will get the preliminary findings of the 2011 census. I expect that it will record India's population as being between 118 and 120 cr. And if that's the case, the tide would have begun to turn. Between 1991 and 2001, India added 18.5 cr people. At a 120 cr population in 2011, the corresponding figure for 2001-2011 will be 17.2 cr. This will be the first occasion since independence when fewer people would have been added in a decade than in the one preceding it.

Also, one of the legacies of the last decade of rapid economic growth has been the massive investment in education. Despite all the inefficiencies of government, we will still end up with a literacy rate greater than 80% in 2011. This has put in place a necessary precondition for rapid decline in fertility.

While the UN still predicts a massive population explosion in India, with a projected population of over 160 cr in 2050 (and still growing), I remain optimistic that we will be able to attain stable numbers of around 150-155 cr by 2050, Population might even decline by the end of the century as the huge numbers of people being born now die off (The highest number of births recorded in a year in India was in the late 1990s).

Is 155 cr a sustainable population for a country of our size and natural resources? Given our woefully underproductive economy (agricultural yields being half or worse than those of developed countries, for example), which can be easily improved, I think we can manage such a population. Obviously we would need to become more urbanised and free up land for forests and wildlife, and remain relatively frugal as a society in our lifestyles. And the impact of global warming (and other presently unforeseen calamities) is a big if. If we had committed sufficient resources to education in the 1960s and 1970s, we would not have been on the path to becoming the world's most populous nation. But we might nonetheless be able to escape with survivable damage.

The Rich Middle Class

2009-03-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was sitting in a restaurant in Madras with a friend from WIMWI chatting about how expensive food in the city was. In our conversation, he described both of us as being "middle class". Our discussion did not become more involved and we moved on to other topics, but the phrase has lingered in my mind.

Virtually everyone whom I have known and conversed with has described himself or herself and their families as being middle class. It is a description that rankles me sometimes. A recent report in The Economist described a commonly accepted range of middle class income as being USD 2-13 a day. Assuming a PPP exchange rate of 10 rupees to a dollar, the upper end of the range translates into less than INR 50 000 a year. I have no doubt that the "virtually everyone" referred to above each belonged to families making more than that sum every year (even assuming only one earning member in the family).

A few years ago Mckinsey came out with a report ("The 'Bird of Gold': The Rise of India's Consumer Market") which described the middle class as being composed of households earning between 2 and 10 lakh each year. By that definition, many of my acquaintances might qualify, though not most. The definitions of the middle class sound reasonable, especially in cities like Bombay where rent alone can cost 2-3 lakh a year.

What's my point? Families earning 2-10 lakh may indeed be middle class by the absolute definition of the word, but relative to their fellow countrymen they are vastly better off. The number of people included in this middle class in 2005, according to Mckinsey, was 5 cr. That's less than 5% of India's population. Obviously the number of above the middle class income range is less than 1% of the population. Which means that 94% of India's population is neither rich nor middle class. They are therefore poor.

I think that the small creamy layer at the top who yet persist in describing themselves as middle class have contributed to the adoption, persistence and justification of economic policies that are harming the poor. A policy that is described as pro-middle class in the newspapers is likely to be considered a good policy. Yet if we think about it, such a policy may bring no benefits to the 80-95% of the population (or even harm them). Take the LPG subsidy, one of the most egregious examples. Less than 20% of India's population uses LPG, most presumably in the top quintile income bracket (see pdf link). Yet the government chooses to subsidise the rates of LPG, upto the tune of over 50% at the height of the oil bubble last year. If we were a rich country, we could call this a subsidy to the deserving middle class (though even that would not be a very persuasive case). But India is desperately poor. 26% of Indians live below the official poverty line of around INR 7000 a year. Shouldn't every single minute of our economic policy making thought process be devoted to ameliorating their condition?

Hence my annoyance at the use of middle class by very well-off friends to describe themselves (My mom does the same, which vexes me even further). 7000 rupees a year? 25 crore Indians somehow eek out a living on less than that. If only some of us who earn more than 100 times that amount each year referred to ourselves as the rich rather than middle class, perhaps we would be shamed enough into forgoing the cheap diesel and LPG we use.

Stealing from the unborn

2009-02-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

That's what budget deficits often are, in my opinion. Often, but not always. I was delighted to see this graph in this week's "The Economist".

(Source: Stimulating, The Economist, Feb 19th 2009)

How refreshing to see vertical bars rising above the zero level in a fiscal deficit graph! The article quotes the Chilean finance minister Mr Velasco as saying, "being a Keynesian means being one in both parts of the cycle." Since Chile has prudently saved money in the boom years of 2003-08, reducing public debt to an incredible 4% of GDP by Dec 2008 (India's stood well above 60% in March 2008, even before this year's massive deficit), it can now responsibly run deficits for a number of years without excessively burdening future generations.

Contrast the prudency of Chile to the profligacy of India. India's leaders seem to have forgotten that in addition to being representatives of current citizens, they are also guardians of the nation-state and are trustees for future generations. For the past 15 years (and probably longer than that), not a single year has gone by when the Indian government spent less than it earned. This borrowed money will have to be repaid by future citizens in the form of higher taxes (or a bout of significant inflation, hurting the poorest most). I understand that for a underdeveloped country like ours, governments may borrow to invest in socially and economically productive projects whose returns to future generations will offset the costs of debt servicing (Building a school or a road, say). But we have been borrowing money to spend on current consumption, subsidising fuel and fertiliser prices, to take the most egrerious examples.

Consider a scenario. A man begets a child. He immediately rushes out and buys a Mercedes, pledging to pay the carmaker the first five years of his daughter's future earnings. Would you consider this man as responsible? India has been doing exactly this, writing out IOUs on behalf of her future generations and using the cash to buy cheaper fuel and fertilisers.

India's GDP grew by 8-9% from FY04 through FY08. Yet the budget deficits never disappeared. This year (FY09), growth of 6.5-7% is expected. The deficit is expected to balloon to as much as 11% (centre + states). In 2007, Chile grew by less than 6%. Yet it managed a surplus of almost 9% (Copper-boom related revenues played a part obviously, but the restraint in spending is still commendable). How very frugal is India being, probably because we have simply borrowed this money from our children :(

The reads of 2008

2009-02-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

Felt like listing down the books I read last year. I think it is an exhaustive list, since these are all books I have now and I don't recall borrowing any books from acquaintances and am not a member of any library. The list is in roughly chronological order, with the dates in parenthesis being the dates of purchase. However, there probably were books that stayed on the reading shelf longer than others.

The Unending Frontier, J. Richards (Jan 1, 2007): Clearing this book from my to-do list took some doing. Altough very informative, it is a somewhat tedious read. Using 14 case studies from across the world, it presents an account of the impact of human economic activities on the environment from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to all Creation, O. Judson (c. Feb 1): This is a wickedly witty and highly readable, yet scientifically robust, account of some of the intriguing sexual behaviours of creatures big and small. Judson is a first rate writer. She looks rather pretty too :)
The Black Swan, N. Taleb (Mar 2): I like this work by Taleb much more than "Fooled by Randomnes" for some reason, probably because the wealth of historical examples he states has gone up substantially, while his annoying arrogance is not so much on display.
Fooled by Randomness, N. Taleb (Mar 8): [I read this book before I bought it. Might have even read it in late 2007] I did not think that the book contains too much that is groundbreaking, perhaps because I was already familiar with most of the ideas presented. I doubt if I would like Taleb's personality either. Nevertheless, the book is worth reading.Overall, Taleb's ideas about randonmess being a much greater part of our lives than we like to think it is, make for reflective reading.
How the Mind Works, S. Pinker (March 8): Pinker is one of my favourite science writers. This book did not disappoint. This exquisite survey of the human mind is definitely a must-read.
Barbarians at the Gate, B. Burrough and J. Heylar (Mar 8): This seat-of-the-pants account of the buyout of RJR Nabisco is a must-read for everyone, whether one is interested in finance/business or not. The story is brilliantly told, the characters are superb - it could not have been written better had it been fiction, I venture.
Oliver Twist, C. Dickens (May 11): The first classic novel from Victorian times that I have read. I liked it and am resolved to read more of its kind.
The Third Chimpanzee, J. Diamond (May 11): I had read Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" a couple of years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. Here, the author brings together biology, anthropology and history brilliantly to survey and explain many aspects of our behaviour and culture.
Breaking the Spell, D. Dennett (May 11): In a very long, but quite readable argument, the author spells out the case for scientific study of organised religion, sketches out a plausible course of the historical evolution of faith, and its implications for the treatment of religion in modern society.
The Character of Physical Law, R. Feynman (May 11): The great physicist is as articulate as ever in describing the fundamental laws that govern our world. The book is a compilation of a series of lectures he delivered at Cornell University in the 1960s. I wouldn't recommend it to people who have not studied physics beyond 10th standard, however.
Ancient Rome, S. Baker (May 11): This is a dramatically told tale of important moments in Rome's journey from being a rising republic, then mighty empire to ultimate decay and fall.
Liar's Poker, M. Lewis (June 21): A gift from a friend. This famous account of life as a sales trader in Wall Street makes for great reading and is very insightful. Present circumstances have only heightened the sense of disgust/disillusionment about how the incentive structure of investment banks has served to benefit only employees of those firms at the expense of customers, shareholders and, ultimately, taxpayers.
The Vikings, J. Clements (July 8): I bought this in Oslo from the Viking Ship Museum. While it has some interesting information about the Vikings, it was largely a disappointing read - too many names, not enough lucidity. The account about the Viking settlement in North America is interesting though.
Timon of Athens, W. Shakespeare (July 13): A play that I bought during my London trip. This is one of the Bard's less famous plays, but the story about money and its fleetingness was certainly appropriate for 2008.
A History of Warfare, J. Keegan (July 26): Another author whom I have read before. This book, a rich account of the methods of warfare over the last 3000 years, is very informative.
When Genius Failed, R. Lowenstein (Sep 21): I bought and read this account of the hedge fund LTCM (including Nobel Prize winning partners) in the days after Lehman's bankruptcy. This book is very well-written, capturing the saga of hubris that ultimately devastated the fund and its partners.
Nehru, J. Brown (Oct 5): I read Nehru's autobiography in 1998, along with his "Glimpses of World History" and "Discovery of India". I think very highly of Nehru's writing skills and of his towering intellect, I think his commitment to the cause of democracy was an important facotr in stabilising our country after independence, but always wonder why he got the economic policy wrong. This biography is an adequately sympathetic record of India's first prime minister, without glossing over his many failures.
City of Djinns, W. Dalrymple (Nov 16): Had this book recommended by a friend in mind for a while; finally read it now (as it happened, in Delhi). A splendid account of Delhi and the many faces of its history by a gifted writer. I will surely read more by him.
The Argumentative Indian, A. Sen (Dec 12): A scholarly collection of essays about Indian "culture, history and identity", as the cover puts it. Sen demonstrates his vast knowledge and deep understanding of social and economic questions he addresses, maintaining a humanist vision without giving in to blind socialism/nationalism.

The list does not include "Eccentric Seattle", a collection of sketches of historical events/people of the city, which is still on my shelf, and another that I shall rather not discuss here. It also does not include the handful of volumes of manga I bought in London and read during the ensuing months.

18-19 books in a year is not satisfactory, though it is a big improvement over the pace of 2005-07, I think. I want to recreate my last year of engineering, when I read around 40 books, I suspect. Have read 3 books in Jan already, so that's a good start. I have also noticed while writing this entry that my recollection of the content of the books I have read is very poor. I should start a habit of taking short notes the minute I complete a book, so that my ability to recall its content is improved.

A worthy gift

2009-01-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Recently finished Amartya Sen's "The Argumentative Indian". I really liked the book and Dr Sen's style of thought and writing. Will surely be reading more of his works in the future.

One of the most interesting essays in a book full of excellent pieces was the one on sexual discrimination. I was surprised to read that the variable most correlated to the fertility rate of a state/country is its female literacy rate. Most other variables are like per capita income, general literacy rate, GDP growth rate,urbanisation rate are not even significantly related. Even the female labour force participation rate is not as important as the female literacy rate. One of the most serious problems plaguing India is population growth that is poised to make it the most populous country in the world within a couple of decades. Yet Sen's thesis suggests that a concerted effort to educate every girl child in the country now would bring fertility below replacement rates by 2030 or 2035. Needless to say, even apart from this, improving the educational attainment of girls (and boys) will bring immense benefits to the country, and this is a goal that should be priority number 1.

Where India lost the plot in focussing on primary education is unclear to me, but the fact that after 60 years of independence, we have barely touched 75% literacy, is a disaster. If only the government had decided to focus all of its efforts into running schools instead of running banks, oil refineries, bread making units, airlines and what not; if only the government had deployed its best civil servants as teachers and school administrators instead of wasting them as managers of PSUs; if only the government had spent tax revenues into building classrooms and science labs in the least acccessible villages, instead of subsidising LPG for the relatively well-off middle classes...if only.

Every government has paid lip service to education of course. The present government has not performed too badly - the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan has improved school enrollment rates among children (though droput rates among secondary school are still alarmingly high), and the midday meal scheme is helping right another wrong inflicted upon our nation's children - their abysmally high malnutrition rates. But I wish the campaign for universal literacy is taken up on a warfooting. We are trustees for our nation's future, I believe, and there are few better gifts we can bequeath to the future than a fully literate generation of Indians.

Vitality and viability

2008-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

A nice blog entry in the NY Times about the resilience of New York city and its ability to regenerate itself with changing times ("New York, New York: America's Resilient City"). I of course see parallels to Bombay, a city which, in face of all adversities, has constantly renewed itself during the past 300 years.

The article claims that the primary reason for NY's success is its human capital. "Historically, human capital — the education and skills of a work force — predicts which cities are able to reinvent themselves and which ones are not." I quite agree (and think that even unskilled labour can add much to a city's economic muscle). And that is why Bombay needs to retain its historic welcoming attitude to migrants - both the poor, who dream of becoming rich; and the rich, who dream of becoming richer. From across India and across the world, the greater the number of the enterprising that the city is able to attract, the brighter its future will be. Those who wish to close our city's gates inadvertantly wish to sign its death warrant, I believe.

One for the road

2008-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

And so ends the 8-year reign of Bush II.

The announcement of $18 bn for GM and Chrysler is the crowning glory of this administration. The economy is in a mess. Unemployment is high, and the Big Three of Detroit employ 3,00,000 people and indirectly support 3 mn, according to some analysts. Something had to be done. But that something was not government intervention, I think. I of course favour bankruptcy over nationalisation. Bondholders would have taken a hit. The generous pay of union-affiliated labour would have been reduced to more realistic levels. Restructuring and recovery would have been faster. The next best option was nationalisation. But throwing money at the companies without nationalising them is surely the abdication of all pretense to assigning responsibility for the firms' failure. Surely the shareholders should have been wiped out. Management has been left in place. It seems clear that these companies are soon going to be back, cap in hand, for more aid. These companies, that have messed up so badly, are not being allowed to die a natural death, but die they will, after sucking up more money from the taxpayer.

[BTW while the bailout for Citigroup was necessary, I think that it too should have been fully nationalised, with the aim of breaking it up and reprivatising the parts as soon as possible]

But then, what else could we except from an administration that ran down the fiscal surpluses accumulated in the Clinton years and turned them into some of the biggest deficits in US history, waged two costly wars that have cost over a trillion dollars, reinstated the practice of torturing captives, watched as a city drowned in the wake of a storm and of course presided over the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

It is always a mistake to write off America, but the 21st century has begun disastrously for the country.

Something to cheer about

2008-12-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

The NSE today released a circular declaring that, in accordance with SEBI directions, the conditions for the securities lending and borrowing scheme (SLBS) will be relaxed from Dec 22 onwards in order to attract more participants to that market. The SLBS is basically a mechanism which allows participants to short sell shares in the Indian equity markets. I suspect that India is the only country in the world which has made short selling easier this year (the practice was introduced in India just a few months ago). I of course am all in favour of allowing short selling. Atleast some regulators have the sense to avoid shooting the messenger.

Anger

2008-11-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

The terrorists have at last been defeated. Now comes the time for questions and answers.

The sense of anger amongst the citizenry is palpable. And it is as much directed against the government as the terrorists. The government has completely failed to discharge its duty of protecting citizens. This was not an attack from the blue. For the past many years, terrorist attacks have rocked multiple Indian cities on multiple situations. Bombay was last attacked in July '06. This year, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore had already been targeted. Bombay was clearly high on the priority-list of the terrorists. RDX had been smuggled into the country via its coast in 1993. Why is Bombay's - Bombay, the home of the Indian Navy's western fleet - coastline still so porous? Why were there no NSG commandos in Bombay? Why was the union home minister on TV announcing the despatch of the black cats for the terrorists to see and plan?

There must be accountability. The union home minister Shivraj Patil has to resign. So does Maharashtra's home minister RR Patil. Perhaps even the Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra.

Unless there is concrete action by the union and state governments in the next few months to improve internal security, the Congress party faces a big rout in the elections in May '09. For many reasons, including its complete inaction on economic reforms and infrastructre creation, and its gross fiscal mismanagement in a time of economic prosperity, I was quite disinclined to recast my vote for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. That disinclination has almost become a certainty now, and it will take sometime big to change.

Nov 27 (2nd Post)

2008-11-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

Was able to go to office after all (the suburban branch, not the one in Nariman Point of course)...I am very pleased about that :)

Nov 27

2008-11-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

I returned home a little earlier than normal last night and decided to go on a short drive in my car (since it hadn't been moved for over 10 days). The Metro line that will connect Andheri to Ghatkopar is being built quite close to my home. I was very pleased to see that construction is underway in full swing, and after the somewhat depressing trip to Delhi, became optimistic about Bombay's future again. On my way, the car radio mentioned something about incidents in South Bombay, though it was not very clear what had happened. By the time I reached home at around 11, it was clearer that terrorists had struck the city again.

By morning, the gravity of the situation was quite clear. But I wished still that the daily routines of millions of citizens wouldn't be disrupted. I don't think I have ever been as keen to go to office as I was today - just to send a message that ordinary citizens will not allow themselves to be paralyzed by the violent acts of a few criminals. I learnt that my office building, which is bang opposite the Oberoi Hotel, had been cordoned off. I then decided to go to another office of my firm in a different part of the city. On my way there, I learnt that the authorities had decided to shut the capital matkets for the day. So I returned home. It may have been a necessary and sensible decision, and yet I still wish that we had been able the keep the markets open...terrorists should not be allowed savour these little victories they score by disrupting our lives.

Time running out?

2008-11-25T10:18:00.001-08:00

I visited Delhi this weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. It was my 4th visit to the city in the last 2 1/2 years, though the 2nd and 3rd visits were both flying ones, bereft of any real opportunity to see the city. While I couldn't see much of Delhi this time either (was confined to the southern parts of the city), whatever little I saw this weekend confirmed my expectations - Delhi is way ahead of Bombay in terms of physical infrastructure.

Cities go through their ups and downs of course. Delhi has had a good run in the last 10 years, largely due to the presence of a chief minister committed to development and interventions by the courts. Bombay on the other hand, has suffered at the hands of politicians who are more interested in changing the name of the city than its nature, in banning dance bars than preventing hooliganism, in restricting the arrival of citizens from other parts of the country than enforcing laws against the encroachment of public property. But be that as it may, at some point, the human capital advantage of Bombay will be outweighed by the infrastructural advantage of Delhi. Commercial capitals tend to stick - witness the centuries-long domination of London and New York of the UK and US respectively (and even Bombay's own domination of the Indian financial scene since atleast the 1850s). But if commerce ever flies away, it will be impossible to bring it back. And that would be a tragedy for the city and its citizens.

A few days ago, I read an extremely interesting article in the Indian Express arguing that it is the politicians, bureaucrats and other government officials who head the city who are outsiders rather than the migrants they denounce. How I wish Bombay were made a union territory (a wish expressed before in this blog, I think)! Perhaps then we would have rule by natives, and some accountability which could lead to rapid progress.

Film Notice: Red

2008-11-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

I saw "Red" today. Red is the third part of the "Three Colours" trilogy (Blue, White and Red) by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski. I liked the movie somewhat, but found it a bit slow. The actress Irene Jacob looks very pretty in the movie. I should write a better review, but will stick with the notice this time :)

PS: Had seen "Blue" last month, but missed "White".

Investment Banking: The Future

2008-11-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

Disclaimers first: I work in a publicly listed investment bank. Hence any criticism directed towards employees of investment banks in this series of articles I hope to write over the next 6-18 months is also applicable to me.

The financial upheavals that have occurred since mid-2007, particularly the events of this year, have forced me to rethink my beliefs about the functioning of financial services firms and the desirability of changing their structure / state of regulation. I am of course fiercely libertarian, and do not easily come around to accepting the interference of the state in economic affairs or personal freedoms. But this crisis has confronted me with plenty of evidence that the something has gone profoundly wrong with the working of the financial services industry (especially investment banks). I have given much thought over the last 3 months as to what exactly is broken and how it ought to be fixed. So far, I have few answers, but I continue to think and read what others have to say.

Two very interesting articles have come to my attention this week. One is "The End of Wall Street's Boom" by Michael Lewis, of "Liar's Poker" fame, in a long article in Portfolio.com. The other is an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times ("Our Risk, Wall Street's Reward") by another Street insider, William Cohan. Among other things, both argue that the crucial problem that has arisen in the functioning of investment banks is that they have transformed from being private partnerships to publicly listed corporations (Merrill in 1971, Bear Stearns in 1985, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers in 1986, Lehman in 1994, Goldman in 1999, to name the most prominent). This has created a serious principal-agent problem where shareholders (owners) cannot control their agents (executive managers who run the firms) as the latter go on taking gargantuan risks or fleecing clients regardless of the longer-term impact on the firms' reputation and capital. I have lately come to believe that publicly listed investment banks are conduits for transferring money from shareholders and national treasuries (in the form of the inevitable bailouts) to employees with probably incommensurate benefits for the economy. Whether the nature of the conduit that I postulate and whether the probably are true is something that I need to investigate further to uncover. Even if these are true, the solution of the problem will need more thought...hopefully I will write more on this topic this year and the next.

President-elect Obama

2008-11-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

So Obama has won an expected victory. His acceptance speech in Chicago was very eloquent, almost inspirational. I preferred McCain till a few months ago, but his uneven campaigning and a horrendous selection of vice president, made me agree that Obama was a better candidate. Obama's inexperience is more than compensated by the qualities he displayed during a stupendously executed campaign - articulateness, a calm demanour and the determination to stick to a well thought out strategy even in the midst of the financial meltdown and other crises. He is an idealist but displays a clear political street smartness too. I think Obama's will be a successful presidency. Still, I do spare more than a thought for McCain - his concession speech was graceful.

The world is delighted by the Obama victory, it is evident. I wonder how long that will last. Some months later, when Obama will act in what he thinks are the best interests of his country, I'm sure most people will revert back to their habitual disillusionment with the US. Perhaps the US will not be disliked as much as it has been during the Bush years, but so long as it remains a pre-eminent world power (that's another 20 years atleast), global opprobium will be its reward, I'm afraid.

Overturn an Absurd Ban

2008-10-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

The recent hearings in the Delhi High Court have left me stunned. Day after day, the lawyers pleading on behalf of the government have placed ludicrous arguments and hypotheses in front of the court regarding homosexuality. Were it not for the fact that so many are being deprived of their freedom, the situation would actually be quite funny. First the lawyers botched their affidavit and ended up implying that widow remarriage is a crime! Then they argued that legalising homosexuality would aggravate the AIDS epidemic [The judge replied that all sex should perhaps be banned, so as to ensure that no transmission of AIDS occurs!] The familiar rant of homosexuality being a social vice continues, of course (I can never fathom how such an argument can be mentioned in a court of law. Surely the test for banning a practice must be whether it infringes upon the rights of others, not whether it offends them. I strongly dislike astrology, but cannot even begin to think of a serious reason to impose a legal ban on the practice).

The principle of collective cabinet responsibility has long been abandoned in Indian politics, hence I will not even comment on the incongruity of the health minister publicily contradicting the home minister about the issue of legalising homosexual sex. It is way past time for the repeal of section 377, a legacy of Victorian British norms which has no place in modern free societies. I hope that the cabinet accepts the more sensible views of the health ministry, or that the Supreme Court at some point holds the section ultra vires (unconstitutional).

Taking a stand

2008-09-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

I sit in front of my telly, watching CNBC anchors talking with their characteristic rapidity about the rejection of the bailout by the US House of Representatives. I must say, I did not expect this. I thought that after all the drama of the past week, US lawmakers would now acquiesce to the wishes of the presidency and the senior leadership of both parties. Whether this is an admirable stance against creating moral hazard by bailing out private firms, or just a stubborn refusal to "do a little wrong" (Portia, Merchant of Venice), to prevent a bigger disaster (or simply driven by a fear of losing their seats in November's elections by voting for a measure the general public clearly disapproves of); only time will tell. I still think that some bailout will be orchestrated in the near future, but will follow events closely and try to comment regularly.

My opinion about the measures being proposed is very mixed, and liable to change as I learn more. I generally hate interference in the market mechanism, but the spectre of seized credit markets turning a recession into depression is seriously frightening. Additionally, the proposed rescue package has plenty of safeguards to ensure that shareholders (and company management) feel the pain of their firms' misadventures/misjudgments. It also gives the taxpayers a fair chance of recovering most of their money. As things stand, I accept that the bailout is necessary.

Loanshark, literally

2008-08-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but one of my favourite one-episode characters in Buffy is the loanshark shown in Tabula Rasa (Season 6, Episode 8). Everytime I see the recovery agent with the head of a shark (like tonight), I burst up in laughter :)

Spare the children

2008-08-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

It makes for sad reading. Even for China...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/sports/olympics/13beijing.html

Trouble in paradise

2008-08-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

A decade of patient and painful counter-insurgency and resurrection of democracy had at long last brought Jammu and Kashmir to the brink of normalcy. But the politicians have found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, with the Amarnath Yatra fiasco reigniting violence in the state. How sickening :(

Akbar

2008-07-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

Wrote the following in late Feb, 2008...somehow got published in the wrong place. Here it is :)

Saw Jodha-Akbar on Friday. The movie has many good things going for it - authentic sets, smart dialogue, good acting, (the oh-so-gorgeous Ashwariya), and dazzling camera work at times. But the whole is much less than the sum-of-parts and the story is not coherent enough to impress. I think it would have been much better had the moviemakers concentrated on narrating Akbar's remarkable story itself rather try to use it as a background to portray a historically insignificant (if not non-existent) romance.

Akbar's story is indeed remarkable. He is one of four Indians I am very fascinated by (the others being Ashok, Gandhi and Nehru - there are also Samudragupta and Kalidas, but I know too little about them). Supremely brave (the movie's depiction of him tackling aggressive elephants is probably historically accurate), intelligent (the movie's suggestion that his illiteracy resulted from lack of effort is untrue - he tried learning how to read and write, but was probably dyslexic) and wise (Marriage to Jodha and the removal of the jizyah ensured that many of his subjects became loyal to the Mughal empire out of not just fear, but admiration); Akbar and his legacy shaped the destiny of Hindustan for over two century (till the battle of Plassey in 1757 atleast). From 1556 to 1658, Hindustan was ruled by three brilliant emperors - Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jahan - who deeply imprinted their mark on India. Apart from Nehru and Indira Gandhi, I find it hard to believe that any but the most devoted scholars will recall any of the prime ministers of the first sixty years of the Indian Republic three or four hundred years later.

From the battle of Panipat where a young Akbar led by Bairam Khan fended off the challenge from Hemu, to the defeat of the Rajputs in the sieges of Ranthombore and Chittor, to the 12-day ride from Agra to Gujarat to crush the rebellion by the Sultan there, Akbar's prowess in battle was to be proven time and again. He never lost any significant battle, and kept expanding his empire throughout his 49-year reign. There must truly have developed an aura around the persona of the emperor, which later Mughals would have found indispensably useful.

His military prowess was surpassed by his administrative and political insight. Defeated enemies were co-opted and became pillars of the empire. A conscious effort was made to make it a Mughal empire where all subjects had equal rights, rather than one where being a Muslim automatically bestowed privelege. The abolition of the jizyah in 1580 ranks in my mind as the most politically astute gesture in Indian history, alongside Gandhi's disobeying of the Salt Act in Dandi in 1930. Marriage to Rajput princesses ensured that they became political partners rather than disaffected subjugated locals (If Aurangzeb had managed to similarly co-opt the Maratha deshmukhs instead of humiliating Shivaji at his court, the history of India would have been very different). Revenue reorganisation under the supervision of Todarmal ensured that the Mughal treasury had funds for both war and creating monumental architecture.

Above all the Pax Mughlai that north India witnessed for almost 150 years from 1570 to 1720 (Aurangzeb was a very competent emperor, though not a very far-sighted one) created the backdrop for sustained economic progress and population growth. India's population probably rose by 50% between 1500 and 1750 (from 150 million to 220 million), and then stagnated till 1900. Indian farmers grew crops to suit the market, Indian artisans made products exported to multiple regions of the world, Indian merchants were actively involved in Asian commerce...the Mughal economy was amongst the most prosperous pre-industrialised economies in world history.

A slightly random post, I guess...I'll edit this sometime in the future, if I have the inclination :)

More Travel Plans

2008-01-20T03:10:00.000-08:00

I should have posted multiple entries about my vacation in Singapore and Australia, but somehow didn't. I hope I can do so sometime.

Meanwhile, I have been busy thinking up new plans :)

In March, I shall go to Corbett NP with my college friends. There's a 4-day weekend coming up, and I should be able to go there without needing leave from work. Should be fun!

Less certainly, I hope to visit Europe in July. Consulted the list of cities I wanted to visit, but seems that I won't be able to check any more from that list this year. That's because I am thinking of visiting Norway for a week, along with a weekend sojourn in London. A week in Norway should be fun - Oslo, the famous fjords and other wilderness to explore, I hope. And I'll try to see Midsummer Night's dream in London, if possible.

There's plenty of time to go, but I'm already excited, about both trips!

Choices without a Vote

2008-01-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else on this planet who has the slightest interest in politics, I too have an opinion about the US presidential elections.

8 years ago, I preferred George Bush to Gore, mainly because I thought that the latter was untrustworthy (if I recall correctly, he had been quoted as saying, "I invented the Internet."). How much would have I now given for a Gore presidency! The disinclination towards Gore continued in 2004, when I hoped that John Edwards would capture the Democratic nomination (Of course, I then preferred anyone to Bush).

Now, America is in midst of another presidential election process. John Edwards is campaigning again, but there are many better candidates on offer, I think.

There's Obama, the charming senator from Illinois. I've never really heard him on TV actually, so don't have an intuitive reaction to him. But from whatever I've read in newspapers and magazines, he is a moderate who will undo atleast some of the bitter divisiveness fostered by the Bush administration within the US and improve America's image in the world. He's an unknown quantity though, and in 2000, I had similar expectations of Bush.

There's Clinton, the NY senator. I don't really like her, and think that she's phony, in the sense of sounding like she's entitled to the job, and so very obviously qualified for it. I can easily imagine her being holier-than-thou in her speeches if she becomes president. In short, I think that she will hardly be the reconciling figure that is needed. Nevertheless, she has experience of being in a place of high power, and among the Democrats, she has the sharpest grasp of specific issues and has come out with the most detailed policy plans.

Finally, on the Republican side, there's McCain, the senator from Arizona. If elected, he would be the oldest US President ever, I read somewhere. He was a prisoner-of-war for 5 years during the Vietnam War. He is a Republican, but socially quite liberal, supporting gay marriage (I think), immigration and abortion. He is a fiscal conservative. He's likely to be hawkish in foreign policy, and I can easily imagine him using US military might aggressively (though not bungling a campaign as badly as Bush did in Iraq). Not very sure about his stance on environmental and trade-related issues, but overall he is someone whom I consider sincere, straight-talking and amenable to reason. If I had a vote, it would go to John McCain.

SEZs - equality and property rights

2008-01-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

A tussle is on between the Centre and the state government of Goa over the issue of SEZs in the state. I have little to say about the specifics of this issue, except to sigh and note that the decision of the Goan government is probably on account of political considerations and lobbying rather than economics and principles.

I do have a view about the SEZ controversy in general though. As I have often expressed both in this blog and elsewhere, I am a free market enthusiast and a political liberal. And precisely because I am so, I do not agree with the policy on SEZs.

I do not agree with the concept of an SEZ. What is meant to be the point of creating special enclaves, where tax exemptions and labour law flexibility are the USP? I would rather have uniform tax laws throughout the territory of India, and as few exemptions as possible. After that, let the market mechanism direct the location of firms where they make most economic sense. SEZ will only reduce the revenues accruing to the government, and distort the market. I of course support the repeal of the restrictive, ossified labour laws in India, which inhibit job creation (since firms that fear facing difficulties in laying off people will not employ them in the first place). Selective impositions of these laws does not make much sense.

Property rights are the foundation of any market economy. When government comes to the aid of SEZ promoters to acquire land from farmers, I think it is unfairly intervening in private transactions. The only circumstance when intervention can be sometimes justified is when property is compulsorily acquired to develop a public good, i.e., something which will create a benefit to society, but cannot be profitably owned by a private party (like an untolled road). The SEZs will be privately owned, and benefit private owners. If they wish to acquire land for their SEZs, they should negogiate directly with the owners and persuade to sell their holdings. If they can't, too bad. I believe that the modified SEZ policy does indeed require governments to not assist in the process of land acquisition, and that is how it should be.

Am I missing something?

Getting softer

2007-10-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Just spent the last 6 hours planning my holiday in Australia. Planning had been put on hold for the past two weeks because of issues in getting my visa approved. But this week, approval came, the 5th visa stamped/pasted into my passport in less than two years.

After abundant modifications of my planned itinerary, I am frustrated with the conclusion that I have one less day than necessary to accommodate my reasonable plans (though I have a sneaky feeling that had I had that extra day, I would have wished for one more :) ).

I am now quite charged up about the trip, and can't wait for Nov 30 to come (one of my best friends will wed on Nov 25, and I can't wait for that too, of course!). This trip will be similar to the two-week journey I made through England and Scotland last year in Sep-Oct (though I am hoping that it will not be exactly similar to my trip through Italy in Nov-Dec, for obvious reasons, for those in the know!). In the UK, I simply had a train pass, and a rough plan, and no reservations in hostels. I ended up spending one night in Inverness' youth hostel's lobby, that too only due to the kindness of the receptionist. The no-reservation policy continued in mainland Europe, and again I ended up spending a night outside Naples station, shivering in 10C temperatures and sitting next to beggars, drunkards and the homeless. I did not mind much. But this time, I'm planning to reserve beds in hostels and even tickets for shows in the Sydney Opera. Have I grown softer? Or smarter?

In any case, the charms of vibrant Sydney await (have I mentioned that I love big cities? :) ). So do vineyards in Hunter Valley, sand dunes in Port Stephens, snorkelling amongst corals and fishes in the Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef, beaches in Fraser Island (and elsewhere), rainforests in Mackay and the mighty Ayer's Rock. Should be fun :)

Plans for the Next Ten Years

2007-09-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

While roaming around in the likes of Paris and Rome last year, I became convinced that I want to visit some of the most prominent cities of the world. I had in mind a number of 30, as the number of cities I wanted to see by the end of 2015, though I had not done any precise enumeration. I still have not done so, but my hope (it's not exactly a binding resolve) is to see most of the great urban centres of the world over the next 8-10 years. A list follows (selected on the basis of my preferences and limited knowledge):

Asia

Bombay (done)
Tokyo (done)
Hong Kong (done)
Delhi (done)
Singapore
Beijing
Shanghai
Tashkent
Seoul
Baghdad
Damascus
Jerusalem

Europe

London (done)
Berlin (done)
Paris (done)
Rome (done)
Vienna
Copenhagen
Moscow
Prague
St. Petersburg

N America

New York
Boston
Los Angeles
San Fransisco
Chicago
Miami
Toronto
Vancouver

S America

Rio de Janeiro
Beunos Aires
Lima

Africa

Cairo
Johannesburg
Durban
Cape Town
Nairobi

Australia

Sydney
Melbourne
Perth

Wow! That's a list of 40 already, and I did not even refer a map! Let's do the maths here. 40 cities, 8 finished. Including 2007, I have 9 years to visit 32 cities - 3 to 4 every year on average. This year I will hopefully cross Singapore and Sydney off my list. Will try to do Vienna, Prague, Moscow and St. Petersburg next year. Don't want to think beyond that :)

I have in mind many non-metropolitan environments that I want to visit as well, and fitting them into this city hopping plan is going to be enjoyably challenging :)

In any case, I have decided to have atleast one foreign and one Indian vacation every year. This year's domestic trips are over, of course - both Kerala and Arunachal (also Kaziranga NP in Assam) were awesome. For the foreign jaunt, I will head to Australia in the first two weeks of December (with short halts in Singapore on both legs of the journey). Should be fun!

Equality

2007-08-25T11:00:00.001-07:00

Read this interesting post on the NY Times about differing male-female motivations ("Is there anything good about men?..."). It describes an argument by a Dr Baumeister (apparently a prominent social psychologist) that the fact that men have a lower chance of reproducing than women (today's human population is descended from twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors, according to Dr Baumeister) leads to women adopting 'safer' behaviour than men (since they have more to lose by taking risks which may lead them to be unable to have offspring). This in turn leads to some of the societal structures we observe, where men take up more prominent and influential social roles.

Anyway, you can read the details in the article if you are interested. What I feel compelled to point out here is my old favourite topic - the role of evolution and genes in shaping the behaviour of humans (and all other living beings). I am all for the right to equality, and think that it is one of the basic foundations of a fair and economically successful society. But that right to equality should be one of equality of opportunity, not of outcome. If someone points to the fact that women occupy only a small minority of significant managerial posts in big corporations as being evidence of discrimination against them, then I believe that they are making a logical mistake. If women (or whichever social group in question) are in a minority at the top of the corporate ladder, then the could be a variety of reasons for the same. Discrimination is one possibility and can take myriad forms. Discrimination could either happen directly within the corporation, or in the form of denial of opportunities for education at earlier age, for example. Another possibility is that the behaviour exhibited by females as a statistical entity would predict such a situation, given that certain traits are required to reach and occupy executive managerial posts. If taking care of their children is more important to a person than spending insane hours at work, then he/she may not find it easy to become a CEO. If women are more likely than men to exhibit the behaviour of devoting more time to their children, then it is logical to expect to see fewer women CEOs (This is a hypothetical argument of course - I do not know if becoming a CEO requires spending insane hours at work). Of course, I would assume in this case, as in most others, the reason is a combination of a bit of both (which one is more significant, or if there are others, I do not know). Similarly, if fewer men than women serve as nurses in hospitals (I do not know whether this is true, but am just presenting a hypothetical example), then I would not automatically conclude that men are discriminated against in this profession.

When proponents of reservations for deprived classes point to their under-representation in higher education or private corporations as being evidence of discrimination, I fear they might be jumping to unwarranted conclusions. Perhaps such simplifications make life easier for those seeking to persuade the public, but they do end up confusing and occasionally riling me :(

Financial Woes

2007-08-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Have a relatively free weekend this time. Played at the office football tournament in the morning (was not very exciting, since I did not get to play much, but atleast my team won 2 out of the 3 matches we played).

As usual, my sister came over in the evening. Saw a bit of "Ice Age" with my niece, but mostly spent time sleeping and snivelling :(

Because of the slight cold I have developed, I have decided to spend tomorrow at home and catch up on reading. I am presently still working on Hamlet (I began reading it over a month ago), and also reading a book called "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. The book is considered a classic on value investing, and Warren Buffet is one of the admirers of Graham. I am enjoying the book very much too, and hope to learn valuable lessons in the art of picking good long-term equity investments.

Speaking of investing, I had a look at my bank statement today. Am going through a severe liquidity crunch. My spending has exceeded my expectations. I have a huge loan repayment to make (since I decided to prepay the entire amount I borrowed for my European trip, half of it refinanced by my parents), for which I have already deposited a cheque with my bank. Problem is that the cheque could be presented for payment anytime during the next two weeks, and my account balance is running perilously close to the cheque amount. I expect some cash inflows over the next few days (salary, interest, dividends), but do not even want to think about all the hassles I'll face if that cheque bounches for any reason. All that combined means that I have had to borrow more money from my mom to be able to give a gift my sister on Raksha Bandhan :( For a graduate of WIMWI, working in a fairly cushy job in Bombay, that is simply a question mark on my basic financial competence. My plan is to pay off all my debt, fund my proposed foreign vacation and hopefully buy a computer and camera with my regular salary income by April 1, 2008; so that my entire bonus can be invested in a long-term plan. Did some rough calculations - with my present spending patterns, it is not going to happen :( What will I do?

Movie Review: Chak De India

2007-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Saw the movie late last night in a nearby theatre. This is the third good Hindi movie I recall seeing in cinemas this year, the other two being Guru and the delightfully and devilishly witty Bheja Fry.

The movie is very tightly made, though it has two clear themes. The first is an exploration of the divides that still afflict Indian society. There is little new that the film has to say about the topic. Still, some of the words spoken by the characters bring forth the sad reality that some Indians do have to experience. The 'Muslim' captain of the Indian hockey team misses a penalty stroke against Pakistan, and is hounded out of the team and his locality on charges of being a traitor to the country. Years later, a former colleague tells him, "Ek galti to sabko maaf hai!" He replies, "Sabko?" I venture my opinion on any and every topic without the thought of aspersions being cast on my motives. Not all Muslims in India are accorded this basic courtesy (I have observed this discrimination very infrequently in the liberal groups I have associated with, and fear that the case in the larger Indian society might be worse).

Another line that struck me was spoken by a girl from a Northeastern state. She is about to register for the national hockey team, when the registrar, with completely good intentions, mentions, "Hum aap ka mehmano ki tarah swagat karege." With a disappointed look, she sighs,"Apne hi ghar mein mehman ban na kisko pasand hai?" (All the 'quotations' from the movie are based on my recollections - they may not be exact). The treatment accorded to the denizens of the Seven Sisters is step-sisterly, unfortunately :(

The second theme is the focus on the building of a successful sporting unit from a bunch of talented but indisciplined girls. Here too, the film follows the beaten track of players from disparate backgrounds coming together and beating the odds. But it is still very good entertainment.

The characters are really good. I especially liked the tomboy from Haryana, whose crude lines are hilarious. "Mere bapu ko bhediye ne kaata hai?!" The other forward, the modern city girl from Chandigarh, is quite good-looking :) Almost all the characters have been portrayed quite well, and seem to possess the stuff that champions are made of.

Definitely worth a watch!

The Travel Itch

2007-08-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Spend much of the afternoon today walking around the Fort area in south Bombay. Saw the buildings housing David Sassoon Library opposite Kala Ghoda (At one time a statue of King George V atop a horse stood there, now it has been shifted to Rani Baug, I think), Bombay University and the High Court. For the first time, I noticed the rounded, semicircular side of the Bombay University building. I like stone buildings generally, and especially those built in Gothic style!

I am now determined to take a vacation in January. Have done some financial planning, and taking the trip (in conjunction with paying off the loan I took to fund my European travels, and replacing the laptop and camera I lost there) into account, I will not be able to begin saving till March 2008. Not too sure how prudent that is, but the travel bug has taken hold of me :) Still have to finalise the destination, but leaning towards Greece (and also considering Australia). There's enough time to plan and work out the details. The only hitch - will my boss give me leave?

History and Evolution

2007-08-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

A theory that hints at evolutionary change being responsible for recent human history - now that's very interesting. Came across this article in the NY Times today, discussing the outlines of an explanation of the causes of the Industrial Revolution based on changes in human behaviour (In Dusty Archives, A Theory of Affluence). Can't wait to lay my hands upon "A Farewell to Arms" (and also get the time to read it).

Third T-Nite

2007-08-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Went back to WIMWI for the weekend. Saw T-Nite, met my dormies and some other friends, had maggi at CT, stared at the library across the LKP and wandered through the brick-lined and grassy pathways surrounded by the lovely, lovely brick buildings. Felt really good...will try to write more when I do not have office to wake up for 5 1/2 hours later.

Last one for tonight

2007-07-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

After complaining about lack of time all month, guess what I'm doing on a Sunday night, hours before the beginning of a work-week that promises to be as time-consuming as ever - writing blog entry after another. This is the last one for tonight, I promise :)

Saw a play called "Carry On Heaven" in Bandra tonight. It is about how a politician brought into heaven manages to politicise it and disrupt life there too. It's quite funny, though most of the humour is farcical or sex-based. The play would have been much more effective had it been shorter, I think.

This was the second play I've seen in Bombay. Had seen a rather disappointing play called "Chanakyashastra" in June.

Have also been to many different restaurants after coming back from WIMWI. Possibly have been to more different restaurants in the last 3 1/2 months than I did in my first 21 years in Bombay :)

Just to fill space

2007-07-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I should be visiting this site more often :)

Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit

Stopovers and Recovery

2007-07-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Went to Agra last weekend to attend Lizzy's wedding. Felt really good to see Chhedi again, and also Jhumki and Kaka, and of course Lizzy, herself :)

I flew to Delhi the night before the wedding. Stayed with Kaka in Gurgaon. Saw only a little bit of the city, but my first impressions were not too positive. Gurgaon is too full of glass-facaded buildings and little else. Even the buildings are not the exceptionally pleasing to the eye, what with their non-uniform and asymmetric shapes, and abrupt lines and planes jutting out of otherwise smoothly curved surfaces.

After my first trip to Delhi last August, I have been there three more times, all in the last 5 months. In mid-March, I stopped over for a night in the city enroute from Cochin to Guwahati. In May, I was in Delhi again, while returning from Ranchi to Bombay. Was meaning to stay only for 2-3 hours, but thanks to a first delayed, and then cancelled, Indian Airlines flight, I ended up staying a night at Centaur Hotel. I am amazed by the apparent speed of infrastructure creation happening the city. The Metro is coming up fast, and I saw flyovers under construction at multiple spots. Perhaps, because I am an outsider and only have glimpsed the city for a few hours at infrequent intervals, I have not been able to see how well these projects are actually progressing. But my feeling is that Bombay is being left behind. And that makes me both unhappy and upset :(

During my trip to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur last year, I had clicked many scores of photos. I of course pretty much lost the whole lot in the 'Naples Affair'. Clicked some decent photos of the Taj during this trip.

The recovery has begun :)

Harry Potter

2007-07-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: The following entry contains some spoilers from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In 2003, I travelled to Churchgate and bought the Order of the Phoenix, on its release date, early in the morning from Strand Book Stall. Read the book in less than 30 hours - despite my semester 4 exams being less than a week away :) [The exams went quite well, thankfully - the consequences of the inexorably declining interest in engineering did not show up on my mark sheets till semester 7]. I was completely into the series then, visiting news sites and discussion forums on a daily basis.

In 2005, I was in WIMWI, going through term 1 fairly comfortably (that was one of the most efficient periods in my life - after the middle of term 2, it was back to the usual ways of always being lazy and inefficient, and hence, short of time). I went to Crossword and picked up the Half Blood Prince on the day it came out. Was no longer quite that ardent a fan, but still very excited about the new book. Took 80 hours to finish.

On July 21, 2007, I was at Delhi airport airport in the evening. I glanced from afar at a bookstore in one corner. I saw a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My first thoughts were, "That's strange...do bookstores in airports also keep pirated editions of unreleased HPs now?" Within seconds, I realised that the book had been officially released in the morning :) I bought the book immediately. Read a lot of it during the weekend, but only finished it on Thursday finally, about 105 hours after the purchase.

I think the book is fairly good, and the ending is satisfactory. The part about Harry's fate after the climax is rather cheesy though - I wish Rowling hadn't included that portion. Was really relieved about the partial redemption of Snape though. He's one character whom I liked from very early on, and whom I was really unhappy to see killing Dumbledore in HBP.

Memories and Perverse Pleasures

2007-07-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today's NY Times has an article about German consumerism and an advertising strategy ("German Ad World Declares the End of a Catchy Slogan"). What interested me most though, was not the short discussion of changing consumer behaviour at different points of an economic cycle, but the simple memory evoked by the tagline of Saturn, a music and electronics store, "Geiz ist geil!" (Stinginess is cool!). I bought one of my first ever music CDs in a Saturn store (Ein Neuer Tag, by Juli). Living in Cologne was fun, and I sure would like to go back there sometime, preferably in summer to laze on the lawns of the Uni. The Christmas markets are very wonderful too though :)

Tonight I was about to call a friend. Suddenly I realised that "The Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld would be playing. I messaged my friend, "Can I call you at 11:30 please?" "The Soup Nazi" is a classic episode! How can a bunch of people be so self-consumed and inconsiderate towards others, and yet be such an absolute pleasure to watch?!" I guess it's my wicked side that loves Seinfeld ;)

Choices

2007-07-15T03:50:00.000-07:00

I just read an article about bottled water consumption ("A Battle Between the Bottle and the Faucet") in the NY Times. The trend towards bottled water is probably catching on in India too - many of the restaurants I have gone to recently have offered a choice between tap (free) water and mineral/bottled water. It is interesting how perception and symbolism drives consumption. I myself love certain brands (Sony, Swatch, Adidas to name some) and often don't even adequately consider competing brands which command a similar premium, let alone value-for-money buys. Since these are my personal choices, with no bearings about my opinions on public policy, economics or ethics, I don't give two hoots about whether I'm being rational/intelligent in my decisions or not.

But should governments promote a certain type of consumption? Promoting tap water over bottled water, for example, due to its environmental benefits? From the economic viewpoint, it probably makes sense - the ecological damage wrought by the processing and packaging of bottled water is much more harmful than any benefits (if any, especially in an area with adequate water purifying systems). But is it OK to spend public money on promoting certain lifestyle choices? I'm not too keen on government interference, but so long as it does not involve too much expenditure, is free of legally restrictive measures, and is restricted to persuasion and advocacy, I can go along. As for environmental damage, adequate taxation to compensate for it is probably the correct approach.

Prudish, Europe aint

2007-07-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Interesting news articles are going around my frequented sites (BBC, NY Times) about a clip playing on the EU's channel on You Tube. The clip is entitled "Film Lovers will Love This!" The short 44-second clip is one of 4 or 5 which celebrate European cinema. This one is a collation of clips of 18(!) couples having sex, at the end of which, after some moaning and groaning, the announcer says, "Let's all come together!" It's a very weird clip, but rather funny too.

The website is officially maintained by the European Commission, the premier bureaucracy running the EU. Only in Europe can I see a national/supernational political authority using such promotional material. Europe is just too lovely! And so are many European films, even those without sex :)

Betting

2007-07-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

I enjoy betting. Have already lost a Fruit and Nut and 50 bucks in 2 separate bets in office (but also won 100 in another wager). This weekend I placed a really big bet - 25k rupees :) I think that the Sensex will not show a decline over any Jan 1-Dec 31 period till the end of 2012. Should be fun to see if I win...

Colour and variety

2007-06-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is a post that is so high-context that few would be able to understand its meaning, but I will nevertheless write it.

Yesterday I was talking to someone in the office. I mentioned that I had gone to a play on Sunday. The other person replied, "I too saw a play on the weekend." Instantly a thought came into my head - if someone has seen a play, then that person might be rather interesting. Funnily enough, I had never seen a play before last year. Was I a duller person then? I think so, though I also think that there's plenty of scope for improvement still :)

Are elder siblings smarter?

2007-06-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Read this interesting article about birth-order affecting intelligence in the NY Times. Rather intriguing, since I am generally inclined to believe that intelligence is mostly genetically determined (of course, a really bad environment can overturn genetic advantages...I suppose that a kid who has born into a poor family without access to even basic learning material in childhood might never develop into as smart a kid as he/she could have)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/science/22sibling.html

Would like to read more related material before making a judgment

Happy Holidays

2007-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

I really like the Club Mahindra ad that's been playing recently on TV. The tune of the song "You Happy" is really pleasant, and constant cycles through my head. Perhaps, I want to travel again :)

Sexist language

2007-06-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was in the office pantry, fixing up some bread-jam. Two others were also standing there. Both are near strangers. I first spoke to the girl for a few seconds - the entire exchange in English. Next I turned to the boy. Not sure how it began, but the bulk of conversation was in Hindi.

That's something I have often observed. Whenever girls talk either with other girls or with boys, the language used is English. Guys tend to speak to each other in Hindi. This is hardly an iron-fisted rule of course, but I noticed this tendency in both my engineering and business schools. I have asked some people what their opinion about this is, but while many agree with my observation, no one has put forth a hypothesis of why this might be so. I have little clue myself of the possible causes. But it sure is interesting :)

Joyous Road

2007-06-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I have been repeatedly asked why I walk from Churchgate station to and fro my office, or why I always to prefer to meet my friends on Marine Drive. My simple answer - "I like this road!" If one stands at the flyover near Marine Lines station, the view along both ends of this sweeping stretch of concrete is breathtaking. On the one end is the tall and varying skyline of Nariman Point, with the shorter, more uniform apartments of Navy Nagar further beyond. Closer to the flyover are the cute and pleasing curves of the Art Deco buildings. Walking towards Charni Road, the sea constantly in view and inviting me to get lost, sometimes in deeply personal memories and fantasies, and at other times in thoughts of the wider world beyond, various gymkhanas with their cricket matches and other going-ons come into sight. All the while Chowpatty gets bigger and clearer, and the Malabar Hill always beckons - looking crowded, yet green and peaceful. I remember that occasionally whenever we were going home from my dad's office years ago, the neon signs displayed in front of the buildings in Malabar Hill used to fascinate me. I still like watching them at night :)

Marine Drive signifies all that I love about Bombay - the hustle and bustle, the shining lights, the never-ending stream of people, the personal space that still exists despite the crowds, ruthless commerce managing to produce things of such beauty and even grandeur and the sea lapping the city's shores and inviting its inhabitants to think big. There is much that's wrong with Bombay, and I don't want to gloss over these shortcomings. But walking along Marine Drive, everything seems right. And I fall in love with Bombay all over again :)

Taking the initiative

2007-05-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

I began working last Monday.

Today, my boss asked me to find some data about a company. I started googling for the relevant info. But even after an hour of searching, I could not find anything very useful. I looked at hazaar websites, news reports, discussion boards, but came up empty-handed. This was the first time I had been asked to look for such specific info, and I obviously wanted to do the job well.

One thing I really find difficult is to call people to get some work done/find some information. I would rather walk for 20 min to get some information or buy something than call for it. I don't know why, but that is the way it is. But today I was desperate. Somewhere I found the phone number of the company's head office. Called them and asked if they would provide me that information. I expected that they would hang up on me instantly.

To my surprise, I was redirected twice and finally someone started asking me questions. "Who are you?", "Where are you calling from?" types. Finally he told me, "The information that you are looking for is all there at the company web-site." I was a bit stunned, but managed to ask, "But what is the address of the web-site?" He replied, a bit flummoxed at my stupidity, "It's [company-name].com!" I was really stunned. How did the site not show up in Google?

Nevertheless, I went to the site, and sure enough, all the data was there, neatly presented. A job well done! What a difference a little initiative (and desperation) makes!

Visit to Elephanta

2007-05-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went to Elephanta Island. The caves on this island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, feature many 7-10^th century rock carvings of Shiva in various forms. I am amazed that I only ventured to the island now, despite living in Bombay all these years. Guess when one knows a place will be home for a considerable period of time, visiting the touristy places is not a priority. Haji Ali remains and I hope to tick it this year.

One reaches Elephanta by a ferry from the Gateway of India. I was really surprised that it takes about an hour and a half to reach the island. On the way, the entire eastern seaboard of Bombay comes into view. As compared to the western coast, which is lined with posh residential or commercial high-rises and lovely beaches, the eastern sea face presents a much more varied face. Many ships and cranes come into view soon after the Gateway – a reminder that Bombay remains one of India’s largest and busiest ports. Later one can view the tall chimney of what is presumably BPCL’s oil refinery near Chembur. Also visible is a white dome surrounded by green hills – BARC’s atomic facility, I think. The residential colonies are ubiquitous of course.

The island itself is very small. The cave temples are located on top of a little hillock (100-150 m high max). The carvings are huge, but quite badly damaged. Nevertheless, some are quite beautiful. I did not know that Shiva is depicted and worshipped in so many different forms, including feminine forms (Kamadeva, I think) and an androgynous form. But on the whole, I was not terribly impressed with the caves.

The views are a different matter. Bombay looks lovely from afar – especially the sky scrapers of the south. I took a snap of the city’s Bombay Central area, in which the sea is visible on both sides of the land. I love it!

On the other side, I could see the greener and less constructed New Bombay area (a friend who stays in Vashi told me later that I was looking at Uran). I don’t know if the proposed Nhava-Sewri bridge (connecting Bombay to New Bombay) will stand to the south of Elephanta or north, but either way, if it ever comes into being, the sight will be stunning.

Puppe Mann!

2007-05-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

After finishing an anime called Basilisk, I started watching Angel on my computer again. For the uninitiated, Angel is a spinoff show of Buffy featuring many of the same characters who appeared there, led by Angel, the vampire with a soul whose love with Buffy was doomed. Like its mother show, Angel is characterised by extremely witty and funny dialogues, interesting storylines and characters to-die-for. It's darker and gloomier in its overall outlook though.

I watched the first four seasons of Angel on Star World in my four years of engineering. The fifth I missed because I was in WIMWI. So I bought that season on DVD in Cologne and currently watch the show in German with English subtitles :)

Joss Whedon has created another gem in the form of this show. The fifth (and final) season has been brilliant, the overall story arc moving slowly, but almost every episode featuring one or another idiosyncrasy. The episode I saw on Sunday ("Why We Fight") featured Angel (who is a 240 years old) being forced by the US government to help them in the Second World War by bringing back a U-Boat. The flashback scenes in Buffyverse are, almost without exception, visual treats. Also, learning more about the pasts of various characters is always delightful. The episode I saw today ("Smile-Time") depicted Angel being turned into a puppet (or Puppe in German). Puppet Angel is hilarious! His fight with Spike is too funny! So is the scene when Fred calls him cute and starts petting him :) Best of all though is the shot where the team walks along the corridors in slowmo, against a background of stern music - a fairly typical sequence, except that Angel is a puppet here!!! Expected, but still too funny!

The girl in the photo above is Fred, played by Amy Acker. Like Melissa Theuriau, she deserves a photo of her own on my blog :)

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, and is very, very pretty, should be featured here too. She will soon be :)

Poems that end before you sneeze

2007-04-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

That's how Buffy described haiku poems once, I think.

I've continued reading the Japanese history and am now into the 20th century, just past the Meiji period. Wanted to finished the book by Tuesday, but looks like I will be late by 3-4 days.

The book informs me that the haiku was invented in the late 17th century by Matsuo Basho. I haven't read any haiku, but the examples given in the book have certainly evoked a desire to someday read an anthology of these three-liners.

Throughout the town,
Only her husband
Does not know.

(Anonymous, p. 237)

A rough sea,
And stretching to Sado
The Milky Way.

(Basho, p. 239)

The summer grasses -
All that has survived from
Brave warriors' dreams.

(Basho, p. 238)

A lobster in a pot,
Dreaming awhile
Under the summer moon.

(Basho, p. 239)

I especially like the last one - how little we know about what fate has in store for us even as we go on living and searching for satisfaction and happiness!

Yet another attempt...

2007-04-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

...to blog regularly. Except for that purple patch I struck during my first year in WIMWI, this has proven surprisingly difficult.

Since I'm now back in Bombay and will begin working soon, I don't except anything very exciting to happen in my social life. Instead, I'll try to write about the books I read and the TV shows I watch.

Today, I continued reading "A History of Japan" by Australian academics Mason and Caiger. I bought it in Tokyo last year, and finally began reading it two weeks ago. In between, I was diverted by Steven Pinker's "The Language Instinct" (very engrossing).

Today, I picked up the history again. Read about the Tokugawa bakufu period. That was the time from about 1600 to about 1850 when shoguns from the Tokugawa family ruled Japan in the name of the emperor. This was also the time when the famous closing-up of Japan was enforced, and virtually all movement of persons into and out of the country ceased. The closure is probably unparalleled in history, and I often wonder how Japan managed to catch up with the world so rapidly after its 'reopening' in the mid-nineteenth century. The book has some answers.

The Tokugawa bakufu (bakufu refers to the apparatus of government officials who ran the central administration) oversaw the pacification of Japan after the continuous violence between local feudal lords in the 16th century. The samurai, contrary to my general impression of them, lost their military prowess too. A play written in 1717 has a samurai mother saying to her 10-year old son,

"Of course you're a samurai, but look at your father. He's enjoyed his lordship's favour and his stipend has been increased, but not because he's handy with weapons - there's nothing remarkable about that in a samurai - but because he performs the tea ceremony so well...you should learn how to hold the tea ladle and how to fold the napkins..."

(Anonymous play, cited in A History of Japan, p. 213)

This pacification allowed the government to create a stable administration. People were willing to accept the orders of government officials and laws were obeyed to a meaningful extent. Of course, Japan has always been a very homogenous country and this must have helped in enhancing the power and authority of national rulers as well. Hence, when the new government replacing the Tokugawa bakufu decided to industrialise and 'westernise' Japan, there was no significant obstacle to the implementation of this will.

Last week of classes

2007-02-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

Completely failed to implement my resolution of writing more often here. This term raced away, like the 3rd and 4th terms. Amid strengthening friendships (not without much friction, doubt and strain) immense learning (during Chaos) and continuing new experiences (biking trips and a shot at golf), my stint in WIMWI has come to an end. My classes end on Friday and my last exam is on the 28th.

Not feeling even remotely as senti as I did at the end of first year. I am not completely sure why, but one major reason is that not much has changed between March 2006 and now. My friend circle has stayed more or constant, and I feel I have come closer to almost everyone in WIMWI I care about over the past 12 months. Close enough that I am confident that these bonds will easily endure the end of daily contact which Convocation day will inevitably bring.

So I am busy planning and thinking about the many trips I hope to undertake during summer (Kerala, Northeast, Himachal, Tibet), prepping for interviews so that I can get a good job to finance those trips and reading as much as I can, though my backlog grows ever longer...

Lofty Goals and Grandiose Views

2006-12-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

As I settle into what will be sadly the last term of my life in WIMWI, life promises to be interesting. I have only 4 courses, one of which is an Independent Project (without any classes obviously). Don't have more than 11 classes in any week. Except for work for Chaos, and the IP, there is precious little to do.

And yet, there is so much to do. The most important goals for the next two months are:

Learning/improving my German, French, Spanish and Japanese
Clearing a huge reading backlog

(There is also a job to get, but that will be easy enough, of course :) )

The languages will be taken up next week. The backlog has begun to be tackled. Currently reading Dawkin's "The Ancestor's Tale." He is among my favourite authors, and his books illustrate some of the most interesting facets of the splendid phenomenon of evolution.

Darwin said, "There is a grandeur in this view of life," referring to the theory of evolution by natural selection in his "Origin of Species." I completely agree. One replicating molecule, accidentally created, is the ancestor of every known living organism. What an exciting thought! I almost begin feeling light-headed when reading or thinking about arms races, selfish genes, handicaps as signals (explained in another superb book, "The Handicap Principle" by Amotz and Avishaq Zahavi), etc. Truly grasping the timespans of hundreds of millions of years is beyond me, and the fact that this inability can be explained by appealing to evolutionary arguments about the human brain and thought processes is as lovely as the sea under a starry sky. Heady stuff!

Back home

2006-12-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

Am in WIMWI at last. Being back in Bombay last night felt really great.

Hope I can write some interesting stuff about my exchange trip now.

Finishing JIT

2006-12-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

I having been working on a short (10-page) paper on Post Cold War Canadian Defence Policy since last Thursday. I must have spend atleast 20 hours working on it already. And for the last two days I have been fairly diligent as well, mostly focussing on the paper instead of reading unrelated news articles I come across during my search or chatting with/Dbabbing/emailing others as is my wont. And yet the paper is not complete. It will hopefully be done today or tomorrow. Despite my extensive efforts, it does not seem to be much better than something I would have turned out had I begun 24 or 36 hours before the deadline. I find it a bit strange, though of course the logical conclusion is that the fairly pedestrian work I usually turn out is not because of working under time constraints, but simply an expression of my abilities. I have only been truly satisfied with two pieces of academic work I have done in 2006 - one was completed after considerable efforts by me and Kammo, the other was something with which I was lucky enough to quickly find all the information I wanted. Both were done in less than 24 hours, if I remember correctly.

Another thing I have noticed is that if I get more time to do something, I somehow manage to waste enough time to ensure that it only gets done not too long before the deadline. This leads to me think that it is better to begin late anyway, since I am not losing out much on quality and gaining much by being able to do something else in the freed up time. This concept has now become so pervasive for me (and for most other WIMWIans I know) that often I don't even try to begin something sooner (this paper is a special case), since I know that it will somehow be done at the end to the satisfaction of the teacher. So why bother from before!

I guess that Just In Time is not a bad philosophy!

German advertising

2006-12-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Now that I have begun to stay home more often and watch German TV more, I have noticed that German advertising is quite good. When I was in Japan, I did not enjoy their adverts so much (to be fair, not understanding a word of the language was probably a significant hindrance in appreciation. Also, on most nights, I only watched TV after 11 and not during prime time). Japanese ads are too simplistic and crude as compared to Indian or German ads (or so I think).

I went to the cinema recently to see Casino Royale. Before the movie, a long stream of advertisements was shown. I really enjoyed two ads. One was an ad about the new Mini - it featured a car going through a maize field. As it passed, the corn passed through its bonnet (and presumably its engine) and turned into popcorn filling up the car interior. Don't think it sounds as nice in these words, but I really enjoyed watching it (and who knows the tagphrase at the end might have been funnier).

The second featured three men in a wilderness sitting around a campfire playing poker. One of them says (in German), "I like the movie 'Brokeback mountain.'" The other men immediately get up and walk away! The announcer then says something about an online poker website, where one can play even if one is alone, I guess. The man's expression when he said his line is really funny!

There were other ads too which had the audience in splits. But I could not understand them, because of my limited German :(

Germany - Trips to Aachen and Bonn

2006-12-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

These were two short excursions organised by the exchange club in Köln for us.

Aachen is a small town near the border with France, just an hour's train ride from Köln. It is the site of old Roman baths, and also the site where Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor twelve centuries ago. We went there on October 14. I went without a sweater, thinking that the weather would not be so cold. Was proven wrong by the evening and have never ventured more than 100 m from my house without one ever since :) I did wear shorts in Nice in late November though :)

I travelled with a group of mostly Czech students, and we met a girl there who was Czech but lived in Aachen and studied architecture (or was it art?) there. She gave us a guided tour of the city's quicker landmarks. I particularly liked the Mädchen mit Plätzen - a pretty bronze statue of a girl holding a Plate, a local chocolate delicacy. Aachen is a pretty town, but I knew I would see better places soon.

The next day, we went to Bonn, the erstwhile capital of Germany. The Bonn University building is really lovely with a bright yellow facade. The highlight of that trip was the Geschischtes de Deutschland Museum, which narrates the story of Germany since the World Wars ended. We were given a guided tour in German and I really enjoyed straining myself to comprehend the guide, despite him speaking relatively slowly and using simpler words for us. Many of the exchange students from other countries picked up German very quickly - some were able to converse quite fluently within a month of beginning learning. I feel envious of them, struggling as I am to reach decent levels in Gujarati, French and German despite persisting with them for many years.

Bonn was to be my last trip with other people. From then on, I was to travel alone in every one of my trips...

Good Advert

2006-11-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

I bought this ticket for the TGV and did not even give it a second look, thinking that I have better things to see than covers of train tickets. But I also have a habit of preserving junk for days and even weeks on end. A few days later, I did see the cover properly and was rather amused.

The French words, as per my limited understanding, say, "One cannot do everything in a car, that one can do onboard a TGV." Rather clever, I think :)

Germany - Week 1 (Oct 7-13)

2006-11-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

Let's see how fully I can maintain my travelogue online. This is mostly an extract from what I have been writing to friends.

My first week in Cologne (or Koln) was mostly spent in the orientation week being organised for the incoming exchange students. There are over a hundred exchange students from many corners of the world this semester in the University of Koln - including about 60-70 of us in the Business and Social Science School.

I reached Koln on Oct 7, abroad the Thalys from Brussels, after reaching Brussels on the Eurostar. After after having not spoken any German for over a year and a quarter, I was not too sure if I would be able to remember anything of the language that I had learnt over the years. But luckily, at the U-Bahn (underground train/tram) at the central station itself, it all came back. And I was really pleased to be able to make atleast some conversation in the local language, howsoever broken and poor my German is.

I live in a small room in a house about 20 minutes by U-Bahn to the city centre (And also the university). It is a small room, but quite cosy. My classmate from WIMWI, Thussu, also lives in the same house, in the neighbouring room.

The Orientation Week lasted from the 9th to the 16th and included parties almost every night and excursions to Bonn and Aachen on the 15th and 16th (to be covered in a later entry). I went to a place called the Purple Club on Monday (Oct 9) night.

The morning and afternoon of the next day, Tuesday, was spent registering for classes, opening a bank account, getting a cell number, etc. I ended up taking 8 courses! I remained faithful to my vow of only taking classes on Mondays and Tuesdays though, so that I focus on travelling!

On Tuesday evening, they organised a 'pub-crawl' for us. This involved teams of 7-8 going from one 'stop' to another and performing various tasks (each involving drinking as the main event or sideshow). Among the tasks we had to perform were limbo dancing, singing, staging of plays, etc.
The game was quite fun, even though I did not drink, obviously. Reached home at 1:30 that night - the only time I have taken a cab in this trip so far.

On Wednesday, Thussu and I went sightseeing for the first time in Koln. We went to the famous Koln cathedral and an art gallery/museum (Wallraf-Richardz Museum). The cathedral has a nice collection of religious objects from centuries past and the view from the top of the cathedral after climbing over 500 steps is quite nice (not as spectacular as that from the St. Paul's Cathedral in London though). The museum is basically an art gallery housing collections of paintings from the 13-15th centuries, the 17th century and the 18-19 th century on its three floors. I liked the 'realist' paintings of the 18-19th century and also the Baroque art of the 17th century.

On Thursday, Thussu and I headed to the Romisch-Germanisches Museum. Koln was the frontier city of the Roman Empire since the 1st century BC. Hence, there are many ruins of that period underneath the city, and many of the dug up artefacts have been exhibited in this museum. Most of the museum info is in German though, and hence the visit was not as informative as it could have been. The square in front of the Cathedral and the Museum is a rather pleasing place. Teenagers and others skateboard and rollerblade there, and that makes for entertaining viewing. Many of them are really good and their 'tricks' are spectacular. The backdrop of the Cathedral adds to the charm of the square. I can only imagine how bustling with crowds this square is in summer.

Did not do much on Friday, as far as I now remember. Think I spent it writing the blog on the UK, in fact :)

Lover's Walk

2006-11-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

I reached episode 8 of the third season of Buffy today. "Lover's Walk" become the 10th out of the 104 Buffy episodes I have rated so far to score a 10/10. It's perfect, especially for those who are into the show and care for its characters. Spike's reentry into the show is brilliant. His insight into the Buffy-Angel relationship lends itself to powerful dialogue. The vampire sitting at the breakfast table with the Slayer's Mom is one delightful scene. But best of all is of course, the exploration of the end of three relationships - Buffy-Angel, Willow-Oz and Xander-Cordy. Heartbreaking stuff :( Especially the new light cast on Cordy, foreshadowing the amazing character she will develop into in Angel.

Heights

2006-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Just came across this article in the Hindu - when a democratically elected government expresses doubts over the validity of a death sentence handed to Saddam Hussein, I cannot but be perplexed. He is someone who ordered chemical attacks on his citizens. His regime routinely used torture and political assissinations to uphold its authority. His invasion of a neighbour was the principle cause of economic sanctions which crippled his country and led to the suffering of millions. He did not hesitate before eliminating one of the world's most important ecological habitats and a unique cultural population (by draining the marshes in Southern Iraq, which is also the home of the Marsh Arabs).

Kautilya wrote about the importance of astute foreign policy, and using it to serve the ends of the state with little consideration for ethics and justice. I fail to see any benefits to India of welcoming this verdict (which was arrived at after a trial lasting a year, and preparations beforehand for almost two years), either from the point of principled foreign policy or the pursuit of national interest.

Lovely sounds

2006-11-01T04:13:00.000-08:00

Some of my favourite words in German are those which have already been appropriated by English - wanderlust and schadenfreude, for example. Blumen is another very sweet-sounding German word (especially for a language which is considerably less sonorous than French or Italian or even English). The word means "flowers", which adds to all the positive feelings I associate with the word. One of the cutest words though is Handy (pronounced as haandi, with a very short and soft 'di'). That's the German word for a mobile phone. Really cute!

I Wonder Why

2006-10-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

I want to write about my travels through Germany, but between travelling, classes and other reading, there is no time to spare :(

Followed Tata Steel's proposed takeover of Corus Steel with some delight. My favourite company is now on the threshold of becoming an MNC! Natsteel and Millennium Steel were starters, both costing under $ 500 mn each. Corus will cost $8 bn and propel Tata Steel into the league of the world's top 10 steel producers. Tata Steel has choosen an interesting route to finance this acquisition, funnelling in a large part of the funds through its UK subsidiary rather than borrowing them itself. This will impose a greater interest burden on Tata, but will keep the parent's balance sheet clean and allow it to perhaps make more acquisitions! What a spectacle that will be!

I continue to wonder how things might have been had India liberalised in the 1960s - TISCO's annual production capacity would have surely grown faster than the 2 MT to 3 MT that it did from 1960 to 1990. I'm sure Indira Gandhi read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in her college days. It's all laid so clearly there - how the "invisible hand" of the market-mechanism can create the most wealth for a society, how tariffs hurt domestic consumers, how state control of firms leads to inefficiency...all so painfully clear :(

No use crying over spilt milk though. Since 1990, the Jamshedpur plant's capacity has already expanded to 5 MT. Including Corus and the other acquisitions of the last two-three years, Tata Steel will be producing over 20 MT of steel every year.

Everywhere I look, corporate India is booming. Growth in FY07 will exceed 8% - the fourth year in a row that GDP will grow by over 7.5%. Indian outward investment will exceed inward FDI this year. A Forbes survey recently put 23 Indian companies in the list of the best 200 small Asian companies - 4th highest, and not too far from the leader (Taiwan, 31).

The Indian Century might just have begun.

So why am I looking for a job abroad? I don't know :)

Old favourites

2006-10-25T03:02:00.000-07:00

I sometimes cannot believe that I used to watch TV for 6-8 hours everyday during my engineering days. Pretty much since my first day in WIMWI, my television viewing has declined to almost nothingness. Even here in Deutschland, where I have a TV in my room, I hardly watch any, preferring reading or surfing the Net.

Yesterday, I did see some TV and came across across "Gilmore Girls" (dubbed in German). It was amongst my favourite series during my last year in college. The witty dialogue and rapid speech that characterise the show made me a fan ever since I saw the first episode. Unfortunately, Zee English only played season 1 till the time I left for Ahmedabad. Watching Luke, Lolerai and Rory yesterday (I did not understand much of the dialogue, of course) brought back memories of lying on my bed and watching TV for hours on end, switching between news programmes and sitcoms.

I finished my season 5 DVD set of Buffy last week. Each episode is such a gem! Had seen "The Body" just before leaving for Europe. It's an episode that I always hesitate to watch, since it is so painful. Josh Whedon is simply a genius - he has written and directed unforgettable episodes ranging from those with little dialogue ("Hush", Season 4) to a musical ("Once More, With Feeling", Season 6). Stunning visuals, haunting soundtracks, hilarious one-liners, mindblowing scripts and intense emotion all come together with the deep attachment that I have for the characters to make a Whedon-written Buffy episode a treat I dare not give myself too often - for fear of consuming too much of a good thing.

I will now begin with season 3 (which I bought in London). It's the only season of Buffy I have not seen properly. Seasons 1-3 were playing on Star TV when I was in school and a fan of the show, but a fan who could not understand all the dialogue and who often had tutions to go to in the evening. Seasons 1 and 2 I later saw on a South African channel that played on my cable durng my 2nd or 3rd year in college. Hence, I am really looking forward to this season and hope to finish it before leaving Europe. Faith, the Mayor, Graduation Day, and the bazooka await, as does an episode I recall as being brilliant - "The Wish".

Wanderlust

2006-10-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

I realised last night that when I sleep tonight, it will be for the first time since August 26 that I would have slept in the same city for 7 successive nights! If I can help it, such a situation will not happen again till January 2007. To imagine that before 2005, I often spent 12-15 months continously living in Bombay (without leaving the city for even one night). Travelling is delightful :)

The UK trip - Scotland

2006-10-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

Towards Edinburgh

Edinburgh is another two and a half hours by train from Windermere. These train journeys were becoming increasing scenic as I travelled northwards, passing through pastures with scores of grazing sheep, and the occasional horse or two. I arrived in Edinburgh at around 5 pm that day, October 4. But faced a problem then. Was constrained to reaching London by the evening of the 6th, since I had a ticket for Titus Andronicus for the 7:30 pm show that day. But I also wanted to do a much renowned train trip from Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh through the Scottish Highlands. The trian schedule did not seem to permit me to do all three however - reach London on time, see Edinburgh and do the Inverness-Lochalsh trip. I had a brainwave then and decided to go to Inverness the same night.

Reached Inverness, over 3 hours away, at around 11 that night. And when I went to the hostel there, I found out that there was no place! Inverness at night was the coldest place I had encountered in my UK trip, and will be about the northernmost place I go to in this European holiday. Still decided to not hunt for more places, and just sleep at the station. Walked back to the station, and it was closed too!

Inverness station past midnight

Hence, I walked back to the hostel (20-30 minutes) and convinced the receptionist to let me stay the night in the hostel's lobby.

Duly went to and fro Kyle of Lochalsh the next morning, a two and a quarter hour trip each way. The tribulations of the previous night were totally worth it. Really lovely views of little and big lakes, hills and mountains, the green pastures and woods and the occasional cottage.

Lovely wilderness

View from the Kyle of Lochalsh Station

Reached Inverness in the afternoon and saw Loch Ness for a short while. Did not see much else in town, since I had a train to Edinburgh to catch.

Serene, sehr serene - Loch Ness

Reached Edinburgh that night, and checked into a hostel that was the worst I stayed in during my two weeks in the UK. Had decent facilities, but important things like plug-points in rooms and working Internet facilities were missing. They are going to close the place down next month and open a new hostel closer to Edinburgh's city centre. Happy about that!

Had only a few hours to see Edinburgh next morning, since London is about 5 hours away by train. Could not really see the city at all - should have spent two days there. Only saw the Edinburgh Castle, and not all of it. The location of Edinburgh is superb - from the Castle, I could see the sea towards the norh of the city and Fife in Scotland beyond. Spectacular!

View from Edinburgh Castle

Boarded the train to London that afternoon. Reached the city in the evening, bought a Eurostar ticket to Lille in France (from where I could continue onward using my Eurail pass) and saw Titus Andronicus in The Globe. The next morning, I was aboard the Eurostar at 6, and about to commence my journey to the country about which I was crazy till 4-5 years ago - GERMANY!

The UK trip - Stratford and the Lake District

2006-10-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

Stratford Home

Stratford is another quiet English town. Obviously, the only reason I was there is becuase it is Shakespeare's birthplace. There are some 15 or so persons about whom I would love to learn as much as I can throughout my life. From the UK, the list includes Shakespeare and Newton. I could not unfortunately visit any Newton-related sites in the UK :( Missed seeing his tomb in Westminster Abbey, for example. And would have loved to go to Cambridge where he taught and studied, had the logistics worked out.

Upon-the-Avon, Stratford-upon-Avon

But did satisfy a small part of my curiosity about Shakespeare. Saw his birthplace and grave and learnt more about his life and family in various exhibits in Stratford. Also saw "The Comedy of Errors" and "Titus Andronicus" in London. Saw "The Tempest" in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford - the play was really well enacted, and though I was a little tired since I had a 'standing-only' ticket, I enjoyed it very much.

I called up the hostel at Windermere, a small town in the very scenic Lake District beforehand to check if they had vacant dorms. They didn't! Hence I went to Ambleside which is just 5 km from Windermere. Windermere is a four hour journey from Stratford, involving two train changes.

I really wanted to hire a cycle in Ambleside. However the store manager asked me for a 250 pound cash deposit or 50 pounds and a credit card as security for the bike. I did not have either. Even though I requested him to accept my passport as security, he would not budge. Walking along the lakes was good too, but cycling would have been amazing. I walked for about 4-5 hours in total that morning (Oct 4), including a 3-hour, 10-15 km walk around the Rydal (to the right) and Grasmere lakes. It was also a rather sunny day, which made the walk even better.

Grasmere

Took the train to Edinburgh that afternoon.

The UK trip - Bath and Oxford

2006-10-13T01:43:00.000-07:00

I just love trains. They are one of those things that I am absolutely enamoured of without any rhyme or reason. It's not that I know much about the technical and engineering aspects of trains or the running of different train networks around the world. I do not know much about the history of trains. And don't really feel too enthused to put in too much of an effort to learn more either. But always feel happy about travelling by rail. And whenever I hear any positive news about railways, especially Indian railways, I am thrilled. And of course, go over the moon, whenever I hear something good about the local trains in Bombay :)

Hence I really looked forward to this trip by train through Europe. I like trains so much that I rarely used buses in London. When I got into Köln (Cologne), I took the U-bahn (a tram system which feels very much like a metro) to my house. And of course, rode on various trains during my trip to the UK outside London.

Train on the Kyle of Lochalsh station platform, Scotland

Which brings me to my main topic for today. Alas, I have become very lazy since coming to Köln, and have not kept up with updating this blog. And now it's too late to give a very detailed description :( Hence a short account follows. Don't plan on doing anything outside home today. Will try to upload some photos into this blog soon. And splitting this entry into three for easier reading.

On Sunday, October 1, I left for Bath from London's Paddington Station.This is a picturesque little town an hour and a quarter from London by train. There are some nice buildings and views of the surrounding hills there. It was raining intermittently all that day, and my appreciation of the town's beauty was proportional to the intensity of the sunshine. But the highlight of my visit, and the main tourist attraction of the place, is the Roman Bath site. Two thousand years ago the Romans had bulit a temple complex and bath here, on the site of a natural hot spring. There is now a nice exhibit displaying the site and explaining its significance to the Romans. The Brits have really developed their tourist sites well. The museums and monuments are excellently configured and the audio guides, guided tours and information leaflets are really informative. Of course, they charge a hefty sum for those excellent facilities :)

Roman Bath

Pulteney Weir, Bath

Was in Bath only for a few hours, and went ot Oxford in the evening. This was to be the pattern of my journey - go to a place in the evening/at night, sleep over in a hostel, see the place the next day and go off to the next destination that evening.

Went to two colleges in Oxford - Christchurch and Merton. Christchurch is the largest of the Oxford colleges and has educated more future British PMs than the rest of the OxBridge colleges combined. The college has beautiful, large grounds, a cathedral and a dining hall (Great Hall) which is used as Hogwart's dining hall in the movies. The college was also home to Lewis Caroll, and some of the artefacts connected with him and Alice in Wonderland are placed in the Great Hall too. Nice place :)

Rugby Field in Christchurch College

Also went to Merton college - where Tolkien taught and lived for many years while writing The Lord of the Rings. Not much to see there though - much of the college is closed to visitors.

Punting on the Isis

The best part of my Oxford trip, and possibly that of the UK trip, was punting on the river Isis. The Thames is called Isis in Oxford. I have not skills in poling a punt, of course, but gave a try anyway. And really enjoyed struggling with the pole. After about 45 minutes, had to call the service operator to ask him to send someone to 'rescue' me, as I was too tired to be able to pole the boat against the river current.

Then, it was off to Stratford, another hour and a bit away.

Day 9: From London to Bath to Oxford to Stratford

2006-10-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

Haven't written for three days, but that's not for lack of content! Just that connectivity to the Net is too expensive outside London...will write fuller entries once I am in Cologne. That will be on the 7th hopefully :)

A tale of 3 cities - Day 6 in London

2006-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

My last day in London was marked by lots of walking on both sides of the Thames with no particular destinations in mind. Officially though, I covered the Globe Theatre Exhibition and went on a tour of the Rose Theatre, went for a little while to the Imperial War Museum (very informative and awesome exhibits - wish I had spent more than the hour I did there) and walked along Oxford Street. Some photos I took that day:

Poignant exhibit in the Imperial War Museum

Street Performer on the South Bank of the Thames

Oxford Street (the date is Oct 1 only because my camera is on India time - the photo was taken on Sep 30)

I love London - especially its public architecture, its many interesting places-to-visit and its efficient public transport (atleast in the central parts of the city where I mostly remained). Yet, for some undescribable reason, I remember Tokyo more fondly. The strange announcements on the Tokyo Metro - the charming "Kayabacho, Kayabacho desu" being my most fond memory. The running monologues by people on the sales counters in shops even though they knew we couldn't understand them and the citizens who would go out of their way to help us (Londoners are quite helpful too) also contribute to these loving memories, I guess. London is a culturally more vibrant place, has a much richer and better preserved history, a wealth of English-language bookshops (Tokyo has many awesome bookshops too, but alas, most books are in Japanese) and a wider variety of restaurants. Yet, the mind likes what it likes :) Bombay is objectively much inferior in almost every respect to either of these cities, but in my head, there is no city in the world which compares favourably to my hometown. And the preference for Tokyo does not have much to do with the fact that I was there for 8 weeks whereas I have been in London for only 6 days - have been in Ahmedabad for over a year, but have little attachment to that place (love the corner called WIMWI though). Wonder how I will feel about the three other great capitals I expect to see in the next three months - Paris, Rome and Berlin.

Day 5: Blunders and old friends

2006-09-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

An MBA student who "cracked" the CAT and an aspiring market trader - that's how I could describe myself. But that would be omitting something significant - to complete the description would require the phrase 'completely lacking in common sense'. Have been looking around London for a nice place to exchange my dollars for pounds. Finally found one today which offered what seemed to be a great rate. Immediately I rushed and exchanged 400 dollars. When he gave me the British money though, I realised that I had been my very inevitably foolish self - hadn't read about the service charge of 10-11% that they charge. A £20 loss :( What should have been equivalent to about £205 was reduced to £186 - just because I had not bothered to ask how much would I get before agreeing to the trade.

Anyway, almost at the end of my London visit. Just one more day to go. Have seen most places that I wanted to - went to the Natural History Museum and Hyde Park today. Also have been making up for the missed opportunities of photographing London on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...though the views from St. Paul's and the London Eye are gone forever :(

Did not see much in the Natural History Museum. Am most interested in dinosaurs and mammals, and restricted myself to the exhibits of them. Some of the dinosaur fossils and models were really impressive (Added on Oct 13).

Walking through Hyde Park was very nostalgia-inducing and I was rather lost in thoughts of friends in WIMWI and elsewhere. This happened on two-three occassions during the UK trip, generally whenever there was nohing specific to focus on and my mind was free to wander (Added on Oct 13).

Meet Paldy today. Was really good meeting an old friend...

On Sunday, it's off for a week of exploring the rest of England and Scotland. Can't decide my exact itinerary though.

Day 4: A day is not enough, not even a lifetime perhaps

2006-09-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Planned to visit the British Museum and the Natural History Museum Today. Unfortunately completely underestimated the vastness of the first. Reached the British Museum at 10:30 after a short walk from Holborn Underground (doing what I did in Tokyo here - getting down at Underground stations a little further away from my destinations and walking through the city streets to get a feel for the place) . Was there till 2, before taking a break to have lunch at my first vegetarian restaurant outside India ("Food for Thought" - in the vicinity of the museum).

Had covered the period till the early Roman Republic by then and had to make a choice between skipping the rest of the exhibits and heading to the Natural History Museum or skipping the Natural History Museum and going back to the British Museum. Made the second choice and was back at the museum from 4 to 7:30. Still could not finish all the exhibits! And of course, it is not as if I saw the exhibits which I did see in any great detail. The Museum's collection is amazing! One of them is the famous Rosetta Stone, shown below. And the hundreds of books on sale at the bookshops - I suddenly realised that this world is such an amazing place! So much to explore and learn about, and so little time! How I did not buy any more histories, I cannot explain.

Two more days left in London. Have seen most of what I wanted to see - two more museums left, another visit to the Globe and a trip to the National Opera. Should be manageable, though I wish I could have spent a day or two more here - but that would mean missing out on the likes of Oxford, the Lake District and Scotland, which would be a shame...

Finally took some photos today, after having missed out on two days due to my camera's batteries running out. Mostly of the museum displays though - hope to take more snaps of London tomorrow.

Day 3: Loving the city

2006-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

London has grown upon me in the three days I have been here. Walked along the northern bank of the Thames today and went to the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and the National Gallery today. The mixture of old stone buildings and modern glass-faced structures which adorns this city is a treat to the eye. The view from St. Paul's is exquisite. The photo below, of St. Paul's Dome, was taken later - did not have a camera on me that day.

The availability of all manner of foods here makes it a welcome change from Tokyo (more a problem from the language point-of-view rather than availability, to be fair) . Had lunch in "The Japanese Canteen" today. Have resolved to eat as little as possible from the Mcdonalds and Subways of the world - though I did eat from a Mac yesterday afternoon.