‘Fair’ aint all that is ‘Lovely’!

The thought for this post sprung to mind after a free-wheeling chat on India’s rapidly degenerating TV scene, with Arun and Darshan, two fellow AIDers. Arun brought up what I deem to be among the most deplorable ads to have ever been aired on TV – the one of Fair and Lovely wherein it is projected that being dark-coloured is tantamount to being ugly, to the extent that it becomes a source of everyday embarrassment! In a nation/society getting increasingly vocal against racial profiling (look no further than the the amply televised assaults on Indian students Down Under), I’d have expected rubbish like this to have met with a fierce furore. Instead, it’s got away utterly unscathed.

In defense of the ad-makers, they can’t be charged with sparking this phenomenon into existence. Color-based discrimination has been around for as long as I can remember. Beauty may be skin-deep, but the coupling of color with it runs far deeper, inflicting profound social trauma upon many an innocent female. What adds insult to the injury is the irony that a non-trifling chunk of the people who are party to this, are quite magnanimous in their appreciation of foreign black celebrities like Will Smith and Naomi Campbell! But, then, this is not the first or the only instance of our intellectual slavery of the west.

Staying with abysmal ads, Darshan had pointed out a Nokia one implying that a low-end black-and-white phone is a possession to hide! Such messages intensify the stress and stigma of a good deal of people from financially modest and rural backgrounds, especially given that they are anyhow ill-at-ease in our media/TV set-up that idolizes ‘coolness’ – a term which is synonymous, to a great degree, with the possession of wealth-flaunting gadgets, overshooting the actual technological need many times over.

Coolness has also become another word for aping the US. I’ve never made light of the truism that the US and its people do plenty of stuff right (dignity of labour, for instance), but there exists ample evidence to back me up when I say that the Americans are the most reckless spenders of resources. Yet, that’s the first aspect of their going about their business, being imbibed by us. Wouldn’t we be much better off emulating their insistence on ‘originality of thought’ here? For every single product, it is being hammered onto our minds that luxury is the only way ahead, with no regard to [energy/fuel] efficiency and frugality aimed at [resource/climate] sustainability. Here’s hoping that we, the rational youth, straighten out the trend of falling pray to these gimmicks which (purposely) overlook the most fundamental tenets of cause-and-effect.

A dazzling date with tigers!

In all the cities I have stayed in, put together, there are only a handful of places I’d want to visit time and again. The Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), situated on the outskirts of Bangalore, is one of them. I wouldn’t call myself a wildlife buff, but I’ve been drawn towards certain animals since time immemorial, particularly those that drill into you the fear of life emphatically. Along with serpents and crocs, I find tigers endlessly fascinating.

Seju and I had originally planned for a slightly different encounter with nature (water falls), but we didn’t quite get up early enough for that plan to materialize. How elated were we about that, a few hours later! The BNP is very well connected to various parts of Bangalore by bus. We prefer to board it from the bus stop near Shoppers Stop (not far off Jayadeva hospital) on Bannerghatta Road. The place provides you safaris into the (human-dictated) territories of tigers, lions, bears, elephants and a few others, in addition to a decent zoo. I wonder if the so-called wild orbit is also a glorified zoo, because we once saw a bear and a dear a few feet from each other, with no signs of hostility whatsoever! This indicated to me that the animals were being fed, blunting their desire to hunt. Either that, or it was a freakish incident where the bear was too full to kill :). Another evidence to the former hypothesis is the delightful fact that every single of the 4 times I have been on these safaris, we have invariably spotted each and every animal we’d set out to! Either way, it promises an exhilarating experience.

Our last visit can be summed up by this single photograph. It’s not an every day occurrence to lay eyes on five uncaged tigers – of mixed breed (yellow & white) – a tad more than an arm’s length away. Seju could have literally stuck her hand out and patted one on the head! The way they were going about their majestic stroll – accompanied by the occasional roar – let us know in no uncertain terms that they own the place, and are totally unperturbed by the presence of our bus. The rarity of the spectacle made me marvel for a moment as though I was hallucinating, mistaking a bunch of dogs hovering about the front of my house as tigers! Gratefully, I wasn’t! The BNP may not have been providing a truly free habitat to its inmates, but the sights we saw would have enthralled anyone with the remotest of interests in wild life.

PS: This incident dates back to mid July. Since then, I have switched my job and moved to Noida. For the (presumably) many of you mystified about the choice to desert B’lore (and, the BNP, of course!), well, the reasons were manifold, including the handicap of an alien local language for community work, the (train) distance to home, and a leadership position with a lucrative pay hike (recession or otherwise). Even in hindsight, I am quite glad I opted for this offer ahead of the couple of others available at the time, in Pune and B’lore.

One of the most misinterpreted words

I’ve been increasingly coming across not-so-favorable views for a word, which has traditionally been deemed virtuous: charity, as in donations. The most commonly leveled charge finds charity unsustainable. The fact that many practice it for religious reasons, as opposed to a belief in justice/equality of opportunities, seems to trigger this negative bent of mind. In this context, sustainability implies that your approach enables the beneficiaries to look after themselves after some time (varying from days to years, based on the social problem having been undertaken), with no or little support from outside.

As true with quite a few things in life, a blanket opinion on charity is unreasonable, because the term could potentially entail a wide variety of actions. If my perception of charity is confined to the distribution of rice outside a temple/church/mosque, unmistakably, there is no denying the conclusion that the dependence on your intervention will never vanish. But, this primitive, age-old notion does not characterize many – if not most – of the charities. An excellent case in point is education, the avenue receiving the biggest frequency of donations.

One truism that no one can ever dispute is the right of every single child to education (and, for that matter, heathcare & nutrition) of adequate quality. Ideally, the government ought to see to it that this right is upheld for one and all; but in India, the reality is a far cry from that. The most desirable solution is to fix the problem at the source by overhauling the govt, possibly by getting heaps of honest, brainy, change-pursuing people into the administration, and more so, into our polity. I couldn’t be more supportive of this, and it gladdens me to see growingly many around me (myself included) giving it a grave thought.

However, an overwhelming majority (of the middle & upper classes) simply don’t/can’t contemplate IAS/politics as career options. Charity arms them with alternative ammunition to chip in without having to go much out of the way. Their donations, coupled with change agents on the ground, make happen what the govt should, but doesn’t. From equipping govt schools with infrastructure to providing nutritious enough mid day meals to supporting needy students’ educational expenses (beyond standard 10) [e.g., FoCh], your funding helps empower future citizens to sustain themselves via education. Moreover, this is just one of the many instances where charity chiefly contributes to sustainable/holistic development:

• Invest in solar energy to light up rural areas [e.g., Maitri]. It attacks urban migration & climate change, two of the acutest issues making human living unsustainable.
• Fund rain water harvesting/tree planting initiatives [e.g., Arghyam, Trees for free].
• Support groups that act as watchdogs for the effective implementation of pro-poor govt schemes like the NREGA, by employing tools such as the RTI [e.g., MKSS].
• Fund NGOs providing free training for livelihood generation [e.g., Unnati].

PS 1: Donations to orphanages are often dubbed sentimental rather than rational. But, when the govt fails to own up to helpless kids, ain’t orphanages the next best thing?

PS 2: I am currently reading “How to change the world” which takes you through the journeys of select social entrepreneurs from across the globe. Charity, also referred to as fund raising, is reported to be an integral part of most of those (success) stories. Large-scale. lasting changes require for-profits and non-profits to complement each other, with mutual respect.

Make mine green!

” Only after the last tree has been cut off,
And the last river poisoned,
Will we realize that we can’t eat money.”

Tips for an environment-friendly living:

Shopping:

• Buy locally made food and goods (opting against imported stuff & malls), to avert the hefty greenhouse emissions due to transportation.
• Exception: The locally sold stuff that ain’t energy-efficient
• Avoid packaged items wherever possible and save on the industrial pollution caused while manufacturing packaging materials.

Food habits:

• Refrain from non-veg whenever feasible [Why]. Limiting the meat intake also helps fight other increasingly menacing issues such as the food/water crisis & heart diseases [More].

Plastic:

• Reduce and reuse. Replace multiple plastic bags by one cloth/jute bag.
• Stay off disposable/use-and-throw cups, (water) bottles, and so on.

Electricity:

• Disable the screen saver. It saves nothing and burns energy.
• Switch off the monitor every time you step away (for 2+ minutes), & the whole computer for 20+ minutes.
• Take into account power consumption while picking a fridge, washing machine, etc. [Similarly, battery quality/charging frequency for a mobile].
• Replace all yellow bulbs by the immensely power-saving CFLs.
• Avoid bathing with hot water whenever possible or use a solar heater.
• Curtail the AC usage – in the home/car (Better: Curtail the car usage!).
• Ask your office to turn down the AC level at least by 1 or 2 degrees.
• Prefer stairs to elevators whenever possible (e.g., while coming down).
• Do away with decorative lighting, done as a show of prosperity or joy.
• Check the data explosion onto the web. Delete old emails, and unwanted history while replying. Avoid unneeded up/down-loads & creation of accounts.
• Get rid of energy leaks. Two instances: A) Close the TV using the switch, not just the remote. B) Unplug mobile chargers even though not in use.

Water:

• Always use the water tap with minimally needed flow [E.g., don't let it run wastefully while brushing your teeth].
• Get leaking taps/toilets fixed immediately.
• The toilet flush is one of the biggest in-door consumers of water – up to 16 liters per push. Get a low-flush (e.g., dual) toilet that lets you regulate the outflow of water (by controlling how long you hold the flush knob on for).
• Clean your vehicles, floor, etc. with a wet cloth, NOT by pouring water.
• Choose a bucket bath instead of a shower bath.
• Give up fizzy cold drinks (e.g., Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, Limca, 7up). Their plants extract outrageous quantities of ground water from our villages, creating intense water shortages.
  
• Invest in a rain water harvesting system, if possible.

Transportation:

• Prefer mass transport (buses, trains)/bicycles/vehicle pooling, avoiding autos/individual vehicles, whenever possible.
• Choose vehicles based on mileage more than looks/comfort.
• Long walks are as pleasurable as long drives.
• Cars contribute more to congestion and climate change, than one’s coolness/status! [A witty cartoon with compelling facts].
• Turn off your vehicle’s engine at signals, keep the tyres fully filled and minimize speed changes/breaks for improved mileage.

Trees:

• Do not print – even ATM receipts – in a carefree way.
• Utilize the blank sides of one-sided print-outs for rough work.
• Avoid paper tissues [use handkerchiefs instead].
• Avoid paper/plastic cups for coffee/water [use mugs/reusable bottles].
• Set the printer default to two-sided.
• Use notebooks thriftily. Utilize all the space available, including margins..
• Help plant trees around your home/college [Cliched, but crucial].
• Gardening – including home composting – is a lovely hobby!
• Mark/celebrate special days by getting trees planted in 500 Rs each.

Fire crackers:

• Give them up. Apart from eliminating poisonous emissions, you will help prevent small kids from working in extremely unhealthy and unsafe surroundings [Poster].

“ We don’t appreciate the worth of water until the well is dry.”

PS: A student from NGO Prerna got me to do this. I’ve tried to underscore things that are high in impact and easy to implement. Have I missed any crucial ones?

A gem of a cartoon: as witty as thought-provoking

A slight extension: How about CBW {Cycle + Bus + Walk}?! Congestion apart, it tames the lung-shattering pollution & increasingly menacing climate change as well. *Bonus*: Improved heath and increased reserves of fuel & money!

Related facts:

• The new small cars may be more efficient than before, but they all consume way too much road space (> 10 times what buses occupy, per passenger) to be able to satisfy our transport needs without painfully long gridlocks. Enlightening slides on traffic: stats, snaps & solutions.
• Road widening only provides tiny, short-lived relief, since it simply can’t catch up with our private vehicles that almost double every 5 years [1]!
• Congestion* apart, a car consumes about 6 times more fuel & produces >= 4 times more carbon emissions than a bus, per passenger [1, 2, 3]. Average occupancy: a car – around 1.25 people, a bus – 50.
• 30% of Bangalore’s children are asthmatic, for which vehicular pollution is a chief culprit! Doctors in Kolkata also blame it for the increasing onset of “lung & brain cancer, Parkinson’s, heart attack and kidney failure“.
• Auto rickshaws are no good, either. They emit visible pollutants (SPM, RPM) more, while cars let out invisible (yet harmful) gases (SO2, CO2, etc.) more. CNG/LPG-run autos curb a lot – not all – of that, but the use of adulterated fuel/excessive oil reverses those gains (evident in B’lore).
• Contrary to the popular premise, the air quality inside the car is often much worse than outside. In addition to toxic chemicals, emanating from the interiors, as per International Center for Technology Assessment, the car carries alarming levels of the deadly CO, up to 10 times > outside. Sealing the windows is of no avail, and the AC often worsens it.
  

The alternatives – CBW {Cycle + Bus + Walk} – offer much more:

• Cycling (like walking) is as green as it is healthy. Apart from taming indigestion & obesity, it reduces the risk of heart disease, high BP & diabetes [1]. It saves you (some of) the time/money spent on the gym, too. The same also holds, albeit to a lesser degree, for bus users, as you walk a kilometer or two (a day) in the process.
• More/bigger vehicles imply more/wider roads, in turn implying more tree felling [Bangalore's lost a whooping 70% of its tree cover in the last 40 years]. Turning to Cycle/Bus/Walk can bring back the bliss of greenery.
• Substantial monetary savings. Obvious, it may be, but matters to most.
• Note: 2-wheeler/car/auto pooling outscores individual vehicles, but damages considerably more than cycle/bus, in terms of both pollution & traffic.

Going healthy & green is now easier than ever before!

• Quite a few high-efficiency cycles are available, from manufactures like Decathlon, Hero, Trek. [What to look for while choosing a cycle?]
• The govts are slowly but surely beefing up their bus services (illustrated by the BBMP’s latest Big 10 & HOHO buses). The time’s ripe to switch!
• Bus routes and timings can be figured out online in many cities [L1, L2].

Laying the concerns to rest:

• The transition from {Cars, Auto-rickshaws, 2-wheelers} to CBW {Cycle, Bus, Walk} need not be abrupt. Committing to 2 days of green commuting per week may be a good starting point to build upon.
• Cycling, after the first week, is no tiring affair. The notion that I don’t or no longer have the fitness/stamina to cycle is largely a misconception. Besides, one can always begin by limiting the paddling to nearby places.
• Cycling is perfectly safe, as long as we keep to the left and use reflectors/lights (e.g., bright, twinkling LEDs) during the night.
• Bothered about sweating? Ride unhurriedly, start early (~9:30 am or sooner) and/or carry a towel (& an extra shirt when needed).
• House distant from work? You can paddle to a bus stop or a colleague’s house and commute from there via a bus or vehicle-pooling. Hopefully, the colleague will convert soon and you both will board the bus!
• Monsoon? Simply do what you did as a motor-biker! Carry a raincoat. If your backpack is not waterproof, (re)use a plastic bag to safely stuff the valuables. If needed, get mudguards for the bicycle.
• Further concerns? Kindly check this out (Adapt it to the Indian context).

* Dense traffic amplifies the original carbon footprint of each vehicle by a significant margin, owing to the extra time for which the vehicle engine runs, repeated stops-and-starts, speed variations, etc. The hefty amount of space wasted in car parking (11% of the total area!, in Delhi) further compounds this.

Personal encounters with regionalism & communalism

For quite a few months, I have been urging fellow travelers in the (govt) buses not to play music aloud i.e. without using ear phones. The argument is plain and obvious – You have a right to pleasure, but not at the cost of others’ peace. Of course, I don’t convey it in such an assertive way – the tone is usually that of a request. Yet, not all of them choose to cooperate. Of the counter arguments I face, one has really stuck with me, although I have encountered it only once thus far. To my open-mouthed amazement, it was reasoned by one passenger (not the noise maker) that the music was being played in Kannada, and it is ill-advised for a Hindi-speaking person (like me) to ask for it to be silenced. Since he too was getting disturbed, I said: “If an ‘outsider’ can’t have a say in this, why don’t you, a ‘son of the soil’, try to knock some sense into our music-lover’s head?”. He sheepishly suggested that it would be construed as turning against his own people! This was my first direct experience of this growing menace of regionalism. The insecurity stemming from employment opportunities having to be shared, if fueled by divisive politics, can turn into a serious hassle, as evident in the ongoing insanity in Maharashtra.

The nuisance of loud music also prevails around our homes, in the form of public displays of festivities. One such affair organized in our street hit our ears so hard that Seju and I decided to walk upto the venue and request some of the people there to tone it down. Somewhat expectedly, our appeal met deaf ears. By the time we returned home, I had realized that the odds were steeply against us until we involved one of two more people. So, we talked a neighbour into joining us. This time, we were heard a little better, not just because “the more, the merrier”, but also because our neighbour spoke in Kannada. Even then, they were unwilling to cooperate. Out of our longish, animated discussion, one argument, put forth by a gray-haired, hard-to-please man, stood out. Although I am unable to recall the exact words, here’s the crux: “If you are troubled by loud music this much, go and ask the mosques to get rid of their daily prayers which begin as early as the wee hours of the morning!”. As you would have deduced, this was a Hindu gathering. I don’t have anything against the man’s complaint against the disturbance caused by the mosques, but then, the temples contribute their fare share too, so why not point a figure that way as well?

Moreover, others’ mistakes can’t justify yours. Whether it’s energy-abuse or dowry, the popular defense is: “What  fruit will one person’s efforts bear when the majority is unconcerned?”. This excuse for shirking one’s responsibilities is best shattered by this Margaret Mead quote: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Whether it’s our freedom struggle or the anti-apartheid movement (which terminated the long standing discrimination against Blacks) in S. Africa, history has proven this fact time and again. So, let’s not care a hoot about the indifference around us and keep doing the right things!

PS: Wanted to share this very important campaign called  “I am no lab rat“, opposing the entry of Genetically Modified (GM) crops/foods in India. GM foods have been shown to be worryingly hazardous, to the extent that the EU, Japan and many other countries have banned/restricted it. Yet, the Indian authorities have chosen to go by the vested opinion of corporate heavyweights like Monsanto, for reasons that involve neither science nor public interest. If they have their wish, Bt Brinjal – a GM variety by Monsanto – may be in your veggie basket in only a couple of months. What’s worse: You won’t be able to tell a normal Brinjal from a GM one! To prevent all this, please contact me to join this fight. For starters, kindly sign an online petition. {Comprehensive facts}

[Clarification] We are not opposed to genetic engineering in general. We only seek to keep the current crop of injurious GM foods/crops at bay.

An orphanage in need

Update: Moved to a new place in Ejipura (not far off National Games Village, Koramangala) itself: Ambedkar Educational Trust, No. 7, 6th Cross, R.A Road, Ejipura, Viveknagar Post, Bangalore- 47 [direction map]. The contact numbers remain unchanged.

A visit to any orphanage tends to evoke contrasting emotions: the joy of being around innocent, playful kids and the pain at their plight. Unfortunately, all three of our visits to the AET children’s home kindled more sympathy than joy. The kids were really fun to be with, but we were too preoccupied with the lack of facilities available to them – a consequence of the lack of funds at the organization’s disposal. The determined caretakers have continuously been pumping their own money to keep the ship afloat, but much more is needed.

Basic details:

Name: AET (Ambedkar) Children’s orphanage or New Life Children’s home

Number of kids: 30

Premises: A very small 2 BHK, rented at Rs 6000 a month

Schooling: The kids go to a nearby, English medium, private school. The yearly fees range from Rs 6000 to 8000.

Staff: The founder Ms Kalpana has hired 3 people for child care/household work.

A few unpleasant observations:

• Too crammed at the time of sleeping

[Click on the image to enlarge it] This small room holds 10-12 children in the night! As per our crude estimate, it may not measure more than 14 X 9 square feet. Two other similar-sized rooms accommodate the rest. The kids sleep on the floor, on mats [There are no mattresses].

• Little room to play

There is precious little space available inside, as illustrated in the image [Click to enlarge] and they are not allowed to play outside, as the neighbors/owners can’t put up with their ‘noise’. To add to the kids’ woes, the place is very poorly ventilated.

• A sub-optimal kitchen practice

Since the LPG (gas) stove they possess has no burner big enough for some of their needs, they also employ a kerosene stove, which increases the expenses as well as carbon emissions.

• Most importantly, too much to pay and too few donors

Including the rent (6k), school fees (over 2 lakh per year for all 30 kids), ration & kitchen expense (~10k), staff salaries (6-7k), medical costs, electricity & water bills, cloths, stationery, shoes, occasional transport and misc expenses, their monthly expense is often as high as 45 to 50 thousand rupees. AfaIk, they receive no recurring or corporate donations. Kalpana (an ex-nurse) and family have been running the entire show from personal money, scattered contributions aside.

How can you help?

• Their situation is crying out for donors who can commit monthly (recurring) contributions. See if you can be one. Check with your company and contacts, too. Of course, this doesn’t undermine the importance of one-time/sporadic donations. Either way, you can donate for one or more of the following:
  • School fees for one or more children (~7000 per child, per year)
  • Monthly ration/kitchen expense (~10k)
  • Rent (6k)
  • A spacious home [May take a while to be realized]

  An additional option if you know me/Sejal: You can route the money to us, asking us to buy them ration and/or other specific items. The orphanage is reachable in five minutes from our house, on foot.

• Adopt a child! Obviously, I am only talking in financial terms. Actually, full adoption for some kids may be possible and is being looked into.

• Stationery items, cloths (warm and normal), toys, umbrellas, etc. – used and un-used – can be contributed, after consulting Ms Kalpana. There also exist other non-monetary ways to chip in:
  • You can install bunk beds (3 to 5 beds built one above the others) in one or two rooms, so that there is less crowding and at least some kids are spared from sleeping on the floor.
  • Get an LPG (gas) stove with a big burner, suiting their needs. This will cut back their kitchen cost as well as in-door pollution.
• You could visit the place on weekends to help the kids with their studies or simply to spend some cheerful moments with them. It should be very much possible to arrange for a day-long picnic, etc.

How to Donate?

Apart from handing over cheques/cash, you can also opt for transferring funds online. You may contact me or Kalpana for the account details.

Contact Info:

9342646667 (Ms. Kalpana, the founder)
9741375746 (Ms. Geetha)

To Spectate or To Act?

Many of you would recognize this heart-wrenching photo taken during the Sudan famine in 1994. It won South African photojournalist Kelvin Carter the Pulitzer prize, a prestigious award in photography. Captured in the photo are a child crawling towards a UN food camp few kms away and a vulture waiting for the child to die, so that it can eat her. Whether the child survived is not known to anyone, including the photographer who fled the place the minute the picture was taken. It is learnt that he later revealed to friends that he wished he had saved the child. Even though these journalists were warned not to touch the famine victims for the fear of contracting diseases, Carter himself felt afterwards that he could and should have done something more humanitarian. Three months after winning the Pulitzer prize, he committed suicide out of depression.

The sole purpose behind commemorating this decade-old story is to get all of us – including myself – to ask ourselves the same old question one more time: Do we still want to be silent spectators? For those linked to India, it’s problems galore here with farmers committing suicide, prises rising to an all-time high [hitting the poor the hardest] and what not. All of this is on top of the global, burning problem of climate change. For how much longer, will we keep our ears closed to the voice of our conscience? The world is sick and it’s our job to heal it. For those tired of silently spectating, there are plenty of ways to participate in the process of change.

PS: Thanks to Seju for throwing up this photo and instigating this post [A replica also exists on her blog].

It aint quite a reverse sweep, Kevin!

Minutes before I began writing this post, I read on Cricinfo that the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodians of cricket’s laws, have given a nod of approval to Kevin Peterson’s switch-hit shots. Peterson had earlier defended his strokes in his typically bombastic style. He nonchalantly brushed aside the critics’ concerns by saying that the reverse sweep had long been a part of the game. Well, I don’t second your opinion, Kevin, of likening your switch-hit shots to reverse sweeps.

In a reverse sweep, as shown in the top-left picture featuring Dhoni, the batsman doesn’t change his hands i.e. the grip i.e. the way he holds the bat. In many cases, the batter doesn’t even alter his stance (the positioning of the feet) much. What Peterson did the other day against New Zealand was to alter his grip as well as the stance before the ball was delivered (depicted in the top-right picture). Quite clearly, this is no reverse sweep, certainly not the one that Peterson clamoured to have existed for years.

A more crucial point to ponder is that while hammering those massive switch-hit sixes, the English batting spearhead effectively became a left hander without intimating the bowling side which had set the field keeping in mind a right-hand player. This, to me, is simply not fair. As many ex-players have suggested, this is analogous to the bowler changing his bowling arm or bowling side without letting the batsman know. So, if the bowlers aint permitted to do that, why should the batsmen? The MCC quite rightly says that the percentages are usually with the bowler when a batter attempts this kinda high-risk shots, but what they are overseeing is that this recommendation will let ambidextrous players take unfair advantage of the field placings, and thus, the bowling side’s tactics. Imagine a captain meticulously and intelligently designing the best field for his bowler, only to see the batsman switching his batting style and picking out easy gaps. It takes out the mental aspect of the game to a degree. The current guidelines grant a batsman, who is skillful with both his hands, a greater chance to succeed than others. I am dead against it.

Addendum [taken from my last comment]: If you okay switching batsmen, why not allow rotating fielders, and bowlers who can hurl from either side and either arm. Why should the batsman be permitted to blow the tactics of the bowler and the captain, and not vice versa?

A photo essay on slum dwellers

A commendable job done by Senthil (an active AID volunteer) and co. in summarizing the perpetual agony of millions of Indians who leave their villages in the hope of finding better employment and get entrapped into what some of us call the “garbage areas” of the city – the urban slums. The essay also contains some heart-wrenching and thought-provoking pictures. Here is one that I found deeply moving, showing Mohan Lal who had words “neevi jaat” (low caste), etched on his back with hot iron rods.

I sincerely hope that their effort succeeds in igniting many of us to do more than ever before – financially as well as through volunteer work – to restore some justice for these ill-fated folks. Please read the full article here.

A Tale of Tuition Centers!

Ahmedabad ‘Chali’ Tution Center (ACTC)

This project took off sooner than envisaged. A free-of-cost tuition center for the not-so-privileged kids in Maninagar, Ahmedabad has now been operational since Jan end. Currently, we help kids from standard 5-7 with their difficulties in Maths, Science and English, 8 hours a week. We intend to commence exercises on “critical thinking” or “values inculcation” shortly, looking to increase the probability that the young ones grow up to be thinking and responsible citizens unlike many hailing from their sort of background. Whatever we have done thus far could be realized only through the admirable sustained efforts of Ruchi, Jay, Ankita, Dolly and their gang – our teachers! Quite inspirational work at such a young age, esp. by Ruchi – my little sister I can never be adequately proud of – and Jay who both are just about half way through their Bachelor’s in Computers. This idea was actually conceived by Sejal when she came to know of the existence of this ‘chali’ through her maid. The two of us, then, started visiting the chali a couple of times in every Ahmedabad visit. The fact that we had to make four home visits in a relatively short span of time helped this cause. Things soon fell in place – We had people in terms of family and friends and a place offered by a family from the community. By the final day of our last visit, we were taking the first class of the center. Let me not miss out on mentioning the contributions of Seju’s mom, Archit, Harita, Gauri Aunty and mom in getting this on board. If any of you ACTC guys are reading, the next challenge for us is to sustain what we have and begin the work on the “values/thinking” aspect.

Community Computing Center (C Cube)

Since March, some of us, AIDers, have been involved in running a free computer center for some economically backward slum kids, near IBM, on the Bannerghatta road. For most of them, this was the first time they were exposed to a PC they can operate. So, we have just been doing basics thus far – identifying various computer components, getting familiar with the OS, using painting software, among other things.

I know that teaching computers to slum kids isn’t a social activity that finds unequivocal approval form all parties. Indeed, there is merit in the argument that higher preference should be given to crying issues such as fairer (higher) wages, health-care, social security, addiction and work conditions. Sady, for many part-time contributors like me, the availability of time is a limiting factor in effectively contributing towards these fundamental needs of slum dwellers. Achieving higher wages for construction labourers or better work conditions for female garment workers is a herculean task which demands dedicated activism – sensitizing/awakening people and protesting/fighting against government and/or corporate forces, over a considerable length of time. So, many find the task of teaching their only feasible way of making regular weekly contributions.

I concede that teaching school subjects like science, math, English and accounts will always bear more fruit, and we are determined to expand the center to cover all of them. We began with computer only because kids are naturally drawn towards it (a sophisticated toy in many of their eyes), making our task of motivating them to attend the sessions easier. Having said all this, activism leading to systemic changes, beyond any doubt, is the ultimate sustainable solution, from a non-governmental perspective. Thanks to organizations like ivolunteer and SJS, I have had the opportunity to partake in some protests of this kind, the latest of which was one on human trafficking.

PS: Even after the course is done, we plan to keep the center going for twin purposes: the kids stay hands-on, and through them, the elders see beyond their limited horizons through the power of internet.

[New] Articles on C Cube in The Hindu and Citizen Matters

Sreeshanth: Supremely Competitive or Simply Disgraceful?

I have always cherished watching expressive characters in the cricket field. Indeed, they play a critical part in making the game as thrilling a spectacle as it is. I, for one, used to watch Shane Warne bowl as much for his twirling skills as for his histrionics involving mostly the batsmen and sometimes even the umpires. Needless to say, he was among the most competitive players ever to have played cricket. Indian speedster Sreeshanth, in his shortish career so far, has shown a very keen desire to match him in that arena. In terms of sheer theatrics, he perhaps surpassed the Aussie legend when he broke into an inconceivable dancing spree mid pitch after smacking a six off Andre Nel.

All said and done, cricket is more about scoring runs and taking wickets than anything else. While skills are a must-have, the mental and behavioral aspects play no trivial role towards a player’s performance. Aggression has been much talked about in that respect, of late. Indians, led by Sreeshanth and Harbhajan, have been very liberal with their tongue in recent times, particularly against Australia. But, does blurting out ceaseless gibberish equate to aggression?

Being aggressive as a bowler is about the unflagging belief that I can get anyone out anywhere in any match situation. More so, it’s about being proactive wherein you create chances out of thin air as opposed to patiently waiting for them to come your way. The logic behind taking a (verbal) dig at the opposition batter is simply to aid this process of inducing reckless mistakes from him. I have a feeling that Sreeshath overlooks this fundamental objective altogether, leading him to behave like a toddler in the company of men. The way he carries on with his antics irritates the viewers more than the batsmen who, by now, have brushed him aside as a crackpot.

One quality I admire in all great competitors is the generosity to applaud a praiseworthy feat by an opponent. Sreeshath’s act of clapping in Symonds’ face after the latter returned to the dressing room following a combative knock is truly against the spirit of sports. He wasn’t even in the playing eleven in that match! Being a sportsman, the least you have got to be able to do is to respect the achievements of your counterparts. Sree has got this one miserably wrong as well. To my mind, this is the most disgraceful aspect of his play, much more lamentable than his endless, pointless chatter.

It was no coincidence that it was Sreeshanth who was at the receiving end of Harbhajan’s smack. Most of the cricketing fraternity opined that Sree “had it coming”. For his own good more than the team’s, I hope he takes a hard look at himself. Else, he is headed the Shoaib way – being preoccupied with cheesy tantrums and ending up with a career that promised more than it delivered.

PS: One of my favourite two-way sledges (in the clean category):

Glamorgan quickie Greg Thomas to Viv Richards in a county match, after beating his bat a couple of time: “It’s red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering.”

King Viv, after thrashing the next delivery out of the ground, into a river: “Greg, you know what it looks like. Now go and find it.”

My Wedding: How, Why, Photos!

New: As pointed out by a few friends, along with many good things (detailed below), simple marriages entail a couple of problems: A) Loss of jobs for the poor, if the money saved by avoiding a grand wedding stays locked up in the bank B) It may get spent on environmentally unfriendly things like big, power-hungry appliances and fuel-guzzling outings. However, if simplicity is combined with charity [i.e., the money saved is used for social work], low-cost weddings are undoubtedly the way to go, for the overall good. About whatever you can’t donate, it’s best to spend it in ways which route the highest % of your money to the poor – shopping from local vendors/NGOs (not malls), hiring an adequately paid cook/maid, etc. – hurting the climate the least [More/Specifics].

NB: Recent updates highlighted in red.

Characters Involved:

• Sejal: She currently works with Wipro Bangalore [telecom sector]. A native of Ahmedabad, she has done BE EC from DDIT, Nadiad (Gujarat). More on her blog and Orkut page.

  

• Pulkit (This intro is meant for the first-timers on this blog): He currently works with HP Labs Bangalore [R&D in image processing]. A native of Ahmedabad, he has done MS by Research from IIIT, Hydearabad and BE IT from Nirma Institute, Ahmedabad. More on his Orkut page and here.

Marriage Theme We Followed:

Divert the marriage money to community development. In plain words, keep the wedding simple and support NGOs/social work from the money saved [Yes, this has to be over and above your other/regular donations] [More].

Theme B – Match your wedding expense with donations:

If you are unable to keep the marriage low-key, make a donation matching (a percentage of) the wedding expense. It’s also crucial to transact with small players [bandwalas for DJs, local cloth/jewelery shops over branded showrooms, modest restaurants/caterers] for suppressing inequality.

Wedding Venue: Arya Samaj (Mandir), Ahmedabad. None of us expected such a spacious place for 2200 bucks ['pundit'/ritual material included]! Our first choice, though, was the Marriage Registrar’s office.

Spectators: Immediate relatives (around 20 from either side)

Events: Just the marriage ceremony with rituals, followed by lunch in a nearby restaurant [No reception, music night, etc.]

Exchange: After a number of requests/arguments, we managed to ensure minimal give-and-take of gold and gifts, but couldn’t avoid the exchange totally.

Why Simple Marriage?: Nah, there was no ulterior motive of saving up money for a grand honeymoon in Switzerland or something like that :).

• We believe that the galactic sums of money spent on flashy marriages should be diverted to better causes. This prompted us to celebrate our wedding through donations to needy NGOs. It is true that conventional marriages help in money rotation, benefiting some of the poor. But, typically, only a part of what you spend for the wedding descends to the poor. Contrastingly, when you donate to a genuine NGO, most of your money reaches the needy. Besides, there exist countless opportunities, other than the wedding, for rotating i.e. spending your money (without harming the environment substantially). [More in the 1st paragraph]

• Expensive marriages have almost become a must, due to the fear of what “people” will think otherwise. Many (especially low-income) families are forced into taking hefty loans to account for the wedding expense. We wanted to emphatically break this unwritten societal norm. No one should be forced in the name of customs/society (for any matter).

• Because the marriage cost mostly falls on the shoulders of the girl parents, costly marriages (along with dowry) cause parents to prefer a son over a daughter (grossly unfair to women) #. While the ideal solution to this is equal sharing of the expense between the girl folks and guy folks, the best short term solution is to keep the marriage cost nominal, so that a major reason for not wanting a girl child goes away *.

• We wanted to avoid the pollution through fire crackers [Over a lakh small kids labour in the hazardous and harmful surrounds of cracker manufacturing units], food wastage [Average marriage-wasted food can feed ten families for a week]. A true environment lover can also question the decorative lighting [Most of today's energy is produced by burning coal in thermal power stations, emitting harmful gases], travels (esp. flights) by the invitees and traffic jams through the barat.

• A guest list boasting 500+ invitees to the wedding is not the only way to foster relationships. We would much rather divide these guests into smaller chunks based on commonness, and invite them to our house for separate get-togethers, enabling much more meaningful interaction.

For Those Who Support this Marriage Theme:

We feel good to have your support. But, this feel-good factor won’t contribute to creating a better society. To make a difference, all of us need to aggressively practice this theme in our lives. This theme of celebrating through donations is generic, applicable to all your special events (b’days, anniversaries, academic successes, first jobs, promotions), not just the marriage. However, this should NOT de-emphasize the practice of donating a part of your salary, every month.

An Implementation Bottleneck:

If you are put off from donations because you can’t catch hold of a reliable NGO, feel free to contact me. Here’s where all we have donated. You could also go through this exhaustive list of ways-to -contribute.

Marriage Intimation Card:

Wondering why a simple marriage needs a wedding card? Well, our card encompasses much more than a wedding announcement. Through it, we convey the rationale behind the low-profile wedding to our acquaintances. It also serves as a way of promoting the theme of simple marriages coupled with contributions to social work, so that more of us adopt similar ways. The e-card option was ruled out since not all people back-home are net-savvy. Instead, we made Gujarati letters.

We got the cards prepared from environment-friendly [hand-made] paper by the kids of Arzoo (an Ahmedabad-based NGO), to support the education and livelihood of those disadvantaged children. We advocate the use of this kind of charity greeting cards, as opposed to the Arches kind [Ideally, we should replace paper-based cards by e-cards, wherever possible].

Why Make the Donations Public?:

However big an amount you donate (and however many hours you put in for social work), a small set of individuals/NGOs can never hit inequity hard enough. To make a real difference, much greater participation is needed, which can only be attained through increased willingness and awareness in all of us towards our roles in creating a fairer society. The most effective way of getting that message across is to share your actions with people, hoping that just like their good deeds inspire you, some of your efforts will spark a thought in them.

Convincing the Parents:

We got them to view this as a special opportunity of contributing to the society. Still, there remained a bit of resistance, as anticipated. But, with time, seeing that our beliefs were unshakable, they softened their stance and have been supportive ever since. Now, they are super happy about this marriage theme. So, the key is to tell yourself that mom-dad’s current unhappiness will soon turn into joyous pride. Don’t be driven by momentary emotions. Show commitment to your noble plans. The buzzword is strong-minded persistence. Our advice: Start (casually) telling parents about your simple marriage plans from today itself.

Unanticipated Recognition:

Mom was distributing the marriage cards in her bank where an employee of Divya Bhaskar, a leading Gujarati daily, caught hold of a copy. Soon, I was called up for more details. A day later, the newspaper published an article centered around the new marriage mantra: Combine simplicity and charity. The literal translation of its title would be “With simplicity, came the barat; the bride-groom will donate one-and-a-half lakh”. There is a slight slip in this, as the amount pledged by us is 1 lakh; my parents want to contribute the additional 50k.

More Photos:

# For many financially ill-equipped parents, the birth of a girl means over two decades of cost cutting (to ensure enough savings for the daughter’s marriage).

* Even those of us, who ourselves do not engage in any gender-based discrimination, should bear this point in mind because this is about setting the right trends in the society [People with less education/privileges are immensely influenced by the actions of people like us].

Our marriage celebrations

Every couple tying the knot wants their marriage to be memorable. This typically gives rise to ostentatious celebrations and towering expenses. Our way of making it special was a shade uncommon. It did involve money but for a different purpose. Our marriage celebrations consisted of a handful of donations. Nothing more, nothing less. [More on the wedding with snaps].

To be more concrete, the minimum amount chosen for our cumulative contribution was 1 lakh (parents’ contribution of 50k excluded). Since this contribution was attached to the marriage, it had to be over and above other/regular donations. We comfortably surpassed that milestone in about a year. Here are some of the groups/projects/activists that we donated to.

• Maitri: Solar water pump in rural Maharashtra
• Sirugu: Educating beggars’ (and other poor) kids in TN
• Arzoo: Educating disadvantaged kids in Ahmedabad
• AET: An orphanage in Bangalore
• Friends of Children: Funding + mentoring promising students (B’lore)
• MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan): RTI in rural Rajasthan
• Maitri: Rural development in hilly regions of Maharashtra
• Shramik Seva Dal: Wholesome education in the outskirts of Mumbai
• Asha Trust: Rural development coupled with human values (UP)

PS 1: These groups have been adequately verified for genuineness. Almost all of them were found through the NGO people we work with. Contrary to the general belief, all the NGOs we have come across thus far are genuine.

PS 2: Some other organizations that we know to be genuine, are Ananya, Suyam, AID, Asha, BHUMI, CRY and AshaKiran.

T20 Final: India against the Muslims of the World?!

After last year’s enthralling Twenty-20 cricket world cup finale, Ravi Shastri, the anchor at the presentation ceremony, asked the Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik to reflect on the game. Malik’s response began with a disgustingly ridiculous remark which I would go to the extent of describing as communal or even racist, given the context in which it was made. Here is what I can recollect:

“First of all I want to say something over here. I want to thank you back home Pakistan and where the Muslim lives all over the world.”

Who the trash cares about your thanks-giving desires for the Muslim world, Mr. Malik? Hasn’t the newly appointed captain been told that he represented Pakistan – the nation – in the T20 world cup, NOT Muslim – the religion? We have all come to expect linguistic (English in particular) blunders, plentiful at that, from a typical Pakistani cricketer but this one had all to do with the semantics and nothing with the syntax. It’s NOT as if Malik meant something and his lack of expressive skills brought out something else. If I were the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) chief, I would certainly reprimand Malik and ensure that no such comment, bordering on religion-based discrimination, ever surfaces again. Cricket (any sport for that matter) is supposed to bridge divides among races, colors, castes and nations. Anything that violates this spirit should be treated with a zero-tolerance policy by the governing bodies.

Stepping aside from the post-match stuff and digging into the match itself, it was an exhilarating contest. However, what made it that way was not the quality of cricket. It was actually the lack of it. The best way to describe India in the inaugural T20 WC final, in my book, would be something like “the lesser of the two evils”. An unbiased cricket fan has every right to say “I have seen better”. Sure, this one went right down to the wire. But, that’s because the Pakistanis didn’t know to how to win, NOT because the Indians knew how to win. I had come early from the office, mainly to see two of my favorite modern-day batters blaze away: the brutally elegant Yuvraj and the ever-excitable, huge-hitting Afridi. Sadly, neither fired (Ironically, Afridi bagged the man of the series award, leaving me bewildered as to why).

However way the win was achieved, the emotion-filled celebration, that this victory evoked in India, was typically gigantic. Around my place (in B’lore), people walked out onto the roads, many drove (something I don’t approve of) across the streets, some fired crackers (again something I don’t approve of) and plenty jumped for joy, literally. It was really pleasing to witness that (After all, sports are designed to entertain, evoke smiles). What was more heartening to see was the sense of oneness, the sense of patriotism that had prevailed, transcending the boundaries of wealth and religion.

Turning today’s beggars into tomorrow’s bigshots

Not so long ago, you could have spotted some of the kids in this photo begging on the streets of Chennai. Now, they are found engrossed in shaping their self-reliant tomorrows, through Sirugu Montessori School. Sirugu is a free, residential school, started with the aim of imparting quality education to underprivileged kids (street children, children from brick chambers, etc.).

But, how do middle class folks approach the begging community and end up getting their kids into a school, built almost exclusively for them? The answer is a story which is as fascinating as it is inspiring. Because I only know Uma and Muthuram from the Sirugu team, they play the lead roles in my recital of the story.

It all began when Uma and others got an assignment in their videography course wherein they had to create a documentary film. Uma decided to capture real life and turned the camera on the road side where she saw many families living on platforms and on the (metro) wanter pipe. At first, they rushed towards Uma and tried to brake the camera, complaining that many people take such pictures and make money out of it. Eventually, the team were able to pacify them.

This followed what was perhaps the critical period, wherein the team bonded with the community by spending lots time near their huts, understanding their issues. Muthuram and others wrote an artistic write up on what had been learnt about the beggars’ lives. Finally, a 20 minute documentary was born. That’s when they took an oath to come back and do something to assist the people. What followed was an endless list of interactive sessions wherein the team tried to inculcate self-confidence and values. A glorious example is Muthuram’s 90 minute counseling with one family man, resulting in him changing his mind and going ahead with the family planning operation after his wife had given birth to four or five children. In all, it took the team 5 years to convince the begging community about the importance education.

Initially, 3 children were put into a private school. By the time the strength went up to 20, the costs were too high to manage. Just when the team were wondering what next, the people, depicting a participatory approach, suggested the team to build a school near their housing location. This was the spark that the team needed to establish the Sirugu school, which now lights up over 200 little lives. Kudos to the entire team!

PS: This (true) story was composed based on a mail I had received from Muthuram.

AID on the front page of newspaper Bangalore Mirror

[Click on the image to zoom.]

Excerpts from the article (Date: Nov 3, Newspaper: Bangalore Mirror):

Hefty pay packets, posh lifestyle, foreign projects, stylish flat, swanky cars…. Such goodies no longer attract these software geeks. What has caught their attention is the mounting agrarian crisis in the state.

AID Bangalore chapter is not an NGO. It is mainly a volunteer movement. In solidarity with non-violent people’s struggles, AID Bangalore supports grassroots organizations in Bangalore and Karnataka and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women’s empowerment and social justice. “AID Bangalore believes that all these problems are interconnected, and so must be the solution!” said convener Prasanna Saligrama.

PS: Newspaper Bangalore Mirror is not available online (yet). But, I can email the full article in the form of scanned images, to whoever interested.

This Diwali, let’s Measure the true Cost of Celebration!

Me and Dowry? Of Course Not… Unless Offered!

I and a couple of friends were engaged in what was intended to be nothing more than a chitchat when things stirred up. We were wondering away at some imminent wed locks when we digressed a shade onto the contentious dowry issue. We were ridiculing the outrageous amounts that some of our batch mates would receive, should they choose to accept. The last part of the previous statement is of interest here: Whether the dowry will be turned down or not, if offered. I always thought (childishly, in hindsight) that all the people, as well educated as I am, would not even contemplate accepting it. However, I was proven spectacularly wrong when, one of my friends, the one who had forked this topic into discussion, said while he would never “ask for” any kinda dowry, he would have no issues in accepting it if the gal’s family made an offer!

I was stunned by that for a moment or two. Of course, I vehemently opposed it because, for me, this is analogous to the bribe issue. The person offering the bribe is not the only guilty party. The person accepting the bribe also has to share part of the blame because he/she encourages further such offers. (The whole vicious cycle makes it impossible for an ordinary man to access the concerned service).

Something similar happens in the dowry scenario. The moment it is known that you were open to dowry or you accepted it, some girl parents would rue the fact that they didn’t reinforce their candidature with cash. Next time, they and others around them might not repeat “the mistake” of not offering dowry. So even when you don’t “demand” dowry, by accepting it, you still encourage this inhumane practice that discriminates against the gal child, trapping some parents into valuing and looking after boys more or better than girls. In poorer and worse-developed communities, this also gets reflected in heightened female foeticide rates. (Recently, this prompted the government to open centres where people can abandon unwanted daughters.) The other injustice is to the girl parents who have to raise the dowry amount, by begging, borrowing or stealing, almost literally. In any event, the Indian society needs to cut back needless expenses on marriages, funerals and what not.)

Recently, while interacting with the people of a village in Ahmedabad, we learnt that the poor farmers there spend close to 1 lakh on a marriage. It’s a ludicrously high amount considering that there were barely any children going beyond standard 7 in the entire village, comprising close to 1200 occupants. We had gone there to work for children’s education but it turned out that we would have to educate the “uneducated” adults first. Now, it turns out that we may have to educate some of the “educated” adults first (what kind of a spineless loser feasts on others’ money – dowry?).

blogathonindia, blogathonindia1

A pain in the … back!

With this post, I am kicking off a new series (category) of posts in the blog, called health awareness. The posts in this category will be less in number and small in size. The idea is to share my (modest) experience/knowledge on some of the unheard or less-heard medical issues.

The motivation for the current post is my encounters with a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), for the past decade or so.

This picture is surely worth quite a few (may be, not a thousand) words as it projects the deformities that AS can cause to your spinal structure. For comprehensive information on this back-related disease, please visit this excellent site. This info is meant especially for people who neglect chronic and severe back pain.

AS symptoms typically strike in your teens and never vanish thereafter (Yes, the disease is incurable). However, the good news is that, like Diabetes, damage control is very much possible and you have every chance of avoiding the ultimate AS consequence: loss of spinal mobility.

Exercises, special painkillers [Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)] and proper posture maintenance form a big part of keeping fit despite the disease. As most of us know, all pain-killers come with side-effects embedded inside. So, I recommend bearing the pain as much as possible to keep the frequency of painkillers down. However, since NSAIDs are anti inflammatory (unlike ordinary painkillers, e.g. Brufen), their frequency should be high enough to ensure there is no swelling.

Hope this post goes on to be of some use to some chap. Please feel free to suggest how the posts in this series can be made more useful.

An interesting duo of geometric problems

Problem 1: Given a set of 2D points, find an efficient way of computing the least area rectangle that encloses them.

One (probably good) way of approaching this to stamp down on the data size by first showing that the least area enclosing rectangle of these points is the same as that of the convex hull of the points (For now, I have taken this for granted. Will try and prove it in the next train journey :)) and working only on the hull points thereafter.

But, this is just data reduction. How do we use these points to compute the rectangle? The approach I have successfully implemented is not as efficient as I would like it to be. I based my thing on parameterizing the min area rectangle by just the orientation parameter. This is because once the orientation is frozen, once can easily and uniquely determine the min area rectangle by computing minx, maxx, miny, maxy along that and its perpendicular direction. So, it boiled down to optimization in the angle space. Currently, I am using a brute force method but one can study the objective function and better the convergence. However, I have an inkling that there is a non-iterative, closed-form solution to this. To discuss about and arrive at that elegant solution, actually, is the motive of this post.

The second problem is similar but a little more complex. I will post my solution (again, suboptimal) once (and if) there is some interaction about the first one. I will leave you with the problem statement, nevertheless.

Problem 2: Given a set of 2D points, find, efficiently, the maximum area rectangle that is enclosed within their convex hull.

Rewind to the biggest ever industrial disaster

Yes, I am referring to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (The image is of the morning after the dreaded gas leak), considered as the Hiroshima of chemical disasters, having taken about 20,000 lives till date and left more than 1,20,000 people with chronic ailments.

“But didn’t it happen 23 long years ago?” Yes.

“So, aren’t you a pessimist who likes to dig up dead events from the past to mourn about?” Not really!

This journey into the history is a result of a (pre-planned) discussion with Shalini (representing SfB – Students of Bhopal), bringing out the tragic fact that the struggle of the gas victims and their progenies is far from over. The event may have occurred in the past but it’s consequences are very much alive, even today.

Shalini has chosen fighting for the rights of the Bhopal tragedy survivors as her career, her mission, almost her life. Some of the stuff (pictures as well as the distressing fact that even the third generation hasn’t escaped the aftermath), she shared, evoked two kinda emotions: a feeling of relief (thank heavens I haven’t had to go through any of this) and a genuine urge of doing whatever possible to bring them justice/peace/happiness.

Thanks to the interaction with her, I and some others are contemplating to join Sfb’s campaign by starting a Bangalore cell. Our objective, from a bird’s eye view, can be summarized as follows:

To fight with the government (national and state) and the corporate entity involved (Dow Chemical which acquired the then liable Union Carbide) to:

• Ensure justice (medical, financial and otherwise) for the survivors and the gas-affected next generation.

• Put in place government and corporate accountability, ascertaining no more”Bhopals” ever again.

Interested folks are requested to go through the SfB site and choose, for themselves, the ways to contribute (Here are SfB’s demands and a photo exhibition on the disaster). On top of that, what you could always do readily is to diffuse this campaign among friends and acquaintances. Let’s set out to achieve justice for all.

There is more to life than earning money!

It’s not been that long since I got involved with AID (Association for India’s Development)’s B’lore chapter but it’s already been an inspiring association for me. I have met a couple of people whose kind I had heard and read about (that too, once in a long while), but never got the privilege to see in person.

Prasanna and Meera have been with AID for close to a decade. Both have left their (money-fetching) jobs and are into activities that center around community development (social service if you like), full time. If you thought they did so because their jobs anyway used to earn them peanuts, think again. If my memory/knowledge serves me right, Prasanna was a management person and Meera used to do (something in the area of) journalism. It’s always commendable to see societal interest being preferred over personal interest but doing that, in the manner these AIDers have been, certainly isn’t everyone’s dish. Hats off to them!

If you were to ask me what the take-home message of this story is, I’d simply quote Prasanna (who happens to be quite an eloquent speaker by the bye) and say: There is more to life than earning money!

PS a): Did you know that the movie Swades and Shahrukh Khan’s character in it were inspired by an AID person?

PS b): Did you know there exists an organization that sends updates on upcoming social activities in town, gathering info from various NGOs, so that you can pick the volunteering task that fits your bill?

Curbing corruption: Can I do something?

I have been traveling to work in local government buses for the past few days. There is something that caught my attention. More than once, I got offered by the conductor/driver to travel by giving less than the amount stipulated by the government. The gain for the conductor/driver lied in the other side of the deal: no ticket to be issued to me. If I accept the offer and do not give the additional money (a rupee or two, usually) to buy the ticket, the money I paid will go in the personal pocket, not to the government. This is obviously unfair because it’s the government that owns the whole bus system and provides you the service; the drivers/conductors just do what they are paid to do by their employers – the government. If this kind of corruption continues, soon you might see the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transportation Corporation) incurring severe losses, which will bring down the quality of service. Thus, saving that rupee or two by not taking the ticket is not just morally wrong, it could also be detrimental to your long term comfort as you stand to get inferior service.

An analogous situation is when a traffic policeman catches you for the breach of a traffic law. If you want the receipt, you are charged 500 (which goes to the government). Most people are interested in personal (short-term) gain, so they give off a 100 rupee note and flee the hell out of the place with no receipt, feeding the pocket of the corrupt policeman.

I can understand, even excuse, a lower-middle class person doing these things but there can’t be any excuse for people who pour money for all kinds of non-necessities. What makes me more exasperated is that the same set of people, sometime later, will sit in their comfort chairs and complaint at length about the system (the government) and the country being useless!

The instances of corruption talked about so far were all about saving money. Equally rampant is the practice of paying more to avail better/faster service. Bribing a passport officer or policeman is quite commonplace in India. In a recent argument about the passport scenario, an acquaintance defended the bribe by calling it just a tip or gift. Sadly, he isn’t the only one overlooking the simple fact that once bribes become the order the of day, the passport person tends to delay the work of those who can’t/won’t pay. The same thing happens in the police scenario. The poor, who have neither influential  contacts nor the capacity to bribe, hardly ever get justice from the police. Would such a situation have ever arisen had each one of us never bribed?

It’s high time we ensured that every human being – rich or not – has equal access to the public services. It’s time we seek a trifle less comfort and do the right thing. That would include taking the bus ticket/traffic receipt by paying whatever (extra) money required and giving no money to government officials by resisting the urge of getting things done quick and smooth.

[Update] A startling piece of news reveals that the poor paid bribes worth Rs 9000 million to access basic facilities like healthcare, education & water in ‘07!

Sachin’s mirror says what a billion Indians never could!

Three years ago,

Sachin to an “honest” mirror: Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the best batsman of all?

Mirror: Brian Charles Lara

Now,

Sachin to the same mirror: Mirror mirror on the wall, should I retire?

Mirror: Yes!

Bemused as to what’s going on? Well, this is Ian Chappell’s way of showing Sachin Tendulkar the exit route from cricket. For those who only follow cricket at the outer surface, Greg Chappell’s brother, Ian is a highly acclaimed cricket writer and arguably, the best Test captain ever. Whatever he has done in his stint with cricket, be it on the field as captain or off it as a media man, has been flamboyantly in-your-face. In my book (as well as Shane Keith Warne’s), he is the most astute talker of cricket. In one of his recent posts, he has ripped into Tendulkar’s conservative and ‘statistical’ (playing solely to boost the numbers) approach to batting in the last few years. He has gone on further in his assault on Sachin and established Brian Lara as a superior batter than Tendulkar, an opinion I have held for ages, amidst all the heated resistance. Sure Tendulkar has been more consistent but Lara has been more delightful to watch (through his uniquely different, “kids, don’t try at home” technique, making cricket more watchable), more match-winning and thus, more nightmarish for the opposition.

Even at the minute, the general view in India goes in defense of the 33 year old premier batsman (except some frenetically frustrated fans who want the whole team to be replaced by brand new faces). The most frequently encountered (and the most ludicrous) argument in favor of Tendulkar is the immense “pressure” he has to cope with. Pressure..hmm..what kind?

Financial: A big NO. He is India’s richest sportsman, head and shoulders above the rest.

The pressure of preserving his reputation: Again, no. His reputation was built around match-winning, stroke-filled, dominating play; not meek accumulation of runs aimed at keeping the Test and one-day averages above 50 and 40 respectively.

The only pressure I see is that of heart-broken, maddened fans setting his house on fire after a debacle like the one we witnessed in this world cup. Even that is a very meager possibility as no one has been revered as much in an Indian sport than ST.

This also reminds me of what the best left-arm bowler of all time, Akram said about the hyped word “pressure” recently. He said something like “Ask Imran Khan or Kapil Dev if they ever felt any pressure. Great players revel in crunch situations”.

This quality has been conspicuously missing from the Indian (ex-) giant.

B C Lara, on the contrary, bats like a true king. His recent pre-lunch century against Pakistan, wherein he absolutely pulverized the best leg-spinner going around, was an evidence of that (it was only the fifth hundred scored within the first session of a Test match). It should be noted here that where Sachin milks the spinners behind the wicket for two runs at best, Lara smacks them out of the park, straight down the ground. Mind you, Lara is 37, good four years elder to Tendullkar. So it’s not the aging of the proclaimed little master that has incapacitated him with regards to stamping his authority on the match. It’s the mental side of the game, as Chappell rightly pointed out. Lara has scored two record breaking Test knocks (highest test score in an innings), separated by 10 years. This shows his sustained dominance (not just numbers, but the sheer weight of the feat). He has had a much poorer team and thus, a much less competitive environment to contend with. But he has remained true to himself and said to himself and the world: I play my game this way (however “untextbookish” it is). I aint changing it for anybody, be it fans, ex-cricketers or even the captain (e.g., Jimmy Adams) on the odd occasion. It’s remarkable that the golf-swing-like follow-through, the imposing back-lift (even the slightly trimmed one following Sobers’ advice) and thereby, the fascinating flair of BCL have survived the test of time (17 long years).

Even in his captaincy, Brian hasn’t at all been averse to controversies and the threat of public criticism. His leadership has been as unconventional as his batting. The recent public spat between the national selector Andy Roberts and Brian, over the selection of a genuine batsman at number 8 over fast bowler Taylor, exhibited just that.

The summary is that having raw talent isn’t good enough to remain at the top. You need to mix it up with unflagging belief and pride (I would go to the extent of saying arrogance) in your talent. Having said what I have, I reckon it’s best for Indian cricket if Sachin does NOT retire for another year or two. Not because I am hopeful that he will read my blog and rediscover the winning ways. It’s simply because India’s reserve pool isn’t rich enough to find a decent (let alone better) replacement for him.

Reference: IC’s article

An under-used cricketing weapon

Any (Indian) kid in the street will tell you what length to bowl at the fag end of a one day innings. Full. Preferably, yorker length.

Yorkers, however, are not every bowler’s cup of tea. If you under pitch, you end up delivering a half volley which is easy meat for one and all. If you over pitch, it’s somewhat better. But with the bats becoming more powerful than ever, especially meaty at the bottom, low full tosses can also travel the distance (as shown by the likes of Abdul Razzak, M S Dhoni and Mark Boucher).

So you can’t rely solely on your length to restrain the batsman. Then, how about using an unfamiliar angle to accompany the fullish length? Very rarely in cricket, have we seen a right hand (fast) bowler bowling round the wicket to a right hand batsman. The predominant reason, I believe, is the fact that the bowl will invariably pitch outside the leg stump, resulting in virtually no chance of an lbw. But between overs 40 to 50, the emphasis is usually on saving runs, more than picking wickets and this tactic can turn out to be masterful in that.

The reason I say the above is that many sloggers like Razzak, Dhoni and Boucher favour the on side (esp. midwicket) for hitting their big shots so you play into their hands when you angle the ball into them. By coming around the wicket, the right arm bowler can bow full, a bit wide of the off stump and create a difficult angle for the on-side hitters (with the odd bouncer thrown in).

Having said what I have, this method is no panacea. Against players like Kallis, Michel Clarke and Jayewardene who hit inside out superbly, you may be better off over the wicket, spearing into their legs.

May be, the world’s not as sinister as we take it to be…

“He’s gotta be a scammer” is the first thought that crosses most human minds when they process “I lost all my money and luggage this morning at the railway station, please give me the money to buy the return tickets to my home town.” and mine was not entirely different. However, what transpired afterwards probably was a bit uncommon.

An about 30 year old guy with his mother (as told by him) and two kids caught me the other day when I was walking back to the pavilion (home). Initially, I bombarded him with a barrage of questions which he answered consistently and confidently. I was clear in my mind that unless I can rule him out based on some lie/inconsistency, I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt and thereby, the money. Still, to be sure that I aint missing something, I called up Renju. Her advice (and that of another friend Vishnu later) was that there are many such people going around, they can’t be trusted so easily and if I am hell bent of helping them, I should get them tickets as opposed to money.

This is much easier said than done though because in order to get them tickets (of the same day, 10: 30 pm), I would have to go to the railway station (Majestic) which is a fair way away from where these people bumped into me. But then I realized that this is a scenario that many of my friends have encountered many times and it wouldn’t be a waste if I can take this opportunity and get to the bottom of this issue. So, I took a bus with all of them to the railway station.

In the mean time, I had asked Renju to verify, on the net, the details this guy had given about the place he comes from (Nanded district, Maharashtra), the train names and timings, etc. To my pleasant surprise, they were all correct. On the railway station, we had to stand in a dauntingly long queue before getting our hands on the (general class) tickets. After giving them some fruits, money, etc. for the journey ahead, I was on my way back, almost! Actually, I was still not cent percent convinced about them being genuine so stealthily followed them to check if they were chucking the railway station with the money. They weren’t. They were headed towards the right platform.

They had been honest all the way and may be, I had been paranoid all the way. I was so preoccupied with ascertaining their genuineness that I even searched the solitary hand bag they had (as if my ceaseless interrogation wasn’t enough). That man kept pleading me to trust him but I didn’t. As it turns out, he was an honest, hardworking farmer from a small town and I tore his self-respect apart with my over-suspicious treatment of him.

One would have thought I would be mighty proud while returning home, having aided a needy stranger. Well, I was. But I felt equally guilty. But then I thought that when you are preconditioned to believe that the default state you should associate with every new person is “untrustworthy”, my suspicion of him is barely surprising. What was important is that I didn’t let my suspicion come in the way of assisting him. That’s what I appeal to everyone reading this. If you happen to come across some one like this, don’t scoff him off thinking that he is a cheat. He may well be one. He may not be. You may choose to help him. You may not (if you don’t have the money). But what you shouldn’t do is to start with the premise “He’s gotta be a scammer”.