Winds of Change

More than a month has elapsed since I decided to undertake arguably the most drastic switch of my career thus far. Those readers connected to me through FB know already of my move to take up a position with Microsoft, Hyderabad, in the Bing group. The new job has felt like an entirely uncharted territory so far. I am no longer in the comforting cocoon of computer vision, and it has taken me a while to get used to that. After all, it’s something I had been immersed neck-deep in for over half a decade. Having said that, I am not at all averse to information retrieval or machine learning, and once I have learnt the ropes, I look forward to solving interesting problems therein.

Initially, I had confined my job search in Hyderabad to computer vision profiles. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t have even applied to Microsoft at that stage, had it not been for the insistence of few ultra-zealous consultants. However, it soon dawned upon me that there were precious little vision-based opportunities in the city unless I was willing to take a considerable pay cut. Thankfully, things panned out favourably in the MS interviews, the first and only set of interviews I needed to give this time around.

The decision to switch was dictated by manifold reasons, the most compelling of which was an Ankylosing Spondylitis treatment I am undergoing in Hyderabad, entailing daily visits to the clinic for a few months. That was closely followed by the fact that Sejal and (to a slightly lesser extent) I had become sick and tired of Noida. Moreover, Hyderabad presented me with the opportunity to reunite with my little sister Ruchi, an MS-by-Research student at IIIT-H (Btw, it’s uncanny as to how much our paths have overlapped – including school, bachelors college, masters college, engineering branch, and most importantly, ideology).

As much as I look ahead to what Hyderabad and Microsoft have in store for me, this is an apt time to reflect on the 2+ year stint in Noida with Kritikal Secure Scan - an IIT-D incubated small (70-odd-employee) firm. Hands down, KSS’s was the best job profile I have ever had (MS included). I thoroughly relished devising algorithms for real-life computer vision problems. The balance between research/exploration and coding was spot on. To cap it all off, I got the opportunity to lead a team in exploring and implementing computer vision algorithms. The only down side was that owing to a lack of peers at my level in the organizational hierarchy, I couldn’t develop any friendships to write home about (though I got acquainted with some great blokes). I guess I was reluctant to get overly casual with my boss, and those who reported to me were no different :). From early indications, MS seems to offer a brighter scenario in that regard.

Despite having already devoted a good chunk of the post so far to ’why Hyderabad’, I’ve actually saved the best for the end: bridge - a captivating (mind) game of cards :). It’s been just a shade over two months in the city, and I have already played nearly as much bridge as I probably did in all my time in Noida! I reckon, this change of fortunes should be attributed to having a few Gujarati folks to hang out with. Over the years, I have denounced a couple of the typical Gujarati attributes (such as indiscriminate reverence of all things abroad), but I also value some (such as business enterprise and insights). May be, our preference to spend our leisure time playing is something I should add to the latter list :).

Swept, but not wholly, by the Anna wave

The uproar is at its loudest. The R(evolution) word is echoing around with striking frequency. The media is having a flurry of field days – first with the world cup and now this. The fresh-from-the-oven update is that the first battle has been won by India Against Corruption (IAC), with the govt conceding their current demands. In this surcharged atmosphere, the peer pressure on people with a volunteering background to hop onto the anti-corruption bandwagon is humongous. I have been pinged by friends and acquaintances every day of this week to know when – not if – I am attending a protest. It’s another matter that at the rate at which IAC is garnering support – from spiritual gurus to Bollywood, they aint gonna run thin on numbers.

I unequivocally admire the commitment of Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejrival (whom I’ve had the good fortune to interact with in the past) and team; and am truly gladdened by the staggering mass galvanization they have managed to attain. But, I have few reservations which have kept me from taking an all-out plunge into this. I am in accord with the end (eradicating corruption), but not entirely on their means. Do note that the following is not an attempt to undermine the movement to which many friends have sincerely chipped in. It’s just me consolidating my exploratory thoughts.

Some of my apprehensions are articulated in this Indian Express editorial. Upon perusing the IAC draft (Jan Lokpal bill), you can’t help acknowledging that many of the clauses indeed amount to “an unparalleled concentration of power in one institution that will literally be able to summon any institution and command any kind of police, judicial and investigative power”. Isn’t such a proposition fraught with extreme danger? Why do we believe that the morality and efficacy of the constituents of this body will be impeccable? If that belief is attributed to certain processes or selection criteria, why not look to revamp the existing law enforcement agencies in that mold? Then, there is a wider-ranging matter of the power that such non-elected, extra-constitutional bodies should be allowed to wield (having them serve in an advisory capacity as in NAC is a different ballgame). Make no mistake: I fully endorse the notion of a much more participatory system of governance than one that confines the ordinary citizen’s involvement pretty much to casting one vote once in a while. However, you have to be really wary of an unchecked Lokpal that can considerably dilute the elected institutions, the backbone of our democracy. Where lies the optimal tread-off? Is it that this proposed all-overriding Lokpal a perceived quick fix to the fundamental flaws in our political and judicial systems? The flaws may be dauntingly deep-rooted, but eventually is there any getting around them?

Moreover, isn’t the adage that the quality of governance correlates with the conscientiousness of the citizenry apt for today’s deplorable state of affairs? Let’s face it: Politicians and bureaucrats are not the only culprits. And, this is not confined to corruption. For instance, the law forbidding plastic bags has been around for quite sometime in Delhi, but how many of us have even tried to curb plastic? Where’s the talk being walked? It is undeniable that the movement spearheaded by Anna Hazare has infused a fresh sense of belief in many who were previously indifferent. I just hope that we will not just demand change, but also strive to be the change that we want to see – not just in terms of bribery, but in a holistic sense of responsible living. This, along with a more measured (rather than impassioned) outlook on governance issues is the need of the hour, in my modest opinion.

A no-brainer indeed!

It wasn’t quite a revelation, but I was still perturbed when I stumbled upon this dismal piece of news: They provide the bang for your diwali. I’ve known for quite some time about the appalling conditions to which scores of small kids are subjected in the firecrackers industry of TamilNadu (the hub) – incessant exposure to chemicals, slave-like wages & work durations, unthinkably woeful fire accidents which the employers try to hush up coercively, and more [illustrated in the video below]. Yet, the confirmation that this monster rears its head in other parts of the country too, was quite disconcerting.

Some try to downplay it nonchalantly suggesting that child labour is not confined to cracker factories alone. While that’s true, what needs to be recognized is that what goes on in cracker making is a bug way more venomous than ordinary child labour. Simply put, these young boys and girls are nowhere near equipped to operate in such a hazardous workplace! In fact, even the adults are not.

The other favourite defense of the escapists is the ‘creation of jobs’ (through crackers). Without this ‘employment’ (actually exploitation), the toiling kids, they claim, would be worse off. Well, by that logic, we should bring back all banned drugs and promote tobacco/cigarettes! The reason why we don’t – and shouldn’t – is the knowledge that as long as we don’t hoard our money, it will automatically ‘trickle’ down to the needy, through one route or the other. Our responsibility is is to choose the route that doesn’t bring with it the perils of ill-health & deadly accidents! Besides, if one is truly conscious about the poor, not only can the excess money be directed to a few (of the many) genuine initiatives inducing social change; one can also decide to buy largely from small/local entrepreneurs (e.g., cart vendors) to maximize the % of the spent amount reaching the needy.

For good measure, there are several self-explanatory items in the crime basket of crackers too: the escalation of air pollution (and the accompanying health implications such as a massive surge in asthma), infuriating noise, and fire casualties. Once you factor it all in, you really marvel at those who attempt to defend such a blatant hazard. Can a drive for self-justification derail a mind so astray? Anyhow, I will continue to practice and promote total abstinence, which makes my Diwali free of not only crackers, but also decorative lights/diyas. Bulbs are best lit inside the brain, not outside the house :).

PS: We may have a right to celebrate, but do we want to exercise it at this cost? This poster holds almost as true today as it did 3 years ago.

‘Good news?’ :)

Note: This incident occurred a while back, but I couldn’t get down to penning it down earlier. The following transcript of our online chat is not word-level accurate, but it aint fictitious either [I wish it was :)].

Acquaintance: I figured from a quick glance at your Facebook profile that Sejal is away for some months.

Me: Yes, she is.

Acquaintance: Good news? :)

Me: [Thinking to myself that Sejal's quitting an IT job to take on social change full time is good news alright (at least the way I look at it), but perhaps he is asking me from the perspective of coping with the separation] Yeah, it is!  I do recognize how it’s gonna be challenging for both of us, though.

Acquaintance: Thrilled for you!

Me: [Pleasantly surprised at the acquaintance's suddenly heightened appreciation of change agents] Thanks!

Acquaintance: Wish Sejal well, esp. heathwise!

Me: [The mention of health jolted me out of my misconception!] Oh, no…no, no, hell no! By ‘good news’, I didn’t mean the kind that sends you scurrying for diapers or the one that makes all your female friends go “oh so cute” in unison!  We are NOT having a baby! Sejal’s away because she has joined a fellowship on issues of healthcare/food security, for which her next few months will be spent in various (largely) rural places.

Acquaintance: (presumably red-faced in embarrassment): Oh!! Good news, still!

My beef around the ban on beef!

The BJP has kicked up yet another storm (Not that the Congress hasn’t had its fair share!). The Karnataka State Assembly has passed a bill that proposes to ban the slaughter of cows in the BJP ruled state. The protests are well under way, and justifiably so. Not only such an act infringes on one’s right to choose her/his food, it also reeks of unmistakable discrimination. Why is it permissible to kill chicken and other animals, but not cows? The move is clearly motivated along religious and/or cast-based lines, and must be met with shrill dissent by the seekers of equitable democracy.

However, what has appalled me even more is a call to “beef up” in some elite quarters, as a means to oppose this unjust move. Some have gone hysterical to the point that they are chest pumping about heightening the consumption of all kinds of meat, just to spite the state govt! It’s a classic case of trying to right one wrong with another wrong. Even if one brushes aside the animal rights* angle, there is still an immensely compelling case for curbing our meat intake. No, it’s not spiritual, either. It’s about conserving our scarce and fragile natural resources [water, air and land], and in turn, saving many of the millions that currently starve to death.

A recent, rigorous study by Worldwatch puts the contribution of animal products to the overall greenhouse gas emissions at a thumping 51%! It’s not entirely unexpected though, as the UN FAO’s 2006 report (Look for ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’) had also found it to be the largest climate change culprit, and the IPCC too has been reiterating it quite frequently. In the Indian+water context, this NIH paper attributes a kg of chicken to as many as 7700+ liters of water (so much for the ‘technological’ advances fostering animal growth!), whereas the corresponding figures for veggies lie in the lean range of 100 to 550 liters! In other words, substituting every kg of chicken with veggies results in a mammoth water saving of over 7000 liters! As if all this aint enough, enormous chunks of agricultural & forest land are used up for cattle breeding. In plain terms, meat production is awfully resource-inefficient as it entails years/months of resource (e.g., food/fodder, water, land) consumption, to raise animals, for one-time output.

Some would argue that it’s easy for me, a Gujarati, to take such a lofty position, because, meat has never been an integral part of my ancestral ‘culture’. I concede. Just staying off meat hasn’t been mighty tough, although Gujarati youth increasingly indulge in chicken these days. What hasn’t been a child’s play, though, is giving up eggs (and with it, many long-cherished dishes) and massively curbing milk products (including sweets & ice creams). I still take milk/milk shakes to offset the anti inflammatory pills, share the occasional cheese/paneer dish while dining out with a big group, and have the rare ice cream while with parents. However, from taking a paneer curry almost on a daily basis for office lunch just months ago and delightfully devouring milk sweets, the transition to a resource-efficient diet has been anything but easy. Of course, there’s definitely room for improvement (for instance, hopefully, I will switch to soya milk sooner rather than later), but I am amply clear that this can’t be viewed in a binary light like many religiously driven vegetarians do. Very few of us can change over radically overnight. So, the key is to first trim down the intake, and subsequently, try to phase it out.

Coming back to the original topic, raised consumption of beef/meat is as catastrophic as the discriminatory bill. The matter of meat must no longer be brushed off under taboos of ‘cultural preference/inevitability’. Let fact-based logic prevail over faith-based sentiment. In the present case, the logic is ridiculously simple: Two wrongs don’t make a right!

* 95% of the Americans feel that it’s to wrong to unnecessarily hurt animals; yet 95% of them continue to do just that by eating them [Source: 'A life connected']! The myth about meat being a necessity for protein/calcium (even B12 now) has been conclusively dispelled [Peruse Prof Campbell's interview]. On the contrary, meat cutback is recommended to avert increasingly many diseases such as heart ailments, kidney stones and multiple types of cancer.

How’d you like your tea in 2010?

The generic green tip of preferring reusable products to disposables (like throw-away plastic bottles, bags, cups) has immaculate facts and reasons (e.g., massive erosion & contamination of natural resources) supporting it, and rests well with people. But, when it comes to paper products, some are tempted to view them – particularly cups, since tissue papers, etc. are too conspicuous culprits – as an exception. This is largely down to their (misconceived) biodegradable property (very few are aware of the presence of a plastic resin in nearly all paper cups [1]), and sometimes the fact that the alternatives like steel/glass/ceramic mugs consume water (& pollute it via detergents) for washing. Here’s a factual attempt to put things in perspective, to establish beyond doubt that paper cups indeed deplete/pollute natural resources (including water) exorbitantly more than their reusable counterparts.

Enormous water usage in making paper

Manufacturing paper requires harvesting trees and using machines to turn the wood into wood chips. The chips are heavily washed to remove any dirt, and then mixed with more water and processed. The resulting paper pulp is dried and the fibers are pressed together to make paper. Wiki stats on this process amount to a thumping water loss of around 1 liter per cup (a US estimate) [2]. In the Indian context, a remarkably more alarming figure of 4.5 liters for each tiny cup is quoted (by the ToI) [3]! Moreover, paper making usually necessitates inorganic chemicals, and the waste water released is contaminated [2]. More details as to how the paper industry offsets the water pollution induced by washing a reusable mug with detergents.

Throw in scores of trees, energy and emissions!

Manufacturing 60000 cups, which are used up in just 2-3 weeks in many offices, swallows 2500 kg of wood (tantamount to about a dozen trees) 9,000 litres of oil, 8,000 kilowatt hours of energy, and emits 1,300 kg of air pollutants. Plus, every uprooted tree can no longer absorb CO2, produce oxygen, or filter groundwater! A stainless steel mug (typically designed for ~3000 uses) breaks even with paper cups (w.r.t. environmental impact) after just 24 uses! [3][4][1][5]

The moral of the story:

Make the choosing of reusables over disposables - cloth bags over plastic bags, handkerchiefs over paper tissues, mugs over cups, durable water bottles, and so forth – one of your new year resolutions! Also, take it up with your company/college: If discarding disposables altogether is infeasible at first, ensure the availability of the greener choice and couple it with avid awareness generation.

PS: Even if we wash mugs carelessly, we will consume far less water than that for paper cups. However, that shouldn’t be an excuse for not exercising water efficient washing [tap kept closed while scrubbing/soaping, minimal water force]. Another pertinent tip is to use individual water bottles/glasses over common glasses to avert the water wasted in washing.

An outright myth: Recycling magically fixes all evils of consumerism!

Recycling (as well as composting) of paper cups is uncommon (due to the aforementioned plastic resin), and guzzles 12 trees, 26k liters of water & sizable energy/oil, for 60k cups. The majority end up in a landfill, emitting methane – a mighty GHG – as they decompose. Moreover, most cups are made using 100% bleached virgin paperboard. In addition to health issues w.r.t. recycled pulp, it isn’t strong enough to hold a liquid. [2][3][5]

A Method to the Madness called Arranged Marriages!

A fair few friends are partner hunting, many of whom the arranged way. On popular demand, I dare to share how I had attempted to put a structure to this predominantly luck-driven process (which inarguably leaves a monumental imprint on your life). The aggregation of points/queries that follow was aimed at the twin objective of refining my own clarity on the desirabilities, as well as methodically (and with a high genuineness probability) figuring out where the other person stands w.r.t. those. Be sure of the bi-directional nature of this exercise: I was equally open to being scrutinized – grilled if you like – and was even dumped once or twice :). An amusing tactic (used twice) towards this end of systematized info capture was to get my baby sister to (missed) call me a couple of times during my private meeting, giving me a pretext to look into my cell, in which I had summed up these points :-). All these meticulous [:)] strategies, though, were rendered immaterial prematurely, as I met and fell (as in love) for Sejal shortly after hatching them. I had, however, employed them on over ten (arranged) candidates before that, and found them serving the purpose pretty damn well. Be mindful of the following being a guide as opposed to a script: Making these queries seamlessly fit into a natural-sounding conversation – and not an HR-type interview – was no trifling matter!

Format : Category (in bold) + Questions + Commentary (in blue)

Education (Engineers being the first pick, by far)

Why did you choose the stream/field that you did?

Herd mentality or an independent mind?

Job (As expected, only working females were sought)

How do you like the work? What plans next in the career?

A career oriented outlook to be opted for. The career may change course with time; the idea is to seek an energetic personality, driven to action.

A small matter of goals!

Things that you are very keen to accomplish, possess or be associated with?

Stress on the general disposition rather than the precise answers. The ‘live-in-the-moment’ philosophy is to be averted, although the clarity w.r.t the future need not be crystal.

Where to settle?

Which country? If India, any preferences for the city? Reasons?

Gujjus are mesmerized by the US. Watch out!

Cliched but crucial

What do you do on week-ends? What sorta things do you derive pleasure/satisfaction from (like partying, shopping, sports, debates)? Any noteworthy dislikes? Are there things that drive you furious?

A reckless squanderer is downright ruled out. Discussions and sports are most sought after.

Tunnel vision?

What kinda future (if any) have you envisaged after marriage? How much deviation from it can you survive without losing sleep?

Would you call yourself opinionated or flexible?

Desirability: opinionated, but not obstinate. We all ought to be open minded and revise opinions in light of new, sound facts/perspectives.

The great Indian wedding challenge

What all feature in your (rough) sketch of how to tie the knot?

My take on this is elaborated in the link at the end of the post (PS).

Money matters

What all things are must for you post marriage (A 2+ BHK (Bedroom Hall Kitchen) house, TV, AC, Car, Sofa)?

Assume that both of our salaries suddenly shoot up. What would you like to do with that extra money?

Too materialistic a bent of mind is a gross mis-match [one's deeds ought to be 'king-size', rather than lifestyle]. Guard against being appeased by insincere mentions of simplicity/charity. Try to assess the genuineness from non-verbal cues and any possible inconsistencies with the previous answers and the ones to follow.

Live it right, not just up!

I find it grossly unfair that heaps of people undergo abject suffering/poverty, through no fault of theirs. Hence, I have made it my foremost goal to contribute towards elevating them, with time as well as money. To what extent, would you approve of my such engagement if you were my wife? To what extent, would you wanna participate yourself?

Look out for a grimace, stunned silence, overzealous showering of praise, swift topic change, etc. (tell-tale signs of discomfort/ingenuity/apathy). Register her follow up questions/comments firmly in the memory. It’s perfectly alright if she seems to wanna strike a balance (pleasures vs responsibilities): The likes of Mother Teresa are a distinguished but rare breed, and I am no Mahatma Gandhi either. However, genuine concern is the minimal prerequisite, and a sincere intent for active involvement a massive desirability.

Absorbing the cycling shock!

Climate-responsible living is our irrefutable, ever so vital responsibility. As part of that, I ride a bicycle to work. I trust that you – and most other folks from our generation – wouldn’t have a hassle with that. However, my own parents/relatives have not yet come to terms with it, so wouldn’t expect a drastically different reaction from yours either [Not their idea of a status symbol :)]. Are you game for standing up to all that and building ties with a man they might term an outcast? Of course, I don’t expect you to embrace (any of) this, unless/until you make up your own mind to do so.

Again, keep a wide eye out for all subtle indicators mentioned earlier.

Religion [No, I ain't talking cricket :)]

How much of a believer are you? Would my being an atheist be a cause of concern? I have always been curious as to how people juggle faith and reason. How do you?

Blind faith is a definite recipe for a disaster.

PS: This post on our wedding {theme, reasons, snaps} may also interest you.

http://pulzinponderland.wordpress.com/a-glimpse-into-my-marriage-rich-in-photos/

‘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.

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.”

A few proposals for an environmentally sustainable living:

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – in that order:
Replace multiple plastic bags by one cloth/jute bag, disposable (plastic & paper) cups by a mug, and paper tissues by a handkerchief. Employ a reusable water bottle.

Food habits:

Cut down on meat – a mammoth consumer of water, land and energy: Killing an animal yields few meals once; Raising it takes months/years of daily meals! It helps fight other menacing issues like the food crisis & heart diseases/cancer, too.  [A 5-minute clip]

Electricity:

• Screen savers save nothing and burn energy. Instead, switch off the monitor every time you step away (for more than few minutes). Similarly, turn off/hibernate the whole computer for longer breaks.
• Take into account power consumption while picking a fridge, washing machine, etc.
• Curtail the AC usage; Raise its temperature – in the home/car (Better: Curtail the car usage!).
• Prefer stairs to elevators whenever possible (e.g., while coming down).

Water:

• Always use the water tap with minimally needed flow. Don’t let it run wastefully while brushing, shaving, soaping hands/vessels.
• Get leaking taps/toilets/pipes fixed immediately.
• The toilet flush is a colossal consumer of water – up to 16 liters per push. Get a low-flush (e.g., dual) toilet that lets you regulate the water outflow.
• Clean your vehicles, floor, etc. with a wet cloth, NOT by pouring water.
• Choose a bucket bath instead of a shower bath.

Transportation:

• Prefer mass transport (buses, trains)/bicycles/pooling, over individual autos/vehicles. Cars contribute more to congestion and climate change, than one’s coolness/status [A witty cartoon]!
• Choose vehicles based on mileage more than looks/comfort.
• Long walks/cycle rides are as pleasurable as long drives.

Trees:

• Print sparingly. Set the printer default to two-sided. Utilize the blank sides of one-sided print-outs for rough work.
• Help plant/protect trees [Cliched, but crucial].

Shopping:

• Buy local food & goods (except energy-efficient items), rather than imported stuff from malls, to avert hefty transport-tied emissions.
• Prefer minimal/reusable packaging.

Fire crackers:

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

“It’s not the earth that needs saving. It’s us!”

Killing an animal yields few meals once;

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

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.
• 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 fortifying 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.

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?

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!

Characters involved:

• Sejal: Bachelors in EC. Currently employed with Wipro. Born & brought up in Ahmedabad. Details on her blog, and Facebook profile.

• Pulkit (meant for the first-timers): MS by Research, CS. Currently with HP Labs. A native of A’bad. More on his Facebook profile and here.

The marriage theme we followed:

Divert the marriage money to environmental/social causes. In plain words, keep the wedding simple and support ecological conservation/social change with the money saved.

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 or something :).

• Expensive marriages have almost become a must, due to the fear of what ‘people’ will think otherwise. We wanted to emphatically disobey this unwritten societal norm that pushes plenty of families onto hefty loans or the abandonment of a daughter’s education.
• Because the expense is predominantly shouldered by the girl parents, costly marriages (along with dowry) prompt parents to prefer a son over a daughter (whose birth is tantamount to decades of cost cutting).
• Avoid asthma-aggravating fire crackers [Over a lakh small kids labour in the hazardous, harmful surrounds of cracker units], food wastage [Average marriage-wasted food can feed 10 families for a week], and emissions linked to decorative lighting & travels (esp. flights) by the invitees.
• A guest list boasting 500+ invitees does NOT foster relationships. We’d rather invite friends/relatives home in separate clusters, for a meaningful interaction.

Getting the parents on board:

We got them to view this as an extraordinary opportunity of doing a good deed. Still, there remained resistance, as anticipated. But, with time, seeing that our resolve was unshakable, they increasingly softened their stance, so much so that they now brandish the marriage theme to their new acquaintances!. The buzzword is strong-minded persistence: instead of falling prey to momentary emotions, stay committed to your noble plans. Finally, don’t raise hell at the last minute, break the news early!

More photos:

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!

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”.