IT in government services: my first-hand experience

Technology enabled analytics might be bread and butter for many of us in the IT/analytics industry. We get to see that in the past one decade, technology services has really redefined the way we did things – be it banking/retail shopping/social networking. But is it really changing anything in the public sector organizations or government agencies? There is some amount of computerization to the extent of getting computer generated bills/applying for documents online. I have always believed in the power of IT to improve the existing processes in the government sector. A real life incident in the past month just showed me how technology coupled with analytics has already made its way into the functioning of the government services sector and is looking more and more promising as we move forward.

The Trigger

It all started with an inland letter arriving through regular mail to our house a week ago (snail mail they call it, in comparison to the faster e-mail). It had a notice from the Bangalore traffic police asking us to pay a fine of 100 INR because our Honda activa had violated a traffic rule 3 weeks ago. The details were mentioned as:

TYPE OF VEHICLE: MOTORCYCLE
DATE: 12/05/2014 09:00 AM
PLACE: SHANKARA MATT CIRCLE, BASAVESWARANAGAR
DESCRIPTION: PARKING NEAR TRAFFIC LIGHT/STOPPING ON ZEBRA CROSS
REGN NUMBER: ********181

Now, this was a bit confusing when we checked back. Among my family members, my bro and I are the ones who use the ACTIVA. These days it is just me, mostly for commuting to and from office. And the day in question was Monday, and there was no way I could pass through Basaveswaranagar, early in the morning. And chances of my brother using it were ruled out. Gut feel told me that something was fishy but was not able to narrow it down to anything. A year and a half ago, we had received a similar notice for breaking a traffic signal, but then the spot of violation was nearer home. And we had simply ended up paying the fine that time, trying to rationalize that maybe we had indeed committed the offence. These notices come after 3-4 weeks after the offence has been committed and the timings/places/type of offence given is so hazy that it forces you into thinking that it might as well have been you. Even on this occasion, in spite of having a clear memory of not having taken my ACTIVA to anywhere near Basaveswaranagar on that date, I thought to myself that maybe it was some other place, but the vehicle could be indeed, mine. And, like the previous time, I decided to pay the fine online when I spotted the following on the last line of the mail notice:

For proof of offence, log on to www.bangaloretrafficpolic.gov.in

Wow… It seemed to me as if the authorities had complete telepathic powers and wanted to leave no doubt in the mind of the offender! I decided to check it immediately and logged into the website. And true to their word, they had these links up there:

Links on the traffic police website allowing to search for information

There were few technical issues on the site, like non-compatibility with an office network and non-compatibility with web browsers like Chrome/firefox and when I finally managed to get it right on IE, this was the dialog that popped up:

Pop-up showing the nature of offence

And when I clicked for proof, this is what loaded (to my surprise)

Shankar Mutt traffic signal and a vehicle crossing the line

It also gave a zoomed in view of the vehicle:

Blue pulsar zoomed in to view the number plate

I could not believe my eyes! I cross checked every character on the nameplate and it was the same as my vehicle’s. Even my brother came and checked it again for confirmation. But the vehicle in the picture was a Bajaj PULSAR while my vehicle was a HONDA ACTIVA. Was it a criminal case of someone cloning our nameplate? Was it some fudging of the image on the website? Was it just a simple error, which we were not able to spot immediately? We could not say! But one thing was clear – it was not us who had committed the offence. And that was such a relief!

But I was too involved now, having found out that it could be a case of data anomaly. I had to get to the root of this issue. So, I decided to contact the traffic enforcement authorities for help. I scanned through their website and found nothing helpful. Fines could be paid online, or at numerous BangaloreOne centres in the city or even at their ‘traffic management centre’ main office. I decided that I would go to the main office directly with the notice, my vehicle and documents and ask them directly what was going on.

Dealing with the government – over the years

Now, anyone who has lived in our country for a long time would know the difficulty involved in dealing with the government agencies, especially the service providers (telephone, electricity, gas, passport, driving license, etc). At some point in the late 90s and the early 2000s, these had become so messy and intricately woven mazes that the common man just felt trapped once inside. I remember going to get my driving license done at the RTO during college holidays, roaming around in the corridors, finding out who would be the right person to contact, observing the sea of middlemen bullying everyone right under the ‘Do not contact middlemen’ board. It had taken me 2-3 visits just to understand what needed to be done. And a further 4-5 visits to finally get a learner’s license. The authorities would be so lethargic and would take their own sweet time to get even the simplest of things done. When I went to get my passport done, we had waited in the queue for over 4 hours only because the authorities did not know how to enter the correct ‘supporting document type’ into the system. They had retorted to manual files, and kept chit chatting with one another all the while (students anyway have a lot of time to waste, no?). And then, there were middlemen/brokers who would charge a hefty amount just to get things done which the government would anyway provide for free, only to spare us the hassles. No one I know has got a PAN done themselves – either the process is too cumbersome, or the number of middlemen who do it for us are too many. One of the biggest complains that we all must have had with the government agencies would be the lack of follow up. Even after successfully submitting the application, the wait would go on for days (sometimes months/years) for you to hear back from them. Most of us would have faced this issue while applying for (landline) telephone or LPG gas connections.

Winds of change came in during the past decade with the introduction of IT in the public sector. Although the bureaucratic process was still cumbersome, the computerization of few processes made things better. Introduction of payment kiosks, one-stop bill payment/application submission centres like Bangalore One, webpages for all government agencies, etc made things a little easier. Even though the websites were badly designed, it was good enough to atleast find information and the right point of contact for submitting applications/ grievances. The online/kiosk bill payment facility helped to save time by avoiding the long queues at the counters. And most of the processes were still offline and had to be done via the cumbersome offline route.

Experience at the traffic management center

I left office quickly on a weekday afternoon and visited the police commissioner’s office infantry road to inquire about the wrong notice. I happened to visit the police control room on the 5th floor. There were server rooms, clean offices and all the police officers’ desks had sleek workstations resembling any other IT office in E-City/Whitefield. This was a pleasant surprise. I was told that the entire traffic operations had been moved to a completely new building called ‘traffic management centre’ (TMC) further down the street. I drove down to the TMC and even here the story was the same – basement parking, elevators with automatic closing doors, and high speed workstations – it was intriguing to note that these organizations were able to quickly transform themselves.

I went into the ‘Enforcement automation centre’, expecting to be re-directed atleast to 3-4 people and find empty seats with coats hanging on the chair. I was immediately attended to by a staff who asked me to occupy a seat, while the officer on duty came back from his break. I expected a long wait, but this staff asked me about the problem, logged into their portal and was able to retrieve the offence image on the desktop in a matter of two minutes! He asked me for my vehicle’s documents and acknowledged the mistake, and asked me to write a letter describing the mistake instead of wasting time by waiting! Not only was I pleasantly surprised by this person’s knowledge of IT, I was delighted by his concern for my time. This was something which was unprecedented in a government office, at least for me.

My complaint letter

The officer then arrived, and allowed me to finish writing my complaint letter. Once done, he scanned through the documents of my vehicle and the picture of their camera carefully in order to make sure that the offense was not actually committed by my vehicle. And then took the written letter of complaint with me. He even got the vehicle documents scanned in no time. As a documentary proof, he wanted a picture of my vehicle. I said I did not have a picture ready, but the vehicle itself was parked in the basement of the building if he wanted to inspect it. I was thinking if he would ask for the picture in a pen drive/CD ROM drive or even worse, a photo print of my vehicle, when he suggested, ‘why don’t you email it to me?’ and even gave me the gmail address of Bangaloretrafficpolice! He then told me that he would get back to me very soon with his findings.

When I left their office then, I just felt good that I had invested time wisely. Of course, there was still mystery shrouding why I was sent the notice in the first place. However, the quick acknowledgement by the authorities that it was indeed a mistake from their side and the subsequent help they offered in following up was really commendable. They had not only setup an automated surveillance system that would track offenders, but also backed it up with proper training to the officials on the possible errors it might cause.

The follow up

I was at home that evening around 6.30 PM when the landphone rang. The person on the other side asked for my father and then kept asking me questions like he was a matrimony broker! He had questions on my education, work, and family background and I was wondering if it was some stupid RJ pulling a prank on me. I played along for some time and then, he introduced himself as the officer whom I had met a couple of hours ago. He had traced the vehicle as a pulsar with number ending ‘484’ instead of ‘181’. It was the way in which the pulsar fellow had painted his nameplate, the ‘4’ on the nameplate looked like a ‘1’. And that vehicle had a whooping nine cases of violation, all of them in the same place! He said that I don’t need to mail the photo of the vehicle and can relax as they had found the root of the issue and could consider the case as closed!

Number of repeat offences commited by the blue pulsar

Closing thoughts

I had just thought I will mail them the photo of my vehicle and absolve myself from any liability and forget all about follow-ups. Owing to my past experiences with the government agencies, I never expected any follow up from them. Though, here they were, coming back with a follow up within 2 hours of the complaint, having traced the real offender in their database even before I could mail them the photo of the vehicle! They had surely exceeded expectations this time. The experience this time was certainly lot different than any of the earlier interactions which I have had with government agencies. Some of the key takeaways from this experience were:

• Surveillance systems and real time analytics have already made their way into the police departments. So, next time you think of jumping the red because there is no cop watching, beware! 
• Technology is no more a taboo for the employees of the government sector. They don’t need ‘computer guys’ to operate these systems anymore. The employees realize that these systems ultimately make their jobs easy and are very keen to learn.
• Private firms (both local and MNCs) have realized that there is huge value in partnering with the government and are competing to grab a share of this valuable (till now overlooked) segment. Ex: Mindtree provides the IT systems for evidence management and Bosch Sicherheitssysteme GmbH (Germany) provides the camera/video recording equipment for surveillance to the BTP.
• There is lot of scope for technology and real-time analytics to further improve services provided by the public agencies. And the administration has already taken huge steps towards implementing some of these.

Implementation of technology and automated systems in governance is really capable of bringing radical changes in the coming days. I am really optimistic for the future. Are you?

That Dark (k)night

"There’s a storm coming Mr. Wayne!.... because when it hits you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave very little for the rest of us!"

Selina Kyle kept building up the plot for the dark knight to rise again. Ultra and I were in the multiplex and enjoying every minute of the most awesome finale to a trilogy ever made. Little did we know of the mini crisis which we would face ourselves later that night…

We had gone to watch the evening show at Arch mall’s multiplex on a Sunday evening which is only 6 kms from our home. Our parents had gone to our native place Karkala to attend a wedding. The movie would get over by 9:30 PM in the worst case, we just needed to have dinner after that and go home. Plus, we had our own car to drive back. We had been outside home during later hours in the night and driven our car in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing in the current situation seemed that bad. What could possibly go wrong? What was different?

Well, the difference was that we were now staying in a rented house. 'Akshaya', our dear home for the 25+ years of our lives was now undergoing a renovation and we had to stay in a rented place nearby till Akshaya2.0 was ready. We had chosen a place near to our old home. It was on the main road to Nagarbhavi and in front of a temple. The traffic and the temple noises would never end for most part of the day. It seemed a little small as compared to the big house which we had earlier. There were problems in the electrical connections. However, it was still a manageable place for a one year stay and it was only 2 minute walk from our old home. We just overlooked all the inconveniences and decided to stay there.

But the real problem was not in the physical details of the house, but the softer aspects involved. The owner lived on the second floor of the house and ran a shop on the ground floor. And we were sandwiched on the first floor. He was a rough person, seemed to be ill-mannered, and had a reputation for getting irritated soon. He kept two dogs to guard the place. One was a white pomerian (the white knight) which made all the noise and barked each time we walked past the gate. The other was some sort of a greyhound (the dark knight) which seemed very dangerous. Thankfully, they kept both the dogs on leash and the darker one below the stairs so that we did not have to walk past it. We still fail to understand the need for dogs when he himself was enough for the task (no pun intended). They also had a cat which they kept on leash near the terrace door. It kept crying whole day asking for release from that messy place. The parking spot was always occupied by the inventory of the shop and was barely enough for our two wheelers. And the car had to be kept on the street on the way to Akshaya as there was no other spot for it.

And then came the human aspect of it. In our own house, we were like free birds – no one could question us for anything we did. We had a huge terrace where Ultra and I played football/cricket, sometimes very late in the night – most of the times the sport used to end with us fighting on who won the game :) We had parking for our vehicles and could park it the way we wanted. We had a neem tree near the gate, a coconut tree in the front yard, and could keep small pots wherever we liked. We had lots of open space and storage space – we even kept stuff like our childhood toys, kindergarten school books and what not! We could go out and come in at any time of the day/night. We could talk, scream or laugh to our heart’s content for any silly reason. We had scribbled all over the walls while growing up – no one dared to question our authority anytime. We could cook/eat anything we wanted – be it plants / pulses, eggs or those delicacies from the sea which we love so much ;)

Everything changed once we decided to move out from there. We had to discard lots of old stuff because the rented place didn’t have space to keep all of it. There was only one entry door to the house and only two main windows for ventilation – which made us feel that we were in some padded cell or something. There was no place to even keep the holy tulsi plant, let alone other pots. The first floor house was sheltered in between the owner’s house on the second floor and his shop on the ground floor and we felt we were under constant surveillance. Since he sat at the shop all day and had nothing much to do, our in-time, out-time, materials movement, lifestyle were all monitored by him as well as his family. On top of it, the owner’s mindset was of the traditional ‘Vatara’ of the 90’s, something which translates to ‘landlord is king’. Whenever we walked past the shop, he had some orders for us – ranging from how to park our two wheelers to where we should place the plants to how we should be talking inside the house. And since he was a strict vegetarian, cooking even vegetarian items with garam masala flavor was not allowed; let alone the occasional egg/seafood which we wanted to. Even ordering pizzas and taking it past the two dogs into the house made it seem a complicated task. The saddest part of all was that the gates were locked by 10 PM. In cases where all of us went out for dinner and came back after 10, we had to call up the owner and ask him to let us in. It felt too suffocating!

Back to our current situation, it was totally gripping to the watch the creativity of Nolan unfold on the screen blended with the musical genius of Hans Zimmer. However, the clock kept ticking even as that happened. Just last evening, we had been to the bus stand to drop mom and dad and returned home at 1045 PM. We had to call the owner and ask him to let us in. We did not want to be doing that again tonight as well. We didn't know what it was that made us bite our nails – the thrilling finish to the batman saga or the hunger pangs which set in us :) There would be no food at home and we had to eat out whatever we decided to eat. And in no way, we would leave the theatre in middle of the movie, though we both had watched it once before already. I had to put up with one cancelled movie show and the very first row seats at the digitally enhanced 4k sound of the Urvashi cinemas to catch it on the first weekend of its release. And Ultra being a hardcore Nolan fan had been to Hyderabad just to watch the movie on an imax screen. He went by the Garib Rath express during monsoons. It may be recalled here that the YPR-SC Garib Rath express is the same famous train which Ultra and Maama once barely managed to board on an adventurous monsoon evening. You can read the full story here and here!

It was finally 9:40 PM when we got out of the movie hall. The dog owner would lock the gates anytime after 10 and we had exactly 20 minutes to either have/pack dinner and go home. And we could not get any non-vegetarian food even if we decided to pack it. As we walked hurriedly towards the parking lot deciding what to do, the only outlet we could see in front of our eyes was the ground floor KFC! Life was so unfair and the call from the outlet was irresistible! ‘The only thing fair in an unfair world was chance’ we told ourselves and we decided to act – we two! We decided to take the chance. Ultra ran towards the parking lot to get the car out, while I ran into the KFC counter to order two zinger burgers and large chicken popcorn. We still had not figured out how to take it inside the house hiding it from the watchful eyes of the knights. For now, the priority seemed to be getting the food ready and getting back home. Within 5 minutes, I was out of the outlet with the food – thanks to the superfast service by KFC. As soon as I got into the car, Ultra suggested his master plan for the night – that we both would take turns to drive and finish off the food at the same time. That way we would get down at home without any non-veg, even if we were late. I wasted no time! We were passing through the dark and quiet Bangalore University roads and Ultra could not control laughing hearing me munching the zinger with the usual ‘chabad chabad’ noise. It was all done in 5 minutes and we stopped the car at the university gates to exchange places. I drove slowly now, as Ultra had to finish the burger and we both had to finish the popcorn in the next 3 kms. Ultra was already on it. But by the time he was done, we were just 200 metres away from the house and the dogs waited for us...

Plans changed instantly – Ultra decided that he will go into the house and stay there till I parked the car two streets away. That way, he would be there inside to open the lock and allow me in, even if the owner locked the gates. We still hadn’t figured out what to do with the chicken popcorn, but we knew for sure that we would not waste it or throw it away just because of the dogs. He got down from the main road itself and ran into the house, while I took a longer route to drive to the parking spot in order to buy more time, thinking of what to do – I decided to buy some bread and soft drinks from the nearby bakery to use as a disguise, just in case. Ultra would give me the signal if things looked out of control.

‘The dogs know… be careful and come home safe’ was what Ultra’s text read when I was parking the car. What did they know? How could they know? He did not even have any packet with him. All he had done was to have the zinger few minutes ago. Were the dogs that sensitive to know that? Or was Ultra playing a prank with me? I did not know. All I knew was that I had to be even more careful as I actually had the packet with me now. I would definitely take Ultra to task once I got home for sending such ambiguous message, and I would definitely get a bigger share of food anyway :) But first, I had to tackle the dogs! I walked as fast as my legs could carry me, mind thinking of situations, and heart beat increasing all the while. It was already 10:15 PM when I reached the gate. And surprisingly, the lights were still on at the portico. I opened the gate, and the white dog started barking immediately and I froze for a second. I already had the packet in the left hand which was far away from the dog. So, I gathered all courage that I can and went towards the stairs. That was when I saw it – the dark knight!... the more dangerous of the two dogs. It had come out of its sleeping place and was very close to the steps which I had to take. I had never seen this dog so closely before and today, it looked even more dangerous, ready to pounce on me. But the only saving grace was that it was still kept on leash. I gathered all the courage that I could muster and ran towards the steps, while the dog kept watching me all the time. After some tense, frightening moments, I was finally running up the stairs and managed to reach the first floor door, banging on it so that Ultra would let me in.

We finally savored the "prized" chicken popcorn along with fanta sitting in the house later that night. While munching the delicious fried chicken pieces, I kept thinking – managing to eat chicken popcorn had never been such an adventure before. It was just one adventurous night in that dungeon, but it symbolized something more – of all the dark times we had to undergo staying in that house. We had to struggle even for the smallest of things. It was a bad experience, but we managed to learn a lot about people and their behavior during that time. And since we were in it together, the bond between the family members grew tighter. And thankfully, we have now moved past those dark days. We managed to get into an awesome place in an apartment just in time for Dasara and Diwali season, and the happy days were back again. Especially, the festive season back home after two years, was really good in the new apartment, which almost feels like our own house these days. It is so close to everything – Oie’s place, Gunda’s place, my old school, and it feels so comfortable with all facilities – open spaces, basement parking, freedom to walk in/out anytime, big terrace to chit chat and hang out with friends and what not. Adding to it is the joy and anticipation involved in waiting and watching the new ‘Akshaya’ unfolding every day. We can now look back at those adventures in the dark house and laugh about it. But at the same time, prepare for whatever life has in store for us. And as is always the case, when it is with Ultra, life will continue to be a roller coaster ride of adventures!:)

Parting note

Today, I cross one more milestone in the journey called Life. The ride in these two years has been really eventful and satisfying. After having stayed at home for almost all my life, I stepped into a remotely located premier institute of India to do my post graduation. It was a completely different experience with a sudden exposure to an entirely different culture and way of life. And as I sign out of here today, I can now boast of having achieved so many firsts in the two years – hostel stay, mess food, night outs (for both studies and for fun), organizing and participating in events, the legendary fun group at hostel, and the new learnings. When I left my previous organization, this was the last mail which I had written:

(reproduced here after minor modifications)

***********************

From: (maama's mail ID)(Nokia-MS/Bangalore)

Sent: July XX, 2010 XX:XX AM
Subject: One last mail from (last_name) (first_name).(initials of middle name) :)

Dear friends,

After finishing three eventful here in this esteemed organization, it is with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to all of you – my wonderful colleagues. You have made my stay here truly memorable.

I always used to wonder what emotion would be the foremost in people’s minds when leaving an organization where they spend a long time – pain? Excitement? Nostalgia? Joy of a new prospect? – I could never narrow it down to one of them and thought it to be a mixture of all of them. But as I sign off from here today, I am filled with one overwhelming emotion – gratitude towards one and all for all the things you have taught me.

Life is a wonderful learning journey and the last three years in my life here have been the most enriching and fulfilling learning experiences in my life. From a fresher right out of college in 2007 till today, this company has taught me so many valuable lessons - be it the merger in 2009, the re-orgs, the celebrations, the all-hands meets, the frugal expenditure budgets during tough times, the long cab journeys - each one of these have left a lasting impression on my mind.

I don’t carry grudges, I don’t carry bitter moments, and I don’t carry the sad moments. I don’t carry the frustrations and disappointments. All that I can carry from here (apart from the salary :)) are the learning experiences. Each and every day of my stay here has taught me something new and made me a better person overall. If I have erred or hurt any of you, then please consider it as unintended mistake from a learner and accept my apology.

You are really special to me and have taught me something - thank you! Wish you all the very best in life and hope that our paths cross in the future. Please stay in touch.

Regards,

(maama's name)

[“shraddhavan labhate jnyaanam” – A dedicated person begets knowledge]

PS : Please bear with me if the mail is too long for you. I will not be doing it again :)

***********************

I thought the parting emotions could be quite different from whatever I had experienced then - the practical life learnings over here were much more than what I learnt while I was working and staying at my home. However, even now, the overwhelming emotion when I am leaving is still the same – gratitude towards every person who has taught me things in life – the professors, friends, seniors, anyone and everyone who gave some kind of ‘gyaan’! Thank you everyone for all the lessons you have taught me, and forgive me if I unknowingly have erred in any manner. Continue to learn and enjoy life all the time. Wishing you all the best for the journey of life!

Bro when it’s you, life’s always gonna be a dashing ride! - Part 3

Read part one and two of the posts here and here

Many people have asked me this question ‘Temples in Goa? You are kidding right?’ and have given a sheepish ‘I know’ kind of grin when I have tried to answer. So, here I am clarifying, once and for all, a little lesser known facts about the tiny state.

Before it became the popular beach tourist destination it is today, Goa was a Portuguese colony. In fact, till as late as 1961 (yes, after independence too!) it was under the control of the Portuguese. If you recall, the Portuguese were the first of the European merchant-cum-invaders who came to India seeking richness in the Middle Ages. After Vasco da Gama, we have one Mr. Alfonso de Albuqerque who snatched Goa from Bijapur sultans and established a Portuguese colony. Before all this happend, numerous Hindu empires ruled over the area and the Indo-Aryan Brahmin group called ‘Saraswat Brahmins’ had setup a large number of temples. Most of these temples were eventually destroyed in course of Portuguese rule but have been subsequently restored. Since the GSBs have a concept of Kuladevata, it is a practice to visit the ancestral temple whenever possible and offer prayers to the Lord.

For the more interested, here is the wiki link to history of Goa.
And here is the link to history of Goud Saraswat Brahmins.

23.12.2011 12:45
Nothing of interest had happened with me at the wheels. We had crossed Hubli and were on the NH 63 moving towards Ankola. NH 4 till Hubli was awesome with 4 lanes and dividers that we dint have to go below 80kmph at any point. But the NH63 was a two-lane divider less road. There were lots of places where we had to go below 60kmph and the gear changed to 3rd or less. Even then, since the traffic was not so dense, we had managed to keep pace. We had now reached Kalghatgi. And Ultra was ready for one more round of driving. He took over when the km reading on the trip meter read 436kms…

curve on NH63

23.12.2011 14:00
We just finished lunch at a small restaurant in Yellapur. Though the hotel was a small one, the meals were filling and the mango drink really helped in the hot weather. Ultra resumed on the highway while mom, dad and I tried to take a nap. We were passing through the western ghats now and there was constant green cover along the highway. The forests got denser and the road started it natural descent into the coast of Karnataka. There were a lot of curves – some of them hairpin and some of them really tough to negotiate. Bro was doing it so well that we dint get disturbed in our nap.

23.12.2011 15:30
National Highway 17 … ah!
The coastal highway connecting Kanyakumari in the southern tip of India to the financial capital of Mumbai... passing through the coast of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, is one highway which both Ultra and I have always admired and longed to drive on. We used to sit on the compound wall of our maternal grandma’s home in Thekkatte and count vehicles passing on this road. We used to memorize the names of bus operators plying on this highway, remember the places covered by this highway, visit temples and beaches which lie on either side of this highway. It was our long standing dream to drive our own vehicle together on this highway. As soon as we reached Ankola, the place where NH63 joins NH17, we both took a deep breath to take in the excitement of being on this road… NH17, you beauty!

(For the uninitiated, who are wondering what is so beautiful about the Konkan coast of India, I would strongly recommend Konkan Railway and a drive on NH17 covering the coast of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka once. I bet you wont be disappointed)

23.12.2011 16:00
I was itching to drive on the highway and Ultra was anyway getting tired after driving for more than 300 kms today. Even on a holiday we had got up so soon and started on the journey, so the eyes had gotten a little tired. I took over from him at km 563 and immediately we crossed the port of Karwar

Immediately after the coast of Karwar we crossed the bridge across river Kali and then a narrow road through the cliffs – one of the fine examples of the scenery that is available on this highway

A short while after this, we crossed the border entering the tiny state of Goa. Even on the highway, the traffic in Goa gets a bit dense and the roads are narrow. Some roads are so narrow and curvy, lined with houses on either side, that if you get stuck behind a truck at one point, you are stuck behind that truck for almost 20-30 kms… there is no way to overtake.

23.12.2011 17:00
Driving in the traffic road of Goa was tiring. We had started 11 hours ago and still had some 50 odd kms to go. So, when the signs on the road said that a ghat section would emerge, we decided it was time to take a short break and have some refreshments. The highway side hotel named ‘Karmal Ghat restaurant’ dint look such a big place anyway. So, I thought it would be better to order less and took only tea. What a refreshing tea it was – sugar, tea and milk in the right quantities and awesome taste! It was one of the best till date. This rejuvenation was enough for driving through the tough ghat section where Ultra kept saying ‘Slow Slow Slow!’ …maybe he dint have the tea :P

23.12.2011 18:25
After crossing numerous traffic hurdles in Margao, Ponda and the highway, we had finally made it to the parking lot of Shri Ramnath temple, covering a total of 665.6 kms in a span of 13 hours! It was one of the most awesome journey ever, and the fact that it was with Ultra made it even more special. We would be offering prayers to the temple deities the next day, ie on 24th . We also planned to visit Panini’s kuldevta temple at Mahalasa, Mardol and go to one of the beaches if time permitted. We managed to do all that and more. Unlike previous times, where we would end up paying a lot to the taxi walas, local transport would not be a problem anymore – the privilege of having your own gaadi! Not only that, but we also visited places like Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, etc on our way back and even stayed at my mom’s maternal home in Thekkatte. I wish I could write about all this sometime in detail. Maybe someday I will.

23.12.2011 21:00
We sat in the all too familiar Hotel Venkatesh Leela, savoring the awesome kingfish curry, fry and prawns rava fry! Visiting this place and having the signature fish and prawn dishes had almost become a tradition now. I have kept bills of all the times we have eaten there. Its worth collecting! I still have not been able to figure out what it is that makes the fish cuisine in this part of the world so delectable. Maybe it is because we get a chance to eat it very rarely. Maybe it s because the humidity makes you more hungry and the sea food is fresh because of the proximity to the sea. It could also be the coconut milk that they mix along with other spices. But the kingfish curry and rice is THE best food I have ever had in my entire life. Add to it, the side dishes like prawns deep fried in rava and kingfish fry, the meal is one whose taste would stay on for a long time. If you are a fish eater, I would definitely recommend going to this restaurant once while in Goa to enjoy the delicacies.

Ultra and I sat there in the restaurant after the meal, sipping fresh lime soda and taking a bit of saunf. I had been a long and tiring day, but one which we would remember for a long time to come. We missed having Panini there. Pulling her leg by making fun of her eating would have added a completely different dimension to the fun which we were having. Nevertheless, we were still happy having spent time together. Right from the time we had bought our car, we had this dream of driving to Goa in it. After 4 long years, with preparation and planning, we had finally managed to do it. And we had even got along skeptical dad with us! Driving in Goa for next two days would be fun. And with him by the side, life would always be a roller coaster ride!

Bro when it’s you, life’s always gonna be a dashing ride! - Part 2

23.12.2011 Dawn
One mobile started ringing at 04:26 AM and the other at 04:28 AM. For most of the familiar readers, it’ll be easy to guess which one was which. Excitedly, we both jumped out of our respective beds. Yes, we would be driving today! Ultra slept for a while while I got ready. Mom and Dad had already woken up and mom was making VangiBath (popular rice dish) early in the morning. We had packed most of our clothes and there was a little bit of hurry in the last minute charging the camera and mobiles, some last minute packing, etc. Ultra was the last to get ready and by the time he got ready at 5:15 AM, the rest of us had some coffee, which he doesn’t like to have anyway. We put all the luggage in the dicky of the car. The audio speaker deck was creating problems for large bags to be stuffed, but somehow we had managed to fit them all.


23.12.2011 5:33 AM
We planned to start at 5:30 in the morning and it was exactly 5:30 when we locked the main door and sat in the car. It was a cold, December morning and we had to close all the windows to feel comfortable inside. However, the sunrise was still faraway and we had to drive for sometime with headlights. I had this experience before so I wanted Ultra to start it off. And he did! This was the route which we had to cover:

Tumkur --> Davangere --> Hubli --> Ankola --> Karwar --> Goa border --> Madgaon --> Ponda --> Ramnath temple

Route map - click to enlarge

So, we had chosen a little circuitous route instead of a direct one and this was not without reason – many bloggers on the site had warned that the road would be very bad if we had taken the shorter route without going till Hubli. We planned to reach the temple by evening.

23.12.2011 5:45 AM

We were on the NICE road by now and Ultra was already doing speeds of 80-100 km/h. I was just sitting in the navigator’s seat and trying to help if needed by warning. We kept saying ‘Quick but safe’ to each other. But we knew we had to cruise through the city limits as early as possible to avoid the morning traffic. Although we thought we could do it, there were many toll booths on the way. Our first target was to get on NH4 and then touch Tumkur by 6:45…

driving with headlights at dawn

23.12.2011 6:40 AM
Well, we had made it almost near Tumkur but the city traffic was a little heavy. So, we would just barely make it to the bye-pass at 6:45. The dense fog before sunrise was not helping either. It would be cold if we opened the windows, but the fog would cover the windshield and reduce visibility if we dint. The AC directed towards to the windshield helped a bit but not totally. Dad and Mom had taken the backseat. As usual, Dad had forgotten the ear cap and was asking mom for the sweater and we both laughed remembering the numerous times that had happened before. Whoever said familiarity breeds contempt! It doesn’t! In fact, you start loving the familiarity and start yearning for it. We laugh that it is too familiar, but deep down, we develop a liking for it and miss it when we don’t get it. Isn’t it?


23.12.2011 8:00 AM
The sun was out now and it was already 2.5 hours since we left home. The excitement of getting up early, packing and hitting the road had slowly sunk in. We were cruising at 80-110 kmph consistently except for the toll booths where we had to shell out some 150 rupees already for as many kilometers covered. Mom and Dad were already dozing off after the initial high. Ultra was still going steady. It seems he had made ‘Quick but safe’ his mantra of the day. Some scenes like this were on offer to our eyes:

tractors on truck

Quick but safe :)

23.12.2011 9:00 AM
The hunger pangs had set in and we kept searching for the Kamat Upachar on the highway. We had crossed Chitradurga already. Mom kept saying we will have VangiBath which she had packed. The name of Vangibath excited our hunger pangs even more. We thought we will go to a nice restaurant on the highway instead of leaving the highway to get into any city. It was 225kms when we stopped on the parking lane for a quick loo break for the first time. Ultra had driven all the time. As soon as we came back from behind the bushes (:p), we saw that mom had already opened the Vangibath and started eating. None of us could control either and we gobbled it up in no time. We were good to go after that and I took over from Ultra to drive on. By 9:30, we reached the Davangere byepass and most of us were still hungry. So, we decided to get inside the town for to have the famous ‘butter dosas’.

It was a long way into the city and we struggled to find a decent restaurant till we reached the city limits. We got into some restaurant and ate heartily. By the time we finished and got out of there and back on the highway, it was already 10:10 AM. We had to make up for the lost time. I drove on and hit 80 right away. Ultra went to the backseat to take some rest…

continued in part 3 here

Bro when it’s you, life’s always gonna be a dashing ride! - Part 1

23-12-2011 17:45

He kept saying 'Slow! slow! slow!' … I just said to myself 'Sorry bro when it’s you, life’s always gonna be a dashing roller coaster ride'

The ghat road was winding, curvy and didn’t have a divider for the traffic coming in the opposite direction. He kept warning me to slow down and watch out! But I knew I was in total control. I had the best navigator in business and nothing could go wrong… we had come this far and we would definitely make it safe. Finally, we had managed it and it was an experience to cherish.

Flashback: 2011

Okay, so 2011 was not exactly a year of leisure or vacation for me in anyway. It also reflects on this blogger site as I could not find to update my blog posts at all with zero entries in the year – a personal low for me (or anyone for that matter). The year started with the second semester of MBA in Kharagpur and continued there till the summer internship back in BengaLuru. After two and half months of awesome stay at home and relishing the internship experience, it was back to business at Kharagpur with the hectic third semester – one of the busiest till now. There was always something to do at all time with lot of electives to study, politics to deal with, fests to organize, companies to prepare and so on. But there was also the odd trip where we could enjoy. A Coorg trip with close college mates during internship was good and the trip to Rishop and Darjeeling with a different gang from college was not exactly something which gives good memories. Nevertheless, it was the trip in which I caught my first glimpse of the Himalayas and that alone was enough to make the trip a memorable one. Such being the case, when there was an opportunity to go on a long road trip with Ultra at the far end of the year, I dint want to let go of it at any cost. Thus began one of the most awesome drive trips I have ever been on till now!

When I landed in Bangalore with three weeks of vacation in hand, I already had a long list of to-dos built up even before I set foot on the YPR platform from the HWH-YPR duronto. Regular maintenance works at home, bank related work, phone repair, and what not. But the main thing of all was to spend time with family (especially Ultra) without any tension of college, job, etc. Also, Panini had landed in India with her hubby and they had plans of visiting their ancestral temple in Goa from their residence at Pune. So, I was thinking that if we went on our trip at the same time, it would be a good opportunity to meet her after a long time. But, the main things to be considered were if Ultra’s and Dad’s holidays coincided with the dates when they planned to travel. The idea of the trip had been planted but nothing concrete was decided.

A week went by in finishing off the routine tasks like vehicle service, bank account, etc. When I first brought up the tour plan at home, Ultra got really excited. He said he had one whole week of holidays in the last week of December and that would be the best time to go. Mom was in for it as usual. As a rule, mom is always in for travel plans like this. That’s the best thing about her. So, only person remaining was dad, and we all instantly knew what his reaction was going to be – trip to Goa during Christmas? No way. Do you know it will be enormously crowded that time of the year? (Khanddaaaapati rush :p)

And yes. That was exactly how he reacted. He was true to some extent. Christmas and new- year time is when it gets really crowded and expensive in Goa. Room rents per day in some places are known to touch a whopping 25,000 INR per night! Even the temple accommodation, where we usually stay would be full. Panini and her in-laws had already finished their trip by then and had to cut short their trip because of accommodation problem. Thus, we had thought it was all over about the trip plans. Ultra had plans to buy a new phone for long and was waiting for me to assist in that work. So, we decided to spend the holidays together by exploring the new phone he would buy, watching movies and playing games.

20 & 21 December 2011
It had happened many times before and it did happen this time too. Some casual talk between mom and me during a lazy winter morning over breakfast made us think that it would be a good plan if we continued our plans - The car had been serviced and yearned for a long drive since so many days; we had not been on the family trip since early 2010 and did not see any chance for some time in the future if we dint go now; Ultra was anyway taking a leave on Friday and if we could somehow arrange for accommodation in our temples, we would be good to go. A casual call to the temple office evoked a response of strict no for accommodation at first and then turned to a tentative yes to a confirmed status within a span of 10 minutes. Dad returned from office in the evening and said that if the three of us were going anyway, he would come too. But the only constraint for him was to be back in Bangalore on Monday morning which we thought could be taken care of. And by the time Ultra was back from work on Wednesday we had a plan in place!

22 December 2011
Ultra went to office early for the last time in the year. Mom got busy packing for all of us. I spent most of my time reading up blogs on teambhp.com and making notes for myself on which is the best route to go to Goa. The main criterion was to stay on good roads as much as possible. After going through many discussion forums, I decided on a route, somewhere close to 675km one way. It would be long drive and we would have to leave early to make it to the temple by dusk. We planned to stay at the temple for 2 days and then maybe leave for Karwar on Christmas day. Dad would catch a bus back to Bangalore from there and we planned to continue on the coast of Karnataka to our mom’s native place near Kundapura in Udupi district. Visiting the sacred Ganapati temple at Anegudde was long overdue, more so in our alto because we had put the deity’s name on the windshield and could never take the car to meet the deity whose name it flaunted

Pic of the alto lxi with the deity's name in Kannada script - it reads 'Aanegudde Sree Mahaganapati'

When Ultra came back in the evening, we went to fill fuel in the car and get the air pressure right. It had been serviced just two days back so we assumed there was no need to check anything else. We watched some videos on youtube together and learnt how to change a flat tire using the jack. We even tried out jacking on our own car, but dint make the mistake of removing the tyre… why remove something that’s fine anyway? Ultra’s new phone, which was promised to be ready by 22nd was to be available only the next day. We abused the sales guy over telephone but there was nothing much to do. We thought we would collect the phone after the trip anyway. We had to wake up early morning at 4:30 AM the next day and leave home by 5:30AM. A long but exciting day awaited. Both Ultra and I could hardly sleep and kept waiting for that alarm ….

... continued in Part 2 here

Super Hit?

Last week, I had written about corruption and how recent studies on organization behaviour can be used to tackle this menace. And it was pure coincidence that the only Kannada movie that I happened to watch during my month’s stay in Bangalore happened to be on corruption. I was really amazed by the way the movie had been made. If you understand Kannada or have even a little affinity and time to watch a movie, then I suggest that you watch this movie. Everything about the movie is well thought of and well made. I agree that it is overly done in parts and some parts are hard to follow if you haven’t followed the lead protagonist’s earlier movies. But even with all these, the movie still wins because of the style, presentation and the ultimate message it gives out.

Let us start from the title of the movie. Here is the title of the movie as it appears:

Confused? Interested? Amused? Well, you should be. Who makes movies with a title like this? Is this some sort of gimmick? Yes, it is. The movie marks the return of Upendra as director after a gap of 11 years and stars himself in the lead role. Upendra or Uppi as he is popularly called by his fans, has always used titles like these to arouse audience interest right from the word “go” and this movie is no different. In the past, the movies which he has directed have had single letter /single syllable titles like “A”, “OM”, “SHH”, etc and the last movie he directed had his name, ie, “Upendra” as the title. So, his return to direction after a long gap demanded yet another landmark title and he dint disappoint. He just gave the above symbol and asked his fans or the audience to name it. So, what do we call this movie as? A mudra in pranayama? Brilliant? nice? Good? In the censor board’s certificate the movie title is recorded as “Super” and let us stick with that as of now.

Next, we move on to the screenplay and direction of the movie. Uppi is known for his mix up style of narration and use of flashback and fast forwards very notoriously in his movies. In fact, the movie “A” in which he starred himself as an hero had such complex flashbacks that people had to watch it almost 3-4 times to understand. It had the tagline “Srtictly for clever people only”. One more marketing gimmick, you’d say. But it worked to great effect. And he is also popular for shooting movies realistically. His movie “om” used real underworld dons from Bangalore and runs to packed houses in BengLoor theatres even today. So, the screenplay and direction of the movie Super too is on expected lines with story starting from ancient India, moving to 2030 and moving back and forth thereafter. Also famous in Uppi’s movies are his dialogues which are delivered breathlessly. I was left completely speechless by the way some of the dialogues and lyrics were written and delivered. Though people usually criticise him of using too many vulgar and double meaning dialogues, the smartness with which he does so has to be applauded. For instance, he calls the citizens of India “satprajas”. Now, satpraja in Sanskrit is a combination of two words “Sat”, meaning good and “praja” meaning “citizens”. In Kannada, the word “Sath” is also a verb which means “dead”. In a scene where he praises the citizens of the country sarcastically for being uncaring, he calls them “sath praja” with a clear gap between sath and praja (dead citizens). For an ardent admirer of usage of language, this was a treat.

The best part of the movie is the way in which Uppi links two concepts together. There is a story of India on one hand and there is the story of the female lead called Indira(for obvious reasons) on the other. The screenplay is so marvelous that the story of India and the story of Indira go hand in hand and have similar climaxes. In a scene where Indira is attempted to be raped, there is the parallel scene of politicians auctioning off the nation which is nothing but siphoning off all its dignity. In a scene where Indira blames the hero for everything wrong in her life, the people of India are shown to be blaming the politicians for everything wrong in their country and so on. The similarities are striking.

There are boring moments in the movie and places where Uppi’s trademark mannerisms come in to play. It might be too much to take for the class audience but this is just for the frontbenchers. If you haven’t watched a single Uppi movie till now, then there will be few moments where you can just sit back and keep munching pop corn without missing anything, but the first few moments and the last few moments are really worth a watch. Some of the parts give sadistic pleasure when the Whites are shown to do all menial jobs in India and the Indian rupee fetches 80 pounds. The India of 2030 with all super fast trains, excellent roads, world-class airports, etc makes you want to be there right away.

The final part of the movie is what inspired me to write this post as a sequel to the article on corruption. The solution presented is simple – give responsibility to the people rather than politicians. I don’t know if there is a system of governance in the world which does that but it could be called crude democracy. I am sure it has been thought of before. Along with giving responsibility to the people, the solution also emphasizes the point that everyone must know the value of their nation. In the movie, people come to know the exact value of their nation only when their areas are sold off for crores of rupees. It is only that everyone protest the auction and promise to take care of their surroundings themselves instead of the government. Instead of blaming the government, people start cleaning their roads regularly, water the plants on roadside, take up power projects, repair roads, etc. And when this happens, the India of our dreams automatically happens. Though the movie is really optimistic in predicting that this will happen by 2030, I feel this solution, if taken in its essence could be a powerful tool in bringing down the corruption in our nation. This is what the recent studies in organization behavior also indicate.

To summarise, I would say that the movie “super” is as good or if not better than any other movie in its genre like “Nayak”(Hindi), “Indian” (Tamil), “Anniyan”(Tamil), etc. The solution presented is also more realistic than some of the melodramatic Bollywood movies like “jadoo ki jhappi” and “gandhigiri” (I really wish this worked). It also portrays Uppi in a politically active mode which could be a part of his larger plan to enter active politics later. But, for the moment, if you want to enjoy a nice movie with a thought-provoking message, then “Super” is the movie for you. Do let me know your comments on this if you have watched it.

Further Reading:
About Upendra:
The movie Super

Top 5 Patriotic Scenes in Bollywood

Patriotism is always a hidden emotion. We are good at expressing feelings like love, sadness, happiness, etc. Pre-independence, the feeling of nationality got expressed in many ways and many forms by our freedom fighters. But patriotism seldom gets a chance to be expressed these days. It is only during the national festivals like today that we see a sudden surge in the patriotic expression in our nation.

Our main film industry – Bollywood has not lagged behind in the display of this emotion. There have been numerous movies that have been made throughout in the course of Bollywood’s long history that have displayed patriotism and have compelled every Indian to think about what their nation means to them. Who can forget the ever-patriotic song “aye mere watan ke logon” by Lata Mangeshkar which brought tears into Nehru’s eyes… Or the “Vande Mataram” by A R Rahman which dominated the 50 years of India theme. There are so many songs and scenes like that. Below, I present five patriotic scenes from movies which have had a great impact on me in the recent days. It is to be noted that this list is in no way exhaustive and there could be many more scenes which could have made it here. This is just my individual opinion

Top 5:

At fifth place are the scenes from the movie Rang De Basanti(2007). Though I cannot pick one scene from the movie and claim that to be “the” patriotic scene, there are quite a few scenes, especially the ones using the monochrome yellow background to show historical figures like Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Chandrashekar Azad and Bhagat Singh. The way the screenplay shifts between present and past heroes is brilliantly done and it definitely raises this question of relevance of yesterday’s revolutionaries in shaping the youth of today.

Top 4:

At fourth place is the scene from the movie Lakshya(2004). Like any other confused Indian youth, Karan (Hrithik) is directionless and lives a lazy life. On an impulse, he decides to join army and can barely survive the rigorous training for a day. He comes back to his girl friend who doesn’t want to stay with him because he cannot respect his own decisions. Dejected and humiliated, Karan returns to the training camp with a renewed vigour. The way he goes on pursuing his training and makes a contribution to the nation is really inspiring and induces patriotism. As like the previous, even this doesn’t describe a particular scene but the scene where he says to his girlfriend what his goal in life can be considered as the defining moment of the movie.

Top 3:

At third place we have the famous and controversial scene from the movie Roja(1992) – the “dousing the flame on flag” scene. Arvind Swamy who works for cryptology department of the Indian government is sent to Kashmir for some classified work for the armed forces. He is captured by some terror groups who demand the release of a notorious terrorist and an independent Kashmir. When in captivity, Rishi (Arvind) finds out about the activities of the people and their operations. When the Govt refuses to release the terrorist, one of the members in the kidnappers gang tries to provoke Rishi by burning the national flag. The way Rishi tries to douse the flames on the flag in spite of being handcuffed and attacked by so many people is a real inspiration.

Top 2:

At second place is the scene from “Chak De India(2007)” where the coach (SRK) introduces himself and starts the training for the Indian Women’s hockey team. Each person in the team introduces herself by saying her name and the name of the state from where she comes from. Kabir Khan dismisses them from the team one after the other until the goalie Vidya says “Vidya Sharma, INDIA”. He makes her repeat the line again and again and then tells that each one of the team member is an Indian first and then whatever they want to. It has a message for all us – that we have to put our nation first in all our thinking. It has a lot of relevance for today’s situation where regional divide between people is used by the politicians to fuel tensions among the people. Every one of us is Indian first and then we can choose our identity based on our preferences.

The Top Scene:

The moving train full of people comes to a slow halt at a small station called “Ajite”. A boy runs along with the train carrying a kettle of water and shouts “paani lo paani” to the passengers. No one seems to hear him but he keeps on shouting “paani lo paani pachees paise mein ek glass”, pleading people to buy water from him. The reason no one buys water from him is that even they are poor themselves and cannot afford to spend on something like water. Looking through the train’s window, the boy notices the lead protagonist Mohan who is already feeling depressed about the state of his nation. He asks him to buy water to which the protagonist immediately obliges. And then, something wonderful happens – the NRI, rich man, one of the few privileged in the nation who has never drank anything other than bottled water all his life takes water in the mud-pot from the boy and drinks it. Tears fill his eyes when he is done. The scene sums up the ultimate divide and almost the entire state of the nation. Brilliant!

This is the scene from the movie “Swades (2004)”. Not many would agree with me when I say this is a brilliantly made movie. For example, the scene which I described about just now could have easily been done away with. It was not required in the lengthy movie. But it is the scenes such as these which make the movie inspiring and patriotic. Mohan goes to a village to ask for money from a farmer Haridas who had taken loan from his maa samaan Kaveriamma. But when he hears about the plight of the farmers who suffer from injustice in his nation, he is deeply hurt. Instead of recovering money from Haridas, Mohan gives some money to him and returns. He keeps thinking about the sorry state of a nation which has everything in it for everyone but still only a few lucky ones enjoy it while others toil hard and suffer. It is during this juncture that we are presented with his awesome scene and I rate it as the “best patriotic scene in Hindi cinema”

Well, now you have read through my favourite scenes, what do you think? Do you think if there could be anything more? Do let me know. Once again, I wish you all a very happy independence day!

Kaun Jeeta Kaun Haara

The breaking news was being telecast just now on TV – the IPL has been moved out of AP because of security issues. So there will be no matches in Hyderabad this season, this inspite of the fact that the Deaccan team is the current title holder. If you thought this was an insult, just wait until you hear the venues to which it has been re-located to – Nagpur and Mumbai, the safest of all cities in India right now!

Coming to the issue of Mumbai, what has been happening over there in the past few days is pathetic to say the least. A few people who belong to a party which has lost the public vote very badly are holding the entire city to ransom in the name of protecting the Maratha pride. They welcome the general secretary of the ruling party with black flags, burn the posters of a national icon in front of his residence, and even abuse the chief minister of the state and even set him up on a date with the neighboring hostile nation on Valentines Day by calling him a ‘Pak lover’.

Ok, so the big news last week was not about the rising food prices or the question of whether to increase the petroleum prices or not. The issues at hand were not about whether you should eat a genetically modified brinjal or not. It was whether the movie “My name is Khan” would release in India’s entertainment capital or not. And the news channels were full of it – whether SRK would apologise to the Sena or not, whether the multiplexes would dare the Sena and release the movie or not – even the highest paid PR/publicity guys could not generate as much interest in the movie as the last week’s stand-off between SRK and Sena did.

The movie has finally opened. Mumbaikars have braved all odds and thronged multiplexes and theaters to catch a glimpse of their favorite on-screen Jodi after many years. The praise for the movie is everywhere. And I am sure it will go on to become one of the biggest grossing movie in recent times. The media are projecting it as a victory for the SRK clan and a defeat for the Sena. SRK says it is the people of Mumbai who won. So who actually won and who lost?

At the end of the day, it is just people who managed to make money who won. Emotions have no place in either politics or business. So, all the people out there in controversy were just seeing how to turn the situation to their advantage. Firstly, Shahrukh – he owned an IPL team himself. If he was really keen on giving representations to Pak players, he should have selected atleast one player in his team. We all now know that their team’s “Requirements” were already met. But, the truth is like everyone else, even KKR felt that investing in a Pak player would mean losing money because of uncertainty. And thus, they chose not to buy a player. But Shahrukh chose to make his agony public. And this gave his movie the publicity nothing could ever give. It is as simple as that – Neither naming the movie with his surname nor his pairing with Kajol after nearly a decade could have given the film as big an opening as it has got now. The Sena, on the other side, which has lost power in Maharashtra and Mumbai, wanted to assert its position and saw some gains in attacking Shahrukh. So, by abusing the country’s national icons and the chief-minister of the state, they claim even they too have won.

And who lost in all the drama? It was the brand of Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital. Businesses and entertainment industries already are thinking about moving to greener pastures because of the never-ending bashing by political parties which name their newspappers as "Forward" and take the nation in exactly the opposite direction. Non-Marathi people in Mumbai are living in fear of being attacked. The commoner in Mumbai still suffers because the mundane are issues are being pushed to the sidelines because of all the drama on the front pages. This incident has just re-inforced the fact that – at the expense of the common man, the politicians and the businessmen make merry.

And why did I bring up the “IPL snubbing Hyderabad” news at the beginning of this post? This is to again re-iterate the summary of the last paragraph. Whether or not a new state of Telangana is created, the maximum gainers in the whole episode will be the so-called leaders of the people and protectors of the Telugu pride and the losers ultimately will be the citizens of Hyderabad whose life comes to a standstill every second day because of the bandh, the poor cricket loving people in AP who will miss the all the IPL action this year and the aam-aadmis like you and me :-(

PS:
1. I feel IPL has a jinx in that no city which wins it will get to host matches in the coming year. Jaipur dint get it in 2009 and Hyderabad has missed it in 2010. If this is the case, it is best that Bangalore finish runners up this year too. Atleast we will get to see some matches over here :-)

2. I have assumed the meaning of "Saamna" to be "forward" for the sake of flow of thought. The actual meaning in Hindi is close to "in forefront" and I have no idea what it means in Marathi. Anyone who knows is welcome to comment and let me know

Republic Day Post

A few days back there was this controversial issue in Belgaum between the MNS and pro-Kannada organizations. The MNS felt that since they held power in the Belgaum city council, the building should hoist the Maharashtra flag or the “Maratha” flag. The pro-Kannada organizations were dead against this. They argued that only Karnataka flag could be hoisted on top of the council since Belgaum was an integral part of Karnataka. Both the parties were relentless in their stand and this led to violence and unrest in the region. The battle was taken to many local courts, district level courts, Karnataka high court and finally to the supreme court of India. The Supreme Court’s verdict was outright, clean and clear – “if any flag was to be hoisted on top of a government office, it obviously had to be the flag of the union of India”

For all the parties who were involved in heated debate against which flag was to be hoisted, the verdict was a tight slap in the face. But the summary of the verdict is even bigger. It is slap in the face for all the politicians across the nation who try continuously to divide the nation along regional, linguistic or caste based lines. It is big slap in the face for the clan of Thackerays who say people from other states are unwelcome in their city because the city belongs to them; a slap in the face for all those who say they need more states because that will help them get their own identity in a nation which is already flooded with an ocean of misguided identities.

The union of India was declared a republic state on the 26th of January 1950, exactly 60 years ago on this day. We all pledged that ours would be a nation where the governance was “by the people, for the people, and of the people”, we would be the largest democratic nation in the world with every citizen of the nation having a right to choose his/her leader. A verbose constitution or the rule of the land amounting to 90,000 words had already been penned down beautifully by the finest intellectuals of our land. It had the best parts from many countries and some features unique to itself. Inspite of our cultural, regional, linguistic differences we would demonstrate unity. All the other identities like our religion, race, caste, language would come a far second compared to the national identity.

But even after sixty years of being a republic nation, the very multiple identities continue to haunt us. People still demand a separate state because their region needs a different identity than others; native people in the country’s largest city consider few people “outsiders” who come to take away what belongs to them; religious fanatics still believe that government is acting against the interest of the majority community and indulge in large scale communal violence; river water that flows across states is constantly disputed as belonging to the state of origin leading to chaos in downstream states… the list goes on endlessly. We see new cases like these emerge almost everyday.

Our constitution was framed by borrowing the best from all the parts of the world. It is one of the finest written rule of law in the world with clear demarcation between the powers of legislature, executive and the judiciary. It also controls the power of the central and state governments clearly. In spite of having such a finely written constitution with us, the reason we are still lacking unity and development is because of the short-sightedness of our leaders. We have created a form of governance where it is easy for our political class to keep us divided and get votes without taking any steps towards betterment of the nation. The collective will of the rulers as well as the people towards a developed nation is missing today.

Putting national interest ahead of any other vested interest is one of the foremost requirement in today’s scenario. Especially the leaders who use the emotions of the people to trigger violence and spread unrest must realize this first – progress can happen only if we stand united in spite of all diversities and not by demanding segregated development of isolated communities. Be it the Thackerays of Maharashtra who want to deny taxi permits to non-marathas, the TRS who want to have a separate state for sake of a political identity – everyone should realize that true growth and development can happen only when it is inclusive, ie, each and every citizen in the country feels part of the whole and willfully participates in the nation-building process.

On this occasion of India’s 61st republic day, we all should introspect on the reasons that have hindered progress in the nation and give a nice, tight slap in the face to all those who are against the unity of whole nation. I wish that we reach reach our rightful place at the top of the world soon. I hope to write more on issue of nation-states in the coming days. But for now, I just wish you all a Happy republic day! Jai Hind