developed India

During my couple of years in the AUS, I used to read every 'feel-good' article and magazine about India with great enthusiasm and pride. Read a lot of articles as to how India became world’s back-office destination. How the middle class was enjoying the economy surge et all. Came in 2004 with some moderate expectation… only to find nothing has changed! Of course its too short a time to have expected too much, but the media had hallucinated me! Yes the urban life style has changed but that’s just a part of the population, and I am still wondering if this change is for good… lets forget the westernized influence for time being. Talking of Chennai; it still has electricity problem, leave the rainy season, summers are known for frequent power cuts…. The Krishna or veeranam or whatever water that the govt. promised comes to many houses but is it potable? {should be happy that connection has been laid, though at many places it is hand pumps} Traffic jams and pollution are just the order of the day. Probably all the cities here are facing the same problem but nothing is being done, except Delhi where I believe Govt. is really on the move. What has changed? {not just 2-3 years, lets say what has changed in the past decade) o yes! Somethings have Almost everyone sports a mobile Toyota, Hyundai, skoda are becoming more common Malls and multiplex culture. Divorce on the rise! Yellow journalism on the rise. We need growth at the root level! On the contrary only a section of the mass is progressing (may not be in all aspects but at least in materialistic way). The socio economic pyramid is getting steeper by the day, and which is not a good sign. No wonder the crimes are on the rise. Too much of blaming the Government ( not that they are doing their duty properly), what are we as individuals doing to improve the society apart from following the rules and paying the taxes. I was thinking if I really did anything for the society at least this year? Hmmm the grim answer would be NO! One thing is for sure we should stop blaming the govt, and start looking at ourselves, one area where the westerners have excelled in leaps and bounds. The individual feels more responsible and acts accordingly. and till each and everyone start contributing we will still be in the bottom list of developing nations leave alone developed countries. What should we as individuals be doing to improve the place in our own small way? I am just running out of ideas. Hope all of us has a better 2006 and see a better India. Wishing readers a happy n a prosperous 2006

One puny guy on a cycle with two gas cylinders tied together on the carrier was in the front, ready to cross the road as soon the traffic police showed him green. Else he wouldn’t make it in time. Police had different plans. Actually this cyclists was ahead of all the motorists, he had to be else he would be stuck in green signal race. The cons (traffic constable) walked to him and said Cons: “ cycle a inga orama niruthu va” Cyclist: blinking and without uttering a word, parked his cycle in the side and came back Cons: seri poi andha vandiya thalla help panu po Cyclist: dint say anything and went were cons pointed… I couldn’t see for while and thought he was gone, but as soon as we were given green signal, I saw this poor guy pushing a police jeep. I din wait and watch, but I felt bad for the guy…

Sting operation on MP’s this time christened as “operation chakrvyu”..shows them collecting bribes for favoring contracts… This is second time in a month, in fact when I saw the news in the paper, for a moment I thought it was the previous news. These things come on National news networks and still these people are not worried and go ahead in doing what they are best at. Who is at fault? these people or the ones who give them money? I Guess who give them money .. they are the real criminals… as the hindi saying goes “ na rahega sanp, na rahegi baasuri” That’s too much politics in here… Avasara police ------, ---- Mohamed and now this is my ----- avadhu postu!!! Took a year n a half for this

chor chor

Yesterday while driving back home, near Guindy industrial estate this happened. Ahead of me one bag from an auto fell down. A guy in a 2 wheeler picked it up, it happened to be a ladies hand bag. The auto driver cornered the auto, meanwhile this guy never stopped and looked as if he was trying to get away with the bag…. The traffic was so much that he was not fast and before that 2-3 cyclists n one motorist caught him. Soon a lot of people gathered and we all had to see the drama as there was no way out. The lady (in her late 20’s) came out of the auto, one of the cyclists snatched the bag from the guy and came running to the lady(feeling proud of himself). He gave her the bag n said “ellam correct a irruka parungo madam, neenga andha alla pathi kavalai padathingo avana pudichitom…nalla matikitaan” couldn’t see what was happening to that guy, with all the people around, but he was being cursed by everyone there. This lady she made her way towards the crowd… something happened and after sometime, the crowd cleared, I saw the lady was sitting on the pillion seat of the bike!!! What heck? ?? They were actually couples n they had some small fight and she was in the auto and this poor devdas was following her in his bike… before he could convince her or anything this happened. People were surprised especially our cycle hero… but anyway, their reunion had to happen this way. I guess they will never forget this incident……

nyabagam varadhae...

Everyone would have gone thru this, yes it has been long time but it still looks and feels like it happened yesterday. Me talking about the examination results n waiting for them. The talk about the results used to start at least 15 days and sometime even before that before we could see the results. Some one would come n say “dei results next week da” how do you know? “My friends uncle’s chithappa’s son blah blah……… is working in madras university and he gets first hand info”. That’s it from the next day, would make sure that I scan all the pages in HINDU before I go to college. Then weird talks in the college from the rumor day like.. “dei you know this paper correction has been very strict because the paper was easy” “dei the pass percentage in that paper is very bad da” all this before we saw the results…n then THE D DAY. The paper would carry the sites URL on which results would be posted. Avoluvdhaan refresh refresh n refresh…till finally one by one we had seen all the subjects. Had someone checked our BP n heart rate then….! Before me, Deepak used to see my results and was lucky for me as well… and nawaz as well hmm… gone are those days. Got reminded of all this stuff today and the reason; we guys had a nice phone conference today… Starting from Aus to US to UK and to India and 5 times zones. Deepak called and this was the first thought when i saw his number flashing... Was like one guy called one and he called another and so on. It was like in our college class room… Guys it was fun.. all said n done college days were like in heaven… Me getting too senti… ha ha

baCk

Had small operation last week and now feeling better... here is abstract of Gates and moorthy on NDTV....for those who could not see it.... some one sent me this, it was good, n as good as seeing the interview itself. .......------........ THEY are rich, have a good sense of humour and come across as down to earth. Even after 30 years of making it big in the global IT scene, both Mr Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation, and Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, are still chasing a dream — to change the way the world is today. Be it the motivation factor or the defining moment in their lives — be it admitting to having split personality or just the way events have unfolded in their lives, the striking similarities between the two IT honchos were there for all to see and hear on Wednesday at an event organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). "There are days when I attend a meeting in the morning, discussing how to make more money and in the afternoon, I would be sitting in another meeting to give away the money that I made," confessed Mr Gates when asked about his split personality. Last year, Microsoft donated more than $47 million in cash and $363 million in software to non-profit organisations throughout the world. For Mr Murthy, the power of money is to give it away. "Mr Gates is from a highly developed country, while I am from a poor country and therefore, it is easier for me to get a split personality. I don't have to go too far," said Mr Murthy. The Infosys Foundation is carrying out projects in the areas of healthcare, education and rural upliftment. The event anchored by Mr Prannoy Roy, President of NDTV, had plenty of lighter moments with Mr Gates' quick repartees, throwing the audience, mostly comprising entrepreneurs and corporate executives, into peels of laughter. For instance, when Mr Roy asked about the challenge posed by companies like Google, which is promoting free software downloads instead of Microsoft's model of charging a royalty for software usage, Mr Gates took a dig at the company by saying, " Google should start sharing with the users the money it makes from its search engine. We have started paying those who use our search engine. Google's model is not going to hold up for long." Had it not been some defining moments in their lives, both Mr Gates and Mr Murthy probably would have been somewhere else. For Mr Gates, it was the opportunity to use a PC when he was 13 and being asked by the school tutor to take classes that led him to believe that IT was his destiny. "The second defining moment was the decision to drop out of school to undertake a project that was the first of its kind and it worked. I was willing to take risks," said Mr Gates. For the Infosys Mentor, it was his arrest and the subsequent release by Bulgarian authorities for having talked to a girl in French that changed the course of life. "They released me when I told them that I am from India. They said that I could go, since India was a friendly country. My dream from then on has been to set up an organisation that is respected globally and we are miles away from it," said Mr Murthy. Success has also brought worries that keep both of them awake at nights. While for Mr Gates, it's the fear of missing out on a technological change that might be noticed by competitors first, for Mr Murthy, it's the issue relating to scalability. The two, however, do not make rough weather about the worries. Instead, they choose to dream big to keep themselves motivated. "My original goal was not sales, but a dream computer. I am still looking for that dream computer that will change the way we live and put you and me back in control of our lives. Our dream is to see a PC on top of every desk and we are no where near the finish line," said Mr Gates. Probably, by the time the two of them share a platform in India again, we will get to hear more about that dream getting realised.