In an increasingly intolerant India, freedom of speech needs to go hand-in -hand with fearlessness. Instead social media platforms have made it go hand-in-hand with carelessness.

There was no freedom of speech during the British Raj. But freedom fighters and writers still spoke their mind and got beaten up and arrested. Literature was published and distributed secretly. And through such literatur

e, without PCs, internet and TV, a nation rose against the might of the British.

That was then and this is now.

Social media has made freedom of speech a brainless activity. The moment a thought comes to your mind, the next moment you can publish it online. There is no need think. (So research is out of question.) You can publish a casual thought and you start getting equally casual Likes and Comments. This gives the writer a quick, yet false sense of achievement. Moreover, when all this comes without any responsibility or accountability, the combination is irresistible. As a result popular writing takes precedence over responsible writing.

Carelessness is an outcome of extreme laziness and breeds mediocrity. Social Media promotes this by design. That is why we see too much of mediocre writing around us.

The recent cases of violence and arrests against FB posts by some youngsters is a case in point. The posts have been carelessly written without any clear objective whatsoever. Violent reactions to such posts is equally dumb. But the writers are no less at fault. First they write something that can be potentially damaging. Which is absolutely ok, if they believe so. But when they are threatened, they not only backtrack but reverse their statements. And all this is done online. So where is the issue of obstructing freedom of speech here?

Infact what these guys have done is a mockery of the concept of freedom of speech and expression. I am not sure why India's social media supported their right to speak their mind. I have serious doubts whether they actually have a mind of their own. Instead, there is a need to focus on training young users to use social media effectively and responsibly to share their angst, and protest against injustice. We need to inculcate the understanding in them that the world does not work online. You need to roll up your sleeves and get to work offline to effect a change. Signing online petitions and lighting candles is a great way to participate and support a cause. But somebody needs to go out there in the real world and fight it out to change it. Needless to say, only people who do this achieve greatness. The rest move on to a new online pastime.

Here's a interesting anecdote I would like to share.

When Mumbai Police issued a advisory to Mumbaikars to stay indoors during Bal Thackeray's funeral, Rama Bijapurkar smsed a DCP protesting the inconvenience caused to people. The DCP smsed back saying, "Conviction is a luxury of those who occupy the sidelines."

Rama Bijapurkar disagreed with the cop. I tend to agree with him in the context of the above discussion. Staying sidelines is the new luxury in the online world.

 " My wife was so pious, so devoted, so religious. But it came to nothing. After she went to a Ganesh Chaturthi function in Bombay, we forgot the emergency bottle of her medicine and went to Karjat. Here was a test for gods and goddesses. It was the duty of God to remind her of the emergency bottle. If not, then you and your faith are led astray. When she needed it, the medicine was not there and w

e lost her. If the gods do not come to your help when you need them, then what's the use. I have removed all pictures of Ganesh from my house. But her picture will be there."

I thought this is the Bal Thackeray very few people knew. But with around 20 lakh people attending his funeral procession, this was the Balasaheb Thackeray everyone knew. Not since Mahatma Gandhi have so many people congregated together for a politician's funeral. There are people from all communities, religions, castes and political parties.

I know Bal Thackeray as an amazing orator and an artist. Someone who could connect with the common man as well as the rich and famous.

When Thackeray launched his political party, he fought for issues related to identity of the local population like job reservation for Marathi youth. When you get a guy a job, you end up with 5 votes of the family. And thus, for the not-so-educated Marathi youth born in 1950s and 60s, he became the undisputed god of "Marathi Asmita" (Marathi Ego/Pride). Some from this generation rose from being "rasta chaap" nobody's to political bigwigs in Maharashtra. Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Manohar Joshi, Sanjay Nirupam, Sanjay Raut, Late Anand Dighe - the list is endless. Their example ensured that millions others were impacted by his ideology, his largesse in terms of guaranteed jobs in government sector through well orchestrated Labor Unions and his strategically polarized views (first for Marathis, then Hindus and then Mumbaikars). For this generation, this is an end of their era. They have lost their identity. If you watched TV, this was the generation that openly wept upon hearing the news of his demise. They will miss him the most.

As a politician, Thackeray always spoke either for or against something or someone. He unabashedly took sides and changed his stance when it suited his political ambitions. But he did with great conviction and always got away due to his strong oratory. Most importantly, he was never a fence-sitter like most other politicians in his generation. This is one quality which even his greatest detractors found to be endearing (but difficult to emulate). The "Marathi Manoos" in Maharashtra too fell for this quality.

What is surprising is that while on one side he spoke his mind on political issues, he had a circle of friends who were completely out of sync with his political ideologies. They loved him for what he was, inside the closed doors of Matoshree - a genial man who smoked pipes and cigars, drank beer and wine, cracked jokes, and most importantly kept his word, irrespective of his political calculations. Then there was another Bal Thackeray who publicly spoke ill when some of his closest friends who became State leaders under Shiv Sena left his party - like Bhujbal, Rane, Nirupam and Raj Thackeray. But rarely did they rebut him in public. So strong was his hold on even his fiercest opponents.

But beyond all this, as a political leader with a huge following amongst common man as well as other political parties, Thackeray and his Shiv Sena did little to address the real challenges Marathi Manoos faced. Shiv Sena on BMC did nothing spectacular to change the face of Mumbai into an international financial/business hub. The strong cultural heritage of Maharashtra in terms of Marathi language, art, theatre, poetry, movies, folk songs, music, etc. was never systematically promoted by Shiv Sena. The only culture they promoted was the "Culture of Bandhs". There was no clear agenda or plan to promote Marathi entrepreneurs. There was no clear plan or strategy for poverty alleviation of the poor in Maharashtra. Marathi Farmers never found strong support from the Shiv Sena for their cause, until Uddhav Thackeray started visiting them a few years ago. The only cause that Shiv Sena propagated was the "Marathi Asmita", which really meant nothing more than a halo.

Strategically, Bal Thackeray never took any official position and throughout stayed anti-establishment. He loved doing that. Even during his own regime, he was anti-establishment and criticized his own leaders for policies that went against the common man. People loved this as they thought he was on their side. And which he was. So maybe the outpour was for this sense of loss the "Marathi Manoos" felt after his death. Who will now speak for them and their rights? Who will fight for their cause?

Looking at the number of people at his funeral he could be one of the most popular "Marathi Manoos" ever born in post-independence India. So the more important question will be about what legacy he has left behind for the State.

I would like to believe that the genuine concern that Balasaheb Thackeray had for the common Marathi Manoos needs to be converted into a solid action plan for development of the State. That would be the most fitting tribute to this charismatic politician by Shiv Sena.

Since the 1980s, the Shiv Sena won elections because of the connect Balasaheb had with the common maharashtrian. With this connect now gone out of Shiv Sena (and into MNS), the only option the party has is to show some real action on the ground. I hope they do. Else they would cease to exist in the State.

Maybe they could begin this process by not announcing a State Bandh tomorrow. Jai Maharashtra.

(Written on November 18, 2012)

The Disappearing Handcarts

The Handcart - one of the most environmentally sound modes of freight carriers is fast disappearing from city's landscape. I saw this man, at Ballardpier, sitting on a handcart between some of the popular modes of transport.

My response to Ms. Arundhati Roy's article in Hindu

Arundhati Roy evokes extreme reactions in me. She is hauntingly beautiful. But many a times her thoughts and actions are baffling. Here's the link to the article she recently wrote on Anna's agitation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2379704.ece?css=print

I could not sit quiet. Hence my response is in bold.

While his means maybe Gandhian, his demands are certainly not.

If what we're watching on TV is indeed a revolution, then it has to be one of the more embarrassing and unintelligible ones of recent times. For now, whatever questions you may have about the Jan Lokpal Bill, here are the answers you're likely to get: tick the box — (a) Vande Mataram (b) Bharat Mata ki Jai (c) India is Anna, Anna is India (d) Jai Hind.

My response: Common man is reacting to an opportunity to eradicate corruption through Anna Hazare's efforts. We all know that the contours of various versions of the Lokpal Bill are complicated for the common man to understand. The common man is reacting to the ends and not the means. To interpret their responses to suit your convenience and make fun of their emotions is unfair. It stinks of intellectual arrogance so common to your breed.

For completely different reasons, and in completely different ways, you could say that the Maoists and the Jan Lokpal Bill have one thing in common — they both seek the overthrow of the Indian State. One working from the bottom up, by means of an armed struggle, waged by a largely adivasi army, made up of the poorest of the poor. The other, from the top down, by means of a bloodless Gandhian coup, led by a freshly minted saint, and an army of largely urban, and certainly better off people. (In this one, the Government collaborates by doing everything it possibly can to overthrow itself.)

My response: By writing "an army of largely urban, and certainly better off people.", if the reference is to Anna's team - it consists of an eminent lawyer, an ex-IAS Officer and an ex-Chief of Police, a few educated RTI activitists and youth. Yes, they are all urban and better off people, but they do not behave like one. They have dedicated their lives for the cause of the poor in this country.

In case if you are referring to the crowds currently protesting on Ramlila Grounds and other cities, then yes, they comprise of largely middle class people. But haven’t the Mumbai Dabbahwalas gone on a token 1 day strike for the first time in some 80 odd years to support Anna? Even Commercial Sex Workers across the country are coming out on the roads in support of this cause. Are these “largely urban and better off people”?

And what is wrong with Urban and Better Off people protesting? Why does that bother you? Isn’t it the cause that matters? Moreover, how can one blame Team Anna for that?

If you recollect the freedom struggle, it all began with the planning and strategizing by the urban rich and thereafter percolated down to the poor. Ultimately we won freedom when the intellectuals used the power of the poor to negotiate with the British to get out of the country. A similar trend is happening here. So give this struggle some time. Don’t be impatient in reacting.

In April 2011, a few days into Anna Hazare's first “fast unto death,” searching for some way of distracting attention from the massive corruption scams which had battered its credibility, the Government invited Team Anna, the brand name chosen by this “civil society” group, to be part of a joint drafting committee for a new anti-corruption law. A few months down the line it abandoned that effort and tabled its own bill in Parliament, a bill so flawed that it was impossible to take seriously.

My response: By trivializing Anna Hazare and his team, one may win a few intellectual admirers, but it mirrors our own pettiness.

Then, on August 16th, the morning of his second “fast unto death,” before he had begun his fast or committed any legal offence, Anna Hazare was arrested and jailed. The struggle for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill now coalesced into a struggle for the right to protest, the struggle for democracy itself. Within hours of this ‘Second Freedom Struggle,' Anna was released. Cannily, he refused to leave prison, but remained in Tihar jail as an honoured guest, where he began a fast, demanding the right to fast in a public place. For three days, while crowds and television vans gathered outside, members of Team Anna whizzed in and out of the high security prison, carrying out his video messages, to be broadcast on national TV on all channels. (Which other person would be granted this luxury?) Meanwhile 250 employees of the Municipal Commission of Delhi, 15 trucks, and six earth movers worked around the clock to ready the slushy Ramlila grounds for the grand weekend spectacle. Now, waited upon hand and foot, watched over by chanting crowds and crane-mounted cameras, attended to by India's most expensive doctors, the third phase of Anna's fast to the death has begun. “From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is One,” the TV anchors tell us.

My response: Hope you remember your dear friend Medha Patkar and her efforts during the Narmada Bachao Andolan. She too was fighting against the government might and extremely unreasonable in her demands. Was her “fast unto death” also flawed like Anna’s?

Media is all-pervasive. The most corrupt in this country use the media effectively to become saints, heroes and martyrs. The publicity hungry use it for their individual gains. Team Anna, on the other hand, is using the media to garner public support for a noble cause. Medha Patkar used it, Gandhiji used it, and so does Arundhati Roy. Just because we don't not agree with your views, can we assume that you have used your close connections in media to get your biased views published?

Your grouse against Anna being featured on national television while is Jail is a valid point. But the blame lies with Tihar officials and not Team Anna. Even the hasty decision to clean up the Ramlila Grounds depicts confusion in the Congress ranks. The media circus around Anna was also not created by him or his team. So what’s the point you want to make here?

While his means may be Gandhian, Anna Hazare's demands are certainly not. Contrary to Gandhiji's ideas about the decentralisation of power, the Jan Lokpal Bill is a draconian, anti-corruption law, in which a panel of carefully chosen people will administer a giant bureaucracy, with thousands of employees, with the power to police everybody from the Prime Minister, the judiciary, members of Parliament, and all of the bureaucracy, down to the lowest government official. The Lokpal will have the powers of investigation, surveillance, and prosecution. Except for the fact that it won't have its own prisons, it will function as an independent administration, meant to counter the bloated, unaccountable, corrupt one that we already have. Two oligarchies, instead of just one.

My response: You cannot fight new wars with old rules. People change, nations change, perspectives change too. Today the idea of non-violence, decentralisation as propagated by Gandhi may not work. Corruption has become a national pastime in this country. "Kuch kaam nahi? Chalo thoda corruption kar lete hain" - thats the attitude of the people in power. India loses close to Rs. 90,000 crores to corruption every year. How can a problem of such humungous proportions be resolved by a climate of consensus and debate? You would need some draconian means, atleast as a temporary measure, to counter corruption. Agree, Jan Lokpal Bill has its flaws. But who doesn't? Your unflinching support to the violent Maoists is also questionable. May be their demands are valid (I am no expert) but to support their violent means is unacceptable. You should be jailed as a Maoist supporter. But you are a free person and you are guided by your beliefs. And we respect that. So let Team Anna be. Give them some time before reacting so violently. Live and let live.

Whether it works or not depends on how we view corruption. Is corruption just a matter of legality, of financial irregularity and bribery, or is it the currency of a social transaction in an egregiously unequal society, in which power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller minority? Imagine, for example, a city of shopping malls, on whose streets hawking has been banned. A hawker pays the local beat cop and the man from the municipality a small bribe to break the law and sell her wares to those who cannot afford the prices in the malls. Is that such a terrible thing? In future will she have to pay the Lokpal representative too? Does the solution to the problems faced by ordinary people lie in addressing the structural inequality, or in creating yet another power structure that people will have to defer to?

My response: Agree. The societal inequalities are of 2 kinds in India. One is the rich v/s the poor and the other is the powerful v/s the powerless. In a corrupt State, the second type of inequality is more prevalent (and dangerous) than the first one. The small minority that you are referring to consists of the politicians, the babus, the law and the police – The Powerful. The rest - whether the rich businessman or a middleclass clerk or a poor farmer are the Powerless. In a corrupt society, a poorly paid cop has the power to extract financial gains from rich yet powerless citizen. This is a structural inequality which the democratically elected Governments have not been able to address for the past 65 years. So how long should common man be patient? Why not give an alternate power structure a chance?

Meanwhile the props and the choreography, the aggressive nationalism and flag waving of Anna's Revolution are all borrowed, from the anti-reservation protests, the world-cup victory parade, and the celebration of the nuclear tests. They signal to us that if we do not support The Fast, we are not ‘true Indians.' The 24-hour channels have decided that there is no other news in the country worth reporting.

My response: If you think 100,000 flag waving people, braving the rains and traffic, gather at Ramlila or Bandra or elsewhere in the country to display a borrowed style of nationalism, you are sadly mistaken. Common man is smarter than you think. He knows this is his chance to tighten the noose around the corrupt Government’s neck. A fearless Anna and a spineless Government is a fortuitous opportunity for him to let go so easily. It is now or never. Aggressive nationalism is just a facade. Behind this facade is a strong resolve to wipe out corruption. Its appalling that you cannot sense this feeling. May be it is time for you to get up from your writing desk and go out to mingle with the common man once again.

The signal you get from media of not being a “true Indian” is a figment of your own artistic imagination. While we respect your views, nobody really cares whether a small minority like yours supports this fast. We do. And a billion Indians do. That’s what matters.

‘The Fast' of course doesn't mean Irom Sharmila's fast that has lasted for more than ten years (she's being force fed now) against the AFSPA, which allows soldiers in Manipur to kill merely on suspicion. It does not mean the relay hunger fast that is going on right now by ten thousand villagers in Koodankulam protesting against the nuclear power plant. ‘The People' does not mean the Manipuris who support Irom Sharmila's fast. Nor does it mean the thousands who are facing down armed policemen and mining mafias in Jagatsinghpur, or Kalinganagar, or Niyamgiri, or Bastar, or Jaitapur. Nor do we mean the victims of the Bhopal gas leak, or the people displaced by dams in the Narmada Valley. Nor do we mean the farmers in NOIDA, or Pune or Haryana or elsewhere in the country, resisting the takeover of the land.

‘The People' only means the audience that has gathered to watch the spectacle of a 74-year-old man threatening to starve himself to death if his Jan Lokpal Bill is not tabled and passed by Parliament. ‘The People' are the tens of thousands who have been miraculously multiplied into millions by our TV channels, like Christ multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the hungry. “A billion voices have spoken,” we're told. “India is Anna.”

Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we've heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer's suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away. Nothing about Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, nothing about Posco, about farmer's agitations or the blight of SEZs. He doesn't seem to have a view about the Government's plans to deploy the Indian Army in the forests of Central India.

My response: The people you refer are all victims of corruption some way or the other – be it Irom Sharmila or Koongakulam villagers, or agitated villagers or farmers or adivasis. So Anna’s fight is for all of them. For your information, Irom Sharmila has extended her strong support to Anna. It just goes on to show that what you mean is not what India means.

He does however support Raj Thackeray's Marathi Manoos xenophobia and has praised the ‘development model' of Gujarat's Chief Minister who oversaw the 2002 pogrom against Muslims. (Anna withdrew that statement after a public outcry, but presumably not his admiration.)

Despite the din, sober journalists have gone about doing what journalists do. We now have the back-story about Anna's old relationship with the RSS. We have heard from Mukul Sharma who has studied Anna's village community in Ralegan Siddhi, where there have been no Gram Panchayat or Co-operative society elections in the last 25 years. We know about Anna's attitude to ‘harijans': “It was Mahatma Gandhi's vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumhar and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be self-dependant. This is what we are practicing in Ralegan Siddhi.” Is it surprising that members of Team Anna have also been associated with Youth for Equality, the anti-reservation (pro-“merit”) movement? The campaign is being handled by people who run a clutch of generously funded NGOs whose donors include Coca-Cola and the Lehman Brothers. Kabir, run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, key figures in Team Anna, has received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation in the last three years. Among contributors to the India Against Corruption campaign there are Indian companies and foundations that own aluminum plants, build ports and SEZs, and run Real Estate businesses and are closely connected to politicians who run financial empires that run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some of them are currently being investigated for corruption and other crimes. Why are they all so enthusiastic?

My response: Don’t be so caustic and personal. We all know about your past and your strong views on certain thorny issues. We could also be judgmental about them. But we choose to ignore it when we see you stand for something good. So give Team Anna a chance lady.

Remember the campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill gathered steam around the same time as embarrassing revelations by Wikileaks and a series of scams, including the 2G spectrum scam, broke, in which major corporations, senior journalists, and government ministers and politicians from the Congress as well as the BJP seem to have colluded in various ways as hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees were being siphoned off from the public exchequer. For the first time in years, journalist-lobbyists were disgraced and it seemed as if some major Captains of Corporate India could actually end up in prison. Perfect timing for a people's anti-corruption agitation. Or was it?

My response: You are right. Couldn’t this be the perfect timing? I am an optimist and I would like to believe that the corrupt have merely delayed the inevitable rather than the defeatist thoughts that you propagate merely to malign Anna’s campaign.

At a time when the State is withdrawing from its traditional duties and Corporations and NGOs are taking over government functions (water supply, electricity, transport, telecommunication, mining, health, education); at a time when the terrifying power and reach of the corporate owned media is trying to control the public imagination, one would think that these institutions — the corporations, the media, and NGOs — would be included in the jurisdiction of a Lokpal bill. Instead, the proposed bill leaves them out completely.

My response: Nobody is saying the Jan Lokpal Bill is perfect. But lets table it. Lets make amendments later. But lets not do any further debates and standing committees. Lets not waste time and allow the slimy government to slip away. We know corruption will not go away just by approving Jan Lokpal. But lets take the first step boldly.

Now, by shouting louder than everyone else, by pushing a campaign that is hammering away at the theme of evil politicians and government corruption, they have very cleverly let themselves off the hook. Worse, by demonising only the Government they have built themselves a pulpit from which to call for the further withdrawal of the State from the public sphere and for a second round of reforms — more privatisation, more access to public infrastructure and India's natural resources. It may not be long before Corporate Corruption is made legal and renamed a Lobbying Fee.

Will the 830 million people living on Rs.20 a day really benefit from the strengthening of a set of policies that is impoverishing them and driving this country to civil war?

This awful crisis has been forged out of the utter failure of India's representative democracy, in which the legislatures are made up of criminals and millionaire politicians who have ceased to represent its people. In which not a single democratic institution is accessible to ordinary people. Do not be fooled by the flag waving. We're watching India being carved up in war for suzerainty that is as deadly as any battle being waged by the warlords of Afghanistan, only with much, much more at stake.

My response: Don’t be a pessimist just to prove an already weak argument. In these times of historic change, you need to give hope to this nation, not despair.

Where do the children play?

Last week, I read a small news article, tucked away in one corner of Maharashtra Times. It said that the BMC is planning to ban Gulli Cricket on Mumbai roads.

BMC has done little so far to ease our lives in the city. The roads are in pathetic conditions, the traffic is incessant, the drains are blocked, the air is polluted, the trains are never on time, the buses are crowded, there are no green spaces, there is nothing in Mumbai that BMC can make a Mumbaikar feel proud about.

What keeps Mumbai going is its culture. A culture that is born out of the openess the city shares with its fellow travellers, neighbours, and even strangers. Why does an outsider fall in love with Mumbai? Its the culture - and not the infrastructure.

As a kid I played roadside cricket. And more than playing I have watched numerous hard fought 'underarm cricket' matches. The atmosphere was electric. While the kids played, mothers cooked 'mutton' and 'chicken' in the kitchen and fathers stood in the balcony cheering the players. There was no mention of caste, religion, rich, poor - it was just passion, and play.

Sunil Gavaskar has extolled the virtues of roadside cricket in his autobiography saying that its this cricket that instilled the discipline of batting straight. Gavaskar played his cricket in narrow lanes next to his building in Chikhalwadi, Mumbai. Since the ground floor windows had glass panes and any mishits would smash them, kids like Gavaskar were forced to bat 'straight' or what we call as the famous - 'V'. The eclectic cover drives, tearing the stadium grass, were born out of such childhood limitations of Gulli Cricket. Gavaskar also spoke about how each team had many players and once you got out, it was impossible to get another chance to bat for a long time. As a result, Gavaskar learnt to bat cautiously and not throw his wicket away at any cost. Several Mumbai players have attributed their 'Khunnas Style' of playing to Gulli Cricket.

Here is a beautiful song by Cat Stevens about how sprawl, congestion, and mindless development is impacting America's children -

"Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can't get off.

Oh, I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
'til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?"

If the BMC cannot build open spaces and playgrounds, it has no right to stop children from playing on the roads.

Pic courtesy: http://bobtoor.com/images/gulli_cricket.jpg

Sachin Tendulkar - What a wonderful life!!!!

He is 37 and has been a superstar for 20 years. Rare few, absolutely rare few, enjoy such honor. You can't even call the bugger 'lucky'. He toils hard for his success. As on date, Sachin must have run over 1000 kilometers across the wicket to score his 75000+ first class runs.

Every run he scored, every catch he pocketed, every four and six he hit, every boundary he saved, every match he won, every comment he made - there were over 1 billion people watching him.

Few women find him sexy, yet he has been the undisputed icon of last 3 generations of youth.

Sunil Gavaskar publicly touched his feet in a stadium - not out of admiration but out of sheer respect for his unending exploits in cricket....

...what a life!!!

When his father passed away in the midst of '99 World Cup, he flew to India, came back within 3 days and scored a blistering hundred - then looked up at heaven and spoke to his dad. I promised myself, that years later, when I sit with my grandchildren I would tell them how I saw all this live on TV, tears rolling down my eyes.

Einstein had once said about Gandhi - "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

Its a privilege to be born in the same generation as you Sachin.

What does it take to live for 100 years?

According to Dan Buettner, people who live for 100 years have the following common traits:

1. None of them exercise. Instead they set up heir lives so that they are constantly busy with physical work - getting up and down, walking, climbing stairs...

2. They set up their life in ways that they can enjoy - they have a garden in front of their houses, go for walks, meet friends...

3. They have a purpose in life, if people know their purpose in life, they live 7 years longer...

4. They put their families first, play with their kids, look after their parents... and grandparents...

5. All of them are involved in a faith based activity, they have solid faith...

6. They surround themselves with the right people - people who are fit, who work hard, pray, moderately drink, enjoy themselves...

Buettner says, "When it comes to longevity, there are no shortcuts." He also adds that "the right genes" plays only 10% role in longevity!

What do we do with the time saved because of advances in technology?

What do we do with the time saved because of advances in technology?

1. We send the same Happy New Year as a SMS or a bcc.
2. Facebook seems for all those who want connect without ever wanting to meet.
3. We use GPS to find roads, but we don't know where we are headed in life.
4. We watch Barkha Dutt's debates on TV that makes participants raise their hands on issues when they need to raise their voice. We send SMSes on Agree/Disagree when we need to act.
5. We own big cars but are not open to pooling them with others for environment's sake.
6. We showcase Kindle, when we should be buying second hand books to read.
7. We shop online for better cellphones and useless technology gadgets, instead of sending a bunch of flowers or a nice cake to celebrate our favourite school teacher's birthday.

Time has come to rethink what we can do to our life with the various technologies that surround us.

I am enclosing a small para on what Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of worldwide web envisioned the internet to be in 2000:

"Some people point out that the Web can be used for all the wrong things. For downloading pictures of horrible, gruesome, violent or obscene things, or ways of making bombs which terrorists could use.Other people say how their lives have been saved because they found out about the disease they had on the Web, and figured out how to cure it. I think the main thing to remember is that any really powerful thing can be used for good or evil. Dynamite can be used to build tunnels or to make missiles. Engines can be put in ambulances or tanks. Nuclear power can be used for bombs or for electrical power.
So the what is made of the Web is up to us.You, me, and everyone else.
Here is my hope.
1. The Web is a tool for communicating.
2. With the Web, you can find out what other people mean. You can find out where they are coming from.
3. The Web can help people understand each other.
4. Think about most of the bad things that have happened between people in your life. Maybe most of them come down to one person not understanding another. Even wars.
5. Let's use the web to create neat new exciting things.
6. Let's use the Web to help people understand each other."

Think about it.

Jaane kyon dil jaanta hai…tu hai to I’ll be alright!!!

Dear Friends…

I am on Pune expressway in my car and writing this…the FM is playing in the background and so as please excuse to find some random lines popping up in the midst of this short essay.

So here it goes…

Friday was an extraordinary day because I met you guys at Sports Bar.

14 years passed since we graduated but it felt as if we were re-assembling in college after a 3-month summer training. The 3 hours spent together were refreshing, really refreshing - I mean it. Everyone was cool, wild and whacky - as they have been since when we knew each other.

(Ghode jaisi chaal, hathi jaisi doom…O saawan raja kahan se aaye tum???)

If somebody had told me in 1995 that I would never work for a single day in advertising and would be working in education 14 years later…I would have smirked. And who would believe that Manish would be managing India’s biggest superstars or that Nidhi would be managing Unilever brands and that Sam would be a Professor of Social Marketing in Canada and that Vandy would be training to become an IB School teacher!!! Coool….!!!

What was even cooler was the fact that there were absolutely no airs or discussions about jobs, designations or salaries. We met like true blue lukkas, exactly as we were 14 years back. Felt like nothing has changed really.

So what did we talk about? Here’s a sampler…

Maly and Manish – The music is so loud…lets get out of here!!!

Tarina – Ninad, you promised me you will name your daughter Taru…

Sam – I don’t like wine…I get a stomach upset

Manash – He he he…look look, Indie has lost his hair!!!

Nidhi – If you have hypertension, then do the Bhastrika part of Sudarshan Kriya with less force!!

Indie – I am planning to write a film script man…magar time hi nahi milta!

Vandy – Sam will look the same like college, if he dyes his hair!!!

(Some relationships are eternal…just like gold – A Union Bank hoarding on the Expressway)

All the girls (should I dare say women???) looked awesome…they were just the same…bubbling with laughter, cracking jokes and poking fun at one. One word I sorely missed from their mouths was “chutya” (I guess that is too much to ask from these working mothers…). I have been married and so are you all but there we no uneasiness in the way we interacted…cheeks were being pulled, hair was being ruffled, hands were being held and warm hugs were being liberally doled out (lucky us).

I also realized that many of you are now at the cusp of something transformative in your lives. I could feel the buzz when we spoke. I felt you guys want to do things that impact your hearts, not your careers alone. Good.

I am always ecstatic at such events, I don’t know why. Nostalgia gets my adrenalin pumping - whether its school friends, college friends, going to places where I grew up, old songs, old movies, anything where my memories are tapped…must be the age-factor.

(Jaane kyon dil jaanta hai…tu hai to I’ll be alright!!!)

Thanks guys for coming and providing your undivided attention from work, family, kids, traffic, deadlines, etc.

You rock.

I love you all.

(Wake up Sid, har dishao se aa rahi hai saada, sun sako agar suno…)

Making Hospitals Kid Friendly

Ira was operated for Adenoids 3 days back at Cumbala Hill Hospital. Here she is seen sitting scared in the waiting area outside the operation theatre. I have never been inside an operation theatre ever. So I was clueless how to deal with her fear. She held Maya's hand to feel better.

Suddenly Patch Adams and Munnabhai MBBS made sense to me.

Why are all hospitals are designed to be patient unfriendly? Infact they are absolutely child unfriendly. There is nothing in there that can cheer up a kid and reassure him/her about the surroundings. The doctors are dressed in green kurtas and trousers with masks on their faces and caps on their heads. They look like zombies moving around.

Worst was when the doctors told Ira that she has to accompany them alone into the operation theatre. Ira's face turned pale and white. I was disgusted with this lackadaisical approach. Actually the hospital staff and doctors were extremely nice to us but I am not sure if they had any idea about the impact their approach is having on a small kid. To make matters worse, Ira was not given even a drop of water for over 11 hours.

Imagine a hospital where the walls are filled with cartoons, there are balloons flying all over, the doctors are dressed like mickey mouses (or something similar) and the kid is playfully taken on to a kid friendly hospital bed? I am sure it can make life a whole lot easier for the kids and their parents.

Kandeel

We met him near Citylight market at Mahim. Everytime we enquired about the "Kandeel" prices in marathi, he shot back in English.

Me: Arre Kiti la ha kandeel? (How much for this "Kandeel"?)
He: Sir, this is 275 rupees
Me: Ani ha? (What about this one?)
He: Sir this is 325 rupees only, which one you want?
Me: Mala neet bhav sang? (Give me the best rate?)
He: Sir, here it is fixed rate.
Me: Kuthchya Shalet Jatos? Kitvit aahes? (What school do you go to? What class?)
He: I go to SIES school and I study in 8th standard. Sir, which one you want?
Me: Tujha photo kadto (I will click you photo)
He: Ok sir...

He reminded me of my own childhood. One of my friend's father used to make Kandeels during diwali and sell them on roadside near Dombivali station. I used to accompany them and stand at the stall every evening. Most buyers felt odd negotiating because of my middle class looks and appearance. I used to end up selling many kandeels everyday.

And all this was done for one Thumps Up or a glass of Lassi that was offered to us by my friend's dad for all the hard work put in!!

Vote

Voted. Nobody seems to be voting today in Mumbai. I went in, voted and came out in less than 3 minutes!! The only queues were that of the slum dwellers - who had come in large numbers. If slum dwellers vote, the politicians will ensure that more and more slums are legalized to protect their vote banks. So ultimately, Mumbai will get what its voters want and not what its citizens wish!!!

The Wait

I saw this lady owner of a roadside eatery waiting at the entrance looking for customers. Somewhere on Goa Karnataka border.

Bandra Worli Sea Link

Bandra Worli Sea Link - Its an awesome piece of architecture for a country like India. Ira was travelling with me and she quoted of of her friend's mom saying that BWSL is a waste of money since it does not save any time for the commuters. By the time she finished...we were at Worli seaface. I told her we have arrived at worli already and she was dumbstruck...

Craig Newmark - The Enlightened Monk of the Internet

Picture Courtesy: Wired.com

Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org - A Classifieds Site. Craigslist gets more traffic than either eBay or Amazon .com. eBay has more than 16,000 employees. Amazon has more than 20,000. Craigslist has 30.

Wired Magazine writes thus about this maverick:

With more than 47 million unique users every month in the US alone—nearly a fifth of the nation's adult population—it is the most important community site going and yet the most underdeveloped. Think of any Web feature that has become popular in the past 10 years: Chances are craigslist has considered it and rejected it. If you try to build a third-party application designed to make craigslist work better, the management will almost certainly throw up technical roadblocks to shut you down.

Craigslist is not only gigantic in scale and totally resistant to business cooperation, it is also mostly free. The only things that cost money to post on the site are job ads in some cities ($25 to $75), apartment listings by brokers in New York ($10), and—in a special case born of recent legal trouble—advertisements in categories commonly used by prostitutes, because authorities encourage vendors to maintain a record that would aid investigators. There is no banner advertising. They won't let you join them, and at this price you can't beat them either.

This is what Craig Newmark has to say about his unique business model:

1. Pretty much everything on the site is based on user feedback. Frankly, I have no vision whatsoever.

2. We really do listen to people. We treat them the way we want to be treated and somehow we built a culture of trust.

3. We progress a little on the slow side. Which means that we may lose some opportunity. But we respond to real needs and try to do real well in terms of helping people out, that seems to work.

4. I remember someone saying market are conversations, and they are right.

5. I get up, do customer service, get coffee, do more customer service, lunch, more customer service. I may go out that evening, may be not, there's dinner in there, then I do customer service, then I might so something else, read or watch television, then finish up customer service by 10 or 11, then sleep.

I was always fascinated by Craig since I was at Harvard where every student on the campus was on Craigslist!! It was a cult thing. BTW, Craigslist is available in Indian cities, but it sucks.

Anyway, I read about Craig again in the latest issue of Wired. I was so overwhelmed by his simple approach to business, something I genuinely believed in. Businesses should generate profits, but why is this race to generate more and more profits? How can you build a business for investors? Business is for customers first and then investors. But investors drive business and business drives customers (if they can't they manipulate) and thereafter customers sideline the business and business loses investors. Its a vicious cycle.

Easier thing to do - Just focus on customers and f... everything else.

Wall Street fails to understand this model. Craig says, he needs no VCs and no Equity. He does not want to make money!!! Thats something unheard of on the Street and in the Valley.

Craig is the Enlightened Monk of Internet. He knows what he is doing, because his business is based on Values, not Vision.

He is far ahead of his times.