Students lead the way.

If 2019 has sent society any positive message, it is that when it really matters, it will students who will lead the way. There have been multiple examples of co-ordinated movements and uprising driven primarily by college and school students. Around the world ! They might have not yet completed their eduation, but they know enough to rise against wrongs.

When heptagenarian heads of world governments denied man-made climate changes, children lead the charge. Greta Thunberg was the most visible leader of these students, who encouraged climate activitists to walk out of their school classes around the world.

Over in Hong Kong, university students took up the baton against China's attempts to an earlier power grab.

And now in India, when both the houses of the government, along with its puppet president, passed two laws which are fundamentally against India's constitution, it is once again students, who were the first to protest.

For me , this phenomenon is the best news to have come out of this mess of a year. The uncorrupted, educated minds of young students is where the true future of the world resides. We see it time and time again, education is the only path to enlightment. Here is hoping more of us get to see the light of truth and righteouness in this new year.

Happy New Year. And long live the revolution !

My desktop date format

The date formats used on computer systems seem limiting. Most are too generic, or too short. In my line of work I wished to see everything: including the day of the week and month of the year.

No kidding. Like this:

Yep, I sometimes keep forgetting the month I am in. Time does move so fast.

So here is the custom date string is use to get this:

Short date: ddd,dd-MM-yyy  MMM

Long date: dddd, d MMMM yyyy

Thank You for not promoting me

The last few years have been some of my best. I can't remember the last time I truly enjoyed looking up to living,looking forwards to the adventures I have waiting in store for me. Maybe that last time was way back when I was a child, running around in fields and woods in my hometown.

I have missed this feeling. This liberating, empowering feeling. And I have one of my biggest enemies to thank for this. The person whom I least expected to be thankful to.

My old manager. The one whos name starts with a B.

He was an asshole. Correction, I just looked him up on linkedin: he is STILL an asshole.

I was part of a team which together did a lot of work for his company. A US based consultancy. I had put in a lot of long, all nighters; hundreds of hours of unpaid work. Working overtime on weekdays, and frequently on weekends, there is no measure of how much we have contributed to the growth of the company, and its US customers. I was promised a chance to go abroad, first short term, and then later, a long term onsite opportunity to make up for those lost days. You see, that rare chance to earn in dollars is the only perk of working in the IT field in India. The golden ticket. But first, I was told, I had to prove myself, and wait for at least a year.

So wait I did. First one year, then another, and then, a third. During this time, the long stressful hours took a toll on my health. I was always under stress, and constantly weak and tired. Asthma was only the beginning. I also got married, and found that the unprofessional and unethical work environment was interfering in my personal life a well.

Being an optimist, and extremely patient one , I was willing to wait. But gradually, I realized that I did NOT have all the time in the world. I had always delivered what I had promised as part of my work. So why isn't the manager delivering what he had promised me ? I also found out that he had promised similar onsite opportunities to everybody else in the team. Everybody except the office janitor.

So, in that third year, reality finally started dawning on me. And I had the argument with the asshole manager. I put in my papers, without a job offer in hand. And left a few months later.

About one year from that confrontation, I arrived in Australia.

I still work under managers, but things are so much better. Nobody here forces work overtime , at least without compensation. Ample leaves, and flexible work options. I do go to office everyday, though technically, I don't have to.

But this is the big truth: none of this would have happened, if I had not been wronged against. It is only when I got pushed into a corner, that I started looking for another exit. If everything in my life back then had gone according to plan, I would still be in India. That exit, that was the best decision I took in my professional life. And it has changed me and my future forever.

So thank you,asshole, for not promoting me. For not giving me those opportunities. Thank you to all of the other bad people I worked for, for constantly pushing me into that corner. Thank you for being such miserable human beings.

A burning nation. A doomed world.

2019 is about to come to its end. And this year's loud and clear message has to be 'natural disasters'. From incessant and unforeseen flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and burning forest fires, specially the man made ones triggered in the Amazon jungles, disasters have ruled the news. It has also exposed the weakness and unpreparedness in mankind's resolve to preserve the planet. Without a will, there surely is no way.

Closer home, Australia has seen bushfires burning just after its winter months. Raging fires in the New South Wales area has spread east and south, coming as far as Canberra, burning through millions of hectares of its reserve forests. Few people have been killed, and millions of tonnes of pollutants have been released into the air, injuring countless others. Sydney has seen a dystopic orange hazed sun for weeks now, and a drought of level 2 severity has been declared across the city.

Elsewhere, Time magazine has fittingly named 16 year old activist Greta Thunberg as it person of the year. The young Swede was fore center of the youth agitations for climate emergency all through the year.

And yet, all the agitations seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Politicians are indifferent or in-denial of a climate emergency. I thought India had the worst politicians, and was dumbfounded by the truly jaw dropping assumptions of the idiots in power down here in Australia. Strayan baffoon Barnaby Joyce blamed , of all people, the Green party for policies which caused the fire. The baffoon also blamed the sun's magnetic fields for causing the bushfires, and declared that most of the affected people were supporters of the Green party.

This just underscores the reality that people voted to power are out of touch, or not open to reading the scientific facts right; that they are quick to blame problems on those who oppose their policies, and are quick to churn out outlandish , unverified claims. Compare this to the calm and scientifically sound way the scientists and supporters of the climate movement have phrased their facts and called for action.

“I want you to panic,” she told the annual convention of CEOs and world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. “I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”

The looming disaster in the earth's climate in the very near future will be the number one talking point in the new year. 2020. And its high time people start looking at the facts right. Our nation is burning, and the world is doomed. The adults in power seem to behave like children. So it is now in the hands of children, that the world now sees a better future.

Fitting. When adults behave like children; children have to behave like adults.

Heres hoping the sky is a little more clearer, and bluer, and forests are a little more greener, and briming with life, in this new year. That you see more of pleasant rain and calm suns, and less of storms and fires, in this new year.

The political significance of Nilakkal.

Today I learnt that Nilakkal, a place near the foothills of sabarimala, has a more prominent history than what most people have known. The village is known as the place for RSS backed religious groups to gather and group. It sits right on the path towards the hillock, which means anyone trekking up the hill can be checked there. I had wondered why is this place chosen for the conflict , instead of a place further downhill ? And I found the true answer only recently.

It seems this place has always been the site for religion driven conflict. At least from 1983. That year a stone cross was found at Nilakkal, on land owned by the Kerala Farming Corporation, barely 200 metres from the Shiva temple.The next day, followers of Mathew Anthiyakulam, vicar of the nearby Pamba Valley Church, arrived at the spot singing devotional songs. Claiming the cross was a remnant of the ancient church established by St Thomas, they built a thatched shed over it and started holding daily prayers. Soon after, the Kerala Catholic Congress, an organisation of the laity, set up a Nilakkal Action Council to prepare for the construction of a church at the site. On the council’s request, the state’s Congress government allotted it one hectare (2.4 acres) of land close to the temple for the church construction.

Christians believed that St Thomas, one of Jesus Christ's 12 disciples, had travelled to Kerala and established 7 churches, and that one of them was at Nilakkal. The hindus who traditionally visited the temples at Nilakkal saw this as a conspiracy, and convened their own agitation against the 'christian takeover'. They claimed there was no proof of St Thomas’s visit to India or of his having established churches. They demanded the removal of the cross, alleging it was of recent origin and had been planted on 'Hindu holy land'.

The main leader of this agitation was a certain Mr Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was then a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.Rajashekaran accused the government of sacrificing the interests of Hindus to get Christian votes.

Things quickly took a violent turn, which lasted months. Even K Karunakaran, who was the chief minister, was not spared.

Karunakaran was in the habit of praying at the Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur on the first day of the Malayalam months. As usual, he reached the temple on May 15, 1983, for morning prayers. As soon as he entered the temple, a huge gathering of people affiliated to the then Sangh Parivar platform Hindu Aikyavedi prevented him from offering prayers. They accused Karunakaran of illegally handing over land holy to the Hindus at Nilakkal for the construction of a church.

The developments in Nilakkal led to a massive Hindu mobilisation. Violating prohibitory orders, the RSS organised a protest march in Thiruvananthapuram. More than 1,000 of its workers and those of the Hindu Munnanireligious group were arrested from across the state for unleashing violence. In Nilakkal, RSS and Hindu Munnani activists dismantled the thatched shed and manhandled Christians. Tensions soared after Hindu Munnani activist Koorambala Chandran Pillai died weeks after being injured in a police lathicharge.

On June 4, 1983, Nilakkal witnessed an intense hour-long battle as the police tried to disperse a throng of rock-throwing VHP activists with batons and teargas. The clash left 50 injured while 30 protestors, included nine ascetics, were arrested. The VHP said they would not allow a church anywhere near the temple or even within range of the 18 hills surrounding the Sabarimala shrine, asserting that the area belonged to Hindus alone.

On July 16, 1983, hundreds of VHP workers gathered again in Nilakkal for a protest meeting with night-long prayers and rituals. Prominent religious figures such as Vidyananda Saraswathi and Sathyananda Saraswati addressed the crowd.

The next day, Hindu temples across Kerala flew black pennants to protest the church construction plan. In the following days, thousands of Hindus donning black cloths over their mouths and on their hands marched on the streets of all the major towns and cities of Kerala, condemning the police action and arrest of holy men in Nilakkal.

Coinciding with the protests in Nilakkal, two Catholic churches were attacked with homemade bombs, 15 state transport busses were vandalised and 28 protestors arrested.

The violence prompted the government to ban the activities of the Hindu Unity Action Council.

Peace was finally restored after Gandhian MP Manmadhan held discussions with both sides. A meeting of Kerala bishops was held and it was decided that the cross would be relocated to a place agreed upon by both action councils. The church would be built at this spot 4 km south-west of the temple, well outside the area the Hindu side identified as Ayyappa’s sacred grove. The spot where the cross was originally found is now part of a parking lot for pilgrims to Sabarimala.

A small church dedicated to St Thomas now stands in Angamoozhy, the spot that was agreed upon all those years ago. Very few of those who visit it know of its history or its role in what may well be the largest communal flare-up in Kerala’s history.

What makes this church different from others is that it follows the principle of ecumenism, which promotes unity among the various Christian churches. Kerala’s Christian community comprises numerous denominations, prominent among them being the Syrian Catholic, Orthodox, Marthoma and Jacobite churches.

The Sangh Parivar began the process to communalise Kerala in 1983 by hipping up a frenzy against the plan to construct a small church close to the Mahadeva temple in Nilakkal. In a way, Nilakkal is a milestone in the Sangh Parivar’s growth in Kerala.

So you see, Nilakkal has been the centrepoint of violent history in the past, and therefore continues to be the first place supporters of RSS would congregate at for their future political stands.

Choker Delhi

November. Winter is coming. And what better indicator of this than the worsening Air Quality Index of Delhi ? It is that time of the year again, when the animals trying to survive in India's capital city have to struggle more to breath in the thick, smog layered atmosphere, which the citizens themselves helped destroy.

It is painful just reading the news in the air. Air quality generally deteriorates as winter sets in because of a combination of agricultural crop burning in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana, dust from roads and construction sites, industry, coal power plants and vehicular emissions. The level of carcinogenic pollutants, which increases risk of stroke, heart disease and lung cancer, in New Delhi’s air was almost six times the reading in Beijing, where air quality has seen a considerable improvement over the past years.

India, home to 10 cities with the world’s worst air quality, has been struggling to contain this annual catastrophe that killed an estimated 1.24 million citizens in 2017. Governments have pledged millions of dollars and deployed extra teams to enforce existing laws that include a ban on farmers burning stubble after harvest. But the sheer size of India makes rapid progress difficult.

For the past few years, farm stubble burning — a tradition to clear fields after harvest for the new sowing season — along with festive firecrackers, vehicular and construction emissions have been turning the South Asian nation’s air deadly around October-November. The huge number of crackers burst to celebrate the hindu festival of diwali in october makes matters worse. One of the many ways religion helps kill people.

The government, or at least its PR wing, is back in action planning 'plans' to control the pollution. And this is coming from the same people who have tried to 'correct' the slowdown in the nation’s economy for months now.

What a fascinating time to live in Delhi.

Why no protests ?

Its been months now, since the Indian media first started reporting of an apparent slowdown in the country's economy. After bigger media houses, economists and investors picked up and magnified the story, external rating agencies have downgraded the country's prospects. Nobel prize winning laureates double checked, and confirmed. Banks are shutting down, and companies are downsizing.

After all of this, the question that is troubling me is: why isn't anyone protesting ?

In a country known to protest the slightest increase in fuel prices, it is ironical that Indians have not put forward an organized effort to call the government's bluff. All those people now unemployed, where are their protests ? The industries affected, why are their stocks still up ?

The severe lack of protests in the world's largest democracy is chilling. There is no validation for the reported slowdown. Has this democracy lost its voice ?

USA's legal immigration problem.

We, the whole world has known for decades that US of A has always had a problem with its legal immigration system. And this is a reason why so many people have tried, and still try, to get in illegally. But nobody has documented the problem as concisely as a British immigrant to the US, British comedian John Oliver.

As he so clearly puts it, there are very few avenues for the legal migrant to America. Even for the most qualified & skilled migrant. For the first 100 or so years, they didn't even have a legal immigration pathway, so everyone just got in illegally. But today, the only ways possible is via a family sponsored visa, or an employer sponsored one. Of course we are not counting the lottery system, because the odds of getting that are so low.

Watch on , and contemplate.

The great Indian taxpayer is an elusive creature

There is a very elusive species of creature in India. It works very hard everyday, day and night,sometimes more than 14 hours a day for its food and family. Everyday is a work day, hardly any rest. It also suffers most of modern lifestyle induced sickness. The country, draws significant growth from the hard work of this little species, and ultimately rewards it almost nothing in return.

This species is called the great Indian bustard tax-payer.

I have always known of the hard life this species lives. It does not live, it simply survives. But the data to correlate and breakdown its sad state was buried undred thousand page reports prepared from half informed forms. But recently, there was a nice article summarising its pitiful state.

The salaried income tax payer in India often feels cheated. “What are my taxes being used for," he often asks himself. The roads continue to have potholes. The traffic never ends. The public transport system never seems to expand fast enough. The healthcare system is non-existent. The legal system takes years to give a judgement. The police are corrupt, and so on.

Read on, and pass further into depression.

A few jaw droppers from this piece:

A small portion of India’s salaried population pays the bulk of its individual income tax, which gets redistributed to others and doesn’t benefit the taxpayers that much. In the process, it drives them away from the Indian state. At least, that’s the feeling going around.

“If the state’s role is predominantly redistribution, the middle class will seek—in professor Albert Hirschman’s famous terminology—to exit from the state. They will avoid or minimize paying taxes; they will cocoon themselves in gated communities; they will use diesel generators to obtain power; they will go to private hospitals and send their children to private education institutions."

About 4% of citizens who vote pay taxes, the percentage should be about 23

This last line is truly a clincher. It means the majority of people pariticipate in this democracy do not actually contribute to the country, but instead, feed on the little benefits it is able to pay out.

Individuals paying an income tax of greater than ₹1.5 lakh accounted for nearly 79% of the total tax.

If you happen to belong to this group, you might really feel that you have a good portion of the burden of the nation on your shoulders. Of course, this is good enough reason for the government to start taxing agricultural income over a certain level. Given that the bulk of the tax is paid by a small proportion of the population, there is always talk going around about doing away with the income tax at lower income levels.

But the question is can the government really afford to do this?

The last of the inspections.

Nope, I have not mistyped the name of that stupid 90s movie: The Last of the Mohicans. This week, we are indeed giving the last of our inspections. In Australia, renting tenants have to open up the premises for an inspection by the landlord or agent, once a quarter. Sometimes only twice a year. This is for the landlords to verify that there is no serious damage done on the premises, and everything still works. The lot has to be in a respectable condition, which means it has to be cleaned and furniture properly arranged; if the tenants want to continue staying. of course.

And this is a real headache. You don't want to be ousted out of the premises for leaving some grime on the kitchen counter, or if the flooring is damaged. The only way out of this perennial cycle of cleaning and torture is to stop renting completely.

And get your own place !

And so , back to the story. Hopefully, we will never have to give another inspection during our time here. Maybe for life. It was worth it, the struggle, cause this will be the last of the inspections.

We can now damage the floor.

The 2 hour, engineered marathon.

After being lost in international trade wars, and ongoing wars on borders, a different kind of news was trending this week. And that is a good thing. On October 12, a marathon runner from Kenya, Eliud Kipchoge, completed the marathon distance in under 2 hours.

At first, I didn't understand what the fuss was about. 2 hours seems like a lot of time to do some running. What is so big about finishing the distance; my being out of touch with most sports failed to inform me that it was considered impossible to complete a full marathon in that much time. Kipchoge achieved something impossible, he is the first person on the planet to have run a distance of more than 26 kms in under this 2 hour time limit. One hour and 59 minutes is fast in a way that’s difficult to comprehend. Despite the formidable distance, Kipchoge ripped through each mile of his run in about four and a half minutes.

Truly commendable. One for the record books.

Not quite. Mind blowing as it is, Kipchoge did not break the record for the fastest marathon completed. Because he did not run in a marathon. He ran in an marathon specially engineered for him. And the more you read about the actual race condition and its orchestration, the more it surprises.

Everything about this race was controlled, right down to the weather, and the pacing. This race was designed more to showcase how technology can (and has) help modern athletes achieve the impossible.

The planning that went into the event was a fantasy of perfectionism. The organizers scouted out a six-mile circuit along the Danube River in Vienna that was flat, straight, and close to sea level. Parts of the road were marked with the fastest possible route, and an electric car guided the runners by projecting its own disco-like laser in front of them to show the correct pace. The pacesetters, a murderers’ row of Olympians and other distance stars, ran seven-at-a-time in a wind-blocking formation devised by an expert of aerodynamics. There were 7 pacers at any point of time, and a total of 41 pacers ! Kipchoge himself came equipped with an updated, still-unreleased version of Nike’s controversial Vaporfly shoes, which, research appears to confirm, lower marathoners’ times. He had unfettered access to his favorite carbohydrate-rich drink, courtesy of a cyclist who rode alongside the group. The bottle was measured to ensure Kipchoge was under the right hydration. And the event’s start time was scheduled within an eight-day window to ensure the best possible weather. The whole thing was as close as you can get to a mobile marathon spa treatment.

But with great optimization comes great controversy. Looked at one way, the INEOS 1:59 Challenge is a straightforward testament to how money can buy anything, including a branded sub-two-hour marathon. And yet, and yet—the most compelling counterpoint to a cynical view of the performance is Eliud Kipchoge himself. Among a pack of mostly Kenyan runners who have recently pushed marathoning into a golden age, Kipchoge stands head and shoulders above the rest. He is the distance’s Michael Jordan, an era-defining and Kelly Clarkson–loving talent whose credentials—which include an Olympic gold medal and multiple big-city-marathon titles, on top of the official marathon world record—were secure.

After all the engineering, it still takes a human to do the impossible.

Baar Baar Dekho

Finally got around watching this movie on Prime. With a good story, and better intentions, its surprising how it completely missed its point. Neither of the leads can act, and the dialogue and background music is completely pointless. Despite this, it turns a nice story, blatantly ripping off home Hollywood products.

I specially loved the scenes set in the past and in the future. The Delhi of the nineties, and the Cambridge and London of 2040s. They went to the extreme of imagining what living in the future will look like. A kind of utopia, with automation and AI around, but not too much. The movie brings in Indian melodrama and Indian ideas to a modern family life.

I couldn't help noticing some of the scenes were shot at Cambridge, and the very place Newton and Hawkins walked !

They could have surely have done a better job with better actors, and a crisper screenplay. Then people would have definitely "Baar Baar Dekho"d it.

The public nuisance that is TikTok

There are, hundreds of thousands of people publicly embarrassing themselves on TikTok. In the mad race to gaining 'likes' and 'followers', it is amazing how many people are willing to be the laughing stock of the word.

It is actually pathetic. And in a way, sad.

Why are they doing this ? Is it for money ? Does the playform pay ?

I looked it up. The answer, it turns out, is a humongous NO.

The service itself makes money, by placing ads. But the poor actors/dancers/jokers on them, can only gain virtual hearts.

Unless they are able to get sponsorship from brands, or move their subscribers over to a paying platform like youtube, it is just virtual fan worship.

There are a few, a handful of creators on the site, who have some originality. Are able to approach a challenge in a new , or different way.

But most of them are just ape-shit copy cats. And not even very good copy cats. The site, and its actors are just public nuisance.

I wonder if it is worth it all, becoming the butt of jokes that is the internet, all to enjoy that 10 second hall of fame.

The Vices of Malayalis, and how the state lives on it

Came across a much needed, and nicely researched article on how the state of Kerala, India, feeds off the taxes paid by its poorest citizens. Keralites, you see, have a penchant for alcohol, and lotteries. And both of these are controlled largely by the state government. A third vice is finance instrument called chit-funds, a remnant of a once stronger economy. Some of the figures being reported in this article is truly scary; and its all debt !

Kerala’s is an interesting, if not curious, economy.  The cash-strapped state -- it has a debt ratio of over 30 per cent -- the highest and most deteriorating debt among all states since 2013 -- is keeping its finances alive through the vices of its people - heavy alcohol consumption and penchant for lottery tickets. The state government has the monopoly to sell alcohol, through the Kerala State Beverages Corporation or Bevco, while the ‘gambling-type’ addiction of buying lotteries of its people is fed through the Lotteries Department, which sells lakhs of lottery tickets on a daily basis. At over 8 litres per person per year, Kerala has alcohol consumption per person per year compared to the national average of 5.7 litres per person per year. The sales tax on alcohol has been going up from 20 per cent in 1960-61 to 210 per cent now.

As per the latest data, the income from the lottery for 2017-18 stands at Rs 9,034.16 crore while the revenue from liquor sales (state excise + sales tax) stood at Rs 12,937.09 crore in the same period. Add to this is the bumper sales during festivals like Onam. In the pre-Onam week alone, Bevco sold a whopping Rs 487 crore worth liquor while the lottery tickets offer eye-popping prize money of Rs 16 crore.

“The entire approach of the state government is flawed and regressive. To manage its coffers, Kerala Government is not only punishing the poorest but it is also encouraging them to buy an addictive product like lottery by selling dreams,” said Jose Sebastian, who teaches at the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation.

“It’s no secret who’s consuming most liquor and who’s buying the lottery tickets. It’s mostly the poorest sections of society. Gujarat neither sells liquor or lottery, yet it is the top-performing state in the country,” he said.

According to a study by Sebastian, Kerala has a wide tax base covering various sections of people and different kinds of economic activities. This is not reflected in the revenue collection. “Virtually, the effective revenue base has been getting narrowed down to four items -- petroleum and petrol products, liquor of all kinds, motor vehicles and lottery,” he said.

“An unintended consequence of the evolution of Kerala’s revenue structure is that it places a disproportionately high burden on the poor and marginalised sections of society. They are the major consumers of liquor and lottery. The share of these two in SOR increased from 14.77 per cent in 1970-71 to 34.46 per cent in 2016-17. Motor vehicles like three-wheelers, pickup vans and taxis powered by petroleum products are the source of livelihood for many of this class,” he said.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said the LDF Government and its Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac have been adopting a policy of borrowing and continued borrowing to meet the day-to-day needs. “Hard decisions such as hiking education fees, concessions for students travel or the property tax, which have not been touched for several decades, are not taken as it will backfire politically,” he said.

Vijayakumar pointed out that property tax has not been hiked since 1995 while students continue to travel at nominal rates though they have no qualms in spending thousands on mobile bills or on autos/share cabs every month.

Another big consumption by the state is gold, but it now comes under the Goods and Services Tax. Recently, the Finance Minister lamented that the state government gets less than Rs 200 crore as tax from gold sales while under the scrapped Value Added Tax (VAT) regime it used to fetch Rs 750 crore. Kerala is the top consumer of the yellow metal and Isaac blamed lack of preparedness and absence of invoices for the ‘huge leakages’ in GST revenue. Economist K V Joseph pointed out that the tuition fees in government medical colleges are as low as Rs 25,000 while in private colleges it is Rs 5.5-6.5 lakh yearly.

“While lower-income bracket people and SC/ST category can be exempted from higher fees, the government should look at hiking fees for those from higher-income families,” he said. Joseph advocated similar hike in taxes from forestry and land/property registration and taxes.

Geojit’s Vijayakumar blamed the state government for spending recklessly when the state coffers are drying up. “The state’s debt is Rs 1.5 lakh crore. When the state is in deep debt, the government has spent Rs 5.90 crore on politically accommodating VS Achuthanandan in Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission. Our Public Service Commission has 21 members while Madhya Pradesh PSC has just four members and Gujarat seven. All these members are paid over Rs 1.5 lakh per month. The government would do well to cut its unnecessary expenditure first when the state is in deep financial crisis,” he said.

Will Finance Minister Isaac think out of the box to find new revenue models? Will he bite the bullet? No chance when the state is heading for an election season -- the byelections followed by the local body polls in 2020, and the Assembly polls in 2021.

Another addictive habit of Malayalees is joining money-saving scheme or chits or chitties, which combine the advantages of both investment and advance. No wonder, while most Kerala PSUs are loss-making or white elephants, the Kerala State Financial Enterprises or KSFE, which runs chitties of several sizes, is flourishing. Compared to unofficial chits run by individuals, which are illegal, the KSFE chits are risk-free safe haven for the public as the institution conducts only chitties fully governed by provisions of the Central Chit Fund Act 1982.

Go green, and fight the cars

The news nowadays has always been disturbing. But for the past few weeks, there has been a shift in focus. Instead of reporting news of religious conflicts, political interference, and greedy corporations; the focus is now on : the changing climate.

There was a (?) nationwide strike in Australia's cities last week, people standing up for a greener future. Against un-controlled climate change. Greta Thunberg's climate activism has got people talking. Scotland has become the first country to declare a climate emergency. There are petitions being signed, videos and audioblogs being shared.

And I have been listening to the war on cars podcast. Australia loves its big, huge cars. And they get touchy when the topic comes to parking.

Some strongly support market prices—except for parking. Some strongly oppose subsidies—except for parking. Some abhor planning regulations—except for parking. Some insist on rigorous data collection and statistical tests—except for parking. This exceptionalism has impoverished thinking about parking policies. If drivers paid the full cost of their parking, it would seem too expensive, so we expect someone else to pay for it. But a city where everyone happily pays for everyone else’s free parking is a fool’s paradise.

For the first time, I see some hope for this planet. The war against cars has started.

Heres hoping for a greener future.

Calling it 95%

Trending news this weekend: the apparent failure of ISRO's moon lander. Surprising: almost every media outlet, and majority of mansplainers on social media are calling it a success. 99% success.

When the Vikram lander’s autonomous descent manoeuvre didn’t go as planned, scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) looked surprised and dejected at once in the mission control room in Bengaluru. There was the gentle, thoughtful reminder at the back of everyone’s minds, ready to prance at the first outward sign of sorrow, that the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter was still functional and whose scientific payload could still salvage the mission’s dignity.

Sending a spacecraft to another planet/moon, inserting it into orbit, and landing a rover…these are all  the extremities of research and engineering. To be able to just take off from the earth is feat in itself. Success should be celebrated, rightly so. But nationalism bubbling over means people are not able to call a spade a spade.

A private Israeli mission named Beresheet attempted and failed to soft-land on the Moon in April this year.The Americans and Russians have together tried around 20 soft-landings and succeeded 16 times. On the flip side, these two countries pioneered the technologies required to achieve this feat at an accelerated pace during the Cold War space race, so perhaps an adjustment must be made for the failure rate.

The lander failed, plain and simple. There will be ways to study the moon remotely, from an orbitter, but the lander was crucial to gather data from the physical surface.

And as we do in our field, go back to the drawing board. Learn what went wrong,  and try and fix it the next time.

Arrived

I sometimes catch myself stalking some of my old coleagues agin. Now and then,  I check upon them. To keep track of where they are, but mostly just to feel better. At the the beginning of my career, I wanted to do a lot of things, travel to a lot of places, visit , and meet people. I thought my career in IT would allow me these rare opportunities to see a little more of this world. And I worked hard towards that goal. But I was working under bad managers, and was plagued by terrible management. One of the many reasons I decided to migrate out. And it was not an easy decision. So, I try to imagine, where would I be, if I had decided to stay. And continue to suffer. Would my life have changed for the better ? Could I have stayed on and still achieved a  little more ?

The answer, thankfully, is NO.

If I had stayed, I would have been pummelled by meaningless, tedious, repeating tasks, increasing frustration, and a feeling of uselessness. And I know this because everybody else I worked with back in the day, are still where I had last left them.

My old team at e*, that company in Bangalore where I worked for 3 years. They are all still stuck in that same job, working in an over-crowded, pollutted city. None of them got that chance to travel abroad.

Poor little P is still doing data entry jobs. And that SB is still making them work. S and S are holding on for dear life. V has put on more weight, must be all that late night snack they have been having.

My old, sick, demeaning managers. Well they have done pretty good, actually. Feeding on the blood of innocent subordinates, they have become more successful. At least , thats what I infer from their shortening designations.

And my competition, yes , I had a lot of that. To be fair, we were all struggling in the same , dwindling, putrid pool of meaningless work, so we all wanted to escape somewhere. I gave up easily, and moved away. While for most of them, the struggle continues.

Competition is fierce in India's private job market. And with only a few guidelines set by the government, companies play a one sided game of micro-management. While emloyees in the sector do have the option of unions, they also understand that live is much better for them in the tech sector compared to the others. So they let it go. People work for years chasing that elusive 'onsite' opportunity, that one chance to make some money, tax free, which will enable them to buy a home in one of those crowded cities. And also , the chance to see a different country, with the company footing all the travel bills.

Choosing to move to Australia was the best decision we had taken in a long , long time. With a lot more professionalism, flexibility and wage, ones problems seem to dwindle away. For the first time, I have a good balance of professional and personal life. Last year, my manager here came to me and told me to take a few days off. Leave. For real. And he really meant it. That was an amazing feeling, which I had never experienced during my time in India. That instruction came from years of having mentored subordinates, and the employee-friendly laws of this country.

I hope more people get to see such professionalism, and kindness. But they wil have to travel away to experience that. As for me, I am living the dream.

Birds in the city

It is spring time in the city. After a particularly stretched winter, I can now hear bird sounds in the morning again. Not just simple chirping charping. Melodius, long , complex bird songs !

Always a good sign, the birds are the first to know of the changing season. The next few months are going to be pleasant , cool and a little rainy (hopefullly), until we get fried by the harsh Australian summer.

Not looking foward to that. Summer is the worst part of the year.

Satirical governance

It is that time of the year again. Half way through,we Indians get this opportunity to observe the anniversary of the day India won its independence. Today is mostly a day of political buffoonery. Speeches, promises, lies. But a great day for flag-sellers. As children, we used to be proud observing this Independence Day, today the meaning of those words is truly lost.

Today, most of the country is drowning in flood water, caused by unprecedented torrential rain, but the actual destruction caused by uncontrolled development, and destruction of natural resources. More than 150 people have died. This after the country reeled under a summer heatwave, droughts, and its cities running out of drinking water. So now one half of the year is time of drought, and the rest if the time for floods.

Multiple reports seem to point to the economy being in severe distress, especially since the date the last budget was announced. Manufacutring, specially automobiles, has nose dived. There are still religion driven atrocities being reported from all over the country. Attacks and molestation on women continue. And the decision to abrogate the special status provision for one if India's own state has now put the nation on the nation's watch citing human rights violation.

The British might have left decades ago. But India still has not learnt to properly govern and run itself. Is there a reason to be happy about any of this ?

Governance has become a joke. And its not even funny.

Super 30, and the Indian dream

There is no denying that education is an important and un-avoidable part of modern, human society. It is a human right, and access to education is essential for emancipation.

I recently came across a series of video documentaries on Super- 30, and education movement spearheaded by a certain Anand Kumar, who has helped thousands of Indian students change their lives. In order to do this, he has set his sights on the IITs, the highest institutions offering engineering education in India, and runs coaching centres to coach high school students to 'game' the IIT test system. Students who are able to 'crack' these tests get to join India's premium engineering colleges, paving their way to a well-paid job, and successful lives afterwards. Instead of being overambitious and enrolling as many students as he can, Anand had decided on training 30, and only 30 students any given year. These would be the smartest, brightest and most hardworking students from those who apply for his unique course. Hence the term: Super 30.

The first of the documentaries was filmed 10 years ago and uploaded in 2008. Al Jazeera, tracked and followed the daily lives of around 5 of the super-30 students, and vigorously documented the lives of everyone involved. Not only the students and their teacher, but also friends and family of the students, and even the local police officers. The life of the students and their teacher is clearly shown to be in ruins, Anand gives his daily maths class in something that looks like a remnant of a workshop, and the 30 lucky chosen are given special coaching in a similar, separate enclosure. The parents are farmers, daily wage labourers, or stay at home housewives. Their surroundings may be dim, but there is optimism in the air. There have been no engineers or doctors in their families so far, and everyone has placed their hopes on the one child who has been chosen into the Super-30.

The students give the test, the results are announced. 29 of the 30 clear the entrance to IITs across India.

Fast forward 10 years now. The second documentary tracks three of the students who were documented earlier, to try and chart their success and live afterwards. It is mind-blowing.

Not only are they all living better lives, they only have a faint resemblance to their former selves. They are healthier, wealthier , and wise.

One of them, Raju, the son of a farmer, is now a software engineer living and working in the tech city of India, Bengaluru. Working for the offices of an American automobile company at the time of the documentary, he now speaks English fluently (all the boys spoke only hindi in the earlier videos), and travels abroad for work. He himself seems surprised on how the education he received changed his fortunes.

Alok, son of a labourer, is now working as an electrical engineer in the nation's powergrid. He could not get into IIT, but wisely picked up a course from NIT. He had to move out of his hometown , as local goons began extorting money from his family, as the son had become and engineer.

Jyotish, another one of the students, is doing well, but in a different direction. He dropped out of IIT, and found his calling in Economics, where he has a PhD. He now teaches , and is happy and content to be contributing to his people and country.

But no one changed their lives around as much as Pranav Prince, who now works full time abroad as a; wait for it..; management consultant ! In the first videos 10 years ago, Pranav was the brightest of the 30, and had scored highest. He said his dream was to become a scientist, and open a research centre in India, on par with NASA. That could have been the naïve child in him talking, because he has now thrown research out of the window, having discovered the perennial money spinner that is blue-chip management. He had caused quite a scandal to Anand 10 years ago, when he attributed his success to the coaching of a rival institute, and almost shutdown the super-30 program.

Access to the nation's highest engineering program changed these lives. Hundreds of thousands of youngsters have a similar story to tell, and many more are still being written. It is an empowering story of how sheer determination, and perseverance can positively affect one's future. My own story is similar, though I never even tried to get into IIT.

The IITs of India today produce the world's top engineers, who then go on to work of multinational companies around the world, though that was not why the IITs were setup in the first place. They were created to produce engineers for the nation, who would help develop India' future. A lofty ,well intended goal. It’s a shame that most students who get enrolled there do not share that vision.

Nevertheless, this story proves that education is possibly the only path to better futures, and permanent emancipation. And that is the Indian dream.

Out with section 370

By now all online media, and most of the western world, will have heard of India' government passing a new rule, abrogating one of its own, self imposed 'special status' clause to a state very much within its sovereignty. While those with prior knowledge of the history, present, and forthcoming future will , I think , rightly agree with this decision, a huge part of those ignorant are going to question if India has this right in the first place.

Short answer: No one knows either way. Political experts, pundits, and citizens of every country are debating both sides. Section 370, the just abrogated law, was not imposed by the UN, or any other country in India. It was designed by India's parliament. So India should have full power to decide when to take it off. That’s where my point of view ends.

But others more knowledgeable than me have spoken wisely on this matter. Change, however small , or even big as this, is good.

. Why not plebiscite?

Answer: Plebiscite is not for Article 370 but for annexation to Pakistan. The plebiscite, promised by once by Chacha Nehru (Greatness be unto him), could only be done, as per T&C, if Pakistan withdrew their troops totally and then India did, just keeping that part necessary to maintain order. Since the preconditions of Pakistan withdrawing from PoK will never happen, neither will the plebiscite. There is also that little moral problem I have that you do not get to do a plebiscite after demographic change, after communally picking out Hindu pandits and ejecting them from their homeland. Any plebiscite is rigged by default.

The power of abrogation of 370 comes to the current government from the people of India, Kashmir included, through our democratic institutions. You may say “this fascist Hitler is not my leader”, but unfortunately this is the way democracy works. Sorry.

Is this the right way forward. Any way forward from a logjam, is good. Will this help the people of the region ? Only time can tell.

Is this change good ?

I do not know, but it is worth a try. Because we have been “talking” for decades, and there has been very little to show for it.

Virus - 2019 Malayalam movie

Working in healthcare is not easy. Healthcare profesisonals have always surprised me, and some of those moments have been the closest I have been to real 'miracle workers'. These folks, the work they do, actually saves lives. Working in healthcare is to dedicate one's life to a lifetime of service to others. And there will be days that service could be a personal sacrifice to the caregiver. There have been numerous stories , movies and tales of the heroism shown by doctors , nurses and paramedical officers.

Malayalam movie too finally got a movie which told a story of heroism. The movie is called Virus (2019), and it describes the events of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, India. Although the event itself got wide media coverage in India and abroad, a detailed telling of the actual events has been missing till date. Here, one can finally get to see a near-reality replay of the events.

First of all, a fantastic cast. One of those rare Malayalam movies which has starpower, but no overbearing superstar syndrome. Spot on casting, every actor is apt for their characters. Every characther in the movie is based on on or more real life persons. Second, there is a hollywood like treatment to everything; the story, the cinematography, music, and dialogues. Edge of the seat tension grips the full movie, with a little bit of humour and hope sprinkled all over. The overall feeling is of optimism, and a call to come and work together in times of need.

The story picks up half way through the outbreak, and employs numerous flashbacks to connect the stories of all the characters involved. A fantastic approach, but I felt some flashbacks were not obvious; there were not enough pointers to convey the actual time of that story unfolding. Could have been a little more efficient. But the highlight is when the healthworkers come together to build the full chain of events , linking all of the victims together, starting from patient 0, to everyone affected during the outbreak. They do this by interviewing all the survivors, bystanders , hospital staff and random villagers. They also go through hours of CCTV footage, and even look at their social media and phone usage !

It is good to see malayalam movies again exploring the genre of real-life events, and telling real stories, of real people, instead of fantasy. Expecting more to come, but it should not take a virus outbreak to inspire movie makers.

Virus is streaming on Amazon prime now. Go watch it, before it incubates.

Michael Palin's Himalaya

Been reading the coffee table version of Michael Palin's travelouge: Himalaya. Finally got the time, when I fell ill, to read the majority of his 6 months journey from the west to the east of these ranges. Lots of pictures. These journeys are in a way a time capsule. Done over a decade and half ago, the same journey today would be a little more dangerous, and tiresome, given the recent geo-political tensions in the area. Michael, being British,and behalf of the BBC, had it a little more easy getting permissions, and approvals. He got to visit Tibet, and China, and still lived to tell the tale. Very few travellers get to see the other side of these mountains.

He brings with him a neutral, outsiders perspective during this journey. He does touch upon the political imbroglio of the region, but he also is not judgemental when he interacts with the locals, and see their traditions. Every community living in the mountains has a reverence for the ranges. Its not for the feeble minded. One has to be able bodied, to live along these slopes. I specially liked the Yunnan,China part of his travels. Here is a community who technically lived in the Himalaya, but addressed them in a different language, different names. They had their own culture, unique in their own way.

It is fascinating reading about the people who live so close to these mountains, and take the majestic views for granted. These are very seismically active regions, the Himalayas itself is the worlds youngest mountain range, having been created in the subduction zone of two tectonic plates. With only a few local airports, and no trains, they rely completely on roadways and rivers to get around. Weather conditions are extreme, and only a few kind of plants and vegetables grow. Over in Yunan, they consume a lot of meat to stay warm. But down in Nepal and Bhutan, with majority vegetarians, I wonder what they eat to beat the biting cold.

Living in relative comfort of modern cities, it is easy to take our lives for granted. Living in the Himalaya is not for the faint hearted. This has been an enriching read, and I hope one day of travelling in the mountains myself.

Heartbeats on the moon

What wonderful times we live in. Around the world, media houses are covering the 50th anniversary of America's mankind's moon landing, and all sorts of wonderful articles are being published, detailing otherwise un-heard of stories and anecdotes of that historic week. One such article is regarding how mission control at Houston tracked and observed the hearbeats and life stats of the three men onboard. Fascinating read  !

Also, the journal of the entire mission is online, in public domain, for anyone to peruse and research forever. They are sometimes too technical, but are sprinkled with jokes and light ribbing between the crew and Mission Control, even in the midst of stressful moments.

Armstrong later said he wasn’t worried about the fuel. They were close enough then that if the engine cut off, the moon’s gentle gravity, one-sixth that of Earth’s, would let them coast safely down. But the descent must have been some adrenaline rush to push the lunar commander’s heart rate to 150. Armstrong’s pulse began to climb after he turned off the autopilot and took the controls in his gloved grip. The fate of the mission was, quite literally, in his hands. Tens of thousands of engineers had helped get him here, but this last bit was up to him. That kind of responsibility would quicken anyone’s pulse.

50 years since the Giant Leap

Its been 50 years, since the giant leap of mankind. It was amazing knowing about the moonwalk the night it happened, its equally awe inspiring 5 decades later. Its going to inspire and challenge countless generations today and in the future.

Thank you, the gentle giants of the Apollo missions. And to all the scientists and engineers who worked on earth to make this happen.

We have left our footprints on the moon. May they stay there forever.

The world is still waiting for the next giant leap. Onto the next planet.

And to the universe far beyond.

The ABC Murders (BBC One)

 

Re-watched the BBC One’s interpretation of Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders. I did watch it as soon as it came out last year. It was interesting watching this new version, and comparing it with every other adaptation of Chrisite’s work.

First up: Ron Weasly playing an adult character came as a pleasant shock. With the makeup,and costumes, and the period lighting, and him smoking cigarettes, it was such a huge transformation ! He is not that loving, silly kid anymore. He is 30! Gosh, we have all grown old.

Second up: This muscle man playing Poirot. I think this is the worst version of the famous detective. John is too tall, and too well built. I felt you don’t get the feeling of the smarts in his little grey cells, because you are looking at his build and the way he moves.

The novels focussed on how Poirot looks and interprets the scene of the crime. But the show makers looked more involved in depicting the violence and brutality of the crime in progress. Also, whats with the whole immigrant hate in the show ? And why show Poirot as a preist in this past ? Kind of screws up the vibe for me. The interpretation is that he has been living with the guilt of that mass murder since that day. Thats not the fun, obsessive-compulsive, charismatic, and energetic Poirot described in Agatha Christie’s work. Neverthless, good effort.

 

But I guess this is what the current new generation wants to see on TV. The books can seem boring when read today, because there are so many characters and events there, to confuse the reader. Also, things were a lot slower back then.

I hope BBC One keeps these adaptations coming. After And Then There Were None in 2015. The next generation needs to know how real crime drama was written over a century ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best museum visit ever !

Today I learnt a lot. Because today, I went to the museum. I felt like a kid again, and boy, was it fun. This would be my best museum trip ever. I visited the Melbourne Museum in Carlton, just because I had a day off and didn't kmow what else to do. A day well spent.

First off, I have always had dual relationships with museums. The name is supposed to spark curiosity, and fun, and questions. But the museums in India are so poorly done, the only question it invokes is "Why is this place still open ?". They don't have that many speciemens, due to …well, lack of funding. They focus on near history, our recent past only, and no address what we know in the long term. And they also don't bother about the future. They put up paintings and sculptures on their walls, but they don't spark curiosity.

But I have had better museum visits outside India. The natural history museum in Helsinki had dinosaurs. The one in Austria focussed on European flaura and fauna. Also..Vikings ! These guys really know their stuff. So I had high hopes when I walked into the largest museum in the southern hemisphere , in Melbourne.

The dinosaur walk was front and center. And they talked at length on the earth, meteorites, and a little too much about crystals and stones. Nothing fancy about that. One or two collections would have been enough. But upstairs, they talked about evolution, and the principle minds that worked behind that idea. And a room full of taxidermied animals ! And more bees and butterflies !  Some of Darwin's and Owens' original specimens are also on display, you have to squint to spot them ! The focus was on animals found in Victoria, but they also added a polar bear and a panda. The whole arrangement, lighing, and occasinal sound effects were all perfect.  Just enough information to answer your queries, without a long monotnous speech. Sadly, I missed the marine room.

The outdoor installation of Forest history is very cleverly done. I doubt anybody else would have thought about that. They already had giant trees in the back, and they built underground installations to show the birds and animals of such a forest.

Wonders never cease. They have spent a good portion of their space to talk about Victoria, and Melbourne's own little history. Through detailed research and hundreds of actual historical pieces, they have told a continous story of this city from its colonial past. The original natives of this place is mentioned, and without sugercoating, they have also detailed the cruelty these people had to suffer at the hands of 'white-men'. After the gold rush, and a huge influx of migrants, the city planners really had to work overtime to get back to a planned, livable city.

This is where the history of Melbourne differed from a place like..well, an Indian city. Through planning , and efficient government, they built the most livable city in the world, out of slums and closed mines. They go through both the world wars, and were able to successfully move to modernizatin. There are separate exhibits of objects used in all these various time-capsules. The first electrical appliances, the first cable driven trams, old movies, and radios, and then music and footy..the time travel was instantaneous ! I specially adored the pieces designed for their maritime history, with scale models of wooden clippers, and large luxury liners, even a navy ship. They have these little photo albums placed at various points, with real photos taken by people living in here, in various points of time. Thanks to photography, we can now glimpse how they lived , more than 120 years ago. No question, they put on their best clothes while posing for the cameras !

So, in closing, this is how a museum should be designed. There is no way a place can cover 4 billion years of history in a day. The key is to show snippets, and answer questions that really matter. If you have a spare day, spend it at the museum, you feel like a kid again. You won't be dissappointed.

Kappa connection

I was in the local Indian store this week, and in the freezer section, saw a packet of..wait for it…tapioca ! Called casava in some countries, it is lovingly called 'kappa' and even 'kolli' in God's own. At one point, it used to be the food of the poor, who could not afford to buy rice. But today, it is packed, frozen and sent to practically every country to be enjoyed in its simplicity. And back in Kerala, it is now available in top hotels and restaurants.

What wonderful times we live in !

Which reminded me Kerala's long lasting connection with the tuber.  Visakam Thirunnal Rama Verma  ruled only for five years in the 1880s, fell ill and died at 48, relatively young per today's living standards. It was this king who introduced the vegetable to these shores. Tapioca or manioca was brought from South America as a viable alternative to tackle food famine. It was planted on the edge of Kawdiar palace surroundings and that area came to be known as Maracheeni veela. The dhobbie wash area and royal pond was in this region once uoat. Later became the first housing subdivision for government senior leaders and renamed Jawahar Nagar. The utility or some other documents still record it as marcheeni veela. Swami Vivekananda made his historic stay in Tvpm, speaking at this place. The combination of kappa cheeni tapioca with fish later emerged as a balanced nutritional option meeting protein and calorie requirements.

This is probably why none of the other south Indian states seem to have any recepies using the tapioca. It is best enjoyed simply boiled, with some fish curry. Kerala style fish curry.

1947 was a year of changes, and in south India, the kings and queens were being asked to give up their reign and kingdoms. Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore was the last queen of that region of Kerala. While she served fried fish to her English guests, her cooks prepared and shaped kappa into an imitation, so she could eat keeping her religious beliefs !

How extraordinary !

But as recent as the fifties, there was a government initiative to introduce tapioca based western cuisine to the people of Kerala. While it was a famine which brought kappa to us, it was another famine which led the EMS Government of 1957 to rethink the kappa plans. At the time, Kerala produced a little less than half the rice it needed to feed its people.

The audacious plan was to start the production of tapioca based macaroni, yes the Italian food macaroni, to Malayalees. Originally called synthetic rice,  CFTRI in Mysore developed it as a remedy for rice shortage.

“The Institute has recognised the need to reduce the pressure on rice. One of the ways of doing it is by making use of tapioca… The Institute has begun making macaroni by mixing 60 parts of tapioca flour with 25 parts of wheat flour and 15 parts of groundnut flour (for protein)."

Predicably, the plan went nowhere. Because the people hated it. Thank goodness.  The communist government was ridiculed for introducing western food to the poor. Read this fantastic retelling of the great macaroni scandal.

So Malayalees today enjoy kappa in its truest, simplest form, without any western interruption.

Keep calm and eat kappa.