The USofA. I am talking of the USA. It was one of my life's best decisions that I didn't go there.
Already more than 60 people have been killed in gun violence in 2023. And it is still only January.
There were 647 mass shootings last year.
And now, top US companies have begun laying off employees. Andt these are some of the richest, most financially successful companies in the world.
Not going there.
The trending news in my part of the news cycle is the utter shortage of water in Chennai city. People are struggling without potable water, private companies have asked employees to 'work from home', and clashes have erupted. The government does what it always does; it has gone into denial mode, asking people not to spread fake news, and asking temples to arrange for special prayers for rain.
Typical Chennai.
I should know, because I have lived in that hell hole for 3 years. Even 10 years ago, the sight of bright , colorful, plastic pots arranged in a line in front of public water taps was common sight. It rained only for a few weeks in a year, and people and places are not used to rains. The slightest rain would cause roads to flood up. But a few soon drying rivers supplied the city with much needed water. The apartments we lived in , on the east coast of the city, was too close to the beaches, so the ground water was brine. Undrinkable. Unfit for cooking, but maybe usable for some cleaning and washing. Fresh water
Uncontrolled population growth, and lack of planning has led to the water tables in the state further depleting. But this never stopped the uncontrolled 'development' in the city. Finally , after decades of negligance, the city is now dry. Harsh reality.
In the past, the city used to fight for rubbishness like jallikuttu, and 'superstars' of movies, and even language.
But it is now a dry city.
Been reading a lot of news about how many telecom and aviation companies in India are all burning cash, and slowly heading towards ultimate shutdown.
The newly formed Vodafone-Idea is running out of Ideas to stay afloat, there are plans to disconnect numbers who do not recharge enough a month, and there are speculations, only speculations at this point, to charge customers for incoming calls ! Gives me the 90s vibe. During the late nineties and early 2000s, companies used to charge about 7 Rs/- a minute for incoming calls. It was Reliance who changed the game by launching their first telecom services , undercharging for services, and eventually forced the practise out of the industry.
And aviation, it seems is the other industry in a nosedive. A newly inaugurated and much hyped airport was promptly shutdown after two weeks, because the sole operator refused to ply. Companies are now charging more for online services. Some others are cancelling entire flights reportedly due to not having sufficient pilots. Owing to rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, the depreciating rupee and competitive ticket pricing, not a single airline in India is earning more than it is spending. The losses run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some frequent flyers are posting reasons online as to why they will stay with the failing company. It is not just Jet, Air India’s losses are mounting, market leader IndiGo has announced a loss for the first time since it took off in August 2006, SpiceJet is said to be looking for fresh investments to stay airborne. Some new airlines like Air Odisha (of Jharsuguda fame), Air Deccan and TruJet are not flying aircraft on several shorter routes as not operating is a more viable option than flying. In fact, had it not been for the recent fall in fuel prices and the rupee’s recovery, at least two airlines would have come to a grinding halt. They did not have enough cash to sustain themselves beyond a month.
Its surprising that despite all the opportunities in the market, these companies are always burning cash. Customers are simply not willing to pay. They can turn their fates around if they simply start charging more for their services, but then, in the world of social media, they also have to limit the memes coming their way.
India is truly shining.
Came across a nice article attempting to burst the myth of data science jobs, supposedly the coolest new job trend. Every day I get at least 2 e-mails from companies advertising data science courses which enables candidates to get data science jobs. Turns out, they are eventually paid the same salary which programmers working in traditional languages get. Maybe a little more. But the median is the same.
This is primarily because most of India’s data scientists only know how to use the tools, but do not possess the solid foundation in math and statistics to grow in the field.
And some of the these data-scientists are also jobless.
