The Curse of Homogeneity

In the rundown to the 2019 general elections in India and almost daily since, situation is getting uglier. Friends, families, co-workers - are already feeling the strain of being politically correct, or at least the pressure of saying the right thing, in front of right people. People now look at themselves and everyone around them basis of who they voted for in the last general elections. This rift is not good in short term or long run. Presently (and thankfully), this battle of opinion is fought the hardest "online" - in whatsapp groups and in comments section of newspaper articles. Wont be long before the fights happen over dinner tables and during water cooler chats. 

Social media has become a nuisance. Equality and access have given everyone voice, which everyone misunderstands as entitlement. This is where danger zone begins. 
When a person applies for a driving license, there is a test and practical. The individual is told what is right way and what is wrong. Following those rules is secondary, but there is awareness. There are road signs that tell people to slow down, not to honk, accident prone zone. Unfortunately, there is no entrance test to get on to social media. There are no signs telling people to behave themselves. I cant help but feel that Indians should be given a written test and practical "Learning licence" before giving them a SIM card and mobile connection. 

But i digress...

Basically, what is the pressure of everyone agreeing with you?? Why should everyone else be on the exact same page as you?? 

I might agree with you about Ambedkar, and not about Gandhi; 
I might agree with you on Ambedkar about Poona pact, but disagree about formation of Pakistan; 
I can say Gandhi was right about local self government, but was racist and promoted casteism using varna system; 
I can dislike Congress for being dynastic, but give credit for infrastructure in formative years; 
I might hate Congress - but doesn't mean i support BJP. 

That is the beauty of it all. I can have my opinions - based on my upbringing, my reading, my experiences. I can do feel and think what i wish to, what i want to. Why should it be anyone else's business to want to convince me and agree to what they think and feel? 
No one else needs to be my ideological clone. And i dont have to someone else's ideological clone. Why is everyone trying to force their opinion on others? 

If we were meant to be ideological clones of each other, we would all have been factory produced, with same IQ and EQ, and same life experiences. 

Those who believe in a higher power, God, should know better than demanding that everyone follow their ideology. 

Those who call themselves liberal, should remember that liberalism is based on diversity of opinion. So, if some people don't hate the same people you do, doesn't mean you belittle them. Similarly, the right wingers have no business labeling everyone as tukde tukde gang and giving out patriotic certificates. 

The echo chamber must never have sounded more shrill. If only everyone can be entitled to their view and opinions, and stopped forcing others to be on the exact same page! 

Policy Paralysis vis-a-vis Emergency

The word most commonly used to described UPA2 was "Policy Paralysis". Not only the government but individuals, families, offices, mom n pop enterprises - everyone, seemed to be stuck in decision making! There was inertia setting in, files not moving, projects not taking off, payments not happening. 

Apparently, the reason was, no one wanted to take risks. The environment was not conducive, one was punished for taking decisions. No one will take risks, if they are going to made scapegoats.

I was told earlier on in life that the key is to take decisions. Right or wrong, time will tell. You learn the lesson and move on. The UPA2 kind of paralysis happened perhaps due to hyperactive CAG, and over-enthusiastic judiciary, and definitely due to indecisive leadership. 

More often than not, knee jerk reaction follows policy paralysis. 
Since May 2014, we have seen many of UPA schemes and plans continuing, and their version 2.0 being launched too. There was extensive coverage in the newspapers about how PM Modi was getting the Delhi bureaucracy to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty - off the golf course. There were reports about early morning meetings, and late night meetings, and monthly PPTs to be made by MPs and ministers on the lines of KRAs. 
A lot of people suddenly woke up thinking nothing has been done for a decade. The coalition in the 90s hasn't helped much... Imagine a some government agency that doesn't do any work in the full financial year, for whatever reasons - and suddenly wakes up on last week of March and launches hajjar schemes to make up for lost time. No one will know the objective, no one will capture the effectiveness, they will just spend money cos they were meant to. 
Has the governance been like that since BJP led government came to power? Spending money, building roads, creating infrastructure? Is there a conducive atmosphere for business? Are they addressing unemployment? And migration? Are they clueless about where they are going? 
There are some ayes and some nays. But the question one needs to answer is, is the opposite of policy paralysis, intolerance? Or emergency. 
Let us introspect. With facts. With what we see, experience ourselves. Without name-calling. 

Diwali Decoration Brouhaha

Many of my whatsapp groups are abuzz with pictures of Diwali themed train in Singapore. Lot of praise and lot of admiration for this little country for celebrating Diwali. There is a sense of pride that "our" festival is being celebrated far and wide. 

http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/singapore-gets-its-first-diwali-themed-train-3087474/

There are some others who have gone one step ahead and shared pics of desi stations and railways and airport termini which don't have any Diwali themed decorations, yet, to bring out the contrast. That is the fun part - also little uncalled for. 

Indians are around 9% of Singapore population. And one way to look at the episode is, they are celebrating plurality in their country. Couple of years back there was a Barack Obama video wishing for Diwali; and Indians are just about 1% in US. Diwali, or Deepawali is celebrated around the world, and our desi diaspora has been a wonderful brand ambassadors. 

These are signs of an inclusive developed country with mature administrators and citizens. 

What i wish to highlight in this blog is our loss of diversity. In the race for homogenisation, urbanisation and being part of popular narrative, so many of our cultural identities, languages, dialects, festivals, occasions have gone extinct. We "had" such rich culture of song and dance, celebrating various life stages. Alas, even our villages which were the last bastions of cultural treasure have succumbed to the trappings of urbanisation. 

So, exporting our major festival is good thing. But losing our cultural diversity is very sad. Many many festivals, or different ways of celebrating the same festival, now no longer exist, because they didnt fit in the mainstream narrative, or the practitioners were ridiculed, or worse, killed. 

Yes, please be proud that Diwali is celebrated globally; and also remember, that there were many different ways of celebrating Diwali - that no longer happen. 

Traffic in Smart City: Sadakchhap Act

This morning i got into an argument with a random stranger on the road. I usually don't do that - being a non-confrontational person. I was crossing the road at Santosh hall, Singhgad road and one fellow on a motorcycle while jumping the red signal, almost ran me over! I raised my hand - half to stop him and half to slap him - as he rode past me without me even touching him. Luckily, his ego got bruised that someone actually raised hand at him and he came back to 'teach me a lesson'. During the argument he was more interested in invoking my mother and sister & how i dared to raise my hand, instead of talking about how he broke the signal, and ran over a pedestrian. This went on for 60 seconds - the time he would have spent at the signal anyway! 

While walking home i thought of usual traffic nuisances and solutions to some of them. Do add more... Since 100 cities are gunning for the funds of Smart City, it affects us all!! Proposing the Sadakchhap Act - 


a. Signals. We are IT power, aren't we? Most XII class students want to be engineers. Let us use that brain power to design more efficient signal systems. I hate those who break signals as much as i hate jaywalkers. Probably i hate the motorists more. We have surplus CCTV cameras. Let us get those with good resolution and start sending challans to offenders. They better pay up, or they have to pay interest on the fine. Better still, confiscate their vehicle. 

b. Public transport. Clearly it is not possible to have public transport that is not crowded. At least in peak hours. But surely school buses, buses of IT companies can be hired by the municipal corporation for peak hours. If there is a will, there is a way. 


c. Cant say enough about signals... Those who speed at yellow light can get away with a penalty. But those who run red lights, should be fined heavily. As much as drunk driving. 


d. Pedestrians safety. At all signals there should be a 20-30 sec green only for pedestrians. All vehicular traffic should stop and only those crossing roads should be allowed for these 20-30 secs. 


e. Jaywalkers. Indians love the road. We have collective sub-conscious memories of walking on the roads in villages and towns where we come from. We love the road so much that even if there is a footpath, we prefer to walk *on* the road. Should those who walk on roads when there are footpaths, be penalised? Nominally? Especially those who walk on roads where ramps are made, or those jumping over dividers. 


f. Footpath reclaim. First the municipality must gain control over the footpaths. Shops, squatters, large dustbins and about to be legalised shanties - all should be removed. Find them another place to do their business. But please free up the footpath. And then penalise pedestrians who still walk on the roads, even after footpath is provided. 

g. The zebra crossing is extension of the footpath. The motorists who are in a hurry and inch ahead little by little, so much that they are almost half way to the signal point, should be charged with Impatience Fine. I think its the curse of the Middle class. We have this in born thing of moving ahead in our lives, that we try that at signals too... How much time do you save by jumping a signal of 45 seconds??


h. Blocks. Let all the delivery tempos, vans, trucks be on the roads from 12 midnight to 6am. They park on roads and take forever to deliver goods, colas, supplies to the retail shops - blocking the traffic on our narrow roads. This will inconvenience a minuscule part of the population, but will make it a lot easier on those who travel on those roads.


i. Parking. I am undecided on the solution for chaos of parking. One drastic solution is, if the buyer doesn't have parking space at home, do not sell the vehicle! The loans have made it so easy, that some homes have 3-4 vehicles without even one allotted parking.  


j. Certain key signals should be 24 hours. And those ones should be followed day and night. 


k. Potholes. The road contractor has to be accountable for the quality of the road. The tender needs to have a guarantee of 20 years without repair. No riders. If there is untimely damage, the contract money should be taken back. 
Well, there's another way to deal with it... I have heard story of activists from a far-right political party in Maharashtra taking the road contractor to a newly laid road and slapping him with chappal for every pothole on the road. Perhaps this should be introduced too, along with the municipal guys who approve payments for shoddy jobs.

l. Leftists: Just like the confused Left of our country, everyone on the road is a confused leftist too. Have you seen people at a traffic signal wanting to go straight, but veering towards the left? And blocking the free left turn? And then giving looks when you honk at them to make way for a free left turn that you will miss because of them blocking the way? Ya, those ones. 

Sometimes i wish to buy a run down Ambassador car, fit a good quality safety harness for the driver, fix good quality guard in the front, and start ramming traffic offenders. Such is the level of road rage that sometimes i carry it to work / home. I do understand that lot of things from the Sadakchhap act are too unrealistic. But we need them - for 10 years, so the next generation doesnt make the same mistakes... 


I hope someone in power takes notice of the proposed plans. And most certainly hope they do introduce a more robust version of this and implement it immediately - before we create an even bigger mess!!

Animals - One silly hypothesis

So thousands of years back, there was this country. Well, technically it wasn't a country yet. There were natives spread across the landmass, living off the land... And there were these migrants, who had just started coming... As expected, there was constant friction going on between the natives and outsiders - cultural differences, land, women, animals. Usual stuff, you get the picture...

The natives had their own systems and laws and way of life. It was an easy going, lets live thru the day sort of stuff. The migrants too loved to drink and eat and be merry, as at the core they were travellers who lived for the day. 

Over the next hundred years or so, there was some peace between the two sides and there was co-existence. The peace was as good as the terms of the last skirmish / battle / war. But with longer periods of peace, the natives moved to deeper jungles, and migrants settled down in areas they occupied. Agriculture happened. Animal rearing started. Cattle was used for farming. The outsiders developed a superiority complex in addition to formulating their own laws. They now had holy books and knowledge was passed down the generations. 

As part of sacrifices required as per the law, some of these animals were killed, and offerings were made to the gods, after which the outsiders would feast on the flesh of these animals. Over a period of time, they grew fond of one particular type of meat! They just loved it so much that they started eating it regularly, without waiting for ritualistic sacrifices. They killed so many of that one particular animal that its population fell drastically. They killed more than they could eat... And the natives actually came of out of jungles and started dragging carcasses for their own consumption. 

The greedy outsiders got so lusty for the meat of this particular animal that the religious heads had to intervene! They issued a diktat that his animal is holy and cannot be eaten. It was a very normal thing those days to use religion / culture / way of life as a tool to enforce certain beheviour from the migrants who were still struggling with this whole settlement gig. 

This religious enforcement took a good 20-30 years to actually get implemented. Lot of stories were spread about the metaphysical qualities of this Animal. Stories were planted about what made this Animal sacred. Fear was used to ensure no harm comes to this Animal in your watch. Eventually, the word had reached to all settlements that this Animal was not to be harmed, killed or sacrificed. Changes were made in religious texts to remove all ambiguity. Everyone now worshiped this Animal, as god. 

This Animal was removed from list of animals of sacrifice. It was a holy move to cover up for unholy acts of man. 

The unholiness continues. Blindly. 

Identifiable Iconic Structures Pune

Okay, i confess. I watch more English movies these days as compared to Hindi or Marathi. But without getting in to the why's of what i watch, let me bring you attention to something i noticed. 

Almost all English movies, especially the Hollywood projects have a set visual grammar. To establish the city in the opening credits, we see some buildings, monuments, bridges, facades, waterfront, beaches that are iconic, and give away the city where the story is set. Times square, San Francisco bay bridge, Eiffel tower, Sears tower, Burj Khalifa, or in 90s the WTC towers. 

Of course, there are these iconic pieces in India too. So one would show Gateway or VT / CST or local trains for Mumbai... Or India gate, Qutub minar for New Delhi, or Howrah bridge for Kolkata.

(Joke: It must have been pretty easy for Byomkesh Bakshi team to show that Kolkata of 1940s as nothing has changed!)

Just last month i saw Marathi movie "Coffee ani barach kahi" which had shots of Shanivarwada and the multiple bridges across Mula river. Ditto with "Gabbar returns" which was shot extensively at Agriculture college and Corinthian club.

I recognised it as Pune, but will everyone in Maharashtra or India who watches these movies know these buildings? 

So i set out to make a list of iconic buildings / landmarks / visuals of Pune. Stuff that you see and the first thing ringing in your head is "This is from Pune"!! 

Considering the historical importance, and rapid real estate growth i thought it will be an "easy task" to list down 30 such buildings / places / structures. 

I was terribly wrong... Here is my list of 15 that come to my mind (in random order): 

1. Shanivarwada; 
2. Fergusson College main building; 
3. Fergusson College Amphitheatre; 
4. University main building; 
5. Agriculture college main building; 
6. Cascading Kumar builders building on East street; 
7. Amanora future towers; 
8. Dadgusheth temple; 
9. Mandai; 
10. Symbiosis vishvabhavan (the one with flags of countries); 
11. PMC building front side; 
12. Geometric software building in Hinjewadi Phase 1; 
13. Z-bridge; 
14. PCMC building; 
15. Garware bridge. 

Can you list down buildings / structures that you think are iconic? One look and first thought is Pune!

Is our food dying?

Earlier this week, we had a longish debate at the lunch table. 

In the foreseeable future, will some foods / food preparations and items stop being made? Meaning, your regular home-made, catering cooked foods. Not factory manufactured biscuits and stuff. We are talking about vegetable, pulses, fruit preparations, breads, rice, accompaniments, domestic snacks, and more like that.

One argument is, everything is cyclical. Things make a comeback. Like bell-bottoms. Nothing really dies. Someone, somewhere will be producing, preparing, and consuming items that are perhaps not easily available. 

So, the item or preparation might actually be 'statistically' dead - but since someone is consuming it somewhere, there is a chance that it might make a comeback and become a rage all over the civilised world. 

I am in other school of thought. I think foods and food preparations are getting extinct. 

Two reasons. First being i have personally seen regular foods transitioning to exotic or once in a while affairs. Like the jowar / bajra / maize breads (locally called bhakari), which once were staple are now eaten perhaps twice a year, on occasions. 

Second is there is no makers, and no eaters left!! Just like the average vocabulary reduces 20% with each generation, i think the food items one is exposed to is reduced with every generation. My grandmother had far wider 'menu' so to speak, as compared to my mother. Perhaps, my mother only learnt and prepares what she likes / or what she is good at...
Similarly, with professional catering. The items on the menu are regular, similar everywhere... And the slightly more seasonal, complicated, expensive ones are discarded with each cook.


IMO, with changing tastes, choices, likes - there definitely will be food items that wont be available. No one will cook them. The recipes will die.

Instead, new items will keep getting invented. One day someone is going to try pizza with black dal topping, or pour egg inside a chapatti and make inside out omelette.  


What do you think? Are we eating the kind of food/s our parents ate? Will the next generation eat food identical to us?