Running through Mysore City

As soon as I saw the ad for Half Marathon as part of the Dasara Celebration, I immediately decided to participate. One, running through the city of Mysore was very attractive and two, after having run 10k's for the past few years, I was looking forward to moving up. Since my unfulfilled goal is to run a Full Marathon, this seemed like a good opportunity to test my physical ability.

I trained for just over a month. Since I was already fit enough to run a 10k under an hour, it was enough time. In my only other previous Half in 2005, I had cramped up badly around 14km while doing the up slope near Windsor Manor in Bangalore and only barely managed to limp to the finish line. I had to make sure that it would not happen again this time which meant better preparation. Towards that I ensured that during my training I ran a couple of ~15km runs and finished feeling good enough to continue for another 5km. Also, planned my food properly in the last week, avoiding fried food while loading up on carbs and water.
My training routine can be viewed here.
I key thing I felt after the fact, was a good week 3, where I totaled about 46kms with one run of 16km at just outside my targeted pace.
So, when I boarded the train to Mysore on Oct 1st, I had a good feeling, though still not sure, if I could achieve my goal of finishing under 2hrs. Dinner and stay at my Aunt's place was perfect. Ate 3 roti's with lots of potatoes and kept gobbling Bananas all the time. Drank several bottles of water, so much so, that I had to get up 3 times during the night to take a leak. Maybe I overdid it a tad bit there..but since I did not feel thirsty during the run, it seemed to have helped. In the morning, just a apple and Banana and I got dropped at the Venue by my Uncle and BIL.
A small crowd of 250 runners got behind the tape for the flag-off around 6.45pm. Then came a delay of about 30mins to accommodate the whims of the local official who wanted to give a speech and do a mock run for the TV! Crazy is all I can say.
Finally we were set free around 7.10 or so.. and I got into my rhythm quickly. The runners stringed out shortly and I was soon running by myself. Initial few kms had a significant gradient which took away quite a lot of my energy to keep up the pace of 5m45s/km that I was targeting. About 6kms in the middle was around the Kukkrehalli Kere on the bund which was quite pleasant. Coming out of there, we hit a steep climb where I was forced to slow down..and managed only a 6m15s 14th km. Thankfully, the rest of the route was on a down slope (what goes up has to come down, eh? :) ) and it helped to gain the lost time back. I managed to give a good finish in the end to finish a comfortable 30s under 2hrs. The satisfaction of finishing is of course the primary reward! Next up Full....

Route map from my GPS tracker
Official timing of my run (Bib # 1079)
A mug shot to show I was indeed there! :)

Some training tips I gleaned from this experience for other aspirants.

• 2 months of preparation is good unless you are already a regular runner with about 15km/week, then 1 month should do.
• Ensure you do at least a couple of long runs, about 15km, at around your targeted pace.
• Don't overdo during other runs and exhaust your body. One or two 7-10km runs along with shorter but faster runs should be enough. I mixed my training with other sports like Badminton and Basketball to keep fit. It helps to break the monotony of training.
• You should asses your ability and set your goal quickly, then train towards that. Under estimating will leave you unsatisfied and over estimating...well...can leave you with cramps well short of the finish line! :)
• Pace yourself properly in the race, that is, not more than 10% variation from the targeted pace. I never like to stop or walk even at water stops. Don't get excited on a down slope and run too fast. If an up is too strenuous it is fine to slow down a lot. Ensure at all times, that you do not feel the burn in your legs. Increase pace in the last few kms as per how your body feels. Good... go for it and finish strong. Tired... then keep the pace and finish comfortably.
• Food is important. No fried or outside stuff for at least a week to keep it safe. Lots of carbs from Potatoes, Bananas, Apple,  Rice, Pasta, Bread, etc. Hydrate well the day before. Pee should be clear the previous evening. Plan your water stops during the race to get enough water to avoid getting de-hyrated.
• Stretch well after the race else the muscles will stiffen up later on and it will take longer to recover. Walk around for 10 to 20 mins and cool down. 
• Nipple burn is an issue for this long a race. I used vaseline and it worked. I saw one runner with a large blood patch in his chest! So, beware of this problem.

Good luck and hope my tips help you in your attempt!

Political decay in India

Disgusted from watching the worst kind of politics being played at the state (BJP, Yediyurappa, Reddy Brothers, Mining scam, Kumaraswamy, Justice Dinakar, ...) and at the National level (DMP, UPA, 2G scam, Adarsh Scam, Posco and many others), I sent these thoughts to Deccan Herald for their Letters to Editor section.

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As we read the political exposures and the responses from the accused, it appears to me that India has now entered an era of "No Shame". Gone are the days when a person in power took responsibility for his actions and resigned in shame or immediately took remedial actions with due apologies. Now we have people who instead of facing their short comings or blunders prefer to point fingers at others with the same problems. Does this mean it has become all right in our great country to be corrupt, lie or make monumental mistakes as long as there are others who have done the same and gone scot-free? I sincerely hope not else we have entered a deathly spiral which can only end in anarchy.

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It got published. But what is the use really other than a bit of ego-boost that my name appeared in print. Do those people who are in power read them and change their mind even infinitesimally? I really doubt it.

Still, I wanted to expand a bit on those thoughts for my own gratification here in my private world that is my blog.

I am not savvy with the intricacies of the scams or how some fraud gets pulled off. What I am truly concerned as a citizen if India is that the most(50%+?) of the people in power, elected representatives as well as the salaried bureaucracy have become completely bereft of any ethics and morality. Most of them are focused only on making money or consolidating their power. There is no sense of service or working for the greater good of their constituency in particular and humankind in general. Not even the bare minimum required to avoid public ridicule. The pleasure one probably gets when accomplishing something in the public domain which will benefit only the community at large seems to be completely lost on them. The main driving factor has become fully selfish.

They do not worry that their actions will cause irreversible damage to a city or state and its future population as long as their own kith and kin get the spoils. When confronted with proof of their selfish law breaking they either lie or point fingers at others who have done the same. How can they be so disgustingly devoid of any moral fiber? It truly boggles my mind.

Will Anna Hazare's Lokpal bill bring about some change? Maybe. A little. But unless an under current of cultural change in the ruling class is brought about, it will only mean that once the bill gets passed, the morally corrupt people will think of new ways to pillage and plunder while avoiding Lokpal scrutiny rather than change their ways. I do not believe the fear of prosecution will matter to them.

How? The only way I can think of is if a morally and ethically perfect but strong leader and organizer emerges out of the scrap heap that is now the political class. He or she can set the tone that others will eventually follow and it will hopefully become the culture. Anna Hazare for PM anyone? :)

Will it happen? One can always hope!

The urban dilemma: Save trees or build infrastructure

In recent days there has been lot of discussion, rallies, legal action against tree felling as the local administrators move aggressively to improve infrastructure in our garden city of Bangalore or Bengaluru. Which is more important or what does one pick when the twin goals conflict?

I confess right at the start that I prefer trees to pretty much anything else. They are the reason Bangalore is what it is today and we should try our utmost to retain that unique city ambiance.

But I cannot help asking myself, how much of a hypocrite am I, considering that I too need and enjoy so much of that very same development that I am vehemently against. Take for example, the apartment I am living in. I believe a nice Mangrove was destroyed by the developers in 1999 to build the complex. Every time I go to a new mall or take a drive on the new roads, I feel guilty. Were they worth the trees and open space that was lost?

If we look at it in an unbiased way, we can see that both are essential in different ways. Trees to retain the ambiance and provide a healthy atmosphere while a growing city constantly requires infrastructure.

What is the right balance between conservation of urban greenery and development then?

Lets look at the following statement. True of false?

We can potentially cut all the trees and widen roads to the max extent along with flyovers and underpasses. Parks can all be made into parking lots or malls or office spaces. City can be with absolutely no greenery anywhere.

Possible? Imagine being able to park easily, drive comfortably on flyovers everywhere with no leaves or falling branches. A lot of down towns in large cities are already like that.

Tough to counter convincingly, I feel.

It is mostly a strong gut instinct for me on why I think the above will be a disaster. Still, some points(facts?) I could come up with to support my position:

- No trees! No breeze and it may get too hot even to step outside.

- Sounds of the city may increase tremendously as trees absorb a lot of it now.

- Pollution could potentially increase many times without trees to absorb some of the dust particles leading to dangerous health concerns.

- It could be very bad for our health when we lose *all* the oxygen producing trees/plants while at the same time increasing co2 producing cars.

- Critical bio-diversity will be lost. Birds which need the trees to survive and also play a part by eating insects and rodents will not be able to survive.

Any more?

I feel there is a hard balance somewhere which if we cross by reducing greenery below that level we will cause the city to die a slow death. It is imperative that it is known and kept in consideration when the city administrators work on infrastructure projects where greenery needs to be sacrificed. They should always look for solutions which does not lead to reduction in greenery and err on the cautious side which is to sacrifice infrastructure for conservation.

More greenery or open spaces is never harmful. Less is what we should be worried about as they can never be re-created!

How I reduced my Cholesterol without medication!

Its been more than 2 months since I created a draft for blogging this and never got around to finishing it. Today just might be that day...

It all started when an Insurance application of mine got rejected for medical reasons. I at 43, who can run 10k under 1hr and play basketball with college kids was taken aback. How could this be? With some inquiry, the reason was found that my Cholesterol was high. So high that they rejected insuring me! Did that mean they thought chances of me living beyond 10 yrs was too low and they feared making a payout? geez.

Anyway, it set off red flags in our family and I made that long pending appointment with our family doctor to get my blood tested. The results came back..and ya...it was high. Total Cholesterol at 230 (30 over high of normal range) with the bad stuff, LDL at 160 (10pts over max)!

The doctor was concerned enough to immediately recommend drugs, which I duly declined and requested her to suggest other methods. She looked dubiously at me, probably wondering if I was capable of following what she was going to suggest. Maybe I looked earnest enough and she suggested the following, giving me 3months to get it back into normal range.

Diet:

- Morning breakfast: Oatmeal along with black dry grapes, pistachio, almonds, fig, etc. Avoid brown dry grapes(sugar) and Cashews(cholesterol). [I took this for 4 days at least in a week, using Diet Horlicks milk as base to mix Oatmeal and dry fruits in along with a chopped Yellaki (small) banana or apple]

If there is something nice for breakfast such as Dosas, eat the above stuff and then maybe one dosa so that you don't miss out on it and feel miserable. That is, you don't have to sacrifice the usual stuff to follow the regimen.

- Dinner, we usually have Chappathis. I switched to Plulkas which is prepared without oil.

- Lunch, I reduced the amount of rice I ate.

- I consciously avoided or reduced snacking in-between meals. At buffets or family functions, I ate normally but declined second helping of fried or fatty stuff like sweets.

- Avoided yellows of eggs. Reduced or did not use butter, ghee when preparing food.

Exercise:

I was already quite active with running and Basketball. She suggested adding badminton once a week to the routine. Since I had played this game competitively, it was a great workout. I did not over do all this.. just about 1hr a day for 6 days a week.. maybe 30mins more on game playing days.

After about 4 months..(ya, took an extra month just to be on the safe side), did my blood test and waited expectantly for the results.

Lo and behold.. I did pass the test as required by the doctor.

Weight down by 3kgs.

Total Cholesterol came down to 201. (drop of 29)

LDL came down to 130. (drop of 30).

I took it happily like a student to the teacher and nearly held out my hand for some stars from the doctor which I think I deserved! She did not give that... but...congratulated me and said follow the same routine and I should be fine.

So, hopefully she is right..and for the time being I avoided popping a pill every day.

In the bargain, I feel better and fitter.

Sharing all this here, so that someone out there will also be able to use my new found wisdom in Cholesterol control by natural means! :)

Simple ways to conserve

I have this lingering suspicion that most people equate conservation to just recycling plastic. Few of them expand it to switching off lights, saving water and maybe planting a tree or 2.

Surely, we can and should do more than that.

So, I write this long pending thoughts on how I perceive conservation as.

First Reduce, then try to Reuse and after that Recycle whats left.
(You can see many more R's at Saahas website (http://www.saahas.org/) where I volunteer whenever I can.)

Some ways each and every one of us can conserve and save the precious resources of our planet:

1. Reduce use of plastic covers. Just get into the habit of carrying a coir/plastic bag and let the shop keeper know. Most will oblige as each plastic cover costs anywhere from 40ps to 5 Rs. When you buy something like a loaf of bread or packet of chips, decline the use of another plastic cover to put it in! Carry tupperware or other utensils for take-outs from local Darshini's.

2. Don't waste food, especially at Buffets. Take little of unknown items and get more only if you like it. Instead of piling something that looks nice and then find out you don't like it! People argue with me on how that saves food since the hotel/hosts have already cooked it anyway. I feel, once we all eat the right amount of quantity without wasting, they will adjust the estimations accordingly and what they prepare for say 100 people will come down. Also, food left over in many cases is donated.

3. Walk locally. Try and walk to all close locations. Anything up to 1km (15mins) and even 2km (30mins) should be doable. You get a workout, save petrol and reduce traffic congestion! If you have to drive, combine the errands in that direction so that you avoid multiple trips. Check, if a phone call/letter is enough.

4. Use less paper. Print only when required. Be judicious in the use of tissue papers at restaurants. Reuse blank papers. Don't throw away sheets which have one side blank. Use it for rough work like sketching or tests for kids and then recycle.

5. Reduce your consumption. There is too much stress on convenience. Think many times if youe need that new dress/shoes/gadget/book/pen/car/.... This is a tough choice in our materialistic world. However, if we opt out of even 10% of our purchases, it will make a huge difference overall in resource consumption.

All these points should be gently passed on to our kids to help them develop good habits early in their life.

If you can think of more, please add in the comments below.

Lets try to be smart and not doom ourselves and the future generations..

Story on superstition

Deccan Herald published a story I had submitted today. Its on superstition and how kids find it easier to fight the conformance to them than elders who have a whole lot of history behind their convictions. Its up to us parents/adults to not let our own fears and insecurities which have no basis on facts to pass on to the next generation.

Check out the story at:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/75916/white-socks.html

5 Point Idiots!

We saw the movie 3 idiots several months back because of high recommendations from friends. It was entertaining as most hindi movies are with the extra touch that comes with Aamir Khan movies. Then of course, the controversy of "Is the movie same as the book" and "Why was Chetan Bhagat's name not in the initial credits" flared up. So, curious, I finally bought a legal copy of the book Five point someone. (so that Bhagat also gets his share from me, in the name of fairness).

Having experienced both movie and book in my "unbiased" way, here is my take on the controversy.

The movie is most certainly based on the characters and plot created in the book. But I dont agree it is an adaptation of the book. The characters and plot have been twisted and molded significantly to suit the audience for a Hindi Movie. Chetan Bhagat in his blog on the controversy states that movie people claimed it was only 3-5% from the book while some movie critics said it was more like 70%. I put it at about 20%.

I felt the movie script writers moved away from the plot fairly quickly and even the characters (Ryan => Rancho, Hari => Farhan) are very different while only Alok => Raju was fairly close. Most other characters in the movie were also different and it had new ones like the servant kid, Joy Lobo the brilliant practical student who commits suicide, profs 1st daughter Mona. The book had Prof Veera who was given a miss in the movie. New situations were made up in the movie like the chase to find the disappeared Rancho, Mona's delivery, Joy Lobo and his un-manned helicopter, Rancho becoming a brilliant topper, wedding surprise with Pia, etc. The book had some good spots that were dropped in the movie: the complete canteen/ice-cream parlor college ambience, research project with Prof Veera, C2D Co-operate to Dominate, Hari's slow developing romance with Neha, etc.

The book: It is a typical Chetan Bhagat style of writing. Simple, corny in spots yet engaging enough to finish it quickly. I liked several spots where I felt it elevated itself a bit like Hari's dream of Cherians Graduation speech, the situation where Hari gets caught with Cherians shirt. Overall, the book is more down to earth and depicted the college rat race and lifestyle better than the movie.

Movie: The script writers did what they had to do to make the story sell on the big screen. They mangled it and added more corny (read unrealistic) situations to make it a masala movie. Rancho character is too much to digest but makes a good hero, I suppose. Ending is typical movie style.

I feel both movie and book were superficial and were written to attract the average viewer or reader. Sad, because the story had a lot more potential to be a serious work along the lines of Hollywood movies "Dead Poets Society" or "Good will hunting".

As for the controversy, Chetan deserved better recognition for the original story and plot on which the movie is based. I think he got it anyway even though it was not in the form of movie credits. However, the movie is not an adaptation of the book by any stretch of the imagination. So, rest easy. You both deserve accolades.

Unanswered question: Was the very public spat a shrewd move by both parties to sell their products?

Paradox of religion and God

I have always been fascinated by this paradox about religion and God.

If God does not exist, then there is no need for a religion. If God does exist and he is all that any religion (Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, take-your-pick) say he is, then he would have to be a pretty mean person to have such extreme expectations from his devotees or a conceited and self-centered or insecure person to want people to give him money, time and praise in order to grant wishes!

I am what you may call a non practising Hindu. The thing that drives me crazy is watching people put lakhs of rupees in a temple hundi such as at Tirupathi to seek His blessings. I can guarantee (of course without proof!) that more than 50% of those donations are ill-gotten wealth. So, basically it all amounts to a bribe to the almighty to avoid being cursed. If they are that afraid then they should stop being greedy and getting wealth by dubious means. If they are not afraid then why bother offering this "bribe"? Another Paradox!

Or putting it another way. If they believe God is omnipresent and omniscient then they should be shit scared of cheating people and offering part of the profits to Him and if they didn't, ya, why offer anything?

So, I present you with this theory of mine about religion and God.

Long long time ago, God was created in the minds of some pretty smart people in power. They probably did it to make the people scared about this powerful person or thing so that they will follow the rules which they felt was good and beneficial for the larger community. The rules of course metamorphosed into respective religions. Initially, God was forces of nature such as Sun, Moon, Stars, Trees, Rain, Mountains, Rivers, Planets, Comets, etc. Later, maybe for easier representation in stories and myths, they became persons. This worked well to keep the community or tribes in harmony and does even today to some extent.

But where it has gone wrong is that most have figured out or comforted themselves that as long as they pay the perceived donations or perform rituals to Him, they can get away with anything including murder. This is because there is no real proof that He does exist and will punish! So, the powerful now use Religion and God to pursue their own interests and not for the good of the community. That is they can say anything they wish in His name

In a way religion has lost the reason it was "invented" for leaving us with the paradoxes that I started with...

Running along Kaveri water...

When I first heard about a run along Kaveri river, I was intrigued. Opportunities like this are limited in Bangalore where I usually end up running in MNK park or Lalbagh. That itself is a privilege since I stay in Basavanagudi. So, even though we had to drive 120 kms to Srirangapatna to take part, me and my friend Bipin went for it opting for the 10k distance.

We were up at 5am and made it to the Fort view resort well in time to catch the buses to the starting point of the run. The half and full marathon(42k) runners had started at 7am itself. We were flagged off at 9am from a point some ways further along the road to the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. 300 runners made quite a crowd for the 10k. The trail is pretty much a cart track alongside the canal all the way to end. We got to see the actual river only at the starting point. So, my suggestion is to change the name of the event to "Kaveri Canal Run" :). Though a bit gravelly and narrow in parts, it was quite comfortable to run in the muddy ruts. The views were very scenic with paddy fields and hills on one side and the gentle flow of the canal water on the other. Green Bee-eaters, King-Fishers were around as were plenty of Ibises flying overhead, no doubt to or from their home at the Sanctuary. At the end, the organizers had some bananas, biscuits and water to get our energy back. We chose to board the next bus and got back to the resort by 11am. On the bus, got to meet a 21k participant, Surya, who had come all the way from Auroville, Pondicherry to take part! Got few nutrition tips from her, one of which is that a concoction of mashed apricot, jaggery and honey gives nice energy boosts along the way. Hmm....got to remember that if I ever go for half or full marathon!

Back at the resort, we got to see a Flameback (black-rumped?), Great tit, Dove and few other birds. Too bad that we didnt have a couple of hours to spare for some bird-watching. It was early lunch and on the road to Bangalore by noon. We reached our homes around 3pm. Overall a nice, fun event and well organized. For more information on the organizers you can go to the Runners for life website.

Origins of Indians anti-community behaviour

This is a topic which pops up often for me, either when talking to friends or when I observe some obnoxious behaviour somewhere or when reading an article discussing it. That is, why do a large percentage of Indians, including yours truly, tend to behave in some level of anti-community behaviour. When I mean anti-community behaviour, I am talking about behaviour that are beneficial to self but clearly cause an issue or hindrance to others in the community. A lack of civic sense. Very common examples are: Jumping a line sneakily or clustering around the window trying to be first even though you just came, illegally parking in places you very well know will obstruct others, driving on the wrong side forcing opposite traffic to move over or stop, throwing litter everywhere, honking unnecessarily, speeding past pedestrians including pregnant women, elderly & children even when they are on pedestrian crossings, talking loudly in public and tourist places, etc., and yes, sometime or other I would have been culprit on some of them too, if not directly at least by looking the other way when the group/person you are with behaves poorly. Now, this kind of behaviour is there in *all* countries only in not that high of a percentage and not *all* Indians are like that only they are too few.

I am so obsessed with this topic that I immediately purchased the book "Games Indians Play: why we are the way we are" by, V. Raghunathan, academic from IIM as soon as I saw the cover page thinking, wow, now I will know it all. But, the book uses Game theory and concludes that we are like this only because it is beneficial to us! Well, duh. It never answers why in other places people are not like this most of the time, even though it is *clearly* beneficial there also! So, my search continues...

I have come across many and varied reasons or should we say excuses for our behaviour. a) Britishers screwed up our brains during their rule b) over population leading to too much competition c) suppressed sexual urges looking for outlets d) it is the only way to get things done e) our religious background with heavy emphasis on fate does not encourage community based thinking or object to the bullying person f) we are ruled by people who themselves lack civic sense and ethics so what do you expect? and so on. Each one of these can be argued for and against with examples. Maybe it is a bit of all these and others I have not listed. Whenever I have the time I like to approach a person misbehaving and question them. A true incident: elderly person was peeing under a cluster of trees inside Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. I asked "Sir, do you not know that children play here?", his response, "Are you perfect? Don't you do anything wrong? Correct yourself and don't question others!". Philosophical! So he accepts he is wrong but does not like others to point it out. Another one: People parking inside a ground obstructing games instead of outside. When asked: "Will you replace it if I park outside and it gets vandalized?". How to respond to this type of argument?

My main interest is what are the ways in which we as a community start turning it around. Again many ideas are out there .... a) start teaching early to the kids. But who? Most parents who should set the best example are themselves irretrievably unethical and lack civic sense. Schools? Some try but most schools ignore it. TV? we hardly have a single good Indian children's program which teaches civic sense. Of these I feel TV is the best medium and hopefully somebody will get to it. b) More policemen to punish the offenders. I always felt, we can have at least 200 traffic policemen who can easily get their pay by ticketing all the traffic offenders! c) Lead from the top. Our politicians setting the tone on proper civic sense by not abusing their power and following the laws as ordinary citizens whenever possible. OK. Now I am day-dreaming! :) d) our public figures in films, sports, arts etc showing the way. I know a lot of them already do but how can we impose this among them? Also, a high percentage are themselves very poor role models.

I feel that things can get better only when each and every one of us wakes and follows some semblance of civic sense and ethical behaviour and expects others they interact with to do the same. Sometimes you may be at an disadvantage when you do so but you should not let that affect you and fall into the same trap.

Please share every suggestion and opinion you may have....

Story of a Wishful Donkey

I have always wanted to write good children's stories. Posted one on sulekha.com and they found it good enough to make it a featured story which, to me at least, was a great compliment. Somebody read it and thought it good enough to ask others to read? Enough for me! :)

http://nandaramesh.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/04/stripes-story-of-a-wishful-donkey.htm

Food, taste and hunger

A friend forwarded a link to this short film, Chicken-a-la-Carte by Ferdinand Dimadura, made for the category, "Food, taste and hunger", at the 56th Berlin International Festival. It won the top prize. The film looks primarily into how we waste food when there are people who desperately are looking for nutrition. This message is delivered using a very simple story with considerable impact.

It should be made mandatory viewing here in India as it is quite appalling to watch people waste considerable amounts of food at buffets and marriage halls. In both situations it is not difficult for the person concerned to gauge what they want and how much they can eat and get served accordingly. To me, most of the times the wastage is inexcusable. I wonder if even 50% of this wastage was reduced how much that could make a difference to those in desperate need of food.

My theory is that if we reduce waste, the amount of food saved will eventually trickle down to those that require it the most, assuming the food production is kept the same for the basic items such as rice, wheat, vegetables, etc., Something to keep in mind before you pile food on your plate even though you are not that hungry or you dont know if you will like some item or not and then dump 1/2 of it into the garbage pile...

The movie link:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

Greed and Capitalism....

A Washingtonpost article by Steven Pearlstein (and I am sure many many more) was posted today on the question of additionally taxing bonuses at AIG and other companies which received American Tax payers money. The author argued against it. This prompted me to put down some of my thoughts on this subject which I have been ruminating on for some time. I agree that taxing specific bonuses is not good but not for the reasons which the author mentions.

Capitalism is about greed. This has been said many times already. So, it is not a surprise that those in the finance industry go for high paychecks which are compensation based and motivates them to take as much risk as possible. How can the American Government which is the bastion of Capitalism restrict how much money a person can make? The fact that it is tax payers money does not matter because it is being provided to AIG to keep it afloat for very selfish interests (avoiding a collapse) and not to push some kind of a social reform. Therefore the Governments interest should primarily be in ensuring AIG gets back on its feet and not how much pay/bonus it can give. Once America starts setting such terms, they are no different from a communist or a dictator run country. You cant have your cake and eat it too.

The problem I feel is not that they are asking for obscene amounts of compensation/bonus for a job badly done, it is that it has become part of the culture now. There is no feeling of guilt when you get that package and you know that you don't deserve it or you try to avoid any kind of accountability or real measurements put in the compensation clauses through legal talk to ensure you get that obscene bonus whatever happens to the company. Does the CEO or other executives really think they are that smart or that hard working compared to any other employee that they deserve 1000 times more salary? I think they do and therein lies the problem.... with American type of Capitalism. It goads all to strive to reach that top where you can demand those obscene salaries and once you get there look down and ignore all others. If you are still down, don't complain, just try to get to the top and you will be fine as then you will be looking down at others.

Somewhere along the way, on its momentous journey to the top of the world, American Capitalism has lost its soul. I don't think Government legislation or taxes on bonuses is going to help get it back. It might be better to let AIG and other greedy capitalists fail and let the events set the course for some healing.

Don't tax their bonuses, just let them all lose their jobs!

progress or no progress?

Sometimes, I wonder if I was transported back 5 to 6 thousands years and with none of the technology we see today, would it have been a happier place? So many of our problems these days like pollution, wars, materialism etc can be argued to be because of the progress humans have made. So, would it have been better if we had remained as a very primitive tribe living off the land? Would you give up what you have now, cars, tv, computer, airplanes for a life in the forest where you will be spared all modern travails?

The following video on Chenchus in Andhra pradesh gives us a look into what that could be like in these times in our own country! I am not taking a position either way. Just posting it as food for thought!

Children of the forest

Obama Era

Elections are over and I can finally stop ranting about Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld etc. They are soon out of the door and Obama will take over. Feels good.

A US presidential term is a challenge for anybody under normal circumstances and it is doubly so for Obama now. Iraq, Economy, Environment, Health Care, Al-Queda are few of the many problems he faces following a very inept and ideologically driven administration. Adding to that are the raised expectations from his millions of admirers and the intense scrutiny and criticism he will face from all his detractors not just for being a liberal but also as the first African American president.

I just want to wish him good luck and success. Hopefully he will stay true to his ideals and not get side tracked. I truly feel he was the best choice to lead America in these trying times.

Just 2 more days!

I thought I need to put down at least a few words before the much awaited and significant election in the past few decades in America officially draws to a close. Internet gave me a chance to follow it quite closely from India via msnbc, salon, washingtonpost. I could even catch the campaign videos and the funnier bits of SNL and late night comedy. We are indeed a very connected world now.

Well, its all pointing to a Obama victory and hopefully there will be no surprises. It would be a catastrophe if indeed that happens. McCain has shown his true colors during the course of this campaign, changing positions, picking a horribly unqualified VP Sarah Palin, parroting the right wing policies against his own long held beliefs to just win votes. He does not look stable enough to be a president, enough said! Barack is showing the potential to be a very special leader indeed and has set the expectations quite high on his goals. If he does even 25% of those it will be great.
Lets hold hands, pray and hope the American voters do whats required on election night!

Good Luck Obama, Biden!

Praying for?

This is a topic I had wished to put down my thoughts on for sometime. Today I witnessed a scene during our Diwali Visit to the famous Ganesha Temple on Bull Temple Road in Basavanagudi that prompted me to finally do it.

The aarthi had taken place and the Poojari was going around showing the lamp and giving blessings. One person, called out urgently to his wife who was moving around to come for the aarthi and take the Poojari's blessings. The wife was clearly annoyed at being called but came over anyway. As they were bowing to the Poojari to take his blessings the lady's cell phone rang. So there was this scene with the lady talking on the phone with her head bent and the poojari giving his blessings by placing his hand on her head while looking elsewhere! I wondered about the point of all this? Did the lady expect to be blessed even while talking on the cell? Was the Poojari so detached that he was giving blessings without any awareness of what his recipients were doing? or maybe he just did not care. They then continued on with their next task with only me left to scratch my head....

Now to my long delayed "think aloud". I have always wondered what is it that we as human beings want when we pray to God? When I was young and being the son of a fairly religious mother, I would do my praying dutifully every day morning and visit temples regularly. At that age our most important prayer was to do well in studies. After further education, marriage, job, children and a lot more worldly knowledge, I began to wonder if somebody really heard our prayers and acted on it. All my logical thinking said that it was utterly impossible. So I just stopped other than a reflexive request for the good health of our family and peace to the world whenever I stand in our prayer room or at a temple. That's where I am at now. Others? I always wonder about that.

It is obvious that those who pray and believe in a higher power do expect deliverance of some kind to their request. Does it happen? I think generally that prayer is for something whose outcome is unknown or not in the persons control for example a job application. If it is successful, then credit is promptly given to God. If it fails there are so many ways to rationalize it that we need not question the existence of this "higher benefactor". It could be because the prayer was not sincere or God gave the job to somebody who required it more or you did something stupid like post the application during a bad time "rahu kalam". But such a reasoner will never arrive at the more possible conclusion which might be that he/she did not interview well or was just not suitable for that job. Same reasoning could be applied for other prayers such as for exams, operations, business deals, etc., I think that's why its so comforting to place all pressure onto a "higher power". This keeps the person confident to face the next hurdle and not getting depressed. For this to work, you have to truly believe in the existence of a higher power. Else it wont work!

So, I always feel, that for those who truly believe, prayer is a good way to relieve tension and pressure in all challenges we face in our lives. For others like me who find it difficult to believe we are on our own to succeed or fail and face the consequences. Is either one the correct way or wrong? I think both are fine as long we don't try to force one to think like the other!

Now where does that leave the lady who takes blessings from an uninterested Poojari while talking on the cell phone? Maybe she does not believe in a God so just did not care or she feels that the call is important enough that "God" will understand and not punish her? Something to chew on... I wish I could have asked her!

Indian Olympics Swimming performance and media coverage

India rightly celebrated its 3 medallists from the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Abhinav Bhindra in shooting, Vijendra Kumar in boxing and Sushil Kumar in wrestling. There was also some excitement on good performance of few other athletes like Akhil Kumar, Saina Nehwal, etc. However, I couldn't bear to listen and read negative reports in news channels and various editorials and opinions on other Indian athletes at Beijing Olympics. True some deserve it for delivering very much below par performance such as Sania Mirza, Anju Bobby George. But a large number of others did as well as could be expected, if not better, and got little encouragement from the Indian media. These are folks who have put it hard work for many many years since childhood to be able to achieve what they did. Most media commentators showed little knowledge about the sports they were talking about and just chose to criticize the fact that they did not bring home a medal! This type of uninformed opinions is bad and damaging for the morale of current and other aspiring athletes. Here I highlight one sport, swimming, which took the brunt of such harsh commentary.

The Indian swimming squad for Beijing Olympics was represented by the following along with the results they achieved in their respective events. Results data are given in the following sequence:
Event : Personal best before Olympics : Time obtained in Olympics : Placing / Out of Total participants

Virdhawal Khade (17):
50m Freestyle : 22.69 : 22.73 : 40th / 97
100m Freestyle: 50.49 : 50.07 : 42nd / 64
200m Freestyle: 1:50.35 : 1:51.86 : 48th / 57

Rehan Poncha (23):
200m Butterfly : 2:01.40 : 2:01.89 : 40th / 44

Sandeep Sejwal (19):
100m Breast : 1:03.58 : 1:02.19 : 32nd / 63
200m Breast : 2:18.23 : 2:15.24 : 36th / 52

Ankur Poseria, US based (21):
100m Butterfly: 53.68 : 54.74 : 57th / 65th

Swimming is a very difficult sport. Of the 7 events, I believe only Khade had hopes for making the semi-finals in his 50m freestyle event. All others were aware that they were only going for getting experience. In 3 of the 7 events (50m freestyle, 100m, 200m breast) the athletes have bettered their personal best, 2 more (200m butterfly, 100m freestyle) they were fairly close and in only 2 (100m butterfly, 200m freestyle) they were more than a second below their best. Though Khade failed to make the grade for semifinals he did finish 40th out of the 97 who participated which is quite good. Overall it was good achievement for the largest ever Indian Olympic swimming contingent. The swimmers were poised and showed they belonged at the highest levels of the sport. This can only mean more and better things to come as long as they continue their training and get all the required encouragement and support from the sports bodies.

I hope the media also does its part and highlights the achievements instead of just negative criticism on misplaced goals. All 4 above have trained for more than 10 yrs and some have moved their families to find better facilities and coaches. They deserve our kudos and appreciation for taking Indian swimming to a new high!

Timing sources: Beijing Olympics Official website, Yahoo sports Olympics coverage, GoSports SwimBlog

Obama mania

Just now finished watching the Democratic nomination acceptance speech of Barack Obama. As he has done always, it was delivered to perfection, inspired the crowd and laid out the points very clearly. I cannot imagine how Obama wont be the next president of America. Other than the hard core 20% Bush backers, everybody else can agree unequivocally that the last 8 years has been a disaster with very few positive things to pick from. So, how can anybody vote for McCain/Palin instead of the Obama/Biden ticket which in spite of their assurances will only give four more years of the same type of approach and policies? This is especially true with regards to foreign policy where there is a lot of right winged vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

But for some reason the American people seem to be not sure about this as the polls as of now (end Aug) indicate a virtual tie. How can this be? Is it really because of Obamas inexperience or is the deeply ingrained racial prejudice of playing a part here? It cannot be the policies for sure because what Obama is proposing is far more attractive and energetic than McCains. Results either way is going to cause interesting dynamics in America.

If Obama wins, it will be the first black President with many many challenges. How will he perform will be the main question as the expectations are so high. He will be under a very very large microscope for all of his term, that is for sure.

If Obama loses, America has to face its own racial prejudice. No amount of trying to analyze why McCain won will suffice as the big bear in the room will always be racial intolerance. The only way Obama loses is because of Americans inability to accept a black president.

Its going to be one interesting election year in 2008! and in my opinion very very critical for America's future.

IPL experience

The IPL (Indian Premier League) for cricket has been launched India this year. It features 8 teams with players from all over the cricketing world. They play the new and exciting 20-20 format. Teams are based in the Indian towns/states of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Punjab, Kolkata, Rajasthan, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Obscene amounts of money is being paid to the players and also invested by the promoters and owners.

Now that we know what IPL is, the fun is in predicting where it will be 5 years hence. The games certainly are good, exciting and entertaining. It has been a win-win situation in that players are getting a lot of money for their talent while the fans are getting a highly competitive game for a reasonable ticket price and time invested. For now, it looks to be a success and in 5 years it is quite possible we will have very loyal fans for all teams thereby driving interest further high. The thing to watch out for are the pitfalls when too much money is at stake. Betting, leading to game fixing is probably the most dangerous and could hurt the league badly. Others are players sacrificing national interests, too much glitz and marketing, too high ticket prices, etc.,

I finally got a chance to check out one game in person at Bangalore between the Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers on May 3rd. Ticket price at 500Rs was too high I thought. The location of the seat was not so bad and the stand was full. We got an exciting game going to the final ball for the result with home team winning. Facilities were bad. Narrow entrance. Not much option with food. Wasting 30Min's to get some questionable chat or samosa would be stupid. Chips and drinks were being sold by wandering vendors. However, since the drinks cups were sloshing all over and the vendors were putting their hands inside them, it was best given a miss! Cheerleaders looked pathetic, in my opinion. I feel they don't fit the cricket format. Music and songs on the loud speaker were good and added to the excitement. Fans even got a Mexican wave going for more than 10 rounds!

That's it. Lets see if this is a flash in the pan phenomenon or how cricket is going to be in the future....