Smoking ban leaves many on the roads

Until Oct 1, all the IT companies had designated smoking areas in their buildings which were always occupied by smokers. But today, the first working day after the ban on smoking in closed or public places, ex-smoking areas were deserted and there came a shining new ‘NO SMOKING – Smoking here is an offense.’ board.

And all the smoker techies who appeared with coffee cups in one hand and a cigarette in the other hand, were standing on the road to smoke. I think the real spirit of the law is – do not smoke when non smokers are around.

Simply by not smoking in the no smoking areas doesn’t make you a good citizen, only not smoking when non-smokers are around is what makes you a good citizen.

RBI is no joker

Yesterday midnight, some friends called me and said that there is a lot of mess going on in AP around ICICI Bank, after some TV channel exaggerated the losses made by ICICI bank. All the customers were afraid and queued up before the ATMs.

Are people crazy? There is RBI, there is government. At most, what could happen is a merger with some other bank, if ICICI screws up big time. Why are people queuing up before ATMs? No bank in this world can get cash for all its customers at once. And in a small town, how much cash can be there with a bank to distribute immediately?

I don’t know how much people (including me) are aware of the real financial situation. It’s the television channels that mislead people these days. Just as everything that appears on the Internet is true, everything told by news presenter is true. It’s just a news item for television channels, but it really plays with people’s emotions. Although, the sky is falling shouts that were around for an year now is clearly evident now. That’s true for the US. I don’t say Indian banks are insulated from that, but as the RBI says, Indian banks are well regulated and people need not panic looking at the global situation.

I’m not saying that hard earned money is not precious, but people need to think a little before running to the bank in the midnight, leaving their family at home. There are more important problems that we need to focus on. Go, stay alert and avoid serious loss to life that is caused by terrorists.

Missed call business

When I was a kid, having a phone at home was a luxury, which was limited to the upper middle class and rich people. Those were the days of license raj and monopoly in India. Things changed fast, everyone owns a cell phone these days; one can get a phone for INR 500/ ~ US$ 12.

I do use a cell phone, and I appreciate the measures taken by government to make phones damn cheap. But, to me, the most annoying thing is a ‘missed call’. Why do people give a missed call? Because, they don’t want to pay for petty things; types (what do I call it!) of missed calls are:

• A lazy friend: Dude, I’ll come to your apartment and give a missed call. You can come down then, I don’t want to climb the staircase.
• An affectionate friend: Once you reach home, just give me a missed call.
• A kanjoos friend: I’ll give a missed call once I reach there, you call me then.
• A kanjoos friend: (After I call back for a missed call) You have free minutes for local calls, don’t you? Shall I call you back? (Why dint you do it at the first place?)
• A water supplier: (After I call back for a missed call) Sir, I couldn’t find your address, can you tell me any landmark?
• An old friend: (After I call back for a missed call) Hey, I though you would be busy, so gave a missed call.
• A stranger: (After I call back for a missed call) I dialed your number by mistake, realized it and hung up.
• A friend: (After I call back for a missed call) Sorry yar, I don’t have enough balance, so gave a missed call, what’s up? (WT*!)
• A friend: (After I call back for a missed call) Hey, your office phone is free of cost, why dint you call from that?
• A math-aware friend: (After I call back for a missed call) You are in roaming, why should both of us pay for the call, just you pay. Yay! I’m saving money.

And people are really experts in giving missed calls which last for fraction of a second. I might not realize that I got a call, but when I look at the phone, I sometimes think that I’m thick skinned and dint feel the vibration. And there are some people who give missed calls continuously until you call them back.

This board hung on a gate caught my eye. People get free ‘No Parking’ boards from these advertisers, but this one is a different advertisement. Just give a missed call to that number and I think they will call you back and you can ask for any information in Bangalore. Yellow pages on phone. I used some services, but I had to pay for the call, now they call you!

I read in some book that US companies laid too much optical fibre thinking that growth of Internet would be exponential ever, leading to the collapse of the industry and pronouncing the start of dot-com bubble burst. I don’t think we are going to see any telecom bubble burst in India, for India is a country of billion people, and there’s lot of money in the market and the telecom people in India are smart enough. Telecom revolution in India made phone calls really cheap, but this kind of business with missed calls is an amazing idea. Yellow pages on demand.

I just gave a missed call to these guys and they called me back with in ten seconds asking what information I wanted! I asked them the address of an institute and they sent me the address by SMS.

Can this be a killer idea? Free stuff rocks!

IIT Madness

IIT Madness
Originally uploaded by The Last Paladin

I hardly read Telugu news paper now a days because news is brought directly in to my email by Yahoo! Mail. Today afternoon, I went to Madhuri restaurant in my locality. I wanted to pick up a Telugu news paper and read the head lines.

I saw some papers there and was searching a for news paper. I thought they were all yellow pages. OMG! They are all regular news papers. The front page was occupied by a full-page advertisement by Chaitanya Coaching Center. Gosh! News paper has turned yellow pages today. And to my surprise, it was not just one news paper, there were more than one. That is the IIT Madness.

For those who don’t know what IIT is, IIT is the premier engineering and technology institute in India. There are only seven IITs in India now. The yearly entrance exam is a real battle and high pressure one for the IIT aspirants.

Coaching students for IIT entrance is a big business in India. Especially in Andhra Pradesh, people are mad about Engineering degrees and IIT. And so are the coaching centers, they make really huge money by coaching students. The advertisement was about the ranks achieved by students of the coaching center. And it occupied the front page of the highest read Telugu dialy news paper.

I like their caption, మా లక్ష్యం స్పష్టం, మా మార్గం సుస్పష్టం. Our goal is clear, our path is even more – Getting your kid an admission in IIT. But there were many incidents of suicides by students because of high pressure they handle. Getting an admission is prestigious and it roughly means getting a nice job with million rupee salary in an MNC after the course, unless one screws up one’s life big time in IIT.

Yes! We are mad about IIT, we are mad about software jobs. Thomas Friedman put it wonderfully in his book – he advised his kids, “Girls, finish your homework, people in China and India are starving for your jobs”.

Child Labor

Child Labor
Originally uploaded by The Last Paladin

It’s still out there.

When I went to US for the first time, I noticed one thing: they reduce manual labor as far as possible. Even in a super market, you can bill yourself and put cash or swipe credit card in the machine and walk away. But, in India, manual labor is abundant. Still, child labor prevails.

Why does a child come to work? The reason I could see is either the family is financially not well to do or the child is not interested in studies.

If the child is not interested in studies, what most parents do is force them to study. Basic education is necessary in this fast moving world, but should children be forced to study?

If the family is not well to do, why not send the child to a government school? Is it a problem of awareness or the we-cant-do-well attitude of those families? When I asked some parents of such children, the answer that comes is “How long can I sponsor his education? How can he compete with other children studying in private schools? Instead, let him learn a work and earn a living.” But is basic education not necessary?

What if the child is interested in studies, family is well to do; but the child is forced to work? Ever heard of child artists? Does money win over education in this case?

Break the silence

Break the silence
Originally uploaded by
The Last Paladin

HIV – The disease that people are generally afraid of telling out due to the fear of rejection. Organizations around the world are doing their best to remove the fear and increase awareness of HIV/AIDS.

I saw this advertisement in a news paper on Sunday. A great deed by a family that told openly that the groom is HIV positive. I’ve heard of family men who denied that they were first affected after testing for HIV resulted in positive.A good family life is possible for him if he gets a HIV positive girl, because their child can be protected from HIV (in pregency) with medicines.

But look at the irony, a person earning a million an year should be well educated. Such a person was negligent about HIV and ignored the preventive measures (if it was due to sexual contact).

Some states have made HIV test mandatory before marriage, but I doubt if any arranged marriages will actually do this.

Break the silence. HIV is a taboo today, let’s hope everyone will speak about this openly.

Ugadi – Telugu new year

To those who don’t know Ugadi, it’s the new year day of Telugu and Kannada people in India.

I’m always fascinated about the kind of festivals we have in India. Right on the needed time, much needed scientifically, socially etc. Ugadi is one such festival, it’s the beginning of the year in lunar calendar.

Ugadi marks the beginning of Spring, vasanta navaratri starts from today, and the ninth day is Sri Rama Navami. Though it falls in Spring, practically, Sri rama navami marks the beginning of hot Summer. You know how hot the climate is in India. The practice of distributing fans made of dry leaves is a way of charity, these fans are used to get relief from the summer heat. Of course, those days there were no ceiling fans and air-conditioning. Who will forget the vadapappu and panakam that is distributed in temples on Sri rama navami? No matter, you believe in God or not.

The special Ugadi pachadi with six tastes of life is a must take on that day. This mixture is a way of teaching children that life is a mix of ups and downs, and you should not be overwhelmed by success or distressed by failure. After all, it’s life and you have to see everything. My mom says this on every Ugadi.

The day starts with oil bath. And then, the Ugadi special mixture is prepared with six tastes: Tamarind, Neem buds, Jaggery, Chilli/Pepper, Raw Mango and Salt. This is a unique taste that you don’t get in anything. Along with taking this, learn the lesson – life has all these.

Then comes Panchanga Sravanam, recital of the Panchangam – the predictions for this year by astrologers. And after that, as usual with all festivals, invite extended family and celebrate. I enjoyed all this in childhood, but now almost at the end of Brahmacharya, learning to earn/profession is more important than everything else.

Happy Ugadi! ఉగాది శుభాకాంక్షలు