Random Musings

The government has started reporting from our parallel universe, it seems. The latest data published by Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that gas prices actually fell down in US. Now I cannot think of a better way of angering an already irritated group of consumers. In US, where oil was never a luxury, people are finding it hard to cope with the shooting prices. The general feeling of optimism has gone in this regard. To give a clearer picture, when people start shifting their residence nearer to office, you can be sure that something has changed. And indeed it has; instead of hoping for the prices to come down, consumers have reconciled with the fact that it will in fact, keep on increasing.

“Never believe anything until it is officially denied”

Now imagine that you are a typical consumer. A year back you were paying around $2 a gallon. Suddenly, the economy starts sinking, you are always in fear of losing your job, higher inflation pushes the cost of food and oil price takes a northward route doubling the rate. In the midst of all this, a government agency says “What are you saying? Oil prices have fallen”. Well of course it has, in the parallel world where government is always right. Or perhaps in that world “right” means “wrong”.

“One major difference between a citizen under Democracy and one under Communism is that the latter has no doubt the goverment is lying”

It wouldn’t take an expert to decipher the chart below. The line showing gas price trend can actually be seen going up. So unless the computer screens at the Bureau were overturned or the guys there were floating upside down in the sea of self-appreciation, I can safely say that PRICES-HAVE-GONE-UP!

Another example. Most of the people here want to own at least a 6-cylinder car. Those looking to save some money on gas go for 4-cylinder cars. Usually, 4 cylinder cars have power somewhere in the range of 170 - 190 BHP, which is considered low per American standards. Toyota Prius, is a Hybrid car which can run on either Gas and Battery and gives a whopping 50 miles to a gallon compared to other’s 25-30. How? Well, it has a engine with 75 BHP power (remember American standards) and its looks will put any school kid’s lunch box to shame. When this car starts going out-of-stock from the showroom and delivery waitlist runs into 4-6 months of waiting period, it means that “something” is forcing people to make a choice they wouldn’t usually make. Now take a guess as to what that “something” could be? I am sure you are right. The Bureau guys would have never guessed it anyway.

The news is finally out. Apple is officially introducing the most sought after phone of the century in India by September 2008. The company has already sold 4 million units till now and is looking to surpass its 2008 goal of 10 million units by introducing it in four Asian countries (Japan and China will still have to wait).

Its release in US had generated heat never seen before for a cell phone. All news channels covering the release and people forming Q’s outside AT&T and Apple store from the night before. I had personally gone to see this “event” at 2 AM in the morning and found people lying in sleeping bags outside the store in a neat line. I am sure when the doors were opened in morning, the scene would have beat the inauguration of that shop. But those “hard-working” shoppers’ satisfaction was short lived. Within months, Apple dropped the price of iPhone by $200. Many of my friends who had bought the phone for $600 were infuriated by such a rapid cut in price. One of the journalists called the extra money that initial buyers paid “Cool Tax” - A tax you pay to look cool earlier than others. Anyway, after much hue and cry throughout the country (another positive thing when you are looking for publicity), Apple finally decided to give its initial buyers store credit of $100 (not cash refund). I wouldn’t consider this very thoughtful because people who have been to Apple store know that a $100 bill holds no in value there. You ‘ll probably be able to buy a mouse OR some cheap software.

One of my “white” colleagues asked me if I was expecting similar scenes/events in India. Personally, I don’t think so. First, you don’t need to “officially” release a product in India for Indians to have it. You can release it in any corner of the world and it will find its way to the Indian gray market, if its worth it. I find it hard to believe that gray market dealers will be waiting for its official release later this year. At least the guys in Bangalore’s National Market won’t. And before I forget, I would like to add a special mention for all the Uncle, Aunties, Cousins and the most distant relatives who have sent or taken iPhone to India for their loved ones, since its release here. Second, the tech savvy Indians are very much used to huge price cuts. I have seen the price of Nokia N Series and Sony-Ericsson K & W series phones falling like crazy in India. And no one has said a word about it. The cheaper it gets, the happier the majority. So no, its not a big deal there.

I am not a big fan of iPhone. Yes I do appreciate its revolutionary design and features. Video quality is amazing in iPhone but it drains the already strained battery which has to support a big, coloured, high resolution screen for the simplest of operations. It is sleek and beautiful but longer than I had expected. And finally, it looks too delicate to be kept in a jeans pocket with its Hi-Fi touchscreen. I have dropped my phone hundreds of times on the ground, not sure if iPhone will be able to survive this torture. So unless I get a job where I need to wear a business suit with cushioned pockets, I am not going for it.

Few days back, sitting in the county library, I was going through some magazines - a thing which I hardly do, now that the world is hooked to net. An independent line caught my attention - “America has invented a new type of bomb which destroys all humans but leaves the building and infrastructure standing. They call it Stock Market”.

True to its description, I tried to recollect all the times that this “bomb” has exploded in the past. There was the Great Depression of 30’s which brought every business, big or small, to its knees. Then there was the fall of 70’s which dented the American Car Industry in Detroit so bad that their engines are still knocking. The IT slump of 2000/01 is still fresh in everyone’s mind and the only one that I experienced in my full consciousness. Nowadays if you stand outside the gates of major IT companies in Bangalore or Chennai, you will see a herd of solicitors asking you to open an account with a bank or take their credit card. Almost 8 years back these same banks were declining credit card applications from IT engineers. Aftermath of explosion? Its nothing surprising though; stock trends have always been sinusoidal. What rises has to fall and vice versa.

Life is unfair - perhaps that’s why this latest market slump has come only 7 years after the last one. And it is driving people crazy again. Every morning I get up and before going to office I check the health of stock market on Reuters. Gives me an idea how long I may need to wake up at 8 AM every weekday. With every new low hit by the market, fresh stories of layoffs come floating in the air. One such story I heard was from a company which recently laid off a couple of hundred resources. Word is that the engineers came to office and were not able to log into their respective network accounts. Thinking this was a technical glitch being fixed by the network team, the mood was anything but suspicious. Finally, it was conveyed to them that the company longer needed their services and that they can go home “now”. Since then, every morning that I am unable to log into my account due to a “genuine” technical glitch, my pulse rate takes a northward stride. Is this it? Is this how it ends? How it feels?

I attribute the ups and downs of my recent mental state to the media - mostly. One day I heard on the news that unemployment rate this month has improved and that market recovery isn’t far now. And yes, the unemployment rate had dropped by a whole half percent! I could breathe a sign of relief. On another channel, they were showing the same news with additional research done by them. It seems that the government has a weird way of calculating unemployment rate. If a person has lost his job and is desperately looking for another one, he counts as “unemployed”. But if a person has lost his job but is not looking for another, he doesn’t!! So, losing your job AND your hope may not be good for you, but you sure can’t beat its positive effect on the nation’s image and news-watching citizens’ health. See the silver lining? So lose hope now and be the bigger man….. possibly the saviour of all mankind.

PS: “Hiatus” isn’t what I will call my long absence from blogging. This word is more synonymous with Rock Bands. Perhaps the “King of Procrastinators” may be a better term for me; “Pure Laziness” for my absence.

 With great power comes greater responsibility. The virtue of these lines can mostly be realized when you have worked towards this power. So it’s not surprising, that people to whom this power has been handed over, end up intoxicated with its addictive charm.

Police brutality is not an unknown concept anywhere in the world. Even in the most advanced nations, now and then you will find instances of excessive use of force. Of course the numbers are fairly small compared to developing or third world countries, but that doesn’t justify the incident. Couple of days back, a Polish man on died at Vancouver International Airport in Canada, after being Tasered by the Canadian Police. This has created quite a furore in local media regarding use of excessive force  use of Taser guns. Police were quick in giving their side of the story accusing the man of attacking them, which prompted cops to user Tasers. But unfortunately for them, this whole incident was recorded by a Canadian teen at the airport in his cell phone. As expected, the video showed otherwise. Sure the man was agitated after waiting for more than 10 hours at the airport lounge and was throwing laptop and table on the floor, but the Police seem to have over-reacted to this mess.

This video can be seen here
[Incentive for watching this video: "Some viewers may find this video disturbing"]

In India, police brutality is not at all unknown. In fact, the common man seems to take it as a part of usual life. I was born in Bihar and having spent a good 16 years of my life there, I have seen more than my share of Lathhi (Baton) Charge, Tear Gas and Water Canons. It had become a circle of mistrust, a vicious circle. Protesters used to justify their unruly behaviour giving instances of police brutality, while the police was more than happy to say that protester’s behaviour prompts them to take “harsh steps“. I don’t see an end to it this way. Perhaps someone will have to take the first step, and I am not betting on either side.

Take another instance - Back in 2005, factory workers of Honda plant in Gurgaon (near New Delhi) were protesting against the dismissal and suspension of 54 of their colleagues. It took a violent turn when police tried to intervene and the irate mob attacked a police car. Next, the police realizing that they were outnumbered at that moment, calmed the crowd by inviting them for talks. These unsuspecting workers were then surrounded and ruthlessly assaulted by the Haryana Police personnel, now in bigger numbers and better armed. Almost 1500 people were injured and scenes of bleeding and moaning workers ruled TV Channels that day. Many said it brought back memories of similar incidents during British Rule in India. Success of Democracy was questioned and politicians said they will conduct special riot control training for policemen. Two years later today, everything is still the same.

Police Brutality does not stop at dealing with irate mobs. The easiest target are the street children, with no knowledge of their rights or protection. The case of Bhaskar (taken from this report) is an example of how little provocation is necessary for the police to retaliate against street children. Bhaskar was selling illegal movie tickets in Bangalore on July 2, 1995. He was beaten by the crime police affiliated with the Upparpet Police Station, apparently to punish him for having previously mocked the police and having run away from them. The NGO representative who helped to secure his release from custody wrote:

“Bhaskar, aged fifteen, was badly beaten by the crime police at Upparpet Police Station for making faces at the police on a previous occasion while running away after selling cinema tickets in black [scalping tickets]. He was released the next day with a warning”

Sharad, a fifteen-year-old ragpicker was caught in the act of stealing milk cartons in January 1995. The police of the V-185, Villevakkam Police Station in Madras (now Chennai), apprehended, beat, and released him. Sharad said:

“I took some milk cartons from a house and the police caught me and took me to the police station. When I got there the police officer started beating me with a lathi all over my body. He kept on saying: “Don’t do this again.” He never used abusive words. He beat me for ten minutes, then made me sit in the station. I was caught in the morning and they let me go in the evening. When I was there, I saw about five other boys sitting in the cell. The police made them remove all of their clothes, except their underwear, and started to beat them with lathis. I don’t know why”

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is another state where police misrule is rampant. In 2001, Allahabad High Court gave this statement:

“A large number of petitions are coming up before this court with allegations against the Police that they are behaving like bandits, thieves, rapist and petty criminals…The police are supposed to protect the people and not to rape, black mail or loot them…it is high time that the police also start behaving in a civilised manner”

Quite justified. UP tops the list of Police abuses with the highest number of custodial deaths, rape, extrajudicial executions and fake encounters in the country. It has the worst Human Rights record in the country. But the problem is very deep rooted - Police have too much power, people have too less knowledge and judiciary does not have time for either one of them. This is only topped with rampant corruption and bureaucracy within the highly opaque political setup of the state.

West Bengal is following UP’s steps quite closely and has been blasted by Amnesty Internation on several occasions, one them being the Mohammad Aslam case in which he was tortured to death for petty criminal offences after his mother failed to pay Rs. 4000 (approx. $102) for his release.

Bihar doesn’t want to be left behind either. So does Karnataka.

Each and every country and state has their own story of Police brutality. I consider “Awareness” as the first step (but definitely not the only) towards a lasting solution. There is no use if you give rights to people but they don’t know about it.

Download 2007 Amnesty International Report

When Speed Is Necessity But No Longer A Thrill
Then Road Becomes A Philosophy

I don’t usually write about movies. Mostly because I end up watching movies like Godfather, GoodFellas which leave me speechless or like Mithun Da’s Loha, Shera which leave me mentally paralyzed. Not quite often do I get a chance to watch something, which reings my thoughts for the next few days. One such movie was Vanishing Point. Watched it three days ago, it still refuses to leave my mind.

Released in 1971, this movie may look like just another adrenaline pump flick from its posters. At least that’s how the director wanted it to be. But it didn’t take many days from its release for them to realize that it had achieved a cult status.

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SPOILER WARNING
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The movie stars Barry Newman (named Kowalski) as a car delivery driver. His job is to pick up cars from one city and drop them off to another (all legally). The movie does provide glimpses of his previous life, where he was in Vietnam War, then as a law enforcement officer and finally ending up as a professional race car and motorbike driver. But that was before he joined this serene job. He uses Speed to keep him going and keeps pushing himself over the fatigue limit. When he picks up a Dodge Challenger from Denver to be delivered to San Francisco, he makes a bet with his friend that he can deliver this car in 15 hours, which was highly impossible unless he drove like a maniac. Beginning with a simple chase where two highway patrol cops on motorbike try to pull him over for speeding, Kowalski takes the plunge at the point of no return - The Vanishing Point. From here, it was either jail or death. But this journey to the end had its share of surprises, from snake catchers to nude bike riders.

But the deepest moments of the movie was the telepathic bond that developed between Kowalski and Super Soul (played by Cleavon Little), a blind African American Radio Jockey at a radio station named KOW. He keeps listening to police frequencies to update his fans of all the action going on around them. Beginning of this chase was no different for him. But as the chase progresses and he follows the account of Kowalski’s actions, both start feeling the link between them. Super Soul helps Kowalski with the location of police traps and setups (courtesy: listening to police frequency). He “talks” to Kowalski through his radio (to which Kowalski is tuned in) and in the process gets attacked by (probably) KKK members in the process. This doesn’t deter him from resuming his strange relationship. And when he gets back to the station from hospital, he declares on air, what will probably be remembered as the most famous lines from this movie:

This radio station was named Kowalski, in honour of the last American heroes to whom speed means freedom of the soul. The question is not when you ‘ll stop, but who is gonna stop them

This was, of course, preceded by a scene where they had put the letters “WALSKI” in front of this radio station named “KOW”. Near the end, police cars setup two bulldozers on the road to stop him. At the first go, Kowalski takes a screeching U-turn in front of the bulldozers and goes off road into the barren desert, where he stops his car, gets out and thinks. Next scene shows him riding full throttle towards the two bulldozers, with the sun gleaming through the slit between two bulldozer plates, and finally crashes full speed into them, giving a very content smile before that.

Vanishing Point usually refers to a point at which parallel lines seem to converge. Stand at one end of a long straight road and you’ll be able to see this at the other end. In a painter’s perspective, this is the end. For Kowalski, perhaps this was the beginning. The beginning of freedom.

On a lighter note, from Iraq

There is advertising. And then there is over-advertising.

I can live with the first one; in fact, I kind of like it because it is informative, sometime humorous or satirical and at times the best thing running on TV. By over advertising, I don’t mean irritating messages and recorded voices on phone. It is…..well…. not knowing when to stop advertising.

Confused? I was too. Here’s a short story:
Some months back I had decided to change my car insurance to another company, mainly because of the money factor. I called a couple of them and gathered estimates from 4 companies. Due to work pressure and pure virtue of laziness, I kept delaying the decision. During this time, two of these 4 companies kept calling me on alternate days asking if I was still considering their offer and giving me new incentives to purchase their policy. I didn’t find it irritating, its their job, that’s how they sell. I finally decided to go with one of them on quite a few of my friends’ recommendations. Everything went well and I received a Customer Satisfaction Verification call a month later. I told them I was completely satisfied with everything and yes I would recommend them to a friend.

Now I don’t think that insurance companies share their customer database with each other, but it is not unusual to receive mails from multiple companies saying that they can provide you with lower rates and better benefits. But to my surprise, I received an envelope from my insurance company marked Confidential. Here is and excerpt from this letter:

“Attention Mr. Oemar!! Your present insurance company may be cheating you by making you pay more for fewer benefits. Register with us to get the same policy at much lower rates. We guarantee complete customer satisfaction. Please do not discard this mail before going to our website www.xyz.com. Quotes available 24/7. You will not be disappointed”

Oh Sweet Lord!! My saviors are here to save me from themselves. What high conscience!! But to sum it up - Can I sue my present insurance company as they are anyway acknowledging that they may be cheating me? Or can I insist that they recalculate my policy at a much lower rate? Which brings me to my last question - Why was the envelope marked “Confidential“? The contents didnt say anything about their policies or give any of theirs or my sensitive data. Is it just the way things move in insurance circles - “Confidential”? Definitely makes it look more important.

I am, anyway, planning to reply to their confidential mail in my own confidential style - Handwritten Morse Code

To,
Dit Dat
Dat Dit Dot Dat
Dit Dit

Dear Sir,
Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat Dat Dit Dot Dat .

Regards,
Oemar

Let’s see now who is more confidential. It’s On.

Some months back I had written a post to check the sites that were blocked in China and to test if your blog is available to Chinese readers or not. Not surprisingly, my blog was blocked by China and I doubt that any of yours hasnt been.

But when I see my blog’s ClustrMaps for region-wise distribution of visitors, I see a couple of red dots inside China and one of them is definitely Beijing. If its some Chinese civilians accessing blogs through proxy or other hacks, I salute your courage and struggle.

But if its Chinese government officials from its Ministry of Spying and Blocking Information etc stuff, here is my special flaming middle finger salute to you. Long Live Democracy!! Maoist pricks……..

There was a recent report in BBC on Indian foreign policy and the difficult path it was treading. The main context was of course, Indian MEA’s (Ministry of External Affairs) refusal to comment on Burmese Pro-Democracy protests. As per Pranab Mukherjee, we want democracy in other nations, but we dont want to export our ideology of democracy. Is it that bad? Anyway, there were some points given in this report which made me recap the causations leading to changes in policy and relations.

We want Peace….. And Arms:
Our relation with Israel is ruled by Draconian Law - Friendship is dictated by the presence of a common enemy. The common enemy in this case is the threat from Pakistan and Islamic Fundamentalism. Relation between the two countries was non-existent till 1992. This was largely due to the Congress govt.’s paranoia of losing Muslim Vote Bank, fuelled by India’s closeness to Soviet Union, which made it a potential rival to Israel. Collapse of USSR and rise of insurgency in Kashmir prompted the two nations to begin and increase cooperation. Although relations did not formally start till 1992, Israel was providing intelligence support to India during 1971 war. This took a shape of regular intelligence sharing between the two countries along with anti-insurgency trainings. Now India has replaced Turkey (a Muslim Country) as the largest market for Israeli Defense products. All this brings us to one question - Are we following double standards here? I would say “No”. India is still a supporter of a separate Palestinian state and the Middle-East Peace process. That doesn’t necessarily make us anti-Israel. Moreover, Israelis and Palestinians both view India as a trustworthy intermediary. I call it double mandate, not double standards.

I Thought “Sudan” Meant Energy:
There is not much of a surprise here too. India is growing and growing rapidly. Its energy consumption is sky rocketing which is in turn fuelling demand for the same. India has always been exploring reliable sources of fuel. Our largest source, Middle East, is definitely not stable. Too much quantity is concentrated in too less hands, in the middle of a battleground. You never know when supply gets disrupted and for what. Having not been blessed by large oil reserves, it became necessary to look for energy supplies in unexplored zones - South East Asia, Africa - to an extent that we stopped caring the type of government and its human rights record. We just needed energy.

We want Iran, We Don’t Want Iran:
I doubt even the highest government officials are clear on what they want to do here. We want to set up a pipeline from Iran, we condemn the Iran govt.under Nuclear Deal pressure, we say both are independent issues and then we don’t attend the pipeline conference. No idea where this is going. But I guess in the end, Customer Is King.

Shhhh… It’s the Junta:
Energy and security rule the policy here. You can see my previous post on this topic here. Burma is an energy rich ground for India, which along with this, wants to curb Chinese influence in the region. From internal security point of view, Burma has long been the staging ground of insurgency in North East India. Burma’s military junta arrested a number of these rebels and set up watch along its border. When India awarded Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Deshprem award to Suu Kyi, the Junta took no time in releasing these rebels it had arrested on India’s request. That was enough to send a stern warning to the government here, that misadventures are not welcome in Junta circles.

Makes me think that Ministry of External Affairs in India is caught between old friends and new foe-turned-friends. And it makes me wonder if they have the most difficult job in the government. They need to maintain nation’s credibility AND relations. And these two don’t always go hand in hand.

We don’t need experts to tell us that the worked is loaded with obese people and their numbers are getting “fatter”. This problem is mainly being faced by Middle East, Europe and US. South Asia and East Asia are still lagging behind in this race, but the trend is not very encouraging here either.

In India, the booming economy seems to have changed everything - standard of living, earning, spending and waist line. Twenty years back, a man here would have lived easily on Roti - Dal/Bhaji, now he cant sleep without a burger or pizza. Sitting in these cool hangout places has become the in-thing. I don’t say why it shouldn’t be. But there needs to be enough awareness among these hoggers [1] Not to overdo this diet and [2] to compensate for what they are eating. Neither of this happens. I know people who are proud to be regular customers of KFC and the only exercise they do is walk from their cubical to the parking lot. I used to be one them - no, not that I am thin now, but at least now I spend some time on the treadmill or in the pool everyday.

Coming back to the point, India still doesn’t figure ahead on the global obesity map because a large part of its population is rural, where the problem of obesity is very insignificant. Same is the problem with every other developing country in this region, including China. The urban population is facing a health crisis while the rural class is still healthy, though not of its own accord. In Europe & Canada, it’s the high amount of red meat consumption that has spelled disaster for its population. In Middle East, things are just too oily, be it biryani or curry. In US, it is everything. Even the water seems to fatten you up here. Although people are more aware of the problem, I have had my share of weird experiences. Just yesterday, a guy before me in the queue ordered a double cheese quarter pounder burger with DIET coke!! This definitely needs some thinking. Nevertheless, the country has still not compromised taste with health - [1] You can still see skimmed milk in stock when others are not [2] Zero calorie salad dressing is not available in all the stores (this definitely tastes very inferior) [3] Italian restaurants are a raging success.

The common man doesn’t know that obesity is a disease and needs to be treated differently than the issue of being overweight. A person with clinicical obesity may require surgery to cure the condition. Overweight problems can mostly be solved through a diet and exercise. There are many programs to help people plan their diet. One of the most effective one I found was the GM diet (designed for the employees of General Motors). If faithfully followed, you can loose 3-5 Kg in a week (based on personal experience). Give it a try.

Most of you would agree that one of the most beautiful aspects of being alive is eating good food. But eating in moderation and compensating effectively is the key to enjoying this aspect for a lifetime. There is no fun in taking insulin shots for the last 10-20 years of your life.