How far is Damascus from New Delhi?

In last one month, I have visited for two projects outside India where respective government authorities have been working to attract investments. In December, I was in Ethiopia and it was an absolutely exhilarating experience. It definitely gave me a completely new perspective about whatever I thought Africa would be like. Clean country (and cleaner than India), good infrastructure, great weather and wonderful food.

Today, I am taking my flight back to Delhi from Dubai and it was great till the time the last thing happened at the designer's office. The designer for this project we are working for in Ras al-Khaimah is in Abu Dhabi. We got some great food for lunch, I got to know that there are places in Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia where it snows during certain times of the year and I got to see the Emirates Palace of The Sex & The City 2 fame. So pretty good. And the discussions with the designer were very fruitful.

But something happened when I was getting out of the office to drive back to Dubai and catch the flight back to Delhi.The mechanical engineer of this design firm is from Damascus. So I started talking to him about Syria, Bashar Assad, ISIS...all the craziness that you see in news. So this person first told me that he is from Syria, the fighting is bad back home so he has not gone there for last 4 years and then he said--his mother & one brother were shot dead last year in a road side shooting and one more brother suffered a bullet wound in the head (but thankfully, survived). I didn't know how to react. We were interacting with this person for last 2 days and at no point, it seemed that he was carrying such a tragedy with him. No signs of sadness; in fact he always had a smile on his face. When I am writing this blog now, I am wondering whether he could go back to attend the funeral of his family members considering he told me that he has not been able to go back for 4 years. Call it sadist curiosity but I am sure that even if this question had come to my mind when I was talking to him, I would not have had the guts to ask.

So what does it all mean?

a) First, life can be so bad that you might lose everything that is worth more than anything else (which is your family members) but there still is a life to live on, without others in the room ever knowing what hit you...and why.

b) Second, there is so much sorrow in the world that the daily struggle you go through, the troubles at home, the fights with the colleagues at work, the irritation of every other small thing...all of it is,probably, nothing. There are people who go through what I have described above (which is terrible) but which also gives the perspective of whether our cribs are worth it.

c) Finally, when you see what is happening in Syria, Nigeria, and all the bad things which seem to be growing by the day, somehow it seems that we are safe. We don't know anyone there and we are fine. These people have been fighting for centuries and it doesn't matter.Think again. I remember years back, when there were serial blasts in Jaipur, for a moment I thought this keeps happening in India (somehow, being in Los Angeles for some years had also contributed to it) and there is nothing to worry. In the next flash, I thought my parents are there but then again in the same instant, I thought my parents do not live in the walled city. So all good. But then it happened...what if my dad went out for some work in the old city? I immediately wanted to talk to my parents, hear their voice, confirm they were nowhere close to what happened. I called home, talked to them..relief. But then it occurred to me. When it used to happen in Kashmir, and before that in Punjab, dead were just numbers, made the newspaper newsworthy, nightly news to watch out for, opportunity to chit chat on serious stuff in past time. Kashmir & Punjab were so far off from Rajasthan. Never heard that such things happened in Rajasthan. So we are safe and will be safe forever.
So the question... Really, are we so far off from Syria (and it can very well be Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ukraine..) that the misery people are going through there would never come back to stare us in our face, make us think, leave us speechless and wondering...how far is Damascus from New Delhi?

Enjoying the Ethiopian Get Up Offa That Thing

I must admit that travel to Ethiopia was the last thing I was looking forward to. Not because of Ebola scare or for the fact that project we are doing near the city of Debre Zeit is not in an ideal state. I am just too tired of the travel in recent months but it had become impossible to say no to the project owner.

So finally, I packed a big bag and traveled to Addis Ababa on Saturday. The first impression of clean air outside the airport was a pleasant change from Delhi. I was driven straight to the site and we had long meetings with the client's project team and the general contractor. This general contractor is one big reason for the trouble the project is in. So, I had said to myself that if somehow I can understand what drives this guy, it would be a good trip. No good pointers came out of the meeting...just the routine excuses & promises.

Then yesterday, after  another site visit, we went for lunch by a lake side. That cleared up the head a good bit. I was able to sneak in a 30 minute walk in the morning as well. So, overall, the day was shaping up well. Then, in the evening, we had a good conversation with the project owner. We then went out for a dinner at a crowded loud place. The owner ordered Merlot for all of us and I could not stop myself from reminding him that this was the wine which Sideways killed in favor of Pinot Noir. This gentleman wanted to get us here to see the dance and music....and of course, the Ethiopian food. I must say that the food was exactly like the one I had for my 3 years in Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles and once in Ethiopian Embassy premises in New Delhi. So all good. But somehow, I was not looking forward to the dance & music. I prefer quiet dinners. So, while I would admit that the music was good, once the food was over, I was looking forward to going back.

In comes the James Brown and Haile Gebreselassie packed in one. James Brown for his gibberish, the swagger and the dance and the great Gebreselassie for the stamina. This guy first gets off stage, starts going around with a stick...and for a moment, I was wondering if he was going to hit someone. And while he roamed around, he was shouting things in Amharic, the local language. For all I care, it could have been the great James Brown shouting "Sold me out, for chump change (yes, you did!!). Told me that they, they had it all arranged. You handed me down and thats a fact. Now you're pumped, You gotta get ready For the big payack!!". The guy went around with quite a swagger. And then he stopped at one of the tables. And from that point, for next 30 minutes, what he did just left me speechless. The tapping and the foot movement that he showed would have made James Brown of Get Up Offa That Thing proud. And of course, the moves and the music. Perfect. And not to forget, when you are in Ethiopia, the stamina is never going to be in short supply. So this guy went on doing what sweated out James Brown in 5 minutes for good 30 minutes. No wonder Haile Gebreselassie won  4 Berlin Marathons consecutively (for which his world record stood for 3 years) and 2 Olympic Gold medals. Hailes are all over this country...at least 2-3 of them were on that stage and I don't know how many were in the crowd.

Just awesome. What an experience. Get Up Offa that thing, and dance 'till you feel better. Get Up Offa that thing.

The apathy of an Indian government employee

Sometimes you wonder what is the biggest malaise afflicting India. Answers would differ from Pakistan to corruption to Maoists to population, etc...My take is that it is the apathy of people who are on the rolls of the government. From IAS officers to police officials to public works people to doctors...if you would conduct a poll, almost everyone would agree that those holding government position are the most despised.

Take a look at some of the recent incidents:
a) A father goes to the police station in Badayun (U.P.) to lodge FIR for abduction of his two daughters. Police people know about it already and tell him that the abductors would release them in 2 hours!! Such is the state in which parts of India are today that father does not protest but agrees to come back after 2 hours. When he comes back, police people at the station tell him that they are hanging from the tree!! What do you say except hang your head in shame.

b) Latest one happened yesterday. Authorities at Larji Hydelpower project released water in Beas without any warning. 26 students from Andhra got washed away...what the FUCK. Will there be ever an end to this non stop bullshit. Can an Indian have a better value assigned to his life?

The list goes on and on. Some serious debate, some serious thinking is required. After all these people who hold important government posts also are human beings. There must be some way to fix this problem.

The New Dude In Town

While Dude is a term made famous by Jeff Bridges in Big Lebowski, it probably best describes a person who is supremely confident about himself, has an air of coolness about him and who goes about his daily chores with least regard for the hubris around him. By this definition, Narendra Modi probably qualifies to be the Dude of the country right now.

Think about what he has done till now...the Nawaz Sharif meeting that Manmohan Singh could not manage in 10 years, NaMo pulled it off on his first day. He scraps the stupid EGOMs and GOMs in his first 15 days....asks politicians to avoid using family members in their offices, tells bureaucrats to work on Saturdays..incentive scheme for central government employees...list goes on. Even if all of this would amount to nothing, NaMo has at least scored big on perception. The guy is truly in a Dude mood. And this Dudeness gets even more amplified by the sorry figure that Manmohan Singh cut in the last 4 years. The guy was a disaster, the worst wound inflicted on the country since independence (and I am not discounting Deve Gowdas and IK Gujrals of years gone by).

The question is where does the Dude go from here...after this cool start. Somehow the problem seems simple to resolve and NaMo seems to be know how to do it. My own experience of working with government was that the laid down law is not the problem. The problem is that very few who have to implement the law feel the pressure to do it. In fact, RTI and CAGs and CVCs have scared the babudom to completely avoid taking any decision. The Dude seems to be know this. Another Dude, Arun Showrie, articulated it beautifully when he said that the new government does not face a legislation challenge...all the right legislation exists. Only thing missing is the confidence in the bureaucracy that they can go ahead and do the right thing. Someone will take care of their back. Dude seems to have done this very successfully in Gujarat and now it is to be seen whether he can do it from Delhi as well. 

Lets see...America elected a Dude in 2008 and he turned out to be a big disaster. India's Dude seems to have a better chance since he has managed a state for last 14 years. And, as I said earlier, even if it ends up in nothing, at least for the time being, ministers are posting tweets post midnight with policy announcements!!

Frost Nixon--A verbal duel as much fun as a boxing match

I recently watched the movie Frost Nixon. If you google enough search results, you will find that the movie has indulged in in its own latitudes and the background through which Nixon came to the confession might not be exactly as shown. The phone call from Nixon definitely seems to be pure fiction. None the less, the movie makes for a riveting watch.This is why..

I am a movie buff and also love politics. Few politicians in last 50 years have received the kind of attention that Nixon received. He was considered efficient (his achievements in foreign policy as well as on domestic front would probably make him amongst the top 2 American presidents of the last 50 years). At the same time, he was considered extremely mean, revengeful and someone for whom politics was an everyday war. All of it came out in the Watergate scandals and more so, in his interviews with David Frost. The movie has some defining moments which if you watch it next, you should look out for:

a) One of the researchers, who has stridently anti-Nixon, while describing the final confession from Nixon describes how television as a medium just deconstructs you in the most vivid fashion. (Think about what Arnab Goswami's interview did to Rahul Gandhi...the television had reduced Rahul Gandhi to a picture of a hesitant politician struggling with the hustle of a general election, articulating what was mundane and ill at ease with the reality that he faced. No words or allegations about Rahul Gandhi could have proved the same and all of it just happened within 2 hours of the interview.)

b) At one place, Nixon says that Democrats got an opportunity and they stuck the knife in and made sure it hurt to the maximum. In the same breath, he has no qualms mentioning that if he was in their shoes, he would have done the same.

c) While Nixon has zero regard for Frost, to the point of disdain, the greeting would always be a warm "Mr. Frost" As the movie is coming to a close, Nixon probably gives a better perspective of what he thought of Frost with all his flamboyance and partying ways. Nixon thinks that Frost loves to be around people which should make him a better politician and Nixon with his love for the intellect & rigor would make a better journalist.

d) The description of the chief of staff (played by Kevin Bacon) of the first salvo in the interview (where Frost and team came prepared with the question to nail Nixon and the big winding nothing response they got from Nixon) is really good.

e) Finally, the waiting game that Frost plays, and I am not sure if he planned it this way, till the time Nixon gave him an opportunity makes for a fascinating viewing. 

Kejriwal: what a fool...

Thankfully, not too many people read my blog otherwise many of the righteous would already be  planning a dharna outside my place in GK2. So let me enjoy this Internet oblivion and write my 2 cents on what I think is going on in AAP ki Delhi:

1) A lot of people voted for AAP because they started to think the true specialization of Congress and BJP was to show their middle fingers to the voters. Voters got an opportunity to return the favor and they did it with gusto. Bigger the name, bigger was the thumping. Sheila Dikshit, AK Walia, Rajkumar Chauhan.....people wanted revenge and they wanted these modern day Niros dragged in the street.(I know of one BJP candidate who will not go out to campaign in slums without a hand sanitizer!!)

2) So after the giant slaying act, Congress made it even more fun by deciding to support AAP with no conditions attached. I for one thought that this would be a great opportunity for AAP to really do big things. I was in for a big disappointment and the worse part of it all is not that the voter is Delhi got fooled into supporting AAP who have turned out to be corrupt. No, these people seem to be dead honest. The problem is that they are plain incompetent.

3) Here is the reality check: the problem is not Binny and whatever Kejriwal's secrets he knows, problem is also not the antics of Somnath Bharti or even continuous distractions from Prashant Bhushan. All of it is noise. Problem is Kejriwal's and gang really don't know how to maximize opportunity and returns for the maxim number in Delhi. No announcements on how they will get water and electricity connection to the last slum, minimize distribution losses, ensure comprehensive waste management (both solid and waste water & effluent flowing into Ganga) better security, affordable housing...nothing. There is just no vision or even if it exists in some manifesto, no articulation since these people came to power.

4) I would summarize with saying that I really don't believe anything will change with these folks around. These people are proving that when it comes to governance, honest incompetent people are much worse than wise corrupt people. And that is a very sad state of the matters. Like it or not, history is littered with such examples....Nixon is considered amongst the most effective American presidents since the 2nd world war and he also remains the only president to have resigned in the middle of his term for Watergate.

5) Finally, does this AAP fiasco again prove that majority of the great agitators end up as duds when it comes to governance. Kejriwal's being the latest example. And does this example also prove that what  Nehru did after independence showed the sheer talent of the person to have made an effortless transition from being a fighter on the street to the leader in the secretariat.

I am beginning to wonder if we have a modern day Jyoti Basu or a contemporary Manik Sarkar (called the cleanest and poorest chief minister of India)..people who agitate but really have no vision of how to get things done. Agitation is an end in itself for these Robinhoods.

Waiting for the King to apologize, one can wait..rather a long wait

The statement comes from Duke of York who has just been announced the King (and who would henceforth be called King George the VI th ) and who knows that he needs help from his speech therapist to lead his people through his words.

They go and sit down in a private room. King starts: "I understand what you were trying to say Luke" and Luke responds: "I went about it the wrong way". The wrong way refers to the last conversation the King had with Luke when Luke prodded the king to take over the throne from his brother. Luke is very sure that the reason King came to him in the first place was because he knew that without being able to speak, he doesn't even have a slim chance of becoming a King someday. None the less, the king (Prince then) doesn't like being prodded by Luke on the matter and promptly asks him to buzz off.

So why am I writing something which is so easily accessible and well depicted in the movie. Because, there is a lesson for Luke's of the world:

a) When Lukes help the Kings, they don't do any favor but are letting the natural order unfold. Doesn't mean that Kings do not appreciate Lukes but Luke needs to know that King had the right to his service by statuette.

b) Lukes have to articulate it right to get things done from the Kings. If articulation is improper or things do not happen for the larger good, king is never at fault. Lukes around him are at fault for not getting the King to act in the right way. Also, if things don't go the right way, Kings would never apologize. So goes the newly minted king in the movie: "Waiting for the King to apologize, one can wait..rather a long wait"

c) Lukes would never be the Kings but do reserve the right to ask for favors as Lionel does in the movie and ultimately gets rewarded with Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1944.

Such are the lessons for those who are capable and who interact with those in power.

For new booking, Press 1

And that's what I did hoping that there would be hungry Jet Airways call center reps. ready to lap up new business. No Sir. Doesn't work this way in the world of Naresh Agarwal's organization. I heard the automated voice tell me: Please wait, your hold time is approximately 10 minutes. Are you kidding me!!!

No wonder. This is what happens when competition either is minimal or is pretty meek. This being Bhopal-Delhi sector and only other flights being that of Air India, where would someone go...so I am here, using the wait time with my phone on speaker writing a blog and wondering when there would be real competition in India. At least such horrible service levels would go.

"Your call is important, please stay on the line and someone would attend to you shortly" Already heard it 5 times and wondering how many more would come before I surrender my money to Jet Airways and give my regards. Who knows, if I am not polite, whether they would even let me board.