Casa Estebana

You have to know this. Asipac, a project consulting firm based in Bangalore, has recently launched a luxury gated community near Hyderabad, called Casa Estebana. It was featured on the Zoom channel yesterday and was quite impressive.

45 homes ranging from around 4 to 14 crores each is the price tag for a place in this prestegious community built in a spanish style. Imagine a 1400 sqft bathroom, well, that is the scale of this project. Private swimming pools for each villa with 4-6 car parking, sunbathing area, year long water supply backup, security alarms of all kinds, atmosphere control mechanisms. Wow, it sure is an astounding scale to do things in.

Amit Bhagaria, the CEO of Asipac is a well known figure in the space of real estate project consulting in India and has launched many malls, hospitals among other notable projects. This is though, the first of its kind for him, in scale, yet he seems to be carrying it off like a pro.

Pooja Bedi, Bomman Irani, Manish Malhotra and a native Spanish Flamenco Troupe were among the celebrities who were there to launch this project.

Wishing them all the best. (And hoping to own one villa someday)

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Traffic in Bangalore

30 minutes everyday to reach office and 30 minutes back home is what I spend on the roads on a given working day. And trust me, its an experience in itself each passing day. Many a times I have seen such noble behaviour by the riders and drivers that I am proud to be in a city where the traffic rules are followed, but there are those bad eggs sprinkled across the traffic that are out to make it hell for others. Imagine waiting at the signal till there are only 10 seconds remaining for the signal to turn green and then jumping it. Its a crime no better than jumping the singal at the start itself, yet somehow in our conscience, jumping with only 10 seconds on the timer is somhow better than jumping earlier.

Why would it be like this? Why do people on the road not look eye to eye because thay know pretty well that they are doing something wrong. Traffic junctions without policemen and signals are the best. No one wants to wait, why should they? When the other side is scared to capture the small gap why should we let it go. Its like war, absolute total war (atleast its a bloodless one).

Someday, we will follow rules 'coz we understand the implications of it, rather than just walking over then since it don't affect us directly. Someday though, right now, we are just in the pre-teen ages. ;-)

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Outsourcing and India

http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2006/10/bangalore_strik.html#comments

 

You should read this article on Information Week and most certainly read the comments after the article. I don't know what to feel. Anger maybe, for being called a corrupt nation, pain maybe to be called a poor nation, guilt maybe to be living as the more previleged ones in the country (I work in IT) or plain simple pity, for the insecurity that seems to be coming forth in the comments.

Just a couple of points though, mind you, IMHO only.

1. We Indians have been working in the US for US companies for quite a long time, proving our abilitites over and over again. Now, with outsourcing, the work is moving to us rather than us moving to the US. What are they cribbing about then? Their inability to keep their jobs? What's corruption and the monitored currency system got to do with anything at all? Just do your job the best at a reasonable price (or a reasonable job at a low price) and the free market dynamics will definitely bring it up top. Right? Why crib, compete fairly, can't we?

2. Secondly, why should we not share the profits that we help make anyway? Our talent is good so we are workin in US establishments. By natural extrapolation, we now have the understanding and the ability to manage the better deal by taking the end to end contract. So, should we not be entitled to our fair bread?

3. Companies by their definition are money making machines (or that is the their sole purpose of existence). That, good people at the helm of the companies take the onus of 'social responsibility' and other ethical practices are purely a judgement and feel based thing. Companies can be unethical and that is unfortunately the by-product of capitalism. (Capitalism that is the corner stone of economies like the US). No company by its definition of existence needs to be a loyalist to any country, creed, race or currency. They have to make profits and they will. End of it all.

Conclusion: There is a definite economic advantage to both outsourcing companies abroad and vendor companies in India, that this is the logical route the water will take. If the core competency of any economy is its manpower, of course they will take advantage of it. Why should the economy of the outsourcing company crib that their jobs are being taken from them, they should understand that being at the top of the food chain, they have to develop further and evolve higher levels of business, rather than taking calls or back office work. For one reason, being the 'greatest country' in the world is not a forever crown, it has to be earned every time. Being the greatest for now means that they are the best consumers for what the rest of the world produces. Then, why crib at all? We have just started climbing the ladders and at the top the jitters are already high.

 

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Bengaluru or Bengalooru

First page article on the Times of India (10 October 2006), Bangalore will be known as Bengaluru from the 1st of November 2006. Really? Isn't that going to be a little weird? I was living in a city that now has a word in the Oxford dictonary on its name (say "Bangalored"), and now I am going to live in a city whose name not many have quite heard and definitely a lot are going to find difficult to spell. (Is Oxford notified? Will it now be Bengalurued?) By the way, there is a high level team sitting to decide the English spelling for the new name of Bangalore. It could either be Bengaluru or Bengalooru and the tilt is towards the latter as it emphasizes the native vovel more accurately. Really? I am sorry, but my small mind could never think this way.

Shakespear once said, "Whats in a name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." Yeah, right. Tell that to our dear politicians and they will tell you the indepth impact of a name. (And, rightfully so, 'coz I can't quite disagree with them). A name is definitely quite powerful, but why loose the power the name of 'Bangalore' has already acquired? Simply because someone somewhere felt a little guilt? Not really. In my humble opinion, this is purely politics. Purely power based play. (Mind you, IMHO only)

How much is the government going to spend in changing the name boards across the millions of places in the city? Starting from the railway station to the address boards of their offices? Who will pay for this repainting? My tax money I know. Is this justified use of this money, I wonder. Secondly, if they could spend the same money in getting people educated enough to be comfortable with the present name of Bengaluru, won't it also help these people in relating to the so called 'Global Village'? Seems not. Seems that changing the name of a city, from its anglicised version to its native version has more merit than repairing the roads.

I guess there was a charm in the name, "Bangalore". When you came here, you moved to an aspirational city, like Bombay was. But once the name changes, I am sure the charm will be a little hurt. 'Coz now, you are still living in a city that sounds like any other city in the state and hence not really a great address to have (over any other address). But I am no one to moot this decision. I am sure that the majority of the state is with this decision (they elected the representatives, right?), and who am I to differ from the might. Might is Right, so I have changed my stance. I now will call Bangalore, Bengaluru / Bengalooru (as the case may be). Mind you, I am proud of this city, no matter what it is called, but I just can't figure why changing the name is so important, when there is so much more to be done. Maybe, now we won't expect our roads to be better, maybe we will say that the roads in Bengaluru were forever meant to be this way. We change the name to match the present face of the city, rather than trying to change the face of the city to really add value to the name.

Send our dear advisors to Singapore and get their name changed to Singapooru (Ok, pun intended. I am just postulating that the populace there, consisting of a large portion of Tamilians, will really welcome this revival of culture and tradition).

Well, my frustration is a little less now, and on a level headed note, does changing the name of the city really affect anything? I know it is going to cost a lot to just humor ourselves that our culture is coming back, but is that the truth? The decay of our culture (or in my view, the globalization of our ways of living) is merely an inevitable consequence of our will to grow. And, grow we should. We should make changes that matter and add loads of value to our lives, justifying the cost incurred, rather than change something that is not really going to add value in any real way. What adds value is the cities ability to deliver. What it is called, doesn't really matter. (Case in point, do you think any chinese town is named in easy English?) When they din't change the name of their city and yet managed to become the manufacturing powerhouse of the world, should we not be looking at improving our standing in the global scene based on our abilities rather than changing our names?

Are we even interested in beign Global? We are shutting our pubs down, we are delaying projects like the international airport, we have almost killed the night life in Bengaluru, we are difficult with our biggest software companies, we have insecurities about call center culture invading the Indian way of life. Can we get real? Are we here to make India the best country in the world? Or are we interested merely in being an individualistic society that will become a case study for the others? (I remember a program in which the management guru, C.K. Prahlad said that India is chaos, but there is order in that chaos, and that is our power. To be able to be productive even in the worst of situations. Aceepted.) We are way different from the world and I am proud of that. But I would love it when India capitalizes this difference to lead the rest of the world (as we had long in the past), rather than harp on our being different as our achievement.

IMHO, Ego is good to have, when it floats over a layer of unquestionable quality.

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Gandhigiri in Pune

Read this article today. I know, I am pretty late, almost a week, but am happy to see that people are at least using the word Gandhigiri in the right spirit. I have always loved Pune, expecially after having spent a couple of years there for my MBA and now I am proud too.

Just wonder how I would react to flowers after jumping a signal. I am sure I would be embarassed to the core, but would others feel the same? Is embarassment strong enough?

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When it rains it pours

Two times in a day does sound interesting when we are talking about certain things, but getting stuck in the rain in a desolated place is not quite that thing (at least for me). And that's what happened to me today. My brother has just left for a global tour (if Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are the globe that is) and I had to drop him to the Airport at 6:30. So, by some clever backward planning, I decided to leave my house at 4:30, reach his house at 5:00, then leave there at 5:30. But I, like a novice with the Bangalore weather, especially this time of the year, just missed to factor in the "hand of God". And as I took out the bike, I looked up at the sky and like a pro, nodded to myself, "It's definitely not going to rain today". And how wrong could I be, only the passing time could tell.

Midway the droplets started crowding my visor making it a little difficult for me to see. So, I opened the visor and in a couple of minutes, the downpour started as if heading right for my face through the visor. Couldn't see, so I stopped at the nearest tree (not a dense one at that). Stood there getting wet and telling myself that this way was better than getting dreched while riding on my bike. My logic to myself, more raindrops would hit me if I were travelling as I would technically be covering more area of the rainfall, than when I am standing at one place. Logical, yes, but after a limit it stops mattering, don't you think. When you are drenched to the bone, how does it matter if you are still or travelling. And then after patiently standing under the little tree for around 20 minutes and managing to get myself completely wet (and not having moved an inch for that), I decided that it is time to move on, 'coz I could not get any wetter.

Reached home in the next three minutes. Dropped all my clothes, shoes and accessories at the door and headed for the shower. Changed into some of my brother's clothes and relaxed a bit and loaded up Dad's car with my bro's luggage. We left for the Airport, had a scuffle with a rash driver and reached the Airport two minutes late. No problem. Then I had to drop my mom and the car at bro's house. Did that.

Then stocked up some stuff I had to carry back to my house on the bike and rided into the horizon. (And it was filled with another shot of rain for me). Midway again, around the same little tree, the rain came down hard, pretty hard this time, seemingly intent on making me stop under that tree again. (Some would say, sounds like a made in heaven love affair). Anyway, having had the taste of that just a couple of hours ago, I decided to outwit Ma' Nature this time, and I drove on braving the falling droplets, low visibility, and the sting of cold wet water all over my body. I had to be real slow to allow for the stuff I was carrying, the low visibility, the huge pot holes that are the trademark of Bangalore. And guess what, my logic kicked in late again, slow in heavy rain means totally wet again.

Reached home in the next 30 minutes. Dropped all my clothes (again), shoes (second pair) and accessories (don't know how long my watch will last anyway) at the door and headed for the shower. Changed into some of my own clothes and relaxed after this relatively sloshed day.

I guess, some people have been through this experience before and thats the root of the saying, "When it Rains, It Pours". Enough said, I need a shot of Vodka to shake of the chills in my bones. See ya later. ;-)

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Shoot at sight in Mangalore

Check out this story on Mangalorean.com

Pains to see a city that was unaffected by a state-wide bundh, showing solidarity and purpose, now in the clutches of some mischief mongers who have created a situation that is not only best avoided, but utterly stupid. Are we here on this planet to prove superiority, if yes, we are well on our way to proving our success as nit-wits. But if our purpose is to yet find our true purpose and then set out to achieve it, then I can't imagine a time when the people now inhabiting this world ever awakening to this thought.

Why can't people understand that everything that we fight about all the time is merely a matter of personal preference. It only goes wrong when we want everyone else to accept and follow what we do, thus strengthening our belief. Are we so insecure?

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My fish bowl and its location

Well, these are my cuties (right pic) and they are placed in a cozy corner of my living room. :-)

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The untouchable pet

Finally, after long drawn argument with my wife on the kind of pet we want, we finally settled for something amiable to us both. I wanted a dog and she was strictly against it. She wanted a cat, can you believe that?

Yes, so now I am the proud owner of a small ecosystem of a couple of gold fishes swiming non-stop in circles trying to find the exit out of their bowl. Yeah, the picture on the right is not of my fowh bowl at home. Will upload in some time.

Its fun to have a pet for sure. They are so innocently unaware of the struggles you go through the day and give you that feeling of life even though their life is constricted to a bowl not more than a feet and a half in diameter. Still they look content and everyday I feel a learn a little more from them. We humans have complicated life too much to enjoy it anymore. Such simple creatures really help in going back to the basics.

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A game called Panzers

A friend recently handed me a game from his collection of computer games and said, "I am sure you will enjoy this." And I agreed completely then. Why would I not like a game? I am a gaming freak, I could play games day and night and the day after without a break. Why won't I like any game for that matter. I thought he din't know me enough.

I started playing the game after the usual struggle of installing the game and having to modify the graphics settings to make sure the game does not stutter on my old machine. Then it was the struggle to learn the keys and the controls and the dynamics of the game. I am quite seasoned at Age of Empires, but this was different, my first true 3D world war 2 game. Imagine the delight to a gaming soul when you know that nothing is and can be hidden from view, just a flick of the mouse with the middle button down.

So, as I was saying, I started playing the game. I liked the concept and I am sure I am a late entrant to the hotbed of computer gaming with high end graphics and all (AOE is the best I could play on my system till date, or should I say, I am not the aware kinds).

It starts where all WWII games start (generally) at the normandy beach. Ok, a little away from the beach as the first thing to do is to capture a bridge before getting to the normandy mission. It was frustrating at first. I din't quite know what forces to pitch against which forces. The mortar dudes always got my men while we were trying to fiercly get the machine gunner out. Man, are these games so much more complicated or what. Imagine how generals in the wars made real life decisions. I am sure it would have been a tad bit more difficult knowing that real men would die if you were to misjudge the location of the enemy tiger by a few 100 meters. So, the game makes it easier of course, save, reload, try different tactics, but win you must to go to the next level and revel in the beauty for a brief second before heavy mortar starts pounding your men and medics rush to heal them.

Its a head rush. Rushing to pund the enemies on one side of the field, trying to save the other flank where the tiger suddenly popped up and try to keep an eye on the health of your men and machines. I must admit that the foot soldiers are not much of a help in the thick of battle against other machines, but then the game is called "Panzers" right? And once you get the hang of it, this is a great game to play. As long as you loose you are gonna feel that the game is lousy, but once you start crushing some of their tanks with strategically placed shermans, the satisfaction of feeling like a general is immense.

Its an awesome game and everyone should play it once. It seems to have built over all the good and the bad games in this genre over the last couple of decades starting from command and conquer (though I have never played it), to AOE (that I can vouch for) to even games like Blitzkreig and Combat Mission (though not anywhere as realistic as Combat Mission). And on doing some research I figured that this game has been followed by Codename Panzers: Phase II and Rush for Berlin, all by StormRegion. I have looked at the reviews of the others and I figure that the other games are going to play like a stuttering nightmare on my system. For now, I am happy with the phase one, but I am sure that I have to catch up soon lest I might be called the gamer from yore. ;-)

So, when my friend said that I would like this game, he meant that I would like the game for the content it brings along and not for the fact that its a game. Something like porn to men I think. No porn is bad, but some are just awesome. And Panzers is the awesome game, fun to play, fairly easy to learn, quite difficult to master but hours of sleepless nights to look forward to. I liked this game like I like all other games, but I like this game for it being more than a game, its a treat to the senses and challenge to my limited intelligence. Should that not be what all games should be aiming at? And how few even land in that vicinity is quite surprising.

Anyway, if you are looking for more on this game take a look at the following links.

Game website - http://www.panzers.de/index.php?page=game.en.panzers

At Gamerankings.com - http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/562461.asp

At Gamespy.com - http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/codename-panzers/552969p1.html

At Gamezone.com - http://pc.gamezone.com/gamesell/p21216.htm

At Gamespot - http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/codenamepanzers/index.html

And if you like this game too, or don't like it like mad, get in touch and we can have some cool discussions, maybe even an online deathmatch (Don't know if my system can take it though :-)

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Gandhigiri in Today's world

His vision was something that transcends time. In his times, the persona called Gandhi with his Charkha was an image embedded in the millions of minds in India, and we followed him in sheer belief. 'Coz what he said made so much sense. Even today, when I think of his teachings, I can see the logic in them. "Embarass them for being mean. Don't be mean yourself." I think it would work in any world as long as beings capable of emotions inhabit that place.

I am a resident of Bangalore and very much human and hence I was happy with the State-wide 'Bundh' yesterday. Why? 'Coz I got a holiday to spend some time with my wife, my games and my family. Today though, I feel a little guilty for being part of it. Why? Because I read the newspaper and it brought to light the fact that a 'Bundh' is a holiday but is a costly holiday. For the people who earn daily wages, it was a day with lesser food than other days. A day when people like me, relaxed, but people with lesser means were truly affected.

Ok, so am I just here to confess to my guilt? Yes and no. I am confessing to my guilt of being a mere human, but am also in deep thought as to how we can overcome this inability of ours to know how to get a point across to others without hurting ourselves. The 'bundh' did register our protest but at the cost of our own economy. Gandhigiri was one way professed in the newspaper yesterday by a assortment of thoughtul people of Bangalore. And that got me thinking, hard. Really? Would it work?

Kudos to 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' for having made 'Gandhigiri' a household name in today's India. The country that has almost forgotten the father of the nation to the point of only knowing him 'coz his birthday is a national holiday. I may be saying too much, but that is where I am standing and I am guilty. Does it help to accept guilt? Yes, it makes the correction of guilt easier. And the result more satisfying.

Yes, Gandhigiri works. I had tears in my eyes while watching the movie, in the scene where the old man starts removing all his clothes to pay the bribe. In our minds, that man was old, he was fragile, what could he have done anyway, but he did do the simplest of things. He stood tall and told the other guy to remember that everyone has emotions. The conscience may be asleep, but fear of ridicule and rejection can never leave these bones. 'Coz we are human, beings capable of feeling. Right?

Though I stand with the Gandhigiri concept, I am not sure if anyone really wants to change anything in this world today. Yes, there are a lot of accidents on the roads that can be reduced by driving carefully. But who cares. Nothing can happen to them anyway and why should they care about others? How many times have you thought to yourself that nothing is ever gonna change, what can one man do, is it even worth it? I don't know the answers as I am struggling with them everyday, everytime I take a turn and almost miss a pedestrian, everytime I stand in the queue and someone tries to cut in, everytime I see people spitting on the roads, everytime I jump the yellow line knowing if I didn't someone else is going to anyway. Each of these times I do what I would not otherwise, feel guilty later and then somehow convince myself to forget about it.

But I guess for Gandhigiri to truly work in the world, there are two key elements. One we know already, the knowledge of the best and most long lasting solution. There is no point letting the other man keep hitting you just because you have to be non-violent and all that, rather we should try and embarass him for being baser than human. (I still wonder, are there people who have skins that would even deny this embarassment?) But the other and the more important ingredient is INTENT. Do we really want to change the world or are we so comfortably numb about all the things that are wrong with this world that we can no longer live in a better world and hence we don't care?

If you care for the life that your children are gonig to be living, if you care to not deny guilt, if you are fed up of being comfortably numb, if you want to be good despite its impracticalities, if you read this blog and think alike, then maybe we should get in touch. Not that I have any plans of changing the world, but I would love to know that I am not alone in this crowd.

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All men were born equal

Read in the newspaper today that reservations would not dilute the quality of education output based on the OBCs outscoring the general merit students in Karnataka. And also, that this case will be pointed to the PM as a proof that reservations won't dilute the quality of students.

I just have two questions.

1. Is this a representative sample. Meaning that all OBCs across India are performing better than General Merit students?

2. If it is, and I pray it is a true representation of the prowess of the OBC candidates, then why on earth do we need reservation at all? Won't they make it on merit alone?

I have always felt that give the weak anything to teach him to survive, but don't ever give him just his next meal. Give the students free books and tutions and hostel accomodations and grants to do more in life, but please dont give them a seat in a college and expect to rectify the imbalance caused all those years ago by the caste system.

Won't it be nice if, in the 100m finals at the olympics, a weak candidate is asked to run from half way just so that equality can be maintained. Equality is not the natural state of anything in this world. Its man-made. We should strive for equality 'coz that is one of our purposes to be existing, not be handed over the equality on a platter. Where's the pride in that? Where's the achievement in that? Where's the life in that?

And, I am sure that we have reached another kind of divide in today's world. The divide of influence. Those who influence are not affected by their actions and those who are effected have no choice but to oblige. (Think of it as, how many children of political honchos, will be refused admission to any college 'coz they are general merit and the quota is over?) They make the rules but are clear of its impact. This is the divide that will ultimately eat our society alive. He says he has done more than anyone for his state and he has 13 children. Wow, are we really in the 21st century yet?

Anyway, read my previous post 'coz I am going to watch the sky. ;-)

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Lay back and watch the sky

My colleague was speaking today of his trip recently to many locations in 5 days. He said it was hectic and they were really scared of what effect such a whirlwind trip would have on their less than a year old son. But as it turned out, his son enjoyed the trip more than anything for the uncrowded places and good weather wherever they went. The elders, on the other hand, will need a couple of days to recuperate.

But thats not what caught my attention the most. It was the incident where his son just lay on his back on a garden and watched the sky for almost half an hour that made me think hard. Gosh, I had to look up immediately and check out if the sky were still there. It has been so long that I have even seen the sky properly. I have just been taking it for granted, its there and it will always be there. Unlike the Gauls, who feared that one day soon the sky will fall on them, we are way to scientifically advanced to believe in such BS... Right? Yes, and No. We might be knowing the facts of life, but we are not making use of it to enjoy life more, are we? I don't know if I will even remember to see the sky the day after tomorrow, but at least I am thankful that I still wonder once in a while and check out on the sky.

When was the last time you lay back, relaxed and just stared at the sky? I am sure, not in a long time. And why am I making such a big issue of such a rudimentary task? Well, the sky signifies all that is great in life, all that makes life worth living. And we, in the hurry of earning money and working and reaching office just take the nicer things for granted. Should we not sit out at least once in a while and enjoy the world that we would spend all our lives in, rather than run hard and at the end of the race, realise that we ran well, but never enjoyed the running, the track, the audience. Run, 'coz I have no other way to offer, but remember that the race is the joy of running, not the victory alone.

Sit back, relax, let the politicians and the corrupt and the hyppocrites take a long walk out of your minds. Just close your eyes, allow the darkness to fall over your closed eyelids and then open them to see the sky. You can't imagine the beauty you can see in those stray clouds hovering over the rich blue all encompassing skies, the lovely imaginations the cloudy day can fire in you. Words are meant to describe these sort of things in my view, not to write legal contracts and sensational news items and such things that just make us more tunnel visioned and ready to rush right through the tunnel and reach death when we least expect it. We are not in that tunnel that we think we are. The tunnel is our vision being corrupt (rather refined) by the so called pressures of life. STOP, and take a look around. There's more music in here than any hit album, more color than any famous painting, more special effects than any hollywood sci-fi, and yet, we need a closed room covered in darkness and a single screen projecting entertaining images to relax?

I am happy that I saw the sky today. Maybe I won't again for a long time. But I am happy I did today.

Chill out dudes... Kick up your feet and try hard to be basic...

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