Chew on this...
If you get the CEOs of the top 500 companies in the world in one room then what you have in one small space is a representation of the best brains, skills, experience, etc, etc, that represents the corporate world. Objectively speaking, these CEOs would represent - knowledge, working the 'system', financial growth (also called as shareholder value a.k.a. as capitalism), HR skills, operational skills etc, etc. This collective group could be termed as the capitalistic brain trust of the world. Just the fact that these people are in this position means that they have mastered the game they play. As of now, no one is better than them.
Lets move over to the Indian parliament now.
It is exactly the same.
In the evolutionary game of politics, anyone who is in the parliament, is a master at the game. A complete master. There is no difference. If you think they are any less hard working or less intelligent than the top global CEO then you are mistaken. Quite badly. The game they have mastered is Indian politics and the rules of the game include - corruption, deceit, caste based politics...the usual things we associate our politicians with. THESE ARE THE RULES OF THE GAME THEY PLAY.
Australians dominate cricket because they have mastered the game. Their team is like a machine.
What is the point of all this?
If you want to see a change in your life then contribute in CHANGING THE RULES OF THE GAME ITSELF. India won 20/20 because Australians havent mastered the game yet. Corporate CEO's have been forced to have more ethical orientation because Sarbanes Oxeley act forced them to do it. Indian politicians WILL NEVER change unless the rules change. Instead of taking the most ruthless, the most brilliant masters of the Indian political game head on, simply change the rules. The masters know this and this is something they will always resist. Always. But the great wall of china was built by laying the first brick.
Can you think of any rules that can be changed? Simply?
Labels: CEO, Genius, India, Politics
I love my India
Just came back from work and I am in a nice spiritual mood. Here's the story.
I was about 750 meters from my house and it took me about 45 minutes to cover that distance. The reason? The lights were not working during the rush hour and there was no traffic police monitoring the light. I dialed the emergency number (100) to ask for some police help to sort out the traffic but surprises of surprises....no one picked up the phone. I was confused so I checked the number I dialed. It was correct. I dialed again. No response again. Hmmmm. And thats when I got the spiritual insight. If after all this insanity, you and I are still alive then god does exist. We Indians are blessed. Each and every one of us.
============
My friend's father got admitted in the ICU at the Max Hospital for heart problems. Here's this story.
My friend's father was a bit thoughtful about his heart so he went for a regular check up to Max Hospital. The doctors mentioned that he might have had a minor heart attack about 4 days back so they admitted him in the ICU and have been conducting some tests on him. I was telling some other friend about this and he mentioned that its a game private hospitals play now in India. His relative had a similar problem and he went to Max Hospital. The doctors later operated on him and put in a stent. Cost = INR3Lacs. Three months later the stent got dislodged (or something like that). They went back to Max. Another operation. Cost = INR 3Lacs. Hmmmm. This is not the first time I have come across something like this about private hospitals. So the choice seems to be between government hospitals where you have to probably wait 3 months to get a date for an operation and private hospitals where you might be getting operated on without there being any major issues.
Are you aware of any such issues with private hospitals?
===============
Back to the 750 meters in 45 minutes story. Imagine a situation where someone you love calls up the police because there might be a lunatic trying to break in and enter the house. Ring...ring...ring...no f##ing response. She tries again. No bloody response again. The lunatic has entered the house in the meantime. She finally gets through and the police registers the complaint and a police team leaves the police station to save the situation. 750 meters in 45 minutes!!!!
Have you ever wondered what YOU can do to help such situations? Have you ever spent more than a minute to think what the permanent solutions could be for issues such as this? Do you value anyone's life? Do you value your own life?
Labels: India, Police, Traffic
Cyclists...
If you have ever driven on the roads of India then you might be aware of our lovely cyclists. They can perform "sudden emergence" tricks that could put the best magicians to shame. And their sudden, almost spasmodic turns can raise your blood pressure to almost 400. Recently I got an opportunity to look at the world from the other side.
I sprained my foot while running so the doctor advised me to "respect" my body and to stop running for a few days. Bloody hell! I was really surprised at that language. I looked up to see if the guy was looking at me in a condescending way. He was not much to my relief. :-) So for someone like me who needs a mild "sweat" fix on a regular basis (No sexual overtones here. I am saving myself for Jessica Alba or Deepika Padukone), I found cycling to be something outdoorish and a fun thing to do. So I borrowed a friend's cycle which I must say is not meant to be driven on the
ruba daba dub dub ooh aah ouch roads of Delhi. The day after my first ride, my hind was hurting so bad that I am sure people must have mocked my funny walk. I am better now thank you.
My first ride itself made me realize that getting on a cycle is something like wearing Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. You become invisible to any mechanized vehicle. Completely. So while you are constantly pushed to the side of the road by equally spasmodic drivers, the berm/side of the road is completely
ruba daba dub dub ooh aah ouch . The thrill and adventure never ends till you put your bike in the garage, kiss the ground and thank the lord that you are still alive.
The red lights are the trickiest. There is no real place where I can be on the bike and wait for the light to turn green. Most of us cyclists are squished and we huddle together in our invisibility. The worst is when the light turns green. Just thinking about this is making me anxious. Cars, trucks, scooters, bikes...rush to quickly reach F1 speeds while taking spasmodic turns.
The best thing I like about cycling? There are no red lights for cyclists. We can never be given a traffic violation ticket. Ever. No registration number, no license, no pollution certificate, no insurance...f#*k you Mr. Policeman!!! Love it.
Labels: India, Traffic
Australian backlash
I received this picture from a friend of mine in Australia. This could very well have been made for India. But maybe there would have been two differences. First, the emblem on the left would have been Indian and second, the condom would have been fully defective with about a million holes! I wanted to specify the number of holes as 545 since that is the number of parliamentarians we have but then then I thought that they are not holes, they are a#%holes. :-)
Labels: India, Politicians
Bollywood Police
All of us must have observed that in Bollywood films the police comes exactly 10 seconds (that too in that strange blue 1950s jeep) after the hero has beaten all 100 villains into pulp and when the lovely damsel is giving loving (oh my hero) looks to the mildly hurt hero. The police is always bloody late. Have you ever wondered WHY??? I have found out the answer to that mystery. Just remember...you read it here first.
Its because the police was stuck in the traffic jam in the road outside and the traffic refused to give way!!!! The cars in front kept hearing the police behind them but the roads were so clogged that there was no way anyone could have let the police car go. So there you have it. Thats the reason why the police is always late and given the way traffic is in India, it will
never be on time. I find this thing so sad that it's almost funny. Imagine this - someone you love is in grave danger and the police is just 10 seconds late.
What is the root cause? Poor infrastructure planning and no standards for infrastructure development. My friend AKD will again bring up our lovely politicians and I will agree with him wholeheartedly.
Labels: Bollywood, Funny, Planning, Police, Politicians
I want to puke
I have been feeling like I am going to throw up any time. I have been wondering about the cause and thought that maybe I am pregnant. But given the fact that I am a male and with a single minded focus on saving myself for my wife :-) I ruled out this reason. Then I thought that maybe the reason could be a bad stomach. Hmmm. I dont think Kareem's food would do that to me. Then I finally figured out the reason after reading the morning newspaper. For the last one week the government of Delhi has been making life difficult for BlueLine bus operators. The "crackdown", as the newspapers call it has been making life even more difficult for commuters. I know this might increase the demand for the 1Lac car and I hate it but...anyways let me get back to my reason. You know I must do something about my need to digress. :-)
The government of Delhi has one again decided to deal with the symptom rather than the disease and we as citizens of India sit on the sidelines (yet again) and go on with our lives. The cause of deaths is poor infrastructure, no focus on the license issue process and poor judicial system. Its the same bloody story each time. Some people get crushed under BlueLines/Redlines and there is all this hoohaa created but not even once has anyone focused on the real issues. Aaahhh this churning in my stomach!!! :-)
Labels: Bluelines, Buses, Commute, Government, Stupid
Me...Me...Me...Me
Yes thats all I care about when it comes to voting. I want to be empowered and I want to
feel empowered. It doesnt matter whether I choose to use the tools available or not but I want to
feel empowered. Please me. Indulge me. :-) What in the bloody world am I talking about????
This is on the same lines as my previous post
wishlist which talks about how my expectations have changed as a voter. Here's something I have been thinking about. It might be a bit crazy but have you seen the state of affairs in our country?? There are places where incremental changes are good. And then there are places like India. :-)
I have been thinking of governance
mashups. Its something like a mix of continually expanding searchable data which has participation from you and me (through RTI, internet, mobile phones...), government departments, private sector etc. Something that takes the idea of
Outside.in 5 steps ahead.
For example:
- I would love to learn what government department has the most corruption cases pending and since when. Are there common themes that come up or common officers or common companies?
- I would love to learn which locations in India have had the most number of road accidents, what the causes were (was it faulty road design or traffic signal or drunk driving). This data can be mixed with the data available with insurance companies and the FIR data that is lodged. The same can be done with rail accidents.
- I would love to learn about the track record of police stations in terms of registering FIRs, women related cases, ratio of police/residents managed....
I dont know if it makes any sense but to me the possibilities of such data being useful seem endless. The government of India spents a particular percentage of each government department on IT. Do you think it might be worthwhile to get access to such information? Would you feel a bit empowered? Maybe I just want to hear a yes. Please say yes. :-) Just kidding.
