suz_me

This blog is in no way criticizing the Jan Lokpal draft or any persons connected to Jan Lokpal. I salute Anna Hazare for his spirit. At the same time I accept India needs tough laws to curb corruption. I am not trying to take sides here.

Going over the Jan Lokpal bill, I can't help but speculate will this bill be enough to eradicate corruption?
For starters, I could not find any references to the state government employees. This bill talks mainly about the central government. State government is not way behind in terms of scams, only the scale may be smaller.
I think the central committee of Lokpal should have powerful branches in each state. These branches should report to the central commission. The central committee should be responsible for selecting the state heads. Probably some of the rules of which apply for the selection of Central committee can apply here. Let's face it selection of members is one of the most important things in this setup. One or two wrong persons get into the committee and hell can break loose.

Also one more concern I have is, with Lokpal we are creating one more body parallel to the Judiciary, Legislature (Since Lokpal can form rules) and the Executive. What if Lokpal is misused in future? Corruption inside a powerful body like Lokpal can be very tricky to punish. I know Lokpal bill states how the investigation should proceed against the members of Lokpal but the procedure doesn't look very different from the current process of investigating like setting up Judicial bench etc. And proceedings against the employees of Lokpal will be handled by a separate wing internal to Lokpal. This is similar to Army conducting its own investigations. I think more elaboration is needed around this in the bill.

Coming to the selection process of Lokpal members, this is the most dicey part of the bill. For ex. if Bharat Ratna awardees are to be in the panel, it will work if process of awarding Bharat Ratna is not corrupted. This is just a example, I am sure our shrewd politicians and bureaucrats will find loopholes here. My fear is has the draft been thought over enough? The intention is to close all the loop holes and make it very difficult for the politicians manipulate the system.
I am more than sure that people behind the bill have put lot of effort in drafting it and more in enacting it. I have no valid authority to point fingers, but I just cant get these thoughts out od my mind. Once all the revolt subdues everyone needs to introspect. Just enacting the bill does not solve anything. It's ultimately 'We the people' who hold all the aces in making this bill hit the 'Royal Flush'. Our participation is essential.

Final word on our Prime Minister. I am more than sure if left alone to him he will have absolutely no problems in accepting this bill. Unfortunately he is answerable to his coalition partners and 'High Command'. In fact, if this bill is enacted then coalition parties cant hold major parties for ransom in future. Corruption charges will not come under the purview of political parties. It will be under the independent entity of Lokpal.

One more GRAND SALUTE for Anna Hazare and his team. Hoping that the country wakes up.

The climate change meet at Copenhagen has brought interesting reactions on climate change esp. from the 'developing' countries. It shows that the intent to bring in reforms is pretty weak across the globe. The big corporations and governments seem to be ganging up.
Development has become an excuse for countries like India, Brazil etc. not to agree and implement the reforms to curb climate change. The argument being that already 'developed' countries used dirty and of course, cheap methods to achieve the 'developed' status and now they are not letting the developing countries to use the same cheap methods. So in other words, are we saying that we will take no different path than developed countries like US towards climate policies for the sake of development? (I would guess so...)

I agree that it will not be easy to bring down the emission levels, that too when Indian economy is expanding at a high rate and the size of the population of the country. Even if India doesn't agree to any legally binding agreements at Copenhagen, it has a humongous task to implement climate friendly policies domestically. This has to happen irrespective of the climate council and I am hoping Copenhagen will be the eye opener. One advantage of this apart from the obvious of better environment, we will have better bargaining power in the future meets. Jairam Ramesh seems to be a sensible guy but I am sure he would be dragged into the political melodrama. Imagine, if 1 billion people of the world start practicing friendlier policies towards climate before we call ourselves developed then we would be the ideal example for everyone around the world. This is a golden opportunity for India to become a global leader in this field.

Photos from my visit to Kadelekai Parse 2009

Chigurige Aasare is a group started by my high school buddy Ajay and some of his friends couple of years ago, I think. The motto of this group is to identify talents and encourage school students from rural areas. We try to impart the importance of education despite what they want to become in their life. This was the 4th event of Chigurige Aasare and first for this year. I had missed the previous 3 events due to unavoidable circumstances and was looking forward this. This time around the target was the govt. primary school in GuLaganahaLLi near Kanakapura. This school has 78 students, from 1st grade to 7th grade, 3 classrooms for 7 grades, one of the classrooms with a leaking roof and 3 teachers including the head master. By the way, let me slip in this statement, India faces huge huge shortage of teachers. In rural India the students to teacher ratio is simply put, ridiculous.




Coming to the activities that we held at the school, we were a team of fourteen. 10 in class volunteers, 1 stock keeper, 1 time keeper, 2 quiz masters. We divided the student in 4 groups. 1st group comprised of 1st and 2nd grades, 2nd group had the 3rd and 4th grades, 3rd consisted 5th and 6th grades and finally 4th group had 7th grade. After morning prayers and offering respects to Pandit Nehru, me and Ravi started addressing the 2 group viz. 3rd and 4th grades. The first session was casual introduction. We made it a point that the interaction should be casual; we are not teachers and its Children’s day, a festival for them. Then we distributed stationeries. After distributions it was time for answer and win followed by drawing competition. We asked them to draw their home and its surroundings. I loved Poornima’s drawing.



Then at 10.30 it was breakfast time. Food at govt schools is provided by the govt’s Bisi Oota programme. Head Master Mr. Srinivas told me that this programme encourages the poor parents to send their kids to school and the attendance has improved a great deal.



During the break some of us got busy in drawing tracks for the sprint race. The venue was the road in front if the school. A quiz was scheduled after the break. The highest scoring students in the General Knowledge test were selected and two teams were formed out of them. Only students from 5th, 6th and 7th grades were eligible. The quiz event went on for about an hour. The sprint race was fun, we could see the children coming to life during this event and I think it was the best event of the day. Few local folks also joined in the fun. Sprint race was followed by the cultural show by the students and prize distribution. This was followed by tree plantation around the school and we planted around 10 plants. Teacher Mr. Srinivas Murthy was thrilled about tree plantation as he was planning for this from many years.



Special attention was given to the 5th, 6th and 7th grades. GuLaganahalli has no high school. After 7th grade students have to go to Yerindyapanahalli few kms from GuLaganahalli, because of which many students tend to quit school. So for the 7th grade Ajay stressed the importance of continuing the education. We also distributed postcards to the 5th, 6th and 7th grades and asked them to write to us when they finish their 7th and 10th grades or write to us if they face any other problem regarding their education.

I have addressed different kinds of audiences from fresh techies to Vice presidents of huge corporations. But this experience was special; it was my first time addressing kids from 3rd and 4th grade. It was quite a change to be talking to an audience who had rapt attention to the presenter ;). Being with kids for the entire day was a very refreshing experience. The 3 highlights of the day at the school are,

- The manner in which Pallavi from 4th grade explained how to subtract 1947 from 2009.
- The dance sequence performed by the 1st and 2nd grade. Absolutely hilarious to the core.
- The enthusiasm exhibited by the kids towards every darn thing. We don’t get to see that often in the corporate world.



I hope our presence there on Children’s day will make some difference to at least some students and increases the motivation of teachers at GuLaganahaLLi.



Looking forward to a long association with Chigurige Aasare :)

More photos from Naveen’s cam here.

Usually, during treks, we get to hear the phrase "Ah! Back to Civilization" when trek is coming to an end. It's often uttered in sheer relief. I wonder always, "Really?? Are the human settlements be it a village, town, city or a metropolis really civilized?". Destruction and exploitation of natural resources for his 'needs' have been the mantra of humans for several centuries. This model worked up to an extent when human population was smaller, but as human population grows the old model of development viz. occupying new tracts of land by destroying the jungles and its inhabitants and building concrete jungles is not sustainable. Humans are not giving the planet to recover from the wounds created by the relentless activity.

These issues are close to my heart. When I read the summary of the play 'Project S.T.R.I.P' which was scheduled to be played at Rangashankara on Friday the 13th Nov, 2009, it popped up so many questions on effect of human civilization on the planet. This was part of the comedy festival at the Rangashankara. Those of you who are wondering what is a play on such serious and important issues doing in a comedy festival, I would like to inform that I was in the same boat as yours. Actually, it made me so curious that I made up my mind to see this play, even if I had no company. Thankfully, I found some company.

The theme of the play is to project harmful effects on environment due to the activities of humans, MNCs and big corporations in the name of development. Story goes like this,
A big MNC discovers undersea vents rich in precious minerals off the coast of an Island. It's populated by indigenous tribe called Ooolongogongolong, who are leading their life harmoniously with their surroundings. The MNC plans to start mining operations at the island which threatens the balanced ecosystem of the island. For this they appoint a contractor Mr. Roy to survey the island. They also fund a anthropologist Aarti for her research project (from who the company hides its real intention) so that they gain entry to the island. The mining project starts and things take an unexpected turn when the pirates operating near the island start supporting the tribe. After some years, the geography of entire island, the tiki frog, native to the island along with the tribe get wiped off the island. The moral being that Ooolongogongolong are long gone and if the same atrocities continue the then most of the species will be S.T.R.I.P.P.E.D off the face of the earth.

It was hilarious, yet it asked many uncomfortable questions, brought up issues like globalization, pollution, greed, terrorism, politics, corporate management and recession.

I definitely feel that it's a must watch, not only because it gives a nice message but also to enjoy how the comedy is beautifully woven into the script. Writer Ram Ganesh has done a stupendous job. I particularly liked the performances of 'Roy the navy boy'(Harsh Singh) and the 'first timer' terrorist (Neil Bhoopalam). Also, the caricature portrayal of the 'company's' management(Tariq Vasudeva and Shruti Shridharan) is a treat to watch. Aarti(Dilnaz Irani), the lead woman has given a very intense performance.

I thank the entire cast of Project S.T.R.I.P, the technicians, director Quasar and the team at Rangashankara for an wonderful evening.

I love gaming. I used to spend hours together when I was younger in front of TV/computer. Thanks to the Gaming community at my office, we have gaming sessions once in a while.

Other day I read about the game, Rapeplay which is being sold in the grey markets in India and it is creating some sort of demand. This game encourages violent sexual behavior towards women. This is the limit, surely. I mean can anybody in their senses be selling this game? That too, to the kids? I hope that somebody gives me a sniper so that I can blow the head off of the people who designed and released it.

Where are those so called protector of Indian Tradition, the moral police now? Those who claim bashing women visiting pubs is Indian culture. Why don't they come out and check this menace.

P.S: I am not hoping anything to be done by the authorities, coz really is there anything left to hope from them?

Nov 14th - On the account of Children's day, going to primary school in GuLaganahaLLi to interact with students - Chigurige Aasare event
Dec 12,13 - Scuba diving in Murudeshwar or Chilling out at Parson's valley
Dec 18,19 - Trek to Kuduremukha peak
Dec 25,26,27 - Long weekend, need suggestions on what to do...

I just returned from a great dinner at Kanua (ಕಣುವಾ). Kanua is a Konkani restaurant on Sarjapur Road. Kanua is a name of a lost breed of rice from the Karnataka/Goan coast.

The moment I entered the restaurant I had a good feeling about it. The ambience is simply great. Though the interiors looks simple, lot of thought has gone into the restaurant. The big tables had beautiful benches to sit on which is an eye catcher. Pretty much everything had a typical Coastal feeling about it. I also think lot of wood furniture like the almirah near the restroom are all sourced from some ancestral home of the owners.

Coming to the food, the menu is filled with Coastal dishes, with names in Konkani. I just love the idea of using Stamps to display the dishes in the menu. Simple and Brilliant. When I say coastal its Goan and Karnataka coastal food. This is not the place if one wants to eat Andhra chilli chicken and Biriyani or Kulcha and Paneer Butter Masala. Me being a native of the Udupi Coast, I could instantly relate to most of the veggie dishes on menu. This was like home for me. Out of the dishes I tasted, I loved Mushroom starter (forgotten the name). It was one of the best mushroom dishes I have eaten. The passion fruit drink was one of the better passion fruit juices I had till date. For main course Neer Dosa with Vegetable Ishtew did the trick. Ishtew is a coconut and mustard based curry and its very close to the mustard curry prepared at home. The dessert, Raagi Manni (Ragi Pudding) was delightful.
Meat eaters who accompanied me said that the Ghee Roast Chicken was the best Ghee roast they had ever eaten. Knowing their eating habits, I can safely say it must be true. When I smelt the Ghee Roast it was quite mouth watering and I could feel the over whelming smell of home made ghee. Yes not Nandini/GRB ghee it is definitely home made ghee.

They don't stock alcohol but if you carry a bottle they would be more than happy to serve (with additional service tax). The prices are pretty decent. For ex. a plate of Neer Dosa is 45, which I think is pretty decent for a place like this. The meat starters are pretty expensive when compared to other dishes. A meal, including drink and dessert for two should set you back by 600 - 800 depending whether you are a veggie or not.

One of the negatives of the place is that they do not allow children during weekends. But if show up at their place with children and say that it's your first time and you did not know then they might allow you.

How to go there?
Its on Sarjapur Road (Not the Sarjapur Ring road....the road which actually goes to Sarjapur). Please see the map.
Take the right after the More retail outlet on Sarjapur Road.

Contact - 55374471, 55374472

It's a must visit, especially for those who love coastal cuisine.

A poem on sparrows from sudhi_11in made me remember these little birds. Sparrows always remind me of old Bangalore of eighties and nineties. I remember feeding sparrows in my childhood on cold misty mornings. Now all three have vanished, the cold mornings, old Bangalore and the sparrows.

Long ago I had read an article in Outlook on the death of the sparrows. It was really sad and fascinating at the same time to learn how each small 'comfort' designed for humans, sound a death knell to other species around us. Mohammad Dilawar from Nashik has designed very simple feeders and nests which could encourage the sparrows to come back. I did some googling and found this link.
Last time when I checked this link, only house sparrow nests were available. Now there are host of nests for different birds.

Please do the needful, if you are interested. Maybe, one day chirping sparrows in your balcony will wake you up :).

P.S: M.S Gill (Our sports minister), used to keep some grains outside his home and guess what? One day he saw a family of Sparrows feeding on it. Now they are regular visitors to his home. This has increased the hopes of finding my beloved sparrow.

When came to US for the first time, couple of years ago, a typical automobile ad would be boasting about how a particular car is big, bad and brawny.  Now its interesting to see how the same manufacturers have changed their stance. Today I saw Chevy comparing itself to Toyota on the mileage stats. Even BMW are claiming they are the most efficient luxury cars in US. Come on from when did BMW start worrying about fuel efficiency? All the ads have a quote on the MPG. Good that these people are learning...Better late than never.

Seriously automobiles in US needs to be redesigned. The other day I hired a Mercury Grand Marquis. Its a premium segment car, the interiors were good, very comfortable. It had a 4.6 liter engine under its hood. Yes 4.6 liters. Does anybody need 4.6 liters to cruise at 70 miles all day?
I dont think so even 40% of the power is being used of that car and the auto gears reminded me of my Kinetic Honda days :).

I can get my Getz CRDI to US and have much more fun driving it.