Satyam or Mityam

The entire business world was agog yesterday about Satyam's deals fiasco. My andhra colleague, a Reddy, had once told me that any Telugu family's ideal groom would be a 'Satyam' employee working in US. Well, needless to say, those families will be a worried lot. Looking back at what happened, if anyone can pull off such a coup, its Premji, but I guess he has better business sense than the stalwarts in Satyam Board of Directors. I wonder if the board had a momentary memory lapse while approving such deals. Read on.

NRI's work is God's work

In the days of yore, it was the Maharajas who patronised temple building during the height of their powers. Mahabalipuram, Hampi’s Virupaksha, Ashoka’s Sarnath pillar are a few examples. Now that we have a democracy, I thought that the mantle is taken over by our politicians. After all, ‘Government’s work is God’s work’, declares Vidhana Soudha. But I guess it’s the NRIs who are the neo-Kings. With financial support from Non-Resident Indians, the state government plans to renovate 500 temples in Coastal Karnataka and Udupi. A welcome move considering that even now, in many small villages, economies revolve around the temples. Read on.

Checkmate on terror

Every Indian has been deeply affected by terrorist's attack on Mumbai. I couldn't beleive my eyes when I saw the Taj burning; the same Taj I had visited a few months back. Then the gateway area had a bazaar like atmosphere and now it was bizarre. So how do you hit back without a war that'll wipe away south asia with nuclear weapons? I read this enlightening article by an IIMB professor to how to hit back its economy. It makes sense. After all if the economy tanks, how will ISI raise its funds for the terror outfits?

A moment of hesitation

I stood in front of Kanti Sweets, a place that we frequent for its excellent badam (almond) milkshake. Cajoling my two-year old to have a glass of badam milk takes a lot of patience(unless your two-year old is goody-goody and laps up all the milk like they show on some TV ads). That was when I saw her. Sitting in front of the shop, she looked old, wrinkled and nondescript. She was just one of the millions of beggars we see in the city and choose to ignore. While my kid drank a few sips and I couldn't help looking at her. She was definitely hungry and had I had offered her a milkshake, she'd have finished it in a gulp. Many thoughts rushed past me. There are so beggars in the city and how many could one help? Also this old lady might be controlled by some ringleader who takes a percentage of her earnings.

Just then, interuppting my train of thoughts, a guy, maybe in his thirties, rushed out of the shop with a plate of hot parantha and asked her if she wanted it. The old lady just gobbled the whole steaming parantha while he watched on. Once she finished, he handed the plate back to the server, came out of the shop and asked her if she needed help in walking across the street, as he was headed that way. He led her out of the place gently like he would to his own family.

I could have done the same thing - its just that I hesitated. Many of us have this dilemma. Should we help the beggars or encourage begging? Many a times I've felt giving money to a lady, holding an infant, but checked my sympathy thinking that this might be a 'borrowed' baby to increase her earnings given from the soft-hearted middle class. So what is the right thing to do? I would say act what you feel at that moment, like this man who bought the old lady a dinner. Give food, atleast that wont go the ones who control the racket.

Road rage

I still have the license number of his car on my mobile! Last week, there was a political rally in our city that created a traffic chaos in many areas, especially north Bangalore. Traffic came to a standstill thanks to our local politician who showed his power by bringing in 4000 busloads of rural families in our tiny conjested city roads for his political speech at Palace grounds. The result, traffic jam right from Cunningham road until the Airport. Any vehicle headed north would have been stuck for atleast 5-6 hours on the road before reaching home. Ours was also the one of the unfortunate ones.

But thats not the point. On such a day where everyone from the commuters to the traffic police were on their edge, I want to write about the only road rage instance I met. It was not from the usual auto-driver, but from a well-to-do educated and beefy bugger. He not only shouted at our chaffeur;when I raised my voice, he asked me to shut up and raised his car window. As his car went ahead, I saw 'Coorg wildlife security' sticker on it. His license number is KA04 MF 3915. I wonder if the Coorg animals are as wild as this dude.

Lakes Development - Misguided policy says Forest Department

Sometime back, I had written about Hebbal lake deterioration and Nagavara lake commercialisation. I had also mentioned in the comments about the recent fencing and deweeding happening recently at the Hebbal lake. There's an excellent article in www.citizenmatters.in on this issue. Read on.

City of Power cuts

“There will be no power from 9 AM to 4 PM in the following areas -”, a small column on the second page in the newspaper announced innocuously. A column that my father read only after the power did not come back in an hour. My mother fretted over the fact that had she seen the news item, she could have filled all the water bottles with sufficient drinking water.
As the day goes by, the mood is pronouncedly morose and they cast anxious looks at the clock. At four in the evening, there is still no power; it comes at five and plays hide and seek until seven pm. In effect, there has been a power outage for the entire day in many parts of the city. This was yesterday. Karnataka Electricity Board had scheduled power shut downs for the maintenance work, upgrading work etc in most parts of East and North Bangalore.

Karnataka was once a model state, not only to our country, but also for all English colonies. Bangalore was the first city in India to get Electricity. We have come a long way from there. Now power outages seem to be a regular affair, especially in summer since we generate electricity through hydro projects. This summer however, the government bought extra power from Jindal and promised that there will not be any power cuts in the city/state. However, it is more a quick fix solution. The city’s growth is exponential and so is its power demands. We cannot manage with hydro electricity alone. We should expand or innovate. A few thoughts on how we manage our power crisis.

IT Think Tank:

This is a technology city of the country. IT sector have huge business knowledge of power generation and transportation from working for power clients across the globe. If the IT sector and the present government collaborate, they can produce a long-term solutions.

Power Generation Plant for Bangalore:

We should have a separate power generation plant for the city. Bangalore's growth in the last few decades has been tremendous. Its power needs have also increased hugely. We should stop usurping more than our share of the state's power. WHy not have a separate plant in Bangalore for Bangalore.

Underground Electric Cables:

Every monsoon, there is a power cut when it rains heavily. The KEB fears that the overhead transformers or cables might break and hence better live in the dark and be safe. Even the new residential layouts that abound in the Airport vicinity use the older technology. Why dont we look towards underground network rather than overhead cables. We pay higher taxes, cess, compared to the rest of the metros; use this for developmental benefits for the city.

I hope the new government, which has special plans for the city executes its promises. I hope our city becomes a model for the country now just like in past. And I hope for our sake, that the party holds the office for its full term and is not brought down in a number game by its rivals.