Road to Progress - 4

I am very thrilled with the “Swach Bharat” initiative launched by the Prime Minister of India on October 2, 2014 on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhiji’s birthday.  It is a laudable effort.  It was the need of the hour.  It had to be done.  Somebody had to think of it.  Someone had to lead it.  I always wonder why nobody thought of it ever before.  All previous exercises remained at statement declarations.  Action has always been missing. 

The Aam Aadmi Party, which had the broom as the symbol, used it to focus only on cleansing the political arena.  It never capitalised on the opportunity to rid India of the dirt that you see everyday.  The Prime Minister is not afraid that the political party whose election symbol is the broom would get advantage of it.  There is no way they would be able to leverage it.  The tool was their’s but somebody used it effectively.

There is a lot to gain from this Initiative. Politician’s earlier had talked about converting Mumbai into Shanghai.  That dream is very far from reality.  Tall, glossy buildings do not make a city.  Its basic infrastructure needs to be supportive of that.  One could see a lot of tourists flocking to Mumbai to see its beautiful heritage.  Their numbers have decreased over the years.  Those who do come are on business purpose and there is a difference between the real tourist and the business traveller.

Coming back to the point of “Swach Bharat”.  There is hope that the living conditions of Indian’s will improve. This should lead to people inculcating good habits.   Littering the road with garbage, will hopefully stop.  People will also stop spitting on the roads, from the trains and busses and out of their residential windows.

The real need of this Swach Bharat Abhiyan is not the urban corners of the elite.  It should be targeted rightly at the slum areas.  The Prime Minister did the right thing by launching the initiative from a neglected residential colony and not taking up the Raj Ghat area or other already clean spaces.  Let us hope that the mission planned to spread over five years continues with the same momentum with which it started.  We hope that college students will also take part in this initiative with the same vigour and not become some sort of an article in their annual report.

Just like the Aam Aadmi Party which focussed on cleaning the country of scams and underhand political dealings, but with little success, the Swach Bharat initiative should not only focus on cleanliness of roads and public spaces, building toilets, urinals but it needs to have a multi-dimensional approach.  This could include creating awareness and importance of cleanliness and hygiene in public and private spaces, keeping the country litter free and this can be done through awareness by using the available medium of communication like television, radio and FM channels, street plays to be conducted by theatre groups which could be sponsored by Corporates, stricter enforcement of rules and heavy penalties to defaulters.  Our tourist places need more attention.  They need to be cleaned all the more because people come to see those spots and not the garbage there is.  Hawkers who sell their wares must be made responsible for proper disposal of whatever is left of the packaging after its consumption.  Proper toilet facilities are required there because in their absence, the people resort to open defecation.  Ladies face the most difficult in relieving themselves and that must be a priority.

Let us extend the Swach Bharat initiative to clean the country of so many ills that it is currently suffering from:

• Let us clean corruption from India and make it scam free.
• Let us clean our hearts from the ill-wills that we carry for each other
• Let us clean our mindsets of all biases against the girl child
• Let us clean our nation from the ills of dowry and its related issues.
• Let us clean our judiciary from any political influence or bias of any kind.  Let the judicial process be quick, clean and transparent.  Judiciary is where India’s population have hopes of justice.
• Let us clean our Law Enforcement systems, i.e. the police free from political interference.  Give them a free hand at their task because; a) they are trained for that role; b) they are professional people who should know how to handle a specific situation.  Let us treat them as professionals to, which they are not at present.  The police do not appear as professionals, their morale is on a all-time low, their body language is not positive and always seem under pressure.  Let’s give them a free hand and see for ourselves it impact.
• Let us give our education system.  Our children deserve good education, that is skill based, is practical, is future oriented and employment oriented.
• Let us clean our health care system right from basic health care to tertiary health care and super-speciality.  Let us stop commercial health care organisations from overcharging, from medical malpractices, commissions and practices of receiving kick-backs from the business generated by each other. 
• Let us clean our nation from regional biases.  We are all Indians and must confirm to one belief of a strong and united India.
• Let us offer clean and safe transportation system, specially in the rural areas where masses of people travel in boxes which are poor on maintenance, driven by drunk drivers.  Let’s clean our roads from vehicular obstructions, potholes, encroachments, reduce the number of accidents and the number of deaths caused due to accidents through all modes of transport, i.e. road and train.  Let’ have clean toilets in trains, at State Transport Bus stations, schools, colleges, government institutions.

If all this is accomplished, we will definitely have a Swach Swarg Bharat.

Countrymen, please do your bit.  Not for the photo-opportunity or as a mark of tokenism but as a responsibility that you have towards your nation.

Road to Progress - 3

In my previous blog, I wrote about the autorickshaw (the three-wheeled vehicle used for transportation in India and some parts of Asia but referred by other names).  It is also referred to as Samosa (because an Indian stuffed snack food item is three cornered), a tempo, atuk-tuk, a trishaw, an autorick, a bajaj, a rick, a tricycle, a mototaxi, a baby taxi or lapa in popular parlance.  An auto rickshaw is a usually three-wheeled cabin cycle for private use and as a vehicle for hire.  These three wheeled vehicles are also used in the form of goods transport vehicle, optimal for ferrying goods in small quantities.

The autorickshaw is legendary in a sense.  It has featured not only in Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and other Indian movies but has even been featured in the Bond Movie Octopussy.  In another movie shot in an another Asian country, the other form of tuk-tuk has been used.  In the UK it is quite a craze but the government will not allow it on safety reasons.  More of it later.

The autorickshaw is a very convenient and affordable means of transport and carry three people and the driver as per the transport authorities.  Three at the rear and one at the handle.  However, this get flouted in big way in cities and towns outside Mumbai where sometimes, you see five or even more than five adjusting themselves to be transported over dirt roads, rural roads an all types of terrain.  Even in some places in Mumbai, you can find the 3+1 rule being flouted right under the scanning eye of the policemen. 

The autorickshaw was perhaps introduced at a time when cars were expensive and personal transportation was way too expensive.  The reach of public transport was not as extensive and also it provided employment opportunities to the uneducated, unskilled youth, people who had to give away their horse driven carts because they were banned in the city and people who could find no other form of employment.  Some autorickshaw drivers have upgraded themselves, some have become owners, some are still driving, some own a fleet of rickshaws of their own, some are driving taxis, some have gone into petty business, others have retired and a new bunch of youngsters join the ranks of autorickshaw drivers.  Travelling in a group of two or more became more economical because the cost got distributed.  Travel time was reduced because you could go from point to point swiftly.  The autorickshaw could easily be meandered between tight lanes and narrow spaces.  Sometimes they were an irritant to the pedestrians as they would be dodged around.  Autorickshaw became a status symbol.  Along came the unions and some got spoilt, refusing fares, overcharging, fleecing passengers by taking longer routes, not carrying enough change and then fussing over the difference over the extra charge for post-midnight service.  Then came the point to point sharing which was pocket-friendly on the passengers, almost at the cost or a little extra than the public transportation fare.

While all this is routine stuff, what I want to bring out here today is something different and at the same time perhaps highlight how the law differentiates between two classes of people.

Until the era of Premier Padmini and Ambassador taxis, the law was lenient because the technology was new.  With the arrival of Maruti 800, the rules started changing.  The Maruti 800 model introduced bucket seats in the car, probably for the first time in India.  It also offered as a standard feature the driver side and the passenger side seat belt.  The transport authorities made it mandatory for all vehicle drivers to fasten the seat-belt while driving.  Initially, it was compulsory for the passenger at the front but now nobody remembers.  I remember, traffic police looking out desperately for drivers not wearing seat belts and they would be issued challans for whatever was the form of punishment.  Some people obliged while others saw it as a hindrance, not realising its importance.  The common argument was that seat belts are a nuisance, they hinder the driver’s movements, getting out and then getting in create a lot of difficult.  The best one was that a car in Mumbai (let’s for the moment be referenced only to Mumbai) hardly gets to go over say 60 and the seat belt would effectively function at high speed and a strong impact.  In Mumbai’s traffic, it was never going to be the case.  Gradually they learnt and adopted because people realised its importance and that it was in their safety and interest to wear the seat belt.  As of today, the policeman is on the look out for dark tinted windows, using cell phone while driving, not wearing seat belt, etc. but happily the incidence of violaters has reduced.

Now this brings us to the importance aspect of equality in the eyes of the law.  Even today, you will find, mini-tempo drivers not wearing seat belt.  Even the second best public transport system in the world, the BEST busses do not have seat belts for their drivers.  Their (driver’s) seats are also a sham in the name of comfort.  The best, the medium and heavy trucks may have standard feature on their products but none of them is seen wearing.  In Mumbai, trucks carrying heavy vehicles zoom across on the state express highways and many vehicles meet with severe accidents.

My concern is that why is the law stringent on four wheel private passenger cars (include the yellow and black and now the radio cabs) while it is completely lax on four-wheeled medium and heavy sized transport vehicles, schools and private busses, auto-vehicles?  Is their safety not a concern for the government?

Other aspects which I would like to touch upon about autorickshaws are its engine noise, not having doors to ensure safety of the passengers, be it rains or just being exposed to articles that can comine flinging right at you, how people squeeze in the small sized rear seat but require more and more space at the rear of the car and complain about how small the car is.  Seating in a passenger car is a status symbol but travelling in an autorickshaw is majboori (having been left with no choice, have to save money, travel quick to short distances, etc.) Is there a mindset problem or what is it? 

If India is a developing country, shouldn’t we have the same rules applicable to all?  Should not there be safer means of transportation for the citizens?

Road to Progress – 2

I was walking on the road (Yes. It is difficult to walk on the sidewalks or footpaths as they are called in India and we will talk about the reasons a little later) and suddenly I feel a light shower of droplets over my head and clothes.  I look up and see the sky is quite clear and the strong sun shining as if doing its business.  I was left wondering where did the droplets of water come from.  I looked around just as a public transport bus passed me at great speed and realised that some idiot sitting at the window side and eating PAAN had spitted out the juice and part of which had fallen on me.  Imagine, I had just showered, put on my clothes, perfumed myself and had left to go to work and this happens.  My clothes had been soiled and paan stains leave strong marks on your clothes.  So temporarily, these clothes would not be in circulation.  They would have to go to the laundry for dry cleaning and the launderer would also not guarantee a stain-free garment.  So that would be the first and the second casualty, first being the additional cost of laundry and second being the loss of one pair of clothes to wear out a set of clothes which I have maintained for routine wear.  With these stained clothes, forget going to office, there was no way I would be going to continue going where I was.  So I turned back to come home for a change of clothes.  Carrying on walking on the road with pan stains all over you would have been a huge challenge with people staring at you, thinking what kind of a moron you are, how did you get and it giggling away happily.  So I called for an autorickshaw (a three wheeled vehicle private transport available for hire) and headed home.  This was the third financial loss I incurred for no fault of mine and the only risk I took was to walk on the road.  I come home, shower (even usage of additional water is a loss), change in to a new set of clothes.  My wife is happy to ask me a barrage of questions – who was it, why didn’t you do something, etc. etc.) and I have absolutely no answers to those. 

I had to reach office by 10.00 a.m. and I am still at home at 11.30 a.m.  Since I am late to reach office, I again hire an autorickshaw (this is my fourth financial loss).  I reach office by 12.45 and my boss looks at me as if I am a citizen of Mars and hired ISROs Mission on Mar’s orbiter and landed up at his office.  He tells me that I am late, very late and that is unacceptable.  I try to explain to him the reason for being late which is completely unacceptable to him.  He shouts at the HR to mark me half a day’s casual leave in my leave records.  I am already running short of leave which I will require for the festivals and many occasions that will follow one after the other till the next year starts.  This means that any additional leaves that I will take will be marked as excess and pay will be deducted from my salary.  This is the fifth financial loss that I have incurred for no fault of mine.  The moron who threw caution to the wind and spat out like a carefree bird’s droppings must have reached his destination at no extra cost other than the cost of bus ticket and here I am in complete misery and incurring financial loss, one after the other.  I also don’t know how many other people he may have blessed from his window seat.  Just like the government has enforced no smoking in public places, why is there no restriction on consuming or chewing paan in public places and public vehicles.  It is such a pathetic site to even see the rich sitting in their expensive vehicles, their drivers happily spitting on the road side as if they have paid taxes and have a right to do so.  When will this stop?  Who will stop? How did it come to this state? Who is responsible for this mess?  Yes, the public is definitely responsible for this mess but is there anybody else who will take up responsibility for this? 

People are now sharing on WhatsApp with their names, taking a vow that they will not throw garbage on the road or spit on the road, etc.  Now this is very stupid.  All these people, okay I am sorry, most of these people who are using the latest technology are educated, qualified, mature, living in modern spaces, modern world, good apartments and colonies.  My taking a vow not to do so, they are admitting that they have been throwing garbage all around them carelessly.  Shouldn’t they be punished right away?  Shouldn’t they be sent for counselling?  Did their teachers and parents not do a good job of teaching them civic sense?  Technology brings culture of other countries and places into your home through television, mobile phones, internet, people who tell you stories about their visits abroad.  Didn’t you learn anything from them?  When you know it is a bad practice, why are you doing it?  Why wait for a Government to create awareness and then take action?  What does it tell us?  Where is the problem?  Interestingly, the magnitude of this problem is very huge, it is across the country.  It is so widespread that it will be difficult to eradicate it.  There have been transformations like people do not smoke in public places but the number of smokers is, by contrast, very small.  Here, every Indian is used to this habit and tantamount to not respecting the country, not respecting where you live and from where you earn your sustenance.  Our living spaces are precious to us.  We keep them clean so why have these double standards for your own private spaces and for public places?

Coming back to why I was walking on the footpath or sidewalk, there is reason to it.  In fact there are many reasons and I will list a few of them here.  The urban sidewalks, first of all, have become a thing of the past.  People are more used to walking on the streets than on the sidewalks.  Over the years, the local municipality has attempted to make the roads wider and therefore has reduced the width of the sidewalk.  This reduced sidewalk will full of hawkers and you have to literally wiggle out whilst walking. Stores extend the permissible size of their store to extend their counters for display leaving absolutely no space for walking.  I wonder if they want customers to walk on the sidewalks and then walk into their stores or to stay away from the store as much as possible by not leaving any space to pedestrians.  Yes, you sometimes see domestic animals squatting happily, encroaching upon the citizen’s space.  Third, you will find beggars occupying a large space of road.  Fourth, you will see key-makers, food stalls, bhelwala, pani-puriwala, shoe-repairer (mocha), the imitation jewelery seller selling his stuff, with people surrounding them, blocking the limited space on the sidewalk.  Businessmen who have stores and the outside road is earmarked as a No Parking zone, will have their motorcycles parked on the footpaths.  Then there are open manholes and with the modern day high level corruption on sidewalk tiling, you will see popped out interlocking tiles, some have just broken down, other have not been laid properly, other are just missing from their missing leaving large cavities.  At some places, there is just no footpath.  You have to walk on the road, whether you like it or not.  With children in tow, this becomes very difficult.  I could go on because the list is very long. 

When will the Municipal Authorities create good dedicated areas known as footpaths or sidewalks for citizen to be away from the burgeoning number of vehicles on the road?  Isn’t that a part of citizen facility?  Why are we so careless? Why are we accepting all this nonsense from a government which is expected to provide citizens with facilities that enhance their safety?  Why are the sidewalks not free from extended stores, encroachments, impediments and uneven surfaces?

Mumbai, the financial capital of India is now in a state of shame.

Road To Progress - 1

The Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is giving what people were all the time desirous of.  He has given so many mantra’s and people are lapping it up.  He is showing people that there is hope.  There is hope for a better life, hope for a good environment to live in, hope for prosperity and economic progress.  People are fed up of living within financial constraints.  The world has become aspirational.  While the India’s rich have aspirations to conquer and dominate the world stage, the poor want to do more than just survive.

The Prime Minister’s mantras are not new but their coinage is effective.  It throws a spell and people are falling in awe.  But if you take a deep look, they have a lot of meaning attached to it.  Speed, Skill and Scale was one which describes the way India should go ahead if it has to, forget the outer world and become and economic superpower, help India’s population to prosper internally.  Even if they do business internally within India with this mission, they will achieve great heights.  This mission statement has lot of deeper meaning to it because we have now got very used to the “Chalta hai” (it’s ok, who cares) kind of attitude.  “Chalta hai”, interpreted could mean: 1) It’s ok, we will do it at our own pace; 2) let’s compromise on the materials; 3) Let’s compromise on the quality; 4) let’s compromise on the workmanship; 5) let’s do some additional cheating; 6) let’s not put more effort; 7) how will the customer know what we have not given him; 8) he is not going to be our repeat customer, so any poor quality product or service will do, and so on.  This Chalta Hai attitude has to change, and has to change fast.  If not, it will affect our image the global level.  People will seek products from abroad.  Earlier, people were crazy for Japanese, British and American products.  Then we saw a demand for Indian products and now Chinese products have conquered.  Name the product and you will see a Chinese product.

Combined with the “Make in India” Mantra, the “Speed, Skill and Scale” concept have to potential to take India to the next level in terms of its own economic progress.  The market in India is huge and products that are manufactured in India will be consumed here itself.  So market and consumption is not an issue.  Manufacturing has to pick up and for that to happen, the government must ease the norms for doing business.  In the coming days, it would be interesting to see how the plans unfold.  Much has been said about what should be done and what has not been done.  But now the time is for the government machinery to work together, iron out the differences, work in synergy with each other.  The Prime Minister must ensure that the Speed, Size and Scale mantra must start from the government departments first.  The scale is there in terms of the huge number of employees (here we will not question the performance), the format and structure is there.  They need to deliver things with SPEED.  How will the Prime Minister bring in accountability of these babu’s will be interesting to see.  The PM and his office may have control over the Central Government ministries and they may be able to drive it in mission mode, but when it comes to the machinery at the State and Municipal level, it will collapse completely.

I am left wondering as to why previous governments could not think of all these simple aspects all the while they were in office. India could have achieved so much progress.  These kind of activities do not require legislative procedures and the opposition would have been floored completely.  This gives rise to another point that creativity in political field also has become very important.  Creativity was the domain of artists in the field of fine arts, advertising and related field.  But just by being creative, so much can be achieved.  There is positivity in the environment, stock market is bullish, people are talking about it and there is energy flowing all around.  And the best part is nothing on the ground level has changed yet but people are hoping that it will, very soon.

Indians are looking up with hope for a better tomorrow.

Using your resources effectively

Does thinking of cool things in the severe heat of summer make life better?

The heat here in Mumbai is getting severe and is becoming intolerable.  The humidity in the air adds to the discomfort.  Getting out in the sun to commute to work or for other errands adds to your woes.  Waiting for a train or a bus drains your energy.  Imagine you've just showered, sprayed the best of deo's and Italian perfumes or Ether and the moment you step out of the house, you are drenched in sweat, starting to gradually stink for our underarms.

The objective here is not to get completely lost or get overwhelmed by the over-powering thought but to be realistic and accept things as they are.  All seasons have their own benefits and nothing can be foregone for the other.   While those living in the northern hemisphere crave for a streak of sunshine, people living in the equatorial region crave for relief from the scorching sunshine.

What one can do is to make the best of the available resources - if you are given an egg -make an omelet  Don't try to make an ice-cream out of it.  Judicious use of resources has two benefits - (1) you don't have to try hard finding them because they are right there in front of you;  and (2) there is knowledge already available of what can be made it of it so use that to your advantage.

The world has progressed on this entire concept. Intellectuals have said - do not try to reinvent the wheel where the wheel has advanced so much that if you continue the pursuit of developing the wheel all over again, you will be left much behind while the world would have progressed by leaps and bounds.

It is important to keep up with the times and build on that.  Not everybody is gifted with this advantage and on the other hand everyone is. The only difference is that while people with no such advantage go all out and convert their dismays and disappointments into their advantage, people with clear advantage and opportunities right in front of their eyes are not able to see them.  Not many are able to see opportunities knock at their door-steps while others start looking at the backdoor where there isn't any opportunity.

God has gifted us with immense values and gifts.  They are all inbuilt and have come as a package deal with we the mortals never introspect to evaluate our skills and resources.  Some people don't learn after receiving major shocks and tragedies of their life.  Others, and those are the intelligent ones are able to learn from other's failures and mistakes.

Opportunity and Failures are just perceptions and figments of imagination.  Both are invisible and just state of a person's mind.

Our creator wants us to progress in life, use our intellectual capacity go make this life on earth a better place to live in.  Are we playing our role effectively?  Are we doing justice to our roles that has been given to us?

Get wiser, look harder, grow from what you were yesterday.  If you are what you were yesterday, you have not learning anything, you have not attempted to fulfill your expectations.

The Sunday Truth!