Since this is my last week in Germany, I am in the middle of a frenzied packing and closure of all accounts blah..blah..So I havent had time to really blog (not that I was very regular anyway) but I am telling myself that once I am back in India, I will be a better blogger. So there will be no more updates until probably Aug 10th or so.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Friday, July 15, 2005
An act of Honesty
I think the Germans are one of the most honest and straight forward people I have ever met. Couple of days ago, a colleagues wife had lost her purse in one of the shopping malls with nearly 200 euros in it. The fact was that there was no form of identification in it. The only paper was a video library card.
Believe it or not, this person who found the purse actually took the pain to go to the video store to obtain the address so that he could go and post it to them. For my friends luck, this person recognized them when they went by his store and finally managed to give back the purse to him.
I dont think there are very many chances of this happening in India. Even if we are honest, we just wouldnt take the pains of finding the owner. This country amazes me for its values. It's quite sad that they are not able to adapt to the new fluid environment in the world as much as they would have liked to.
Believe it or not, this person who found the purse actually took the pain to go to the video store to obtain the address so that he could go and post it to them. For my friends luck, this person recognized them when they went by his store and finally managed to give back the purse to him.
I dont think there are very many chances of this happening in India. Even if we are honest, we just wouldnt take the pains of finding the owner. This country amazes me for its values. It's quite sad that they are not able to adapt to the new fluid environment in the world as much as they would have liked to.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Louvre Collage
Views from the Louvre.
Again an amazing museum. By no stretch of imagination am I a connoiseur of art. But Louvre manages to amaze you with the variety of paintings and scultptures. However, I did think that the Mona Lisa was one of the most hyped stories in the world. There were so many paintings which were probably more beautiful than the Mona Lisa and so it seemed strange that people only want to see the Mona Lisa. The room where the Mona Lisa was hung was so crowded while the rest of the museum had so less people. Quite a marketing success!!
Again an amazing museum. By no stretch of imagination am I a connoiseur of art. But Louvre manages to amaze you with the variety of paintings and scultptures. However, I did think that the Mona Lisa was one of the most hyped stories in the world. There were so many paintings which were probably more beautiful than the Mona Lisa and so it seemed strange that people only want to see the Mona Lisa. The room where the Mona Lisa was hung was so crowded while the rest of the museum had so less people. Quite a marketing success!!
Paris City Collage
As a last minute effort to remove an entry from my wishlist, I managed to make a weekend trip to Paris - one of the truly great cities of the world.
Definitely a city with 'character'.
When I came back from the trip, one of my friends asked me whether I liked Rome or Paris. To me, both of these were so very different and amazing in their own ways. Rome is all about history whereas Paris offers everything - history, style, class. Rome takes you to an era back. Being an ICSE student, I had to learn Julius Caesar during schooling and it left a deep impression on me (thanks to my english teacher). So when I saw the Roman Forum, I could sense the greatness of the city.
In Paris, you get the feeling that you are in one of the great cities of the world. The Eiffel Tower is again one of the places where you feel that this monument lives up to the reputation. The 3 days that I was over there went by so quickly. I would love to go back to Paris and spend a less hurried vacation and soak in the Parisian ambience.
Definitely a city with 'character'.
When I came back from the trip, one of my friends asked me whether I liked Rome or Paris. To me, both of these were so very different and amazing in their own ways. Rome is all about history whereas Paris offers everything - history, style, class. Rome takes you to an era back. Being an ICSE student, I had to learn Julius Caesar during schooling and it left a deep impression on me (thanks to my english teacher). So when I saw the Roman Forum, I could sense the greatness of the city.
In Paris, you get the feeling that you are in one of the great cities of the world. The Eiffel Tower is again one of the places where you feel that this monument lives up to the reputation. The 3 days that I was over there went by so quickly. I would love to go back to Paris and spend a less hurried vacation and soak in the Parisian ambience.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Emergency ahead?
Cho Ramaswamy is one of the most respected journalists today in the country. In this rediff interview, he says that it is the time for an emergency in India. In a country where we pride ourselves on being the beacon of democracy in the world, this may be a discordant voice. But sometimes, I think this is indeed true.
Yes, we have a vibrant democracy that is now pulling along nicely ahead based on economic principles. We guys however, I think, tend to become smug with our own little successes quickly thereby becoming complacent. At this point of time where we have got this great opportunity to become a great nation of the world, I think we are still being hampered by hidden agendas. Not that the chinese model is the best, but I think some kind of a shock treatment is required for the bureaucrats and the politicians.
Otherwise, there is no reason why a flyover at Airport Road in Bangalore should take close to 2 years now. A 'plan' to build an international airport should not take 7 years. These are the kind of things that are hampering us.
So maybe an emergency of sorts is the need of the hour now. I wouldnt take it as far to call for a dictatorial rule but some sort of a hybrid model is definitely required. That is the only way to ensure that we dont stay happy with a 6.5% growth rate when there are so many countries in the world which are growing faster than us including China.
I am sure there are a lot of good bureaucrats around in different positions who have been sidelined by petty politics of their superiors. A good corporate organization will have a system in place to utilize the best employees in the best possible manner. Likewise, I think there should be a way of bringing these good people to positions where they can be most effective. I know this is a utopian view, but maybe that is what an emergency rule can allow us to do.
Of course, the caveat is 'who will you trust the country with today amongst the political folks available?'
Yes, we have a vibrant democracy that is now pulling along nicely ahead based on economic principles. We guys however, I think, tend to become smug with our own little successes quickly thereby becoming complacent. At this point of time where we have got this great opportunity to become a great nation of the world, I think we are still being hampered by hidden agendas. Not that the chinese model is the best, but I think some kind of a shock treatment is required for the bureaucrats and the politicians.
Otherwise, there is no reason why a flyover at Airport Road in Bangalore should take close to 2 years now. A 'plan' to build an international airport should not take 7 years. These are the kind of things that are hampering us.
So maybe an emergency of sorts is the need of the hour now. I wouldnt take it as far to call for a dictatorial rule but some sort of a hybrid model is definitely required. That is the only way to ensure that we dont stay happy with a 6.5% growth rate when there are so many countries in the world which are growing faster than us including China.
I am sure there are a lot of good bureaucrats around in different positions who have been sidelined by petty politics of their superiors. A good corporate organization will have a system in place to utilize the best employees in the best possible manner. Likewise, I think there should be a way of bringing these good people to positions where they can be most effective. I know this is a utopian view, but maybe that is what an emergency rule can allow us to do.
Of course, the caveat is 'who will you trust the country with today amongst the political folks available?'
Sunday, July 03, 2005
A Fight against Poverty
Everytime I hear some major campaign against poverty, I tend to be very cynical about as it seems to be with every thing now a days. So when I hear about the Live8 concerts, I am kind of sceptical. The difference about this event is the scale of it. I have never seen a concerted action like this before. But will the momentum last or will the action started by a few righteous folks fall by the wayside after a few months.
Let us be realistic. Every natural disaster or crisis in the part of the world other than the developed nations have never got the level of attention it requires. There is always talk about it for a few months but then after a while, the world just moves on. We are just too self-centered to really bother about somebody dying in Mogadishu.
Like in the case of the Tsunami, $7 billion was pledged in aid. The regions havent seen more than 40% of it six months down the line. In fact, CNN regularly reports relief items stuck and perishing in warehouses just because of red tapism. That is ridiculous.
I do not think any such program can be a real success until the respective Governments are involved. Of course, it would be idealistic to think that suddenly one day, the governments would wake up and say hey we actually need to do some work. So I guess this is probably the best way forward.
However I salute those nameless folks who spend so much time on this without expecting to be on prime television. They are the true heroes.
Let us be realistic. Every natural disaster or crisis in the part of the world other than the developed nations have never got the level of attention it requires. There is always talk about it for a few months but then after a while, the world just moves on. We are just too self-centered to really bother about somebody dying in Mogadishu.
Like in the case of the Tsunami, $7 billion was pledged in aid. The regions havent seen more than 40% of it six months down the line. In fact, CNN regularly reports relief items stuck and perishing in warehouses just because of red tapism. That is ridiculous.
I do not think any such program can be a real success until the respective Governments are involved. Of course, it would be idealistic to think that suddenly one day, the governments would wake up and say hey we actually need to do some work. So I guess this is probably the best way forward.
However I salute those nameless folks who spend so much time on this without expecting to be on prime television. They are the true heroes.
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