To regret or not to regret…

Ever thought, what is it like to have a life without regrets? Does it mean that you keep badgering on something or some situation, someone until you get what you want? How irritating/nice is that? And why do we regret? Is it because, we feel guilty for achieving something others have not or guilty that we have not achieved what we should have, as per our wishes?

Is it like going after something that you want even though the ones at the receiving end would not really like to see you around? Where does irritating begins and go-getting attitude ends. Or just simply, where does the path of following your dreams end? Does it ever end or does it just transposes to a different path and dream after dream blends into, dissolves into another in a seamless manner?

Have you ever wished that you could have probably tried something a bit more harder and you could have clinched it?

Does having no regrets mean running yourself down? Or becoming a doormat? What is it like to desperately want something though all logic and everything tells you that it is not going to happen the way you want it? Been there? Felt that?

What is right for someone is wrong for another or it is not just meant for you.

There are several times that I wish whether things can be just black and white. Or maybe that kind of world would remain colourless. More than the black and white it is probably the gray that makes life exciting or confusing, despairing. And is it the despair and confusion that makes life, LIFE?

Even after pushing your limits, would there ever come a time, when you wish that you could have done things differently – may be, some other day in some other thought process – perhaps, a case of wrong day, wrong place? Wouldn't that be a brand of regret by itself?

There comes a time in everyone's life where you feel like a glass of soda. There is bubble after bubble rising up to the top of your conscious mind. And the bubbles don’t go pop. They just keep simmering. If that is ever possible. Well simmering bubbles in soda.. Wow, what a thought..

The problem is the bubbles don't come one by one. Several come at a time. And it becomes impossible to miss any of them – the onslaught rather. Sometimes the intensity is almost like someone is going amuck with a machine gun - only that the firing is from inside you., keeps popping up till it decided enough and settles down…

Have you tried making a straw stick to the bottom of a glass filled with soda? And the bubbles will stick to them and you will wonder what happened to the stick/straw that you had put in. If you let it go, the stick/straw will bob up and eventually fall out of the glass, on to the table. With all the unrest within trying to keep your wits about you is a lot like pinning the straw down. Quite an exercise!!

It is but a bubble, once it goes pop, there are going to be no remnants.. But that’s the issue. It is like each bubble has a center filled with color fast liquid. The bubble goes pop. It leaves a mark. And each mark is like a snowflake. Unique. Unmatched.

The biggest mark right now is the bubble of no-regrets.

And a lot of times these bubbles make you ask questions to answers that you do not yet know. Murky? You bet.

Music – Is it dying?

People keep saying that music is dying and the current era of music is no match to the golden era of 60s & 70s. While there is truth to an extent to this, importantly, for me music will never die. Let me state, before I write further, I am no expert in music and these are purely personal opinion based on my experience and what I have seen & heard.

Earlier, music used to be played only at certain locations (concerts/cinemas/radios) and hence, viewers could get to listen only in parts and that too infrequently when they get chance. Now, public has plenty of choices, they can store the same music in their mobile/Ipods/laptops/pen drives/CDs and can hear it any number of times in a single day. From personal experience, I have the same song in my mobile, laptop & pen drive, and play it as per convenience. If viewers could hear a song once a week earlier (50 times a year), now they can play the song in loop and hear it 50 times in a single day.

Because of infrequent hearing, the longevity of a song was longer earlier and it has definitely shrunk now. Also, the purity of music now is not the same as earlier, lot of copying (imbibing as some would say), mixing n matching music without bothering whether it improves the quality or not are also having negative impact.

These points apply to films also. Earlier films used to run for 175+ days (golden jubilee/diamond jubilee etc), but if a film runs for 25 days now, it is declared hit. Again this is due to frequent viewing, large scale release etc., which are the same with music too.

Having said that, good music will live long. People who look for purity, quality and lovers of karnatic music still throng the December music festival. So much that, there is demand for passes and good singers/musicians are booked in advance (some time the previous year itself).

Music is like the river – It will keep flowing and will take the shape & colour through which it passes. If it was all about classical music earlier, it is all about westernization, imbibing the rock & pop culture now. If we heard only classical music earlier, now we get to hear and enjoy wide range of music.

As they say, we Indians need music in some form for every occasion – be it birth or marriage or death and this will not change for years/decades to come.

BEST services in Mumbai

Happened to travel through BEST bus through one of the busiest roads in Mumbai – LBS Road and it left me wondering, how difficult it must be for its drivers.

Some of the challenges to the BEST bus driver that I noticed during my travel were – Autos driving all around with no signals for left/right turns, pedestrians crossing the road anywhere it pleases them, traffic jams at all times and for hours together, and the drivers still using the same route knowing very well that they will get stuck in traffic for hours, braving engine heat in hot summers and sitting in the seat for 6-7 hours, taking over 2 hours to travel 10+ Kms distance (origin to destination), commuters complain about buses being late, not stopping at bus stops… The list goes on…

Also while talking to one of the driver, got to know that they make just one round trip per day, which itself takes over 6 hours. And then, there are complaints that there are not enough buses and are not maintained properly.

Should we then call it BEST or WORST?

Online Freedom – is it declining?

Over the past decade, the influence of internet as a means to spread information and challenge existing media controls has rapidly expanded. Being online these days is not only about emails, it also includes all modes of communication – Facebook, Whatsapp, BBM, Twitter, Nimbus, Yahoo Messengers, Google Talk, Wechat, Viber, Youtube, blogs… the mode is huge and widespread.

As events in the Middle East in 2011 demonstrated, the internet has also emerged as a crucial medium through which citizens can mobilize and advocate for political, social, and economic reform, sometimes for positive development and sometimes to spread rumour and hatred. Fearing the power of new technologies, authoritarian states have devised subtle and not-so-subtle ways to filter, monitor, and otherwise obstruct or manipulate the openness of the internet. Even a number of democratic states have considered or implemented various restrictions in response to the potential legal, economic, and security challenges raised by new media.

10 MOST COMMONLY USED TYPES OF INTERNET CONTROL 

1. Blocking and filtering
2. Cyber-attacks against regime critics
3. New laws and arrests
4. Paid pro-government commentators
5. Physical attacks and murder
6. Surveillance - electronic
7. Takedown illegal content and deletion requests
8. Blocking social media and communications apps
9. Intermediary (like Internet Service Providers, Hosting services, Webmasters) liability
10. Throttling or shutting down service

Though India was largely liberal on this till couple of years ago, the case has turned around with Government resorting to all type of controls of online freedom for varying reasons.

• In Aug 2012, Indian Government blacklisted social media accounts, for causing spread of rumours and calm simmering sectarian tensions between indigenous Bodo community and Muslim settlers in Assam, which apparently led to mass exodus from cities like Mumbai, Pune & Bangalore.
• In 2012, Government authorities placed a ban on sending bulk SMS messages, so as to avoid spreading of rumours.
• Also in Nov 2012, Mumbai police arrested a woman for complaining on Facebook about widespread traffic and service disruptions in Palghar to mark the death of Bal Thackerey. The woman’s friend, who “liked” the comment, was also arrested.

Media reports now state that India is showing the biggest decline when it comes to Internet freedom. All along, people were getting comfortable to air their views and follow leaders on internet. And now, with these clamps & restrictions, this is seriously getting impacted. Of course, internet freedom does not give right to abuse others, parody accounts and hiding behind some nameless/faceless and attacking others. But any sort of restrictions should not take away the liberty and bring down the medium that is helping in bringing closer people across geographies and improve ties.

India Vs China - Sustainability of Growth

India and China have both been recognized for rapid economic growth. But India’s growth pattern is dramatically different. China has a global reputation for exporting manufactured goods. It has experienced a manufacturing-led growth. India has side-stepped the manufacturing sector, and made the big leap straight from agriculture into services. Their differences in growth patterns are striking. They raise big questions in development economics. Can developing countries jump straight from agriculture into services? Can services be as dynamic as manufacturing? Can late-comers to development take advantage of the globalization of service? Can services be a driver of sustained growth, job creation, and poverty reduction?

India’s growth pattern in the 21st century is remarkable because it contradicts a seemingly iron law of development that has held true for almost two hundred years since the start of the Industrial Revolution. This law – which is now conventional wisdom – says that industrialization is the only route to rapid economic development for developing countries.

China and India: The race to growth

First it was China. The rest of the world looked on in disbelief, then awe, as Chinese economy began to take off in 1980s at what seemed like lightning speed and the country positioned itself as a global economic power. GDP growth, driven largely by manufacturing, rose to 9.9 percent in 2010 after reaching 8.7 percent in 2009. China used its vast reservoirs of domestic savings to build an impressive infrastructure and sucked in huge amounts of foreign money to build factories and to acquire the expertise it needed. It continues to receive large amount of foreign direct investment – more than any other country in quite a few years.

India began its economic transformation almost a decade after China did but has grabbed just as much attention by early 2000s, prompted largely by the number of jobs transferred to it from the West. At the same time, the country rapidly created world-class businesses in knowledge-based industries such as software, IT services, and pharmaceuticals. These companies, which emerged with little government assistance, helped propel the economy: GDP growth stood at 10.1 percent in 2010, up from 7.4 percent in 2009. But India's level of foreign direct investment is a fraction of China's.

Both countries still have serious problems: India has poor roads and insufficient water and electricity supplies, policy paralysis all of which could thwart its development; China has massive bad bank loans that will have to be accounted for. The contrasting ways in which China and India are developing, manufacturing vs services, prompt debate about whether one country has a better approach to economic development and will eventually emerge as the stronger.

But can service-led growth be sustained?

Service-led growth is sustainable because the globalization of services is just the tip of the iceberg. Services are the largest sector in the world, accounting for more than 70% of global output. The service revolution has altered the characteristics of services. Services can now be produced and exported at low cost. The old idea of services being non-transportable, non-tradable, and non-scalable no longer holds for a range of modern impersonal services. Developing countries can sustain service-led growth as there is a huge room for catch up and convergence.

The Services Revolution could upset three long-held tenets of economic development. First, services have long been thought to be driven by domestic demand. They could not by themselves drive growth, but instead followed growth. In the classical treatment of services, any attempt to expand the volume of services production beyond the limits of domestic demand would quickly lead to deterioration in the price of services, hence a reduction in profitability, and hence the impulse towards expanded production would be choked off.

Second, services in developing countries were considered to have lower productivity and lower productivity growth than industry. As economies became more service oriented, their growth would slow. For rich countries, with high demand for various services, the slowdown in growth was an acceptable consequence of the higher welfare that could be achieved by a switch towards services. But for developing countries such a trade-off was thought to be inappropriate.

Third, services jobs in developing countries were thought of as menial, and for the most part poorly paid, especially for low skilled workers. As such, service jobs could not be an effective pathway out of poverty.

Future Prospects

India’s development experience offers hope to late-comers to development in Africa as of now. The marginalization of Africa during a period when China and other East Asian countries grew rapidly has led some to wonder if late-comers to development like Africa are doomed to failure. The process of globalization in the late 20th century led to a strong divergence of incomes between those who industrialized and broke into global markets. It seemed as if the bottom billion would have to wait their turn for development, until the giant industrialisers like China became rich and uncompetitive in labour-intensive manufacturing.

While both countries have grown in different ways, future prospects wise, China stands better as manufacturing is a capital intensive and is not easily replaceable & is time consuming.

In comparison, services sector on which India’s growth has been primarily dependent and is comparatively easily replaceable. Also, the primary reason for growth of services sector in India is due to availability of:

• Cheap labour
• Skilled labour & knowledge
• Large scale operations

However, these are not limitations and can be manageable. And with internal issues within developed countries against outsourcing and also other third world countries like Taiwan, Vietnam also growing and offering cheaper options than India, it shall be a struggle for India to sustain its growth. The earlier India realizes this and works towards alternatives for growth and not relying overtly on developed countries for its growth, the better it shall be.

Why - Who - What - Where ?

This blog contains many questions that I have been asking myself for long. I am sure, there will be many who might know answers to this, and there will be many who might have similar questions as well...

To start with...

Who are we all? Where do we come from and where do we go? Are we coming or going? And what is all that we do in between?

What is honesty, what are values?

Why is that values are not the same everywhere? Is it really so easy for us to hurt someone without a thought? What is this separation in the name of religion? Aren't we cultivating hatred? Caste, Creed, Community…

You wake up in the morning, breathe the air around you, what are we going to do during the day? Are we going to make someone happy that they know us, or make them curse us with all their might with what we do to them? Why is jealousy and hatred all around? Are we truly achieving anything – millions have existed before us & millions will be born after us – all anonymously. We do not remember our forefathers; our memory goes back only till our grandfather & we do not know much of great-grandfather & great-great-grandfathers... Then what we are feeling as our achievement and how long will it take for others to forget us?

When I look at someone, I usually wonder what is going on in their minds, about me. And I wonder if I had to stand apart and look at myself, how would I look? How am I? What do I seem like and do others like me? What is the impression that I am giving? Do I look stupid?

What are we here for? What are we expected to do? And is growing up (or growing old) is all that we are doing, while we pursue some goals that excites us currently, and becomes meaningless after a while.

And why is that there are not too many of us who are comfortable staying alone (and I do not refer to families here)? Is it because we cannot be alone with ourselves because we are too scary and we hate ourselves, even more than others do? Can we be happy in a room all by ourselves and with no one to converse with?

Some more Q’s:

What do we think of?

Can we put thoughts on hold?

Can I bottle my thoughts and re-read them later on?

Is the thought-less state tough to reach?

I read somewhere that to get there, we should first let our thoughts whoosh by and look at them dispassionately. And then there are gaps between thoughts. Those are the gaps which will slowly become bigger and lead to the thought-less state. But, how do I know where I have reached, and where I have reached is where I wanted to be, and not the mind wandering aimlessly?

The power of the mind – its so written about, spoken about.. still the mind cannot be pinpointed on the anatomy.

Psychology & science does not acknowledge the presence of 'mind'. Is it the brain or is it the heart? Or is it the conscience? Or is it a stream? Does wish fulfillment exist? Some say natural disasters are manifestations of wish fulfillment.. Is it true? Or as they say, is it god’s creation & he destroys them when he does not like its outcome?

Sometimes when I stand in front of the mirror, not to satisfy my vanity, but to maybe find out, who is this person looking back at me? Is he me or someone else? Can I morph into someone?

Who am I ? Am I you? Or am I someone else? Are you me? Are we all one? Are we all pieces of a whole? Then why is that we are happy at someone else's downfall? What is the society? What is the environment if we aren't the one creating, maintaining, shredding, piecing it again? Isn't everything around us the way WE want it to be? Then why are we always unhappy? And when do I get the answers to the Why? And sometimes, Why should Why exist?

I hope, I will get answers to my questions, if not now, atleast sometime in future, though I am living with these questions for as long as I remember. Or does this make me a saint? Do saints have answers or questions then?

Population Growth leads to Corruption Growth?

Population & Economic Growth

Since Independence of India, population has grown from 361.1 million in 1951 to 1210.2 million in 2011, an absolute increase by 849 million during the last 60 years. The net addition in population during this period has been increasing consistently, with over 2% increase per annum since 1951. Population is further expected to 1370 million by 2021, an increase of 160 million during the decade. Similarly, density of India was as low as 117 persons per sq. kilometre and this steadily increased from one decade to another to reach 382 in 2011. The persons living per sq. km. has increased by 216 per cent in the last sixty years.

This is a matter of great concern as it puts immense pressure on India’s natural resources (water, power, food, education, housing etc.) in general. It also adversely affects the quality of life of people as well as governance.

India's growth rate especially during the first 40 years after independence was low by standards of developing countries. In 1947, the average annual income in India was $439, compared with $619 for China and $770 for South Korea. By 2010, the respective numbers were $2,960, $6,020 and $28,120.

With the growing population, more persons per sq. kilometer is causing population explosion and break down of governance. Police per one lakh population is 137 at national level and 52.4 per 100 sq. km.

In addition, urbanization of population is causing additional stress – from 17% urban population in 1951 to 28% in 2001 (30% + in 2011). Due to this, we see population explosion in cities & urban towns.

Case for Corruption

As a result, the vast numbers of people competing for all kinds of services, leading to demand hugely outstripping supply, coupled with people's ignorance and therefore lack of power, enables corruption to flourish in India. Providers of any service can demand bribes for just doing their job, and the public are willing to pay "extra" to get that elusive service.

Additionally, people at lower spectrum do not bother about the law & order (be it crossing of roads, waiting for signals in crossing, following queues in public places etc), as they are too lowly in economic strata and Government do not have the wherewithal to enforce governance or take care of them. Many cases of thefts (small/big – pick pockets, chain snatching), ragging, molestations, rapes, murders do not get caught as police is too busy following up big cases & scams and do not have the time to follow through on these cases, which are petty in the scheme of things. This leads to law & order being partial and where there are chances, corruption (bribe) grows. Simply speaking, many of these cases do not even get registered and law of land is enforced (that is, for traffic signal breaking, traffic police shall pocket Rs.100/200 and close the case on spot, as against seizing license/vehicle and taking the case to mobile courts for normal justice of fine).

As they say, corruption breeds corruption. And one corrupt individual will lead to corrupting 100 additional persons. While some cases are supposedly petty in nature (like traffic policemen pocking few money), other cases are big and when explodes, becomes scams. In a society that is poor, unaware and divided, politicians can afford to launch all kinds of huge public projects, steal staggeringly large amounts of money, and leave the projects incomplete.

Stopping, or at the least curbing, corruption is important, but there are many ways to work towards that effort. Now, there are politicians, economists and bureaucrats who have gone on record to say corruption exists and should be legalized, which is like saying, murder is acceptable.

Path for redemption

This has the cascading effect of preventing economic and social development, with money meant for development gets pocketed by people in power and pittance are thrown for the actual development. When there is not enough grass root development – growth of infrastructure, education, health & sanitary in the country, this leads to further issue of investment drying up, with investors not keen to invest in India.

Economists have recognized important linkages between population and socio-economic development. Yet, the attention given to these linkages in current development thinking in India is not very clear. This is because one can argue that it is not rapid population growth but rather weak government, corruption and social injustices that are preventing economic and social development. The counter argument is that rapid population growth exacerbates the problems of weak government, corruption and social injustice. However, one has to recognize that population is an important factor in development, especially when it is growing seemingly out of control.

Having said all this, population growth cannot be reversed in short run and will have to be used as a factor for development. Also, other points of having strong government committed to growth of nation, reversing urbanization, ensure grass root development, improve infrastructure needs to be prioritized if India as a nation believes in being a developing nation and sees itself as being strong economically & fundamentally in long run.