Air(ports) and Water

Recently I had to stop over at Delhi airport on my way from Bengaluru to Lucknow.  I was traveling with Indigo, a low cost airline with high cost onboard food.  Like a true mango-man I was carrying my own paratha and subzi for lunch.  The transit period was a good time to have my lunch.  After lunch, I looked around for tea / coffee and spotted Star Bucks.  I asked for brewed coffee, the lowest cost version of the concoction, but was informed that no creamer or milk will be available with it.  So I moved up to a Cappuccino.  The difference in the price of a small and the grande was very disproportionate to the difference in the sizes and  grande offered a much lower per cc price.  So, I opted for grande which I shared with my better half and co-passenger.  The price I paid was almost the same that I would pay in USA, the equivalent of USD 4.

After a while we felt thirsty.  There were no water fountains to be seen and so I went to the food court and discovered that bottled water was available only at the Pepsi counter.  A small bottle labelled Himalayan, perhaps 500 ml, was available for INR 50!  I checked at Star Bucks too and found that they had the same bottle to offer at the same price.  So I paid up and got a bottle.  Both of us took a few sips of the precious liquid with full awareness of its khas aadmi price, and saved some for later.

This makes me wonder whether the likes of Pepsi have anything to do with water bottles not being allowed past the security check.  Why can't the security staff just ask the passenger to take a swig from the bottle to make sure that it is water and not some explosive?  Then again, why aren't cheaper options of bottled water available in the airport?  Is this a case of one monopoly (airport) promoting another monopoly (water?)  Why can't water fountains be installed in good numbers, say outside each toilet block?

But a bigger question is how has Pepsi managed to keep its arch rival Coca-Cola out?  Is there a Rail Neer like scam going on in our airports?  Finally, as Himalayan is from Tata-Pepsico, does Mr. Mistry or Mr. Tata has anything to say in the matter?

A Visit To Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary.

I recently visited the Bird Sanctuary at Nawabganj.  It is a little less than 30 kms from Lucknow Airport (Amausi) towards Kanpur. Though I have lived in Lucknow for a long time, I had never earlier visited this place.  I had always imagined it to be far from the hustle-bustle of the highway and difficult to access.  So it came as a pleasant surprise to find that the sanctuary lay right next to the Lucknow-Kanpur Highway.  The sanctuary is on your left if you are travelling from Lucknow towards Kanpur and the very first gate is the way to enter.  From Kanpur, it is on your right and the first gate is at the end of the sanctuary from your point of view.

I had booked a room online in the Rahi Tourist Bungalow (RTB.)  The manager told us on enquiry that it was inside the sanctuary complex and that we had to enter from the first gate.  My wife is a little finicky about cleanliness and the hotels that we can afford seldom offer the kind of cleanliness that will meet a half-hearted approval from her.  I was quite apprehensive as it was a government run hotel.  However we were pleasantly surprised by the overall upkeep and quality of service which were good if not great.  The lone housekeeping staff willingly removed the old sheet, used it to wipe the headpost of the bed and then spread a fresh and clean sheet.  Towels were clean too.  The bungalow also has a big and well maintained lawn and a Shiv Temple in that lawn.

The housekeeping man who was my namesake, told us that it used to be a great lake some three decades ago when he got employed there.  He said that the lake has now turned into a number of small ones separated by patches of dry land.  He said that a lot of money was being poured into maintenance of the place but the authorities were using it building structures and other wasteful things instead of cleaning up and reviving the lake.  Some borewells had been repaired and a couple new ones were being constructed to feed the lake which had, unfortunately not received much rainfall over past several years including the current one which saw a good monsoon elsewhere.

The RTB has its own restaurant and there is another bigger restaurant with a beer bar about 100 m away from it and next to the ticket window and entrance to the sanctuary.  We walked up to the ticket window.  There is a semi-developed park with play structures across the road.  It is infested with monkeys.  We sat there on a bench for a while watching the monkeys and then proceeded to the ticket window.  There is a small museum like room next to the ticket booth.  It was locked.  The gatekeeper opened it at our request.

The man at the ticket window cautioned us that there were not too many migratory birds and issued a ticket when we insisted nonetheless.  A valid id was required to purchase the ticket priced at INR 30 per person.  For foreigners it is a steep INR 575 if I remember the figure correctly.

The entrance starts with a walkway adjacent to the restaurant, named Surkhab.  The walkway is fenced on both the sides with what look like wooden logs but is actually made of RCC.  But the look of wooden logs is pretty convincing and it must have taken much effort and technique to simulate the real thing.  The tiled and fenced walkway runs for perhaps a couple of kilometers and has observation towers and resting platforms with benches every 200 m or so.  Each platform was occupied by a couple engaged in amorous activities.  It reminded me of Residency in Lucknow.  There too, each nook and corner is occupied by young couples.  I am sure that boys from Lucknow and even Unnao will not be so surprised as we were when we visited the Law Gardens in Ahmedabad about 45 years ago for the first time.

The walkway lines the lake on one side and on the other side there is a green forest patch separating the sanctuary from the highway.  Though, you can see and hear the traffice from the walkway and it reminds that you are not too far from what you tried to escape.

We didn't find many birds except the usual geese.  Finally we made a digression on to a dirt track which was yet to be tiled and fenced.  Some distance away we could see some Saurus Cranes.  However there were no migratory birds to be seen.

We returned and enquired at the window the time it opens in the morning.  The replies ranged from 7 am to past 9 am!

Next we entered Surkhab restaurant.  It looked good.  We ordered lunch and I started chatting with the cashier.  He too repeated the same story that we had heard from the housekeeping man.  He also added that many migratory birds have stopped coming to the place as the villagers from surrounding villages hunt them down.  The few surviving ones must have carried the message back to their flock.  This is what the cashier felt.  The food that was served was quite good and we paid using an INR 2000 note that the cashier happily accepted and returned us the balance in INR 100 notes.

We went back to RTB and sat in the lawn chairs enjoying the feeble sunshine.  The manager exchanged greetings and asked if we could see any birds.  We told him that we wanted to try our luck again early next morning but the ticket window opened quite late in the morning.  He said that it was possible to enter the santuary from one side of the Bungalow even though it wouldn't be proper to do so without a ticket.  We thanked him for the information and said that we would purchase the tickets at the time of exiting.

So we got up early and got ready.  We entered the sanctuary from the unguarded point next to RTB much to the shock of the RTB watchman, and roamed along the walkways.  However, though it was pleasant and the sight of sunrise was charming we didn't see anything that we hadn't already seen.  It was 9 am when we finally walked down to the ticketing window.  It was still unmanned and the front gate closed!  We walked back to where we had entered from and exited.

Then it was breakfast, packing up and a drive back to Indira Nagar.  Home, sweet home!

Could We Have Demonetized In A Less Dramatic Way?

In the current heated debate over demon (short for demonetisation), it is being contended that the whole operation was highly confidential with only a handful of people at the very top planning it.  These people could not visualise the operational hurdles and consultation with lower level people was ruled out. This is the reason for the chaos and the people at the receiving end should put up bravely with it in the larger interest.

I feel that it is not the lack of knowledge of minute operational details, but extremely poor conceptualisation coupled with uncalled for bravado that has led to the current mayhem. And I will be too happy to be proved wrong.

The countrywide state of panic that is causing huge disruptions and drawing much flak is mostly because of the dramatic announcement that all OHDs have been suddenly reduced to pieces of paper (that could only be deposited or exchanged in a bank but not used for transactions.)

Let us consider a case where some highly wanted criminals are hiding in a city and a manhunt has been launched to catch them.  Now the sensible thing would be to impose rigorous checks at each and every exit point from the city.  If an overly aggressive police was to block traffic at each intersection, you can easily imagine the chaos that will result. This is what is happening all over the country.  Further if the police knew for sure that the criminals had only a couple of months lifespan left, heavily manning all the exit routes for a couple of months was all that was required.

On these lines, the sensible thing thing to do would have been to stop all cash transactions in gold, luxury items - anything costing above say 10K, property, commodity stock, foreign exchange and even purchase of financial instruments like drafts, mutual funds, insurance policies, also disbursement of loans in cash et al, while allowing OHDs in day-to-day transactions in the normal way for a period of one or two quarters. Individuals could be encouraged to use their entire holding of OHDs for such normal transactions.  The traders and service providers could be asked to deposit all proceeds in OHDs into their account periodically and withdraw into NHDs.  It would be even better if there were no NHDs and all withdrawals were only in notes of INR 100 or lower denominations.  The government could have printed large amounts of OLDs with a little less concern about secrecy.

On the appointed date all holders of residual balance of OHDs could be asked to deposit it into their accounts.  The banks could then be asked to report those accounts where the credit turnover has been more than 2 * the turnover in the equal preceding period. These persons could be given a chance to explain and unexplained deviants penalised.  Additionally, individuals who had made any heavy withdrawals because of marriage etc. could be permitted to deposit it back without any fear of being reported.  They could then be encouraged to make payments through cheque / electronic transfer.

Before I close I would like to add that in some debates on TV channels on the second day of demon, some speakers had suggested that traders could continue accepting OHDs in normal transactions as these could after all be deposited into their accounts up to the given date.  This only underscores what I have said.  That the trader community chose to disregard this advice is specifically because of the alarming bravado that marked the demon exercise.

I grant that this relaxed scheme could permit some leakages. But would it be more than the money converted today using hired manpower and without being routed through an account?

The Dice Is The God!

Einstein once famously said that God doesn't play dice with us.  This was a reaction to Quantum Mechanics which considers matter as waves of probability.  Einstein's world was one of absolute order and predictability.  Most humans know from firsthand experience that the world, as we experience it, is not really so.

These days I spend some time each day playing Sudoku.  When playing at the evil level, I am seldom able to solve the puzzle without making a few, sometimes upto half a dozen guesses.  I find that each game seems to have a probability tag attached to it, though it is mostly binary, i.e., 0 or 1.  So when the tag is one, nearly all my guesses turn out to be correct.  When it is 0, nearly all guesses go wrong.  Only in an insignificant number of games do I find some going wrong and the others correct.  Each game is either like a good day when everything seems to be going your way or like a bad one where everything is going against you.

Each human life, too, seems to be marked with a probability tag.  The value on the tag is determined by the country, the period as also the family in which you are born.  Yes, each place has a tag and each time period has one too.

This probability is what we adore and what we fear.  It is this probability that we pray to be raised in our favour when we worship whichever God we believe in.  In a sense this probability is the God!

And this is why in societies that manage to reduce inequalities and insecurities to the bare minimum, people tend towards atheism.  There is no dice to worship, except, perhaps the genes that determine the quality of your existence.  In India we do consider parents equivalent to deities - मात्रृ देवो भव, पित्रृ देवो भव.

It seems that here is a hierarchy of probability tags too.  I may be born with a tag of below 50%.  But I may go to a place at a time that have high value tags attached to them.  These tags, though subordinate to my life tag, may cause a higher overall value attaching to my existence in that place in that period.  If the dice is the God, this could be considered to be polytheism.

To be sure favorable and unfavorable have meaning only for the sentient beings.  So essentially my surmise is that each frame of reference (place and time) and each consciousness therein has a probability value that has a definite bias peculiar to it.  The favorable and unfavorable occurrences are seldom equal over the entire lifetime, but have a definite skew one way or the other.

If you subscribe to this conjecture, there is a beautiful corollary.  After all, it is just a game, a game of dice, that we are playing even if it seems to be going decisively against one.

De and Re - monetization

I happened to be watching news when PM appeared and made the demonetization announcement.  I thought this was going to be the precursor to implementing the much debated Banking Transaction Tax.  I was thrilled.  Then came the announcement that new series of notes of Rs.500 and Rs.2000 were to be introduced instead.  The thrill was gone.

The dual steps only introduce an asymmetry.  Those who had stashed currency up to the demonetization date were struck a blow while retaining the opportunity for new aspiring corrupts or those who held their assets in other forms or abroad.  This is exactly what the then RBI Governor had accused the then PM, Morarji Desai, of doing when he had demonetized high value currency notes in 1978. Read this article.

All the trouble that the public is going through would still have been worth it, had the re-monetization not been done and the public encouraged to use electronic payments for most payments.

Again, things have changed since the demonetization done by Morarji Desai.  Now it is only petty and middling black money holders who keep their ill-gotten wealth in cash.  The more sophisticated ones build protfolios comprising of benami accounts, real estate, gold, diamond and what have you.  These petty and meddling people are the ones who will bear the brunt of this exercise and they don't deserve any sympathy just for being small.  The real big players have much better tools these days.  We now live in an era where powerful, even though misguided, financial engineering could shake the world economy in the 2008 meltdown. The same engineering tools enable huge sums of money to be stashed abroad.  Then it is made to visit India as FII for growing itself and then goes back.  While visiting India it is also, at times, converted into cash for funding elections or other political activities.  Though, I must confess, I still don't fully understand how all this is done.  Well, this is why investment bankers are paid so well unlike ordinary bankers like me.

There is a suspicion that this exercise has been so timed as to kill this visiting black money that had already been converted into cash for funding the impending state elections.  Simultaneously it also leads to a suspicion that those who were not in too much of a hurry will benefit from the fact that the highest available denomination has now been doubled.

It makes me happy if some of the parties have lost sizeable election funds and I do hope that they will get even with the current ruling party if and when their turn comes.

As regards putting a brake on fake notes, it will only be for such period as it will take the fraudsters to learn to forge the new series.  Further, I doubt if the current action will be able to purge the existing fake notes in circulation.  This would have been possible if all cash counters were equipped with sophisticated currency checking and counting machines, which they are not.  The sudden jump in work pressure too will come in the way of detection of forged notes.  Thus a good amount of forged currency is very likely to get coverted into genuine currency.  Discontinuation of all denominations beyond INR 50 is the only way to save the economy from the forgers who are said to have the backing of a hostile nation.

Before I close, I wish to express my solidarity with those housewives who have been setting aside a part of household expense money and are now forced to disclose it.  In some cases it is beyond the INR 2.5 lakh limit for deposit into account, and the husbands are truly furious.  Bank employees who will be toiling like mules for quite a few days have my fullest sympathy.  The re-issue of high denomination notes makes me unsure of any noble motives behind the current strike.  Correct me if I am wrong.

Air Pollution And The Pond Of Milk

There is a Akbar-Birbal story in which the Emperor gets a huge pond constructed and then orders each citizen to pour a potful of milk in the pond during the night so that it gets full of milk by next morning.  In the morning the pond is found full of water.  Birbal explains that each subject thought that all the others will be obediently pouring milk and a potful of water from him will make little difference! As we shall see, today this story has been made to stand on its head.

Air pollution in our cities and villages remains hopelessly high perenially.  I feel the main reason is burning of garbage in the cities and of stalks of harvested crops in the villages.  Swachchh Bharat notwithstanding, all the blah-blah is about not littering and not about the final disposal of all kinds of waste.  Yet, most of the time there are a few islands of greenery in each city where one can breathe comparatively easily.  Lohia park in Lucknow is one such spot in my city.  However since past couple of days, post Dipawali, the air in the park is drenched in the smell of firework and garbage fumes.  And, you will agree, that jogging with a mask will not only be difficult but ridiculous too.  No need to highlight how bad the air elsewhere is.

A news channel illustrated the air quality post Dipawali by telling us that it is like a room filled with the smoke from 465 cigarettes!  Smokers are now countering the propaganda against smoking by pointing out how much worse can it be if you make it 475 instead of 465?  Just a rise of little over 2%!  And this 2% is pleasurable unlike the remaining 98 percent.  Similarly staunch proponents of muscular Hinduism point out that burning of crackers hardly adds significantly to the already murderous levels of pollution.

If our story were to be retold in today's terms, it would again be a pond full of water, but now for a different reason.  Now everyone thinks that all the others will be pouring water only and a potful of milk from him will make little difference.  If everyone is polluting to his heart's content, how do my cigarettes or crackers make a difference.

So dear readers, here is my Vetaal prashn!  I gave up smoking 11 years ago.  Is the time ripe to resume?

Festivals: Floodgates To Goodwishes!

If there are so many people in a gathering and everyone shakes everyone else's hands, how many handshakes are there in all?  Thus goes the famous riddle that most of us have come across when learning the Arithmetic Series.  A good thing about handshakes is that whether you take the lead and shake the other person's hands or the other seizes the lead, once the hands are shaken you are done.  Goodwishes are more demanding.  When one person has taken the lead, the other must reciprocate.  Thus, the answer to the riddle mentioned in the beginning, would have to be doubled if it was goodwishes instead of handshakes!

Again, while while you can shake hands only with an individual, you can greet people individually, or in groups - small and large, regional and national, local and global, friends and colleagues, family and acquaintances et al.  Of course any individual is quite likely to figure in more than one of your groups and so each one gets greeted multiple times by the same individual and feels obliged to respond as many times.  Add to this the multiplicity of channels, greeting in person, greeting through a voice call, greetings through SMS, Whatsapp, Facebook, Google+ and what have you.  The multiplication factor for the answer to the original riddle goes up by a few orders of magnitude! Luckily cards are going out of vogue and that means one fewer channel.

If you are already nodding your head in agreement, it shows that you have experienced firsthand the deluge caused by festivals that open the floodgates for pent up goodwishes.  If the goodwishes were to materialize, the world would be instantly turned into something vastly superior to heavens of our imagination.  But instead what happens is this.  Subscriptions to special rate SMS packs are suspended, voice calls get dropped, the broadband bandwidth gets choked and photos, animations, and videos clog the storage space on your electronic communication device.

There does exist a solution to this overload.  It is inspired by banks who have hugely simplified interbank transactions by promoting credit push in place of debit pull.  The proposed solution will replace push with pull instead.  This would drastically reduce the number of greetings by limiting it to just the number of persons who wish to greet each other.  And it is simple!  Let there be a greetings registry.  All greeters must register here.  Now if one wishes to greet others on a particular occasion, he can put his greeting on the site.  The site will not push it to anyone.  Instead whoever so wants, will have to pull it.  So I log into the registry, and ask for Dipawali greeting from my friend X.  If he has posted a greeting, the greeting is personalized with my registered name and shown to me.  Those who post greetings can also be given the facility of a associating a negative list (to deny greetings to a few chosen people) or a positive list (if the greeting is meant only for a single persons or a few persons.)

One problem with this suggestion is that bosses, wives, and OGFs (Opposite Gender Friends) may feel offended if the greeting addresses them with just their registered names unqualified by any superlatives.  Hopefully they can take it in their stride.

And so, dear readers, pending creation of this registry, I dedicate this post to each one of you and wish you a very Happy Dipawali and a New Year filled with joy, prosperity and good health.  (This is in addition to my SMS, Whatsapp, FB and Google+ greetings!)  The fact that you have read this post is reciprocation enough.

Yippee! I Got Myself A Dumb Phone!!

I love smartphones. Who won't love something that has both brains and beauty and is slim to boot. Like all beautiful things, smartphones too have high maintenance requirements. And. like all slim things, smartphones have high metabolism.  They consume lots of expensive data just to keep themselves updated.  And their zero tolerance for any bulge means either frequent access to the mains or providing a power bank to keep them company.  The bulky powerbank accentuates their slim looks by juxtaposition.

Further like all beautiful things, smartphones are quite fragile.  You drop your smartphone and, more likely than not, a load drops off your pocket for restoration of its beauty, if it is still possible.  They also cause envy and hence are very prone to loss.  Then some smartphones are so classy that they refuse to take more than one SIM.  And for most of us in India, one SIM is just not enough.

 This is the familiar backdrop against which I decided to buy a dumb phone which can perform the basic functions without frequent charging and can also provide peace of mind because of lower chances of loss and low cost of replacement.

So I got myself a Nokia 130 DS.  DS is just double SIM.  It is an absolutely basic phone with usual frills - FM radio, MP3 player, torch, clock, calculator, calendar et al.  It can also take a 32GB SD card.  Accessing this card through your PC is pretty straightforward and that turns it into a storage device too.  It weighs very little, is small enough to be hidden in an adult sized palm and the battery lasts about a week with normal use!  The only wireless connectivity option it provides is Bluetooth for connecting to headphones / speakers.  No mobile data or Wifi and, hence, no Internet.  The price is sub 2K.

With this new addition to my gadstock (on the lines of livestock and deadstock,)  I now use my smartphone for data based applications and the dumb one for conventional uses within its capabilities.  This, unfortunately, also means having two numbers and discouraging your contacts from using the data number for voice calls.  But, then, these days clever apps make voice too ride on data. Of course, you can always tote both the phones.  Then there is the question of your tablet and your laptop, not to speak of non-portable devices.  But let us not complicate issues by taking that up now.

PS: My smartphone has a Power Saving Mode and an Ultra Power Saving mode. The first makes it a little less intelligent and diligent and the other takes it pretty close to a dumb phone!

I Am In Lucknow And The Smile Is Waning

I live in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh (UP) state in India.  This historical city is famous for its Chikankari (embroidery handwork), monuments from the British era and the era of Nawabs, fine cuisine and superb etiquette.  All these, especially the last two, are believed to be capable of making the face of any visitor light up with joy: And hence the adage "मुस्कुराइए कि आप लखनऊ में हैं!"  It translates to "Now that you are in Lucknow, smile!"

While the city takes pains to keep the ageing monuments in good repairs, little is being done to prevent erosion of its fine etiquettes and the accompanying moral fabric.  Things seem to have gone so far that business entities, especially those of online variety, are reluctant to do business with the residents and accord to them common courtesies accorded to a group of good customers.  I will give some examples from my own experience that bear this out.

I am an Airtel customer and my relationship with them is strong in so much as I subscribe to all their services, DTH, Broadband and LL as well as a mobile connection.  And so their response came as a shock to me when I contacted their customer care for activating international roaming (IR) on my phone.  They said, quite categorically, that this service is not provided to customers in UP (East) circle!  It is interesting to note that those in the UP (West) circle do not face this ignominy!

Then, again, while enquiring with airlines operating on the Delhi-Lucknow sector, I found out that passengers coming in to Delhi from an international sector and proposing to travel on the D-L domestic sector were not allowed any additional baggage allowance.  Though, such additional allowance was given by some airlines on such sectors as Delhi-Raipur!  Yet another case of discrimination!

The latest affront comes from Amazon (India.)  I used their app to order a Moto g plus phone with protective cover and screen guard.  The latter two, of course, are low value items while the phone is priced at INR 15K.  While the latter articles were okayed in my order, a message said that the first item could not be shipped to my PIN code.  I tried other PIN codes in Lucknow and even in Faizabad but in vain.  Correspndence with their customer care suggests that Amazon has stopped delivering high value merchandise in whole of eastern UP!  Amazon being the exclusive dealer for this phone I now have to give up my plan to purchase this phone!

I feel deeply hurt by these incidents and am wondering why are commercial entities are viewing the residents of this state as such unreliable and irresponsible louts?  I would also like to check with our state government and political leaders if they have any plans to check this loss of face and the waning smile.

The Outcry Of A Cattle Class Denizen

There was a big hue and cry when Mr. Shashi Tharoor used the term Cattle Class for the economy class in aircrafts.  However we should be grateful to him for bringing out the inhuman way in which passengers are packed like sardines in a merciless quest to maximize earnings.  There seems to be a competition amongst airlines who try to outdo each other in shaving centimetres off the seats in x and y directions: Mercifully dimension z remains unaffected.

Recently I had an occasion to travel in the economy class on an Air Berlin flight.  Most passengers were Europeans, tall and well built.  I could imagine their plight as the seats were not too comfortable even for me, a person of average Indian build.  As boarding progressed, a large obese man came in, looked at his seat and said aloud in mock despair, “Oh my God, the seats are so small!”  Everybody joined him in a hearty laugh.

This aircraft appeared to have shrunk the tiny spaces near toilet and pantry blocks too.  These are the spaces where passengers spend some time standing during long haul flights.  I am sure that majority of the passengers must have felt highly claustrophobic.

What adds to the woe of a typical passenger is the insistence of the passenger in front of him on going into a recline at the first available opportunity after the take off.  This has a domino effect until and unless a considerate passenger decides against succumbing to the temptation on account of a consideration to the fellow passenger behind him.  Then again, as most peoples’ knees are pressing against the back of the seat in front, a restless passenger who turns and twists in his seat passes on the convulsions to the one behind him as also one in front of him.  This too may lead to a chain reaction.  Just as we hear of road rage, there are reports of CC (Cattle Class) rage in the economy cabins.

What comes as a surprise is that most airlines complain of losses despite these stringent millimetre cutting measures.  Air Berlin is no different.  They are talking of shrinking their fleet and cost cutting measures.  Though, one suspects that what they mean is shrinking of economy class seats and micrometre cutting measures.

The situation is so bad that in my opinion we, the denizens of economy class, must take the issue to the International Human Rights Commission.  Agree?

PS: Blessed are those magnanimous passengers who resist the temptation to recline their seat back and also sit still in their chairs out of sheer compassion for fellow sufferers.

Cooking and Governance

This post isn't really about cooking. But cooking as a metaphor seems to be so well suited to describing the situation and hence the strange juxtaposition of cooking and governance - two very different skills. Though, you could always say that it is not so. Why else would an earlier prime minister be said to have had a kitchen cabinet?

Well, the story goes like this. A bad cook once thought, "If I can't give them good food, let them have more." So instead of improving his cooking skills he started forcing huge helpings down everyone's throat. Of course you can't fault his intentions. Let them miss the taste but not go low on nutrition! That is what he thought. Perhaps the cook wasn't aware of the consequences of overfeeding or, may be, he didn't care.

You could also think of a doctor who knew that the patient had a bad nurse and that the nurse was sure to miss out some of the prescribed doses. So the doctor doubles or triples the dose in the hope that it will average out to the prescription.

Our governments seem to be functioning like this cook or the doctor. The policing and the judicial system, all directly or indirectly controlled by the politicians, do not seem to be delivering the desired results. Crimes and indiscipline are on the rise. Yet, hardly do you find a politician who would talk of reforming the police or the judiciary. Instead they will all agree on increasing the penalty. It is exactly like the cook forcing more down hapless eaters' throats or the doctor tripling the dosage in the hope that every once in a while the nurse will remember to give the medicine to the patient.

The recently proposed revision of fines for traffic offences to astronomical sums is a step like this and will only worsen the situation. What is required is efficient implementation of existing rules and penalties, and better documentation on the roads and a better design. If something needs to be increased it is not the penalties but the quality of design and documentation and enforcement of rules. We all know that, more often than not, you will either find no signage telling you that a road is one way or find it at the exit! Our roads seldom have a signage telling one whether an U turn is permitted or not; the rule exists only in the head of the policeman if one is there. A four-way stop or rules determining the right of way are nowhere to be found. And since there are so many ambiguities, whenever a VIP is on the road all traffic is stopped and rules given the go-by. Doing away with this practice could be one single big reform so the VIPs could understand the problems created by their inefficient implementation machinery.

The proposed revision also gives rise to an unholy suspicion. Is the government trying to emulate some of our industrialists who pay for all the resources, including the human ones, at very Indian rates, but want to price their products at par with those made in US and priced in USD? Of course, they don't bother to bring the quality at par too. You will notice that most of the proposed fines are closer to the fines levied in USA or Europe than the capacity to pay of an average Indian. And there is no effort to improve the quality of enforcement and the roads.

Click here to read an earlier blog post to get an idea of the state of affairs today.

Executive Summary - We want GOOD governance and not more of the governance that we already have!

The Strange Story of An Emperor

This is the story of an emperor who, as behoves an emperor, had a vast army of servants (AOS.)  The emperor was earlier subjugated by another power and this subjugation lasted a long time.  This alien power created a new AOS and gradually turned it into spies and tormentors.  This AOS helped the aliens in draining the gigantic treasury of the emperor.

This AOS persisted in its ways even after the Emperor somehow manged to wiggle out of alien's subjugation.  The struggle left the Emperor quite weak and this helped the AOS in their nefarious designs.  Some of the emperor's own people who were clever enough to conserve their energy for later took quick steps to occupy the alien's positions saying that the order and structure must be preserved.  The collusion that earlier existed between the aliens and the AOS was restored between these clever people and the AOS.  These clever people called themselves Netas and so we will call them Ns.  As the euphoria of casting off subjugation wore off, the emperor started getting restless and irritable.  To placate him, he was told that that Ns will rule in his name and he will have the right to periodically choose new Ns if he was not happy with the current set.  After all, he was a free emperor now.

The emperor had by now been pushed out of the inner sanctums of his palace.  He could often be seen loitering in the gardens with despair writ large on his face.  Ns and AOS were quietly slipping into spaces that were part of the sanctum sanctorum.

Nimble Ns, existing and aspiring, were quick to form a closed group and make it difficult for newcomers to break into their fold.  The ongoing loot of the treasury nurtured them financially and helped them in this venture.  At the same time they subdivided themselves into groups to keep the emperor from feeling that he was left without a choice.

The emperor took time but ultimately saw through this game.  With great efforts he succeeded into smuggling one of his own people into the closed group of Ns with a mandate to restore emperor's supremacy.  This chap advocated that important decisions be taken by the emperor himself instead of the vast hierarchy of his AOS.  As he opposed the organized hierarchy, Ns were quick to label him as anarchist and they made anarchist sound like Antichrist.

However, looking to the fact that this new chap, let us call him NC, was too close to the emperor, the closed group of Ns brought forward the best of them who acknowledged the damage done to the kingdom by all the other subgroups and promised to undo all of this.  The Emperor was persuaded into appointing him the head N, the servant-in-chief.  He sincerely hoped that the existing hierarchy will be reformed and made responsive to the emperor by this very different N.

The emperor started to feel frustrated as he didn't find any real change in the whole scheme of things.  The new N, a strong advocate of hierarchy, is now seen to be advocating that emperor directly question any member of AOS who may have caused him a grievance.  He says that no one above or below the grievance causing member of AOS is to be questioned.  After all each one of them, right up to new N, has been appointed in the name of the emperor only.

When everyone is responsible for himself only, this seems akin to a state of anarchy that was so ridiculed and condemned by the new N.  This confused the emperor.  The confusion notwithstanding, he asked NC to follow this advice.  However when the NC tried doing so with some of the departments in the section entrusted to him, he was told by the offenders that they were not responsible to him!

Now, dear readers, do we have anarchy or don't have it?  And if we have it who is its champion? How can the emperor salvage his position? An INR (67 to an USD) for your thoughts.

A Trip to Hawaii

Aloha!

We recently visited the islands of Hawaii and Kauai in the Hawaii state which is part of the USA.  Yes, you got it right, Hawaii refers both to an island as well as the entire conglomeration of islands that together form the state of Hawaii.  With a view to avoid confusion with the state which bears the same name and also because of its size, the Hawaii island is also referred to as the Big Island.  The capital of the state, Honolulu, is situated on the island of Oahu.

Two words that all visitors to Hawaii invariably learn, are Aloha and Mahalo.  Aloha is used both as Hi and Bye.  Mahalo is the Hawaiian for Thank You.  Hawaii describes itself as The Aloha State.

Our port of entry in the state of Hawaii was Kona which is located in the western part of the Big Island.  The Airport seems to be one of its kind with a big open-to-sky courtyard and pagoda like open structures surrounding it.

At Kona we stayed in an apartment with a fabulous view of the ocean from its balcony.  The complex was beautifully landscaped with numerous varieties of palm and plants bearing beautiful flowers.  The ocean lining one side of the apartment complex was rimmed by black lava rocks and huge waves kept crashing on these rocks.

Soon after checking into the apartment, we visited a beach where people were snorkeling to view fish and turtle and witnessed the beautiful sunset with the sun lighting up a streak of gold across the ocean as it appeared to sink in it.

Next day in the morning we visited was the National Historical Park of Hawaii.  A notice at the entrance of the park requested visitors to keep in mind that it was a sacred place.  It displayed various statues of the Hawaiian God who bears a fierce grimace with the upper row of teeth forming a continuum with the lower row.  The statues seem to have been carved from a single trunk of a palm tree each.  Same is the case with the boat displayed inside an A shaped thatched hut.  The beach is made of lava that seems to have frozen even as it was flowing.  Some of the rocks forming the beach look like the intertwined braids of hair that you find on some naga sadhus in India.  We saw some beautiful golden fish in the crystal clear waters of the beach and also a huge turtle.

We also visited the Kealakekua bay by boat and snorkeled near the Captain Cook Monument.  It was a thrilling experience.  I am myopic and was worried whether I would be able to get a clear view of the marine life.  I was delighted to find that masks with prescription (powered) glasses were available.  There was one that was close to my prescription and I picked it up.  Here we snorkeled in waters that were more than 100 feet deep to quite near the coast.  During the boat ride back we saw caves and tunnels in the lava stone shoreline that have perhaps been formed by the water beating down on the stones relentlessly.  Everyone was excited to find a house sitting right on top of one of the sea caves.

We visited the Kona downtown too.  The seashore reminded me of Marine Drive in Mumbai while some parts of the downtown reminded me vaguely of Lucknow.  There was an sprawling banyan tree close to the sidewalk that made me instinctively look for idols that might be placed at its foot. :) We had some flavored shaved ice and had dinner at an Indian Restaurant called Kamana Kitchens.

All this while we had been staying in the western part of the Big Island.  For subsequent sightseeing we moved base to the eastern part.

As we drove along the highway from our earlier location that runs along the periphery of the island, initially we found rocky terrain with some hardy vegetation.  However things changed rather dramatically as we approached the west-south part of the island.  This part receives heavy rains almost throughout the year and is covered with lush green trees, foliage and flower plants.

On our way we stopped over at the lookout at the valley of Waipio.  It also had an inscription stating it to be a sacred place.  At the bottom of the valley there was a huge stream carrying muddy water resulting from the Darby storm that seemed to be almost traveling with us.  It was pouring into the sea making the sea water near the shore muddy too. There was a long and steep trail leading down into the valley and to the foot of a huge waterfall.  Some of us went halfway down the trail.  We decided not to do the whole trail with a view to not hold up those in our group of 12 who could not do the trail.

The Big Island has an active volcano on its south-eastern side.  This side receives conspicuous rains - over 100" each year - and has rainforests that are preserved with much care.  We went to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park which features an active volcano.  The day we started for the park, the Darby storm was sweeping the island and on the way we saw dense clouds and light to heavy rains.  There was a warning for flash floods and we could see some swelling creeks close to overflowing on the road.  However we could safely make it to Park only to find it enveloped it in dense fog.  The Park museum closed almost as soon as we entered it. .  A fascinating display in the museum was Pele's hairs which looked like a bunch of golden hair.  Pele is one of the Hawaiian godesses.  Pele's hairs are formed when molten goblets of Basalt glass emerge from a volcano and are blown into fine long gold hued strands.  The famous lava tubes were closed because of the storm and flash flood warnings.  We did manage to get a peak into the rainforest that surrounds the entrance of the lava tubes.  It was enchanting.  We also saw the steam vents which had vapors smelling of sulfur emanating continuously.  The fog underscored the writing on one of the signposts near the vents that proclaimed Hawaii as a land of great spiritual significance.  Because of very low visibility we could not see the glow from the active volcano.  Later while ziplining our instructor and guide showed us a video of the volcano which he had filmed earlier from rather up close.  It was truly awe inspiring with red and orange glow dominating the visuals and red hot lava flowing out.  Upon further inquiry he told us that he had to go up a five mile trail to get close enough to the volcano to film the video.  Yes, that makes the total trip 10 miles.  The weather was inclement, we did not have enough time and many in our group were not fit or grownup enough to make it, and we let go of it.

On our way back from the Volcano Park, we stopped over at Rainbow falls.  The entrance was cordoned off with an yellow tape and a notice said that the park had been closed because of storm warning.  We saw people entering and so ventured to enter the area ourselves.  It is a powerful fall.  Though, the waters were muddy from the recent rains.  The mists rising from the bottom of the falls made a fascinating sight.  I watched the fall for some time and stood motionless.  The sight seemed capable of inducing a trance. We also climbed up to a scenic point level with the start of the fall.  The foliage and the flowers created a magnificent scene.

It was getting dark and an Internet search showed that the Indian Restaurant, Kamana, had a branch nearby. The dinner was good.

It was quite late in the night by the time we reached the locality where our house, rented through AirBnB was supposed to be.  As we were looking for the house a dog, kept close to the gate in one of the houses strained at it's chain and started barking loudly.  The erratic network signal added to the difficulty in locating the house.  We found the house just as we had started to despair.

The house was a big one, enough to accommodate our two groups of six each.  The architecture gave us the feel of a house in rural / semi-urban parts.

Next morning we visited was the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.  It is a breathtakingly beautiful garden that seems to be a piece straight from the Garden of Eden.  It has a beach and a waterfall too.

Post lunch we went for ziplining.  At the company's office which was close to our rented house, we filled out liability waiver forms, had our weight checked.  Next we were introduced to our guides who helped us put on the saddle like gear.  A van took us to the first course.  It drove along bumpy and muddy narrow path through what seemed like a trail through an agricultural farm. Ziplining was great fun.  We started out with easier training courses graduating to the final one overlooking a waterfall far below.  In between the courses, the operators served us local fruits including chopped and peeled pieces of sugarcane.

This concluded our tour of the Big Island.  We drove back to the airport and returned the car.  Two short flights were to take us to our next destination, the island of Kauai.  The first flight took us to Honolulu.  The Darby storm had been keeping threateningly close to us, brushing past us at times but never hurling itself directly on us. The next flight was delayed.  After we boarded the plane, the pilot found some problem with the craft which he attributed to the incessant rains.  We were shifted to another plane and we were late by a few hours when we landed at Lihue airport in Kauai.  We were apprehensive whether the car rental fellows will still be there as it was 11:30 pm when we reached the exit at the airport.  It seems that good luck had been keeping close to us like the Darby, and we could catch the departing car rental fellow almost by the tip of his tail.

By the time we reached the rental apartment and settled down, we were into the wee hours.  We got up quite late in the morning next day.

In Kauai our first destination was the Waimea Canyon State Park.  On our way we saw a roadside eatery that had a very attractive display of fruits.  We stopped over there and had some fruits, duly peeled and chopped by the vendor after we selected the items.  We also had coconut water and the owner scraped the coconut meat out for $1 apiece.

The Waimea Canyon is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.  When we reached it, the sky was cloudy.  The zigzag patterns of sunshine and shade added a layer of magic to the canyon below us.  It was a grand view indeed.

Later we visited the white sand beach named Poipu beach.  It has a tiny island a little away from the main beach and a sand spit that serves as a walkway between the main beach and the island.  As one walks along waves come in from either side and collide at the walkway swaying you and causing a splash that is huge at times.  The island has warnings displayed not to approach any monk seals that may be resting there.  A little while after we reached the island a seal did turn up and lay down at the edge of the island.  My daughter-in-law got a little too close to it for a photograph.  This seemed to so upset and alarm the seal that it stood up to its full height and bared its teeth.  However it went supine again as my daughter-in-law withdrew after hearing our shouts.  Soon enough it rolled back into the sea and swam away.  Only minutes later another seal scrambled up on the main beach and lay there.  We crossed over to the main beach and joined the spectators who stood at a respectful distance away from the animal.  We enjoyed our stopover at the beach.

Later on we visited the Spouting Horn, a stone formation on the seashore through which the waves emerge into a pretty high spout with a roar.  It reminded me of La Bufadora in Mexico of which it seemed to be a mini version.  Another fascinating scene at this spot was that of several hens and roosters perching high on a tree at the shore overlooking the spouting horn.

I forgot to mention earlier that on Kauai, and to a lesser extent on Hawaii, you find lot of free roaming hens and roosters.  This comes as a surprise as your are unlikely to find wild animals roaming the streets or sidewalks elsewhere in USA (birds and squirrels excepted, of course.)  Legend has it that a poultry farmers had let loose his birds many years ago to spare them from drowning to death because of a huge storm.  These free roaming birds are stated to be their descendants.

We also learnt about the "flower code" from a vendor selling jewelry made from shells.  He said that if a lady wears a flower on her left ear, it means she is engaged or married.  On the right ear it says, "I am available."  If placed in the middle on the front side, it denotes that though married, she is looking for an "upgrade" :))  And, finally, if placed at the back of the head it says, "Follow me!"

The last spot that we visited was Kee beach and Kalalau trail.  It seems to be a hugely popular spot as parking was a big problem and it took lot of time to find a proper slot.  Many vehicles parked alongside the road had a ticket slapped on the windshield.  The Kee beach is a reef enclosed lagoon with still waters suitable for even non-swimmers to enjoy snorkeling or just getting their feet wet.  The Kalalau trail is a rather difficult and risky one to be attempted by only the fit and strong.  We met many on their way back with mud all over their shoes and legs.  They advised us strongly not to go beyond a certain point which affords you a good view.  We stood at the vista point catching the nice breeze and a view of the mountain tops engulfed in floating clouds.  There we acted like wise men who learn from others' experiences and returned to the base.  From here we drove back to Lihue airport and finally caught a flight to LA.  The flight left at 9 pm and reached Los Angeles in early morning and we had to remind ourselves that the two time zones are 3 hours apart.  Another flight took us back to Oakland.

The memories of Hawaii, a land of beaches, mountains and valleys and exotic flora and fauna and volcanoes, remain etched on our minds.

Mahalo, dear reader, for making it to the very end of this rather lengthy blog.

This Will Come To India Too.

This is to share my recent experience of domestic air travel in USA.  These airlines have wonderful ways of enhancing their revenue even as they offer cheap tickets to gullible customers.  Had Vijay Mallya known of these, he wouldn't have failed so miserably or fled with so little (:)).  But then first class passengers or charter holders have no reason or occasion for getting exposed to these tricks.

The first flight was a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Oakland in California to Kona on the Big Island in Hawaii.  The female staff were all wearing a flower in their hair as is customary in Hawaii and male crew were dressed in shirts with floral prints.  This made the crew look like the tourists rather than the passengers.  During initial welcome and informative announcements it was conveyed that complimentary meal was to be served during the course of the flight.  The flight duration was a little over 5 hours.

Shortly after the take off an announcement was made that snacks will be available for purchase.  My two grandsons proclaimed that they were very hungry and that we must buy them some snacks.  So we bought them some snacks and drinks at a rather stiff price.  Then even before they could finish their snacks another announcement was made that complimentary snacks and drinks will be served and were promptly served indeed!

By the time we finished the snacks and the drink, the cabin had become very cold.  Several passengers were seen retrieving their jackets and putting them on.  We had brought none as the weather in Hawaii was foretold to be rather warm.  After a few minutes the kids started complaining that it was too cold.  I approached the hostess, informed her that the temperature was too low for comfort and inquired if she could give us some blankets.  She promptly replied that blankets were available for purchase at $10 each.  Even though we were loathe to add to our baggage, we bought two.  The kids wrapped themselves and felt cozy and nice.  Less than an hour thereafter the cabin temperature returned to a comfortable level.  My elder grandson removed the blanket and remarked, "Oh, they can make a lot of money by just turning up the cooling for an hour!"

Each seat had a monitor and a menu of programs to watch.  However there were no earphones / headphones provided in the seat pockets.  Even before we could inquire about the missing earphones, a hostess came down the aisle announcing that earphones were for sale and passengers could take the purchased item with them as a souvenir!  Most passengers seemed to be experienced ones and were carrying their own earphones.  I decided against buying one and spent time playing Sudoku instead of watching a movie.  Even Sudoku was part of the premium section.  But, thankfully, no payment was demanded for the game.

I may add that most passengers had only a handbag and another small bag or laptop bag only.  Each checked-in baggage had to be paid for at $25 a piece and conform to size and weight specifications.

We flew Air Delta on our return.  We tried a web check-in to save time at the airport.  The check-in went through and generated six random seat numbers for our group of six (with a single PNR) with no two seats next to each other!  The option for choosing a different seat said that it could be done at a cost of $20 per person.  We decided to wait and pay only at the counter if required.  When we reached the airport, the self check-in kiosk showed that the seats had been reallocated and we were seated in two groups of three each, one behind the other and we got the new boarding passes.  Those with small kids who might have panicked at the prospect of a child sitting away from them may have ended paying up in multiples of $20.

Our own airlines in India must find these practices inspirational and be getting ready to adapt them.  They already have dynamic pricing for fare.  So, beware!

Do we still need religions?

Early in my career I had the opportunity to undergo a training in Behavioral Science.  It was a fascinating new subject and one of the many insights that it provided was the difference between needs and wants.  Needs are universal but their manifestation as a wanted thing is influenced by the culture one is raised in.  It is best illustrated through an example.  Nourishment is a fundamental need.  But what food items does one want to satisfy this need differ widely.  One person may want a dosa, another rice with curried fish, yet another may want parotha with lots of butter and so on.  It is not uncommon to find that two persons may find each other's wants disgusting though these are in satisfaction of a common need.

What has been said above would suggest that there must be a basic need behind divergent religions followed by the humankind and that all of these serve to satisfy that same universal need.  And, as in the case of food, though followers of one religion may feel repelled or unsettled by another religion, it will do well to remind ourselves that each of the religions caters to the exactly same human need.

Apparently all our biological needs are in common with the whole of animal kingdom.  However religion seems to be the manifestation of a need that only humans have.  What exactly is this need?  Is this an emotional need or an intellectual one or a need that arises from the combination of emotional and intellectual faculties?  It is certainly not physical in the biological sense.

Many feel that it is an emotional need for security - need for an element of certainty in the very uncertain human existence.  As children we get a feeling of security from our parents.  As we grow up we realize that they too are frail human beings like us.  And so we think up of an entity that is truly omnipotent and omniscient. Thus, it can be said that it is the emotional need for security through a protector that makes us create an omnipotent and compassionate God or a multiplicity of gods.  Well defined and strictly enforced social practices through a commonly subscribed religious code too add to a sense of security by eliminating uncertainties.  Each society passes on these beliefs and social codes to each successive generation.  And thus a particular religion becomes what the members of this society want for satisfying their need for security.

This view of origin of religions also explains why most people become increasingly more religious when confronted with adversities and calamities.  This viewpoint is also borne out by studies that suggest that atheism blossoms in affluent societies where most people feel economically secure.  Such societies have reduced the uncertainties and insecurities in human existence to the bare minimum.  Click here to read a related article.  (However, some of the oil rich Arab countries seem to be an exception to this observation.)

Religion and God could also be a response to the strictly intellectual need to find out how the world came about and the causes for the goings on around us.  This is a strictly human need as no other species has been endowed with the kind of intelligence that we have.  Intellect subscribes to a cause and effect model and hence asks questions beginning with why and who.  It also inquires into the nature of things and asks questions beginning with what.  This suggests that the theories like Karma, and the postulate of an universal consciousness as the original cause are all the responses generated by the earliest intellectuals to this need to know.  It need not be gainsaid that these are merely enlightened guesses in the absence of a methodology to find the answers to the bewildering questions posed by the universe to our limited intellect.

Further, it also appears that these early intellectual elites must have thought that the future generations of intellectuals will not rest content with their explanations and definitely make further efforts to know the ultimate answers.  They must also have thought that this will be a waste of intellect and time because human intellect could see only that far and no further.  And thus it must have been with a view to dissuade the coming generations from wasting their talent on useless pursuits that they attributed their thoughts and words to an ultimate authority, the God, and firmly propounded the finality of what they had said. They made a contrary view punishable to dissuade further inquiries.  But the forbidden fruit is sweet indeed.  While at this point, it may also be added that the Day of Judgement and Heaven and Hell must have been propounded by these intellectuals to dissuade the hoi-polloi from indulging their animal passions and losing the productivity required to keep the human society together and ensure its progress.

As we know, this attempt to quell further inquiries failed to deter the pioneer intellectuals' increasingly capable successors who adopted the scientific inquiry method to find the answers that human intellect craved for.

This curious group made rapid strides, developed tools for their inquiries and came out with verifiable answers to many of the queries bothering the human intellect.  They also proved their ancestors wrong in several cases.

Could this impudence of the unstoppable inquirer be at the root of antagonism between science and religion?

Now science and economic progress have reached a stage where they can cater to the emotional need for security as well as the intellectual need to know.  Yes, it is true that there still are unanswered questions.  To wit, nature of human consciousness, the evolution versus intelligent design debate and so on.  But these can be assigned to secular philosophy instead of competing and dogmatic religions.

And so the big question is, is there still a need for religion? If yes, why? Do you think that giving up religion will make the world too monotonous and colorless?

The bigger question is that though a (superior) alternative is available how to ensure that people want it instead of antiquated religious beliefs?  Isn't this somewhat like asking how to draw people towards a healthy diet that they don't want for reasons of liking?

Phished, well, almost, in the US of A!!

It was the afternoon of Friday.  I was at home with my wife and the two grandsons.  My son and daughter-in-law were away to work.  We had had lunch and were having a chat with the kids when the landline phone rang.  My younger grandson, 7 years old, picked up the phone and responded.  Then he handed over the phone to me saying that it was probably for his mom.  When I responded, the caller on the other side announced that he was calling from the immigration department of the government of USA and gave me his name and id number.  He asked whether Mrs. Upadhyaya was available.  Thinking that he wanted to talk to my daughter-in-law, I told him that she was away to her office.  He inquired who I was and I gave him my name and relationship to the intended recipient.  He asked me to spell out my first name and I did that.  He then announced that this was about serious issues with the recent immigration checks of my wife and me.  I asked him about the issue and he informed that even though requested to do so, we had failed to submit form I-94 even after so many days of entering the USA.

Now this fellow was speaking in an impeccable American accent and there were appropriate background noises too suggesting that he was in an office.  He had identified himself with all the details and was addressing me as Sir as they normally do when interacting with a citizen (/visitor.) Though, the tone and tenor was quite officious. So this had me rattled.  I could recall that a certain form, other than the customs declaration form was earlier being obtained from visitors but it had been discontinued year before last.  And it was form I-94.  However being rattled, I thought it must have been some other form.  I told him that no one had asked me to submit any form.  He said that a notice had been sent out too.  I protested saying that I had not received any notice.  He then read out an address in the Eastern part of USA and asked me to confirm that this was my address.  I said that there has been some mistake and that I was in the city of Cupertino in California.  Even in that rattled state I avoided giving him the street address.  Then he expressed surprise and added that after my file was opened for this violation another serious criminal matter related to my id has come up and they are in the process of getting an arrest warrant issued for me.  When I expressed my astonishment, he said that he was not able to make out what I said and asked about the languages that I speak.  When told that I spoke Hindi and English, he asked me to wait while he handed over the call to an interpreter.

Next one Rakesh Patel came online and after properly introducing himself, he asked me in Hindi which Indian Language would I prefer.  I said Hindi and he said that my voice was breaking up and inquired if I had a cell phone.  This must have been the first step towards the identity theft.  My son had given me a prepaid connection, and I gave him the number.  Then he asked me to wait for a call on the cell phone which materialized pretty soon.  After repeating the charge of non-submission of form I-94, he said that my identity had been misused for withdrawing money from an account in Bank of America and that the money was remitted to Pakistan presumably for terrorist activities.  Then he gave me a Muslim and a Christian name and asked me if I knew any or both of them (I forget the names but would refer to them as Khan and John in later paragraphs.)  He said that the Muslim person was a Pakistani and had used my identity to perpetrate the crime.  Then he asked if I could explain how could the fraudster get my identification details?  I politely told him that the question was directed at the wrong person and they should be asking the perpetrator of the fraud.  He asked me if I had an USA id.  This gave rise to some suspicion in my mind.  How could they be leveling this charge unless they knew about what id I had?  If they were from Immigration department they should know my passport number and my nationality.  But being under psychological pressure I didn't question him and played along.  He asked me what ids I had.  I responded I had my passport.  Then he asked if I had an US driving license to which I replied in the negative.  This slightly added to the suspicion.

Next, the purported Mr Patel said that there was some legal procedure to be completed and that he would be handing me back to the immigration officer.  He also counselled me to be polite them as they were the officers handling my case.

The earlier fellow came online and announced his name and id number once again.  He next informed me that the next part of the conversation will be recorded and whatever I said could be used against me in a court of law.  He advised me to be truthful.  The questions went like this.  Did I know Khan and John?  How could they get hold of my id? Did I ever use my id to open a bank account in USA? Did I have an account with Bank of America or any other bank in America?  What ids did I have with me?  The last question startled me.  For if he asked me about my passport details, I must decline as this was a sensitive information.  How could I do so without offending him?  Also when I told him that I had no bank accounts in USA, he had asked me to hold the line while he consulted his senior.  I could hear him saying, "He does not have any bank accounts in America."  I could not make out the response of the other person.

Luckily he did not ask any details of passport or Indian driving license and spared me the torment of evading the question.  He instead informed me that a warrant had already been issued in my name: well, things do move fast in USA!  He said that it being a Friday I had very little time to pay a bond amount of USD 1978 and avoid an arrest.  He said that I will have to come over and sign the bond and deposit the amount.  Then he added that the bond amount was refundable and if I was found not guilty it would be refunded.  Next he asked if I knew the immigration office closest to my residence.  When I replied in the negative he said further details will be provided by the interpreter.

Mr Patel duly came online, identified himself, and painted a very bleak picture before me.  He said that unless I could post the bond within two hours, I may have to spend time in prison and this would put paid to any further visits by me to USA.  The suspicion in my mind was gradually turning into a certainty.  I requested Patel to advise me the address so I could call my son to drive down to the address and post the bail.  He said it was an extremely serious matter and no third person should associate with it.  He said that if my son's name figured in the proceedings he could lose his job too.  Now I said, a little boldly, "I have heard about the great justice system in USA.  How could my son lose his job if the crime has been supposedly committed by me and not him?"  He said there was no time to explain and asked me if I had the bail amount at hand in cash.  Now the hardened suspicion was turning into a certainty.  I told him that I did not have a single dollar and that my son would have to drive me to the address given by him and there was no other option.  Patel asked me in a surprised tone that how could I possibly be here and not have even USD 1000 in cash?  Surprise! He did not say 1978!  Probably he could also sense the change in my tone by now.  So he said, "OK, in that case I will hand you back to the immigration officer.  Please talk here."  And the call got disconnected.  And it was only now after disconnection that I noticed that the call was from an Unknown Number!

But dear reader, the biggest surprise was yet to come.

My two grandsons had been watching me and listening to my part of the conversation with great attention and concern.  The elder one had also started video recording the call without my noticing it and he showed me the video later on.  After I put down the phone, my elder grandson said, "Dadu, you should not have told them which city you are in."  When I said that I thought they were government officials, he said, "In that case you should have checked back."  I asked him how and this is what he said, "You should have challenged him to give you your passport number and date of birth to prove that he was from the immigration department and declined to tell your name or city till he had proved his identity!"  This came from an 11 year old!  When I asked him how did this occur to him, he deprecatingly said that he had seen something similar in a TV serial here.  Later my son also told me that all government communications are in the form of letters delivered by USPS and never through a telephone call.  Citizens, of course, could call a department in case of need.  And if at all there were to be a call from a department, it would never be from an unknown number.

My grandson also showed me the video clip where he had succeeded in capturing the sound from the other side too because of high volume and his proximity to me.  He next advised me to call 911 (Police) and inform them this of this attempt to perpetrate a fraud.  We chose not to do that.

LKO to SFO: US pre-clearance at Abu Dhabi

My wife and I travel to USA each year for spending some time with our grandsons.  Though Lucknow boasts of an international terminal, the only international flights available are those to destinations in the Middle East.  We often wondered why did they not offer flights onwards from there to other destinations, but could not find an answer.  In the absence of such connecting onward booking, the only option for us was to travel from Delhi.  Airlines operating between Lucknow and Delhi do not allow any extra baggage allowance to passengers connecting to or from international sectors.  In view of this and also double the normal baggage allowance for USA bound passengers, we used to travel to Delhi by train.  This often meant a prefix interval of 24 hours from the time we left home at Lucknow to the time we boarded the international flight at New Delhi.  The travel time from New Delhi to San Francisco being 24 hours, this train travel doubled the total travel time.

So we were very happy when we learnt that Jet Airways was likely to start bookings for the sector LKO-SFO.  Finally, when my son made the booking, we discovered that the itinerary was a collaboration between three airlines.  For our outward journey from Lucknow, the first flight from Lucknow to Abu Dhabi was operated by Jet.  The next flight from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco, 16 hours of flight time, was an Etihad airways flight. The third airline is Air Berlin on the return leg which doesn't trace back the outward journey.  But the most unusual thing was US pre-clearance at Abu Dhabi.  Pre-clearance simply means completing US immigration and customs check at Abu Dhabi itself.  And this means that you exit on arrival in USA as if you had traveled domestically!  Though, as we discovered, this has one disadvantage too: you have to pay for the luggage cart!  Regular international travelers get the cart free.  Another side effect is that the admission date stamped on your passport is the date in Abu Dhabi at the time of clearance.  Thus though I actually entered the USA on 11th June 2016, the date stamped on my passport is 10th June 2016!

It seems that all US bound passengers at Abu Dhabi board their flight through gate no. 59.  It also seems that this gate opens only after boarding for an US bound flight is announced.  Passengers have to wait in the waiting areas of the adjoining gates.

The way to pre-clearance facility is through a door across the corridor from gate number 59.  You descend a flight of stairs into the pre-clearance area and then ascend a flight of stairs to get back to gate number 58 adjoining 59.  The whole process starts 3 hours before departure.   About an hour before this starting time we were asked to vacate the seating area at gate number 58 so that the area could be sanitized: sanitized as in security and not in hygiene.  Upon inquiry we were told to return to that place after an hour.  The customs clearance form was also provided.

At the appointed time the queue started forming in the corridor which had been blocked near gate 59.  Passengers were directed towards the pre-clearance area.  The boarding pass and the passport were checked by the airlines staff.  Then there was a thorough security check.  After the check we went for the proper immigration process.  It was exactly as done in USA on arrival.  Usual questions were asked and biometric impressions were taken.  The only difference was that a picture of all our checked-in bags appeared on a computer screen in the immigration officer's cabin.  I may add that the luggage had been accepted at Lucknow under through check-in and we were NOT required to take possession of the luggage at Abu Dhabi for custom clearance.

After the immigration formalities were over, we exited and went one flight of stairs up to gate number 58.  At around the time of boarding all economy class passengers were requested to move to the waiting area of gate number 60 and wait for the boarding call.  The boarding was in the usual zone-wise manner.

Banking Transaction Tax (BTT) - The Most Revolutionary Reform Waiting to Happen

It is quite some time since Arthakranti.org put forward a proposal to replace ALL taxes by a single tax levied on credit turnover in bank accounts.  As pointed out by them, along with this the amount of currency in circulation has to be drastically curbed to minimise tax evasion.  It has earlier been shown by an IIM professor that even at 1.5% the BTT yield will exceed the total current tax revenue.

In the present system, the vast army dedicated to tax collection notwithstanding, there are serious leakages.  People evade tax either by simply not declaring the correct base figures for taxation at the lower rungs, or through creative accounting coupled with exploitation of all the fine prints at the top rungs.  The cost of maintaining the army of tax assessors and collectors is humongous.  The cost of compliance, maintaining records and reporting too is mind-boggling.  Though, to be fair, it must be said that till now there was no practical alternative to this cumbersome way of taxation.

Today taxes are divided into two categories, direct and indirect. The Arthakranti website prominently displays a cartoon depicting a man carrying two loads at the two ends of a stick balanced on one of his shoulders.  One load labelled Indirect Taxes is much heavier than the other load labelled Direct Taxes.

Will you agree if I contend that this division of taxes between Direct and Indirect is quite artificial and useless?  Any taxes levied on corporates, or any productive entity for that matter, would ultimately get reckoned towards overheads and factored into the prices.  And, in this sense all taxes are indirect and borne by whoever the consumers are.  There are cases where employees negotiate for a salary net of Income Tax and this makes even the most direct tax an indirect tax.  Taxing the credit turnover in bank accounts, BTT, explicitly does away with this artificial classification of direct and indirect.

As collection costs are eliminated, banks can be given a small percentage of taxes remitted by them as commission.  This will have far reaching implications for the banking industry by substantially boosting their fee-based income.  This can help them lower lending rates, something that all governments have been hankering after, by boosting their non-interest income.  This will help commerce and industry without compromising interests of depositors.

Above all, the energy and qualified human resources that are currently committed to discovering and plugging loopholes in taxation laws, and the so-called creative accounting, reporting and compliance, are truly mind-boggling.  All this can be released and can do wonders by being deployed into productive and meaningful work.  This alone is worth a dozen good enough reasons for implementing BTT.

Some objections that may possibly be raised against this novel way of taxation that has the simplicity of genius, will go like this:

• Taxation is presently used as a tool to encourage or discourage consumption of a product by reducing or increasing tax rate on that particular item.  This also comes handy for raising additional revenue from products with inelastic demands.  This can still be done in BTT but would detract from its fabulous simplicity.  Also, taking the example of curbing smoking, prohibition of smoking in public places has been far more effective a deterrent than sustained price rise year after year.  Thus government should use its legislative powers to discourage or ban use of harmful products instead of exploiting public's addiction for enhancing revenue.
• A fear that people my engage in barter is baseless at this level of economic advancement.
• Taxes on imports and exports are also used as tools to promote/restrict exports/import.  I am not fully aware of what the international trade agreements have to say on this.  Exports will, of course, get taxed when proceeds are received in exporters' account. Imports may be taxed whenever an importer's account is debited towards import and the complication of different rates for different items may remain here.  This will be an instance where a debit entry in an account has to be taxed. It will be recalled that BTT is essentially for taxing credit turnover in bank accounts.
• It may be argued that a single rate on all and sundry is iniquitous.  This may be corrected by specifying amount ranges for credit turnover and applying differential rates.
• To avoid multiple taxation, transfers between different accounts belonging to the same customer-id may be excluded from the credit turnover.  To effect it across banks an universal customer-id, such as Aadhaar number, could be used by all the banks.
• Again, it may be argued that not only revenue but capital transactions, like borrowing and repayment, too, will get taxed under BTT.  However, as BTT is very likely to bring about reduction in lending rates by banks as argued in the beginning, this small burden on capital transactions is likely to be more than set off.
• A serious objection to BTT comes from the concomitant demand for drastically reducing currency in the system.  Lower reserve requirements may enable banks to create too much money.  But then this can always be controlled through capital adequacy norms and reserve requirements imposed by the Monetary Authority.

It cannot be emphasized enough that the entire success of BTT depends on drastic reduction in use of currency in the economy.  All notes above ₹50/= must be discontinued.  

There may be some apprehensions against bringing down use of currency in the economy.  One is that in their quest to avoid taxation, people may create alternate currencies or start using precious metals and stones.  It is not very likely to happen in a big way as all ultimate uses will have to be only in proper currency and bank balance only.

What may not be immediately obvious is that unless the cost of electioneering is reduced and funding of political parties is made absolutely transparent, politicians will resist these proposals tooth and nail.  For it is bundles of high-denomination notes, mostly unaccounted money, that are used for these two purposes.

An examination of tax data shows that when it comes to direct taxes, total Income Tax paid by corporates is hardly 1.5 times the total Income Tax paid by individuals. And the whole of indirect taxes, which far exceed the direct taxes, is ultimately borne by individual consumers only.  Thus corporates pay very little tax and almost the entire tax burden falls on individuals only.  Hence it is likely that corporates may raise all kinds of objections to BTT.  However all such arguments will be fallacious because in the final analysis all taxes on a productive entity are indirect only (as long as it is a going concern.)

To conclude, it is currency that facilitates most evils including crime, terrorism and drug trade.  It also facilitates the kind of expensive politics that makes it near impossible for an ordinary citizen to get into it.  The elimination of currency will curb these evils and BTT will release unbelievable amounts of energy and manpower currently committed to the process of tax collection, payment (and evasion) and compliance requirement.  These two can be the biggest game changers for the human race.

Thus there is a need to start a public movement across the globe so that all countries take to BTT and minimal currency use.

Comments requested.

Bangladeshi Immigrants and Swachchh Bharat

A few days ago we had a meeting of the local Residents' Welfare Association.  One member observed that an order has been promulgated by the government for penalizing burning of garbage as a mode of disposal.  Of course, nobody knew of any initiatives for improvements in the current pathetic state of garbage collection and disposal to supplement this notification.  In the absence of such improvements, the notification looks like just cynical buck passing.

At our place garbage is not collected by the corporation directly but by a private agency called "Chamacham Lucknow."  I think most other cities too have similar arrangements.  Chamacham fellows are supposed to take all the garbage to the nearest designated garbage dump from where corporation collects it, though not on a daily basis. The Chamacham people do take the household garbage away once in two days.  However, the fallen leaves, plant trimmings from houses as also the neighborhood park are bulky and Chamacham workers refuse to cart it away.  Instead they collect it in a heap, leave it to dry and then set fire to it.  Often this burning mass also includes bits of plastic and wrappings lying on the road and roadside. This is a major source of air pollution in the city.

As an aside, we all have read in the newspapers that these days the farmers too set fire to the dry plant stalk remaining in the fields after harvesting. Thus burning of plant stalks in villages and garbage in cities have raised air pollution levels to a new high all around.

After the meeting I chanced to meet the local Chamacham supervisor and interviewed him briefly.  This is the picture that emerged from the interview.

He said that there are well paid municipal employees under a supervisor who are supposed to sweep the streets and take away all the swept-up garbage.  Instead they are made to work as domestic servants at bureaucrats' and politicians' homes.  Then many of them do not work themselves.  They hire another person to whom they pay a fraction of their wages.  They also pay another small fraction to their supervisor and then splurge the rest.  After all, why should they work once they have become a government employee: never mind if it is just the LSG (Local Self Government!)  Chamacham people rightly thinks that compensating for such shirking by people who are extremely well paid entitles them to separate payment for sweeping the streets.

Then again, the number of garbage dumpsters has been steadily declining as nobody wants one near his house.  To be sure, it really is a big nuisance.  It will overflow before it is emptied by the autonomous employees.  Dogs and cows will be rummaging through the overflow and adding their own poop to it.  Now who wouldn't mobilize all his resources to ensure that he is as far away from such a place as possible?

Thus inadequate deployment of dumpsters and infrequent emptying of these few dumpsters force burning of garbage as the only means of disposal.

He concluded by adding a note of caution, "People resent the Bangladeshi immigrants. But it must be said that but for them our cities would have by now turned into garbage mountains."

Unless Municipal Corporations are overhauled, rid of corruption and their employees made to work, merely exhorting and goading the citizens will not get us any closer to the Swachchh Bharat of our dreams.  And if we cannot make the employees work, we may have to encourage Bangladeshi immigration, political posturing notwithstanding.

Internet Banking and Travelling Overseas

With steady increase in the NRI numbers, many parents make yearly trips abroad to spend some time with sons, daughters and their "grand" versions.  One issue that inconveniences them is the use of internet banking while abroad. They have to use it for payment of bills as also checking their accounts.

All banks impose use of use-once-only OTP (One Time Password) under certain conditions though the usage is not uniform.  The use is for ensuring that the action is being performed by the genuine account holder who is in possession of his registered mobile number.  The OTP is sent as an SMS on this registered mobile number.  Some banks initiate OTP at the time of login itself if they find that it is being done from an unfamiliar device and location.  While some banks may just have a second password for transactions, others insist on use of OTP for all transactions irrespective of device or location.

The point is that unless international roaming is activated on your Indian mobile number,  you may not be able to make use of Internet banking.  International roaming is not only expensive but also not as easily available as national roaming.  BSNL does not provide international roaming to its prepaid customers.  Airtel does, but not to customers in East UP circle: This gets my goat as I reside in this circle.  And then this roaming can prove to be very expensive if you were to respond to an incoming call by mistake.

I had found a solution for this.  I put an app 'Relay ME' on my phone.  Then I would leave my phone in India with someone who could ensure that it is kept charged and connected to the network.  The app relays all received SMS to an email address configured in it.  This did the job without having to go for international roaming.

Now many banks have introduced 'active token' for generating the OTP instead of receiving it from the bank.  It is done through an app on customer's smartphone.  The OTP can be generated whether or not you are in the coverage area of your GSM operator.  However your SIM which has the mobile number registered with the Bank, must be present in the phone. Presto! carry your SIM with you and forget about international roaming.  As long as you have a wi-fi connection you can carry out Internet banking unhindered.

Activating the "Token" app is just a little bit tricky.  For this purpose you have to log into your Internet banking account, preferably on another device while activating the app on your smartphone.  Also you must install the app on the phone which has the SIM for the registered mobile number.  You will receive an SMS which will have an URL for activation and you have to click on this URL on the phone having the app and the SIM.  However all the hassle is worth it.

Finally, having your Bank's mobile banking app on your phone also helps.  It allows you to login and transfer funds without OTP.  However when you are being redirected to bank's Internet banking site by an online merchant, you may have to resort to the "Active Token."

Do share your experience if you have been using an active token for banking transactions.