Traffic ahow !

No patience. Driving on Indian roads have become traumatic least on Bangalore roads. Probably a new game theory is needed to describe how the traffic moves in most of the Indian cities ( crawls ) in spite of the chaos. Its a actual Zoo on the roads with all kinds of animals. Not surprisingly we have a mainstream Bollywood film called traffic Signal. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to go everywhere leading to now where, people are matching bumper to bumper to get ahead. The horns add to the misery and irritation - wonder why the pressure horns are not band, the decibel levels in the Indian roads are the highest in the world. There is no sense of discipline with the drivers suddenly mutating into blood sucking demons willing to go for the kill without provocation. I always wonder if we had the same gun control laws similar to the US in India. The roads would have got transformed into a killing fields. I remember an anecdote - once a cousin while driving in mumbai nearly nudged a car in front due to a mis judgement , instead of abuses a gun came out from the passenger seat threatening him. He still shudders the very sight of any red Mitsubishi lancer.

looks like folks take all the frustration out on the roads - only place in our cities where you can blow your lungs out. The cab drivers live in their own world and don't have the word "manners" in their dictionary . Auto rickshaws create lanes as they drive oblivious to other vehicles. Two wheelers seem to have converted the roads into a Moto GP race track racing against time very well realising one small mistake can be fatal - luckily some state governments have made the helmet compulsory. Experience any new Delhi signal - very similar to the starting F1 starting grid , the familiar vroom of the engine - with smoking bellowing. How can I miss out the ubiquitous city buses - they are a nightmare come true. The bus drivers seem to be immune to any and everything. My experience tells me never challenge an empty bus or truck.

its a circus out there ! The cars are becoming powerful and the average speed on Indian roads coming down. There are very few stretches in any city left where the needle can touch 80 kmph consistently. The roads have become Gas chambers ..difficult to breath if the AC is not on, the road development has not been able to keep pace with the addition in vehicles. The only solution the traffic administration has today is to make as many road one ways which ultimately results in the traffic piling up on narrow junctions. I cant see any respite in sight.

Blog Party

I happen to see this invite for a blog party on the 9th of June in Mumbai. I was surprised at the open invitation and seems to be free for all. More details at

http://www.thevoiceinmyhead.com/2007/05/23/its-blog-p-a-r-t-y-time/ . Isnt this amazing that a party is being organised for complete strangers. Though I am not aware of the place but as per the invite there is no time limit .... wait before this comes to the knowledge of the moral mumbai police and they gate crash.

Money honey

I dont have a great relationship with Money. Some how the more I want it the more it is elusive. Though this is relative, I never seem to have enough when I compare myself to my peers. In this age of capitalism where materialism matters more than anything else , the instant gratification can only be provided with money and nothing else. The luxuries of olden times have become necessities today. Money has never been flaunted like this . there seems to be no great relationship between how much a person deserves ( probably a perception ) and how much a person actually has. Though a seaming inference may be that my peers are undeserving .. the moot point is that how fast and quickly a person can capitalise on the opportunities can make that vital difference. The obvious example is the ESOPs given by a lot of companies which dollar millionaires out of ordinary blokes who in a lot of cases could not even have dreamt to have made that kind of money in their lifetime. Though this may sound a bit out of frustration on missing the bus but I find this echo with a lot of ordinary junta.

Recently one of my friends mentioned an advt about a housing complex which had the tag line .. what is the difference between "haves" and "have lots" - the houses were meant disbelieving for the "have lots". India is on the way to become a Trillion dollar economy and even the stock market capitalisation is due to touch the magical figure. Though I may sound like a pseudo secularist in the garb of a capitalism desisting animal but the spoils of the stupendous and spectacular growth has been cornered by a select few who have access to all corridors. The most die hard of capitalist countries have social security built into the civil fabric.

More on this to come ...

Hail the new Maya

The pollster have got it wrong again , inspite of the so many high profile exit polls across Television channesl - non of them was near the target and the variation being as high as 40% . It is surprising to analyse how can they get it wrong each time particularly if a party is due for a majority it cannot escape detection either during the opinion polls or exit polls. Mayavati has proved the strongest of her detractors wrong and what she has pulled off is truely remarkable considering that she neither had any star power nor any manifesto to speak off except the anti - mulayam rehetoric.

The social engineering of having a diverse set of communities on a single platform my opinion has a very positive side , with such a diverse community supporting her no one caste/religion will get undue benefits due to the pulls and pressures. Mayavati has shown tremendous pragmatism and a foresight far ahead of her rivals - which were always seeped into their own parochial mindset - it will be very interesting to see how she is able to balance every one's expectations in the days to come. The significant risk is that there is no visbily economic plank and how she will be going about carrying the affairs of state particularly when she is done with hounding the Mulayam coterie of politicians, goons, henchman and bureaucrats.

Its truly amazing to see how the Brahmins ( upper castes ) and the dalits ( lower caste ) the staunchest of foes can come come together for power sharing keeping aside their centuries of animosity and if this can be achived in such a fragmented state of Uttar Pradesh it bodes well for the rest of the country. This will force the mainstream political parties to reach out to a larger political canvas hitherto ignored by them. Possibly the the quota politics will take a back seat and meritocracy will gain credence.

Its all about the "gut"

I always wondered why people rely on the gut for any intuition and where on earth this term "gut feeling" originate. The funny part is that the term "gut feeling " is normally used to predict about an incidence, providence, which I would associate positively as there in a normal course - a person would that extra bit to of sixth sense to predict the future or give an indication of a likely outcome of the situcation/scenario/circumstance as otherwise this divine power doesnt come naturally. Medically "Gut" is assciated with digestive tract and to sound politically correct the waste is stored there, then how come such a positive emotion is associated with the "gut". I wish to imagine if the gut can give such powers what about the other important parts .like the "liver power" , " pancreatic emotion" etc

As a corollary even acts of bravery/defiance is associated with "guts". I will not elaborate as it is well understood.

Have not been able to find anything historically which will give such an importance to a body part which is internal and stores the waste matter. It should be typically associated with catharsis or letting out of emotion. Sometimes even though the words dont mean the obvious - it becomes so ingrained in our daily lingo that we start using even without realising what it could mean otherwise.

Die in Peace

The summer did not have a good effect ...

I dread to imagine the day when I will be bed ridden and no one to really take care from the family and particularly scenario when the suffering gets prolonged to months. I would like to die without pain - no burden on anyone, no expectations, absolutely nothing. I remember the day my grand father was hospitalised due to old age there was a deluge of family members keeping the vigil day and night. This is two generations back when the families were large.. had enough members to take care, with nuclear families in vogue the problem is and will get compounded.

I remember an incidence nearly 10 years back , one of my relatives was admitted to Tata memorial hospital for an cancer removing operation and there was this old lady of nearly 70 years in the adjacent bed - she had been already operated once for abdominal cancer a week which was not very successful. The relatives sounded helpness not knowing what to do while the doctors kept suggesting some treatment or the other and even an operation in the next week - even for a layman like me it all sounded gory.The doctors as it was obvious were taking her relatives for a ride ( most of them were young and seemed wanted to try out their hand on her ). Since they gave a glimer of hope - her folks were not able to resist one last temptation of her getting well. It was dreadful that no one was willing to give a thought to her pain and suffering.

I can hear more and more cases of folks getting bed ridden and having to undergo the trauma for a prolonged period of time. The competivtive pressures of survival takes a heavy toll on the near/dear ones both financially and on their time.

It may sound surprising to talk about such an eventuality when probably I have lots of summers to endure - but could not help realise the stark reality. Amen