Ruminations

Change is not easy...and mostly is not simple

2012-12-20T02:35:00.004+05:30

With the middle class again in arms against the ruling government and its administrative machinery, it is time for the TV news media to work overtime again. Plus with social media being as accessible as it is, everyone, including the writer, who has an opinion (or even if he/she does not have one), has a point to make. Rapists should be given capital punishment, there should be fast track courts set up for trying rape and sexual assault cases, there should be more police patrol vehicles and of course more police on the road, impounding vehicles with tints on, asking buses to drive around with interior lights on at night. A few among us also talk about the more important issue of creating the much sensitivity in society about the rights of woman, which, in case there are any doubts, the same as that of a man.

An important point to be noted is that when this incident took place

i. The order to remove dark tints (in fact any tints) from vehicle glass panes was already in force for more than a month

ii. The bus was running in clear disregard to the rules of contract carriage.

iii. The bus passed through multiple police check points while the ghastly act was taking place

So, as you see, had existing rules and laws been implemented in spirit, the probability of such an incident going undetected while it was happening would have been much lesser. Maybe so less that the culprits would have been too scared to even commit the crime.

In an ideal world, our average citizen is well educated to know that one of his prime duties as a citizen is to follow the law of the land. However, considering these are not ideal times neither are we in Utopia, we should realize that before we start respecting the law, we will need to start fearing it. That would not happen unless we see better policing, water tight chargesheets, a senstive and sensitized administrative machinery and higher conviction rates.

To all the measures being taken by all the government arms after the Delhi rape incident, my question is "Why now? Why not earlier?". Were rapes not happening before this one shook the conscience of the nation? Or have be become shameless enough to start categorizing even rapes as important and not-so-important. We need to ask the steps being taken by governments in other states to ensure something like this does not happen in their state.

To ensure that rapes and sexual assault in our society do not become acceptable as "that thing which happens to other people", we need to start asking for a cogent policy to strengthen a woman's confidence as she moves about in society doing her usual business.

It is sad that it took a brutally assaulted girl left half dead to bring something as important as woman's safety (and even citizen's safety) back on the discussion table.

The Independence Day Rant

2012-08-15T02:25:00.001+05:30

It is 1:40 AM and when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom for the 66th time. As you cut out the din from the tv channels celebrating Independence Day in their own way - countdowns and entertainment shows, you visualize a blank screen staring at you. And in its state of blankness, it asks this question to you "What is meant by independence day?"

What does Independence mean to us?

There are facebook and twitter messages; there are definitely discussions and arguments on all available platforms ruing on where the country is and where it could have been had our founding fathers - to borrow a term from a country to which we have given so much or, shall I say, so many. Not to mention there are op-eds and blog posts (like these but better and beautifully worded).

I think most of us do not understand the meaning of freedom - either because we have never seen the opposite or because we are still not free. I would think we belong to the former category.

As an independent nation, we are very young. And, from the looks of it, we are not being brought up very nicely. We are afraid of using the "spare the rod..." method, lest we anger the human rights wallahs. We are afraid of encouraging open discussion within people, lest we are made to let go of "assumed" power over certain ways in which society has been functioning.

When I vent like this, it is not because I am pessimistic about my country's future. In fact I know someday it will achieve greatness. Every country goes through its turmoil. Following the laws of nation evolution, we will definitely become better - America like - as we would like to believe. But the difference will lie in the answers to questions like "at what cost" and "are we learning from the history of other nations"

It is not possible to understand the importance of an independent country by just visualizing the pre-Independence era. You need to live it to remember the lesson. On this Independence day, I just wish we love our country so much that we actually think about it in our actions.

The Wednesday Soul

2012-04-01T14:46:00.002+05:30

[This book review is written for Blog Adda under their Book Reviews Program. If you have a blog and would like to review a book, visit the link to enrol]

Let me confess upfront, I am not used to reading 'The Wednesday Soul' kind of fiction. My kind of books are non-fiction. In fact the last book that I reviewed for BlogAdda was a non-fiction. So when I started reading this book, I was take by surprise. The Wednesday Soul is the story of Nyra, Chittr and their lives or after-lives shall I say. Sourabh has created an entire world which peopled with people who die - looks I have inherited some of Sourabh's writing style too after reading the book. The book is a free flowing smooth read. Again, it is one of those books which you can carry on your train journey and finish it before getting down. Of course, when I talk about train journeys, I am talking about going from south to north.

One characteristic of the writing style in the book is the way it portrays life in India, urban life in particular. And then it marries (or tries to marry) this writing and living style of urban youth to the afterlife - something that is faithfully portrayed in the tagline for the book 'the afterlife, with shades'. It is an easy read for someone looking to start reading a book. But not everyone would like this book. The writer you can closest try and compare to is Chetan Bhagat and the comparison will fail when you reach the point of story. Even though both portray urban youth, in case of Sourabh, the youth category is even narrower.

Having said that, I commend Sourabh Pant for writing a non-fiction with an unexpected storyline like that of 'The Wednesday Soul'. The reason I have not written much about the story is because if you want to read the book, then you better not judge it by its story. My final one line - 'If you are going on that train journey and do not want a carry a book beyond the journey and if you are into non-fiction, this is one of the books you can think of'.

What do these numbers mean?

2011-12-20T12:37:00.000+05:30

Just read this report on how India fares better than the last in a 76 country study coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This when the only states participating from India were the top 2 states! Man, what a close shave with the last spot.

Though I am not a big fan of the school education system in India, I have some reservations about the basis of this study and also about what interpretation can we draw from the results. Without sounding boastful, I can say for sure that what has helped India make its mark in the world is large number of really smart people who were or were not schooled properly.

In a country like India which is in a peculiar state both in terms of where its society is in terms of Human Development Index and also in terms of its position in the world. So we have an education system which focuses on rote learning; but it is the products of this rote learning who are occupying a large chunk of the Silicon Valley and Wall Street - giving a whole new meaning to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

As many voices in the said report have said, there is more to it than India just being in the last place!

Guest Access @ SLP Silicon Valley

2011-12-17T11:38:00.000+05:30

Once I landed in San Francisco with the knowledge that I would be spending one whole month in the Bay Area, I started racking my brains on things to do here. That's when it struck me that Startup Leadership Program has a chapter in the Silicon Valley. A couple of emails later Ankit Jain played the perfect host and invited me over to two sessions of the chapter that were happening the same week.

The first two sessions that I attended were at the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati office in Palo Alto. Rama Sekhar, VP at Norwest Venture Partners and a previous SLP fellow, talked to the class about financial modeling with a VC perspective. One thing that made Rama's presentation interesting was that he talked not only about the known issues when presenting to a VC but also things like "How we need to be early but expect the partner to reach late" or "How we need not get hassled by an audience distracted by BlackBerries".

The financial aspect and therefore its presentation will differ based on the stage we are in. However, it is important that we presented our financial model clearly. It is important to spell out your assumptions clearly. Incidentally, on a related topic, I read an interesting post by Jason Goldberg of Fab.com.(shared by, Kapil, again a SLP Silicon Valley fellow) He talked about how he designed a new process to pitch to the VCs so as to ensure that the entire cycle of securing securing venture capital was not only shortened but less painful and less distracting from their actual goal of running the company.

Rama's presentation was very useful for understanding what aspects we need to keep in mind when making a presentation of the financials aspects of our venture. This was followed by an activity based session by Barbara Fittipaldi of Center of New Futures. As far as I am concerned, it was an "interesting" session. I am wary of activities that can be categorized as Self Help and I fought hard in my mind not to approach this session from that angle of skepticism. Even though it would be difficult to summarize the message from the session into a paragraph, the underlying theme of Barbara's message was "If you want to go great things, in all probability, you are not going to reach there by doing the normal". She gave anecdotes and pointers on how to map your path to achieve your goals. What was interesting to know was that there were so many people in the class were open to her ideas and her message. Belonging to the Hyderabad Chapter, I could not help thinking, what would be the value add and reception to such a session in my chapter.

The third session that I attended was on a bright Saturday morning in the TiE office, Santa Clara. The topic, Financial Modeling, was kicked off by Ann Rogan. Ann presented the class with a template of a financial model that she filled up with data from her enterprise. This particular session was the most interactive of the ones I attended in SLP Silicon Valley. Most of the participants, on account of being existing or budding entrepreneurs, were informed on different financial aspects about an enterprise. Some of the topics discussed were - "projecting your startups' numbers on a monthly or quarterly basis - when to go which?", "the sensitivity of your financial model to a set of parameters that you use", "how to arrive that Customer Acquisition Cost", "differences in your model depending on your startup being an enterprise or eCom ?(or similar) startup". After Ann's walkthrough, we watched a video on Balance Sheets from the Khan Academy. Following that Sheila Maithel of Brillist, who was with SLP Delhi and is now with the Silicon Valley chapter, walked us through her thoughts about a financial model when she came up with her idea. Evidently, Sheila was still working out the financial aspect of her startup. But the discussion in the class was not only supportive but constructive too - for Sheila and for everyone else.

Overall, for me, it was a valuable learning experience to share time with fellows from the SLP Silicon Valley. One thing that struck me and which I also told fellows here was that it was interesting to note the kind of problems we were solving in Hyderabad (India in general) were different from what we were doing here in Silicon Valley. This obviously is a reflection of the needs of the market or shall we say the needs of the society in a particular geography. I wish all the entrepreneurs, best of luck, in their entrepreneurial endeavors. Hope to meet all of you again soon.

Real issues are Google and Facebook; to hell with Nation Development

2011-12-06T18:05:00.001+05:30

When I first heard Kapil Sibal's statement about censoring social networking websites, I took it really lightly. Not because I am not for freedom of speech but I am for it and as long as Kapil Sibal is only "saying" and not "doing" anything, we are better off letting some people just be.

But as the furore rises, it is important to make our reservations felt, just to ensure that the minister does not mistake our silence for acceptance. I am using an Indian Express article on this to ask KS a few questions

I suggested that these platforms should evolve a mechanism on their own to ensure that such content is removed as soon as they get to know of it... I have told them that this cannot go on

What content are you talking about? If I say "Screw the Government because it is not dealing with corruption", I am sure the government and its ministers are going to feel slighted. Which means I cannot say these things. Which means the government can just about do anything and I cannot do anything. I think the minister wants to teach us manners and confusing it with something else.

I believe that no reasonable person, aware of the sensibilities of a large section of the communities in this country, would wish to see this in the public domain

Totally agree Sir. I would not like to see discussions which say "Muslims are the cause of all problems in India". But do you think by stopping people of these opinions to post on social networking sites you are going to change their thinking or at the least stop them from talking about these issues. I don't think so. If you think a nation's thought process can evolve by censoring (sorry monitoring) what they say, I am sorry you are sadly mistaken.

This government does not believe in either directly or indirectly interfering in the freedom of the press

A non sequitur in this particular issue; why does Kapil Sibal think Facebook and Google constitute press. If he really wants to do something, let him first bring the TV news media under the press category and then start talking about Google and Facebook.

The same article says that India has more than 25 million Facebook users. Now I do know that Facebook had some role to play in the Arab Spring, in the Anna Hazare movement but if you think banning/monitoring Facebook can prevent large scale riots, there is a clear disconnect in the minister's mind.

And before I end, much before there were hate pages against Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, there were thousands of pages with child pornography. I did not see the minister charged up take up the arms on this one.

What is the worth of a company?

2011-11-24T18:38:00.001+05:30

Evening "chai" at our office is a very lively event. 4-5 of us gather over tea and discuss almost anything under the sun and move from one topic to another quite fast. One such topic that came up for discussion was started by a friend who was surprised at how "Tata's are worth USD 83.3 bn whereas Facebook is worth close to USD 100 bn".

I had a feeling that somewhere there was a flaw in such a conjecture but was not able to put it across in absence of actual facts. Coming back to the desk, Googling helped me a bit. So to put facts in order.

i. Tata's worth (I will come to the question of what this term means) is not USD 83 bn. USD 83 bn is actually its revenues in the year 2010-11. Information source - Tata website

ii. Facebook's revenue in the first half of 2011 was USD 1.6 bn. Information source TechCrunch. Another projection puts its revenues at USD 4.27 bn.

iii. The market capitalization of Tata group companies is around USD 77 bn. Information Source Tata website Detailed break up too is available on the website This is just the valuation of Tata companies that are listed. There may be companies in the group which are not listed.

iv. Facebook's project market capitalization is around 82 bn USD. Information source Vator

Now in light of these facts, the point put forward by my friend still holds true i.e Facebook, a young company started in 2004, has a market capitalization which is more than Tatas, a group which is only 7 years short of celebrating its 150 years of existence.

Now, the sky high valuations for tech companies seems to be a sign of irrational exuberance, to borrow from Alan Greenspan. Sometimes there may be a connect between revenues and valuations like Google; sometimes the market valuation may be in expectation of a future revenue windfall - a la Twitter.

Coming back to the Tata-Facebook comparison, however, we see that the gap between revenues is very wide. Tatas are earning USD 83 bn worth of real money whereas the same figure for Facebook is USD 4.2 bn.

In light of the above point, I would like people's views on the worth of a company. Can we use the terms worth and value interchangeably? One obvious school of thought uses the straightforward market capitalization of a company to arrive at the worth. There may be other schools of thought and other methods that may consider other pointers to arrive. Would love to have your thoughts on this and also references to links on the value of a company.

Interesting volunteering opportunity at Dhonk

2011-11-22T10:59:00.001+05:30

[I am a supporter of Dhonk. Run by Divya Shrivastava. I came to know about the organization when I attended a workshop organized by Tiger Watch, again based out of Sawai Madhopur ]

Dhonk is a social enterprise based out of Sawai Madhopur. We support women around Ranthambhore, Rajasthan by providing opportunities in various handicraft activities. This winter, we have started a pilot initiative to support women, who have been victims of domestic violence. Women who are part of this initiative make toys and are also capable of picking up other crafts. We are looking for volunteers who are involved in toy making or similar crafts and are willing to train others on these skills.

Details of volunteering opportunities

Duration of the stay would be around 15-20 days. Dhonk will provide basic accommodation facilities to the volunteer. Even though there will be no remuneration to the volunteer, the beautiful weather at Ranthambhore will be available to the volunteers free of cost and all round the day. The volunteering opportunity is open till Feburary-March; the period till December, however, is the peak tourist season and this is when you can make the maximum impact.

If you are interested, contact Divya at divz333@gmail.com

A book about Mumb[h]ai's behens, mummys and nanis

2011-11-21T00:01:00.001+05:30

[This book review is written for Blog Adda under their Book Reviews Program. If you have a blog and would like to review a book, visit the link to enrol]

Hussain Zaidi became a household name when his book Black Friday was made into a film by the same name and the film caught the attention of the nation. I never read Black Friday but after watching it I had thought that the book which inspired it would be a work to reckon with. When Zaidi came out with Mafia Queens of Mumbai, he definitely raised the expectations of the many fans - some of whom were fans of his earlier book and some of whom were fans of the movie and hence his book.

Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges have definitely done their research for this book. Through eight sections, they tell the story of more than a dozen women who left their mark in the dark underbelly of Mumbai's mafia. With their simple style of their writing, the reader runs the risk of reading the book like a racy fictional novel. The only harm of such a pace being the failure to realize that each of these characters were real and existed at some point in Mumbai's criminal timeline.

The following lines from the story of Gangubai - The Matriarch of Kamathipura, echo one of my sentiments about the book.

It is not like she was all milk and honey. We mustn't forget that she was running a brothel at the end of the day....there was surely a dark side to her that people have chosen to forget. You cannot prosper in this business otherwise

The authors - intentionally or otherwise - have not projected the hard matter possessed by these ladies in the book. Something which is essential for anyone - irrespective of gender - to survive in the underworld. I would have liked that part to be highlighted because when contrast women with their actions and attitudes in this manner, you show how these women had to exploit their feminine characteristics and, in many cases, shed them to be able to thrive in hostile environments.

Having said that, the detailing in the story of each "queen" is impressive and makes you want to turn the page. The story of Monica Bedi, who was in the news not so long ago, reminded me how lives of simple girls living next door can change in ways they would have never imagined. I found all the stories interesting especially those of "Sapna Didi" and "Gangubai".

I would recommend the book for that one day train journey which you are planning to take. It entertains and surprises and does not bore you for a minute. But it does not leave you with that one thought which you may want to have after reading a book. I leave you with this excerpt

Ayaz had reached the first floor when three women stopped him. They were dressed in gaudy saris and had red and yellow bindis on their foreheads. "Saar, Mahalaxmi Papamani's case ..."

"No, don't bother. Give me the papers and I will handle everything"

But the women didn't mov; instead they made Ayaz sit down and hear them out. Twenty minutes into the conversation, Ayaz had learnt his lesson; appearances could be deceptive.

These women were actually well-read legal functionaries of Papamani. They knew the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act by rote. In fact, they actually enlightened Ayaz about the technical loopholes in the prosecution's case. Even before meeting her, Ayaz was impressed with the team of brain and brawn that Papamai had gathered around her.

The Night I Was A Terrorist

2011-11-20T08:12:00.001+05:30

A couple of days ago a friend of mine introduced me to an acquaintance. I think I first got talked to the acquaintance over phone but I do not remember it now. Very soon the acquaintance broached a topic which, I guess now, was what he got introduced to me for in the first place. Before I realized, I had said "Yes" to be part of a plan to plant a bomb on 26th January somewhere - Again I do not remember but I get reminded of Delhi. Again I don't know why.

Now that I think about it, I think I said Yes for the money. I do not see any other reason. Yes, I do have complaints against the state but I am sure Terrorism or even Naxalism is not the answer. In many cases, they do come up in response to some conditions created by the state but they are not the answer. Coming back to my case, once I had started, I had a partner. Both of us were going to do accomplish the task together. I remember traveling and in a very surreptitious way (now when I look back it does not look surreptitious at all) two cell phones were given to each of us. I remember thinking what will I tell Ipshita, my wife. What excuse will I tell her about the cell phone because telling her about the plan was out of question.

In a sudden realization of the enormity of my action and the one-sided nature of the path I was taking, I developed cold-feet. It was as if suddenly I had woken up from a dream to realize that I had taken a decision to plant a bomb and now I was stuck with my decision. Any deviation from the current plan would not be a simple "desist and restrain" order.

I started thinking about how the police and other agencies have the wherewithal to trace such people - people like me. Not to forget that I started thinking of the number of people who would be killed by such an action. I realized that I should go to the police now. I will tell them about the plan and that I have no idea how I came to join this plan. I knew that I may have to spend sometime in prison and also become a one-day star of the 24x7 breaking news soap drama. That thought was definitely unnerving because I knew how media had a habit of discussing everything except the news. I also remembered how in real life I used to write about issues in the society and how on hearing about this action of mine, all that would be discredited and my intentions would be suspected. Time was literally running out. I knew that the people who had recruited me into the plan would not really be happy hearing I had copped out. I decided to go the police.

I did not know what would happen from there. Torture! Arrest! Parade in full media view! Court cases! I could feel the sweat breaking on my head. It was then, fortunately and thankfully, that I woke up. To the happy realization that I am still a simple man not yet entangled in anything even close to what terrorism is or represents or is a product of. I immediately woke up and told my wife about the dream. She tried to be a good listener but the sleep was overpowering. I wanted to share this on this blog because the sense of relief that I got when I woke up to realize all this was a dream was a sense of relief that I am not living a life that many others are living as I write. Hope this means something to us.

We Are All One....Inhabiting Different Worlds

2011-11-08T21:50:00.000+05:30

The last post I wrote was on the last day of last month for the Tehelka Thinkfest. While the week which followed Thinkfest was spent in relaxing in Goa, two weeks after that were spent in paying back for these holidays at office. But as I went about my usual work and also while I was taking in Goa, the conversations that happened over three days lingered in my head. Over three days, I heard a lot of people - most of them well known, some of them not so well known and a few of them not known at all; coming from backgrounds that were not even remotely connected unless you invoke the whole "we are all related in some way or the other" theory. I could write a post on each of the sessions - such were the quality of discussions. And, for all we know, I may do it, at least for some of them.

But this post is about an overarching thought. A thought that is so simple yet so profound. And, mind you, a thought, the meaning and relevance of which, I have not yet realized. The thought that "We are all one, but living in different worlds". On one side we were listening to Gregory Stock who said how science will help us decide what qualities our offspring will possess; how the weak would be weeded out by this process of (un)natural selection. On the other side, we heard Himanshu Kumar and Kopa Kunjam talk (in Hindi) about how a (hopefully) duly elected state government was "undermining" (and I cannot overlook the fact that undermining has the word mining in it) the rights of its its own people to achieve larger objective of progress. On one side we listened to Chitrangada Sigh discussing the subject of "Love, its meaning and its powers" and on the other hand we heard the fiery Dayamani Barla defending (in Hindi again - which for some strange reason was a relief to hear on stage and even sounded like music) the rights of the tribals to the earth, mountains, rivers, air.

Many times, I feel confused. Is our progress akin to that of stretching a chewing gum. One end stuck to one finger while the other keeps on going further away and ultimately making a mess of everything. It was shocking for most people (including myself) to hear the contents of Soni Sori's heart-rending letter to Himanshu Ji. But what beyond this shock. Isn't this shock similar to the shock you got when you first witnessed an accident on the road and now laugh about as you drive past to your destination. And when I say this, I have not hidden the needle of guilt to poke you. Because many times we have the best of intentions but a lack of motivation.

And so while we shared the roof for three days and ate together, most of us went back to our daily routine. Living in a city like Hyderabad, while I crib of hundreds of things, I also take for granted thousands of things that are a dream for many living in this very country and many times living only a few hundred kilometers away. Have we thought of what can happen to us if we choose to take on the state? Have we thought of what will be the compensation you will seek when your government comes tomorrow and asks you to sacrifice that flat and job which you were so sure about till yesterday. And how would you feel if after promising to help you pick up the pieces, it left you in the lurch. A la Lawaris. Honestly, I do not know.

It is understandable to live in worlds that are separated by culture, geography and ,to an extent, financial status. But it is not understandable when our worlds are separated by ignorance.

#OWS Occupy Which Street!

2011-10-31T23:10:00.000+05:30

[This is the 8th post in a series that I am writing in the run up to Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

I first heard Ashis Nandy on a talk show discussing the Anna Hazare movement (and supporting it). My thought was, "For once, we have a voice of reason supporting the movement". During the Anna Hazare movement, I saw a large number of well-meaning but uninformed or unfortunately still, ill-informed people who wanted to get rid of corruption from their country but everything stopped at this lofty ideal. They did not know what Anna Hazare and his team were asking for, they did not know what the Lokpal in all its versions stood for - they were simply not tuned in.

While searching I found this detailed piece on Ashis Nandy. He is with CSDS - an institute I got to know about once I read A Free Man - the author Aman Sethi wrote the path-breaking book is a Sarai CSDS fellow. The topic I would wish Ashis Nandy to take up would be about the mass uprisings - if that is the right choice of words - happening in almost every part of the world. Including the Anna Hazare movement, the anti-dispensation protests which have been collectively termed as The Arab Spring, the Tea Party and now the widely held Occupy Wall Street Protests. In fact such protests are not new to us. The Colour Revolution, which includes the popular Orange Revolution in Ukraine, has its roots since late 80s.

I would like to know his views on popular uprisings of this kind. What is the genesis of such movements which seem to happen with regular frequency. In many cases, the movement has retraced its path later on e.g. the Orange Revolution. Are such movements a middle-class specific phenomena. Are they a symbol of the selfishness in our system - the #OccupyWallStreet, as I see it, are happening only now but the policies they are fighting against have been there for sometime. Is it because high level of unemployment in the system has come around to bite the people who lived off these very policies?

It will be enlightening to know from a man like Ashis Nandy which street is going to be occupied next! And why!

Libya and Kurukshetra

2011-10-22T23:32:00.002+05:30

Picture Courtesy: The Hindu

Gaddafi is dead and how! Some say it is Karma. Quite possible. One of the articles about his death had an interesting comment. The reader compared the treatment meted out to Gaddafi with an incident in Mahabharata - when Bhima kicks Duryodhana on his head after the latter has fallen to the ground being a dealt a blow, which though fatal was against the rules of engagement. Looking up on the internet I found scores of interpretations of this incident - am talking about Duryodhana not Gaddafi. It is amazing to see the kind of polarized views people have of an incident which is part of an epic that many of us even doubt had occurred. One of the most believable, I thought, was this one.

Now if I have to take the analogy one step further, if Duryodhana is Gadaddi, who is Krishna? I think it is the NATO. Who are the Pandavas - the NTC I guess. Sirte is Samantpanchaka. Russia is Balarama in this sequel.

If the tumultuous history of India after Mahabharata is anything to go by, Libya's hard days have just started. It is only selective memory which can help forget Iraq, which is being vacated by the way, and Afghanistan.

But the most important question is, 'What is Dharma?' Was Dharma at the time of Mahabharata the same as it today? Gadaffi's fate is adequately explained by Karma but leaves a big question when you try Dharma. I guess even after thousands of years, the question of Dharma still looms large.

What will work for our media - Carrot or stick?

2011-10-22T18:00:00.000+05:30

[This is the 7th post in a series that I am writing in the run up to Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

“Supreme Court Judge says that her daughters are liabilities”.

This is what a respected judge of the Supreme Court, while declaring her assets and liabilities said, or at least a leading newspaper thought she said. Markandey Katju, retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and now the Chairman of Press Council of India cited this example in a speech at a get-together with mediapersons at his residence in New Delhi. The speech is available on The Hindu and is definitely something to read.

While ending his speech, Mr Katju, talked about the two paths facing the media today

There are two ways to remove these defects in the media. One is the democratic way, that is, through discussions, consultations and persuasion — which is the method I prefer. The other way is by using harsh measures against the media, for example, by imposing heavy fines on defaulters, stopping government advertisements to them, suspending their licences, and so on.

He cited his preference for the former and going for the latter only if self-regulatory methods fail to deliver. In his speech, he talked about the media's propensity to sensationalize issues, cover events which are trivial at best (he mentioned Aishwarya Rai's baby shower as an example), sidelining the real issues and taking money to create favorable news, a la paid news.

But do you think self-regulation will work for the corporatised media which has tasted the blood of TRPs. Can a baby raised on the milk of Bollywood, Cricket, Reality Shows wean itself away and become Shiva - ready to drink the poison that is human rights, poverty, naxalism, a lopsided development agenda, environmental degradation. I hope it does because even though the stick works it is not as effective when used in a democracy. What do you think?

I think this is an important question that speakers from the media and members of the civil society should devote time to when they talk.

Will the real journalists please stand up and with them, raise the level of debate in our society?

Will we stop clapping and join the fight?

2011-10-22T17:27:00.001+05:30

[This is the 6th post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

To most of you coming to Thinkfest, 'Himanshu Kumar would not be name you would have heard for the first time. Only now did I notice that he too is going to speak at Thinfest and I guess the event just gets better every passing day without having even started. Tehelka has covered his work and travails extensively his life story is indeed an inspiration.

A lot of us are in awe of what he has been able to achieve in the field of tribal rights in the face of a dispensation which is bent upon crushing all those who dare to raise a voice for the oppressed. Himanshu ji is once such voice. I know he will surely dwell upon tribal rights and a difficult (for want of a better word) government. I would wish he includes one more topic when he speaks. Our role in this fight.

The very basis of "Think" in Thinkfest is to celebrate the human capacity to use his discretion and decide for himself what is wrong or right. If you ever wanted to know what you will find in a menu called "Food for Thought" then the Thinkfest speaker list is what you need to look at. Having consumed so much food for thought - what next?

With these thoughts in mind, I would like you read this very interesting piece that Himanshu ji wrote - My experiments with Facebook activism. For some it would be an eye-opener and for some a reminder that "+1s, Likes and Twitter not maketh a cause". And this is something I would like Himanshu ji to talk about.

What is his vision for the urban youth of our country, many of whom have this desire to do something for the country sitting in their cubicles. Is such a desire only an outcome of people climbing the pyramid of needs at a much younger age? Are we the youth of India kidding ourselves, more importantly

hurting the cause, by our half-baked ideas of what plagues the nation? I was a supporter of the anti-corruption movement that had gathered tremendous momentum some time back. While it was heartening to see the youth supporting the movement in large numbers, a closer look woke up the skeptic in me yet again.

Many of them did not know what was the Jan Lokpal all about. I tried explaining it to people who did not know. I also avoided the "I am Anna" slogan because I felt it took such through the same lane of individual worship that we were criticizing in the Gandhi and other political dynasties. Wanting to remove corruption from the country is a good cause. But a bleeding heart alone cannot fix the society we are living in. We need the youth to understand the politics of their country. And when required put that knowledge to use. Sharing videos and anti-corruption messages is good but activism can definitely not stop at that.

We, the youth can not expect to cocoon ourselves in AC cars and gated communities. We need to have the hunger for awareness - of what is happening around us outside the glass windows. And I want Himanshu ji to show us the mirror.

What I am doing this Diwali & how you can help me

2011-10-21T22:03:00.002+05:30

If you are not interested in reading, I do understand, go straight to the details.

Everyone who is reading this, most of my friends know, the light bulb in my head lights up mostly when I am in the bathroom. Don't ask me, I have not idea what are the connections. Anyway, so this is what I hit upon. We all do all sorts of stuff during Diwali. With most of us reaping the dividends of liberalization and I am not discounting the hard work, we also want to share our joys with those not as privileged financially as us. In fact many NGOs are goading people to "light up someone's life this Diwali". I think its brilliant and this is how I am going to do it. I am going to invest in Rang De.......along with you my friends. Gotcha!

What is Rang De? If you want to go for the longer version, here you go. In short, Rang De helps you gives loans staring from Rs. 100 to micro-enterprenuers who use it for income-generating activities like cycle repair shop, buying a goat, augmenting a corner grocery store. Remember, these are loans and are repaid with interest by the borrower.

Before anything, let me tell you if you have already invested in Rang De even once, the only way you can help me is by spreading this word. The people whose participation I ask for are those who are not yet registered with Rang De. I want you - my not-yet-registered-on-RangDe-friends - to register on Rang De and make a SOCIAL INVESTMENT of Rs 100. THAT IS ALL. For every friend who does this, I will match it with another Rs 100 - up to a total of Rs. 10,000. Yes that is right

This Diwali, I will match a social investment of Rs 100 with Rs 100 for 100 new investors on Rang De

Now, I know, all these words get confusing so here is exactly what you need to do if you wish you help "brighten someone's life".

BYOJ

2011-10-20T14:16:00.002+05:30

People who know well know that my thoughts go in random directions. I mean really random. Today I had one such random thoughts while I was leaving home.

"Hey Aishwarya, I will be leaving Hyderabad for Bangalore", said my neighbour to me as I was locking the door to go to office. "Oh ok. We should stay in touch. Nice meeting you", I responded. We exchanged email addresses and went in our directions. Since I met him only a couple of days ago, I thought it would be nice to meet over lunch or dinner and talk life. I am that kind. I talk a lot.

Anyways, so I remembered, meeting over food is so full of details that we in cities have come up with an alternative. What we do now is, "Meet over a couple of beers". You know it. You get it all the time - does not matter if you don't drink or worse don't drink beer but prefer other drinks. I thought it would be nice to meet over a "couple of beers" except that I do not drink. Does that mean, we the cool non-alcohol-drinking ones cannot meet people? I am sure the purpose of meeting over beer is not to get sloshed and go home drunk. The same can be done with milk and juices right!

Can I not just call some friends over and say "Hey guys, my place today evening, let us meet over a couple of Tropicanas and Reals. For the puritans, you can bring over Saint juice since that is the way God wanted it to be". For those with a penchant for milk, you have choices of Full Cream, Toned and Double Toned. Let me go a step further, why does it have to be "Bring Your Own Booze". I would have a "Bring Your Own Jooze (Juice)" get together. Fruits on the house! First thing I need to do is create a wikipedia entry for BYOJ to give my idea more legitimacy.

Then we can get down to socializing and sip on our orange, mango, strawberry juices drinking what we want the way God wanted it! So where is the party tonight and by the way BYOJ!

6 VCs and a room

2011-10-20T00:13:00.000+05:30

What happens when you have 6 VCs in a room - and I mean apart from a lot of money! You get see a lot of experience, tough questions and some very enlightening answers. That sums up the second class of SLP Hyderabad. A big thank you and congratulations from all Hyderabad fellows to the CEO, Asha Jayaraman for putting together an eminent panel of venture capitalists comprising Sateesh Andra of DFJ, Raghu Batta of Ojas Ventures, Purushottam Modani of Mumbai Angels and Alberto Alonzo and Brooks Schaden of Baseline Partners . She definitely has raised the bar quite high for everyone else in the course.

Shreedhar Kanetkar from ISB, kicked off the day's proceedings by warming up everyone to the idea, purpose and importance of a (good) business plan. For an entrepreneur, a business plan is not just something that he needs to present to a VC. It is also a guiding light which can hold the team together. And this is a point that one should bear in mind - the audience for your BP is not only an external VC but also the internal team. A few important questions/points that emerged after discussion with the fellows

How do you measure your market in the initial stages. Especially if your market is unorganized and lacking clear data points. In fact one of our VCs made a very pertinent point about estimating your market - "You cannot get away by saying America is a USD 14 trillion market". So those with wishful numbers on their presentations, its back to the drawing board.

It is always a good idea to get your business plan vetted/reviewed by others. You will be amazed at how different your versions 0.9 and 1.0 look.

A business does not necessarily have to look at the long term plan. It greatly depends on how young your startup is. As one of our VCs succinctly put it, "We do not look at more than a quarter or two is its an early stage startup". So if if your projections were stopping you from completing your business plan, there is hope.

When preparing a business plan, do not get bogged down by templates. In fact you do not even have to follow one if you know what exactly you need to present. But remember, the benefit of a template is that it gives you an idea of what most people think about business plans.

Audience - how your business plan looks depends a great deal on who is the audience for your business plan. If you are pitching to a bank, your presentation may need to cover financials in detail whereas for a VC the focus may be on the market opportunity and idea.

Abhishek Nayak of Gharpay, took over from Shreedhar and gave a presentation on what he thought was important to keep in mind when writing your business plan. Interestingly, Abhishek did not have a business plan to start with. He had to create one when a particular VC got interested in his venture and asked him to make a presentation - which definitely is a good situation to be in. Abhishek emphasized on the need to believe in the problem and in your ability to solve it. You need to know why a problem has not been solved before and this is going to help you when you are developing your solution. All this and more will happen when you are writing your business plan.

In the next part of the session which comprised of two 15 minute presentations and more than 20 5 minute ones, all VCs on the panel including the gracious Suchitra Shenoy took turns and gave feedback to the presenters. However, in hindsight, we do feel that it is better that entrepreneurs with existing ventures present the longer pitches. This helps because the contours of the problems they are face are defined, at least more clearly as compared to ventures which are yet to take their first step. This helps the whole class discuss real issues that they may face in their startups. Raghu exhorted the fellows to answer three important questions to themselves before they venture out with anything - "What is being bought", "by whom" and "why".

Even though the focus was on business pitches, the panel was kind enough to provide feedback on the business as well as the presentations. Shreedhar gave the fellows some very important pointers about presenting. After seeing a few of the speakers trying to rush through the presentation to stick to the 5 minutes timeline, he shared his thoughts about the same. If one's presentation is time-bound, he suggested that the speaker take a moment and then speak the most meaningful concluding remarks. His reason about the audience being less interested to hear rushed material was absolutely spot on.

The idea behind the 5 min pitches (shortened from the usual SLP norm of 7 mins) was to help fellows hone their presentation skills and learn how to present things in a crisp, concise and most importantly, in a manner which gets the point across.

A few important points that emerged after the panel discussion

Do not rush through your presentation. Remember, your objective is to convince your audience not to finish the presentation. Practice definitely helps and so does the structure of your presentation.

Make all efforts to identify your market....correctly! As mentioned earlier in this post, you really need to know the market you are catering to. Sweeping generalizations are just a sign of pure laziness and are in fact a bad portent for your startup. As they say "If you don't know where you are going any road will get you there"

Research adequately on your competition. Only when you do that can you start highlighting your differentiators.

Identify and evolve your revenue model and financials. Many people leave this most important bit for the last or to God. Your revenue model shows how seriously you are thinking about the sustainability of your venture.

The day ended with an informal gathering at News Cafe with promises of much more learning and fun in the next session.

Rethinking poverty - again!

2011-10-19T01:23:00.001+05:30

[This is the 5th post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

Before you read this, think for a moment. If I were to ask you "What do you think is poverty", what would your reply be? This is not a rhetorical question to provide an interesting start to my post. I really want you to think. This is what I think - or rather thought almost 3 years back - "Poverty is the lack of opportunity". Mahatma Gandhi, understandably, had a more profound outlook and said "Poverty is the worst form of violence".

When I first read about Poor Economics, my first reaction - and reaction would be the right word because it was not well thought out - was "Not another theoretical literature on how (amazingly) the poor go about their daily business". I have to confess I have not read the book yet but I do intend to after reading some great reviews and feedback. I guess, the scepticism was more pronounced because Abhijit and Esther are both economists. And I feel that this world suffers from over-theorizing. If you remember, some years back we made a big deal of BoP - oh, you are one those who has not heard of BoP. Bottom of the Pyramid - duh!! Even I made a big deal of it. Writing about it in blogs and throwing the word around in discussions.

But, how much of these discussions have changed the situation on the ground for the poor (remember, I am still waiting for your answer on what you think poverty is). I mean despite the existence of reams of knowledge (which I believe is more of information and less of knowledge), we would have expected the poor to have got a much better deal in our country. But sadly that is not the case. Our own Planning Commission and its beautiful conclusion of "anyone earning above Rs 32 is not poor" are proof. Not to mention that babus (many times well-meaning ones) take decisions which are nothing but modern day versions of "Let them have cake".

Having said this, I should say that the approach taken by Abhijit and Esther - conducting randomized trials - is definitely interesting. And as the Economist review notes, at the least, it makes the economists go out among the people they write about. Theirs is one talk that I am eagerly looking forward to. Here is an excerpt from their book Poor Economics.

This urge to reduce the poor to a set of clichés has been with us for as long as there has been poverty: The poor appear, in social theory as much as in literature, by turns lazy or enterprising, noble or thievish, angry or passive, helpless or self-sufficient. It is no surprise that the policy stances that correspond to these views of the poor also tend to be captured in simple formulas: “Free markets for the poor,” “Make human rights substantial,” “Deal with conflict first,” “Give more money to the poorest,” “Foreign aid kills development,” and the like. These big ideas all have important elements of truth, but they rarely have much space for average poor women or men, with their hopes and doubts, limitations and aspirations, beliefs and confusion. If the poor appear at all, it is usually as the dramatis personae of some uplifting anecdote or tragic episode, to be admired or pitied, but not as a source of knowledge, not as people to be consulted about what they think or want or do.

I think they would be most well-placed to answer my question. First one being (remember!) - who is poor? Do the goals of a free economy and poverty alleviation have common ground? Are we as individuals capable of doing simple things to contribute towards poverty alleviation? Is poverty normal? And last but not the least, what do they think of a defining poverty lines based on daily earnings like "Living on a dollar a day" or "Rs 32 a day".

Conscience keepers of the nation?

2011-10-15T22:59:00.002+05:30

[This is the 4th post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

Picture Courtesy NaveenBharat.Blogspot.com

"Worse, it is blatantly declaring that in order to provide further gains and super profits to its social base of the ruling classes, the ‘aam aadmi' has to suffer by bearing the burden for providing such gains to the rich. Therefore, for the shining India to shine brighter, suffering India will have to endure greater suffering"

These are Sitaram Yechury's words describing the UPA's abject failure to take care of the millions of have-nots of our country choosing to instead sacrifice them instead as log wood to keep the flame of "India Shining" burning bright. It is ironical that India Shining was BJP's election mantra. It is the Congress which is going out on one foot to fulfill it. I guess that its a thank you gesture from one party to another.

Picture Courtesy Indian-Elections.com

Ever since I have started understanding national politics, I have been curious and amazed at the Left's role in it. I mean they are the original jholawallahs aren't they. When I think of Leftists, what comes to my mind is intellect and honesty. This, obviously, is something that I ascribe to the senior leadership and Sitaram Yechury definitely takes these characteristics notches higher. He can be witty as well as scathing. But how does he explain the role played by his party (the CPI (M)) in national politics? You could always blame left governments for lethargy and inertia but not for corruption. It's a different matter that their lethargy lead to corruption at lower levels in those states. It would be definitely interesting to know the underlying reasons behind the limiting of Left to two states, - one in the south and one in the east - but where they ruled strongly.

Moreoever, in today's political world where you know that the usual politicians - dressed in white, only to make up for the black in their politics - the left politicians come across as a group which genuinely and unfailingly raises issues of the poor and marginalized - be it about rights of those displaced by big bang projects or about the poor hit hard by ever-rising inflation. And it is in this very context, it would be enlightening to hear Sitaram Yechury speak about his party and its ideology's role in shaping up our country's conscience, more importantly, our politics. Does he feel that their place is always outside the government at best and in the opposition on normal days? What does he feels stops them from sweeping the elections despite their best intentions? Is it lack of electoral reforms? Does an Indian Left have a character distinct from Left parties in other countries, e.g. those in South America where some of them have even come to power? And lastly, is it the very intellect which exists at the top level that has prevented them from coming to center stage in national politics - from a numbers perspective?

In the end, I leave you with a lecture that Sitaram Yechury gave at IIM Calcutta in Dec 2010 on Crony Capitalism.

Stories that should be told

2011-10-14T03:41:00.001+05:30

[This is the 3rd post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

There is no better time to write this post than now. Just finished watching "An American Crime" - a film made in 2007 about a true story that occurred in 1965. Two things distinctly struck me about the film - one, the way it depicted a chilling real life story by cloaking it as a court-room drama and two, the choice of the story itself.

Now how many times have you seen such a film made in Bollywood? Are Bollywood film makers too scared to make movies on real-life incidents? While I say this, I do remember "No One Killed Jessica". But for reasons best known to whoever have watched it, the film was just another Bollywood movie "based" on an incident that gained widespread media coverage. To give credit where its due, we do have films based on issues like AIDS and Society (Phir Milenge), LGBT issues and Society ( My Brother Nikhil and Omar), Naxalite Movement and People (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi), Partition (Pinjar), the educational system (Taare Zameen Par) and child hunger (Stanley Ka Dabba). Each of these movies is great in its own right and I would recommend each one of them to whoever is interested in watching good cinema.

There is one caveat though. Most of the movies mentioned above are based on topics or issues. This gives the film maker, the freedom to tackle the topic to the extent to which he wants to tackle it. And even though the story may portray real-life in a generic way, there is no real life incident to pin-point to. Maybe it also speaks about the kind of skills we have in the film making community. Because making a movie on an incident without digressing too much into the time before or after it happened requires a lot of skill, especially if you want the movie to be watched in cinema halls. All these reasons result in even the most serious films ending up with some songs at inappropriate times - from the storyline perspective or diluting the issue behind the film.

If properly made, an incident based movie can deal with issues behind the movie in great detail. It can bring out the subtle undercurrents leading upto a particular incident or a spate of occurrences. I would like our film makers to make movies from the Khairlanji killings, the farmer suicides in Vidharbha, the Nithari killings, Swami Nityanand's fast which lead to his death. These are real incidents and these are stories which need to be told. And when these stories will be told honestly, the underpinning issues will highlight themselves.

While we may need a movie like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, we definitely need movies which talk about the inconvenient truths of our rich culture. We need film makers to cater not only to the crowd which wants to leave their worries behind and enjoy, but also to those who are waiting to be told "a real story". I am sure I have forgotten many good film makers who continue making meaningful mainstream cinema like Prakash Jha and Ashutosh Gowarikar.

Though I want every film related talk to talk about this, I think Abhay Deol is most suited to take it up when he talks about "Movies Bollywood is Too Scared to Make" at the Thinkfest. Abhay, over to you!

Evolution of the Universe

2011-10-14T00:35:00.000+05:30

[This is the 2nd post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

Picture Courtesy: Mathias Pedersen

Murder on the Galactic Street! That is what Michael Brown is famous for and famous as. His twitter handle @plutokiller says it all. Yes, he is the one who banished our dear little Pluto - which was meek enough not to cross anyone's path except Neptune's and that too from a distance and that too once in 228 years. But let bygones be bygones, not to mention that he gave ample reasons for his actions.

When he speaks at the Goa Thinkfest this November, many of us will have the golden opportunity ask him questions that have orbited our heads for long. Have you ever wondered about the evolution of the universe or the solar system or the milky way? Is it possible to talk about the evolution of astronomical entities like these in the same way as we talk about the evolution of living beings on Earth? As life progresses on our planet, it evolves to adapt to changing conditions. But does such a rule govern the workings of the planets, starts and other celestial organisms if I can call them so?

Everytime, I am drawn to the thought of our planet revolving around a star along with other members of the Solar System, I invariably am drawn to the though of origin of time. Since when are the planets romancing the Sun like this? If it happened because of the Big Bang, was the setting up our Solar System immediate? Or did it evolve based on the gravitational pull between these bodies? How does it feel to be inhabiting a lone planet in a HUGE universe? Does it feel like sitting in a car in the night in a huge car lot (close to full) and assuming that we are the only ones there?

The mere thought of the sky is so confounding that many of us tend to not think about it - atleast that is what stops me from thinking about it. Because within 5 minutes of thinking about the sky, I am back to the same question - when did time start? More importantly, is this question philosophical or scientific or both? Do you remember that haunting track from the television adaptation of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India? That talks about the origin of creation :)

See you at the Thinkfest!

Braking the Breaking News!

2011-10-13T01:01:00.000+05:30

[This is the 1st post in a series that I am writing in the run up to the Goa Thinkfest organized by Tehelka]

You would be forgiven for thinking that media means TV news media. Mobile media vans have revolutionized news - not just by way of its ability to provide immediate coverage to LIVE NEWS but also by way of its ability to create news where none exists. It takes a lot of imagination to realize the media also includes radio, newspapers, magazines to name a few. In case you did not know, the sly runner in this case - the internet is media too; existing in various forms - discussion groups, Twitter and news websites.

The last few years have been years of growing disenchantment with the media. Ironically, this dip in happiness has been accompanied by a rise in the number of media channels, number of hours of programming and the reach of the media. Let us take everyone's favourite punching bag - the news wallahs.

Today's news channels, contrary to their claims, do not give insights. They deal in hindsights. They cover happenings - not their history or their repercussions. They are so engrossed in cutting the trees that they forget to cover the woods. This is especially true of TV News media. When I had assumed that the proliferation of news media (channels and newspapers) would bring about a rise in quality of the news coverage I had made an assumption - that the only differentiator for a credible news channel would be the quality (and depth) of its coverage. What has happened is just the opposite and at times bizzarely dangerous. We have had prominent journalists hobnobbing with politicians, politicians buying news space to influence voters's decisions, media houses colluding with corporates to hold back one side of the story and many more.

Reminds one of the Bruce Springsteen song "57 Channels and Nothin' On". When P Sainath talked about the "Media Convergence of Another Kind", he was talking about the not-so hidden agenda of corporate media houses.

But for all this bashing of the media, I feel we, the people of India, are getting exactly what we are looking for. Even though I am a supporter of Anna Hazare's Anti-Corruption Movement, I agree with what Nitin Pai said about the TV News Channels "They are meant to be news channels not reality TV". As an audience we need to be more nuanced about what we want to see or hear. It is the responsibility of every citizen to know the entire truth and not the truth that is presented to him.

The good breaking news for today was that Guardian decided to open its news list to its readers. Going forward, news media will need to take that extra step to cut their case with readers and to make sure that they are read before they are used to line that shelf.

It is in this context, that I am looking forward to hearing Tarun Tejpal and Tina Brown at the Goa Thinkfest. To know if it is possible to have a media which have a few black sheep among whites compared to the current crop of black sheep with a few white ones struggling to stay afloat. Having said that, I have been meaning to ask Tehelka about their additional focus on topics like fashion and youth culture. Is it something that we as serious readers should be reading or is Tehelka looking at putting its eggs in more than one basket?

Whose park is it anyway?

2011-10-09T10:35:00.001+05:30

[Reproducing a small article I wrote for Protected Area Update Sept 2011 issue. Many thanks to Pankaj Sekhsaria for giving me the opportunity]

As I registered for the Conservation Leadership Program organized by Tiger Watch, I was constantly thinking about what I would be taking back from the course considering that day job is that of a software engineer. Also how could the field of wildlife conservation benefit from what I learn?

As I met the other twenty odd participants, I realized that they were from very different fields (like me). In fact very few of them were actively working in the field of conservation. Over the course of next five days a diverse range of topics were discussed – the conservation value of zoos, viability of relocation of lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh or the possibility of introduction of the cheetah, whether approach towards conservation should be to make the inhabitants of the forests a stakeholder or to exile (read rehabilitate) them to some other place, is it right to look at tourism as an anathema to conservation or should we treat them as enablers – and many more.

One issue that courts controversy and extreme debate is that of tourism and conservation. Having been on a few jungle safaris and nature treks and having read some articles attacking tourism, I was in a state of confusion. The course helped me understand these issues better.

To start we should be clear any relationship between tourism and conservation is, if at all, very remote. Nothing supports this better than the disappearance of the Tigers from Sariska while tourism was in full flow. The case is cemented when you see scores of jeeps surrounding a tiger and tourists in their brightest clothes chatting away, oblivious of the forest. In the Andamans tourism has taken an altogether different meaning. Despite rules to the contrary, some tourists make contacts with the tribal population “exposing” them to a world they are not used to. Having said that, there is no reason why should not allow well meaning nature lovers the joy of seeing a forest.

What we require is honesty of intent from all stakeholders – tour operators, tourist, forest department and conservationists. None of us can claim to truly value our natural bounty if we forget it the moment we come out of the park gates. As tourists it is our duty to ensure that we not just follow the general guidelines but also exhibit a curiosity towards the environment. We should respect the rights of all that constitutes wildlife and environment and spread awareness. Environment should be conserved not for the sake of tourism. It should be conserved because it ulfils an important role in preserving the ecology.

We are Earthlings - Make the connection

2011-10-09T10:29:00.003+05:30

I started watching Earthlings around a year back. After seeing it for about 20 minutes, I could not watch any more. The scene where I left off was that of cows with their throats being slit and hung upon a peg on a moving assembly line. I stopped there, not sure if I have the capacity to watch any more of it. Months since, I have skirted the film whenever I wanted to watch a documentary because I don't think I had courage to do that - to face a painful truth.

Today, I decided to watch Earthlings because "ignorance though blissful, is only a false one". Earthlings has been shot using mostly spy cameras and stock-footage of slaughterhouses and animal shelters in USA, fur farms in China, tanneries in India, dolphin hunting places in Japan. Some of the visuals are shocking in their cruelty and insensitivity towards animals.

It is a must watch for everyone irrespective of whether they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian, animal-lover or not. A film like Earthlings makes my resolve to screen documentaries even stronger. Strangely, our quest for knowledge is still limited by our reluctance to leave our comfort zones. We choose to know about things which make us look knowledgeable but do not put us off or show us as less practical beings in our circle. And this documentary drags you out of your comfort zone where you were sitting pretty saying "Don't tell me something that I cannot do anything about".

There are harsh realities of animal treatment that I witness in my city on a daily basis - men bunching 10-20 chickens at their legs and hanging them upside down on their two wheelers, scores of cattle thrown into a truck where they are barely fitting if at all, animals (mostly dogs) run over by speeding vehicles.

I think as human beings we need to re-think our roles on this planet. It cannot be plundering the natural resources and killing the so called lesser beings mercilessly. And this attitude of ours shows not just in how we treat animals, it manifests itself in how we treat our fellow human beings too. As rightly said by Leo Tolstoy

As long as there are slaughter houses there will always be battlefields

Do not wait for a time when things will come a full circle and when nature reclaims what rightfully belonged to it always. We are, but, only a part of a very complex and dynamic eco-system and it is upon all of us to ensure that the eco-system continues with everyone in it. Earth Nation, the organization which produced Earthlings have hosted the full feature film on their website. Read more about the documentary on the Earthlings website.

Shaun Monson, the director of Earthlings, has made another movie named Unity in the trilogy. I am looking forward to eviction from my comfort zone.