Goa Trip Takeaways

For most people, Goa is only about beaches and beer. So it was for me too, until I went alone to a less explored part of Goa last week and had wonderful 3 days amidst nature and myself. I also met some great people, can call them my friends now, with whom I had many interesting conversations on a wide range of topics. The place was Devaaya at Divar Island in Goa. It calls itself an Ayurveda & Nature Cure Center. But I would call it more of a place for relaxation and being with oneself away from the noisy world, in quiet with only the sounds of nature. On the whole, it was an intellectual journey. I felt rejuvenated by the Yoga sessions they had every morning, the delicious food they offered, reading and introspecting for hours sitting at the banks of Mandovi River and sleeping in my beautiful room on my comfortable bed. They did have guided meditation sessions - sitting and listening to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's audio and following his instructions - but they failed to have any impact on me - possibly because I find that guy's voice, style and personality very irritating and fraudulent - although this is just a feeling without knowing much about him - but an opinion formed is formed and am not interested in getting it right about this guy by looking for more information.

The best part of my journey and stay at Goa was talking to unknown people. The only Indians in the resort at that time were me and a Punjabi family. The rest were all foreigners - about 40 from various countries in Europe. So it did indeed feel a little weird initially. But I soon got used to it, although I always felt like I was in a foreign country coz, besides the foreigners, the place has a homely touch to the way it is built and maintained, and also has the cleanliness and etiquette of a western country. But I realized that in spite of the different ways we build and decorate our surroundings, we are all inherently the same. Life is complex, but the complexity is strikingly similar the world over. I realize this every time I speak to a stranger. I start over with a basic and implicit set of assumptions about the person, although not consciously - I guess the overall personality is drawn in my subconscious mind based on my past experiences with people who look and behave in the manner I can make out from the first glances at the stranger - and this picture of the person adjusts itself as I talk and acquire more information. I am not sure of the degree of precision of the picture our mind draws of the stranger's personality before we initiate conversation - it may be very high because it involves our learnings from the past - it may be very low as it must be needlessly biased and affected by past experiences - it may be very high coz it involves our gut feel which is supposed to give us right advice, but who knows. However, I don't find it difficult now in finding things to talk about. People the world over have similar issues and problems with the world and life. For example - relationships, politics, money, power, cheating, values, emotions, and a million other things - are so strikingly similar and relevant to all our lives that you can relate to any one in the world, if you are really interested to. But not every person would be easy and nice to talk to as personalities vary and compatibility between individuals is a real thing. That explains why I started talking to many, but with only one I talked many many times with increasing comfort.

This is the first time I went to a new place alone as a tourist. I am very encouraged by the experience and will definitely do it again. Next time - When? Where? Let's see!

Indian Culture on the Road

The Culture of a people is sum of stuff like religious beliefs, social structure and values, art forms, books and tales, leaders, racial mix, immigration, emigration, history and economics, and a lot more. And it is constantly changing with each passing moment creating a new set of these variables. It's not necessarily evolving, as human history tells us we have always found ways to screw up our lives and those of others on grounds so stupid that we feel ashamed of ourselves, and we are definitely not getting more civilized in our ways. (What does "civilized" mean anyway?)

I think a great way to evaluate the culture of a Nation is to study how people behave on its roads. Look at India for example. The following, which I witness every day, characterize our behavior on roads in general:

• Extremely poor adherence to traffic rules is a characteristic of India on the streets. The unwritten and unacknowledged, yet all-pervading rules are the following:
• Totally ignore all traffic rules when there is no Traffic police watching
• No need to bother about the traffic signal if there is no traffic police around
• Leads to mass traffic signal violation and dangerously concentric traffic, which somehow escapes collisions
• The irony is that even those who want to follow traffic rules are forced to join the herd, otherwise they'll be crushed by the stampede of vehicles
• In case of heavy traffic, while everyone trying to push his/her way through invariably leads to a logjam, yet  nobody gives way to anyone else
• Don't give way to anyone, even if it is an ambulance with its siren roaring loudly
• It is perfectly fine to stop your vehicle in the middle of the road even for trivial reasons without bothering you are blocking the traffic
• Narrow roads without exists and space for stopping is definitely one reason, but what's really alarming is the total insensitivity with which some people stop and don't bother for a long time
• If someone shouts at you, simply shout back, irrespective of whose mistake it is
• Honk as much as you can to make way for yourself
• Look down upon everyone else on the road especially those with smaller vehicles
• Believe in Me first, everyone else later, as far as possible
• If you hit someone, run away if you are sure you won't be caught
• If you are in a car, you don't need to worry if you are splashing water or dust on someone walking by the road-side
• If you are in a car, those on 2-wheelers and those on foot are a nuisance. If you are on a 2-wheeler, those on cycles and those on foot are a nuisance. If you are on a cycle or if you are on foot, everyone who is on a motor vehicle is a nuisance. If you are on foot, everyone who is on a vehicle of any sort is a nuisance.
• Lanes drawn on the roads are just for aesthetic appeal, and they are not meant for anything else
• It is sometimes fun to drive with one of those white lines running through the middle of your car
• And of course, the concept of lanes does not apply to a vehicle with less than 4 tires
• Taking random turns at will and assuming those behind will notice and apply brakes
• If you hit someone, fight with all your might but never accept your mistake
• If yours is a bigger vehicle, you can assume everyone else will give you way
• Honk often to clear the road and make way for yourself
• Tease girls and women on the roads
• ...
• ...
• ...

And so on... I think all the above together portray Indian Culture to a great extent, if not completely. The aspects which I see coming out clearly are - Corruption, Hypocrisy, Lying, Deception, Cheating, Cruelty, Dishonesty, Cowardice, Herd Mentality, Pretension, Selfishness, Self Centeredness, Carelessness, Recklessness, Ruthlessness, Immaturity, Distrust, Weakness, Apathy, Lasciviousness, Power Hunger, Avariciousness, Arrogance, Atheism, Argumentativeness, Ignorance, etc. etc. etc.

Herd Mentality

Following the herd is a natural tendency in all humans. We grow up focussing on specific subjects in school, we take up specific & popular streams for professional studies and most of us land up in similar jobs, if we are from a similar social, economic and educational backgrounds. And those who choose to enter business, some of them called entrepreneurs, pick popular lines of business and end up repeating, without much of a difference, something done by many others.

I was fortunate to study in an IIM for 2 years during which I saw herd mentality demonstrated in the most conspicuous ways by some of the most intelligent people. As soon as you join, the seniors bombard you with theories on how to spend your time best at IIM - what to do, which committees to target, which courses to take, Consulting or I-Banking or Marketing or Entrepreneurship, which companies to look forward to, how to prepare for them, importance of building your CV, importance of building your CGPA, importance of participating in all kinds of competitions, etc. And all this takes only moments to get ingrained into each of those heads listening intently hoping to making it big in life. The brains are instantly reconfigured with new dreams, new ambitions, new desires. My batch was fooled by telling us BCG was coming on the day we joined, for recruiting for summer internships, and believe me, almost the entire batch went crazy preparing CVs. The seniors even did a fake pre-placement talk. Many who didn't care still went ahead and submitted their CVs, coz everyone else was doing so. A few didn't bother, mostly coz they knew it was all a hoax. Very few actually didn't care and didn't do anything, and had the nerves to tell those "angry" seniors that they didn't give a damn. A lot of such pressure tactics were applied officially and unofficially - by calling it a "hoax" - to mould our heads in shape of that of a typical MBA.

A few do manage to shake themselves up soon after such brainwashes and get back to their original sweet world. (Many of them succum later on.) But most are carried away and the scattered paths of their lives quickly align themselves in a few popular paths. The seniors don't do it just for pleasure, although they do draw a lot of it while trying to shape views. They do, in fact, genuinely believe what they are doing is the right thing - partly because they are also victims of the same brainwashing tradition, and partly because they still haven't seen enough to learn better, coz this being a 2 year MBA, the 2nd year batch is still just aspiring for what they chose a year back and they draw their strength to keep working on the chosen path by displaying firm belief in it - by pretending and by teaching the same to others.

Another striking display of herd mentality can be seen in matters of breaking rules, even law, especially when it is not perceived as rational enough or if following it is costlier than breaking it. Or it could be a cultural phenomenon - not to follow rules, and break them in a herd so that the blame is shared and in effect is on nobody. I see that everyday on the roads in India.

One of the reasons herd mentality sets in so easily in choices people make may be lack of reliable information and insecurity in common people, due to which they rely on social channels for forming opinions and choose seemingly less risky, well-tried and tested alternatives. Secondly, while our societies and families do play the good role of providing a check and acceptance/rejection for everything we want to do, they also, in the process, instil in our minds a lot of doubts and fears. And we end up training ourselves not to apply our minds but to flow with the tide. It may not be conscious, but that's one of the cases where nurture tries to overcome nature. It doesn't always succeed, of course. And thirdly, it could be purely a cultural phenomenon, like the case of violation of traffic rules in India.

kuch to timepass comparison

Every bald man alive and dead has seen a moment when he came to know the schocking reality that he is on the road to baldness and has already covered half the distance without knowing and with the belief that he can't ever get bald. He still covers half of the remaining distance keeping himself in denial and covering bald patches with smart comb-work, which the world knows and notices, yet doesn't comment or does so with suppressed smiles and mildly sympathetic ayyayyos. This is the Sachin Tendulkar phase of baldness. And finally when the man decides he can't deny it any more and lets his strands loose, he realizes the world doesn't care and it knew all along of the barren islands which never erupt.

This sounds like the lifecycle of a bollywood star, especially a heroine, once in huge demand for her youth and beauty, and later thrown into oblivion once the first signs of aging appeared and Olay didn't help. Or a sports star who can no longer play well enough. Although the important difference is that a baldy was never paid for his hair while a heroine earned money for her beauty (and the sports guy for his ability to play the game well), I think the emotional states of both are still quite similar, particularly in the Sachin Tendulkar phase. And I guess the parallels end right there. Post that phase, a bald man usually regains confidence and does well with his life and work. But bollywood or sports celebrities go one of two routes - (1) get more and more frustrated sine die and finally die, i.e., enter a Rajesh Khanna phase, or (2) make a new beginning in a new avatar and create new goals with a new zeal, i.e., enter an Amitabh Bacchan phase. The main reason the parallels end is that for a bollywood or sports celebrity the cause of frustration was also work-related. For a baldy, it was only an appearance issue, and his appearance never earned him any money. I guess the differences are more obvious than the similarities, and I won't write more on this lame comparison :)

Manmohan Singh Robot! Let's build a smarter PM!

What would you do if someone calls you an idiot? Or inefficient? Or Incapable? Or dumb? Or helpless? Especially when you were once one heck of a Sheldon! It has happened to me many times, especially when I am new in any job, as I have the habit of getting into new jobs with no similarity to any I did before. But with Manmohan Singh, it has happened after he's finished 8 years as Prime Minister, and let's not forget the successful stint before as Finance Minister. Not that it hasn't been said before about him, but we hear it more often now with our PM's situation worsening with each passing day and his alleged direct involvement (possibly by accident and without his own knowledge) in scams. I say it's worsening coz as everything moves in its natural course in whatever direction, our PM is standing still. I sometimes feel he might be a robot with an external human appearance. He doesn't even wave his hands when he walks, although he walks real fast when the key is wound. We can easily build one of those I guess, by taking some money out of some coal mine auction, or have the mine run over by elephants (someone told me when I was a kid that if 1000 elephants run over coal, it becomes diamond), taking some time out of DRDO or ISRO or something and have our Scientists build something like that, of course without Pakistan coming to know. I was thinking whether we can have something like that - Build a Manmohan Singh Robot that walks like him with one hand in pocket, wears same dress always, doesn't talk - for Techfest Robotics Challenge, but I am not sure if doing it in public would be in the National Interest, as guys from Pakistan and guys/gals from Sri Lanka also participate in those competitions. But if someone can confirm that our PM is not a robot, then may be we can have this kind of a competition. I don't think this would be seen as offensive, coz celebrities happily take pics standing next to their own wax statues. This would be a high-tech robot. We should have the PM judge the event. If he can't decide, we can have a walking race with the PM as the decider, unless Sonia ji recommends some robot be declared the winner. She might pick up one of the robots for the next PM. But since Manmohan Singh is officially aging, she should rather have a Rahul Robot built for the next time Congress comes to power.

 

The context of this post, is of course the article - India's 'silent' prime minister becomes a tragic figure - by Simon Denyer of The Washington Post. I have realized that it is very dangerous to let yourself be ruled by a geek. Reputations of honesty, sincerity and meticoulsness to detail drawn from performance in homework, exams and research often have no relevance when it comes to getting things moving in practice. Blame it on academic stuff that has no right to be so interesting - which it happens to be for humans wired in certain way - in spite of being disconnected from reality. Blame it also on the way we form opinions of goodness about geek people, which may be true in some cases, but lead us to make conclusions that are justified only by our fear and distrust of people in power. A silent, expressionless face may mean an intelligent, possibly (or necessarily?) confused, mind lost in analysis which we correlate spontaneously to honesty and sincerity (relationships made in heaven which need not have earthly rationale), and thereafter jump and decide that such people becoming our leaders would be great. While we possibly think a weak, intelligent and honest person would let us have fun and also do what's right for us (ah, the kid in each one of us!), the powerful and chaaloo (like Sonia Gandhi) want such a person to be at the forefront to make us credulous masses happy, and also to push the puppet the way he/she likes. It's fun for all. Win-Win is a way of looking at it. But an intransitive "win" is empty by definition, unless you are a Buddha and can't define in words what he's won.

What the hell is going on?

Coalgate is the latest feather in the UPA government's cap. And the latest ingredient in the spicy saga of corruption in India. If it hadn't been for a couple of Finance chapters I read during my adventures with academic pursuits, I wouldn't have appreciated the rationale behind something being called a loss just coz it could have been earned and the government gave up the possibility of earning it. I still don't often understand that way of looking at things, but if that's the rule, so be it.

It would be interesting to go through the methodology of calculating the loss, although my past record with Valuation tells me that I won't understand much of it. Damodaran on Valuation is considered a good book on the subject, but books are never the best way to learn stuff in college. And as far as learning from peers is concerned, stuff like laziness, inferiority complex, superiority complex, shyness, arrogance, etc etc., each applicable to different subset of peers, stopped me from reaching out, and I was left wondering on most topics, but passed the course nonetheless, like I did most others at IIM and IIT, from whatever bits I understood and from whatever bits I managed to cover up with good english.

I didn't intend to discuss this topic here, but like law, my articles take their own course. I was a great notes-writer at IIM. I wrote good notes at IIT too, but there I was outdone by people like Abhishek Bhargava by miles of written crap. I did have a couple of loyal customers like Ratnesh Bansal and Jeetu. And a few others who played safe by xeroxing notes by Abhishek, Saumya and me, just to make sure they don't miss anything at all. But sadly, half of my time at IIT was spent figuring out what the seemingly better people did, and writing good notes with the mind shut and ears open was one of them. I utilized in IIM that skill developed over 2 years in IIT, and it didn't take me long to become the 'notes-guy' of my section. IIMs are culturally a little different from IITs, in that you cannot and need not totally rely on class-notes. The curriculum is full of the so called 'Case Studies' which you can solve, resolve, analyse and answer just from common sense. Some part of the remaining stuff can be tackled through the gyaan in class-notes, which must also be there in some form in the books, I am sure. But you need to be a Schizophrenic John Nash to find those bits and connect them in a way that it makes any sense. So a few who care a little, look at the notes. For those who care more than a little, and there a few of those, there are the books. You are charged in your fees for books and they are thrown to your face, even if you don't want them. And naturally, very few actually see those books after the day they register for a term, when they have to collect the books from the Academic Office. So proud or amused they are on that day that they take pictures of stacks of books and put them on facebook. Some perverts see a phallus and worship it in hope that it bears some fruit. The few who do study them, are either in BCG (and the like) or in some unknown company which they joined after they were forced to sign out of placements without job just coz it was convocation day and the diro had to declare 100% placements!

Coming back to Coalgate... Why the hell do they make a 'gate' out of every damn scandal? They should have avoided that here, at least, coz they ended up naming the scandal after a popular toothpaste, sticking to the phonetics. But who are 'they'? I don't know. I wish we had some democratic way of naming popular newsy stuff. A discussion in Parliament may be a good idea. Afterall when we are known by our Scandals, we better have good names for those.

As it gets more and more ridiculous with our leaders throwing blames in defence and playing defence when blamed, some channel(s) highlighted yesterday or the day before the fact that we lost 147 crore in the Parliament sessions where nothing happened except shouting and gossip. Well, I wonder if we should consider this a loss at all, given that even otherwise, those parliament sessions are no good. However, from similar to but slightly different from the Chidambaram logic, one can say that if the session happened and the cost of the session was incurred, where is the loss? At some level this makes sense coz there is always a way to justify chaos in Parliament, as something done in National Interest. Also, given the fact that our leaders do everything for National interest by default - from watching porn in Parliament when they are not sleeping to dancing naked with prostitutes to making favors to lobbies for 'nominal' monetary gains. 'Nominal' because the numbers are so huge, you can't key them into calculators, and have to settle with the names only. Of course technology has advanced and now we have stuff that take long numbers... but we will not tell those politicians of the ancestral generations. Otherwise, they may think beyond their calculators. They already carry iPads and stuff, although turned off. The moment they learn how to poke into their screens, India will have bigger scams. Unless somebody comes up with 'politician-lock' app like they have child-locks in TVs.

Lastly, with all this talk about huge numbers, that too of money, stuck in various messes - some here, some there, some nowhere - I am really confused how money really works. Does anyone really know how much there is, how much there can be and how much there needs to be, and what the hell is going on?

Fighting over Religion - Can we stop it?

Many Pakistani Hindus are seeking refuge in India and none of them wants to go back to Pakistan. They say they had miserable lives in Pakistan. Pakistani government officials say it's not about religion, but just the feudal system in Pakistan which affects the poorest guys most, and that's Hindus. Feudal system may be responsible to a certain extent, but for a nation like Pakistan which came into being purely on religious grounds, it is hard to imagine a secular environment with equal status for people with all faiths.

Religion, which for most of us is a hereditary attribute rather than a chosen belief, is the root cause of most tensions between humans. I was wondering about the possibility of abolishing all the existing religions and starting afresh. I realized that it requires a round of devastation of human civilization at a scale big enough to wipe out all our luxuries and take us to a level of misery such that we lose faith in the existing manifestations of God we believe in or have imagined. If that really happens, and we do indeed start afresh, it is very unlikely that the humans spread all over the globe will develop new concepts of god and religion with consensus. There is bound to be different schools of thought and imagination, and therefore we will most likely end up again with this situation with many religions. If we cannot have one religion, we should somehow have peaceful coexistence of all religions. Is it possible with where we stand right now, with our 2000-3000 years old religions or is there an easier way to achieve it with a new set of religions? If it is possible now itself, what should be done to make it happen?