#OWS Occupy Which Street!

[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

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?

[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?

[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

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

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

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!

[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?

[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

[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

[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!

[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?

[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

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.

The way you change the world!

Steve Job is no more! This was the line that greeted me when I opened Google News this morning. I am not at all an Apple fan - though its hard to deny the fact that as a company Apple changed the way we look at computing and entertainment devices. I am not even a technology and technology news freak. But I know who Steve Jobs is. I know him as the man who founded Apple and made the name of a fruit synonymous with magic.

As my friend Vishwas says, what Arthur C Clarke said - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic - was proved by every product from Apple. I know Steve Jobs as the man who delivered the famous "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005. His words inspired me.

I know him as the man who was unceremoniously fired from the company he founded only to be called back to take it to greater heights. I know him as the man who battled cancer, emerged humbler and, more importantly, aware of what the priorities of his life should be.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose

I remember him as the man who made the use of 'i' almost as frequent, if not more, as that of 'I'. I also know him as the man whose products I considered overrated. I know him as the man who created a cult following with devices which straight-jacketed the user and the user, in an act of sadism, loved the device back. I know him as the man who had so much confidence in his products that many a times he changed the rules completely upside down. I will surely remember him as the man who played nasty when Google tried to encroach on his turf.

Most importantly, however, I will always remember him for being someone who stuck to his conviction despite all odds and emerged a winner every time he seemed to be in the dumps for good. I leave you with a few quotes from Steve.

On motivation

There's nothing that makes my day more than getting an e-mail from some random person in the universe who just bought an iPad over in the UK and tells me the story about how it's the coolest product they've ever brought home in their lives. That's what keeps me going. It's what kept me five years ago, it's what kept me going 10 years ago when the doors were almost closed. And it's what will keep me going five years from now whatever happens - AllThingsD conference, 2010

On design

In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. My position coming back to Apple was that our industry was in a coma. It reminded me of Detroit in the 70s, when American cars were boats on wheels - Interview with Fortune magazine, 2000

Lastly, on what really matters

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me - Interview with Wall Street Journal, 1993

Quotes courtesy: BBC 

Sustaining lives or craft or both?

[I visited the Daram store in Hyderabad on Oct 2. Dastkar Andhra had organized a talk and discussion on Gandhi Jayanti to discuss the future of handloom weaving and khadi in India, its relevance and viability. Following is a collection of thoughts after the visit]

"Currently there are 45 lakh handloom weavers in our country and close to one lakh weavers in Andhra Pradesh". As the world moves towards clothing manufactured in large mills powered by electricity, there is a small question that pops up in my mind. What about these 45 lakh weavers?

Photo Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

I met a lady at the Daram store yesterday. During the discussion that had happened earlier, she had expressed her discontentment with the discourse that was going on in support of the weavers. "Isn't the problem faced by weavers similar to that faced by software engineers. Both would become irrelevant with newer technologies. Why are these people (Dastakar Andhra) not doing anything about them?"


Absurd, though the argument may sound at first, from a logical standpoint it needed to be answered. I told her, "The problem is that of availability of opportunity and recognition of the problem by the government". If we assume for a moment that we do not want to conserve hand-weaving and khadi as part of our tradition, then isn't it imperative of the government to create a framework where those rendered jobless by this "graduation" , can move to alternative sources of livelihood." There is no justification for putting the needs of one group of people (mill owners and workers) over another(weavers).

Photo Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

Photo Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

Another point that is made in defence of not switching to hand-woven fabric is the the cost of hand-woven clothing. It is true that hand-woven clothing is costlier and sometimes also seen as elitist (because of the cost). But, as claimed by organizations involved with weavers and weaving, the cloth that comes out is much superior and requires the same kind of maintenance as normal clothes.

Coming to the point that we chose to assume unimportant - preserving weaving as an art-form or an activity that is part of our culture. Not to mention the fact that khadi has a special place in the national freedom struggle. Gandhi interwove the concept of freedom with swadesi and exhorted the people of the country to weave their own cloth.

Photo Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

It is in this respect that we should ensure that weaving as a profession remains viable for those who choose to continue with it. This can be done by providing market linkages, removing middle-men from the supply chain, improving the quality of the end product, innovating on designs. There are organizations which are already working towards this - Dastkar Andhra, Malkha, No Nasties being a few.

The event that I had attended was aimed mainly at getting the "IT crowd" acquainted with the issues concerning weavers. However, not many from the "IT crowd" turned up. What the IT Crowd thinks is a different topic altogether. Their attitude towards social issues represents concern but lack of knowledge. This leads to misguided and token initiatives to solve real problems.

"Khadi is going to come back into vogue in the next 5 years", is what a gentleman proclaimed. As per his understanding, the way oil prices are rising, the cost of mill-manufactured cloth is going to go up to a point where people would find the khadi and hand-woven clothes more attractive (in terms of price). In my opinion, optimist as this theory is, it still trusts the "Invisible Hand" to herd us all to prosperity. I am no socialist but I strongly feel that the job of the government is provide a level playing field to all its citizens. The reason weavers are in the kind of trouble they are in is because the "Invisible Hand" was not large enough to take these 45 lakh people in its fold.

As literate and, hopefully, educated society members, it is important that we know that issues like these exist in our country. We should not depend on news that is laid in front of us by a media which just refuses to acknowledge these problems. As I say, they are into reporting occurrences (of which too they do a very shabby job) and not into bringing out issues.

Photo Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

Images Courtesy: Pankaj Sekhsaria

It's a dog's life. Really!

The mangled body of a dead dog - how many times have you seen this sight? If you travel on Indian roads, I would say you would see one such picture at least once a week. I like road trips and drive long distances whenever I get a chance to do so. Dog kills (if you know what I mean) is a common sight on highways. Till sometime I used to see these lifeless masses and they did not really mean anything to me. In fact many times I was able to muster a joke or two. Slowly, however, I started realizing that what is lying on the road - either flattened and stuck to the road by a truck or tossed around by cars - was a living being running around not many hours ago. And then an incident, that curiously did not involve a dog, brought about a sea change in my attitude and feelings towards them. It was an accident involving a cat that I saw and also wrote about.

I do realize that for many of us the issue is too insignificant to warrant attention. In fact, I will not be surprised if it elicits a laugh or two from some. I can understand. After all with so many sights of human suffering around us why do we care about "other" creatures especially those that come by the dozen. But if we chose to slow down (literally and figuratively) and observe a dog walking by the side of the road, we would realize the futility of these innocent being killed just because neither many of us nor dogs follow traffic rules.

Today on my way to office, I saw yet another pup lying on the ground hit most probably by a car because it was intact. I knew the accident was very recent since I had not seen it in the morning when I passed that way. And I thought, what makes us speed even on colony roads. Do we realize that the pain we feel when a fellow human dies may be more than when a dog dies; but the pain felt by those who die - dog or man - is actually the same. Maybe more for the dog because it practically has no chances of surviving accident. People (the blogger included) pass by the carcasses - some like me feel bad about it but move ahead, some others don't even notice it.

Reminds me of an incident when I went running on a stretch in Hyderabad. I saw a crowd gathered around what looked to me like a "tomcat". I just tried putting some water on it thinking it may want to drink. Many people too were interested. Since they were talking mostly in Telegu, only after sometime did I realize that because of it not looking like a normal cat, they had mistaken it for a leopard cub. The moment they ascertained that its just a normal cat, it was put away on the side of the road and people proceeded. The cat would have died a slow and lonely death. I wonder what do they think when they die. Like humans, does their life come flashing before their eyes? Do they remember their loved ones - do they have loved ones? These are intriguing questions.

Next time you see a dog carcass on the road, try to think of how the accident may have happened. Would the death have been instantaneous or would the dog be howling in pain calling for attention? Any death is sad. Be it that of a deer at the hands of a tiger. But that is how nature works. Wondering if in a few years from now - dogs killed on roads would be termed as a natural death!