Dance of Democracy

What does the trust vote mean for India ..?

After all the drama that we witnessed yesterday, it actually comes as a breather that govt. is actually solid and will be till the next elections. Yesterday, probably was the blackest day in the history of independent India. From allegations on the ruling government to personal remarks to show of cash in the parliament to utter disrespect to the constitution, we saw it all. The entire world saw it all. And this is the world's largest democracy we are talking about.

And now the ordeal is over, we need to focus on few things. First and foremost the Manmohan Singh govt. needs to clear its name out of the very serious allegations against them for influencing the vote. Then they need to make sure that the reforms and developmental activities do not stop. Obviously with the next general elections less than a year away, focus probably would be on taming the inflation, cooling the prices and leaving the feel good factor behind.

Coming to the proceeds and developments yesterday, I think whatever happened has happened for good. The govt. is no longer a mere toy in hands of leftist parties. The govt. now knows that they can function without trying to appeal to the whims and fancies of their "partners". Leftist parties have always been pro-people and anti-development. There is nothing wrong with it. Not that they dont want the country to develop but they are so myopic in their vision that they often forget that we need to move on at some point in time. Until we imagine the possibilities, we cant really achieve them.

The government was a mere puppet in left's hands and left actually threatened at every available opportunity to pull the support. Only to prove a bloody point and in turn making the country unstable. They were always anti-reforms, anti-industrialization and anti-development. No wonder even though we have the best pool of human capital, we are still lagging behind the world. We are employing people anywhere and everywhere just because we demand that they need to be given employment. Compare us with countries where people actually spend time creating intellectual capital rather than manning ATM machines, automatic parking meters, elevators in malls, mending grass on lawns of rich and famous etc.

Now that left is out of the way, the government can proactively work on issues like privatization, FDI in retail, opening up more sectors for competition and evolution, so on and so forth. I am not sure that govt. will actually take large and/or concrete steps in this direction but at least they now have an option.

Lets talk about Ms. Mayawati for some time. She actually believed that she was going to be the next PM. In a speech yesterday she said that it was a conspiracy of BJP and Congress to stop a dalit woman from becoming the next Prime Minister of India. Are you kidding me? Ms. Mayawati as PM? I know shes a great politician and leader but excuse me. And I think its about time she should stop using that stupid racism card and move on. These pranks will take her and her elephants only so much far. I think with this trust vote, she has been completely sidelined. Congress will never ever work with Mayawati again. BJP, although they dont have a clear prime ministerial candidate after aging Mr. Advani, would not want Mayawati to become the PM. For me, Ms. Mayawati can now rest for a few years and keep her dreams of running the country safely in the deposit box.

What about BJP and Mr. Advani? Everyone knows Mr. Advani wants to be the PM. He has been trying to topple the govt. ever since he got elected as the leader of opposition. He is one of those leaders who can change his thoughts and stands at the drop of a hat. Remember Babri Masjid? Remember Jinnah incident? Remember Godhra? There are tons of them.

Anyways, BJP as a party for me is about oldies whose best is behind them. They are now living their unfulfilled dreams of ruling the country and itching their names in the history books. They might win the next elections but again they do not have a clear leadership. I would not be surprised if someone like Narendra Modi is promoted through the ranks as the next prime ministerial candidate. Everyone else in BJP can speak really well but they dont really stand for something that the country can buy.

Rahul Gandhi was a revelation yesterday (speech on Youtube). He probably for the first time stood up on this large a political arena and got counted as a formidable politician. He took objections from the opposition, answered them gracefully, was probably the first time when he left the mark. All the years of hard work on him is reaping fruit. His speech made a lot of sense and he actually made a point when he said that energy is linked to poverty. He used anger, passion, silence, anguish, disgust, loud voice, humor at the right times to make sure the speech was effective. In his speech he made it clear that he is not looking at the nuclear deal just as a solution to energy problems but as a tool that India can use to become the next super-power. He showed confidence in the youth in country. He said country was brimming with confidence and self belief. This is for the first time when I am confident that he could be a good leader and I would want to give him the responsibility to run the country. And considering that majority of junta voting in the next elections would be young Indians, no points for guessing who would they want to vote for.

I must also mention Omar Abdullah here. Omar Abdullah gave one of the most passionate speeches during the session (speech on youtube). He has always been one of those few leaders in India who I always thought has the brains, intellect and potential to be an effective leader. He spoke about India, Indians, Kashmiris, religions, his past mistakes in political career. He was very good on all issues. He will sure play a larger role in the development of new India when the new blood comes to the power.

With Rahul Gandhi and people like Omar Abdullah, Navin Jindal, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindhia etc. coming of age, I think the time is ripe when the old must pave the way for new. When the old must handover the baton to the new and let them lead the country into a new era. When we should move from being a caste and religion based country to a country where developmental takes the front seat and efforts are made to reach the poorest of the poor at the same time.

The bigger question to ask here is that when would India reach in hands of people who are positive in outlook, are looking forward to development rather than petty politics of caste, religion, short-term gains. People who have strong Indian roots and are still looking at the world as their playing field. Leaders who see India as a superpower rather than a country of a billion poor people.

Only the time will tell and we will watch.

Cadburys Main Khush Hoon Khamkha

This is one of those few ads that I really adore. Khamakha from Cadbury's

Copy:
Khamkha muskuraaon,
Khamkha gungunaon,
Khamkha chalta jaaon main,

Khamkha machalta hoon,
Khamkha fisalta hoon,
Khamkha uchata hoon main,

Main khush aaj Khamkha,
Main khush aaj Khamkha,
Main khush aaj Khamkha yaaron.

Vid on Youtube:


In fact this is one of the reasons why I jumped into advertising.

Twitter Biography

Lately I have become real active on Twitter. Here is my bio from there (in less than 140 characters).

Former ge3k. Chasing interestingness and intelligent conversations. Restless mind. Opinionated. Outspoken. Has perpetual problem against authority.

Mental Masturbation

Just came out of a brainstorming session with my boss. He calls these sessions as Mental Masturbation.

Someone on Urban Dictionary has defined Mental Masturbation as

The act of engaging in useless yet intellectually stimulating conversation, usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action in your life.

For us, its usually one short 20 minute session where we talk about things that we dont really get time to talk about. It could be things like the future of business to way people think to why people communicate to why are we what we are to anything under the sun. It generally starts as one person introducing a subject and then everyone debating on things. Awesome ideas come out of it and its as satisfying as an orgasm can be.

And it gives me immense satisfaction to be a part of mental orgy. I think if I can do this day in and day out, it will be simply awesome. And in my humble opinion most of the radical ideas that have moved the world have come as an outcome of mental masturbation. If anyone wants to engage in a mental orgy, please drop a line.

Creating Communities - Online and Offline

Ashish says that you "enable communities" and I think you "create" them. And since it’s a serious challenge to my understanding of social behavior, let me defend my position.

By the very definition,

a community is a group of individuals who are brought together by force or they come together because they share a common interest.

Classic examples are community of slaves working on erecting pyramids and users flocking pluggd.in because they are interested in start-ups in India.

Keywords in the definition are group, individuals and together. A group that is useful to the individual and together the group and the individual make it worth sticking to.

When I say that you create communities, it implies that you bring all these people together (by force, by coercion, by advertising, by showing them advantages of being a member, by hook, by rewarding participatory behavior or by showing that everyone but you is a member, or any of million other ways). Once there is a group, you share ideas and vision on what could become of this group if everyone participates. And when they start participating and everyone is in sync with the collective vision, the group become a community.

For a community to thrive, there needs to be a connecting thread – a reason for members to believe in. A selling proposition. An answer to “Why this community” question. This reason can again be provided by force (if you don’t work, you will be killed) or by prestige associated by just being a member (I am member of AsmallWorld.net – are you? I have access to GMail – do you have it? Etc.).

Second part is that the community as a whole should be useful for the members. No one would want to just give and not take anything in return. People don’t join communities. People join groups hoping that the group would be useful to them. Moment a group becomes useful for individuals, or that user, the group transforms from a group to a community.

When you are starting a community, you HAVE to bring together people. You will have to hand pick people who are committed to this binding thread with or without the usefulness of the community. These are the people whose actions would make the community useful for subsequent members. In case of pluggdin, for example, Ashish would have started writing about start-ups in India. He would have posted the link at relevant places, would have sent emails to friends and family who are interested in start-ups and slowly and gradually people starting coming in. He thus created a community. One member at a time.

On the other hand when you talk about enabling a community, you assume people already know why they are there. You assume that they

1. know what is common between all of them.


2. know why are they not a directionless herd.


3. know what is purpose of their group.


4. can see a larger picture.


5. know how is group useful.

This all might happen in an ideal world and I refuse to agree that any heterogeneous or even homogeneous group of people can answer all the above-mentioned questions. And if you are just enabling the community without holding their hand, telling them what to do and what actions to take. In my humble opinion, they will be as lost as kids in the topless bar :D.

And with this your-honor, I rest my case.

Regards,
Saurabh Garg
www.saurabhgarg.com/thoughts

P.S.: And I agree that your group/community should be empowered enough to recommend and make changes. They should be empowered to remove things that they don’t like. They should be empowered to freely add on to the community. They should be allowed to explore. They should be given the tools to be themselves and create new things for the community. :D

Image Credits: Sifah via Flickr.

Short Biography

As I use more and more Internet, I am making my private self more and more public. Probably sometime in future where papazarri would get interested in my private life, they can use this blog to dig out dirt and talk about me :D

Anyways, in the long list of blog posts where I talk about myself, here is another one. I have written this for my yet another idea - The TwitterBook.

25, Indian, Dreamer, Curious and Adventurous. Has a very short attention span. On a constant mission to search for that new new thing. Torn between Indian ethos and global outlook. Confused about what to do in life and assured about the future at the same time. Not a rebel and yet has a perpetual problem against authority.

Day job is Planning and Strategy guy at arguably the most creative company in India. Has a very long list of after-office interests and TwitterBook is one such initiative. TwitterBook for him is an experiment where he wants to challenge himself to do something that he is not good at - Writing and Collaborating. So far hes got an excellent team in place and the road ahead looks bright and sunny.

Hope this is not used against me in some court of law or against my VISA applications :D

Portfolio in Red

I have been investing in the markets for over 2 years now. In fact All my life's savings (a very meager amount by all standards) is invested in stock markets. And since I am invested in markets, I have obvious emotional biases and emotional incentives to say that I trust Indian stock markets. So far, I have not made any money from the markets and till yesterday, I used to take pride in saying that my portfolio has never ended a day in red.

Anyways, the reason why I am rambling is that my portfolio went into RED for the first time today ever since I started investing. Obviously a momentous day :D So much so my investment blog :D.

Image Coutsey: Anandham

Movie Review: Hancock

Hancock is a very simple story. John Hancock (Will Smith) is a gifted guy with super-natural powers that include, but are not limited to, stopping trains with his one hand, flipping whales in the ocean at the flick of the wrist, flying like the Superman at his whims and fancies, taking hazaar bullets on his chest like our beloved Rajnikant, juggling SUVs like any circus jester and obviously razor sharp fingers that can be used to shave and even draw things on a wall.

Our superhero is law abiding. He knows the good guy from the bad guy. He intends to help the good guys and punish the bad guys. In fact he is everything what a superhero should be. But for one thing. He has a drinking problem, he cant control his anger and he tends to go overboard with his heroics. So much so that the police actually subpoenas him for all the side-effects (read damage to buildings, vehicles, property etc.) of being a superhero. No one in the city loves him even though he is making the city a better place to live in. In six words - he has a bad PR problem.

Incomes a PR consultant (Jason Bateman) who, like everyone else, wants to change the world some day. Hancock happens to save this consultant's life (and damaging few cars and a train in the process). The consultant is gratified beyond belief and since our consultant is struggling with his endeavor to change the world, he thinks that if he could successfully solve Hancock's PR problem, it will give him great mileage.

And this is where I shall end talking about the plot and if you are curious, I would recommend you to go watch. It’s a fun movie. Something like Om Shanti Om. Story is very weak. Acting is just above average. Special effects are nothing to write home about - they are good but then now a days all special effects are good. If you are looking for some mindless entertainment, please do see this movie.

Apart from the mindless part of it, there are some interesting intellectual discussions on heroes, gods and regular human beings. They also talk about life and death and togetherness and separation. But there are very limited and shallow and don’t really provide enough food for thought.

I would rate it 2.5 on 5. And the movie is family friendly.

Happy Birthday Kunal Garde

Today happens to be Kunal's Birthday. Happy birthday kAgE. Hope you have a wonderful year ahead and both of us co-start something that changes the world.

From those early days at MAC,
when we won every competition we participated in,

to that trip to TITS,
where we won the textile quiz against all odds,

to our two year consecutive win,
at IP University's cracking competition,

to those cable Internet days,
provided by one Mr. Gokhale,

to those days at INT,
where we met Mr. I-IS,

to those times when we planned to create a company
and call it Cyntax Labs,

to all those gaming days,
where you have taken my arse mercilessly,
at q3dm17 and q3dm6,

to those days when cracking was fun,
and you taught me how to use SoftIce,

to that trashing that you gave Team MML,
at a CS tournament at AIT,

to all those biking trips,
that we have had on your Electra and my Caliber,

to those infinite number of hogging sessions,
at the van and all the Agarwal's,

to our conversation last night,
about the next idea to take over the world,

every moment has been awesome fun. You have played a large part in making me what I am today. Your birthday is probably the best time to say Thank You.

Have an awesome year ahead. And hoping against hope that you read this :D

And for other junta, Kunal is an awesome and fun guy to be around. He is still single except for those one off riffs with another guy (PA) from MAC. Any takers?

Just found out, its Katrina Kaif's birthday as well. For the uninitiated she is the same chick that cant speak Hindi, cant act, has mile long legs, looks the same in all songs she does and is very full of herself.

Tete e Tete with NR Narayana Murthy

Went to the Mumbai airport to drop a friend. And amidst the crowd was standing a old guy wearing faded denim jeans, a white shirt and carrying his own bag. I looked at him and dint realize a thing. And then a friend screamed "Oh .. Fuck .. Its NR Narayana Murthy".

We debated how can he be standing there, looking lost and all that. We took one full circle and yes it was him.

Before we could step out of our car and shake his hands and all, his taxi arrived and he left. This was probably the closet I have reached to someone who is super rich and does not mind lugging his own bags.

Wow. One of the richest businessmen in India standing at an airport waiting for someone to pick him up. No security. No air around him. No fancy attire. No chauffeurs. Will I ever become what he is?