I posted a similar blog at the beginning of this year, hoping that 2009 gives us happiness. Well it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to be.
I experienced a big jolt in my career. I kinda learned for the first time, how uncertain are our lives. Many of my friends can understand those cryptic lines.
Let's look at at the major events, either good or bad
Obama
Well the honeymoon is over, and Obama ain't a messiah. He can only achieve few things with these kind of republicans in the senate, and centrists like joe lieberman. But you've to give credit for moving this health bill past the senate. And he's just starting on climate control, immigration reform etc. I'm cautiously curious how much he's gonna achieve. And finally let's not forget Afghanistan. It's Obama's war now. I didn't read much about the troop spike in Afghan, but honestly I'm not sure what's the goal and exit strategy.
Rise of Retards
Move on Rush, Glenn Beck in the house. glenn beck, michele bachmann et al are the new superstars of fringe conservatives profiting from dumb people watching faux news. I myself realized for the first time, how people can be manipulated with distorted facts, out of contexts statements. Glenn Beck show is a quite a theater with his blackboard.
Health Care Reform
I didn't read the bill well enough to point the defects, but as per Paul Krugman et al it's a good progress. This is what I realized from the news. It's illegal not to have health insurance (??), government subsidizes the insurance for poor people and here's the best part. Insurance companies can't decline coverage insurance for people using the pre-existing condition as an excuse. That's a big progress.
Here's what missing. Single payer health care. It could've been lot better, if public option is part of the bill. Few democrats took their party for a ride cause of republican filibuster.
Climate Change
As always, few people wouldn't change. Even today half of the America denies climate change. That email scandal didn't help either. It bothers me so much that educated people gets carried away by the ultra right wing propaganda. And then few democrat senators already developed cold feet about cap and trade bill 'cause of the next year's mid term elections. Copenhagen Climate conference didn't make any substantial progress.
Bailouts and aftermath
So much has been written about the public bailouts. Putting the morals aside, returns from bailouts of the banks ain't so bad. Having said that, public can kiss good bye to the money lent to AIG, GMAC, GM. Freddie mac and Fannie Mae are effectively govt companies now.
Populist Outrage
It all started with outrage over bonuses on wall st amid the massive bailouts. And then glenn beck, michelle bachmann used it to stop the health insurance reform. Oh, remember the town halls and tea party protests from summer with angry elder people from middle america. Faux news tooks their propaganda by showing us clips from previous protest. Jon Stewart owned them. Bravo.
Telangana
At the tail end of year, this Telangana movement gained steam. Being from Andhra, I oppose this separate state. Having said that I don't know much about their struggles since 50s, so I'll restrain from making conclusions. But I'm sure about one thing. Students and employees who're doing all these protests are suffering from myopia. They're only looking for government jobs and politicians are looking for power. But if they loose Hyderabad they'll loose all the revenue which they enjoyed until now. Even if they retain Hyderabad, all the investments from the real estate will be gone and the revenue which comes along with that. movie industry might migrate back to chennai and IT companies might looks for safe locales in chennai, pune and banglore.
Every body knows about the education in Telengana, and the lands aren't suitable for proper agriculture.
I myself suffered from these protests as I'm in India. So many public and private properties are damaged cause of these. APSRTC is the prime victim and easy target for these goons in the disguise of students. These anti social elements should be reined.
and finally some good news
My sister got married to Deep Krishna in Nov and that itself makes 2009 a good year despite other setbacks. Congratulations!!
Few of my friends are expecting children now, congratulations and say hello to sleepless nights :-)
On a whole, 2009 has been an interesting year for me. Met many new people and old friends! Hope 2010 brings happiness and good health to all of us.
(I'm also secretly wishing for comprehensive immigration reform to be friendly for H1Bs!)
Happy New year.
Peace.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Poverty and Prosperity
With ample time in hand, I spent two days in state capital Hyderabad. This 
is the place of contention between Telengana and other parts of State. Truth be told, office spaces and townships here are on par with any city in Western world. Road which leads to Durgamma cheruvu is a clear indicator of land boom. But along with this nouveau riche we'll also witness grinding poverty. The proximity of that kind of poverty is really troubling.
India is a land of diversity. That's true in cultural aspects and also in wealth
distribution. I guess India is one of the countries where so much of wealth is in the hands of very few people. That's true for any country (80:20 theory). But after spending time in the hustle and dust of Indian roads, the disparity is more drastic here in India. The poverty we witness from our train journeys are emotionally exhausting.
The following two things crossed my mind in the last few weeks.
One of the widely quoted lines from the Hindu Dharma is Manava Seve Madhava Seva. Indian people are also very religious. We all go to Temple, pray to God(s) and plead them to fix our problems. After that we'll generously put money in the temple Hundi. The moment we step out of temple, our generosity ends. Half of us wouldn't give a single rupee to the panhandlers. Many of those beggars are really old people with physical ailments. There's no obligation to give money to them, but these are the needy people. Almost all the religions teach the same principle. Feed the needy.
Indian weddings are really long with so many rites and pujas. So much money goes into it. Dinner or Lunch for the guests is one of the significant features of any wedding. These days astronomical amounts of money is spent on food in Weddings. But that's restricted to our guests only. We tip the servers and cooks so less and scold them for asking tips. I am guilty of few things mentioned above.
Above two things which I mentioned are related to the upper middle class families. There's another class in India who gained immense wealth in just 5 years through corruption, and contacts in Government. One prime example is Gali Janardhana Reddy. This person donated a diamond Crown to Tirupathi Venkateswara Swami. That crown costs 42 Cr Rupees. (9 million USD). (Don't get me wrong here, I'm also a devotee of Venkatewara swami, but he's already rich. He's not in dire need of new 9 mil USD Crown.) So all the wealth gained through Nepotism turns into God's jewelery. Ironically he also talked about Madhava Seva and Manava Seva. I wish at least these people help the extreme poor and needy instead of contributing to God's jewels. This might at least provide them some redemption. (as if they care)
My thoughts aren't very clear on this. The poverty here troubles me a lot. Govt. spends so much money on welfare programs, but most of it is sucked out by politicians, govt employees et al. Poverty, lack of education and street crimes go hand in hand. If progress can be made in one aspect, we can see improvement in other things. Not sure when that day will dawn on us.
Well I'm one of those numerous bloggers complaining about India. But I'm willing to do more than just writing about. I'm looking for those organizations and if any one can point me to a a right organization I'll contribute my time and money to them.
Peace.
Update 03/15/10
Actually, there's a change in my position about the beggars/homeless people outside temples. I started recognizing faces of few of these people who're there while I was in college. They've been doing this for more than 10 years and don't allow any new person to beg outside those temples.
I just want to use this as an example to portray poverty. I don't mean to imply that person denying money to beggar is a bad person. There're many ways to help the needy and contribute to society. I stand corrected now.
is the place of contention between Telengana and other parts of State. Truth be told, office spaces and townships here are on par with any city in Western world. Road which leads to Durgamma cheruvu is a clear indicator of land boom. But along with this nouveau riche we'll also witness grinding poverty. The proximity of that kind of poverty is really troubling.
India is a land of diversity. That's true in cultural aspects and also in wealth
distribution. I guess India is one of the countries where so much of wealth is in the hands of very few people. That's true for any country (80:20 theory). But after spending time in the hustle and dust of Indian roads, the disparity is more drastic here in India. The poverty we witness from our train journeys are emotionally exhausting.
The following two things crossed my mind in the last few weeks.
One of the widely quoted lines from the Hindu Dharma is Manava Seve Madhava Seva. Indian people are also very religious. We all go to Temple, pray to God(s) and plead them to fix our problems. After that we'll generously put money in the temple Hundi. The moment we step out of temple, our generosity ends. Half of us wouldn't give a single rupee to the panhandlers. Many of those beggars are really old people with physical ailments. There's no obligation to give money to them, but these are the needy people. Almost all the religions teach the same principle. Feed the needy.
Indian weddings are really long with so many rites and pujas. So much money goes into it. Dinner or Lunch for the guests is one of the significant features of any wedding. These days astronomical amounts of money is spent on food in Weddings. But that's restricted to our guests only. We tip the servers and cooks so less and scold them for asking tips. I am guilty of few things mentioned above.
Above two things which I mentioned are related to the upper middle class families. There's another class in India who gained immense wealth in just 5 years through corruption, and contacts in Government. One prime example is Gali Janardhana Reddy. This person donated a diamond Crown to Tirupathi Venkateswara Swami. That crown costs 42 Cr Rupees. (9 million USD). (Don't get me wrong here, I'm also a devotee of Venkatewara swami, but he's already rich. He's not in dire need of new 9 mil USD Crown.) So all the wealth gained through Nepotism turns into God's jewelery. Ironically he also talked about Madhava Seva and Manava Seva. I wish at least these people help the extreme poor and needy instead of contributing to God's jewels. This might at least provide them some redemption. (as if they care)
My thoughts aren't very clear on this. The poverty here troubles me a lot. Govt. spends so much money on welfare programs, but most of it is sucked out by politicians, govt employees et al. Poverty, lack of education and street crimes go hand in hand. If progress can be made in one aspect, we can see improvement in other things. Not sure when that day will dawn on us.
Well I'm one of those numerous bloggers complaining about India. But I'm willing to do more than just writing about. I'm looking for those organizations and if any one can point me to a a right organization I'll contribute my time and money to them.
Peace.
Update 03/15/10
Actually, there's a change in my position about the beggars/homeless people outside temples. I started recognizing faces of few of these people who're there while I was in college. They've been doing this for more than 10 years and don't allow any new person to beg outside those temples.
I just want to use this as an example to portray poverty. I don't mean to imply that person denying money to beggar is a bad person. There're many ways to help the needy and contribute to society. I stand corrected now.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Few things remain unchanged..
I'm taking a bit too long vacation after 7 and half years. Enjoying an unwanted vacation. So looking at life in modern India from close quarters.
Many things changed! Cell phones, proliferation of internet into small towns, umpteen news channels, mineral water in every household, American brands and restaurants etc. Finally cars are affordable to middle class (or is that the increased purchasing power), fancy European cars every where..
Few things became worse. Roads, traffic, pollution, ground water levels, corruption, bribery. Actually corruption and Bribery are socially accepted. I mean to say, it's not bothering people any more. The red tape in India adds fuel to this.
Even though you live in Guntur city, you've to go to a neighboring village to get a marriage certificate. You'd only know about once you go to a registrar office in your vicinity. And if you don't hire an agent, forget about getting the certificate in time. It's getting hard for me to defend the anti bribery stance.
And few things remain the same. To name one, stupidity of people. Before you call me elitist, condescending or some thing else here's an example. AP state is experiencing a major public agitation now. Telangana people asking for separate state and others opposing it. Yesterday I got stuck up in traffic cause of a students doing a rastha roko and today restricted to my home 'cause of voluntary strike.
Now going back to my earlier point of stupidity, the first target for all these people are APSRTC buses. Passionate people (read that as affirmative action students who stay in universities too long for
stipends) put these buses on fire and break their windows to demonstrate the anger.
RTC buses are public properties and are purchased using the tax money paid by the same person destroying it. (along with bus fare, of course). In addition to the lost revenue, RTC has to spend millions of rupess fix these buses . I don't know when did this started, but I can recall this from the days I started reading newspaper.
How to fix this? This might be a radical approach, but this destroying of property needs to be stopped. How about killing the goons who destroys public property intentionally. This need not be done for too long. Just the implementation of this policy once or twice will send a chill down the spine of these students and goons. In my view, public infrastructure costing millions of rupees is worth more than lives of few antisocial elements.
Ahh feels good writing this.. but I neither have a degree in govt. policy nor a policy making job. Will write more about life in India. (my fav subject, Indian weddings ..not)
Peace.
Many things changed! Cell phones, proliferation of internet into small towns, umpteen news channels, mineral water in every household, American brands and restaurants etc. Finally cars are affordable to middle class (or is that the increased purchasing power), fancy European cars every where..
Few things became worse. Roads, traffic, pollution, ground water levels, corruption, bribery. Actually corruption and Bribery are socially accepted. I mean to say, it's not bothering people any more. The red tape in India adds fuel to this.
Even though you live in Guntur city, you've to go to a neighboring village to get a marriage certificate. You'd only know about once you go to a registrar office in your vicinity. And if you don't hire an agent, forget about getting the certificate in time. It's getting hard for me to defend the anti bribery stance.
And few things remain the same. To name one, stupidity of people. Before you call me elitist, condescending or some thing else here's an example. AP state is experiencing a major public agitation now. Telangana people asking for separate state and others opposing it. Yesterday I got stuck up in traffic cause of a students doing a rastha roko and today restricted to my home 'cause of voluntary strike.
Now going back to my earlier point of stupidity, the first target for all these people are APSRTC buses. Passionate people (read that as affirmative action students who stay in universities too long for
stipends) put these buses on fire and break their windows to demonstrate the anger.
RTC buses are public properties and are purchased using the tax money paid by the same person destroying it. (along with bus fare, of course). In addition to the lost revenue, RTC has to spend millions of rupess fix these buses . I don't know when did this started, but I can recall this from the days I started reading newspaper.
How to fix this? This might be a radical approach, but this destroying of property needs to be stopped. How about killing the goons who destroys public property intentionally. This need not be done for too long. Just the implementation of this policy once or twice will send a chill down the spine of these students and goons. In my view, public infrastructure costing millions of rupees is worth more than lives of few antisocial elements.
Ahh feels good writing this.. but I neither have a degree in govt. policy nor a policy making job. Will write more about life in India. (my fav subject, Indian weddings ..not)
Peace.
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