Just to get a frame of reference set and some ground rules in before some smart ass comes with some lame ass questions. The teams would include the following–Cricket XI, Gavaskar, Sobers, Bradman, Richards, Waugh, Dujon, Lillee, Warne, Akram, Marshall, Walsh. The Baseball XI would have Nolan Ryan, Dimaggio, Ruth, Bonds, Johnson, Clemens, Aaron, Mays, Rose, Williams and Maddux.

While the games are completely different and in many ways almost not comparable in their technical and strategic orientation. The question that is key to this exercise is, which sport allows the athletes to better adapt to the other game. But maybe we ought to make this more interesting, what if we created hybrid teams from the two and asked them to play the same sport. Who would have the advantage? My own bias would be that cricketers have a better chance to succeed than baseball players. After all how hard is it to hit a full toss, eh? What gives?

Growing up, competing for everything was the norm, egged on for everything, comparison with everyone, sometimes boldly and openly facilitated by parents, sometimes by peers. Teachers blatantly discussing who is good and openly ridiculing the so called mediocre, many a times making an example of them, usually crushing their spirit for ever in the process. My sense is that this behavior is probably not limited to the Indian middle class but probably a trade mark of every poor country that is not torn by war or other more basic priorities.

Some how, it struck me that the educational process and tendencies in the West seem to be much more based on what individuals want as opposed to what their parents want in relative terms. The reason might be simple and intuitive, competition to get ahead is a survival instinct, and the more scarce the resources the higher the intensity of the competition. This intensity does not generally result in greatness, but certainly produces acceptable levels of results. Case in point, a nation of a billion people doesn’t produce a crop of super athletes or scientists–granted corruption, nepotism and lack of infrastructure play their part in the selection process. But we do see poor countries producing disproportionate results with similar or worse constraints.
As one traverses the educational landscape in the US, it appears that basic education at an undergraduate level while important does not force students into a tight set of constraints particularly limiting their ability to diversify in the future. In other words, the high degree of flexibility facilitates experimenting with the curriculum. Some would argue that taking swimming as a course may be a way to take it easy, except for some who actually take swimming as a course end up getting a “D”. Rigor in many cases is not compromised, but there are also examples of abuse in the system as I am sure all of can attest–that is not by design. My sense is that the flexibility allowing for experimentation, produces an atmosphere of informal evaluation of one’s education, this applies at every level including graduate education and the workplace. It seems like individuals get deeply weaved into a particular discipline, much later in their careers.
Question: Does a balanced nation begin with an educational system that affords flexibility to its young talent? the flexibility to choose and experiment?

The point of all this ofcourse is to envision a scenario in the Indian context of a more balanced society, where the best and the brightest minds are part of all functional groups and not limited to a hierarchy based on a pre-conceived notion of what parents think their kids should do or societal norms of defining what success ultimately looks like i.e. a doctor is better than being an artist. The concern is one where talent does not adequately percolate far down the functional ladder. What would happen if we had a more open system that encouraged educational experimentation?
I think wonderful things could happen to the Indian society potentially. Highly talented and extremely bright minds would likely be in many more functional areas than what might be the case now. A society of bright engineers and doctors (many of whom ultimately leave the country) but with sub par talent elsewhere doesn’t have to be a reality. Most importantly, respect for all types of work would begin to establish itself as core assumption. All great nations are great because of this one fundamental truth…just examine history.

Is colonizing the moon or mars the next step in preserving human life? certainly food for thought.

After a quick lunch we rushed to our terminal to make our 3:55 flight to Raleigh, North Carolina. As we reached our gate, the flight showed up on the depature screens as departing on time. My wife started making plans for what we needed to buy from the grocery store once we hit Raleigh. I was busy with a few business calls before we boarded. At some point during this frenzy we realized that the flight time had been changed to 4:30pm, we hoped it was nothing more than a routine delay. The delay extended to 5:15pm and we started getting nervous, so we checked with the agents. We were told “sorry sir, all we know is that the plane has not taken off from it’s orgin”. So I asked them when we would know for sure and she said, “as soon as I know it”. I waited , after what seemed like an eternity, it was announced that the gate was going to be different for this departure. I thought, “ok, thats reassuring”. Wrong! after dicking around for some more time between gate changes and some dumbass moves the flight was cancelled due to “mechanical problems”. There were about 5 flights between various airlines flying to Raleigh and so we thought, no big deal, let’s take the next one.

We went to the famed customer service shrine and to our dismay found a long line of tired passengers. All waiting for a chance to talk to someone on the United staff. We waited and when our chance came, I was told to talk to someone on the phone by a indifferent, arrogant and a total bitch of a woman who had no business handling anything that involved service. I spent the next 15 minutes on the phone with an agent who couldn’t pull up his head out of his ass or for that matter our tickets up for rebooking because they were part of an International connection. I had to talk to a live agent, who seemed to be in a hurry to screw some other customers over. After much conversation and after 30 minutes the agent came back and told us there is nothing he can do for me at this time and the best he could do was to get me tickets on the flight the next day at 3:55pm. So I asked him, how is it that, I am not being rebooked on a different plane and he told me I was unlucky and that all tickets were taken. I heard him say, “sorry sir, you are not a member of our elite class and therefore you are condemned to enjoy our menu of tortures. He added the famous last words though “you are on priority standby” on the next flight. I asked him, what priority standby meant and he said “you have priority on the list”. I felt special, but uncomfortable at the same time. The next flight took off without me or my family, 15 people were called from the “priority list”, I guess I was not that much of a priority. The last plane for the day took off at around 10pm without us on board.

In the meantime, my kids were both fairly tired and restless so I had asked a supervisor if we could use the lounge for a few hours to wash up and we were told politely that our status on the elite customer ladder did not deem us worthy of such a treatment. He obliged us with a hotel room in crowne plaza, about 15 minutes from the airport. My attempts at talking to the customer disservice agents were met with complete and total idiocy. One such agent, he looked overworked, told us it was just our bad luck that the flight was cancelled and that I should wait my turn now that I had entrusted my money with his incompetent ass. I mentioned that United was in bankrupcy for a reason and he again mocked me by telling me that I did not read the newspapers and that United is alive, kicking and once again ready to stake its rightful place at the top of the screw ups pyramid. I was crushed and proceeded to the hotel feeling angry, and tired and without anything but a handbag that carried a pair of clothes for my children. All of our luggage was booked through to Raleigh at this point.

We took a taxi to the hotel, we expected the worse, but the hotel was clean and decent. We slept and continued our adventure early the next day. Back in the airport at 9 am, tried standby for the next several flights, each flight going out of a new terminal. It was fun for the kids, especially since we were carrying them and they felt using the transfers at the airport was fun. This continued until we were almost crazy. At the end of this routine my kids were tired and crying, my wife was half asleep due to jet lag and I was just plain angry. I did not understand how they could treat paying passengers like this. The airport was full of United passengers who were pissed off for one reason or the other. The customer disservice agents were playing peek-a-boo with them, the shrine was overflowing with devout customers, the airport was doing brisk business at $6 a bottle for water and $7 for a slice of bad pizza.

We took off on a 2 pm flight which was delayed and took off at 3 pm. Our luggage was safe when we got back, a new suitcase was torn, couple of others had water damage (how is that possible?) but at least we got them back, my expectations were very low and I was cheering if anyone did anything right. I was pissed off and vowed that I would sue United for this crap and would start a website that would help other customers vent. But alas I was beaten to it, there is a thriving website already in existence and helps customers get justice and peace if they have been screwed over by United. Aptly named the UNTIED.com , the site provides all you need when you are in pain and being shafted by an airline that has no business being in service. Some things are better in bankruptcy, United belongs there left, center and right. So long assholes!

On a related topic, buying computers online can be a fairly cumbersome process for many. The complexity of the product offerings, the competitive landscape and the options and attaches people need to make their purchases meaningful makes the process intimidating to many, unless ofcourse you are geek yourself or have friends who are geeks.

As someone who is constantly trying to improve usability of such websites, I grapple with the below questions all the time. For the most part, I understand the answers fairly well and granularly, however, getting views from individuals from time to time helps in getting the nuances right. The types of questions we constantly think about are,
1. How much does brand play a part in a PC buying decision?

2. How much does price influence a decision?

3. What’s the influence from your circle of friends on the decision?

4. Who is the gold standard when it comes to the PC buying experience online?

Wanted to hear first hand from my fellow rantlusters if you had some thoughts on this.

10.  Jaws, Part 1
9.  The sixth sense
8.  Monty Python and the Holy Grail
7.  The God father, Part 1
6.  Pulp Fiction
5.  Apollo 13
4.  Philadelphia
3.  The great dictator
2.  Ben Hur
1.  Gandhi

So back to the question on hand, “why do we really pursue anything?”–Is material comfort and quality of life driving every one of us to work harder and harder until we drop dead? Has evolution played a part in shaping the human race to aspire for that advertantly or inadvertantly? Budda’s quest for self actualization clearly was a result of this. Question: why do more people then not feel compelled to fight it? Is it because they feel it is not worth it? or simply, life is meant to be endured so get on with it?

So, coming back to working, it has been my experience that you always want to work for winners. Winners are defined as people who are confident, have achieved things in life based on their effort and hardwork, are always willing to help other people be successful without worrying about pettiness, ‘like will he take my place’, ‘will he screw me over” etc. These people or this class of people I call the horses……you are lucky if you work for a horse. The horses will always drive you hard, hold you to high standards of performance…meaning you cannot get away with donkey level work…no offense to donkeys, they are pre-disposed to being second. The horses will also reward you when you do well and almost always make it their business to help you get to the next level.

Now, working for donkeys..unfortunately is painful. The donkey inherently has a inferiority complex, which manifests itself in a superiority complex. Usually, on display is pettiness in every form of the word. The donkey generally doesn’t have an original thought, either it’s borrowed or if it is original by chance, it normally dumb. Donkeys generally need help from several entities to express their viewpoint and often times, will simply succumb to pressure and make the majority opinion theirs. However on bright spot about a donkey is their ability to tolerate pain, they will take beatings without complaining. Donkey occasionally will try to outdo itself by acting like a horse, often times, with disastrous consequences. Usually it finds itself in territory way beyond it’s capability and ends up with the same results…severe beatings. Sooner or later the donkey knows, it should stay within it’s boundaries or else it gets painful.

So, why am I telling you this? well, if you have reached the conclusion that you work for a donkey, then it is best that you find yourself a new gig and preferably one where a horse is in charge. It’s not easy, but there are several things you can do to ensure that you endup with a horse. First you need to do what’s called the DET (scientifically known as the ‘Donkey Evaluation Test’). If you answer yes to these three questions, then you have a donkey on hand or a situation that will make you a donkey, and it is time to take corrective action immediately. The DET includes the following questions.
1. You are working in the same dead end job for more than 3 years with no increases in pay but much increase in BS work…..and your boss pleads helplessness.
2. Going to work feels like Chinese water torture, only in this case, the flow is non stop
3. You know you are not learning anything new, in fact, you know you are becoming slower by the day
If you have concluded that you work for a donkey or feel that the conditions are favorable for you to turn into one, it is time to get out. Work is really important for many of us, we spend a lot of time in and around it and in many cases use it as a means of driving value out of our sorry existence (no offense to the religious types….life is sacred and stuff like that). It is important to ensure that you respect it and constantly fight your urge of being a 51 percenter

The work also outlines the heroism and sacrifices made by many who were truly troubled by the human condition on the islands.

I have come to the conclusion that there are some basic truths. Some of us are privileged to recognize them much early in life, some others learn about them later in life. Disclaimer: These apply to the majority, exceptions will always exist.

• Happiness is elusive…it’s like that one good golf shot you make during the entire round. You keep coming back to find it.
• Life is simple, we make it complicated.
• Living is difficult, dying is much easier.
• Comparing you to others is what keeps you going
• You will absolutely not be the best in anything you do in the long term
• The net of happy and sad moments is sad
• The number of relationships you make is directly proportional to the amount of unhappiness you accrue in a lifetime
• If you can sustain anything at 51% over a lifetime, you are successful

Some notes… imagine all the times you burnt the midnight oil to study and ended up getting a centum on your math quiz or the number of A’s you amassed over your educational programs, maybe a B or a B- or even a C (note to grad students, need to maintain a B average for funding) is all you needed, but you didn’t know that. Essentially a trade-off being the top person versus being in the middle of the pack…..the ‘51% er‘. Think of all the people who didn’t achieve as much as you did or vice versa while in school or other competitive contexts and see where they are today. In most cases you will be surprised that most are doing ok in life. Then the question is, what was that A really worth to you? In some rare cases, it symbolized excellence or genius in a chosen field like our friend Viddi in school who has a PhD in Bio-Chemistry and is an MD and strives to understand shit (literally, he’s a gastroenterologist) better, but for the most part, it was based on a need to prove something to someone….maybe parents (who are notorious in the Indian middle class context to push their kids to lunacy), maybe friends. Yes, ultimately it was always about comparing yourself to someone else.

So, where does all this lead to?

I think the world belongs to the 51% ers. They have figured out the most efficient way to live understanding the tradeoffs in life knowingly or unknowingly.

Growing up I travelled exclusively on these city buses, which is a typical means of travel for most Indian lower and middle class families. It’s major advantages were that it was cheap and generally a reliable means of transportation over other options that were non-existent. I travelled about 10 kilometers to get to my school (for about 4 years) and likewise about 20 kilometers to the college (for about 4 years). The distance of 10 kilometers was typically covered in about 50 minutes to an hour and the distance of 20 kilometers was covered anywhere between 90 minutes and 2 hours. So in short a lot of growing up happened on buses.

Travelling by city bus was both an art and a science at the same time. Art in the case of demure college girls, ladies in sarees, school girls and older people because they accepted the given and did not questions the laws of nature. Science in the case of people who had to calculate, anticipate and manage to the laws of interia and Newton while getting into, hanging on to and getting out of these buses. Simply travelling without a seat in the bus was no easy feat either, one had to balance oneself, as the poor driver drove erratically over the degenerated roads that had plenty of pot holes and other obstacles; some man made, some natural, but all lethal to the human musculo-skeletal system. It was common for people to skid, slide and bump into each other helplessly all over the place.  One simply thanked one’s stars when they arrived in one piece at their destination.

The number of buses needed to man peak traffic hours was generally inadequate. This imbalanced demand-supply equation ensured fierce participation from everyone who wanted to get from point A to point B. Each bus came with a driver and a conductor, the conductor sold tickets and was responsible for maintaining law and order while the public got its sorry asses to their respective destinations. The dynamics between the driver, the conductor and the public was critical in running successful sorties. The communication between the three, usually faciliated using a whistle or by a bell connected with a long thread that traversed the entire length of the bus, was amazingly efficient. This included various types of bell rings, two pulls to start, one to stop, one and one half bells to slow down but not stop entirely, half a pull to not stop at the designated bus stop but maybe stop a little further so people were inconvenienced to pursue the bus. Suffices to say, it required extraordinary skills and excellent coordination. All drivers and conductors were well versed in the local vernacular and had an exceptional vocabulary of curse words. This skill was practised often and was a pre-requisite for survival.

Most able bodied men and boys helped regulate the traffic into and out of the bus using the footboard as the exchange valve. This specifically required the group to get down and get in at every stop as the bus labored its way to the final destination. The footboard accounted for roughly 30% capacity of the bus, something that is not factored into the design process for building the bus (I know, I worked for a bus manufacturer). The footboard exchange valve management was a highly risky and skilled routine because there is evidence of many individuals losing their lives and many others losing body parts. This happened when individuals got sandwiched between two buses or inadvertantly got smashed against a lone electricity pole that stuck itself unconventionally at some unsupsecting and obscure turn along the highway. In many cases it’s suspected that these footboard brave hearts go through these pains to attract the attention of the ladies or school girls by showing off their footboard regulation prowess or in some isolated cases, simply to get a breath of fresh air. Most often the giggles and smiles were enough to keep our heroes coming back for more action even if it had wide reaching and well known consequences on their physique.

Some notes…..the temperament of the conductor is critical for maintaining a sense of decor inside the bus. Some conductors invariably are short and tempered and believe in managing the show tightly as if to cover their inadequacies, this often has interesting but had predictable consequences. Some others let the public help manage their duties. This was ideal for cordial relationships and successful sorties. Most school/college students used what was called a concession card (simply called a ‘concession’)-a highly subsized pre-paid monthly pass. So money never changed hands for most students as far as fares were concerned. Occassionally, when one didn’t have a concession card he or she (very rarely) was forced to use your poker face to project having a concession card and in the process pocket the change for more productive things like a “bongi”-malayalam slang for lemonade. If caught without a card or a ticket, you were summarily embarrased in front of everyone,which was generally considered bad for your image especially in front of the ladies. Sometimes even when you somehow managed to skirt the conductor, because your stars weren’t aligned properly you had the nightmare of being caught in a surprise check by people intuitively called the ‘checkers’. The checkers were seasoned ex-conductors and pretty much knew every trick in the book. It was advised not to mess with them.  Embarrassment was the typical result and sometimes a fine of twice the ticket charge-there goes the bongi and the vada!
Buses for the most part were on time. As they approached the bus station, depending on the conditions of the day, the bus had a equal likelihood of stopping or not stopping to pick up the passengers. Bus stops in this scheme were over rated. In the event that it stopped and you got in, it was generally considered a good omen and a further reinforcement that the remaining day may go well. Sometimes the conductor used his repertoire to give a half bell or a classic one and one half jingles, being versed in this language, most predicted the outcome to be a stop half a kilometer from the designated bus stop. This is where, I am convinced, most track and field talent is identified. Darwin’s theory comes to bear and the winners take the prize. The ones left behind usually mouth off choice words for everyone-I always felt bad for this group. Not because they missed the bus, but because they had to walk back all the way to the bus station. And invariably there would be another bus that promptly stopped at the bus stop resulting in an embarrassing double whammy. Life can be so cruel.

Most buses were toxic to touch as they were painted by what I am now sure is lead based paints. Older buses were a resting ground for the most virulent forms of micro-organisms, rust seemed to be the norm and a tetanus shot was just a scrape away. Most buses had a sturdy construction made generally with sheet metal piled on top of each other and riveted together over a wooden frame. This ensured that any collision would result in a mutually assured destruction of the parties concerned. Rain was never a consideration for the designers of these buses (I know because some of my friends designed them), because when it rained outside, you were sure to enjoy it in all its glory inside. The piled on sheets of metal in conjunction with the open windows, manned with cloth based shutters, did well to direct the rain water neatly onto the unsupsecting heads of tired and sleeping passengers. On a tangent, if unlucky, you also had a good chance of getting poked in your eye by an old lady’s umbrella that was bent out of shape and wouldn’t close properly. To top it all off, the smell of sweat soiled clothes, in a closed non ventilated and dark interior provided the perfect ambiance to share our stories. The day mostly ended or started with us sharing the stories of the day or the previous day, making fun of each other or slowly stealing  glances at the cute girl you secretly had a crush on. Or in some strange cases by being rudely awakened by the conductor or driver because you slept your way to the last stop……..this one pissed me off royally. It was like adding insult to injury.

Needless to say, the nostalgia was heightened when I recently undertook a brave trip from Meenambakam to Nungambakkam with fellow blogger Papi. The conditions were mostly the same, but I found myself wanting in the skills of hanging on to the footboard and managing the footboard regulation valve. We covered the distance of about 10-12 kilometers in about 90 minutes. Some things never change…..city buses rule !

The price of progress for up and coming nations will be steep if they choose to ignore the macro economic factors that govern such economies. A country like India which has a history of using agricultural reforms to sustain its economy over the past several 100 years and in a organized manner in the past 50 years will need to figure out a way to seamlessly transition its vast population into the future where the ground rules are significantly different. This process will be both tricky and painful.

Tricky because of how the message is communicated, manipulated and finally executed to the masses. Painful, because people will invariably get hurt in this process and most likely the ones that will get hurt are people who already live a life submerged in pain and suffering. There are a multitude of questions that emerge when one looks at the trends. Answers to some of the questions are murky and even when clear, they are rather difficult to execute on because of the existing constraints. But we must in good conscience ask the questions. So the questions are something like the below.

Question: If the best and the brightest move to the glitter, what will happen to those activities and jobs that are left behind but yet critical to sustaining an existing socio-economic construct?–I guess the answer is simple from a market standpoint. Lower value activities in the value chain will be performed with lesser skilled and/or highly patriotic people who will not “sell out”. In developed economies this is managed through massive automation which ultimately allows for a very small sample of the population to manage these tasks with efficiency being the key word. In the case of India this will be an issue because of well known constraints around automation. If I am very sympathetic, I would concede an awkard long period of transition. However, long transitions will be difficult to manage.

Question: What happens when the competition heats up? Already a good part of the underprivileged world is waking up to find out that having qualified people is a good thing and not a burden as was the mindset a few years back. Vietnam, Phillipines, Ireland, Russia, Rumania, South America and many others seem to all have the capability that is being touted as a major strength. Granted India has an economy and infrastructure which in relative comparison is much more robust. But make no mistake, if diversification and improvement in existing skills, processes and technology are not made fast enough, disintermediation will occur even faster to derail any chance of real progress.

Question: What happens when there are setbacks? I mean major setbacks, we have thus far see trends of companies coming in because we are a better alternative to what exists, but as is true with anything, once established, there will be a process of “squeezing” which will be in the form of new demands for better facilities. Some of this is becoming evident, Siemens refusing to invest any further funds until traffic issues are sorted out. To me that in itself is a very minor issue. The real question is what happens when the demands get bigger, do we as a nation, have the required agility and will power to make changes that rapidly. Our track record is not anything we can be proud off yet.

Question: What happens when the population is manipulated to derail progress? I embrace theory “Y”, but, I have experienced what a large population that has basic necessities can do to survive. Ultimately, talk about utopia a 100 years from now doesn’t work if I am hungry and naked today. What and how will short term issues be dealt with so longer term changes can be accomodated. If the answer is, exactly the way we have been doing it–then we are in for trouble.

There are many more questions and it’s certainly easy to ask questions than to find answers. My objective is to have a discussion so we can somewhat crystallize the answers if not for anything but to convince ourselves that the progress we are making is going to be permanent and real.

First and foremost, increased congestion in the cities. The number of vehicles travelling at snail pace to overcome snail sized distances, expending mountainous amounts of fumes and petrol has increased by an order of magnitude. I am convinced that the developing economy has to content with the notion of moving materials and men faster and cheaper and not the other way around. The latest trends that I witnessed seemed to convey a different sentiment. Maybe transition occurs in multiple steps and stages?

Second, cost of living has increased exponentially. I am convinced that if I weren’t working in the US I would have to marry multiple times and collect a heavy dowry each time to be able to afford a house in a metropolis. In the absence of that I would be resigned to my fate and live in a rented apartment till I die or maybe live in a suburb and do the snail paced commute to work inhaling the copious amount of CCl4 and fluorides that are in abundance. Incidentally the latter option seems like what most people ultimately choose. A commute of 2-3 hours seems to be the norm for most families. Housing, land and general prices for commodities have skyrocketed in the past several years to levels never before witnessed.

Finally, the sense of community that typified India while I was growing up seems to be slowly but surely dying. In a similar conversation with a friend of mine and his parents, these observations were reinforced. They attributed it to multiple reasons, increased migration of people across state lines for work and/or business, consequently an increase in population density in cities and a lack of free time for families as they try to make ends meet with multiple incomes. People hardly have any disposable time to spend with anyone other than just the immediate family.

I am prone to looking at things as a contrarian and the above comments might be lopsided. But even so, I wonder what an average person does to make ends meet in today’s India, the average person who is not influenced directly by the positive changes in the IT world controlled and managed by a elite few or by the influx of foreign investment and trade initiatives in a select few areas. Increasing I feel that the world is flattening such people out of a decent living. Economists and capitalists like me justify this as the price for progress and claim it to be the essential in the context of growing pains for a developing economy as it negotiates the turns to become a developed nation. The essential question is, “Is the price too high?”, “Are there better alternatives?”
Darpe Gujae!

Central to the plot is the Oakland A’s baseball organization, which was/is one of the teams with the lowest playroll in all of professional baseball, but yet has been able to consistently outperform teams with bigger names and richer payrolls. How is this possible? Well, by applying the fundamentals of capitalism, arbitrage theory, “buy low sell high”. In this book, the team management invests in statistics to understand what’s really important for success on the baseball field and what metrics adequately capture the traits of a winning team. The result is a list of non traditional or often overlooked measures/metrics. Management in turn is able to build a team with a group of players who are generally under rated by the market but promise high potential on the newly exposed metrics, fulfilling the promise of arbitrage theory.

The drama surrounding the team’s approach to evaluating talent and its struggles and successes in changing the long held views in sports scouting and recruiting is well captured and makes this an interesting read…even if you hate baseball