My ride to whitefield, Jugaad and why India is growing despite itself

Every day I ride to whitefield, and yes its very very tiring. But what choice do I have. Going by bus is not an option- it takes double the time and is extremely boring. So riding is the best option. But it still takes an hour.

But after going riding for about 2 weeks I started finding ways to make my journey shorter. I go through gullies, riding on the footpath on some occasions and occasionally during extreme jams. I also squeeze between cars and change lanes to make maximum use of the little pockets of free road.

Contrary to being indisciplined, I think it makes sense that some of us do this. It reduces the load on the already clogged road. When a few people do this, it reduces the jams and makes maximum use of the resources. Occasionally the odd amateur creates a bigger jam. But thats just a learning experience. Soon he finds ways to get home faster without delaying himself or others. I know this is not the ideal thing to do. But I am not riding on ideal roads.

I guess this applies to India as well. The resources are never adequate. So people start finding shortcuts to work around that and the system. Making most use of our precious resources is what has kept us growing.

India cannot be compared to the west were resources are in abundance. Here people need to be more innovative, creative and have to really think out of the box. And this happens at the lowest levels- from rural India to small traders and businesses.

Now back to whitefield, if everybody maintained a minimum of 2 feet distance between the vehicle in front of you- the jam would look orderly but would be a mile long.

So before you comment saying "See the west. Everything is so orderly"... remember at some level it is our disorderliness which is helping us grow- and right now at a tremendous pace.

I would also like to share this post which I read recently

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/swaminathan-s-a-aiyar/Jugaad-is-our-most-precious-resource/articleshow/6313513.cms

My Dad's India and mine

I Was discussing with my dad the other day about a friend wanting to quit TCS and join a start up with a friend. He found the idea absurd and gave his usual "you youngsters are not wise" dialogue. Now the wisdom of my friend not taken into account, the idea atleast must atleast be appreciated. But coming from a reasonably conservative middle class family, my dad's reaction is not all that wrong.
Back in those days, there weren't too many good jobs around. Now we have so many options.The existing jobs were mainly in the public sector. Job security was paraount. If you were in a decent paying job for a long long time, your future was secure. My dad's India did just tat and secured their future and ours. They saved up money-no frivolous spending- not like there were any good places to hang out and spend your money anyways. They not only secured their future but ours as well.
Now if you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if you don't have food water and shelter, you really cant think of job satisfaction or about making the world a better place. So our parents did just that. Secured the food- shelter part. There is another physiological need which is considered a bad bad thing- but lets not get into that. So now that level was set up, the next generation that is us could try for the higher levels. Which is why there are a lot more start ups, lot more people thinking about global warming etc.I think that India is growing the way it is because of the fundation set up by the previous generation. So we shouldn't be thinking that they are conservative. We can be the modern and fast moving because they were steady and conservative.
So when my dad thinks that sticking to a job which provides security is the way to go, he is just trying to come to terms with the change he helped to bring about.

Is our Media ruining us???

Recently I came across this article http://www.bombaybar.com/in_joco_veritas/faucets_of_media_lore.php#more (really hilarious) and then when i got back home later in the evening (yes that means I blog and surf from work :P) I saw some channel having a major heated discussion about something so insignificant that I don't even remember what it was. Got me thinking.. There are many really stupid things that the media reports and blows out of proportion so much that I think it actually affects the intellect of people. The things which should be reported are never given much importance. Things like Renuka Chowdary or somebody else mailing pink chaddis to Mutalik got such prime time importance, it actually makes me wonder- are we force fed all this by the media or is the media dishing it out only cuz we're waiting to buy it. Either ways something is wrong. There are discussions about valentine day cards and MMS clips and the fact that SRK was not invited to Abhishek's wedding. When are we going to grow up?

Also another point I want to make here. Somedays back I read an article about how some start up was providing cold storage during transportation of vegetables and thus helping farmers gain more out of their crop. Quite frankly that inspired me. I wanted to do something innovative and help my country after reading that. We need stuff like that which make people proud to be Indian, which inspires them to do something new, something innovative, something for the country even if it just makes somebody just help an old man cross the road.. it is worth it. Day in and day out reading things like there was a robbery or some flyover is delayed- I agree we need to know all that- but on the main page we need stuff which inspires us, not saps us of our energy to go do something spectacular..Reading such negative things actually starts affecting the psyche of the people. Soon they just go "The construction is delayed by 6months..whts new" or "road jams..just have to get used to it".
I strongly feel the media needs to be regulated and instead of just hyping unnecessary things which dont really help anybody, it should work with the intent of changing our country, inspiring us to do better, enducing patriotism among us, make us just wake us everyday- read the newspaper or watch the news- fill us with pride and just make us go out there and do our best because our country deserves the best from us.

JAI HO! and the Indian need for Western acceptance

About 3 yrs ago, I attended an AR Rahman concert in Bangalore, held at Palace grounds( in the centre of Bangalore). Not many people attended that concert though, and lucky for me, I was promoted from Rs 600 stand to the Rs 900 one. 3yrs and 2 Oscars later, there was another Rahman concert, this time in Shamshabad, 50kms from Hyderabad, and believe me you had to walk quite a bit. And there was such a huge crowd that the previous concert in Blore seemed like a small village fair.
Now any true Rahman fan will acknowledge that Slumdog Millionaire, though good is not among his best. Jai Ho is no where in the same league as Kehna hi kya, or a Roja or even E ajnabi.. But people who never really appreciated these songs now listen to them and say “wow Rahman is good” . We know that Rahman is good, that he’s awesome.. But what I need to know is why was an Oscar required to make some of us realize that.
I have noticed this quite a few times actually.. the Indian need for western acceptance. The waiters are more polite to the Gore memsaab than the lady with the sari at tourist spots—though this could be due to the extra income in dollars .
This need for acceptance and appreciation from outside stems from the underlying belief that they are better than us and we need to impress them. I think we need to have more pride in ourselves as a nation. I know everybody says they are proud to be Indian esp around mid August and end jan but I feel that is very superficial. The schools play a major role in shaping the future generation and should involve a lot more of our culture, heritage varied as it may be, inculcate more pride about being Indian among the kids. The parents too should play a major role towards this endeavor. Encourage kids to buy more Indian. Why pepsi when you have lime juice or majge? May be not in everything, but where ever we can, we should buy INDIAN when ever we have a choice.
So we become more independent, so that we don’t lose much foreign exchange, So that we don’t need an award from outside to tell us that our Rahman makes magic with music :)
Jai ho JAI HIND!!!