Passions of the Drifting Mind

While Khadi existed even before Mahatma Gandhi made it the symbol of India's freedom struggle, Gandhiji brought it to the masses. It was viewed as a tool that would empower rural India by creating jobs in villages and towns and thus lead to the economic improvement of the hinterlands. But with Khadi being associated with politicians and being a hand-made fabric, it didn't catch my attention for a long time. I had an impression that Khadi industries churn out only politician type clothes and the national flag from their factories. And hence, I never ever peeked at Khadi wear. Although, over time, I realised that only cotton wear suits me, because of the Mumbai climate and my body's cooling mechanism dynamics. But, I always bought cotton shirts and trousers from outlets other than Khadi. Until, one day, a friend of mine showed me his Khadi wear.

I was impressed by the make and the look of it. It was a kurta-payjama set and it appeared very nice and elegant. It was then, that I decided to try out Khadi wear. My friend informed me that Khadi outlets offer 20% discount on their products in the week following Gandhi Jayanti. I rushed to their outlet to take advantage of the sale. The Khadi Gramudyog Bhavan in Fort, Mumbai is a huge outlet. They have the advantage of being in a prime location. And they stock everything that is Khadi or from cottage industries. And there I realised, that Khadi is not only from the politicians, but for GenNext too! They are in touch with the times. Apart from the conventional kurtas, I also saw kurtas that were vibrant in colour. These had a contemporary look to them. And the cloth too was light weight. They did have the older heavier kurtas, for people who still like to wear those. They stocked shirts, ties, sarees, all type of silk wear and cotton wear. Apart from that, they also stocked various other cottage industry products like honey, incense sticks, soaps, herbal preparations, etc. I also realised that the sale is not only for a week but for one whole month!

It was a rare occasion when I shopped liked a shopaholic and bought kurtas for myself, my brother and my father. I've bought something for my mother, but have kept it a secret from her. I will be surprising her with that gift. Kurtas ranging from the traditional styles to modern contemporary styles, they were all there. Ties made from Khadi silk, cotton and silk sarees, shirts and a lot more. If you do not like the ready mades, you have an option of buying the cloth and then getting it stitched as per your style. And they don't cost too much. I got a cotton kurta for around Rs. 220/- after discount! And short kurta for daily wear at around Rs. 120/-. That, I would say, is damn cheap. And the comfort level in these clothes is awesome. You have to trust me on this, because I have been very choosy about what I wear. Some of my shirts are just lying around because I don't feel comfortable wearing them.

This trip to the Khadi Gramudyog Bhavan has converted me into a Khadi fan! I have just begun to love Khadi. And, the best part is that it is completely indigenous wear. We are encouraging small and medium entrepreneurs and also sustaining and creating jobs at village and town levels. That is what is more encouraging, apart from having good quality clothes to wear. Yes, Khadi Gramudyog does have good quality control checks. Now, I've planned a revamp of my wardrobe and have decided to slowly stock it up with Khadi! My swadesi movement has begun here.

"Yes sir, your documentation is now complete. Here is your SIM card. The connection will be activated within 48 hours." The sales person across the counter assures the customer. "Why 48 hours? Why not in the next few hours?" Asks the customer. "Sir, your documents will be handed over to the company, only then can the connection be activated. Government rule, sir," comes the reply. Since the customer is vaguely aware of such a rule, (s)he resigns to the fact, that nothing can be done about that. "But then, are the documents correct? There will not be any problem about that, right?" A concern expressed by the customer. The sales person once again assures, "No sir, there won't be any problem. If anything happens, give me a call, I will take care of it." And the customer walks out of the shop, waiting for those 48 hours to end, so that (s)he can be reconnected to the rest of the world.

A typical conversation with a sales agent in a shop that sells prepaid phone SIM cards. After 48 hours, the connection is duly activated. And the customer is happy talking and sending SMSes to everybody informing them about the new number, new place, etc. Until one week later, when (s)he receives an SMS from the cell phone company to submit the documents at the nearest customer service centre or else face disconnection.

The subscriber frantically calls the customer care number. After getting through the labyrinth of the IVRS, (s)he finally gets to speak to the customer care "executive". This "executive" is actually the one who only executes orders. They are not allowed to think or deliver practical or long term solutions. "I've submitted my documents in the shop from where I bought this SIM card," says the harried and worried customer. "What documents did you submit, sir?" The executive asks in a voice that sounds as "cool" as ice. "I submitted a copy of my _____ as photo id-proof and _____ as my address proof." "Sir, the documents are fine, but they haven't reached us. Can you submit them once again?" asks the executive, as if it is as easy as drinking a glass of water. "How can it happen that the documents haven't reached you?" The subscriber tries not to lose cool. "Sir, many times the shops take documents and do not submit it," the executive. "But then, I was told that my connection would be activated only after the company receives my documents. So, how did you activate my phone, if you hadn't received the documents?" With a rising anger, the customer poses a tricky question. But the "executive" is trained to bluff the customer. "Sir, sometimes the shops get the connection activated through their contacts in the company."

What?? How is that possible? Company employees breaking rules and regulations, not only of the company, but those of the government of India. What the customer care "executive" is also telling, is that the shop that sells pre-paid cards is not submitting the documents to the company. So, what do they do with it? They have my photo-id, phone number and my address. They can easily sell it to some tele-marketing people for a few hundred rupees.

In the meanwhile, the "executive" offers the subscriber a solution. "Sir, why don't you go to our company store and submit your documents there? We will activate the phone immediately after you submit those there." "But then, what about the documents that I have already submitted?" The subscribers anger is slowly increasing. "Sir, they haven't reached us, so you will have to re-submit the documents. It is a government rule, sir." "Yes, but then it is a government rule not to activate phones without verifying documents." The subscriber is justifiably annoyed at the dumb answers of the "executive". "I'll report this to the consumer courts. That you disconnect phones, even after all the documents have been submitted," thunders the customer. "Sir, one moment please. I'll transfer the call to my supervisor, who will try to address your concern."

And after a few moments, the supervisor comes on phone, who has to do nothing but just supervise whether the "executive" below him has given the correct answers. "Correct" as per their manual, not whether answers are actually correct. And this person, who is supposedly in a position above the "executive" and hence empowered with some more decision making powers, replays the same answers that the "executive" had given. With, a sweetener added, "Sir, next time this won't happen again." "Hell", says the customer,"next time I am not going to buy a card from your company." And the poor customer repeats the process of documentation, just for the sake of having the number that was painstakingly conveyed to all the acquaintances.

This is where the failure of these mobile phone companies lies. It cannot ensure a smooth service for its customer from the point its SIM card is bought. Why should the customer be penalised for the sloppiness of the phone-shop? The mobile company has a record of which SIM card was given to which shop. So, can't it warn the shop and bar it from selling its products? The company won't do so because the more number of shops that stock its products, the more will the sales be. One consumer is insignificant in terms of revenue. And since, once the subscriber has a number, (s)he has to stick with it, to avoid all the efforts of updating records everywhere, it is advantage the phone company. And it cannot (and will not) regulate its own employees who illegally activate phone numbers. Since it gets revenue as soon as and as much as a customer uses the phone. And it also cannot answer what happened to the documents that the subscriber had submitted earlier. They have no respect for the sanctity of the data that was handed over to their agent. Their common answer is that they are third party persons, and we have no control over them. How is this possible? You cannot control your own contractors? Then what kind of a company are you running?

All in all, mobile phone companies are more interested in earning revenue, more than providing a good experience to the customer. As they say, caveat emptor! That's the only thing we can do.

Yes, it is the same Cafe that was attacked by terrorists on 26th November 2008. I'd gone to this cafe along with Sushant, just because, long time back I had promised him , that I would accompany him to the place. Accordingly, we managed to achieve that last week. It is a famous landmark in Mumbai and has been in existence since 1871. Cafe Leopold is located on Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, the road that takes you to Navy Nagar. A more convenient description is that it is in the lane behind the Taj Mahal hotel. The restaurant is owned by an Irani, whose name I don't know. And so, like all Irani restaurants, this one too has a feeling of the past to it. All the furniture, light fittings, appliances appear to be out of the old era. But, the atmosphere is homely enough and not like the Udipi run restaurants, where they would be on your head asking you for the next order.

The restaurant has two levels. On the ground floor (the photo of which is shown above) they serve food and only beer. Whereas a full fledged bar is located on the first floor. We were on the ground floor enjoying the beer. They serve various kinds of beer, ranging from draught ones to foreign brands. And, they serve beer in a glass which bears the beer company's label. E.g., a Kingfisher beer, is served in a glass with a Kingfisher label. It is priced reasonably, considering the location of the restaurant. The food, is priced slightly on the higher side. But is compensated by the quantity served. And needless to say, like all Irani hotels, the taste is awesome!

Expect a crowd at any given time, and also expect to see a large number of foreign nationals in the restaurant. You might feel as if you are in a bar on Heathrow airport, where a large of of people of various nationalities converge. On the service side, it is good, but not good enough. The waiter has to attend so many tables and so many orders, that he might get stretched. So, you might find yourself waiting to place your order or waiting for your order to be served. The beer is served chilled, so absolutely no problems about it. And the waiter does give his suggestions to make our experience better. All in all, a wonderful place to be. Not without reason, that Leopold is popular amongst the people of Mumbai.

Nostalgia: An activity that allows us to recollect the events of the past and extract all that was good, enjoyable or peculiar about them. It takes me away from the realities of the present into a world that was simple and enjoyable. Where pressures didn't seem to matter and failure was just another part of life. Where facilities were premium and the efforts taken to access those form part of folk lore today.

It was just yesterday, that I slipped into dreaming about the yester-years, while travelling in the local train. I was lucky to get a comfortable seat, facing the direction of travel. If you sit facing the direction of travel, no matter how packed the local train is, a cool wind always manages to go past you, thus keeping you comfortable. Coming back to the nostalgia part. While I was enjoying the cool breeze caused by a combination of rain and the local's motion, my cell phone began to ring incessantly. It jolted me out from the meanderings of my mind. It was my cousin, who wanted to know where I am. After I answered her call, I started wondering about what all losses has the cell-phone revolution caused?

First and foremost, that came to my mind was the STD/ISD booths. I am not even going back to the days of trunk-calls, because the STD facility killed the need for trunk calls. Thank Sam Pitroda for that. Making an STD call was a group event. I do not remember a single instance, when I've gone to make a call alone. In those days, we used to queue outside the STD booth to make calls at home. The half, one-third and one-fourth rate rules meant that calls would be made and received at unearthly hours. And in small towns, the STD shop would close by 11 PM, meaning we couldn't utilise the one-fourth rate facility. We used to decide a time with parents and then call them up. As a student, I couldn't spend too much at that time. So, calling parents was restricted to once or twice a week. Sunday used to be the day, as it used to be half-rate through the day, with one-third, one-fourth rules applied as usual. There used to be these stuffy phone-booths, in which, there used to be a useless exhaust fan and the basic DTMF telephone. Somewhere in the late 90s and early 2000s, atleast in Pune, there was an experiment with what ever called as "ZIP Phones". These phones, installed in STD booths, had some electronics into them. They had an on-board LCD screen. So, the number and the time would be displayed on a part of the LCD screen. The rest of the screen would display advertisements of various kinds. The advertisements were changed on a frequent basis. Now, STD booths have become a rare sight.

Secondly, the anonymity of our location has gone. Of course, it could scare the parents, especially in case of an emergency, but then there was no way they could force you to change plans. I remember, once I'd gone to the British Library, without informing anybody. And they were all worried when I returned back home, almost two hours after my usual returning time. But, as I mentioned in the opening of this post, today anybody can call us anytime and the chances of lying are low.

Third, it has taken the adventure out of searching addresses. If you get lost, just pick the mobile, call your host, tell the location and get your way to the destination. But it wasn't easy back then. You had to find a PCO phone, then dial the number and get instructions within two minutes. Or talk to irksome shopkeepers or strangers to get the required directions. Or, just deduce the directions on your own.

Of course, cell-phone revolution has brought a sea of change in the communication sphere. Today, even the very remote parts of the country can be reached on phone. As BSNL and Deepika Padukone would like us to believe, "Hindustan bol raha hai!!" But then, along with bringing a lot of good things, it has suppressed a few good things of the past and brought in a few bad things too.

Dear Shri Kapil Sibal Sahab,

Namaskar! From a student who is studying in an IIT. It does not matter which IIT I am in, but it is a matter of concern to see my institute in the news for some very saddening reasons. That the professors are feeling short-changed due to the pay structure announced by the sixth-pay commission and the huge controversy it is snow-balling into, is not good for the institutes' academic health.

Sibal sahab, I do not know whether you have personally interacted with the IIT faculty or any of their representatives over this issue. I am getting to know things only through the newspapers I read. But, the manner in which rules have been framed and announced, defy logic to a large extent. E.g., you said that only 40% of the Professors will be eligible for special grade pay. This, according to you is to increase the quality and to ensure that only those who meet benchmarks are eligible. How are we going to evaluate two different professors who work in different areas? The use of research output as a benchmark is not good, as some research work has a longer gestation time, before it can show results. What is the 40% figure? Is it 40% of the entire faculty of IIT or 40% of the professors in every department? This will at some point boil down to the number of papers published by a faculty or the number of patents filed. But Sibal sahab, this might actually cause a loss in focus of the faculty, as they begin focussing more on papers, rather than quality work.

Another proposal from your ministry (and probably yourself too) is that IITs should start increasing the fees and reduce subsidies. This, would be the proverbial last nail in the coffin. Today, IIT education being affordable attracts a lot of meritorious students, irrespective of their economic backgrounds. At the Masters' and Doctoral level, many of them manage to sustain themselves through their stipends alone. No good institute can function without the generous support of the government. If you go back in history, the best universities of their era, the Takshashila and Patliputra Universities, were supported by the kings and the wealthy of their time. They attracted scholars from all over the world at that time. So, if you force the IITs to increase fees and reduce subsidies, then you might end up restricting their access only to those who can afford IITs not who actually deserve them. Look at Germany. Their entire higher education is sponsored by the federal government. And they have one of the finest research institutes in the world. So, government support is not a lost cause.

Sibal sahab, those who compete for and get through IITs are mostly students of the middle class families. Students of bank clerks, managers, a babu working in your department strive to get through the JEE or GATE exams, so that they can develop themselves by gaining access to the best resources in India. Even the children of the lower middle class aspire to get into an IIT. The rich or super-rich manage to send their children to universities abroad, paying thousands of dollars as fees. This, is simply not possible in India and you know it very well.

Over the years, especially after independence, many universities and colleges have declined in the quality of the work and services that they provide. Many colleges haven't recruited permanent teaching staff for more than 10 years. But, IITs have consistently managed to raise the bar and improve the quality of the output. You cannot allow IITs to go downhill. This has been possible because of a careful selection process that every IIT has for selecting faculty.

Your ministry has also written to the IITs to reduce expenditure on travelling, supplies and library procurements. Already, laboratories are forced to procure sundry stuff, such as glassware, regular chemicals, etc. through the contingency funds of the Ph.D. students. Contingency funds were supposed to help students deal with their research contingencies. Instead, they are forgoing it for sundry supplies. From where else should a laboratory cut corners? A Ph.D. student gets to travel to an international conference only once during his/her tenure as a research scholar. These conferences help a student to network, seek good post-doctoral opportunities and also job offers. They offer a place to dissect research work and see if it can be improved upon. Do you want to cut this down too? The funding, as it is, is not even enough to purchase a return ticket of the economy class for the cheapest flying route. The students have to apply to atleast two-three organisations, before they have sufficient money to travel to the conference and get back to India. Sibal sahab, if you managed to rent out your Luytens' Road residence at market rate, you may manage to fund the travel of atleast five students every year.

Finally, you have said in various interviews that since the government is providing 100% funding, it is the government's right to put in place rules and regulations as it is answerable to the Parliament. Isn't the same true with DRDO? Doesn't the government fund DRDO completely? Isn't the government answerable to the Parliament for the work of the DRDO? Yet, no one seems to be asking DRDO to cut down its expenditure. Nor putting stricter norms in place to maintain the "quality" of DRDO officers and scientists. Almost 30 years have passed, Sibal sahab, since the Arjun tank projected commenced. Yet, the DRDO is not able to meet the Army's specifications. Don't you think that the DRDO should be evaluated in a similar manner that the IITs are? The CAG has several times castigated the DRDO in regard to its way of handling projects. Yet, no one ever put such caps on grade pay in DRDO. Then, why is the restriction being enforced on IIT? If the government is answerable to the Parliament, then why has the ministry issued directions to hire M.Techs. at lecturer position and reserved 10% of the sanctioned positions for lecturers? I heard that this order was subsequently withdrawn, but why was such an order was given in the first place? Do you increase the bar, or bring it down. On one hand you want to ensure quality by restricting grade pay. On the other hand you want Masters' students to take care of teaching students. Are these two activities not conflicting with your goal of nurturing future Nobel Prize winners?

Sibal sahab, no one at IIT is asking for the sky. All people want is to be treated with dignity and a set of processes that allow a researcher to focus on his/her work. Did you ever think of introducing procedures and enforcing them in the various administrative departments of IITs? Do you know, how much time and energy a student loses every year if he/she ever gets into dealing with the administrative staff of IIT? Please try to look into that too. If you are able to improve the functioning of the administration, you will end up providing a much favourable ambience in the institute. Then, you may not even need to look at cutting funds, as they will be utilised efficiently.

I may have argued on the surface and not touched upon things in great detail. But still, I would urge you to re-think on the decisions that you have made, and in future, keep IITs in the news for what they are best known for- education and research.

Thank You,

A student at an IIT

Matunga station on the Central Railway line, has a number of restaurants serving various types of South Indian cuisines. Infact, in Matunga, you should eat only in restaurants that serve South Indian cuisines. They are the ones that have been running ever since Matunga came into existence. And till date, they've been running it in a very nice manner.

A. Ramanayak Udipi restaurant is one such restaurant in Matunga. It is situated right next to the station, on the eastern side, thus giving it a crucial location advantage. The restaurant serves only lunch and dinner, and the cuisine is authentic Udipi cuisine, with a touch of Maharashtrian habits. So popular is the restaurant that on Sundays and holidays, the waiting time at the restaurant exceeds one hour. The food is served on a banana leaf, giving it a traditional outlook. The meal consists of three vegetables (two gravy-based and one dry), curd, butter milk, chapati or puri, sambhar, rasam, papad and most importantly rice. And except for the curd, everything else is unlimited in amount. You can eat as much as you want. The waiters who serve there do not stand on your head pushing you to eat fast. You can eat at your own pace. The waiter serves you whatever you need at your call. Thus, you don't keep staring at an empty plate (or empty banana leaf) before you are served. The food has a distinct coastal flavour. The vegetable preparations are in coconut oil (though they are not too oily) and are not spicy, but neither bland.
The chapatis and puris served are hot and fresh off pan. Never have I been served anything that is off the stove more than 10 minutes ago. After you have filled yourself to the heart with chapatis, you should definitely have sambhar/rasam rice. No South-Indian meal is complete without this. And if you still have space in your stomach, top it up with curd-rice.

The restaurant has been functioning since 1942. They have now opened other sister concerns, for e.g. Idli House on King's Circle. But this restaurant remains their flagship. The service here is prompt, but there is no rush in serving. Neither do they want you to rush through your meal. As of September 2009, this meal costs you Rs. 90/- only. The prices are bound to be revised, considering the changes in the costs of eatables. The only problem is how do you carry yourself home, through the Mumbai local, after such a hearty meal?

The last few weeks had a sad series of events, which went unnoticed in the mayhem of the swine flu scare, the euphoria of the Ganesh Utsav. Faculty from all the IITs resorted to an unprecedented action which, till now, has been attributed only to unionised employees and many government employees only. In order to get a fair deal in terms of pay and career benefits from the Sixth Pay Commission, they first went on a mass casual leave. This was a huge event in itself. Never in the history of IITs have classes been cancelled except under extreme emergencies, like the swine flu scare. In IIT Bombay, classes were running even in the immediate aftermath of 26th July 2005. Such has been the dedication of faculty towards maintaining the teaching schedule.

Considering the wealth of knowledge and understanding of a subject that a IIT faculty has, he/she can get a corporate job easily, which would pay much more than IIT does. But, they have taken it onto themselves to work for the advancement of their field and develop the next generation of engineers, researchers and scientists. They are not those people who couldn't get any other job and hence took the IIT job. While they are not demanding astronomical salaries, like IIM-A faculty, they should be treated with dignity. The Sixth Pay Commission has inflicted huge blows to their career path in terms of growth and monetary compensation, as well as robbed them of their status of "national importance". More details of how the Pay Commission has degraded the IIT faculty's position can be found here.

The Ministry of HRD is on a path that would lead to sequential erosion of quality of faculty at IIT. Suddenly, out of the blue, they have accepted a report which states that Assistant Professors should have a work experience of atleast 3 years, which does not include the experience gained during their Ph.D. Now, how many would want to join IIT after 3 years of working elsewhere? If that was not enough, IITs have been asked to hire people with Masters' degree at Lecturer positions. IITs have long ago scrapped the Lecturer position and have hired only Ph.D. holders directly at Assistant Professor level. Instead of raising the bar to improve quality, why is the government hell bent on lowering it? In a knee-jerk reaction, it has already ordered to increase the number of students (through reservations), without caring to improve the infrastructure in the IITs. Even the basic facilities like hostel and messes are already overloaded due to lack of construction of new ones.

The government's continuous negligence of this matter forced the IIT staff to go on a one-day fast, that too on Teacher's Day! What appalled me is that this is the same government and Parliament which passed an enormous increase in the salaries and facilities of its MPs in a jiffy. But is reluctant to give the IIT professors their due. The previous Speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterejee had correctly mentioned that it is not correct for MPs to appraise themselves about their salaries. Is this the way we treat our teachers? And that too, in the country's advanced and coveted places of learning and development. IITs have been one of the most impartial institutes when it comes to admitting and grading students. That is the reason for their ability to produce technology greats who have proved their talent not only in India, but around the world too! If this is the way IIT teachers are treated, I shudder to think of the treatment meted out to primary and secondary school teachers.

People ask what have the IITs done for the nation, so that the government should extend and continue its largesse towards them. Well, there can be counter questions to this. What has the DRDO done till date, that the government should continue supporting it? For the past 25 years, they couldn't build an effective tank. Time and again, their tank has been rejected by the army. None of DRDO's projects have been completed without a huge time and cost overrun. So, is the case with the GTRE. They haven't been able to develop the engine for the LCA since the inception of the LCA project. Same with BARC and AERB. Where are those fast breeder reactors that use thorium and could free India from dependence on foreign technology? Nobody asks the effectiveness of these organisations. But still, the government has increased the grade of scientists in these organisations as compared to IIT professors. The only successful organisation that comes to my mind is the ISRO, which has fulfilled India's programme of space technology.

When will this country give the teachers their due? They are the true builders of society. When our parents are at their work place or mothers take care of our homes, these teachers are the ones who develop and blend our personalities. They are the ones who can ignite our interests in various subjects. They have the greatest impact on the development of our thought process. A teacher with highest regard for ethics and greatest interest in teaching is an asset which needs to be nurtured with care, so that he/she can positively influence the lives of generations to come. Why did the situation come to such a level where IIT teachers had to protest? Even before that, there were protests by college teachers in Maharashtra, demanding implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission for them too. Why can't they get their dues, without having to resort to such protests?

We always recite the prayer