Here is a nice picture of sun playing in the Munnar hills. Worth watching –

Feel free to use this picture anywhere you wish or ask for the hi-res if you need. A credit will be appreciated.

On my recent trip to Munnar (South India), I had the fortune to see the bloom of Neel Kurinji (blue-kurinji). It is a shrub like plant which blooms with a blue flower once in twelve years! If you want to experience the same, you will have to visit Munnar in 2018.

Some photographs for you -

A neel kurinji shrub

Kurinji field

Enjoy the pictures. Feel free to use them (and give me credit for the same!)

Dear Friends,

I got this email today in my mailbox. The mail says that this is a speech from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India. I am not sure about the source, but the message is definitely thought provoking. I think it is something every Indian should read at least once and think about "Our role in building a developed India".

Here is the message

===================================

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements  but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper.

It was the   day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a   Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary.   It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among   other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India.  For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
 
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name – YOURS. Give him a face – YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.  8 50) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.'

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own.

You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs  walk on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do?

Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse?  'It's the  whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

 What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to  England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalaam

=======================================

Entrepreneurship knows no barriers!

Last year while searching for an office in Annanagar area of Chennai, I came across an entrepreneur who is remarkably different and inspiring. He reaffirmed my belief that entrepreneurship does not need boardrooms, stylish presentations and big venture capitalist to become successful.

I met this guy who runs an auto (three-wheeler taxi). He has put up "clear and consistent" advertising inside his auto and in the Annanagar area that he can arrange for rented premises. When he receive a call he is quick to react. He behaves in a very courteous manner and show you properties which exactly match you specification.

To add to this, one do not need to spend a penny on transportation as he will take you around free of cost in his three-wheeler to show selected properties.

I took some photographs of this person who found out how he can improve his own life and of others (people he serve) including his employee (Oh yes! I saw that he also employ a person now). He deserves to earn many times more than most three-wheeler taxis, because he has improvised.

Note: The guy sitting inside the auto is the boss! The bald guy is his agent / employee!

Few lessons that we can learn from him:

1. He primarily operate within a geographical limit. Thus he can get first-hand information on the properties vacant and possible tenants in that area.

2. He has used cross-selling on steroids. A person sitting in this three-wheeler gets a ride and pays for. If he is interested in renting out his property or taking a property on rent, he will immediately get contacts without any additional expense.

3. He knows what his customer exactly wants. He was right on target. I thin the reason was – He listened.

My best wishes to this gentleman and I hope to see him doing better everyday!

There has been a lot of talk over the BIG IT talent pool in India. Every bureaucrat and market research agency in the country shows towering numbers of colleges and students that they produce.

But the burning question is – Is this talent employable?

The biggest challenge Indian IT industry faces today is the ever-growing gap between graduating engineers and employable graduates. If not checked in time, it might result in a lost opportunity for India Inc. as opportunities will not wait and move towards economies who provide more employable talent at the best ROI.

The main reasons for this gap are:

• Low motivation for top experts to take up teaching as a profession.
• Outdated syllabus, course curriculum, infrastructure, teaching methodologies and content!
• Little or no emphasis in making people "life long learners", primarily because education is spoon fed in most institutions.
• Priviledge to "best education" has been made available to selected class.
• Poor use of technology to spread education to rural areas

There is a lot to rant about the negatives, which we all do. I never liked the way education is imparted in our country and always wanted to grab the first opportunity to change the same.

I am taking a humble step towards my dream project by launching Indus Net Academy in the third week of June 2007. I have coined the slogan as "New Age Education", which is timeless and conveys the feeling behind the project. The initial academic setup will be in a small area of 1000 sq feet, which will be extended as we mature and generate more demand.

Indus Net Academy has been housed in SDF Building, Sector V, Salt Lake, Kolkata for the following reasons:

• Close to the industry!
• Easy availability of successful professionals who might like to share their experience and knowledge.
• Ease of management, since Indus Net Technologies is also located on 4th and 5th floor of the same building.

The purpose of Indus Net Acaemy can be summerised as follows:

• Create employable talent
• Continued education for working professionals
• Accumulation & distribution of knowledge
• Rural education

(From now onwards the team behind Indus Net Acaemy is being termed as "We" instead of "I" since many key members of Indus Net Technologies thinks about the academy the same way that I do and are working tirelessly to make it a success.

Initially, Indus Net Academy will start with career oriented professionally taught courses on:- Web Design, Web Development & Internet Marketing. The course will be taught by experts who are practising these subjects at Indus Net Technologies and serving clients from all over the world. Teaching methodology will be a mix of classroom based core concept delivery, self paced study, research and discussion on important ideas, lab sessions and practical tips from practitioners of "how things are done in real life".

We are further backing up the courses taught in Indus Net Academy with guaranteed jobs by joining hands with companies who need the "industry-ready talent".

Since we have in-house professional talent available in Indus Net Technologies, we chose to start with subjects related to Internet industry. As we move ahead, we expect professionals from different walks of life to be a part of this movement and make a difference – to make the "new age education" dream a reality!

Will keep you posted. Looking forward to a bright future…

Keep an eye on http://www.indusnetacademy.com/

My relationship with the Provident Fund Office dates back to 2004, when I went ahead to get my company and employees registered under the Employee Provident Fund Scheme in order to get them the much desired social security.

But what I saw there, shattered my faith in the department. Rampant corruption, mismanaged departments, pathetic work culture and carelessly kept documents formed the common view. I decided that I must post some pictures of this department at some point of time. On a recent visit, I took some pictures using my mobile camera for you to enjoy –

Do you really think they can help someone with pension and/or timely resolution of issues this way?  

It is funny to see how politicians change their fundamental political beliefs to get political mileage.

In 1970-80, the Community Party of India and their allies ruled the state of West Bengal with a strong leftist policy. Strikes were a common scene and industrialists were considered to be aliens and leeches! This was enough to result in an exodus of industrial houses and businesses from the state. 

In 1991, Indian National Congress brought opened up Indian market to the world. The signal was clear. It was the end of license raj and begining of a new era of rapid industrialization for India.

This all looks so "normal".

However the Singur issue (the small car factory of TATA Motors) shows something totally different! It looks like there are no guiding philosophy for these political parties. It keeps changing with the situation. Shall we call it "opportunity based principles"?

They have swapped their stands. they have swapped their idealogies.

We can see the ruling Communist Party of India working hard to get investments and industries to the state for overall economic growth. It is a welcome change. It seems (and if I remember, also quoted by our Chief Minister – Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya) that they are inspired by China, which has successfully embraced industrialization and has taken the middle path between communisim and capitalism, which seems to be working quite nicely.

However the opposition party – Trinamool Congress is stands against it! The same guys who stood for economic growth and reforms just fifteen years back. And see at the way they are putting up the protest – four forced strikes in one month. This is crazy. I fail to understand how will these strikes support their cause.

To me, it would have been more sensible that they should have demanded more transparency in the process and make sure that everyone gets proper compensation for their land that has been taken up for the factory. They should have negotiated about a solid rehabiliation program.

But what we saw was a sheer misuse of power and trust. The residents of Singur were misguided, the issue was given a sensitive turn and unreasonable demands were put up.

It seems that the issue was simply hyped up and used for political mileage. It is unfortunate that most political parties (in fact all of them) today equates "opposition party" as "a party which should oppose each and everything that the ruling party does". I really hope this definition changes soon to turn India into a powerful democracy.

 

A lot has been talked about call center outsourcing.

We have heard and seen how it is changing the lifestyle statement for the young Indians who are now earning a handsome salary and (many of them) living a bohemian lifestyle!

On the other hand there have been voices against it for reasons ranging from cultural differences, inappropriate implementation and job losses.

It is nothing less than a "boom", similar to that we have seen in the dot-com era. And yes, a "bust" is inevitable. I am not drawing an analogy between sunrise-sunset and boom-bust. But, the reason is more deep rooted.

The model of call center outsourcing needs unprecedented changes in socio cultural changes which cannot take place at a pace businesses expect. This is a fact – even if it brings a sigh of relief or sounds very depressing.

Let us consider the situation at both the ends:-

Hundreds of companies from USA and Europe are outsourcing inbound and outbound call center operations to operators in India. Most of these operators hire young graduates (and sometimes even undergraduates) at attractive pay scale and train them. They are trained in western culture, accent and lifestyle (by showing them TV serials).

Let us see their priorities in brief:-

• Money (live life king size)
• Entertainment
• Friends
• Career!

Yes, the last one was "career". I have spoken to many call center executives and very few of them consider the current job to be their goal. They understand that their current job does not have enough scope to add value and they need to move up the value chain to make an alternate successful career.

They care about the satisfaction of the person at the other end of the phone line because their job depends on that. It is not a passion! Besides in many cases, even if they want to solve a problem or answer a question, they are unable to do so, since they do not know what should be their reaction in the given situation. The cultural difference is clearly visible when they communicate with the person at the other end.

Now, let us examine what happens at the other end -

A normal call center employee in USA/ Europe will be middle-aged (around 35 or so). He is a graduate (even if he is not a graduate, he is knowledgeable about the subject or have received enough training) and working in a call center for a career. His priorities in life are very different -

• Family
• Career (A stable, safe job)
• Money (House, Car, Mortgage, if any)
• A decent lifestyle

So the priorities are very different here. Therefore the attitude towards work has to be different and much more serious.

This clearly makes a cause of better quality call handling by a person who is from the same cultural background (as much as possible).

So what are we going to see in days to come? 

1. Call center outsourcing will go down over the next decade. It may not dip immediately, because the problems are not surfacing and even if it is surfacing the cost difference is making the manager turn a blind eye towards the same.

This cost difference will thin down as the Indian economy picks up and per capita spending increases, resulting in further surge of salaries.

2. Call center outsourcing will be selective! People will realize that only "certain type" of communications can be outsourced and managed.

3. Several call centers will find it impossible to meet up to the quality expectation of their clients and may go out of business.

4. Selected call centers will retain their hold by focusing on those selective areas which are feasible for outsourcing. They will have excellent quality process in place and will offer call center jobs as a definite career option. We might even see hiring of middle aged professionals in call centers at that time to bring in further stability.

This consolidation is inevitable. It has happened in the "medical transcription" industry and the generic call centers seem to follow the same route in long run.

5. US/European countries may bring up a special "Do not call" list for people who do not want to be called by overseas call centers to stop the menace of unwanted sales calls. We may even see a blanket ban on outbound call center (making sales call)!

6. Company owned call centers will continue to operate in selective areas.

Conclusion 

We know that the bubble will burst. It is just a matter of time. And I really hope that this time it does not take the industry in the state of despair that the dot-com bust did. It is unlikely because now we have much more business than staring at the hoardings with some silly dot-com imprinted on it.

Disclaimer

My comments and analysis of the industry, people profile and their goals are a generalist view I have gathered during my interaction with several people. They are entirely based on my experience and I totally understand that they may be incorrect or wrong or may not apply to a certain segment of people.

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On July 15th, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) had sent ISPs a list of sites to be blocked. R H Sharma, senior engineer with MTNL, said that the list of sites ran into some 22 pages. – A blog at Rediff India

This directive led to blocking of several sites including hundreds of blogs. This was an unpredecent ban on online media in recent times. I have been following the entire event closely and here is a quick summary of the events and the current situation:

Which sites were banned?

The list is quite long if we go by the statement of R H Sharma of MTNL. However I have been able to lay my hand of this partial list:

http://censorship.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Sites_Banned

Here is a scan:-

The worst part was that this mass media censorship was done wrong. They ended up banning the entire domain which includes thousands of blogs. How come all blogs be banned if some blogs within these sites were not appropriate.

ISPs were lazy and they found that it is easiest to block the second level domain instead of typing few extra URLs and banning individual blogs! May be they have not heard about Blogspot or Typepad!

Listen to a podcast interview of spokesperson from Sify, a leading ISP of India.

An excellent post about Censorship Done Wrong is worth reading, which highlights how a normal censorship procedure which was hardly ever felt by internet users of India got blown out of proportion. Blocking genuine sites and blogs have got DoT their share of trouble in form of flames and rants of thousands of internet users (mainly bloggers) and the matter is even going to court in form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

Isn't India a democracy with "freedom of speech"?

Indeed. And this is the reason why I am shocked over this ban. Since freedom in 1947, Indian nationals have enjoyed an environment of free speech. There have been few exceptions, but the current young generation have never faced such censorship.

It has been very nicely summed by by Mr. M Raj at BloggersCollective -

"As part of a generation that has NOT experienced first-hand censorship of the mass media (the last time this happened was during Emergency in 1975) this 'blogger block' has come as a deep shock to all of us. Living in India prepares you for some of the toughest realities that LIFE could throw your way but freedom to say what you want has been largely a sacred cow, especially since the trauma of Emergency." – Mr. M Raj at BloggersCollective

Over past six years, DoT has blocked more than 100 websites. Generally sites are blocked when they are anti-national, illegal or adult in nature.

However this is for the first time that such a large number of websites have been blocked in one go. And besides this, it was done wrong making matters worse.

Is this censorship lawful under The Indian Constitution?

Inspired by the ISPs, I also showed some laziness and borrowed the legal research done by Rediff.

Under the Information Technology Act, 2000, a body called the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-IN, was created along the lines of similar authorities the world over. Although its main task is in the domain of Internet security, it also oversees Internet censorship under a clause that seeks to ensure 'balanced flow of information.' Any government department seeking a block on any web site has to approach CERT-IN, which then instructs the DoT to block the site after confirming the authenticity of the complaint.

Web sites can be blocked if they contain pornography, speeches of hate, contempt, slander or defamation, or if they promote gambling, racism, violence or terrorism.

"Such sites may be blocked within the provision of the Fundamental Rights to free speech and expression, granted in India's Constitution," said cyber-law expert Praveen Dalal, adding, "If, however, the blocking is arbitrary, unreasonable and unfair, it would be in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India."

Read the full Rediff.com story.

Therefore it needs to be analyzed, if banning so many sites in one go was well thought out and planned after reviewing the content closely OR was it a ad-hoc decision to simply divert attention from the failures of the Mumbai Serial Blasts!

How are people reacting to this ban?

There is an outrage among bloggers, who is the most vocal supporters of freedom of speech. However the general mood of people is against this censorship as people see this as censorship of mass media, which has its own drastic implications.

Some reactions can be read here:

• BloggersCollective Rant Thread
• DesiPundit's Collection of Reactions
• Reactions at SiliconBeat

Some people believe that the government has taken a well planned step in favor of national security (excerpt from SiliconBeat thread):

Mihir and Bala,
This is not a knee jerk reaction, this is being done to track the SIMI (Islamic fundamentalist in India) blog community hiding inside sophisticated blog community. Read more on this in http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/

It has noting todo with free speech and politics.
SK on July 18, 2006 08:10 AM

What are people doing about it?
Apart from the most evident rant and verbal protest, a Public Interest Litigation has been filed (no concrete confirmation has been received yet)

People have protested to ISPs and it seems things are moving in a positive direction with ISPs understanding their lazy blunder and removing "full domain" censorship and retaining censorship to specified areas of the censored websites.

BloggersCollective group has been formed and lots of active bloggers are joining the group. See the growing list of members.

Want to know how to bypass the ban and see if the sites really deserves to be banned?

You can simply use any proxy service which is hosted outside India. The one I use very often is http://www.the-cloak.com/

There are tons of reseources which tells you how to by-pass the ban and read on! They are listed on http://censorship.wikia.com/wiki/Bypassing_The_Ban

So whats going to happen next?

A lot happened over last few days. With ISPs correcting their mistake, a lot of sites are already showing up. Again many ISPs have not followed the DoT directive in full.

The latest status of the censorship can be seen here.

The DoT & Government of India should come ahead to clarify the situation and put an end to an unwanted controversy which is taking up quite some time of the intellectual mass of India. And yes, they should not forget to mention that the subject got blown up due to laziness of ISPs.

Lets hope for an early end to this controversy.

Abhishek