dheera's blogspot

In Which direction should Cauvery flow ?

2011-03-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

ಇದೊ೦ದು ಪೂರ್ವಗ್ರಹ ಪೀಡಿತ ಪ್ರಬ೦ಧ/ಪ್ರಲಾಪ/ಬೊಗಳೆ(This is a biased personal perspective of an essay/rambling/blog). All persons named in this blog are real and there names have not been modifed.

This is not really a blog on river cauvery. River Cauvery is an euphemism for Kannada in this case. Recently a good old friend of mine blogged on Mr. Narayan Murthy's (of Infosys fame) take in the World Kannada conference. A link to his blog is below. For the benefit of people who cannot read Kannada, Ananda's point is "Mr. Narayan Murthy implies that Kannada is just an emotive language of his and not a practical language for professionals. By saying so, he is pre-empting and cutting away much needed Oxygen/encouragement for the development of Kannada as a language, medium of instruction for all kannadigas need to be in kannada, even professional training has to be in kannada". I'm just para-phrasing Ananda's essay. and from the "I like it" comments on FB and per my gut feel, many like minded "kannadigas" endorse Ananda's stand. Mr. Narayan Murthy it appears you have annoyed a lots of kannadigas. Also, some of the comments are centered around if Tamilians can (Tamil medium professional courses), why cannot kannadigas also do it.

I, am currently on a short US business trip, pretty much jobless during the evenings, I did stir up a hornet's nest by making some comments on Anand's post on Facebook - "Multi-linguism is good, good to mitigate dementia/Alzehimers, so why not teach our children Kannada + one more language to make them globally more marketable". I do concede that my remark was quite tangential - his post is about medium of instruction in kannada, my 'diversionary' comment is about making children multi-lingual.

Many a subtle points have been given and taken (including a few threats) on my provacative posturing. This blog is to provocate even a few more and pick up the cudgels....

I'd like to start with a few people I know about. Not your typical Ivy school types but more like

Shanti's son Bhoopala. Shanti is the maid who works in my house. More than a maid, I should say she is our domestic home manager. She manages all vegetable purchases, maintenance, laundry, cooking the whole works. Bhoopala's mother tongue is Tamil/Telgu mix. He went to School in Kannada medium. Struggled to pass SSLC. He passed finally - after some petty jobs, he got hired by Domino's. He does Pizza deliveries and he can cook a great pizza and has accounting, customer interfacing skills in multiple languages including Kannada, Telgu, Tamil and English (Job acquired skills not schooled).

Murali, a car driver, his children. Murali owns a car - he has rented it out in Hyderabad but stays in Bangalore and works as a driver. He is in Bangalore for only one reason, to get his children educated. They go to CBSE school. Guess the medium of instruction ..

My Father-in-law has a good farmer friend by name Krishnappa in Chikka Tirupathi. He has a daughter who did Engineering. She is now hired in one of the prominent software firms as associate software engineer.

These are our typical grass root citizens of our country. Parents spend their hard earned money on their Children's education. The last one is a stunning success story. Guess what, she graduated from her Kannada medium village school - PUC and later, she went to an English medium Engg college. If a Kannada medium Engineering college existed, and she got admission to both Kannada/English colleges, where do you think would she have gone ? If she had gone to the imaginary Kannada engineering college, would IBM/Cognizant hire her? What were job/earning opportunities? Now she is a role model for the girls of her entire village and I'm quite sure she will inspire quite a few around her.

In the second case, Murali is making a big adjustment leaving his native of Andhra and coming to work in Bangalore for one reason only. Good education ! I hope his children succeed and become yet another set of role models and inspiration for the working class.

In the first case, I think Bhoopala had a tough time with Kannada medium. My wife tried to teach him a few things - but the poor chap had very strong comprehension issues. Trying to stuff kannada grammar, science and social studies was like ನೀರೇ ಇಳಿಯದ ಗ೦ಟಲೊಳ್....

One of the common problems we have in our education system is theoritical training by rote. Bhoopala is not a dumb guy. He is smart in his own way and ambitious as well. He is handy with tools, but the education system with a medium of instruction he had was really tough on him.

In Bhoopala's case, Kannada being a medium of instruction is not applicable (as it is not his mother tongue). In the later two cases, even though Kannada was their mother tongue, they did not want it. So, medium-of-instruction-kannada-only supporters, what is your take on indivdual/personal choices. Should we eliminate personal choice and force all people have to go back where there mother tongue schooling is available and make them stay there until education is complete?

My point is what Mr. Narayan Murthy meant - more bluntly though- there is diminished demand on Kannada medium education due to sheer economics in a global-flat world. The chances of a English medium educated child succeeding in life is much higher - because the zone of opportunity simply expands exponentially. In my earlier opinion, I was not suggesting learning different language as 2nd language, 3rd language or just another topic. I was suggesting learning English/Spanish/Chinese as the main operating language. I was suggesting learning German so that a person can go after the best Automobile engineering opportunity in Munich. I was suggesting learning Japanese (graduate/post-graduate/research), if the best innovation in electronics is happening in Japan and that is your thing.

Let us go back to our own past - my Marimallappa friends... Why did our own parents admit us to Section B of the school and not the Kannada medium A section? Because they wished well for their children (us). They had come up with so much hardship in the just "British Raj" liberated but "license Raj" dominated India. They saw IAS officers, doctors & Engineers succeeding and having a comfortable life. They aspired us to have a much better life than theirs and pulled influence, savings, sacrificing on their life styles to get us admitted in the No. 1 Ranking school in Mysore, English Medium !

In our batch, because of "Gokak varadi" implementation, we had no choice but go for 1st language kannada, 3rd language Sanskrit. Our previous batch, next batches all had Sanskrit as 1st language. Sanskrit was preferred and offered because it was a "scoring" language.

But the funny thing is, though I came from Avila Convent in my Primary school, all in English medium, my friends were always "kannada" guys.. The games I relished to play were lagori, goli, chinni dandu and Cricket. If I recall my Primary school, there were severe fines for talking in Kannada except in Kannada class. If I remember correctly, I used to think Kannada and talk English.. When I went to MMHS, it was really a big relief.. Some Marimallappans are going to get a big kick on the anecdotal quotes below:

"Geo means Earth-u. Graphy andare picture-u. Geography andare Earth picture-u"

"Amoeba yenu madutappa andare pseudo-podia antha dehada bagana hAge chaChuthe..."

"Nodri Atom is the smallest particle kanri. adu kange kanodilla ashtu sannadu kanri"

Well, I was in English medium, MMHS and I loved the medium of instruction. There were some excellent teachers. Some of them are retired now, some have passed away - bless their souls. I'm not being satirical here. This is how they had to teach us, for most of us to get the concepts !! Forget the Rotarians, forget the Avilans - there were other smart kids from Marimallappa Primary (Kannada medium) too. To make them understand, this is what they had to do. Victorian English wouldn't cut the cake. The English medium taught kids (yours truly) got it /understood it anyways.... This was again demand based market. In Mysore, if you wanted good education, you went to MMHS. My father put me in MMHS, despite he himself being a teacher in St. Philomena's. So, though on paper, we were all English medium, our medium of instruction was truly Kanglish.

So what has this got to do with the river ? There is a simple law of physics which determines the flow of a river. It always takes the least path of resistance, basic gravitational law determines that it flows from a high point to a low point eventually joining the sea - not necessarily a straight line. Same way, irrespective of which language you speak in your home, your parents did it, if you don't do, your wife will do it or your extended family will influence you - to get the best possible education possible for your children (best scoring, best professionally viable, currently proven success) -Irrespective of the instruction of medium.

So there, I do concede a point: It does not mean Kannada medium education is impossible professionally. Unless the goal is to become the best of the breed, a global-brand, for example, Tech Univ in Munich, Germany or Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan; the intellectual ROI (return on Investment) is going to be less. If only we had a mechanism to start (with enough sustained public/private participation) a kannada based institute which eventually gets recognized as a institute of excellence - Mr. Narayan Murthy could have been proven wrong. Since one does not exist, and there have been no attempts by the "education lobby" to do so (honey, there is no money), Mr. Narayan Murthy's stand is vindicated. About Tamil medium engineering courses in TN, it is quite an interesting experiment (we can conduct the same experiment in Kannada as well if there is money to burn) - only time will tell if it is truly "Tamil medium", and if so, what degree of success.

Digression ! digression!! what is the definition of kannadiga ? I'll mention a few known/un-known personalities. Please evaluate if they are kannadigas or not. What is their mother tongue, your thought of medium of instruction for their children/wards.. (prospective progeny, if they do not have already), in primary, high school and degree. Just a mental exercise.

Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham types.

Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekeni, Indra Nooyi, Azim Premji types.

Yeddy, Reddy, Gowda types.

Sardarji in Hanumanthnagar 50 ft road who sells fabric and can talk with you fluently in Kannada.

Girish Karnad, U.R. Ananthmurthy and their progeny.

Shanti the House Manager, Murali the Driver, Krishnappa the farmer from earlier and many such.

Iyengar kannadiga, shetru, Sankethi-smartha.

kannadigas settled in Tamilnadu, Andhra and all over India due to work, old roots.

Pardesi guys who have come back to Bangalore and try to give you pseudo-intellectual gyan (guess who falls in this category).

I have a few more topics itching to talk about but this blog is getting a bit too long... Some undiscussed random topics for me to ponder (some serious, some silly):

Are we getting more and more narcissistic by the day, declaring ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗನೇ ಸಾರ್ವಭೌಮ (Kannadiga is the king/emperor/superior in Karnataka). I had seen an even more disturbing plaque in Gandhi Bazar near Dr. Rajkumar statue, etched in stone. I'll confirm it when I'm in Bangalore before quoting it. I believe we should be humans first, Indians next, Kannadiga after that. Plaque suggests something else.

When we say "Save Kannada", what are we talking about ? Is it Kannada art (music/movie/drama)? literature (language/script/books)? kannadiga culture? economic clout of kannadiga population ? Agreed - they are all related, guess they are different tributaries of the same river but running their own course, own speed.

Should Sonu Nigam and Shreya Goshal sing kannada songs in movies at all? Mano-murthy and Sonu in Mungaru Male, man that is magic !

Generally Tamil invokes a general negative response - There are some historical reasons. But shouldn't we move on?. Why especially compete with Tamilians?

ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ. ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರ ?, ಏನಮ್ಮ ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀಯ, ಏನ್ ಮಗ ಹೇಗಿದಿ ? Is that all kannada and we accept it with the flow as a natural progress/adaptation/colloquialism or should somebody control it?

Am I a kannidiga, do I need certification from someone?

In which direction should Cauvery flow and where should it stop ?

P.S: I tried typing in Kannada the whole article - it is too tough with so many accidental deletes/re-types. Anand - good job on your blog, don't know how you do it - but excellent literary library of kannada short works. Also, my grammar, punctuation in kannada has all gone for a toss - years of disuse of written skills. Please keep the posts coming and I enjoy reading them even if I do not necessarily agree with all. Rest of you friends - Debate - but Peace !!

Ananda's Kannada Blog

New beginnings - a few flickers of hope

2010-12-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

On one hand, the headlines scream about one scam after the other be it 2G, CWG, or one everyday land scam at every possible scale, from village to big-city ones. There seems to be a mad rush amongst the powers to be, to make the most in the shortest possible time, starting from grass root levels to the high seats of democratic powers. Or should one say gross loot levels are at the all time high? With the rich getting richer, the powerful getting more power and poor getting poorer?

On the other hand, there are many citizens/netizens doing great things quietly. Putting their hard earned, post-tax paid money into myraid of small projects benefiting numerous nameless boys/girls/homes. These don't find much mention in any magazines/news papers. For one, the ones doing it aren't doing it for fame. Covering them in news/media isn't going to increase any TRP rating so it simply isn't news-worthy. Common man also doesn't care - well afterall, he has more to worry about rising onion/petrol prices rather than some altruism in some remote corner of the country.

Assuming you are like me, I normally give it a mouthful to the bureacracy, the politicracy. It is quite simple you see, I can find exactly what is wrong with the system and who is to be blamed. Did you say I could do something about it ? Come on! you are kidding me right ? How can I, one lone man do anything with the big bad system which we inherited from those Bloody Britishers. The whole system sucks - I can't do much. Even If I wanted do something, I'm quite buried through my ears paying my monthly EMIs, upgrading/investing for my 4 wheeler and just keeping up with inflation. I pay taxes and able to sustain my life with my family - that itself is a miracle.

This blog is not much about what I or you are doing. It is about some of those not-so-known ones, who are already doing good things. These are faint flickers of light visible in the dark gloom of rampant corruption, greed for power, bureaucratic quagmires - if you are looking.

Sahasra deepika is an organization in the outskirts of Bangalore on Bannerghatta road. Dr. T. V. Ramakrishna and his wife Vijaya started this initiative about 12 years back. This is no orphanage. Sahasra deepika has an ambitious goal of adopting abandoned/helpless toddlers and give same level of primary education as your children and mine can get. The organization is privately funded (no Govt. largesses). Read about Sahasra deepika on the link provided.

There are several other such initiatives like Parikrama
and SOS children village at local to global levels which are striving to provide level playing ground for the under-privileged children. Most of these programs are holistic in the sense, they take into account limitations with parents of such children. These are not mere start-ups but have a built-in sustenance/scalability strategy.

Now a days, Almost everyone has the awareness that education is important. Even house maids and masons try to get their children into schools and try get the best possible, budget permitting education for their wards. But after primary education, then what ?

We have numerous educational institutes for graduation. However, are they producing an output which is really employable, entrepreneurial? Do we still have antiquated systems of training (be it professional/academic) or do we have systems in place to train and develop the next generation of professionals?

I Recently visited an old friend of mine, R. Harinath who after years of corporate life is now part of Karmic and Pranjal along with Dr. S. S. Mahant Shetti. Both institutes are running in a village called Nesargi, 35 Km from Belgaum. The approach taken at these institutes is radically different from what we know as professional training. Almost all students are from rural background within 200 km radius (as far as Bagalkot). Parents of these students are typically farmers (not the rich Sugar cane cultivating types). These SSLC pass students are being trained with topics like analog electronics, VLSI design, rural engineering(power, tools, techniques), mechanics in addition to science, mathematics, philosophy. Of course, general life skills with communication, professional English is part of the curriculum. There are no exams, certification, grading or ranking. The 3 year program will be producing its first batch of graduates in the next year (2011). All the students (around 60 of them in three batches), with around 60%-40% breakup (boys and girls) are resident students. In addition to education, lodging and food costs, each student gets a stipend of 500 Rupees per month to take care of other logistics (medicine for parents, travel cost etc.). I definitely hope Mahant Shetti and Harinath's model serves as a fantastic template to empower the under-privileged, especially in the rural setup.

	See more about Karmic/Pranjal in the accompanying photo blog
Nesargi - Karmic - Pranjal

Also heartning is the approach taken by MNC eateries like Domino Pizza, McDonald, Pizza Hut in urban centers. My house-maid's son is barely SSLC pass. Being the son of parents who migrated from TN - AP border, he had major challenges clearing the 10th grade due to medium of instruction (Kannada) and general comprehension issues. He was working in a TV repair shop for 1500 rupees per month. He was interviewed/trained and hired by Domino's a few months back. In his early twenties, he now earns good enough money (around 6 K) per month, he can now do simple accounting, have good communication skills to converse with customers in multiple languages and can cook delicious pizzas !!

Another friend of mine Kiran H R, took the initiative to start a local 'giving circle' as part of GiveIndia. A few acquaintences of Kiran took part in listening to presentations from NGOs who were in need of funding. The group (of sponsors) rated the NGOs in terms of their needs, the best ROI (in term of vision, goals, practicality), the funds the group can produce and picked an NGO's initiative to fund for the next year or so. If you are the type of professional who is not just interested in donation but need accountability, metrics, progress/status reports in terms of how your 'investment' is doing, GiveIndia should provide you a way.

All in all, these days, there are quite a few flickers of hope. Rather sit on the sidelines and grumble about the game there is a chance for you and me to be a player. You and me being products of Socialism (subsidized learning, sometime in your education ) and beneficiaries of capitalism (reasonably well paying corporate jobs) now have a chance to play benefactors rather than victims of the system.

Padmanabhanagar Prathinidhi Prashnothara

2010-03-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

The event is over ! Wasn't very sure even if 50 people would turn up. Turns out there were close to 300. Many of them were probably supportes of their political wards. Still, I'd assume there were 250 genuine citizens with concerns.

Background : Padmanabhanagar senior citizen forum and Deccan International School Parents' association (DIPA) jointly hosted a Q & A session with all candidates contesting the 2010 BBMP corporation elections. This event was meant to bring like minded residents of Padmanabhanagar together for a constructive dialog before the elections.

After the customory invocation, welcome speech, lighting of the lamp, the citizen manifesto was presented to all candidates :

A Manifesto for Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore
2010 BBMP Elections

Parks and recreation spaces for children and Elders.
Footpaths and Traffic signals to help pedestrians as well as Vehicle riders.
Big infrastructure projects in consultation with local professionals and local consensus.
Make Padmanabhanagar Clean and Green.
Public and Private programs for Rain Water Harvesting and Ground water re-charge.
Infrastructure projects – First Consult, then Plan, and execute – ON TIME.
Periodic City Town Hall Meetings. With Citizen & Official participation. First hear and then solve grieviences.
Enforce BBMP City codes/rules – Banners, cut-outs, Advertisements, Public functions. One rule for all – Citizens, ruling/opposing politicial parties, religious outfits.

Date: March 21, 2010

Overall, I think it was quite a decent coversation with quite a few spirited 'oldies' and few green 'newbies'.

For me I discovered who the candidate I would have voted. Unfortunately, I'll not be able to vote since I'll be somewhere over the Atlantic ocean in mid-flight on election day.

Unintended consequences of the good kind

2009-12-05T20:01:00.001-08:00

A week back or so, me and family took a short vacation, a short idyllic trip, south of Mysore. My youngest daughter fell sick with some temperature, but my wife was prepared with paracetemol syrup for the trip. We were not planning too many activities. The wild life safari we wanted to go to, got cancelled - that was probably the only loss. Since the Kabini reservoir area, where we went is quite remote from suburbia, and a sister of my close friend was a practicing doctor nearby, I took it as an opportunity to visit her and take my little one to get a medical-professional-opinion, just in case. It was nice to see her after many-many years. Last time I saw Padmaja (my friend's sister), I think she was getting married - 15 years back or so. She prescribed some anti-biotics, my daughter got some rest sleeping in her house for a few hours. Though it was an unplanned stop, I wanted to see for myself the good work Padmaja, her husband Balu, and her colleagues were part of - the SVYM (Sri Vivekananda Youth Movement). My elder daughter was a bit grumpy about the detour - precious family vacation time was getting wasted because of this detour and stop. She was not getting to do much, sitting and listening to adult conversation, which from her context didn't make any sense, and was least entertaining.
After a week, I have been thinking - did I get the full ROI on my trip - the rates of resort stay, hotel stay in Mysore, was quite expensive. We drove all the way close to 250 kms one way and back. When I came back to Bangalore, the car wouldn't start (battery problems), another impending expense - added to it, my daughter fell sick ! So was the trip really worth it ?
You and I both know that a trip/journey's merit cannot be measured by the things you did, the total 'pleasure' factor you derived, the number of photos you clicked. I think it is mostly the after effects of the journey/trip - that warm/fuzzy intangible after-journey-thing is the objective rather than the destination itself.
In this trip itself, I discovered two more such warm/fuzzy stories - unintended consequences of the good kind.
The SVYM (http://www.svym.net/) was started by a bunch of medical professionals, who wanted to make a difference in rural India, many a years back. Their collective work, sacrifices is quite commendable. However, in the process of enhancing rural medical health, the setup has branched out into many unintended spheres of rural life - education, social engineering, rural economy etc. Apart from Primary Health Care centers, SVYM also runs schools, funds road building projects, brings accountability to rural governance using RTI etc. All-in-all, I feel it is a great story when a few good people with honorable intentions commit their education, energies, life to a specific noble cause (rural health in this case), resulting in many other good things.
The other story is that of Kabini reservoir itself. I remember when I was a kid and my father had an acquaintance who owned a Coorg Coffee plantation. My father being a high school teacher had taken the task of giving extra coaching to his son - Bopanna, who was academically challenged. My dad, had his own principles in his life and wasn't too keen on minting money out of education as a profession. Though the trend of education-as-business with tuition centers, coaching outside school had already started three decades back, it was not as ugly as these days. My dad wasn't able to make our family financially stronger because of his principles perhaps. Side story apart, Bopanna's father offered our family a trip to his coffee plantation near Nagarahole forest reserve as a thanks giving gesture to my dad's efforts with his son. I recall seeing hoards of elephants, bisons in that trip. Also, I remember being told that forest was getting reduced with rapid agriculture, many people getting displaced due to irrigation projects, animals invading his coffee plantation because of lack of water, human activities etc... I was too young to comprehend and understand all that - then.

But looking back, I think life has come a full cycle - the very irrigation project Bopanna's father probably referred to - Kabini which was commissioned in 1974, has become a life sustaining force for both Bandipur and Nagarhole wild life reserves. Because of the Kabini dam, there is huge artificial lake created which provides water to both the forests and the wild life in it. I don't think when Kabini dam was envisaged, the wild life angle was thought about. A highly disruptive, eco-disturbing activity of 1970's with the good intention of irrigation is paying dividends in the past few years in being able to sustain wild life.
The above is not to justify all engineering, mega-earth-moving projects which are ecologically disruptive. However, there is a silver lining to every well intentioned task, be it small, medium or big, when people start it with good intentions.
Of course, the road was not smooth - in the literal sense the ones I drove on as well as the one the SVYM folks have trudged for many years. But in the end, I think it is worth the trip.
As Deepak Chopra, the eternal optimist says, "When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities."

Quite sure you are having your own wonderful/adventurous journey of life as you read this blog. Never mind the bumps and grinds, take a few moments to enjoy the panorama. Cheers !

P.S: Link to the family photo album which chronicles the trip is below.

Mysore and Kabini Trip

We are a bunch of talk-a-lots

2009-07-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

These days my thoughts and blogs are invariably about Bangalore traffic, road conditions. Guess one more blog on this subject doesn't matter.
Since the past few years, I have been driving my car all around South Bangalore. Many including Ani(my wife) and my in-laws have complained/complimented that I have been totally Bangalored in terms of my driving skills. I do take some pride in being able to manouver my Tata Indigo Marina in the narrow confines of Tyagarajanagar, N. R. Colony, Hanumanthnagar - come sun, rain, cow, the odd water tank from opposite side, auto, car or even dug up drains under repair, in my way. I thought I had reached total driving proficiency and, myself as a pretty cool driver until I lost it yesterday.
There are umpteen storm water drains being repaired (in preparation of the coming Corporation elections I presume). I knew the bylanes I was using yesterday quite well. Also, on that road all the repair work was complete, so I confidently made a turn in one of the lanes(less than 5 kms per hour). There was a big jarring sound - immediately I knew my car had brushed against a rock. Stopped my car and found that my car was stuck between a rock and a hard place ! A big rock slab had been left in the edge of the road and it was wedged right underneath my car - tyre to tyre. There was a leak from the front wheel section and though the engine was still running, there was no doubt that a major damage was impending my wallet.
Soon good samaritans from Tyagarajanagar gathered around. Samaritan #1 said, "Sir, diesel is leaking, your car will not even start". I didn't reply to this self proclaimed Auto expert, since I knew my car would start and engine was OK. Samaritan #2 said, "Saar, your car is the fourth car suffering this fate in the past two days". I silently thought - "so kind of letting me know, by the by, what are you doing after so many accidents dummy!" Samaritan #3 coming from the other side on a bike stopped and enquired "Is this car yours? Why didn't you see the rock?". Again I remained silent as I thought "Yes sir, I'll immediately buy the latest gadgets to install floor level cameras and articificial intelligence upgrades to my Tata Car". Samaritan #4 was much better, he happened to be a neighbor of my father in law. He asked me if I needed any help - much better. Samaritan #5 guided me to a neighboring road where drain work was still in progress to go and complain. I knew nothing much was going to happen by complaining, but that was a good suggestion to get some help to get my car unstuck.

With my father-in-law by the side (who had joined after a desperate call to him), we went in search of the BBMP appointed, contractor hired workers who or whose brethern had done this piece of art work. Luckily, they were just a few roads down. When asked to come and help - again various reasons - "Saar, navalla madiddu (we didn't do that road work)", "Writer barabeku (Contractor appointed gang lead has to come)", "Corporation officenalli complain maadi". That is when I completely lost it... To my father-in-law's horror, I started a immediate dharana making them stop work completely and not allowing them to do any more work. What infuriated was the fact that none of them even tried to come take a look and try resolve the situation.
Actually, many of them were quite relieved and stopped work and welcomed their break by unravelling beedies from their pockets.
After 15-30 minutes of my dharana, one of the old guys in the gang relented and agreed to accompany me to where the car had got stuck.
We came to the spot, the old man used his crowbar to nudge the rock to the pavement (which could have been done much before the four cars prior to me were damaged) and my car was free !! The leak was with the power steering fluid. My car did indeed start, steering was not a comfortable thing - but was able to drive it to my trusted Tata mechanic who incidentally is in Tyagarajanagar. Total damage - 4,500 Rupees.
I'm still thinking, we are all a bunch of talk-a-lots. Whenever there is a road accident, we (a generalization of Indian males) derive vicarious pleasure by analysing things, give unsolicited expert advice, blame the Govt. and sundry, blame karma, express lip sympathy but do very little actionable. In this experience, only the old man from the worker gang of 20 was the exception. He had the good sense of not just being sympathetic, but also had the maturity to come take a look and help - instead of just being defensive and be a talk-a-lot.
Ironically, I'm planning to become a "Technical Analyst" starting Monday at Thomson Reuters - guess I could do my job by doing just what most did - talk-a-lot without personally doing nothing about problems, issues and not really resolving anything.
Also, you can call me blog-a-lot !
cheers,
Dheera.

Oh Engineer ! Where Art thou ?

2009-05-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

The other day, when I was driving to BIAL on NH-7 to pick my sister and her family, a few kilometers from Devenhalli, I had a near miss (Near hit rather). On the 3 lane road, there was a truck on the middle lane and there was another motor cycle going on the right most lane, both well below speed limits. I put on my indicator and shifted to the left most lane and over took the truck. As soon as I crossed the truck, to my horror I saw the motor cycle cutting right across the lanes and directly coming towards me in the opposite direction. I swerved to the shoulder braking with all my might - the car fish tailed and finally came to a stop missing the metal support girders on the left. Of course, the motor cyclist and his pillion rider survived without a scratch and as I stopped and got out the car, mouthing expletives (I only know a few in kannada and they are outdated I guess) , I found both of them grinning ... and casually continue to drive on the shoulder opposite to the traffic flow away from me.

One thing in India is certain, the common man has absolutely no respect for traffic rules, safety norms and common sense to survive on highways. Every other driver on the highway has graduated from cycle to motor cycle to auto rickshaw to car to truck. Including the traffic cops and the contractor who paints the roads, and install road signs, not many know the difference between a broken white line v/s a solid white line v/s a solid double line v/s a yellow line on roads. Example to point, a few years back, when I was in MN met an YADE (Yet-Another-Desi-Engineer) who had come very recently to the US. He was of course driving a car in India and using his IDP had managed to rent a car. He was a good driver no doubt. While we were conversing about projects, India/US, groceries, culture and other things at lunch in the cafeteria, he asked me why Americans were so stupid and left entire lane free while crowding on center of highways. He had a entire lane all by himself on I-94, which he had used to drive from his accomodation to work. The place where he stayed was only a few miles from work though. On probing further, I understood that he had driven on the shoulder part of Interstate of I-94 for a few miles !!! So, for many of us, even the concept of "shoulder" on a road is quite alien.

Well, if basic knowledge of traffic rules, norms is as above with Engineers (including yours truly), guess the fate of average citizens and the farmer who has to drive his tractor across NH-7 to deliver his farm produce.. There are many many accidents just waiting to happen.

There are numerous other examples(big and small) right in front of our collective eyes, which illustrates the utter lack of "traffic sense" in our collective brains. For example :

No left turn sign which sometimes says "No Free left turn" when you read the fine print.

Traffic lights which are more like disco lights randomly switching from red to yellow to green on some of the city main roads.

A no entry sign with arrows in both directions one with a strike off with red cross band. Unless I stop the car and study the sign for a few seconds, it is difficult to comprehend which direction the traffic is allowed and not allowed.

Humps which suddenly appear on the road and disappear with no clear markings.

multiple lanes converging suddenly and at least finding twice the number of lanes of vehicles at all traffic stops than actually marked on the road.

Traffic rules - stop and go having a chance of being followed only when a police constable is manning the intersection.

The list is endless and could go on and on. The point is, yes we have a huge problem. I think the cause is probably because we don't have a good system to develop standards, implement them and enforce the same. As an Engineer, I find the "development" part the primary cause rather than the implementation and enforcement. Some time back, Jack Welch, former CEO, GE, responded thus to an Indian correspondent when questioned "what do you find amazing about India?". It amazed him how Engineers in India were able to build such a complicated thing as software but failed to build something simple as a road. I probably don't have his exact words, but his words are really profound.

So, as I ponder about my survival after the incident on NH-7, as an Engineer from KARENG 574157 days, what is it that I have done or not done since then to help the situation. One thing that didn't definitely help is my branch change from Civil Engineering. If I remained in Civil, I think I could have contributed in somewhat better way apart from making tonnes of money in Bangalore's booming real estate market. Also, I think about most of my brethren who have become CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, directors, bankers, professors, builders and some home makers - All noble and well rewarding life/careers, but what they could do to help issues like above(including yours truly).

To solve a basic infrastructure issue like traffic, Oh Engineer ! Where art thou ?

And next time you drive on a highway (or what appears to be one), please wear your seat belts.

Kis? Kisko Voting karoon?

2009-04-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yet another election is coming, there are some - same 'old' faces trying to come to power, there are some new faces too. But who should I vote? Vote for the best party from which I want a PM? Vote for the party/coalition which can give a stable government for 5 years? Vote for the best candidate? Or should I just go and exercise my right with 49-0 rule? kya karoon?
As I discuss with friends and talk about voting for the best candidate available, say Captain Gopinath who is contesting as an independent, the common refrain is "but then he is not going to win". I ask myself, if I vote for someone, he doesn't win, is it going to be a personal loss? On the contrary, if I vote for Mr. X and he does win, he is definitely not going to come and personally thank me or do me a personal favor. In the ideal sense, when you vote, the democracy/system has already won. Anyway, there should be no personal gain/loss when the candidate you vote wins or loses. Yes, in practice, personal favors like booze, money, clothes form an essential part of electioneering strategy - but if you agree with that strategy, you wouldn't be reading this blog, I wouldn't be writing it.
So either way, how does it matter? Or even if I don't vote, does it matter?
Following are my thoughts in exercising one's choice. The last option being the best in my opinion.

Worst thing to do is not to vote. Whether I like it or not, I'm part of this system and this is my only chance to make a difference, in whatever insignificant manner - to elect those representatives who are part of the leadership team. If I don't vote, it is like not being part of the HR review, when asked to fill the annual feedback form, in a big IT company and deciding to keep quiet and not fill the form at all, because it is just a statistical survey and nothing significant will happen just because of an individual response. In both cases, doing nothing is probably the worst thing, more so in terms of the elections.
Once you have a voter ID and are part of the electoral rolls - it would have taken some effort on your part to come to this stage in this process, it is probably better to complete the process by exercising your fundamental right. But then, there is the much talked individual right to exercise the rule 49-0 on election day. Briefly speaking, on election day, you walk to the assigned election booth, identify yourself on the list with the election officer, ask him to give a form where you would indicate that you prefer to vote for none of the candidates. Since you have been identified, by the election officer and your name has been marked, no one else can vote instead of you and misuse your right. That, you have decided not to vote for anyone ("No one deserves my vote"), is probably a big ego kick for yourself. If and when people do this in significant numbers, in multiple cities, there is probably an impact in the distant future. I consider this more of a negative tactic, but at least it is within the purview of the system/process. There are some blogs/opinion that this tactic if employed by majority (over 50% of the electorate), there will be a re-election and the candidates will be disqualified in the next re-election. I haven't found a reliable constitution source to confirm that - so it is probably just a "theory". Yes, if this tactic is employed by a community as a form of protest, it could have some impact. As compared to yester years when 500, 1000 citizens used to stand for elections to make a point/protest, resulting a ballot paper the size of a news paper, this idea of 49-0 is a much more sensible, less expensive option to voice protests.
Next comes the option of voting for a party. One could think of who could make the best PM, which party/coalition could give the most stable government and vote for that candidate representing that party/coalition. Every party has its own hidden agenda. There is definitely money and muscle power with every party appointed nominee. Though it is not a wrong thing to vote for a party candidate, think the alternative. Irrespective of the candidate's credentials whether he/she has a criminal background, has a fair bit of education or not, without checking his antecedents, would you blindly vote for him/her just because of the party? Probably not. What if you have a situation where you want a party you desperately want to win has nominated a candidate in your constituency who has a reprehensible character? Would you still vote for him/her. It used to be said some years back "Even a donkey standing for an election in this City from Congress party will win". I think the Indian population has matured much beyond that kind of thinking and as an individual, we need to grow beyond voting for a party be it Congress/BJP or third or fourth fronts, without considering the candidate. On the contrary, if there was an extremly qualified candidate, extremly likable candidate with exactly the kind of values you represent being put up by a political party you abhor. Would you vote for him? Probably this is more palatable, but you would think lot harder than the other alternative (Great party, lousy candidate).
So, the final option is "Vote for the best candidate". Again, should one vote for the best candidate from amongst national/local parties or should one consider independents as well? I think the best option is to Vote for the best candidate including independents. In my ideal system, there would be different sets of people, each set of people belonging to a party or independents with their idealogy, values, principles - there would be internal selection process (like the primaries in the United States) and most likely winnable candidate from these sets would contest the elections. Unfortunately our system does not run like that. People muscle their way to the top either through money or defection or just using there geneology or parentage and some how seek party nominations. It is high time, parties themselves thought about internal 'democracy' before being part of a democratic setup as a government. The only way for me as a citizen to force parties to think in this manner is to "Vote for the best candidate", even if he/she happens to be a losing one. These days the margins of winning are so low that eventually parties will wake up to this reality that when they lose elections, it is because they didn't have the right candidate in the first place. The criteria for the "best candidate" is your own - for example, education, history, social committment, oratory skills, economic background, economic status, political leanings etc. You be the judge of definining those metric standards, you be the judge of scoring all available candidates against those common metrics and as per your judgement/criteria/evaluation, select your best candidate.

In many consitutencies, the choice of available "good" candidates is so poor that one probably could use the elimination rule to discount candidates you would NOT want to vote and narrow it down to very few. Occasionally, there happens to be a constitutency, like this election of 2009 for Bangalore South, where there are "fairly" good number of candidates. BJP's Ananth Kumar, Congress Krishna Byre gowda, JD(S) - Prof Radhakrishna, Independent Capt. Gopinath. There are few more, but the above is my personal favorites, "my short list". Guess, if during every election, if every constituency had a relatively "good but tough" list of candidates to pick from, like the present Bangalore South, our country would have a much better leadership team and that would be true victory for Democracy. To sort and pick from such a tough list(or a constrained list), we could use a Candidate evaluation matrix to select the best candidate based on our individual values and corresponding candidate scores.

By the way, have you checked and compared, what exactly is the function of a state representing MLA or your representative MP at the national level? How would you measure his/her performance in that function? You will be surprized to know that their primary function is not to do mundane things like building roads, inaugurating fly overs or dispersing loans. It is the ability to think and contribute at a macro level. A national MP should have a more macro level thinking and execution capabilities as compared to a state level MLA compared to a corporator. I got the above 'gyan' when I interacted with Krishna Byregowda, the present Bangalore South Congress candidate, when I got an opportunity to meet and discuss with him in my friend's house while in Minnesota in a very private setting. He also shared his helplessness while dealing with his constituents when they rush to him asking favors and explained the impracticality of sticking to principles in politics. So, do consider the previous performances, current qualifications and your metric standards for a given role and other relevant factors(including the party they come from), while deciding the best candidate. If he/she happens to be from a political party, so be it. By the way, my current evaluation for Bangalore south based on the evaluation matrix gave some results that surprized even myself. Although Krishna Byregowda is the only candidate I know at close quarters, Capt. Gopinath seems to pip him at the post (as per my criteria and current evaluation). But then, I could still go and vote for Mr. Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Paksha on election day - couldn't I?

After all, our democracy is "by the people, for the people, from the people". It is definitely not "by the party, for the party, from the party". Happy voting !

Bubba, Fee hike cometh, Whatcha gonna do?

2009-03-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Small family, two young children, have a decent job, have purchased a house/apartment with hard earned money/savings. Want children to get the best education possible, find quite a decent school nearby affiliated with ICSE. Infrastructure seems better than average school. Teachers seem quite pleasant. School boasts of a great curriculum, fantastic teacher student ratio, lots of focus on sports and extra curricular programs. The annual fee and admission fee seems a bit high than expected - but hey, it is for the good bringing of your children. You and spouse discuss, decide to cut on some expenses and think this is the best option for your child.
Story seems familiar? Well if you are a parent of young child(ren) like me, the above is pretty much same for every middle class parent, anywhere in urban India. So far so good, read further and see if there are more similarities.

A year or two goes by. The swimming pool the School had promised isn't constructed - Big deal, you didn't anyway expect your child to become the national champion in swimming... The fee has increased by 12% the first year, 18% the next year.. Your child has learnt a fantastic vocabulary of English words, you have got a few increments, become a manager and have chances of becoming senior manager in few years. You can now afford a small size car.. Yes, school fees have increased, so has your annual package - so who cares? The teachers are mostly good in this School. Some smile at you, some avoid looking at you. Some mothers grumble that uniforms stitched are of poor quality. Shoe soles are ripping off after a few months (BTW you have to purchase uniform, shoes, books etc. from the School only, no other choice). Big deal - it minimized your work of going around. Again it costed a few extra bucks but hey, it was very convenient wasn't it - for the School to be a one stop shop ? If some parents are grumbling about a few bad apples (rude teachers), tough luck. Quality is not guaranteed anywhere. Even in your own IT company, there are few bad apples. Some parents complain saying management is not responsive they are trying to collectively approach the principal/management on issues but School avoids mass confrontation/discussion. Prinicipal talks to parents only on one-to-one basis. He/She says bring the issue to me with your child/teacher, I'll address. You adjust, avoid the bad ones and move one ... that is life - just stay out of trouble. All this talk of parent association is really not required. As long as you can talk to the principal, as long as teachers are nice to you, as long as your child is getting reasonably good grades and learning new words, sentences, everything is hunky-dory-peachy.

Then one day, something happens to the whole world - "Recession" ! Actually the storm clouds were gathering for quite some time. You just thought you were protected and wouldn't be affected.

Your company is laying off people left and right. You can kiss the bonus/increment you were counting on for an upgrade to a mid-size/big-size car bye bye. In fact, you might be asked to take a pay cut. You had made a down payment for a second apartment/plot thinking it was a nice investment by taking an additional loan - now you aren't really sure.
By the by, the School just announced its revised fee structure for the next year. Your two children's fee has gone up by 36% - each. You and fellow parents are furious - you try to talk to the management/principal/sundry about how unjustified this fee hike is. The management says "Owing to the increase in cost of operation, teachers' salaries and facilities planned for the future, this fee hike is unavoidable. The management has thought about the fee hike and its decision is final. If this is not acceptable, you can take the Transfer certificate for your child in the next week".

Bubba, welcome to a sudden nightmare amidst your sweet dreams about being a good, providing parent. Now scratch your head and ponder on the following..

What are the parental rights when you send your children to a private school.
The private school your child goes is managed by a "trust". Who trusts what? Does that mean the Govt. completely trusts this management and they are outside the purview of taxation, general accounting principles etc. Where does all the money go?
Do you have any right to information in terms of its accountability, transparency and committments of the school management/administration.
Can the school be treated as any other commercial organization and you being an indirect consumer of the services offered, challenge the school management in consumer court?
The school has never given you anything in writing about what they had promised during your interview/feedback sessions. What are your options?
The school management actually has powerful political/media backing. So what are you going to do?
Taking out your children from this school and putting in another is really not an option. Because the same story is going to repeat again in another school too. You will have to again pay admission fee (donation) plus annual fee. Mostly all schools have big political/media/public persona behind the scene. Who knows this school might be far better than the one you are seeking next.
Is this just a hyper-reaction. Justify/rationalize school fee hike as a manifestation of "free market economy" and be satisfied that nothing is wrong. After all, you are paying as per market rates. If you don't like it at the rate offered, don't buy it (but then what is the alternative? Govt./Aided Schools? ).
Just "Shut up and pay?" (think of the Shilpa Shetty's act at the beginning of Dostana, just make up new lyrics and sing along and move on).
Try make this an election issue and get your friendly neighborhood politician to help you out of this conundrum (and that hope he doesn't indirectly own or have a stake in the school).

Bubba (or bubby), what are you going to do?

Rain Water Harvesting for every home/apartment

2008-12-19T00:57:00.001-08:00

This post is for everyone in India who wants to implement a rain water harvest in their homes but don't know how to do go about the same.

First the definition: Rain water harvesting means of storing rainwater for useful purposes - like drinking, washing, gardening etc. instead of just letting all the rain water run off into the storm drain (in other words the road next to your house).

Motivating factors: If you are asking why I and you should invest in rain water harvest, basically it is for us to do a bit for the nature and reduce our own water expenses. According to some theories, the next world war is going to be fought over water. Water is becoming more and more scarce, your ground water level is constantly droping and what better way than using some of the water which falls right on your house to offset some of your domestic demands? There are other advantages too. You will prevent rainwater runoffs causing road erosions (I mean what is left of as a road - I bet your city doesn't have a good storm drain), your water bills will reduce, your health could improve - the water you harvested is probably more clean than the one supplied by the corporation/municipality(at least you are in-charge of quality of the water). While using ground water (say from borewell), there is a risk of "Radon" exposure. Radon is a radioactive gas found mostly in deep wells. The amount of radon depends on various factors - rock makeup, depth, region etc. However, it is a common notion that radon exposure increases with older wells (as the water level goes down). I'm no geologist. But my guess, if you implement rain water harvesting/re-charge of borewells, it is going to minimize your exposure to radon (in case you have a borewell).

If you have a little more money and are little enterprising, you could let excess rain water which you cannot use, to recharge your ground water as well - by diverting the water into the borewell which you dug at the time of constructing the house and kept on sucking water for construction as well as present consumption.

According to some statistics, in Bangalore, in a 60 X 40 site if you harvest rain water without wasting a single drop in the entire year, the water so harvested is sufficient to take care of 100 families with 4 members in each for an entire year. With that statistic(okay take it with a pinch of salt), if you own a house (of whatever dimension) and do not harvest rain water, and continue to cry about your water woes, first blame yourselves then the city corporation.

Ok, enough preaching, now some practical ways of implementing rain water harvesting.

The next sections will discuss a few designs, techniques to implement rain water harvest at homes/apartments with an option to recharge ground water as well.

1. Simple with Syntex (Plastic) tanks.

The simplest technique involves diverting your rain water pipe(s) to a single location, running the water through a filter (sponge, wads of clothes) and collecting the water in a drum/storage. You could use two metal grids at the top of the barrel and wedge the filter (sponge/cloth) between the two. You could also cover the filter with a cover if you desire so.

Excess water beyond your storage capacity would get wasted and run off like it did before you implemented this system. However, this is better than doing nothing. It might at least provide you with enough water to wash clothes, your car or pet during rainy season.
2. Large Storage with dirty water outlet

This idea is a little more complex and a more engineered (needs plumber's assistance). In Idea #1, it assumes the barrel can be easily portable and cleaned. For example, the first rains could bring in lots of dirt and you may not want to use it. In case you have a large storage(like a sump), discarding the water you collected from first rain with silt and dirt from your unclean terrace may be a pain. In this design, install a run off valve at a level lower than the intake of the sump. During summer, before the first rains come, keep the dirty water run off valve open. After the first few rains, close the valve and start collecting and using the rain water.
Again a filter at the top of sump intake is assumed - this could be a layer of sponges wedged between two metal grid/grill. The dirt accumulated on top of the filter will automatically run off through the excess water runoff pipe - if they are of floating type. Once in a while you can access the filter and remove any sediments (like soil, pebbles) caught in the filter - or even replace it say once in a year. You could also put a mesh/filter at the top of the terrace where the water gets into the piping.
Make sure there is free flow of water in this system. If there is blockage at the excess runoff, water may accumulate in the pipeline and start collecting over your terrace as well.. Not a bad idea if your terrace is 100% leak proof - it will serve as a reservoir!!. However, in most cases, given the quality of construction you could afford and also due to ethics of your contractor, this may not happen. You will mostly develop few damp spots in your terrace if you are not careful in ensuring free flow of water.
Also, make sure your sump is well insulated from external elements (like the street drain overflowing) and creating a feed into your sump during flood conditions. A valve on the excess water run-off is not a bad idea in such cases to prevent 'feedback'.
3. Storage/Rain water recharge
As a variant of Option #2 above, move the excess water runoff pipe below the filter and connect it to a borewell shaft or open well (if you have one). As simple as that ! In case you had a borewell which did not give you the desired yield, try recharging it - make something out of the money that got sunk.

4. Green design (for new constructions)

At the time of working with your architect, let him know that you are going to do rain water harvesting (to take care of natural incline of the terrain).
While reviewing the plumbing lines, ask your architect where the run off of sewage is vs rain water run off (corresponding ducts). Ideally, they should be on different sides of the house (for easy maintenance, prevention of contamination etc.).
Construct a sump for rain water collection (optional).
Construct a sink pit 10 feet deep, 4 feet wide(dia). If you have a borewell in your house, the sink pit can be around the borewell. Remove the casing, sorround the bore duct piping with nylon mesh. Lay a layer (2 feet) of large gravel, 1 feet of medium size gravel, 1 feet of char coal (to absorb odor), 2 feet of sand leaving 4 feet of clearance for rain water recharging. The depths, layers could be different depending on the catchment area and other practical limits. At the top of the sink pit, leave a excess discharge outlet to the storm drain, where normally rain water would flow without rain water harvesting.

From my personal experience, rain water harvesting works. When my new house was constructed, a borewell was dug and hit source of water at 169 feet depth. I insisted with my architect to implement a rain water harvesting plan. After impelementing a sink pit around the bore well, spending around 25,000 rupees extra, I was wondering if it was really worth the trouble. After couple of years, during a maintenance work with the borewell submersible pump, I discovered the water depth had improved. Instead of reaching water at 169 feet, it was now available at 50 feet depth.

Small Idea for Bangalore's Big Transportation problems

2008-02-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

I dropped my uncle near Devegowda Petrol bunk - the plan was he would catch a BMTC bus going towards Vijayanagar, if he couldn't get a bus at this hour (8.00 pm), I was planning to drop him in my two wheeler. There were lots of private buses, vans travelling in that direction and picking willing passengers (for a fee of course). Even my uncle got into a van after unsuccessfully enquiring a few, which were heading in a different direction.
After he left and I came home, I'm now just wondering.... Even though what these private operators were doing wasn't entirely "legal", I thought they were doing had great "customer value". At this hour, the options for commuters were either to wait a long time (or eternally) for a BMTC bus OR pay an exhorbitant amount to Auto rickshaw driver OR take the above third approach for a nominal fee - higher than BMTC perhaps, but certainly lower than an Auto, however much less congested than a BMTC bus.

Now I'm thinking, why can't this paradigm be extended for all private modes of transport ? say two wheelers, cars, vans, institutional buses (TCS, MindTree) - you name it.
As a nay-sayer, I understand the following objections:
* As a commuter I do not trust the person who is giving a ride - what if he kidnaps me or something like that?
* Is this guy a safe driver? What if he drives rash and I get into an accident or something?
* Is this really legal? Will a cop stop this transport and penalize me for not using BMTC or an Auto?

I think the above apprehensions are real. In fact, some of them are also reasons why good-samiritan-private transport owners don't want to car pool/bike pool/van pool with total strangers since "security" is a big concern for them as well. Also, from a lift giver's (pooler) perspective, there is no tangible "reward" for offering a service. If he accepts money, it probably is an illegal transaction (private transport owners cannot indulge in commercial transaction unless they have a yellow board - something like that). Bigger is the worry of being car-jacked or getting into unwanted situations with a bunch of strangers masquerading as lift takers.

However, if there was a mechanism for
* validating the identity of the lift taker(poolee) by the giver (pooler),
* validating the identity of the lift giver(pooler) by the taker (poolee),
* a transactional record created somewhere for audit/security,
* some form of reward was in place - say top ten poolers in city of Bangalore gets gift vouchers in Forum Mall for Month January (or fuel vouchers in petrol bunk),
* some payment mechanism is also in place for poolee (of course you need money to run the above show and give rewards !!!),

imagine what would happen to Bangalore roads :-
1) Crowd in Bangalore BMTC would go down.
2) Auto rickshaw drivers will certainly go crazy - because the number of commuters enquiring them to take somewhere, where the auto drivers obviously do not want to go at the first place, will go down. I know it will hurt their ego - it is the duty of every auto-commuter to enquire if the auto driver is willing. They have the right to sit in their autos, nod their head negatively or even ignore you - go nowhere for eternity. Yeah, they will go if the commuter wants to go right next door of the auto driver's house at one and half times the meter.... I'm digressing, enough of auto bashing...
3) Commuters get to behave more responsibly as a community member - I think we are increasingly becoming intolerant traffic society - Every 'single' driver on the road wants to own the entire road to himself and no one should overtake him/her from the right, from the left. At the next traffic crossing, irrespective of whether the driver sees red, green or yellow, he always have the right of way - if he sees enough space to squeeze his vehicle. On the other hand, if we are driving with fellow passengers - be it family, friends or even strangers, I have a gut feeling, we will all be lot more responsible.

So, after reading this rather long prelude, you are probably asking, "OK, Mr. I got your reason, What is your bloody small IDEA?"

Well here it is:
Create a public-private partnership firm, a Non-profit (or small profit) organization of some sort where swipable photo-id transport credit cards are given to poolees. Poolers could have card swipe readers attached to their cell phones. A centralized service (SMS/Cell phone based) keeps track of pooler/poolee transactions. Poolers get transport credits - based on number of lifts given, distance of lift or a combination of both - encashable as vouchers/coupons if meets the criteria. Poolees charge their transport credit cards when they run out of enough units - by paying money - either through internet or their own registered cell phones. Poolers have stickers on their transports identifying them as valid "service providers" - they also could have a photo id issued by the same organization. Bigger vehicles could even display destination where heading to.

There are some legal, liability,technical, financial aspects that need to be taken care of. I think that is a technicality that can be resolved by putting like minded brains together (lawyers, transport officers, MBAs, IT professionals, sponsors).

Any takers?

-dheera.