ALTER EGO!!

It’s been two an a half years when I saw him first, standing quietly in a corner of a big showroom with two innocent twinkling eyes. Since then it has been a love & hate affair. He has always been there in my thick and thin. Almost like a helpless younger sibling, has been victim of my transgression.

Every time my self respect is violated by an eccentric client or is tossed at the whims of my boss (who always strive to make things perfect and situation ideal) he has provided vent to all the frustration. Quite often I have deliberately used him as an escape goat.

I never really have liked, but many a times I have left him standing in parching heat on the mercy of strangers, while myself sipping soft drinks in clients air conditioned chamber. But still we are companions. Be it a hot summer day, chilling winter or romantic autumn we spend maximum time together.

My busy schedule leaves me with no time to take care of him. Though he has never complained, these days he is not at all keeping well. Almost like an alter ego he too looks dull and has lost his shine.

But before it’s too late I want to change things around for me and my alter ego …my motorbike.

So here I pledge to service my mo bike twice a month and go jogging daily and like my boss create an ideal situation for both of us. This is not gona change the world but guess will make us both better equipped to face it.

Bruised Almighty!

Bruce there is no Almighty up there listening to your prayers.


"So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:26-27)


And in the process he died. Yes God died the day we were born; just like a parent cell disintegrates into daughter cells. In the process the parent cell dies but the daughter cell are genetically identical to the parent cell, having the same DNA. We are made in his image and have the same genetic material and are as capable as he was or as he would have ever wanted his sons and daughters to be.


The God has shifted from matter to mind. His imprints or trace is there within you and me and through us he lives. God lives with us in the form of freewill. This freewill is the essence of God which makes human so strong spiritual being. It has the power to mould so called destiny.


We these days often see or here people around us killing in the name of God. What can be more disrespectful for creator to see his creations killing each other, that too in his name? Creator lives in his creations.


It is not almost insane to kill somebody who is just like you for someone you are not even sure about?


Our entire attempt to find God, define him by giving name & shape will be futile for he doesn’t exits. He died for your love.


Next time don’t just blame God when you bump into a tree, lose a job or ran out mobile balance; for dead are to be respected and not blamed. Evaluate your options available and ask your freewill what God would have done if been in your place.

Fantasies & Expectations

When I was a child I wanted to be a Taxi driver who take foreign tourist for a ride, earn good money and go places. There was this Mr. Bacchans’ movie released during that time in which was the flamboyant lifestyle of a Tonga wala. Suddenly I wanted to be a Tongawala. As I grew up to social expectations I swapped Tonga with a Taxi. Like every kid I too wanted to be an actor. The very idea of being an actor was so thrilling to me. If somehow I can be an actor I can be right up to everybody’s expectation. I can be a doctor in one movie and can make my father happy; in another can be an Engineer for mummy and so on. And it took quite a while for me to realize that being an actor and a successful at that need lot of sweat and commitment, probably more than I was ready for. My other fantasy of becoming a cricketer also faded in the same fashion when I came to know that the ball with which we play is not used in professional cricket but in lawn tennis.

When I grew up to an age where I was able to think logically, I analyzed all my fantasies. There was one thing common in all the career path I wanted to walk through, They were all individualistic and independent in nature. Amitabh as a Tongawala was an independent professional who didn’t required a big corporation behind him for support and so was the case with an actor, a doctor or a cricketer. They are all skilled individual who can survive independently.

and I am scanning all the feasible professional and unprofessional options : Teacher, Consultant, Writer. My fantasies are still yearning for independence of that of an Hermit , of that of an Rasta man, of that of an Fakir….

Morning Thinker: Monopolistic cues in Aviation Industry!

No-fly zone for new airlines as big players signal Mayday

No Need For More Players When Existing Cos Are Losing, Feels Civil Aviation Ministry

Nirbhay Kumar & G Ganapathy Subramaniam NEW DELHI

RATTLED by the crisis afflicting the airline industry, the civil aviation ministry has slammed the brakes on issue of licences for new airlines. No new airline licence is likely to be granted till the UPA government bows out, highly-placed civil aviation ministry sources said. “There is no written word, but the signal is clear,” said the source who did not want to be identified. It’s learnt that two of the country’s major airlines have urged the ministry to hold new licences. They have argued that there is excess capacity in the market and addition of capacity would only make things worse. Speaking to ET, a top official in the civil aviation ministry admitted that permission to launch airlines had been frozen. However, he added that the freeze was not at the behest of incumbent airlines. “We don’t need anybody’s recommendation for taking such a stand. We are watching the situation. At this point, we think there is excess capacity in the market and an attempt to add capacity will aggravate the problem,” he said. The hold-up would affect Emeric, Star Aviation and Premier Airways. While Star Aviation is owned by the Gulf-based ETA Group with interests in engineering, construction and shipping, Premier Airways is controlled by a group of NRIs. Premier, which wants to launch a national airline under the Easy Air brand, is waiting for necessary government approvals since December 2007, am industry watcher said. While the aviation ministry’s logic behind the bar is that new airlines should not jump into the fray while existing ones are tottering, those keen to launch an airline are not amused. Companies planning to launch air services are, however, not happy with the development. “We are ready to start operations provided the regulatory clearances are granted. We have been pushing our case vigorously. If the government plans to hold our application, it’s certainly not good for us,” Emil & Eric Group CEO Muhaimin Saidu said. Emil & Eric plans to launch regional air connectivity in the south with the Emric brand name. Emric, with an equity base of Rs 20 crore, plans to start a scheduled airline with two Bombardier aircraft. The company’s foray into aviation is aimed at developing synergy with its core business activity, hospitality. Industry watchers say entry barriers are not good and the government should not prevent new players from entering the fray. “If some carriers didn’t have a sound business model and kept on over-stretching, over-leveraging and over-estimating the market, why should others be penalised? Generally, after air operator’s permit is given to a company, it takes 8-12 months to start operation. We don’t think the government has a rational logic. If the economic crisis continues for another year and airlines with huge losses collapse, what would happen to the industry? Would anybody be left to operate air services?” an industry source familiar with the government’s move said on condition of anonymity. “The value chain of the industry — from airports to maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) — would get affected in the long run if the government holds back new launches,” he added. Most domestic airlines are facing a financial crunch and the industry is expected to lose $2 billion in 2008-09. In a bid to cut costs, Kingfisher and Jet Airways entered into an operational alliance last month for common ground handling, cross-selling each other’s seats and code-sharing on domestic and international sectors.

email: nirbhay.kumar1@timesgroup.com

This article in ET gave some fodder for my brains. If we go by Aviation Ministry’s logic as there is a crisis situation in the Aviation sector; more competition will do more harm than any good. I smell a rat here. Why did Kingfisher and Jet shake hands for an “operational alliance”? I see monopolistic cues here. I feel there is a lot of lobbying going on in Mr. Praful Patel’s staff. Had these small companies been allowed to set up their shops. They would have given a tough time to the big players. Frankly speaking apart from all that cries of economic meltdown many small players are doing well. Take the instance of Spice Jet and Indigo, they are taking a lot of market share from the big players. Let suppose that these small player were to operate then all the layed off employees in aviation sector would find jobs. The small companies being more agile would restructure faster to market changes. In a nutshell the mammoths of the industry are afraid of competition and hence busy lobbying while ministers are busy throwing lavish parties for their daughter marriage!!

Innovation,Jugaad and Power Theft

Necessity is the mother of invention and Lack of resources the mother of Improvisation or what we call “Jugaad”. The improviser in pure country sense is called Jugaadu. A more subtle word for jugaad can be “upaay”.

Urbanditionary.com defines Jugaad as a small trick that will make a "BIG Difference". Wikipedia defines, “Jugaadu” as a person who know methods/ways of doing the workaround or accomplishing the basic result by alternate/illegal means. Jugaad is somewhere between ephemeral and permanence. It is ought to be a temporary improvisation but can last for a life time. It is also considered to be a small problem fixer.

This locally made motor vehicles that are used mostly in small villages as a means of low cost transportation in India is a classical case of Jugaadship. Apart from classical jokes on it jugaad is part of our lingo, Jugaad is a very much a way of life or call it an art which is as old as life itself.

The philosophy behind Jugaad is that “Everything is manageable, solvable, everything has a work around”. My endeavor here is differentiating between different natures of Jugaad. It is social in nature, and is appreciative or is it beyond the permissible threshold of Society.

Juggad can be both Parasitic as well as Symbiotic in nature. The simple example of jugaad in everyday life can be:

Parasitic Jugaad:

Late to work, Problem finding a parking spot.

Symbiotic Jugaad:

Shopkeepers using traditional money "IOUs" and "Tokens" when running short of change

What actually provoked me to write this article is an incident which happened few days back. I have wondering in the Intellectual land of JNU when I saw a vendor lighting his small jugaad shop selling bread, butter etal with a jugaadu light bulb which was illuminated by the energy of the electric wire which was supposedly not meant for him.

It made me to think how much this kind of entrepreneurial ship and Jugaadship is really helping us.

A little googling gave me that 30.13 per cent of the energy available for sale was lost; this includes losses due to technical reasons, theft, and pilferage.

If it was only done by underprivileged it was understandable. But Power theft is a jugaad which again is a way of life for us. Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament K.D. Jeswani was booked for power theft and a Rs.90,000 fine slapped on him. There is no point giving stats but if we can do a little Jugaad in our mindsets and stop being creative with our electric meters and human meter readers, it can be a lot better.

Interesting Articles on Jugaad:

http://www.devdutt.com/the-great-indian-jugaad

http://www.livemint.com/2008/03/25000530/Rural-India8217s-jugaad-for.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//articleshow/2692688.cms?

http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/apr/env-powerrob.htm