I'm Back

Sorry for the brief hiatus..... Tough doing the job and manging things like this simultaneously....
Currently , I am busy exploring my new Nokia N73 music edition Cellphone .I will give a detailed personal review as soon as I manage to unlock all its little secrets.
I will definitely try to be more punctual from now on. Lets see what happens.

Counting you APPLEs before they launch

Something to get all the mobile freaks in the world salivating :

" Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.'s chief executive and consummate salesman, has succeeded in building expectations for what some have called "the God machine." The bar-of-soap-size iPhone, which will be available June 29, is being coveted as a talisman for a digital age, and hysteria is beginning to reach levels usually reserved for video-game machines at Christmas.While entire industries have been struggling for more than half a decade to find the right combination of features to merge cell phones and computers, Apple appears to have stepped in at precisely the right moment."It will change the whole category of what people think a phone is," said Richard Doherty, president of the Envisioneering Group, an industry consulting firm. "


Watch the official advertisements from the Apple site here :
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/

Here are some links on the i-phone :

http://applephones.blogspot.com/2007/05/iphone-in-india-would-you-buy-it.html

http://mutiny.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/iphone-india-edition-hidden-features/

And one on why i-phone is not the next i-pod : (Hey all sorts of opinions permitted on the blog !!!)

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2007/05/apple-iphone-not-next-ipod.html?partner=rss


Also if you want to learn about the amazing APPLE story , here are a few links :

http://www.osnews.com/story.php/16036/Apples-Worst-Business-Decisions/page1/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/26/BU500_07.DTL

http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2001/01/29/story7.html

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/02/technology/apple/

http://www.thestalwart.com/the_stalwart/2006/01/the_stunning_ap.html

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/21pogue-email/

No "Man on the Moon"

While many will no doubt rue the fact that India's proposed manned-moon mission has been shelved, I for one agree with the decision , taken on firm practical grounds. Such a mission would have been no doubt immensely symbolic and made every Indian proud, but it would have made little economic or scientific sense. And for a country with limited resources , getting your priorities right is essential. And the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) seems to be doing just that.

The plans in place for India's premiere space organization are grand.ISRO has its sights set on an orbiter to Mars in 2014. The ground work for this will be laid when the Chandrayan I satellite is set be launched by March next year. It will be established about ten km away from the surface of the moon, collecting some new scientific and meteorological data. ISRO's ambitious plans include the setting up of a space platform in the next 25-20 years. But India is not yet thinking of joining any international venture to Mars or planning manned missions, due to the obvious financial constraints. India is eyeing the global commercial satellite launch market dominated mainly by the United States, Russia and Europe. In 2009, it will develop a rocket, the GSLV-Mark III, capable of carrying satellites as heavy as 4 tons. With the development of GSLV Mark-III, India will be able to launch heavy satellites into the geosynchronous transfer orbit. Currently since ISRO launch vehicles are capable of only sub-four-tonne launches , we have to depend on some other international launch vehicle for the launch.

The goals are ambitious but such ambitious goals have been delayed / shelved due to a lack of funds far too many times in the past.A government budgetary outlay of Rs.3, 858 crore in 2007-08 is not enough to drive ISRO towards self-sufficiency. Antrix Corporation ,the commercial arm of ISRO had revenue sales of over 400 crores last year, mainly from selling high resolution imagery, the transponders business and satellite launching, a mere trickle as compared to what it could potentially earn. The activities of the company are predominantly export oriented and with more than 75% of the earnings being in foreign exchange, the company is earning valuable foreign exchange for the country. But, despite having a fleet of nine communication satellites, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is not a commercial success. ISRO does not figure in the list of top 25 operators ranked on the basis of revenues for providing fixed satellite services, defined as leasing transponders for television broadcasting, data transmission, telephony and other services. The potential especially in the domestic market has yet to be fully tapped. Many of ISRO's products, especially the higher resolution imagery, are used exclusively by the Defense Ministry and are not available to the civilian market. But given that comparable European and American imagery are widely available, even to Indians, the restrictions on the sale of some ISRO products for civilian use are self-defeating. With Google Earth broadcasting images of Indian defense installations throughout the world, security can harsly be a pretense behind which the government hides. ISRO must strive for an agreement with the Defence Ministry to allow a greater public access to these services for unlocking their tremendous commercial potential. So far, Indian imagery products and services worth $60 million (about Rs 270 crore) have been exported worldwide and today,it is among the top 3 in the world in this regard.

ISRO is one of the few public sector organizations to embrace public-private partnership. Today, Indian industry provides all the raw materials, hardware and high-tech electronic items required by ISRO. ISRO is not only involving industry as partners but also providing them in-house facilities, sharing knowledge, resources, joint investments and unique test facilities. ISRO has also transferred almost 268 technologies developed by it to the private sector for commercialization. A truly symbiotic relationship is beginning to develop between the Indian private industries and ISRO, rather than any one-way temporary relationship. But it is still at a nascent stage and needs to further strengthen. ISRO faces many hurdles in the satellite launch market too.

The market for satellites weighing below 2,500 kg is limited, at best, and those in the 3,500-4500 kg range will form the backbone of the commercial communications satellite business — a market that Atlas V, Delta IV and Ariane 5 currently dominate.These launchers can lift payloads of over 6,000 kg today. In contrast, only by 2008 is the GSLV expected to increase its payload mass to 4,000 kg. ISRO may still end up using a foreign service provider due to the payload constraints of the GSLV, thereby forfeiting a potential windfall. Currently ISRO is benefiting because of its lower launch prices of the PSLV and GSLV as compared to NASA or ESA vehicles. But,with Ariane being able to offer co-launches (whereby two-satellites are launched by a single rocket), prices have come down even further. This, coupled with competition from the Chinese rockets, will make it difficult to bank completely on low prices to secure new launch orders.

But the biggest obstacle to the commercial prospects of the GSLV is the American sanctions on export of satellites that are built in the US or include components that are made in the US.Though some of the sanctions have been relaxed, there are still many restrictions in place which prevent the full optimization of Indo-US space relations. Also,fat paypackets in the IT sector has been drawing away talented science graduates and engineers.So, talent crunch plus crammed schedules in the years ahead have forced the ISRO to set up the IIST (Indian Institute of Space and Technology), so that the nation’s space programmes do not suffer. A lot of money will be required if its standards are to be maintained anywhere close to those of the IITs or the IIMs.

The future of ISRO depends on how quickly can the organization attain self-sufficiency. It has to decide if it wants to depend on the Government grants and crib about financial constraints or earn precious foreign exchange for the country from a glorious chance in lucrative space economics. Of course , it is so far showing remarkable foresight and going steadily down the right path. But for it to jog, it cannot depend on the crutches of the government. Especially when bright new running shoes are dangling tantalizingly in front of it.

Movie review: Shootout at Lokhandwala

Ok , it was my fault. Having earlier endured Apporva Lakhiya's Ek Ajnabi , I was taking a gamble by braving another one of his directorial attempts , at considerable risk to my mental sanity. But then surely there was no way that it would be another Ek Ajnabi , a blatant rip-off of the Hollywood film "Man on Fire". After all, it was supposed to be based on an actual incident embedded firmly in our very own Mumbai city's memory. A leading daily had also given it a four-star rating. And when you spend only 45 Rs. on a movie (G-7 , Bandra ), at least you know that you can laugh off the normal dross that comes from Bollywood, with the hope of finding at least one gem at a similar price, someday. (A lesson well learnt and implemented religiously for every Bollywood film after spending 150 bucks for self-inflicting the sheer mental trauma that was K3G )

So, the movie began with a perplexing declaration "All characters in this story are fictitious and ……Blah Blah". Wait a minute.Wasn't this supposed to be a realistic movie based on actual true story that took place at Lokhandwala? No, I learn.My fault, though . I actually missed the film's tag line "Based on true rumors". Not a true story then , but true rumors. Silly me. Err but hold on ..... what on earth is a "true rumor"? No time for mulling over such petty matters as graphic scenes of spilled blood start flooding the screen.

The story mainly follows 3 members of the Anti-terrorist Squad , ACP Aftab Ahmed Khan (Sanjay Dutt) , Inspector Kaviraj Patil (Sunil Shetty) and Constable Javed Shaikh (Arbaaz Khan) and their fight against dreaded gangsters Maya Dolas (Vivek Oberoi ) , Dilip Buva (Tusharr Kapoor) and their gang. The film opens with a lawyer (Amitabh Bacchan) inquiring into the alleged human rights violations committed by the 3 in the Lokhandwala shootout case. (what the actual charges are is not clear even until the end of the film) Initially , we are shown the fight of ACP Khan against Khalistan militants, formation of the ATS by Mr.Khan using his handpicked officers and the effect that the strenuous police job has on the trio's families. On a parallel track, we see the rise of Maya Dolas from a small henchman in the Dawood Gang , his extortion racket against the Mumbai builders and his gradual straining of relationships with Dawood . Maya wants to be the overlord of Mumbai and his actions lead him to an inevitable confrontation with Khan's ATS as well as Dawood himself. Ultimately Dawood betrays Maya by informing Khan of his whereabouts in Lokhandwala which leads to the climatic shooutout scene in which Maya and his accomplices are killed. Later,Khan and his associates are discharged of any excessive use of force/human rights violation by the high court.Thats the story in a nutshell.

As for the performances, Vivek Oberoi is once more quite realistic (sometimes bordering on the verge of overacting , though) in his now quite familiar role as an underworld gangster. His scenes are some of the best in the film. Sanjay Dutt puts in a competent performance , but his dialog delivery and style seem too similar to that of the gangsters for my liking. Suniel Shetty and Arbaz Khan can surely do nothing to mess their quite limited roles (not that they dont try to, mind it). Amitabh and Abhishekh Bacchan have minuscule roles and the only reason they are there in this film is for the obvious commercial implications of their presence. Diya Mirza looks cute and honestly potrays her limited role as a TV reporter. The background score and camera work is quite engaging and helps to maintain the break-neck pace at which the story develops. Thats it, this is all the good things I can think of.

The film is far too gory and loud for my liking. I love action flicks but there is a fine line between class and crass. Tusharr Kapoor should stick to being invisible (Gayab) or dumb (Golmaal), in my opinion. The perennial contender for the "Struggling Actor of the year" award is a pain to watch as the "dreaded" gangster Dilip Buva. The songs are meaningless and are present only for Aarti Chaabria to display her matkaa-zhatkaas as she does precious little else in the entire film. Amrita Singh plays the character of Maya's mother well , but the character in itself is so unbelievable that no wonder the real gangster 's mother filed a case against the film's producers. No real mother will encourage her son down the path of crime unless she is mentally unstable or something , and no mention is made of this anywhere in the film. The part where the cops and gangsters pay "cordial" visits to each other's families and engage in some rather friendly banter is simply baffling to say the least. And why oh why in the end , with so may cops surrounding their hideout , does the director resort to convert the climax into a normal masala Bollywood action sequence with the 3 supercops almost single-handedly fighting the gangsters in a hand to hand combat? The super cops simply run out of bullets and the film disintegrates into "Wrestling at Lokhandwala".

But the most disappointing part is the lame excuse of promoting police encounters in that our justice system is inept and hence the gangsters will go scot-free. The scene in which Arbaaz Khan is taking a captured , unarmed Aditya Lakhia to the police van and then Sanjay Dutt stops him to kill him in front of press and public is quite disconcerting. However much you argue, you cannot justify the cold-blooded killing of an unarmed man, whatever the reason or whoever it is. Killing in self-defense is one thing but such encounters do little to differentiate the cops from the very evil menace that they are trying to eliminate.


To summarize it all, the same plot in the hands of a more able director like say, Ram Gopal Verma would have been quite exciting.The addition of the usual Masala elements to what was a good story simply spoils the fun. My friend told me that for such movies "you just deposit your brain outside the theater and enjoy what is being shown in front of you". So, its just my fault then.
"Yeh Kambakht Dimag rukne ka naam hi nahi leta !!"

The King of Good Times

I have had the pleasure of "flying the good times" with Mr.Mallya's "high-service, high cost" Kingfisher airlines two times over the last year. The ambiance was excellent, the service exemplary, the entertainment system world-class and the air hostesses were....err.....(lets just say, my thoughts about them are not fit for the public domain...) It truly was an airline tailor-made for the upper-middle class, which is continuously going upwards. Though I have not had the fortune of tagging along Capt.Gopinath's "Udupi hotel in the sky", I have a good experience of other low-cost airlines such as Spice-Jet and Go-Air.They get you around with the minimum of fuss, but with the same amount of comfort levels. And oh yes,the air hostesses were pretty good there too.
So, with the news of the Vijay Mallya-controlled United Breweries Group buying 26 per cent of the Air Deccan for Rs 550 crore, comes the expected consolidation in the airline sector.The Jet-Sahara, Kingfisher-Air Deccan, and the Air India-Indian combines now garner a combined market share of almost 85%,almost turning the Indian airline Industry into an oligopoly, as is the case with the same in the rest of the world.
The immediate impact of this merger could be:

1)The remaining smaller Low-cost carriers such as Paramount, SpiceJet, IndiGo, and Go Air will be pressurized either to go in for alliances amongst themselves ,merge with one of the larger entities or simply shut shop, as they simply dont have the financial muscle to compete with the big players.The goalposts are constantly shifting and these low-cost airlines are being boxed into a corner. With only 12-15 % of the market share between all of them, expect some news on the merger/acquisition front here soon.

2)A majority stake in Air Deccan will lead to air-route rationalization for Kingfisher,which means that planes can now be diverted to new routes from existing ones along which both airlines currently operate.An example of this is the Hubli-Bangalore route on which both operate. Route expansion will improve efficiency, profits and of course prove a blessing for the passengers. Other carriers too, will now face competition from only one entity after route-rationalization and hence improve their market share. as well

3)The two airlines will benefit enormously from sharing infrastructure, ground handling services and security, given the tight operating margins of the airlines involved. Both the airlines have Airbus Jets and ATR-Turboprop planes , thereby reducing maintenance costs.An increase in the number of parking slots at intensely congested airports of major cities will empower them to tinker around with the flight timings, making them more flexible.

4)As the airline industry in India slowly transforms to an oligopoly from a monopolistic competition, a collusion will take place amongst the various players involved , leading to a rise in prices. This is undoubtedly good news to an industry which posted combined losses of around 500 million dollars last year. The passengers will bear this additional burden in the short run. But in the long run , the resulting price stability due to the larger economics of scale will no doubt prove beneficial for them.

5)Emergence of large players will bring stability to the industry.This will help to move focus from survival to consolidation and due importance will be given to neglected area such as manpower training.The shortage of talented pilots,cabin crew and ground staff has often led to poaching wars between the various airlines. Now,the airlines can focus more on staff training and HR development.

6) With the per-capita income projected to grow at an unprecedented 8.4% (according to stats released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) for 06-07) , there will be a further influx of air-bound passengers for an industry that posted an annual average growth of 20% in passenger numbers over the past 5 years.So,consolidation among the top players will help in the long-time survivability of these airlines.

This marriage between the two entities , seemingly poles apart from each other, is one of necessity , dictated by market conditions , rather than personal choice.But whatever the reason, I'm sure everyone is looking forward to flying the good times along with the Udupi hotel in the sky.

Project Mumbai to Shanghai - Phase 1

It has mainly being the lure of documentary filmmakers and globe-trotting journalists aiming to showcase the hollow claims of economic development in India.But Asia's largest slum should soon be buzzing with real estate magnets and construction engineers as the much hyped,much maligned "Dharavi Redevelopment Project" has finally got off the ground. The Maharashtra government, on Wednesday, decided to float global tenders in 16 different countries for the same by next month.

The finance for this 10,000 crore mega project will come in a novel way.At the center of it all,lies the decision of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to double floor space index (FSI) in Mumbai’s swanky business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) thereby raking in Rs 25,000 crore for the city.FSI decides how much development can take place on an empty plot. This means if the FSI is one, then 100 sq ft can be built on a plot of the same size. For BKC, the MMRDA hiked the FSI to four on March 13, which will fuel vertical growth in the BKC. The money thus generated could also provide the much-needed financial support for Mumbai’s other key infrastructure projects such as the Metro Rail,Mithi river cleansing project, Marine Drive refurbishment project, the Western Freeway sea link project etc.

Redevelopment of Dharavi would clear a blot on the city's face and create some truly wold class infrastructure in our own backyard.Along with the residential and industrial parks,Rs 1,800 crore worth of world-class amenities will be developed free for the city-hospitals, schools, parks and fire stations.More than 12 acres are reserved for open spaces and playgrounds,providing the chocking city with some much needed breathing space.Creating an entire township will also solve the problems that existed with previous schemes of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) , which merely replaced horizontal slums with vertical slums.

The doing away of the norm of minimum consent was the first commendable step in direction of clearing this project.Earlier consent of 60% of the residents was necessary for any slum re-development project to take place.Whether such consent actually came for the residents themselves was dubious and various nefarious organizations/politicians made hay.An approval of such a kind was especially not feasible when the project-scope was as wide as Dharavi.

The major bone of contention is obviously the rehabilitation of the nearly 56,000 families in 225 sq.foot flats built in 7-storey buildings.I doubt if they can afford the high-rise maintenance charges.They will then simply rent/sell these flats and go and build similar shanties somewhere else,thereby negating the very reason for this project itself.The current landlords and Dons of Dharavi will profit, and the real people will suffer.If the Government can give multiple tax concessions to the developers of SEZs, surely it can afford to waive of maintenance charges for these residents,say for an initial period of 5-10 years.

Identifying who is eligible for rehabilitation is a never-ending headache. Expect 1000 s of litigations to litter the court on this matter.

Also only 225 sq.foot is available free of cost,the residents will have to shell out at the current market rates for the extra space.That would be almost impossible for many without some sort of loan schemes or EMI options at affordable rates of interests provided by the Government.

Dharavi is the home of many small and large scale industrial enterprises like pottery and leather goods employing a mainly unskilled workforce. Already, the proposed township earmarks a plot for a branch of the National Institute of Design, to offer advice and direction to Dharavi’s leather and pottery industries. Wonderful. But, how is the government planning to shift these to 225 sq.foot flats into 7-storey buildings ? Especially, as the current owners occupy a land exceeding 225 sq.foot and are likely to be unable to pay the extra money for the additional space. Unless these affected industries are identified and aided, this redevelopment will prove to be the death nail for the families of these small-scale industries owners and especially those of the labor which depends on them for their livelihood.

Dont get me wrong, I'm 100% for the re-developemnt project .Its just that the obstacles to any such major re-shuffle are always human , never economic.What seems trivial at first,developes into an insurmountable obstacle later on.If the Government rushes head-first into this project,underestimating these major stumbling blocks ,it is sure to be hounded by litigations and protest rallies.The tender will remain nothing more than a file on a table and never see the light of day.

For facts and figures about the project,visit the SRA website.

Death and Quotas

Please read this heartbreaking story first.

This is why economic factors must be considered for reservation and not caste,religion or region.
A very brief synopsis of what I fervently believe should be done:

1)Keep the reservation doors open only for the students of those families who do not pay any income tax, ie. ,fall below the lowest income tax slab.This data should be readily available and verified by the income tax department. If this number is too huge , define a separate lower income limit for families,specifically for education. These limits can either be uniform or can be in form of a pyramid, a lower limit (and hence more number of student beneficiaries ) for school education and limit goes on increasing for higher education(as the cost needed for funding go on increasing).
Identifying these groups will help to channelize the funds meant for education in a more effective manner.

2)If this initial criteria is matched,then we can have subdivisions within this on basis of caste,region,sex etc.Within this as well, the selection should be based on merit first.The selection criteria within this can be a bit skewed in favor of the deprived castes if the politicians so desire.It wont raise such a hue and cry as we are seeing now.And nor would we see the demand for inclusion of more castes into the "Backward Caste category" and , hopefully such incidents could be avoided.

A more detailed analysis on the above subject will follow soon.