BIAL - the cost of some really silly governance

Much has been said in the papers about this topic (and I really like this blog post, which really sums it up very, very well). I just thought I would list down the points I really find funny, and reflective of the situation that is India:

1. This was supposed to improve Bangalore's infrastructure, and be an answer to the fact that HAL could not handle the traffic. Apparently BIAL decided to work on an estimate of 10 million passengers by 2010 (that too, as an outside estimate).
Er... the catch is, it's only 2008, and it's already 10 million passengers and growing. Meaning BIAL is effectively already undercapacitized. So no goodbyes yet to circling over the airport.

2. Roads - We can all say that the new airport can handle more passengers at a time, but to be able to handle passengers, you need passengers to arrive there first. You also need them to arrive with some time in hand so that the flow is smooth, and you could milk them for additional expenditure on duty frees, cafes, etc.
The thing is, the highest target audience is likely to come from South Bangalore - the city's economic hub. BIAL is diagonally opposite them, and as most newspapers have now reported, reaching BIAL can take you anywhere between 2 - 3 hours. So you can fly out of Bangalore to any national destination in less than 3 hours, but it could take you 3 hours to reach the airport!
(PS: I've driven from Cambridge Layout to Yelahanka, which is before the international airport - that did take over an hour)

3. UDF - BIAL wants to charge a UDF to all domestic and international passengers.
Now, I'm all for the captialist motive and paying for benefits you get, but in this case, what benefits or service would I be paying for? For having spent additional time and money to get to the airport, and then get delayed anyway?
Frankly it sounds like someone did a simple financial math: Balance income needed to break even / No. of estimated users over the next few year s.

4. Magic box hoo-haa - All the rush about improving connectivity has suddenly had the Bangalore authorities trying to minimise traffic load on the main road from the city - Palace Road / Mekhri Circle area. And thus was born the mother of all quick fixes - the Magic Box. Enough has been written about how it took ten times longer than what it was supposed to, but I'm pleasantly surprised that we managed to have an underpass in less than 2 months!
However, I've had the privilege of passing over the Magic Box recently. Thing is, I hardly saw anyone using the underpass! One may argue that at least the 'overpass' area is now signal free, but since you effectively have to do a U turn anyway, there's going to be a near slowdown. Coupled with the fact that there will be many drivers who will cut lanes...

5. Airport Strike - Apparently AAI employees are striking (rather, 'not cooperating'), to demand that the existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports remain functional - apparently, in public interest.
Really! How kind. Of course, you're not worried that your laziness to do quality work may put your job in danger in the capitalist BIAL economy.

6. Know your leader - It's the government's prime responsibility to act in public interest. So if connectivity is not improved, you would think the government would at least find an interim solution. But, they've also signed a agreement for exclusivity, which means that contractually, the government cannot continue with the old airports. Defying the agreement means loss of face.
So, the general public pays the price for what's essentially just a lack of bloody common sense among the leaders they voted for. (Although, am willing to bet that most air travellers hardly vote, and perhaps therein lies another moral.)

... am done now (and it's 3 am. Good night!)

Mad boy, Bad boy: I call you what I will, but you, you mind your words, mate

The Aussie v India contest continues, not just on the cricket field, but mostly off it. Indian television, having nothing much else to deliver, went to town yesterday on Hayden’s radio interview, where he likened Harbhajan Singh to an objectionable and undesirable plant.

I still think they’re trying to make it a bigger issue than it needs to be, but, listen to the radio interview. For one thing, it’s pretty clear that it was pretty much a pre-meditated affair rather than impulsive, but again, it’s not the weed comment that really needs to be looked at.

Here’s an excerpt:

Host 1: Were you charging Harbhajan Singh the other day and calling him 'mad boy' as you were batting?
Hayden: No, 'bad boy'. 'You bad boy'.
Host 1: That's offensive apparently in India?
Look, folks. Either we all are mindful of what’s offensive (or heck, even rude) in each other’s country, or we all just choose to let the other say what they want. Operative word being ‘all’. You can’t have it both ways, mate.

Here’s another:

Host 2: We need to get to the root of the problem and see why they are all so sensitive? What's going on in their lives.

Oh, ha ha. Who started the brouhaha in the first place? Who was being sensitive?

And:

Host 1: Does (Ishant) Sharma come from the same school as Bhajji?
Hayden: Well I think he's just young and as I have said to him many times, mate you're 19, just take it easy. He says, but "I'm playing for my country" (mimics Indian accent).

Of course, Mr. Hayden, you mimicked the accent only out of sheer deference towards international relations.

Aussies have been known for sledging for ages. Maybe it’s just a case of opposing teams now pushing back, indicating ‘enough’. And that’s new to the Aussies?

Footnote:

Hayden has since been charged by Cricket Australia (with some prodding from the Indian Board) for indulging in ‘public denigration of other players against whom they have or will play’ and was issued a reprimand. Indian TV channels will probably disagree, but that’s probably a fair result – a reprimand.

The interesting bit, though, is that Hayden is ‘disappointed’ to be found guilty. "I maintain my innocence, my intentions were never to denigrate cricket or anyone," he said. "But in the spirit of cricket I respect and accept the decision." Gee, thanks, meh.

Lead India, Bollywood

As we celebrated our 60th year of Independence last year, most media channels and papers flouted the great history gone by and other blah. Tsk. Seen that the previous year. And the year before that, and before that....

But the Times of India did manage to come up with a new one - the Lead India initiative. Lead India played on the prevailing sentiment of the urban educated populace that ‘‘Good people don’t want to join politics" and set out to look for the one potential leader who could act as a change agent. The winner would get a lump sum amount of cash to be able to implement their dream project, as also widespread promotion across the newspaper and TV that would act as a springboard to public life.

They received a lot of applications. Initial public reception was also promising. After various interviews, discussions, debates, they came up with 8 city-level winners, who would then slog it out on national television. These eight came from various fields - lawyers, ex-venture capitalists, ex-CEO, civil services, etc., all who have been working towards some form of social or infrastructural upliftment. You'd think it would require more intellectual folks to be able to grill these contestants to find the winner.

Yeah, the Times of India found the intellectual, intelligent jury members to put the contestants to test. They found them in Bollywood.

Yes, India's favourite mind-numbing profession provides majority of the judges. It's generally belittling the whole point of it, but more importantly, my heart goes out to the contestants who are made to answer to these folks!

A sampling of the questions contestants have been quizzed on can be found in these excerpts from the Lead India site:

"...The jury was in its element in the ‘bluff round’. Each finalist picked a judge, from whom Kher asked a question. The judge would provide an answer, after which the finalist had to guess whether it was correct or a bluff. Abha Singh thought she had a sitter when Kher asked Javed Akhtar what was the only category for which Sholay won a Filmfare award. “Best dialogue,” he replied. Singh agreed. It turned out the answer was Best Editing! “We (Salim-Javed) did win Best Dialogue that year, but for Deewar,” explained Akhtar..."

"...The audio-visual round was next. One of the visual clips was from the popular Sanjay-Dutt Hrithik Roshan starrer Mission Kashmir. “I suppose you think I’ll ask you the name of the movie,” chortled Kher to Delhi’s Sanjiv Kaura. “But tell me, who played Sanjay Dutt’s wife in the movie?” “I didn’t even know the name of the movie,” admitted Kaura..."

These were from the 'first competitive episode'. Great way to start - we can't have folks who know squat about Bollywood running our country!

Talk about poor finishing.

The attack of the shop-person

So, how familiar is this scenario:

You walk into a deparment store, hoping to browse through all their stuff, leisurely try out the various stuff they have on display, find that one thing that really gets your fancy, and walk out having made that perfect purchase.

But, what's this? Suddenly you find yourself hurrying just that little bit, suddenly you feel something boring into the back of your head. Suddenly you feel pressure.

And then you realise, there's a shop person on your tail. Trailing you every step you take. Literally.

GRRR!

Am sure there are some guidelines somewhere on the right etiquette for shop-persons. Tailing prospective customers within less than an arm's length is just not cricket.

Bangalore Auto Strike - Wanted: higher tariffs for higher fleecing

So Bangalore autowallahs want to go on a strike in demand for a higher tariff.

Now, they may have a reasonable point in that they get only Rs 6/km in a city where fuel prices are the highest, whereas autowallahs in Mumbai earn Rs 9/km.

However, where Mumbai autowallahs are industrious and earn their livelihood by taking you anywhere, near or far, their Bangalore counterparts are very... well, to put it politely, 'picky'. To start with, they must need to feel like taking passengers, and then, you have to want to go to the same area they happen to be headed towards, and the destination must be at least 10 kms away. And that's not enough, once you meet these two criteria, it is but obvious that you need to pay either a fixed premium, or a 50 - 100% premium over the meter tariff (the accuracy of which is anyway doubtful).

So commuters are anyway paying a very high premium to start with, and metered tariffs are non-existent. So, if these demands are to be met, can they also counter-agree that they will offer full service? That they will take commuters anywhere, near or far? BY METER? Or will we just see increased tariffs being the excuse for higher premiums (read: higher fleecing?)

Bangalore Traffic needs some Gandhigiri

With two wheelers thinking they have the right to the pavements over pedestrians, buses thinking they can change lanes at will, cars honking in bumper to bumper traffic (really guys, what do you achieve with that?!), it's sad to see the rapid degeneration of basic manners.

These folks quite frankly deserve a thrashing, but I suspect that will throw up no results.

I'd rather they were rounded up and displayed in a public forum for a 'mock applause'!

Sydney Test brouhaha - really, Mr. Waugh

So a lot of people are up in arms about the Sydney Test (for those who actually haven't heard about it, here you go). Now I won't really add to the stuff already said, but, I chanced upon this article, where Mr. Waugh goes:

"Teams playing against Australia fail to understand that banter, gamesmanship, sledging or whatever anyone would like to call it is just the way Australian kids joust and play in the schoolyard and backyards."

So what does this say: Whatever they do unto others, is 'just the way they joust and play', it's 'their culture'. But whatever gets done unto them, is black-and-white racism???

There is no denying that racism needs to be dealt with severely. There is also perhaps no denying that something must have been said - if not in the Sydney Test, then at least by the spectators in Mumbai. Has someone taken a moment to think about whether the comments were actually racially inspired or 'just a joust and play'?