Lead India, Change India

I last spoke rather disparagingly about the Lead India campaign. Oh no, am not about to retract anything.

RK Misra turned out to be the winner, and to be honest, maybe the TOI got it somewhat right (well, at least better than what I mentioned in that earlier post) in being able to provide a public platform to the deserving chap.

Googling for what he's up to now isn't exactly productive. His dream scheme was to implement a dairy farm (or was it something to do more with cattle?) in his village in UP. Nothing much has been heard about that (probably the legal and accounts departments sorting out the paperwork before the money is disbursed), but he has been vocal on the one thing Bangalore is currently scared of - the new International Airport.

But I digress - here's something that may actually interest you. Mr. Misra has started a site called Change India (www.changeindia.info) where he invites public participation in the implementation of new schemes as well as the suggestion of new schemes. If you suggest a new scheme, he promises that someone will get in touch with you in 30 days. I'm toying with the idea of proposing doing something about the ridiculous traffic etiquette in Bangalore.

But, guess what the lead story on the homepage of Change India is - Bangalore Airport!

More Gandhigiri for Bangalore Traffic

Recently I ranted about Bangalore traffic and the need to plonk offenders up for public 'applause'.

Apparently there's a group of professionals here who had the same rant, but took a more genuine Gandhigiri-type approach. They've set up Smiling Drivers - focused on trying to avoid road rage and encouraging a more friendly driving discipline.

Have a looksee at their stuff. For now they've only got stickers and an Orkut community lamenting Bangalore traffic, but will be interesting to see if the folks can sustain this through.

The Idiot Box Journal

Today was a busy day for prime time TV. I made it back from a hectic office day literally at the very minute Heroes Season 2 kicked off on Star World.

HEROES :
----------
I'd enjoyed most of season 1, till the damp squib of the finale, where, rather predictably, Sylar disappeared mysteriously; rather dramatically, the Petrelli brothers zoomed off to a suicidal sacrifice, Hiro Nakamura zoomed off to ancient Japan; and the rest, rather apparently, were left to pick up the pieces and move on. The start of season 2 picked up the stories of Hiro and his Takezo Kensei, Kaito Nakamura and Ando, Matt Parkman, Claire and Noah Bennet, Dr. Mohinder Suresh and the Petrellis (yeah the brothers survived, would you believe it), while introducing three new potential 'heroes'. Doubtless we'll be hearing more about the other characters from season 1, and be introduced to more new ones.
While the WGA strike has affected completion of season 2, this season was apparently anyway broken down into two parts, and they finished the first part before the strike, er... struck. So hopefully we'll get to follow a full story arc.

Brothers & Sisters
-------------------
Just two sentences - I can't stand Holly Harper. Calista Flockhart can do a good drunk.

House
------
Plot: Take a fistful of diseases, pop them into a young orphaned man, and have his orphaned siblings act all cute and worried. Eh, what's new. Make House's life worse by making him pine for painkillers, and having a mad cop on his tail. Feel sorry for Wilson.

MTV Imported and Non-Stop Hits
-----------------------------------
To keep me company while I work on this blog.

And then it was time to sleep.

Nano or No-no: Inspiration or Botheration

I had actually started out to write a post about how I worried about the Nano causing a quantum jump in traffic. Shashank and I had a very long (and turbulent) conversation where in the end we both agreed (I think!) that getting the Nano out is a great achievement, but couldn't decide on the impact.

He said: That's the government's headache. Don't blame Ratan Tata. Applaud him for now.
She said: But even if the government wanted to do anything now, it will always be behind time.

He's right, of course. I'm only looking for Utopia. I still worry about the state of traffic, but I think what Shashank wanted to say is actually succinctly expressed by CK Prahlad in his article in the Sunday Times on January 13:

"I think this is the wrong starting point for debate. We should ask ourself: What if we devoted the same energy and ingenuity to solving the problems of discipline in traffic management? In energy efficiency? These problems may lead us to breakthrough innovations. But I am glad that the debate has started. That is a good sign. This innovation is serious.

But now, let us celebrate."

More representations of Shashank's views also expressed in this article in the same paper.

So yeah, Nano: Inspiration!