Jnana - pure knowledge

One day while returning home after College, I saw a man lying before my neighbor’s compound. Some drunkard who had too much, I thought. But the man lying there did not look like a rogue. His dress suggested that he is a gentleman. Upon reaching home, I learnt that he was there from morning.

What shocked me was the apathy of my neighborhood community. When someone is found before your house, how can someone turn a blind-eye? Maybe people do not want to involve in all these but someone could inform the ambulance or the police. People made it a point to crowd around him speculating the reasons but they did not bother to help him.

When police arrived on scene, it was probably late. The person was gasping for breath. The point that he is down with excessive drinking was ruled out since there were no such signs. Clearly the man would have drowned due to some illness. If he had died, it was just because of people’s negligence.

This lack of sensitivity among people is a very disturbing trend. When humans lose this minimal courtesy, it is a sure sign of unhealthy society. People who stand mum at such situations surely will condemn the terrorist attacks. They fail to understand that their insensitiveness is nothing short of terrorist’s cold heart.

This incident rushed backed to my memory when I saw the responses to the IISc attack. The media, as usual, was busy enquiring everyone about the incident. The papers ran page long stories about security, warnings and terrorists etc. Bangalore has suddenly become “unsafe” city.

When some murder becomes headlines, there will be a bee-line of VIP’s to the place. Compensation packages are announced, quick reaction is seen and after few days things get back to normal. We saw that happening during BPO employee’s murder. Now the same act is being repeated.

People are at best condemning the attack and asking for more security. With the increase in such acts, there is no real hope that the city police will be in a position to provide fool proof security to all. In such situations, the people at large have a responsibility. But are we ready?

When we are so cold blooded to neglect the person lying in our doorstep, can we resist a terrorist attack? At best we may stand as mute spectators for the event. We cannot be expected to help the injured or cooperate with police. Come on, we are all gentlemen, do you expect us to get involved in such mess?

If there is something crueler than the terrorist attacks, it is this nature of humans. We are becoming so involved in our own small worlds, that some ideals have become empty words to us. We forget that the same may happen to us anytime. And in that time, we cannot expect a better treatment from people. Even we may die at someone’s doorstep.

Akash is a student who is working hard for his class 10 exams. He is preparing like any hard working student. His other passions like cricket and music has taken a back seat these days. His whole family is supporting him in their own ways. He comes from a middle class family who value education a lot.

Vinay is his neighbor and classmate. He also comes from the same social strata as that of Akash. But Vinay is not that serious with his studies. Vinay’s mother constantly tells him to score more than Akash. She wants her son to be the best in everything regardless of the means he takes to achieve that.

After writing the Science paper, Akash comes home dejected. He locks his room from inside and does not come out for long. His mother tries to persuade him to open the door. But he does not relent. On forcefully opening the door later, he is found hanging. One more innocent life is cut short.

The reason for this suicide was quite strange. Akash found that his friend and neighbor Vinay had received the question paper ahead of the exams. When he learnt that it was Vinay’s mother who helped her son to get the papers, Akash was completely broken. He felt that his effort and hard work does not have any meaning.

This is not a scene from fiction. This is a real incident that happened before few years. What made this incident interesting was the behavior of Vinay’s mother. She was so non-apologetic about her act. In fact she defended herself by saying everyone involves in this kind of thing. She in turn blamed Akash for not being practical.

This episode poses some critical questions at the present day system. Often labeled as the competitive age, these days’ children are pushed into unhealthy mindset by parents themselves. The question of morality and righteousness is unfortunately missing from our dictionary. Stories of students losing lives after exams are heard more often.

To tell young people not to worry about the scores is not easy. They see that the world has no place for losers. In a desperate attempt to gain marks, they often take unethical means. What is shocking is the endorsements parents give to these acts of their children.

The parents at large are considered to the moral guides of children. If they start encouraging their wards to carry out such immoral acts, then there can be no hope. It is not the first time that the moral leaders are failing in their acts. Forget parents, some teachers are also actively involved in such things.

It has now become a routine to see teachers helping their students to score well, so that their school gets a good name. Some teachers go so far that they themselves give the question paper to their students who come to them for tuitions. The corruption in education system, if not plugged, can put the nation in dark.

If question papers are sold for money before exams, what is the point in having schools and exams? What answer can we give to students like Akash who feel their efforts are meaningless? Can we be contended that we are in right path? Is it not our duty to take others along with us in this journey? What are we doing in this regard?

What would you do if your TV is not working? There are multiple options available. You can either take the TV to the neighborhood guy who is trained to repair all the minor glitches. Or you can take it to the authorized service station where complicated repairs are undertaken.

This procedure is followed for all electronic items in our household. Also some what similar corrective procedures are available for other items like furniture, automobiles etc. Even kerosene stoves, slippers and humble cycles have places where the problems could be solved.

Take one more case. Here you are using software and suddenly you find that there is a flaw. Whom do you complain to? Can you complain in the first place? Is there anything similar to cycle shop where you can go and get your software repaired? Or is there a service station for software anywhere in the world?

Strangely, this aspect of software is neglected from its initial days. It may have worked in the days where software was used by a handful of people for a specific purpose. But even now when software is mass marketed, this crucial component is missing from the whole scene.

May be companies are contended by providing patches to software. But the point is only few people are aware about installing these patches. The companies may run help centers but how many people are aware about that? And some local, upcoming companies rarely bother about this issue.

The repercussions of this development can be found everywhere. Imagine what we do when a switch at home does not work. If there is an electrical engineer around, the people naturally ask him to look at the problem. And most of the times he will be competent to solve it.

The same is expected from software engineers. People expect us to solve their entire problem regarding software. But unfortunately, we are not equipped to address these issues. The very nature of software does not permit anyone to look into it, leave alone solving the problem.

This issue may create some funny moments in real life but they also pose some serious questions. Forget the public perception about the incompetence of software engineers, what about the frustration of people like us? Most of the custom made software we use everyday poses problems which we can solve easily.

The common mistakes include the incorrect entry in the database which can be changed easily. Since we do not have the access to source code, even such minimum corrections cannot be undertaken. This inability to repair the software even though one is competent makes one frustrated.

When people are forced to use the software even after they find the errors in it, they feel let down. They tend to hate the technology in general. The solution for this problem lies in using more open source software. That’s when you can repair the glitches in software, as you do with your TV.

Do you plan to buy a pair of slippers to use at home? Can you think beyond the “Hawai” brand from Bata? Do you know any alternative for “fevicol”? In fact the brand called fevicol has become synonym for adhesive. Take the steel wardrobe market. Does anyone refer to them so? No, they say “Godrej”.

Some brands become so popular that they dominate their segment like none other. These “superbrands” present some interesting stories to analyze. They also pose some questions about the survival of alternatives. Their market share will be so huge that it becomes impossible for a competitor to have a break-through.

But in generic product segment (FMCG) alternatives are available. LIC may the market leader in insurance, but there are dozens of other players also. Toothpaste, toilet soaps, detergents, footwear, apparels, and food products – all have superbrands. But across all these areas, there are multiple choices.

This choice is very crucial for the customer. If there are alternatives, the market will be balanced. With choices, comes the power of bargaining. The customer need not ask for it, but the market forces will assure the best deal for the customer. The recent developments in the Indian telecom market are an example for this.

In good old days, everyone here was contended with the monthly free calls allotted by BSNL. Also the reduced tariffs during Sundays and festival season was considered as boon. The situation drastically changed with the entry of multiple players. Today the Indian customer is showered with goodies which he never dreamed.

The point here is very simple. There is nothing wrong in having superbrands. But they should not rise to that position because they are no alternative. A brand should become superbrand amidst tough competition from many sides. Then the credibility of that brand remains high.

The position of being superbrand provides many advantages. They can determine the course of market. But with that also comes the responsibility of giving the best to the customer. With the absence of any competition, the superbrands tend to take things for granted. They just become a dominant boss in the market.

Such long discussion on the issue of superbrands was made with a reason. In computer industry there are some superbrands. Microsoft and Intel – have become so synonymous with Computer that most of the junta cannot think beyond them. It is clear that their position is thanks to absence of alternatives.

To say that Linux and AMD provide genuine alternative to WIN –TEL is just a joke. There are recorded stories of how MS clears its opponents using unethical strategies. They have grown to such levels that providing a competition becomes impossible. Their position gives them the power to crush the alternatives.

Time has witnessed the rise and fall of superbrands. IBM which was once a giant force, is no more. Several superbrands like torino, dixi-cola, promise, rajdoot bikes no more exists. Will the same happen to MS & Intel someday? Well, not in near future. But let’s hope that there comes some genuine alternative for these things.

The new amendment to the constitution which allows reservations in private non-minority institutes was passed in Parliament yesterday with thumping majority. The ultimate winner in this recent gamble seems to the politics rather than the ideology of uplifting the downtrodden.

The private professional colleges in India were considered to be business houses not long ago. People could purchase a seat here by paying a hefty price. The stories of worthy candidates failing to get a seat because they could not afford were heard. But the situation has changed now.

The regularization of admission process has played an important role in this direction. It was the CET system in Karnataka which heralded such a change. The success should be attributed to centralized and transparent system. The reservation policy plays a minor role.

This is not to argue that the reservation policy is not of much use. On paper the policy looks great. The theory of social justice and all are important. But there is huge difference between theory and practice. In this case, though the policy is great, the implementation is flawed.

Over the years a handful of people have been utilizing all the comforts provided by the reservation policies. They have in turn betrayed their own brethren. A section of people have joined colleges, then got into jobs, got promoted over others – all just because they are born in certain caste.

One of the biggest failures of independent India is this wrong romance with reservation. This experiment which was supposed to last only a few years has survived more than 4 decades. More shocking is that there are no signs of this failed experiment being stopped.

The recent Supreme Court judgment carried some real hope. By ruling that there is no place for reservation in private un-aided colleges, it had ushered a new era. But with the Parliament passing an amendment, this hope has died. The country does not seem to be in a mood to move ahead.

The proponents of reservation policy term the opposition to this scheme as a sign of dominance. But what they fail to understand is that reservation seems to do more harm than good. There are stories abound on how worthy students are denied seats just because there is no reservation for them.

What is urgently needed is a transparent and effective admission procedure. Such a system should not distinguish between students on the basis of their caste. Reservation, as it stands today is a curse on our secular credentials. How can the state dictate admission to certain people on the basis of caste when it is bound by the secular aura of constitution?

The present amendment is not a victory for social justice. It is a hindrance for growth. When the education system in India is facing universal competition, thanks to globalization, such attempts trouble the growth of institutes. It is unfortunate that our politicians do not understand this simple fact.

So, is the matter closed? Can we be contended that Charles Darwin was right when he said that we grew from being apes? The famed court clash between the evolutionalists and proponents of intelligent design (ID) has ended. The court has decided that there is no place for ID theory in class rooms.

Well that was USA for you; A country where such issues can be raised and solved in courtrooms. But what if the same happened in India? Good speculation, but the implications would mainly be political more than anything. Politicians would use this as another opportunity to seize more votes.

How did humans emerge? - is the question which begs to be answered from a long time. Every religion, sect, culture has tried to explain this phenomenon in its own way. For science, this has been an ongoing speculation. Many theories were proposed only to be rejected later.

Today evolution along with big-bang is the widely accepted scientific theory, which can together explain the origin of life in this earth. But it should be noted that this theory was not accepted straightway. Even in USA, it was only in 1968 that the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the teaching of evolution.

There has always been an opposition for evolution theory. This theory blew a death blow to the age old beliefs that were immortalized through scriptures. But it should also be accepted that this evolution theory is not that compete in explaining the issue it addressed.

But the point of contention is not whether a particular theory is right or wrong. The point is which theory the students should learn in classrooms. People seem to forget that there is always an option to learn things outside the classrooms also. In this information age, textbooks are not the epitome of knowledge.

The fight seems to be more political, where each group wanting to score a point over other. This may be a fuelled by a public opinion pool which said more people in USA believe in ID theory rather than evolution theory. But majority stamping does not grant the scientific validity to any theory.

In India, we have balanced these things in an appreciable way. Here the guys study evolution and all in classrooms. But they are intelligent enough to forget that once they are out from school. Our age old belief that learning in schools is only for examination seems to pay off now.

Once they are at home, they are fed with stories from mythology where there are conflicting accounts about the origin of earth. But as good students, they do not question and they keep accepting all theories. In India, the greatest achievement of our education system is this. We have made our students accept contradicting theories with ease.

There was one Dr. Abraham Kavoor, who left his teaching career because he felt he could not teach the incident of Jesus’ birth to his students in a proper way. He went on to become one of the greatest rationalists. What we need today is not the court cases, but teachers who have this kind of conviction.

The all time super hit Kannada movie “Kasturi Nivasa” has a good tale on brand loyalty. In that movie Dr. Rajkumar owns a match factory under the brand name “Dove”. In its heydays, it is used by all its employees. But when his friend turned competitor launches “Eagle” brand matches, it is shown to be used by the same people.

In one shot, the directors captured the losing market share of “Dove” matchsticks. But that scene has propelled a powerful question, which is the subject for today. What is brand loyalty and how to define it? More importantly, should the employees be using the same product for which they work for?

Let us consider the first issue. The topic of brand loyalty may be a semester long subject for management students. But as it happens most of the times, management education cannot be complete in classroom. It is better learnt by observation and analysis.

Most of the junta may not hear the term loyalty but they are practicing it for years. Some brands have been in public memory for so long that they cannot think of alternatives. When they go out to buy, say soap, and if they cannot remember anything, but one name, that is the success of that brand.

People are not consciously drawn into using a brand for long. They are made to think about a particular product constantly so that they forget the alternatives. Companies achieve this brand-recall simply by exposing their product more than anyone. Promotional campaigns play critical role here.

If a product has to remain long in public memory, this aspect of promotion is very important. Some products have achieved cult status only because of their campaigns. The trade mark jingle or a constant message definitely goes a long way in achieving the brand loyalty.

When the history of marketing in India is written, two products will find a elevated place in that. One is toilet soap “Lifebuoy” and other is the detergent powder “Nirma”. Both of these products have achieved what others can only dream. They have withstood the test of time.

The story of Lifebuoy is a legend. Introduced here in 1895, this soap has captured the people’s heart and thus the market with remarkable success. Considering the fact that there are more than 300 sops in India, the market leader’s consistent performance is just impressive.

Nirma, on a contrary, is a classic story of no-man capturing market with only quality to back him. The success of Nirma is today a case study in all major business schools. The father of this brand today has diversified into education and has created amazing technical institutes.

Both of these brands changed over times but something remained common. Their signature tunes in ads have not changed. In fact it can be argued that this is also a major reason for their sustained success. In these two different stories we find a common lesson of creating brand value which can be translated into increased market share.

Which brand can boast of 100% rise in 3 years? Not many. But here is one which grew from Rs. 3 billion to Rs. 6 Billion in flat 3 years. Yes, it was not typing mistake. The brand is today indeed worth more than 6 BILLION. Move over IT companies, here is one brand which is worth more than top 3 IT companies put together.

This brand was launched in 1978 and is the undisputed leader in its segment. It has more than 40% of market share. This is five times bigger than its nearest competitor. It is the largest selling product in its category not only in India, but throughout the world.

No, you are not reading the promotional campaign. The brand in question here is “Fair & Lovely”. A Brand which has touched the right chord among the womenfolk so much that it has grown into a mammoth brand. This fairness cream has been creating records in all possible areas.

Here we are not interested in applauding the success of F&L. Such detailed study of this brand was undertaken because there was a need to understand the reason behind its success. The simple reason that people want to look beautiful alone may not be the sole reason for its success.

It may not be the case that F&L was the first product that marketed the idea of being beautiful by becoming fair. There must have been such a psychology of equating beauty with fairness. What F&L did was just to fill the void in terms of a cream that guaranteed fairness and thus the beauty.

Is this wrong? The point of selling a cream is definitely not wrong. But the techniques used to promote that seem to be wrong. Traditionally some brands have used a particular story line to promote their brand. Similarly F&L has been using the upliftment of women as its storyline.

The term “upliftment” should not be understood in general context. In their view, a female becomes complete when she is accepted by a male for marriage. For a long period, F&L used this as its USP. It was telling us that all girls who were dark skinned were rejected by guys. To improve their prospects, they had to use F&L.

Now they have changed a bit. Maybe the opposition from feminists must have forced them to do so. Now they tell us that a woman becomes confident because she is fair. And she became fare because she started using their cream. Previously neglected shades of professional women are now being highlighted.

But can we remain contended by this? definitely no. Because they have still not stopped equating beauty with fairness. There are legal options waiting to be explored. Sec 17(c) of “The drugs & cosmetics act” reads “if the container or label accompanying the cosmetic bears anything which is false or misleading” it is considered as misbranded product and can be prohibited from manufacture and sale.

We have been witnessing the campaign of F&L from so many years that it brings fairness and thus beauty. Now this claim is without any research backing. So will someone wake up and invoke the above mentioned legislation against them? May be, not yet. While ladies are anyways busy with F&L, guys are also kept occupied with a new product “Fair & Handsome”!!

“Who says Elephants can’t dance” - is the title of a book written by Gerstner. Here we find a personal account of a person who was behind the historic turnaround of a giant company IBM. In some sense, the rise and fall of IBM is one of the most amazing stories of our time.

The monopoly of IBM in earlier times, the confidence it had over its hardware strengths, the mistake (??) it did by allowing Microsoft to license the OS, the rise of software industry, the failed attempts to launch its own integrated OS and now the ultimate tragedy where it had to sell its hardware division – all make up for an excellent case study.

The point here is not to discuss the rise and fall of IBM. The issue is the survival of mammoth organizations in this global economy. In IBM’s story we can find a lesson regarding this. We can clearly find that the organizations which are not flexible have no place here.

Elephants need to dance; and dance to rhythm. If their dance is not in sync with the music of the market, they fall. And losers do not have a place in the act here. They have to dance and match the skills of slimmer deer and cheetah. But the question is - will the Indian elephants dance?

With the arrival of foreign professional institutes round the corner, have the Indian technical institutes sensed the danger? Seeing the situation around, it does not seem so. The Engineering colleges are still grappling with their own problems. They are not yet making attempts to stand up, leave alone dance.

Protocols, bureaucracy and petty politics still rule the corridors of colleges. It is very rare to see an institute which is truly focused about achieving excellence in education or research. Uninspired teachers, bland students and mindless managements – form the dooming triangle of most colleges here.

Change – is the important word missing in their dictionary. In the name of tradition and culture, change is buried deep down. The teaching and learning methods, evaluation system and syllabus schemes all have remained untouched for years. Most importantly, the mindset refuses to change.

The modern teaching techniques are at best dismissed as fancy. Innovation in evaluation is termed sloppy and open-mindedness is termed as lack of discipline. Not one among the stake holders bother to see the winds of change already blowing atop their heads with high speed.

If professional institutes have to survive in these troubling times, they have to change. And more than demolishing the older buildings and building new ones, they have to focus on changing mindsets. This is tougher than raising new age class rooms complete with smart boards.

Will Indian elephants dance? This may not be a million dollar question. But this is a crucial question for the future of India. No country has ever progressed without a sound educational system. If India wants to surge ahead in modern economy, the elephant called education system has to dance; that too professionally!

How many people get killed in India, particularly in Bangalore, daily? The cold statistics may be available with Police department. But how many murders make it to front pages of newspapers daily? It may be very rare. The murder of a call centre employee becomes important from this aspect.

It must be recalled that Bangalore opened itself to this call center culture quite recently. Today it has been accepted widely in the society. No more do you find relatives gossiping about someone in the family being employed in this “night shift” thing. The city in general is ok with these nocturnal people.

Though it is claimed that night shifts were nothing new, there was something different in this industry. Though it pays, most of the employees themselves are in low esteem. The techies, mainly, want this only this as a stop-gap arrangement. They are constantly looking forward for “real job”.

The point which drives all of them into this job is the money it offers. Forget all those hyped incentives, college like workplace, the cool attitude of the crowd – it is just money which is driving this industry. The added attraction is the fact that qualification no longer matters.

The real implications of these developments are being seen only now. In its primitive stage, there was certain amount of reluctance. Now that the society is open to this idea, there can be a negative side for this. The guys can take academics for granted because they are guaranteed a job in these places!

There has been enough curiosity from all people regarding this industry. There has been detailed research on the different practices such as having pseudo-names, talking in foreign accent and promotion of western culture. The industry is still fighting the allegation against it that it is responsible for erosion of values.

Coming at these times, the murder of one of its employees definitely is a jolt from blue. Though the industry may be legally insulated, it has to answer many questions. Many skeptics are of an opinion that such an incident was waiting to happen. The industry stands accused in people’s mind.

One noticeable point in the entire episode was the reaction of the media. TV channels went over the board anyway, but the print media was also not behind. Even today The Hindu has devoted an entire page for this news! This news has surpassed many important events like Chennai stampede, WTO talks etc in terms of coverage.

But it is unlikely that there will be any sea changes in the industry as projected by media. A few days later, when the heat boils down, it will be business as usual. There is no reason to believe that the industry will slow down. There may just be a small set back that too temporarily.

The industry as a whole need not be blamed for the incident. And people should not use this incident to showcase the weakness of the industry. They should remember that this could happen to anyone. For every Pratiba who was murdered, there are lakhs of women who are safe.

Have there been instances where the cinema halls had to be re-furnished for the screening of a particular movie. There may not be. But people, the time has come for such a change. The seats in the theatre screening the movie “Rama Shama Bhama” should be fastened.

Here is a comedy which literally makes you ROTFL. Every single soul coming out of theatre will swear to not watch this film again. Why? Because he cannot go through the laughter exercise again which is quite hard on stomach and legs. Legs, because the seats in the front keep banging to you, since the person there cannot control the laughter!!

There may be a few moments in the history of Kannada cinema which can be labeled “golden period’”. Certainly the past few months in Kannada cinema does qualify for this coveted post. There has been a sudden influx of good cinemas here. This blog itself is witnessing its third Kannada movie review in as many months!

What makes Kannada industry different these days is the sheer variety it is offering. The usual sign of people trying to redo the working formula is not being practiced anymore. They are experimenting on different themes and what amazing pictures are they offering us. It is really good time for audiences.

“Rama Shama Bhama” was a difficult subject in the first place. The audience were already treated with the Tamil and Hindi version of this laugh riot. And there are many films inspired by this theme of infidelity. In fact, the Hindi industry is today witnessing a bunch of such films.

But it goes to the credit of Ramesh to select such a common subject and treat it really in a different manner. More than anything, the treatment was contemporary. The performance of the main characters was nothing short of spectacular. There was no dull moment in entire movie.

The movie would be so different if there was no Kamal Hassan. This guy is just amazing in this movie. One should start wondering what this guy is really capable of. He has done probably all kinds of characters and still continues to hit sixes in every ball! Really he is an actor par excellence.

In “Rama Shama Bhama”, he delivers another spectacular performance. The punch line of his character “Munda….”(what next?) is delivered to such perfection that it definitely leaves a lasting impression on audiences. Considering he has only speak broken Kannada, it is commendable that he has got North Karnataka dialect so well.

While comedy is the forte of the movie, there are some other positives. There are only two songs in the movie but they are really of high quality. In fact the freshness of the first song is too good. The kind of technical brilliance Ramesh has displayed in that song is never seen in recent history of Kannada cinema.

“Rama Shama Bhama” stands out as a classy comedy though it deals with tricky topic. In times where family comedy is being re-defined, this movie reiterates that old formulas do work. The victory of this movie is very important. In that lies the victory of good comedy and good taste of Kannada audience.

In a unique attempt “Indian Express” started a new series titled “India empowered”. Here people from various walks of life were asked to give their opinion on ways to make India a truly empowered nation. Here is an attempt to analyze a specific opinion put forward in that series.

The series started fittingly with a piece by Dr. Abdul Kalam. Always a profound preacher of propagating technology, he rightly set the mood by emphasizing the need to create knowledge villages. In fact people like Sam Pitroda and Kapil Sibal further emphasized on this important point.

The surprise package among promoters of technology was Shammi Kapoor. The “original yahoo guy” pitched for the need of Internet & Computers at all levels. Coming from relatively older bollywood star, this was a real surprise. But the point he made was unmistakable.

Though several IT moguls did not discuss this issue in detail (eg: Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilenkani, Azim Premiji etc), this issue of using technology to achieve social goods needs to be analyzed. In the time where technology is becoming all-pervasive, we can no neglect this.

This aspect of using technology at grass-root levels to promote open-governance and higher accountability is practiced in few pockets of India. The attempts by MSSF and ITC Chowpal are really significant in this direction. Not to forget the “Hole in the wall” experiment of NIIT.

But somehow the discussion of technology is always limited to the use of IT. The public in rural areas in general need much more than IT. The technical solutions should span beyond IT to give them an all-round solution to their every day problems.

Most of the highly publicized use of IT in rural areas comes in the form of establishing “information kiosk” for farmers. The whole experiment of ITC e-chowpal is based on this concept. Even MSSF and Amrita University has done similar experiments. But the success of such experiments is not known.

The major hindrance in implementing such solutions in rural areas is shortage of power supply, lack of internet connectivity and importantly, the rampant illiteracy. Before venturing into any fancy solutions, we should be thinking on ways to put the basic infrastructure in place.

This is where Dr. Kalam has thought immensely. He has understood the dynamics of technical appliance more than any political leader. So he always lays enough emphasis on these issues. In fact in every talk on these matters, he never forgets to mention the importance of having good physical infrastructure in rural areas.

Computing as a resource comes cheap these days. But it will stand useless until it is backed by good power supply and good broadband connection. Only then we can witness the true power of technology. Technology in itself is useless unless it is backed by a great willpower and guided by powerful vision.

A young man is busy waiting for bus to reach his work. Suddenly a girl walks up to him and starts asking him why he ditched her. The guy is caught on the wrong foot. Some people join the crowd and are trying to solve the problem. One among them takes the young guy to task.

A villager is trying to persuade a pharmacist to keep his bag in the pharmacy. The villager supposedly has to attend other work and the pharmacist agrees to play the role of care-taker for his bag. Soon after, a policeman arrives in his shop and searches for the bag. The bag is found to have narcotic material.

Would you like to be in such situations? No, you may say. But scores of people undergo these traumas these days. They come in attractive packages called “Bakra shows”. Every channel has something of this kind. The amount of harassment public undergoes due to this goes unnoticed.

It probably goes to the credit of Cyrus of MTV for popularizing this Bakra concept. Certain western channels also have such a program. Such a program in POGO is more dignified, at least they do not annoy the people. The MTV program also most of the times take a gag at people. But it is tolerable.

But the programs which are trying to emulate these ideas in regional channels are not tolerable any more. They have actors/anchors who are at best can be described psychic. These creatures, who act as if they are straight out from mental asylums, harass people to the maximum.

To laugh at someone’s cost is not a good brand of comedy. We cannot keep laughing when we see some Good Samaritan being harassed for nothing. For one, this concept is repeated by these guys every day. They seem to be in no mood to come out of this brand of comedy.

These guys should be told to stop this nonsense. They should instead try concepts where no one is hurt. What they are showing is below the minimum human dignity. They should not put guys who are good hearted into trouble. Most of their so called gags are of these kinds.

To illustrate my point, let me give one more example. This particular episode was shown very recently. There a group of actors tried to stop vehicles in a lonely highway. They asked the person in car to help them carry their luggage. The guy, being a kind hearted person agreed.

The “luggage” turns out to be a dead body. What was shocking was that, the person appeared to be murdered. Now what is the mistake of the person if he denies carrying the “luggage”? Nothing, right. But these guys kept insisting that he has to agree to their demand. And we are supposed to laugh at that poor guy.

The matured audience at once should demand the makers of this program to stop. They have no right to harass people and then take excuse in the name of comedy. Perhaps they have to be given a good dose of classical comedy. Moreover, we have enough of these comedies through crime serials which precede these bakra shows!

How can we transform the dynamism of young students into better coding? Teachers all over the world are trying to crack this puzzle for long. From years colleges have tried many ways to motivate the students to learn coding. The emerging best often have contributed lot to the world.

Enter Microsoft- the company known more for unusual profit-maximization techniques. It is searching for best talent in India. Well, nothing wrong till here. From Google to Sun, every major IT company of the world runs such contests. But the latest by Microsoft is unique.

Unique – yes, that is the word. Usually the student contests offers huge cash prizes. But any die-hard coder will tell that the rush of programming is what drives him more than the cash. But none till today offered the kind of “prizes” Microsoft is offering. It is this aspect of this contest which makes it unique.

“An opportunity to work in Bill Gates technical assistant team” – this is the mega prize in this event. Microsoft seems to think that this will be a great motivator for coders in India. The contest tries to find the best talent in India. But is this what the best coder in India expects?

Best coder from India as technical assistant to Gates? And that’s it? This is not a fair game. The guy certainly deserves more than assisting Gates. Probably he can start his own setup and challenge Gates. If he has business acumen like Gates, he can reach higher planes.

This is the problem with all these companies. They are ready to milk the benefits from the system but do not care to feed it. Instead of spending millions of dollars in such meaningless exercise, they can fund research projects in Universities. That will really help the society in longer run.

Talking about the visit of Gates, the whole episode was blown out of proportion. There was no necessity for media to go gaga over his visit. Everyone was keen to know how much he is investing here. More than his philanthropy, it was the investment in his company that was looked out for.

State after state was showering freebies on his company. It is really sad that Karnataka Government promised land and free power to the company. This is not first such instance in recent times. The state made same offer to AMD. Tamilnadu Government responded with more offers and Gates seems to be inclined towards them.

When Infosys got itself into controversy regarding land prices recently, there was a shout that IT companies should not be given these freebies. But those voices were conspicuously absent when Government was making open offers to AMD and Microsoft.

It is well known that Microsoft has not made significant investment in India. Whatever may be the reason for this, Gates cannot neglect the talent here. But the strategy they have chosen – like the code4bill contest – does not serve any purpose. The best coder in India need not code for Gates; he definitely has better options.

Bunty is busy looking at the source code. He has to finish his coding by today. He has a release a day later. When his mind is mapping the logic behind the codes, a screen suddenly pops up – “This software is sponsored by …..” The same screen which he saw earlier when tried to copy contents using “Cntrl+C”.

Advertising is nothing new. We are used to it in print media, TV and even in Internet. While watching an interesting scene, it is common that a commercial break creeps in from no-where. In fact we look forward for these breaks these days so that we can switch to another channel or catch a quick bite.

In Internet too, ads are all prevalent. Though it is annoying most of the times, it is unavoidable. Banner ads are ok but pop-ups are real irritation. Fortunately we have browsers (except IE) which can block such pop-up screens. Services like Google and Yahoo depend on this heavily for their survival.

But till today we are spared with ads in software. We have not still seen some ad popping out suddenly when we press a shortcut key or open an application. There are no instances of companies placing banner ads in software. Yes, some of these are there in freeware or trial version.

Bill Gates, when appeared in NDTV was commenting about the revenue model of Google. Whatever people may think, but Google has proved that free service backed by relevant ads works. Many had tried this before (Eg: Amazon) but none were successful like Google.

There are differences in the kind of services Microsoft and Google provide. But then we cannot either ignore the success of Google. It has proved that giving away services free indeed works. So will Microsoft take a leaf out of Google’s success story? Will it think about giving software free?

Maybe not; but given the popularity of Linux and FSF, there is some hope. There is every reason to believe that Microsoft has to cope up with the growing threat posed by FSF. Linux may never replace Windows in user market but if Microsoft continues to ignore this development, it may end up being another IBM.

So is co-branding and ads the future of software? If Linux continues to capture market at a faster pace, then others may be forced to think in this direction. We have to understand that a company like Microsoft needs a stable revenue model. If sales keep dropping, it has to think about alternatives.

Comparing the TV market with software throws some interesting observations. In TV, the content is free, so in Internet. Only the premium content is charged. The same is followed by FSF. You can get the basic kernel free, but you have to pay for add-ons. The future of software may be just this.

When everything from players dresses to mega events are sponsored, there is every reason to believe that software, someday, will also be sponsored. This may turn out to be a win-win situation for both parties. The company which spends money on ads gets recognition and Software Company gets guaranteed revenue.

The amount of controversy Volker report has generated in Indian politics is nothing new. With Natwar Singh resigning, there is no hope that the drama will come to an end. The opposition is insisting on next casualty in the form of resignation of Sonia Gandhi. No one seems to gain anything from this blame game.

Somehow in India, we equate resignation with attaining moral highness. Every political party thinks that it will come clean by just asking the tainted minister to resign. They think that by resigning, justice will be done. There is no emphasis laid on proper enquiry.

To resign is a good attempt to shy away from media spot-light. And given the short memory of public, it is the best way to bury the controversy. The opposition always is happy by demanding the resignation. Never ever we have seen them insisting on impartial trial in courts.

The accused, his party and the opposition use the resignation episode as a political tool. The accused thinks he has done a great service by resigning. His political party claims he has sacrificed his post for the greater good. The opposition shouts it has gained moral victory by making the accused resign.

Resigning as a means for achieving moral highness in public life was perhaps started by Lal Bahadur Shastri. The famed story that he resigned as railways minister when there was an accident serves as precedence for these cases even today. Everyone keeps referring to this episode when they have to make a point.

But why should a minister sitting somewhere resign when an accident occurs in remotest part of the country? Yes, technically he may be responsible for entire establishment but he cannot be responsible for all glitches in the system. More than resigning, he can better stay and try to improve the system.

To resign is to escape. The resigned minister will no more be responsible for his wrong-doings. The better strategy would be to make him work in the same department. Maybe the lessons learnt in previous mistakes will enable and motivate him to work better.

Political parties also should understand that resigning is not a solution for the problem. They just postpone their worries by asking someone to resign. If they genuinely want to give justice, the trial should happen in court. Enquires by retired judges or independent committees are just an eye-wash.

Opposition, more than anyone, should stop seeing resignation as an end. Their thinking that making someone resign will help them score a point is fluke. They in turn help the accused by forcing him to resign. As noted earlier, once someone resigns, half of the problem is solved because there will be no media spot-light.

In India where democracy is the cherished principle of governance, these kinds of petty political drams are a shame. It is almost frustrating to see politicians fighting in Parliament over these trivial matters. They can better leave these issues to judiciary and limit themselves to matters regarding governance.

“When the mind is without fear & the head held is high.

When knowledge is free………………

Into that heaven of freedom, my father,

Let my country awake”

- Tagore (“Song of free India”)

When Rabindranath Tagore wrote this song, seldom he must have thought that these lines would become a slogan for a technical movement. Today we have embarked a journey where we are trying to make “Knowledge free and create heaven of freedom”.

Most of the knowledge pool in this world has been confined to the libraries of Universities. It was locked in books which were inaccessible. And worst, knowledge was attached a price-tag. People with deep pockets were exclusively given rights to access the information.

The greatest tragedy of humankind was this locking up of information. If anyone today asks- what is the greatest contribution of IT to common man? – The answer is clear. Technology via the computers and Internet has unlocked the information. It has opened the doors of knowledge for everyone.

There was a deliberate attempt by few companies to limit these technologies to few elite. But fortunately, the market dynamics and technical progress has halted this attempt. With the price of computers and Internet access falling down each day, there is every reason to believe that this technology will touch every door one day.

To make knowledge free – is one of the cherished goals of a community, which is known for Linux. The FSF (Free Software Foundation) and its guru Richard Stallman, have this one point agenda. And, yes, they are on the right path in accomplishing this goal. The result – wikipedia.

Wikipedia becomes an important technical landmark of our times for many reasons. The main reason why it stands different is because there is no central authority which decides what information will be put in the knowledge pool. Second is because it gives freedom for anyone to edit the existing contents. Third is because there is nothing like this anywhere in this world and lastly it is free.

Skeptics may argue that this “free for all” right may be misused to propagate wrong information. There are also some high profile goofs and false information found in wikipedia. But these are negligible compared to the enormous information it provides. These negative developments can be seen as a passé

People think Linux is the only product of FSF movement. But I feel this project of wikipedia is far important than Linux. That is because while development in Linux demands high technical expertise, contributing to wikipedia does not require that. Anyone, just anyone, can chip in with what ever they know.

I hereby passionately urge all of you to get in this movement and help humanity to receive what it rightly deserves – free knowledge.

Are Indians lagging behind in embracing technology? You may think no- seeing all the developments in the IT sector here. It is true that the technologies which earlier took years to reach India, can be accessed easily now. Today products are released globally.

The director of CSIR was recently telling how difficult it was to get the scientific journals in 60’s and 70’s. He was telling that the journals would arrive a good 3 months late. Ditto for the Computers and other electronic devices. It would take months and in some cases years for an equipment to reach India.

All that has changed today, thanks to the liberalized economy that was ushered in 90’s. Now we can buy a product the moment it is launched. In software, we have even gone a step ahead. We are using the beta releases to get the feel of the technology. Of course, most of us keep using the betas for long.

But has all these really benefited us. I am talking of the research community, which once suffered a lot due to this delay. They had to wait for the journals to arrive and equipments to be installed. And when they did get them, it would be late. But today, they cannot have any such complaints.

The easy availability of equipments, almost instantaneous access to scientific journals – are the basic necessities of a researcher. But what has Indian scientific community achieved with all these facilities? Do we witness path-breaking inventions? Are we producing astonishing technologies? No, why?

The reason, I feel, is the unchanged mindset. We have technology here, but the minds are not ready to accept it. When libraries are digitized, there are people who keep complaining that they cannot read from computer. They invariably want to stick to printed material. The change is too less, too late.

People should understand that technology is a great enabler; it helps do the things faster and in an effective manner. But the older generation is not responding as they should be. Probably they can take a cue from our President, who makes it a point to use the presentation during his talks.

We, the younger ones, should also take the partial blame for this. We are increasing focusing that technology that too the Computers are for young. Systematically, the older crowd is left out from the scene. The result- we are witnessing now. Institutions which are into automation are facing huge problems.

Take banks where the most employees are middle-aged. They were efficient workers during the pen-book days. But now they are the poor performers in this computer age. As a result, we find that the computerized bank performs poorer compared to normal ones. Ditto is the case in the institutions like us.

When technology is enforced on people they get intimidated. When people get scared using the technology, they just sop using them. So, the purpose of using technology is lost. In India, we have not taken enough care to see how a new technology should be introduced into an existing system. Unless we do not take care about these things, we will not succeed in reaping benefits from the technology.

The question of compensation which Government provides every now and then has continued to baffle me. For every accident that happens in this country, Government is expected to pay money. Say any natural calamity, states prepare compensation package which runs to several thousand crores. There seems to be no end for this.

It is not only these accidents and natural disasters which have become major money-spinners in India. Every loss of human life is transformed into a business. It is normal that the Government to grant money for the next of a soldier when he dies in the warfront. But this has also turned into a business.

There are stories of people falsely claiming that they were freedom fighters and thus availing all facilities provided by the Government. There are also a set of literary giants, musicians, sportspersons and cine-artists who think it is their birth right to get land and all other free facilities from the Government.

When Manjunath, an IOC official was killed because he tried to stop the adulteration of petrol, the news did not make much headlines. In fact, I had written about his saga before few days. But suddenly today’s newspapers carried a story about him. That story, I found, was more depressing than the news of his death.

There are no two words about the fact that he did “sacrifice” his life for the principle he believed. But the drama which is unfolding now is quite strange. The Hindu reported that Government has given Rs. 26 lakhs as compensation to his parents. Nothing strange, you may say. But read further.

It is said that his father is not happy about this. He reportedly wants more compensation. He also wants IOC to grant the LPG distributorship to his wife. He also wants one of his sons to be provided with an employment. The Minister who gave the compensation has agreed for the employment.

Now this news really disturbs me. Not taking away any credit from Manjunath, I fell his family is playing politics over his dead body. If Government has given compensation, it shows its responsiveness. The money granted by it cannot be considered as a measure of his life or sacrifice. So, on what basis his father is asking for more?

If he thinks his son would have earned more if he is alive, and therefore wants Government to give him more money, his act should be condemned. He has no business whatsoever, to demand money from Government. It is also reported that the bank which gave him the loan to study has said that it will waive it. So he does not have any financial hangover from his son’s side.

If his father is really concerned about his son’s death, he should urge Government for more strict accountability laws. Nothing has been reported about him insisting on investigation of his son’s murder. To eye only on the money which his son’s dead body brings along, is a shame. He has reduced the moral high standards which his son attained by sacrificing his life to a joke.