Eclipse and myths

Our appetite for blind faith is legendary, and on events such as today's solar eclipse it comes to the fore. Driving on my way in, I heard a few RJs blabbering about our customs and rituals that are not grounded in science. I am no expert in the full suite of actions that ensure protection from the evil forces prevailing during an eclipse. But there is one crucial aspect that we overlook. Which brings me to one of my favorite lines from the Simpsons movie where Bart says "This has been the worst day of my life" and Homer retorts "Worst day of your life, so far"

I think it is important to recognize that there have been no scientific explanations to some religious rites and customs, so far. Dont think the idea is far-fetched. Asbestos and CFCs are good examples. They were developed scientifically, yet we had no idea about their fatal side-effects. Unfortunately, that is the nature of science. New information will continually emerge, often trashing our prevailing knowledge.

My point, simply, is that one must have an open mind when dealing with matters. And that applies to people on both sides of the argument.

Dr. Kalam frisked. So what?

Why is frisking perceived as an insult? Isnt it a clearly stated policy of airlines and airports to check bags and passengers before boarding? And we all go through this rigmarole everytime we have to take a flight.

Of course, this frustrates us to no end, not to mention the delays involved. If you have to take an 8AM flight, you rouse yourself out of sleep at 4AM, get ready by 5, travel 30km to the airport (thankfully there's no traffic) and reach by 6, and join a line with 15 guys waiting to get into the airport. More people waiting to check in their bags, and even more at the security check. At times, a train journey feels infinitely more comfortable. We have learnt to grin and bear it. The VIPs, I assume, dont go thru any of this.

The only inconvenience they have to put up with is a security check, which hardly takes 30 seconds. And they have a problem with that! Make no mistake, they are not of a superior race. We have enough civilians that have contributed to the economy as much or more than our politicians.

We also know how fragile the security situation is. Take the delhi airport shooting, for example. If anything, they should lead by example, and willingly follow the same security process as we do. That should send a strong message to the people. Unfortunately, we are only good at sending strong messages - we are yet to learn how to follow it up with actions.

Boss' Birthright

One aspect of the corporate culture in India that turns me off completely is our abject disregard to the time of our colleagues. Of course, we dont manage our time any better, but we blatantly mistreat that of our coworkers. We dont think twice before interrupting a coworker and loading him up with work.

If the relationship is boss-subordinate, its just gets worse. Just being the boss seems to vest them with uninhibited powers over the time of the team. You can interrupt them at will, call them up at any time of the day, order them to show up on weekend. The sad part is that these actions impact productivity and morale. Employees end up staying late because work plans are thrown out of gear. They end up hating the boss coz of all the weekends they have to put in. The worst part of this whole circus is that our bosses dont even put in a word of appreciation when employees stay late or a word of apology for ruining their weekend.

Rita Bahuguna's crime

It took me 30 min of focused Googling to ultimately figure what it was that caused so much uproar in UP. Well, I had an idea of what transpired based on what I saw on TV, but arresting the state congress chief for slander sounded a bit too much. I wanted to know the exact words uttered by Rita. For all the nauseating coverage of irrelevant events that our media provides, I had no luck finding the transcript of her speech or even the offensive words. I wonder if the media self-censored it or if they were afraid of the consequences of airing or citing the exact language! Mayawati, sure, is powerful.

It was the good ol' BBC that had the courage to mention what Rita said although even they did not quote her verbatim. Here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8153161.stm

Where's the media when you need them?

The flurry of media channels has ensured that even a fart by a politician or celebrity would not go unnoticed. Yet, they are nowhere when we need them the most. It has been coming down hard since last night here in Mumbai. When I woke up this morning, I was positive that several areas would be waterlogged. Adding to this, a metro pillar collapsed near Sakinaka, arguably the busiest traffic junction in Mumbai. I scanned the news channels for updates, but except TV9, no channel was even running a ticker about the rains. There was no source of getting a real-time update on the situation. The authorities were mum on what citizens are supposed to do, but thats typical. Most Mumbaikars know enough about the rains and chose to stay home I think. Thats what I did too based on my past experience here!

I am most appalled at the state of the news websites. It is incredibly easy to update a website and post live notes as the news pours in. But none of the websites had any mention of the rains until 10AM. All of them waited until noon and posted "articles". By then, everyone that cared about the rains knew about them. The less said about the Mumbai traffic police website the better. Its not that these websites cant do live coverage - they do it with budgets, bomb blasts etc. I have no idea why they dont do it on occasions such as these.

I wish we had a website that posts minute-by-minute updates on situations such as these. Maybe I could start one.