Chachu's Column #32: Terry, the UK's taxi driver

It could have easily happened today. But timely application of brakes averted the mishap. The motorcycle driver in front of me was not so lucky. A sharp turn by the bus in the front, that too without any indicator, meant the overtaking motorcycle rammed straight into the bus. However, he too was actually lucky. The speed was low and he escaped, probably with some bruises to the bike. He looked at the bus driver with a smirk. And then it was business as usual - for me and for the motorbike rider. But the taxi driver Terry did not drive like this. Nor did Mike or Gordon. They all belonged to 'Station Taxis', a company that ferried us to office when we were in UK.

It has been more than a month since I am back in India after three months stay at UK. During the last days there, the urge to go back to India and to be with my near and dear ones was phenomenal. Surviving on a meal that was rice and dal, two times a day, seven times a week was not easy. That too for a person who ate rice rarely. But as the saying goes, 'Majboori ka naam Mahatma Gandhi'. Situations make people do the unexpected. I was not an exception. I counted every day like a person marooned on a lonely island. And when finally I returned back, there was no joy. The abysmal facilities at the airport - the undisciplined traffic - the massive encroachments of public places - and many other things contributed to the lack of excitement after my return.

Going back to stay at UK, though food was an issue, I was better off on other fronts. Language was not a problem and this made my life quite simple. The difference between stays at US/UK as compared to stay at Japan was quite palpable. Further, being close to London offered me the chance to travel Southern England. Obviously, Terry was not there with me. I used trains. And he used his cars.

Even though he was a taxi driver, Terry was not a poor man. In fact, it was his earnest desire to escape the clutches of poverty, especially when he was in the twilight years of his life. Quite often, he repeated a quote, 'Nothing can bind a man, not even prison bars, than old age and poverty.' He said he kept this quote in his wallet. One day, while driving, he said he wanted to show this to me. And he brought out his wallet and started churning out things from it. That too while driving. And when the purse was near empty, he showed me a paper and the quote on it.

Terry was indeed well to do. He had three cars, two for himself and one for his wife. He did not like cheap shoes. The best and the cheapest he could find was worth Rs 8500/-. I thought it was quite expensive. I too was looking for a shoe anything below Rs 500/-. But I could not find any decent pair cheaper than Rs 5000/- that too after 20% discount. Terry thought that the life of good English shoes was worth the money. Occasionally, he used to take his wife to Bournemouth, where he had his house. He believed in having a nice outing occasionally.

Once, my friend and I too went to Bournemouth. It was a vast span of beautiful sea beach. I kept walking in search of the hidden treasure, occasionally taking breaks. Once when we sat on a chair, a person came and asked for the tickets for the armchair. We did not have any and had to buy tickets worth Rs 160/- each. I told my friend that I had seen a board where it said that chairs were for rent. My friend was not amused. He blamed me for the unnecessary expense. Anyways, coming to the point, I walked for four hours and then realized that I had to go back the same distance. And thus, I returned back. In the glitter of sun, sand and skin, I did not even take a dip at the beach.

Apart from Bournemouth, I also went to see to the majestic Windor Castle, the second official residence of the Queen after Birmingham Palace of London. Then there was Oxford, the city of colleges with its architectural splendour. London was a must-see. One of Nokia's colleagues also took us to Winchester (a small town with beautiful churches), Portsmouth (a sea beach, with its Shipyard), Wales and its capital Cardiff) and Bath (where there were remains of Roman Empire). While the details may be ignored, certain lessons seem very obvious. First of all, tourism has become a major source of revenue worldwide. Thus, tourists are treated courteously and steps are taken to ensure that they return satisfied. Value-added services like walky-talky type mobile guide, that too in multiple languages, bring the tourists closer to the tourist spot. India's tourist potential is huge; but drastic changes are not expected by a nation whose citizens are in a state of perpetual slumber. Small signs are visible at select tourist spots, but my heart laments when I see one step forward but two back. Let us keep this tourism out for a separate column.

At 66, Terry was semi-retired but still did cab duties for us. Born just before the World War 2, he had seen the German raids of London. He had heard the air raid warnings. And the death and destruction that brought with it. He even gave me a book on World War. It had a rich collection of newspaper photographs of the world war. I saw the photos and returned the book. By the end of my stay, we two had grown so close that he presented me a book on British empire; and that was mine to keep, much to the chagrin of my colleagues.

I asked Terry what made England so powerful. He generally referred England as United Kingdom (which comprises of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). He opined that from the childhood, the supremacy of their race was ingrained in their psyche. You may view it as contemptuous arrogance, of the same type as those that wrote 'Dogs and Indians not allowed'. However, times had changed and the Britishers had mellowed down. Most of them were polite and sophisticated. But the massive immigrant population of Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis had created a sense of insecurity. Thus, on a few occasions, my colleagues faced the wrath of such slighted Britishers and heard them say, 'You bloody Asians'. It was a topic of debated between political parties as to whether immigrants should be allowed or not and whether outsourcing was good for their health. Talking about outsourcing, I recall an interesting incident related to my Internet connection. Being what I am, I brought a 2-month free Internet connection. Just before the expiry, I called the helpdesk and requested them to cancel my account so that I could escape without paying a penny. When I explained that I was going to India (read Delhi), the highly accented call center executive said she too was from New Delhi (probably sitting in some Gurgaon office).

Our life in UK was highly compartmentalized. There was this office hours. And then one hour each-way in the Taxi, talking to Terry. Tennis in the evenings, that too after 6pm because it was free then. The sun set at almost 10 in the night and there was lot of excitement on the streets. Since we were there in the summer months, there was a lot of activity to be seen. We were placed right in the city center, and could observe people from our balconies. Most of the shops closed at 5.30pm and it was very difficult to shop since we returned by that time from office. Thus, Saturdays was reserved for shopping or sightseeing. For others, the weekends were a time for partying at the bar. Long queues could be seen in front of the bars. Most of them were choc-o-block. We used to see them partying but maintained a distance and avoid entering into any bar. By Sunday, the fact dawned upon them that Monday was coming and there was hardly anyone on street on Sunday.

For us, almost all nights were reserved for television. It was customary for Terry to ask what I was watching on TV. The quality of programming on some of channels was quite good. Lot of documentaries, especially on history, was worth watching. Thus, one day there was a program on the battle of Gibraltar and the role of the ship Lord Nelson. Or another day, there was a program as to how one-third of the populace died in fifteenth century during the period of Black Death. After interacting with me, Terry started taking special interest in India and Indian people. He thought we had been very good brand ambassadors of the country. He also wanted our country to be rich so that there could be a positive effect on the entire globe (including the UK). Thus, he urged Indians to stop hoarding their gold and spend in the malls instead. He also wondered whether some day Britishers would come to India for jobs just as Indians and Pakistanis go their for all kinds of menial jobs like that of drivers, sweepers and barbers among others.

At the end of our stay there, we paid Terry and Mike Rs 4000/- each as tip for the entire stay. Later on, they told us that the whole money had been divided equally, including the telephone attendant who noted our taxi request. The unity and camaraderie displayed by them was commendable. Just before our return, he was to undergo a minor operation. Wishing him luck and a healthy life.

Chachu 27/11/2004
-------------

Web Resources
-------------
[1] http://www.visitbath.co.uk (website on Bath)
[2] http://www.bournemouth.co.uk (website on Bournemouth)
[3] http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page557.asp (website on Windsor Castle)
[4] http://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk (website on Portsmouth)
[5] http://www.tourism.wales.gov.uk (website on Wales)
[6] http://www.winchester.gov.uk/tourism/index.shtml (website on Winchester)
[7] http://www.touroxfordms.com (website on Oxford)
[8] http://www.visitlondon.com (website on London)

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Chachu's Column #31: Bye Bye USA

The day of reckoning finally arrived - most
unexpectedly - and in a jiffy. Sometime back too it
was suppose to happen. But it did not happen then. And
when I least expected it to, it greeted me with open
arms. Just like life you may say.

Being a software engineer for over six years, it was
imperative that I had a US visit on my passport. And
being in UK for official work made my task all that
easier. Since my work at office was fast moving
towards completion, getting a couple of days of leave
was not an issue. To top it was the generous gesture
of US embassy by granting me a 10-year B1/B2 visa
sometime back. Thus, when my sister residing in US
asked me to board the next available flight, it was an
offer that I could not refuse. Tickets were brought
over the Internet, invites received and travel
insurance taken. All within 12 hours. And within
another 12 hours, I was on a British Airways flight to
Philadelphia.

Whether you love it or hate it, US is a country that
is always in the limelight. In the cold war era, a
bi-polarized world offered us the opportunity to look
elsewhere. But with the disintegration of Russia,
there was only one superpower and that was US of A.
Television and Internet revealed some interesting
facts about US. It was about three times the size of
India but had only one-third of the people. Its GDP
was phenomenal 10 trillion dollars and here too,
India's GDP was about one-third of it. Interestingly,
the good progress made by India in last decade or so
meant that India's GDP stood fourth in ranking after
US, China and Japan. Countries that followed India in
GDP were Germany, France, UK, Italy Brazil and Russia.
US military spending stood at 370billion dollar,
twenty times that of India. Its cellular density was
about 150 million (or 50% of the population) as
against 25 million (or 2.5%) for India.

Leaving the statistical numbers aside, my maiden US
visit saw me getting off at Philadelphia airport. And
after a brief rest at my sister's house, we all were
in Atlantic City. My brother too was there after his
onsite work in US had ended and so it was a family get
together of sorts, that too in US.

Now, Las Vegas had captured my imagination for quite
some time now, with umpteen programs highlighting the
good, the bad and the ugly side of Vegas. And I had
also heard that Atlantic City was the Vegas was the
east. Thus, without much ado, we picked our cars and
were in the city at Trump TAJ Mahal Casino Resort.
Unprecedented in craftsmanship and opulence, the Trump
TAJ Mahal was an awe-inspiring architectural
masterpiece filled with the finest carpets,
chandeliers and works of art in the tradition of the
world's most grand and enchanting palaces. The cost of
one of the rooms (Alexander the Great Suite) was just
ten thousand dollars a day!

Our miniscule gambling budget of $20/- did not bother
the finances of the resort much. There, we looked for
the cheapest slot machines and found 5cent machines
with great difficulty. But most of them were lousy and
we moved to 25 cent ones. These machines drank our
money without even belching. Then we thought of trying
our hands at roulette, but the minimum bet of $15
meant that we were misfits there. More slot machines
were found and the budget exhausted. Luckily enough,
Draupadi was not called in the scheme of things.
Outside the casino, there was a pier that was kind of
mini-amusement center. Most of the rides were for the
kids, which my sister's four year son lapped up
greedily. The only ride challenging enough was the
rocket where two persons (sitting on a seat) were
propelled 200feet high (roughly 20 floors high) at
very high speed. From there, it dropped freely and it
seemed you had lived your life. Everything was
controlled through tall towers and elastic rope. Since
I was alone from my group, no one else agreed to join
me. Then one of the staff members seated next me and
coaxed me into leaving my hands from the grip. For
him, leaving the hands was like nirvana or flying in
space. For me, it was ... The live shots on the ground
through on board cameras was an object of laughter for
my family.

Later, we also took a helicopter for a short 3 minute
ride over the beauty of AC (as Atlantic city is
popularly called). It was enjoyable. After that, there
were circus shows in which a rider seated on a
motorbike went from one building to another over a
thin steel wire. It soon became evident that the bike
was special so as to not to fall from the wire. It
also carried a trapeze artist; the rider and the
artist showed many a stunts. That was that. The first
day at the US of A ended and we were back at home late
in the night.

The next day we left for New York. Before heading for
New York, we went to New Jersey where my sister used
to live till some time back. New Jersey is notorious
for its Indian majority and Indian like features. True
to word, we found it rather dirty like India and
people did not obey much rules, etc. We had golgappa
and chat in New Jersey. Being in UK for two months, my
taste buds were starving for some Indian delicacies.
And I ate everything on offer. (This was a different
issue that the very next day, my sister brought three
big packs of pani puri of which I alone ate one and a
half of them; my sis was amazed with my appetite).

From NJ, we went to New York. The key attractions
there were Statue of Liberty, Intrepid Museum, Madam
Tussauds Museum, Empire State Building and Times
Square to name a few. We spent the entire day roaming
around. First we went to Intrepid Museum where we saw
the aircraft carrier Intrepid. Having a history that
dates to second world war, it was a majestic ship.
However, a freak power cut prevented us from getting
inside. They refuse to issue tickets as their
computers were not operational. What an excuse. We
took some pictures from outside. A Concorde and a
submarine was also on display there.

Thereafter, we saw the very famous Madam Tussauds Wax
museum. This museum housed statues of famous people
including Amitabh Bachhan, Gandhi and many other
famous personalities. Even before we entered my sister
queried a gentleman who later turned out to be a wax
statue. Little did we know that once inside and even
after, others too would have chance to laugh at us.

Inside the museum, some of the statues were ordinary
while some others were truly difficult to distinguish.
At one place, a girl was taking photo of 5 men. My
brother and I tried to figure who was the real guy
among 5 men. Then it turned that all 5 of them were of
wax. We then turned our attention to the girl taking
photo. The girl too was of wax. After that, everyone
seemed to be a statue. A lady we saw seemed wax statue
and I told my brother that she too was a statue and we
could ignore her. Immediately, the lady turned around.
Even one day after the visit, we could not be clear
who was made of wax and who was real. We had plenty of
photos at the wax museum. Outside the museum, the
pavements were crowded with hawkers selling their
stuff. The crowd, dirt and filth was not different
from some of the urban squalor visible in India.

From there, we went to the downtown where a number of
sky scrapers graced the skyline of New York. We went
to Empire State building but long queues prevented us
from seeing the observatory at the top. The sheer drop
of building was amazing. One could bent his neck
without even reaching the top of many buildings. The
buildings symbolized the heights of human engineering.
And the dug up Ground Zero the cataclysm of human
mind's degeneration. We had a chance to see Ground
Zero, the remnants of World Trade Center (WTC). There
are plans to make worlds tallest building there,
cocking a snook at those who dared to blow it into
pieces.

From the southern tip of New York the distant Statue
of Liberty was visible. We did not bother to take a
ferry or go near it. It was a long day and getting
late. That was it for day two.

Day 3 saw us in a shopping mall. While most stuff were
quite costly, we headed for a clearance area. A dress
there was marked 80$ and then subsequently cut twice
showing a tag of 18$. It's eventual cost was just 8
dollars and I did not think twice before buying it.
That was it for shopping.

While going to the Mall, a school bus was dropping
kids on the opposite lane. Still, a STOP light flashed
and traffic was at a complete halt till the kids
disembarked at their own leisure. It was nice to see
kids given special attention while road safety was
concerned. Even on most highways, one or two lanes
were kept unused. They were useful for emergency
parking or for reaching emergency help very quickly.
Highways at India do not have parking lanes, leave
alone spare lanes for emergency help. May be we will
have it some day.

In the afternoon, we went to Longwood Gardens.
Longwood Gardens was created by industrialist Pierre
S. du Pont (and is sometimes referred to as the DuPont
Gardens) and offers 1,050 acres (425 hectares) of
gardens, woodlands, and meadows; spectacular
fountains; extensive educational programs including
horticultural career training and internships. In one
of the guided tours there, we were told that even
though the entry fee was $15, the average cost of a
visit was $45 and that the difference was a subsidy
that was funded by the trustees. The garden was indeed
beautiful and was similar to the Vrindavan gardens
near Mysore. We spent about three hours there, seeing
fountain shows, greenhouse plants (having hi-tech
scientific controls with triple redundancy) and many
other things. The place was a display garden where
everything was controlled, including when the flowers
bloomed and when they grew and to what height. The
schedule co-incided with major programs and special
events. See [6].

From the gardens we went to Marsh creek, a haven for
picnic goers and those interested in boating. While
coming back home, we stopped at an Indian store for
some Indian goodies. The only thing that I selected
had already crossed its expiry date. The shopkeeper
feigned innocence at the dates.

While in US, I was surprised to see the extent of
obesity. Very soon I came to know that US of A was
officially the most overweight country in the world
with almost half the country overweight. Diabetes
increased by 33 percent among American adults during
the 1990s, reflecting a surge in obesity during the
same period. The reasons ranged from poor diet on one
hand, to the attempts on making life easier and less
taxing for people on the other. The convenience had
now taken dangerous forms as people had stopped doing
physical exercise. The obesity could be further
attributed to the junk food companies whose cheap and
mass consumption products had spread all over the
country. No wonder an obese man had filed a lawsuit
and sued McDonalds for making him what he was. I was
not obese and I did not care.

The fourth and final day was spent lazily strolling
around and making CDs for the hundreds of photos
taken. As time ticked, I was soon on my return flight
to UK. My trip was quite clost to 9-11 and there were
major security checks at the airport. It took quite a
long time to get the security clearance. Finally, when
I sat in the plane, I waved my hands and mumbled, "Bye
Bye USA". Over for now - but only to come back again.
Love it or hate it, you could not ignore US of A.

Chachu 17/9/2004

Web Resources
-------------
[1]http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
(CIA's excellent information source on countries
across the world)
[2] http://www.trumptaj.com/ (Hotel cum casino at Atlantic City)
[3]http://www.wisegeek.com/what-countries-have-the-highest-gdp.htm
[4] http://www.nyctourist.com (New York Tourist nformation)
[5] http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/
[6] http://www.longwoodgardens.org/
[7] http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/wtc/
(Happenings at WTC including plans for new development)

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Chachu's Column #30: Walking down the chosen lane

i walk down the lane.... it is dark.. i am not sure
where i am going.. no one has told me where to go...
but i move on.. i have to move on.. i do not have the
luxury to stop.. occasionally, i can take a break for
a puff or two.. but i cannot stop.. a carcass lies
nearby.. he did not walk.. so the roads started
moving.. and every time he stood up, he used to fall
down backwards - just as the law of inertia told us..
and when he got tired of falling, he just lay still on
the road.. and the roads started taking him along in
their motion forward.. but there were cars that wanted
to move faster than the roads - they crushed him ...
mercilessly ... again and again.. thus the carcass.

... the setting changes.. just like a revolving stage
in a theatre.. the lights blow out and in a flash, the
carcass is replaced by a shopping mall.. the lights
come back again.. the radiance and the blaze is
irritating.. my eyes cannot adjust so quickly.. yet, I
move on... my wife is standing there, waiting for me..
I go inside, holding her hand.. the next hour is spent
in buying many things.. i am not sure i need what i
have brought.. but i buy them anyway.. then things are
consumed for the body.. all senses have their fill..

once outside, the setting is restored.. dark alleys..
all alone.. i look back.. there are images .. many
many images.. images that hold history.. the checkered
past.. it seems only yesterday .. leaving college..
getting the first job .. or even earlier.. the fights
for getting into the dream college .. or even
earlier.. or even later.. many incidents of recent
past are lost.. yet many of much distant past are as
fresh as if they happened yesterday.. many questions
are answered.. many asked.. many revisited.

a car stops by.. i get inside.. she seems to have a
familiar face.. but i cannot recall her name.. is it
important.. it will be a one-night stand.. or a
one-lift stand.. we do not exchange any words.. the
music plays loud, submerging the silence in its
melody.. i like it that way.. loud, very loud music,
yet melodious.. my body reacts wildly.. the thoughts
are stirring rapidly.. like a potpourri.. for a
moment, I am the universe.. or the ether that fills
all space above the realms of vision... the feeling is
phenomenal.. gazing into the empty sky.. seeking
reasons.. seeking nothing.. just staring.. the
shooting stars and the speckled moon..

the flights of fantasy are broken with the honking of
horns.. there is a traffic jam ahead.. it is time to
say good-bye to her.. but i do not bother with the
words.. no words to start with.. no words to end.. to
each his own..

i get down and get into a bar.. lots of friends are
waiting inside.. music has turned into noise..
intimacy into encroachment.. soberness into
self-indulgence.. there is no yesterday.. there is no
tomorrow.. no images to haunt you.. there are murmurs
from the deepest corners of the mind.. the reasons are
sought.. but i do not want to ask.. i do not want to
answer.. i want temporary respite from the agile mind
- like switching off the car's engine.. and want to
enjoy getting inebriated..

our group is an eclectic mix.. blend of thoughts and
reasons... blend of conformity towards social norms..
some are alone.. some are married.. some are married
and alone.. some not married and not alone..

i chat with my friends.. and share the trials and
tribulations of life.. they share theirs.. some are
voyeurs.. they just sit and listen.. I smoke a
cigarette.. the warnings on the cigarette box have
become larger.. quite blatant - 'smoking kills'... but
i am immune.. to the warnings of course.. to the
cigarettes only time will tell.. have started smoking
more frequently.. So I have another cigarette.... and
then another.. interspersed with a bottle of lager or
two.. soon the bar will close .. and we will start
walking.. walking on our chosen lanes..

there is the desire to have another get together.. on
white sea-beaches... on a nice cosy afternoon... but
the thought is a chimera.. something to chew upon.. it
will happen by accident.. just like it happened
today.. and just like it may happen tomorrow or may be
day after..

i leave the bar.. my mind is inundated with myriad
thoughts again.. of right and wrong.. of
self-beliefs.. of self-delusion.. the definitions keep
on changing.. and I seek the question: who am i.. what
do i want.. but the roads have started moving, and if
i do not catch up, i too will fall and then... like
the carcass...

soon there is a whirlpool.. of events.. and the whole
world spins around me.. rapidly.. people moving around
me.. calling my name .. or shouting.. the carcass
floating around.. And I am the vortex.. noise, lights
and many other things.. floating around me.. as though
a still photo taken on a busy intersection.. i blink
my eye..

When I open it again, everything is gone.. I have gone
through a time warp.. i am in my office, doing some
work.. i am contemplating a change.. seeking a new
profession.. something creative.. my wife calls me on
my mobile.. my son has broken his leg.. playing
football.. i call it a day and am on the roads again..
on my chosen lane.. I cross the road.. through a zebra
crossing.. the other side leads me to a different
place.. i look back, and see my wife and my child
(with the broken leg) calling me back.. but it is a
one way crossing.. i cannot return.. i move ahead,
with the expectation of finding them again.. hopefully
soon...

soon i am surrounded by shops.. i gaze through the
windows.. cameras, televisions and many others
material comforts.. i lean on a window.. my hand
automatically passes through a glass window.. just
like the magic i saw the other day on TV.. where the
magician puts his hand through a showroom glass window
and plucks a diamond ring.. my hand too searches for
something.. there is this audio system.. frivoulously,
i press a button.. and life moves in the fast forward
lane.. i am static.. but the world around me changes..
moves and moves.. i shout.. but there is no stopping
it.. new images move through.. of my grown up
children.. and dead wife.. and even deader parents..
but my grand mother survives.. no one to look after..

it seems like a movie.. and i am eating popcorn. soon
the movie ends and the button too is released.. I pull
my hand out.. the showroom is no more there.. it is
replaced by a high rise.. I try to see its top.. but i
cannot.. it is too high..

there is nothing to do.. i walk down the lane.... it
is dark.. i am not sure where i am going.. my steps
have suddenly become slow.. i see young boys and girls
whiz past me... i am slow.. but i move on.. i have to
move on.. i do not have the luxury to stop.. but i
stop .. the mirror reflects a haggard... I take out my
cigarette... it is the last in the pack.. and there is
no money to buy another.. I sit down and catch some
breath.. and then light my cigarette.. the body is
tiring.. but i smoke.. may be the last one.. the smoke
slowly ascends.. in the form of rings.. like the
competition we had in colleges.. how many rings we
could make with just one puff.. i was the champion..
not just in rings, but in many other things.. was a
looser too in many.. and indifferent too.. then.. And
now: now it did not matter.. I am happy.. i tried..
but does it matter now?..

now the rings ascend.. many many rings.. but there is
no competition.. there is no audience.. a long journey
where different people left my company at different
times.. my wife died yesterday.. or last year.. I am
not sure.. she is dead and that is all that matters..
my eternal soul mate.. she was dutiful.. and very
caring.. I miss her.. may be all the more now..

the smoke continue their ascent.. and when the last
traces of smoke have ascended, the road starts moving
again.. and a motionless body moves along with it..
moves down the chosen lane.... moves down the chosen
lane....

Chachu 24/8/2004

Chachu's Column #29: Six Years in Software Industry

It has been six years - six long years. I did not expect myself to play such a long innings. I was not made for this industry I thought. With my interests meandering from cricket to creative writing, and debate to dramatics, software programming always came last. But destiny had chosen 'communication software' for me. The job placements at our college were all a matter of chance. It happened in 1997. I could have easily landed up fiddling with silicon gates for Cadence. Or optimising databases at Oracle. I loved table tennis and Oracle had a TT table. So I loved Oracle's job. It was that simple. But Oracle did not love me and I took what was offered next -Hughes Software Systems (HSS) job. I did not know what the company did. 'Embedded programming' seemed an alien concept to me. But it was not important. What mattered was that they liked me and I liked them (and when I joined the company, I came to know that they too had a TT table). I took their job. Democracy demanded that only one job be allowed per person. So the placement matter ended there. Everything was set for me to be an HSSian.

By April 1998, I had finished my graduation. Our joining was two months hence. But one-upmanship demanded that I take a lead in this mad race. To be first when the race had not even begun. I approached the company for an early joining. But a two-month induction plan demanded that I join with others. So I had to wait till 22nd June, 1998 when 65 odd freshers like me boarded the HSS bandwagon.

The company had bus service but none of them till my place. The nearest bus stop was 15 km away. The commute in public transport on the first day, that too in the scorching summer, was too much to ask. That also happened to be my last day in the public transport. After that day, I took the company bus (which in those good old days were free) and somehow managed the distance till my house.

The first few days went in ice breaking and company induction. The company's infrastructure was great. Central AC. An air-conditioned gym. TT. Free seven course meal. Flexible working hours. And an open culture.

My first manager happened to be an Ex-IIT professor who did a world of good for my career. Soon I found myself to be a part of a team of 10 that shared a great relation. The relation even extended in a joint outing to Jaipur in a jam-packed Sumo. We still share a healthy relation despite the fact that many have left for greener pastures. Some (including yours truly) have returned from such pastures after the realization dawning upon them that grass is not necessarily green on the other side.

The decent male-female ratio provide ample opportunity for my heart to miss a beat. However, all attempts to develop a liaison proved futile. The first one got married before I could think what to do to win her heart. The second did not bother to turn up in a presentation that was solely given to impress here (this being a different issue that in the process I became a technical trainer and am still a popular trainer in the company). Every new batch brought with itself new avatars of Goddess Venus. And the chosen one always created a flutter or two in my heart. But the flutter subsided with time and I had to wait till the next batch to see my hearting beating again in full glory. And when all attempts went in vain, I proposed a matrimonial newsgroup in our company where employees could post their inclination for marriage and the opposite sex could then respond appropriately. But it was a prototypal case of 'Diya tale andhera' and men had go to far of lands when many an eligible women could be found in the company. Thus, I too had to settle for an arrange marriage (which all men like me have to opt for when they have no other option).

Professionally, the first project was good one. It gave me exposure to networking technologies. From the early days, I made up my mind to write a book. What transpired further is nicely captured in the article penned by me 'The Dead Dream' /web resource 1/. Suffice it to say that after a bumpy ride spanning two and a half years, I did manage to publish my first book on ATM networking. No more of it here.

In mid 1999, I was moved to a multi-billion dollar project that was to be completed in early 2002. However, as far as I know, the project is still away from its completion.

In early 2000, my friend and I realized that we had spent 1.5 years in the industry and it was time we were promoted. We promptly demanded a promotion from our boss's boss. In those days, good software engineers were scarce resources and no one dared to mess around with them, least of all our boss's boss. He most obligingly gave us a backdated promotion and a hike. (Till now, my friend and I have got the same promotion and the same hike in all these years).

Towards the end of the second year, the lack of challenging work made me short sighted, frustrated, haughty, arrogant, greedy and what not. I went to various interviews and demanded obscene amounts of money. Everyone thought I was good but no one heeded to my demands. Slowly and steadily by liking for HSS reached its nadir. And when my first boss offered a job in his new company, I most happily hopped.

The new assignment was an unmitigated disaster. The company was run by a stingy Indian who neither provided any infrastructure nor any work. We were responsible to groom a set of tyro who could then be body shopped towards foreign lands. At that time (in 2000), body shopping had assumed tremendous popularity and everyone wanted to leave their jobs and open either a body shopping or a dotcom. The dotcom fad too was phenomenal. Everyone wanted to become a CEO of dotcom, even if there was no business case for the dotcom. After one year of wasted effort, with no productive work to show, and an impending closure of our company, we decided it was time we changed sides and go back to where it all started. However, there was a small problem. After leaving HSS, I had insulted our Engineering head saying that 'Jis gali ko ek baar chod diya, usme vapas nahin jana hai'. But 'job offers' like politics demanded that such statements of arrogance be forgotten. Both sides happily accepted my homecoming. By that time, I had got my second promotion and my salary had nearly quadrupled in three years.

It was when everything seemed hunky dory that the great telecom meltdown happened. The rapid increase in salary reversed its gear and there was a prompt 10% cut. Many a fresh recruits were chucked out of the company without even getting a change to prove their capabilities. 'Rightsizing' became the buzzword. The dotcoms too fell like ninepins. And the body shopping companies closed shutters faster than an addict smoke cigarettes. Our previous companies too bit the dust. However, it was not before the Italian furniture for the cubicles had arrived after a one-year wait. And most interestingly, while we waited for in the previous company for proper infrastructure to be built, a 21-storey building came up in a jiffy right in front of our eyes and we reported in that very building after our homecoming.

The meltdown came along with many a loss. The free luxury buses were made 'paid' and people brought their calculators out to know the cost of petrol vis-à-vis the monthly bus charges. The seven-course meal was replaced by paid a-la-carte menu. People started bring food from their houses. The rasgollas that I used eat by dozens in a bowl meant for soup was now priced at Rs 5/- apiece. I left eating rasgollas. In the process, the caterer too bit the dust; he too left the company after poor collections. The free quarterly t-shirts were done away with. There was a freeze in recruitment. And there was an abrupt halt in the frequent flier points collected in needless travels. Suddenly there was great focus on cost cutting. We were lucky to come back as not all those who wanted to return were welcome back.

After a couple of years of struggle, in 2003, things started improving. Telecom industry started showing growth. The freeze on recruitment was removed. And salaries were revised after what seemed an eternity. I had by then become wiser after my first experience and did not participate in the crib sessions.

By mid-2003 I had nearly completed two years in the role and pestered my manager for a promotion. She too obliged and I had crossed the third hurdle. Regarding promotions, it was not important what you got or what you were worthy of. What was really important was how much your batch mates were drawing. What was their current designation? As some wise men suggested - People were ready to take exclusive 10% hike as against an across the board 20% hike.

Slowly, time has crossed the six-year barrier. People have started developing back problems. Some others have dry eyes. Different people have different sets of problems. But people have overall become saner. The great meltdown has been a great teacher. I too have waited patiently for my opportunities and in the process released my second book (/web resource 2/). A new project awaits for me and I may travel for high level discussions. God has been generous and I hope the benevolence continues.

Happy Reading. And happy programming. Comments/Experiences Welcome!

Chachu 09/7/2004
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Web Resources
-------------
[1] http://skasera.tripod.com/deaddream.html
[2] http://3gbook.tripod.com

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Chachu's Column #28: Of Multiplexes and Amusements

Tomorrow is fifth of May, 2004 and the dance of democracy will continue when another 80-odd seats will go for polls in India's next general elections. Much water has flown since last column was written. The exit polls indicate hung parliament and the stock market is jittery with the prospect of a motley crowd of disparate individuals having the reigns of the future of India. Suddenly, many regional satraps have been anointed kingmakers because without their quota of 30 odd seats, a government cannot be formed. The most ironical part of the drama is that among these kingmakers many have the temerity to nurse aspirations of holding the coveted PM's when their party may not muster even a tenth of the required majority. But election like cricket has its share of drama, more so when cricket stalwarts like Navjot Singh Sidhu and Bollywood stars like Dharmendra are contesting the elections.

In this drama, the India Shine seems to have disappeared from the fickle-minded mob's memory - or purportedly so, because it was not evident in the very first place. However, Gurgaon's MG road has plenty of shine more so when a plethora of shopping malls line both sides of the road. And today, I happened to visit one of the multiplexes in one of these malls.

As tickets for the 'ordinary' auditoriums were unavailable, I gingerly brought two tickets for the 'special' auditoriums through the Internet. The quick payment through the credit card amazed me as to how online transactions had eased our lives. However, the fifteen rupees as convenience charges for the two tickets was a disappointment. Not to talk about the near double rates of the special auditoriums.

When I reached the hall already 10 minutes late, there was only one person manning the special counters made for the special guests. Even though I had a confirmed ticket with convenience charges paid, I was made to stand in the same queue. While the queue was small, the faulty ticket-printer and inept issue meant that I was half an hour late. Once in, we were served a welcome drink that was a small cup of limejuice. And the auditoriums only marginally better. The logistics settled, I sat down for the task at hand - that of watching a Shahrukh starrer: 'Main Hoon Na'. While any comments on the movie may be avoided, suffice it to say that his role had similar feel to his roles in Mohabbatein and Kal Ho Na Ho.

In the interval, Kareena exhorted everyone to go for their PAPC (Pepsi and Pop Corn). I too dutifully left my seat and brought two combos of Pepsi and Pop Corn. The popcorns were cold and hardly crisp. Few years back, there was a pretension to serve things hot. Now, even the pretension was missing. Rs 55/- for a large popcorn and something similar for a Pepsi was loot to say the least. For the intelligent ones however, there was a discount if both Pepsi and Popcorn were purchased. But we were a part of the growing middle class that was making India shine and so we could not whine. So silently we braved the stale popcorns and melodramatic Shahrukh. The movie ended with Project Milaap, a seize fire of sorts between India and Pakistan. But the popcorn could not be finished, and it went in special dustbins of the special auditoriums.

When a number of auditoriums were being built in Delhi/NCR, I thought the ticket prices would fall with the competition. But it seems that the malls have found new faces to fill its ordinary and special halls with ordinary and special people.

Somehow I felt that we were being conditioned to enjoy what was being given to us. A pattern was being set and we were undergoing subtle conditioning. This mandated that there were two broad categories in which time was being spent: the hectic office hours and the leisure hours. The first being burnt in front of computers in the offices. The second being burnt in front of idiot box on weekday nights. And for the weekends, there was that perfect outing comprising of movie, sumptuous meal and shopping (window or otherwise). And in this conditioning, there was hardly any physical activity. While few do have privileges of going to clubs for swimming and tennis, this has become more of an exception than a rule. And with more multiplexes in the offering, there may be even lesser time for some physical work. The quality of movies doled out by Bollywood notwithstanding. Happy multiplexing!

Chachu 4/5/2004
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Guest Contribution: Meditative Traffic
--------------------------------------
A peculiar behavior of traffic in Bangkok prompted me to write about it. May be because I have seen it for first time. It’s peculiar as I have not seen this in Delhi.
Meditative traffic? What is it about? Am i gone crazy ? May be some extra beer ? You know, in Delhi, when u are in traffic jam and vehicles move slower than bullock-cart, you have a great pop show on the roads. Every vehicle doing pong-pong-pong, that is, loud horns, everybody trying to cross each other from every side, people in exasperation, tempers running high and the whole atmosphere charged up, looks like a semi-climax scene of a typical Indian movie. Bypassing others from wrong side is a fashion and u feel like an action hero after recovering from this traffic jam.
Come over to Bangkok. Here also huge traffic and long traffic jams. But, but, once the vehicles stop at red light or stuck in a jam, they switch to meditation. You don't hear the horns, no body shouting, the whole road goes silent in a whisker. Today, we had a 5 minute red light, long lines of cars waiting and still no-horn being blown, nobody crossing each other. Everybody except my friend, Shashank, and me appeared calm; whereas, we typical Delhit’es, kept looking at the red light and Shashank's watch. So, that’s "Meditative Traffic". You may have heard of sitting meditation (art of living), dancing meditation, sleeping meditation and ... And, now this is new one, "Traffic Jam Meditation". Go to busiest road, get stuck in a traffic jam and switch off your car horns, just Relax. So, come over to Bangkok to experience this. You will surely love this -:) How’z that?
(Courtesy Ashish Monga)


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Chachu's Column #27: Of Cravings and Dreams

Two things are currently hogging the limelight in
India. The first of course, in a cricket crazy nation,
is Pakraman - the Indian tour of Pakistan. After
wrapping the One-day series 3-2, India won their first
test match few days later, the first ever in 52 years
of toil on Pakistani soil. With two tests more to go,
India is all set to win their first overseas Test
Series in many many years. Since cricket gets more
than its due attention, no more of cricket here.

The other hot issue is the General Elections, in which
there is two-way contest between an aging yet astute
Vajpayee, and Sonia Gandhi, a woman purportedly of
foreign origin. More than a decade back when Rajiv
Gandhi was assassinated, and Sonia asked to head the
congress, I was ecstatic. Now, an aficionado of the
likes of Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley, my vote is
with you-know-whom. Some two years back when the
economy was in doldrums and the coalition compulsion
taking its toll on our PM, my father lamented at the
state of affairs and thought that only Congress could
lead India. But year 2003 saw a sudden turnaround -
the economy boomed - the monsoons were good and the
GDP growth was skyrocketing. The same year saw state
elections in five states, an event viewed as the
semi-final of general elections. Most of the pre-poll
survey predicted victory of Congress. But the results
were the exact opposite. And suddenly Congress ran out
of steam. If this was not enough, the nation witnessed
an overdose of "India Shining" campaign. The last
quarter saw an astonishing 10% growth, only to
corroborate the point. The BJP detractors turned camps
and a second term for Vajpayee seems to be a
formality.

The forthcoming elections prompted me to write
something about my view of India, the India that I
wanted in year 2020. But lethargy and few other years
will make Vision 2020 wait for a while.

Here, I would talk about something more mundane: about
desires, cravings and dreams. The triggers were
manifold. As a comment to my previous column, Shailesh
wrote, "Why is it so that we value something when it's
not with us? For example, we start crying India India
... when we are away from her?"

In another discussion, my wife said how her cousin
sister was playing hard-to-get with her fianc?, and
how the man-in-love was chasing the girl when the love
was still in its infancy. My wife wondered what would
happen if her cousin sister actually started loving
him? My reply was curt and contrary, "When your
sister falls in love with the man, the latter would
lose interest and then your sister would chase him. In
fact, such overt display of affection actually spoils
the relationships."

The third trigger was my second book on "3G Networks",
co-authored with my dear friend Nishit, which launched
some two weeks back. Right from the first of January
2004, we were eagerly counting days when the book
would come and we would have the first look at it.
When the book actually came, there was momentary joy
and then it was business as usual. When I had written
my first book, I had written a rather touching
article, "A Dead Dream" [web ref. 2]. Contrary to the
popular perception, the word 'dead' does not imply to
the shattering of the dreams; it rather refers to the
fulfilment and subsequent disinterest in the dream.
The second book too demanded some more dead dreams.
Similar feelings were echoed many years back when I
wrote the poem "Ek sapne ki maut" [web ref. 3]. Here,
I quote four lines from the poem:

"Bahut samay baad ek din mujhe mil gaya wah sapna.
Athak parishram ke kaaran sach hua tha wah sapna.
Pal bhar ki khushi de paya mujhe chota sa wah sapna.
Dhool main pada hua tha, mara hua wah sapna."

The above highlight a very important aspect of human
beings, which manifests in many statements as follows:
"The grass is greener on the other side"; "We tend to
value our disappointments more than our achievements";
"We are unable to see the brighter things in our
life"; and many others.

After pondering for a while, I have concluded that
however hard we try to bask in the glory of our
current and past achievements, time moves on. The
silver lining here is that along with good times, time
also ensures that the bad times also do not last
forever. Thus, the wise is one who moves along with
time and takes everything in his/her stride.

The life then becomes a set of dreams (ephemeral,
transient, and to an extent meaningless) that we seek
to fulfil, a set of impossible dreams (ala the
dialogue of movie Khamoshi "Wo Jindagi hi kya jisme
koi Namkumkin sapna na ho?"), a set of actions
performed in order to fulfil some of these dreams, the
victories and the defeats associated with the
conquests, and subsequently, plenty of time to ponder
over our triumphs, tribulations, cravings, desires and
more dreams.

Chachu (4/4/2004)


Web Resources
-------------
[1] http://skasera.tripod.com/shouldidream.html
[2] http://skasera.tripod.com/deaddream.html
[3] http://skasera.tripod.com/eksapnekimaut.html
[4] CC#3: Of Sansodhan, Beliefs and Dreams:
http://skasera.tripod.com/article/cc003.html

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Chachu's Column #26: "Indians: The Global Citizens" (Part 2)

Hello All,
This is the second part of the silver-jubilee edition of Chachu's column. This column is a collection of contributions from readers including a contribution from myself. In particular, it has:

3. Joint Third Best entry wins Rs 100/- GC:
3b) My Observations on the USA" by Pankaj Chauhan a.k.a. PC
4. Other entries win Consolation Prizes Rs 50/- GC each:
4a) "Trip to Singapore" by Shaifali Aggarwal
4b) "Reflections on Life outside India" by Malay and Barnali
5. The Spritual Angle by Chachu

------- Contribution #3b: My Observations on the USA ----------
You must hear nice things about foreign countries many times, so I've put together the bad things.

After having spent more than five years in a country, you have an opportunity to learn about many things that aren't apparent in a short touristy kind of visit to the country. The image that you get of a country from media is very skewed. For those back home, US and other western countries might be all glamour and glitz. In this note, I'll point some bad sides that you may not have observed.

1. Poor remain poor, rich get richer: In a dollar driven economy, those who aren't that well to do tend to remain so. The most glaring example of this is access to affordable health care. At first glance, the health insurance system might appear fantastic. You just pay a fixed premium, and that takes care of all your health related expenses. Now the reality. A significant percentage of people can't afford to pay health insurance premiums. Moreover, health insurers routinely deny various claims. The most common trick is "Usual and Customary Charges". The insurance company can outright refuse to pay anything above this amount for - say a doctors' visit. Insurance agreements have large number of escape clauses. There are restrictions on which doctors you visit, what hospitals you go to. In the worst form of insurance, called HMOs, you provide the name of one doctor, and then you're stuck with that doctor forever. The sneaky tricks that the insurers play is endless. The worst part is if you don't have a job, or are between jobs, or haven't signed up for insurance by a deadline, a large number of insurers just won't take you. They don't offer individual health insurances. Most of them only sign up a group of people. The choice that you are left with if you want to sign up for individual insurance is very inferior to what you get as part of a group. Apart from health insurance, there are many examples, where the lower middle class and poor have to fight everyday. Banks have all sort of fees, just to have an account with them. The credit card companies and lenders squeeze the most juice out of poor people by having exorbitant interest rates and fees. Predatory lenders and check cashing companies are examples of entities that are involved. I could go on and go on.

2. Super biased media.
For a free democratic country, you'd expect to hear a large number of varied opinions. You wouldn't see any other propaganda driven mainstream media than here. What they pass off as news is so one sided, you realize it only after getting access to news sources outside the country. The truth a handful of corporations control all news outlets, resulting in corporate greed driven news coverage. There's one job that American media has been doing for ages and has been very effective at it. Keep junta under constant fear. Terrorists, killer bees, heavy fires, killer on loose, medical study showing some food may kill you, major crash on highway, these are the day to day items on the TV. A fearful populace is much easier to control, and politicians and corporations can get away with many things that would otherwise be punished.

3. Corporate interests precede everything: The privately held WalMart chain of retail stores has more net worth than all but 4 countries of the world! Sony is larger than Pakistan. Mega corporations have created large monopolies, which crush local economies and produce cheap, inferior products at high prices. Many local governments, public transport systems, libraries are under financial duress. Corporate greed has fueled consumerism in this country. This highly disposable society has created enormous problems for the environment all over the world. The corporations don't have any effective deterrent to be responsible. The only way to sustain the lifestyle promoted by corporations is to exploit other countries, in the form of cheap labor, dumping of waste products, etc. The amount of imports in this country is staggering.

4. Litigation: On surface, it may appear that everyone has equal access to judicial system. The truth is, the amount of money you have determines who wins the legal battle. Mega corps with tons of money routinely threaten regular people (and smaller companies) with frivolous lawsuits. Considering the might of the legal machine of the corps, your only recourse is to surrender to the will of these evil entities. Lawsuits by a group of people (called class action lawsuits) are another story. I think the only people that win are the lawyers, even if the corporation against which the lawsuit was brought loses.

5. Gun Deaths: The number of deaths by gun in this country is 400 times more than that of any other civilized country! This says a lot about the culture of fear that the people are living in. Closing all the house doors all the time is the norm here. Installing all kinds of fancy security systems still doesn't buy the junta a peace of mind, so you have guns in your house. American is a culture of bullying. Harassing and screwing others for your own gains without any consideration is the norm here. This also becomes apparent on a large scale, when you see the American involvement in international affairs. They have sponsored terrorism coups in many countries, overthrown many locally elected governments, destroyed the whole countries under the disguise of liberating the people of that country for their own material gains, the list goes on.

6. Segregation/Racism: This so-called advanced country is riddled with racism. There is a clear separation between blacks and whites. The neighborhoods they live in are divided more often than not. Although racism is illegal, it is still very much alive in the minds of people. Blacks and whites have separate churches! The number of black people you see in jails is ever on an increase and the number you see in universities and decent to well paying jobs is on a decline.

7. Some other random inconveniences: Mobile phones in this country plain suck. There's no standard. Mobile phone from one provider won't work with other provider. Companies don't have the concept of transferable numbers (the recently introduced law has caught all of them off guard). They try to suck the last remaining dollar out of your pocket. Human service is minimal to non-existent, every evident in airlines, mall shopping centers, etc. Cable TV prices are exorbitant. Expect to spend close to $100 or more per month on cable TV. Expect to spend many precious moments of your life holding on the phone, wading through the maze of automated machine replies and hold music.
------- End of contribution #3b: Courtesy Pankaj Chauhan aka PC(wins JOINT THIRD prize) ----------

------- Contribution #4a: Trip to Singapore ----------
It was just another day on the morning of 9th May 2001 - but for me it was a day full of activity and excitement. It was the day when I was flying to Singapore for a project assignment. It also happened to be my first trip abroad. I had heard a lot about Singapore, its people and its culture. At the end of it all, Singapore lived up to all my expectations.

A few hours of air travel saw me at Changi Airport in Singapore. The place seemed like a huge mansion with sparkling floors, well lit pathways with informative signboards at all the right places, tourist information counters and other amenities. The whole place was impressively decorated with flowers and fountains. Everything seemed to be so well managed. It was as if everyone knew what exactly to do and nothing seemed to be out of tune. That first feeling of ‘Perfection’ made me wonder, "Is it all for real!" But then I told myself that Changi airport is one of the most beautiful airports in the world.... May be that is why it is maintained so well or was it that this good maintenance had made Changi one of the world's better known airports! Who knows...who cares...truly Indian!

My company was supposed to arrange for my pick-up from the airport and drop me at my guest-house. I waited patiently for about half an hour but when no one seemed to be coming my way I grew a bit nervous. A gentleman at the airport sensed the tension on my face and came forward to help me. At first I was a bit reluctant to talk to him...but soon I realized that I had no other choice. The nearest phone available at the airport worked on a phone card but I had none with me. The person offered me his phone card and asked me to call up the concerned person. I talked to the person in-charge. After the call, I promptly returned the card to the gentleman. I offered to pay him the phone bill but he rejected it outright. I wondered how India or Indians would fare in a similar situation.

The next day saw me at the client's office where I had to report. The place had a very informal atmosphere. Everything seemed very orderly. Soon my Dept head came and met me and explained my roles and responsibilities. Within the next hour I was allotted all the resources including a cubicle with a working PC, telephone, stationary, access card, etc. One commendable aspect was that everyone from the CEO down to the gatekeeper was treated with equal respect. No one was looked down upon. Everyone was addressed by the first names; no one was titled ‘Sir’! After having coffee or tea people rinsed there own cups...even though a cleaner was there to do the job!.

Another pleasant experience in Singapore was travelling in metros and public transport buses. Every bus stop carried information about the route numbers and the expected times of arrival of the bus. And always, the buses were right there at the designated time! To keep a check on this practice, there were frequent and surprise inspections with the traffic inspectors standing at undisclosed intersections recording the time when the bus crossed that place. No bus moved until all the passengers were seated comfortably and the bus-doors were securely jammed. Even if there was a line of buses waiting at a stop, no bus driver honked for the bus in front to move. Everyone waited patiently for his or her turn to arrive and no bus driver ever stopped the bus in the middle of the road.

The metros in Singapore are also one of the most comfortable modes of transport and one of the best in the world. The bogies and the platforms are sparkling clean no matter what time of day it is. During my entire stay of 8 months in Singapore there was only one instance when the metro arrived late by 2 seconds from its scheduled arrival time. To my surprise the driver of the train actually announced that the train was delayed by 2 seconds due to some technical snag which had been taken care of and apologized that this might have caused the passengers some inconvenience! The way time is valued and managed by Singaporeans is really worth a practice.

Even cab drivers in Singapore were very methodical in the way they operate. No cab driver ever refused a passenger; even if it meant that the driver would have to go the opposite way. Unlike in India, the cab drivers in Singapore didn’t even ask the passenger where to go unless the passengers were comfortably seated with the seat belt on. In case the cab had been booked by someone to be picked up, the cab displays an ‘On call’ sign. Once I was coming back from office at 2:00am. The cab driver was probably new to the area and he took a wrong turn. When he dropped me at my guest house and I asked for the bill, he promptly gave me one but asked me to pay only as much as I paid everyday and did not want me to pay extra for the long drive that he had taken me for. I was stunned! I had heard that the cab drivers in Singapore were supposed to be among the most honest, but this was something too hard for me to digest. (I had been in Delhi for so many years but never once did I come across an auto driver who would not cheat me. The scene is no different in any city in India be it Chandigarh in the North or Chennai in the South!) I paid that cab driver the full amount. As I was coming up the lift I wished that some day things will become better in India as well.

I had started enjoying my stay in Singapore and now I had moved from the guesthouse to a PG accommodation. My landlady was a very friendly and co-operative one although she had warned me against mingling with our Chinese neighbours because for some unknown reasons they did not like the Indians much. Nevertheless whenever I met our neighbours on the stairs I smiled and tried to say a hello. But all I got was a cold look on their face. Later I learnt that this is much the case with almost all the Singaporean families. They preferred to keep to themselves and didn't socialize much. Even during the festivals, people mostly kept to themselves.

In terms of cleanliness and in maintaining law and order, Singapore holds the top position in the world. Although there were instances when you could find people spitting in the lift or smoking in a public place, but such instances were very rare. At every few meters one could find a dustbin. Even the buses had a small dustbin kept near the exit door where people could drop in their journey ticket. Every house had a garbage bin that was linked to a central garbage collection box meant for that apartment. People dropped the garbage into the bin. Each morning the garbage collection van came and emptied the apartments' central garbage box.

On the roads, major highways and junctions had electronic sign boards informing people of a fallen tree or accident or construction work. This helped drivers to avoid certain lanes for a smoother traffic flow. The use of horns on roads was minimal and at all crossings pedestrians were given the right of way irrespective of whether a policeman was around to keep a watch or not. To compliment all this Singapore also had a very pleasant weather throughout the year. The one thing predictable about Singapore weather was its unpredictability! One moment the sun would be shining and the next minute it would be raining cats and dogs!! Despite of such frequent rains all road in Singapore were well carpeted with no potholes or open drains. Everywhere you went the huge buildings with beautifully done interiors. The colorful water fountains and well-trimmed bushes on both sides of the road would be a sight to behold! I once happened to ask my landlady, "how is it that I never find any stray cows or dogs on the roads here? Don’t they have animals around in Singapore?” She smiled at my ignorance and said," You have animals and birds in Singapore but you will find them in the zoo or the safari where they are meant to be...not loitering around on the roads!"

Singapore made me realize what quality of life really meant. There, people did not have to bother about trivial things like water, road or power. Or for that matter, about the parking space at the next shopping mall. As a policy in Singapore, before buying a car, a person had to provide proof that s/he had a parking space for his car otherwise s/he was denied permission to buy any vehicle. Wary of the fact that uncontrolled growth in the number of vehicles will result in traffic jams in land and road scarce Singapore, the government has implemented a range of measures to manage car ownership and usage. The endeavor of the government is to promote use of public transport (like buses and metros) that was much more efficient than use private cars. Further, to avoid older vehicles plying on the road, road tax increased exponentially from the 10th year onwards (110% in the 11th year, 120% in the 12th and so on to a maximum of 150% from the 15th year onwards).

Despite these pleasant experiences and policies, at times I felt that Singapore (or any other country for that matter!) lacked the warmth and closeness that one finds in the people of India. Life in Singapore was much more mechanical and robotic. People would be there to help you out but the sense of belonging was amiss. It was akin to joining a number of jigsaw pieces that completed the picture but failed to convey the theme! People were aloof...they were lonely. The festivities lacked colour and enthusiasm. Sure enough, technology made up for the lack of most of the material things but peace and satisfaction is where the heart is.... And though I had a wonderful time in Singapore I am still happy to be back home in India with family and friends.

------- End of contribution #4a: Courtesy Shaifali Aggarwal(wins Consolation prize) ----------

------- Contribution #4b: Reflections on Life outside India ----------
Acceleration, not speed
========================
Barnali and I were driving down 101 from San Jose to LA. We were supposed to make it there in about 4 hours, driving at 75. The car hardly made a whiz as it passed the exits. It never ceased to amaze me how dead and motionless everything seemed, even at that speed, as though everything was still. I wondered if that was true about life in general, that we cannot feel speed, however fast it is. We are designed to feel acceleration. Being born in middle class India, the journey till San Jose was accelerating all right. Every year brought the promise of greater challenges and greater rewards. The years at IIT and then the grad life, job hunt, startup, bubble, burst; everything left a mark. But then, are things decelerating now? Is life an endless routine of typing, sleeping and again typing? Would life have been different in India? Could I have maintained the acceleration further if I worked in Bangalore instead of San Jose. Does family life hold more satisfaction over there...Too many questions with no answers...Grass definitely is greener on the other side, no matter which side you are on.

The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom
===============================================
But before I condemn the life of an NRI to a meaningless materialistic chase ending in vain soul searching, let me state that such thoughts are more like sparks and not a steady current. Often such discussions start after weekend dinners with a bunch of friends. A full belly is still the best bet to stimulate the mind. Such thoughts are dismissed the very next morning where you get into the classic American sport of "enjoying the weekend". The feeling of just driving past the beaches, or hike for miles on trails is just incredible (And oh! they are innumerable). The sense of freedom is imbibed in life in America, its something you cant miss. Even during grad life days, when we were definitely below poverty lines here, life seemed to hold many more things to explore. In retrospect, life in India seemed like constant fights to get a foothold somewhere. But out here everything seemed an opportunity to learn. Sure, there is an insane excess of everything. Food, clothes, electronics, roads, cars, gas... The list is endless. And to think in most part of the world people have drinking water problems. But then probably this excess enables individuals to focus on other things than the everyday drudgery of life. Does life imply a "richer" experience in America than in India? Shouldn't life be the same in India if you earn enough.

It’s all about balance
======================
Finally home is where you live. And places don't mean much without the people. All the people I came across while my stay here have made the whole thing worth it. Perhaps I would have met the same people in India. Any comparison I have attempted so far between life here and in India, barring superficial differences, everything has always lead to the same answer; that only the people around you can make a difference. And if that is true, then there should not be differences between living in America and India. Of course, roads with potholes cannot be ignored and the same goes for second class citizenship. But one can get used to them. What remains after a lifetime of struggles and getting used to things is memories. America has given me very fond memories and I shall cherish them. For some odd reason, grass still looks greener on the other side and I try to reason myself that future memories would be more pleasant in India. In any case, its all about how you balance your past with your future.
------- End of contribution #4b: Courtesy Malay and Barnali(wins Consolation prize) ----------

------- Contribution #5: The Spiritual Angle ----------
It has been nearly a month since the first part of the silver jubilee edition was posted. I had then promised of sending the next column in about a week’s time. However, a month has passed, and I have been somewhat lazy. The title for my contribution - The spiritual angle - was ready long time back. But the contents were not forthcoming. I was not sure whose spirit I was referring to. There were some vague thoughts - ‘About the yearning of the spirit’; ‘About the desire to do something different, be different’. But nothing concrete could emerge.

But then I received an email from my friend in US. He wrote, “I am still searching for the real truth and I guess in that sense it doesn’t make any difference whether you are in India or in US. So, my experience in US has been that it’s just a different kind of life - I wouldn’t say good or bad - I'd just say, they are as clueless about the meaning of life as anybody else in the world. When I talk of "meaning of life", I am not talking about the "personal meaning of life" that is arbitrarily chosen by individuals. I am talking about the collective aim of humanity or more generally the whole alive nature. Why are we cruising through the empty spaces at the speed of earth and where are we headed? My experiment of moving in here has confirmed one thing so far - it doesn’t matter where you are externally or how much you own or how much you are known and the real question to answer is still the quintessential question of existence.”

His email provided me the food for thought. Indeed, what is the purpose of our lives? Before I continue any further, it is important to see how this discussion is related to the theme of this two-column series “Indians: The Global Citizens”. The relation is subtle yet evident. Every individual has a void in his/her life - a profound emptiness. And everyone chooses a different course to fill this gap, this vacuum. Some seek this fulfillment in their vocation, some in their relation and some in salvation. Narendra in his contribution says “After having lived in the US for more than four years, my heart craves for the 'emotional bonding' with home country, to be with people around me to whom I can relate to.” Manju Banka puts the same feeling in different words, “in the end, though our bodies may live in San Francisco, London, Dubai or Surabaya, our hearts and souls remain in India.” Many NRIs can relate with this feeling. When I was in Japan, nearly all alone, and used to see the same trains running at the same time with the same set of people in the same hurry, I used to long for a change, long for being in India where there was some chaos, some discord. Returning back here, I found the chaos shocking and longed for the Utopia, the perfect world. And before one finds the perfect world, one must first define the perfection.

So what and who is perfect? The second biggest economy, Japan, where the people smoke and gamble like crazy, but epitomize quality? Or the Americans who profess the virtues of free trade, but want to ban outsourcing, where, as Pankaj puts it, the media is biased, the rich are getting richer, and where there are gun deaths and other random inconveniences? Or is it India shining, a nation that is simultaneously living in ten different centuries, where 8 lane super expressways co-exist with the pot-holed roads, where gallons of water go to manicuring the lush fields of a golf course, while many clamour and fight for water, where corruption is a way of life and road etiquette abysmal? Or is it Singapore, as Shaifali puts it, a nation that made her realize what quality of life really meant, a nation that lacked the warmth and closeness that one finds in the people of India.

What is the perfect world? Where is Utopia? Is it in the halls of Mathura where foreigners throng for chanting ‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’, on at Mars where people are trying to find life? Is it at Kasauli where people go for a quite weekend or is it finding the cure for SARS? Or is it in finding the balance as Malay puts it in his contribution?

Leaving you with those random thoughts.

Chachu 30/1/2004
------- End of contribution #5: Courtesy Chachu(wins no prize) ----------

Web Resources
-------------
http://www.expatsingapore.com (general information on singapore)
http://www.expatsingapore.com/once/cost.htm (owning a car in Singapore)

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Chachu's Column #25: "Indians: The Global Citizens" (part 1)

Chachu's Column #25: "Indians: The Global Citizens" (part 1)
----------------------------------------------------------
Hello All,

First of all, wishing you a very happy New Year and a belated Christmas.

To mark the twenty-fifth (silver jubilee) edition of this column, a different format has been chosen. This column is a collection of contributions from readers including a contribution from myself.
Expatriate readers were requested to comment on how they compare their stay in India versus their stay abroad. Those in India were asked to write about their visits/stays to foreign lands. There were prizes in the form of Fabmall Gift Certificates (GC) for the contributions. The final results are as follows, as judged by my friend and a neutral judge:

1. Best Entry wins Rs 400/- GC: "Our hearts and souls remain in India” by Manju Bunka/Puja Bunka
2. Second Best Entry wins Rs 200/- GC: "Land of Freedom” by Narendra Singhal
3. Joint Third Best entry wins Rs 100/- GC each:
"Phoren Experience" by Alhad Wakankar
"My Observations on the USA" by Pankaj Chauhan a.k.a. PC
4. Other entries win Consolation Prizes Rs 50/- GC each:
"Trip to Singapore" by Shaifali Aggarwal
"Reflections on Life outside India" by Malay and Barnali

The above contributions, and another contribution from yours truly are presented in CC25 and CC26, in order. Kindly give 1-2 weeks time for delivery of prizes. You should receive email from Fabmall with your GC number very soon.

----------------- Contribution #1: Our hearts and souls remain in India --------------------
Next month commemorates the 22nd anniversary of our arrival in Indonesia. When we first decided to come out here, never in our wildest dreams had we imagined that we might stay this long. My husband signed a four-year contract with the company under duress but we thought it was too long. I assured my parents and a very distressed grandmother that we would be back well before that. As you know, that did not happen and we are still overseas. May gods intervene and we go back home to India soon with happiness in our hearts.

Unlike today, when we moved it was not a fashionable thing in our community to go abroad; but circumstances had forced us. Today, NRIs are considered moneyed people with pots of luck; people who have supposedly lost everything - their culture, traditions, values - but are rolling in gold and diamonds. I really don't understand this fictitious face given to a very patriotic and tradition-abiding community.

Yes, there are some shallow people who proudly claim to have forgotten their language, rituals, culture, but they are rare. Such 'modern' people are plenty in India, too. I have met hundreds of Indian families living in the US, Singapore, Indonesia and many other countries who religiously follow all the festivals, national days and other celebrations more devoutly then many in my own country. We always say, "Indians outside India are more Indian."

NRI children, particularly girls, are given a totally wrong face. My own daughter and her numerous friends are a wonderful example of nice Indian girls. They are mostly highly educated young women who make their parents proud. They don't believe in dating, going to discos or wearing revealing clothes. When asked a question in their mother tongue, Hindi, they respond in kind. Many family, friends and acquaintances have often commented on how humble, polite and friendly my daughter is. Such comments make me proud...yet they also sting. Because the underlying tone is one of surprise - how could she be, when she was raised overseas?

At every step we are confronted with stereotypes and misconceptions that do little but hurt and divide. In movies, in media, in a hundred everyday comments of friends and relatives we are misrepresented and mistaken. But we do not scream or shout. In our own quiet ways, we go about changing the minds of those who malign us. We teach our children to understand not just to read and write Hindi, but what it means to be Indian. We show them the beauty our culture, our heritage holds. Because, in the end, though our bodies may live in San Francisco, London, Dubai or Surabaya, our hearts and souls remain in India.
------- End of contribution #1: Courtesy Manju Bunka/Puja Bunka (wins FIRST prize) ----------

--------------------------- Contribution #2: Land of Freedom ------------------------------
I stepped on this great land of "Freedom" on 16th Sept, 1999, my heart filled with a lot of anxiety, hopes, and expectations. The luxury and the 'near perfect' life that the young mind saw around him was beyond his imagination for this mind had never before crossed the boundaries of cocoon Indian life. As months flew by, the dark side of 'near perfect' American life started surfacing, a demonstration of inherent imperfection and anomaly in humans.

The strongest blow was due to the cultural differences from a culture where he had to be comfortable with marriages lasting for only a few years or even a few months in most cases, where sons disown their fathers, and mothers disown their daughters, where aged live in old-age homes, where children have to constantly vouch 'We love you' to their parents, where money takes place above all relations – perfect signs of a highly 'capitalistic' economy and a highly 'individualistic' society.

As I led my student life, at times I gave thought to my future plans of staying in the US or going back to the home country. It was a choice between the luxury and freedom of western world and the social charm of simple Indian life. In my last trip to India, I made the following observation about my motherland. There is happiness, contentment, mental peace, a sense of belonging and togetherness. People are happy in a simple daily meal. There is nothing else that they want. There is satisfaction and contentment. Westernization is surreptitiously stealing this spirit from India ...

After having lived in the US for more than four years, my heart craves for the 'emotional bonding' with home country, to be with people around me to whom I can relate to. Some of my fellow beings are able to cut these ties, very comfortably and 'westernize' themselves, thus becoming self-proclaimed proud Americans. I wonder how they nourish themselves with their roots cut and how they are going to raise their kids in the messy society. Is money that important? Do they think about their old age when their children would disown them? Do they think how many times laws can prevent them from different treatment due to the skin color?

Yeah, America has been successful in selling itself as a land of opportunity and liberty to the rest of the world. Opportunities, which entice brains from all over the world to forget their patriotism and serve America for the love of money and liberty where as soon as you step out, every move of yours is tracked by video cameras.
------- End of contribution #2: Courtesy Narendra Singhal (wins SECOND prize) ----------


---------------------- Contribution #3a: Phoren Experience ------------------------------
In the good old days, the charm of being in the software industry was that one had ample opportunities to travel abroad. I too got couple of opportunities. The first perdesh travel came with UK, England in particular. Even before the visit, the first shock came while visiting the UK consul for visa. I saw a dedicated queue just for Indian Gujaratis - not only that - there was a Gujarati interpreter assisting the British counselor by translating into English what people had to say. By Joe!

Within three days, I was in Woking, a town southwest of London. It was Sunday. We had a Ford Mondeo, a petrol card (both company paid) and my Indian license. It came as a happy surprise that Indians were allowed to drive in UK with Indian License - not even an International License is required, for the initial 6 months. The boring work of bug-fixing had obviously taken a back seat. As everyone in UK we went to Southall, which is referred to as ‘home away from hom’e. It was another shock as there were more Asians than pherangis in sight in Southhall. Asians had made all effort to make Southall resemble Indian city. Local businessman on footpath had tapes of Hindi Music barking at us, one could find loads of litter on roads; people ignored traffic signals at crossings. On the positive side one could buy Indian buffet dinner for 5 pounds, get all kinds of Indian curry powders, garments, pandits for puja.

Office life in UK, and in particular my company, was a bit peculiar. Pherangi colleagues would come and meet us as if we had known them for years, but then the next we interacted with them was with a ‘Bye’. There was minimal interaction, once in the morning with ‘Hi’ and other in the evening with ‘Byeeee’. We were also required to sport formal suit complete with a tie. It was so boring sitting in front of the computer sporting a suit and a tie. The British food was even more boring. They use potatoes in place of rice. I could not come to terms with the fact that they could consume cold chicken and also that every other British dish had potatoes in it.

Anyways, I survived the UK trip by munching on Mac-D burgers, visiting mandatory places: Madam Tussauds Museum, House of parliaments, Big Ben, London Eye (a giant wheel with about 60 ovals and each oval having capacity to accommodate 50 people), Tower bridge, Parliament house, Swami Narayan temple, Trafalgar square, Piccadilly Circus, Harrods, Watching change of guard at Buckingham Palace, ad infinitum. We also visited a couple of cities like Bath and other not-worth-mentioning cities. I survived on Hindi films shown on BBC Channel-4, and by taking solace in the fact that Indians had reached places in UK and that Chicken-Tikka was pronounced as UK’s national dish by Tony Blair and that Indians were the highly educated among other immigrants and that Indian were helping the economy by helping create new businesses and thereby new jobs.

The second chance to travel came with Germany. Germany was calling Indians especially in IT field. Germans had gone to lengths to make the flight carrying Indian programmers coming on the Green Card a pleasant experience. There was place for 10000 working people but was answered by only 50% people out which approx. 20% were Indians. The Germans had thoroughly prepared for the welcome. To make their new foreign colleagues feel at home from the start, the employees of a few software companies went through an intercultural training session.

And they were ready with facts: Indians eat rice and take their shoes off before entering the house. And how Indians greet each other by saying ‘Namaste’. The Germans did exactly the same when they met the first lot of Indian programmers, but were stunned by the response. The Indians greeted them with a friendly ‘hello’ and shook hands.

I was the only Indian working for the company in Germany. There were no foreigners either. It was an all-German company. I was single, had no friends when I arrived in Germany. I had questions abound. Are they racists? Would they be friendly? Can they understand me? I had no German speaking lessons. To top it all, there was the now famous sentence ‘Kinder statt Inder?’ (‘Why not have children instead of Indians?’) It later turned out that it was a political gimmick. Germany used to be and still is, though on decline, the economic engine of Europe. It is followed by the UK and France. The problem with Germany is that there is negative population growth. Meaning that the German population is decreasing and according to an estimate fifty years down the line it could be only 75% of what it is today. So what is the solution? Do they call immigrants (which could dilute their culture and language) or reproduce more. Divorce rate in Germany is close to 50%; moreover people do not want to marry as Live-in relationship is socially accepted. For official purposes they have 5 categories: Single, Married, Widow(er), Divorcee and Living-partner. The German government has put forth various schemes where in a Single person pays the highest amount tax followed by Living-partner and so on. People with kids pay the least amount of tax. Education in Germany has been made totally free so that people do not think that children are a burden. Even university education is free including free travel in buses and trains for students. These facilities are also extended to foreign students studying in Germany.

I had made my mind that I would stay in Germany for a few very good reasons. Firstly, the work I was going to do was interesting. Secondly, I was going to a town called Aachen, which was situated on Western German border and was bordering Belgium and The Netherlands (nice and inexpensive opportunities to move around) and thirdly I probably would pick up a new language. It was winter when I reached Germany, but there was very little snowfall. By night I was well settled into my one room apartment. I was all alone and the first instinct was to find some one resembling an Indian. I was staying in these big apartment blocks and hence the best way was to go to the front door of each building and read each name to spot an Indian. By the time I was checking few names a group of Indians arrived. It was birthday of one of them and he invited me over for dinner. Within minutes, I was into the Indian group and we were chatting as if we were old buddies and were meeting after years.

His was a typical flat: furnished with a sofa, two settee (which did not go with the couch), and a table, all of which was picked up from neighbourhood who had put the stuff for the Municipal Corporation to pick up. He also had a TV, chest of drawers and closet picked up from flowmarket (a second-hand market run by citizens).

While in Germany I got a lot of chances to move around in different countries. People in Germany are normally supposed to work for 8 hours. If one works for more than that he\she can claim either a compensatory off or money. This is traditional style of working in Germany. Though workplace rules are changing fast these days. But I had the pleasure of 40Hrs work-week. There are official 30 holidays apart from national holidays and Saturdays and Sundays. Cool! The holidays meant that I visited a lot of places. I share with you some interesting experiences.

The Netherlands: Literally translated it would mean ‘Low Lands’. Most of The Netherlands is below sea level and most of it is man made by reclaiming land from sea. This means that there are lots and lots of pumps, working 24x7, around The Netherlands pumping water back into sea. The people here are among the most open and non-conservative I have ever met. They are very helping and extremely friendly. They are also very good at English, one reason being that they see all the Hollywood films and TV serials in English (unlike in Germany were all films are dubbed in German before they are screened). This country is also called Holland which is a misnomer as Holland is just one of the states in The Netherlands. Sell\ purchase\use of some of drugs have been legalized here. It is also the first country to make euthanasia legal. These people are also called Dutch. And one very peculiar thing about Dutch is that they love the orange colour. It will reflect in every other thing whether it is the national flag or the colour of house or main colour for cricket\football team.

Spain: As one moves south in Europe, people start looking darker, they also are not good at time keeping, they eat spicy food and the language they speak start sounding a bit harsh. This statement is not entirely true but yes it fits more or less. In Germany I was used to waiting at bus stops where there would be electronic boards displaying the time of arrival of about 10 next buses. During my entire stay in Germany there was not even a single occasion that buses would be delayed. It was different story in Spain. While on a bus stop I could not find any timetables or electronic boards. So I inquired with a fellow-would-be-passengers. The answer resembled a typical Indian answer to this question. ‘The bus is expected anytime within next 20-25 minutes’

Luxembourg: This country is one of the smallest in the world. Probably a little bit bigger than NCR. Luxembourg itself is too small to create a self-sustaining internal market. They, like Swiss, are involved international banking and financial services. The capital has the same name as the country and is an interesting place to visit.

Belgium: If your are traveling by train you could cross the whole of Belgium starting south to north in less than 6 hours. Belgium is famous for a lot of things. It is known as the Diamond Capital of world, and the diamond business is controlled either by Jews or by Indians. Here I got a rare chance to see traditionally attired Jews. They sported traditional black dress with black hat and were all sporting long beards and all had long hair. Their sideburns were strands of hair sometimes extending until knee. Brugge is city worth mentioning. It is the most beautiful and preserved city. Belgium is also world famous for crystal, lace and chocolates.

Fancy European Words: I was astonished to know that French Fries originated in Belgium. There is an array of words starting with ‘French’ and have nothing to do with France. It is said that the English coined these words in order to deride French. Take for example French Cricket (an informal form of cricket where the batter’s legs act as the wicket), French Leave (unannounced departure), and French letter. In the UK I learnt that a boffin is a doctor and a bobby is a policeman.

Regarding traveling I would like to mention two peculiarities. One that traveling in Europe can be extremely cheap if your are traveling by economy airlines like Ryan-Air. They would happily take you from Germany to Scotland just for 40 Euros. Though I did not get a chance to travel Ryan-Air because of the strings attached. I got a chance to cruise on German highways (commonly known as Autobahns). Germany is the only country in the world to have no speed limits and it is common to spot people cruising at 170-200 kmph. And also it is common to spot non-Germans sporting tee shirts having boldface sentences ‘I survived the Autobahn’.

Among other things Beer is an important and integral part of German culture. There are about 5000 different brands of Beers in Germany and one could spend a whole lifetime and still not taste each and every brand of beer. What is peculiar that when I was taking German language classes we had an entire lesson dedicated to Beer. It explained the various kinds of beers served in various parts of Germany. Also almost each brand of Beer had a distinctive glass in which it is served. Another peculiarity is Oktoberfest or Beer festival where thousands gather in München (Munich) for a week for a wild beer party. During the Football World-Cup, the matches were telecast in conference room in office and Beer was served in working hours and was on the house.

Germans call their country Deutschland and the language they speak is Deutsch. It is also the official language of countries like Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria. Talk of Germany and no mention of Hitler. Impossible. The notorious and abominable dictator Hitler was born in Austria and caused the deaths of millions of Jews. Today Germans feel ashamed of Hitler and see him as a blot on German history and wish he never existed.

I had a gala time in Germany; I made lots of friends and did not have even a single incidence of racism directed towards me. The only negative was the exorbitantly high tax rate in Germany. Which could be as high as 50% (including pension, social security, mandatory health insurance, etc.)
------- End of contribution #3b: Courtesy Alhad Wakankar (wins JOINT THIRD prize) ----------

Web Resources and Guest Articles (Interesting Reading)
------------------------------------------------------
1. 'Why was Satyendra Dubey betrayed?' by Shailesh Gandhi (http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/09guest.htm)

2. 'Something must be right with India!' by A. K. Diwanji
(http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/24akd.htm)

3. 'India Shining? Which India? by Barun Roy
(http://in.rediff.com/money/2003/dec/26guest.htm)

List Managment
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