Okhil Babu's letter

I got this forward from a friend.

Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption "Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review

Okhil Babu's letter to the Railway Department :

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with 'lotah' in one hand and 'dhoti' in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.

This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."

Any guesses why this letter was of historic value?
It apparently led to the introduction of toilets on trains in India.

Pallavi Anupallavi

From the world of macroeconomics to the politics of the world, here's my contribution to the God of small things. Pallavi anupallavi is an old kannada movie - in fact the first movie made by Mani Ratnam. It had Anil Kapoor in the lead role.

Among other good things in the movie was the music of Illayaraja. The guy was a true genius. The best song from the movie is called 'Naguva nayana'. This is a must listen - it melts my heart every time I listen to it!

http://www.kannadaaudio.com/Songs/Moviewise/P/PallaviAnupallavi/NaguvaNayana.ram

Sri Lanka in war

Just tune into TV or surf the net - all you hear are about wars everywhere. Islamic militia have taken over Mogadishu, Chechen rebels beheading people, 12 killed in Afghanistan and n killed in Iraq every day. It is sickening how we just can't stand each other and how we don't mind taking each others' lives for whatever cause or reason.

The one war that disturbs me personally is the Sri Lankan civil war. The Tamil tigers(LTTE) are back in action. The Sri Lankan army must be a greater terrorist organization as they don't mind bombing hospitals, churches and civilian areas.

I have fond memories related to Sri Lanka from my childhood. Our neighbours in Pondicherry are of Sri Lankan origin. They are Catholic Tamils from the city of Jaffna. Back in the 80s, India was still confused as to what it wanted to be - a socialistic democracy was the intended destination. Sri Lanka on the other hand was far more developed socially. Social indices such as literacy, life expectancy and capitalistic economy were more towards the South East Asian model rather than the South Asian poverty paradox. I remember my neighbours visiting Ceylon and bringing back gifts for the neighbours and kids in the entire locality. I had a soft ball and a puzzle book from Ceylon as gifts from them at different times.

Rupavahini is the official TV channel of the Sri Lankan state. We had three antennae on our terrace - one for local DD, one for Madras DD and one for Rupavahini. The quality of the Ceylon TV programmes was much better than our own DD's Krishi drashan and magic shows. I remember watching 'Woody wood pecker' on Ceylon TV and would be in awe of what quality programmes are shown there.

That was also the time the entire LTTE movement started gaining ground. There were supposed to have been some training grounds for the LTTE around the woods around Pondicherry. There was a huge amount of sympathy for the Tamil cause - because of the horror stories of suppression by the Sinhalese majority of the minority Tamils in the north and east of the tiny country.

India's own stand was that of sympathy for a long time until the Rajiv Gandhi murder in 1991. Well, that has a lot to do with further muddling in politics by the not-so-great-visionaries of the Nehru-Gandhi family in India.

India's experience in the late 80s made it a very silent spectator of the entire Sri Lankan fiasco. In my opinion, we should have taken much more active interest in the whole issue. It's one thing not to interfere in another country's affairs, but it definitely affects us in a big way. To see what I'm saying, just a visit to the refugee camps in Rameshwaram or Point Calimere would give a perspective on the burning issue there.

Sri Lanka lost a golden chance to resolve the crisis - but the turning point again was the election of the Sinhala hardliners in the Govt. Mahendra Rajapakse is a hawk - and with a terrorist leader like Prabhakaran - it's only expected that the situation would get worse. Today, India will face another refugee crisis. The north and east of Ceylon will go through another ethnic cleansing by both parties.

Those cherished days of a prosperous Sri Lanka where they showed woody wood pecker will just remain a dream. It's funny to see how two countries deal with minorities. In India we go overboard to make sure everything is okay for them from the Govt point of view. In Ceylon, votes are won on the basis of who is more oppressive. And all this is under a so-called Buddhist Govt? This confirms the theory that religion has nothing to do with the agenda of oppressive Govts and even more brutal terrorist organizations.

Missing Bangalore

We've been on this missing Bangalore trip for the last two days! The weather has turned quite Bangalorish here in Singapore - and that always reminds us of the beauty of addiction called Bangalore.

Also chanced upon some snaps of the blooms in Bangalore - felt very nostalgic about the cool crisp air, the blooms of the Gulmohars, the tabebuois and the flame of the forest. A trip to Lalbagh and you can see the nagalinga pushpa. The last time I saw that flower was in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The hot idly breakfast - though it is possible to have that in Little India here. The walk in DRDO colony to head to expose ourselves to the sun ... Hmmm... have to get back to Macroeconomics now. Enjoy the picture of Lalbagh from last monsoon.

Knock, knock! Who's there?

The biggest worry from the capital markets fluctuation of the past few weeks is that everybody's confused. The consumption data shows slowdown, job growth shows slowdown and there's confusion especially in the emerging markets. India has been badly hit the flight of capital from the stock markets is inexplicable - atleast with my limited reading abilities of analysts' reports.

Ben Bernake has a bit too much in his magic wand. What he says and what he breathes is interpreted, mis-interpreted and re-interpreted depending on whether one is a bear or a bull. The inverted yield curve from 4 months back is gone now. But the signs of confusion are more than visible. Emerging markets like India depend so much on temporary FIIs. This is an awesome video by Columbia guys on how much lies in Bernake's control : http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=2478

The real problem also seems to be with inflation. With oil climbing skyscrapers, it's unlikely that this shock will not slowdown the economy. Historical evidence shows that similar shocks have always resulted in a slowdown. How much does the economy slowdown, determines if there's a recession or not. Anyway, it's a bad time to be in b-school waiting for the big jobs to be made. With inflation, people postpone consumption, which leads to loss of jobs and business downstream and this in turn fuels further slowdown. The govt must react with cutting down interest rates immediately, and encourage consumption so that the economy downstream heats up and propels the engine forward.

What does recession mean to a country like India? To begin with, lower job creation. We've been such fools in not carrying the economic reforms ahead. The left parties always hold back reforms and the Congress Govt itself does not make any bold moves with a puppet PM in place. What it means for b-school would be graduates like us is - possible unemployment! Really hope that doesn't happen.

We are living in some of the most interesting times in the world. The landscape of the world is getting altered like crazy all over. It's only a question of time now when Bush is thrown out of office - China's becoming more powerful and just when Japan is recovering from a long period of deflation and recession, the world's heading the same way again. Latin America and Africa are own their trip!

Anyway, coming back to the topic, the only way out now is some tough talking and action by Bernake and his tribesmen in all countries and hope for the best. Rest is up there!

Salaam Singapura

There are constant debates on where to live and how an Indian is treated in different parts of the world. Whether there is life in a city, the weather, the people, the culture and the language - these are some of the factors that affect decisions in this regard.

Our first week in Singapore was quite traumatic! We were really tired, we couldn't see much vegetarian food food - we saw these massive electronics malls with food courts that had dead ducks hanging all around the walls.... Disgusting - was the only way we described the place. But gradually, when things started falling in place - one starts we started to appreciate the way this place works.

Imagine an immigration authority that welcome you with a smile. Asks your normal questions unlike the stiff upper lipped white man asking " Why have you come to the united States?". "What business brings you to Belgium?". The city-state is really green - the harmony between development and greenary is unmatched, atleast compared to poorer parts of Asia. The air is clean and there's public transport that keeps people connected in a human way. The multi-racial society accepts Indians in particular and any foreigner in general, in an objective manner. The taxis work day and night are so affordable. Just the efficiency of the place takes care of everyday daily activities. And then, you get the time to think of more strategic things for the business or academics! Now that is what is attractive about this place.

Take the story of good vegetarian food. There are plenty of Indian vegeterian restaunarnts in the city. And very affordable even as a staudent. There are movies running at 1 AM everyday. There is no crime at all. Even a woman can walk back home late in the night! The weather is a bit humid and hot - but you can't have everything. The air-conditioners take care of these comforts. Overall, I think it's an amazing place to live in! The regualr rains remind me so much of Bangalore ... imagine Bangalore without the traffic and the pollution ... Yes - Salaam Singapura!

Random bambling

So many thoughts crowded in that grey matter! Whatever, is there of it!

The roller coaster is still on. Who is a friend, who is not a friend, who is nice, who is not nice? Why is someone nice or why is someone not nice? What wrong did I do? What wrong did I say? A multitude of questions, multiple answers … human psychology is insane, perverted and complex! I am sensitive, should I be more sensitive, should I just ignore and lead my own life? Another set of rambling mumblings! There’s so much shit happening in this world. So many people dying as I write so many wars for god-alone-knows-what happening in every nook and corner of the world. The other side of the spectrum, people talk about parties, about how their weekend was – damnit! I don’t want to know!

Should we be cynical and let the world be should we say “No – I’m going to change this world!” Likes, dislikes – endless possibilities, and multiple combinations. What do I want to do, where do I want to be, am I a leader, am I a follower- questions, questions and more questions! Should I think abstract, should it be more solid. Questions pounding the head, questions pounding the brain …. Will return to pound the head and use the brain!

One step forward, two steps back!

Is this how one should best describe India? There is so much optimism that a giant has finally woken up and in the process improve the lives of millions of its children. But the politicians of the country don't care. It's the divide-and -rule policy that continues and only the ruler has changed. The latest row about reservations is in the 'three step back' mode.

Yesterday, in class there was a discussion on the corelation between democracy and prosperity as measured as GDP per capita. There seemed to a fair corelation in most of the world. The outliers were - Singapore, Hong Kong , UAE on the upside. But the loner exception on the downside was India. It pains when you see that everwhere else where there is freedom and democracy, there is prosperity - but not in my beloved country.

Theories to explain the anomaly? May be culturally, we never wanted to improve. May be we are just not ambitious enough a people! The other theory can be that inequality has been created as a result of the caste system. That people have been suppressed for centuries and this is the way they think of life! Whatever the explanation, I would really like to see us go with the rest of the world and converge to the line of corelation. I really wish it does ...