Language Mavens

In his book, the Language Instinct, Steven Pincker, the psycholinguist from Harvard University, describes how some people have to use correct language or grammar always. These people abhor the fact that artistic liberations can be taken to make a point or some rules can be bent in colloquial or verbal context.

In her book, Ex-libris - the Confessions of a Common Reader, Anne Fadiman describes how her entire family is obsessed with the correctness of language and often frowns upon expressions such as the hoi polloi (hoi = the, so why the the people?) or finds mistakes in menu cards in a restaurant.

Largely, I belong to the category of the Anne Fadiman family and totally relate with people described by Steven Pincker as the language mavens.

But somehow, I stand by the puritanical approach to usage of language. Many times, we maul the language just because we do not know something. Strangely, my favorite is the matching of verbs with nouns in English. Agreed the GMAT version of matching verbs with nouns is complex. But here are some examples that may entertain you:

The INC placard saying: We welcomes Sonia Gandhi to Pune.
The hapless user: When I logs in, I get this errors.
One of the esteemed designers I know: The system will finds the request and submits to application server.

Lot of spelling mistakes on ETV Marathi and countless hoardings in Pune: the words like mhaNoon (hence, that’s why), karoon (do), baghoon (past participle of to see) etc. are to be spelt with the vowel “long u – dirgha ookar.” Invariably, these words are spelled with the “short u – rhaswa ookar”.

Another favorite is where plural versus singular is not distinguished. The word data is plural of datum. But many a times, people assume data as singular and datas as plural! Also, a case with criteria and criterias – somehow the criterion is lost!

Singapore and What India can learn…

The Discovery Channel played a very nice program - History of Singapore. This program talks about how Singapore became a modern, clean and progressive state from a rouge shanty town. After secession from Malaysia, the Singapore Government adopted many policies that helped them in attaining the status they have today. For a moment, ignore the extreme cases such as ban on chewing gum or archaic punishments for graffiti etc. There were some wonderful policies making a lot of business sense that prevailed and added to prosperity of this tiny country.

Take Singapore Airlines, for instance. This is actually a state run airline with a very specific mandate for profitability. The instructions were clear – we will support you from infrastructure perspective, if you make profits. It is the case with Changi Airport and the Singapore port – both state of the art facilities and respected world wide. In interest of productivity, strikes/trade unions were abolished and a state sponsored capitalism was introduced.

India boasts of many PSUs. Some of them are also run well. But most of them are mismanaged companies, that if were not supported by the Government, would have had to file for bankruptcy.Did we ever hear about the profitability targets or customer satisfaction targets being given to the babus at PSUs?

When Mrs. G nationalized the banks or the sole profit making airline with great prospects that India had at that time, did she use such a rationale?

The decay of services and apathy towards customers that followed the nationalization was very much felt till the economic reforms brought in formidable competitors. Could JRD have tolerated the literal down-fall of Air India from the world map of airlines?

While expressing his opinions, the ex-Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew said that the grand scale of housing project they started relied on the concept of ownership because when people own something, they are likely to take better care of it. Margaret Thatcher also adopted that strategy when she started the ambitious housing projects in Great Britain. People were made to buy flats instead of renting. Where do institutions like MHADA or the mandarins of Urban Development Ministry stand? Even after nearly 60 years of our independence, why are so many people homeless or teetering on the border of being one?

Not everything in Singapore is necessarily hunky-dory. There was much to learn from the policies of this tiny country, but for our lawmakers, who even today pull the populist wool over their eyes…. Will someone think of the country first?

Go Solar Power!

Solar Power's New Hot Spot - Something like this surely will make our future or those of our great-grand kids liveable! With abundance of Solar energy, India should really invest into this kind of research...

Parivartan ki Aandhi

The Parivartan ki Aandhi (roughly, the storm of change!), Soniyaji Gandhiji will be visiting our noisy yet busy city and the big placards of sycophancy are already up on many junctions covering signals and digging roads and blocking traffic view.

Sonia, why do you want to bring parivartan (change) to our city? We are living peacefully and could have lived without the shameless display of all the bootlicking. We could have lived without more desecration to our already rough roads, we could have lived without the bandobast (police blockade of roads for security), and your-visit induced traffic problems. Just what parivartan do you intend to bring by visiting our city?

And is your visit paid by the INC? If yes, are we going to pay the fringe benefit tax? Oh wait, we are not...because your smart finance minister has exempted the political parties from this tax - so much for creating an environment that will be conducive to business.

To all the party-workers: The Ramdas Athavale placard at the beginning of the Bund Garden Bridge is bigger than any of the placards you have erected for Soniyaji yet...are you guys sleeping?

The Communists

Yesterday, I came across a curious reference – the Communist Party of India will be celebrating the 80th birthday of the party in India on December 26, 2005. Eighty is a big milestone…the party came into existence when the venerated Atalji was only one year and one day old in the world.

I do not know about the Times group, but at least, the Express group did not take note if this milestone and while the twenty-four hour news channels were busy ruminating about the twists in BJP, no one seemed to notice the geriatrics from the Communist Party.

How are the communists doing today? Especially if you compare the grand bash of the 25th birthday of the BJP – where is the communist party today? Are the otherwise raucous comrades busy in introspection?

Raj's Dud Bombshell

At last, Raj Thackarey did it – or one could argue did nothing. A while back, N and I were discussing Raj’s possible move and for some reason, I thought that he would do nothing. N’s view was that Raj has little alternative but to form another party. That was also the opinion of the Great Maratha Sharadchandraji Pawarsaheb. Raj can’t go back to Shiv Sena now – even though the Hindu Hriday Samrat continues to be his demigod. It is unlikely that he will join Congress, NCP or BJP. So he is left with little alternative but to form his own faction – the Shiv Raj Sena as many have already called it –in the near future or go into a political oblivion.

But, whenever Raj does that, what is this faction going to stand for? What ideology will this new faction perpetuate? In fact, let us ask a different question – What does Raj stand for today? How much or what do we know about Raj today that will enable us to vote for his faction – if there is one – in the future? The gut wrenching letter the nephew wrote to his demigod had nothing to do with the policy matters. It was a vague complaint about the elder cousin – more like a childhood fight, where the older cousins do not want to play with you. Wasn’t that the main point? Only Uddhav gets to enjoy the spoils of being an Executive President, I don’t, uncle, do something about it. Admittedly, the uncle didn’t do anything about it. He wisely or unwisely, chose his son over his nephew. That’s it. That’s the end of that episode.

At 40, Shiv Sena seems to be poised for a split and many say if Raj floated his faction, many will join him. I have my own doubts though. Why would they join him? What does Raj have to his merit? Except for an uncanny resemblance in the oratory skills with his uncle, what substance do Raj’s speeches carry?

Actually, think about it – what substance does the Hindu Hriday Samrat’s speeches carry? He perhaps speaks a language that is entertaining more than enticing. In all his Dussera speeches, he has never put forth any policy. The basis of his charisma did not have any intellectual background. For the party that mandates itself for the welfare of Marathi manus, the dwindling population of Marathi speaking not just from Mumbai, but neighboring Thane, Kalyan, Dombivli area and to a large extent even from Navi Mumbai and a bit from Pune is a certificate of failure. And this is not a sudden phenomenon, but something happening for last 20 years.

When the Shiv Sena first came into existence, the opposition was to the so called Lungiwalas, because they were stealing the secretarial jobs. Nay, they were more expert in doing those jobs, than an average son or daughter of a meagerly paid mill worker of Mumbai. While opposing the Lungiwalas, did Shiv Sena even think of training the untrained, unskilled workers for whose rights they were fighting? If so, those institutions surely did not live long. Except for Manohar Joshi, what vocational training institutes did Shiv Sena start, promote or sponsor? If the Western Maharashtra politicians can start and develop good educational institutes, why did Shiv Sena or the senior Shiv Sainik’s never think about it? How many scholarships did the Thackarey Family or Shiv Sena sponsor for the sake of needy and economically backward students? Did just taking out morchas, giving acerbic speeches, calling for Bombay-bandh and ridiculing other politicians help the Marathi manus?

What was Shiv Sena’s stand on the mill worker strikes? This is an important question, because the outcome of the strike really changed the social fabric in Mumbai. Many middle-class Marathi families were affected by this strike. I personally know of at least four people in direct or indirect relation and a few family friends that lost their jobs. What did Shiv Sena do for these people or do to protect the interests of the children of these people? Many children could not get the desired education or exposure because the sole breadwinner of the family was out of job. Whose fault it is that these children later growing into young men and women were not able to stand up to the competition? Naturally, I am not saying that Shiv Sena be a custodian for all these people. But it was very much possible for Shiv Sena to organize education or vocational training camps for them.

For a party that rediscovered God in Shivaji – what did they do to protect the dilapidated forts? Taking pictures from helicopter is easy and returning criticism with an answer like: “I take pictures of tigers, not jackals” is easier…but did Shiv Sena pause for a moment and create enabling infrastructure that would bring old glory back to the forts? Forget about ideological tribute. But this could have been at least an expression of gratitude towards Shivaji.

There certainly has been some help to social causes – but for a party as vociferous as Shiv Sena, you would have expected that every village hosts at least two of their ambulances; there are more schools and more sanatoriums to make their presence felt.

Primarily though, today’s situation of the Shiv Sena is because it lacks a proper ideology background. Shiv Sena never nurtured a think tank of intellects to decide on the next step. It did not allow free thought. It believed in the terrorizing schemes that had municipal representatives worried about voting records and common man worried about the riots. It believed in an attitude of carelessness when it came to implementing policies. The short-lived policy of zunka-bhakar did not work for this reason. It believes in the omniscience of their leader and his word is the last word…no questions, no differing opinions. And it is disturbing to see that this came from a journalist who grew up in the tutelage of a thought leader like the Prabhodhankar!

There is an eerie feeling – “what would happen to the Marathi manus because Shiv Sena is splitting?” But has Marathi manus and Maharashtra accepted Shiv Sena? No other state party, formed to protect the interests of locals, is in such a sorry state. Are these the reasons that Sena took close to 30 years to play a significant role in the state politics and provide an alternative to Congress? Are these the reasons, Sena lost the last general election and by-elections?

There are lots of questions for Raj to answer. He is certainly not responsible for the past of Shiv Sena. But he can frame the future. It is time you stop sulking Raj – let us hear what you have for us. Take a stand; perhaps more people will then say Raj Thackarey, tum age baDho, hum tumhare saath hai!

NSA Tappings

An all-out effort to protect the country

Do we see Impeachment Hearings coming soon to Reality TV?

New Cabinet

I forget which one, but one of the editions of India Today (or was it Outlook?) advised a few cabinet changes to the Prime Minister. In a nutshell, this article summarized that, Mr. Natwar Singh is already gone and MEA deserves a full time minister. The Prime Minister is not very happy with the performance of the Finance Minister, but is happy with the performance of the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission. The article suggested that the current finance minister be made the Minister for External Affairs and the vice-chairman of the Planning Commission be made the new Finance Minister.

Good move. It is unlikely that the Prime Minister will take such a step.

But for a moment, let us imagine that this actually happens. Apropos to news report about the sad demise of the Power and Energy Minister, what should the Prime Minister do? Pick up Suresh Prabhu. Let him continue his party alliance. After all, not everyone in the government agrees to everything the party says and this will also give the NDA an advantage, where they can say, we are really all-inclusive. So, let Suresh Prabhu stay with Shiv Sena. But he is qualified to be appointed to either of the two posts that would be empty. He has already performed very well as Power and Energy Minister. He has the intelligence to perform well as a Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission as well.

What would the Prime Minister do?

Justice and the Ulhasnagar Illegitimate Constructions

The Bombay High court has given the verdict, the Supreme Court has referred it back the Bombay High court and the legal battles will continue to wrangle. The lower to mid middle class that bought a house after putting all their life savings into it will be in a limbo. And the bureaucrats, politicians and builders will continue to enjoy the “some are more equal than others” rights! That’s Indian democracy in a nutshell.

But my father thought of a solution to this problem. If the Chief Justice or the President or the Prime Minister wants one, here is a workable solution. All the municipality officers, builders, bankers (approving the scheme, giving loans etc.) and other stakeholders should be identified. And in a making-an-example-out-of-Kenneth-Lay style, bring them all to justice. Imprison them for life!

Sure, there will be protests. The builders’ association will stage demonstrations. The Bank unions will go on strike; the municipal officials will stage a dharna. Let them protest. In fact, treat them as accomplices and send them to prison as well. Let the prisons overflow – we drove the British out with such movements, surely, we can drive the cancer of corruption out with this uprising! Here is your chance to take a tough stand Mr. Soft-spoken Prime Minister. If you want to bring reforms to Indian Administration, take this chance. Many a heart and soul would bless you…

The Energy Needs of a Growing Economy

The power situation in Maharashtra is grim. Reports of 12 hours of load shedding in rural areas and 2-4 hours in urban areas are not signs of healthy and conducive atmosphere for business. And this is the situation in a leading, most developed state.

This does not bode well for the Services Industry, the Manufacturing Industry, the Agriculture Industry or the housewife glued to the television. With the improving lifestyle, the power needs are going to rise exponentially – a fact that seems totally overlooked when the economic reforms, propelling today’s boom were started. If the economy is to grow at a healthy 7-8% rate, then the power needs will grow faster.

But in one of its Nehruvian mode of let-government-run-companies, the Indian government has been slow in propagating reforms in the power sector.

There are also compelling needs to invest into renewable energy resources – Sun, Wind etc.

Why petroleum products are bad?

With so many cars and automobiles running around the roads, India is soon on the path of becoming a gas guzzler. The rates of Petrol and Diesel are already high. Some newspaper ridiculously suggested that it is because of the taxes. While that is true, I would be extremely skeptical of simply nixing all the taxes on Petrol/Diesel…. In fact, anything that we do to minimize the usage of black gold should be applauded.

The reasons to reduce petrol/diesel usage could be argued as:

1. Almost all of the Petrol/Diesel that we use is imported. This makes us invariably dependent on the countries whose policies are often hostile to our national integrity.
2. We are inadvertently adding to the greenhouse gases. It does not make sense to increase our contribution to greenhouse gases and then work towards reducing it.
3. We still do not have the road infrastructure that makes the usage of vehicle by every adult a pleasant experience. (That is a lame excuse, but nevertheless…)
4. Given the vehicle conditions and road conditions, we are adding to pollution, which is affecting the general (mental and physical) health of the society.

Coal also burns bad, and having electrical plants away from where you live only takes the pollution away from you, does not reduce it.

The clean burning fuels like CNG or LPG are certainly options, but for the import factor attached to it. The second Dabhol contract had linked the electricity rate to dollar fluctuations – long live Indian politicians and a good portion of the new pipeline will go through Pakistan before the gas reaches India. These factors are discouraging enough!

And some day, we are going to exhaust these natural resources, so why not think ahead and make plans for the rainy day?

Alternate Energy Sources

We have to look for alternate energy sources and sooner the better. We are one of those countries, which are blessed abundantly by the sun god. Why not invest in research on solar energy? I am sure; we will be able to have better efficiency and energy conversion some day in near future.

In the meantime, though, we should still propagate the usage of solar energy. Let every roof-top be of solar panels. What would that achieve?

1. Treat each building or house as a unit. The unit will install Solar Panels for energy creation. For example, even if the energy generated serves 20% (I am just making this number up, if it is more, even better) of energy needs of that unit, it will reduce the shortfall of energy.
2. Less rain water will be exposed to the roofs – automatically alleviating the problem of leaky roofs for many!

The solar panels should be designed such that they make use of both the photo-energy and the thermal-energy from sun. Sure, there will be rainy and cloudy days that will obstruct the power generation. At that time, we can fall back on the conventional sources. The peak demand from MSEB could very well shift from summer to rainy season…. Even that will have a good impact on the energy balance of the country. Besides, we would be doing this at no cost to the environment.

The cost of the solar panel itself continues to be prohibitive. But with mass demand and research, these prices can be brought down. Besides, the burgeoning middle class that does not mind spending lots of money in Malls and on Pizzas or on designer homes, will shell out some moolah for their future, won’t they?

Wind Energy

Research has already shown that Satara district rainfall problems were not because of windmills. Every effort should be made to install more windmills and increase the contribution of the energy generated by windmills. Tamil Nadu has already taken a lead in this area with states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh closely following. Every effort should be made to popularize the wind energy.

Conditions permitting, villages can be made units of wind-energy, with each village producing at least 20% of its own power needs. The cooperative movement has made wonders to the sugar, milk and over all agriculture industry. Similar pattern can be adopted or it can be out-sourced to NGOs when it comes to wind energy generation. Installations done per village to reduce its dependency on the state-produced, often costly electricity.

I think this approach, instead of lump sum free power to the farmers, would have helped all political parties. But, please, no corruption in installing windmills or solar panels.

Traveling within the city

Anyone who has traveled to US and driven their, is aware of two concepts – defensive driving and right-of-way. Both, incidentally, are missing when it comes to Indian drivers. Are all Indians who drive in the US, bad drivers? Perhaps not. In fact many are good drivers. What makes them good driver in the US and not in India? Two things make the impact – the construction of roads in a well planned manner and the tight linkage between offensive driving and insurance premium pinch.

The roads are as smooth as butter…not slippery, smooth! Once you reach a certain speed, you can maintain it without having to worry about potholes or pedestrians crossing the road without warning or buffaloes ruminating idly in the middle of the road. All the above conditions can be corrected with some modifications to the design in an Indian scenario.

We all know constructing roads is not rocket science. It is perhaps a very well mastered branch of civil engineering. But a lot of times we miss out on the usability aspects (no need to explain that term to anyone who has used computers, for benefit of those who do not know, it is the ease of use of any machine, program etc. by a layman) while designing roads. For instance, before someone decided to construct the famous Paud Phata, was there a study of traffic patterns? There perhaps may have been one, but looking at the mess today, I have my own doubts.

Were all traffic patterns studied before the road in front of Sancheti Hospital widened? Did anyone think how will people from HDFC and Bank of Maharashtra offices go home? Even today, the Firodiya Bridge square has a “do not turn right” sign. Someone coming out of HDFC House can either go straight towards Kamgaar PutaLaa or turn left towards Engineering College. How do you go to Kothrud, Sadashiv Peth or Pashan from that signal? When road divider was constructed between the Agriculture College Gate and E-Square on University Road, was the need of people living in cross-lanes for this section taken into consideration? Merits or demerits aside, perhaps these aspects made the people living in Nal Stop area anxious and protest.

Our roads are far less drivable and that situation has to change fast if we want to retain the lead from attractive destination to do business perspective.

Can we do something about this? First and foremost, the discipline – unless at least 80% drivers follow the rules, the congestion will worsen. Other aspects that will aid the drivability of the roads are engineering and construction. To bring the roads up to world standard, we need:

1. Smooth, well constructed roads that can sustain the speed and weather
2. Lanes marked appropriately, such that turning lanes – for left or right turn do not hamper the traffic and automatically bifurcate the traffic reducing the possibility of congestion
3. This should be followed more strictly in case of right turns without obstructing the traffic moving in the straight direction – this will avoid a lot of traffic congestion
4. Appropriate signs on the road should guide drivers about important landmarks, lanes that take to the landmark (e.g. lane bifurcation at Paud Road flyover), speed limits, pedestrian zones, school zones etc.
5. Smart signals – these can be installed by studying the traffic patterns. For example, more people are likely to turn right from FC Road to University Road in the morning. Signals should be smart enough to understand this!
6. Coordinated signals, such that if you get one green – you are likely to get all other green! (Hope you don’t get stuck behind a red!) This will help people attain certain speed and continue at that speed for a longer duration, taking them to their destinations faster
7. Speed should not be treated as enemy – instead speed should be used appropriately for faster movement of vehicles. Speed breakers should be installed only near schools, not anywhere else. With appropriate training, people will understand how to manage the vehicle speed, especially if there are not going to be any obstacles in the path
8. Footpaths should be clear of any debris, waste, and usurpation by shopkeepers and hawkers – and should be used by pedestrians without blocking the road traffic
9. Cycle lanes should be provided near footpaths and cycle riders should adhere to it rather than block fast moving traffic.
10. A little more time should be provided to the pedestrians to cross the road – current 10 seconds for a green-man is too short
11. Bus lanes to be provided on all major roads to ensure smooth mass transit
12. Zones should be made for Rickshaws such that they do not obstruct the traffic and at the same time can conduct their business
13. Convert some portions of the city in a Fussgaengerzone – German noun for areas in the city where no private vehicles are allowed. Bajirao Road, Lakshmi Road, MG Road are good candidates for this. (Loading/Unloading activity by shops can be scheduled outside of peak hours and the residents in this area can be given special passes.)
14. Ample parking space to be constructed and provided for private vehicle owners. Parking meters should be installed to charge the vehicle owners with a reasonable fee for the time they use parking space.
15. Localities/Areas to be made self-sufficient so that the tempos/trucks carrying goods, vegetables etc. do not have to cross the city. For example, separate market yards should be constructed for Aundh, Kothrud, Hadapsar etc. areas. These areas should not be dependent on the Gultekdi Market yard.

Apart from this, the traffic volume itself is a major cause of concern. Atlanta has 16 lane highways and still lot of traffic congestion. To reduce the traffic volume, mass transit alternatives should be provided. The current infrastructure of PMT and PCMT is far too short to take care of the needs of a rapidly growing city. Every effort should be made to ensure that this is improved and improved fast! First get the basics right – make sure the bus service is good. Fancy ideas of Mono-rail, sky bus, underground rail etc. can be evaluated only after the bus service improves and handles at least 50% of daily traffic.

All the road encroaching activity should be banned – be it Ganapati Festival or any morcha. The Ganapati and other festivals can be celebrated on the large open grounds such as Engineering College ground or open areas in University or Saras Baug/Nehru Stadium etc. rather than digging and occupying roads. All the shopkeepers who worry about losing business because the festival has moved away can set up makeshift shops in these grounds for a fee.

Stiff penalties should be applied to Telephone, Water, Electricity and Sewage department who cannot plan their activities and are always trigger-happy when it comes to digging the road. Yes, I am suggesting that a department of the Municipality should be fined and money deposited in Municipality Treasury because of lack of planning by that department. Or better – the tax paid to Municipality by the citizens should be refunded from this money. The penalty should be high enough to return reasonably significant amount to the entire city.

The punishments for breaking the rules should be punitive enough to not let the offense happen once again. This should include everyone - the Municipal Commissioner, elected representatives and regular drivers. One hopes that if they realize that they will have to go to jail for a mishap – they will do the job better.

The moral of the story is, if someone starts from University circle and attains a modest speed of say, 45 KMPH, that person should be able to continue at that speed ideally at least till hiser destination, but otherwise, at least on the major roads!

And above all, mass transit should be encouraged at all levels. In Mumbai, white-shirt wearing executives are seen traveling in 84 Limited from Andheri to Nariman Point or in Kalyan Fast from Thane to Dadar. You really cannot beat the 13 minute, 22 kilometer ride from Dombivli to Thane in a fast local.

Puneites can perhaps learn a lesson or two from them…then perhaps we will not consider more than 5 KM distance as a “far away place”. If you are living in a growing city, expect a daily commute of at least 20 KM in one direction. Anything we can do to make this commute easy and relaxing will only improve the quality of our life.

Report: Bush Permitted NSA to Spy in U.S.

Oh God!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush_nsa;_ylt=AvzKwPgRGLR3dehk6ts48B6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

First the acknowledgement of the bad intelligence and now this...what are you up to Mr. President?

The Case of Bad Roads

The mankind has mastered many sciences – we have gone to Mars, photographed Jupiter and Titan, know a little more about the ocean floor and can understand the complex balance between the environment and human interference…

One of the age old sciences that mankind has mastered is architecture and construction. Especially in India, we are proud of the old temples sustaining earthquakes, the intricacies in the design of Ajanta, Karla caves and modern structures such as the Baha’i temple and many dams that were dubbed as national monuments.

But all this is lost when we talk about the road infrastructure in India. In one of her scathing articles Tavleen Singh, writing for the Indian Express, made a comment that for the money spent by PWD on construction of roads, we should have had roads better than Germany and US. But alas, that is not the case. The account books will have impeccable records of the money spent and road constructed. But the moment you step outside, the mediocrity of the entire endeavor is palpable.

Is it so difficult to construct a road that a mere shower lasting only a few minutes literally washes a road away? Are there no roads in Seattle, where it rains the entire year? Are there no roads in Germany because it snows a lot there? Even Brazil has better roads than India. If we dream of becoming a super power one day, then it is difficult to justify, why a road trip from Pune to Bangalore should take about 20 hours….

Let us not look into the corruption that goes on in the construction activity. Let us first step back and understand where the planning and design process can be improvised or introduced if one does not exist.

It was in the early industrial revolution era that someone realized that if we make goods at factory speed, we possibly cannot spend four-five days just for travel between London and Glasgow. There the idea of what we call Modern Roads was born. The Autostrada in Italy sealed the future of modern, fast, uninterrupted, access controlled travel. And even though it was not Hitler’s original idea, the Autobahn became a landmark project of Germany. It is said that the Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (the Interstate system) in the US is the largest construction activity completed by humankind in the modern times.

India, however has not recovered from the lethargic pre-industrial period. True, we have the Golden “whatever”angle being built and the Mumbai-Pune and Baroda-Ahmadabad super highways are talked about a lot. But if you look at statistics, I really doubt if the so called pucca roads connect even 10% of India.

If you were to start from Chicago, you could be promised, that within 4 to 4-1/2 hours, you will be in Detroit – and that is 300 odd miles (480 km) of distance we are talking. But it appears we do not believe in speed…we may have national bodies of various authorities that deal with surface transport, but it cannot be doubted that we lack a policy on road infrastructure management.

The Indian Interstates

Clutching to our history, we still like to fight with our neighboring state, but in the fast moving world, that idea is as out-dated as George W Bush’s insistence that America is in Eye-rack for the good of that country. The Golden Quadrilateral is good, but it is far too short of what should be…. We need a highway system that is comparable to the German Autobahn or US Interstate system – North-South and East-West roads crisscrossing the country that connect at least all the major towns. And we are talking of towns here – not just major cities. If business has to grow and prosperity to follow, there should be no reason why someone from Kolhapur should not be able to make a day trip to Latur and Gulburga and be back to Kolhapur that night. If all the automakers are betting on India as future, that day trip should not be a pipedream.

The interstate system can be further extended as a part of the current Golden Quadrilateral System. Also, some changes can be made to the current highways.

1. All the highways should at least have four lanes (two in each direction) with a median strip.
2. The speed limit on the highways should be 100 KMPH away from populated areas and 80 KMPH in the populated areas.
3. The highways should be access controlled with suitable entry and exit ramps at strategic locations.
4. Non-access controlled service roads to facilitate the movement of slow moving or lesser horse power vehicles should service each access controlled highway.
5. Reasonable toll should be taken from drivers to allow them usage to such a system.
6. To promote mass transit, perhaps busses should be charged lesser toll than private vehicles.
7. The road construction in hilly area should also support the same speed limits as regular terrain.

We have seen the difference the modern phone system has made in business and commerce in early nineties. The road system should complement that by providing alternatives to quickly move goods and people from one place to other.

The Indian Railways

The railways are considered as the major uniting factor in a vast and diverse country like India. And whatever Tatas may say about the new affordable car, the After Ford Era is still distant as far as India is considered. The railways do not have to worry about the new highway system and will perhaps continue to provide a cheap, reasonable and fast alternative to freight and passenger traffic. But there is still a limitation to the railways. If you look back in the history, the Ohio-Erie-Miami canal system was made redundant because of railways. Until the railways came into picture, most of the commerce of the states of Ohio and New York was made easy because of these canals. But there was a limitation to the canals as well. One of the limitations that hit you on the forehead is that the canal is available only where you dig it. And it is also the case with the railways – they are available only where the track is…. Many Mumbaikars – after alighting from a train – search for a taxi, rickshaw or the BEST. The train does not take one home literally, unless one lives on the platform. Similarly, if you want to transport the freight to Murbad, you have to hit the road after coming to Kalyan. If railways had made that possible in last 50 years, we would not be discussing this…. And we all know the track record of the railway ministry. By the time Kalyan-Murbad rail line is approved and construction started, the project will have long run out its utility.

There is no reason to throw the railways out, but in my opinion, their utility is limited and my guess is that railways would be costlier to maintain than roadways (I have a feeling that I may contradict this statement in a different perspective.).

We need an elaborate highway system at various levels – at national level, it should connect all the major towns, at state level, it should connect all the district places and also important taluka or commercial towns and at district level, it should connect all the important towns and access by all the villages to a near by hub – a bigger town.

There are only two prerequisites that come to my mind: the road condition should be excellent, rain or shine and the drivers should follow all the rules to make their travels fast and safe.

The Great Indian Civil Disobedience Movement

The Mahatma was great! We don’t have to agree with all his principles. But the strong conviction he carried about his views is admirable. One of his great influences on the Indian psyche is the Civil Disobedience. Everyone knows, the civil disobedience movement started by Gandhiji made the British think twice about their policies. It may not have given instant freedom or propelled Gandhi to the ranks of General Washington (perhaps that’s a wrong comparison), but it was a blow to the very basic building block of the British Empire. (I forget the date, but Kumar Ketkar, writing in Loksatta (Saturday) talks in details about how this happened.)

Now fast forward to 2005, in Pune. All you see around – the great civil disobedience movement is still on with gusto! We have been “free” for so long that one would think the movement is not only unnecessary, but also dead except for the revered history books. But somewhere, our DNA registered that it is cool to break the law – first it was to irritate the firang rulers and now to irritate the “whomsoevers”.

So, why is it that this movement is still alive? What movement you ask? We will consider only the Indian Road system for this…. Just look for it and you will find it everywhere…

1. Motorists crossing the red signal (and this is not the last 10 second count down)
2. Motorists ignoring the white strip (if one is visible) and also ignoring the zebra strips (the alternate black and white strips, where the pedestrians have right of the way)
3. Honking loudly in front of Hospitals, Schools or as soon as the signal turns green – never mind that you are about 200 feet away from the signal and the person in the first row has seen the color change and is working on the clutch already…
4. Not maintaining the lane discipline or invariable being in the left-most lane, if interested in turning right
5. Use of the footpath as one’s own front yard by shopkeepers and hawkers
6. Not maintaining the appropriate PUC levels (even by the ‘sarkaree’ vehicle, why blame the poor tempowalla?)
7. Not maintaining the rules at traffic circles (incidentally, their purpose is to regulate the traffic in absence of a traffic-signal, not to clog the traffic)

These are just few instances where rules are not followed. Many more countless incidents must be happening right under the nose of a hapless Traffic Police person. But who cares? Me? Not me – the rules are meant for others…. Or, the argument could be – if the others don’t follow the rules, why should I? And even with that conviction, we cuss-and-fume over the traffic on Karve Road. We call the traffic on Law College Road a bitch and we still take our vehicles to Shukrawar Peth and Raviwar Peth.

And why do we do all this? So we can be approximately 20 feet ahead of someone!

If you are reading this, I am sure you understand the purpose of rules, the reason for which law exists…and if you have read so far, think about it…do you really want to be the law-breaker. And just because you can take advantage of the system – the underpaid and corrupt police, the red tape and the attitude by your finesse of producing a 100 rupee note - does it solve the real problem?

Here’s a thought – Just as environment is being added as a subject to the education syllabus, why not include Driver’s Education? The 15/16 year olds can be given the education when it makes the most sense to them. The parents and teachers can start following the rules at least for the sake of the next generation and hope that others will follow…

The first blog post!

Finally, I have a blog...will keep posting my meandering thoughts as time permits and I feel motivated.