Month: April 2008

Future of War of Words

Few Facts First

1. No one reads your personal blog if your last name is not Hilton or Spears.

2. Even though people dont read your personal blog, it still hangs in the air (stays on the Internet) for everyone to see and read.

3. It still reveals a lot of things about you. Lot of them desirable (that you think, that you are honest, that you like straight-forward, that you love adventure sports) and lot of them undesirable (that you are old, that you are a MBA, that you are getting balder with each passing day, that you are still single and that you dont want to get married) etc.

As I have said earlier that I am thinking what to do with this blog (here and here), I will try to pen down the arguments against and for the decision.

Reasons against shutting down

1. 4 years of effort (first post ever here)

2. Emotional attachment (even though no one else reads this, I write because I want to write and I like venting out whatever I think is relevant to me).

3. Very strong identity (Google for Saurabh Garg and this is amongst the first results).

Reasons for shutting down

1. 4 years of effort – with every passing day this 4 years is growing and would be more difficult to shut tomorrow.

2. Very strong identity – I started this when I was a student. Today I am looking at creating businesses. Every new contact I make in the real world would search for me on the Internet. And they see this blog – which is a good thing but does not talk about my work and other professional interest areas. One way to go about this is to brand this as a personal blog and move on (this is a good idea – I will do this right away).

So basically there is only one strong reason for me even thinking about shutting this blog. Point to ponder is that is it that big that I shut this down (wow three “that”s in six words – a new world record?). Will keep on adding points and thoughts to this. And come to think about it, this could be an interesting personal marketing and branding problem.

How about selling this on ebay? May be I get few interesting bids and money can motivate me to finally end this? Any offers from any generous people around?

More Rational thoughts on the reservation policy in India

The last piece I wrote was an emotional outburst. This is more rational argument on reservations. I shall try to figure out the impact of reservations, thoughts on what could have been done and finally is there any hope?

Ok why reservations in the first place?
Reservation was the card played by the VP Singh govt. when they decreed for the first time that India needs reservations to help the lower castes. Some people credit their win at the centre to this card only. Obviously its a thing of past and no one can say what really happened. After-all history is written by people who win the battles.

I am not saying that reservations is a card that is played when you want to elections. You actually want to help the backward classes. You are motivated by general upliftment of the country.

Is it really going to help?
I have my doubts. These doubts are based on following observations.

  1. I don’t have numbers but I am told that at engineering colleges of repute (not the ones that are opened in small homes on outskirts of Bangalore), the candidates admitted from reserved classes don’t pass at all. Most of them flunk in first and second year and stop studying thereon.

  2. Then a lot of seats for reserved categories are filled with people getting less than 10% marks. End of the day education is about quality of students and maturity of interactions between them. If there are 53% people from general categories and average scores of 80, and 47% of people with average scores of 20, what kind of discussions are we talking about?

  3. There seats remain empty because there aren’t enough applications in the first place to grant admission to people belonging to reserved categories. If an institute can intake 100 students and it has to start a course with 80 students only because we could not find enough people to take reserved seats, aren’t we depriving other students of an opportunity to study?

Obviously I don’t have numbers to prove or reject these claims. Can someone help me with this?

To end this chapter (if I may say), honestly I don’t think that reserving more seats is going to help. They should rather try to find out why do people from these classes perform this bad in the first place. Is there a flaw in the primary education system? Is it because they assume that education for them is going to be easy and hence no need to put in effort?

What will be the impact and what could be possible outcomes?
Impacts would be many-fold. For the students that avail this opportunity, students that are now deprived and the country itself.

  1. Reservations means that only the best from the education system get into quality higher institutions. What happens to people who were average? They would have to settle for below average education. And because of this, they would miss the opportunity that could have transformed them from average to exceptional.

  2. This also means that general quality of education will come down. Not because people from reserved categories cant perform or they lack intelligence. But because they are not equipped to face higher education. Mind you a person can be intelligent and ill-equipped at the same time.

  3. Brain-drain might be back. And with a bang. I can already foresee a lot of talented budding doctors, engineers leaving the country in search of a place where their talent is respected. Not their castes.

  4. All the hoopla about FDI and India’s growth story might be in for a rude shock. If I was Microsoft or Google or Suzuki for that matter, I would not want to set shop in India because I know that finding good people would be tough and costly. It would also mean that business environment is unconducive. And once the growth story stops, then its a debate for another day if the country would grow or not.

Is there a way to help backward classes?
Getting a reservation done at under-graduate level does not guarantee that the life standard would improve. This move might create a large work force that is unemployable. And this would bring in more frustration. You are educated and cant find a job. From personal experience, I know for a fact that there is no feeling worse than that.

So what can we do to change things for people who have been oppressed? To start with I think we need to change the way they live. A child learns as much from his parents as from his surroundings. How about taking a cue from Madarsas and Gurukuls and replicate this in mainstream? These are the places where gurus preach and teach kids about virtues of life. Make them aware of the world around them. If we cant provide quality education to these kids at formative stages of their lives, how about making the system unconventional.

I used to work with an NGO called Pratham and they used this concept really beautifully. They would take a community and teach all the underprivileged children there. Mind you – underprivileged, not the reserved category. And they did it very well. That model runs on a self-sustaining model and is awesome. Can share more details if someone is interested in knowing more about it.

What can be done to mark protest against this move?

  1. How about getting talking to all bloggers to write about it? At least the ones with reach like Mutiny, DesiCritics etc.?

  2. Can this be a topic for blogathon? Anyone from their team listening/reading?

  3. Help YFE and other forums with online propaganda and marketing.

  4. Make an online task force and spam news websites with comments, thoughts and opinions. And make these quality comments so that they have to raise it on their prime-times. Knowing Indian media, they would anyways do anything to hike their TRPs.

  5. I am strongly against any kind of mass agitations that stops the normal functioning of the country. I voiced my opinions on the medico strikes, batti bandhs etc. I think I was wrong when I took that stand and I need to change. Now I am neutral to it. Is there a strong case of a mass agitation?

I am simply out of ideas. Can someone please put forth more thoughts so that we can actually do something constructive rather than just debating? Another peril of Indian education system is that we start debates and never finish things. Lets come forward with solutions rather than talking about things.

To end this on a light note, I was thinking about way forward for people who advocate reservation

  1. Just education is no point. We need to reserve places on the buses also. How about roads? Special clubs for reserved categories. Does someone remember ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’ posters? How about ‘dogs and unreserved not allowed’ posters? Come to think of it, this could be an awesome article.

  2. Now that we have reservations for SC, ST, OBC, how about talking about reservations on the basis of religion? region? height of a person. Imagine – we only accept applications from people who are 5 feet 7 inches and weight 150 KGs.

  3. How about creating small states for every simgle category that you can identify and then ruling over them? Who wants 29 states. Lets split India into 19043 states all with homogeneous people. There could be a state for people who are bald and have Sharma as their surnames. Oops what about ladies then? Will they marry inter-caste, inter-state? Will these be approved?

Please understand that views submitted are personal only and might be flawed. Please help me see the correct picture.

Crossposted

Thoughts on entrepreneurship

I was reading this presentation made by Axis Holding’s Kuntal Shah at VCCircle’s event at Pune.

One of the slides had this quote …

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon…if I can. I seek opportunity…not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole; I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say: This, with God’s help, I have done. All this is what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Although I dont agree with God part but I couldn’t have said this better. And re-affirmed my belief in entrepreneurship. Something to cheer up post reservation news.

Reservations in India – A reality now

Rediff.com says that Supreme Court of India has given its nod to 27 percent reservation to the OBCs. They have excluded the creamy layer from the reservation and they have said that this reservation would be periodically reviewed.

I have only one thought on my mind. Why did I ever study? All I could have done was wait for this day to come, get a fake certificate by paying a babu some 500 bucks, score less than average on JEE or CAT, get into the best educational institution in India, get a fat pay packet and live happily ever after.

I understand that we are a democratic country and we have to win elections, we have to divide the voters and win the electorate and we have to create a fuss on our “national son” not joining the cabinet. But want about the future of the nation? Aren’t these educational institutes supposed to nurture the talent for tomorrow? Are we going to run the nation with engineers and managers and doctors who are below average?

I am not saying even for a minute that OBCs cant perform as well as regular people. These castes and creeds were made in ancient India because of the way country was ruled. This in my opinion should have been abolished by the constitution in the first place. All I am trying to say is that because of the reservation, many deserving candidates would now have to go for alternative careers.

Also wouldn’t this incident set up precedents for every other group of people? Currently it is MNS in Maharashtra that is talking about reservation on the basis of region. There are certain groups that are asking fore reservation on the basis of religion. Tomorrow every tom dick and harry would want a reservation because they are different. What if I get 10,000 supporters and since I am bald, I demand reservations for bald people? And what if we start granting these reservations, a day shall come when majority of population that falls under “regular”, “non-reserved” category would be fighting for 10 seats. May be they can then demand reservation for “unreserved” category. Arent we dividing the country ourselves? Aren’t we doing what East India Company did to us?

And what about all those hate crimes that would now happen? I can already see these institutions polarizing in two sects. One from the reserved categories and one from unreserved. What about the poor unfortunate students that will have to face the brunt of the entire political drama?

Whatever has happened is unfortunate. There are other better ways to help OBCs reach a good living standard than reservations. I had high hopes on the Supreme Court of India. They have proved correct in the past but this time, at least in my opinion, they have made a mistake. No amount of argument would now dissuade me from speaking against education system in India.

I am so sorry to have voted for a govt. that took this step and I feel cheated right now.

Author took all the entrance tests that a school kid can take after his 12th class examinations. Got through one test to join a course at Delhi University. Took two years to get respectable enough score at CAT to reach MDI Gurgaon and now would preach that there is no point in pursuing formal education in India.

His other posts on reservation and education system in India are here, here, here, here and here.

Thoughts on Rat Race

I know its a rat race. Everyone knows that its a rat race but sad truth is that there is no escaping this rat race. Everyone has to run just to survive. This is where that thing about survival of the fittest come in. You have to make sure you dont fall behind lest you get killed by the next racer or are eliminated automatically.

Second why this rat race in the first place? I think the answer is in economics. Resources are limited and number of people who want to claim them are innumerable. This mismatch between the demand and supply causes people to act rationally and think about their benefit. Their survival. Their evolution. And hence the rat race to outsmart other mortals and get access to limited resources.

Quote on Indian Consumers

The average Indian consumer is growing. The urban world is driven by aspiration, quality and value in that order, while the rural world is driven by the same factors in a different order – value, aspiration and quality. It’s funny they want the same things in different ways.

Shivkumar is chief executive officer, Nokia

Taken from AgencyFaqs.com

List of Google’s April Fool’s Day pranks

Google’s April Fool’s Day pranks is an awesome way to get free PR. Google creates a small application around search and then they release on the Internet. And all this is done with as much fan-fare and secrecy as an actual product.

They have played a lot if interesting pranks over the years and no wonder the entire world waits and watches what they would do this year. What is amazing is that even though people expect them to do things on 1st April, they still manage to come up with something that can surprise the world.

Lessons for companies? Start small things like April Fool’s Day pranks that can grow bigger with time and people will actually look forward to reading about it. And all these things count in the end. Especially for a small and a growing company.

List of Google April Fool’s Day pranks over the years
1. gDay with MATE
2. Google Romance
3. Virgin and Google’s Virgile
4. Gmail Paper
5. Google Mentalplex
6. PigeonRank
7. GoogleGulp
8. Google TISP

Did I miss something?

Crossposted