Priorities

A pal of mine in a very senior position recently decided that work was sucking too much out of him, and decided to (at least) take a sabbatical and spent time with the family. He put in his papers last week.

 

Guess what the reaction of his boss - the guy who heads the company was?

 

1. Instill fear - "How will you manage your cashflows after a couple of months?"
2. I don't know how to put this - "You can at most spend 5-10 minutes with the family. What'll you do for the rest of the day?"

 

Questions about one's own health, interests, growth as a human being etc never entered the conversation.

 

My friend works at a staffing/outsourced HR outfit. And his boss used to head HR at an MNC earlier!!

 

There is a lot of sickness in what we call our "workplace". Its certainly not a healthy place anymore. There's too much money, too much greed, and too much emphasis on grabbing more and fear of not being able to.

 

Thankfully, the conversation hammered home this truth in my friend's head. "The whole 'quality time' crap is a corporate invention, Sameer", he says. "Bulls**t, you just need to spend time - yes - quantity - with your family, near and dear ones, friends."

 

True. Which do we do for which?

What We Do

Our best brains today should be solving problems in water, energy - both consumption and generation, efficient transportation solutions, food production and preservation, and managing climate change.

 

Instead, Facebook and Apple are our most valued brands, and thousands of the best minds are caught up in keeping us distracted. Through more "consumer entertainment" and essentially - timepass. Through mobile apps - over 50% of which are games. Through more and more inane and shallow conversation on flakier and flakier "networks". Amidst all this is the messaging that drives the "monetization" of all this distraction, and its one big game we're all playing.

 

Aldous Huxley was right in the Brave New World where "happiness derives from consuming mass-produced goods, sports such as Obstacle Golf and Centrifugal Bumble-puppy, promiscuous sex, "the feelies", and most famously of all, a supposedly perfect pleasure-drug, soma." Our capacity to amuse and distract ourselves almost feeds upon itself now - with no end to its growth in sight.

 

We define ourselves through the gadgets that we possess and worship, and breathe through their updates and upgrades. We live in a constructed reality that drifts away further from the real planet, real people, real food, real problems around us. Obviously, we're not worried about, or driven enough to be solving them.

 

We can probably do better. Will we?

Growth - !,?,??,:(

Here's a good one I came across this morning

Have been thinking about "growth" as it has started to mean to us. We say we need growth economies to generate enough to fee the growing billions. 

Trickle down has failed, so I guess growth isn't what its made out to be? It probably does create opportunity - but its too random, too sporadic and too destructive as well.

Economic growth - growth in energy consumption/production - growth in consumption of goods one didnt really need - growth of waste - growth of disease and illness.

We're 7 billion - up from 2 billion since the advent of modern medicine, industrialization. All those cliched essays discussing technology being a boon or bane in the larger context suddenly seem less irrelevant.

Isn't it shortsighted/narrow to assume there's no other model? Can there not be one around sustainability - of populations, economies, environment, consumption, energy. That seems to be nature's way for sure - and we've sucked at most things we dont out of sync with nature. 

Are we caught up in local maximas as a specieis - totally unable to see that the cancer is spreading too fast and we're not nearly as smart as we've started believing we are? We don't even pause to consider other models, other ways of being, other modes of existence.

Will inertia of motion, and this local maxima of intelligence, kill us?

I Exist

I exist - for me ?

for the next breath ?

(or just because of it)

for dreams ?

so i can be more

than mere existence ?

what is cause

what effect

is not for me to say

but since i exist

might as well

smell the roses on the way

Books Vs E-Books : The Little Things I Need

A lot has been said about e-books - their efficiency, unburnability, growing popularity - especially on the back of the popularity of the devices where they're consumed.

 

But for now, I prefer books. And, I suspect, a lot of book lovers do too. 

 

For one, we're book lovers. Not story lovers, or fiction lovers. Book lovers. Perhaps self-help cr*p is ok on the Kindle, but an eWodehouse? 

 

I persoanlly prefer old, used books. The slightly yellow pages, straightened out dog-ears. The fact the book has been read/appreciated already. Its one of those things you cannot be rational about, can you? I have even bought books with a page or two missing, sometimes, and reconstructed the lost bits in my imagination.

 

And what do you do with an ebook once you've read it? The Brysons and the Douglas Adams, the Narayans, the Scott Adams and the assorted unknown authors go right back to the shelf, reminding me of themselves, the characters and lives and imaginary worlds I inhabited for the while I read them - each time I pass by or happen to look at them. 

 

I walk into people's homes, and the books there tell me something. They become starting points for conversations. They invite one to pick-one-up and browse, even if one never intends to read them.

 

A few books in the bag make one look forward to the vacation, or a train journey. You could share one with fellow travellers. And the kids pick their own. 

 

I've never used bookmarks. I visually and from memory try and get back into the story.

 

I sometimes read ahead and skip some bits. Some bits, once in a while, are speed-read. 

 

Some passages are re-read again.

 

Dozing off in the afternoon on a hammock or an easy chair, with the book open at somewhere around where I lost track of where I was, is one of the strongest memories of "a relaxed time".

 

E-books reduce books to merely their content, and that again consumed in very restricted ways. On an electronic device, even my imagination is in suspend mode. E-devices often suck you into the screen - not the world that the words suggest. Being mesmerized and fascinated are very different things.

 

Doesn't kindle my fire, sorry.

 

 

 

Woods and the Trees

We're pretty interesting as a species.

We experiment, spend time/effort/money to make automobiles just that 5-10% more efficient. Even a light 1000kg car - with 2 passengers - essentially uses most of the power to move itself.

We invented CFLs, LEDs and increasingly way more efficient forms of lighting. To light pathways, roads, streets and places with a near-zero human population or movement all night. In fact, a city is praised for "being well lit" all night even tho the number of bulbs faaaaar outnumber the number of people all night.

We watch "reality" on TV.

We ALL want exclusive, unique experiences.

We want super efficient production - the goal being the elimination of as many people from the production cycle as possible. In heavy engineering, in agriculture, even in software. We also have started replacing consumers with super efficient ones that support "growth" is price/sales - via commodity trading! All so human beings can lead better, happier lives.

We define and seek templates for how to break the mould, think out of the box and chase our dreams.

We all want to better than average at most things.

We believe in notions of equality, fairness. We also use or invent all available ways to assert dominance, authority and superiority over everyone we can.

We want a better future for ourselves and our kids. We're mostly caught up is quarterly results and short term goals.

We want to explore the world for newer, stranger experiences. We are investing heavily into, and using readily, technology to connect more and more with "people like us" and ideas we agree with.

We have more, faster tools for communication. And we do much more tof this:

We have more information than ever. Attention spans have shortened and deep thought has fled us.

We have cut down forests, directly and indirectly. And support "plant a tree" initiatives all the time.

We are all expressing ourselves more often, more widely and more loudly. To an audience that has less and less time, or inclination to listen in toviews other than their own, or to anything thats not entertaining.

We want our impact on the planet to lessen. Starting after we are done buying the SUV, or large screen TV, or 5 more energy consuming devices.

We want dustbins in every corner. So we can "safely" dispose of - read move out of sight - all the junk that we did not need to generate and throw into garbage cans in the first place.

We have invented increasingly complex monetary systems that none of us understand or control anymore.

We spread and support democracy with a missionary zeal. Yet a few companies control most foodgrain, and a handful control most production and monetary flows in the world - much fewer than ever before.

We are inventing shoes that help you feel you're running barefoot. Expensive shoes :)

We fly across the globe as ecologically conscious tourists.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

I don't think its hypocrisy. Its probably some kind of blindness, or at least myopia. We really cannot see the disappearing woods and get caught up in delighting at the artificially grown trees as part of our massive landscaping effort.

Social Net ke Side Effects

One thing Facebook, Twitter etc have done is to make it even more important to appear to lead an interesting life than actually leading one.

Applies to entrepreneurship, patriotism, concern-for-causes too - ?

Everyone's marketing - their lives, lifestyles, their relationships, their heartfelt causes, and of course (and maybe most appropriately) their businesses :) Its reverse-voyeurism, in a sense. And surely, our social networks can be for so much more, can they not ?

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

London Fires

London portends an ominous warning for all of us. 

Its not a happy world. Not too long ago, we'd have taken poverty/tough times in our stride and been thankful for whatever we got when we did. 

Our current growth models and their needs and structures help and serve a few, and that again in the short term. We almost design them to be win-lose, and just too many are shown unreal and sometimes illegitimate dreams, and then kept away from them. Our sense of achievement comes often from having "risen above". We have a stronger and stronger awareness of what we're not getting - and we invent newer needs and mechanisms to keep defining "risen above", in the wake creating a feeling of restlessness and impotence in so many who, in the first place, couldn't really be bothered about those 'needs'.

Watch out, you may be starting fires today that you'll need to fight tomorrow.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Anna Hazare, Ramdev, et al : What Are We Fighting For?

Somewhere, I don't believe that its corruption per se that bothers us so much. Its existed forever. We've participated in it, willingly or otherwise. At the very least, we're desensitized to the whole thing.

So why have these fasts and protests resonated so much, especially amidst the GIMC ?

I think we're feeling left out, and reasonably helpless. The dialogue between us and the ever-aligned politicians has completely broken down over the last couple of decades. And we hardly vote, in any case. The political class has freely "participated" in the growing GDP with no checks and balances, and the excesses, brazenness of it all, coupled with the current lack of even a semblance of any counterbalance that we might be able to provide to this has finally gotten to us.

I think, despite the very very naive and sometimes even dangerous thinking thats trying to fill up this vacuum, that this is a good thing to happen. Our overall cynicism levels might actually drop. The best case outcome will be a process that starts and sustains an issue based dialogue between legislators, administrators and the citizenry. Of course, this'll need "them" to re-establish some credence and us to be less suspicious of everything political (in itself not a dirty word, its only muddied as practiced, quite like religion).

Engagement, and not hostility and antagonism, will be the right way forward and hopefully we'll get there as the current flare-ups settle.

The really really big question is - do we have the sustained enthusiasm and interest in a functioning democracy and dialogue? Or will a short term assertion of citizen power satiate our collective egos ? Many in the classes that stand to benefit from our lack of involvement will be counting on us to run out of breath and soon get caught up again in upgrading our lives as dictated by the glossies and the idiot box.

Our Cities

Was discussing traffic, housing and suchlike in the context of what hope our cities have going ahead of being better places to live and work in. It should not strike the fear of God in your heart to have to go meet someone at the other end of town. Or to just dress up and get to work every single day.

Then there's stuff like this, and water. And air. And the fears we've trapped ourselves in about our kids walking/cycling/busing around the city by themselves.

All those carelessly written words and notions in essays one wrote as a kid about "Technology : boon or bane" seem to have acquired a real, dangerous edge to them. We seem to have acquired a lot of ability, and gotten most our goals wrong.

Of course capitalism and the free market are god. But why do we destroy cities by forcing schools, and public utilities, and parks, and commercial real estate, compete for the same land ? Obviously a few of these either move out, or become unsustainable or too expensive. It sounds very communist, but the need to ensure that each micro-city - and keep them small for god's sake - has space allocated for people, the things they do, their schools, parks, lakes. And that each of this does not have to compete with multinational corporations or real estate interests with deep pockets.

We need to ensure with interact with, and understand well the cycles of, the producers - of food, of sources of water, of energy. Not merely sweep these connects under massive carpets of retail and services interfaces. We'll drive lesser, eat healthier, and do more meaningful stuff in life. It'll be more about the people in them, rather than about the cities themselves, or about their modes of transport etc. Cities need to impress and dazzle lesser, and accommodate and nurture more.

Our cities are killing themselves, and dragging us down with them.

Arrogant Money

A lot of the old world money is humble. It has worked hard for it. It is generous, large hearted.

A lot of the new money is arrogant, with a massive sense of entitlement. Its got it a little easier than it ever imagined, and needs to put on a display of inflated self worth. Its also more money minded and usually not big hearted. Its more suspicious of motives, others and believes in exclusivity and existing in islands.

Chennai, By Bike!

Nopes, I did not go cycling all 350 kms! But have stumbled upon a wonderful way of getting around when visiting different places for meetings, family trips or just plan going seeing them.

I needed to travel to Chennai for a short meeting yesterday. The plan was to catch an overnight Volvo, find a place to shower/change, wrap up the meeting and take an afternoon bus back again. The meeting was someplace in Thoraipakkam, about 20kms or so from the centre of Chennai. The dreadful tales people recount when they speak of Chennai's infamous autokaarans were enough to make me, very obviously non-native, very very nervous. Cabs would be very expensive. And given the paucity of time, figuring out buses and shared-autos was not a viable solution.

An then, just a few hours before I left, it occurred to me that I could take a bike along! 20kms is hardly anything esp given Chennai's flatness. Yes, there was the weather to contend with - but I'd be getting there early in the morning, had access to a guest house for a few hours and was planning to shower anyhow. A little extra sweat is hardly a deterrent for a biker.

Next, what bike? My Merida would be the most familiar, but a little large - and the bus guys end up (unfairly) charging for it. I remembered Ravi's bike rental venture - and found theBTwin Hoptown at 200/- a day over weekdays. Perfect!

The BTwin Folder awaiting the Volvo

The bus dropped me off near Chennai Central - and it was actually quite pleasant in the morning! I'd been told autos would take 40-60 minutes to get to my destination depending on traffic. I got there in 50mins, despite many stops to ask for directions (btw, Google maps + GPS on Android helps a lot!) Without pushing at all since I was trying to sweat as little as possible. Saw a lot more of Chennai than I ever have, and got a good morning workout without no extra time spent. And its great to have endorphins and positive energy in your system before a meeting.

One curious thing : everyone I asked for directions - even 5-6 kms before the destination - first started with telling me "oh but thats faaar" (I do follow a little Tamil so could get this much even from the vernacular interactions) Its surprising how the notion of distances has changed in our cities, and how difficult people think cycling is.

Got in, showered, had a good meeting (or it seemed like that given my happy state) and got out of there. Fortunately, all morning had some cloud cover - but it got sunny on the ride out to Koyambedu, from where all the buses leave. I was advised to take an alternative, though slightly longer route by one of my biker friends in Chennai so encountered little traffic till I got into Guindy. Upto that point, the air itself never felt hot (unlike in the heat of the northern plains) though the sun was strong. Sunglasses helped, but I never got too uncomfortable.

Similar story with the bus guys on the way back. This time, a bunch of fellow passengers got excited about the bike as well - a couple even test rode it around there as we waited for the bus. Had a bus change owing to an issue with a brand new Isuzu and got a comfortable, but slow sleeper. Got to Silk Board at 11ish, and unfolded - with excited auto guys helping out - and rode back home.

The folding bicycle is a terrific tool. Benefits :

• Its easy to put into a bus, and takes up as much space as a large suitcase, and is lighter too! Obviously the bus guys charged me nothing for it when I just said "my luggage" and handed it over :)
• Its a major conversation starter! The bus guys were only to happy help load it. Everyone wanted to know more. Even the auto guys at Silk Board (on the way back), instead of being disappointed about the loss of business, atually tried helping out unfolding it! (Not that you need help - it takes just a couple of minutes and is a breeze).
• Its pretty fast for city traffic - despite smaller wheels. The gear ratios are different from your regular MTB, and changes are quick and easy.

If you need to make outstation trips, this is a good way to carry your own transport along! Mumbai might be a little too large if you have to travel a lot for meetings, but for most cities, this is a great option.

Otoh, if you're travelling into Bangalore - give Ravi a buzz and get a bike delivered at your doorstep for the duration of your visit. Freedom from autowallahs, the ability to go-anywhere, and getting to know the city much better are huge payoffs. And you're getting your dose of exercise even when you travel.

As you might have noticed, am totally smitten with the idea. Both, of the folder itself, as well as the idea of carrying it around when travelling!

Hot or Not or Whatever Happened to Joy ?

There was a time we caught two movies a week, sometimes. We did not always need to know from the reviews beforehand if the movie was "worth watching" - it was more about deriving pleasure and a good time out of whatever we watched. Sometimes we suspended disbelief, sometimes we needed to carry empathy as we went in, sometimes we gave in to feeling spooked, and sometimes it was intensely and deeply intellectual.

It was not about 0 or 10 - all movies were certainly not reduced to a binary choice.

"We value our time more" - often heard argument in this context. Really? You'd just catch a movie in the time you spend reading the multitude of reviews and analyses of one. And if you value your time, you'll construct it in different entertaining surprising ways - not just in the mould of one dreary totally expected and conformist superlative.

The movie reviews (and of course those darned multiplex prices) have killed it. Bigtime.

The Tour Of Nilgiris Edition 3 : Riding again

3 out of 3 on an MTB :)

Am riding the now-very-huge Tour of Nilgiris this year as well, and on the same old bike thats seen 2 TFNs already. The routes a lot different, and the Tour will have a 100 riders on it! Have not trained too hard, but a recent weekend of back-to-back centuries with 250kms covered over 2 days in ok shape give a lot of hope.

The first day is a 185km one, though! Traffic free roads, but a real long day nevertheless.

Looking forward to spending more time riding in the Nilgiris themselves this year. And more, and longer sections through the wildlife parks. The 2010 edition is a more backroads Tour than ever before - and there are hardly any major highways.

As usual, hoping to meet a lot of enthu souls on the ride. The camaraderie on the mailing list has been amazing. Itching for the ride to start...

Motorola Quench XT3 Review

I got a Motorola Quench XT3 recently and have reviewed it here.
Overall, pretty happy with the phone - its reduced my need to go-check-mail on the laptop considerably.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

The Motorola Quench XT3 XT502 Review

A couple of days ago I jumped onto the Android train and got the Motorola Quench XT3 XT502. The budget was "as close to 10k as possible" given the benchmark set by the Spice MI-300, and I really started to need email and calendar on my phone for Linger related work.

Why this over the Samsung Galaxy3, or the Spice, or others ? Honestly, what clinched it was the build quality/looks. The specs are very very close amongst these 3 - and heard a couple of thumbs downs from the twitterverse about the Samsung. The HTC Wildfire was never in because of being the priciest with the lowest resolution screen.

This will be an ongoing review written over the next few days as I get comfortable with the phone. So far, from day-1 usage:

• Fast enough with no serious freeze-ups. Hanged once when I was playing with multiple apps.
• "Dialer One" is way better than the default one
• Speakerphone's ok, not great. Voice quality is good otherwise.
• VCardIO helps read vcfs so my E65 contacts got imported ok.
• Took me a few hours to get used to the ultra sensitive touch keyboard. Fewer typos already :)
• Battery lasted a little under 24hrs with lots of wifi usage, some bluetooth copying, many calls + smses and a decent amount of first-day-playing-around with the phone.
• I haven't been able to get Airtel Live to work on the phone yet :(
• No FM on this phone.

More as I do more with the phone. Email, and calendar sync - my 2 primary needs for this - are already proving handy. A good side-effect is that I'm switching my laptop on lesser for "just checking mail" and getting sucked into the social whirlpool. This might actually end up creating more time in the day in a funny way :)

Day 2 update:

Another rounf of bluetooth transfers, some use of the camera, an hour or so of wifi usage and the usual calls + smses today - and the battery's done much better. No GPRS yet, so still awaiting Airtel "help" on that.

Have gotten much better with the typing. The shortcuts to to toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, brightness etc are v useful. The screen does smudge, but not too bad looking despite that.

More than once person has asked "Is that a Droid?" :)

Days 3-6 :

Carried the Quench on a bike ride and used the preloaded Tracker app to get the distance right (forgot to hit save, and it was lost with the app :() The phone battery was at over 50% that evening, including the morning's 6+ hours ride - with the GPS on for 2.5 hrs or so, lots of email/some tweets over GPRS which was switched on intermittently, and some over wifi at home.

The next days ride was longer. No GPS but GPRS was on, and used for over 13 hours. I had a minor fall but luckily no impact on the phone. The battery was at over 50% again at the end of the ride. The GPRS-Wifi switchover works very very nicely.

Other observations:

• Have gotten more used to the keyboard(s) - yes - you have 3 options to choose from! Can even type with one hand.
• Still looking for a good GCalendar app to sync my personal as well as domains calendars in one place.
• The camera is average (daylight conditions only) and the video grab below average.
• Music audio is ok thru the speakers but nothing great - have not tried it with headphones.
• The smudges have not gotten better, or worse. Now keep a soft cloth to wipe it once in a while.
• Call quality has been good across usage scenarios - including from inside noisy BMTC buses.
• My SMS costs are going to go through the roof with this phone :)
• And finally - Android can cure backaches! :) My time on the laptop has reduced considerably, lessening my upper back stiffness right away.

Almost-a-month-Update

Its been nearly a month, and there's the bigger cousing of the XT3 - the Zeppelin XT5 - available for not much more money. Its essentially got a better camera (the XT3's is strictly great-light-conditions only) and comes with a 2G memory card.

The Quench has been in my pocket through buses, the TFN, light rain, long drives, and taken it all quite alright.

Bug : Some Android phones apparently have this issue where the phone fails to acquire an EDGE/GPRS connection - you switch it off/on and it works and continues to work. Its not too frequent but a pain nevertheless.

Am very impressed with the battery. Charged it just twice on the 8 day TFN! And this with some calls, mails, SMSes though with overall much lesser than normal usage. And I switched it off one night. Even with my typical usage - a fair bit of email, calendar and todo syncing, 12-15 calls and a few SMSes through the day, I see the battery last nearly 2 days.

The phone does not lag at all anymore - as long as I make good use of the task killer. Internet is pretty fast with EDGE.

Just installed Swype on the phone today - its totally mindblowing!

Oh, and rooted the phone using Z4Root. Was looking at a custom ROM install - but got cold feet when I read about Cyanogenmod draining battery on this platform. Will wait a while before I try that.

FxCamera works better than the original camera. Its still not a substitute for a real camera when you need one. And yes, installed Hangman - my first game ever on any phone :)

Overall, quite happy so far with the phone - its doing its primary intended jobs really well.

CWG ke side effects

Of course you know about the massive scale of corruption thats supposed to have happened during the buildup to the CWG. Of course you've been drowned in the bad news and images that the 24x7 media bombarded you with unrelentingly as one shocking expose after was presented to us.

The CWG surely has lots of smoke. There are likely to be massive raging blazes of horrendous management, nepotism, corruption, and most glaringly, a lack of any pride associated with trying to organize it well. The IPL had shady behind-the-scenes going-ons as well, but the show was pulled off really really well.

But in the runup to the event, the media (as usual, one might add) went nuts. Whatever happened to balance ?

There were nicely done venues as well.

Delhi's infrastructure overall did improve.

The new terminal was completed ahead of time.

There were surely other positive stories as well. Sure, the bridge (under construction) that collapsed was a horrific sight. But thats hardly licence to make it a one sided, cynical story and provide fodder to the whole world to go-right-ahead-and-bash-us.

Events have failed elsewhere (and this one hasn't really, not yet). Freeways have aged and collapsed. Scams have killed economies for various durations. Yet one does not see the kind of we're-a-laughing-stock approach to news that the media, and yes, also the middle class - represented through the twitterati - have descended into. The over-the-top (or if you will, under-the-bottom) resigned-ness and self deprecation is pathetic, and mostly just a facade to (a) do nothing towards solving anything oneself and (b) distancing oneself from any possible failure and any sense of responsibility at all. The media and this section of the population have become echo chambers for each other. The 'can-do-will-do' reaction to problems is so missing that its almost criminal on their part to be making a noise about this.

In all the noise, I heard just one lady from Chandigarh wonder why a Sukhna-lake-revival type of shramdaan was not something the Delhi folks cribbing about this were thinking of.

Then there were other aspects of reporting that went missing.

The north's been reeling under some of the worst floods and rain the area's seen for decades. In many countries, this would have been cause enough for a national emergency and all other activities would have been postponed till the crises was over. We're either resilient/apathetic depending on how you want to look at it.

The labourers who worked on the CWG village, the guys who were called in to clean it - they inhabit completely different worlds and the disconnect between "water in the basement" and their likely-flooded homes and villages right now could not have been starker. No story there ?

Sure the OC and a bunch of jokers are responsible for the mess. Yet, a lot many contractors from both amongst Indian private players, and abroad, were responsible for construction, material etc. Not even questions about these were interesting ?

These are just things I could think of sitting a couple of thousand kilometres away. I'm sure, on the ground, many more threads would've been worth pursuing. Definitely more interesting/insightful than shots of Mike Fennel landing and getting out of the airport.

What about a report on what other events India's done in the past - successfully and those with hiccups ? What about a comparo of cities that have/could have pulled off the CWG ?

It seems that the media's gone really lazy, and just feeds off, and into the heightened state of cynical limbo the middle class exists in. There's very little genuine effort, or imagination.

And definitely no notion of balanced reporting. Make-the-most-noise is the only approach to television journalism.

To Own A Car

I've always loved driving (at least outside town, certainly not inside it). And stretched myself to pick the OHC in 2001 on a tiny salary.

9 years and 73k kms later, the car still serves me well. But purely from a financial pov, does it make sense to own a car, esp when you start with a new one ? The alternatives of using public transport/autos/taxis etc needs a little more planning-ahead, but thats not too bad a thing, and there's tons of options now.

Lets see - I paid 8.2L for the car in 2001. Today, I might get 1.8 at most. Thats an erosion of 6.4L - almost Rs.8.80 - per km! Of course fuel, on an average, at 11-12kmpl, has been at Rs.4.60. Insurance, maintenance, tyres, minor repairs etc would be another 2/- per km or so. That adds up to a cool Rs.15.40 per km!

In town : bus fares are 85/- for a Volvo day pass, autos are 8.50/- per km, even Meru cabs etc are 15/- Outstation Indicas cost 6.50 and even Innovas are under 12/-

Of course, it'll be different for diesels, and for higher usage. But most don't even keep a car for 9 years, and a Honda's wayy more reliable, and I've not included voluntary upgrade and other costs.

Financially, taking a cab makes a lot more sense anyday! In fact, you can pretty much do it off the capital needed upfront alone! Of course, the "fun-to-drive" sinks dramatically, and a little bit of the convenience - or at least the notion of it - reduces. But throw in a few go-karting trips, and you're still way better off :)

LingerLeisure is live

What started as a one-off experiment last year is a bigger now.

Linger Leisure is live, with 2 locations, and the hope of many more to come. And Vijay is part of the Linger team now.

Its not just about adding places and rooms and accommodation, but experiences - as local and authentic as we find them. Its about exploring these ourselves. Its about learning, being surprised, the unfamiliar and unknown - these are what make travelling worth it.

We're looking out for more pretty places, different experiences, and even folks who're keen to do this sort of a thing.

Total Mall's Drop (Bus) Service

Pretty good move! Total Mall on Sarjapura Road has started a bus service to drop people who shop there to their doorstep. The map attached shows the apartment complexes the service is available for. No more need to take your car, and no autowallah headaches. All they need to add is a pickup service at a fee thats redeemable at the Mall.