Legacy

The kids need a better world.

Better broadband ?

Better digital interfaces ?

More connected online communities ?

Cooler handhelds ?

Quicker cars ?

Or cleaner air ?

Water ? (Man, this one is getting close.)

Livable cities ?

What do we leave behind ?

Plastic hills ?

Fenced, protected, expensive fresh water sources ?

Bubbles of glass inside which breathing is possible ?

Anger, despair, anxiety as the collective consciousness ?

Will they mock us ?

Curse ?

Deride our shortlived choices ?

Our escapist mechanisms to cope with threats ?

The generations that did not stand and fight and solve.

But escaped into the nether.

Created money, and used it to hide the sins.

Our lifespans are a curse, I read somewhere.

Looks like the curse is on our kids. And we're responsible.

I'm just wondering if there's a breaking point someplace and if we're all Neros.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Rant

Dear GIMC,

Know what, I'm starting to get pissed with all the cynicism.

Let's show some spirit/character here, and stop using the shield of resignedness and hopelessness to avoid action/responsibility/effort, esp collective responsibility.

Its your job. Not your job "too", but your job. "They"/"the government"/"politicians" are not responsible for everything. You leave a vacuum, some or the other vested interest will smartly fill it up. So stop sitting on your rearsides, and stop leaving these vacuums.

Aaaaaaarghh.

Rgds,

Sameer (erstwhile member)

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Honesty

Like that cigarette packs carry warnings, and scary pictures.

Shouldn't car ads show the 2.3kgs of CO2 ?

Shouldn't "convenient" sachets and packaging show the mountains of plastic piled up everywhere ?

Shouldn't the super-floor-cleaners, and soaps, and detergents, carry "screwing-your-groundwater" signs ?

Shouldn't food mention the pesticides used ?

Its all about convenient truths or inconvenient lies. Some, we just ignore. 

Of course I do not support smoking. I'm just saying we need to apportion our horror and disgust to other equally worrying problems as well. Irrespective of how benign advertising and media messages makes them seem (esp car ads!)

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

My form, and my function

The Mangalore tragedy today saddened, and also provided a moment of reflection - what if I were to go today. It can happen randomly, after all.

Biologically, at 36, am over the hill. My bit towards the continuation of the species is done. I have participated in a fair bit of economic activity, ensured at least a decent future for the family and kids, and made at least a little bit of a positive impact here and there on society. 

What remains ? What will be lost if a flight I take crashes and I join some random statistic ?

Probably my creativity. Probably boundaries unexplored. But these are unknowns, unburdensome things. So perhaps the best way to live now is freely. Each day. Each decision. As it comes. No isms, no preconceived notions. No "challenges" but mere explorations - whatever and whenever possible.

So that when it happens, there is hardly any regret, and only joy and thankfulness for whatever was possible.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Road Widening and Homeowner Pains

The BBMP has marked 216 roads for widening.

As someone has tweeted recently, widening roads for increasing traffic is akin to loosening one's belt as a solution for obesity.

How long will this help ? Wider roads - smoother traffic for a while - encourages more to drive - back to square one! A year's benefit, at most ? The sprawl problems in city after city have proven beyond doubt that merely wider roads are no solution for traffic issues. To make people lose their homes, land, etc permanently for a short term gain is extremely duh. Especially when done by an authority which has not shown that its solutions have actually improved traffic sustainably in any part of town. the Silk Board, Bannerghata Circle, Nimhans stretch - all are as bad as ever. Traffic has a way of catching up real quick. Without demonstrating a more wholesome plan for a long term traffic management solution, its downright horrible to destroy homes etc. 

There's another point to the whole story. Even if widening work does happen, it should not be done for private transport. The extra space needs to be marked for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists. There are many stretches - Haralur Road where we live being one such - where walking is a nightmare, and there is a proposal to make it wider so vehicles can zip even faster. Its a recipe for more pedestrian fatalities in the imminent future.

My home is not impacted by this TDR mess, but I fully intend to lend my voice and support to those who're protesting this. BBMP, grow up and think of solutions. You cannot fight cancer using band aids, and certainly not band aids that help the growth of that cancer itself!

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

R-oh-I

There's an ongoing debate about the need for recharge wells that we're trying to sink in our apartment complex. During this, someone threw in, "I would like to know what the ROI on this is."

This is a question thats brought into many debates - including some at my earlier jobs - as a red herring. Its often done without homework, or imagination, or creative, proactive thought. 

For instance, to continue with the case for water itself :

How valuable is water ? 10/- a litre ? How much would you be willing to pay if there weren't any ? Thats starting to happen to Bangalore! How do you calculate a number for this ? Intuitively, and with some homework about Bangalore's water situation, the answer is reasonably clear - we all need to turn producers, not just consumers of this dwindling resource, and recharge from stormwater drains is a major strategy thats part of this. It also counters a lot of the runoff losses caused by the concretization of surfaces, and its proven to be faster than shallow, surface level water recharging as is done through lakes etc. 

There's also the question of priorities. Whats the ROI on your car ? The fuel it uses ? The LED TV you've bought ? Sure, the answer is likely that its what I choose for myself and the satisfaction and happiness it provides me. But very similar to the same sentiment is the set of choices we make collectively, and the satisfaction those will provide to us collectively. There's also the responsibility that we have collectively that we should not, and increasingly, cannot shirk just because there's a Government. 

Think a little, and you'll see that the ROI question is moot.

I'd opined earlier why I thought apartment living might be unsustainable in the medium term, and now I add one more reason to it - the hardening of the consumer attitudes of our society as a whole. It's unfair to blame individuals for it, for we've moved in this direction as a whole. Our sense of entitlement, and resistance to having to do things ourselves has trounced all other attributes. We live together as a community, locality, city, state, but see ourselves more or less independently, only banding together reactively for certain causes. Go to store-pick from shelf-checkout is our sum total of actions towards living, society and the world around us. Anything else must forst prove its ROI in hard numbers.

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What Phylum Are You ?

Back in college (school, to those of you who subscribe to this strange usage from across someone else's pond) we had a euphemism for casteist leanings and biases - phylumbaazi - basically the urge/desire/need to classify, bucket, put in groups everyone you meet.

There's been some controversy over caste questions in the ongoing census (though in my personal experience, was not asked any such questions!).

Made me think about these issues, and their reduced relevance to at least a slice of our society. Our son had a similar question before him when some kids - barely 8 years old - were rather innocently figuring out their ethnicities. Shubha's a Palghat Iyer who grew up in Jharkhand. I'm apparently from Rajasthan, with our ancestoral village in the UP heartland, and grew up in Jamshedpur as well. For the last decade and a half Bangalore is home, and between the two of us we speak a little bit of Kannada, like the people, coffee and this is firmly home. We've setup a home in Coorg and might just decide to retire there someday! Like I say in jest - we have no roots and many branches. What ethnicity do the kids claim ?

I guess for the (growing) bit of the population which is in the same boat as ours, these identities and questions already have little significance. It can only be good for India. But sometimes, the others expectation of a clear response to the "where are you from" leave one a little bothered. Most of all, the government!

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Why Do I Do What I Do ?

[ Warning/Disclaimer: This post is an exercise in self-analysis/narcissism, depending on how you look at it. It if helps clear someone's thought, great.]

I'm dabbling in multiple interests right now. 

Linger kicked off the experimentation with hospitality - and there might be more happening soon. I'm enjoying the experience - there's a lot of product management, online marketing, brand building involved and the smiles on people's faces when they experience a good thing is a huge reward.

The consulting on Product Strategy and Execution continues at its own pace, with a lot of interesting conversations, numerous interesting problems to solve. There's been some good outcomes already, and the learning is very fulfilling. 

Then there's the non-career interests that keep life's spark going. There's already a serious enough effort that goes into managing one's finances and running the household amidst all this.

Most of the above are either non-remunerative, or not paying too much right now :) And it goes against the common wisdom of being focused, doing one thing with no distractions etc. Is it the right thing to do ? There are regular jobs in great Product companies and teams that are available, and lucrative. So why this ? Its not just a rhetorical question - its also what I ask myself, if just to keep the head clear each time a major offer comes along that I have to say no to!

I've kind of hypothesized that I am happier, more productive, useful and agreeable when I do multiple things. Reflecting upon my past life - its also clear I've always been that way! Its also one reason I loved the whole startup experience though it did not bring monetary rewards of any sort. As an aside, its also become very clear to me that the $$ dream is not something I can ever chase for its own sake.

The current mode of living/working (at least as long as I can sustain it) gives me a lot of freedom to push my own boundaries. I had zilch experience in hospitality, for instance - but that sort of starting point has so far worked in my favour even in the tech jobs I have done. It helps create and interact with an amazing network of people from whom I learn, understand everyday. My skills have gotten a strong real world flavour added on to them. And I am now beginning to question a few beliefs about certain things I has assumed I would never (be able) to do. 

Sure, at some point the focus on one of the multiple activities might sharpen, and the time devoted it it might increase. But as of now, I'm enjoying it all, having fun being able to do it all, and will let one pick me, rather than the other way around.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

You got 20 years more. To live, or learn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/mar/01/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange

Sounds like paranoid scare-mongering ? His last round of 'predictions' would have too. But its not that tough to imagine, given the collective state of denial our species has adopted! Be it water, or energy, we refuse to challenge and relook at "life as we know it" and every little battle between convenience and effort towards making a change is lost to the former.

While its probably true that the tipping point might have been reached a while ago, but hey, we gotta try something. At the least, it'll help us adapt more to living a different life - where a lot we take for granted will not be available - easy water, boundless fuel, flights over Europe. We are already paying for the mass produced excessive lifestyle invented and marketed by the last couple of generations, and our kids and theirs will pay the most for it.

Enjoy it while you can, to whatever extent you can. Or learn to grow some food, water, and live with erratic weather real quick.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Aviation Crutches, and Lessons From The Ash

The unpronounceable (by most) place where the unexpected volcanic eruption spews unwelcome volcanic ash is all over the news.

It scared the airlines who didn't want to lose planes, people.

It left people "stranded" all across the world, since so many could not take a flight into/out of Europe.

It lay bare the fragility of businesses that are perpetually on the edge, operationally. Not healthy!

It forced people to take boats, trains, buses, connections. Meet other people.

It generated bookfulls of stories and experiences. So many people lived a little more.

It forced people to think local in terms of food, produce.

It forced a little humility into mankinds sense of control, conceit.

I think we need a 5 day outage every year!

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The Mantri Mall : Have We Gone Nuts ?

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/apr/050410-traffic-Sampige-junction-BMTC-bus-stop.htm

This is incredible. First they plan, permit and actually build a gigantic Mall in the worst possible location. And then immediately throw tantrums with a sense of entitlement! They want space for a 1000 more cars, and sorry bus folks, you're not welcome here.

(click on the above pic for the Bangalore Mirror article)

The sense of priorities is so clear, and so screwed up.

We don't need parks.

Or bus stops.

We need malls.

And more parking for private cars.

So we can all drive more and more and more and more of us can do it.

So we choke the damn air with carbon.

And to hell with buses, pedestrians, cycles,

And to hell with perspective.

We need more selling, and more buying.

Damn, I might start sounding like a left-leaning bozo. But the truth is, this sense of entitlement on top of extreme short-sightedness, chasing the wrong set of goals and the blind belief in the glitz people have seen someplace without understanding the implications is beginning to get to me.

I do not expect better of Mantri and other developers, cause they'd rather do this, but all ye others who are responsible for the city, and profess love for it, whither ?

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Its probably just age

But I do not enjoy 20-20 cricket at all. A 50 over innings leaves some scope for swings of fortunes, building up an innings, strategizing, and recovering from a few bad overs. IPL has totally failed to keep me hooked, despite the odd match. Test cricket these days is very interesting too -  not that fewer teams are playing defensively.

Similarly, the whole iPad (and earlier, iPhone) wave has not caught my fancy at all. I mean - whatever. Its just a device, world, and get on woth your lives please. Nokia still makes better phones (though God knows why they're trying to play everyone else's games). And cool lasts only so long. Here we are, overburdened with info on our existing devices already. Do we really want more pain without figuring out better, easier ways to use/consume/reject this info overload at the right levels without totally losing our lives inside the maze.

Probably just getting old, huh ?

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Water : Its already happening!

Just go through these:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/61652/building-activity-sucks-city-dry.html

http://www.greatindiansale.org/2010/04/so-whose-water-problem-is-it-anyway.html

Its not an in-the-future crisis anymore. We've not only been shortsighted, we're being blind now. The neon, glitz and civic cynicism have pushed us into more or less a denial mode where we rarely put this on our individual priorities, following which collective effort is lacking as well, and are ever-ready to pounce upon any argument that wonders if this is just a bogie being raised by doomsday scenario advocates.

I, for one, am worried. Very. Both about the crisis, and about our continued irresponsible, consumerist attitude towards something thats not just a need and right, but our responsibility as well.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

The coming water disaster

Water and a City : Saw this film yesterday. Its full of facts and insights of this everyday need that make you sit up and think hard.

Update: Water And A City's blog is here

Scary how we behave like mere consumers with a sense of entitlement towards "Cauvery Water" - like its unlimited, and meant purely for our own consumption. The notion of responsibility, sharing and controlled usage does not enter our heads. We've been gifted with numerous lakes, which we've killed. We've managed to lose a complete river with our greed and short sightedness. And yet we do not learn. Its a problem that needs a demand side fix as much as it needs a supply side one.

The Catskill Mountains near New York are the primary catchment area for its water supply. New York has consciously taken to acquiring large tracts of land up there for natural preservation of the region, and in turn its water needs! Recently, they've demonstrated that even financially, the long terms benefits of this move have outweighed the costs they would have paid for the water related issues they would've faced without this. Can we do this in Coorg and Wayanad before we clamour for a larger share of the Cauvery ? Can we first ensure the health of what we've been gifted with, and demonstrate that we actually deserve these ?

If you see the movie, it explains in great detail how those who use water the most pay the least for it. Those without access to BWSSB water end up paying nearly 300 per kilolitre! Even tanker water is at 50/- pe kl and BWSSB supply starts at 6/-, ridiculously lower than the 35/- per kl that it costs to pump it up from 100 kms away, with almost a 500m ascent up to Bangalore! Unless we pay more for it, and more equitably, there's little likelihood of us learning to conserve it, recycle it, and make the best use of rainwater etc.

Groundwater, which Bangalore uses at a ferocious rate to meet more than half its demand, is under even more strain. Its a 'historic' resource, since the deeper you go, the 'older' the water thats percolated in. Its critical that we not only appreciate these differences, but pay much much more for more historical water, and make as hard an attempt as we can to replenish it as we draw water from the shallower aquifers themselves.

We may soon get real broadband at affordable rates. We're already benefiting from the telecom revolution. But basic stuff like water - thats in our own hands. Its a hard hitting movie - try getting a copy and watching it. Really scary.

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Linger is Live

Have been at Linger most of the last couple of weeks, getting loose ends tied up, the kitchen setup and training the staff there. Its ready, and the last set of guests who helped test the place enjoyed their stay there immensely. 

Linger is now ready and the requests are already happening :)

Here's some pics from the last weekend, when a couple of avid birdwatchers/photographers spent time there :

Prem's Bird Shots

From Tharangini's Camera 

Sridhar's

And my, less accomplished snaps.

You should come to Linger to take time off, do things you've not done for a long time, and slow down the rush that life's become. The library, the walks, the bikes, the board games, or just putting up your legs and sipping endless chai should all help you do that.....

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Train timings at Carmelaram Railway Station

Posting a mail I received - this can become a major commute option for people living around Sarjapura Road.

Train timings at carmelaram railway station: Trains going towards salem : train no 2677  intercity exp                            6 46 am             6232 mysore mayiladuthurai exp      19 42 hrs             6732 mysore tuticorin exp                21 59 hours             6527  Yeshwantpur cannanore exp   20 44 hrs (wed and sat)             572  bangalore salem passenger       7 54 hrs                     yeshwantpur salem pasnger    17 00 hrs                     bangalore dharmapuri              19 13 hrs   Trains going  towards bangalore city, yeshwanthpur,mysore, train no  2677  intercity                                            18 47 hrs              mayiladuthurai - mysore exp                        04 30 hrs              Tuticorin/ mysore exp                                  0515 hrs              cannore yeshwanthpur                                 05 46 hrs ( mon wed sat)              Dharmapuri bangalore                                  07 09 hrs              salem  yeshwanthpur exp                             09 05 hrs              salem bangalore exp                                   17 11 hrs it is better to call the railway station for the exact timings for the day the  station num is 28441615 However the express trains are stopping on trial basis only, if the passenger usage is not as per expected levels they would discontinue these stops, request all to use this service and make this service a regular one. If you live in the vicinity, do explore this. Its gotta be faster than anything else!

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Final steps towards the coming true of a dream

Many moons ago - in fact monsoons ago - we started pursuing a dream - of owing a little place in Coorg that we could both call home, and plan a foray into hospitality using. Over time, Shubha and I have learned about Coorg, its people, the weather, coffee, construction using laterite, Mangalore tiles, and a lot more about wood than we ever knew. Of course, its a baby step, but the house is ready, and with a week or so more of effort, Linger will be reality.

 

 

Its a green, pretty place and we're trying our best to not 'landscape' it cause we can hardly hope to achieve what nature's managed. Yet there's the odd bit of work left, and books to be bought, and cycles to be added, trails identified, and food tasted :) 

Linger welcomes you starting March 1st, 2010, to come, relax, do nothing and, well, linger!

http://linger-at-coorg.in for more

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

BMTC services on from Koramangala to Electronic City

Update: created the schedules for 341H and 341Q

Got this via Forward150:

Good Morning! Another feather added to the Forward150 cap.

Our active members again successfully negotiated with BMTC CTMO for the following feeder services. These services are exclusively run upon request from Forward150.

341 H - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Haralur Road & return
341 Q - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Hosa Road (Jail Road) & return

I request you to forward this information to all the residents in your locality and spread awareness to make use of these services.

Let us be proud to use public bus services and reduce pollution.

Our active members again successfully negotiated with BMTC CTMO for the following feeder services. These services are exclusively run upon request from Forward150.

341 H - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Haralur Road & return

341 Q - St John's Hospital to Electronics City via Hosa Road (Jail Road) & return

I request you to forward this information to all the residents in your locality and spread awareness to make use of these services.

Let us be proud to use public bus services and reduce pollution.

This is awesome - the entire set of people here can now get buses to most places in the City - via St. Johns - even without going to Sarjapura Road. The PDF schedules were attached and there's a bus every 20-40 mins on each route - and together (through slightly different routes thats every 20 mins for sure!).

Thanks BMTC, and thanks Forward 150.

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Bus-ing helps! Proof is good :)

http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2010/02/pollution-levels-dropped-on-bus-day.html

And thats just a few folks who tried the bus on the day. If each one of us makes a bit of an effort to 'get used' to busing/cycling/walking just a little more, think of the awesome positive impact that can have on our city, our air, our health, our lives! 

Posted via email from bangalorekaapi

Rubbish!

This is very very critical information - please do watch the full video.

 

We often worry about plastics, and sometimes about garbage strewn visibly. But the whole picture is so scary. And even scarier is our lack of action on this, and the attitude of "oh but I've paid my taxes" and "out of sight, out of mind" that seems to define our approach.

Shall we set a few personal goals ? And maybe derive a few apartment/community level ones from the same ?

• Start with the most important of them all - segregate. Yeah for starters "it'll all get mixed later" is true, but keep doing it anyway.
• Lets send out as little organic waste in the bins as we can. Compost at home ?
• Reduce the "throw the trash out" frequency to a third of what it is ? Given that 60-70% is organic, this should be doable!
• Get into the recycling food chain. I'm gonna try and find out resources on this and update, for Bangalore.
• As communities, explore biogas options ? What are those usable for ?

I do think larger and larger hordes of us having become "consumers" is a self-destruct mode as far the planet and species is concerned. Personally, we'll try and bring some changes to our lives, at the least. The composting and lowered trash-disposal happen to a certain extent already, but probably not as aggressively as should be given our responsibility as citizens of our city and planet.

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