On the 14^th of March, 2011, couple of days after a massive earthquake and a subsequent tsunami hit Japan, I decided to go surfing. I guessed that since fear-mongering would be the highest for a couple of days, I would find a lot less people than usual on the beach, and thereby giving me a peaceful and yet enjoyable experience on the beach. I was right about lesser number of people turning up at the beach. Enjoyable experience – not so much.

Sydney is a host to quite a lot of attractive beaches, and Manly beach is one among them. It is also a beach known for its incredible waves which makes it just the right place for surfing. For the experienced surfers that is.

The main assumption of course is that I considered myself a good swimmer before stepping into the waters. This assumption comes back to bite me in the back and haunt me later.

Here is my story.

As I looked across Manly beach, I saw many an experienced surfer cutting across waves and surfing on a few outrageous waves. I rented a surfboard across the beach for one hour and waded into the waters almost immediately. At first, the surfboard was difficult to handle. Paddling was difficult, much less standing on the surfboard. The surfboard has a latch which you strap on to the right leg so that you and your surfboard are always together (and hence would not lose the surfboard). After some struggle, slowly but surely, over the next half an hour or so, I started gaining control of the surfboard. I was able to stand on the short waves which were close to the shore line. I was able to ride the waves not as confidently as the experienced surfers, but fairly well. This was exciting stuff. It was a totally new experience, and I was loving every moment of it. I did it again and again and again. Each time, I was growing more and more confident of my surfing skills.

As I grew more confident of surfing the shallow waters close to the shore line, a thought crept into me. Why not surf the bigger wave? It’s logical, isn’t it? Of course it is (rationalization is a, as I stated in my earlier blog posts is as close to ‘bitch’ as it gets). And so I surfed back to the sands of the beach, and keenly observed the experienced surfers for about 10 minutes on how exactly they were going about their deep-sea surfing. It looked like a simple procedure. You swim into the deep sea, wait for the wave to come along, turn your surfboard in the direction of the wave, paddle hard so that you maintain some velocity and once the wave begins to take you along, you just stand up. The basics were the same irrespective of whether it was the shallow waves or the deep-sea waves.

Or so it seemed.

I waded through the shallow waters into the deep sea. My initial idea was not to go beyond 15 meters from the shore line. I assumed I could swim back pretty easily (you remember the good swimmer part above – yeah that!) if I was not able to surf properly. I severely underestimated two things – a) the ability of the sea to pull me back within itself along with the water b) the fear the roar of the waves create when you are caught in the middle of it.

As I moved in, the waves were hitting rapidly and furiously. Sea water, as is the case usually, is salty and this water at Manly beach was saltier than normal. And when this kind of salty water gets into your eyes, it burns like hell. I kept going for about 10 meters or so. I looked back at the shore line and I was hardly any distance away from it. I kept walking into the sea and by the time I realized what had happened (a big wave or two had passed over), I was close to 50 meters into the sea. I looked back at the shore line in horror.

I had my surfboard, but it was not of much use because of the rapidity and the speed at which the waves were coming on 50 meters into the sea. I had absolutely no surfing experience till date (except for the briefly and quickly learnt skill in shallow waters) and the huge volume of water and the roar of the waves (especially the white froth that comes at you at your eye level) around me sent a shudder through my spine. I was literally shaking. I couldn’t even see properly as my eyes were burning.

I quickly came to my senses. I thought I would swim back to the shore line. Wrong assumption again. I furiously starting using all the tips and tricks I had learnt during swimming (‘good swimmer’ you know!). Instead of moving towards the shore line, the waves were taking me away from it inspite of my frantic swimming. I was going deeper and deeper into the sea. And then, a swimmer’s worst nightmare happened. ‘Gulp, gulp’ I started gulping water. That’s when I realized I was dying. Not maybe dying, but very close to it. As a swimmer, you are never taught to drink water – and here I was, after close to 15-20 minutes of trying to fight the sea, gulping water. I told myself, ‘Screw it, I am calling for help!’

And then I screamed. I screamed ‘Help, Help’. The worst part about screaming 50 meters into the sea, with huge waves rushing above and past you is you have no idea whether your scream reached other surfers, much less the beach-crew. I probably screamed four times, before I gulped even more water ‘Gulp, gulp’. And then I saw this beach-crew guy coming towards me on his surfboard. It surprised me how quickly he reached me. The first thing he did was to remove the strap on my leg (the strap which ties me to the surfboard) and from then on, I was able to swim easily. I tried climbing on to his surfboard but a huge wave hit us from behind. I swum along with the wave with probably the last ounce of my energy and finally reached the shore line. My surf board followed me, although not tied to me.

I sat on the beach sapped of energy. I was trying to puke the salt water that got in, but couldn’t. It was a nauseating feeling. The sun was beating down, but I didn’t have energy to even stand up, much less move into a shade. After about half an hour, I mustered some energy to return the surfboard and sit in the shade. It was probably an hour before some I had some energy to take a bath and wear fresh clothes.

I looked at the sea from afar, calm at the shoreline and furious beyond. I did not smile. I was probably thankful. Or probably it was fear. I would never know. I had just learnt that sea was a dangerous being, if not handled properly (an understatement?). I probably learnt a bit of surfing in the meanwhile, but the experience of getting so close to death and yet so far from it is humbling. Or probably mind-boggling. I would never know.

P.S: If you have missed them earlier, here are the travelogues I had written on Sydney -

a) Sydney Part 1 Travelogue

b) Sydney Part 2 Travelogue

If it were a school debate, the subject of the topic would be ‘Sodexo coupons – A boon or a curse. Discuss’.

Fortunately most of us are past that stage of life where we need to debate such issues in front of other school kids. Unfortunately though, unless we discuss and debate, we would lose money on a transaction like this. Let us look at the bare bone facts of the Sodexo business and try to draw some conclusions.

The perquisite valuation rule (Sodexo/Food coupon is a perk) (Fringe Benefit tax) governing the issuance of Food coupons states (Rule 3(7)(iii)) -

(iii) The value of free food and non-alcoholic beverages provided by the employer to an employee shall be the amount of expenditure incurred by such employer. The amount so determined shall be reduced by the amount, if any, paid or recovered from the employee for such benefit or amenity:

Provided that nothing contained in this clause shall apply to free food and non-alcoholic beverages provided by such employer during working hours at office or business premises or through paid vouchers which are not transferable and usable only at eating joints, to the extent the value thereof either case does not exceed fifty rupees per meal or to tea or snacks provided during working hours or to free food and non-alcoholic beverages during working hours provided in a remote area or an off-shore installation.

If you didn’t have the patience to go through the rule, here’s what it states in summary. The Employer cannot pay more than Rs. 50/- per meal during working hours. Assuming a reasonable 2 meals per day and 22 working days in a month, it works out to Rs. 2200/- p.m food coupons (which is the limit that most of us get) (the max. anyone can get is Rs. 3000/-). Of course, since the Employer cannot pay more than Rs. 50/- per meal, the maximum value of any one Sodexho coupon cannot exceed Rs. 50/-. Hence the denominations are always Rs. 50/- or lower (usually they are Rs. 50/-, Rs. 35/-, Rs. 20/- and Rs. 10/-).

These coupons are useful for different parties in multiple ways. There are four parties involved in any food coupon transaction as illustrated below (along with Sodexo’s business model):

Employee: The Employee is usually very excited with any prospect that saves him a little tax. And so is the case with Sodexo coupons too, where availing the Sodexo coupon opportunity will make the food coupon amount tax free. For employees in the highest tax bracket (30%), this would save tax of Rs. 660/- p.m (or Rs. 7920/- per year). Of course, if you didn’t opt for the coupons, you would get Rs. 1540 as deposit in your bank account (Rs.2200/- after tax deduction). But did the food coupon craze take off in huge numbers just because an Employee could save some tax and buy food from his office canteen? Absolutely not. The reason it took off was because the retail chains (FoodWorld, Spencers, Foodbazaar, Big Bazaar, MK Retail, Total, Reliance etc.) started accepting the coupons for anything and everything that you purchase at their store. Employees jumped at the opportunity (and most people mentally classify these coupons as free money than hard cash – look at some stuff they buy using the coupons. They would never buy it with hard cash).

Company: Most companies started this perk out as a differentiator to employees (and marketed it as ‘it’s actually extra money in your pocket since it’s tax-free). And then all companies started offering it. From a nice-to-have feature, it has now turned into a must-have feature in the pay package. Companies don’t make or lose any money on this transaction (apart from the administrative headache).

Retail Store: Initially, the retail store used to accept Sodexo coupons only for pure food item purchases. It was a pure sales/marketing tactic from thereon – to attract more customers and to wean away customers from other competing chains, they started accepting Sodexo coupons for anything and sundry (which apart from increased sales, also increased customer loyalty). Eventually, competitive destruction happened and the retail chains till Dec 31st, 2011 accepted Sodexo coupons for all purchases. They redeemed their Sodexo coupons with Sodexo for a 5% discount (and they used to receive cash only after 20-30 days after submitting the coupon; credit card companies credit the retail store within 24 hours usually). It’s almost become mandatory for retail chains to accept Sodexo, else they risked losing customers to other retail chains and very fast (the cornershop marwariwala lost his business this way, till of course he also started accepting Sodexo!). Of course, to cover up the lost 5%, people usually concur on the fact that retail stores usually mark up the prices of certain items (although this cannot be corroborated with any data available).

Sodexo: Who exactly is Sodexo? This link gives more information (and this one in more juicier detail), but in summary, Sodexo is a French multinational corporation Sodexo is one of the largest food services and facilities management companies in the world, with 380,000 employees, representing 130 nationalities, present on 34,000 sites in 80 countries. They are the biggest beneficiary in this transaction. Since this is almost like a parallel currency, they have to invest a lot of money upfront to get the govt. machinery working in passing certain laws. They make money in three ways:

a) They receive Rs.100/- worth of coupons, while give back only Rs. 95/- in cash, netting a straight 5% gain.

b) Sodexo coupons usually come with an expiry date (think of it as a currency with expiry date *shudder*). Once its expired, no retail store would accept it and it becomes null and void. However, Sodexo had already received the money from your Company when they issued the coupon (and hence a 100% profit!). There is a complex process through which you can get new coupons issued, but most people would not have the time or the patience to go through the process for getting the new coupons.

c) The biggest of them all. They get money at 0% interest. Have a look at the diagram once again. Day 1, they receive Rs. 100/-. Day 24-34, they give back Rs. 95/-. That is, they have had the money for a full 20-30 days without paying any interest. In fact, till the coupon is used, it is practically free money (and they can lend this money at interest, thereby making money).

So, if this was a win-win-win-win arrangement for all the folks involved, why did the retail store chains suddenly stop taking Sodexo coupons in lieu of items?

There is no clarity on what exactly happened, but here are the news items floating around -

a) They have increased the brokerage from 5% to 9%. That is, the retail chains used to get back Rs. 95/- of their money, but in the revised scenario, would get back Rs. 91/-. Already under pressure for margins, this was not acceptable by retail chains. Presumably, they formed a clique and stopped taking the coupons across the table.

b) The number of days in which cash conversion happens has gone up from 20 days to close to 60 days, thereby impacting the cash cycle of organizations

thereby, resulting in a clique where the retail chains have closed ranks and have decided to put up a fight with Sodexo – to i) reduce the brokerage rate below 5% (and they’ll eventually settle to the original 5% figure) and ii) reduce the cash conversion cycle (and settle back on the 20-30 day figure).

Sodexo certainly has to negotiate and accede to the demands of the retail chains, simply because without them, Sodexo ceases to exist. Retail chains will also join the negotiating table because they will have too much to lose (the corner stone marwariwallah is still accepting Sodexos, and more probably, there is always a possibility that one retail chain breaks away from the clique to grab customers quickly). All in all, this is bound to be a temporary situation (max of 1-2 months), and as usual, the employee is being inconvenienced for the greater good of the mankind or some such.

My personal opinion is that the entire Sodexo tamasha is not worth the administrative hassle that most companies undergo (the big IT firms have everything automated, but all other firms are not). Why not give Rs. 2200/- as a food perk straightaway as cash instead of this circuitous food coupon route? Or tax it at the minimum rate? This whole hassle could have been avoided. But then again, there are vested interests at play here and I am not even a micro-bit player in the rational minority.  (As an aside, I always wondered about an active secondary market. For example, you get Rs. 2200/- worth of coupons and you save Rs. 600/- in tax. Which essentially means, you would be willing to sell the coupons for cash for anything above Rs. 1600/- thereby making a neat, tidy profit. I am almost sure this is illegal, but I just wonder!). Also, Sodexo coupons involve a lot of paper. They can shift to card based system (if at all this system has to exist) and save a lot of money (IT firms usually give out cards, but try using a card in any retail chain – nada for now!).

Disclosure: I don’t subscribe to Sodexo coupons. My wife does and hence have a vested interest liquidating the Sodexo vouchers

P.S: I can also see a govt. conspiracy here Sodexo coupons out of circulation means Employees will not subscribe to them January end (or future months). Which means, more taxable income and which means, more taxes. Government #FTW

P.P.S: I explained a scenario above where a Employee can technically make a profit by selling the coupons at a discount. One enterprising person actually tried to sell these coupons at a premium on an internet site. Why would anyone pay hard cash (say, Rs. 105/-) in exchange for Sodexo coupons (worth Rs. 100/-). Beats me. Not too sure what the guy who posted this was thinking though

Wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

It is pretty shocking how our minds work, isn’t it? Every January 1^st, it’s almost as if there is a ‘refresh(F5)’ button in our head where we tend to forget all the sad moments of the previous year and look forward to the New Year with all the optimism, gutso, goals and resolutions (it’s just a change of date, created for our convenience, right?). Our brains are wired to look forward to a better future and with much reason – our future has always been better than the past – in terms of quality of living, in terms of technology, in terms of advancements in medicine and in almost everything that you look around you.

As always, on 1^st of January, we are caught in the dance between hindsight and probability – of what could have been in 2011 and what would be possible in 2012.

2011 – A pretty significant year for me. I got married to a fantastic girl (and I’d boil it down to my blind good luck than anything else actually) and she has been an awesome partner (considering all my quirks, I’d pretty much admit it to her almost infinite patience in not slapping me yet). In other news, my career has not gone as I expected in 2011 (except for the last 2 months where there have been some fantastic learnings). If I don’t change tack quickly, there is a great possibility that I get stuck in the average. In yet other news, one close friend C has had a bundle of joy enter her home, another close friend D got married, another shaks moved away due to vagaries of fate. And travel I did this year – I visited one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Sydney (Part 1, Part 2) in the early part of the year (easily one of the highlights of my life), honeymooned in the spectacularly beautiful Mauritius and the awe-inspiring Dubai (whose travel posts I promised about 6 months back but never got to) and roamed around all the heritage tours that Karnataka Holidays threw at us. All in all, it’s been a pretty splendid year, career aside.

2012 – I have had some deep conversations with my closest friends towards the close of the year about my dilemma. Here’s my dilemma – I have done pretty much what I wanted to do by the time I turned 28 – personal life, professional life, travel you name it. I say that not with a hint of pride, but with a lot of regret. I had set some goals at 21 for the next 5-7 years and I have gone on to achieve every one of them. Yet, I made the cardinal mistake of not refreshing/adding to the goals I made up at 21 and hence pretty much stuck now (very foolish, if you ask me). One close friend boiled it down to my innate strength which could also be my biggest weakness:  going by checklists. Yet another friend boiled it down to a mismatch between my ability and my ambitions. Another friend admired my creative ability but admonished me for operationalizing every creative bit, which restricted the range of my goals. It’s been a gut-wrenching exercise of listing down what I want to do for the next 5-7 years (and add on to the list every time one item is checked off) and I am not yet sure I have got a concrete list of to-do things. But I have an idea now. Some goals seem outrageously ambitious but the future looks bright, possible and achievable. So, 2012 is off to a good start.

Other broad goals, which I had already posted on my facebook page (which was in turn copied from my friend’s blog) include,

Walk less, Play more.
Watch less, Read more.
Tweet less, Write more.
Whine less, Do more.
Buy less, Eliminate more.
Plan less, Travel More.
Procrastinate less, Study more.
Indoors less, Outdoors more.
Heart less, Mind more.
Photograph less, Experience more.
Cynic less, Hopeful more.

And with that, I sign off with a favorite T.S.Eliot’s quote of mine,

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well.

P.S: For people who are interested in the theory behind the end of Mayan calendar, this link would help you decipher it. Favorite links on movies for 2011 and 2012 follows.

Link to 10 best bollywood films of 2011

Link to 15 worst bollywood films of 2011

Link to 35 most anticipated movies of 2012

I am kidding of course.

So, I got married last month to Manasa and it has been a wonderful journey from the time I met her first till date. Without getting into too much details, it was a simple Kannadiga wedding at Hyderabad. But the wedding invite though went through a ton of iterations before we could put it out.

I am not talking of the wedding invite that parents prepare to send out to all and sundry. I was referring to the wedding invite that we wanted to create to send it out to our friends. Manasa has this serious out-of-whack humor touch which she wanted to bring to the wedding invite. So, we ended up creating a funny (or so have our friends told us) wedding invite which encompassed two aspects of any hyderabadi (and we both are hyderabadis). One, Hyderabadi Hindi and two, Telangana Telugu. We created a presentation as an invite including these two aspects (the idea and the artwork was hers, I was only the scriptwriter). Although its too late now, please do find attached a link to our invite. May it spawn a thousand more, and a million times funnier invites going forward.Funny Wedding Invitation

2) The wedding went off very smoothly. Except for the photographer.

So, what is the deal with these photographers? I can understand their enthusiasm in instructing us to pose in different angles. What I don’t understand is their eagerness (maybe sadism) in asking us to smile for 2 continuous days with that mercury light that is held by his chamcha in our eyes. Absolutely ridiculous.

As an example, I’d like to take you back to the morning of my wedding day. We all got up drowsily at 4am, and the photographer switched on the mercury light and asked us to smile while we were walking towards our suitcases. He also says ‘Sir, you are closing your eyes..please don’t’. What the hell dude? This was torture, and we were paying him for it.

3) I have a couple of updates regarding my writing –

1. I write a Value Investing blog here. I started this about 6 months ago to document my learnings in investing in the stock markets. It has picked up decent traffic though and I thought of letting you know on this domain.
2. I am also writing for a commercial start-up in the investing/financial domain. I have written about 4 articles now (although I had promised a lot more). So, if you have the patience, please do go through them. Here are the four articles – Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4. The promise was to write one article every week. I have not kept that promise till date. Hopeful to keep up to the promise going forward.
3. My blog and I have been quoted in Times of India on some ‘Voting’ related article I had written a couple of years ago last to last Sunday. Please hold your head high, now that you have a celebrity writer amongst you I had no clue on this as I was away on vacation. Good friends of mine mailed in and fb-ed me of the development. So, thanks to all of you.

4) Our honeymoon was in Mauritius and Dubai. The next couple of blogposts would be travelogues on these two wonderful places.

What is your problem in life is my question? You put up a picture saying ‘At the India Gate’. Arey, I am an Indian, you are an Indian…we know what India Gate is. What is the need in telling me that it is India Gate, tell me? Waste of photograph, waste of words, waste of time. Just like your Engineering only. Waste only no, after you did your MBA and now working in a petrol bunk in some USA. That is why I tell that people should have focus. Else they will climb lorries and work like coolies.

Ok, I know that in Engineering I pulled your leg and hand. But that doesn’t mean that you put up all these silly videos on my Wall, no? What is ‘look, I found you in this video’? Why is the surprise tone man. I should not be in any video or what? Only you should be in some MTV videos in some phoren land and I should be saying ‘ooo..see that dude…always dancing with white girls and all’ or what? It is ok man, I can also be in famous videos and I can also be in some famous pictures. I thought ok, I will forgive the surprise tone ok, let me check the video. Is this some kind of joke or what? I am nowhere in the video. You are blind is what I came to know. And now my laptop is throwing up all windows with pictures and videos which our elders will be ashamed of. Don’t know what is with you and this fascination for white and black women. Why can’t you select and send Indian women. You are spoilt in that Obama country I tell you. You remember our culture or no?

And why do you always like girls’ status message although some of them are extremely silly like ‘The air is fresh and clean’, ‘I feel alive’. Arey, if you feel dead, you won’t be able to facebook, no. She doesn’t know that or what? And you go and like that status. As if that is some great Nobel discovery. Just because she is single means, you go and like her status? She will not fall in love with you just because you liked her status ok? Did she ever like even one of your status? No, no. Then why everytime you jump and comment whenever she posts some random picture with her friends with comments like ‘you look gorgeous’, ‘you look very cute’ and all. Arey baba, give her roses, write her poems then she may like you. This facebook will not save your face or your heart, ok. And then, if your friend R, paapam, he is such an intelligent guy writes some profound or intelligent message, nobody likes the status. Nobody comments on it. Why? Just because he is a guy or what? I think even if R wins a Nobel prize and writes his status on facebook, he will get one like (from his mom) and one comment (from his sister). That is all. I know this facebook types. You have a 400 friends to simply show off. Nobody cares if you won a Nobel prize or a gully prize unless you are a girl who is single. Not one of this 400 friends will come to your rescue if you are just about to die. They will probably ask you to transfer your Farmville points to them. Friends it seems. Uh!

And one more thing. Why are you telling the entire world you were at Starbucks coffee in Rhode Island yesterday? We should all come and join you or what? I know man you want to show off that it is updating via your iPhone and all and you are having 5 dollar Starbucks coffee and all. But why should I know it? With 5 dollars, I can have a week’s lunch at my office here, you know. You are trying to show off that you are rich or what? Better coffee is available at Shree Ram Tea Stall near my office. 5 rupees only. Starbucks it seems, Starbucks. They are taking your bucks and becoming a star, that is what Starbucks means. Not some you are a star and all ok. Don’t be fooled, fool only you are.

And one last thing. What is this wife-husband love on my facebook wall? They don’t have their home or what? Their husband is orbiting some space station around Pluto or what? Kisses it seems, hugs it seems, lovely dinner it seems, wonderful starry night it seems. Arey baba, we are a 1.2 billion population country, no? We know all this starry night business and all. Their husbands check only facebook status updates and love their wives or what? I just don’t understand this. Now a new trend is starting. Kids pictures it seems. First the girl picture. Next the wife and husband picture. In a 1001 places around their street with lovely green and some violet background color. Our photo studio has better backgrounds than that. And now wife, husband and kids pictures it seems. Where will this end? If you keep on posting pictures like this, then facebook will go diwala only. That facebook guy will have to put towel on his face only if 1.2 billion people come to facebook and continue to put pictures like this. Arey last week some couple put a album of 250 pictures on facebook. Mad or what? They think they are some Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or what? And I see some 25 likes on it. How does everybody have so much time? Or are they liking it just so that it will be reciprocated when time comes? Why the public tamasha? And anniversaries it seems. Do they not end or what? Event after event after event after. As if their life is like some big fun festival they are feeling off. Not true, no?

Anyway, I have noticed that you have not poked me in a while. Facebook has taken that feature off or what? Thank god, else why should you poke anybody? I tell you, in India all this is serious legal and female trouble – this poking business. It is better you Unlike this poke if and when it comes by again. Ok now, bye then. Talk later. First orkut it seems, now facebook it seems. Day after my head bursts it seems. What only this age.

Let me explain.

First, the basics of power. We get electricity through to our homes due to three stages – power generation (at the power plant – thermal, hydel, nuclear etc), power transmission (through all those wires and transformers you see along the highways) and power distribution (at your local power plant, local transformer in your colonies etc.). That said, let’s move ahead.

We have all heard the following data ad nauseam time and again –

a) The growth of the economy, calls for a matching rate of growth in infrastructure facilities. The growth rate of demand for power in developing countries is generally higher than that of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In India, its around 1.5 times GDP. That is, if our GDP is growing at 8% annually, we need to increase our power output by 12% (10% atleast).

b) India is planning to nearly treble its electricity capacity to almost 450 GW by 2020 from around 167 GW currently, which means a yearly addition of nearly 23 GW for the next 9-10 years.

c) In spite of rapid power generation, figures available with the Central Electricity Authority show an average power deficit of 6.4% across the country in November. The national average of peak hour shortage during the month was 8.7%. The deficit was highest in the western region, where peak hour shortage was at 15.6%.

d) The Electricity Act 2003 repealed a old legacy of 1910 and another of 1948 and had, in one stroke, forced the inevitability of total reforms in the electricity sector. The best beneficiary of the Act being the industry – large and small – and the commercial establishments which had been hitherto bearing the brunt of the SEB onslaught in terms of high tariff, unstable supply, impossible conditions and the wrath of a state monopoly. After the Act went through, generation of electricity did not require any approvals from any body so long as the same is used for own use. The new-found freedom allowed commercial and industrial users to set up their generation facilities and the industry was supposed to install power generation capacities to profit from the paucity in the country.

I thought there was a definite need (and hence a business opportunity) to set up power generation plants, supply uninterrupted power to consumers and make a lot of money.

Till I read this article in the Economic Times –

“Cash-strapped state power utilities have cut offtake from thermal power generators, hitting their output and driving down tariffs in the short-term market. State power utilities, which buy the entire output of thermal power generators such as NTPC, Adani Power and Monnet Ispat, have cut off take because of a cash crunch and are resorting to load shedding, industry experts said.”

“NTPC sells most of its power under long-term power purchase agreements. With states back tracking, the company’s net profit has taken a hit, rising only 1.12% in 2010-11. The situation is grim at electricity trade markets too. Private power producers such as Adani Power and Monnet Ispat say states purchase power at 11 a unit during elections, but resort to load shedding in the normal course. A top executive at Monnet Power said the company was forced to sell electricity at 0.50 per KWH in January, as there was no demand from states.”

Think about the article for a while.

You’d probably think that SEBs being a part of the State Government are being subject to discrimination, since the State has only so much money to buy electricity, after doling out a million sops to the aam aadmi (these sops sometimes include laptops and TVs).

You’d also be inclined to think the issue to be simplistic – why not buy power and pass on the costs to consumers? Why should the State Govt. have any say in this? The SEB supplies me power, and if I use that power for 24hrs a day, I pay for 24hrs a day. Why is the SEB reluctant to buy power, when I, the consumer am willing to pay for 24hrs of uninterrupted power supply?

The issue is a little more complicated than that.

Tariff increases have continuously lagged increases in costs of fuel and salaries (due to obvious political pressures), and widening inefficiencies (transmission and distribution losses, power theft with 18% pilferage and faulty metering) have added to the woes of SEBs. Sum total of all cash  losses of SEBs and distribution companies in India have jumped 4.4 times between FY07-09 to Rs. 2.5 trillion, and expanding by nearly Rs. 1 trillion a year (In A Raja’s standard, 1 lakh crore). The SEBs are losing money on almost every unit they sell. With increased growth come increased losses in case of SEBs.

To arrest these losses, many state-owned distribution companies are suspending power supply for hours, even in the winter when demand is low, because they are unable to pay for power. This has forced many generation companies to scale back production.

And then there is the newly set up Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), which is supposed to manage tariffs and transmission. Why are they not able to solve this problem? Simply because they only have a say in inter-state transmission of electricity and not intra-state distribution, which is in the hands of the state SEBs. So, we have more committees and lesser solutions.

So, what are we doing about all this?

The Union Ministry of Power is working on a set of guidelines (to be ready in 2-3 months), which will address issues of SEBs such as collection and billing efficiencies, long term power purchase agreements etc. However, we do know in India, there is no dearth of reports and laws and guidelines (and committees and GoMs and empowered GoMs). Implementation of these guidelines would probably take another decade.

What is the bottom line? The collateral damage is that suppliers (i.e., power generation companies) are seeing their payment cycles elongated on an ongoing basis and are having to scale down on ambitious projects to generate electricity. In the long run, its bound to hurt everybody.

I personally don’t see a bright road ahead for these power generation companies for atleast the next 2-3 years. And I need not feel sorry for them, because in the end, I would be one who would be suffering. And that’s the bottomline, because some committee said so.

General data on current power generation companies: NTPC (current capacity 33GW, 75GW by 2017), NHPC (current capacity 5GW, 10GW by 2016), Tata Power (3GW), Reliance Power (everything is in the air, and in planning stage. Supposedly planning 35GW. Good luck with that), Adani Power (current capacity 2GW, planning 17GW by 2016), Lanco Infratech (current capacity 2GW, 18GW in planning), SJVN (current capacity 1.5GW), Torrent Power (current capacity 1.7GW), JSW Energy, Monnet Ispat among many others.

However, looking at this issue and understanding it through the lens of Hindu Mythology is a little unique (and hopefully enlightening!).

Let me explain.

I’ve been reading “7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art” by Devdutt Pattnaik (btw, brilliant book) where he lucidly explain the mysteries behind the myriad calendar arts that we see on a daily basis of atleast 100 or so Hindu Gods. Some of his explanations can be used to understand why men will never understand women.

Here are a few excerpts from the book -

The right side in Indian art represents the soul and intellect while the left side, with the beating heart, represents movement, hence matter and emotions. The left side represents change while the right side represents soul. Since change is undesirable, the left side became the inauspicious part (inauspicious in the sense of attaining Nirvana) and the still right became the auspicious part of the body.

(In the Ardhanari-eshwara image, Parvati merges to the left of Shiva. I am also given to understand that the wives are advised to sleep to the left of their husbands).

Shiva dancing in the Nataraja pose. In this dance pose, he raised his left foot above the ground and pointed to the moving left foot with his left hand, while standing firm on his right foot. The left side is that of the material world, while the right side represents the spiritual world. Shiva stands on his right foot because he is firm in spiritual reality. Shiva indicates (through his left hand) that our fears and insecurities emerge because we do not understand the nature of material reality – that it is transient, that it arouses and it depresses amongst stormy waves of positive and negative emotions.

The Sanskrit word for measurement is ‘maya’ – that is why the Goddess is called Mahamaya, the great one who can be measured and evaluated. She is classified using words, limited by thoughts, and measured with scales. Suddenly, she is evaluated and judged. These forms, names and evaluations enchant us, entrap us, delude us, stir our passions, make us happy and sad because they are never still. That is why this material world of changing forms is often referred to as maya, the embodiment of delusion. She is the world that we experience. As she keeps changing, we struggle to control her, hold her still and make her permanent, but we fail, for her essential nature is to transform.

As you would gather and deduce from the above excerpts, women change all the time. This has been reaffirmed through Hindu Mythology. That is the reason we men can never understand them. We are still and serene. The women change every second – enchanting us, entrapping us, deluding us, stirring our passions and making us happy and sad in weird sinusoidal curves we can never begin to understand. We men, just can’t seem to catch up with change. It’s like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. If you can determine her emotion correctly, you can’t be sure of her action and vice-versa (For the uninitiated, Uncertainty Principle states our inability of not being able to determine the speed and position of the particle at the same time).

P.S -

1) This is probably the reason why eating/writing with the left hand is forbidden by our parents during our young age. Not because it was dirty to do so, but because the right side implied stillness and the left, never ending change (which is obviously undesirable). But then the wisdom got twisted during the ages, and now it is just dirty. That’s it – no questions.

2) The book is absolutely brilliant. Here are some other excerpts which relate tangentially to the topic at hand -

Shiva represents spiritual aspiration, the desire to focus on the soul within. Parvati represents material aspiration, the desire to focus on the family and the world around. Hindus have always sensed a tension between the two goals.

By holding the right toe with the left hand (Baby Krishna’s image usually), God is connecting the spiritual with the material, the intellectual with the emotional.

Why is the male form used for the spiritual subject while the female form is used for the material object? Material reality is that which is contained within space and time. That which cannot be contained by space and time is spiritual reality. Material reality has form’; hence, it is measurable and is ‘contained’ within a ‘container’. Spiritual reality is formless and immeasurable; hence it is not containable. The human male physiology, for example, creates life outside itself. On the other hand, life is created within the human female’s body. Thus, the female form best represents the container, the source of all things material. The woman becomes the symbol of material reality, making man the symbol of spiritual reality.

The Upanishads, ancient Hindu scriptures dating to 500 BC, constantly refer to these two truths: a truth which changes and a truth which does not change. The existence of one, points to the existence of the other. In change, we seek permanence. In restlessness, we seek restfulness. In movement, we seek stillness. In sound, we seek silence.

In symbolic language, the male half represents the formless divine known in Vedas as Purusha, in Vaishnava manuscripts as Narayan and in Shaiva manuscripts as Shiva. The female half represents the divine that has form. The female form in Vedas is known as Prakriti, in Vaishnava manuscripts as Maya and in Shaiva manuscripts as Shakti.

In image after image, we will find the continuous discourse between the left and right side of images, which in effect is the discourse between the material and spiritual halves of reality. Krishna will always be shown sucking his right toe or placing his right foot over the left leg, reminding us that our life is a continuous dialogue between the divine within and the divine without, between God and Goddess, for without either there is neither.

Travelogue – Sydney, Australia – Part 1 here

Weekend 2:

This was the weekend of Mardi Gras, a carnival that happens during March 1st week every year in Sydney. As this Wiki link details,

The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is an annual gay pride parade and festival for the LGBT community in Sydney, Australia, and is the largest such event in the world. The parade features individual entrants in colourful costumes, gatherings of local and inter-state community group members, and elaborate floats representating a topical theme or political message.

Putting aside the politically oriented theme for a moment, I observed that the Mardi Gras day this year was celebrated as a festival by the the whole of Sydney, irrespective of their orientation. Thousands of people lined up on either side of Oxford street, jostling for space and view of the main event. The main event started at about 1930, but you could see crowds building up from 1500 hrs. At the start of the parade, each side of the street was lined with people about 10 person deep. It was nuts.

The event by itself was majestic. Different Gay and Lesbian people dressed up in some of the most outrageous attires that I’ve ever seen paraded along the street in gay abandon (ha!). This is one event which should be experienced, rather than communicated through a newspaper article or a video. The music, the dances, the attires, pesky security agents, meddling media, jostling photographers and the happiest atmosphere in general made for a great time, inspite of standing for long hours. It was a field day for photographers – budding, amateur or professional.

You can peruse some of my Mardi Gras photographs in this link -https://picasaweb.google.com/105375483626318518949/SydneyAustralia?authkey=Gv1sRgCL-g5u-_spTeywE#

Important tip: If you are planning to travel to Sydney on a holiday, do so during February-March period. The summer would have ended, the evenings are very pleasant and Mardi Gras event during first week of March is not to be missed for anything. Easily one of the highlights of Sydney and unfortunately, its only once a year.

This was the same weekend that I traveled to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. From St. Mary’s Cathedral (as explained in Part 1), another road goes towards Royal Botanical Gardens. Royal Botanical Gardens almost feels like an extension of the Hyde Park, but is much more extensive in flora and fauna. It is as big as Hyde Park and offering many jogging trails that Sydneysiders use frequently. Walking along Royal Botanical Gardens for a good 1.5 mile, you’d arrive at Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. The first thing you notice about Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair is that there is no chair. Sydneysiders are funny that way, I think. What is so special about Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair? Well, to me, its one of the best spots in Sydney. Standing at this point, you can see the entire skyline of Sydney, along with the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The pic below should give you a good view what I mean -

I walked down to this point a couple of times after this weekend. Every sunset during a clear day (or even a slightly cloudy day, to add color) at this point is a sight worth dying for. Outstanding, Stellar, Magnificient would all be inferior adjectives to describe the scene. A must visit, and do it only during Sunset. During the day, the view is ok and you’d probably be better off spending time somewhere else.

Weekend 3:

This weekend was a weekend of beaches. Sydney being right on the edge of the ocean has a lot of beaches. However, two of the prominent beaches are Bondi beach and Manly beach.

Bondi beach is one of the most famous beaches (and probably one of the most beautiful) in the world. It owes its popularity to three things – topless (not nude!), easy surfing, lovely view of the Pacific ocean to the distance where you can actually see the curve of the earth. No wonder that it’s the most crowded beach in the whole of Australia. I went to Bondi beach on the day after the Japanese earthquake (and tsunami) assuming that the media scare would allow me to have a peaceful time on the beach. I was grossly mistaken. There was a huge crowd. Absolutely unbelievable, even after discounting for the fact that some people would have been actually scared to go anywhere near the ocean after the tsunami in Japan.

You can reach Bondi beach by taking the train from Town Hall station to Bondi junction. From Bondi junction, there are multiple buses to Bondi beach.

This was my first visit to any topless beach, much less one of the best topless beaches in the world. I had made an outrageous assumption that almost everybody would be topless, which proved hopelessly wrong. Later, I read that due to some Australian govt. regulations, a large percentage of people would not be topless. Moving on, there were tons of people surfing on the beach. I saw kids, who were not even 6 years old surfing like they have surfed all their life. I saw 70 year olds surf like..well…they have surfed all their life. I think its an Australian way of living (and more Sydneysider way of living). Surfing is a basic necessity and not a niche sport that we Indians perceive it to be. Bondi beach is probably the only beach I’ve been to where a part of it is a Sand beach where surfers thrive and a part of it is a rocky beach where people stand on a rock, stare into infinity and try to look intelligent and poignant. Last but not the least, ‘Pacific’ ocean is a misnomer. Nothing about the ocean pacifies you nor is it calm. It is probably more violent than the Atlantic. A couple of pics below would give you an idea of the Bondi beach and the violent Pacific ocean.

Manly beach was the one surfers thrived on. It was one of their favorite beaches, simply because of the size of their waves and velocity which made them great for surfing. I quickly learnt surfing here and nearly drowned, but that’s another blogpost.

Manly beach by itself was not as beautiful as Bondi beach. However, the route to Manly beach and back to the city in a ferry was spectacular. From Circular Quay (mentioned in Part 1), you take a ferry to Manly beach. While going past the Opera house and then Mrs. Macquarie’s chair, there’s a stunning view of entire Sydney and the ocean. While traveling back in the evening (Tip: Try to time your trip back during sunset time), the sun setting against the background of Sydney and the ocean is unbelievable. A natural painting, if there is one is right here – the skyline to the right of the sunset is dark already and it progressively gets brighter as the Opera house approaches; the harbor bridge is the brightest and it gets progressively darker from thereon. Picasso would have given an arm and a leg to paint that sight. Simply terrific. Here’s a pic to depict that -

Weekend 4:

My good friend Pavani flew down from Alice Springs to Sydney to meet me. Unfortunately, since it was my last weekend, I had a ton of work and some presentations to complete. And it was raining quite heavily. Our initial plan was to go to the Blue Mountains, a 2 hr train journey from Sydney. However, due to heavy rains, we dropped the plan and visited Darling Harbor (the only place in Sydney that I didn’t visit till this weekend) and also got to participate in an Indian event for Holi. We shopped for a while at The Rocks and in general whiled away time discussing everything under the sun..er..rain. It was a good, relaxing weekend to round off the trip.

P.S:

General tips to travel in Sydney:

1) If you are a single traveler, there are a ton of youth accomodations in the center of the city. If you want to rent a hotel room, it would cost you anywhere upwards of $100 a night. If you want to rent a hotel room near Bondi beach, it would cost you upwards of $230 a night.

2) Take a ticket called My Multi 2 or My Multi 3 (if you are planning to travel to Manly). This is a weekly pass that gives you access to trains, buses and ferries. Incredible value if you are traveling throughout the week.

3) Vegetarians – you are screwed. I couldn’t help myself and hence I can’t help you. However, if you do want to have good Indian vegetarian food, you can have it at Jaipur Maharaja hotel. There are, I think, 3 branches in Sydney itself.

4) Shopping freaks – Visit ‘The Rocks’ during Saturday and Sunday for decent stuff at a reasonable price. Else, visit ‘Paddy’s market’ for some cheap Chinese goods at throwaway prices.

5) Incredible Opals are available in various shops. Opals are stones, much like rubies, emeralds and diamonds. But Opals are Australian specialty. Do buy one for your girlfriend/wife/significant other. Aboriginal art and music is also not a bad idea. Some of the prints and music are difficult to replicate and really good.

Read these links first -

a) What is the Jan LokPal bill about? – A brief (in my view, very simplistic explanation – don’t get too carried away)

b) Absolutely brilliant article by Pratap Bhanu Mehta – Of the few, by the few

c) Difference between the Draft Lokpal bill and the Jan Lokpal bill (did you ever know that there were actually two?) – Differences matter

d) Good read by Acorn (Nitin) – The politics of hunger strikes

e) A compelling and fascinating read of the issue by Retributions (Rohit Pradhan) – Importance of Constitutional morality

f) An alternate view (very good!) – Why are links b), c), d) wrong? by Deepak Iyer – Diving into the Anna Hazare debate

I don’t think I am as learned as the folks above to comment on the nuances of the Jan Lokpal bill. Nor am I trying to diss the entire movement against corruption here. Hear me out -

a) Jan Lokpal Bill+Anna Hazare’s fast – God sent opportunity for Congress. They just need to say – “Yes, we willl involve the civil society in drafting the bill”. They just need to say it (no timeframe,if you’ll notice). They’d just garner huge media support for being the government which listens to its people (and thereby garner votes in the coming assembly elections). Anybody seen through this ruse yet?

b) And Anna Hazare could have opted for a simpler approach than fasting. Dial Nira Radia. Anyway, I admire Anna Hazare for what he’s done but I want pile-ons like Chetan Bhagat on TV yesterday to shut the hell up. He says “What are we debating about? Let’s pass the Lok Pal bill already”. Dude – are you nuts? We live in a democracy and the emotions of the mob-like sentiment is not always right. The bill (v2.1 anyway. There have been 3 versions since yesterday) has a detail on the participants in this civil committee – they want ‘Nobel Laureats of Indian origin” on the committee. Those guys are not even answerable to the Indian public (and this body, by the way, is not answerable to anyone in India – not the judiciary, parliament or administration). I hear the argument ‘if not this, then what?’ To them my question is ‘After Anna Hazare, what?’ What if this group consists of Barkha dutt kind of ppl after Anna Hazare passes away. I don’t know – is this issue too complex – just to think of effect of effects?

c) Anyway, I personally think this ‘fast-unto-death’ amounts to blackmail (do this, or else).Anna Hazare is a man with high integrity. But what if someone else with public-face-integrity but machiavelli-behind-the-scenes does this? What if someone does a fast-unto-death for banning cigarettes/alcohol in the country? How would you react then?

d) And missed calls as a sign of protest? Really? It’s Dilbert-level-ridiculous. Anyway, my take is that the Congress will capitulate by tomorrow and accede to Anna Hazare’s demands of involving the civil society to draft the bill. Getting it passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha – yeah, good luck with that. No problem – we can start another missed call and a email chain campaign. We are brilliant that way, no?

e) Chetan Bhagat simultaneously appeared on 3 different channels at the same time yesterday. Is it 2012 already? On one channel he says “How can we play IPL when Anna is fasting?” Well, how can anyone buy and read 5.someone or One night at call center when Anna is fasting. We’ve got a meme here I think. From #forSachin, we have moved on to #BecauseAnnaIsFasting

f) And now we have a ‘Jail Bharo’ andolan. Civil disobedience of the yore, if you remember. Excellent. We fight against the British. Now, we fight against our own politicians. Back then, the British left the country. Who should leave the country now? Maybe Congress will step down. BJP will come to power. So?

g) With the momentum with which this is moving, let’s just hope it doesn’t result in anarchy. Political orchestration of anarchy won’t take much time at all. However, the only positive (long term) that I see is the chance for political entrepreneurs who can promise deliver corruption-free government. Forget the Bottom of the Pyramid. We have a 500 mn middle class population willing to vote for anyone who can deliver a corrupt-free government.

Your thoughts?

Actually, let me take a step back.

I was 6 months old when we won the 1983 World Cup. The only memories of that World Cup win is through multiple re-runs of Mohinder Amarnath trapping Michael Holding LBW and running like a nut with a wicket in hand towards the dressing room. The other enduring image was of Kapil Dev running back to take the catch of Viv Richards. And the final memory of that World Cup win was Kapil Dev lifting the cup. Those were good memories. The bad memory – Re-runs of interviews ad nauseam with Madan Lal, Mohinder Amarnath and the like.

We have come far. 28 years to be exact.

Ardent cricket fans of my generation (which included my friends and I) started watching World Cup cricket actively since 1992. The 1992 World Cup was a disappointment. We didn’t even reach the semi-finals. The 1996 World Cup was a mixed bag. We saw the blooming of Sachin Tendulkar into a great force, single handedly winning matches for India. On the other hand, I am still not able to decide which was more farcical – the Eden Gardens crowd going ballistic or Vinod Kambli crying off the pitch. The 1999 World Cup was very similar. The match with Zimbabwe (which eventually cost us a place in the Semi-finals) looked very shady. Sachin Tendulkar carried the burden yet again, scoring the highest runs in the tournament. The disappointment in losing the 2003 World Cup was not that great – we came across an Australian team which is easily the best side ever to have played cricket till date. I don’t remember any match of the 2007 World Cup (strangely?). I only know that we didn’t even make it to the Super Sixes.

Disappointments. Disenchanted fans. In the midst of all this, we had match-fixing scandals, ball tampering allegations, political shenanigans, the Chappell saga and the lot. I don’t know what kept our spirit going. What made us to continue to watch cricket, just like nothing happened? What made us believe in a team which disappointed us constantly? What made us trust the administrator who spouted the line ‘we are looking to build for the next world cup’ after every World Cup loss? (the building took 28 years to build, eh?)

Self-belief? Nope. Patriotism? Nada. We don’t watch any other game with as much zeal and enthusiasm as cricket. I believe one man held fort. One man made us believe that we could win. One man pushed his boundaries so that we could be a part of the action. One man made us hope against all hope. No, I am not talking about Shiv Sundar Das. The 1994 Titan Cup. The 1996 World Cup run getting machine. Desert storm of 1998. Playing through his Father’s death in the 1999 World Cup. Failed captaincy (captaining a team which wouldn’t even fit the India ‘C’ side today). A constant run-getter throughout his 21 years of international cricket, a delight to watch and a character to vouch for. Do I even need to say the name?

Things started to change during the Ganguly-Wright era. The commentators started saying “This Indian team has character’, ‘This Indian team is young and aggressive’ and ‘This Indian team has a lot of potential’. Ganguly had this uncanny knack of picking talent – Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Md. Kaif who have all won matches for India, along with improved fielding. The Dravid-Chappell era consolidated the team, but couldn’t move it past a needle. The 2007 World Cup was the final nail in the coffin. We couldn’t get worse from that point onwards. Kumble’s period was too short to have a significant impact (although I do think his handling of the disgraceful Sydney test shaped this team in innumerable ways).

The Dhoni-Kirsten era (and its truly an era to remember) brought in more talent (Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Yousuf Pathan etc.) to make this team a world beater (although I still do think that we are one world class fast bowler short).  The T20 World Cup, No. 1 Test ranking, consistent performances (and wins) across all formats in almost all geographies. The final frontier remained. The World Cup was the one to win. To savor. A pinnacle to be scaled.

We have always had a batting line-up which was great on paper. They have flattered to deceive for 20 years now. Not this time. We defeated a fragile West Indies, a tenacious Australia and a volatile but dangerous Pakistan. They were all previous World Champions. Only one former World Champion remained. Sri Lanka in the Final. 275 was a formidable target. 275 in a World Cup final, under lights, with a huge home crowd to support/boo you depending on how the scales swing is more like 325-330 in normal circumstances. To be fair, Jayawardene played a master class innings to guide Sri Lanka to a very good score. I guess we were shell-shocked with the huge hitting in the end where we leaked close to 100 runs in the last 10 overs. It was time to show ‘character’, ‘aggressiveness’ and be worthy of champions.

And Champions we became. After the early departure of Sehwag and the sublime Tendulkar (who looked set for a 100, till that ball), Gambhir and Kohli steadied the innings magnificently. Dhoni’s bold move to move up the order (bold and risky – he would have been pilloried if that move had not come off) paid off big time. With that huge six, Dhoni had put a full stop to a sentence. We did it. We scaled the pinnacle. Sachin got his deserved run around the ground. Indians deserved this win after all the heartbreaks of the previous years. The adrenaline ran high yesterday. It is still running high. This is probably the best time to conduct a happiness survey in India. We might just come out on tops.

Yes We Won.

Yes We are the World Champions.

Yes Sachin deserves every piece of the World Cup win.

As for me, I don’t care anymore if we win any other matches or any other tournaments in the future. This was the final frontier for me as a fan. Nothing beats (or would beat) the feeling I had when we won the Cup yesterday amongst a huge crowd of friends. A memory to cherish. A tear to appreciate. And the 1000 watt smile when you get up in the morning that says it all.

Yay! Forget the banality ‘cricket is the real winner’. We are the winners. Let us gloat for a while. We deserve it for 28 years of starvation. We are well and truly the 2011 Cricket World Cup Champions.