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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Peddar Road repairs halted!

The Chief Minister has actually intervened in stopping minor repairs to Peddar Road –can you imagine the CM intervening over road repairs?! That is sheer casteism if you ask me! Has the CM ever intervened while major surgery has taken place on various roads in Mumbai and the operation left incomplete for months on end? Nope. Those roads are not used by the rich and the famous nor do they lead to the CM’s residence, you see.

Elsewhere in the civilized world, when road repair works are about to commence, a public notice is put up warning the users that the road will be closed for repairs from this day to this day and if the repairs are to be carried out in a few hours, they are usually carried out at night with no inconvenience to the public! In India, “sabh kuch chalta hai” that’s why you find roads works starting just before the onset of the monsoon, specially in March because the budgets are likely to lapse. So to utilize the money before it lapses contracts are awarded to hand-in-glove contractors for works which actually did not need to be carried out. What happens is the roads are dug up and left open for a number of days and then filled up. The contractor gets his money and the officers/corporators get their cut, a good road is screwed up before the rains and the same road gets damaged completely with the first rains, and the contractors get to do the monsoon repair job again – and the money cycle flows!

We have no start date for repairs nor do we have any end date, there is no responsibility and culpability is never fixed. It’s a free country for the people sitting in the bureaucratic and politicians chair whereas the citizens have to take everything with a smile – India hai bhai, sabh kuch chalta hai! Wake up guys and kick these guys where it hurts most during the forthcoming elections!!

I had written earlier on the state of roads – and how the average citizen has to suffer due to the negligence and sheer cussedness of the PWD and the contractors. I think the citizens should start becoming more actively involved in the welfare of the city, else in a few years time we will only have a dead city. Mumbai is already dying and is on life support systems – it requires major surgery to survive – that can only happen with right minded citizens being put in charge to execute a master plan to make over the city from scratch.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Women against women

Why is it that every sordid story about abuse of women’s rights has some other woman behind it somewhere in the background actively participating in violation of a fellow woman’s rights? Take the recent case of Mira Road where a tantric – so called medicine man – convinced a man to rape his daughter for 9 years and he too participated in the violation of the girl from the age of 12! In this case promises were made that by so doing the man will gain spiritually and financially. In this journey his wife also participated and encouraged him to violate their daughter. Not only did she let the father rape the child but also the tantric – how can a mother be so hard hearted as to allow such a fate to fall on her daughter? It completely baffles me as to why this had to happen at all. Do people not have the courage or the heart to decipher between right and wrong – specially when it comes to their own! The same fate was to befall the younger daughter, that is when the elder one took courage into her own hands and confided with her relatives, who thank God, helped her expose the sordid episode. I really would not have been surprised if the relatives had told her to shut up to protect “family honor”.

The tantric also had the gall to say that he would help by having his son marry the younger daughter – on being questioned why not the elder one – his response not so shockingly was that “she was too used”! The only punishment for such people should be stoning to death – no point in letting such people go through the legal system to walk free in a few years!

What about the mother? What should be her punishment? She brought a child into this world to traumatize her with such inhuman and barbaric acts of her own husband with her full knowledge and permission! This is something I cannot digest! There are innumerable stories of women being cruel to other women – the “Saas-Bahu” sagas on television have been running for years on numerous channels. They would not have had such runs if there wasn’t some element of truth in them. Why do mothers, when they become mothers-in-law behave differently with their own sons’ wife. Why is it that nagging and ragging both physical and mental occur on an ongoing basis in various households invariably leading to stove or gas accidents resulting in heavy burns to the daughter in law ending in disfigurement or death?

Harassment for dowry is a behind the veil fact in modern India. It is high time the Indian woman learnt to fight for her rights – to expose her cruel in laws and husband. This has started happening, I do hope other women take courage from these stray cases and come out of the closet to fight for their rights. One would think that the uneducated would be indulging in such behavior – but nope – statistically it is the educated who are more guilty of violating women’s rights. The punishment should be far more stringent for the educated than for the uneducated.

I sincerely hope and pray that the mother-daughter-daughter in law cycle of life flows in harmony. The mother hopefully will be nice to her daughter in law as the daughter would be to her mother in law.

In this saga of human relations, the husband needs to play the role of a peacemaker by being fair to the girl who comes to a new home and who would take time to adjust to a completely new environment. If the husband is a mama’s boy, then woe to the lady who becomes his wife – she would have married someone who does not have any balls! In life it always takes two to tango – get this principal right and you may have a lasting relationship – else the abuse will continue.

Hefty Traffic Fines proposed

The Maharashtra government has proposed to increase traffic fines manifold to deter vehicle owners from breaking traffic rules- this actually is long overdue and should have been implemented quite a few years ago. The trouble with rules is they are enforced by human beings who are not only under paid but also many a times not paid in time. I am sure the collection of the government through traffic fines will definitely go up in arithmetic progression, I am confident that the private collection of the traffic police will grow in geometric progression. I am sure all of you have at some point or the other experienced a traffic policeman who has come out of hiding to catch you for supposedly going through a red light – what happened after that is something each one of you needs to ask him/herself! See what I mean?!

Instead of creating more room for corruption if the government creates an infrastructure which encourages the public to use public transport instead of their own vehicles for commuting – the government would solve the problems of high pollution, wastage of fuel and reduce road congestion – all in one go. This post is not about good infrastructure but about rules made for vehicle owners as against those for pedestrians. How many subways have been built at major traffic intersections in Mumbai at huge cost to the government? How many of these subways are actually used by pedestrians as opposed to hawkers, drug addicts and beggars with no roof over their heads? Why do the pedestrians continue to walk on the road as opposed to the many footpaths which have been built in this city? All you need to do is pass by any traffic signal in Mumbai to notice that pedestrians are waiting to cross the road – guess where – yep you guessed right! They will be standing in the lane near the footpath trying to play footsie with the approaching vehicle – you will see them go forward and if the car refuses to slow down they will go backwards – and so on till they cross the road. No one has the patience to wait for the pedestrian signal to go green and then cross. All of you must have experienced and in some instances you guys would have also held up your hand to stop traffic to cross the road – no patience right? Many of you are vehicle owners who would have cursed when someone tried to cross the road by making you slow down, but I am equally confident that you too have done that at some point in your life to some other vehicle owner – when in Rome do as the Romans do – as the saying goes! So why is jaywalking not fined as rigorously and heavily as errant vehicle owners? Reducing jaywalking would ease traffic congestion to a great extent. Travel abroad and you will notice the difference - Indians who would jaywalk, would be patiently waiting for the pedestrian signal to go green to cross the road even though there is no oncoming traffic!

Coming back to traffic offences by vehicle owners – take for instance cutting lanes – tell me how many roads in Mumbai have the lanes actually been marked – most roads are actually one big lane through which three/four/five vehicles can pass! So how do you flag down a vehicle owner for cutting lanes. The cop would have one imaginary line in his mind and the vehicle owner his own – so which is the correct lane? Your guess is as good as mine – but I am betting that a crisp note exchanging hands will clear the air on who is right and who is wrong! While driving how many of you have suddenly come across a pothole, or an unmarked open drain which has made you dangerously swerve your vehicle to avoid it? That was lane cutting and you would be liable for a fine. But who will fine or punish the contractor or municipal worker who does such shoddy work and gets paid for such negligent behavior? Have you ever read about these culprits being brought to justice, even though people may have lost their lives in resulting road accidents?

You will have come across BEST bus drivers as well as private bus transporters picking up passengers by halting their vehicle right in the middle of the road holding up traffic. Similarly you would have experienced auto drivers blocking the entire road trying to overtake each other – they actually remind one of a line of pawns progressing diagonally – no way for you to go ahead without knocking one over!

Don’t get me wrong guys – like I said at the beginning of this post I am not against the fines – but a lot more can be done with very little effort to make the existing infrastructure work for us - instead of being shanghaied into believing our city will one day be akin to Shanghai! One should start at the point of issuing driving licenses itself – try getting a driving license in any of the Gulf countries, Far East, USA – you actually have to earn the right to drive a vehicle. The process is so tough that you really end up driving carefully in order not to lose the license through bad or negligent driving. Your traffic offences are monitored in such a way that your vehicle insurance premium starts going up with every traffic offence. When your pocket starts hurting you start learning automatically! In India you do not even have to go for a test to get your license – hence there is no respect for that document! The roads could be made better, the pedestrians could be disciplined, traffic cops could be paid in time and made to behave with self respect and dignity. I am sure there could be a lot more suggestions forthcoming to make driving a better experience rather than an ordeal as it is today….What say?!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Indian Poverticians

Been kind of busy, with the financial year coming to a close, things are kind of hectic hence the gaps in putting up posts. I think I have got to you with the title, haven’t I? You guys must be wondering what the hell is a “povertician”. I have coined a new word for our ubiquitous politicians who come election time, always harps on alleviating poverty!
This word is actually a new one for the “wiktionary” – “a povertician is a politician who while claiming to alleviate poverty enriches himself with the funds to be used for poverty alleviation”.

I have been thinking of writing this post for the past four days but was not finding the time. It has actually been prompted by Jairam Ramesh’s claim that the Congress has done the most to alleviate poverty in this country! He also made a claim that the baggage of 3000 years cannot be done away with in just 60 years after independence. “Baggage of 3000 years” – that is a very strong statement – he is probably alluding to the caste system and how the lower castes were treated badly. Everything in history changes and evolves with the passage of time – so has the caste system – it was there because it worked in those days. The caste system also came about through the occupations of the particular castes – that does not mean the situation should not change today, does it? The Congress, through Nehru and Gandhi made India a secular democracy, Ambedkar was from one of the so-called backward castes – but he was the architect of our Constitution. This begs the question – who is backward? A person who is born in a “backward caste” or a person born in an upper caste but who cannot afford even one square meal a day? The Congress has run through more than 10 five year plans with socialistic implications – where did it lead us? Almost into international poverty, wherein if it had not been for Manmohan Singh going to the Bank of England in 1980 with a begging bowl and getting finance against our gold reserves – we today could have been a bankrupt nation. That one shock got us to mend our ways and turn partially capitalist – but what about the people who manage our country? Have they changed? Nope - the politicians – barring a handful, are all poverticians!

Through the decades we have seen hundreds of poverty alleviation schemes launched – but then why are the poor still poor!?! News articles declare that Party A is going to distribute free rice and Party B comes up with a plan to distribute free wheat! Whoa! What the hell are we doing? Are we trying to bribe our voters with freebies – who pays for it? The tax payer! Try writing to the various departments under the Right to Information Act and see if you can get information on the various poverty alleviation schemes and whether the money reaches the target population! You bet it doesn’t and nor will you get the information called for either. It is a well established and regularly reported fact that the PDS is a complete disaster, with bureaucrats and politicians grabbing 90% plus funds for themselves before it reaches the needy. These parasites have gobbled funds even at times of national disasters. If you ask me what a national disaster is, I would readily say the Indian political system with its hoards of poverticians!

Jairam Ramesh should look inwards and also at his political allies (politics does make strange bedmates) – do these people really believe in alleviating poverty of the masses – it could easily have been done in 60 years post independence, with the right policies and with people of integrity to execute the plans. We find the so called backward caste politicians becoming richer and richer – where does the money come from? This question is never asked to politicians by the revenue authorities – you try doing it and see what happens.

It is also a fact that a lot of industrialists have taken soft loans and declared them selves to be NPA’s by banks – to the tune of maybe Rs. 60000 crores. Again why does the law not take it’s course – delivery of justice in India happens after so much time, you would be lucky to be alive to hear the courts verdict! In any case it is the politician/bureaucrat nexus which comes to corrupt and pollute even the justice delivery system. That is why they say in India everything is available for a price, even a seat in Parliament! Remember the many cases where at times of crucial votes you have political parties claiming that their party men were offered money to vote against the government. Then these bunch of goons hide under the cloak of “parliamentary privilege”!

The only solution to get our country rid of this type of poverty alleviation schemes is to professionalize the delivery system at the grass roots level by eliminating middle men and political interference. Vocational Education of the poor and schemes for them to sell their produce should be introduced in a manner where the poor learn to live a life of dignity. Caste based politics should be banned and made a criminal offence with a jail sentence of not less than ten years and a fine of at least Rs. 10 lacs and justice to be dispensed within 30 days, so that any one indulging in such behavior will think twice before proceeding!

Monday, March 23, 2009

IPL – Victim of Politics

Lalit Modi is shifting the IPL – a big money spinner to either UK or South Africa – this is the compromise formula worked out by the IPL in conjunction with the BCCI, as the various state governments where the matches were to be held have refused to provide security to the event. After working around with various permutations and combinations the IPL eventually decided to have a truncated tournament and shifted quite a few matches to Maharashtra on the assurance that security would be provided.

In the meanwhile, with the national elections round the corner, Sharad Pawar voiced his aspirations for Prime Ministership and the seat sharing formula with the Congress in Maharashtra came under pressure. Ashok Chavan who, whether you like it or not, is the proxy for Vilasrao Deshmukh who continues to do a Rabri with Ashok as Laloo did in Bihar with his wife. Also the UPA seems to be losing the ‘U’ in the acronym with various allies flexing their muscles and going their own separate ways. The unfortunate consequence of this has affected the IPL as it has fallen a victim to real politik! There is a lot of money riding on the IPL and it would by all accounts have beaten last years record in economic activity for the country. In comparison to the elections the money generated through the IPL would of course be chicken shit, if I may be allowed to say so! Though there is a cap of Rs. 2 million per candidate for the elections, it is an open secret that each candidate spends not less than Rs. 5 crores for the elections. Assuming an average of 8 candidates per seat (545 seats), we are talking of approximately 4360 candidates in the fray spending approximately Rs. 21,800 crores in toto, of which only Rs. 872 crores would be the amount to be spent legally. Mind you this is only for the Lok Sabha, the arithmetic for the Rajya Sabha would also be on similar lines. We are talking about mind boggling numbers involving illegal money being spent on getting elected. These people once elected, recover their ‘investment’ a hundred times over through various social schemes, the end object of which is to uplift the social position of those elected! Granted there are a few who would be genuine parliamentarians, but the majority are riff raff with the only ideology being to enrich oneself with tax payers’ money.

Getting back to the IPL – if the government cannot provide security on certain days for the tournament – then how can you expect the government to provide security on an ongoing basis to the 1 billion plus population of the nation. A photograph in today’s Times of India is telling – the armed guards outside the Trident are sleeping on the footpath with mosquito nets for protection – the government cannot provide for the basic comfort of security guards – and one expects these guards to act as a secure buffer against terrorists! The security for self important politicians will still continue to be ‘z’ plus or whatever they are used to at tax payer expense. For the IPL, the security will as it is be paid for, so I do not see any reason why it should be shunted out even thought the dates for the matches and the elections would not have been clashing. Come to think of it we plan to hold the Commonwealth Games in 2011, how will we provide for the security for that event, which will be much bigger than the IPL – maybe we should just shift the event to some other country.

In these times of heavy recession, we are foregoing a genuine economic activity which would have not only generated huge business but also revenue for the government. With the decision to shift it out of the country, either the UK or South Africa will benefit financially, though whether it will be as huge a success as it is in India remains to be seen. It is the millions of fans who make this event a success – unfortunately neither of the two countries are in a position to boast such a huge fan following as is available in India. As the saying goes – ‘the game must go on’ whether it is cricket or politics!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Students and Invigilators

The case reported a couple of days ago in the newspapers where a young girl appearing for her S.S.C. examinations committed suicide is shocking to say the least. There have been a spate of suicides across the country in exam related stress during the last one month, but the one I am talking about takes the cake.

The invigilators should understand that all students are not crooks, students do carry notes to study at the last minute. This student, Bhavi, was “caught” with the chits outside the classroom BEFORE the exams had started, hence taking a signed statement from the student saying that she was caught with chits is nothing less than outright high handedness. I hope the person who caught this girl would mete out the same treatment to his child in a similar situation. Children appearing for their first public exam are as it is under a high degree of stress due to peer pressure plus parental expectations. I can imagine the turmoil in a young mind trying to look friends in the eye and having the fear of going home and facing parents after making such a signed statement “accepting guilt”.

It is sad that a child at that age has to face such mental trauma, even though legally she is not guilty, which results in her taking her own life. The invigilator involved should be taken to task and charged with encouraging and abetting suicide if not with murder. Even though the person has not physically murdered the student – he definitely murdered the mind of the child, resulting in death through suicide!

We should take a re-look at our system of education and try and make it more student-friendly. The government is belatedly looking at various options to try and handle cases of cheating, attempted cheating with kid gloves. If nothing else, then at least the invigilators should be trained to treat kids with humanity so that they do not lose their self confidence to face life. Cheating in exams is no crime, the quality of people we have in Parliament is a telling comment on the state of our Nation – no reason for us to ostracize and humiliate the future generations of our country.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Peoples approach to home and office

This is something I have wanted to express for quite some time, so here goes. Most of the people who work spend more than half their waking hours in office – so in a way you can say your office becomes your home away from home. Many people find soul-mates with whom they share their innermost secrets – secrets which people at home may not know. Psychologists and behavioral studies have shown and thrown up the concept of “office spouses” where even people who are married find a person in whom they can confide or bitch about safely without getting into trouble. This is a kind of stress reliever and helps the individual to get their problems, issues out of their system and increases productivity in an organization. Then in such a situation, when it comes to mundane things like basic hygiene, attitude and consumption patterns why do individuals behave differently in office from the way they would at home?

Let me give you a few examples – at home do you litter your house? Do you leave the fan, air conditioner or lights switched on if no one is in the room, do you take more food than you can eat and then throw it into your dustbin? Do you? Do you? I bet my bottom dollar you don’t? Then when in office, why does one behave differently? Must be psychological – thinking being that the Company you work for pays for it so it’s no sweat of my back – it’s that kind of weird attitude I guess!

In office I have seen people not bothering to pick up trash if they miss putting it in the dust bin. At home if you do that, your parents will probably tell you to put it in the dustbin, I am sure if you have grown up kids you must be inculcating these values in them. If so, why is it different in office, why can one not adopt the same yardstick at office as one does at home!

When it comes to lunch I have noticed people taking more than they can eat and then not eating what they have taken. This is something which I have never understood - one serves oneself food and then wastes it. Normal excuses are food was bad, I did not like it, not vegetable of my choice, etc. – all this is acceptable – but then why does one not take enough to find out whether it is in line with their taste buds and taking more if they like it – better still get food from home. I would like to know if whether they behave like this at home – or polish of their plates. The amount which they throw could actually feed two to three poor families every day – have you ever thought of that. In school, we had a Brother (I forget his name) who used to collect milk bottles after the long recess every day, and sit down in a corner in the junior hall and empty each and every droplet into a container. Daily this exercise would fill two to three one liter bottles with milk, which he used to go and give to a nearby home for the under-privileged!

Your behavior today will be reflected in your off-springs behavior tomorrow – because your ingrained values will be absorbed by them. Will you stop your children behaving the way you do, or will you guide them? It is all in ones attitude – if you adopt the approach and attitude of treating your office as your home away from home, automatically you will behave in a manner which is not wasteful. When it comes to switching off lights or air conditioners – specially in times of increasing power shortages – is a good practice. You are not only saving costs but also scarce energy.

So friends, if you see any of the traits described above in your attitude, I would like to request you to change for the better.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Education and some Parents’ support of their children

On Sunday my entire family had been invited for breakfast at his hotel by my eldest brother who was visiting Mumbai. During the course of breakfast my elder daughter asked me whether I knew what Vallari (the younger one) did in school, to which I replied in the negative. Then they asked her whether they should tell me what transpired, and Vallari was shaking her head in the negative. I told them if she does not want me to know, it’s OK as we had come for relaxing and I did not want the mood spoilt over forcing an issue. The moment I said that Vallari gave her permission to tell me what transpired in school. Guys, this is really interesting as it goes to show the approach of students as well as parents. This is the story as narrated to me by my wife and two daughters, Pallavi and Vallari.

The English teacher had given a project to the students some time in November on “kinds of sentences”. The teacher had formed groups of six students and named a leader in each group – and Vallari was the leader of her group. Of the other five students one was a good friend and the others were not classified as friends. As the group leader Vallari told the others to submit their assignments by February end. Except for her friend nobody bothered to submit their assignments. Last Friday the teacher told the students to submit their respective projects by March 17. Vallari in the meantime had repeatedly asked her remaining group mates to submit their assignments – they said they won’t submit and told her to do it herself. I have never seen Vallari stay awake beyond 10pm on school days – but I had noticed her sitting beyond mid-night on a couple of occasions. I had asked her what she was doing and she had replied that she was working on a school project. I thought that as usual she was probably doing it at the last moment (I was not surprised actually – I was like that too). She did not tell me that she was the team leader – nor did she mention that she was completing the project on her own due to the absurd non-participation of four of her group. By the first week of March she had completed her project by herself, but did not inform the other four. She again told them to submit their assignments (even though she had completed the project), giving them another chance to redeem themselves – but they flatly refused and told her to do it herself. Thereafter she did not ask them again.

On Friday when the teacher announced the March 17 deadline, she asked Vallari’s group if they had completed their assignment (all the other students had submitted their assignments). Vallari replied in the affirmative – the teacher asked Vallari to submit the project. Vallari submitted the project with a caveat – she put in a note naming the four girls who had not contributed anything. When the teacher saw the note she was very upset and asked the four girls why they did not contribute – they had no answer – they had probably assumed that Vallari would just put their names because they were part of the group! They must have got the shock of their lives – the teacher then told the students to do the assignment and submit the same by March 17.

I have no clue what these girls went and told their parents, because yesterday evening one of the girls mother spoke to my wife for more than an hour telling her to ask Vallari to withdraw her statement. This lady had the temerity to tell my wife what kind of values we are teaching our daughter, if she cannot perform in a team. Not only that – she said the project has been submitted hastily – the project was worth 50 marks – and now these delinquent girls were staring at a cipher! I told my wife not to waste her time talking to the mother as apparently she herself cannot figure out right from wrong, thus there is no way she would pass on such values to her children. My wife then told the mother to talk with the teacher for a solution. At that point I was very irritated and went near the telephone receiver and loudly told my wife to stop wasting her time trying to convince brain dead people. On hearing that, the other lady probably disconnected. It was almost 11 pm when my wife had her meal!

Today my wife visited the school and met the concerned teacher – who told her that she should not have entertained the call as the decision taker was the teacher and not Vallari’s mother.

We have always told our kids that the truth is important and if they are convinced about their stand they should stick to it no matter what. Have also told them no one is perfect and mistakes happen – it is important to realize that they have erred, apologize and ensure the same are not repeated. Simple facts which we were taught by our teachers and parents which we have passed on to our kids.

I am really proud that Vallari did what was right without telling any of us and then stood by what was right – good for your kiddo – keep it up.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

St. Mary’s Alumni Dinner March 13, 2009

I had been so looking forward to this event I feel drained out now and am suffering from withdrawal symptoms – the only cure is to have another re-union soon. Guys we had the most rollicking time ever. Bharat Kakodkar was down from Pune and he drove me down from Andheri to school (I sent my car home – no point taking two cars). In the past six months I have passed school at least ten times on the way to the Sales Tax office in Mazgaon (you get to go there if your stars are reealllllly baaad) but never had the mood to drop into school – though the thought did cross my mind a couple of times!

Bharat and I caught up with each others lives post school over the hour odd long drive. It was really nice to see that the old boy has not changed a bit in spite of life’s twists and turns. We reached school at 8pm sharp and met up with a whole lot of buddies after 32 loooonnnnggggggg years! Adarbad was there with our entry passes, God bless him! We had a whale of a time yakking, eating bunchops, guzzling beer and just catching up and ribbing each other – boy was it fun or what! Met with two Olympians from school – Adille Sumariwalla, the sprinter and Cawas Billimoria the judo bronze medal winner. These boys have achieved so much it is amazing – Cawas used to be a nice roly poly sweet character in school – now he is transformed into sheer muscle and his demeanor is still as calm as it was in school. He now heads the sports section in Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Bandra East.

We decided to get in touch with our old English teacher – a lady who gave us our values in life, a lady with impeccable credentials and a heart of gold. Look forward to meeting her in the near future – hope she remembers me!

We had a walk around the school corridors for old times’ sake – do remember Alan Roberts and the obstacle races he used to set up for us. We had to run round the corridors jumping over benches, on to the grounds and back into the hall – used to be so much fun. Went down to the junior hall and relived the good times – we used to have roller skating in school, I still remember playing ‘chor-police’ on roller skates – used to be an awesome time. I was responsible for having skating banned in school by Principal Kenneth Dyer (it’s a secret friends – now in the open as I cannot be prosecuted!). The incident happened when I saw Yorick Nazareth a very gol gappa type of character learning to skate – there was a large crowd through whom I was weaving through at break-neck speed and on spying Yorick I locked my wheels in his wheel and sped away. I did this just in mischief ok – no harm was intended. Yorick did not see me coming as he was concentrating on maintaining his balance- as my wheels locked the guy just went for a toss and landed on his backside. As I mentioned earlier he was over-weight, and in breaking his fall with his hand he ended up fracturing it! That was it! Dyer came to know about it – and in the next days assembly skating was banned. I really felt sorry for the guy and for all those who lost out on the joys of roller skating thereafter just because of one mischief laden moment. The above and a whole lot of other memories came flooding back in that august environment – it was truly nostalgic.

After about the third round of beer it started raining and perforce drove us into the dining hall for dinner before we had finished drinking. Father Everist Nunes announced the singing of the school song – and we were all bundled together in the senior hall singing the school song at the top of our voice – I video recorded this and have it uploaded on picasa. The link is given below: http://picasaweb.google.com/gmbfca/Sm77?authkey=Gv1sRgCJj2g5LuuPf_Lw#

The food was lovely with the bunchops and biryani being awesome, the corn fish also was extremely tasty. I found Sid waiting patiently to get in line for some pani puri – and the line was long. I told him boss, that’s not the way to do it, I just caught him by his hand and made him stand innocently at the head of the line chatting, made him put out his hand for some pani puri and that’s it! Never believed in standing in line in school and did not see the point in doing it after 32 years!! But Sid got his pani puri –God bless him. An elderly character approached me and asked which year – when I mentioned 77, he said “you are a baccha man, I am 66” – I told him, “good for you mate” and shook hands!

After dinner, the rain having stopped, we had the ever enterprising Karim organizing more beer (the school stock was over) – we had another round post dinner. Then it was time for the group photograph, where we caught a kid who had passed out in 2005 and burdened him with about a dozen cameras to take our shots. I told him quietly to disappear with the cameras – he would make a neat packet – just kidding guys! The kiddo diligently stood and took photos on all the cameras - we thanked him profusely for the same. After that some of the guys who missed out on dinner decided to go to Café Mondegar for more beer – they wanted to sit in cooler environments as it had become hot and humid post the rains. I was pressed to join them – but it was already way past 11 pm and I opted out as the next day was an early start for me. Would have loved to join them, maybe next time will join and party through the night!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

BMC likes making life a living hell for Mumbaikars….

Last year just before the onset of the monsoon (methinks it was around June 5 or so), the BMC in its infinite wisdom decided to scrape off almost the entire top layer of the Vakola flyover. In fact the contractors had just finished the top layer about four months before it got scraped off. So a perfectly good road was made un-motorable because of some insane order being given by some stupid mandarin sitting in the BMC. That bad stretch got completely damaged by the end of the monsoon creating huge traffic jams which otherwise would not have been there. In fact the repair job was completed just about a month back – you drive over the flyover now and you will realize that India is probably the only country in the world where you can have undulating layers on a bridge, making the entire ride a nice and bumpy one. I have a theory that the guys sitting in BMC and the contractors together have got a deal going with the motor garages for sending them a regular stream of customers with vehicles requiring frequent maintenance due to the condition of the roads.

That was last year – what about this year? Just travel along any road in the city, be it a main road or a by-lane you will find frenetic digging activity has just commenced. Mind you – the monsoons got over in October – we have lost five months when this work could have started and ended – but nope – the work has to start in March so that the lazy mandarins do not get a kick up their backside for not utilizing approved budgets! By starting digging in March – a double objective is achieved – budget is utilized and a new avenue for making some underhand money opened. How? you will ask! It’s simple really, the work will not get over before the monsoon, so the contractor will do a slipshod job in covering and paving the road, so with the first rains huge pot holes will appear – in some cases craters – would probably be easier driving on the moon! The pot hole filling contract is worth about Rs. 10 crore during the 4 months of monsoon. How are the pot holes filled? Rubble or construction waste is poured into the pot holes and a road roller is used to “level” the rubble – Rs. 10 crore for repairing roads with rubble! This action is futile as with the next heavy shower the mud comes out, the road becomes dirty and slippery giving rise to an increase in two wheeler accidents and who is to blame. We Indians would put it down to fate – “naseeb kharab tha” you see. Actually it is the citizens collective fate which is bad as we have to deal with a corrupt bureaucracy ruled by still more corrupt politicians who get their pound of flesh from contractors who are nominees of the politico-bureaucracy nexus! The majority suffers to protect and line the pockets of the corrupt.

It is high time we stopped this nonsense by protesting or at least initiating action for change. The coming elections are a good time to start looking for a change – at least in our city. Let us vote in people whom we can trust – professionals like ourselves. Please join the Professionals Party of India (PPI) which has right thinking people who can help us get out of the rut which we have willy nilly dug ourselves into by being indifferent at the time of elections. This is a wake up call – if you want change then you need to be the change. Please participate by becoming members of the PPI and telling your friends, relatives and colleagues about it. You can go to www.ppi.net.in for more information. One of the founder members is a school buddy and I for one am going to participate in giving our great country real independence. We may have got independence from the British, but we have become slaves to our own people because we are apathetic during elections. Normal answer is what difference does it make to me! It does make a difference my friends, we are ruled by uneducated criminals who use ill gotten money to win elections and to recover that money perpetuate corruption post elections. It is a self feeding cancer which needs to be excised and burnt. You can do this only if you participate in the change for the better as envisaged by the PPI. You may say there are a lot of parties like the PPI, which again is true, but in due course of time the idea will be to merge the parties to form a united professional front against politics of appeasement and corruption. The idea is to get elected and then from within the system slowly but surely force a change in values, so that the entire system is cleaned from top to bottom. It will be a struggle for sure – but what’s life without a struggle!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Women’s World Awards 2008

Yesterday on Zee Café, I was watching the Women’s World Awards 2008 which took place on March 5, 2009 and I was really impressed by two ladies who were awarded prizes for “Hope” and “Social” categories. The other categories for which the awards are given are “Actress”, “Artist”, “Style” “Fashion” “Entertainment”, “Achievement”, “Tolerance”, “Business”, “Career” and “Lifetime Achievement”. I did a bit of research on these awards and decided to write about them and the persons who were given the awards under the categories “Hope” and “Social”.

I do not know how many of you are aware of the Women’s WORLD AWARDS which have been founded by two men – Georg Kindel, an Austrian, and ex-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. In the year 2000 they first instituted an award called “Mens World Awards”. In Georg’s words: “The idea was not intended to create a macho event showing how good or successful men were, but rather to convey the message that much still has to be done, so that men can change their attitudes and social behavior, which are at the core of the many pressing global problems. From the beginning it has been our intention to honor role models, people effecting positive change and thereby inspiring millions of others.” Mikhail Gorbachev was so impressed by the concept of the WORLD AWARDS that he immediately agreed to become its President: “Only by creating a new awareness among men can we hope to bring about positive changes in our world”.

Since its inception in the millennium year the WORLD AWARDS event has grown immensely and its message of peace and tolerance has reached more than 1.5 billion people across the world. The WORLD AWARDS are proud to honor men and women whose lives are filled with passion, ideals and visions. In today’s troubled world, it is of immense importance to reflect on the good and positive in order to inspire others to follow these examples.

President Gorbachev: “Over the course of the second year we realized that it is at least as important, if not more so to honor women for their achievements. However we did not want to make these awards just a part of the established WORLD AWARDS for men but rather a separate, completely independent event to honor women for their extraordinary achievements and positively affecting our world.”

Two years later the idea fructified to become a reality. On June 9, 2004, the WOMEN’S WORLD AWARDS were held in Hamburg, Germany for the first time.

Since 2004 many exceptional individuals have been honored with the World’s leading award for women. Remember this is no Miss World or Miss Universe contest where the participants compete by mouthing platitudes on what they would do for social causes etc, this is about women out there who are doing what needs to be done to uplift the cause of women world wide – not for any award or prize – but because it is a way of life for them. These awards just confer a recognition towards their dedication for the cause they espouse.
The Women’s World Hope Award was given to Miss Najoud Ali, a 10-year-old girl from Yemen who was forced by her parents into a marriage at the age of 8 with a 30-year-old man. This so called husband of hers reportedly raped and beat her viciously and repeatedly. This brave girl, took a cab to the courthouse herself and asked the court for a divorce which was granted. Yemen has a large devout Muslim population, but it takes courage to fight both poverty and an oppressive system. The young girl was really just a victim of her countries cultural and religious customs. Child marriages are de riguer in that country and religious conservatives and others want to keep it so. She refused to accept her fate and successfully fought for a divorce. This young girl made a choice to fight the system rather than become a defeated victim of her circumstances. She was honored for inspiring millions of women around the world with her unbelievable courage. In India how many women are dishonored, victimized and made to feel unwanted is an open secret. We have rampant female foetuside after parents illegally determine the sex of the unborn baby with the help of unscrupulous doctors, in the north females are made to sit at home to cook and bear children, if they do not give birth to a male child, then they are harassed and in many cases burnt to death which gets reported as a kitchen accident! Such stories abound, then we have the educated class trying to impose moral policing on the nations women through their own warped sense of what is right and wrong. Even our own Parliament refuses to pass the Women’s Representation Act in gross violation of poll promises.

The Women’s World Social Award was given to Esther Mujawayo-Keiner for her work in Rwanda. She survived the genocide in Rwanda with her three children. Her husband, parents as well as numerous family-members were violently killed by the “Hutu’s” in the genocide which took place in that country in 1994. At least 500,000 Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s died in that genocide. All male members of Esther’s community were killed, including male children, and the women repeatedly raped and made to work as slave labor. She believes “Too much is expected of the victims” when told to reconcile with the perpetrators of the crimes. She feels the victims need to first reconcile with themselves and their losses. Together with other widows she founded the NGO AVEGA (Association for Widows of Genocide) to give surviving women and orphans a voice as well as much needed support (http://www.avega.org.rw/English.html). She received the award for her humanitarian achievements. The citation for the award stated : “As you stood on stage, you captured our respect for one women’s struggle to make sure the widows from Rwanda’s genocide found a voice. Through your own heartache at the loss of your husband and 300 family members, you chose not to be defeated. Today, your organization AVEGA (Association de veueves du genocide d’Avril) is helping “Every woman to have a chance.” Your spirit has shown that women can give life in more ways than one. By the way, your three daughters are outstanding young women. They are so proud of their mother, and I can tell they have your passion for doing great things. As I said to you at the Awards ceremony “asante sana Esther.” I hope you do well with the sale of your book “Ein Leben mehr” and I hope the women of Rwanda find their peace and happiness.”

I am convinced we need empowerment of women to take place immediately after emancipation of women. It is the need of the hour, as the education and empowerment of women is the only thing which help our future generations imbibe the right values to help this country take it’s rightful place amongst the worlds nations. These stories should inspire our friends in Pakistan to take courage in their hands and resist the Taliban with its archaic laws on women, restricting their education and free movement. I salute these brave women who have done so much to inspire generations to come. It takes a special kind of courage to live through hell and then make that experience work for you to help the lot of other women in similar situations.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Some interactions with the cops..

Some time back I had written about my brush with the cops after the motorbike accident. The following are a few interesting interactions with cops I have had in the past few years.

One day whilst returning from my uncle’s farm, I had just crossed Sion railway station and I was in two minds whether to go straight and take the highway to office or take a right turn at the signal and go via Kurla. I was in the lane for turning right, I saw a couple of traffic cops and instinctively took the right instead of going straight. The traffic cop nevertheless flagged me down and asked for my license. I asked him in Marathi what offence I had committed as the signal for going right was on. He told me that I planned to go straight but turned right (the guy was smart – he probably read my thoughts!) that’s why he wanted my license. I asked him, was I wrong in turning right, he replied no – I asked did I jump the signal, he replied no, I asked him did I commit any other offence – he replied no but I intended to. I looked at him with a very straight face and told him that at this moment I am thinking of killing you, but I don’t – so thinking or intending to do something and later not doing it is no crime. I admit, I was thinking of going straight – but I DID NOT – that’s not a crime. My friends in the car were looking at me open mouthed at what I was saying to a cop. But the entire conversation was very polite, and as I had not done any wrong, I did not show him my license, and the cop seeing that I was actually legally right, smiled and told me to carry on.

About four years back my wife was flying down from Delhi sometime in November. The flight was to land at 9.30pm and at that time of the year there is air traffic congestion and the flight always lands an hour or so later. I had asked a couple of friends to give me company while we waited for the flight. We had reached by around 9.30pm and decided to have dinner at the restaurant (now shifted). I parked the car on the road adjoining the restaurant as there were a lot of autos parked anyway. We had just given the order for our dinner, when a waiter came and asked me whether the car parked was mine. I replied in the affirmative and he told me that a traffic cop was calling the owner. One of my friends and I then went to see what the problem was. The cop told me there was no parking, please remove the car. By the way, we had downed a couple of drinks prior to sitting for dinner, so there was a bit of bravado also involved in the interaction. I looked at him in real surprise and asked whether it was no parking only for cars and not for autos. He said it is no parking for everybody, to which I then asked what about these 100 odd autos parked in a line adjoining the footpath. He did not have an answer, a couple of auto drivers came to poke their nose and see what was happening. I asked the cop very loudly whether these guys were paying him “hafta”, I asked the auto drivers also the same question. There was total confusion on their faces. My friend was totally enjoying himself by now. I took out my phone, went close to the cop, looked at his name badge, pretended to type it on the notepad, took his belt number and told him that I was a reporter with Mid-day, took some snaps of the cop and the autos in the no parking zone and told them that tomorrow I will see that this is published in the newspapers. The approach of the cop completely changed from aggressive to submissive pleading for help in removing the auto menace. He said that if this is really published it will be a big help to him in doing his job. I removed my car from the road and parked it in the lane. The cop by then had become really friendly and was telling me not to write to his superiors but I should definitely publish the photos in the newspapers….he actually posed for me near the autos and I did take his snap. It’s another thing that it never got published!

Once while going on my scooter at Matunga (below the flyover the road is one way), a cop van was coming from the no entry side. As I was in the right I kept going straight and did not move from the vans path. The van hooted and I stopped right in the middle (two cars can barely pass each other in that lane) and the van also stopped. The driver took his head out and asked me to move, I told him to go back as he had entered a one way street from the wrong end. He started threatening me with dire consequences – I took his photo on the cell and told him if he did not go back, I will make a few phone calls. Cops are also human you see, it’s just that they get a misplaced sense of power because of their uniform and feel that they can get away with anything. I asked him whether there was a police emergency that he took the no entry road. He said no, I said great, please go back. There were other cops in the van and a sub-inspector was also there. I told him that they being cops should be setting an example in upholding the law and not breaking it. The poor guy told the driver to reverse the van and take it back. The van actually went back – I did not expect that, in fact I was planning to let the van pass. Just goes to show that if you reason with the cops they too see the light of day and do what is right.

Another incident occurred at the Mahim Church signal at around 6 in the evening. I was driving in the second lane at around 30 kmph, as pedestrians cross the road in spite of the heavy traffic even when the pedestrian signal is red. This, in spite of there always being about 8 to 10 cops manning the signal (the police post is also just opposite the church). I saw a pregnant Muslim lady in purdah hurrying across the road with one baby in her arm and holding a 5-6 year old kid by the other hand. I slowed down further as she came in front of my car, a Maruti Esteem was overtaking me from the right and was blind sided as far as the lady crossing the road was concerned. The moment he saw the group he braked hard and just about stopped – the 5 year old had run across, but the car just touched the mother as the car stopped – the baby was thrown out of the mothers arm, but nothing much happened as it landed on a pedestrians foot (God actually protects kids), the mother had fallen down and was being helped up. I had in the meanwhile stopped the car to help out. A two striped cop asked the driver of the Esteem (an elderly sardarji) for his license and told him to park the car at the side of the road. This was too much….I asked the cop where the sardarji was at fault? He said it was an accident and the car driver has to be careful. I told him, I saw exactly what had happened, and if the cops did their job by restraining the pedestrians from crossing at a signal which has heavy traffic, the accident would never have happened. An officer then came and told me to proceed as it was a small matter and they would just check if there were any injuries for insurance purposes and let the driver go. The best part of interacting with the cops is you should know the language (Marathi) and speak with them politely with confidence and authority and it always gives positive results.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sri Lankan cricketers attacked in Pakistan

Whether Pakistan accepts it or not, their playing with fire has ultimately begun to consume it in the flames it helped create and fan. I wonder how they expected to escape getting burnt in their own fire. Over a period of time, one has read about the SWAT valley being handed over to the Taliban, the NWFP and the FATA region being out of the control of the Pakistani government. All these are signs that the so called civilian government is in no position to control the terror forces it helped create against India and Afghanistan. The monster has become too big to control – even the handlers in the ISI probably now have their tails between their legs as their protégés stop listening to them and act on their own. Historically, politically created monsters have always ended up consuming their creators in the sub continent – Indira Gandhi by the Sikh fundamentalists (she created Bhindranwale and had to attack the Golden Temple to kill him and his movement) who killed her in revenge. Rajiv Gandhi for sending the IPKF against LTTE (supported initially by the Indians) – they blew him up. Benazir Bhutto by the terrorists who she had turned a blind eye to as they gained in strength and stature when she was in power.

Now they have stooped to attacking overseas sportsmen – the victims being the Sri Lankan cricketers. The Sri Lankans were probably destined to be shot – as they had agreed to go on the Pakistan tour because the western nations had dropped out. It is sad to see a country coming to this sorry pass – five policemen have lost their lives and half a dozen cricketers injured – thank God they are safe! The attackers used rocket launchers and threw hand grenades which all thankfully missed the intended target (God always smiles even in times of tragedy) after which the attackers straffed the bus with AK47 fire injuring the cricketers.

I am sure the Pakistani authorities are going to blame the Indians for the attack, because that has kind of become a reflex defense mechanism for them. Instead of pointing fingers, it is high time the saner people in Pakistan realized that their country is on the verge of imploding – an implosion with nuclear weapons likely to fall into rogue hands. That is the scenario the West has feared for a long time – and have probably helped create by funding Pakistan for War on Terror. The terror has now actually come home to roost.

Pakistan will have to make a serious effort to cleanse its ISI and the hard core fundamentalists in its armed and police forces if it wants to survive as a nation. It is India’s tragedy that Pakistan is its neighbor and we cannot choose our neighbors but have to live with them. We have three very unstable neighbors in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which are all undergoing some form of conflict or the other. How I wish Pakistan was US’s neighbor, maybe then they would have been more circumspect while distributing largesse to the Pakistani government and military!

I seriously think all international sporting ties in Pakistan should be suspended till some degree of sanity is established in that nation. I wonder what Imran Khan has to say – especially as he has become quite the fundamentalist after entering politics. Some people end up doing anything for power – even ex-playboys. I am sure he will be proud about what the terrorists have achieved – maybe he will find some Indians to blame for it too!

Motorbike accident and brush with cops

There are some interesting brushes with the cops which I have had over the past twenty years or so which I would like to share with you. The rest will be in brief in a subsequent post. My first brush was in 1992 when my brother had come down from Kuwait. He had taken my motorbike and had gone out, on the way back at Mahim, on Senapati Bapat Road – opposite Johnson & Johnson House a transvestite came on the road and threw water (in those days hutments ruled the entire stretch of Senapati Bapat Marg) and this was a routine feature. But this was the first time my brother had taken the motorbike out, he braked when he saw the person coming into the middle of the road and skidded on the water which had been thrown on the road It was around 10.30pm when I got a call from my brother about the accident. I did not tell anybody at home and took a cab to see him. Both his forearms did not have any skin, his right eye had a huge cut at the eyebrow (boxing ishtyle) and his shoulder looked lop sided (his right shoulder bone had broken). He told me that he had run over somebody, and was saved by a plain clothes cop who was witness to the incident and advised him to go to Sion hospital as the transvestite was claiming to have been hurt also. We told the transvestite to come to Sion Hospital and then both of us proceeded to Sion Hospital.

I called my father-in-law who is a surgeon and who used to teach at Sion Hospital in the past. In the meanwhile we went to the OPD for treatment, registered the accident case with the resident cop (the transvestite did not turn up), the resident doctors were saying there is no gauze and bandages to treat the injuries – both of us were going quite mad at the thought. About an hour later around 11.45pm my father-in-law turned up, and on seeing him as if by magic cotton, gauzes, bandages et al suddenly turned up. My brothers hands were bandaged, they did a temporary bandaging of the shoulder, and there was no way they could stitch up his eyes. We went to our father-in-laws nursing home at Chembur, there he stitched up my brothers eye without anesthesia (around 2am now). We came home thereafter and my brother sat recuperating. About a month later a lawyer lands up at home demanding Rs. 10000 for the injury caused to his client, my uncle whose factory had just recently closed roundly cursed the lawyer and told him if he came back again he would go with broken limbs – my brother who still had his clavicle plastered and eye bandaged got up and asked why the lawyers client did not turn up at the hospital. The lawyer had no answer and left. A couple of weeks later, two policemen came and impounded the motorbike saying that they were taking the bike into custody as it was involved in an accident. We told the cops that the accident took place more than a month ago and the bike was already repaired, so what was the point in taking custody of the bike (but the lawyer would probably have bribed the guys). They took custody of the bike and called us to the police station to record our statement. We told the cops that my brother was riding pillion and I was riding the bike and narrated the rest of the incident as above. We told them we followed process and we had third party insurance, the accident victim could claim that. The cops were adamant on releasing the bike, and completely refused to listen to reason, saying that they will release it after the court disposed off the case (in India that could be anytime between 2 and ten years!). We then had no option but to call our uncle, who was then the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai, he in turn called Mr. Pasricha who was Police Commissioner at that time. The Mahim police station got a call from the police commissioners’ office to release the motorbike as there was no sense in holding a repaired bike. The local cops suddenly were very polite and telling us why we did not tell them of our connections earlier. We told them that we hoped they would use their common sense and see reason, there was no way we would have used connections, if the cops would have just done their job! The end result was that we were allowed to take the bike after an accident case was registered against me (I had the license my brother did not).

We had completely forgotten this incident, when about three years later as I drove into my residence at around 7pm, I found two cops looking for me. I introduced myself and asked them what the problem was, they said that they had come with an arrest warrant as I had not responded to court summons. I asked them politely when the summons were sent, please give me the dates, one of them was playing the bad cop routine and shouting at the top of his voice. I told the other cop to tell his partner to shut up or else the consequences to their career may not be too healthy. I also told them that my mother is always at home and there is no way that any summons would have gone back undelivered. The cops ultimately saw reason and said that I had to attend Bandra Court the next day at 11am, which I agreed to. The next day I went to the court, caught one of the dime a dozen lawyers who hang about outside the court, made a vakalatnama and attended the court. When my case came up, the lawyer was asking me to contest the case (for him it would have been a thousand bucks for every hearing), I asked the judge how it would affect me, he said it is a civil case and it would not affect my passport applications or in any other harmful manner and I just had to pay a Rs. 800 fine. I saw this as a better option than a recurring fee of a thousand bucks, paid up, registered my finger prints in tar (yuck) and left the court.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Economic decline and tax collection

It has been widely reported that there is a major shortfall in direct tax collections in the last fiscal – actual shortfall could be in the region of Rs. 60,000 crores (PTI release 16.2.09). If anyone had followed last year’s high tax payers they were led from the front by banks with very high declared profits followed by various industry blue chips. This year the shoe is on the other foot, direct tax collections are down which directly points to the fact that recession has also hit India. Mr. Kamal Nath (Industries Minister) may digress so may the Finance Minister, but the tax collection speaks for itself!

Instead of accepting that there is a shortfall in collection due to recession, the Government has given instructions to the revenue arm to carry out surveys to increase the collection. We now have various revenue arms of the Central and State Governments calling on industry – like the Income Tax department, the Customs, the VAT authorities, etc. What happens in such cases? Does the Government gain anything? Nope…it is needless harassment of industry….you have an economic slowdown and to top it you have to manage various government agencies breathing down your throat for more taxes. How the hell do these jokers expect more taxes, when incomes are declining, top lines and bottom lines are affected big time! Beats me! But we still have various arms of the Government coming and snooping around in various offices to find out if they can get their pound of flesh!

When the Government agents do come calling, industry captains have no choice but to submit to their presence. The best one can do is co-operate with the officers and give them whatever information they want. Most of these surveys / raids start between 2 pm to 4 pm and continue well past mid night and sometimes can continue no-stop for two to three days. In this period the entire accounting and legal staff of the company under the scanner, are kept in the office, they are not allowed to do their normal work, computers cannot be touched, etc. The approach and attitude of most of these guys is that all companies are tax evaders and treat the staff in a hostile manner. It takes time for the façade on the officers faces to drop – only after interaction with the staff and after commencing checking of records, do they start to become slightly less officious. At the end of all the probing and taking copies of records etc. invariably a time for settlement comes.

No organization is 100% perfect, some mistakes, errors always happen specially in very large businesses, in the overall context this may be miniscule, but the officers just need a handle to beat you with. All one needs to do is keep ones cool and not panic. At the end of the day, what matters is whether the time and money spent on the raid has resulted into any benefit for the Government. If not, then there should be a mechanism in place to question the basis of undertaking the survey/raid activity. It should not so happen that the people involved in the raid, fill their pockets and go, and nothing accrues to the Government. I say this because this is India – everything is tradable – it happens in Parliament, so its not a surprise when such things happen down the politico-bureaucratic hierarchy.