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State Of The Mumbai Suburban Railway


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State Of The Mumbai Suburban Railway

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What is bound to happen...

This is a simple explanation of the financial crisis and the current response towards it.

Illustration 1 shows the global financial system as it existed until very recently. The lenders deposited with retail banks which gave them back interest on the capital. The retail banks invested in the stock markets where the investment banks underwrote stock equity for the various businesses and also made loans out of the capital invested with it. The central banks and government officials had a significant say in the whole system; they dictated the interest rates (kept them low => Caused a bubble) but they also followed a misguided monetary policy based on fiat currency and fractional reserve banking. Life went on; but behind the balance sheets, the investment banks were betting on toxic assets, and the retail banks were making loans to individuals and organizations with bad credit histories.

Illustration 2 shows what has been happening in the global financial markets since early September 2008. The investment banks and retail banks are going bankrupt because of toxic assets - that they have been bundling and selling - on the stock market, not giving them any returns. The stock market has crashed. Lenders are spooked and are diminishing in confidence and are unwilling to lend money to banks hence causing a credit crunch, which is impeding the way retail banks function. Now, the government official's and central bank's role in the economy is large; they are continuing the misguided monetary policy and still 'banking' on fractional reserve banking and fiat currency systems. They are now buying assets in toxic and underperforming businessess and financial institutions, while still knowing that they are worthless assets. This is having no impact on the confidence of the retail investor who still does not trust his money with the banks, further worsening the credit crunch. His assets are also wiped out in the stock market fall denying him the ability to even lend back to the banks if they regain his confidence.

Illustration 3 shows what is expected if the increased role of the Central bank continues the way it is. The nation will become a toxic asset and this would have been caused by none other than the most toxic asset of them all, which is called 'Government Intervention'

Don't believe my prediction as depicted in illustration 3? Why not atleast listen to the scholar who knows more than any one alive about monetary history - the 92 year old Anna Schwartz! Here is an article where she has made the simple arguement,

"Everything works much better when wrong decisions are punished and good decisions make you rich."

Arranged Marriages: A thing of the future

This article from yesterday’s TOI talks about the rise in arranged (not forced) marriages in the US. It kinda makes sense to me given how complicated and busy people’s lives have become in recent times – all over the globe.

As an undergrad, marriage was a distant (almost laughable) concept to me. After graduation I witnessed some of my peers marry their college sweethearts. Those unions seemed guaranteed to disintegrate in a few years – except maybe a couple of them where it was blatantly obvious the two are made for each other.

As for us single 20-ers in our first jobs, we are still stuck in the bar scene. I worked 40 hours a week in the US after which I was expected to go to a bar, drink and get laid (or come back home and pass out) every weekend. Somewhere in between I had to do the laundry, get groceries and supplies, cook/order take-out & eat, somewhat clean the apartment, call up parents and distant friends, respond to emails, keep up with sports news (or the latest happenings in TV land) and pay all sorts of bills. And what about the small mishaps like flat tires, colds, allergies, repairing your home heating/cooling system etc. And btw, I had to squeeze in yoga classes and vacation into this somehow. By the time I was done with all these I just wanted to relax with a cold beer – not work on that hot chick’s booty.

The idea of scouting for potential mates in a bar/club is more laborious than the work I do in office. Finger 11 sum up the bar scene pretty well in Paralyzer:

I hold out for one more drink

Before I think

I’m looking too desperately

But so far has not been fun

I should just stay home

If one thing really means one

This club will hopefully

Be closed in three weeks

That would be cool with me

Well I’m still imagining

A dark lit place

Or your place or my place

After I left the US, I spent a month with my parents in Kathmandu. By the time I left Kathmandu for Mumbai I think I had at least three marriage proposals – all from friends of my mom who spotted me somehow, somewhere which I will never be able to figure out. I refused to meet any one of them and was relieved to leave the homeland still single.

I went to bars/clubs in Kathmandu as well. The crowd was way different than the one in US that I had gotten used to. Nobody was even trying to get laid. It was all about relaxation, good company, exquisite food, free-flowing alcohol and decent music. While this would have passed for luxury in the US in Kathmandu I was doing this with those at the bottom of the income pyramid. It felt amazing.

The point is - it really was easier to find a ‘mate’ in Nepal than in the US. If parents of working 20-ers or 30-ers were to introduce them to potential mates even in the US, it just might work since they don’t have the time to go around looking for one. And parents are very likely to know what their kids like and dislike – though in several cases that is arguable. Once the single, young & restless in America and Europe get their minds around the idea of ‘arranged marriages’ the trend will take off. After all, isn’t that what online matchmaking sites like e-harmony.com are doing? They are arranging people’s marriages based on profile compatibility.

Finally, how many people still believe in love, romance and soul-mates? I mean we are all so stretched out trying to make ends meet, trying to ‘live our own lives’ and ‘meet our personal goals’ that keeping an eye out for a hubby or wife material is asking for way too much. Honestly, I would rather click and choose.

Capitalism - Still an Unknown Ideal

While I was chatting with a friend on the phone this past weekend I was asked a question. "Has Capitalism failed? Now that everyone is questioning the lack of regulation which has led to the near collapse of the global economies, isn't it time to rethink the primacy of Capitalism?" Both of us - let me mention upfront, are laymen; salaried employees who are not experts at economics. But ,we have studied economics and its many theories as part of our MBA course. Both of us are still students of economics and are learning to appreciate the many nuances which each theory in economics poses to the interested mind. But when it comes to the debate between which solution - Free Market Capitalism, Keynesian Economics or Communism should be at the helm of the commanding heights of the economy, one of us - me, is not open for debate. The solution has to come from Laissez Faire capitalism. I may have doubts about how a free market solution can be achieved to a particular problem, even profess the need for certain degree of policy regulation, but it is irreconcilable to me that such a solution can be better than one which a free market can provide - in the long run.

The problem, I think, which leads people to end up believing that Free Market Capitalism is bound to fail, or has failed is the undue importance to human greed which people attribute to an unregulated economy. It is common to hear people say of the collapse of Lehman Brothers that "Isn't it obvious? When you let people indulge their greed unabatedly, there is bound to be such failures. We should restrict their blatant freedom!". But this is a knee jerk reaction. One which casts a doubt over a system based on the symptoms of the affliction ailing it, and not the cause. This is beautifully described in an article by Quinglian He, a chinese economist. When asked"Does The Free Markets Corrode Moral Character" she replies "No" and rightly points out - 

"Ofcourse, the market economy is not a perfect system. But the market's flaws stem from the actions and motivations of its human participations rather from its design"

Free markets allow us to be what we are. It gives all of us a playing field where we compete based on merit and the rewards are directly proportional to the level of risk we are willing to take based on the merit of our judgements and capability. Free markets nurture the individual's rights and allow him to pursue his goals. It is also a test to his character and as Tyler Cowenpoints out, 

"By placing more wealth and resources at our disposal, [free market] tends to boost and accentuate whatever character tendencies we already possess."

Ayn Rand wrote in her book "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" about the form, nature and purpose of government as being a means to protect man's right - protecting him from physical violence. It is from the person who is bound to utilize the unregulated free market for personal corruption and greed, that the government needs to protect others from. Not regulate the system itself. Any other interference by the government in the functioning of the market is detrimental. But most people find this line of reasoning a hard pill to swallow. Today when governments around the globe are bending backwards to come up with plans to 'bail out' underperforming financial institutions, it seems a far cry for anyone to keep believing in the merits of 'unabated capitalism' and the extent of greed of people who are not regulated. 

But, this is again a case of assigning blame to the symptom and not the cause. It is a mistake to point blame at the capitalist ideaology for the current financial industry meltdown, because it is not under a purely capitalist system that these financial institutions functioned. Observe the conditions of pseudo-capitalism which has been at the commanding heights of every major economy in the world today. There is always an ever present creditor of final resort which each of these countries have - a central bank. As rightly pointed out by this article, 

"Additionally, the only reason why the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were able to guarantee nearly $5 trillion in home loands with merely $100 billion in net equity is that both their management and other market operators knew that the government would step in if things took a turn for the worse. Acting as lenders of last resort, the Federal Deposit Insuarance Corporation (FDIC), the treasury department, and the Federal Reserve Bank fueled the crisis by encouraging a decade of careless lending"

A classic case of a Moral Hazard where the proper functioning of a free market does not happen because the players are tempted to risk more than what their judgements and analysis lead them to believe, because a pseudo net is ever apparent to cushion their fall. Free markets punish those who make unwise decisions and reward only those who take calculated risks. Free market success stories are those which exhibit fundamental growth and true value creation as against a 'sentiment' based growth. 

There are many opinions about the bailout plans which are unfolding around the world - most, even pro-libertarian ones are saying that maybe a bailout was inevitable. But interventionist solutions are unfortunately never better than what a free market can come up with - in the long run. It is almost uncanny to see how the 'bailouts' have started popping up across the world after the US Treasury department came up with the $700 billion plan. It is seen as the repercussion of the failure of the 'capitalist bastion' of United States of America and leads many an undecided mind to disbelieve the essential efficiency of a free market. 

To such doubters, I can only say - please observe where you cast the shadows of your doubts. The world may not be facing this problem in the first place had the true ideals of Free Markets been adhered to. The question of greed and favouritism does not hold too much merit in a free market economy because, like Milton Friedman said,

"In a capitalist society, it costs money to discriminate, and it is very difficult given the impersonal nature of market transactions"

Viva Liberty!  

Please Digg...it makes you smarter.

It is official that googling makes us smarter. Please read this article if you are in doubt (or not smart enough to google it).

Since that is settled, I would like to direct the reader's attention to the DIGG button on the top right corner of this post and request a DIGG from you. Digging the posts you like is as important as voting in your country's general elections.

(Just in case you have no clue what digging is - When you come across something (anything) in the internet that you believe is worth sharing then you can submit it and comment on them. Stories that get maximum hits or diggs get pushed to front page. You can also go to digg.com and digg whatever you want to.)

Digging is more than just sharing. It is a means of leaving an online footprint of yourself on the web. It enables you to voice your freedom on the internet. It is a global equalizer in that, people from all backgrounds can digg what they like and in a unique way 'band together'. Additionally, digging also presents you with the best that the web has to offer. Blog posts, news articles, picture galleries and all sorts of online content get digged into categories ranging from Technology and Business and Lifestyle and Sports. Its pretty safe to assume that digg.com is a one-stop-shop for the web's most exciting offerings on a daily basis. The article from livescience that I linked above was a digg find from last night.

Digg.com has been around sonce November 2004 and lord knows how many people visit the website or participate in digging. (Actually someone at digg.com should have this data.) So all you diggers out there must be thinking I am pretty mad to write about why one should be digging. However, after blogging about Nepal and India relevant topics for quite a long time, it seems that digging is very much restricted to the West (US & Europe). This is a call out to all Indian and Nepali netizens to go sign up for a digg account and get their voices heard loud and clear on the internet.

Now I am aware there are sites like Digg that are very much geared towards the Indian web user. For instance there is Indianpad. I actually like this this site, but why create an Indian version of digg when the whole world can be brought together by a single website. (For a list of other digg like sites that are India focused please read this post at tothepc.com.) Staying confined to an India specific digg-like portal is keeping from getting Indian news onto the global scene. Let me illustrate. Yesterday Aravinda Adiga won the prestigious Booker Prize for The White Tiger. This news is most definitely digg-worthy. But I could not find it in digg.com. This morning I submitted the news from the TOI website. What should have instead happened is that the TOI should have dugg the news themselves and let their readers add to the diggs and push the story onto the frontpage.

Currently this is how the digg search result for 'adiga' looks like:

14 as the maximum number of diggs is almost embarrasing. The 6th article with 1 digg is not even relevant. The article on TOI has 119 comments. So let's say we just missed 100 diggs and a good chance of having this on the digg.com frontpage.

It might sound like I am giving way too much value to the digg frontpage. Yes I am and yes it's a big deal. That is because millions across the world visit the website and 'digg'. So, for a change you - Reader from India/Nepal please get a digg account and digg this post. And if googling makes a person smarter, digging -sorta like picking the best that comes out of googling- could make us all way smarter.

PS: To make things easier for you I have already submitted the post to digg.com and all you have to do is click on the digg icon on the top right.

My life on the Web

I spend way too much time on the internet. But I have no regrets. I love the good ‘ol WWW. It keeps me informed, entertained and connected.

I always start my day with Yahoo and spend a considerable amount of time on the website throughout the day. Don’t get me wrong here. I love Google but nothing beats Yahoo’s news aggregation capabilities. Over the years I have gotten extremely comfortable with browsing through the various ‘categories’ within Yahoo – news, sports, music, movies, tech, games, finance etc. and even the sub-categories within them such as baseball, basketball & others under sports. It would reasonable to say that I am addicted to Yahoo. Compulsively checking my Yahoo Mail every 15 minutes only amplifies the addiction.

Even though Yahoo is my first net love, I am a Google-whore when it comes to searching the web. I actually barely ever go to google.com to do a search. The mini search box, conveniently located on the top right of the browser in both IE and FrFx, serves the purpose. It also gives me the option of doing a Yahoo search or an Ask.com search. But experience has told me google is better as far as internet search goes and will stay that way for quite a while.

While Google has expanded to other tech areas, its core business – internet search – is suffering from a lack of innovation vigor. Though their search engine stands unrivaled now, it might be sooner than later that a new search engine will trump them. Mahalo.com is a new search engine that looks promising. Of course let’s not forget that Wikipedia is still out there and widely used.

The other Google product that takes up a big chunk of my day is Gmail. I am not sure if I spend more time on Yahoo Mail or Gmail. I got gmail coz well everyone else has it. But my gmail is set to direct all emails to my Yahoo Mail. I log onto Gmail mainly to chat via the web version of gtalk – which also links up with my aim account. I think that is an absolutely bad-ass feature and could be made a badder-ass one by linking it up with my Yahoo messenger, MSN Live messenger, Twitter account and Facebook friends. I am sure someone at Google thought about it but was too busy writing an application to measure how long his tossed phone would remain in the air.

Let’s not even get started on how much time I spent on Twitter and Facebook. Fortunately my visits to these 2 sites are sporadic (though nauseatingly frequent) and usually last less than a minute which also happens to be my average attention span. It is only if a friend has uploaded an encyclopedia of pictures or if I have to upload one such encyclopedia, I spend around 5-10 minutes on Facebook. As for twitter, I just wish it did not crash so often. If cocaine is the crown-jewel of all drugs, twitter is the cocaine of social-networking. There is now even a novel in twitter for all to follow (and read).

Another website that eats up my day is the New York Times. I am not sure when, why or how my fascination for the NYTimes started but I read it daily (on the web that is). The best part is reading Thomas Friedman’s columns. He says it like it should be said. And now it even boasts a Nobel laureate in Paul Krugman among its impressive herd of columnists. However, if and when Obama gets elected president Krugman is most likely to get a White House call-up. It’s going to be hard for him to say no to such an opportunity and keep teaching in Princeton + write for the NYTimes + blog. A very cool aspect of NYTimes is the humor section. Snippets of late night monologues and other funnies – are actually really funny for a change. The wesite also has all the regular coverage you’d expect – technology, business, US, World, Sports. Its coverage of Arts (Books, Music, Movies, TV & Theater) and Style (Food, Fashion & others) are exemplary to say the least.

OK. I realize that I hyperlinked the crap out of the above paragraph. So I am gonna do the rest in a much more organized format:

1. Other new-sites I follow:
a. Nepalnews.com
I was brought up in Nepal. This site provides the news from Nepal as it happens and to some extent it is free of bias.
b. Indiatimes.com
I live in Mumbai (India) right now and it is nice (and scary) to keep tabs on the resident nation’s happenings.
c. Wall Street Journal
Just coz it makes me look busy and smart. It does a good job of news coverage as well. However, I am dedicated to the NYTimes and do not approve of WSJ’s pay format.

2. TechCrunch (and almost everything they link to):
I need my daily dose of TechCrunch complete with Michael Arlington humor and the most engaging comments community I have ever come across (rivaled only by that of the NYTimes). If you do not know what TechCrunch is, you gotta be living underneath a rock. Arlington is one of the most influential people in the world right now – despite the fact he is not mentioned in Forbe’s filthy rich people’s list.

3. Trusted Reviews, Engadget & Gizmodo:
They all review gadgets and it is difficult for me to just pick one. Besides it is nice to get different points of views for a gadget before you even think about buying it, right?

4. The Sartorialist Blog
Yes it is about fashion and following it does not make a guy gay. Some amazing photography from fashion focused cities around the world and probably the most 'simplistically innovative' (now I am just making up phrases) blog to come out of web 2.0

5. Soccernet
I follow soccer (football). I love the game. I have sworn life-long allegiance to Manchester United. All other clubs are mere mortals undeserving of any honors.

6. 61
I stumbled across this while searching for new independent music (Amie Street is also a good place to find independent music). The 61 empowers to all aspiring musicians across the globe. And the built-in game format of bumping songs and leveling-up is simply amazing.

7. Post-Secret blog
Reading other people’s secret is quite gratifying. Who would have thought? This is a great blog.

Sites I wish I had the time to follow:
1. StereoGum & IGIF: Both are music blogs and have great stuff in them.
2. Bookslut, somanybooksblog & Goodreads: The first one is sorta like a magazine for avid readers while the second is probably the best blog on books and reading. Goodreads is a social-network for readers.
3. There are many more but I am tired of typing and sick of linking.

Before I end this just a word on how I actually manage to go through the above websites. Typing the web address on the address bar is an extinct method. Adding websites to your favorites list shows that you got used to the web before the 2.0 revolution and are stuck there. I use Netvibes right now to aggregate all these websites and blogs on one platform. My Yahoo, iGoogle and Pageflakes offer similar services but I have gotten too comfortable with Netvibes to sleep with the enemy at this point. Though if Netvibes doesn’t come up with a new killer feature (maybe integrating all my instant messengers or something like creating my own web portal where I post news, pictures and videos about me), I might switch to one of the other three for a month or so and then move on to another platform. Who cares about brand loyalty? It is all for free after all -and if it were not free, I would not use it.

PS: One last attemp to self-advertise - I read these blogs that I maintain by myself or with someone else:

1. Views Through A Spyglass: After much exprimenting, I have decided to dedicate this blog to social commentary mainly dealing with conflict and development issues.
2. Sparks On Glass: Anand (fellow blogger) and I recently started this and you might be reading this on SOG itself if not TTAS.
3. Also Anand wanted to get featured here. So here is his blog - Mind Sparks
   

I am gonna hang around in Airports..

The more I read about genuises and how they got to what they are today, I always find one common incident in their pasts. Waiting for flights at airports where ground breaking revelations ensue!

Here is Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate for Economics 2008 claiming he had a groundbreaking revelation about Economic theory - and you guessed it right - at Boston's Logan Airport waiting for a flight!

Of course it took a while to convince anyone else of the truth of that vision. In fact the next year and a half was deeply frustrating: rejections by journals, lack of interest by most of my senior colleagues (though much support from Carlos Diaz-Alejandro), and a decision by the Yale department not to give me a research fellowship. I persevered, however, and in the spring of 1979 another patch of fog lifted, and I saw my way clear to integrate monopolistic competition and comparative advantage. (I can again describe the moment of revelation very precisely: the analytical trick that made the model possible came to me at Boston's Logan Airport, where I was waiting for a flight to Minneapolis).

Read the whole article here.

This is not the only example. If sages and saints of yesteryear attained nirvana under a tree in a forest, today they would need to sit in the airport waiting room to do the same. Global Warming had something to do with it?

I will from now spend more of my time at airports. Maybe the best of blog posts (unlike this one) will happen there! I wonder where I can sit at the Mumbai airport and attain Nirvana? This seems like the only place I can do that!

At the Mumbai International Airport

But then again, I dont want to get Paul Krugman like 'Welfare State is the best' kind of ideas either!

The appendix will never develop into wings

Few weeks ago, Anand told me that if we work on it with intent, humans can tranform the worthless appendix into something useful - maybe specialized wings that will help us fly! That is how weird his mind really is - deep down inside.

He is going to be mighty disappointed to find out that a leading genticist from UCL has said there is no way that can happen as human evolution is slowing down and nearing a halt. No wings for Anand and the appendix shall remain useless.

An immensely insightful comment by the same geneticist:

"History is made in bed, but nowadays the beds are getting closer together."

That's serious food for all kinds of thoughts.

Cleaning up the Dadar Flower Market Madness: A case study in doing the next-to-impossible

The Flower Market outside the Dadar train station (West) is a one of a kind business 'district'. As soon as you exit the station on the West side, the intensity of the crowd hits you like a bat outta hell. In the 2+ months I have had to navigate through it to reach my office, I have to admit I have no clue as to how I do it and I don't think I will ever get used to it. I wish I could put up pictures of the terrifying crowd but pulling out a camera to take a snap amidst the madness is probably not safe for the camera. (None of the Google pictures I am getting are doing justice to the truth either.)

Anand, discussed 2 ways to rid Mumbai of the Flower Market Madness, in a previous post below -

1. A voluntary incentivized agreement between the pedestrians heading in and out of the station AND the flower sellers
2. Enforcing of civil laws by the government

He has also very effectively detailed how the first approach which champions free market ethos is very likely to fail where as the second option is not attractive as it goes against free market ideology. (Besides most things the governments gets involved with simply deteriorates further.)

I am going to stay away from getting the government involved in this as well and suggest possible solutions to the Dadar Flower Market Madness.

I am a strong believer in all that technology has to offer. I believe that the Flower Market problem can be eased in part, if not solved, by proper application of technology and innovation. Right now the vendors sit with baskets full of flowers on the side of the road. The basket along with the vendor takes up a huge amount of space on both sides of the road thereby leaving very little space in the middle for pedestrain traffic in both directions. If the road-side space can be utilized better it could free up the walking space. To do so, we need a cheap invention that these vendors can afford. Say a plastic case that dispenses flowers and can be set-up on the walls lining the streets would be helpful. This is just a raw example but if inventors could put their heads together they could come up with a practical invention for this.

Another way to tackle the issue is to reduce the traffic. Right now vendors transport their flowers from the nearby wholesale market by means of human carriers who deftly carry the large masses of flowers in bags placed delicately on their heads. It also seems that each vendor has a separate carrier person. The 'supply' of flowers needs to be co-ordinated better among the vendors. They could band together and transport larger quantities of a particular kind of flower in few carts at one go. On reaching the market, instead of pushing the cart through the tiny roads, vendors can come collect their share of the flower. This would eliminate the throng of carriers who obstruct pedestrians with their awkwardly large flower bags and ease the traffic a bit.

The next question how can we get the flower vendors to agree to aggregation of the supply? Following Galdwell's Tipping Point approach, there has to be Connectors, Mavens and Salesman within this chaotic community. Identifying these people and getting them on board with the idea of supply aggregation can 'tip' the market to adopt it as well. In fact if the voluntary regulation approach, proposed by Anand, could be sold to the Connectors, Mavens and Salesman it could work just as well.

What I have mentioned above are short term solutions that are similar to patching up holes on clothes only for them to rip open again. The underlying problem here is a collection of more serious social issues. Lack of education and Poverty are two big ones. To attack the root of the problem one would have to educate the children of these vendors for their better future, provide alternative skills training to these vendors and consequently employment opportunities so that they can live a decent life. This is rightfully where the government needs to come in. And as clearly evident, it has remained indifferent towards the problem while commuters and pedestrians suffer daily.

Co-opetition, collusion and free markets

Co-opetition is when traditional competitors in a market form a pact and offer a single product, service or an experience to the consumers in order to avoid splitting the market shares. It is optimal when the market is saturated and further fragmentation is not beneficial to the players involved. 

Can co-opetition be a good solution all the times? 

Consider the case of the flower vendors outside Dadar railway station in Mumbai. The small lane where the sell their flowers is a key artery which all the pedestrians use to get to the railway station from workplaces in the Dadar area. Come a festival season, this street is so crowded that getting to the station for commuters is nearly impossible! Now, assume that people who regularly use this street all decide to work out a deal with the flower vendors. 

Assume that deal is simple - the flower sellers will sit only on one side of the road thereby allowing the commuters to freely use the other side of the road. In return, the flower sellers who are displaced could be incentivized monetarily or sell their daily quota to other flower sellers who sit on the side of the road where they are not displaced at prices slightly higher than what they would sell to consumers. All these transactions are facilitated by a small association formed with participation from the flower sellers and commuters. There is no involvement from the law enforcement agencies or the government.

Unfortunately, although I am a firm believer of free markets and voluntary regulations (like the one mentioned above), the following concerns pop into my head immediately:

• The above system will work when the monetary incentive which the displaced flower sellers get is more than what they can make in the free market. It won't be business sense to be party to such a scheme if the flower seller ends up making a loss. Hence, the value of the incentive would essentially need to be above the profit of the most profitable flower seller. A threshold price which will need to be borne by the commuters.
• How would the consumers distribute the cost of bearing the incentive given? As the commuters are not a homogeneous community and there would be many who would not be willing to partake any financial cost and not mind the madness.
• Where does co-opetition end and collusion begin? The displaced and not-displaced flower sellers can soon start forming cartels and look to make profits in the arbitrage thereby offsetting the commuter's costs.

And the problems I can forsee are many more. Some trivial and some profound. What about enforcing the framework of the law on those who default? It is when I see such situations where the market is so dense and players innumerable that I feel that regulation from the government is the only feasible way out. One overarching rule which all people have to abide by and enforced by the government. Although I hate myself for admitting this, I doubt free market mechanics to be able to handle such a situation when the market players are compelled to make a profit by any means possible, so that one can feed oneself the next day.

One mega solution would be to privatize the entire suburban railway system in Mumbai. This would force the private company to make the surroundings, entries and exits to the station commuter friendly to keep up business. This would involve costs, which eventually would have to be borne by the commuter, atleast initially - and given the fabric of current Indian society, such a plan would face severe opposition. So we are stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Bold plans like privatizing the suburban railway system in Mumbai would never get off the ground because of the opposition, and even small bottom up approaches like voluntary self imposed regulations by the people who are involved in the matter is also doomed to fail because of the immense number of variables. One would need to impose a very strict 'Police Raj' to see that all these variables are harnessed - which is defeating the very premise that it is a voluntary. 

What really bugs me is, how then can a society like that of India be, even gradually moved towards a free market economy from its current socialistic bent of mind.  Top down, mega projects would fail because they would never get off the ground and would have to be championed, ironically by the government itself, and bottom-up approaches which would act as shining examples of how efficiently a voluntary free market regulation can work, showcasing it so that it can be adopted in other situations, also are doomed to fail due to the sheer number of hurdles it needs to overcome! 

The Falafel Wars?

There is more trouble for the already grief embroiled Middle East. The Lebanese are accusing the Israelis of stealing their Falafel! They are planning on filing a case against the Israelis in the international courts for violating copyrights!  

Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese industrialists association explained that, 

Israel has been marketing Lebanese delicacies under the same names and ingredients around the world has caused great losses to Lebanon, and that while, “the full extent is unknown, it is estimated at tens of millions of dollars annually.”

I am deeply distressed by this. I really like Falafel. And in fact I am including the Holy Falafel Spheres (HFS) as one of the major Gods of the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion. And it is unfair to claim one of the Gods of this religion as being local to any one region of the world! Especially when a God tastes so good!

Three Dimensions of Photography

A recent article by Christopher Hitchens for Vanity Fair, commemorating the culture magazine's 25th anniversary since its relaunch in 1983 narrates the story behind the famous photographs which have graced the magazine pages over the years. The author writes, during the course of the essay 

"To have once or twice worked with photographers like James Nachtwey is to have appreciated the way in which  - contrary to a once cherished belief of mine - the photographic image can possess a moral weight greater than words"

Photography to me, is an exalted art form. Never in the past four thousand years of human existence had an art form come close to the pinnacles which photography has reached in the past two centuries. Photographs as chronicles of our times are a medium par excellence. Great photographs over time have captured in mind blowing detail every aspect of our lives - from daily mundane activities to avant-garde expressions of human exisitence. But the beauty of photography also lies in the abstraction they so easily impress upon their viewers. Literature poses a level of abstraction which is presented in the tone and style of the writer's language. Painting delves into a level of abstraction which is presented through the palette of the painter, sculpture in the chisel of the sculptor. These art forms are essentially two dimensional. They are either seen from the perspective of the writer, the painter, the sculptor or through the perspective of the reader and viewer. The characters of literature are moulded by the style of the writer. The painter's brushstrokes paint the emotion of the subject and the sculptor's chisel shapes the subjects form. It is only photography which allows for three dimensions in perspective - that of the photographer, that of the viewer or audience and that of the subject which is being captured. 

It is true that the influence of the photographer on the subject is critical and the photograph may be in essence what the photographer 'intends' it to be. But essentially, photographs are capsules of time and essence which necessarily include in them an additional variable - the implicit nature of the subject. Be it a 'capture' of an animate character in a portrait or a 'capture' of an inanimate object like a building, the very nature of the subject is never lost in the photograph. It remains despite all external perceptions, all superimpositions it is subject to - it remains in the texture, it remains in the film grain and it remains in the exposure.

From my collection - August 2008

The story of a photograph can be told through three distinct narrations. One is the story of the photographer, who through the camera in his hand tries to capture for posterity what his eyes see. He considers the camera to be an extension of his sight, hopefully invisible to others. He hopes the photograph to be an extension of his thought, made visible outside his mind. The second story is that of the viewer. He considers the visual stimuli of the photograph and tries to fathom the meaning of the frame of time. He considers the opinion of what has been captured by the extended sight of the photographer. He tries to understand the nature of the subject. The thrid story is that of the subject - who may never see the photograph or might not have the capability of sight itself, but nevertheless has a story to tell which is expressed in the way the subject is captured at that moment in time. 

I was once asked to come up with a quotation to describe photography, to put down in words what a photograph stands for. After much deliberation and thought I came up with the following-

"Look into my eyes, you may know what I see; Look at my photograph, you may know what I think!"

I won much praise for this. But I still believe that, just like prose is two dimensional in the way it can be understood, explaining what a photograph is - in prose is two dimensional and therefore incomplete. Hence even this essay here is also incomplete.      

New to Mumbai & trying to find a decent place to rent? Prevent it from turning into a nightmare

I recently moved to Mumbai. Two months on and I am still learning the ways of the city, still adapting to it, still trying to make sense of it. Moving to a new place has always been challenging - whether it was the small town of Saratoga Springs or the mighty London. All I can say is that, each place is its own beast!

In case you or someone you know is moving to Mumbai for a job* here are some tips that might be helpful:

• If you arrive in Mumbai before you have the official job agreement in hand, then it is always better to stay at a hotel (or if possible at a 'close' relatives place whom you trust with your life and valuables). In my case I had the divine luxury of staying at an uncle's place. It reduced my transition costs (Hotel, Food, Transport etc) but more importantly there was a local person to teach me the Mumbai way-of-life.



• Do start looking for a place to live AS SOON AS YOU CAN. It is not that there is a scarcity of flats available for rent. However, finding one that is within your budget and meets your personal needs (furnished vs unfurnished, availability of hot/cold water etc) can be, for the most part, very challenging.



• Choose a location based on YOUR preferences - take advice from relatives (if any) and co-workers, but above all make sure YOU are content with the decision of location. I for one am not content with living in Borivali. I chose to be closer to my uncle so that he could show me around Mumbai. I ended up in Borivali which is the second last suburb of Greater Mumbai. I would have liked to stay somewhere closer to work or South of work. This is because I commute to work via train. If I were to live south of work, the commute would be in reverse so trains are less likely to be crowded. Right now I am part of the super mad rush that is the daily Mumbai commute - overcrowded train compartments where sweat, sneeze and cough pours on me in all directions. The best advice I can give you is to scope out areas in Mumbai closer to work and see if you can find a place within your means before settling for any other option.



• To go looking for a flat, my advice would be to get hold of a Real Estate Agent (broker) via someone at work or someone you know. In my case it was my uncle who took me to the broker - a friend of his. If this is not an option, definitely try to find a broker through someone at work. It is better to go to a broker with a reference than without one.



• When the broker starts showing you places which is usually the very same day you go to him/her, make sure you ask ALL the questions you need to ask (and there are no wrong questions here). Ask the broker about water supply in bathroom, toilets and kitchen. Check if the fans/ACs work or not. Check the lights as well. Check everything!



• Once you find the pad of your choice, get ready for Paperwork Mayhem. At times it could be less of a mayhem if your broker takes pity on you and gets it done. One needs to do Stamp Duty Registration and Police Clearance before actually getting the keys to the apartment. It is better to do this and avoid 'shady' landlords who do not require such procedures. The purpose of all this legal work is mainly to show that you are not a terrorist and have a clean record. My ony advice would be, do not pay the broker before he has done all this and arranges for you to get the keys. (Note: Brokers usually demand 2 months rent as their fees. It is a downright criminal practice but that is how the market in Mumbai is.)



• Talking about payments, the security deposits demanded by landlords in Mumbai is simple and pure extorional. For a fully furnished 1 bedroom apartment in the trendy Bandra Suburb, one needs to deposit at least Rs. 1 lakh (usually twice or even thrice this amount). To me this is completely absurd. I have lived and paid rent+deposit in US, UK and Nepal. Never have I been asked to deposit a sum more than 1 month's rent as security deposit. I guess landlords in Mumbai simply don't trust any potential tenants.
  



• Having said that, there is one real estate agent/firm I have found in Mumbai so far who actually takes 1 month's rent as deposit. Going by the name of Supergrowth they specialize in premium accomodation in the SoBo area. I am definitely going to make use of their service once I finish my contract period in Borivali.

Finding a decent flat in Mumbai is not difficult, but I do wish it was a simpler process where I could access a listing of flats by owners and brokers, meet them, check out the place, take my time and make a decision. Online listings on craigslist, sulekha, magicbricks, makaan, quikr, rentimental, 99acres etc. are not exhastive or up-to-date. (That is why I did not bother to link any of those). However, the websites are useful to look up prices for various flats in different locations and get an idea of the costs. Word on the street is that prices in the Northern suburbs will be crashing pretty soon. I hope the rent comes down as well so that I can afford the usual 20-something's dream pad - something nice in a nice location (read: malls, bars and clubs in close proximity).

* If you are moving to Mumbai without a job but as a student then your college should take care of your accomodation. If you are moving with dreams of Bollywood, then good luck. You will find millions more just like you.