aditya kumar's weblog

I have been travelling, this past weekend. Not many places though, touched Mangalore, visited Udupi for a day and 2 days at home in Goa. The Bus and train journeys take the toll but I must say, there is absolutely nothing like travelling in small-town South India. If you like travelling and haven’t yet tasted this experience, you have missed so much!

Besides, this could be the best time for travelling in the small cities of South India. This time, when the small-towns are still “small”, still are able to defy the heavy commercialisation. So, if not now, then when?

Will write more once I am back in Bangalore tomorrow.

Yesterday I received my second credit card, a Citibank-CRY card it was.

“Was”, because I lost it in less than 30 minutes.

Now, I am not defending myself here but I have a pretty impressive record of keeping track of my plastic money as well as the ‘plastic’ involved in it. I am surprised but it was sloppy of me. In fact it was one of the most careless acts I have ever come across. Certainly in the all-time top-5 acts of negligence.

How Ironical, that a few hours before this happened, I had started programming a component of credit card software. Sigh.

What does Preity Zinta say on The BBC? She says “India needs some simple things so that it would not remain a third-world country anymore”.

Sometime in first half of the last century, someone in England came up with a term that conveniently described all the undeveloped countries. It summarised the poverty, the illiteracy, the inhumane conditions and all the bad things the west can think about into this new word and a makeshift new world, it was called “The Third World”.

Our leaders chose to call it “Developing Countries”. That’s a term less harsh, but that is it.

I don’t believe in this “Third World” concept. I think it was very convenient for some. It still is. But I like to think that there is no “Second” or “Third” world.

There is only one World.

Till the time this word is used in the context mentioned above, I must say, there remains a truth to be accepted, a reality to be braved and work to be done.

You, me and Preity Zinta stay in the same world. If you accept the existence of The Third World, what is the difference then, between you and the person who invented this term?

Things have to start changing first in the minds of people. People not in the west, but people right here.

I have a friend who has been on the lookout for a boradband Internet connection at home. He stays in the posh Koramangala section of the city. Since my experience with Airtel Broadband had been satisfactory, I suggested him to go for it.

On his behalf, I started corresponding with this person from Airtel who was supposed to take care of the “prospective customers” in the Koramangala Area.

After I sent the request, I was told a “Feasibility study” would be conducted. A few days and a few emails later, I had the “result” of their feasibility study in my inbox. That I could not understand most of their official/telecom lingo was another matter altogether.

When I read the excel sheet which contained their analysis, I had this overall idea that something was wrong and they were not too eager to let me have the connection. Why would that happen? Airtel does exist in Koramangala, it’s the hotspot of the city.

I had misunderstood maybe. So I let the Airtel person tell it to me. Well, the “sub-pillar” was “choked” he told me on email. It meant they had a lot of customers in Koramangala. So many that they could not handle. And then came the bomb: We would request you to go to another Internet provider.

There, I thought. Now, thats provoking. You’ve just given me the ticket to go to your bosses up there, lad. They ought to know, someone down there is actually shooing people away. What’s more, you’d be famous on my blog too.

So this is the email, I had the pleasure of writing.

A few days back I had an email correspondence with one of your ******* managers. I had asked him for a connection in Koramangala, Bangalore. After some days, he had told me about a feasibility report which said that the “Sub-pillar” was choked and also suggested me to go to any other service provider.

I feel sad about the state of affairs in your company since in effect, you are asking me to go to another service provider, i.e, your competitor. It is very unusual for a company to redirect it’s prospective customers to the competition.

As per your advice, I have gone ahead and taken a connection from another service provider, which happens to be Airtel’s competitor in the market. They were more than ready to accept me as a customer.

I hope you realise the effect this could have to your organization.

Thank you,

xxx

Of course, it’s my friend who has gone to another service provider. Me, I have been off-Airtel for the past so many months now. That’s because they don’t provide service in this part of the city. But even if they did, would they provide me a connection? I doubt it.

A 20 minute stay in the mall nearest to my house (and one of the biggest in the city) during the not-so-peak hours reveals how people are accepting the Mall culture. (Also, How I am going about accepting the same.)

Curiosity brings them here. The Advertisement and Marketing department of the respective brand takes care of the rest. Lets talk about the first point, Curiosity.

A few examples here could be a better way to explain this.

A man carries his 5 year old son on his shoulders, gets him an ice-cream cone (From McDonalds) and walks towards the outer boundary of the building and sits there. He has just come out of the mall and he has one rapidly melting ice-cream cone to show for his shopping. In his shirt pocket, he carries the brochure of the Nokia N-Series phone. In the rare moments that the son fails to get his papa’s attention, the papa is busy staring, with wide eyes, the crowd that the mammoth building keeps churning inside.

During almost every visit to the mall, I need to use the escalator. And everytime I see someone struggle trying to use it. They are afraid of putting their feet on this moving carpet of metal. They are overwhelmed by the brands that surround them, all of a sudden, but they keep coming in thousands.

They are afraid but they are curious too. It’s like learning to swim. Because they like it when they survive those little anxious moments.

So this is the face of the changing India. The Big-town and The Small-town India coming to terms with the Great Mall Culture.

Once they get in, the advertisements take control. Have you noticed how every single minute you spend on the street is full of advertisements? Lets go back to the Mall for a moment here. I see a giant Shahrukh Khan asking me to have a Cola. On a huge billboard, a woman tells me to buy this particular brand of Jeans. You can’t just miss the woman, such is the attention her figure demands. You know, I think it’s funny how nowadays they manage to advertise about clothes without letting the models who advertise for it, wear any.

Then, there are on-the-spot saloon-style-haircuts from a shampoo company. One malt product company (no, not beer) wants you to try their new offering in ice-cold milk. A few stalls ahead, a mobile phone, for just Rs.22,000. Just? They would have laughed if a decade back someone had even suggested the idea of selling a phone for this amount. And even if they all got convinced about it, no one would have believed that people would actually buy it. But people are buying it you know.

They take personal loans to buy a phone nowadays.

The feeling I get in the 20 minutes I manage to stay in this very stressful place is that everyone wants my money. Everyone. They want me to come, open my wallet and spend some cash or swipe the plastic. But if I agree to the job, they’ll take everything.

So, I’m backing out.

I am in Goa to watch India play England in the 3rd ODI. As the airport is a stone’s throw from where I live in Goa, I thought it made more sense to get into the arrivals lounge and try to meet our cricketers.

And meet I did. First came Chappell. Then Sehwag (No matter how much he advertises for Reliance CDMA, he uses Airtel) To follow him, Kaif, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, Dravid, Gambhir, RP Singh and Agarkar. Yes, I talked with a few, clicked a lot of photographs, took a *lot* of autographs. One thing I would like to mention though, Dravid is a class apart. I mean, there is certainly an air of calmness he carries around with him. Totally composed. And he is very generous, did not refuse anyone an autograph. Maybe it was his way to thank his fans for where he is today.

Then of course, came the Englishmen or the ‘poms’ as many call them. Freddie Flintoff is tall and expects people to stay away. Pietersen could almost pass as an Irish rock star. Anderson is smart and Hoggard seems like he has just woken up from a tight sleep and/or is drunk. But unlike their Indian counterparts, they did not oblige us. They sat their in the lounge for a longer duration of time, yet preferred to stay away. But it’s understandable. Afterall they have won the ashes. (If you think success has gone to their head, umm..too late)

Pictures soon!

Here it is, the testimonial of my travelling and some experiences during the past year and a half in Bangalore!

I must mention here, a couple of pictures have not been taken by me. I wish to thank those who have let these photos be a part of my diary of experiences. They know who they are.

It was wonderful to witness the following images ‘in real’. Capturing these pictures was a magnificent experience. Every single one of them.

Travelling through Maharashtra


The puppy in Kasauli


Out there in Andhra


Above the clouds: Mahabaleshwar


More Mahabaleshwar


The Church in Goa


The Blessing of Pondicherry!


Bullet the Blue Sky: SuryaKirans in formation: AeroIndia Bangalore 2005


Colouring the sky with the tricolor: SuryaKirans in formation: AeroIndia Bangalore 2005


Blending Colors: India versus Pakistan, March 2005, Bangalore


And the best: To have the honour of photographing the Little Master!