Fleece While You Can

As I a turned at a red light to take what I thought was a free-left, I was pulled over by a cop, who was part of a group of three and told sternly that I had run a red light. I politely pointed out that there was no board saying  "No Free Left" -- which is when one is supposed to stop at a red light for a left turn.

No, the cop insisted, if the left turn is regulated by a light, then there is no need for a board. Please hand over your license. I did -- he looked it over and then said -- since this is an out_of_state_license i'll offer you a discount (50%!). I politely declined the discount and said I would pay the entire amount in return for a receipt. And I did.

"Courtesy" to state guests apart, here's my point. A fundamental traffic rule changed overnight -- no free lefts allowed any more at signals with traffic lights. If I reach a traffic light that is already red, I have no way of know whether the traffic light governs the free left or not.

Neither was the rule socialized, nor was a "No Free Left" board placed at the junction. The method of communication was to stop me and fleece me (pay a bribe or pay a fine).

The cops were lying in wait precisely because they knew that drivers were not aware of the change. Once people get to know, there will be no cops at the junction. Which basically means -- the purpose of a traffic cop is to fleece unsuspecting drivers, not punish habitual rule-breakers.

Isn't this totally unethical?

Thugs, Robbers and Dacoits!

I've already blogged about HSBC's thuggery and unscrupulous banking methods. The call I got today, however, completely took away the cake, the baker and the bakery for good measure.

HDFC wanted me to take their lifetime free Titanium credit card which apparently comes with a slew of great "features" (the CSR took more than a minute to describe them). I listened politely and then politely refused. The CSR, however, was persistent and began to tell me how very beneficial the card would be and ... At that point I politely told her that I had had a bad experience with "lifetime free" credit cards and didn't want another one.

She asked, was that an HDFC card I had problems with? No, I replied, that was HSBC. She brightened immediately. Ma'am, she began -- HDFC is different. Our lifetime free card is very different. It actually carries an annual fee of Rs 199. Only if you SPEND more than Rs 5000 within the first three months, you become eligible to call and ask for a waiver of the fee!

This would classify as funny if only it didn't seem so totally unethical.

Kailash cannot be

Years ago my sister lived in Delhi and laughed at the names of places. There were, she said, areas called "East of Kailash", "Greater Kailash I", Greater Kailash II". But where was Kailash?

Well, I now live in Bangalore and understand...

We have two Ring Roads. One is called the Inner or Intermediate Ring Road. The other, in order to completely avoid confusion is called Outer Ring Road! So where, exactly is RING Road?

I am certain, even if a circular road gets built between the two Ring Roads, it will be called something like Middle Ring Road or Second Ring Road (correct whichever way you start counting ;-)). Ring Road cannot be ;-).

Neither can Kailash ;-)

Perfection is Illusory

I was asked, "Have you straightened your hair recently?" for the third time in one week. My reply was the same as always, "No, I was born with this hair". The response "Oh, I straighten my hair periodically, otherwise it looks awful" set me thinking about contemporary "issues".

Is my hair straight enough?
Is my skin fair enough?
Are my eyebrows shapely enough?
Are my nails shaped enough?
Is my figure perfect enough?
And on and on ...

As we answer these questions to the satisfaction of the bottom-lines of the "aesthetics" industry, till reach what is the most important question of all: Is my self-esteem high enough? I wonder what percentage of the population will be able to say yes to that one ...

Why Fight?

As we wait for the Ayodhya verdict, I was trying to explain the issue to my 7 year old. I said, people couldn't  decide whether there should be a temple or a mosque in Ayodhya, so they started fighting. Now the judges will tell them what there should be.

His reaction -- but they are both places of worship. So then why fight?

Indeed. Why?

Update: here's how I explained the judgment that came in. The judges said, stop fighting and build BOTH!

This is not Governance

The Supreme Court today saved us from having to hear the Ayodhya verdict tomorrow. India's civil society heaved a collective sigh of relief and prepared to get on with life until the next "date" for the verdict. I admire the way the SC handled the situation -- postpone the verdict a day before it is due, next hearing about when the verdict can be delivered two days before the judge delivering the verdict retires, thus paving the way for a lengthy re-trial.

On the other hand, I am completely appalled by the reaction of the Karnataka government.When faced with the possibility of a law and order situation following the verdict, the CM, instead of taking preventive measures by taking lumpen elements into custody and sending out a stern warning to hooligans, decided to ... impose curfew for students of all ages! All public and private schools and colleges were declared shut for two days.

This knee-jerk surrender to the lawless will just strengthen the hands of the lumpen elements of society who are always on the lookout for an excuse to cause trouble.

The *correct* response from a good government would have been to tell parents to send their children to school and take responsibility of their safety, while dealing strongly with potential troublemakers, thus sending a message that society cannot be held to ransom by those who flout the law.

Increasingly, it seems to me that law and order is becoming meaningless in India -- might is what prevails. Why then do we need governments at all, if at the time for governance, they helplessly throw up their hands and lock up the innocent?

Children are Precious

As I was driving into the parking lot of my apartment complex this afternoon, I met three little children playing cricket in the driveway in front of my slot. They looked ages 6 and under were completely unchaperoned -- not even a babysitter in sight, let alone a parent. They saw my car approach and moved into another slot to wait while I parked.

Now, I always reverse and park, so I edged my car ahead of the slot and then turned to see if the children were safe so that I could back in. That's when one little boy decided that it was a good idea to play games with my car. He squatted behind my car in the driveway. I saw him do it and called out to him that was unsafe and he should move to the side. The little fellow stuck his fingers in his ears and pretended not to hear me. Of course, as I began slowly backing into my slot, he quickly moved away.

Being a mom myself, I was absolutely shocked to see children under 6 unchaperoned in, of all places, parking lots. One of the children then told me it was too hot to play in the play-area so they were hanging out in the parking lot. Of course it was too hot to be in an unshaded play-area in the middle of the afternoon!

That's when I understood what was going on. The children had been sent out of the house to the play-area in order to let people at home rest in peace without the noise of television, computer games or simply childish voices. The children, in their innocence, found the play-area too hot and relocated their game to the parking lot.

I don't blame the children. What about the caregivers?

When I was growing up, we weren't allowed to go out of the house in the afternoon, and we weren't allowed to play noisy games either. Afternoon was quiet time, adults rested and children were expected to keep ourselves occupied in quiet ways. If we couldn't think of *anything* to do, then sitting quietly getting bored was just fine. Of course, no child ever gets bored. Afternoons were spent reading books, drawing, and colouring pictures, among other things.

Which brings me to my point. Today, adults complain that children are rowdy, and not interested in "intellectual pursuits". Here's my question: have the caregivers ever tried to create an atmosphere that enables such pursuit? It is quite possible that the first time you ask a child who hasn't been told to stay home in the afternoon to do so quietly, the child will rebel. Calm, firm and PATIENT handling will eventually help create an atmosphere where the child will begin to gravitate towards "quiet" activities.

How many parents are ready to do this? I have heard moms say 'X doesn't listen to me' and take the easy way out of leaving the child unchaperoned in play areas, parking lots and even elevators.

It really makes me wonder. Of course parenting is a great joy, but isn't it an equally big responsibility? Don't our children have the right to our time -- to chaperone them, to set limits and boundaries, to firmly and calmly enforce them, to steer them towards activities that will stand them in good stead through life? Are we now so selfish that we are ready to gamble even on the safety of our children in order to enjoy our own life?

Childhood is fleeting and children are precious -- enjoy your child's childhood by cherishing parenting in all its glory -- a large part of which is responsibility to your child.

Can we have some *Planning* please?

This is a blog post that has been a while in the making -- coming out of the copious amounts of driving that I have been doing in Namma Benguluru over the last few years.

Here is the typical trend: For months on end, roads either exist in name only or not even that way -- they are kachcha. Then, an election is announced and overnight roads get made and tarred. Not end-to-end, of course, because what's life without a few bumps and roller coaster rides. The ends, i.e., where the roads meet each other are left undone. Still, something is better than nothing think the hapless drivers who have been trashing their cars on mud roads or craters.

Within two weeks of the new road being tarred, along come the cable and pipe layers and *systematically* dig up the roads, 'working' on them for a few days and then just disappearing. The end result is that we are back to square one -- a road that either exists in name only or not at all.

Which brings me to my point. Private citizens don't dig public roads. All digging is done by some government agency (water, electricity, ...). How hard is it for the agencies to simply *talk* to each other so that the digging/road-laying sequence can be done right? At the very least, if the road laying agency publishes a schedule of estimated road-laying times, the other agencies can raise a red flag if they plan work under any of those in the near future, and negotiate time-lines.

A little bit of planning and coordination will go a long way in saving taxpayer money, improving service delivery and positively impacting the lives of citizens.

The Academics/Sports Balance

When I was growing up, academics was king, and children who weren't good at "studies" had a hard time, irrespective of any other talent they had. Children were ranked on marks they got in classroom tests in conventional subjects. Beyond the first few rankers, the others were routinely hauled over coals by teachers. School-life was pretty miserable for most children.

Over the years, educators started to realize the futility of their "academics-only" approach --  the impact it had on the psychology of the many (after all, only a few can be academic toppers). Education started to become more inclusive. Educators began to talk about "all-rounders" -- children who study and play and do art, or some combination of the three. 

Now,  it seems to me that the pendulum has swung too hard in the opposite direction. While academics are no longer overtly competitive, at least in primary schools, sport continues to be VERY competitive, separating losers from winners: publicly recognizing and rewarding the top 3 only. So how does this impact the psychology of the academically inclined, but not naturally sporty children? Their doing brilliantly at, say, math. is not really recognized because of the conscious toning down of focus on competition in the classroom. However, if they aren't into sport, this lack of "sportiness" comes into sharp focus because the sports field continues to be VERY competitive, even in school.

What happens to the self-esteem of a child who is, say, a whizkid at math. but misses hitting the target with his ball throws, and then has his classmates jeering about it? What is the message we are sending to him and his peers? It seems to me that the message is: even if you do badly in academics, you MUST do well in sports. Isn't this same message of the yesteryear with the words academics and sports interchanged?

IMO, what we need is a balance, and recognition of the fact that each child is truly unique. While we have stopped hauling a potential Tendulkar over coals for his math. grade, can we also stop pushing the future-Einsteins to train for professional cricket?

Beware of Unscrupulous Banking Methods

I have already blogged about how HSBC is the world's local thug. Now here's a lowdown of what is going on behind the scenes.

A very close friend got her HSBC relationship manager to try and figure out why I was being harassed by collection agents over annual fee of an expired lifetime free card. It turns out that the card I hold is problem free. HSBC has conveniently tagged another card without my knowledge, consent or signature to my profile. How can I be held liable for a card that I have neither requested nor accepted from HSBC?

Which brings me to my point. When we begin a relationship with a bank for ANY reason (bank account, credit card, demat account, insurance), we provide them with a whole host of personal information that goes into their automated systems. When the relationship gets over, like in my case, with the expiry of a credit card, this information continues to reside with the bank. Unscrupulous banks like HSBC then use this information to electronically tag additional bogus products to the profile. When I spoke to customer service, the lady admitted that HSBC had never actually issued a card after the expiry of the one I had -- it was being held in "safe-custody". Duh?

Customers that setup ECS payment options may not notice and the bank makes money over these non-services. Other customers like me, who notice and object, get threatened by aggressive thugs hired by the bank. Often people tend to pay the money demanded, not because it is owed, but because they want the harassment to stop --  further adding to the bank bottom-line. 

Let's take this line of action to the next step. Given the amount of personal information that HSBC holds, what if they decide to slap a personal loan onto my profile? Since this will be done without my knowledge or consent, they can hold it for me in "safe-custody". Then pass on my number to their thugs to extract interest.

To those who believe that bankers have a conscience and would "never do that", I urge you to look at who and what caused the economic meltdown that the world is struggling to recover from.


I have explicitly named HSBC in my blog posts, because I have been a victim of what I can only call their fraudulent ways. This is not say that other private banks are any better -- just that I have had the good fortune of staying away from them.

Is there any recourse for hapless individuals like me? Well here's what I plan to do from now on (what seems like good advice from another friend). I will maintain a relationship with *one* bank for all my financial needs. This way the bank stands to lose a LOT if they act sleazy and I decide to take my business away. For all one-off requirements, I will approach nationalized banks, who may be slow and in-flexible but are atleast bankers and not sleazy thieves.

Fingers crossed.

HSBC: The World's Local Thug

Today (August 24, 2010), HSBC's collection agent called and threatened me to pay annual fee on a life-time free credit card that expired in May 2009.

I had a "life-time" free credit card from HSBC from May 2007 to May 2009 that I rarely used. Of course, every May, they would slap on a Rs 2000 + taxes "annual fee", which I would call customer service and get reversed. When the card finally expired in May 2009, I heaved a sigh of relief -- no more calls to HSBC.


To my surprise, this May (2010) I got an SMS saying the "annual fee" was due. "Annual fee" for a LIFETIME FREE card that had *expired*. So I called customer service at the usual number (Bangalore 25589696) and told them that this was an expired life-time free card, and I wanted it canceled. The agent assured me he would block it and that I should call at a less busy time to complete the formality of cancellation.

It slipped out of my mind till I received another SMS from them this month saying that the cash and credit limits have been lowered. So then this Sunday (August 22, 2010), I called customer service again and asked for the expired card to be canceled.

The call was transferred to a "superior" who tried to tell me that 50% of the annual fee would be waived, could I please remain a customer? After all, the bank had been nice enough to block my card and not send me a new one when mine expired last year. When I pointed out that it was a "life-time" free card anyway, she "graciously" offered to waive the entire annual fee, if I remained a customer. All that I would need to do each year, she said, was call when I received the annual fee SMS and it would be reversed. I declined her "kind" offer and said I wanted the relationship terminated and the "annual fee" reversed. She said in a cold voice that it would take four working days.

Then today, two days after I called, I received a call from Mohan (+914442253400, at 16.47) -- collection agent of HSBC.  I owed HSBC Rs 3000 and the minimum due was Rs 400 he told me aggressively. I was completely taken aback because I lead a TOTALLY debt-free life; even the time that I had a valid HSBC card, I always paid bills on time and never had outstanding balances. I lost my cool and said I would call the cops but he did not back down till the call ended.

I am quite sure that HSBC has their sleazy banker posteriors covered by their lawyers for this shocking behavior. What about ethics? Have they really reached such a low that they need to harass women who are not even their customers any more?

Update: I called customer service Bangalore again this morning (August 25, 2010) and spoke with "Nandini" (supervisor: "Hamid"). She told me that the card had been blocked on June 4 and a request for cancellation had been placed on August 22, 2010. When I asked her why collection agents were calling me, she said there was an outstanding and oh, as per the officer who I spoke to on August 22, 2010, the amount on the card would be reversed when the card was canceled, again within 4 working days. She now pegs the last date of HSBC harassment at August 30, 2010.

The Seasons of India

As a child, I was taught that there are four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Summer and winter were easy enough to understand, and I even accepted that winter "snow" and "snowmen" were actually possible. "Spring" I took to be the season just after the monsoon -- the monsoon bringing rain and renewal. Growing up in the city of Mumbai, I was always confounded by "autumn"; each time I saw a brown leaf (yes you do see a few leaves even in Mumbai), I would be convinced the season had arrived.

Which brings me to my point. Why was I, and why are Indian children, taught that there are four seasons? We have three seasons -- two standard ones (summer and winter) and then one that others don't have -- monsoons! The monsoon -- life-giving, glorious at times and fearsome at others, is also closely linked to the economy and quality of life in the country.

When will we learn to accept and value what is ours, instead of blindly following others?

Solve Interesting Problems

Seth Godin says in his book "Linchpin": "School expects that our best students will graduate to become trained trigonometricians. They'll be hired by people to compute the length of the hypotenuse of a certain right triangle. What a waste.  The only reason to learn trigonometry is because of a momentarily interesting question, one worth sorting out. But then we should move on, relentlessly seeking out new problems, ones even more interesting than that one. The idea of doing it by rote, of relentlessly driving the method home, is a total waste of time."

I completely agree that schools (and colleges) are way off the mark to create trained trigonometricians. This why there is so much angst when these "trained trigonometricians" reach the industry.

Using trigonometry as a place holder for varied kinds of school learning, it should be learnt not as an end in itself but as a technique, a way of approaching a certain kind of problem. School should be able to make clear that neither is trigonometry the only problem, nor the only solution. In other words, the job of a school is NOT to teach subject matter, but to equip a child with solution-discovery tools. As the child grows older and faces the world, s/he will encounter problems that school cannot realistically even BEGIN to anticipate -- therefore it becomes vitally important to equip the child to be able to find solutions to such  issues. The real success of a school is if it manages to teach the child "how to learn" to solve -- any given problem, i.e., the purpose of education is NOT subject matter but "learning/problem solving/solution finding techniques". This is a much broader mandate than even the most loaded curriculum today aims to fulfill.

Having said that, there is also some merit in solving lots and lots of "trigonometry" problems. This gives children the confidence that after having discovered a problem solving method or a solution, it *is* possible to master it by practice. In fact, the ONLY way to master *any* skill is to relentlessly practice it till it becomes a way of life -- whether the skill is finding the length of a hypotenuse or playing an instrument. This may at times be repetitive or boring -- but it is absolutely true that success is 99% perspiration.

In my opinion, the issue is not repetition but the way subject matter is introduced in the first place. I am not an educator, but in my experience as a student, I learnt to "learn" only when I was doing a post graduate course in a reputed institute with teachers who were knowledgeable and passionate about the subject enough to be able to encourage inquiry-based learning and a fantastically equipped library to enable research was about 15 steps away from the classroom.

My experience as a parent tells me that children are born with the spirit of inquiry and logical thinking. They are amazingly good at being able to reason through even extremely complex scenarios, leading to questions that sometimes stump us adults because WE have not taken the logical thought process as far as them.

All that school needs to do is design a curriculum that makes use of this innate childhood ability. Easier said than done?

Simplicity, where are you?

It's THAT time of the year -- tax season. After several rounds of information hunts spanning a few weeks between the accountant and me, we finally had my tax return prepared on the penultimate day of filing.

The accountant declared that I needed to pay self-assessed tax. No problem, I replied, I've seen the option on Netbanking, and dutifully logged in. Within a matter of minutes the whopping sum had been debited from my account, an email confirming the same had been forwarded to the accountant and I put my feet up.

Then the phone rang. It was the accountant again. Madam, he said, I need the challan number. Yes, yes, I replied, I've sent you the email from the bank. Of course, he had seen it and there wasn't a challan number on it. I scanned it and found that there was a 7-digit Reference Id but no challan number. Then I remembered that the LAST time I used Netbanking for paying tax, the challan number had been sent to me the NEXT day, and told him as much.

The NEXT day  there was still no email from the bank, so I called Phone Banking. The CSR assured me that I could go ahead and use the Reference Id to file my return, because the challan number takes 48 hours to generate (and of course we were at the last day of filing returns already).

Another call the to the accountant. Use the Reference Id, I told him. But madam, said the accountant, the Reference Id has 7 digits and the e-tax filing system only takes 5 digits in the challan number field.

Duh?

Finally we figured that the government had received the monIES anyway and so we would go ahead and use the first 5 digits of the Reference Id in the challan number field and then update it later when we had a challan number.

Now here's my question. Why can't we just have ONE number? Of the SAME length? In the SAME format? That the bank and the tax authorities can use and understand? What value is being added in ANYBODY's life by having to track the 7 digit Reference ID which will eventually get linked to the 5 digit challan number?

Simplicity, where are you?

Update: so here's why there is no "challan number" upfront. The bank in question is not a nationalized bank and is not authorized to collect taxes in the first place (strange how they forgot to mention this on the website?). So apparently they piggy back on other nationalized banks to actually remit the money to the government. The Reference Id (all 7 digits of it) is a piece of junk as far as the government is concerned. Now waiting for the needful to happen so I can get the CHALLAN NUMBER.

Economically non-productive?

The Indian census clubbed housewives with prostitutes, beggars and prisoners. All of them -- "economically non-productive workers".

The women who put together home-cooked meals early each morning so that their families eat healthy. The women (many of whom willingly cut back on careers) who give birth to and raise children -- the famed "demographic dividend" of the nation. The women who play childish games for the umpteenth time because their children love it. The women who work all day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year because housework truly never ends. Basically the women who convert houses to homes.

Of course it is hard to put an economic value to all that a home-maker does -- simply because it is priceless. So why then, does the government think that if something cannot be measured in rupees, it is automatically worthless?

I will *never* be a Tata Indicom customer

I will never *ever* be a customer of Tata Indicom. No matter *how* fantastic their products are. Here's why.

My nephew bought a Tata Indicom Photon+ data card, and he gave *my* cell number as the emergency contact number. (Without informing me but quality of one's relatives is quite another story!) Thus began my problems. Every single night, starting at 9.30 pm, and going on till 5.30 am, I get Photon+ status messages on unused bandwidth. Is *this* what Tata Indicom calls customer service? Having the cell phone of hapless "emergency contacts" ring through the night?

I visited the website that was given in the message and left a comment asking for SMS to be turned off for the data card (I gave the number of the data card). Nothing happened.

I happen to be an avid user of text messages and I don't have incoming messages set to silent. It is torture to be woken up repeatedly, night after night to find out what the unused balance on someone else's data card is.

To give the owner of the data card a wee bit of credit, when he found out about the issue, he tried setting it right by calling the customer "care" number. He never got through. When he went to the store this Saturday, he was told the issue could only be resolved on Monday -- Saturday being the beginning of the weekend and all.

Now here's my question. What kind of moron designed the Tata Indicom customer "care" system? Does Tata Indicom really believe that Photon+ data card customers (or their emergency contacts) want to know the  balance on the card (even if unchanged) *4* times every NIGHT, night after night? Who is their target customer -- insomniacs?

Which brings me to my point. Photon may be a great data card, but I will *never* buy it (or any other Tata Indicom product, for that matter), because I don't want to be stuck with a product that has shoddily designed support systems and inaccessible customer service.

Update: The messages have been turned off from my cell number. Tata Indicom called yesterday and I've gotten my cell number removed from that particular data card.

My view on TED talks

Down with a viral, I spent a part of the day watching TED Talks.

The first one I saw was by Sheena Iyengar, who strikes me as being completely in the Malcolm Gladwell mould. I forwarded it to a friend who promptly sent me an awesome talk by VS Ramachandran -- he spoke about his path-breaking work on understanding the human brain.

I spent some more time on the TED website and watched talks by:

• Nandan Nilekani -- He summarized his book in the TED Talk. Thanks, saves me the trouble of reading it :-)
• Aditi Shankardass -- She talks about developmental disorders in children diagnosed by observing behavior, instead of looking directly at their brains, leading to misdiagnoses (60% of autism diagnoses made by observing behavior are incorrect). Inspiring.
• Jane Chen -- She is building $25 incubators to save babies in the developing world. A noble pursuit, but while $25 may look like a huge saving from the $20,000 incubator that hospitals in the Western world have, it is STILL hugely expensive for her target customer -- the rural poor in India who cannot afford a bus ride to the free government hospital 4 hours away. This also came in for some criticism in the comments section for not having mentioned Kangaroo Mother Care which is available (freely and for free) atleast until the $25 incubator can be built and shipped.
• Ellen Gustafson -- This was a TED talk completely devoid of substance. So you get called to talk at TED just because of a marketing campaign you designed over bags?
• Nalini Nadkarni -- She spoke about her experience with trees and prisons. Mildly interesting.
• VS Ramachandran -- Yes, another one about mirror neurons. A must-watch. Behavioral research findings say children exposed to violence in cartoons and computer games get de-sensitized to violence. This talk probably holds the scientific key to the underlying reasons -- mirror neurons firing without the feedback from the sensory skin receptors.

My conclusion based on this completely random selection of TED talks: TED has some awesome nuggets buried amid talks that range from mildly interesting to complete "fluff".

Co-ed Classrooms work in India

Mark Parkinson wrote an interesting blog post about whether children should study in same-sex classrooms. While the Newsweek article underlying the blog post is about the US, some years ago I made the decision to send my (now) 7 year old son to a co-ed school in India.

My reasons:

• In India, it is considered quite ok to be rough with boys, with a smack now and again being fair game. More so in a boys-only environment where everyone is expected to be rough and tough and take it "like a man", irrespective of age. However, little boys are also people with feelings!
• Boys-only schools still tend to have corporal punishment (although this may change due to recent tragic events)
• Boys should see girls as "normal people" of the opposite sex and not aliens (and vice versa). Much easier to buy in to gender stereotypes if you don't actually have peers of the opposite sex.

On another note, it isn't as if boys-only schools in India offer education customized to boys' "needs" as is being done in the US. The classrooms, the syllabus and even the teachers are the same, irrespective of whether the school is for girls, boys, or both.

So far, my faith in the coed classroom remains unshaken. My son does well in school, is good at math., a voracious reader and has friends of both sexes. He gets along (and also fights) equally with boys AND girls. In fact, his school has semi-free seating and he sits next to girls as normally as he sits next to boys, with no eyebrows being raised, or, as far as I can see, learning being compromised!

More Good Books Please

My 7 year old and I went to a bookstore today and to my great joy, I found a pile of Pratham books! I am a HUGE fan of these hard-to-find, high-quality childrens' books (published in multiple Indian languages). Top authors and illustrators donate their work to Pratham, helping them to publish well written, beautifully illustrated, extremely affordable books. We ended up buying a book on the river Cauvery.

So why am I blogging about this?

There were two (yes just TWO) measly piles of < 50 English-only titles, hidden in a corner of a three-storey bookstore. I found them quite by accident. In an even more sorry state were books by yet another not-for-profit publisher -- CBT (two piles in an even more obscure corner). On the other hand, the store was FULL of similarly priced but terrible quality books that have flooded the market in recent years. Books designed to fit budgets with average stories penned in poor English. Books picked up by school libraries because multiple copies are freely available within their budget. Books freely given as birthday gifts because the child can get *6* new books within the gift budget.

Why does this happen? Could it be that Pratham and CBT being not-for-profit aren't able to lure bookstores the way crappy book publishers do? Lower/no margins? But what about corporate philanthropy? Wouldn't giving publishers like Pratham and CBT a decent display be the most value-for-money kind of philanthropy for a bookstore?

How else can Pratham and CBT reach a wider audience? One publisher of quality books has a non-conventional way -- Scholastic always sets up a book fair at the school PTM (3-4 times a year) and then donates a percentage of proceeds in the form of books to the school library. Win-win.

What else can Pratham and CBT do to join Scholastic books (and replace "budget" books) on bookshelves at school and home?

The 9-to-9 work culture

It is normal for people to be at work late into the evening, beyond the "official" working hours. Once home, it's time to go "online" to process any email that may have come in from the time they left work to the time they stepped into their home. I know managers who check email at 11.45 pm (last thing before bed) and others who wake up at 4 am to peep into their inboxes (just in case something can't wait till 6 am?)

The hours that a person works is now his personal badge of honor. People routinely "joke" (brag is the correct word) about the hours that they work. Sometimes it seems like a contest, the winner being the moron who works the most hours.

So, what happens "at "work" between 9-to-9 (or 10 or 11, depending on the individual in question)? My observations:

• People who work late also tend to walk in late in the morning, thus losing the most productive part of a workday. The excuse is the long hours spent at work the previous evening.
• They begin their day by checking email, yahoo, gmail, facebook, news, etc., followed by a cup of coffee and some chit-chat.
• Then they begin to do serious work -- it is about 11 am or later by now. 
• Breakfast was hours ago, so pretty soon it's time for a noon time snack.
• Back to work, not very productive, since they've just eaten and anyway who can concentrate at noon?
• Lunch by about 2.30 pm.
• Some more work
• Tea
• Work
• Snacks
• Rush and scramble to meet the overdue deadline

There was a time (when I was growing up) and my father went to work -- he left office when work hours ended and got home in time to see and talk to us kids.

So, was my father less productive than the people today? I don't think so!

Waste not, Want not

I was recently chatting with a friend of mine who heads Human Resources for a very niche firm. She mentioned that the organization who runs facilities for her firm charges an-arm-and-a-leg to run air conditioning beyond 6.30 pm and on holidays. Employees are therefore discouraged from staying late or coming in on weekends and holidays. If they absolutely have to, they are asked to work in a small area such as a conference room instead of their regular desks in order to minimize the power requirements.

This is a *big* switch from the days when people were  routinely expected to work late (offices looked almost the same at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm). People who regularly did all-nighters were looked upon as heroes.

Well, post-recession, with companies looking to cut costs wherever they can, the practice of working late/night-outs is suddenly looking very expensive. The price of electricity is inadvertently making corporations cognizant about their carbon footprint!

But ... what about productivity? By "restricting" the hours that employees can comfortably spend at work, aren't corporates losing out on it?

Both my friend and I agreed that they weren't. The problem with long-hour corporate cultures is that they actually encourage waste! For employees who walk in to work late in the morning and see a 12-14 hour stretch of day before them, the motivation to work efficiently is sadly missing. The day begins with leisurely chats over coffee/breakfast, followed by an extensive check of email/twitter/facebook and other sundry websites. Then there is g-chat, yahoo messenger, msn messenger and other such devices to spend time over. Lunch. Oh, and meetings that go on for hours because nobody needs to leave at any specific time.

Little wonder then that hours fly by and folks need to work late to meet deadlines!

The Threat of Merit

Can you relate to this?

"There were still a few men of great ability around, but they found it increasingly difficult to function in an environment vitiated by the parasites, who, being men of no merit, could progress only by pulling down or pushing aside others, especially those of merit, for the greatest obstruction to the progress of mediocrities was the presence of an office or true ability in their midst."

These lines from "Emperors of the Peacock Throne" by Abraham Eraly who is talking about the quality of "amirs" in the Mughal era. What struck me is that they ring so true even today.

Looks like we have a long, rich, unbroken traditional heritage of mediocrity, sycophancy and crabs-in-the-bucketism!

How do I Win?

I played Monopoly after years with my soon-to-be-7 year old son yesterday. It was his first time, and even as he absorbed the rules of buying property, collecting salary, getting rent and going to jail, he kept asking me -- how do I win?

I thought about it and even looked over the rules briefly. As far as I could tell, you can't win or lose at Monopoly. Much like life -- it goes on with its ups and downs till it comes to an end.

The person who cornered most of the properties on the board kept going to jail :-P. My son learned about "profit" when he had to buy property from me at more its market value. He diligently saved up to build "houses". He learned about income tax -- you are so rich that they want money from you to build roads :-P.

:-)

My views on the RTE

The Right To Education (RTE) Act that got passed in India has been in the news lately. Most recently, I watched an "interview" of Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister on Barkha Dutt's "We the People".

Based on the information I have, here are some of the issues I see.

Cost
The 25% reservation that government mandates in private schools is going to be funded "by the money spent by government on each child". That is Rs 13,000 according to Mr Sibal. I will pay close to Rs 80,000 this academic year for my son, excluding bus, cafetaria, and uniform costs. Who will bridge the gap?

According to Mr Sibal, school fee is a state subject and 90% of the states do not regulate it in any way. So what does this mean? The remaining 75% of parents will have to bear the difference for the 25% reserved seats. This is *completely* unfair -- a triple whammy. I pay taxes, I pay education cess on taxes and THEN I pay to subsidize 25% of the reserved seats in school!

Overturning Capitalism?
Mr Sibal did mention that private schools are for-profit enterprises (they are -- they make money on everything including a pair of school socks), and they should "use that profit" fund the 25% reserved seats.

My first response to that is "yeah right". A more considered response is this: why single the for-profit education sector? Why not mandate that ALL for-profit enterprises should put aside "x"% of their profits for education? But hey, isn't this ALREADY happening when we pay taxes and education cess?

Impact on the child
This one applies to private schools where the medium of instruction is English. By class 1, children are expected to be able to read and write English fairly fluently. I don't see any plan of pre-tutoring the children coming into the reserved seats, so they can cope with the medium of instruction. Or is this simply going to be fodder for the local governments to convert the medium of instruction of ALL schools to the local language? (I live in Bangalore where there was a huge ruckus over this issue a few years ago.)

Private School Infrastructure
Are the reserved seats going to come at the expense of "regular" seats or will they be additional seats? The former will impact "non-economically weak" parent; the latter raises the question: who will bear the infrastructure costs of additional classrooms, labs and so on?

To quote Mr Sibal again, 7% of schools in India are private and the rest of the "expenditure" on education is done by the government. These 7% schools cater to ~20% of school going children. This is already disproportionate. and additional seats will mean that 7% of schools will now cater to over 25% of school going children.

Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan
Let's face it -- we live in a country where bribes, sifaarish based on money changing hands, favors and the like rule the roost. I don't see safeguards in place to prevent the 25% reservation from becoming a hotbed of corruption. Mr Sibal did mention "neighbourhood committees" in "catchment areas" but they don't seem adequate to me.


Passing the Buck
It seems to me that reservation of seats in private schools is a fantastic way for the government to pass the buck on building a really solid public school infrastructure -- which is what we really need. My fear is that as with most government schemes, a couple of schools will be built, a few ribbons cut and then the rest of the money will either get squandered or siphoned off.

Conclusion
IMO, RTE is next-gen Garibi Hatao for the Congress and its allies. It will surely win elections. Provide education for all? Remains to be seen.

Books I've read in the recent past

Post Harry Potter (I hated the last one), I've stuck to reading non-fiction (with one exception).

• India After Gandhi -- Ramchandra Guha. Chronicle of the post independence history of India. Reading it is also a "project" in itself :-). IMO, a must-read for all Indians.

• Parva -- S L Bhyrappa. The story of the Mahabharat retold, minus the magic. Vivid descriptions of what war actually is, as opposed to glossed over content of bravery and cowardice. The English translation leaves a lot to be desired, but the content is awesome. Highly recommended.

• The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins.Worth reading  for the horrors of organized religion that it highlights. 

• Leaving Microsoft to Change the World -- John Wood. Interesting read, if a bit too full of "fluff".

• The Enemy At Home -- Dinesh D'Souza. This book is written in typical right-wing American style -- full of half truths and lots of stretches that leave one totally incredulous. A book I regret reading.

• Outliers -- Malcolm Gladwell. One of his best, if you can discount the fact that he comes up with theories from his armchair, without having experts in the field even *read* them once. As I mentioned in another blog post, I read his books for the facts he puts together, not the theories he weaves.

• What The Dog Saw -- Malcolm Gladwell. See above.

• Nickolas and Alexandra -- Robert Massie. The life and times of the last czar or Russia. Very touching. Recommended.

Currently reading "Emperors of the Peacock Throne" by Abraham Eraly and "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.

Recommendations?

My Musical Journey

My relationship with classical music has come a long way. What I used to consider elevator music is now something that I actively seek out and listen to. I go for concerts, search for it online, buy CD's and am constantly trying add to my collection.

When I was in the "elevator music" stage, I never actively sought it and tuned off quite soon whenever I encountered it. It was only once I started learning (from my current and 4th music teacher :-P) that I really started appreciating it. Now, when someone sings a taan, I am able to understand and admire it. I am beginning to spot techniques such as using the beat to drop a few words from the phrase and intersperse with the sound of instruments. I can now "immerse" myself in the beauty of classical music.

The reason is simple. My teacher is an *awesome* singer himself -- the link to his music is about 7 years old, and his voice and technique are like wine. He is teaching me ground up and focuses extensively on technique. And works *very* hard to correct flaws (just today he pointed out that my talking and singing voices were sounding different and they shouldn't, apart from the fact that I was being nasal :-P). A good teacher opens the floodgates of knowledge in the subject of his expertise. Apart from gaining knowledge, one also begins to appreciate the subject and enjoy it.

Which brings me to another point. Now that I have begun to appreciate the "pure" Hindustani classical genre of music, I have begun to move away from "fusion" music like this. Of course, people say that this is one of the ways of keeping our musical tradition "alive", but to me it seems like an apology of a life. Maybe people like the earlier me will not reject this music, but it just doesn't have the beauty and depth of classical music.

A better way to keep our musical tradition alive (and thriving) is to expose our children to the beauty of classical music early. Children who are young enough have no pre-concieved notions of classical music being un-cool. They are like sponges and absorb beauty when they encounter it.

Urged by a friend (thanks for the good counsel :-)), I introduced my son to classical music about a year ago. He was happy to begin his lessons since he saw me doing the same. He is fortunate to be learning from such a wonderful teacher, and he is not yet 7.

I take him for as many music concerts as I can, with a book or two so he can switch between active and passive listening at will. I put him to bed with a CD of classical music (we call them "night" CD's) of his choice, and wake him up with a CD of mine. I usually have some music playing in the background even when we are doing other things.


This is my way blunting the effect of "MTV" which will no doubt seem much "cooler" when he is closer to his teens. At that point, even if he walks away from classical music, I will not mind, knowing that he has a base to which he can and will return once his rebellious years are over.

I hope to let the tradition of Hindustani classical music live on, at least in *my* family :-).

Summer breaks are far too long

It's that dreaded time of the year again when school will be out for *two* months. Summer.

Most parents scramble around at this time of the year to find summer "camps" for children. Places that will keep children out of the house for atleast 3 hours, if not more, preferably with transport provided.


Why? A number of reasons. First, a lot of moms work, and no corporate job gives you two months off in summer. Even school teacher moms in private schools get just one month off, and have to plan for the second month for their own children. Second, even if mom stays home, people now mostly live in nuclear families in apartments. It's hard to keep a child busy at home without him gravitating to the television or PC. Invariably mom and child will spend some time EACH day negotiating time for one or both. Third, most families have fewer children (or just one), and it's hard to keep planning playdates (particularly if mom works). Children need the company of their own age group and summer camps are seen as a way of achieving that.

Summer camps exist by the dozen, so it should just be a matter of choosing the one with activities that appeal to your child, right? In practice, however, it rarely works out that way. Summer camps are rarely run by people who do it for the love of children or their trade/craft. More often than not, organizers see camps as a way to make a quick buck from working parents who really have little choice. Rates per week can be as high as Rs 1500 for a child for a few hours away from home. Most often, at best they are summer nannies, at worst, they could even turn out to hurt your child (physically or otherwise).

Summer camps exist to solve a problem. The problem is that of a two month school vacation. Why, in today's day and age, do schools need to break for two months in summer? Do children really need two months of "unwinding"? From what? Their air conditioned classrooms?

My experience with summer break has been that it totally kills routines, apart from making the child "forget" what he has worked so hard to learn the entire school year. So there is the usual mom-child tug of war of doing *some* "holiday homework" just to reinforce lessons learnt. Some educators also feel that long summer breaks hamper learning.

There is another (weird) fall-out of such long vacations. Schools these days have a packed curriculum in order to appeal to today's "go-getter" parents. Now, the curriculum is *so* packed, and given that summer break is *so* sacrosanct, children end up going to school on Saturdays in order to "complete". Even in grade 1.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe that children *need* unstructured time to potter around, get bored, find ways to amuse themselves. But *two* months is totally excessive.


Isn't this a completely solvable problem?

Here's my solution. Shorten summer break to three weeks. Add two of those five weeks left over to the school year to ensure that there is no school on Saturday. That leaves us with three weeks. Use those three weeks for activities that parents normally look for in summer camps. Puppetry, woodwork, speech, drama, skating, swimming, basketball, cricket, ... the list is endless.

This, IMO, would make for a truly well-rounded school curriculum and also make a world of difference to working parents.

Views?

Why *I* cook

I seem to be part of a fast disappearing breed of (working) women, who not only cooks herself, but also cuts, chops and does dough and chapattis without the help of a maid.

Here's why.

When I cook myself, after mastering a recipe, I enjoy tweaking it to get it to taste different. This is particularly important if one is vegetarian -- after all there are only so many veggies and it is nice to get a different taste with minimal extra effort.


Cooking is a "critical-path" item. Lunch has to be packed and if the help fails to show up on a certain morning, life can turn topsy-turvy if cooking food is outsourced to her. Some people "solve" the problem by cooking the previous day, but I am always suspicious of putting anything other than fresh food in a child's lunch box.


My gas bills are extremely low because *I* am the only one who handles the gas. Unlike maids, who I see turn on the gas first and then go around looking for a pan to place on it.

The quantity of oil and spice can be easily controlled. I have often seen maids dunk food in oil because it cooks faster that way.

My chapattis have been turning out much better since I started kneading dough myself -- because I "knead". I mean -- really knead, not just gather up the powdered flour into a lump.

Last, but probably the most important, I am much more adventurous with food, given that I have the liberty of slicing and dicing the way *I* want. I am not limited to the skill set of the maid. Cooking is a creative activity. Also a great stress-buster. What could be nicer than sitting down to eat a well cooked meal where a new (or long forgotten) dish has been tried?

:-)

Rating software teams

It's getting to be "that" time of the year again -- annual appraisal season. Organizations agonize over the best way to appraise software teams, with terms like "scientific", "objective", "measurable", "bell-curve" and "quantitative" resonating everywhere.

Here's what *I* would do. I would measure software teams based on their ability to keep the customer happy. In other words I would look at timeliness and quality of delivery. The *entire* team (managers, analysts, developers, testers and others) would be responsible for and rated on those two metrics.

This would lead to multiple outcomes, some of which are:

1. In order to deliver software on time, the team would make a conscious investment in automation builds, deploys and scripts.
2. In order to deliver quality software, the team would make a conscious investment in testing (necessarily automation if 1 also needs to be satisfied)
3. In order to deliver quality software on time, development standards would be followed like religion.
4. Last, but the MOST important, the team would go out of its way to identify and eliminate deadwood, irrespective of "role".

A lean, mean fighting machine software team :-). Of course, this would work for a *small* organization, not a mid-sized, getting to be large organization.

Improve QoS (Quality of... Sleep)

This post is all about how I improved my Quality of ... Sleep!

One simple change. About 45 minutes to an hour before I sleep, I turn off the laptop/computer, no TV and no cellphone chats either. Nothing that can work to stimulate my brain cells. Instead, that time is spent quietly -- reading, listening to music, practicing music, ironing clothes,winding up the kitchen, or any other non-stimulant activity.

I now sleep the same hours, get up at the same time, work at the same job, do the *same* amount of work that I did earlier. I just feel *much* more fresh all day!

I don't shop at Spencers, Food World, More/Smart

At various points in the recent past, I've had "interesting" experiences at retail chain stores.

1. I walked in to do my regular groceries at More/Smart. I went to the refrigerated section and hunted high and low for butter. No luck. I called one of the support staff to ask if they had any. The reply was, "Sorry madam, out of stock". Out of stock? Essentials -- at a grocery store?
2. I wanted to buy non-toxic Holi colours for my son. The day before Holi. Not too early, right? I saw a colourful "Holi Hai" sign at Spencer's "Hyper" and (erroneously) interpreted it as a sign that they would sell colours. I walked in and asked the support staff for colours. They sniggered at me and said, "Holi powders madam? No, no". So I asked to speak with the manager and find out why they put up a Holi poster and not carry Holi basics. The manager's reply was "Madam, we put the poster to wish people, we WILL get Holi powder stock later." When? After Holi?
3. I checked the Food World next door for Holi colours and got the same answer. "No madam".
4. At the same Spencer's "Hyper" mentioned above, sugar was on "discount". Rs 215 if you bought a 5 kg pack, down from Rs 245. That worked out to Rs 43 *per* kg, if you bought 5 kgs. *1* kg of sugar at MK Ahmed was Rs 39 on the *same* day. I know this is what people call a "free market" but somehow the words "stop, thief" keep ringing in my ears.
5. Another time, shopping at Food World, I found myself in a checkout queue, that had more than 5 people in front of me and growing.Why? There was *only* one checkout counter open of the four that they had. Obviously no one in the store was particularly concerned about customer experience. Maybe they thought that shopping at Food World was such a charm that I wouldn't want to leave the store in a hurry.
6. Billing errors. Typically this happens when price of an item rises and the store has both old AND new stock of the same. They update the price in their system so that irrespective of what whether you pick old or new stock you get billed at the new higher price. The way to stop yourself from overpaying is to keep checking prices as your items are being billed and point out errors, which will then be manually corrected. For the customers who don't notice, no prize for guessing who pockets the extra money. For some reason it makes me hear voices -- voices that say "stop, thief".

Ok, so ... do I shop at all? ;-)? I shop either at MK Ahmed, or MK Retail, both of which are local stores of Bangalore. These folks *know* how to run a grocery store such that:

• They never run out of essentials. I mean *never*. And for all of you stores mentioned above, it's not rocket science -- just inventory management.
• They don't treat customers like fools -- selling discounted sugar at Rs 43 if you buy 5 kgs. You can buy a kg for Rs 39.
• They stock Holi colours so you *can* get them the day before Holi (non-toxic ones from Pidilite,  organic ones from another company *and* local ones as well)
• They *always* have enough checkout counters open so that even on the busiest shopping day, you have a short wait.
• There are no billing errors. I've seen the way they handle price differences. For the same item, if they have stocks at different prices, their systems show up all the price ranges available, and they quickly choose the correct one.

 This blog post is my good deed for the day :-)

I *still* read Malcolm Gladwell's work

I became a fan of Malcolm Gladwell's work after I read Tipping Point. I couldn't wait to lay my hands on Blink -- which I enjoyed although I didn't think it had enough continuity to justify being more than an accidental book. Outliers was a good read until I found out that MG hadn't spoken to *anyone* with *any* real flying experience before expounding his theory of why Korean planes crashed more often than American ones.

So why did I still pick up What The Dog Saw?

Do I believe that MG is a great writer who comes up with path-breaking hypotheses that connect seemingly unrelated dots? No. He isn't a great writer; I find him verbose and eager to describe things orthogonal to the topic at hand -- color of lipstick, size of room, nature of blinds, and other trivia. I find the "connections" that he makes tenous at best and the theories that he expounds weak and in-effectual.

So, why am I not putting down his work? I got my answer when I started reading What The Dog Saw.

I read MG's work because it puts together information that would otherwise be completely out of my orbit. To the extent that I would never expend energy trying to dig it up. The history of hair-colour in America, for instance. Does it impact my life? No. Do I agree with the conclusions MG draws? No. Did I get to know some fact that I did not know earlier? Yes. Did I enjoy reading it? Kind-of.

To sum up, for me MG's work is a collection of easy-to-read trivia, with maybe one or two facts that I save for future reference. Wikipedia-lite may be a good description for the way I treat his work ;-).

Blogging reminds me of school

I remember a dreaded task in school language examinations -- reading a "comprehension" passage and then being asked to write a "title" that appropriately summed it up.

Well, each time a write a blog post, I am *very* verbose, right till the point I need to hit "Publish". I don't like publishing untitled work and finding the right title is sometimes hard. Each time I struggle to title my work, I am taken back to the examination hall and I still remember my thought process -- why should *I* have to write a title, why couldn't the author title his own work?

*I* am the author now ... :-)

Startups need a senior "voice of testing"

The lead visual designer of Google quit recently. He made an interesting point:

"When I joined Google as its first visual designer, the company was already seven years old. Seven years is a long time to run a company without a classically trained designer. Google had plenty of designers on staff then, but most of them had backgrounds in CS or HCI. And none of them were in high-up, respected leadership positions. Without a person at (or near) the helm who thoroughly understands the principles and elements of Design, a company eventually runs out of reasons for design decisions." "When I joined, I thought there was potential to help the company change course in its design direction. But I learned that Google had set its course long before I arrived."

This logic is sound and can be carried forward with ease to my current field of work -- software testing. 

The mistake I see startups (in India) make is to begin work without *any* voice of testing at all, i.e., no one is entrusted the task of understanding and being the custodian of the "principles and elements" of  testing.

Somewhere along the way the startup realizes there are "quality issues" and hires a junior tester, usually a "fresher" who helps discover the most obvious glaring-in-your-face errors. The founders are pleased, and as time goes by, "augment" the test team with more resources of the same profile.

Unfortunately, although the most obvious bugs are found (fixed, and then *usually* manually re-tested), this model begins to break down after a while for a number of reasons (in random order):

1. It is not scalable (manual testing never is in a startup not dedicated to providing testing "services"). Bugs are found, fixed, manually verified and then creep back in ever so often.
2. No one mentors testers to look beyond finding the most obvious bugs and open their horizons to varied testing that a robust application necessarily needs.
3. Junior testers are usually too inexperienced to help clarify product workflows and find long-chain faults/failures. This leads to seemingly random errors being reported by customers which are are very hard to replicate in-house.
4. Often junior testers are unable to voice concerns about the extent of testing required and get pressured into doing a hurried one-hour-before-release smoke testing. Needless to say this leads to problems in the field.
5. Specialized testing such as performance testing and security testing (to name just two) get completely left out; only "functional" testing gets done with this model.
6. The "negative" aspects of testing get ignored. Testing gets reduced to a validation activity -- verify that the system works as stated, rather than look for ways to break it.
7. It is hard for junior testers to voice their opinion on usability -- they are either too raw to spot usability issues or get shot down quickly owing to their position in the pecking order. When the voice of usability is missing, software starts to calcify in ways that disallows usability from being injected later.
8. Building testable systems requires time, skill, effort, and most importantly, a champion. Since there is no custodian -- testability, building the system so that it can be tested with ease, gets completely ignored.

After some time, the startup realizes that "something" is missing, and hires a "senior" "quality" person. This is usually the second mistake -- getting a QA Manager who is a process/quality/ISO/CMMi Manager.

The QA Manager comes in, looks around and deems that problems exist due to "lack of process". He (I will NOT use "she" here :-P) starts to point out the benefits of "say-what-you-do", "do-what-you-say-you-do", and begins to put in place a process/quality/metrics regime, the bedrock of which is usually the infamous timesheet. Testers are made to report to this person, and are "scientifically" appraised using metrics such as "number of valid bugs raised". You can see where *that* will lead, don't you?

The testers *still* don't get mentored (except perhaps in the fine art of corporate politicking), and performance testing, security testing, etc. *still* don't happen. We didn't say we would do those and we didn't -- 100% process compliance ;-).

Bleak. So, can something be done? Here's what I have seen works.

Get a software professional who has worked in the field of software "developing", "defining" and "managing" software projects and get her to don the Testing Hat. Right from the beginning.

Wearing her Testing Hat, she will quickly figure out that manual testing is "a crime against humanity" (Martin Fowler). The minute a testing team begins to regard test automation as non-negotiable, doors open for performance, security and other kinds of testing that *cannot* be done manually. This person will also figure that paid software testing tools do not offer significant value-for-money, and introduce open-source tools within the testing organization (thus saving you a lot in license costs ;-)).

The experience that this person brings, having built and used software in the past, will be handy when taking design decisions that impact usability.

THEN hire the fresh graduates and have her mentor them. The way such a person mentors is by initially working WITH them. So she *has* to be able to do EVERYTHING from writing test scenarios to manually testing to creating test automation. Oh, and manage the team -- ranging from work allocation to perception issues that tend to regard testers as lesser mortals.

Over time, the team will get savvy enough to put in place automated builds, deploys, regression and all the other good stuff that help prop error-free software.

Such people *do* exist. Trust me :-) :-).

Duh!

So I was in an accident today. A car *suddenly* stopped on a high speed road. No brake lights, no hazards, no warning. I slammed my brakes, but couldn't avoid the right side of my car hitting against its bumper. That car was a Taverra and escaped unhurt, but my poor car broke a light, apart from some denting on one side.

Turns out there was a lorry in front of the Taverra and it dropped a huge package in the middle of the road, right in front of the Taverra, causing the driver to come to a dead stop, causing me to ...

Well, so who should turn up but the friendly neighborhood cops, who assured me that as per the police manual it was all *my* fault since I was the one right at the back. I asked whether the police manual had anything about lorries being allowed to drop *huge* parcels (3 ft * 3 ft * 3ft) in the middle of high speed roads. Their interest levels in the rules of the police manual suddenly plummeted, and their reaction actually left me speechless. Honestly. They chased down the lorry, got hold of the driver and made him stand in front of me. Now, madam, they told me -- here he is. What do you want to do?

Duh? What do *I* want to do? Why would *I* want to do anything to the lorry driver? Wasn't it *their* job to figure out what happened, file paperwork accordingly and enable all to claim insurance as required?

Maybe they thought -- oh here's a woman, she will surely be stupid enough to get scared and then we can "help" her (at a price no doubt) to end the matter?

Ergonomics please...

Or why I will not buy Everest brand spices any more.

I buy spices sold in cuboid boxes, so that I can store them in my freezer (yes I *really* do -- they stay wonderfully fresh that way :-P). The boxes are stored in the freezer door, with the narrow edge of the box visible to me. Other brands (MDH, Catch) make sure that the NAME of the spice is mentioned on the narrow edge, making it easy for me to get the one I need out quickly.

*Older* designs of Everest also had the name of the spice (along with a different color/picture on each box), making it easy for me to get what I wanted quickly. Not any more. This brand now has fancy black boxes with colorful pictures ONLY on the broad side of the box, with just the company name on the narrow edge. So the only way to get *a* particular spice from the line of boxes is by lifting EACH box till I get to the one I want.

No way! I don't have that kind of time to waste.

Motorcyclist -- heal thyself!

Just the other day I was at a red light when an ambulance came up behind me with its lights flashing. There was some place to my left, but even as I tried turning my car, the place was quickly taken up by motorcyclists in a tearing hurry to get to their destination -- the ambulance be damned. The ambulance was left with no choice but to wait for the light to turn green, let the traffic in front clear and then head onwards.

On another occasion when I was heading out to drop my son to school,  my view was blocked by parked buses. Since I had to turn right, I inched the nose of my car ahead in order to be able to see the oncoming traffic. Sure enough there was a motorcyclist who seemed to be late for his date with the devil. He was speeding away, and when he saw me, got a little startled and swerved (not that he would have collided into my car). And promptly mouthed a few swear words before heading on. It was MORNING -- a new day was just about beginning -- what a way to start it by swearing at a mom trying to drop her child to school.

Finally, some days ago I saw a motorcyclist stopped for hurrying on the wrong way on a *well-marked* one way road. I was THRILLED to see him pay a fine. If I had been the cop, I would have gone one step further and made him turn back, i.e., go the right way (even thought that would have been the longer route) to get where he was going instead of being allowed to break the one-way rule after paying the fine!

It almost seems as if motorcyclists are the only ones who need to reach on time. There have been umpteen occasions where I have seen them cause traffic jams by getting their bikes on the wrong side of the road if the traffic is moving a little slowly.

As for their life and safety, if they care about it it any way at all, they certainly don't let it show! The way they drive makes me believe that motorcyclists are either super-religious (there is really no other reason I can see for them coming out alive on the road with the driving "skills" and road "sense" that they exhibit), or genuinely have no fear of death!

Google Maps speak "Indian"

A lifetime ago when I lived in the US, I was always flummoxed by driving directions that online websites gave: Turn right on Cherry Blossom Avenue and head North North West for 10 meters. Okay, okay, I am exaggerating a *bit*, but honestly, without a compass, driving directions in terms of NSEW were pretty meaningless to me and I often got lost and missed destinations.

At that time people insisted *very* confidently that as far as India was concerned, there was no question of dirving directions because:
*> Roads got added (and subtracted) dynamically
*> Road names changed at will (or with the elections ;-))
*> Road directions changed *all* the time!

Well, some time back I looked up driving directions using google maps. Guess what? Not only did I get directions, I got them Indian "ishtyle" :-D

"Turn left on 5th Main, pass Sweet Chariot on your right, keep going till you see the Ganesha temple, then take 3rd cross, and after passing the Masjid on your left, your destination will be on the right."

Notice that there is enough information that one doesn't need to try and decode and then measure "North North West for 10 meters". Such directions work (for me definitely ;-)) because there are enough visual clues that are *much* easier to follow.

No more getting lost for me :-D

Green is the new Red

When I was growing up and in  school -- the teacher's red pen was a weapon to be feared. The ticks, the crosses and even worse, the angular parallel lines below spelling mistakes struck fear in the bravest of hearts!

Then ... came the revolution. People decided -- no point scaring little children with red lines. Instead, let's hand over a benign green pen to teachers.

My sons work is corrected with a green pen. The same way. There are green ticks, green crosses, and green angular parallel lines below spelling mistakes.

What does he think about it? "Ma, it's wrong, no? It's a mistake, right?" He doesn't like the green crosses and angular parallel lines below spelling mistakes any more than I liked the red ones!

No I don't want to study!

Even as the world talks about the importance of educating children and organizations are dedicated to ensuring there are schools for them to attend, I encountered a girl in class 10 who told me she was done with education.

She is the daughter of my domestic help. She has declared that she does not want to study anymore, and is in fact even completing class 10 because she is being forced to! I spoke to her mother, who was resigned to the fact that the girl has a mind of her own because no amount of persuasion from family or friends was making her stay in school.

Why does the girl feel that it is enough to be semi-educated (that's what a class 10 education means in practical terms -- she can read and write the local language, knows some local history and can do some amount of math)?

Has her education been too full of rote learning that she can't bear any more? Has her education not shown her that studying further could mean a better future? What does a "better future" look like for her?

Need a drop-proof cell phone

I am looking to get myself a cellphone that is drop proof, not a flip phone, doesn't have a camera, and is basically robust and easy-to-use.

If you have a cellphone that you've dropped and it has survived, please leave a comment letting me know the brand (and maybe model).

And, if you've NEVER dropped your cellphone, do leave a comment letting me know -- you deserve an award of some kind!

Oh that music!

This morning I listened to some digitally re-mastered Hindi film music from the yesteryears (think black and white films). Very soothing music that left me feeling really good.

One of the things that struck me about the music was the fact that the tunes were *very* simple, to the point of being ordinary sometimes. Yet, listening to that music was such a pleasure. IMO, what lifted the music to those heights were two things: the voices (think young Lata, Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey) and the lyrics (think Jyoti Kalash Chalke, Raat aur din diya jale, etc.)

Could it be that the music directors intentionally kept tunes simple and uncluttered, knowing that the voices and the lyrics were going to lift music to great heights, and complicated tunes would actually detract from the overall experience?

Compare the music of today. I listen to contemporary Hindi film music while driving to work. While there are some songs I momentarily enjoy, there is *nothing* I would want to listen to two years from now. The lyrics are pedestrian, and the voices are lost in the clutter and busyness of the tunes almost sounds like noise sometimes!

Domestic Outsourcing 101

As a working mother who has to pack lunch and kid off to school before heading off to work at 8 am, mornings are meant to run like clock-work.

I don't have live-in domestic help; I depend on someone who comes in at 6am and is out for the day before I leave. Therefore it is big-time crisis hour if the 6 am domestic help doesn't show up (or shows up late). I've tried various permutations -- outsource *all* domestic work, *minimal* domestic work, *no* domestic work (that lasted for two days ;-)), and finally non-critical-path domestic work. After experimenting with these various outsourcing models and domestics -- 5 in the last 8 months at the last count ;-), I present my "learning" ;-).

Do ensure:
*> All boxes needed to pack lunch/snacks are ready to be used -- I now have TWO of every kind of box I need. Including water bottles. So even if the help doesn't turn up to wash the previous days' vessels, I still have a fresh set to use.
*> All vessels needed to cook lunch are ready to be used -- I make sure I wash and keep the rolling pin, tawa, chakla, and any other vessel I need the previous night itself.
*> Whatever is needed to cook lunch is readily available -- dough for the chappatis, vegetables chopped and ready to be cooked. I do the dough the previous night and also chop and keep the hard-to-cut veggies beforehand.

Do not clutter the morning with tasks that can be done later. For example, I run my washing machine in the evening. The corollary is that I end up hanging out/folding clothes myself -- but atleast I am not "stranded" with a damp wash load to deal with at 7.30 am.

And of course, if the help is AWOL, do not attempt to do ANY of the work that is done by her in the morning. Yes, I know, evening (or in my case, afternoon) will be hell, but it's worth having a peaceful stress-free morning :-)

Update: A friend suggested I title this post "Domestic Crisis Management" because "in the morning even a small issue is dramatic" ;-).

Justice for Ruchika

It is heartening to see that Ruchika Girhotra may finally get justice, thanks to the media publicity and public outrage following the ridiculous sentence that her molester (and eventually killer?) received. If you think of the crime, he molested his own daughter's classmate. Someone *exactly* the same age as his own daughter. What kind of a sick mind does that? What was he thinking?

While I am happy that Ruchika may finally get justice, what disheartens me is the fact that I do not think justice for her will serve to protect young girls. India is a land where it is far to easy to abuse power and get away with murder.

Pound foolish?

I have a salary account with "India's largest private sector bank by market capitalization". However I do not use that account for my day-to-day banking transactions. Instead, I prefer to transfer money from the salary  account to another bank which is more convenient in terms of ATM locations and other features.

Until recently, all was well and I would use netbanking to transfer money from my salary account to my regular bank account. Then suddenly, a few months ago, there appeared a "charge" of Rs 5 for transferring money using netbanking. I tried a smaller amount,thinking that maybe there was a charge because I was transferring a large amount. No matter how small the amount, there was still a charge of Rs 5 in order for me to move MY money from account of MINE to another account of MINE.

I decided NOT to pay the "transaction fee". Instead, I went ahead and ordered a cheque book, and now, each month, I write a paper cheque and drop it off into the conveniently located ATM of my regular bank. I happened to talk about this with a colleague of mine, who was even MORE incensed than I was at the "transaction fee" and was doing exactly what I was doing. So I wasn't the only one.

Now, guess what? Paper cheques are absolutely FREE. This makes me wonder: isn't it cheaper for a bank to process a funds transfer using netbanking rather than a paper instrument that necessarily requires human intervention?

Isn't "India's largest private sector bank by market capitalization" being penny-wise?

Update: Guess what the bank that charges for netbanking money transfers just sent me? Along with other random stuff, a personalized PAY-IN-SLIP book! I am now totally lost for words at the pound-foolishness. Unless -- they are actively TRYING to encourage brick-n-mortar banking? Duh!

Current Read: The God Delusion

I am reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Coming soon after finishing "The Enemy at Home" by right-wing Dinesh D'souza, it is a wonderfully refreshing read.

Whether you are a believer, an agnostic or an atheist, there is a *very* compelling argument that the book makes about the dangers of peddling "creationism" (or according to the book, its "cheap tuxedo" version called intelligent design). According to creationism, for any "irreducibly complex" structure that exists as a part of life, if it is not fully understood, simply invoke the "Creator", i.e., God.

Now just apply this to scientific research: Don't understand a particular disease? No problem, just call it the "will" of God, or the "design" of God.

As Dawkins points out, for a scientist, ignorance is the *beginning* from where he or she must labor to bring about understanding. If instead, scientists choose to apply the theory of "intelligent design" there will never ever be cures for any diseases, there will never ever be innovation in *any* field that is concerned with human life. After all, everything is the will or "design" of the Creator. Then surely so is ill-health, disease and random other forms of misery?

Ouch.

"The Heart of India"

I read "The Heart of India" by Mark Tully this "winter break". It was a lucidly written book that succeeded in capturing the essence of a time that has *truly* gone by. I would wager to say that with the kind of globalization we have seen in the last decade, the India depicted in the stories no longer exists. Anywhere.

Oh the caste and class lines do -- and probably run stronger and deeper -- it is the innocence and simplicity that has disappeared.

It's a new year :-)

2009 flew by. And on the eve of 2010, I actually stayed awake till midnight to welcome the new year.

It was as they say: "Youth is when you're allowed to stay up on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to." ;-)


Happy New Year!