Can Social Networking be Perilous?

Elizabeth Bernstein has written an interesting piece in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on how Facebook can sometimes ruin relationships and friendships. Apart from quite a few parallels that we get to see on social networking ourselves, I think a bit of it is also extended to online chatting too, where people put up 'status' messages and update them on an hourly basis with a status of what s/he is doing, stopping only short of "going to the toilet". I have seen people write all sorts of gibberish on their Facebook profiles. I admit I don't mostly understand much of it, but I think I am proud of this lack of understanding, for a change. What can be more irritating, is that you have hordes of people actually responding to such gibberish and making it sound like as if it's the most absorbing conversation currently on.

Anyways, enough said by me. The link articulates it much better. Enjoy...

Beware of Mumbai airport taxis

The back and yellow taxis of Mumbai are at it again. Yesterday on my way back home from the domestic airport at Santa Cruz, I took a prepaid taxi (non A/C, black & yellow; B&Y).

The airport authorities, for some strange reason, have driven off the radio taxis (Meru, Mega, etc) away from their usual parking lots and into some far-off corner of the airport complex (near Sahara hotel), but have installed phone services inside the terminal. The phone service is a new facility. There are four phones available, one each for 4 services presently available in Mumbai (Mega, Meru, Forche and Priyadarshini). As soon you claim your baggage from the baggage carousels, and just before you come out of the terminal, you pick up a phone and place an order for a radio taxi. So, as against earlier when these radio taxis were given a parking space near terminals, now they are merely allowed to pick up passengers from there, not park their cars. Parking space is a bit far, near the Sahara Star Hotel.

Unfortunately, yesterday evening all radio taxis were booked, so I had no choice but to take a pre-paid B&Y cab. I opted for a non a/c one. These are rickety-rackety and usually very badly maintained; those old Fiat taxis. The fare was Rs 260 and since it was prepaid, I paid at the airport counter itself. My previous experiences with these B&Y taxis from the airport have always landed up in arguments with them because they always charge extra and their meters are more often than not, tampered. But yesterday since I took a prepaid, I thought it could be different. I was wrong.

After I alighted, the cabbie asked me for extra Rs 20-Rs 30. I asked him why, he muttered something like "insaniyat ke liye" or some such shit. He also said something like as if we customers are making a fool out of them by not paying them anything extra. What crap! I refused to pay him and had a minor argument with him. After which he grumbled and left off.

But this is what we have to put up with. Earlier, when the airport authorities had separate parking lots, just outside the airport terminal, for radio taxis, there was never a shortage of radio taxis. The parking lots always used to be full of these radio taxis; when one used to go, the other used to come upfront and solicit passengers. Radio taxis are transparent and also cheap! A ride in a Meru or Mega cab (fully air-conditioned and well-maintained car) from airport to my place would cost me around Rs 280. (this was before the fares for the B&Y taxis went up effective 1 August). A pre-paid B&Y non-AC taxi in a badly-maintained rickety-rackety taxi cost me Rs 260! I do not know on what basis these fares have been fixed, but its downright highway robbery. And why must these clowns always expect something extra from us even after paying a pre-paid fare at the airport? The airport authorities must allocate a permanent parking space to radio taxis for the convenience of passengers. And not in some remote area. It has to be just outside terminals, so that passengers with all their baggage can walk up straight to them.

go-go-goa

I am just back after a much-needed relaxed break to India's favourite beach destination - Goa. I can be a bit of a contrarion when it comes to travelling, so while most of us rush to Goa during Christmas, I've always wanted to visit the place in monsoon. Goa is not much of a beach place in the monsoon, but I've never really been a beach person. Give me mountains anyday. That said, I find beaches extremely soothing and relaxing, as well. I can sit by the sea for hours and just bask in the breeze and loose track of time. Anyways, so after a bumpy and turbulent flight that gave me a few goosebumps here and there, we landed amidst heavy rain at Goa's Dabolim airport. The airport is still primitive....It was fun, though, getting wet when we got out of the airport coach and ran towards the airport terminal.

I was visiting Goa after a little more than 10 years. The place has changed a lot. Lots of development can be seen everywhere, but thankfully the place is still not as polluted and populated as say Mumbai or Pune. But then, you can't compare Mumbai and Pune with Goa. Lush green, though. Very, very green. It's just a very different Goa during monsoon. Everywhere and anywhere you could see acres of land covered with coconut trees. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I think a coconut tree must be amongst the most pleasing sights in the world. I just feel extremely relaxed looking at it. And old Goan homes. They look grand, yet warm and inviting. Painted in vibrant colours. Like Mysore and Coorg folks, Goans know to take care of their homes. You'll see their homes in all sorts of bright colours, but violet, blue, green and yellow seem to be the in-thing these days...

Monsoon is also the best time to visit Goa if you want a good deal at a five-star resort. And as fed-up as I am of listening to requests to eat Goan curry whilst in Goa, the Goan curry still tastes good. There wasn't much variety of fish to be had, but then in monsoon, my mother says that fish should be avoided. Food at the Taj Holiday Village is absolutely great. Between six restaurants (three in Holiday Village and the other three in Taj Fort Aguada Resort), you can get to taste multiple cuisines, each prepared by lots of love and warmth by their well-trained and much-talented staff. And warmth is what is amply available at the Taj. They go to great lengths to make their customers happy. I watched the two chefs admirably at the breakfast restaurant. Atleast 10 people must have been standing on their heads demanding eggs, omelettes and what-not, and each of the two chefs, though completely drenched in requests and demands not to forget exhaustion, were at a time manning four stoves!!!

But you couldn't help but notice happiness in them. Like this guy from neaby Sawantwadi village who has been working here for the past 25 years proudly telling me so. Or this guy at the restaurant who started his work here, 20 years back, in house-keeping and proudly telling me that he, then, got promoted to the restaurant staff. But I guess if you're happy working at a place, it just shows, doesn't it? You can genuinely make your customers happy too. They call it passion, but whatever! Perhaps those samples who make it a point to look around for new "exciting opportunities" as soon as they complete a year, can learn something.

The Elephant Lord Is Here

The festival season has officially kicked off in India, more so in Mumbai, with the onset of Ganesh Chaturthi. Ramzan has also begun. Man may create umpteen divisions but nature has its way of setting the balance right and so we have two festivals- that are as different as night and day as are those who celebrate them- coinciding their beginnings on the same day. It's a strange but very welcoming confluence of festivals across cultures. Me feels closer to Ganesh Chaturthi

though and it remains one of my favourite festivals of the year.

Mumbai looks the best during these 10 days. You can see colourful Ganapati pandals all across town with Ganpatis of all shapes and sizes; the taller they are the more awe-inspiring they appear to be. Almost every locality has a Ganapti pandal. There's hyper activity around each and every one of them and all very lit up. There are themes and motifs and lots of creativity that goes into setting up of some of them. They are awake 24/7. Infact I have noticed that some of these popular pandals in crowded residential areas come alive more after sunset. I suppose that is the time when people find to be convenient to pay their respects and offer darshan after a hard day's work. It looks as if the entire city has come out on streets.

When I was in college, a visit to Lalbaug, considered to be one of the busiest localities for Ganapati festivities, was a must-must on my list. Though I have never seen Lalbaugcha Raja (The King Of Lalbaug; one of the tallest Ganpatis in the city), I used to pay darshan to two other Ganpatis. One was in the lane, curiously named Ganesh Galli, and the other one nearby. It's a nightmare taking your car or hoping to catch the bus from Lalbaug in these days. Serpentine queues line up outside the Lalbaugcha Raja; it takes hours to get darshan. The kind of faith you see pouring out on streets is electrifying.

One of the beauty of this festival is despite being celebrated on a huge scale, peace prevails. Probably one of the reasons behind this is that it is one of the few festivals celebrated at such a grand scale that also has a large and significant presence of women involved in the festivities.

The other Ganapati pandal I used to compulsorily visit was at my college-friend Ashish's at Peddar Road. A very devout Ganapati-worshipping family, the Jhambs have unflinchingly hosted the Elephant Lord at their home for many years. Every day at around 7 pm, they have a small pooja, as they do during a few other times during the day as well. The Jhambs have a fascinating collection of small Ganpati idols that are exclusively and systematically placed on top of a sideboard in their dining room. Every year we could see an addition. It is almost as if you step into Satguru's. When in college, my friends and I used to go together after finishing off our lectures. These days, we are all dispersed busy with our respective lives, families and commitments; it's a pity we do not even ask one another now, we make our own arrangements and go as we please. I do not think I have missed one year, since I think 1995, to go to the Jhambs. I shall miss this year though; I am off to a much-needed holiday this week.

The one place I'd like to get a feel of though, during Ganapati, is Pune. This, many say, is the hub of Ganapati celebrations, though if you go to Parel, Lalbaug and central Mumbai areas, you'd disagree. Maybe next year I might take out some time to visit Pune during Ganapati. That's one more reason for me to visit one of my favourite weekend gateways.

(in pictures: Ganpati temple in Wai, Maharashtra)

Gullible Investors or Gullible Agents?

That Indian mutual funds (MF) are not supposed to ask for a no-objection certificate (NOC) from us if and when we change our broker and transfer our existing MF investments to a new broker, is a fact that is not well known. Although I have written on this in the magazine that I work for, more than once, (read here and here), many of us aren't aware of it. And MFs and agents are only too happy to exploit this.

A couple of days back, I had called for my stock broker, who is also an MF distributor. Since they offer online MF buying and selling, I wish to open an online MF account with them and thereafter transfer all my existing MF investments to them. I already have a direct equity account with them; an offline mode though presently, wherein a broker executes trades on my behalf. To this, now I want my MFs. This will enable me to get a consolidated statement, one that will give me a summary (as well as details) of all my equity and MF holdings.

Much to my surprise, my relationship manager told me that I would need an NOC from my old agents. He obviously did not know who I was (I don't mean to say this in the immature VIP-culture fashion amply seen these days at airports;) ) and which publication I write for and the stand that our publication holds in this regard. I reminded him that I am quite aware of my rights as a MF investor and that an NOC is not really required, but falsely demanded to make agent-changing a time-consuming affair. I do not know whether I have convinced him or not, but I intend to go pursue this matter to its logical end. I shall keep you posted on how smooth or otherwise my transfer is going to be.

The problem, as I often highlighted, is that when the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) says anything, it is not legally binding on MFs. Amfi is a trade body. It is not a regulator. For it to become a law, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) needs to pass the order. And with Sebi recently asking MFs whether or not they are demanding NOCs in this regard and reasons if they are, shows that the market regulator is serious. Probably for the first time in my nine years of journalism career am I observing Sebi monitoring the Indian mutual funds (MF) industry this closely. It's been pretty quick in passing orders to ensure that the end-investor gets serviced adequately.

Do I Smell A Rat?

No doubt that SRK is a big star. But for him to paint the town red with his celebrity status after he was detained at the Newark Liberty international airport was going a bit too far. He was all over the media saying the US immigration authorities treated him "shabbily" just because his last name happens to "Khan". Hey guys, guess what is the name of his upcoming movie!!! It's called 'My Name is Khan' (directed by Karan Johar) and it is all about racial profiling in the US, post 9-11, and how minorities (read Muslims) are looked at. And speaking of Karan Johar, he seems to be feeling upset and terrible. Oh, how touchy!

It is true that you get profiled in the US if you either happen to be from one of the so-called watch list nations or have a 'funny' name or anything that may arouse their suspicion. Last year when I went to the US, of the six times that I was at their airports, my mother and I were profiled twice. Of course we were not taken inside any room and confined for one / two hours but we were asked to step aside and our handbags were checked and each and every item was checked. A few random questions with some small talk were thrown at me, though I must admit, all their officials were extremely polite. I think I was profiled because I am an Indian. But I could be wrong. Though after those two incidents, I was at their airports four more times and the check-ins were a breeze. So I am not at all surprised that SRK was also detained and asked questions.

But for the so-called, media-painted albeit so shamelessly, Bollywood Badshah, to be grilled at a foreign airport, by immigration officials who were merely following their country's rules irrespective of whosoever the detainee is or how high up his connections go, was merely routine. if anything, it just goes to show that their duty of their country is top-most priority irrespective of who you are. SRK should have realised this and respected it. My cousin sister, born and brought up it the US and with therefore all her American style, accent, etc., and also a mother of two was once similarly detained and questioned for two hours when she went back home to Detroit because, amongst other things I do not remember clearly, she was carrying baby food which was white powder (ferex / cerelac). She was made to eat some of that in front of the immigration officials to prove that the food was indeed baby food and not anything suspicious.

We may crib and cry endlessly shouting injustice to the insane security measures that we get to see these days at international airports, especially the US airports. We curse them for their ways and systems and call it names. All accepted and very much true, in most cases. I am not a US fan and we all know that some of their wars have gone horribly wrong. Their administration can be awefully inhumane. But we can't deny one thing. Post 9-11, there has not been one terrorist attack on US soil. One of the reasons is because they take their security so seriously. You may be a huge star globally, but to their immigration officials, if your name pops up on their screen, you better have answers to their questions. And you better also have all the time that they need to answer their questions. If only such stringent security measures were adopted in India, we wouldn't have had all these repeated terrorist attacks, one after the other, all over our country. I am sure some pompous guests would be cribbing to be subjected to the security checks at the Taj and Oberoi, but who could blame these poor hotel authorities for all the ordeal they want through on 26-11. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. You can't please everyone; if you're pushed to the wall, you have got to wake up and learn to take care of yourself. For all the pains that we have to go to every time we pass through the metal detectors of Taj and Oberoi and have our luggage screened, I am placing my bet that these two hotels would not go through 26-11 ever again. That is, if they continue with their security checks and not come under pressure to compromise.

I think we can learn two lessons in this:

1) Adopt similar strict measures for all travellers coming from abroad, as well as those travelling within India. Ask questions and start profiling if the officials suspect something. Retain our humanity, but ask questions. And do not get swayed by whosoever is there on the opposite side. They may be politicians or movie stars or sportsperson or even rock stars. We have to subject them to stringent security checks even if we have to run our hands all over them. This is no time to buckle under pressure, wave diplomatic flags and lay down red carpets to every tom, dick and harry.

2) Unless they are downright rude or brutal, we should co-operate with foreign airport officials and be ready to subject to their security checks and systems, irrespective of who we are. I am not saying we have to lick them, but if they ask questions politely and do not disrespect us, we should co-operate. They can be very intimidating, but SRK is a grown-up man and a seasoned traveller; he ought to have handled this in a more dignified manner.

Having said that, for SRK to crib endlessly, especially in the wake of his upcoming movie 'My Name is Khan' and to make such a big issue of this, puts a big dent on his credibility. Aamir Khan is known for his publicity nonsense like cutting somebody's hair or having ushers get haircuts similar to his, from his upcoming release; they're all brilliantly documented and well-known. That these stunts work, is by itself preposterous. Did SRK get carried away by something similar? Who knows!

Come Clean

Open recently carried a well-written story on the recent controversy surrounding Indian cricketers' refusal to accept the whereabouts clause of Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency). Various others sports like Tennis, football, cycling and so on have confirmed to Wada rules. The International Cricket Council (ICC) too has subscribed to its norms, but the Board of Cricket Council of India (BCCI) and Indian cricketers are resisting. That they claim to abide by the Wada rules, except the whereabouts clause- which states that every cricketer, at the start of every quarter must inform their whereabouts of one hour every day for the next three months so that they are available for ant-dope test- is hardly giving away much. Some cricketers have also gone to the extent to claim that cricket has to be treated differently than other sports because cricketers have to travel much and are hardly at home for a few days here or there. Hence their privacy must be respected.

Privacy of celebrities is always a concern and an issue. It's quite right on the part of celebrities to claim that even they have a right to privacy and the cameras- or in this case, a doping control officer with an empty bottle to collect the urine sample- should be limited to the hours they are on duty. But once on family time, no intruders should be allowed. After all, if current world no 3 tennis player Andy Murray claims that he had to pee with his pants down literally in front of the DCO to ensure the genuineness of the sample deposited at 7 am in a morning in his home where the DCO turned up unexpected, then what are we talking about? Have they no lives of their own or any dignity?

Much as we like to sympathise with our sporting idols, the answer is a resounding No. Well, dignity, yes, but privacy, no. When drug abuse is so rampant across the world and where numerous examples have come up in sports that performance-enhancing drugs are available and can be consumed, it is the duty of every sportsperson to declare himself / herself clean. And if this means peeing with your pants down in front of someone to prove yourself, then so be it. In times when sportsperson having to stand to earn millions of dollars every year, this is a small sacrifice. Sports is a discipline. It's not just about fun and games. Sportsmen are idols to millions and billions of people around the globe. It not only teaches you how to play, but also inspires discipline, grit and courage. When Steffi Graf wins the French Open beating the then-world no 1 player half her age to win the French Open, in her early 30s or when Roger Federer wins the the one grand slam that has painfully eluded him for years, despite going through the worse 12 months of his career prior to this and when almost everyone had written him off inspire people to never give up. But when these stars resort to doping and are caught, it tarnishes the name of sport. We somehow begin to ponder of others' successes too; doubts start to creep our mind. It is this larger picture that our cricketers seem to miss.

Cricketers find all the time to squeeze numerous advertisements and commercials into their busy schedule; one that has made a millionaire virtually out of everyone of them who are the most active. They may be idols in India, but to the world of sport, they are as common as any other sportsperson. And as far as their exhaustive schedule is concerned, if tennis starts in the first week of January and goes up well till November-end (add to that the Davis Cup final in December for the two nations that have to fight it out), then other sports are no less hectic than Cricket. Why should Cricket therefore get special treatment? If they want their sport to be squeaky clean, then cricketers should be prepared to unzip whenever the DCO comes knocking on their doors.