The new Bengaluru International Airport - My take on it :-)

I've waited for about a week before I posted on the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL as it is going to be known I guess). The reason for the wait was to ensure that I did not post a "first / biased" comment without letting the thoughts in my own mind settle down :-). I guess, the end result should be a more balanced view ?

Let me get over my cribs first (as it popular with the BIAL bashing brigade)

- Not all loos are working : A whole section was blocked off and people were diverted to another area. Even in the area, where one'd expect a hugh crowd - ie. next to the eating joints at departure level, the mens loo has just 4-5 slots ?

- Food area is crowded : There is NO WAY the area is going to take the load. The gates were not fully operational and in the morning, there was already a team of people walking around the area with breakfast trays in hand trying to get a "parking" slot. The coffee line was about 30 feet long !

- Ground handling sucks : While, I did not have to go through a torture at the baggage retrieval area as I was traveling light, I did have to endure a 20-25 minute wait for the bus to cart us from the aircraft to the arrivals hall. While on the bus, I heard a number of conversations in Kannada where there was a LOT of back and forth as to which gate the bus driver was to go to ?

- Expect a LOT of public injury claims on the outside road : Fairly shoddy finish on the exterior with NO thought to safety. It is absolutely dangerous to walk on the footpath / pavement while wet towards the car park. I had to watch every step gingerly as it was very very slippery. This is while some of the vehicles were zipping past just a few feet away !

- Even the road in and out of the airport is not designed well in my opinion. People have to drop to almost ZERO from whatever speed they are traveling at (it is quite high - believe me), in a few feet when they hit the roundabouts. I will not be surprised to see quite a few "Crashes" into the roundabout. We Indians' just do not have the discipline at circles / roundabouts that one sees in places like UK


Let me cover the positive points now (and being an optimist - I like this)

- The first is the feel : The airport **atleast** feels like one now. Right from the road towards the airport, the area is clean and it feels as though you are heading to an airport / heading from an airport.

- While I did hear a few complaints on check-in. For me, it was a breeze

- Parking was also a piece of cake notwithstanding the rate !(although, there was quite a line at exit time due to a single functional gate)

- I was VERY impressed with the long line of Vayu Vajra coaches at the front of the airport. This should go a LONG way to reduce stress once it gets to work properly.

- Also, very impressed with the lack of touts and the orderly fashion people were going towards their exit : Taxi, parking, coaches, shared transport etc.

Balanced Synopsis ?

Excellent start - but, I think someone needs to start thinking of extensions NOW ?
I think the place is going to run out of space / will not be able to take the load within the close of this calendar year !!!

Our most forgotten question : Why ?

Curiosity is a trait that we see diminishing when people grow up and we talk about them getting "wiser" ?

Whenever I talk to a child, I'm struck by the number of times I'm asked "why ?"
I'm also struck at the number of times I'm NOT asked "why ?" by an adult !

How I wish we could all magically retain our ability to ask "why ?". To me, this is the most important question that needs to be asked and it needs to be asked first. Inatech is a company that does business consulting and it takes us a LOT of time to convince our own employees to ask this question. Unfortunately, either the Indian education system or the society has converted all the "whys ?" to "whats ?"

It is hard work to get an individual to ask the customer "Why do you need this process ?" instead of "What do you need done in this process ?" - thereby, missing the whole point of "NEED" ?

Maybe it is due to our education system that encourages learning by "rote". I do remember one of my own science teacher who said - "You do not need to know that to pass your exam" as a response to my question. (incidentally, ever since, She's lost all respect from the child in me)

Or, is it due to the societal pressure of accepting what is said by "elders" and not to "question elders ?". I can almost visualize the conversation - a child asking a parent "why is the sky blue" and the parent replying "Because, it is so" and adding almost casually "don't waste time asking obvious questions".

How many of the "elders" have the maturity to accept that he / she does not know and takes the effort to go and look up "Rayleigh scattering" or just "Why is the sky blue" in google / or an encyclopedia ?

Or, maybe we can also blame this on our famous Indian "fate" and quote like Lord Tennyson : "Ours is not to reason why, ours but to do and die" :-(

Handing work over to others : Whom would you choose

Following on my adage bit... I've always held the belief that when you want work done, do not pass it onto someone who has nothing to do, instead, pass is to the busiest chap with a hint that he/she can use the other resources as they deem fit.

The reason is simple. A person who has no work is in such a position for either one of the following reasons
a) The person has no initiative and needs to be told what to do
b) Everyone else thinks that it is a waste of time to get things done out of this individual (and in most cases, they'd rather do it themselves)

Both of these are fundamental issues with either attitude or approach and are not to do with expertise. Expertise is the easiest of the problems to solve, while people use that as an excuse. Ie. you will hear often that someone does not have either the skill or the expertise to do a particular job. While this is true for specific skill based execution, it has no relevance in "getting the job done"

Maybe I'm rambling ?

Net net, you will still me making a beeline to the person who is fully loaded ...

My Beach Economy Theory - views expressed in private until now

I have been traveling the last few weeks and hence no recent posts : Well, in reality, that is an excuse.

During the trip, one of the bits that was discussed was my series of "one line adages" - I was then asked as to why I've not posted these onto my own blog - so, here goes .... the first one is an opinion that I've held for over 15 years....

The theory is what I call the "Beach Economy". In this, I theorize that NO economy (other than hospitality industry based) can flourish near good sandy beach towns.

I could state a few examples. In India, I would list : Goa, Trivandrum the good beaches of Orissa etc. The reason is something that I've learnt first hand in Goa.

In Goa, I learnt that an individuals' life ambition / goal is to own a beach front shack that is a combination of beach bar / restaurant. I always felt that while this was an interesting goal - it did not seem to be very ambitious ?

Over the years, whenever I've visited a famous beach, I tend to notice that the complete economy has high migrant population, very few industries and almost the complete economy is based on hotels / tourism and in general hospitality. No major educational institutions, no industries (even high tech) etc.

Would like to know if this is just a statistical occurance or something that is much deeper ? Especially from people who can list proof :-)

Akshaya Tadige : Why is it such a big deal ?

I'm sure there is NOT a single person in Bangalore (beyond the age of 6 years atleast) who has not figured out that yesterday was Akshaya Tritiya. I mean, how can people miss this grand event of the year ? TOI carried a very "glossy" addendum that listed the superlative products and excellent "offers" and reasons as to why EVERY SINGLE person in the world had to rush off and buy GOLD!!

What a marketing driven feeding frenzy !

I'm sure if we had someone with a Rip Van Winkle syndrome wake up today, they'd be distraught that they've missed the greatest opportunity and good fortune this year.

Seriously, as an youngster, I did know of Akshaya Tadige (in Kannada, it is Tadige not Tritya - but that is just semantics). Did I pay any attention ? Not at all !!.
Not only did I NOT pay any attention, I do not remember ANYONE paying attention.

Nobody offered special discounts on Gold coins (Infact, there no coins sold and no ads put up)
Nobody listed out the reasons that made buying gold on this day
No shop put up a pandal (makeshift tent) in front to seat the enthusiastic shopper and then fed them glasses of fruit juice, snacks etc.
Nobody put up hoardings that said "We are extending shopping hours for the convienience of our esteemed shopper" (like I care !)
No special editions on paper
No "exhibitions" of the latest design
No......

Is this the consumerism that I had been warned about when discussing the American Consumption ?

Bangalore - Not yet ready for buildings higher / taller than 50 feet ?

My apartment complex is in the process of getting a new coat of paint. Given, that I live in the top floor of an eight floored building, I find it extremely stressful watching the process / progress. The prime reason is that I see individuals dangling on un-anchored / manually anchored ropes without a safety harness ?

Why is it that we allow for infrastructure to be created without necessary maintainence features built into the system. This is not just buildings - it is also the corresponding infrastructure with the support services / emergency services like the fire department.

We, in Inatech were unfortunate to witness a fire accident and the main reason why we could NOT contain the fire was the level of smoke in the floor that had fire (airconditioned and hence in some ways sealed !).

There were several fire extinguishers spread around the office - but, there were not reachable to be of any use ?

Now, you'd expect that the fire department has the necessary equipment ? My own experience has been a sorry state.
- The "standard" fire engine does not have retractable ladder that can extend beyond 3rd floor
- The "standard" engine crew carry ONE smoke mask. More importantly, this does NOT come with a flashlight fixed on top of the helmet which means that the fireman is expected to carry a flashlight / torch in one hand and the hose in the other
- The "standard" fire mask (lone one) is not oxygen supported, but is of the active filter kind.

I'm sure I can write a lot more of the deficiencies, but, that is not the point.

None of the infrastructure that is coming up seems designed to handle this.
How do we as individuals / citizens ensure that there is enough protection ?

Electric Cars : Are they **REALLY** environmentally friendly in India ?

I thought I'd write about what I believe is a urban myth.
I'm told time and again how Electric Cars in India are environmentally friendly as against the regular petrol / diesel and CNG cars. However, I think this is a myth - especially in a country like India where power generation is so very inefficient ?

It stands to simple reasoning that Electric cars run on "stored" energy (batteries) that has undergone 2 transformations and in that sense is already subjected to atleast 2 levels of efficiency (or should I say in-effieciency as it is less than 1) conversion ?

The first conversion is when Coal and other fossil fuels (notwithstanding hydro - but that is altogether a separate blog entry) is converted with LOW efficiency. Then there is approximately 40% transmission losses, it then goes to charge a battery with low energy transformation efficiency (heat loss etc). Finally, when one gets motion out of the motor, I'd hazard that we'd probably not even recover a tenth of input -> output energy efficiencies ?

In short, are electric cars really environmentally friendly ?
IMHO - Absolutely not.

I'm sure someone is going to argue that if coal were to be replaced by Hydro, Solar, Wind (and even Nuclear), then, automatically electric cars could be classified as environmentally friendly - but, even then, I'd retort (very easily proved) that given the energy shortage that India faces, having more motors to drive is clearly not going to be efficient ?

IMHO we should be using only ONE major criteria for environmental friendliness and that is "Energy efficiency".

Think before you act - Why is it so difficult to enforce this maxim ?

I think we Indians have been "directed" for so long, told what to do and instructed on action being the best policy for so long (primary education to choice of career are all dictated in most cases) that we seem to have lost the ability to think for ourselves. What does it take for us to get to a mode where an individual thinks - one as himself (detached from the problem) and two, as a customer (as a recipient) ?

In my opinion, this will change India to be the leader and not be led.

I was THRILLED when I was told that in my child's class - 6th Std, they introduced a rule that the student is not allowed to start answering immediately after the question paper is distributed.
This is the best thing that I can think of for instigating the thought process ??
How I wish people in my school were forced to do this. In those days (and I'm sure in pretty much the whole of the country today), there is a mad rush to start answering the questions before even glancing through the question paper.

There have been numerous occasions when I was told by individuals in my class that they have answered ALL the questions (including the choices !!!)

This trait of acting without thinking is spilling over to the work arena with disastrous effect. We are fulfilling the prophecy made by a few newspapers / analyst about a decade ago that India was a nation of "Tech Coolies".

It is time we stopped and thought ...
Ideas as to how ?

Urgent and Important : Managing the difference

I thought I'd put up a couple of posts that try and elaborate the Indian difficulty in understanding key differences.
The first one is the difference between what is Urgent and what is important ?
This is a typical issue with the folks who work in an onsite-offshore model. While the person is working on a priority list, the assignments of priority themselves seem to be out of a hidden agenda from the perspective of the onsite person.

While some of this can be put down to communication gaps. I personally think that there is a more fundamental issue related to prioritizing.

There seems to be a mixup in priorities as the individual concerned cannot differentiate between the two. While one requires a response, some acknowledgement that the issue has been picked up, the other requires action.

This invariably leads to the constant Onsite complaint that whatever has gone offshore seems to have gone into a "black hole"

This leads to a post in the near future - one related to "response .vs. reply"
:-)

SaaS / ASP model : Is it for India ?

I think over the next few months / years, Software as a service / the hosted Application model is going to get to primetime in a few markets.

The question is, is it the right model for the new "growth" markets in India and China ?

I, for one, think it is. Especially for bits like ERP / CRM and business applications.

Infact, I'd wager that this is the "real" market for such a deployment. There is not enough of process maturity to have implemented differentiated process, but, with sufficient setup on the ISO base to get to a common application process model to be able to share the application set.

In terms of processes that I think is going to go over first.

- SSC components like payroll, GL consolidation / reporting, procurement etc.
- ISO documentation components
etc. etc.

One of these days, I think I'll put in some more thought on this and list what I think is going to work....

As usual, one more TO-DO ;-)

A device to record verbal commitments / add onto mobile phones

Today, again, I have had to control my temper when faced with a set of unkept promises. Maybe I did not get people to take a oath on Gita or Bible or some reference point before I let them get away with a verbal committment - but, you get the picture ?

It seems to be one more of those "Indian" things.... where someone states that they will get back today / tomorrow of next monday with absolutely NO mechanism to follow through !!

I think it is time someone built an application onto the mobile phone. The moment someone commits a deliverable, it should be recorded (voice recording is a standard feature) and then we should assign a date (default to 24 hours reminder). This way, these reminders can be sent across either as an sms or a voice reminder.

If this does not work, then, there should be a cattle prod kind of jolt that goes to the individual ;-)

If anyone were to come up to me with the statement that this is far too harsh, then, I'd be willing to tell them that on the reverse, am happy to get them a "electronic / electric massage" for every promise kept.

That should be an equitable carrot-stick policy ?

Tourism in India - what ails the industry ?

Yesterday, I was in Savandurga with the kids trying out trekking, cave exploration and rappelling.
While the whole tour was a great success and everyone had a whale of a time, some of the sights / things that I saw made me think of current issues with tourism.

I'm told that the domestic tourists going out of the country has been the highest and growing at a tremendous pace, as is the influx of external folks. However, I do think that we should get to more domestic internal tourists interested. Things that I think are low hanging fruits

- Visibility and access to information
I'm sure it is quite easy with the current information base + technology to provide a very factual and up-to-date information about the tourist spot. Simple tips like the best route to take (given the pothole / roadworks situation), what to watch out for (eg. No water source / shade all the way up the hill), where to park a vehicle (even if there is no separate parking area marked) etc. Other than this, it will be good to get some local weather, nearby places to eat etc. info. I'm sure someone will state that this is what blogs are meant to do - but, that is not the point. These cannot be a "voluntary" bit that has no throat to choke / nobody to hold responsible

- Civic amenities
Given the footfall / number of visitors, I'm sure places like this will sustain (or better even, provide a sustainable employment) local participation in civic amenities - eg. Garbage clearing, distribution of local information pamplet (even if charged on a individual pamplet basis / paid for by local vendors like restaurants etc), manned toilets etc.

- Clear markings
I've seen some boards up in a few places, but, this is another piece I think, that is easily done. Markings for trails, directions, historical significance etc. Simple bits that can be put up without too much of an issue and also linked to a locally available facility / public building. Eg. in this case, there is a temple that seems pretty well attended / taken care of - except the premises outside is under nobodys watch. Even if there were to be resistance in putting up this info board within the temple premises, I'm sure it would stay as long as it was put on the outer compound wall ?

Maybe the start is to come up with a "model" that is clear and replicable. Again, when I have the time, maybe I'll start with a info portal ?

The rain tree : Uses of the fruit

The best view from outside of my window is the hugh canopy of a raintree. This is IMHO one of the best trees to be found in Bangalore.
They are shady, spread on the top as much as spread below the ground (I always visualise this tree as having roots on top and below !) and very efficient in coverage. Not sure if people have noticed, but, there is almost a "cap" like quality in the foliage. There is almost ZERO foliage that do not receive sunlight !!!

As a kid, we used to collect the fruits of this tree when ripe. They are black / dark brown, the size of a small drumstick and slightly flat. Each fruit has about a dozen seed / bean almost like a giant sized bean.

We would strip the edges of the fruit, remove the seeds and then pulverize the fruit while adding some oil (typically the cheapest oil - used to be the oil that my mother used to ask me to throw out post a couple of fry-ups) and then make balls.

When let to dry, these balls were very hard and would substitute for an "expensive" cork ball during our summer vacation.

The balls were rock-hard and were more akin to cannon balls / missiles !

Change in subject - I've been of the opinion that we should be able to use the pulp as a binding agent while preparing tarmac. The reason I say this is - it is excellent in stickiness and binding properties (In my childhood days - I'd be able to show a couple of shorts / shirts as proof). They are also very hardy on wear / tear. The fact that these would dry up quickly was the reason we'd use oil during the process of pulping. I'm sure the heat / oil in the current road laying process will help. More importantly, this fruit pulp used to bind even plastic waste and I'm sure we can certainly use this property today.....

I guess this is one more of my discoveries that will not see the light of a patent until I have more time for myself :-)

Flowering trees of Bangalore : A great sight every year

Just like mary parts of the world have he cherry blossom festival, Bangalore should have a festival on it's flowering trees. I think it is unique in the number of varieties of flowering trees and the colours.....

Just this morning I counted quite a few
The red Gulmohurs
The purple Jacarandas
The yellow Tabubias
The white Frangipanis
The light green Pongamias
The orange / pink Rain Trees
etc etc.

However, I still miss the fragrant roads that Bangalore used to have. There were a few roads (eg. Sampige road in Malleshwaram with the eponymous Sampige trees), the road near Ulsoor lake with the Akash mallige (a tree that, as kids, we used to call - Peepi mara : Peepi being a whistle in Kannada) that used to smell like a treat whenever one'd go past.

Now, I guess the only tree that I've smelt while driving is probably the Neelgiri (Ecalyptus).

Maybe we shoud get a "tree walk" organized where we can go into say Cubbon Park, Lalbaugh and be able to see all flowering trees in a row ?

A throwback on that old rhyme - Mary, Mary, quite contrary....

Ugadi : The start of a new year

Today is Ugadi (or should I write Yugadhi ?) the new year for people from Karnataka and Andhra (primarily the south Indian / deccan lunar calendar followers). It is the day when we mix the bitter and sweet combo (Neem buds and Jaggery) as a symbol that life is full of ups and downs and we need to face both with equanimity....

While all this is fine, I wonder about the new-year significance and it's origin. The reason being, this day is a new year for a few other far-flung communities (eg. Sindhis ...).

Is this just a coincidence ? Or is there historical reference that we have not figured out ?

Neighbouring states in India (eg. Tamilnadu) follow the Solar new year and this is usually a week later ? How come there is this level of diversity in a few hundred kilometers, while there is equivalence in communities far spread ?

I'm told it is also celebrated as new year in a few eastern european communities ?

Maybe it cab be traced to tribal origins before religion(s) were born ?

Education standards : How can we get the State model inclusive ?

This post is more a reflection on the essential issues we face in the areas of primary education.

For those who want an overview of the current model in India, you have to start with 3 major bits of the process
1. Primary Education is a State issue and responsibility and not a central (federal) issue / responsibility
2. Primary Education has a state allocation of budget - mostly in the form of wholly "owned" / run government schools and partially aided other schools (aid is mostly in areas like mid-day meal, examination process etc). However, this is only for the state run syllabus schools ?
3. Outside of the state syllabus - India has 2 main (not counting the elite education models of IBC) syllabus models : The ICSE and the CBSE

The question I have for myself is...
Can we ensure that the state model (for example SSLC in Karnataka) has common bits that is borrowed as mandatory in the structure.

Things that I'd like to see
- Focus on India as a country and culture with the state covering **ONLY** the local bits
- Inclusion of topics like "Civic Sense" instead or as part of Civics
- History that covers local regions while dis-passionately describing the caste issues ?
- Science that includes environmental science related to conservation (Energy, water, power etc)

I'm afraid that unless we establish a common national "minimum" structure for coverage, we'll continue to talk about the north-south divide etc.

The basic process should be to bring in more PRIDE into the system both as a nation and then as a local community ?

Maybe the pride will help people improve (and want to improve) their own backyards ?

Adrenaline level : Post go live "downs"

One of the largest US implementations on ERP done by Inatech just went live over the weekend. It was good to see the various aspects of people behaviour over the last few days.

There were the usual split in individual reactions (What I call as the BELL curve set). There were individuals who were very proactive and prepared to do anything to take the system live. There were the middle players who went with the team spirit and chipped in with whatever they could. Then, there were the few (fortunately only a few) who were waiting on a reactive mode to be told to do things.

More illuminating was the post go live structure.
The former set (the extreme chaps) were actually the ones who were beavering away at the system to ensure all issues were closed.
For some reason, the middle bits tend to drop back and this is I think primarily to do with the Adrenaline levels.
The folks at the end of the curve dropped even further back.

The next challenge is going to be to establish the post go live team. This will almost need a different set of skills & people. What is the next target ? How can we set new goals that are focused and progressive ?

MAFA : The various "avatars" of a generation of paper pushers

One of the oft quoted acronym to describe Indian bureaucracy's inaction is MAFA : The quote itself is attributed to Narayanmurthy, Vagul and a host of others, however, the symptoms of the issue are very apparent. Depending on who is quoted - the acronym stands for - Mistaking Articulation for Action or Mistaking Articulation for Accomplishment

The problem IMHO is not restricted to the bureaucracy - it is more widespread and is almost cultural. We LOVE to talk. The more articulate an individual, the more credit we give to the person - almost as if we are equating articulation with wisdom ?

In Inatech, we have some individuals who "talk the talk" very well. If one were to listen to the individuals at a superficial level, it would be very impressive. They always know what is missing, what should have been done etc. They are always saying the "right things". Actioning them is an altogether different matter !

While I've explained time and again that we need higher ownership to the issue and not just the right mouthing of words, it does not seem to sink in ?

Maybe it is to do with our schooling ?
Maybe it is to do with the fact that we are shown the "wrong" set of individuals within the community as we should emulate ?

Maybe we need to change all designation that has the word "manager" or "director" with "owner" or whatever it takes to get them to action bits.

What other words would be appropriate ?
Actor if it is going to imply Action ???? :-)

MAFA : T

Restart, Renew and ReUse on Global hour day ?

After a long hiatus, I've found the time or more importantly the inclination to blog again.
What better way to start than to pen a few thoughts on Earth Hour Day ?

As I write this while sitting in a hotel room in the US, it is "TIME" in India. Time for people to switch off for an hour as a gesture to energy conservation. Pity is, it seems to be a very "high brow" campaign.

Not sure how many see this ?

Maybe we should do this on a working day when the schools are in and all the kids are told about this and then they can convince their parents, peers and the public ?

The important factor is to impress upon people and bring in peer pressure. Let me illustrate the point with an example.

In Inatech, I've seen on numerous occasions that systems (PCs) are left on, lights are left on etc while winding up for the day. All opportunities to drill down the message seems to have had very little long-lasting effect. Things simmer down for a while and then cropup again (epidemic mode ?).

As an experiment, we now have BIG laminated notices that are left on each desk when we find the PC left on. This notice remains up during the day just to let the neighbours know that somone has forgotten (again !) to turn off equipment.

It seems to work !

What can we do at a global level for this kind of peer pressure ?