Last week I visited Thiruvananthapuram for three days. I landed without realizing that the Kerala was about to go to polls in the first phase of the general election. After staying in Mumbai for close to 15 years, I had forgotten how elections are fought the Mallu way. A summer shower had cooled the climate a bit but the heat of the election was simmering around me as I exited the airport. Huge hoardings and cut-outs of candidates welcomed me to the city. There were posters everywhere and corner meetings were on full swing. Slow moving ambassadors with gen-sets in the trunk and loud speakers on the roof blasted off election songs. Every small junction had fully decorated party offices and their very own loud speakers. Colourful  leaflets were being distributed and every one, from little children to great grand fathers with nothing better to do seemed to be participating.
At the family function that I attended people talked about the chances of Shashi Tharoor , the import from UN who is contesting under the Congress banner and the local veteran P.Ramachandran Nair, the CPI candidate. Newspapers were devoted to the election too with candidate profiles stretching across full pages. You could sense the tension in the air. ‘Shashi Tharoor is certain to become a minister if he wins’, thundered my father; ‘But he is an ‘American spy’ said his younger brother as they greeted each other after a long gap. ‘He can’t speak Malayalam properly’, said his sister. ‘So what, he has a ration card’, my mother chipped in.

BJP is yet to win a seat from Kerala and it does not look like they will this time too. Yet  you can’t miss the saffron presence – when I was a little boy Lotus was a flower seen in temple ponds and not on election posters.   
I know elections are colourful affairs in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and some other states but I don’t think you can match the intensity of Kerala. 

Voting would have come to an end as I publish this story and it would take couple of monsoons for the posters with smiling faces on them to peel off. But I think Kerala Tourism should invent ‘election tourism’ to showcase, arguably the most colourful democratic, multi party election held anywhere in the whole world.

The numbers show the interest Satyam had generated amongst prospective buyers. No fewer than 149 registered first. Out of these, ten submitted expression of interest. In the next lap, three were rejected and three didn’t show up. Cognizant exited the night before the bids were open. Finally, Tech Mahindra bid higher than Larsen & Toubro as well as WL Ross & Co. and bagged the troubled software company.
The question that is waiting to be asked is, why did so many people exit the race? The stock answer is the huge liabilities Satyam faces. There are the 13 class actions suits running in the US, Upaid wants to extract $1 billion on a forgery case, Rajus have laid claims to Rs 1,230 crore that the company owes them.
The first two can be settled out of court. The final damage could be a fraction of the original claim. The Central Bureau of Investigation has said that it found no trace of the money that the Rajus claim to have pumped into the company to plug the hole their misdemeanors had caused. So that too can be contested in a court of law. (Incidentally, companies controlled by the Rajus sent out letters to Satyam the day after Ramalinga Raju made his infamous confession on January 7 claiming the money back.)
One factor that seems to have been missed by commentators is real estate. In the weeks following Ramalinga Raju’s confession, there was widespread suspicion that he had taken money out of Satyam to buy properties for Maytas Properties, a closely-held company of the Rajus. The plan, it was said, was to sell these properties, book profits and quietly put the money back in Satyam. The Union Corporate Affairs Ministry’s plan to supersede the Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties boards just added to that belief.
At least one suitor even made a secret trip to Hyderabad to verify the facts. The import was simple: Anybody who got control of Satyam would also get Maytas Properties. Remember, the valuation of the company for its ill-fated acquisition by Satyam was well over Rs 6,000 crore. Though Ernst & Young, which was quoted as having done the valuation, said it wasn’t for an acquisition, most people felt it wasn’t too off the mark.
 But the cookie crumbled when the Corporate Affairs Ministry could bring no evidence of fund diversion before the Company Law Board. The Central Bureau of Investigation too in its charge sheet said there was no evidence to suggest siphoning out of money. That is when some of them could have lost interest.

Bangalore’s real estate sector had practically crashed over the past few months. But, now there is talk of a revival, by the experts. They seem to have the most unbelievable of reasons, at least from the point of view of a student of Economics. Hoardings have been put up by real estate brokers, including the biggest one in the city, and builders practically chiding Bangalore’s denizens to buy and screaming “Don’t miss this opportunity. Buy now”. Hence, it is not rare to find many people asking: “Will I miss out on the opportunity, again?”
Then, there is a trend to the real estate sector in Bangalore which has been seen and can be traced back to the last few elections that we have seen. Politics seems inextricably inter-twined with the real estate sector in the sector.
Those in the know of the working of the real estate sector say it can be understood better if we understand how much of a role real estate money plays in politics. Those in the real estate business, say some, end up having to pay the political leaders, moreover, to protect the interests of the real estate sector.

The interest in the real estate sector of the city has been party agnostic. No matter which party, everyone is interested.

This is not necessarily at the time of the Lok Sabha polls alone. Even civic polls have the knack of pushing up the prices, though to a lesser extent. It is just that the incidence of the burden borne by the builder is wholly transferred to the buyer. The realtors just pass on the burden of higher costs brought on by the election.

To know the actual situation in the market perhaps a serious buyer needs to wait a few more months till the elected leaders begin to take their seat in the Parliament.

How it came to this is probably because whenever a sector has seen very high rates of return, political interests try to make the best of it. They feel why not share a part of the big fat profits. Many a time, this takes on the avatar of protection money.

I will be voting on the 23rd of April. It’s April 14 and strangely, there are no posters or banners or canvassing of any sort happening across most of the IT capital, at least in most places. Looks like the political leaders have taken it for granted that they only need to be on the ballot papers and on air on FM radio, and/or canvass through mobile phones by sending an SMS. No banners, no posters, hand bills or any such classical means of canvassing.

Perhaps, Bangalore which is India’s IT capital, has gone the US way. Fr Jose Joseph, a lecturer who had taught me the US Constitution in college, had said: “Politics in the US is seen only on TV and on the radio. There’s nothing happening on the streets. It is so lifeless, the elections.” But, the words were spoken way back in 1994. Have we also taken to that culture is what one may think by what’s happening in the city. Is it that people are so inspired by the Obama election that they are yearning for the US style of politics and the candidates advertise themselves on the FM radio stations just as it happens in the developed part of the world.

Life is being sucked out of the liveliest part of democracy. No noise on the streets, no noisy canvassing. Or, are they cutting costs, with donations too probably having dipped thanks to the recession. The ‘other cash’ flow too would have definitely dipped.

But then, this could also have a positive environmental impact. Perhaps the parties feel that the paper handbills and some plastic canvassing materials would have a negative environmental impact. Also think of the amount of water and energy that would have gone into the manufacture of all that paper and plastic.

When Hindi news channel India TV was slammed for one of its reports by the News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority last week, the channel was simultaneously running an apology on its website for another story that it had aired some time ago. While the Authority fined India TV for an interview of a US policy analyst (Farhana Ali) that was picked from Reuters and dubbed in Hindi giving the impression that it was given to the channel, the web apology concerned the use of a photograph of a popular Bohra community leader. “India TV wants to clarify that the use of photograph of His Holiness Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin was not intentional and that he has no connection with the dreaded terrorist Baitullah,” says the apology on India TV’s website. 

The gaffes — and India TV is not the sole offender — certainly strengthen the case for content regulation in the broadcasting industry. However, the question is whether Self Regulation would work or does the industry need a statutory regulatory body like Ofcom in the UK or Federal Communications Commission in the US? 

Ofcom is a statutory corporation which reports to the Parliament annually. It regulates the UK’s communications industries across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless services. Among other things, it ensures optimal use of the spectrum. Its other concerns include: “Maintaining plurality in the provision of broadcasting” and “Applying adequate protection for audiences against offensive or harmful material.” Ofcom has a board with a chairman and executive and non-executive members. The board meets at least once a month. Ofcom’s Regulatory Principles state that Ofcom “will always seek the least intrusive regulatory mechanisms to achieve its policy objectives.” 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on the other hand, is an independent US government agency established by the Communications Act of 1934. The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms.

However, several channel heads dismiss the relevance of either Ofcom or FCC-like bodies for India. In India, autonomy for such organisations will only be on paper. Even Prasar Bharti is supposed to be autonomous, remarked the CEO of a news network. Little surprise then, that news channel owners are keen that their Self-regulation mechanism works. The code is on the website and it is followed, they insist. In fact, an India TV executive said that it was following the code when it forwarded the Farhana Ali complaint on its own to the Redressal Authority. 

Since India’s private television industry is still young, channels are likely to make mistakes. But they will learn from them. However, it is high time that channels start accepting responsibility for the content they air – there should be strict guidelines on the use of pictures, especially, the ones that are lifted from the Internet and morphed to suit their needs. 

While opinion on whether the Redressal Authority’s Order is harsh or not may be divided, the fact remains that India TV’s withdrawal from NBA hasn’t been a gentle response either. If taken in the right spirit, the judgment could only probably lead to cleaner content.

All sorts of technological brilliance has gone unrewarded through human history. Who invented bread? The canoe? Lipstick and eyeliner? The saddle? Hair gel? Catgut for musical instruments? Shoe polish? Cured leather? The belt buckle? Vehicle suspension, which makes road journeys almost comfortable? Gears? Bullets? The list is nearly endless, and patent-free.

It’s easy to fantasise about how many of these technological advances came about, to invent clever or practical originary stories. Prehistoric man falls into pond, thrashes about, grabs round log but finds it impossible to sit on, thinks (or grunt-thinks) between swallows of pond water: “Dammit, if this thing only had a seat and an outboard motor…”

Or: prehistoric woman wakes up after all-night sacred fermented beehive eating ritual, sees swollen face reflected in water next morning after lighting sooty breakfast fire, and is so appalled that she rubs her eyes. Voilà, kajal. (This could even have been a man.)

If happenstance or immediate practical necessity is behind much invention, it’s no wonder that many of the most critical inventions are orphans to our eyes. Who knows, while adding a tweak to a tool that makes it more convenient to use, that one is thus enriching the technological inheritance of all humankind?

It’s quite possible that most of us have invented some little shortcut or efficiency tactic that might prove to have significant economic value to someone else. It may be a more efficient route between home and office, or a better kitchen storage system, a particular technique of cooking some stubborn comestible, some software quickly written up for oneself to serve a specific need (hey, lots of IT-enabled people do this for fun), some novel way of using a word or words that feeds new movement in the “coolness” industry… Again, the list is practically endless.

There’s just no way to foresee what will survive. That, and the near-impossibility of figuring out, in our highly viral world, where an idea actually started (if it even had a single source), is why, despite the explosive growth in published words (paper, TV, radio, Net, podcast, iReport…) and the tendency to associate oneself strongly with, and publicise, one’s own successful work — professional or recreational — I suspect the anonymous inventor is far from a creature of the past. And good thing, too.

(The photo above is from here.)

So the first seat of this Lok Sabha election has been won! Sushma Swaraj, the BJP candidate from Vidisha, needs only the Vidisha Returning Officer to hand her Form 21 C (testifying that a candidate has won an election). The circumstances of her victory are bizarre, but are also a comment on how and why the BJP will get more than 20 out of 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Rajkumar Patel was the Congress candidate fielded against her. As a candidate, when you file your nomination you need to submit ‘Form A’ in the original that proves that a candidate is a particular party’s official choice. According to Patel, he “forgot” that this has to be filed in the original: he tried to file a photocopy and by the time he procured the original the nomination deadline was over. As all the other candidates in Vidisha are of no consequence, Swaraj knows she’s won and has – more or less – stopped campaigning.

It is not that Patel is a novice. He was an education minister in Digvijay Singh’s government. This means he is a Digvijay Singh man. Singh, his mentor, had taken a vow not to fight elections for ten years after he lost the state elections in 2003, a period that will be over in 2013.

In the meantime, Madhya Pradesh is slipping out of Congress hands. There was no clarity whether Suresh Pachoury, the state party chief was going to fight the Lok Sabha elections or not. Pachoury has served in the Rajya Sabha for five terms – the maximum permissible – and was moved as party chief for this reason. One way to establish his leadership would have been to lead, contest and win a Lok Sabha election. He suddenly developed cold feet and has stayed out of the fray. Digvijay Singh, the tallest Congress leader, is watching all this and laughing.

Arjun Singh, the other person who has been Madhya Pradesh’s face in Delhi for several years, is caught in a family drama that rivals Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. His son Ajay, aka Rahul, and his daughter Veena were locked in a public quarrel for the Sidhi constituency. Finally the Congress ticket was given to a third person and the claims of both ignored. Veena Singh is contesting the election as an independent. This resulted in Arjun Singh dabbing his eyes publicly while campaigning for the Congress candidate from Salempur, UP, where he commented poignantly: “Aisa hota hai, kabhi kabhi is umr me (This happens in old age).”

Madhya Pradesh watchers say the Congress is going to get three seats from the state: Chhindwara, held by Kamal Nath; Guna held by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kantilal Bhuria from Ratlam. A fourth would be a bonus.

In a state where the opposition is decimated, the ruling party tends to become its own opposition. This is what is happening in MP. Sushma Swaraj and Shivraj Singh Chouhan are taking out ‘nyaya yatras’ all over the state. You would have thought they were the ones to be at the receiving end. But no, they are blaming the Congress-led central government for the plethora of development-related problems that plague Madhya Pradesh. West Madhya Pradesh has areas that get electricity once in eight days. There are days when even Bhopal gets water once a day. Roads have shown marginal improvement. To the people, the BJP-led state government’s response is: the centre is not giving us coal so we cannot run thermal power projects which means you get no electricity. Such is the infirmity of the Congress that it is unable to nail this patently absurd argument. The drama unfolds relentlessly meanwhile: recently the Chief Minister led a Satyagraha at a thermal power plant and seized a lump of coal there – ‘This coal is Madhya Pradesh’s. Give our coal back to us,” was the rallying cry.

Unless the Congress can pull itself up by the bootstraps, it will take years to reinvent itself, And reinvention is needed urgently.

Bangalore’s M G Road is changing, from the most happening place, the Metro, ironically meant to take the city to the next level in urbanisation, has taken the road down into a status of being not-so-happening place. The work on it has been going on for a couple of years or more and taken almost all businesses of yesteryears down with its fate. 

Now, in an unkindest of cuts for the road, the India Coffee House has shut shop. It has been forced to down its shutters, after serving everyone walking in to a piping hot cup of coffee or a masala dosa or a chicken/veg culet or scrambled eggs.
The turbaned waiters gave me a sense of nostalgia, everytime, of those weekends in the mid-’80s when I visited it with my parents, on our fortnightly day out, to the city (which meant M G Road).

No visit to M G Road was complete without a visit to the first floor of the India Coffee House for the customary cutlets while my parents had their piping hot cups of coffee. Alas, those days will now remain only in memories of those fortunate enough to visit the place where one could sit for hours in a quiet corner enjoying a book while the bustling road went about its business.

Coffee House has fallen to greed fed by real estate boom. Coffee House gave in to the landlord’s pressures to vacate.
The Coffee House probably did not give enough returns to the landlord, relatively speaking. He can’t be blamed. After all during the past decade and so, he has seen his building grow relatively smaller and smaller, what with all those multi-storeyed buildings starting to grow taller than his building.

The landlord may have seen his bank balance growing not so fast, and while he saw the real estate boom come and go, the Coffee House kept him from profiteering from the boom which every other landlord owning even a few square feet on the road.

This is a common story now on the road, with nearly every one of the old business falling to upstarts that very often seem to have only profiteering as their primary objective.

While the Coffee House is relegated to the pages of history, a colleague and I shed a tear or two in memory of hours spent there.

Whenever I visit a temple, I wear my chappels so that I can take them off easily, which is never the case with shoes. There’s one more reason, that is if your footwear looks not so exotic, no one will steal them when you have taken them off and left it outside. I mean, the hallowed halls that may the venue of a press conference. 
I am giving up all my shoes. They are the only footwear I wear to work and also to press conferences I occasionally attend.
The venues of press conferences will have the status equivalent to the temple perhaps.
Soon, we may not be allowed to wear shoes to press conferences. No one would want a journalist to do a copycat act of Muntadar al-Zaidi and Jarnail Singh. Not the well-heeled, who would under no circumstance want to smell the shoes of the lesser mortals or get hit by the heels of an angry/irritated journalist’s shoe.
Many of the press conferences at star hotels may soon start to see people walking in perhaps even barefoot or in the hawai chappals. It would be easier to take them off before entering the hall where press conference are scheduled to be held. Remember, M F Hussain was once not allowed entry into a star hotel because he was barefoot.
Journalists will be able to boast they believe in simple living and high thinking.

It has often been argued that phasing out old cars will help push the demand for new vehicles. But the experience with replacement of 25-year-old cabs in Mumbai has so far not proved the hypothesis correct.

With the government deciding to phase out old Premier Padmini cabs that have been on the road for a quarter of a century, many thought that the demand for Maruti Omni, which turned 25 last year, would rise.

But so far, a majority of cabbies have opted for second-hand Maruti 800s, though the Zen and the Alto are the favourites. Most of the replacement cabs have a vintage of five-six years since vehicles older than seven years cannot be registered.
The economics works something like this. On road, a second-hand Maruti 800, with the cost of transferring the permit to paying a brokerage to the middle man, costs around Rs 1.3 lakh. If it’s an Alto or a Zen, the cost is around Rs 1.5 lakh (there is a premium on Alto). If second-hand car prices crash after the entry of Nano, then this market will get a further fillip.

While getting a loan for a secondhand car, especially a taxi, is tougher, the drivers go to informal sources in Dadar and Sion to get the vehicle financed at around 18 per cent a year. A default triggers a penalty of Rs 500, which is added to the equated monthly instalment (EMI). Plus, some have decided to make the entire down payment so there is no EMI burden.
In contrast, the cost on an Omni is upwards of Rs 2.5 lakh. So, even if interest rates are lower for new vehicles, the EMI burden goes up as the loan size is higher.

Also, many drivers say that after driving a Premier Padmini for years, they find it tough to deal with a vehicle which does not have an engine in front.

What also prompted drivers to shift to the informal sources of finance was the paperwork involved in getting a bank loan sanctioned. Now, banks have woken up to the opportunity. And, even non-banking entities such as Small Industries Development Bank of India have also decided to enter the market. The financial institution is tying up with Maruti dealers and using the two taxi drivers’ unions like self-help groups to finance loans. As for funding this business, it is depending on a line of credit from a Japanese agency, which came at very nominal rates, for promoting green ventures (CNG-fitted cabs are also promoting green energy, says a Sidbi executive).

If the experiment works, finance may be made available for second-hand vehicles as well since operating costs are low.