Undermine right to be ashamed?

There is no place slated dreaded for politics to come up.

And this time again, no different. When US offered to work with India, Japan and Australia to coordinate relief operations, many of us were happy. And was a bit proud of seeing India out there too. What we need is help. Period. There is a limit of what kind of help. Food, water, clothes, shelter, money that can buy some of these. And there are many which no one can help. Lost love. Hope. Moms and Dads. Sons and daughters. Still, whatever we can do, let us do. And let us coordinate that right things flow to right place in right quantity.

Kerala is no place to compare in this vast wrath of God. Still, at the micro-level what Dr.Fuad told me echos why we need coordination upto macro level

we had visited the camps here. a lot can be done immediately. relief efforts are well coordinated and very active now. food no problem.manpower no problem. what they really need is bedsheets towels soap paste etc.NOT clothes,they have plenty of clothes we are not allowed to physically distribute materials.we can go there and hand over the materials to camp organizers.they are really doing a good job under the most trying circumstances.

The same is true across India. Enough food, enough clothes and enough people. Let the aid go to other nations who are in real need. This is out our PM also told other nations. And we have also allocated around $25M to other affected nations.

Coordination is a real tough job. World wide, people are pouring in money. Good souls across the continents are moved seeing footage of crying moms handing over their dead children. Of daughters moving in between piled bodies searching for their dear ones faces. They are all sending money, whatever they have. Families are offering adoption of orphaned children. What we need now is the distribution mechanism. I took the US offer as the one in the right direction. Very humanitarian.

Well, thats why we have the UN and the numerous organisation under its umbrella. But to read something like this is irritating, that too in the same year they started a Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning

..U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, who is also the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said he did not know the region didn't have a warning system....

Again I understand, fully agree that its not time for criticism. UN has probably failed here too. It fails to avoid wars. It failed to avoid other calamities too. It will continue hosting World Conferences of Disaster Reduction every year in great places. Let it. But I really dont think a criticism of "undermining UN role" http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3944374 is a timely one. Remember, one can undermine your powers. But never never your responsibility. As long as you deliver that. No mom will ever complain someone undermined her motherhood!

I really worry what would happen to UN now. Will it become another League of Nations?

Anyway lets all make sure no one else would undermine our responsibility. If anyone does, it simply means, we were not doing our job. I would hope that UN would find out places where it can take some responsiblity and deliver too. Anyway I am overwhelmed by new initiative on the UN website for setting up the early warning system within a year. And I guess UN is not left out in coordination too. Lets hope.

Yes, it is shame on mankind

Cherian put me a note seeing the picture in my blog -
….. What I found most interesting in your blog was the comment under the picture on Tsunami. You said “shame on you mankind”. There was no note elaborating as to why you think mankind should be blamed for something that can be categorized as an act of God and one about which Man could do nothing to prevent or reduce the devastation…at least that is how every one treats it in the news media.

Whatever you mean when you say shame on mankind, I would like to echo those remarks and also tell you why I say so. For one, if we spend a fraction of the money that is spend on defense funding (which is basically money used to deliberately kill people) I am sure science could come up with solutions to provide warning about such calamities or even do things to reduce the impact on people and their lively hoods.

In addition I have a question or a comment about another aspect of how the impact could have been reduced. It is said that it took almost 2 and a half hours for the (first?) Tsunami to hit the cost of Sri Lanka and India. It is apparently common knowledge among meteorologists that an earth quake 7.0 and higher on the ritcher scale (in the ocean?) is capable of creating tsunami. If that was the case, as soon as the quake was recorded, why were there no warnings to evacuate people from the costs in India at least….we have a good system in place for disaster warnings, any such evacuation would have reduced the cost of lives drastically. Do I not understand something about this phenomenon? Am I missing something? Or do you think what I am saying makes sense…….

I am yet to write that. I am deeply disturbed after seeing some pics. Of flesh and blood. Of real emotions and faces. Of the true pain. In full real colours.

We have been behind WMD for around 10 years now. What are we trying to escape from? Whom are we trying to protect? From whom? We have forgotten God. Understand that He holds the power of nature. Nature the nice guy, when you are nice to him. Or you take sword, sure it will. In 2004, we have had hurricanes in the US, a series of typhoons and quakes that caused Japan tremble with fear and now the tsunamis that hit every nation in between.

And this is not new. We have a system working in Pacific already. For 40 years. True that we are not yet there in predicting earthquake. Even after a deep sea quake, they say it is difficult and costly to determine the tsunami and directions. But again, we had developed this 40 years back for the Pacific.

We had great celeberations for the new millenium. A lot of promises. Of a world of better ozone layer. Of no landmines (shame on us Indians, we are one of the top exporter of landmines). Of no WMD and with a global police and truly global economy. But leaving half of the world with half a century old technology.

US was busy designing SDI (aka Star Wars) last decade. Seconds after the satellites detect a fire on the ground, a patriot (or the ilike) will go and destroy an ICBM. Trillions of dollars is what they talked.

Then we have the UN. Whatever it means. As we all know it has failed to be a broker of peace, if war is the opposite of peace. But war is not necessarily the only opposite. A natural calamity is. Now the UN is saying it did not know Indian Ocean do not have a warning system. For 40 years we have one in pacific and we dont have one in Indian Ocean!!!! Shame, what else. Shame on you, Shame on me, Shame on all of us. God, forgive us. We talk about global economy. My salary comes from a global market. And here we say, no country in Indian Ocean has the money to install these costly equipments. I dont know what is big money and what is small money. What I read is that the finance required is just $3M. 100,000 people not worth for $3M?

If we can leave Siachen to be protected by nature, we would save $365 Million in a year? Why even talk about defense? If every new mobile phone buyer in India can pay Rs 100 extra, we have 10 million dollar in one year.

Zarqawi and Osama has united. If we have people like them with passion, with the charisma, with money and with followers that are ready to die, and alas, if the passion was for mankind, if the charisma is based on good faith on God, Asia becomes the richest continent on planet. O Osama, you could hit only two towers. See the sample of the wrath of God, it can wash off entire communities across continents. O LTTE, what you are trying to get as a homeland, can vanish off in a matter of hours. You could be begging to your neighbour.

People of Global Economy, it is time to unite. People of technology, get solutions working for humanity. Our kids should not be listening to such shameful stories in the future. I fully agree we cannot totally prevent these calamities. Unless we are as power as God. (God forgive). With all the systems in place, Japan had a lot of calamities. There were warnings of typhoon one full week, still there were casualties. But if we tried, our job is done.

Death is certain, so don’t you take your kin to hospital when he is sick? If someone says he did not, because hospital is costly, what will you feel like? Shame? Then this is 100,000 times that shame. And more

Shame on Mankind

WMD? Terrorist attack? This is tsunami. That killed more than a hundred thousand people.. Shame mankind, shame on you.

Petals I Picked

So I have set up a separate house for my friends today. Same neighborhood. Petals I Picked. I just moved all the posts. I did have some more nice posts. Google mail in feature should save from losing more posts. Anyway this is my email feed test! Let me see if this comes up there!!!

Ryz

Nammooru Bangalooru

"Good morning! This is Radio City 91 on a cloudy chilly Friday morning"

Not in the US. This is Bangalore. I am tuned to the "Bangalore's best music station", a private FM channel, in my car.

Apun ka naam hai Sunaina
Apun ka show ka naam hai Josh 91
Apun ka station ka naam hai Radio City
Radio City 91 FM.

Bangalore has changed in the past 10 years. It has grown wider, taller and deeper too. Not just the Airtel ER Ad. Ring roads tell us Airport is now inside the city. The flyovers symbolise a leap forward. The underpasses thurst how deep is the passion.

It is not just three aspects that has grown. Just for example, it is tougher to drive now. Thankfully the ring roads are good. At a few places it looks like a freeway. With exits and entries. I don’t know if we can ever afford to have a complete freeway ever in India. But for what we have, I am sure we could do something to use them better. A little bit of care in driving. Tell people driving is not just a skill, but a knowledge. That helps. All cars come with power steering now. Why still go for a diagonal turn when you have to turn right? The amount of time I would spend, yielding to a through traffic, is only a small percentage of the total journey with all the jams. Why not yield? And enjoy Sunaina's Josh, Dorrius' Route 91 and the Mattinee with Sindhu on Radio City?

Todays Times of India talks about what it costs when Ambulances get stuck in jams. You will realise only when you are involved. But it need not be. You don’t have to burn your fingers to know fire means heat. And to realise heat can mean burn.

Then again, on a the beautiful ring roads, a bit more care in putting signboards. BDA knows they can make money using signboards by ads. Why not have them in plenty? With all the exits and junctions marked properly it would be just good. Driving could be a fun if we could route all the slow trucks on one lane. Now they span the entire road and people zip in between these trucks. Don’t blame the truck drivers. They are not privileged to have a good education, a good pay and still overlook all rules. Good that, I can see many people believing that lane changing is aided by indicators. And why on earth these bike riders feel they should be on the extreme right of the extreme right lane? Good or bad thing is that they don’t do a rash driving. They keep steady 40s!!!

BTS has changed name. Now called BMTC. They have changes colours. Now many flavours. Janapriya Vahini to Parisara Vahini - a lot of them. ( I can understand what a Janapriya vahini is. But what about a Parisara vahini? Someone said they take Parisara for a ride!!) Kutti vandis for small areas. Double length buses for some other. Theorotically. The road toward my apartment is narrow. But they have the normal buses running in these roads.

Lots and lots of money flowing into Bangalore day by day. The most dangerous if the BPO wave. Teens are getting 5 digit salaries. With money in Bangalore, easy to spoil yourself.

Mobile is nothing luxury here. If you want to show off, have those latest models with colour screens and multimedia stuff, odd (call innovative?) shapes and like that. My first haircut was interrupted twice .The barber's mobile rang twice. (Did it ring or sing?)

People here don’t bother there is a silent mode. In Japan it is a single button manner mode. Here in meetings, people get calls and they even asnwer sitting where they sit. Cool. A decade back, I remember our CDOT tea table talk - "People now assume everyone has a phone at home. They don’t ask you if you have a phone, they just ask your number". This is now true about mobile. That time 90% around that tea table did not have a phone where they lived. "Well, whats your cell number btw?"

Moving in to Bangalore was easier done. Got furniture from home. Arranged with the apartment watchman for a few people to get things moved up. All done. They happy with 200 bucks. Thankfully this is not Trivandrum. The relocation from Japan was pretty too. Door to door was executed with me getting involved in a few telephone calls. Very neat and clean till unpacking. Great job Interem. Phone, application form downloaded from the web and then the handed over to the concierge service at TI (outsourced by TI). Second day the instrument was in place and the third day it started ringing. I am talking about BSNL, the erstwhile DoT. If you don’t want them, there are other landlines like TATA, Reliance, Bharati. Or you can go for fixed wireless again from all these people.

(Ever thought wires will be thought of as hassles in India? Before we could realise a wired society, we have a better wireless society grooming. See all the reports. Instat or whatever. World is watching India on wireless.)

Gas - Just went and told them. They gave an application. Filled it up. The next day morning the guy was there installing the LPG.

Life is good too. Malloos have taken over Bangalore with the super market concept everywhere. Now things are all a phone call away. Groceries, Vegetables, Fish, Meat, anything you can order on phone and get them delivered free of charge. I am not referring to brands like fabmall.com. These are local shops around.

Rents? I pay a rent of Rs.7600. I have not met anyone paying less than 6500. I have a colleague who pays 22000. Well, he has booked an apartment. He will get that in the late 2006. Good he says. He agreed to pay around 42 lakhs.

For car also it is actually quick. But thanks to TI car lease scheme, it took me more than a month to get it done. Anyway I never visited any car showrooms. At home evaluations. Home delivery. Thanks to Anoop who did this unbelievable service to happen in the non-service capital of India called Trivandrum. I followed it in the consumer city called Bangalore.

Talking about cars again, people are "driven" nowadays. They don’t drive. They have drivers. Someone was surprised last week "So you don’t have a driver?" A big problem for the new TI office location was that - the drivers have no space now. These are all personal drivers. Not for any directors or anyone. Just a man in the cubicle.

So much about the new Bangalore. But the old Bangalore is chugging along too. You can still spot many bullock carts in service. Something which you cannot see in Kerala. Garbages are the same old way. And they are handled in the same old way too. (I met a person, a driver for the garbage removal vehicle of the city, who has "outsourced" that job and he working as personal driver for someone else)

Well, this is my 90 days story in Bangalore. To start with. Now I am on the lookout to own or build a house. Many people are there to give me company. One difference - they are on the lookout for the second houses. The first for many are apartments. I am thinking of skipping that step. Second cars and second houses are not unusual here. Except for the guys who missed a part of the journey enjoying life in calm and cool places like Kerala and Japan!

The City of Joy

My first visit to Calcutta. Read it Kolkotta. The ride from Airport to Saltlake city itself raised up my curiosity. The new bypass is just the Kolkota image of the huge infrastucture investment in the rest of India. At least the cities. But everything else here makes Kolkotta look like a rural village!

The red flags in front of offices are not that high as expected. Well, they are in power here for ever - have been for ever. So no reason to. Probably. And there is virtually no organised opposition.

The buses are interesting too. The old big like buses - fully wooden, with small seats - again wooden. Will think twice for sure before getting into!

The worst part is the driving habits. Almost no rules - go the wrong way on a one way. Take reverse where you want, the guy behind you will just wait for you. Now park your car right on the intersection.. god, it was a scary ride all the way up and down. No wonder they still treat Ambys as the best cars available. Where else on earth you can have a discussion on the latest Amby - price, features etc?

I bagged it!

What?
A notebook, a pad, coffee mug and spoon, and then pencil, sharpener, eraser, stapler, staples, 3M pads and all that would fit in the mug. Not more. Not less.

And the bag? With the shades of red and orange, with a logo of TI and the slogan of the year - The No.1 place to work for. Above it, in bigger letters, written, I BAGGED IT!

This is 05 Apr 2004, just two months past the completion of 11 years of career, on the first day of my third job - at Texas Instruments India. Back to Bangalore after a gap of 7.5 years.

As I walked in to the Golf View Homes building, there is no smiling girl under bright lights behind an exotic desk. There were two Group4 guys. I told my name, they took up a list, tick marked and asked me to take a seat. 30 minutes later, I realised there were around 25 people like me, when they called us again to their desk to give us the temporary ID cards. All were then hearded to a conference hall in the upper level, led by the HR Admin manager. He gave us a long presentation - mostly stating that his responsibility is in telling us that everything is our responsibility. The message was clear - there is no spoon feeding. There is not going to be a NeST like royal life over here. You have to live. This is your eco system. The intranet provides information regarding all species around. No one would come to you with a spoon. (But they do pay us for a sliver one)

It took two days for me to set up with space, machine and mail. Everything is web enabled. Follow up expected for a job to be done quick. But then the follow ups are greeted well and responded very well. That part is really good. Phone requests are enough for many things. No need of mail even.

The roles and responsibilities are not well defined. Its all mixed up. But its not messed up. Just wonder how many long meetings we did at NeST for the role and responsibility division for PL and PM? These people do not bother about the lack of borders even. But the difference is on goals. Everyone is clear on the goals. What use is Rules of the Road with no map, when I am to drive to my kids school?

On day 1 itself I was shown the goal for the team and an approximate idea on my personal goals and work. The first statement was interesting. "We have to do a lot to keep --- and --- (bosses) happy" Then he explained what we need to do for business purpose. Very important in management. World is like this since many are pleased by many others.

I am back to school. Need to learn many many things. A lot of technical things. Getting into practice many of the hard learned management lessons at NeST and Japan. God help me!

Transitioning out of NeST

Adeiu and Well Wishes

I also wrote so to my colleagues

It is indeed very delighting to see NeST coming back to the good old days. The market is now vibrant and the vibrant workforce is just making it resonate. So happy to see that we have an all time high number of people onsite, which is just indicative. Probably even percentage wise, this is really good. More than 10% are onsite, for a company where 99% of work done on project basis. Great.

The Japanese market is getting back on feet and would be leaping forward in the coming years. We have generated the most valuable asset in the market - trust. We need to build this up, keeping in mind that honesty is the best policy. Trust is the best certificate. Trusted vendors are not looked in for CMM level or ISO or Quality Policy.

I had been with NeST for the past 7 plus years. The head and tail I spent in Japan. I am glad that I could get involved in many things. The early days of QEG, its transformation from QAD, a set of PR measures, the Intranest homepage and newsletters, all those are certainly mementos for me to cherish. DDG days also had been very interesting, thanks to the good, proactive and technically sound guys with great dedication, Anoop to be named. These days in Japan, alongwith the rising market penetration is a thing of pride, though I am not sure how much of these I am involved. Though Planex is seen as a success of mine, the real champions are Arun and the earlier people worked on the project day and night out. They disabled the door locks for me. I could easily open it. Though looks tough, I am sure that very soon we will be able to get a grand entry.

When I joined, near 100% revenue was from Japan. We have become 10 times in size, have introduced more labels and structures, still the NeST spirit remains the same. And we do have a great dependency on Japanese market now.

We now have a proven CEO, determined and dedicated to bring out the real success and I am sure the days are not too far for us to reach the heights which we all dreamt of one day.

It is, however, time for me to say adeiu and well wishes to you. I will not be physically with you, when you march ahead to future, winning laurels. I have decided to accept a challenging new oppurtunity, and would be leaving, God Willing, in a few weeks. Moments back, I submitted my formal resignation.

Once again wishing you all a grand success, and requesting that your prayers should be with me.

Sincere as always

Muhammad Riyaz
Nihon NeST Corp

Posted Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Resignation

I decided to quit my job and switch back to India, on 17 Feb. The second such move in life so far. I wrote a long, friendly formal letter.

February 17, 2004

To
Mr. N. Jehangir
Managing Director,
NeST Group of Companies,
Plot No. 2, CSEZ, Cochin,
India.

Thru:
Mr. Yoshiharu Ogi, President, Nihon NeST Corporation, Japan
Mr. S.K.Pillai, President, Network Systems and Technologies (P) Ltd., Trivandrum

Dear Sir

It is with great reluctance I submit this letter of resignation, effective March 16, 2004. I am to pursue another opportunity, God Willing, to further my career goals and achieve growth through a senior role in one of the enchanting technology domains.

It has been my genuine pleasure to work for NeST during these seven plus years. I have enjoyed working with the finest of professionals and colleagues at NeST, and will miss my associations here. I wish you continued success in all your endeavors.

I will try my best to make sure that my leaving does not affect any of the current activities, and if there is anything special that I can do, I will gladly make myself available to this effort during the next four weeks.

Thank you for allowing me to serve NeST and would always cherish the sweetest memories I have. Once again, I wish NeST continued success and I would support you in all the capacities I would have, in future also.

Sincerely,

Muhammad Riyaz
Nihon NeST Corporation

Posted Wednesday, February 18, 2004

--------------------
My Codes for Work

1. All the rules are laid out by The Almighty, we understand parts of some, we strive to learn more. Know that the best knowledge is to know the lack of knowledge
2. Revenue cannot be created. Create market, create well wishers, create benefactors. Rest would come as per the rules.
3. Customer comes first. People come next. Process to keep it to be built. Profits would follow.
4. Keep honesty at all times. Never ratify them with financials.
5. Keep commitments. They could mean commercial blunders. But would build an asset money can never buy - trust. Among own people, among customers.
6. Personal values are to be kept. They dont like talking money. Yet, need to be flexible to absorb the environment. Understand that a gyro keeps direction, not just because the inner wheel is stable, but because the outer wheels are flexible enough.

Posted Thursday, February 12, 2004

Nice or not little thoughts

Thoughts on Luxury

I wrote this mail triggered by Prapullas mail on luxury. One of many she sends from time to time.

I remember someone telling me a difficulty his friend had. A real monetary difficulty. A Merecedez is available for 20 lakhs if paid ready cash. A good buy in whatever means. A deal which is worth another 10 lakhs in normal circumstances. But this man is in short of money. Can I call him a poor man?

A cut on the finger would be overlooked by a quarry worker. My wife will come running with a band aid. A doctor might analyse the depth and cause. Knowledge is the key. Practical knowledge and theoritical knowledge. The divine knowledge is taught by Prophets. They lived among us to share the practical knowledge. They lay guidelines for us to experiment and learn ourselves.

Homoeo doctors would take a lot of time to suggest a medicine. I might do in seconds!!! Apparently tougher for them than me?? He who knows finds anything tough. Thats why someone said the more you learn, you learn that you dont know anything. We think money and you find it far from us. We think of Lord, and God forgive, we might realise how far we are from him too.

People who deal more with money are seen having more monetary issues. People in search of knowledge always worry about what they dont know. The reason is simple. You need to strive hard to achieve what you focus on. Pathu kittukil Nooru mathiyennum, nooru kittukil sahasram ennum. No end of needs. In whatever.

Is not the US rich? Still it is the one country which is finding it hard and doing all evils to keep it up. If you see the recent stock exchange things, it is not what is worth that the market bother. It is the future value, or, simply put, growth. You have the maintain the growth.

Again back on focus. For a person who value God more than anyone, he will need to strive more hard to reach the Nafsul Mutmainna - the soul that rests in peace. There is no stationary place, there should only be growth. Muhammad (sa) spent days and nights crying for pardon. For what sin? Since he was focused, he knew more. He needed more. Every simple thing appeared as a big hurdle for him.

Mercedez is a luxury for those who cannot afford. Its a comfort for those who can. For the class above, they are worried about the discomforts of their Mercedez.

Let us try to realise like the King who was in search of the Happy Man's Shirt.

BTW, I understand that possession is the biggest attraction for man. Wealth hence becomes the biggest shirk. Alms are the way to protect. We should be ready to give away to whoever in need. Money, knoweldge, everything. Thats the way we can get away from being greedy. What use of a tall tree, that provide no shade, that bear no fruit? One day, someone would just cut it down. Logs for a furnace, they would find it useful.

Thankyou for a thoughtful mail.

God be with you and us and let us all strive to find peace in him. Not a peaceful rest, but a peaceful journey towards him..

----- Original Message -----
There are people who think that the affluent people of the world are put through lesser trial since they have wealth and riches to play about. They do not have to worry about their food and shelter. The luxuries of life open their arms for them.

This perception is not true. The Almighty has created this world as a trial and test for all of us. Every one of us undergoes this trial in some form or the other. It is not that only the poor and the needy are put through this test. Affluence also is a form of trial. Here the trial is to test a person regarding his attitude towards the Almighty. He is tested on whether he shows gratitude to the Almighty on His favors and blessings. As such, since a person generally tends to forget his Lord if he is blessed with an affluent life, this trial is perhaps tougher than that of a person who is put through the trial of poverty and adverse circumstances; in such circumstances, a person tends to remember the Lord more - or at least, has more opportunities for this remembrance.

Moreover, affluence is just one form of comfort a person may have. There are people who maybe affluent and very rich, but still have various forms of mental worries, troubles and tribulations.

Besides, having a strong relationship with the Almighty, the best way to fight out the ups and downs of life is to always look at people who are worse off: a cursory glance would bring many to our mind. One will begin to realize what one actually has in contrast with millions of others. Where others have been deprived, he would find himself blessed with many favors.

Yuki!

Good news as such. That means there is nothing bad. Is it not a good news?? That God saved us from many possible bad news?

The TV news will report a set of accidents and attacks and killings and deaths and scandals and and and finally will wish you Have a Good Day. A prayer that you be not affected.

Well, staying with family and kids in a new place and a place like Japan, almost no time to look out through the rain and process the mind. Today also furimashita. (furimasu - peyyuka) As in Malayalam, even though it never snows there, rain and snow both furimasu. Today it is snowing but here.

This is teh second snowing this season. But it was very little. It did not accum much on the ground. Anyway I had not watched the TV forecast yday. (A sin here) When I saw people with unbrellas out, I thought it would rain today. Anyway when I came out of subway station near office I was shocked to see it was Yuki (snow). It was really kawai (pretty) but I was rather kawaiso (paavam) with no umbrella. I had to buy an umbrella from a kiosk at the station. 700 yen. Almost 7 dollars. I had two at home. But they cannot work staying home.

Sky is visible now. So is ground too. But it is real cold outside. 5 min walk to station. Thats all the time I have to bear it. Inside house heater and AC does the work. But going to bath in the morning is really tough. When you switch off shower to apply soap and when you finish bath - until you rush to the heater....

North India is very much affected this time. I read some 800 deaths. I am talking about 5 and 10 min. Poor people there are to bear it 24 hours. In US style, 24x7... Delhi has started Metro. Fully air conditioned cars. Can people stay inside? May be they will start. Kerala just finished Global Investors Meet. They say MoU worth 11000 crore. May be these will change the overall life status? Cheap labour in India can bring foreign currency to India. Lower value rupee will make us compete in the world. The theory.

Popy and St. Johns find Taiwan better to manufacture their umbrellas to sell in Kerala. Chinese shoppees are the new communist pacha

Oil company of Venezuala imported some Indian labour to fire some local labour. A lot of protests and now the Indian Govt asks the recruitment agency to bring back the labour.

Good news too - Tisco starts making auto grade steel and would replace imported steel in manufacturing export model cars. Many others import steel and sell them back as cars.

Anyway failed theories are in limelight. The guy who sang Dont worry Be happy could not wait for the end to come to life. He took it there. Dr. Spock advise people to create self respect for children. And even stated how to. But his child committed suicide. I was told someone who invented a new stock market theory and succesfully ran a stock business was awarded Nobel Prize. But he soon broke.

Like the medical trascription company in Technopark achieved CMM level 5, declared it the only medical sucscription company in the world to be at L5, issued Press Releases, closed the door behind and left for good. Forgot the name of the company.

May be in long run we will be better off? God knows. Gujarat on one side proves what we want. We bother more about past than future. Someone just found that Kutub Minar was built demolishing some places of worship. No worship in minds. They look out for places for worship. They dont even know how to find out. So want to see where teh ancestors did it.

The new fashion is law banning conversions. They are going to decide what you are going to believe. LIke the Taliban, now they will start decide what you wear too. No wonder if they decide taht people in South should wear a tail like Hanuman. For them, southies are Hanumans anyway.

It would be better we move federal without losing time. And do not give national status to any party. All local parties only. The One India slogan should be banned. India should be a business consortium of all states. They have clear business agreement how to share river water. Local citizenship. India and Pak fight on all issues. But TN and Karnataka has fought more on Kaveri - I dont know if India and Pak fought over the five rivers?

We need heavy snow. To freeze is unnecessary boiliing blood. And a heavy summer. For those frozen senses to melt.

Sugoi ame!

Good rain outside. Sitting on a seventh floor and watching great rain would have been a splendid experience back home. Here again, though being in the middle of taller buildings around, which steals the feeling of being at heights, the feeling is good. Can see people walking on the streets with the ubiquitious Kalan kuda. The fairer sex who goes for the latest fashion in dress (still looks no nicer) having very nice and beautifully curved handles but still the long ones with the kalu.

Well, Kerala is blessed with rain. Not Seattle, though. When it rains, it rains. And you dont have to see Doordarsan to know that. You know it will. Some months in the evening, some months all day along. Umbrella is an essential thing. LIke the famous St.George ad, one of the things to buy every year for school. Everyone will have it, for sure. But we prefer to hide it still. Shame? They sell 3 folds there.

Japanese are so traditional. They are beautiful that way. The kimonos are really good. Very decent dress. They wanted to follow the Americans. They still dont know what to fix up. Malayalees also had a tough to wear Kimono called Saree. But they nicely shifted to easy to use, decent and neat Churis. These ladies have not. When the guys wear white shirt with necktie etc to office, they come with some shirt / t shirt and some pants.. Good for the umbrellas that they steal attention. Except for those with those (un)necessarily dressed girls. And there are many.

Technology is the hot bread here. ISDN failed everywhere. Not in Japan. No one could sell ATM except these guys. ADSL is yet to be popular. Already done in Japan. Europe had the usual big mouth for WAP. They did it silently calling it iMode. They have all the technology. FTTH is reaching to the homes. Now they talk 1.5GB bandwidth at home. 544kbps is what DoCoMo proves on mobile. Back home, I used to connect over a 64kbps on an analog modem.

Sharp is a good selling PDA vendor for US and Europe. It is a Japanese company.

Higuchi san was here today. He is arranging some customer meeting next week. He had a file with him. He took a sheet, checked his schedule in that and told us the dates. And he wrote something there.

All documents are printed out here. Everyone keeps big folders. All prints are neatly punched and stored. An attachment? Both the mail and the attachment are printed out.

Enter a shop, you will see a lot of pens, pencils, blends, papers, files etc. A lot of them. Many different types of clips, bookmarkers etc etc.

Before coming, I bought a Business Organiser from StylePlus. A leather jacketed one. This is a common thing with all people here. Everyone writes and marks in this. They often refer to this. They never miss an appointment. They are never late.

The paper and pen, the hardcopy organisers, the kalan kuda, they all remain against the heavy flow of technology. Why Sharp cannot sell the PDA in Japan. Why I cannot see Japanese officials using Outlook? Why they don’t use 3 folds here?

In India, we have MS Outllook. It keeps appointments. It gives reminders. Only thing is it does not attend the meeting for us. We do have organisers. And PDAs are not so scarce. But none of these gadgets reach meetings on time. Neither do their owners.

Umbrella is a must in Jun Jul for us. Everyone has it. Still it is a non-fashionable thing for us. Everyone wants to hide. We look for the 4th fold option.

A good rain could wash the windows panes and let me see a lot!!! And could be shared with you.

Skills and Knowledge

What I liked here in the Rules of the Road is the simplicity. This is the only book I have to learn.

Well, for us, we believe in skills. Skilled Assistants help us in our engg college labs. We have skilled teachers, skilled cooks. We boast of our engineering skills. Driving is also a skill.

We are in the forefront always to boast of our skills and to blame the fools around. Like these Japanese. They are idiots. You need to tell them what you just said is a joke, and then then would reciprocate laughing. Such fools. Well, it took me just 2.5 hours (and 150 dollars) to cover the 600 kms from Tokyo to Oosaka. Simple. Why???

What we do not believe is in knowledge. Some book says that any single Japanese is not better than any other single anywhere else. But 10 Japanese is better than any other 10. One thing I have noticed in the college days is that all our team structure falls down to groups of 2. (I have noticed this especially with females. Feminists, forgive)

The train driver here could be around 50. He has been doing this same job for around 25 years now. Never has he done a mistake. Still watch him. On getting the green signal, he points his finger towards that, shouts something, then points to the green lamp on his dash, again shout something and then the train moves. At every signal he repeats that.

No one at CDOT felt Amba Prasad was over acting. As KK once said, Amba knows 3+3=6. But, 3 pins + 3 pins is 6 pins only if his calculator agrees to that. Whenever I see the Japanese doing things, it reminds me of Amba. His blue, green, red colour letters on every new notebook for every new board. Is he not skilled?

Same for the drivers. The license test does not ask for skills. The rules of the road does not ask me to learn the acts of road rules. It is very simple. Indeed, reading a few chapters, I was wondering why such a long intro. Soon to find that it was no intro, but real business. Tells motorists to take care of other vehicles and pedestrians. Tell pedestrians to take care of vehicles. Tells moms to have their kids wear bright coloured dress when they go out in the night. Such simple rules. Respect others. Protect oneself.

Do we know these? Any one heard about responsibility? We have too much about rights and freedom. Rights that even restrict someone exercising his constitutional freedom.

The chauffers are not to be blamed. They are paid for the skills. You could measure the quality of the vehicle and the road with the time it takes to cover a distance here. The electronic boards can say how long it will take to the a place. We would rather measure the driver. The vehicle and road are constants.

BTW, if you plan a trip to Cochin, Shihab / Chandran are better drivers. They can reach you there in 3 hours.

Posted by Riyaz Muhammad on 01:19 PM

At Oosaka

This is the third time I had been Oosaka, theoritically. The earlier two were five years back, on the way to Kansai airport and back. No stoppping at Oosaka, other than the Shin Oosaka station.

Oosaka is claimed to de much different. I have learnt in newspaper reports that they are less polite than Tokyoites. The much widely seen Mana posta (Manner posters) are not so popular there. What more, they dont even form queues to board the train. Does that misle me anyway? No, we are too seasoned for such things. Indojin bikkuri shimasen! But there is one thing which I really fail to understand. It seems the railways once started with the three in a row queue for the train boarders. A natural confusion made them stop that. Guess what? The people on the left row would turn left and those on the right would turn right, once inside the train. What about the middle row?? Interesting.

Okuda san, my host at Oosaka, welcomed me with a grand sashimi party. He got me almost all kinds of sashimi. Maguro (tuna), Toro (cuttle fish?), kuruma ebi (special japanese prawns) and many many such items. First time I had a full dinner that had only sashimis. Good it was. He claims Oosaka has the second best Japanese Ryori, next to Kyoto. Well, he hails from Kyoto originally:)

One important difference I noticed is that on the escalators, people on the move be on the left side, contrary to Tokyo. And Okuda san says that is the international standard too. May be.

I stopped at a pedestrian crossing at red. I was too Tokyoish. Okuda san taught me the Rules of the Road at Oosaka. Yellow means Go, Red means, Go but take care.

By the way, I guess we should have this Rules of Road book as a study material at our schools. Everyday I read about accidents at home. Yday it was five in a family. The newly married girl loses both her parents the very next day. She waits for them for the party and the shocking news meets her. The wider the roads are, the faster the cars are. Where are we running to? Beat time? Narrow roads and pot holes can at least slow down the traffic.

KK asks how long I will be staying in Japan

Stay?

I am supposed to be living here.. I dont like long stays. That takes time off your precious life. So I preferred to live.

How long it be? A very philosophical question. Not as per the rules of life even. Things have changed much as more and more silicon flew over the fabs, and now, who can say what for how sure?

Thank God, I did not fare here so bad. And thank God, He is keeping carrots so that I am always mindul.

To be honest, fed up on service industry. At least here, I guess I dont have much more value to add. Not that all values are already there. Either what I think are foolish, or they are too good even for me to get them running. Anyway, like the capacitor charging getting saturated around 98%.. either change the capacitor or change the voltage..

How long the software industry go like this? The Gold rush is supposed to be over. Now all that glitters is gold. Or termed gold. Doing so I have stopped realising what is copper and what is gold myself. Need to step back a while and either go to pottery work or realise what the real gold is.

Life is great in Japan. Where else in the world can you take a train ride of 1.5 hours paying 100 dollars? Go to a family restaurant and pay 100 dollars? Not all that costly part. I could buy a very good, decent car for 1000 dollars, but pay 100 dollar for parking every month. Cars are convenient, but the public transport system is what makes Japan marvellous. Not for the blacks or skin heads, buses and trains are for every one. Neat, tidy, modern and punctual they run. It runs back home for many from office, and to bars, pubs, dance clubs, karoekes for many more. The art of riding I have learnt now. Learn how to travel without holding anywhere. Learn how to read books in the rush. Learn how to keep the lucky-on-the-seats not realise there is rush around them.

Things are not bad at home too. Infrastructure spending is high everywhere. New roads, buildings, bridges, rails. Construction everywhere. World bank has donated generously on a handsome interest. My kids will have tough time paying back. If they could make money using these roads they can. Else they will forgo a meal a day or two.

My friend, a secy, got a small pay hike. She is planning to apply for a loan. To repair her house. She is the lone child. Who will pay back the loan? She has to. Another loan is already there which her parents took for her education. I told her no more loans, thats bad habit. And she does not know if she can pay back. But is it all that bad? Unless for the first loan, she would not have been taught in school. She would have been working on coir mats. But I feel the more loans that attract her will keep her like the same. Staying in a better house, with a better electricity bill, and an improved tax. Finally saving, may be less too. There is no dark line seen though.

Like the old hardvard story. The fresh born MBA finds a prey in an tiny village. A fisherman who catches fishes for the day. The business proposals goes on like the fisherman buying boats, improving marketing, opening offices around the world and finally settling down in a remote village with some fishing for time pass. What he is doing now.

Long enough warm up for an office day. Talk to you.

The Sun Disappears

Another wicket down.

Soorej hits on the stumps himself. Bad light.

The keeper claps, captain claps and the team manager claps. All in the game. More appropriately, everyone in the game.

Was it for this, we have come all the way,
To part at last, without a kiss?

No. There are many viewers saying hats off. Who applauds the good things. For many others, it is just 40th in the year or so. For the few, these are a separate count.

Soorej walks back. Proudly. With tears filling in his eyes. Looking up for the sun. Already dusk.

A few flowers which had received the early morning sun are still there. They are all in a bowed posture. Soorej promises to play the next dawn. Beyond the sahyan, he could see the sun. The flowers. The green.

Soorej and Anand weaved the initial network fabric. The soorya server stood reminding Soorej till recently. The soorya server gave way to Project and Quality servers. (Who named them so? You are either in Project or in Quality. Never in both!!! No Pravda in Isvestia and no Isvestia in Pravda. No Project in Quality and no Quality in Project.)

Let me wish Soorej a grand new innings. A new dawn. Applauds!!!!

Anand leaves NeST

so another chapter added into the story book

Anand worked in BEL for more than a year

Then at CDOT for another 2 and a half years. Where I met him. While I stayed at JVV during the initial days. Met just as another Mallu, who then moved to Radhakrishnans apt. A simple looking guy. He was simple too. He was active. Very helpful. Frank. I remember Cherian also noted this of him in first meeting.

The third job took him for another 8 years until his decision to quit now.

Anand was a model for me for decision making. When he took the new house at RT Nagar, he did it alone. I also stayed with him on day one. (Later, years down, when he took his first house for rent in TVM, I was there to stay with him, though I was still working at Blore.) His decision to quit our dinner mess was not by discussing with us. He just told us. Once he just went out one afternoon and came back with a stereo player. I would have discussed for six months with 12 people and still not bought. His decision to apply for a small advt from a start up in Kerala and later to join that company was equally a surprise decision for us. No discussions, just decisions. He has proved that again.Just modifying the age old Bajaj ad - You just cant beat Anand.

We liked him much, loved him too. Anand remained a common point for all of us. Many evenings we spent in his house. He made dosas for us. We discussed everything under the sky.

Anand for us was technically a networking person. And an expert in international politics.

A well focussed person. He was never bothered about management aspects. He hated those things. I remember him walking out when we had a heated discussion on some mess rules. For him, unnecessary mgt overheads were not bearable. Later, during PJs NeST, I joined him in fighting for two streams for promotions. Anand was forced to be Project Manager. Just for designation sake. He loved programming. Later, when he was still in his favourite seat at A Block, I remember he was asked to remove VC from his machine. He is a PM. He should not work:)

NeST made some drastic changes later. Virtual groups changed to SBUs. Anand remained silent. He seemed content since he could escape the management layer. No. He failed?. Still, I always wanted to become Anand. To keep quiet. Aware, but untouched. I failed. My wife always blames me for my "unnecessary" interventions at NeST. She wanted me to be like Anand. Anand could work well. Could manage his family. He looks after his Muthassi very well. He looked after Peramma till she failed to overcome two days in ventillator. I could not even care much for my small family.

Anand had been a silent member of NeST for a long time. Why he became so. Who cares to ask. Anand is accused to be a no-quality man. He did not preach, he did practice, that too, by his own.

Beyond science, there is an art. One should not try to apply science on art. Never try to teach something to an artist. The SSLC rank holders get 100% in language papers. The great writers of Malayalam never could achieve.

My wife now says she was wrong. She thought being Anand was the best way at NeST. She now thinks it has failed? I just saw the photographs of the party. Anand is proving his Anandism! A smiling Anand could actually melt away much of the clouds formed in my mind.

Well, you just cant hurt Anand!

US, us and the World Order

Determined for Democracy
Comeon, you and me know well that US is the most talkative guy when it comes to freedom and justice. They are for democracy. Bush, when his election was announced did not even bother to remember the name of Mussharaf since he was a dictator. Well, he supported well to "elect" a government in Afghanistan. Musharaf is now a good man. Determined to clean the earth of terrorism.

Why remove Saddam? He is not liked by Iraqis. They never had a choice. He would kill anyone opposing.

Bush, elected. Well stated. We had a nice weeklong story that everyone enjoyed without any bloodshed. The Bush-Gore war after US elections. See this

American has reenginered most of its institutions
and Corporations, but now one has dared sugest
any basic changes in this dead cow.
35% of the voters vote,
out of these only 17% voted for the President holding office
65% voted neither by boycotting the election.
So a system that can rule by 17% of the electorate
Is a dysfunctional system that no longer works
and in effect is a Dead Man ruling the Living.
Someone wrote the above in Pravda.

Preach?
Dr. Fuad tells me:
What are you trying to do? Preach to Bush and Blair?!
Anyway , nice to know there are souls doing more than watching the bombing live and apprteciating the precision of cruise missles and tomahawks and criticising the wayward patriot missiles

Well, no preaching to B&B!! But when I see something wrong, if I cant stop it directly or indirectly, I should at least try to let someone know it is wrong. Thats all. While I am writing this, possibly there are souls departing loved and loving ones. Probably blood flushing out of slain flesh. As Salam Pax says in his blog, Americans are helping them build a nation by destroying it first. He is trying to free them out by enslaving them to generation length of deseases. And to new culture.

Koizumi san feels he has to support US, because he is his only Uncle Sam. If North Korea does some mischief, he has to call out for this Uncle. Anyway, he says Iraq created the situation by not going on exile!!! Great guys around!!!! General MacArthur added #define Japan_Army=Self_Defence_Alone. By constitution, no military possible for Japan after WW. Only Self Defense Forces. Now the role. Well, they had defended Japan in the last Gulf War. Sending troops to Iraq. This time also they are thinking.

Well, one point is pathetic. One of the biggest financial contributors to UN, that too with no dues I guess, Japan has no say in Security Council. Sad. But why US with veto power need two votes?

Law and Liberty

"UK Prime Minister Tony Blair condemns Iraqi television pictures of the US POWs as a "flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention."
BBC News

I never knew behind the tough man with a steel tail that wages for US has a nice humurous Blair too.

Well, Blair and Bush, the Geneva convention has failed to protect the rights of the civilised people and has become clear that it is not enough to make sure that the mankind (read Americans) safe from "weapons of mass destruction" and people who come to presidency not by using ballot papers printed out by their brothers. Why not take over that too?

Anyway we have decided that the War Crime Tribunal is not really civilised enough to treat Americans well enough and hence made sure that the rules are not applicable to Americans. Anyway, mind you Iraqis, you will have to obey to this tribunal. Hear from Bush "I expect them to be treated, the POWs I expect to be treated humanely. And -- just like we're treating the prisoners that we have captured humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals"

I remember reading Japanese history. With no Nazi Aryan attitude, why the hell Japan entered WW? Commodore Perry back 100 years opened the closed Japan with some steam ships for trade. Then they realised the Japanese laws are not fair for them, created their own laws for them...

POssible that another world war is in the making.

Anyway, Saddam should be thanked. Considering humankind, for this long, he has not used the bio-chem-weapons of mass destruction. Probably even he does not know where they are kept and hence unable to tell UN guys? Thats why US should be the guys who would inspect arms. All the junk civilisation around, really Americans have tough time explaining all these and convincing. Only Bush has bothered to bother and say "We've got a game plan, a strategy to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein and rid his country of weapons of mass destruction, and we're on plan."

Did I hear Laden say so too? But he did a gross mistake by killing several innocent people. He should have directed all the planes to land over whitehouse. Clear target, less casuality and quick action. The US strategy of war now. Did they learn from Laden? Guys, I fear he is in CIA now. He was, right?

When the French gifted State of Liberty, they probably never thought that Liberty has not limit unless defined explicitly

God save us !

Another War?

When I visited the UN HQ in the pre 9/11 NY City, I bought a book. Zlatas Diary. This is a diary written by a girl during the Bosnia days. A good read showing how the daily life of the well doing family approaches a war and how it copes with all the difficulties etc etc. A good read.

It is good for someone to read these even before war breaks. Like this one

Another war is in the making. A man can be cloned. Why not a war?

The American movies will find a good finish. Nadakantham Kavithwam. No one knows.

A war. Only three letters and one syllable. Easy to say. Another three letter CNN would make it enjoyable. It was indeed. Twelve years back? When American kids moved away from Nintendos to the TV for a real War Game. Which made no mistakes. No need to change tapes. Real live. Streaming.

Almost 60 years back, the land I am sitting now was crushed. The M/F ratio inversed. General MacArthur's US changed Japan. They changed the school curriculum. They made them think American.

US is now in far east. A dynamic pool of strong workers in hand. Good position.

The master is already a slave. Blair has declared itself as the 53rd state.

They get a hold on Afghan. Pak and India are racing on who should be laid down first.

And now Iraq. Another General MacArthur is ready waiting to take rule. They will teach Iraqis how to think the US way. May be the Iraqi women would love going to US and getting married to Americans in another 20-30 years. LIke Japan.

If someone would defeat US and take rule over US someday in future history, I have this request. Their school curriculum should be changed. Zlatas diary must be a must read. Now, all these game companies should be sent to Artic. All these war games which made those kids view war as a game should be banned. The TV sets showing any war should also have a feature where it should make the viewers smell blood too. The video tapes of twin tower falling must be shown. And all the associated cries and the bood. Then all such scenes across teh world should be shown. And the cries. And the blood. Teach the blood is red everywhere. Smells the same. And the pain is same.

Teach them what civilisation actually means. I guess the American dictionaries by that time would have defined it as America. As an example sentence it would quote Bush on 9/11.

Teach them when people die, actually people die. For rest of the world, it was people died on 9/11. Not just Americans. Again quoting Bush.

Luckily there are people who can think so even in America. Why America is hated is not a curious question in third world.

Pages from my first Japan Life

Copied from an old diary page

1. Sakuma Dam Festival
Well, we had a nice weekend too. At our group's secy Kobayashi san's house. Our company with Kobayashi san started when our boss invited us, along with her for a yatching at Lake Hamana, during our last visit. It then strengthened and extended when we invited her and her husband for a lunch to our house. The response came and we were invited for a grand Jap lunch at their mom's house, which I could not attend. Then they were invited as a whole to us again a few weeks back. Kobayashi san, her husband, her two sisters, two kids (Ayu chan and Noe chan)of one of them (Mina san), and her husband (Nobuo san) turned up and we went to the beautiful Hamamatsu Flower park after the lunch. There we played the "Kannukettikkali"or the game where the blind folded catcher (Ooni san in Japanese) will chase you. A nice day it was and they liked the way they were entertained.

Yday we were invited again to join them to go to one festival. What will you guess as a festival? Some festival in a local temple? Some traditional festival?

This is one thing to read a people. The festival, to my surprise too, was called Sakuma Dam festival. What does it mean? Some festival , (call , a celebration or a kind of carnival) arranged at the Dam site. Obviously a created festival.

(here I disagree with the character Dasan of Mayyazhipuzhayude theerangalil by M. Mukundan, who as many others when their blood is too hot says that if he had power he would have destroyed all the temples around there and would have erected reading rooms instead. Either some festivals like these will have to be created instead, or some bars or dances appear to substitute. No doubt. Thats why Jesus (Peace be on him) said "Man does not live with bread alone")

Indeed the place is nice. Very scenic. Making me a little lost to some missing feeling:) The green hill sides have just started to turn scarlet and in two weeks it will be totally red, they say. The 'festival' started around noon. When we reached a big group of bright designed blue kimono clad women are ready to start their dance. I really feel a group dance need much coordination. And the group here had women all above 50, and even more !! Such kind of coordination is somewhat unimaginable in India in that age, I felt. Why to say, I feel difficult to do that at this (comparatively, though:) ) early age.

(Thats another mark of Jap. There is never an individual. The max individualism they have is limited to individual groups such as students.No individualistic individual. Thats why some author said, there is no one who is more a fool than a single Jap. And there is no one who is wiser than two Jap.)

Well, the dance was good. At the backdrop of plain drum beats. Parallely we had our lunch, Mina san brought. Good Jap lunch (Jap lunch is always good only but I enjoyed this very much) prepared by Oka san (mother). Before we could (at least I, for sure) finish the lunch the fireworks had started. After the firework, went back and had the remaining lunch. Then there was a 'Vyaali' dance. (Vyaali - I dont know what in Eng. I feel the same as "Kaliya"?- a dragon?).

Then a kind of circus using Pambaram (spindle), then a Balloon show. Then a sort of lucky dip. Thats all. The 'festival' over and people started to drive back the 60 kms and more they have driven up all the way for this !! (There again the usual Jap road. Cars moving slowly, as if they never know there is something called a horn that comes as a std accessory in all cars, waiting for people walking on the road to feel the presence of a car behind, using any 6th sense they might be having, and to move out)

Apparently there was nothing , as there was no 'Bale' no 'Ganamela', but it helped me a lot in understand the species called Jap in more ways..

We concluded the trip, after having a dinner at Mina sans house and playing around with Ayu, Noe and Hiroto and the other people around, when Mina san and Kobayashi drove us back to our apt.

We are glad we have what we deserve!
An example of the sincerity is the bus service. When you get into the bus, a machine there will give you a coupon which states the point of entry. In the front, there is a display which updates the rate for people from every point at every coming stop. So, when your stop comes, you just see the display for your charge against the point of entry as marked in the coupon, put that in the machine near the driver and get down. You are supposed to exit through the front door. The middle door is meant for entering. If you know the entry point number , you need not take the coupon also.But if you opt to pay using the prepaid card, you need that for the machine to read.

One day, my pre paid ticket card (for train) got stuck in the ticket vending machine as my friend tried to insert his before mine came out. The station was unmanned that time and we did not know what to do. I started pressing the buttons available there. You know, no english. Suddenly over the speaker I could hear "Moshi moshi" (Hello in Jap). The call was attended by people at the central station. Luckily I got a school girl who knew English . She talked to them, told them the problem. They asked me where I am travelling to, whether I coud get my ticket, when I will be getting the train next day and from which station etc. They finally told me that the station master at the place where I will board the train will hand it over to me the next day morning. I will just have to tell him my name.

That travel was just 20 min. I was getting back home from work. When I reached my station, the station guy asked me if I lost the card !!! He was already informed about the matter and he was also told that I will be coming in that train....He said he will get it to me the next day !!! I was too too too shocked. The pace at which they do things !!!

The people here have prosperity. They deserve it.

Scene two is me losing my umbrella. I forgot it near the ticket vending machine at Daiichi Dori station. After I got into my train I realised that. I anyway went to my station, which is just 10 minutes away from Daiichi Dori and reported it there. I just had to wait for another fifteen minutes and it reached me.
Another day I lost my phone in a taxi on the way to office and before I realised that I lost it, I got a call asking if that was mine. Again I did not have to go anywhere as that reached me instead

Well, I will tell you a common scene when we start from home mostly. The schools here for those tiny kids, have a special feature that the kids are collected from their houses , not in a cycle rikshaw or anything, but they walk. They are folked into a group of some , say, 20 kids and there will be one lady who guides them. To our place, she comes with already big group and the kids here will join them. The mamas (amma) will be rushing to the spot where she collects them, eventhough she will be passing in front of the house. All kids at the 'stop' now gather, they all bow together and wish "Ohaio Gozaimos" (good morning) and then start again to collect the next group. You have to see them crossing the road. The guide lady asks them to wait, they wait. Then she has a yellow flag (a school std in Japan. All these kids will be wearing a yellow bag and a yellow helmet too - like a CRP one) , which she shows towards the road , when the road is free and then she asks them to cross. All of them, in a queue of two (hand in hand) cross the road, with one hand extended up showing the vehicles to stop. The lady will be just standing in the middle of the road. Once everyone crosses she will go ahead.

Did you notice anything here? If not, my narration is the problem. The discipline those little kids show, I failed to express in words.

They carry on. Then in train we can see another such group getting into it from another stn. Yes, they travel in train. They all get in the same pair queue and they all sit as the seats are available. No rushing, they will stand if the space is not lavish. Then getting down is more funny. They all get down, in pair again, very cool, and then wait there, because the lady with them will ask them to sit down. She will take them out only after the train goes. As soon as she says that, they all sat.

This is how they are brought up. The mamas dont complain that their children are asked to sit on the floor or like that. They are not afraid if the lady will take care of them on the way to school. In short they believe each other. Credibility, Its there. And its valued too.

Politics is not the main criteria. We have a rule, that we deserve. While riding on the road, did we see anyone who is waiting to cross the road? Did we slow down for them? Zebra marks, what are they? Didn't we blow our horn for those 'damn guys' to get off the road soon? Did not we get angry on the guy in from of us going too slow? We are in a rush. Do not we ride high speed to go somewhere, when there was no reason for that speed? Yes, we dont have time. WE ARE TOO SELFISH. When we overtake on the roads, we think that guy is not worth the wait and we are going to achieve something big in that time. Time. Do not rush against that. I was thinking on that. Probably time was the first creation in this world. (Time was indeed created. It is not the beginning. The fact that it changes means that it was created. The eternal One cannot change. Then only it can be creator.) Thats the basis of all other creations. We cannot run against time. If we can slow down, there is nothing we can do as a crime. Patience. Thats the first step of discipline. And dscipline is the step stone of success.

Innallaha magassabireen. Indeed God is with those who are patient. (Holy Qur'an)

I can tell you a hundred such stories. Credibility is something which we can maintain at least to ourselves. Just if we decide that anyone can believe me, we are done. We are entitled to change ourselves. We can try to change others. Not enforce. But we can enforce ourselves. Then if someone assigns some credibility on you, never ever break that. For, that may cause that the guy will never attribute any credibility to anyone.

Yes, if we change, today it is only one person. As Mother Theresa said, if you add a drop of water into a sea, that drop of water exists. It is not the same as that without that drop.

A one today can be a ten or hundred in another ten or hundred years. It may not be. Still we did not lose anything. We can only gain from it.

Yamanashi trip

Had a nice time at Yamanashi. It is just beautiful to see mounatins everywhere I look around. Just encirled with mountains. I did not know Autumn is beautiful too. With all its shades of reds the trees are turning into, just before it all goes for a nude bath in the winter, the mountains are very eye catching.

And Yamanashi was more rural than it is now, till the Medical Uty was founded there. With so many flowers and fruit bearing trees of Apple, Orange, kakki and grapevines.. The Japanese rural beauty is beautiful too. Yamanashi has a different temperature than outside.It has a hot summer and a very chill winter. The autumn temperature itself could touch the 0 deg mark !

The Mt Fuji (they call it Fuji-san) is really nice to see. A huge figure (though I saw only from a distance) with the straight line slope as a kid would have drawn a mountain. That should be because of the lava flow. That could be one reason for the rich agriculture? But Yamanashi is said to have only one crop in a year. Then it is left open to the summer, autumn and winter. May be these seasons are not okay for crops.

The train journey back from Yamanashi was probably the best part. The encircling monutain was not just a mountain, it was a cluster of mountains. With Mt. Fuji on one side. The train took so much time to come out of that.And with the beatiful pieces of isolated land in between. Too good. The entire place is very rural, predominantly agricultural till I reach the Fuji city.

When brother Dr. Rahman dropped me back at Joein station in the Minobu sen line, it was like waving to my native place after the thrice a year visit to the place we did during our school days.

[Dr. Rahman is from Bengladesh, doing research in immunology in the Yamanashi Med Uty, and he was my host during the visit. Also thanx to his friend, Hashimoto san who took up to the fitness club where he is a member and we had cycling and then the Japanese famous public bath]