Playing a vigilance officer.

This was a funny incident that happened during a trip to Kerala few months ago. As is my practice for years, I board the Tvm Mail at Chennai in the evening with enough stuff to
read to last me atleast till I hit the bed around 10PM. And, since the scheduled arrival
time at my station is 9AM (usually the train is late by atleast 30 mins), I can afford to
sleep late till 8AM or so.

This time also, I was sleeping or actually half-asleep around 8AM when I was woken up
by some shouting coming from the next coupe. What I understood was that a lady had
boarded the train at Cochin and got into the sleeper compartment with only a normal
ticket. And to top it all, she had some 4-5 kids with her.

As per Railway rules it is illegal to do what she did and though the T.T.E. can fine people
caught doing so, they usually ask them to detrain at the next station and board the
unreserved compartment.

However, this T.T.E. looked at it differently. He saw a great opportunity to make some
money on the side. He started off with berating the lady about how grave a mistake she
had done and then went on to explain the huge amount of money that she will have to
pay as fine. And then left it to her. Kind of like "OK, pay this huge amount or pay me
something and I will gloss it over".

I was already irritated having been woken up from my slumber and to top it, here was
a guy brazenly engaging in corruption apart from harassing the poor lady who most
probably did not know that she was not supposed to board that compartment.

I woke up, took a few minutes to freshen up & came back to my seat. I expected atleast
someone to plead the lady's cause, but everyone was sitting back and enjoying the drama,
if you could call it that. Finally, I decided that enough was enough & walked to the T.T.E.,
bent a little (he was sitting) and looked at his badge as if trying to read the name.
This done, I just returned back to my seat and took out a book to read.

As my seat was facing away from the TTE, I am not sure of his facial impression, but I
could bet that he was astonished and maybe this was something he never encountered
in his whole career. There was silence for a couple of minutes and then the TTE walked
over to me and sat on the opposite seat.

TTE : What were you trying to do ?
Me : Just looking at your badge.

TTE : What for ?
Me : What else for other than knowing your name ?

TTE : Why do you want my name ?
Me : Just like that. You have the badge there to indicate your name. Is it a crime to read it ?

TTE : No it is not. But, what are you going to do ? Who are you ? Show me an identity.
Me: Why are you bothered about what I am going to do with that information. And
regarding my identity, all you can demand to see is my ticket. I need not produce my
identity when demanded by the TTE.

TTE : Oh, OK. Why don't you write down my name so that you do not forget ?
ME: Well, now that you mention it, it is a good idea as I might forget. Thanks.

And then I take out my pen and my diary, look again at his badge & note down the name.

Now, the guy is like mad and unsure what to do next. He sits there staring at me for a few
minutes, while I continue reading my book. Everyone around is watching us.

He gets up, goes to the adjoining coupe and says "I am trying to do things as per the law
and here you have people noting down my name for that". And so on .....

Finally, he tells the lady and kids to detrain at the next station and board the unreserved
compartment. No fine charged or bribe demanded.

Mission success, I return to my Malayalam novel by Zachariah.

Moral : All we need to do is stand up against corruption instead of just talking about it.
As in this case, you don't even need to say a word to put the point across.
Let's do our bit to make India corruption-free.

P.S. : Since I travel very often to Kerala, and since the TTEs aboard the train are regulars,
I do come across this guy occasionally. Don't know whether he remembers me though.
But I am sure, he would never forget that incident.

The Danes were here ?

While on the topic of cartoons published by a Danish newspaper, I was thinking of a
recent discovery that I made about the history of our nation.

It all started during a trip to Karaikkal (part of the Union Territory of Pondichery).
Though a part of Pondichery, it is physically located around 150kms from Pondichery.
Nothing unusual, considering the fact that Mahi and Yanam (the other two parts of
Pondichery) are located much farther away in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
All these places were French colonies and joined the Indian Union after India secured independence from the British.

While at Karaikkal, I decided to go around the place and visit any places of interest
including the famous temple of God Sani (Saturn) and then came to know that a few
kilometres away was a fort from the colonial times at a place called Tharangambadi.
Unable to pronounce it, the French had shortened it to Tranqebar.

When I directed the cab driver to go to the fort, he was always referring to it as the
Dutch Kottai (Dutch fort). So, I was like, "OK, so who all were here ? The French, the
British and also the Dutch... ". However, I was in for a big surprise when I reached the
fort and read about its history. It seems the term "Dutch fort" was a misnomer, because
the Fort was built by the Danes who had visited the place sometime in the 16th century.

I do not claim to remember all the history lessons that I crammed at school. But, I was
pretty sure that I had never read of the Danes having a colony in India (I might be wrong
though). I remember reading about the French, the British and the Dutch. Looks like the
Danes had also caught the colonising bug and had reached Tranqebar where they had
established the Fort just close to the sea. Later, unable to withstand the British
onslaught, they had sold the fort to the English, and left for sweet home.

Over the centuries, the sea had damaged the fort and infact some structures were taken
by the sea. But the ASI has done a commendable job of restoring the fort to its past glory.
A must-visit place, if you are anywhere near Karaikkal or Nagapattinam, not just for the
beauty, but also for that bit of history that we were not aware of.

Just close by is a temple from olden times, severely damaged by the sea. It is sad that
no one is taking any effort to renovate it or atleast to limit any further damage.

Does 10 equal 35 ?

Strange logic isn't it ? I can hear you asking, how in the world can 10 be equal to 35 ?
Unless ofcourse you are an employee of a call centre in India catering to US customers,
in which case you know the logic behind it.

Apparently, it seems this is one golden rule that the Indian call centres (dealing with
American clients), make sure that all their employees are aware of, during the initial orientation / training.

What this means is that a 35-year old American has the mental build-up of a 10-year
old Indian. And thus, the call centre employees need to be extra patient dealing with
them, as if they are kids, and be ready to handle all sorts of inane queries.

Well, it is not like all Americans are like this because I do happen to know quite a few
Americans and they do not fit into this logic. They are pretty intelligent guys with a
sharp mind and aware of things around them. But then again, they are techies that I
work with and I do not have any exposure to normal Americans who would have been
the rationale behind this logic.

Infact, you need not go far to find an example that perfectly fits this logic. Just think of
the most powerful man in the world today who also happens to be an American.

OK, OK, I know. For him, the rule would need to be changed to 60 equals 10. :-)

Logic courtesy : The novel "One night @ the call centre" by Chetan Bhagat.

The Danish storm in a tea cup.

A big storm has been unleashed by the publication of some cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed in a supposedly derogatory way, in a Danish newspaper. Ofcourse, as far
asMuslims are concerned, depiction of Mohammed itself is a no-no, irrespective of the
way he has been depicted.

I was trying to find the cartoons on the Net, to see what is it that could have offended
so many people all over the world to such an extent, that they have been protesting for
weeks & also setting ablaze Danish embassies (and even that of other western countries).
I google-ed the cartoons and to use an oft-repeated cliche, one link led to another and
finally I landed at http://www.faithfreedom.org/ where they had the cartoons.

I could not make sense of most of them and was like, "Did these necessitate the attention
that was generated ?"

But then, I am not a Muslim and thus might not be able to comprehend their outrage.
Anyway, the point here is not about whether the outrage is justified or not. This article
is about the website mentioned above and the contents of the website.

This website is managed by a group of ex-Muslims. Yes, you heard it right. The term
ex-Muslim refer to those who were born as Muslims, grew up as Muslims, but then of
their own free will decided to renounce Islam. The reason for denouncing/leaving Islam
was because, they learnt that Islam propogates / advocates practices that are not
advocated by other religions in the world.

And this understanding comes from their reading the Quran and the Hadith itself. They
also cite references from these books, which suggest that Mohammed has committed all
sorts of crimes (their list includes rape, paedophilia, immoral behaviour, lust etc) which
are not becoming of someone who is supposed to be a Prophet & the intermediary
between GOD and man.

Reading those articles can change the outlook you had about Islam. With the kind of
religious fanaticism prevalent today, it is surprising how these guys can dish out such
stuff and still hold on to their lives. I am not an expert on Islam and have never read
the Quran. So, am no authority on this subject & thus am not sure which side is correct.

Anyway, these guys call on everyone to do something to prevent a disaster. They want
Muslims to leave Islam due to the evil propogated by it. And they want non-Muslims to understand how much of a threat Islam is to the world and to work towards erasing it
from the world.

India needs more like him.

It is tough writing about someone whom you have not even met, forget knowing personally. All you know about that person is from someone else who knows him and then it is upto you whether to believe it or not. In this case, I guess I could take my wife's views as the truth because I know that she is not one to speak what she is not sure of .

The person in question here is Dr.Jacob Thomas I.P.S., the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation (better known as Supplyco). The Supplyco website does not give any details about his academic qualifications except for the "Dr" prefix indicating a doctorate (I heard he has more than one doctorate) and is an I.P.S. I do know that he is an Agriculture graduate. Don't know his post-graduate specialisation though.

It would be in order to give a brief description of Supplyco also, which he heads. Quoting from their website "http://www.supplycokerala.com/"

"Supplyco is the gateway for the 30 million people of the State of Kerala, assuring the much 
needed food security in a substantive style by supplying life's essentials and reaching out to the 
rural-poor and the urban-rich alike. Incorporated in 1974 as a fully owned Government 
Company with an authorised capital of 15 crores, to meet the limited objectives of regulating
the market price of essential commodities at reasonable prices."

OK, the above is the official description about Supplyco. To know what Supplyco means to the public in Kerala, all you need to do is tell someone that you are working at Supplyco. If that person has heard of Supplyco, I can guarantee that the response will be something like, "Really. Then you must be making a lot of money on the side. Lucky you."

Coming back to the CMD, what makes him special or any better than the other bureaucrats manning other government organisations in India ? Actually, he cannot be compared to any usual bureaucrat due to his various qualities like integrity, dedication to work, broad outlook, an eye for technology and involvement in social work. If I remember right, it is maybe a little more than a year since he took over as CMD of Supplyco.

And it has been more than two years since my wife started her career with Supplyco as a Junior Manager (Quality Control). She was part of a group of 7 young guys/girls recruited by the Kerala Govt to the post of J.M. (Q.C). Their role in Supplyco includes inspecting the quality of food items (rice, pulses, spices etc) procured by Supplyco to sell at their stores and at the local public distribution system (PDS) outlets which are also known as ration shops.

I have met these group of young people who were excited about getting a job (a Govt. job does not come easy in India) and more importantly wanted to do it as per the rules. But then, they were not aware of how things worked at Supplyco at that time. Corruption was rampant, the suppliers were bribing everyone that mattered and would supply inferior stuff which was either not as per the specifications or in some cases even spoilt. Still, they would get their bills cleared on time and were minting money like crazy.

The new batch of managers found themselves in an unenviable position. They had only two options - either get corrupted and face the consequences at a later stage OR work with integrity and face the wrath of not only the suppliers but also their managers, who would bombard them with memos, suspensions and enquiries for doing their job the way they were supposed to do.

It is a good sign for India and a brownie point for today's youth that these young people decided that they would not get corrupted, come what may. Ofcourse taking a resolution is easy, but standing up to all kinds of pressure to hold on to that resolution is tough. There were cases where the supliers threatened them with official action if they rejected the sub-standard stuff. There were cases of managers verbally (never in written form) ordering them to accept stuff not meeting the specifications. And along the way came vigilance enquiries and memos for actually doing their job.

While it was tough for all of them, a couple of them were slowly loosing their morale and started deciding about quitting Supplyco. How fun is it to work in a place where you are actually punished for doing your job properly? One girl even put in her papers.

Luckily for them, the existing CMD was replaced with Dr.Jacob Thomas. Here was a person who meant what he talked, was aware of Supplyco's reputation and who was serious about what he was doing. For him, this was more than a job. He had a mission to achieve - to set things right at Supplyco and bring things back on track. Not an easy mission when you think of how prevalent corruption was in the organisation. But then, he is also no normal person.

He came in, took some time to study the existing situation and started putting in place new ideas to stem the rot. He had meetings with the managers, understood the pressure faced by them and promised them all his support in doing their job. He personally talked with the girl who quit and convinced her to come back to Supplyco. He changed the tender practices, made things more transparent and made people accountable. He streamlined the purchase department, which usually is the starting point of corruption in any organisation.

Ofcourse, he met with opposition along the way - from suppliers who felt the heat, from his own employees who were now denied the cut from suppliers that they had been used to for so long. Fortunately for him, he had the full confidence and backing of both the Chief Minister Mr.Oommen Chandy and the minister that he reports to, Mr. Adoor Prakash, which helped him in dealing with all kinds of opposition.

Under his management, Supplyco has set record turnover levels, never seen before in its history and employees can do their work with freedom. He is constantly looking for new avenues in Supplyco that he could make better, areas where computerisation would help and at how technology can help in making things better. He puts in long hours at work and it is the office gossip that his driver and Personal Assistant are two unlucky souls - they can't leave for the day before him, right ? :-)

And after all this, he finds time for his family (wife and two daughters), to keep fit and also for social work (he is part of a group that works for the developement of slum dwellers). If only we had more like him, India would accelerate from being a third world country to the best in the world.

Dr. Jacob Thomas I.P.S., we appreciate your selfless and true service to the nation.

Women and the art of persuasion.

You gotta hand it to women, when it comes to the fine art of persuasion. Got to witness a
sterling example of this the other day from my bedroom window, which overlooks a very densely populated colony.

At any given point of time, you could hear someone quarelling with someone else in this
colony with lots of onlookers to egg them on. Drunken brawls are common and so is the
use of real filthy language. Anyone living near this colony is sure to pick up real fast the
choicest abuses that have become part of the classical language called Tamil.

The main characters here are Mr.Saamy, his wife & two kids. Saamy is a house painter
by vocation & his wife works as a maid in a few homes. He must be having a real name,
but I have always heard him referred to as Saamy which I guess is due to his penchant
for visiting Swamy Ayyappan's temple in Sabarimala (Kerala).

As is his practice the year round except when he has taken a vow to go to Sabarimala,
Saamy returns from work either a little drunk or somewhat drunk or fully drunk. On
most of these drunken days, he is pretty decent & limits his antics to singing a movie
song or enquiring with the neighbours about their well-being etc. But on certain days
when he has had a little too much to drink, he can be hard to control. This was one of
those days.

Saamy stays on the upper floor of a 2 storey home. He is in no mood to climb up to his
home and instead is content to stand below and starts singing loudly. In between, he
stops to abuse someone at work and to cut the story short, is creating quite a ruckus.
His wife and kids come down and try to convince him to quiten down and come up to
their home. But, well Saamy is not convinced so easily.

His wife pleads, the kids request him and yet Saamy stands his ground. His wife almost
falls at his feet & pleads him to come up. She keeps repeating, "Enge, dayavu seydhu ulla
vaanga. Ulle vandhu pesalam inge" meaning "Please come in. We can talk it out inside the home". This continues for some 5-10 minutes. You start pitying the poor woman who has
so much respect and patience for her man, even though he has come home drunk and is
creating such a nuisance.

Finally, they somehow are able to convince him and he agrees to go up. They literally drag
him up the stairs as he is clearly unable to walk properly. They get him inside the house &
the doors shut. I am about to move away from the window when I hear the wife shouting
at him like a madwoman. She is using all the abuses that you only normally hear men use
and which also includes the Tamil word for "bastard". And to top it, she is also hitting him
left and right. It takes her around 5 minutes to give vent to all her pent up anger. Ofcourse Mr.Saamy won't remember this the next day.

I was astonished at the sudden change in that woman. Someone who was the epitome of
patience a few minutes ago had transformed into almost a witch. And to think that she was
so patiently getting him inside the home only to treat him to her anger in the privacy of
their home.

All I got to say is, "I would not like my wife to emulate her".