Circa 2002 - Graduated with a Bachelors degree in Engineering. One proud Bachelor. Fast forward to 2008 - One disgruntled Bachelor.....
My landlord decided to sell his house. This decision of his put me and my flatmates with the seemingly innocuous task of finding another 'roof over our heads'. The process is streamlined anyways, we thought. We call up a few brokers. We see whats on offer. Try to negotiate the price to as low as we can. Hire the movers. Settle down in the new place. I couldn't have been more wrong.
We did call up the brokers. The conversations followed a similar pattern.
Broker: Family or Bachelors?
Us: Bachelors
Broker: Hmm. Muskil hai bhai sahab. Company lease mil Jayegi?
Us: Nahi. Humari company mein woh system nahi hai. Letter of current employment mil jayega.
Broker: Hmmmm. Koshish kar ke dekhta hun.
Inspite of his and our collective koshish, two weeks later we still had nothing to show for our efforts. We decided to double the number of brokers and tried to visit residential complexes ourselves. This continued for a while, till it dawned upon us, that people across residential complexes in Gurgaon are unanimously wary of leasing their properties to Bachelors.
For last two years, I have been staying in an apartment complex, lets call it Residency Greens (RG) for the time being, and we had our share of ill-treatment. There were people in RG who referred to us as "Call-Centre guys" as if we didn't have names. Dunno from where they got the idea because we have regular work timings 9 -7. Anyways, even if we worked in Call-Centres, there is no reason to look down upon us, as it honest labor just as any other profession. Further, we were always warned to drive slow once inside the complex, while the aunties themselves stepped merrily on the accelerator full throttle. Any occurence of theft and our help was questioned, as if the maids they themselves hired were above reproach. And if we had visitors, who committed the blasphemy of parking their vehicle along the edge of the street, the hyperactive colony people would instruct the watchmen to deflate the tires.
I have never seen such behaviour anywhere. I am shocked that educated people can stoop to this level. And that too when we have been on our best behaviors. To this date, we have not had a single party organised at our place (given the people around we have always chosen to party out), no complains of noise whatsover, driving inside has been regular. I dont see how we are different then anybody around.
Frankly, the Bachelor concern does hold some merit. For most people, Bachelors stand for unresponsible citizens. The typical stereotype is Bachelors have booze parties, bring women, make noise and in general disrupt the decorum of the society. There have been stray incidences of murder being committed in bachelor pads too. Of all that, noise is probably the only concern that i can digest. Booze consumed within the house should not be anybody's headache unless those drunk spill out on the streets and create nuisance or worse still borrow money from the neighbors, buy booze and do the above. Women, ah thats an interesting one. Though again, i could have brushed aside the topic as "I dont understand how that is anybody's concern", i still ponder, would my sister or cousin come to meet me.. should i tell them - I am a bachelor, you are not allowed here? And arent we grown up enough to accept that a guy can bring his girlfriend home, without trying to imagine what the hell is going on outside. Will leave that to the aunties.
What is even more interesting is people who say stuff like - I have nothing against bachelors but i just wont rent out my apartment to them!! Everytime somebody says something like that to me, my heart bleeds out a lil at the stupidity. To them, I would ask - Werent you a Bachelor once too? Or did u skip the phase and were born married? Morons.
Further, people forget that they have kids too. In an increasingly networked world, their kids might grow up and might have to work outside like we are doing and might face the same problems. I am sure they would not want the same treatment meted out to their own kids.
I think the people who put a blanket refusal to bachelors are "lazy". They dont want to take the extra effort and meet the Bachelors and try to look for themselves that Bachelors are not the devils with horns on the sides of their heads, as they are made out to be. In most cases, bachelors are well-educated and responsible. They infact rarely default on rent (One family income Vs three bachelor incomes) and are probably a better bargain in that respect.
My mom's take on this - Lets get you married !! Damn it.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
India Shining? Me whining.......
For almost last three years, I have been working in the field of Intellectual Property. For those who haven't heard the term, Intellectual Property or IP, relates to creation of Intellect or mind. And just like any other property, for instance real estate property, an owner may lay claim to his or her product of mind (Intellectual Property) through rights known as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforced through Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Geographical Indications and the like.
With that background, let me begin my tirade on a topic that is bugging the hell out of me. Last week, I had an opportunity to attend a conference on IP Awareness at Connaught Place (CP), Delhi. I will not give the name of the organizing committee or the illustrious speakers who graced the occasion. Needless to add, there were CEOs, Key R&D personnel, academia luminaries, scientists, government officials, foreign delegates and rest of the sundry, including yours truly.
Everyone was ofcourse on the same page with regard to the fact that IP was going to play a very important role in India's dream of becoming a Global Powerhouse. Further, everyone agreed to the lack of IP awareness and the need to do something about it. But the methods discussed for achieving the same, were truly Indian in every sense of the word. The chair of the first session gave seven points as to what they were doing to create IP awareness. I counted four out of the seven were about some "committee" he had formed to do the same. If creating a committee were the solution to our problems, India would never have had any problem!! By the end of the day-long conference, I was so disillusioned that I immersed myself in.... you know what. I was referring to grief...what did u assume.... twisted mind.
Before I go into discussing everything that is wrong, let me for a minute, dedicate a couple of lines on Why IP is so important to India's future. Every country worth its salt has a strong culture of technological innovation. Take US for instance, the technological advancements there, are driving most things around the world. All major inventions, take Electricity bulb (Thomas Alva Edison), Telephone (Alexander Bell), Steam Engine (James Watt) and there are millions more, have revolutionized our lives. No wonder, with that culture of innovation, most US companies like Microsoft, Apple, GE, IBM are leading the world in their respective segments. What this means to countries like us, is that we are forever doomed to tag along what others have invented and protected through IP enforcement. Unless, of course we create our own technological innovation, our very own IP. Only then can we make our companies compete at a global level and bring home the benefits of capitalism to the burgeoning Indian population.
So how do we create this culture of Innovation? I don't think I am qualified to answer that question, but i want to share something that I noticed while I was pursuing my Masters degree at the University of Maryland (UMD). UMD, like most schools in the US, receives grants from institutions like NASA, NSF, Lockheed and the like, for collaborating on cutting-edge research. The professors at most of these schools are leading thinkers in their field and they in collaboration with the scientists at the institutions chip away at some of most baffling problems troubling humankind. Further, most schools in US follow what is called the 'tenure system'. The professors in the schools have to work towards 'tenure' which basically means, a permanent association with the school. For getting the tenure, the professor is not only graded on the course content and the student feedback, but most importantly on the research papers published and the contribution to cutting edge research alongwith the grants that come along with it. This simple last line, implies that each professor in the US is accountable with regard to research and his or her contribution to technological innovation. The professors are not only forced to come with new ideas, but are also forced to sync those ideas with industry problems so that they may then approach the industry for grants. The professor and the grant giving institutions then work in collaboration to make the research culminate into a solvable problem.
Further, the professors employ students in the form of Research Assistants and direct them towards achieving the objective. Some of my friends while working as RAs, stumbled upon inventive concepts and now have patents to their names. So, this simple accountable system called the 'tenure system' combined with healthy interaction between industry and academic institutions have ensured that US stays at the forefront of technological innovation. Imagine, thousands of US Schools with hundred professors each, working their backsides off, trying to create magic. I am not too sure, how the system works at the IITs, but I am dead sure that there are brilliant professors and students around and we can achieve the above by getting some accountability into all our schools.
The second and infact slightly more important factor is the law. There is no use of talking about technological innovation and IP, if there is no way to protect the rights of those who invested time, effort and money to make it work. In fact, the law is the biggest hindrance to a majority of our problems. Let me give you a simple example, in US as we all know, every house has at least three cars (the lack of mass transit options is appalling). That means there are a million cars on the street leading to congestion and related pollution issues. One of the solutions they came up with was a 'Carpool lane'. It is the most amazingly simple concept yet very powerful. The 'Carpool lane' is a lane on a freeway (highway) that is dedicated to vehicles carrying more than one passenger. In US most people often travel alone to work. Now to use the Carpool lane, which is relatively free as compared to other lanes on the freeway stuck in traffic jam, most people leaving in neighboring areas come together so that they can use the Carpool lane and reach to office on time. So not only has the number of vehicles reduced on the street as more people are driving together, but also the amount of petrol consumption has gone down with reduced pollution overall. Fantastic.
So coming back to the point of law, the US can have the Carpool lane (and not run into problems like we did for the BRT corridor) because they have a law in place. The moment somebody driving alone moves into a Carpool lane, he gets caught and punished appropriately. In India, without a system in place to catch the offenders, we can never get to implement anything. And with the Tata Nano and other such cars ready to hit the market, it is about time we get our act in place. This is not just one isolated instance, where the enforcement of law is hurting technological innovation or even the traffic on streets. Most of our problems have been because the law has not been able to punish the offenders.
So where does this leave India? Good question. Methinks, getting law in place and that too a expedited version (not the 20 year prolonged process) is critical. The schools form a fulcrum of most things the country bases its dream on. You strengthen the base, and most things will fall in place. And please no more committees !!
With that background, let me begin my tirade on a topic that is bugging the hell out of me. Last week, I had an opportunity to attend a conference on IP Awareness at Connaught Place (CP), Delhi. I will not give the name of the organizing committee or the illustrious speakers who graced the occasion. Needless to add, there were CEOs, Key R&D personnel, academia luminaries, scientists, government officials, foreign delegates and rest of the sundry, including yours truly.
Everyone was ofcourse on the same page with regard to the fact that IP was going to play a very important role in India's dream of becoming a Global Powerhouse. Further, everyone agreed to the lack of IP awareness and the need to do something about it. But the methods discussed for achieving the same, were truly Indian in every sense of the word. The chair of the first session gave seven points as to what they were doing to create IP awareness. I counted four out of the seven were about some "committee" he had formed to do the same. If creating a committee were the solution to our problems, India would never have had any problem!! By the end of the day-long conference, I was so disillusioned that I immersed myself in.... you know what. I was referring to grief...what did u assume.... twisted mind.
Before I go into discussing everything that is wrong, let me for a minute, dedicate a couple of lines on Why IP is so important to India's future. Every country worth its salt has a strong culture of technological innovation. Take US for instance, the technological advancements there, are driving most things around the world. All major inventions, take Electricity bulb (Thomas Alva Edison), Telephone (Alexander Bell), Steam Engine (James Watt) and there are millions more, have revolutionized our lives. No wonder, with that culture of innovation, most US companies like Microsoft, Apple, GE, IBM are leading the world in their respective segments. What this means to countries like us, is that we are forever doomed to tag along what others have invented and protected through IP enforcement. Unless, of course we create our own technological innovation, our very own IP. Only then can we make our companies compete at a global level and bring home the benefits of capitalism to the burgeoning Indian population.
So how do we create this culture of Innovation? I don't think I am qualified to answer that question, but i want to share something that I noticed while I was pursuing my Masters degree at the University of Maryland (UMD). UMD, like most schools in the US, receives grants from institutions like NASA, NSF, Lockheed and the like, for collaborating on cutting-edge research. The professors at most of these schools are leading thinkers in their field and they in collaboration with the scientists at the institutions chip away at some of most baffling problems troubling humankind. Further, most schools in US follow what is called the 'tenure system'. The professors in the schools have to work towards 'tenure' which basically means, a permanent association with the school. For getting the tenure, the professor is not only graded on the course content and the student feedback, but most importantly on the research papers published and the contribution to cutting edge research alongwith the grants that come along with it. This simple last line, implies that each professor in the US is accountable with regard to research and his or her contribution to technological innovation. The professors are not only forced to come with new ideas, but are also forced to sync those ideas with industry problems so that they may then approach the industry for grants. The professor and the grant giving institutions then work in collaboration to make the research culminate into a solvable problem.
Further, the professors employ students in the form of Research Assistants and direct them towards achieving the objective. Some of my friends while working as RAs, stumbled upon inventive concepts and now have patents to their names. So, this simple accountable system called the 'tenure system' combined with healthy interaction between industry and academic institutions have ensured that US stays at the forefront of technological innovation. Imagine, thousands of US Schools with hundred professors each, working their backsides off, trying to create magic. I am not too sure, how the system works at the IITs, but I am dead sure that there are brilliant professors and students around and we can achieve the above by getting some accountability into all our schools.
The second and infact slightly more important factor is the law. There is no use of talking about technological innovation and IP, if there is no way to protect the rights of those who invested time, effort and money to make it work. In fact, the law is the biggest hindrance to a majority of our problems. Let me give you a simple example, in US as we all know, every house has at least three cars (the lack of mass transit options is appalling). That means there are a million cars on the street leading to congestion and related pollution issues. One of the solutions they came up with was a 'Carpool lane'. It is the most amazingly simple concept yet very powerful. The 'Carpool lane' is a lane on a freeway (highway) that is dedicated to vehicles carrying more than one passenger. In US most people often travel alone to work. Now to use the Carpool lane, which is relatively free as compared to other lanes on the freeway stuck in traffic jam, most people leaving in neighboring areas come together so that they can use the Carpool lane and reach to office on time. So not only has the number of vehicles reduced on the street as more people are driving together, but also the amount of petrol consumption has gone down with reduced pollution overall. Fantastic.
So coming back to the point of law, the US can have the Carpool lane (and not run into problems like we did for the BRT corridor) because they have a law in place. The moment somebody driving alone moves into a Carpool lane, he gets caught and punished appropriately. In India, without a system in place to catch the offenders, we can never get to implement anything. And with the Tata Nano and other such cars ready to hit the market, it is about time we get our act in place. This is not just one isolated instance, where the enforcement of law is hurting technological innovation or even the traffic on streets. Most of our problems have been because the law has not been able to punish the offenders.
So where does this leave India? Good question. Methinks, getting law in place and that too a expedited version (not the 20 year prolonged process) is critical. The schools form a fulcrum of most things the country bases its dream on. You strengthen the base, and most things will fall in place. And please no more committees !!
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