Cyril Maithily Gupta's Blog

A certain point of view says that democracy is flawed, because people don’t vote for what is right. They vote for comfort and prosperity. That means a candidate who argues to create bigger gas-guzzling power plants has a better chance of getting the popular vote in an energy-poor community than someone who argues for energy conservation.

Human beings wish to have the best possible lives without paying the price. They opt for short-term convenience and comforts even if they see problems in the longer run. Humanity will last a lot longer than all the people who are alive today, but nobody alive seems to care.

Whose onus it is then to rid the humanity of this short-term vision?

The worst possible people. Yes, the politicians. It is they who must stop making unrealistic promises which make unrealistic demands on the resources. We need to cut-back: on consumption, on pollution, on population, and the will has to come from the top. Until the world’s leadership decided to make environment, pollution and resource conservation more than a rhetoric, the world is not going to see any change. The worst thing is I don’t see this happening very quickly, because conservation steps are not popular, and democracy selects a popular government.

Popular or not, the decisions about conservation and environment need to be taken. They can’t be postponed indefinitely, and for each year that we postpone, we create ten of future misery. The elected representatives must understand that it is their prime duty not to do what’s popular, but what’s right for the people.

Governments must pursue environment conservation with the same energy and dedication that they have for taxation.

If resource conservation is not imposed then the governments themselves will have to pay the price when the bitter population is no longer able to maintain the ridiculously wasteful lifestyle of today.

Is it not the duty of the ruler to keep the ruled from destroying themselves?

The trend of the ‘indsutrial wave’ is to centralize population in the cities, have mass school, mass transport, huge factories, everything is about centralization. This is the most important trend that I believe will be reversed in the ‘Third wave’ (as coined by Alvin Toeffler). In the coming years I see more and more de-centralization. I see the end of the megapolis. The future is about smaller towns and communities with modern infrastructure that rivals the biggest metro that we have today.

And when I say infrastructure I am not talking about flyovers, malls, and metro rail systems. I am talking about info-infrastructure. Communication Infrastructure.

Two of the most important catalysts that will make this transition possible are: -

1) Cheap, Captive Power From Renewable Sources
Solar energy is set to become cheaper and more efficient than ever due to some really amazing breakthroughs. Costs are going to be reduced sharply due to some of the innovations. This is only one of many parallel breakthroughs. More and more people will be installing Solar panels in their homes, and generating the power they need themselves. This will reduce the dependence on power lines, and traditional power sources. Captive power will also make it possible to maintain a decent living standard in far-flung areas.

I see a hybrid of many technologies, solar, wind, and maybe others to power this change. The true picture will emerge by the second half of the next decade.

2) Advanced Communication Technology
Advanced communications technology will bring broadband, wireless Internet everywhere, and it will help people stay connected no matter where they are. This will reduce the ‘factorisation’ of the society.

Virtual Schools
I see a future in which students attend virtual classrooms and enhance their skills from remote locations. The focus will be no longer on attending the best schools, and colleges, but learning the most amount of skill. This is becoming apparent in the tech industries already where the curriculums of most colleges can’t keep up with the changes in technology.

Virtual Workplaces
Flexi-time is a thing of the past. The future of working is remoting, and this will be true for everything. I see a future in which lawyers and judges are able to attend a hearing from different locations. In this future remoting will not remain exclusive to just the tech industries, but practically every industry which is based on information and communication.

These days I am reading ‘The Third Wave’ by Alvin Toeffler. I am still in the beginning, where Toeffler talks about the rapid ‘Second Wave’ of industrialization that swept not only the way we produced, but the way we live. He talks about the ‘factory-ization’ of the work environment. Changing from independent, flexible individuals, the workforce now has specialists, trained to do one thing repeatedly.

His arguments have a powerful force, and he presents logical links between how industries work, and how we live in this age.

I was particularly impressed by his section about education. Toeffler says that the education system of the industrial is well suited to create a workforce that has the basic skills to work in a factory, and that has been conditioned to arrive on time, follow orders and do their job day-in, day-out without a question. He says that in the closed pre-industrialization communities, individuals were much more independent, and self-reliant. A single person had multiple basic skills and could take on many roles. More importantly, they weren’t suitable for working in a factory because they didn’t follow orders so well, were restless and had low attention spans.

Okay, I see a pattern here… I can see many of these symptoms very close at home .

I do believe that school and college do not equip you for success any longer. The dynamics of work-place have changed. It’s the age of super-specialists, or mavericks. Someone who can do a single thing very well, or someone who can do a lot of different things. School can teach the three Rs (Reading, riting, and rithematic), but that’s not enough to do anything in the present society. If someone relies on school/college alone for all their education, they’re going to get a real big surprise when they step out to get a job.

That’s why I believe that self-learning should not be more than just an option left to the individual. If not schools then at least families should promote self-learning and inculcate the attitude at a pretty young age. I think a person can learn more from practical, educational past times then going to school.

I think that there are only a very small number of institutions in the world who have the environment and the staff to teach the advanced aspects of any subject. Most highly skilled professionals do not adopt the teaching profession, and their skills are usually not passed on.

That’s why to get ahead at a faster pace it’s very important to learn to learn without a teacher. Self-learning beats school, trust me on this.

Living your dream isn’t living a dream-life, full of mansions, and big cars, or being a celebrity, super-rich, or super powerful. Not everyone can have a dream-life, but anyone can live a dream.

Think of the person that you would like to be. It can be anything, rich, a great leader, a sport-star, anything that you think you actually have the tools to be, and then try to be that person everyday. Take micro-steps, learn new stuff, make small progresses, each day, and think how you can come closer to that dream everyday. That is living your dream.

When you live your dream,  you think of it, you cherish it, but you don’t sit back and do it. You do it while you’re at the gym, keeping your body fit for the person that you should be, you do it at the workplace while you learn to be better at what you do. Living your dream is not just dreaming of it, but living for it, working for it, and being the dream.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the movie ‘Om-Shanti-Om’, it’s a hit in India. I didn’t like it so much, but one line from the movie has stayed with me. The line is ‘If you really-really-really want something, the entire universe will conspire to give it to you’. Maybe that’s something only an optimist will believe in, but the concept is so attractive, isn’t it?

Of course the entire universe can’t literally conspire to give you anything. You’ve got to want to hard enough to really work for it, hard enough to work so hard that you beat everything that stands in your way. That is living your dream. When you’ve decided that you want to make real, and you live to make it real each day.

Quite like that little conversation between a college student and her professore: -

Student: (Looking at the prof. suggestively) Professor, to pass in the test this year I can do anything. Anything!
Prof: (Looks back equally suggestively) Will you… study?

The book’s title caught my eye when I saw it on the shelf, and then the bold claim on the back-cover that it can be done in our lifetime. Reading this book has been a project. It took me more than a month. Not because it was boring, or repetitive but because Jeffery Sachs packs so much thinking material in nearly 400 pages that it’s enough to mull over an entire lifetime.

Jeffrey Sachs is the Mother Teresa in economists. His humane soul shines through brightly in every word that he has written. He’s one of the few people who is doing a lot to help the downtrodden and has still maintained a sense of respect for them instead of insulting their dignity with pity.

Sachs begins his book with an analysis of poverty: why some countries and regions are poorer than others, and finds that it’s not because the people living in these regions are inefficient, or morons, but because they’ve been victims. Victims of either bad geographical placement, lack of infrastructure, facilities, or social issues. Indeed, many in the poorest countries work many more hours than those who are born in the developed world.

Here are the highlights of this great book: -

1. A deep and moving analysis of why people are poor
Sachs does a logical and practical analysis of why people are poor, and how the factors can be changed to give the poorest a better life. This alone will give you a tremendous insight of how economics truly works on a world scale and is worth reading the entire book for.

2. How have some changed their fortunes
Sachs has been an economic advisor to some of the most crisis-ridden economies of the world, and has given them many ideas to improve and strengthen their economies. He has presented a number of case studies, some failures, but many successes of how countries have capitalized on opportunities to develop themselves.

3. Lobby for a more humane world organizations, and a better role for US
Jeffrey Sachs is a citizen of the US in troubled times. His country is the uncrowned leader of the free world, and its attitude towards the rest of the world will  be foundation stone for the way the world shapes up. If the US is aggressive, against reforms, and against climate-protection, that’s the way the rest of the free world will shape up to be.

That’s why Sachs makes a strong appeal to the US and the world to be more pro-reform, and pro-humanity. He also argues that international organizations like the IMF, World Bank, and the UN should be given more powers and should be more sensitive towards the needs of the weaker nations.

4. A solution to the problems
Mr. Sachs is not just a diagnostician, he’s a doctor. In the book he not only explains what is wrong with the world economy, but also gives practical and logical solutions to the problems. He’s not asking for too much. In the beginning only a firm adherence to the commitment of contributing 0.7 per cent of the GDP of the developed nations to the poor-world. A commitment that has been made, but not kept.

5. A pro-globalization approach to the world economy.
One of the most important concepts in this book is the concept of ‘Enlightened Globalization’, a system in which globalization has a humane face. I am a firm believer that humane globalization is possible, and that the world NEEDS a global economy. Jeffrey Sachs explains how it can be made possible. With some government, and some people intervention globalization can have a kinder, more inclusive attitude.

I find Sachs’ Enlightened Globalization a deeply interesting concept and I hope to see it projected more aggressively. I hope to see MNCs adopt ’Enlightened Globalization’ and play a better role in shaping a better world.

Endnote
If there’s only book that I you read on the world economy, this should be it. Not because it has a huge amount of information, but because it teaches you to feel, and respect the power of money, which can make all our lives so much better.

Thank you for the book Jeffrey Sachs. 

Business is about making money, and often establishing a business needs sacrifices. Most of the sacrifices are personal from the promoter. In terms of risk, time, or lost opportunity, and then the employees who work hard to build up a business. Both these sections stand to gain a lot if the business is successful, and they do what needs to be done willingly.

When a business tries to force itself upon the people, or takes undue advantage of a government that’s ready to bend all the way backwards to attract investment, then it’s no longer a business, it’s exploitation. That’s the first thing I will never do.

Here’s some more.

2. I will never buy a Tata car.

3. I will never invest/buy shares of any company that has the Tata name.

The stupid, cruel leadership of West Bengal govt. was only partly responsible for Nandigram and Singur, the Tata group is no less responsible. Why didn’t they immediately walk out of the deal, or at least ask the government to adopt a more farmer friendly strategy when the storm had just begun? They continued to affirm that they wanted to go ahead with the deal, and that they wanted the government to stand by its commitment. The subtle threat: If WB govt failed to show that it’s ready to promote the interests of business at any cost, there will no investment for WB.

No, business should never be run at the cost of human rights or lives.

That’s why I can no longer bear to see a Tata ad, or a Tata product anywhere around me. Maybe individually my business does not matter to the Tatas, but I sure hope there are others who think the same way.

Tata, I won’t be buying anything that you make as long as I can think of Nandigram.

Some writers work the best when they are away from their world, at a holiday spot, left alone with their laptops, pecking away furiously. They come home gloriously with a finished manuscript two weeks later. Unfortunately I am not one of them, and to add to the misfortune I realized it only this week, when I was already here.
My dome of polished perfection- that’s what my wife calls my bald head- has quit on me before, but not this severely. Tired of whacking uselessly at the keyboard, I decided to get myself an extra large helping of the evil Mochaccino they brewed up at the comfy little coffee shop I had found during one of my walks.
Engrossed in one of those sloppy 20th century thriller novels that I had begun to love, I was taking contented swigs from my mug.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” The voice came from above. I looked up and saw a smiling female face. She slipped down into the couch in front of me without waiting for the reply.
“I am sorry, but I just can’t have a coffee alone. Force of habit I guess. I have always lived around a lot of people.”
I noticed she was holding a mug like mine in her hands. Then I looked at her more closely and noticed that she was really attractive. Not lovely like a movie star, but with a strong magnetic force that lasts much longer. She was dressed casually, in a frilly white shirt and a pair of white trousers.
She must have seen a back-off sign in my lack of response while I was busy watching her, “You don’t mind? Do you?” She asked hastily.
“No, no. Not at all. I was just wondering how could a member of the fairer sex be alone in Goa. Are you a writer too like me?”
She laughed and shrugged. “I am re-discovering myself. Taking a sabbatical, not just from work but everything.”
I smiled secretly. She could be one of those bored housewives on a trip away from her husband and kids. Goa is a magnet for all sorts of people. I wondered if I was really the type who would interest her.
“Is it any good?”
Startled, I could only produce a questioning, “Huh?”
“The book.”
I grinned and tried to hide it under my palms without being too obvious. Popular writers aren’t supposed to be caught reading pulp-fiction, even when they are living incognito in Goa.
“Philo Gubb?”
Too late. I removed my hands still grinning. “Yeah. I’ve been reading Ellis Parker since I was a teenager.”
“That long, eh?”
I was only slightly offended. She couldn’t have guessed how old I really was. A bald head may shine out in a crowd, but it surely shaves off several years.
“Do you only read mysteries, or do you also write them?”
“Oh no. Nothing of that sort. I am a technical writer. My books are about computer programming,” I lied, but only partly, because I really did write computer books when I needed money. She laughed. A good throaty laughter. Not trying to subdue it like most women do.
“I can’t blame you for liking Philo Gubb then. Programming can’t be very interesting. Why don’t you write a story?” She paused and leaned towards me confidentially. “What if I tell you a really interesting story for you to write?”
Normally that line would have meant the end of a conversation for me. But that day I was in the mood to squander away my time.
“OK. Sure. I will give you a share of the paycheck,” I replied.
She laughed her throaty laugh again. “No thanks. You can keep it. I just wanted to tell it to someone.”
She picked a copy of the day’s Times of India from the newspaper rack and pushed it towards me.
“Read this news?”
“Which one?”
She tapped on the newspaper. “This one- about Dr. Heads.”
‘Dr. Heads’ was the name given to Dr. Orrell Lake, arguably the best biological scientist of the time. He had made some really amazing claims, bordering, according to many, on fantasies. About a week ago his lab’s janitor had found him in his chair, dead. There was no sign of foul play and the doctors concluded he had died an elegant, peaceful death, possibly of heart failure. He wasn’t too old, but the ticker works in mysterious ways.
She interrupted my thoughts.
“Do you know why he’s called Dr. Heads?”
I tried to sound indignant. “I do watch the television you know.”
She didn’t even notice the sarcasm. “Great! I was in his research team.”
I lost my skepticism instantly. If there was ever a story worth telling, she had it. “What’s your specialty?” I asked her.
“Psychology.” She looked at me expectantly.
“No. I am not surprised,” I said. I had been following Dr. Heads’ work closely enough to know that a psychologist would be vital to his team. Dr. Heads was a biologist, but his current research needed experts from several different fields. Maybe that’s why it was that expensive.
There was only thing about the Dr. that I wished to know, “Did he really achieve direct information transfer to the brain?”
“Why? You want the entire Wikipedia fed to your brain?”
I realized she wasn’t the type of girl who could answer a straight question.
“Okay… Suppose I wanted that. Could the Dr. do it?”
Suddenly her eyes stopped laughing. “No, I don’t think he could.”
I smiled at that. “I guess he was bluffing after all.”
I wasn’t alone, who thought so. Almost everybody who heard doctor Lake’s claim on national television that he was aiming to build a device that would record information directly to the brain rejected it as a bluff. You have to learn things to put them in your brain. Connecting your brain to a couple of electrodes, and emerging a genius ten minutes later is something that science-fiction writers write about. I know. I am one.
“You believe he was a fraud?” Her voice had an accusing note.
“Maybe not,” I shrugged. “A little too cocksure maybe.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew doctor Lake.”
“You seem like a big fan of his,” I was enjoying baiting her.
“I know how much he achieved,” she replied.
I sipped at my coffee while I thought of the right thing to say. A moment of silence had crept between us. She seemed upset enough to walk away as soon as she finished her coffee, but my curiosity was aroused and I didn’t want her to leave anymore.
“He was definitely very brilliant.” I told her. “I wonder if he could really have done it if he had lived.”
“If he had any support from the right people, he would have done it by now,” she had a bitter edge to her voice.
“How far do you reckon he was from success?” I asked her.
“Nearer than you can imagine. Much nearer.”
That was news to me. I put my mug down and smiled. “You think so? Did he show you a demo?”
She leaned nearer to give more weight to her statement. “He did more than that.”
“Like what?”
She laughed and leaned back again. “You really are very curious.” She said, and then considered for a moment. “But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you a story.”
“Sure, I love stories.” This meeting was becoming more interesting then I had expected.
“How much do you know about the doctor’s research?” She asked me.
“Just that he said he was researching a way to record things directly in the brain, so that you would know them without learning them.”
“That’s a really simple way to put it. But essentially correct.” She was already starting to sound earnest. “What he wanted to do was—- decipher how the brain stores information, and then find a way to duplicate it externally to be able to feed any information to the brain without using the sensory mechanism.”
“He was trying to do that since a long time.” I couldn’t help but quip.
“You think it’s an easy task?” She snarled. “He had most of the puzzle solved. If only he had some more resources, he could have done it.”
“How do you know?” I asked her.
She did not speak for a moment. “That’s what the story is about.”
“Great! Let’s hear it then.”
“Okay. Let’s say there was this brilliant researcher who thought he had found a way to record information in a brain directly, like a computer.”
“Dr. Lake?”
“Yes, Dr. Lake. He published a paper about the theory, and discussed it with some of the top scientists. They all believed it could be done…”
“I remember that time. He got some incredible reports in the press.” I said.
“They set him up. Gave him a lab. Hefty funding. He got to work immediately. In the beginning he made great progress. Unraveled some of the most perplexing mysteries of the brain.” She paused. “Who do you think gave us the cure for schizophrenia?”
“Dr. Lake?” That was news even to me.
“Yes, Dr. Lake. He was a very discreet man.”
“What happened then?”
“Well… years passed. He felt everyday that he was only a fraction away from achieving his true goal, but it always eluded him. Meanwhile, unmindful of all his contribution, his masters stopped the flow of the precious funding he needed. Do you remember how the press mocked him?”
I remembered that clearly. He was the victim of one of the worst smear campaigns carried out against an individual. The press had heralded his project as a glaring example of how public money was being wasted on research that went nowhere. Even the politicians who believed in his research abandoned him after that.
“He only needed another year. He tried everything from arguing to pleading, but they didn’t listen to him.”
“I am not surprised, people in power can never be moved by cajoling, they can be influenced only by power or public opinion and Dr. Lake had none right then.”
She tilted her head to a side as if considering whether she should compliment me for the observation or slap me for the insult, finally she decided on none and shrugged her shoulders instead.
“I guess you are right. I pity Dr. Lake. Poor. Poor Dr Lake.”
The expression of disappointment on her face was genuine.
“You must really believe that he could do it.”
“Believe in it? I KNOW he did it.”
“How?”
“Because I saw him do it.”
“You mean like real? How come he never told anybody?”
She settled back.
“That’s because he died the same day.”
I was shocked for a minute. If the woman was telling the truth the only way she knew something like that was if she murdered him. This was sounding more and more like the Philo Gubb book I was reading.
“No. Don’t panic. I didn’t kill him,” she said as if reading my thoughts.
I was not very convinced but I knew nothing better to do than sit tight and wait.
“You know, he really was successful in transferring information directly into the brain. But that information had to come from another brain. He could read the brain neurons like bits of silicon by making them fire up and yield their secrets, and then he could record the same information into another brain, neuron to neuron, each one a true copy of the original.”
“But why didn’t he publicize the findings?”
“Because of the side-effect.”
“What side-effect?” I demanded.
She looked at me intently as if trying to read me. “I have never told anybody. Yet.” She twiddled her fingers exaggerating her indecision. After a moment she stopped. “The side-effect Mr. Hot-shot-writer, was death. To fire up the neurons he had to run a special kind of current through them, very like the synaptic transmissions in the brain cells, but much, much more powerful.”
“Think of your brain as lump of stone and this triggering current would be like a tsunami the size of Godzilla’s mother! Big enough to drown the entire damn continent!” Her hands fell on the table with a wham.
“Result. The brain overloads and fries. The target has new information, but the source is finished.”
“That’s a damn strong side-effect.” I said, genuinely awed. “But if you saw him do it, then…?” I let the question hang.
She smiled and finished her coffee in one big swig. “Dr. Lake really believed he could find a way to make the job safe. But the world didn’t believe in him, so he decided to let someone else finish the job for him.”
The truth slowly started dawning on me.
“You say you saw him do it the day he died. And you’re here… Does that mean?”
Her smile got broader.
“I see Philo Gubb really has a big influence on you. Yes. Dr. Lake transferred all his information, his knowledge, his personality, everything he was, to someone else. Someone young. Someone with the necessary credentials. Someone who could pick up where he left and convince the world it can be done. Someone who could finish what he started.
“And that’s you?”
She rose from her chair laughing.
“But don’t tell anyone,” she said as she walked away still smiling.
When she reached the café’s door she turned around.
“Or they will think you’ve read too much of Philo Gubb.”
And then she was gone.

UTI Bank has changed its name to Axis Bank, but not much else has changed. On my nearly weekly walks through the markets of Karol Bagh, I’ve always noticed that the Bank’s ATM at its Karol Bagh branch is the dirtiest I’ve ever seen. I mean EVER!

This week we needed to draw some cash and walked into the ATM, and know what, it not only looks dirty. It SMELLS! As in dirty, gutterish, pungent smell. I stayed at the door breathing the fresh air in gulps while my father drew the cash.

Most banks maintain spick-span cleanliness at their ATM centers, and I’ve used other Axis Bank ATMs too, but I’ve never seen one this dirty. The weirdest thing is: this ATM is right next door to the branch itself.

I wonder what kind of message Axis Bank is trying to send its clients? Hmm… Here are some ideas for the ad department.

– We’ve got the stinkiest ATM, so you will always find one that’s empty.

– Our ATM’s dirty cause we’re too busy managing your money.

– Axis Bank – Focused on making better use of money. We don’t pay the cleaners.

– Our ATMs save you from binge shopping. You won’t walk into one until you really need the cash!

Seriously! The bank ought to do something about this. I mean like right now! Who’s in charge? Who put her in charge?

Last night I bought and read the book ‘Our Iceberg is melting’ by Dr. John Kotter. It’s a great book, printed in nice clear typeface, and illustrated superbly in color. The book is also quite cheap (as books go these days), I got it for Rs. 195.

‘Our Iceberg is melting’ is written on the lines of ‘Who moved my cheese’ so could there be a better guy than Spencer Johnson, MD, who wrote ‘Who moved my cheese’ to write the introduction for this book? Nope. They got him to do it.

If ‘Who moved my cheese’ was a great book on managing personal change, ‘Our Iceberg is melting’ is no less a classic on managing organizational, or community changes.

Our Iceberg is melting is a wonderfully simple story. Clear and concise. But in all its simplicity, it has all the advice and ideas one needs to manage changes that happen at a macro level.

The book’s true focus is on the group, not on the individual. It talks about problems, and solutions that are relevant to an entire company, community, or even a nation. The book discusses the roles of individuals on reacting to, bringing about, or resisting change. It talks about the ingredients needed to make a change in policy, or attitude, successful. But most of all it teaches the reader not to be afraid of change.

I wouldn’t hesitate recommending this book to you if you are interested in understanding how ‘change’ works at a group level, and wish to play a more active role in working with these changes.