Lessons from Demonetization

On the night of 8^th of November 2016, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced the demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 bank notes with immediate effect. The reasons cited by the Indian Government for the surprising announcement were reduction of black money in the Indian economy, reducing the cash-flow in the system and cutting down the number of counterfeits.

The plans for demonetization had been made six to ten months prior to the public announcement. The secrecy maintained was such that even the Cabinet Ministers were briefed about the plan only on the night of announcement². The RBI was told six months prior to boost printing of Rs. 50 and 100 notes in preparation. To ease digital payments and lessen burden on banks, the government rolled out the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app for both Android and iOS devices later that year, based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Restrictions on withdrawal limits were imposed to ensure availability of cash for everyone. Thus, the government had foreseen some of the possible issues and had planned measures to ensure a smooth process for all stakeholders.

One major achievement of the exercise has been a marked increase in the number of cashless transactions, with the number of PoS machines almost doubling from 15 lakhs to 29 lakhs from October 2016 to September 2017 according to RBI data. The number of credit cards also increased drastically to 23 crores from a mere 2.3 crore over the same period. The growth rate of digital transactions also shot up from 25-30 percent prior to demonetization to around 40-70 percent post demonetization⁴. PayTM, India’s largest mobile payments services provider enjoyed an increase in number of customers from 125 million in November 2016 to 285 million in November 2017⁵. This data indicates that India has made a reasonably successful start in its move to a digital economy, with support from government initiatives and improved digital infrastructure.

The government also claimed to possess information on 37000 shell companies that helped hide black money after demonetization. Moreover, licenses of more than 1 lakh companies were canceled and data mining indicated suspect dealings in the books of more than 3 lakh companies⁶. Thus, as a direct fallout of the demonetization exercise, the government got leads to crack down on black money.

In India, 90% of the workforce is in the informal sector. Demonetization aimed at removing 86% of the total cash in circulation, and this was always going to have a huge impact on informal labor, who work without any job security and on daily wages. Taking out such a large amount of currency from the system would result in lesser business opportunities and therefore non-employment of daily wagers. Considering that all this was done just to wage a war against 6% of undeclared wealth (rest in kept in real estate, jewelry, etc.), it is hard to see how the government looked past these numbers⁷.

The original objective of demonetization was to weed out fake currency notes, reduce black money in circulation, and curb terrorism funding. Once the government realized that these problems were not actually being solved and that the policy was back-firing, they decided to change the initial objectives to transforming India to a cashless and digitized economy. This leads one to ponder if the government had done its research well enough.

According to EMIS Intelligence, the GDP decreased from 7.62% in 2016 Q3 to 5.59% in 2017 Q2. These figures indicate a decrease in growth of economy because of demonetization. This decrease can be attributed to various reasons. Small scale traders faced a huge loss in business due to non-availability of liquidity in the market. Many daily wage workers lost their jobs due to non-availability of cash in the market. The hits taken by the Industrial Index of Production and the decline in growth of manufacturing sector post demonetization hit the average daily wager hard. Given these repercussions, it is questionable whether demonetization came at the cost of the layman.

Given India’s population, implementation of such an exercise had to be impeccable. A good policy with bad implementation may have many negative effects, and thus, negate all the positives it aims at. Demonetization which had positive intentions behind its implementation turned out to be a nightmare for the common people of India. Three dozen people died within the first week of implementation⁸. There were reports of people dying due to standing in long snaking queues while others died because of non-availability of valid cash to avail services in hospitals and pharmacy shops⁹. Many people lost their valuable time standing in queues which affected their productivity in workplaces. Banks were also taken by surprise with the announcement of demonetization which affected their working for a long period. They were not equipped with enough manpower to support the logistics requirement for implementation of the policy. Existing ATM’s would also be needed to be recalibrated to accommodate the new ₹2000 note. This task itself took more than 3 weeks, further making things difficult for the general public¹⁰.

When it comes to decisions of such a large scale, pertaining to the economy of the nation, it is imperative to make the process smooth for the citizens. The lack of planning was evident when one looks at the lack of digital infrastructure, the delay in calibrating ATMs and the fact that banks were underprepared to handle such long queues. Irrespective of the nobility of the ends in sight, it does not justify the means undertaken to reach them. It is the responsibility of a good management to consider the consequences of their actions and policies. It is questionable if the Indian government accounted for these possibilities. Another learning from the execution of demonetization was the glaring lack of preparation on the government’s side. The entire process could have been so much smoother if both digital and physical infrastructure had been taken care of before deciding to execute. Moreover, the decision to act was taken by a handful of people with consequences on a country of a billion. It is unfathomable that such few people could take such a big decision involving so many stakeholders. Thus, more thought and preparation would have helped decide better on the need and implementation of the action. This would be the biggest takeaway for any manager analyzing the Indian demonetization episode of 2016.

References:

1. Indian ‘shadow economy’ to shrink to 13.6 per cent of GDP by 2025: ACCA. (2017, July 2) Retrieved August 12, 2018, from http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/indian-shadow-economy-to-shrink-to-13-6-per-cent-of-gdp-by-2025-acca-4731993/

2. Roychoudhury, A. (2016, November 10). Demonetisation: In the works for 6 months, 10 people in the loop, including Raghuram Rajan. Business Standard India. Retrieved from https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/demonetisation-in-the-works-for-6-months-10-people-in-the-loop-including-raghuram-rajan-116111000009_1.html

3. Banks should’ve been given more time to prepare for noteban: Ex-SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya - Times of India. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/banks-shouldve-been-given-more-time-to-prepare-for-noteban-ex-sbi-chief-arundhati-bhattacharya/articleshow/61249220.cms

4. Demonetisation in Figures: All You Wanted to Know - News18. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.news18.com/news/business/demonetisation-in-figures-all-you-wanted-to-know-1569907.html

5. How Paytm went big on Indian demonetization. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.euromoney.com/article/b15ts6qpxvj51d/how-paytm-went-big-on-indian-demonetization

6. One Lakh Firms De-Registered; 37,000 Shell Companies Identified: PM Modi. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.ndtv.com/business/one-lakh-firms-de-registered-37-000-shell-companies-identified-pm-modi-1719383

7. Management lessons from demonetisation: Consequences catastrophic when basics are forgotten - The Financial Express. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/management-lessons-from-demonetisation-consequences-catastrophic-when-basics-are-forgotten/930256/

8. The ugly face of India’s demonetization: Dozens of deaths. (n.d.). Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://mashable.com/2016/11/16/india-people-dying-demonetization/#41FY7uM5H8qB

9. Demonetisation: 12 deaths reported so far as India queues up outside banks. (2016, November 14). Retrieved October 2, 2018, from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/demonetisation-cracks-down-on-people-11-deaths-reported-so-far-4374905/

10. Desk, I. (2016, November 12). Recalibration of ATMs will take up to three weeks, says Jaitley. The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Recalibration-of-ATMs-will-take-up-to-three-weeks-says-Jaitley/article16443730.ece

13B – Horror Continues: A Short Story!

There was one rare residential tower named ‘Ursula’ at Bandra sea side which wasn't hammered down by builders for a reason or two. It was a thirteen storeys building with four flats on each floor and not a single resident was ready to leave despite having some rumors about seeing ghosts on the thirteenth floor. Because there was one retired army officer, Mr Singh, living on the 0th floor who looked after maintenance of the building used to rubbish such rumors. It was obvious to predict that thirteenth floor was human-less. But one day Mr and Mrs D'Souza moved into 13-C with their 7 year old son David on the eve of Christmas. They were Goan Catholics having faith in Jesus and hence they decided to move in once they liked the apartment without giving an ear to the rumors. After all they came through a contact of Mr Singh and he was also looking for one gutsy couple to wash away all the ghost stories. Josh D'Souza was a gentleman. He was a software engineer in Patni Computers with a loving housewife and dreamy son at home. He used to go for a morning jog and enjoyed the company of Mr Singh and soon impressed his ex-army colleagues with his fun loving attitude.

It was a foggy morning in Feb when Josh came to jog with a tensed look on his face. He was upset with Mr Singh for an issue and showed his anger publicly. He was saying that some Mr and Mrs Roy moved into his neighboring flat 13-B and Mr Singh didn't bother to inform Josh. He also didn't mind as Mr Singh was a busy person fulfilling his hobbies to taste adventure. But one day Mr Roy broke into Josh’s apartment when he was in office. Josh’s wife, Leena was taking a nap after finishing household work. Mr Roy directly went into the bedroom where Leena was sleeping. She got up when she heard some noise. Mr Roy was removing David’s photos from all the photo frames kept in the showcase at corner. Leena was scared by uncannily striking appearance of Mr Roy in her bedroom. She tried to shout but no one came to help. She was feeling frightened watching Mr Roy laughing continuously at her. She cried for help and requested him not to get into any wrongdoing. She fell asleep dramatically after the moment like someone was controlling her mind and woke up with a sweaty face. First Josh described it as a bad dream but Leena was very sure that it happened and she was considering Jesus as a witness of the wrongdoing. But Mr Singh was a tough person and difficult to melt. He thought that Josh also came to know about ghost stories and rumors and he was also making up stories to run away. He felt unsatisfied once again with the failed attempt to rubbish all the rumors.

Josh never missed once to knock Mr Roy’s door while going out to question him about his inappropriate behavior. But that door was never opened and Josh also forgot about it. But one day Leena went to her childhood friend’s place for a get- together and David was about to wait at home for less than an hour till Josh came back and they had planned to go to an amusement park. But when Josh entered into his hall room he found David sitting on Mr Roy’s lap with a new toy car in his hands. Josh became red from toe to his head. All the anger came back and he got a surety that Leena was speaking the truth. But Mr Roy showed a different personality that day. He listened to each word came out from Josh’s mouth with controlled patience and even apologized twice. He was there to invite Josh and his family for a tea the next evening. Josh too didn't question him more about the incident before and agreed for the tea. Josh, Leena and David went to Mr Roy’s place next day. Mrs Roy was a beautiful lady with blue eyes looking like she was the gifted one. But Josh was felling something fishy in that place all the time. He could smell the polish of the wood which was kept covered for years. He also noticed some white sheets on the furniture. All the frames were dusty and the couple looked same as in photos without a sign of age. Even their cloths were old fashioned like they bought them ten years ago and kept in cupboard packed.  Despite these weird things josh found Mr Roy friendly with a sense of humor. The small tea meeting went so good that they gossiped for two long hours. Mr Roy also invited them at their farmhouse in Lonavala in summers and Josh and his family happily agreed. Their friendship was getting thicker day by day and two months passed in a blink.

It was a sunny Saturday in the month of May when Josh and his family went to Mr Roy’s farmhouse for a weekend trip. The location of the farmhouse was very weird and there were hardly any human beings in nearby area. However, they enjoyed the sightseeing on Saturday and kept Sunday to spend it in bed. But josh heard a knock at the door in night. He checked the time. The Hour arm was just reaching twelve. The sound of the knock increased slowly and it woke up both Leena and David. Josh opened the door to find out what just happened. Mr and Mrs Roy were there with a torch in their hand. They pointed it in Josh’s eyes till he got irritated. He shouted at Mr Roy but he lost his voice in their devil’s laughter. He found it funny but the mad couple didn't even stop to breath. A wave of fear touched Josh’s feet. He looked at Leena. She was already scared and was trying to hide in her blanket. The sounds made by leaves of the trees were contributing their part in increasing fear. She came to remember her very first meeting with Mr Roy in their bedroom in a moment. Josh once again shouted and they stopped within a second. They took chairs and started staring at David with their frozen eyes. They were looking like two statues in chairs. Josh wasn't able to figure out what was happening with them. He saw the phone at side table and tried Mr Singh’s number as he was the most powerful person Josh had ever met. While he turned back he saw David in Mr Roy’s lap. He was going to swear but Mr Singh picked up his call. Josh narrated all the incidents happened in last two months and the current incident which was happening there in Lonavala at a farmhouse far from the city at twelve in midnight. Mr Singh scolded at Josh for disturbing him just for over thinking a rumor. But Josh cried to tell him that it was actually happening. Josh requested to know all the rumors Mr Singh had ever heard about the thirteenth floor.

Ten years ago, Mr and Mrs Roy were living in 13-B in Ursula towers. They were an ideal couple for others like the Wheelers in a Hollywood movie ‘the revolutionary road’. They were friends with everyone and everyone admired them to become a happy couple. But according to their neighbors on the thirteenth floor they had some internal issues and the neighbors heard an exchange of bad words and even a sound of beating by belt. They tried to ask about it but Mrs Roy always ignored such questions smartly. Somehow the residents figured out that Mrs Roy was continuously failing to have a baby and she was having a treatment under the costliest doctor of the city. But one day all things went too far and Mr Roy murdered his wife by accident and then attempted suicide. It was the saddest moment in Ursula. But the trouble started after that when the residents of thirteenth floor started noticing Mr and Mrs Roy in their flat. Some of them who believe in such black world left the building at very next moment. Then the ghost couple tried to kidnap children of other families especially the sons. And not a person touched the thirteenth floor after except Mr Singh who never believed in these stories.

But first time Mr Singh felt different after listening Josh’s story and it was actually happening that time. He took the address of the farmhouse and left Ursula at that moment. Mr and Mrs Roy were still there with David on their lap. Now Josh and Leena came to know that they were on a wrong way and they were actually friends with ghosts. The scariest fact was that the Roy couple wanted their son David. Mr Roy announced in between that Josh could try to call anyone but no one would find a road to that farmhouse. Josh lost his confidence at that moment. He called his uncle who was a priest in Goa. His uncle reduced his tension. He asked Josh to remember Jesus and suggested some verses from the Bible to tackle the ghosts. Josh did the same. He gained some confidence by the name of god and he jumped on Mr Roy. He was really a ghost. He escaped with the speed of light but Josh got a hold on David’s hand. Luckily Mrs Roy also disappeared. Josh figured out it a good sign and they ran away from that farmhouse. They moved into their car and did a mistake to keep David at the back seat. Because Mr Roy came from nowhere and again he got hold on David. This time Josh requested him to leave. But Mr Roy said that they wanted to raise David. They wanted to have all the happiness of having a son like other parents. Josh found it foolish to give their son in the hands of ghosts and he scared them to take their car in an accident and attempt suicide to end all the drama. But it took a dreadful turn when Mr Roy escaped with David in the other car which was being driven by Mrs Roy. But the couple was again in Josh’s car next moment and David was alone in the running car. Josh lost his faith in possibility of survival at that time. Leena was expressionless as the ghost couple were able to control her mind but couldn't capture Josh’s as he was reciting the verses. They made a deal that they could keep David alive if they sacrificed him to grow with the ghosts. Josh was about to lose his control when he saw a ray of hope, a policeman was checking the vehicles on the way. Josh smiled first time in that terrible night. But he soon realized that he wasn't able to see David’s car and Roy couple too disappeared with Leena. He ran away to police and described the situation in short. Police felt that they became successful to register one more case of drunken driver but they thought of catching a psychopath that time. They agreed to search for his lost wife and son when Josh fell to their feet. They kept Josh in Police station and sent a search party. But they failed to search anyone. Josh woke up the next day and the night was still alive in his mind. He headed for Ursula and told everything to Mr Singh. Mr Roy was right about the farmhouse as Mr Singh couldn't find it on the given address and then he lodged a complaint in police station. They directly went to 13-B to solve the mystery and find Josh’s family. All the photo frames in that flat were empty this time. Josh thought that ghosts had taken his wife and son forever but Mr Singh still didn't believe it and he was searching for a way to find Leena. And Josh’s phone rang at that time. It was Leena. Josh took a deep breath. Leena told him that ghosts of Roy couple kidnapped them and they went into unconsciousness. Later they found themselves on Pune railway station and they saw a train to Goa and had reached to Leena’s parents. She even had been to church to pray. Josh felt a moment of joy.

A month had passed to the incident. Josh left the Ursula and was living with a friend. Leena and David were still in Goa. One day when Mr Singh was leaving for a morning jog, he saw Leena and David coming to Ursula. He found it surprising and went to ask about their health. He expressed his concerns for the incident. But Leena wasn't able to understand what he was saying. Mr Singh caught her uneasiness and asked her if she knew about any farmhouse in Lonavala and she said that Josh’s friend was having one and they were even planning to go but never succeeded in their busy lives. Mr Singh was shocked and he again confirmed whether she was there in that farmhouse in the last month. But she simply replied that she went to her mother’s two months ago when David’s summer vacation started. She even remembered him that David said a goodbye to him when they were leaving. He gave them a smile and went. Leena still didn't understand what he was trying to say and she stood there thinking for a second. Mr Singh shouted from far away “Come for a tea with Josh one day. I think he needs a doctor!”

The Hidden Thing – A '68 words' short story

My learned friend’s naïve suggestion was to find that thing which is always hidden. I took all the necessary things – rope, stick and water. After hunting for hours in a jungle I reached to a house with broken windows. I could find only messes in all the rooms. Then there was a dark room. Inside I found the thing hanging to a rope, injured and crying – my soul.

P.S.: The above underlined part was the given starting line in a competition in my college and the word limit was 69 words.

Impact of Social Movements

I was quite impressed and motivated by the Indian freedom fight and Chhatrapati Shivaji's efforts to build his own kingdom for the people speaking same language or following the same culture. Both the movements were revolutionary as they still motivate us and give us some learning based on which we can build the future of India today. But at the same time if you read the History of entire world in the times of Chhatrapati Shivaji or the Indian freedom fight, you can clearly figure out that though many of the countries fought one or many battles on field, they also had to fight with their countrymen belonging to different communities or having a different sets of thoughts or cultures. So most of the European countries had the revolution in their thoughts which later reflected in their literature, science and technology or even in their daily lives. The western countries are always ahead of us when it comes to leaving the bad traditions behind and modernize our thought process.

So the impact of a revolution in our thoughts is huge and India somehow missed it in the process of getting the freedom for our country and we were busy in enjoyment after the freedom that no one even thought that India will be far behind in the growth track in comparison with western countries. In that way the growth rate of Japan is commendable and they moved on so fast from their defeat in the world war two.

So coming back to the point of impact of social movements on our lives or on our thoughts, I would like to applaud the efforts taken by our prime minister Mr Narendra Modi by launching the movements like Swachha Bharat, Make in India, and Startup India. Even we should praise for Arvind Kejriwal's odd-even formula. I haven't yet got into the success or failure of those campaigns, but the impact is still huge. For example because of odd - even formula people of India at least realized that there is a serious issue of air pollution in the city and perhaps their children won't even survive in the city in future. This realization is enough according to me. So once the thought process is revolutionized, the campaigns will get better and better. Same with the campaigns launched by Mr Modi. They will get batter and better irrespective of the acting government or the decision makers because people will lead the campaigns to success further.

One thing I still worry is the negative impact of media as they are still into the blame games and they politicize every other issue. I can guarantee that many in the country got a negative impression of odd - even formula and it was just because of the India media because they portrayed it so. So let there be a social impact first, things will get better with the time.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Book Review: Private India by Ashwin Sanghi

About the story: The story starts with the Marathi character names and Mumbai which are more than enough for me to read it in one stretch. If I say it is just a serial murder story then it will be an understatement. The story is way better than any detective series on USA TV channels. The story is based on a investigation agency called Private India which is the Mumbai division of world’s finest investigation agency Private on which you will find eight more novels based in different countries.

Santosh Wagh, head of Private India who is neither close to Sherlock Holmes and way better than Indian CID series character ACP Pradyumn has a rocky past. The flashback is not that interesting compared to the story going on. It is even annoying some times. But we have to give credits to both the authors that all the murders are beautifully written. You will start guessing the murderer based on the evidences he left behind. One more very beautiful and mentionable thing about the story is Mumbai is aptly explored and used in the story. The murder victims are smartly chosen and the Private India people can’t easily find the connection between them but the readers know that they have met somewhere or they are connected somehow which will give you goose bumps time to time.

Though the fact that you are guessing the murderer all the time which is very interesting but authors have planned the story such that you will feel shocked from toe to head at the end. The idea of setting up a Private India employee in the story is brilliant and it steals the show. One more plot goes on in the sideline which starts with a bang but ends with a disappointment and you won’t see any need of that plot which may have been placed only to distract the readers or making the main story more complex but it is bearable and you won’t care about it after a nail biting and spine-chilling main story. The introduction of the murderer at the starting of the story is written with such smartness that you will forget the character until its one more introduction at the end of the story which can take your sleep away. The climax which includes the name and introduction of the murderer is not without a doubt brilliant but there is one easy catch in the story in the middle which is not at all considered which will make you a little disappointed. But overall the story is close to be called as one of the best suspense thriller in Indian English literature.

My Review: It may look like the main character of Santosh Wagh is loosely based on the main character of very popular TV series called House MD and Sherlock Holmes. The character of Santosh Wagh’s boss who is the founder of Private has no super powers or he doesn’t add any surprising magical factor to the story. When the plot is at its peak in the end, when the murderer is about to get revealed the story takes a weird turn where Santosh Wagh is attacked because of its past which makes you angry. Apart from these two-three negatives the story is just awesomely thought and smartly showcased. You will get a feeling that the story can’t be an Indian English literature which is the biggest achievement. I was reading Ashwin Sanghi’s book for the first time and I am sure that all his books must be as awesome as this. I definitely recommend Private India to each and every fiction lover.

Rating:  4/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Occasional Patriotism!

Happy independence day to one and all who woke up early for flag hosting or who enjoyed late noon bath after a long twelve hours of sleep! Sometimes I wonder with the way other countries like USA or China celebrate their independence day. Perhaps Chinese are afraid of the after effects if they just sleep and don’t celebrate their national day. The citizens of USA are just too proud of their freedom and development. On the other way I have heard Japanese have only one way to celebrate and they do it throughout the year. These countries are too developed and if we see our little friend and weaker too, Africa, they have a sharp memory and hence they remember all the sacrifices made by their countrymen for the precious independence.

Actually I don’t blame people! It’s really independence for them if they get a holiday from the scolding of their boss, crying of children, complains from wife and a little break from this running life. I remember when I was a child, I used to go for flag hosting in my residency where only ten heads used to turn up. But the thing I hated the most was we used to have to go to each and every flat knocking their doors to distribute sweets. And yes I live in a safest place in the country where I can host our tricolour every day, no one will stop me. But still people don’t bother. My friends from other states have horrible stories to tell, like once a bomb blast happened in a school in Assam just after they hosted the flag killing the most innocent school children and also our bright future. I want to tell those cowards that we have such patriotic moments only twice in a year which hurt their ‘separate country’ emotions. Aren’t they afraid of such ‘sleep loving’ people if they get their own country and celebrate flag hosting?

I studied a lot about our freedom fight from my History textbooks in school. I never figured out what actually changed when ‘Angrez’ (British) came to India and one day started to rule us. Most of us were ruled by Mughals or Nizam before or at most some were pretending to be safe under their king’s umbrella. Except Shivaji maharaj came like a wave and defined freedom. But his followers, the Peshvas failed for a reason or two. So the British rule wasn’t anything new for the Hindustani people except for the language and their skin colour until these Englishmen started running behind us with a stick or horsewhip. Some couldn’t resist the torture and started a movement. The queen of Zansi created a successful example for future movements. One of my role models Vir Savarkar named it a freedom fight and we all know the rest.

I enjoyed every bit of it. The whole history in textbooks is full of patriotic doses which are enough for a life. Still I stuck at finding motive behind this. The torture was increased only when we started to protest. But as I grew up I have realized that all the violent, non-violent movements were dedicated towards only one motive and that is freedom for their children, in our words some peaceful sleep on the Independence day. And they have succeeded in it.

For some dignity for this freedom we got I request all the fellow Indians to wake up, not from their dreamful sleep to go for a flag hosting. If you feel the responsibility and want to enjoy watching waving tricolour then you should attend these gatherings and have some goose bumps. But you should wake up and take part in activities in interest of the development of this country which will bind us together. Some benefits have come with this freedom which should be taken as our responsibilities. Like we have elections in the pipeline, if everyone give their responsible vote to a right candidate then such things will be more than enough to keep the patriotism alive in us. On this memorable day of Independence I take this opportunity to take an oath to become a responsible Indian and to increase the frequency of fortuitous Patriotism in me.

Book Review: The Bestseller She Wrote by Ravi Subramanian

About the story: It starts with whining about Indian authors and their lack of expertise in giving the realistic feel to the plots. 9 of the 10 English literature readers will agree to that, actually all those will agree who have read at least one of the foreign authors. So the story starts with a high note that this is going to be different from regular Indian romantic drama which later turns into a Bollywood thriller. But aghast! It is the same old story and I moved forward with saying 'Not again'. The only reason I went further as the book had come for the review, else I would have left it after first fifty pages or so.

Aditya Kapoor, main character who is a leading Indian fictional writer and a banker at the same time was giving a talk at his Alma mater at the start of the book and where he meets the arrogant but wannabe writer, Shreya who currently studying in her first year of MBA course. The story is more than typical, where a great Indian thriller writer gets into an intimate relationship with a young wanna be writer, IIMB graduate and soon to be his junior at work. One more thing will say you again and again to drop the book is the character is loosely based on Mr Chetan Bhagat, IIM graduate, successful banker and the very famous author. First half is nothing but the masala romance with girlfriend and walking on the rope while managing the marriage and love life.

But I have to agree that the book gets a little better in the second half. A series of events happen which at least led me to complete the book to know the ending, though it was very much obvious. But I got involved to know where the series of events leading the author's life and how he will reach to the obvious ending. The style in which sometimes the author explains some obvious things and give some explanations for why the specific thing is happening in the plot is too obvious and it makes the read more boring. In the halfway, wife of the main character, Aditya Kapoor gets injected with an Ebola virus and you will really wonder why even this thing was added in the book as its not giving any add on to the story. And even more surprising is that she comes to life by defeating the virus which would have never happened this easily in reality. And if you judge the plot and the series of events planted in, even some severe curable diseases like Tuberculosis, or even an accident would
have done the job. But Ebola seems too fake there. Anyways as per typical Bollywood plot, first you will start loving the Shreya's character and would pray for some twist so that Aditya would leave his wife and would come to her. But then plot goes further and puts Shreya's character into the negative role and you can easily guess what's going to happen at the end!

My Review: There are just too many negatives. Aditya's character is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat which kills the expectations at the start itself. I had heard so much of the other books by Ravi Subramanian, but I am really disappointed with this one which makes me unsure of giving the other ones a try. Indian readers are fed up of the plots having IITs, IIMs, their half baked love stories and their success and failures. Chetan Bhagat has written enough on those subjects, which had received by the readers very well as they were very cheesy and crispy for the first time to read. But now we really need something different from Indian authors, especially authors like Ravi Subramanian.

Rating: 2/5

Note: I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Indian J.K. Rowling

I don’t remember whether it was 5th or 6th book in the Harry Potter series but I still can’t forget that photo I saw in the leading daily showing around 100 people standing in the queue waiting for the bookstore to open to grab a copy of the book on the releasing day. The second image was showing 12 year olds reading the book immediately in the bookstore forgetting about their parents. I have seen such children only in parks. J.K. Rowling deserves to be called as a revolutionary as she gifted a new hobby to young ones in the era of video games.

Guess what! India also has its own J.K. Rowling. But here he is a successful IIT and IIM graduate and a successful banker before becoming the Rowling of India. Perhaps people will beat me for comparing him with Rowling, but it’s true in a way or two. I remember when I was preparing for JEE and had never ever heard of the prodigy called Chetan Bhagat! I picked a copy of Five Point Someone to know about the IIT life. I was already a Dan Brown fan till then and also had read Sidney Sheldon, so I did not like the book but it had something which made me to finish it. Story was simple and it would make biology students to start preparing for JEE. For that unknown reason, I read all other Chetan Bhagat books. Three mistakes was actually better than others but one can easily skip these books as there are plenty of good books in English literature for which one life is not enough.

It’s not like I hate Chetan Bhangat but few things really frustrate me. Now we have got so many such writers in India who write dull and lousy plots. It became worse when Chetan Bhagat’s books started converting into Bollywood films. But few good writers have also come in this era like Amish Tripathi or Ravi Subramanian. At least I can praise Amish for his imagination. It was fun to read his books except the third one in Shiva trilogy, all three were proper bollywood masala types though!

An incident happened last year which made me compare Chetan Bhagat with Rowling, not for his books but for what he has done. I was there at a bloggers’ meet in Bangalore organized by Indiblogger and a person who belonged to a rural area in Karnataka who had a blog in regional language was a Chetan bhagat fan and he started writing after reading his books. Now it was something. That day I learned that you don’t have to be a Dan Brown or Ken Follet to reach to your readers and make people to start reading and adopting it as a hobby.

Today all the dailies are having articles on Chetan Bhagat’s upcoming book ‘Half-Girlfriend’ which made me to write this article. After all the criticism for his books, TOI columns, everyone accepts the fact that Chetan Bhagat has given and is still giving thousands of fresh readers to Indian literature. If they start reading foreign authors then it will be a victory of the language else our Indian authors will always have a long and glamorous life. If I get a chance to meet Chatan bhagat in future then I have only one request for him that he has got a huge readers’ base and he can actually do wonders in Indian literature. In simple words: please don’t repeat Revolution 2020 or Half-Girlfriend!

P.S. Here are the links to the articles I have mentioned from today's dailies:
Business Standard
TOI Blog
DNA
India Today
TOI

Representing India

I still remember when I went for a trek to Nainital when I was in school and we had to wait on Delhi railway station while coming back to Mumbai due to delayed train and as many of us were school going children we just sat on the platform not caring for our cloths or dirt, as such we don’t usually on railway stations. But suddenly a group of foreigners came and they started taking our photos. Perhaps they found the children sitting in a cue cute or they had not seen this before. It will be wrong to be judgmental but as a child I thought that they were taking photos so that they could show them to their folks and gossip about poor India.

I really feel bad when someone say India is poor though it is true but at least we deserve to be called as developing country. I feel shameful when there are incidents like molestation and rape with foreigners. When Indians were attacked in Australia I can surely state that every Indian must have felt to beat the accused personally, but we have to keep faith in law and order. Similarly families of those foreign nationals do, but as we all know time was and will never be a concerning factor for us while giving justice to victims.

We all jumped on our sofa when the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ won Oscar and we felt proud like every one of us received the honor. But sometimes I think it is a documentary on slums in Mumbai and how inefficient we are, not to have found a proper solution on it yet. But as it is just a movie which was made for mere entertainment so that I can watch it for fun. I feel confused when Indian government claims to have ‘Atithi devo bhava’ (guest is God) campaign and they show in their ad that foreigners are getting molested by Indians and also saved by other Indians, that means you can come to India and some Indians are there to save you instead of making stricter laws to prevent such incidents. I am sure that if anyone outside India is watching that ad he or she will never want to take a chance and try their luck to travel in India.

When this delegate dilemma happened in US, it must have become an issue of gossip over tea-coffee in every other embassy and such small incidents where it is difficult to take a stand just pull down our global image. I never have traveled outside India and hence never came to know how the outside people think of my country and if anyone makes false allegations or makes fun of us then what the Indians living there generally do in such situations, whether they prove them wrong or they just ignore such things for the sake of better living they are getting in the developed countries.

So I won’t hesitate to accept that I am unaware of perspective of people globally while looking towards India and I personally feel that we have a bad impression on them until last month when I met Paul, a PhD student from Germany who came to IIM Bangalore as an exchange program student and luckily I was doing an Internship there at the same time and he was my neighbor for a month. He was really a nice person who really surprised me when I heard him bargaining with auto rickshaw guy. Generally they get the stuff for 500 bucks which we get for not more than fifty rupees. On a lighter note, we earn less so we spend less; they earn a lot in terms of value of money so it is a big opportunity for everyone to sell the stuff at a maximum price possible though it is not at all correct either legally or morally. Even he was charged more for being foreigner to enter into Bangalore palace. It makes me laugh because it is directly proportional to increasing price of the US dollar.

Foreigners find it difficult to get familiar with delayed trains and buses all the time. Still Paul managed to travel four cities in one month completing his work, which I never really understood how. But the best part is he went everywhere on his own and his experience was smooth, simple and memorable. Perhaps everywhere he found someone who guided him a right way. I got this opportunity to know my country from his point of view and it told me a lot. One always is a centre of attraction in India if he has a white skin. But he made himself feel like he was one of us. I am damn sure if anyone asks him about India then he will definitely tell that India is beautiful and Indians are trustworthy!

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year and want to convey a message to all Indians that we are doing well till now though we have to change some practices and let’s make it a 2014 resolution.

I Never Loved The City!

I remember when I was in school, I had a habit of saying my school was worse than others’ because of some useless comparison. When I left the school I had tears in my eyes like everyone after cursing it for years. The bottom point is many of the times we realize the values about something after we lose that thing. Same principle can be applied when I see my current city of residence that is Trichy!

Two and half years back when I got an admission into National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, the first thing I entered into Google was ‘weather’ of Trichy. Alas, not a single result gave me a satisfactory answer. Some quoted it is just unpredictable. Yes, it is. One cannot predict when there will be rains or when exactly you need to use your blankets. Thanks to my dad’s working place, Indian Bank, that I had an opportunity to visit more than twenty cities before coming to Trichy. I have memories of all the cities like the regional food or some specific places there. But I am sure that when I will leave this place I am going to forget about everything in few months, because I never felt special about anything here.

When our super seniors visit our college they feel nostalgic and get senti about the life in Trichy, though I am sure that their life also sucked here like mine. But few days back I was sitting jobless and a thought crossed my mind that it is going to be like my school, I will also feel nostalgic when I will leave Trichy. So I tried to count memorable things about Trichy and I found a lot of things. I still laugh when I pass this place called ‘Malakkoil’ on our way from college to railway junction where there is a temple on a small hill. When I was coming here for the first time with my dad, I only heard that there is a very famous temple here called Rockfort. I considered Malakkoil as rockfort when I saw it, later I found out that rockfort is ‘Malakotta’, temple on a big hill. We have one more popular temple called Srirangam, rather it’s a city in itself. I visited it for the sake of photography but was really surprised by its space. I wondered how many Hiranandani’s or Lokhandwala’s can be built there.

I can’t forget the nights when I sleep with fan speed at maximum and wake up at minimum, sometimes a blanket on me. All the IITs have dhaba in there outer premises, it can be found in every other novel by any IITian. We also have four-five dhabas outside and four canteens inside campus, but still we have been to almost all the restaurants of the city, no matter what they serve. And let me tell you I never ate ‘ghee roast’ before, this discovery definitely belongs to Tamilnadu. I never had traveled twenty three kilometers by bus in just four rupees. Sometimes in my first few months we just used to take a bus in search of new place for dinner. Last but not the least Trichy and its people’s affection for English. Perhaps it is because of tourist places, but almost everyone understands some English and it always reminds me that English is truly a business language for Indians! Still I will say I never loved the city and will never love but I have started liking it.

Book Review: Let’s Talk Money by Akhil Khanna

Title: Let’s Talk Money

Author: Akhil Khanna

Publisher: Times Group Books

No. of Pages: 174

Price: INR 250

Inside the Book: This book was really a nice read as I am interested in economics and finance. But I am still at learning and amateur stage. So this book may help you to pick a direction. The author has discussed every tricky term in the area of investments and savings in such a simple and interesting language taking examples from everyday life. If you are a student planning to take a course in economics or finance, if you are a beginner and want to save some money now and get bigger benefits in future then this book is the perfect beginning for you.

You will never drop this book once you get a clear idea about inflation and deflation in very first chapter. The author started with introduction to some tricky but basic terms related to our income, property, stocks etc. Then he further described about economics environment on global level, risks to investments and various types of insurance. Author did not forget to brief about the world financial crisis happened in 2008.

You can also use this book as your investment guide. There is no need to read the book in sequence. If you want to know about car loans then read the specific part and you will be happy to get your doubts cleared. My father is a banker and he also found the book very useful and apt for the common people with minimum knowledge of correct investments. One quote which caught my attention and I have it on my tongue: “It is not important what one earns; true wealth is what one manages to keep”.

My Review: As I mentioned before, you will never find a book with such a simple language to understand some basic terms in economics and finance. People generally consult their financial advisors when their CA tells them to make some investments to save the tax. But it is better to know about what you are investing in. Talking about the language used by the author, I can say only one thing that beginners who are learning English starts with Hindustan Times before turning to Indian Express or The Hindu. It is the same situation here. If you want to get excelled, it is a perfect beginning. And you are just looking for investments then just have it as your guide. Happy reading!

Rating: 4/5

The book was received as a part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve

When Strangers Meet by K. Hari Kumar

Title: When Strangers Meet..

Author:  K. Hari Kumar

Publisher: Srishti Publishers

No. of pages: 206

Price: INR 100

About the story: This is a story of every Indian child today, especially those who live in urban areas and have options of loads of colleges to become an engineer or a doctor. Author has narrated one such story of spoilt Delhi lad, Jai who lives with a dream to become an established actor in Bollywood one day. First he fights with his girlfriend who knows that her boyfriend is going on a wrong track. But he doesn't care for anyone at that moment. His father tries to get him a seat in some random engineering college in management quota.

After such a mental torture to follow his father’s path the boy leaves home to pursue his dream. When he reaches at the metro station he has to wait in resting room due to delayed trains. There he meets Hussain and Iyer. Iyer is a character based on tamil civilian. The author gave him a look and character of typical Madrasi who used to give free advises to others. Somehow Iyer starts to narrate his own story to the boy and he finds Iyer’s story very similar to his own disastrous life. By the time you will find all this drama very annoying and uninteresting to read it further. Because it’s a very simple story which you don’t want to read in form of a novel.

But going after few more pages the author regains his pace. Now you will decide to finish the novel to discover the end of the story. Iyer’s story ends before your expectations and the main story again come to present. And suddenly it unfolds the suspense. It leaves you stunned about the possibility of such an end. I really could not find the motto of introducing Hussain’s character in the story. After too much introduction author has used Hussain only to unfold the mystery which leaves you unsatisfied and unanswered.

The story is not so suspenseful but it’s a simple and easy to predict story-line. Such type of end can only happen where some of you leave your passion and dreams for a career chosen by your parents. And if it happens in almost every family in India then readers really don’t want to recall their not so happy life through a novel which they read for mere entertainment.

My review: If you search my blog you will find an article on Indian novels which cost less than hundred bucks where I had written about the quality of content in such novels. The English used in this novel can be reached to a level above as Indians’ level of English has attained a new height. But after all it’s a debut novel. Two words which describes this novel: ‘good attempt’. Every author improves himself with his every book. We know some popular Indian names whose work has reached abroad.

The only reason for which I recommend this book is Iyer’s tale. Author has become successful in finding your point of interest and this tale doesn't let you leave the book in between. If you have stuck in a traffic then go for this book, it will help to reduce your frustration with its simplicity. Happy reading!

Rating: 2.5/5

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

A Confused Indian Voter

Vote for Narendra Modi! Oh! I am not convincing you to vote for one of the most successful chief ministers so far but many social media campaigns are running for Narendra Modi. I am not denying that he is one of the best. But does he really have solutions for all your problems? Shall we get rid of current situation if we ‘vote for Modi’? Such common question are coming in my mind.

When you read articles in newspapers, discuss local politics in trains and buses and try to become a responsible voter, you have to consider only one factor and that is ‘who is going to develop and maintain your electoral area’ without concentrating on national politics. But if we vote according to this criterion, the results can be different. Obviously there are voters belonging to minority groups and election candidates spend upto crores to distract them. But still your vote matters. Considering scams and various weird economical decisions, people seek a change in government. At least BJP core thinks like that. But what if people would have forgotten Suresh Kalmadi or A. Raja, we have to suffer one more term under these fake leaders where decisions are taken by one and they are represented by others.

So If I choose not to vote UPA and their allies, what options I have. I can vote for either NDA or third front or independent candidates. The major problem creators in congress or BJP government are their allies. All the allies have their specific group of voters and they only think for their development which is not wrong in a sense but it is affecting the growth of India. Again coming to the subject, if I really choose to vote for Modi then I have to vote for their ally in Mumbai, Maharashtra which is like hanging sword on my head. I really have spoken for this political party from my childhood, seeing their efforts for people of Maharashtra but when I think in broader way I see many faults and setbacks in development. Mumbai could be much better and maintained till now which is not. Considering first point of this discussion I can’t vote either UPA or NDA now.

We also have got a considerably   good option of abstain which can be chosen if you feel that no candidate is good for the betterment of your area. If you see the statistics, maximum 100 people go for this option and don’t get any results at the end. Electoral commission may not even consider these votes in front of thousands which are surely enough to win one of the not so eligible candidates. Again I cannot go for this option. So now I can vote for either third front or independent candidates. Very few, say 1 percent, independent candidates are really ready to wok and trustworthy. Others simply take their share to join the government, obviously if they manage to win. I am happy that I have reached at single option that is third front. Third front is very weird as it sounds. There is no bonding or construction of their alliance in third front. So If I consider that third front is going to win which is as impossible as the end of this world on 21^st December, 2012; I doubt they can manage to run their government for even six months. There is one more option which I did not include in the discussion knowingly, the rising Aam Aadmi party. Many months have passed since their formation but there is not a declaration of any strategy towards 2014. I consider that all these parties will come forward and will give a good reason to choose one of them next year.

Book Review – “Dark Pursuit- The Lost Shinmahs”

Title:  Dark Pursuit- The Lost Shinmahs

Author:  Kevan Dinn

About the story: I like to read books. I am a weird type of reader. Either I lose myself in history or biographies or fictions which make you bite your nails. I love those authors and their work which don’t allow me to leave their book before completing. What will be your reaction if all the above expectations are satisfied in single novel? Yes, here I am talking about Kevan Dinn’s debut entry in the world of historical fictions: Dark Pursuit- The Lost Shinmahs.

I left the book only after completion with four mugs of coffee in a row. It is a story of a family of Shinmahs, the people with uncommon mental prowess who were considered as the saviors of this world from the threats from the dark warlord Khomer. The story is based on one such family of shinmahs who hide their child from the truth of their unbelievable power. One day they forecast the threats and obstacles coming in their lives in future and leave their small town to move towards Liguanea under the reason of higher skills development of their child.

But their journey gets adventurous day by day. It is the thrilling story of their reactions to the attacks which follow them throughout journey. The boy is the center attraction of the story when he comes to realize about his powers and he learns to use them by the time. You can pick this first novel of the series of four to start the journey with shinmahs with number of twists and surprises. You will crave for the next one once you finish this one.

My Review: This book has a rating of 3.86/5 on Goodreads which is nothing but a stamp mark on this review. The style of writing is fresh and it will never disappoint you in the area of excitement for the twists. One really cannot expect such a level from debut Indian author.

First I got confusion when I read the word shinmah but when I started the book the word came as a very interesting concept which was opened very slowly in the story as interesting as opening of Saussuria Obvallata, Brahm Kamal.

Today many authors are succeeding in historical fictions and Kevan’s this book is matching the level of popular novelists, Here I suggest you to read the book and start guessing the plot of next novel. The price of the novel is very cheap compared to its level of content. Go for it and happy reading!

Rating: 4/5 (A good read)

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.

Ring The Bell

This world doesn't change after differentiating good or bad. There are still the sub categories. In broader sense the good people can be divided in two groups further. Most of the good people belong to ‘Change Seekers’, who go to India gate to protest, to light candles; who burn off their frustration on social websites; or some join campaigns by going one step ahead. The second sub category plays the major role and that belongs to those people who make the changes happen. These people are few in millions, hard to highlight. But I appreciate some campaigns like Ring the bell, MARD, Indi Change, Bell bajao and few more. What I wish is that these campaigns should not be stopped after a while. The first mentioned campaign by breakthrough is donating some money to the villages in Bihar for this blog post, hence feel good while reading this.

Everyone has noticed that some monsters are again and again showing their heads in little course of time. It is not like the pillars of humanity fell in December and suddenly some found evil in them. Such things are happening from Stone Age. Even our mythology can’t deny it.  So it can be kidnapping of Sita or shameful behavior of Kauravas with Draupadi. It is a fact that some men are going crazy. Hence the need of the hour is to find some solutions to bring violence against women to a halt. Obviously I am not interested in designing cloths for women which cover head to toe. We have to brainstorm and find some practical solutions here.

The major loss I found from the back to back incidents of violence is the campaigns about saving the girl children totally stopped. People either lacked their interest or scared. First of all we have to restart these campaigns in full swing. It is a long term solution though. Let every boy in India have a sister. Let them respect and love the women from childhood. The second thing is that we should keep our next generation away from any coward incident which can leave strains on their minds. It can be small fights, but don’t display them. Better solution is not to have any fights. Here my point is children grow mostly like their parents, friends, teachers and role models. They will act like you. If you check the records of the parents of accused in recent incidents, you will find some flaws. These devils are burning Lanka with the sparks created in their surroundings. I won’t stop saying that education is the only way to bury the evil in us.

I had some long term solutions above. We have to think now to save our generation. Almost everyone is demanding for the stricter laws as correct they are. But it won’t be enough though. The mental state of the accused was not normal while playing the coward act. Stricter laws will scare them. But they will find their ways as always. I can see some ways, feeling speechless though. When you don’t have a control on one side then you have to take care of the other. Until the police, stricter laws and the above mentioned campaigns take time to hunt down the cowards, I have a message for women and that is ‘Be Strong’. Learn the self defense.The flaws start with the solution. One girl cannot tackle with the higher number. So try to stay in groups, have some trustworthy friends around with you. All my opinions or yours stop at one point when it comes to not yet women, extremely young girl children. Those incidents kill our thinking system. Here I will only request all the mothers not to leave their daughters with ANYONE until they are ready with the self defense.

So my friends, I won’t stop to think about this and expect the same from you. There are many good things to do in life than just to vote good answers on Quora. You better find your own answers and can write them in the comments below. We can have a good discussion. Or you can visit www.bellbajao.org and can go real.

It doesn't matter whether you are a male or a female, be a MARD!