Fare fair? Yes fair fare.

What is it about auto/taxi fares? Why are people fuming over the rise in fares? I will give four arguments in favour of increase in fares. After going through the same, I will leave the judgement on the reader if the increase is justified.

In 2003 the minimum fare of auto was eight rupees. Today it is 15. In the last 9 years, fare has just about doubled. Now think about your salary in 2003? If you did not start working, what was your salary in 2005 or 2007? And what is it now? I have done a small dip-stick. My findings suggest that people are earning anywhere between six to eight times in 2012 as opposed to what they were earning in 2003. Our earnings have grown 20-25% on an average every year. So why should that of auto wallas be 7%?

BEST bus fares have continuously gone up over the years. A four km bus ride costs 12 rupees today. Until the fares had risen recently, it was cheaper for three people to travel in auto as opposed to in a bus. Intuitively that does not make sense. Even now, a four km auto ride costs 43 rupees while that of a bus will costs 36. The 20% incremental is great to get a reserved seat and a quicker ride I guess.

The next argument is very basic and comes from the first chapter of any economics book – law of demand-supply. Over the years, owing to increasing incomes, many people are able to afford an auto. As a result there are long queues (if there are one) and lot of people are soliciting auto wallas. Since there are limits to auto licences (thankfully), there is a huge demand for autos and limited supply. The gap has widened over the years. Laws of demand supply suggest that prices shall rise if demand is not met with enough supply. So why the surprise? Do we not pay high fares for air tickets when demand exceeds supply? Do we not do the same for vegetables?

The last argument is most compelling to my mind. I asked friends in other cities about auto fares. Here is a quick average of ten cities for one and four km rides. First of all, in most cities autos do not run on meters, so these are guestimates. An average cost of a one km ride can range between 15-20 rupees. A four km ride can cost 40-50 rupees. Cities are Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Cuttack, Chennai, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Coimbatore and Kochi. These fares are in line with the current auto fares while all of these cities have lower cost of living as opposed to Mumbai. The only saving grace is that in many cities, share rides are common. Not in Mumbai. But that is a fallacy of the administration, not auto wallas.

Who likes to pay more? I don’t. But when put contextually, it is the need of the hour. They fudge the meters, refuse rides, misbehave... but that is common for all cities. I personally am in favour of the rise and would rather endorse a 10% increase every year on just two conditions. Fair meters and no refusals just as it was few years ago.

What about you?

Rann Utsav

What is interesting is the way it is promoted. Mr. Modi, Mr. Bachchan, nice visuals, crisp editing – all make you feel like you are watching truly Malaysia, really Australia or sincerely Zambia ads. When I told people that we are going to see the Rann Utsav in Kutch, people saw me with awe usually reserved for those who have shaken hands with Mamata Banerjee. When I returned a lot of people wanted to know how it was and how they have been wanting to do it for sooo looong.

It’s not that the ads are misleading or the place not worth a visit. But what one can’t disagree is that good marketing has made a not so great event a must see tourist destination.

First things first, the Rann is absolutely beautiful. Pure white stretch of sand desert stretches out until it meets the horizon. On a clear day one cannot be sure where the Rann ends and the clouds begin. Photographs would give the impression that one is standing on a vast flat stretch of snow – or rather snow covered sea. If only you have to travel 16 hours from Mumbai to see the Rann, it is worth it. Cause its unique and perhaps the largest salt desert in the world. However, once you are done with it, it’s better to pack your bags and return. There is nothing else around.

What the place lacks is somewhat made up by good hospitality and excellent stay arrangements. Smiling reception (so unlike government run places), cheery volunteers that carry your bags and give as much bottled water as you want (without waiting for tips). Great tents and even better bathrooms – big, spacious with warm water.

Food needs a look. Also its timings. There are not many options, even if you wanted to pay. No non-veg and alcohol makes it further non-touristy. Cultural dance remind you of programs on Doordarshan – they go on and on irrespective of viewer’s interest. Exhibits reminded of typical Indian museums – without proper lighting or description. Crash course on Dandiya or workshops on Gujarati cuisine may have been more engaging.

The site seeing of Indo Pak border made me feel like a cast in Jurassic Park. We were on a bus that we could not get out off. We were looking at a tall wall which was fenced. On the other side stood Pakistan. Could not spot any Pakistani humans or animals. After fifteen minutes as our silly questions died down along with the spirited answers of the soldier, we turned around and drove another 4 hours to come back to our base.

Why did we choose Indo-Pak site seeing when the other option was Mandvi beach + Narayan Sarovar Tour? Cause we Indians are emotional people, especially about cartoons, Sachin, Saas Bahu, FDI in Retail and Pakistan.

Tip: Don’t book Rann via a government authorised travel agent – they are quite misleading. Do it on your own. Reach in the evening see the sunset – come back in the morning for the sunrise. Rest of the time should be spent watching... well wild ass... that’s the other thing Kutch is famous for.

Why are we so used to FB?

Why are we so used to FB? As if it were a habit. Obsessed, are we? What does FB give us? Well the site explains itself as “helps you connect and share with the people in your life”. Well, if that be it, then our good old post office, courier service, phone, mobile, chat, BBM, WhatsApp and so many of them in the past and present potentially do the same. BBM is an obsession with some I know but FB is different. What makes it so?

We can share pics, videos, articles, thoughts… we can poke too. But is that it? Whats so fascinating about that? It can broadcast as opposed to ‘send’. Well yes, but then… anyways is it just FB or any social networking site that we don’t take too much time hooking to.

At one level FB is a pure entertainment medium. Just like TV, for example. It keeps us glued to it. Just like we put TV on when we walk into our homes, we open FB when we log on to our work stations. Many of us are constantly on with it on our mobiles.
There are two things at play. When we do something people we know see it. They comment. We see their comments and comment again. They like our status and we like that. We add pics and people say ‘Wow! looking good’. Got a promotion and people ‘like’ it. Feeling low and people ‘like’ it too. Whatever we do, there is someone responding. After a long time we are being heard. Noticed.

Humans, unlike animals, have always liked attention. And since these are people we know and are our friends, they are generally kind and notice us positively. Humans like that even more. After long we have got hold of something that helps us project ourselves in a way people notice. People who matter.

The other human trait that is working here is the need for conversations and at times, gossips. FB gives that to us. The fodder to make conversations. Look…what he said. See what she is wearing. Let me see what he is up to these days. It creates conversations. It helps us know what is going on in peoples’ lives. Marry the two – need to be noticed and to know what is going on people’s lives - and you have a lethal combination.

I believe that apart from all the features that the app or similar sns apps offer, the real reason behind its success or for that matter our obsession, is these two latent human needs. Think about it.

Technology

This was my birthday month. For a person who forgets most people’s birthdays, I got close to 50 people wishing me besides family members. This was high. For me. Though I have not counted how many people wished me in the earlier years, I am certain it was never as high as 50!

There was one difference this year vs. the previous years. Last year I was not on FB. More than half of all those who wished me did that on FB. A good part of the rest did it via SMS. Few called. Many who used to call earlier sent an SMS or wished on FB.

Do you feel the same? Do this exercise on your next birthday and let me know. I would reckon your results may not be very different than mine. Your overall wishes will go up but there would be fewer calls.

Which brings me to a question, “Is technology bringing us closer or making us elusive!?”

Rule of Thumb

I was recently wondering what role each finger plays in our lives. The little finger is used when we need a bio break, men look at the good looking parts of a good looking women and then straight go the ring finger to see if she is engaged. The middle finger is used to showcase or perform different emotions depending on who are you with. Index finger is used to scold a child and the thumb used for thumps up or down.

All fingers get some role to play individually. But in recent years, the proverb ‘rule of thumb’ has taken a quite literal meaning. For more than half of the world, that use a mobile phone and especially for the 50 million people that use Blackberry or a similar device worldwide, the thumb is the most critical finger. If it were not for the thumb these devices, including its users, will be half as productive. Try using a BB or a similar device that uses a QWERTY keyboard without your thumbs.

Now since all of us will continue to use such devices and more such as tablets, pods and god knows what that will keep coming, popularity of thumb will continue to grow.

I am not sure, however, if is was created for such intensive usage.

Maharashtra and Mumbai

We visited Dandeli recently, a reserve forest nestled between Goa and Karnataka. Since we did not have any train bookings – we did something that we have never done in India before– we took a road trip.

Taking the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on a pleasant monsoon morning was great. We stopped off a field by the expressway and watched the birds that seemed too busy early in the morning, chirping and restless, moving about what seemed purposeless, reminiscent of Mumbaikars. A mule grazed nearby oblivious to our existence.

As we moved on, we were first irritated by the Pune-Bangalore bypass traffic snarls and later by the several toll plazas. The road was not very bad except for a few ditches and some big pot holes. Don't take me very seriously here since we Mumbaikars are magnanimous when judging roads. After we crossed Maharashtra and entered Karnataka, we were pleasantly surprised by fewer toll plazas, beautiful road and significantly less toll. Here are some quick statistics:
• For 400 kilometers in Maharashtra we paid tolls exceeding Rs.350 and for 110 kilometres of the Karnataka stretch, we paid Rs.40
• The Karnataka stretch of NH-4 was in significantly better shape as opposed to the Maharashtra stretch and comparable to Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
• The Karnataka stretch was however far prettier than the Mumbai-Pune expressway with flowers planted on the divide and public toilets every few kilometres.

What does it tell us about Maharashtra? Take Mumbai for example. While Maharashtra is proud of Mumbai, it has done very little for the city after it became part of the state in 1960. Smart, ambitious and talented people have been attracted to the city making it one of those places where everyone gets a chance to realize his dream. This has led to tremendous amount of wealth in this city attracting the Maharashtrian politicians as well. They have used this city as a brothel and picked up their choicest whores as they pleased– be it the BCCI, BMC or Bollywood. Or be it real estate, underworld or unions. Most politicians have their ‘favorite’. Or else why would India’s richest city probably be the most corrupt? Consider this…

• RTO starts a ‘drive’ on faulty meters. Good but the poor fellas had no political back-up. The auto rickshaws go on strike. So it’s like you and I going on strike as we were caught drinking and driving. Shiv Sena and MNS, self appointed bastions of Marathi manoos, threat the auto rickshaws – a good two weeks after the agitation started. They bang down a rick or two – and you can make out it’s clearly for photo opp. Next day you hear that the fares are hiked. Commuters keep wondering what they got for those fare hikes. Were faulty meters better instead?
• Mumbai is the only city in India that I know off that charges its residents and visitors Rs.30 per car when you want to go in or out of the city. I could never figure this one out.
• I am told that Sharad Pawar is the richest man of the world.
• I am also told that the recent spat between Seven Hills Hospitals and the BMC is a result of the hospital authorities refusing to pay bribe to a BMC senior official. And here is the funny part. They argued that they had already paid huge sums of money to a leading political party that controls BMC.
• The Maharahstra politicians are taking Saudi’s Mutawas (Moral Police) very seriously. They shut down dance bars which by the way resulted in increased prostitution. The recent one is that state excise taxes on alcohol in Maharashtra are so high, that alcohol is dearer by at least 30% when compared to rest of India.
• As a contrast, Mumbai is also probably the only city where you can travel from Andheri to Churchgate (35 kilometers) paying just Rs.8. And this is because railways comes under central and not state government.

Thank you so much for that.

The parade

Sometimes we do things without really having a complete understanding of it. We go with the flow cause we just want to do it. Though I am usually more on the cautious side, yesterday was one such experience for me.

I was at NM college capturing the Umang youth fest and around 8 o’clock a large parade crossed the college. There were about 10000 people walking peacefully with candles and mashals in hand shouting interesting slogans. There was also a large crowd outside the NM college trying to get entry to the fest. The paraders wanted this crowd to join but of course the crowd, mostly teens, wanted to be at the fest. I could sense that the crowd was supportive as they joined them in the slogans…or they were just being youth.

I didn’t know much about the Lokpal bill other than the fact that if the bill is passed it may help us reduce, if not eradicate, corruption. The fact that the government is trying so hard not to get it passed in the form proposed by Anna and Kejriwal perhaps suggests that there may be some merit to it. Also, you don’t see any major political support for this activism, apart from the usual rhetoric of BJP. Perhaps it has those claws that every political party is wary of.
With little thought I joined the parade. I did not know any paraders and this was the first time I was on road on a parade. I was shouting slogans, keeping the paraders on one side of the road and letting vehicles pass, lighting candles and simply walking with them.

We walked till Juhu beach where there was a larger crowd. People were singing songs, playing drums, shouting more slogans….it was an eclectic atmosphere.

The best part of this parade was that it was non-political and had all sections from the society, especially a lot of SEC As participating. In a long time this thick skinned upper crust (people like me) has joined a campaign on the roads after debating and criticizing government and corruption in their living rooms and social gatherings for years.

In this sense, this movement is unique.

P.S: The wiki site has all info that you may want to know about this bill.