Parmanu (Movie)

Parmanu, The Movie, starring John Abhram is on my "Surely watch" list for many reasons. 

I lived and worked in Cincinnati at the time of the tests.The Pokhran test took place on 11th May 1998(They missed the deadline by one day or it would have been on my 25th birthday ;) ) 

I also threw a large office party at GE Aircraft Engines at the time to celebrate, much to the chagrin of a few and to the good wishes for India of many! The news of Pokhran tests spread like wildfire amongst the Indian American community. 

Another incident I recall happened at an Indian friends office in Detroit (Ford). My Indian friend was chatting with his white American boss the morning after and congratulating India for the feat, the boss was also agreeing to most of the things he was saying when a Pakistani working in the same office interrupted them and said "This sucks, Arms Race, South Asia in crisis etc". 

So my friend turned to him and retorted "Hey you! Don't interrupt when two superpowers are discussing important things!"😂😂😂

Salute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, APJ, Indian Army, BARC and others who made this possible!

A Plethora of Ideas about the Future of Work in India

Hello folks,

Today's blog is a Fictional Satire set in the Indian context of the Future of Work, especially to answer the currently hypothetical but futuristically real question :

"What will happen to jobs after near or total Automation?"

I present to you solutions by different political and entrepreneur groups:

1. Congress: Let us all Spin the Charkha! Bapuji told us long time ago, he was a true visionary who saw this day was coming a century ago! Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai! Also, in the background we will play Gandhiji's favourite bhajan while we spin the charkha and do a kadi ninda of all the technologists who made us see this day! On second thoughts, lets not "play" the bhajan, let us sing and clap our hands, that way we will not have to use any of this Evil Technology.

All our past leaders have always opposed technology for this very reason! We strongly condemn this wave of automation technology in particular and technology in general which has cost us our jobs and unemployment is now at 100%. This country is now doomed under the present leadership of XYZ. Down with XYZ and Long Live Our Dynasty, oops we meant Party!

2. BJP (Tech Entrepreneurs): What If we put a generator on each and every charkha and feed the electricity back to the grid? We would solve the employment problem and the electricity generation problem in one stroke! We'll pay 1 Rupee per hour of work on the charkha, hard work will be rewarded and harder work will be rewarded harder!

Also, since this will become commoditized service and there will be growing demand for such charkhas by unemployed folks the supply of workers will keep rising and as the demand of electricity will remain constant rates are projected to eventually fall to 10 paise/hour. Cheap and clean power to the people!

3. Software Services Moguls: Let's put out an advertisement for 300,000 jobs tomorrow! Lets Buy land in Hinjewadi, set up a Charkha Centre with 300,000 charkhas! We will pocket the 1 Rupee/Hour given by the electricity company and payout 35 paise/Hour rate per employee for their highly valued and passionately provided services! And rates are projected to fall eventually, so let us have a clearly defined Exit Policy as well (Oops! For non performers we meant) Let us also start an industry body called CHARKHACOM to lobby (bully) the government agencies to agree to our demands. After all we are generating much needed employment for the youth of this country and we deserve our share of the pie (pound of flesh). Let us also start an open to all forum where some of our senior leaders mentor youth on Entrepreneurship and Leadership in Technology(????)!

"Technology" is the solution to our problems and India will become the next Technology Superpower within exactly 25 years! ~Official Release by CHARKHACOM!

Now for the list of demands:

1. We will need a fully automated train from Hinjewadi to the city.
2. Tax sops!
3. Padma Bhushan Awards for Our beloved Industry Pioneers!
4. etc. (we'll make this up as we go along)

4. Rashtrawadi:
Did someone just say LAND? Saathiyon Rath Nikalo, Hinjewadi me nayi___________ aayi hai!!!

5. Left Front:
Bhookh Hartal! (Actually, at this point they steal a line from a BJP PM) "Na hum khud khayenge na hum kisi ko khaane denge!"

Hamari mange puri karo, warna kursi khali karo! Down with Automation! Down with Technology! (Sound of charkhas crashing and burning in the background and a sight of hands waving red flags....manually)

Jo humse takrayega, woh mitti me mil jayega (veiled warning to dissenting non-union employees and contractors who report to work)

6. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
( In a squeaky voice) Sab mile hue hai jee! Mere paas sab saboot hai! Bijli ka bill maine hi kam karwaya hai! Muze vote de do mai ek ek ko theek karke rakh doonga!

7. Parents of (now unemployed) Youth:
We told you to choose Medicine instead of Engineering, but you did not heed our advice!

Thanks for laughing readers! As for for those who cried after reading this sordid view of the future in this country, my vote goes to you!

~Milind K. Thombre
(An Idle Man In a Workers Paradise)

Towards a better nation

Readers, today’s blog is about several things that are wrong with the current crop of youth in our country and perhaps many parts of the world at large. It addresses misplaced expectations,  freebies, socialism and reservation.

Culture of Entitlement

To begin with today India’s affirmative action programs are designed to benefit certain castes.  Since this practise has continued well past the initially stipulated ten year horizon, the beneficiaries have begun to look at reservation as a “Right” and not a “Benefit”.  In my opinion every Citizen’s Charter of “Rights” must be associated with a corresponding call for Duty.  This seems like common sense, but then one may ask, why were Rights granted by prior Governments without demands being placed on Duties? The root cause of this is Poor Leadership at the core of Government. Promises and Lies made by such leaders in the past have resulted in a dangerous culture of wrongfully placed Entitlement.  

Several laws like the ineffective Food Security bill, and many other rights (which were perhaps never intended to be fulfilled) were introduced by weak leaders in the past. Youth today may and can ask questions like:

I am born in this country, where is my food? (Who moved my Cheese)

Socialist policies of the past have set a dangerous precedent and several people are forgetting that the poor farmer toils day and night for an entire season before his crop is harvested. He invests in fertiliser, relies on the vagaries of the monsoon and then gets a paltry minimum supported price for his crop. Do sweat to make your own bread!

I have just graduated, where is my world class job?

The entrepreneur has to literally move the world in winning business in a globally competitive environment, he risks losing his capital, his reputation and ruining his family life before making you a job offer.  So remind me again, why do you think you are entitled to a job? Even if you do not have skills/education/knowledge or experience and a bad attitude? Again these are not attributes of ALL youth but large sections of them. We need to remind them that:

The World Does not owe you a thing! Work for your bread butter and Jam, or else you will soon run out of other people's money!

The Bitter Fruits of Laziness

So one may ask, what is the result of setting falsely high expectations? Poor leaders do this as they somehow want to stay popular, even without showing an iota of performance as leaders. Youth who are led on this path will lack feedback from these poor leaders. In the absence of this feedback, they will develop a misplaced sense of entitlement. But the globalised world can be a cruel place for such youth and they will be in for a rude shock once they step out of the country or deal with Global players. Such an awakening to harsh reality can have several adverse effects on a young mind.

I want to clarify that what I have said is true “At all levels” certainly not at entry levels alone. The equation that :

Graduation= Job = Success is completely untrue in a globalised economy.

Competence =Job or

competence and perseverance = Success are more apt equations now.

So let us all work hard and smart towards turning young lives around for the better! And let this serve as some Enlightenment!

Regards
Milind Thombre
(Comments welcome)

Knowledge To The Rescue

Folks today's  post is about affirmative action (Reservation) in India and worldwide as well and some facts and my thoughts around it. This post examines the effects this policy has had on the Indian population in particular and globally in general. We will try to address this issue with data and algorithms and not passion as there is a great deal of distortion of this issue and there is a lot of baggage that many people bring to the table when this issue is discussed. I believe looking at data is the best way to make an informed decision and solve this important Social Engineering problem.

Background

At the stroke of the midnight hour as India awoke to light and freedom certain communities were considered backward and a young India decided to do something for her children. Dr. Ambedkar, a visionary leader of this community introduced the policy of reservation in Education to ameliorate these children of India. Being a visionary he naturally saw what the long term effects of this policy would be and warned that if this welfare policy was continued for more than 10 years the people would behave like parasites, Also he was strictly for reservation in education alone, not jobs promotions and such. These were introduced subsequently by weak and undeserving leaders who wanted to somehow keep winning elections by enticing the greed in the masses in exchange for votes.

Affirmative Action, The Broken Greedy Algorithm

Many still argue that Affirmative Action is a good thing. And even if it comes at the cost of the Forward Classes(Castes) it is worth it as it ensures Social Justice. I am not going to counter this argument with emotion but with facts and Algorithms. This is a classic case of a Greedy Algorithm that breaks down in the long term. A greedy algorithm assumes that what is right locally (reservation) would hold true globally(Social Justice) and that this algorithm of doling out engineering/medical seats would indeed uplift the masses long term. This does not happen for simple reasons rooted in Human Psychology. 

Imagine that you are a young couple if I told you: "Don't worry about your kids, they will have Food Security and a Right to a great Education, all of them I guarantee will become Doctors if they so wish". 

Q. How many children would you want to have?

A. As many as possible.

Now Imagine if I told you, " Your kids will need to be extremely bright to even get a decent education, you may need to pay your entire life savings as donation to get a seat in a Medical College and even after getting educated your kids may not get jobs. 

Q. How many children would you want to have?

A. 1 at most.

What is happening is a Silent genocide of the classes. The babies are not being born at all and the population of the classes is on the decline. Whereas the exact opposite is happening to  the masses. However resources (wealth) being limited, the inheritance algorithm is creating poorer and poorer masses and richer and richer Classes! The fact that there are fewer classes and that they are rich is leading the greedy leaders to use this as an excuse to increase the quota, which unfortunately is having the exact opposite effect.

I hope they see the light soon!

Psychology: Top and Bottom

The laws of nature say that if somebody is on the top somebody else will be at the bottom. This is true of society as well. The probability of one being on the top of the whole world is 1/6 billion and the denominator keeps rising, so we are all below someone or something. We need to learn some basic human psychology here. The people who consider themselves at the bottom, well that is all of us at varying levels, need to cultivate Humility in my opinion. Humility evokes Sympathy from those on top and makes them want to help us. However if we cultivate Arrogance, it evokes more arrogance and Aggression from the person in power, and we all know where that leads.

Fight or Flight

The classes are faced with great adversity at present in India and Adversity evokes the classic response. Fight or Flight (Immigration). How do we fight this system if we are an embattled minority in a large Democracy?

Flight is an easy solution, you can immigrate to a new country and thrive there.

However some of us remain here and decide to fight the system. Personally, I use knowledge to fight as I believe the Pen is Mightier than the Sword. And so I wrote this post. I hope to have provoked some thought!

Regards
Milind Thombre

(Comments Welcome)

A Brilliant Idea

Dad routinely comes up with brilliant ideas from his armchair. (He had a stroke 13 years ago)

While recently talking to him we were discussing how the OPEC cartel has been instrumental in impoverishing the oil consuming nations (India and China) while enriching themselves (Mid-East ,Russia and USA). We spoke at length and here are some gems of wisdom from the master. 

1. Learn to value what you have

2. Learn not to want what other people have

3. Learn to negotiate for what you need and want while giving other people what they need and want.

So what does India really "HAVE"? 

1. Food (Agriculture)

2. Cotton (Clothing raw material)

3. Wealth: Gold (Many thousand tonnes of it stored for over centuries).

4. Prime Real Estate: Warm climate and great natural reserves.

5. Democracy and demographics (great number of brain cells)

And what does India need ?

1. OIL

Dad came up with the following solution:

Form an Organization of Agriculture Producing and Exporting Countries (OAPEC) to negotiate a barter with the OPEC. After all food, clothing and water ARE more essential commodities than OIL. Yet the rest of the world makes you believe otherwise. 

Thanks Dad for your piece of wisdom, Hope those in Power are listening!

Comments Welcome

Dr. Kishor Thombre and Milind Thombre

Losing the Plot

Brain Drain

In the 70’s and 80’s and 90’s India made no significant investment in electronics (namely microchip manufacturing) technology. They made a half hearted attempt forming a company called Semiconductor Complex India which died out in the early 90’s. For a nation to be successful with technology it requires a sustained investment in constantly improving and challenging technical programs. The government simply refuses to see value in making these investments in technology in India.  At the same time the Govt saw value in privatising Engineering Education, a move that created a generation of several hundred thousand engineers. These folks naturally had no jobs as there was no significant Electronics industry in India. For want of jobs and a livelihood in India these bright minds went abroad (mainly in USA) seeking greener pastures. They went on to create great companies and products (e.g. Pentium) for their employers there. The government of India was indeed jealous of this success and went about (frustratedly) talking about “Brain Drain”.  But did not realise that Brain Drain was better than “Brains down the Drain”

Body shops

Some of these early successful folks wanted to return home after a stint and went on to form some “Offshore Services” firms in India. Euphemism for Body Shopping firms those days. Due to the exchange rates of the rupee and dollar as well as the wage disparity between India (land of supply) and USA (land of demand), they reaped huge profits. However, Success breeds greater Ambition and the early movers now want to create technology from the ground up. This will simply no happen in my opinion. As i said earlier, the United States is not about to give up its core technical assets as well as knowledge easily. This remains top notch Electronics and Telecom as well as core Internet technologies, of which India is merely a consumer.

   

Example in Failure

In 2009, a close friend and I decided that we would build a Social Networking Platform for Doctors in India and worldwide. We successfully built upon the idea and deployed it. However, we realised that the keys to our success were with the United States. From the start our platform was targeted first by Chinese and later American spammers. Our users quickly lost interest in the site and moved to other greener pastures like Facebook. Security is a key technology for the internet platform and the US again controls major Key distribution facilities.

What the Indian Engineers are destined for is a lifetime of following and servitude. The core technology is destined to be controlled by the US and other western Powers that be. During the Kargil war, Indian fighter jets initially dropped iron (unguided) bombs on the peaks occupied by the Pakistanis, a strategy which was completely non-effective. Thanks to last minute Israeli technical help, and a few dedicated and ingenious Indian engineers the Mirage fighter jets were fitted with laser guided bomb pods. These guided bombs made all the difference in the war and saved many thousand Indian soldiers.

Greedy algorithms

The government of India continues to work with the greedy Algorithms that it pursues. (Greedy algorithms assume that what is right locally will be right Globally) There seems to be no comprehensive strategy and (Knapsack problem) the country is left at the mercy of these babbling leaders and babus.  Manufacturing, Electronics and technology, Automation and Robotics, Life Sciences are not on the GoI radar. Instead we are focussed on a patent pending “Inclusive Growth” algorithm which is hithero unproven to this world!  I feel we have to learn to accept that if someone is on top, it logically follows that someone else will be at the bottom! The entire Indian Pyramid needs to move upwards a mile if everyone needs Roti Kapda and makaan (food clothing and shelter). Otherwise the government is simply taxing the rich, and doling the poor for votes. There can be no real progress if we stick to these losing Socialist Algorithms.

Full of Shit

Folks, This is about the Devyani Khobragade incident and my views on this Diplomatic episode

Class

Folks in my obsevation the very lowest and the very highest classes behave in a completely similar fashion. They have scant respect for the law of the land, Other people's rights and a devil-may-care attitude. Take for example the case of the IFS officer who paid lower than min wage and purportedly exploited a poor (Catholic) "Maid in Manhattan" by making her work 19 hours/day and paying her INR 30,000/month and got an inappropriate visa for her. Apparently she also is very moneyed and influential (daughter of a Retd. IAS officer)  in India and owns land in 3 Indian States. Being rich is not a crime, however denying other people their rights certainly is.  Respect for the Law has become something you should expect from the Middle Classes (AAM Admi) only. Sangeeta Richard (maid) whose husband works in the US consulate in India also does not seem to be the "innocent and exploited" maid she claims to be. The facts are rarely ever black and white. While the entire Indian Govt. and masses erupted in a "How dare they"! The indian thinking middle class is merely watching the Tamasha that ensues. Meanwhile people from the absolutely lowest classes went about breaking things at Pizza Huts and McDonalds in Mumbai. They are ready to commit crimes for people who dont give a rats ass for their welfare.This is a battle between the lowest and the highest classes and has promise to be a well evened out fight. Meanwhile IMHO Devyani's career as a Diplomat is as good as finished. Its time to join Politics, or better still Bollywood!

  

Full of Shit

In terms of misuse of Authority the Indian Babus of the IAS/IFS  are probably unparalleled in the world. Devyani pulled all the strings she could to rein Sangeeta Richard in. However Sangeeta did exactly the same, pulling strings in the US consulate to screw the hand that fed her. In comes Preet Bharara, why should he be left out in the list of authority abusers? He and possibly Kerry knew about the whole incident from the start. A visa fraud is hardly a crime which requires a Cavity Search, but Preet Bharara thinks otherwise. I hope he found what he was looking for! The message from the USA is very clear: "How dare you break even the pettiest of US laws while on our soil?" Especially when concerned with a Catholic US embassy drivers wife? This has class war written all over it! If the US wants to get a hold of ALL visa fraudsters, they should consider cavity searching several Indian and American Software Moguls alike! Meanwhile the US which prides itself in controlling its borders with a strict visa regime and did not bat an eyelid while granting visas to Sangeeta Richard's family. Breaking their own law. Is this not a case of Visa Fraud as well? I hope they search their (Ass) "Souls" themselves. 

"Race" to the Bottom

Racism is a popular topic in Indian circles in the USA. In fact there is a complete denial that it exists amongst many NRIs (Not Really Indian) and a vitriolic protest that it does amongst many NRI's (Never Relinquished India). The Indian Classes and the Indian Masses treat the white Americans in peculiar ways. Worshipping and Hating them alternately. Foreign tourists are generally soft targets for fraudsters and rapists (Atithi Devo Bhava). However, note that Indias saving grace is its middle class which treats Tourists indifferently not wanting their dollars or enamoured by the colour of their skin. The incident also makes me wonder if the Americans would have dared to perform cavity searches on a Chinese Diplomat or a Russian! I leave you to think where our spineless Foreign Ministry has led the enitre Indian Nation as well as our Race.

While Diplomats and foreign officers of these truly "great" countries continue to play "Dabba Eye Spies" the middle Classes continue to watch this Saga with complete Disgust.

Thats all for now folks!

Regards

Milind Thombre

(A Concerned Friend of USA, and a concerned citizen of India)

Comments Welcome!

Tyranny of the Majority

Folks today i will express my views about socio-political  issues in India. I want to begin with an ancient prayer of India before we begin our search for knowledge and truth:

Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

Meaning:
1: Om, Lead us from Unreality (of Transitory Existence) to the Reality (of Self),
2: Lead us from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge),
3: Lead us from the Fear of Death to the Knowledge of Immortality.
4: Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

In my opinion Character is the single most important thing to pursue as a civilization. Capability without character is not worthy of appreciation, in fact this should be actively demoted. Otherwise you are likely to be led at a very fast pace in the wrong direction!

Politicians and business leaders today rely on metrics to decide what to say to a group of people. What will bring most applause, what will touch a raw nerve, what will infuriate. A politician who does this is not a leader but a mere prostitute. Someone who does what other people want of him/her. Someone with no Character.

A true leader expresses his/her own opinions and stands by them, and people begin to follow him/her. Or they can shape the opinion of the people in new ways for the better. We are yet to see such a leader emerge from the present political systems of India! What are the direct consequences of the current crop of leaders on the public? Many feel that this does not affect them much or there is nothing they can do about this. I urge you to think and ponder on some of these issues.

A flawed affirmative action policy can affect the educational outcomes of your children, nay this has already begun. (The curtailing of the Special School like Jyana Prabodhini School is a case in point)

A bad training program will leave you with half baked skills in the job market.

More importantly a bad education will leave you with a poor set of values and weak moral character.
Bad foreign policy will lead to unnecessary wars.
Bad governance/law and order will lead to anarchy. (india is fast becoming the rape capital of the world)
Flawed welfare schemes will make people want everything for free and make them behave like parasites.

Please stop and think! If the current crop of leaders is allowed to continue unabated it will lead to decay and eventual death of our once-great civilization.

It is rewarding to spread hatred amongst our diverse communities once the elections arrive. e.g. Brahmin-bashing is a popular sport in Indian politics. Brahmins form an extremely small but highly thought-progressive group in India. Historically Brahmins were one of the poorest communities and made a living in the knowledge industry by teaching, researching diverse issues and begging for food.(Om Bhawati Bhikshanna Deyi) The Brahmin bashing politicians will tell you that it was the Brahmins who oppressed other communities since they were at the top of the social order. It is indeed true that Indian civilization, for the longest time revered learning and knowledge, bastions of the Brahmins. But did the Brahmins indeed opress other people? Nothing can be farther from the truth!

Let us sit back and ask some logical questions... Would a person with no means of livelihood be in a position of power to "oppress" someone else? Or would someone who is an autocratic ruler do so? Would someone with wealth oppress someone who is poor or would it be the other way around ?

"But, I keep hearing these stories again and again" one might argue.  to them I say...A lie repeated 100 times does not become the truth. Only someone who is an enemy of our great civilization will spread such stories. In the past such stories were planted by Christian Missionaries to spread disillusion with Hinduism.

 To the lousy politicians of India I have this to say: Do not underestimate the intelligence of the people of India. Their intelligence is your true enemy!

You can fool some people some times
You can fool some people all the time
But you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Thats all for now folks! Have a thought provoked week ahead!

Regards
Milind Thombre
(Comments Welcome)