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

Degrees for All!

The Roots of Education are bitter but the fruit is sweet! (~Anon)

Good Day! Todays blog is about the sorry state of the Professional Education System in India. Specifically, Engineering Colleges and I am sure there are parallels in other streams as well. I believe this is the Nadir and that only better times can lie ahead!

National Waste

The Indian Education system was originally designed to develop great Engineers in ALL fields (Civil, Chemical, Electronics&Telecom, Mechanical, Computer Engineering etc) in order to supply the demands of an emerging Indian Industry. To date degrees are awarded in all these widely dispersed engineering disciplines so that companies in these disciplines can flourish and create value and great products/services for end customers .

However in came the Software Industry. The demand (bubble) for Computer Engineers (Programmers) was so great that people from other unrelated disciplines who had the aptitude were also absorbed by this rapidly growing industry. The salaries were typically a multiple of 3 or 4 over other industries. These salaries were high partly because this software was being developed for foreign clients who could pay in US Dollars. Indian Money was on tap! The curse of Easy Money successfully murdered a generation of Great Engineers in various disciplines as they queued up to join these offshore sweat shops. (Read Indian IT industry) Not only did they say bye bye to their original field of deep study, but also a vast majority decided that a Bachelors was "good enough" and that the "money was good" so why study further? Another half generation has followed with the "Me too Phenomenon". Observing the success of their predecessors, they "Followed in their footsteps"

However change was in the air! A nasty recession was a wake up call for many of us. Large and Dramatic change makes you take a step back and think and I think this is beginning to happen (at last!).

Collage of Colleges

The bubble also created an artificial demand for engineers( or someone with a chit of paper that says "Degree") The Govt was adamant about reservation and social justice(Quota). In came Private Engineering Colleges increasing the number of seats in general. You might think this is a good thing. But alas, many of these colleges could not keep up the standards of education for long. Also, since there was a great demand in the Software industry anyways the attitude of the students now became "Give me the degree, I already have a job waiting for me!". Please note that many of these Engg Colleges are wholly owned Subsidiaries of Indian Politicians. Setting up colleges was easy as a song, build buildings with large rooms, install fans and tubelights, have ill equipped labs, appoint Staff (often poached from Govt Colleges on promise of greater salary) Apply to the AICTE for accredition (and other paperwork) which moved swiftly since the college was often a wholly owned subsidiary of the Politician.

The Problem

Now we are faced with

• Lower demand for Low quality engineers from the West
• Lower salaries as there is excess supply of these "Engineers"
• Lack of Trust in the quality of the Indian Education System's Degree amongst Western Customers

The Solution

How do we solve this complex problem? My favourite method is Hacking the system. Boycott several of these colleges that give out useless pieces of paper at the end of 4 years. Go back to the Guru-Shishya Parampara. Exploit Coursera, MIT open Courseware, Youtube etc.and actually LEARN something in 4-6 years!

For the industry the solution is simple, Hire people who can do the work, not people with useless Degrees. Also, if you must insist on formal education, please hire Masters or PhD degree holders since

Now BE=the new BCom!

Thats all for now folks! Happy Thinking!

Regards
~Milind Thombre

Victims of Democracy

Democracy 

Democracy is the most proven and accepted method of government, yet is it the absolute best? I beg to differ. For "Democracy is the Government of the majority, for the majority and by the majority". For more on how our affirmative action programme works (or doesnt for some of us) visit my post

http://thombrem.blogspot.in/2013/10/tyranny-of-majority.html

Land

Any form of modern development requires the use of land. Be it construction of Dams, Roads,Nuclear or other power stations Educational Institutes etc. This is the major stumbling block in any large infrastructure project and is often the cause of large delays and litigation.

Why should it be so? The land is acquired by the Government at a pittance of its real value from farmers or land owners. This is a rule the lawmakers have created in order to be the mediators in land transactions and benefit without being the real owners. (touts) Foreign investment is welcomed in India but foreign companies have no clue how to go about land acquisition, in come the local law makers who play touts in the transaction often pocketing large sums of money from the buyers and passing on a meagre amount to the original inhabitants. India passed a historic "Whoever tills the land owns the land" law after independence. This law itself caused many large farmers to lose many million acres of land to their landless labourers not a long time ago. This largesse was at great cost to the original owners and a big benefit to the labourers who were (registered voters) in large numbers. Again the clever lawmakers transferred assets from A to B pocketing votes in the process for a long time to come.

Reform 

Reform is a must to these archaic land laws! For example:

1. Land must be transferred from farmer directly to the project executioner/Foreign firm without Government being a mediator. The farmer may request Govt mediation if he/she so desires or feels pressured. There must be a reserve price either ways.

2. Land use must be audited. Typically factories and industries acquire much more land than they ever require. Partly because land acquisition is a pain and is best done once and for all.

3. The victims of development(farmers) must be made partners in the project and recieve preference shares in the project undertaken, not "Watchmen" jobs

4. In case the height of Dams is to be raised (this immerses thousands of acres of land in the backwater) the families who are displaced must be given benefits received by Nomadic Tribes, in addition to the compensation they recieve as shareholders in the project. Also, the height must be raised in phases each subsequent phase must proceed if and only if the families displaced by the earlier operation are satisfactorily compensated.

Fair play

Unless we learn to play fair and not become successful at the cost of other people's misfortune, development will cease to be a good word in this (or any)country. And The Jungle Rule of Law(makers) will continue forever. For now we may turn our backs and say "This does not affect me". But ignore this now and sooner or later the government will be at your door asking for the keys.

Thanks for reading!

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.

Boss’s Day out, Whistle Blowers Party

Its “that” time of the year in India and some of us (Still!) have bosses to deal with at the end of the day. Personally I have never had a smooth relationship with most of my (mostly Indian) bosses in my 19 year work history. I find myself at the receiving end most of the time of the year.  So i decided to document just what is it about THEM that bothers ME......for a change. Lets start with The boss’s

Algorithms of the trade

Take credit  

In one of my past jobs a boss would routinely ask me to do his presentations, documents, budget sheets, customer development plans and so on. He would insist that he needs to review these. He would then detach these, make necessary ‘changes’ like editing the author name ;) and send it along to the CEO/Client etc.  What struck me was that he would not keep me in CC/Bcc while he shamelessly touted the work as his own. On one occasion a customer actually noticed and asked me if i had written the proposal! The customer then proceeded to forward the proposal to me and lo and behold, it was my work verbatim but without any credit given to me by the boss in question! I worked for this guy for many years before we had a showdown one day (finally!). It was an end to a long suffering. On another occasion I was hurriedly invited to a Presentation that was given by a sales guy to the CEO and again, Lo and behold it was something i was asked to create 2 weeks prior. Needless to say the Sales guys name appeared on the Powerpoint.  On this occasion the CEO asked me if i agreed with the presentation. To which i said “I agree with  95% of it” The CEO then proceeded to ask me what 5% do i not agree with and yours truly blew the whistle on the author name field. On this occasion the salesperson (mind you he called himself the Customer Relationship Owner) simply vanished from the company after the 2 week notice. Not before angrily calling me up to lecture me on (his definition of ) Teamwork J

Morale: You win some you lose some.

Shoot the messenger

Another trick up a bosses sleeve was to outsource the firing of unwanted people, for whatsoever reason to me.  The blood was on my hands. It’s not that i regret firing several of these folks. However the folks rarely saw the hand behind the hand and would blurt out bad stuff about me in their exit interviews. I like to call this the shoot the messenger Phenomenon. Needless to say my bosses were aware of this phenomenon and though I was too, I was mostly in no position to retaliate. 

At the same time this boss would insist on doing the final round of interviews for senior folks especially even my reportees. I would wonder why initially. But the logic was simple. People often even “Reward the messenger” of good news and look up to him as a Messiah. So if the final go ahead for a hire (formality) was done by the boss the candidate would see him as the figure of authority and look up to him during their tenure in the company.

Blame

      This is an "Extremely" huge topic and i will post one incident only as “Blame” can become a separate blog by itself. Taking it on the chin without falling apart is the hallmark of a good mid-manager and yours truly has been there done that!. On one occasion a manager would routinely call me at the end of an appraisal cycle and tell me in a booming voice (with his cabin door wide open) “This year the appraisals have not been done well!” The fact of the matter was that though I would do the appraisals as diligently as possible, this guy would go into the normalization meetings without even knowing all the folks names on the teams. During my last year in this company I decided to give him back a taste of his own medicine and told him in a booming voice in the hallway that “Though the appraisals were done well this year the normalization was substandard” Needless to say, I left soon after, Phew!

Explaining Existence 

I have wondered how some of my bosses explained their TIME and EXISTENCE to Their bosses! Wonder no more. They Explain their time as being spent on YOUR development! LOL!

Lastly if many of the bosses reportees figure out all  his algorithms then.........

ITS RE-ORG TIME!!!!!!!!

I have several more Algos that i can think of

Do you have a "Bossy Algorithm" to share? Do comment... Lets give power back to the real knowledge workers!

Regards

Milind Thombre

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)

Another Programming Puzzle

There is a unisex bathroom with a capacity of 3 people. Either men or women can use it, but not both at the same time. Write a simple program that enforces these constraints.

Milind Thombre

Mutual Exclusion Problems in Programming

A Mutual Exclusion Problem (for Programmers) 

I am reading Allen B Downey's Excellent book (The Little Book of Semaphores) on Semaphores and found this seemingly simple yet intricately complicated problem!

For example, imagine that you and Bob operate a nuclear reactor that you monitor from remote stations. Most of the time, both of you are watching for warning lights, but you are both allowed to take a break for lunch. It doesn’t matter who eats lunch first, but it is very important that you don’t eat lunch at the same time, leaving the reactor unwatched!

Puzzle: Figure out a system of message passing (phone calls) that enforces these restraints. Assume there are no clocks, and you cannot predict when lunch will start or how long it will last. What is the minimum number of messages that is required?

Regards 

Milind Thombre

Solutions Welcome!

Executive Shamelessness

Executive Shamelessness

So you have a Masters degree or a PhD perhaps. Suddenly you have become God's gift to this world of cretins with Bachelors degree 'workers'. With your Superior intellect or perhaps even by virtue of your birth in a certain fold you have achieved the pinnacle of Education and success is bound to follow.... or be assigned to you. Better still, someone died and made you an Executive! And here you come: looking smart, smelling good and feeling like a number one! Its time to extract your pound of flesh (benefits) now! Woohoo! Lets make a check-list least you forget to ask for something from your Employer:

• Fat Pay check
• Stock Options
• Big Corner Office
• Club memberships
• Holiday Abroad
• Insurance for you and your extended family (dog included)
• Reimburse your personal bills
• Did I miss something? Do add to this list as you see fit!

Operations Versus Sales:

The Indian industry has long stopped rewarding 'mundane' ops folks and focuses on rewarding 'new business' (Sales) folks. These Executives are in charge of 'Growth'. Many a times Growth simply happens as a function of the lower price (Arbitrage between $ and Rupee) the engineers are offered at in India. So little is needed to be done. So these execs spend their time Window dressing sales figures, providing ops metrics to clueless customers or doing SWOT analysis of their customers. I am yet to see any concrete growth come out of these silly efforts. Yet the Executive survives and thrives, often the modus operandi is to "Partner" with  the customers and bully the offshore teams who do the actual work. The Myth that in general growth is a function of the Executive has long been propagated and sustained in order to justify higher Exec compensation.

Widening Disparity

Starting annual salary of a bright, out of college engineer is Rupees 300,000 or less in the Indian IT sector. Executive  Salaries are typically 10,000,000(35X)  as much plus stock options andf other benefits listed above. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is this gap so huge. (e.g. $60K vs $300K in USA works out to 5X).  This disparity is further widened by the fact that the Executive makes several paid trips abroad in order to 'ensure' growth or 'accelerate' it all at company expense. (needless to say this expense comes from the sweat of the poor s/w engineers. Stock options further rub salt into the wounds of the poor Engineers.

Advocates of Austerity

There was a COO i knew who would drive around in a SUV's with subsidized diesel which too was reimbursed by the company. He launched the "Green initiative" to save fuel and electricity costs for the company. How Noble! He would urge (in one instance a pregnant woman) to use the stairs instead of the elevators to save money and stay fit. Another austerity advocate drove a Mercedes convertible in India and would fire people at every possible turn in their careers.

Naturally a healthy level of hypocrisy is required to maintain a certain set of Rules of Executives and another (exclusive) set for the Cretins. This has a effect on the mental state of the human being. (Yes Execs are human too) Guilt begins to creep in. Deep down they know they are just as good as everyone else or maybe even worse. In comes CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility). Again it is the execs who lead this initiative and not the Cretins, who feel no guilt as they are the ones being cheated.

The Great Indian Rat Race

I have only one piece of advice for those who are Execs or about to become an Exec in the Indian Industry

"Even if you win you still will be a RAT!."

Do you have an executive Hypocrisy Story to share? Do comment.

Regards

Milind K Thombre